Month: March 2018

As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage we present the proposal for the UAE Pavilion. Below, the participants describe their contribution in their own words.

Strasbourg has had the status of European capital since 1948; it is the seat of the European Parliament and of the European Court of Human Rights. The city’s authorities quite naturally decided to a propose an educational offer designed to meet the expectations of the European and international civil servants working in the city by creating a European school. The school’s educational model, based on a multicultural approach, wide use of different languages, and emphasis on both children’s autonomy and parents’ involvement, covers a full school curriculum, from nursery school right through to the European Baccalaureate. The school is located in the leafy neighbourhood of the Robertsau, near the European and international institutions. The school has nearly one thousand pupils and, to meet its requirements and those of local residents, the municipal authorities in Strasbourg decided to build an open sports centre. The programme called for the creation of a multi-sport hall and a multi-purpose hall capable of serving as a venue for events not involving sport.

In the Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, Kengo Kuma has reimagined a 1972 shipyard into a new 9,000-square-meter multi-use complex, named Shipyard 1862. Behind original, rugged brick walls, the old shipyard was once defined by a 12 by 30-meter grid, which allowed for massive interior spaces to hold ships. In this industrial-style adaptive reuse project, Kuma was careful to preserve the building’s structural and material integrity. These photographs provided by Julien Lanoo show how the industrial shell has been transformed by the refurbishment project.

The apartment occupies the last floor of a mid-20th-century building, refurbished in the 80’s. The flat is split into two levels: the one below – an ordinary residence; the one above – a terrace of scarce use, where an informal storage construction is placed.

Estonians have historically been “forest dwellers”. Their experience in building from wood goes back to the 3rd millennium BCE when the first timber structure was built – the koda (chamber). Through traditions and customs, this dwelling unit with archaic and simple architecture laid the foundation for a complex ethos that could be called the soul of the Estonian identity.

The boundary of the adjacent buildings is such that in its western side, according to the city laws and regulations, the building has a 45-degree fillet, and the front of the building on the east, is 10 meters behind, due to the expansion of its land with a twice in length.

The boundary of the adjacent buildings is such that in its western side, according to the city laws and regulations, the building has a 45-degree fillet, and the front of the building on the east, is 10 meters behind, due to the expansion of its land with a twice in length.