OIL FACTORY BY RICARDO BAK GORDON

The olive oil factory Marmelo Mill, was designed in order to answer all the functional requests to become the largest olive oil mill in Portugal, but also to reveal the attitude of the company regarding its cultural strategy respect to their clients and landscape.

For this project the portuguese architect Ricardo Bak Gordon, has won the 2011 FAD Award with his project “2 Casas em Santa Isabel”, worked together with people who love experimenting in many areas and who, just like him, seek cultural approaches towards landscapes and towards the hidden charms of commercial buildings. The logical consequence is the conjugation of efficiency and timelessness along with the relation to the surrounding scenery, the result is a building peacefully lying as an abstract, white volume at the heart of a plantation, embedded among 3 million olive trees.

The architect had to face two important questions: What is it that can make an oil factory interesting and how can the factory be connected with the local conditions? The consistent attitude towards landscapes is an important relation point for any architect in Portugal. Apart from a good technical execution, the operating company also made a careful handling of the surrounding landscape a requirement. This had become a guiding line for Ricardo Bak Gordon and a crucial criterion for his work.

The beauty of the design of the Herdade do Marmelo oil factory is unveiled through the feeling of floating. The factory has been designed in a way that the olive plantation reaches the building directly. The building has two horizontal levels. The lower level establishes the connection with the soil, and the dark color of the walls goes along. The second level, however, is bright and white. It floats, carried by stilts, above the lower level and spans in two directions with its projecting arms. The workers are protects from the weather by these arms. The whole work area is generously lit.

The building is a striking eye-catcher which is not only visible during the day. During the olive harvesting period, the building can already be seen from a distance 24/7, since the projecting arms are illuminated at night.

Whether it’s the consequent approach is the result of his thoughts or the response to the principal’s requirements, Ricardo Bak Gordon can handle the construction of an oil factory with the same sensitiveness as building a residential complex or a museum.

The beauty of the design of the Herdade do Marmelo oil factory is unveiled through the feeling of floating. The factory has been designed in a way that the olive plantation reaches the building directly. The building has two horizontal levels. The lower level establishes the connection with the soil, and the dark color of the walls goes along. The second level, however, is bright and white. It floats, carried by stilts, above the lower level and spans in two directions with its projecting arms. The workers are protects from the weather by these arms. The whole work area is generously lit.

The building is a striking eye-catcher which is not only visible during the day. During the olive harvesting period, the building can already be seen from a distance 24/7, since the projecting arms are illuminated at night.

Architects: Ricardo Bak Gordon
Location: Ferreira do Alentejo, Portugal

Client: Elaia Lagar
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 47,723 sqm
Photographs: FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

OLIMPIADI 2012 EFFETTO BRITISH

Stazioni della metropolitana, ampliamenti di musei, nuovi ponti, alberghi, aree verdi, infrastrutture olimpiche e anche grattacieli. E' questo il nuovo volto di Londra per i Giochi Olimpici.

Cogliere l’occasione delle Olimpiadi per rinnovarsi e dotarsi di nuove strutture ed architetture è uno stimolo consueto, ma non tutti sono riusciti a sfruttarlo. Ad Atene, che ospitò i Giochi del 2004, non solo hanno chiuso con un clamoroso buco di bilancio, cosa abbastanza usuale, ma alcune delle principali opere sono rimaste incompiute o inutilizzate, come ad esempio il nuovo aeroporto internazionale.

Oggi va tenuto conto del grave periodo di crisi mondiale, europea, e anche della Gran Bretagna e quindi l’obiettivo di ottimizzare le spese, seppur quadruplicate da quelle inizialmente previste, è sen’altro prioritario.

Non c’è da stupirsi che sia stata posta la massima attenzione al riutilizzo delle strutture realizzate per l’Olimpiade, soprattutto quelle per le attività sportive, ma senz’altro balza all’occhio di tutti che uno stadio come quello costruito a Pechino 2008, più noto come “Nido d’uccello”, a Londra non sia realizzato.

Lo stadio olimpico di Populous, società specializzata nella progettazione d’impianti sportivi e centri congressi, costato 540 milioni di sterline (circa 700 milioni di euro) seppur premiato dal RIBA e promosso ad esempio di “sviluppo sostenibile” per una diminuzione significativa dell’impatto ambientale in termini di materiali da costruzione e di consumi energetici, ha ricevuto molte critiche.

Ellis Woodman (critico della Building Design) sul progetto si è così espresso: “Il principio di essere smontabile è benvenuto … si dimostra un evidente interesse verso la creazione di una economia di mezzi e, come tale, è l’antitesi dello stadio di Pechino del 2008. Ma se questo è un risultato, non è un buon risultato architettonico”.

Mentre Tom Dyckhoff, critico architettonico del The Times ha descritto il progetto come “tragicamente poco emozionante” e ha commentato che “l’architettura del 2008 e le Olimpiadi del 2012, negli anni a venire, saranno considerate dagli storici come un indicatore di astuzia dell’Oriente e del declino dell’Occidente”.

L’Aquatics Centre di Zaha Hadid, primo edificio pubblico realizzato dalla stararchitect a Londra, con un costo di 269 milioni di sterline (quasi 350 milioni di euro) più che ispirato dal fluido movimento dell’acqua sembra una balena spiaggiata tanto che anche lei ha dovuto definirla “una sorta di creatura marina” e in futoro, senza le parti laterali, ricorderà il cappello di Robin Hood.

L’opera che fa più discutere è senz’altro The Orbit, realizzata dallo scultore Anish Kapoor e Cecil Balmond, per la massa imponente ed inquietante di tubi di acciaio rossi e sul loro utilizzo dopo le Olimpiadi anche in considerazione del mesto presente del Millenium Dome, declassato a reperto di archeologia postmoderna.

Chi beneficerà dei lavori realizzati per l’Olimpiadi, saranno i viaggiatori della metropolitana, circa 1 miliardo l’anno, che potranno usufruire di nuove e ampliate stazioni del noto “Tube” come quelle di Green Park, a pochi metri da Buckingham Palace, di King's Cross e quella di Blackfriars nelle vicinanze della Tate Modern Gallery.

Tra queste stazioni quella di King's Cross, nodo fondamentale per i collegamenti con il Nord dell'Inghilterra e la Scozia, presenta un intervento di riqualificazione e ampliamento ben riuscito, sotto la cura dello studio londinese McAslan + Partners e costato 880 milioni di sterline, soprattutto per il nuovo ingresso della stazione sotto una copertura semicircolare con una luce di 52 m e un diametro di 130 m. e un’altezza di 20 metri.

La Blackfriars RailwayStation, oltre l’ampliamento, è stata alimentata da un impianto, nel ponte di Blackfriars di epoca vittoriana costruito nel 1886, dotato di oltre 4.400 pannelli solari fotovoltaici per un totale di circa 6.000 mq. di superficie coperta che genera oltre 900.000 kWh di energia elettrica annuali, pari al 50% dell’energia necessaria alla stazione stessa.

L’eco-sostenibilità dell’intervento, costato circa 7,3 milioni di sterline, realizzato dalla Solarcentury di Londra lascia però alcuni dubbi sulle capacità di coniugare tradizione e innovazione con un’efficace qualità estetica pur dimostrando una grande sensibilità verso i problemi energetici.

L'opera che più cambierà il volto di Londra è però il grattacielo "The Shard" di Renzo Piano che è stato inaugurato il 5 luglio scorso. Alto 310 metri, il più alto d'Europa, è stato definito "grottescamente arrogante" dal quotidiano “The Guardian” essendo visibile praticamente da qualsiasi punto della città.

ILHÉU DE VILA FRANCA

Piccola isola dell’arcipelago delle Azzorre in Portogallo, si trova ad 1 Km. di fronte a Vila Franca do Campo principale centro dell’Isola di S. Miguel.

Quando la natura "simula" le forme geometriche, affascina e cattura la mente di un architettoe vengono in mente le suggestione dei frattali e la ricerca di forme organiche e geometrie sperimentali che ritroviamo nelle  forme delle architetture di Arup.  [vedi approfondimento]

In questo caso la particolare morfologia dell’isola è dovuta allo sprofondamento di un antico vulcano dall’insolita forma circolare formando una piscina naturale dalle acque cristalline dell’Atlantico, con una piccola ma incantevole spiaggia.

Oggi è una Riserva Naturale circondata da una vegetazione endemica cresciuta sulle pareti del cratere ed a sud dell’Isolotto si ergono due scogliere vulcaniche, che offrono riparo ai numerosi uccelli marini ospitati dall’Isolotto.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN LONDON

The Olympics have always spotlighted the host country's architecture. The London 2012 summer games, 26 sports at 34 venues, showcase Great Britain's new and modern designs alongside its historic architectural past.

The Olympic Park architecture includes Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre, Hopkins Architects' Velodrome, and the athletics stadium designed by Populous. Make Architects/Populous designed the Copper Box, for handball and fencing, which will become a multi-purpose sports centre. Service buildings include (as well as Allies and Morrison's Media Centre) John McAslan's Olympic Energy Centre, and John Lyall Architects' Olympic Park Pumping Station to channel grey waste. Two reusable structures are Wilkinson Eyre's Basketball Stadium in the Olympic Park, and Magma Architecture's Shooting Range, sited in Woolwich.


Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond / Ushida Findlay Architects: Archelor Mittal Orbit

"Despite the fact that it is sculpture it is a structure. Before it is a structure it is a sculpture". The £22.7m, ruby red, 114.5-metre high ArcelorMittal Orbit (AM Orbit) is an iconic archi-tourist-sculpture hybrid based on the geometry of a six-pointed star. A stabile sculpture, landmark structure and public viewing platform it is accessed by two lifts and exited by a staircase of 455 steps. The 5,560 metres of tubular steel are illuminated by 250 coloured spotlights.

It includes additional sculptural elements by Kapoor: A canopy at the base has a concave floor with a view through a funnel looking up from dark to light. On the upper level of the viewing platform two concave mirrors are placed on the external walkway to invert the horizon and visitors will be able to look down through a central rectangular void or annulus. 

It is an architectural fantasy in the spirit of Tatlin's Tower, Vladimir Tatlin's unrealised monument for the Third International in Petrograd in 1920; and part science fiction: "Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles" H.G. Wells. The War of the Worlds, Book 1, Chapter 10.


Zaha Hadid's The London Aquatic Centre
 

The £244m LAC contains two 50-metre pools for events, training and a 25-metre diving pool and is the architectural star of the Olympic Park. The curved shape - double-curvature geometry that creates a structure of parabolic arches - represents fish-like fluidity and the motion of water. 

The building has a double height to allow maximum spectator viewing for 17,500 people during the Games.
Legacy value? Post-Games, its temporary box additions will be removed to create a 3,500 capacity venue.


Populous with Peter Cook: London 2012 Olympic Stadium
 

The main stadium for the Olympic and Paralympics is a strangely anonymous, ego-free structure, although it will have a £7m temporary external corporate advertising wrapper, 900-metre long and 20-metre high, funded by Union Carbide. It is the centrepiece for track and field events and beneath the wrap it has an exterior skeletal frame of white painted steel zigzag columns creating a triangle/pyramid motif that repeats in the floodlights and in the black and white pattern of the seating.

Legacy value? It has a capacity of 80,000 seats but has been designed to shrink to become a modest 25,000 capacity athletics venue, or more likely, rebuilt as a soccer stadium for West Ham United (or more improbably the original O's, Leyton Orient).


Hopkins Architects: London 2012 Velodrome

 
The £93m velodrome has been dug out to create a hidden bowl and stadium, and the velopark is set on raised landscape, which suggests a shrine for a Tibetan sky burial. The structure is, however, more urban in concept and the architects were inspired by the bicycle as the epitomy of ergomomic and engineering efficiency.

The elegant wooden exterior and geometry of the building was designed to reflect the shape of the cycling track and is clad in Western Red Cedar.
Legacy value? The stadium has 6000 seats and is one of the permanent additions to the Olympic Park.


Magma Architecture: Olympic Shooting Venue

 
The three shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich are contemporary architectural fairground tents. The façades of the three structures have a white, PVC membrane each demarcated with vibrant red, pink and blue coloured holes protruding from the skin to provide natural ventilation and lighting. 

Disarmingly, the coloured circles might be described as giant bullet holes, a case of architectural expression encapsulating the activity of the shooting competition.
Legacy value? These are flexible, sustainable, landmark buildings that will be reassembled for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.


Make Architects with PTW and Ove Arup and Partner: Olympic Handball Arena

Clad in recycled copper, the look of the Handball Arena will evolve as the surface becomes patinated. The interior features flexible, retractable seating that can accommodate a wide variety of events besides handball: basketball, badminton, boxing, martial arts, netball, table tennis, wheelchair rugby, and volleyball. Sustainable features include "light pipes" installed in the ceiling that mimic natural light and a rainwater harvesting system.
Designed to be both permanent and flexible, the Copper Box is a new multi-use sports centre for the London community. When under construction, the building was known simply as the Handball Arena until the exterior copper cladding was afixed. 

Monica Bonvicini. RUN: Three nine-metre tall letters forming the word ‘RUN’ situated on the plaza of the 6,500-capacity Copper Box – the London 2012 Handball Arena.

SKM/Wilkinson Eyre/KSS Design Group: Olympic Basketball Arena
 

One of the largest temporary venues ever built for the Olympic Games, the Basketball Arena will seat 12,000 under a steel frame wrapped in 20,000 m2 of white recyclable PVC membrane. 

During the events, lighting will animate this surface. Following the Olympic Games, the structure can be disassembled and elements can be reused elsewhere for other events.

ExCeL Grimshaw Architects: Excel Exhibition Centre (Phase II)
 

Since 2001, motorhomes, bikes, baby carriages, and yachts have been shown off at the ExCeL conference and exhibition center. Construction events like ecobuild regularly take place here. For the London 2012 games, however, ExCeL becomes the site of the largest number of competitions, including boxing, weightlifing, fencing, wrestling, and table tennis. 

Through adaptive reuse, ExCeL exhibits five sports arenas—with no construction required. That's versatile and flexible architecture.

Greenwich Park

Greenwich Park has been used for sports since King Henry VIII hunted deer here. Located about 20 minutes from central London, the venue for the 2012 Olympic equestrian events offers riders and horses an historic backdrop from which to compete. A cross-country course with over 42 jumps and water obstacles makes use of much of the 74 hectares (183 acres). A temporary arena was constructed in April 2012 for dressage and jumping events. As shown here, the removable arena consists of a dirt-covered platform made from plywood, aluminium, and steel held above ground by over 2,000 pillars.

 

Norman Foster + Partners: Wembley Statium – Redevelopment
 

With 90,000 seats, standing almost four times the height and covering twice the area of the original, the new stadium is the largest covered arena in the world. Facilities are designed to maximise spectator enjoyment; seats are larger than the old ones, with more leg-room; the highest tiers are easily accessed via escalators; and the concourse that wraps around the building provides catering for up to 40,000 spectators at any one time. 

One of the things that make the stadium special is the retractable roof, which ensures that the spectator experience is comfortable in all weathers.

 

Athletes’ Village: Various Architects
 

The Athletes' Village will house over 17,000 athletes and incorporate dining and shopping and the communal spaces and courtyards reflective of London’s housing traditions. When the Olympics are over, the complex will provide affordable housing for East London residents.
 

During the games, many athletes will live within walking distance of these sporting venues. One striking residence within the Olympic Village is a stone building with bas-relief images of ancient Greek athletes.