CULTURAL CENTER BY ATELIERS O-S ARCHITECTES

Located in the town of Nevers, the new Cultural Centre is a public facility in the middle of a restructured district, which will host local organizations.

The location of the building will preconfigure the organization of the public space, surrounded by the Avenue Lyauteyto the north, renovated housing to the west and the south and new housing to the east.

“The strategic position of the cultural centre and the program led us to design a compact and generous project, as an extension of the public space enhancing the identity and image of the neighbourhood.”

The architects conceived the bleachers at the front of the building as a tiered public square that can be used for events, games, or simply as a picnicking spot for local residents, “like an agora overlooking the neighbourhood,” they explain, referencing the ancient Greek name for an assembly place.

The main elements of the program are organized on two levels, around a federative patio bringing light and cohesion in the heart of the project: a multipurpose room of 220 seats, a dance hall, working and meeting rooms and an educational childcare structure.

Visitors to the building enter through a double-height atrium, which leads through to a 220-seat auditorium on the ground floor. Other facilites on this floor include a creche and a series of event rooms, while a dance hall and meeting rooms occupy the first floor.

Glazed walls surround the central courtyard on two sides to bring natural light into the ground floor corridors, while a private first-floor balcony overlooks the space from above.

Behind the timber cladding, the building has walls of concrete is covered by a wooden autoclaved cladding, intended to “create a friendly environment” in a tough environment.

 

 

Location: Nevers, France

Architects: Ateliers O-S architectes

Design Team: Vincent Baur, Guillaume Colboc, Gaël Le Nouëne, Aurélie Louesdon, Kit Chung

Area: 1,613 sqm

Year: 2012

HIROSHI SENJU MUSEUM BY RYUE NISHIZAWA

Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa has completed the ‘Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa’, a single-storey cultural facility on a lush site in Karuizawa, Japan.

A collaborative effort with internationally recognised japanese artist Hiroshi Senju, the museum seeks to harmoniously link the exhibited art with the surrounding landscape within a naturally illuminated space.

Karuizawa is known for its harmony of nature and culture. Nishizawa choreographed a space where visitors could enjoy the feeling of becoming at one with the works of Hiroshi Senju and a forest in Karuizawa.

"Senju asked me to create an open, luminous space where people would observe his works, relax and spend time in contemplation. The museum, which gently hugs the natural slope of the site, has lighting controlled by deep eaves, silver screens, and UV cut glass while allowing in the greenery.

The open space was designed to unite Kazurizawaʼs nature and Senju’s art. I wanted to create a union of park and space that felt as inviting as a private living room." Ryue Nishizawa, architect.

For the 3000 tsubo site (nearly 2.5 acres), the two creators Senju and Nishizawa collaborated on a dream project.

Housing a wide collection of the artist’s work from 1978 to the present day, the museum utilises the natural elements of the site as a backdrop to the pieces displayed.

The floor gently follows the pre-existing contours of the land, subtly swelling and dipping throughout the gallery. A series of organically-shaped light wells puncture through the roof, injecting pockets of greenery within the interior.

Deeps eaves, silver screens, and UV-cut glass panels control the amount of daylight intake while allowing in the qualities of the forest.

Sitting between the parking lot and the museum is the ‘color leaf garden’ which acts as a natural buffer zone for visitors.

Involving the planting of 150 plant varieties and numbering more than 60,000 roots, the color leaf project’s pink, yellow, purple, silver and red shrubs and grasses fan out around the site as if in benediction of the museum.

In Karuizawa, with its pure air, gentle breezes and soft light, visitors can now experience a place of extraordinary imagination and beauty. 

 

Location: Nagano, Japan 
Architect: RyueNishizawa 
Total Floor Area: 1818.42 sqm 
Exhibition Space: 1490.51 sqm 
Museum Office: 128.16 sqm 
Gallery: 199.75 sqm 
Year: 2011

KARUIZAWA MUSEUM BY YASUI HIDEO ATELIER

Located close to the area of Yatsugatake Mountain, in Nagano, Japan, this cultural museum complex was completed in 2011 by Yasui Hideo Atelier.

“The inspiration came from ORIGAMI, the well-known Japanese paper craft technique, which I united with the nature found in the site of Yatsugatake mountain area in Nagano - Yasui Hideo says -

Since the facility is located next to the world famous Japanese artist/painter’s museum, I wanted to harmonize Japanese traditional element and Japanese modern aspect and create an unique architecture.

I totally wanted to differenciate my work from the museum designed with lots of curves; I used straight lines to make a significant contrast, while showing its originality, but still,

I think my work has a well-balance with the museum. I would say developing ORIGAMI object to a real architectue has been a big challenge; at first, I created objects from paper with ORIGAMI technique, then I developed the structure to a real architectual one by playing with different triangler parts.”

The architect shares that he had to draw and create different origami objects in order to acquire the origami technique and he interpreted it in his own way and implanted it into the design.

Developing an origami object into a minimalist architecture has turned out to be a very creative, even ingenious idea. The futuristic aspect of this architecture is the usage of straight lines.

The materials are carefully chosen to compliment the design of the building. The deconstructed, multifaceted, 423.51-square-meters two-storey building is supported by a steel structure while its characteristic sharp edges and sky-piercing spikes have been developed in titanium and glass.

 

Location: Nagano-Ken, Japan

Architect: Yasui Hideo Atelier

Site Area: 8,330.42 M2

Building Area: 331.60 M2

Total Floor Area: 423.51 M2

Structure: Steel Structure

Client: International Cultural College Foundation

Construction: Sasazawa Construction

FLUX COCOON BY ALLEGORY

 

Installed in the heart of the city of Lausanne, Flux Cocoon is one of the winning projects of the the city’s first Light Festival: Lausanne Lumières, which will inaugurate on 23 November.

The project was inspired by its location. Situated at the crossing between vertical and horizontal pedestrian movements (flux). The project is an abstraction of the knot created by the crossing of each pedestrian’s virtual trace at this precise point in the Flon area.

The Flon being the city’s major transportation hub. Lausanne’s topography resulted in creating an amazing cityplan with different ground floor levels; thus it was important for Allegory to create a project visible from a 360° point of view.

Installed in an extremely difficult context, Flux Cocoon is a temporary shelter over the pedestrian bridge and gripped on the vertical elevators’ building.

The project is a created with a primary wood structure and metal cables and 1100m of Red Led Neon Flex lights. The structure sets foot on the existing bridge structure and connects itself to the vertical building containing the elevators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

Architect: Allegory

Year: 2012

HEYDAR ALIYEV CULTURAL CENTER BY ZAHA HADID

A major new venue and landmark structure, the Haydar Aliyev Cultural Centre will play a pivotal role in the redevelopment of Baku.

Defining a new neighborhood designated for residential, offices, hotel and commercial centre; facing out onto a new outdoor piazza.

This most fluid of buildings emerges through the folding of the surrounding landscape’s natural topography which extends to ‘wrap’ the different functions housed within – each one represented by the folds in the centre’s continuous surface.

“Emerging from the surrounding landscape, this most fluid of structures provides a major new venue, landmark and source of regeneration for the city of Baku.

Admitting visitors to a library, museum and conference centre through folds in its continuous outer skin, the interior spaces flooded with natural light via a glass façade.” Zaha Hadid says.

This fluidity connects diverse cultural spaces while also providing each with its own identity and privacy.

The museum faces out into the landscape – participating in the urban fabric of the city developing around the site, its glass façade subtly interrupted by the sculptural interplay between outer skin and ground.

Natural light ‘floods’ the interior via a glass façade. The library faces north, effectively controlling admitted light, while reading and archive floors are stacked and wrapped within the folds of the outer envelope.

The floors fall to each other with ramps connecting them, allowing continuous circulation.

Library and museum are further connected by a ramp that leads through the ground floor of the Library to the first floor of the Museum, while a bridge ‘flies’ across the library foyer connecting to the conference centre.

The conference centre accommodates three auditoriums of different sizes, all with direct access to the external plaza through a main entrance located within the void created by ‘stretching’ the volume’s outer skin.

Surrounding landscape rises to merge with the building, forming radiated earth mounds, while the building itself blends with its surrounds to form the new plaza – a forum for public engagement.

 

 

Location: Baku, Azerbaijan

Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects

Area: 101,801m²

Building: 57,519m²

Site: 111,292m²

Footprint: 15,514m²

Year: 2007 –2012

Client: The Republic of Azerbaijan