OZEANIUM AQUARIUM BY BOLTSHAUSER ARCHITEKTEN

In the international architectural competition for the new 'Ozeanium' Aquarium in Basel, Switzerland, the proposal 'Seacliff' by Boltshauser Architekten has been selected as the winning entry.

The Zurich-based firm beat out tough competition from big architectural names, like Zaha Hadid Architects, who came in third, or David Chipperfield Architects, MVRDV, and Behnisch Architekten who only made the shortlist.

“All in all, the entries submitted were at an extremely high level and represented a wide range of interesting proposed solutions for the task and location at hand,” said jury member and Basel canton master builder Fritz Schumacher.

Their concept, titled ‘Seacliff’, was noted by jury members as being the best match for the public image cultivated by the Basel Zoo. The above-ground building space proposed by Boltshauser was smaller than any of the other competition entries, offering the best solution from an urban development perspective.

Construction costs for the project are expected to reach £54 million, with the scheme due for completion in 2019. When it opens visitors will be able to see coral reefs, sharks, giant octopuses and luminous maringe organisms in the city centre.

 

Location: Basel, Switzerland 
Architect: Boltshauser Architekten 
Year: 2012 
Award: 1 Prize Competition for the new 'Ozeanium' Aquarium

B2 BOUTIQUE HOTEL BY ALTHAMMER HOCHULI ARCHITEKTEN

 

“During its 130-year long and eventful history the site has been modified and converted multiple times. The hotel’s concept and design follow the spatial and structural parameters of the complex stock of buildings. Accordingly, the conversion’s concept imbeds three distinct scenarios: rebuild (the boiling house) – build up (on top of the turbine hall) – incorporate (into the cooling sector).

Rebuild
The boiling house is situated on top of the Sihlberg, a hill in the middle of the city, dominating the site of the former brewery. The brewery’s facade reveals an amalgamation of various phases in the building’s history. When entering the spacious hotel foyer today, three vertically scaled cathedral-style windows – once part of the boiling house – draw the visitor into the depths of space, and into the library.

It is an inviting setting with more than 33.000 books which are piled up in the wall lined with smoked oak and three impressive bottle chandeliers. An upward glance will reveal three high windowed recesses in the shelves – giving away a glimpse of the spectacular first floor board room. The visitor accesses the guest rooms via an open foyer, where a sculptured body of fair-face concrete marks both, spatial centre and reference.

The precisely set windows of the construction provide insight into a body of light which runs through the inner zone of the boiling house, linking the first floor with the roof. At its basis the sculpture leads into the board room where the angular conference table mirrors the erratic shape of the body of light, surrounded by a heavy textile wall cover of red velvet. The rooms are pragmatically arranged in line with the ductus suggested by the existing windows in the facade.

While further pursuing this idea, the rooms are individual in cut, proportion and atmosphere. They commonly avail of a bathroom cubicle which enlarges the living space through partial vitrification. The bathroom cubicle’s modern shape is in deliberate contrast with its traditional materials, such as the textile tapestry made of canvas, or the quality floorboards of oiled oak. Together with vintage objects they remind of the old brewery’s golden age.

Build up

The listed turbine hall – unique in Zurich – and its conserved dignified machinery are witnesses of a proud history in beer brewing. The light enters the turbine hall via two old skylights. Within the modern, slightly raised build up of the hall they form at the same time the centre of two courtyards encircled by the hotel’s corridors. Visitors who follow the hotel corridors are being granted surprising views into the two yards since they are covered with shards of green bottles. The bottles’ colour is complementary to the colour of the flamboyant red carpet runners, modelled from historic photographs.

The rooms in the build up are marked by their large windows framed in expressive oak cases. Mighty outdoor sliding shutters allow to determine view and shading, in brief generate atmosphere through varied incidence of light. The build up distinguishes itself from the turbine hall through this materiality but with its characteristic iron slats it also sets a reference to the neighbouring cooling hall.

Incorporate
An imposing overbuilt construction bridges the boiling house and its adjacent building, the cooling hall. In the brewing process the cooling hall served as a place to chill the wort after the boiling. This fantastic hall perfused by winds is the site where the hotel realises the concept of ‘house-in-house’. Eight large suites add up to two long ‘terraced houses’. They are entirely detached from the existing husk, and concise architectural interventions still allow to fully experience the hall with its bold structure of steel.

The ‘house-in-house’ theme is also echoed in the interior design of the suites. The open spatial structure is coined by a compact body, which encompasses all functions characteristic to a suite. The homogenous materialization in oak supports the visual detachment of the construction from its husk. The living space widens by means of the space between apartment and the facade of the cooling hall. The guest can from the inside enjoy a panoramic view over the city outside.

The guiding principle to create from the wealth of existing industrial heritage substance make the hotel’s ambiance both, a unique and authentic experience.

Swim in Aqui mineral water on the roof of the hotel The hotel is also home to the Thermalbad & Spa Zurich, which opened in December 2010 and provides 3,300m² of relaxation space in the brewery’s former barrel filling area. Guests of the B2 Boutique Hotel + Spa can enjoy special deals and direct access via the roof pool.

 

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Architect: Althammer Hochuli Architekten

Design Project: Margrit Althammer - René Hochuli Architekten, Ushi Tamborriello Innenarchitektur & Szenenbild

Structure: Engeneering dsp Ingenieure+Planer AG

Contractor: MLG Generalunternehmung

Area: 3.500 mq

Year: 2011

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

WINE MUSEUM BY MAURO TURIN ARCHITECTES

 

On the shores of Lake Geneva, Lavaux is a unique place declared UNESCO World heritage site in 2007. How to generate a large-scale cultural attraction non-existent today?

A wine museum that shows and tells the whole heritage richness of the wine-growing area since the Middle Ages seams relevant, but not sufficient to attract people from around the world.

 

A wine museum suspended on a rock, avoiding the sublime terraced vineyards, which becomes integrated to the landscape and offers a walk in the air allowing an unforgettable experience of Lavaux, Lake Geneva and the Alps could be the answer.

 

The Museum wants to be a small iconic object in a great iconic landscape; without being in competition but rather feeding each other.

 

 

The integration of the Museum is contextual and regional without falling into a banal mimesis or a fearful disappearance; it is in the order of the experienced observer, of the deep sensibility and of the advanced intellectual exercise. It is in the order of the nature of things.

 

 

Location: Lavaux, Switzerland

Architecte: Mauro Turin Architectes

Gross floor area: 1,000 sqm

Year: 2012

MITIGAZIONE AMBIENTALE BY CINO ZUCCHI ARCHITETTI

Inserita all’interno del Piano dei Trasporti del Luganese, la galleria Vedeggio-Cassarate rappresenta l’opera sotterranea più importante del progetto che interessa la ridefinizione della mobilità nella città di Lugano.

I suoi 2750 metri di lunghezza mettono in collegamento la valle del Vedeggio con la valle del Cassarate e, a livello urbano, riconnettono l’area dello stadio di Lugano con l’autostrada Milano-Zurigo con l’intento di migliorare l’accessibilità alla regione e alla mobilità urbana con una migliore ripartizione dei flussi di transito.

Dal punto di vista urbanistico la galleria rappresenta la nuova porta d’ingresso a nord della città di Lugano e, come tale, necessitava di un intervento di qualificazione con misure di compensazione paesaggistica.

Lo studio milanese Cino Zucchi Architetti, già vincitore di un concorso per il nuovo Piano Urbanistico di Lugano nel quartiere Cornaredo, è stato incaricato di eseguire la progettazione architettonica di questo percorso che si snoda per circa 230 metri, all'imbocco di un nuovo tunnel.

«Ci hanno chiesto di progettare un'opera temporanea che dovrà restare 6-7 anni – spiega Cino Zucchi –, il tempo necessario per allungare la galleria appena costruita. Un'architettura low cost realizzata con listelli di abete riciclato infilati in tubi di pvc. I listelli raggiungono un'altezza massima di 10 metri e sono stati disposti secondo un disegno parametrico molto sofisticato».

Una parete temporanea che maschera l'infrastruttura e si relaziona al paesaggio con una successione di listelli di legno, che simula la visione cinematica di chi corre in automobile, con un'istallazione che evolve nel tempo: alla base dei listelli di legno crescerà l'erba e con il variare della luce del sole cambierà l'effetto.

Un’onda aerodinamica che si ritrova anche in altri progetti similari in altri contesti in Europa, come nel caso del progetto dello studio ONL di Rotterdam lungo l’autostrada A2, a Leidche Rijn, una costruzione architettonica continua lunga 1,8 chilometri e di 10.000 mq di superficie.

Una barriera affusolata formata da telai di acciaio e panelli di vetro e lamiera, con le estremità ben segnalate, che incorpora un ampio spazio commerciale, destinato alla vendita di auto ben visibile dall’autostrada.

Barriere antiacustiche e opere di mitigazione paesaggistica che sono divenute parte del repertorio attuale degli architetti, in mancanza di meglio, che interessano anche studi internazionali come quello ticinese di Mario Botta che progetta una “selva di alberi metallici” a protezione dell’abitato di Chiasso.

 

 

COCOON HEADQUARTER BY CAMENZIND EVOLUTION

Located in Zürich – Switzerland, is located in the Seefeld Quarter, lying on a superb hillside with optimal sunshine and views overlooking Zurich Lake and the mountains on the horizon.

The unique quality of the site exists due to its extraordinary and park-like landscape surroundings. The bold stand-alone building embodies an innovative conception of interior spatial organization and interaction with the surrounding environment.

The stainless steel mesh enveloping the building combines visual privacy with restrained elegance, while establishing a strong and unmistakable presence and adds a note of subtlety and sophistication to the overall composition.

It caters for a wide variety of workplace and occupancy concepts. With its spiral massing, Cocoon may be conceived as a sort of “communication landscape” that creates a unique spatial configuration and working environment in a matchless setting.

The stepped, upward-winding sequence of segments also shapes the character of the building interior. All spaces are arranged along a gently rising ramp, which wraps around a central, light-flooded atrium.

The space planning concept dispenses with the traditional division into horizontal storeys in favour of a seemingly endless sequence of ellipticalfloor segments.

By eliminating the usual barriers to communication, this generates a unique spatial experience and working environment that unlocks a host of intriguing possibilities for interaction and co-operation.

The floorspace design is occupancy-neutral and provides for fully flexible partitioning together with the adaptability necessary to meet the shifting needs of future users.

Together, the various elements – lift, spiral ramp, segments and stairwell – constitute a clearly structured, versatile circulation system that provides for both the desired interaction and the necessary flexibility to accommodate alternative uses.

Externally, the building adopts the guise of a dynamic, upward-reaching sculpture. The dramatic atrium, with its wealth of internal visual links, generates a natural ambience conducive to communication and a sense of community.

The facade assembly consciously adds a note of subtlety and sophistication to the overall composition. The building is wrapped in a fine, almost scaly veil of stainless steel wire mesh. This curtain curls elegantly upwards in soft lines along the expanding spiral, its junction with the roof terrace accentuated by an open facade frame.

The shrouded, sculptural stand-alone building, introverted during the daytime as it looks inwards towards the atrium, is recast in the evening hours as a transparent shining beacon. Cocoon uses a Air-source heat pump system for environmentally-friendly heating and cooling.

Location: Zürich, Switzerland

Architects: Camenzind Evolution

Project Team: Stefan Camenzind, Marco Noch, Susanne Zenker

Area: 1,900 sqm

Client: Swiss Life

Budget: US $8,800,000

Year: 2006-2007

Photographs: Camenzind Evolution