BEIRUT MARINA & TOWN QUAY BY STEVEN HOLL

Located in the heart of Downtown Beirut, the site for the new Beirut Marina extends the existing Corniche along the seashore into a series of overlapping platforms.

The Corniche is inflated to create an 'urban beach,' with levels subtly articulated to provide outdoor spaces with public areas for artwork.

The concept takes its shape from strata and layers in forking vectors. Like the ancient beach that was once the site, the planar lapping waves of the sea inspire striated spaces in horizontal layers, as distinct from vertical objects.

The horizontal and the planar become a geometric force shaping the new harbor spaces.

The form allows a striated organization of public and private spaces which includes apartments, yacht club, public facilities, harbormaster, restaurants, and specialty stores.

The syncopated rhythm of platforms is achieved by constructing the overall curve of the Corniche in 5 angles relating to 5 reflecting pools.

Due to variations in height along the Corniche, the platform levels and pools vary slightly in height allowing quiet, gravity-fed fountains to connect each pool level.

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

Architect: Steven Holl

Associate in Charge: Tim Bade

Project Team: Masao Akiyoshi, Edward Lalonde, JongSeo Lee, Brett Snyder

Project Architects: Makram El-Kadi, Mohamad Ziad Jamaleddine

Size: 220,000 sf

Year: 2012

Client: Solidere

Status: Construction Phase

NANHE RIVER BRIDGE BY WXY ARCHITECTURE

WXY has teamed up with Weidlinger Associates Inc., a prominent structural engineering firm, to design four landscape bridges in Xinjin County, China.

For the Nanhe River Landscape Bridge, the team’s winning design approach was to create a vision that evokes the flow of the river. Like a main path in a great park, the journey across the bridge should be an experience unto itself.

The undulating curves of the bridge reflect the waves of the river at the heart of Xinjin. The helical bridge is held up by five multi-limbed supports, increasing the current spacing for watercraft and other recreational uses of the river.

The two intertwined ribbons also serve a practical purpose by greatly expanding the capacity of the bridge to allow it to keep pace with Xinjin’s future growth.

For residents and visitors, the riverfront esplanades on both sides of the river provide important places to view and access the river. Springing seamlessly from these esplanades, the intertwined spans of the Nanhe River Landscape Bridge extend the park-like experience across the river itself.

The complex form of the bridge is derived from the linear extrusion of a simple steel box girder; its clear red color will resonate against the grey blue colors of Xinjin's hillside landscape.

The bridge design provides a strong iconic image while making an exciting space to walk and overlook Xinjin.

The sinuous curves of the Nanhe River Landscape Bridge emulate this body of water while simultaneously channeling the centuries-long tradition of Chinese landscape bridges. Thus a contemporary symbol of Xinjin is born that draws inspiration from the city's most timeless qualities.

Location: Xinjin County, China

Architect: WxyArchitecture + urban design

Structure: Weidlinger Associates Inc.

Year:2010

FESTINA LENTE BRIDGE BY ALAGIC, BOJAN KANLIC AND AMILA HRUSTIC

"Make haste, slowly," translates to Latin as Festina Lente. The phrase fits the design of a new bridge in Sarajevo spanning the Miljacka River.

Situated beside the Academy of Fine Arts, the bridge was designed by three former students: Adan Alagic, Bojan Kanlic, and Amila Hrustic. The loop-the-loop at center creates a shelter, and also offers a unique resting point in the city. 

The steel bridge is paved with aluminium plates and fitted with benches made of smooth round logs. At night the bridge is lit by LEDs.

“The basic idea of the bridge is the union of the secular and spiritual,” explain the designers, noting that the academy was formerly a church. ”The loop on the bridge is a symbolic gate,” they add.

Crossing the bridge is a unique experience because of its specific layout and the views that we encounter when going through the gate (the closed part of the bridge), preparing us to enter into another dimension and awake spirituality.

Technological solutions and the modern design of the bridge become the brand of Sarajevo. The bridge spans 38 metres. The bridge creates a true “genius loci” appropriate to the area in front of the temple as the Academy of Fine Arts.

The former church, today the Academy of Fine Arts, was built in the time of the Viennese secession. Its form is unique, simple and attractive at the same time and because of the unexpectedness triggers a series of associations, establishing a new vision.

The loop on the bridge is a symbolic gate – in our traditions, entrances in the cities have always been marked by gates. Line appears on most Secession facilities, among which is the Academy of Fine Arts.

Around the bridge we have different styles of facilities and two benches which are completely different, one covered with grass and another built from stone, which we decided on for visual contrast. On the bridge are two benches in covered sections, so it’s a place of meeting and interacting.

 

Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Architects: Alagic, Bojan Kanlic And Amila Hrustic

Competition: 2007

Year: 2012

SLOUGH BY SIMON MOXEY

The word ‘slough’ − like sludge, slurry and slime − is almost onomatopoeically awful. In old English it means ‘a swamp; a miry place; a quagmire’, an image that the place Slough itself hasn’t entirely shaken off. Slough seems, in short, an unlikely site for architectural speculation.

However to Royal College of Art student Simon Moxey the place is on the up. ‘In July, Slough became the European entry point for the first transatlantic fibre-optic cable laid since the dotcom boom,’ he beams. ‘This new cable will shave five milliseconds off the time it takes to make a trade between Europe and New York.’

And while this may seem finical and trifling, to high-frequency trading firms the principle of ‘time is money’ needs a finer measure than grains of sand, with each millisecond apparently having million-dollar implications. While this may seem an unusual starting point for an architectural project, the banal can often shape the whole identity of cities.

The brick party walls required post-Fire of London engendered the city’s terraced town houses; while the invention of the lift gave rise to the towering ambitions of the American city.

Why not an urbanism configured to cable latency, and the time it takes to send a message? Slough Global City reimagines Slough as a higher-speed Canary Wharf, usurping the existing financial centres of the City and Docklands (itself, in its time, a usurper), in order to regenerate the fortunes of a maligned outer town.

And if the idea of a development laid out according to the whim of bankers makes you feel uncomfortable, it is meant to. Though GAGA set out to move away from the recent celebration of dystopia in architectural student projects, the judges felt that the scheme didn’t fit into that category.

Though it questions attitudes to the relationship between capital and development, it does so not merely by offering a critique but by making a proposal. And though it may be depressing in its expression, it is entirely plausible. If Slough Council could find a financial backer, it could even be the best thing to happen to the place since The Office first aired.

CRUISE TERMINAL EXTENSION BY MARTIN LEJARRAGA

The development of cruise terminal is located in the Port of Cartagena; a place with exceptional conditions because of the sea views and because it is very close to the city.

This platform of 11.024 m2 has a dual condition that allows you to see Cartagena from inside and outside. The connection between Cruise Terminal, City Centre and the most important services makes this place the door of the city.

So, the visitor can find in the same place sights as the Roman Theatre, the Isaac Peral Submarine, the town hall, the Castle, the main wall, and the panoramic lift among others monuments.

We have planned a public space for cruise passengers and for citizens of Cartagena. This is for their walking, enjoyment, playing, going out… In short, a maximum use of this exceptional space with its strategic position.

We free up space on the platform (the platform is freed up space??), and the principal uses are concentrated in a singular piece, easy to recognize as a roof which reproduces in its surface a seabed as a ceramic mosaic. Below this ceramic roof we can find several uses:

- Shadow spaces where you can enjoy the excellent views, with rest areas with benches around the pillars, and a playground.

- Knowledge area called ‘sea classroom’, where information about marine species from the area is exhibited.

- control area is located in the access area, and it is to control de entry or exit of the passengers. There are two cabins for Port Authority, Police and “Guardia Civil”.
- The tourist information is in a third cabin and it offers all information about the city.

The big esplanade frees up the space, so it is possible to install marquees, and temporal elements with offer plenty of space.

One of most impressive panoramas that the place can offer is from the upper decks of the ship from where you can see the quayside as a big canvas.

So the surface is a place where the location of the sights or the directions of the wind are described and the roof is a big mosaic which draws the seabed with ceramics.

 

 

Location: Port of Cartagena, Spain

Architect: MartinLejarraga

Collaborators: Mar Melgarejo, Julián Lloret, Beatriz Cascales, Javier Poveda, Claudia Montoya

Engineers: Juan Cebrián, Martín Jaúregui

Structural Engineer: Typsa

Area: 11.074 M2

Year: 2012

Cost: 1.630.000 EUR

Client: Port Authority

Photographs: David Frutos