BTP - BARCELONA TEMPORARY PAVILION // SECOND PRIZE - Enrico Chinellato - ITALY

Alma Pavilion | The Project

Since the nature | location of the site area is critical and full of potential, the positioning of the intervention has to be strategic, and so its conformation | scale too. Speaking in practical terms, the need for a huge volume has come in order to compete –in a referential and collaborative way- with the heavy mass of the old Customs building that dominates the square of Port Vell. But in this case, a huge volume has to be as much lighter as possible, possibly lifted from the ground, in order to not limit the original flow of the place and the views between the harbor and the city. Barcelona owns a character that tends to prefer a free flow instead of limited and defined spaces, and so the majority of its buildings are lifted from the soil, suspended by brave protrusions or aerial structure: a way so extravagant as it is clever to dominate the space! The big volume wants to follow this concept.

The fact that is made of several layers of fishing net is both typological –for the area, the traditional, ancient port with fishing activities- and aesthetical | conceptual. Like a fishing net can capture fishes in the sea, this great net is here to catch people from all over the city; to bring the light of the Spanish sun and making it pleasant. The structure that supports this almost precarious element is visibly temporary, self-standing and made of stainless steel. It consists in a group of four steel pole and an internal frame of steel cables –used for tension structures- attached to the ground by a bolted steel plate, while the cables are beringed to the soil by tie rods. At the same time the structure acts as a sort of, again, typological character for this precise location. It reminds the highnesses of the masts

of sailing boats in the nearest Marina of Port Vell. And, of course, it also recalls the trees that are located in the site area.

Now the ground wants to clearly translate, almost literally, the duality of land and water in a physical, controlled and clear form. Following the brief’s maximum areal dimensions, a temporary rectangular platform is installed on the dark, heavy ground floor. It is divided in three parts | sections, of which one third –towards the sea- is dedicated to the materialization of the water concept, translating it into a water mirror that became both a playground and a device that remove –visually- the distance from the sea’s water. The remaining two thirds are dedicated to the free flow concept and, of course, to the exhibition area. Since it wants to juxtaposing with the original floor, the platform is raised 30 cm from it. That strategy allows to hide all the technical “issues” under the platform, minimizing their impact.

The collectivity | singularity concept it is, at last, materialized into functional elements that acts like two different tools of aggregation, a sort of lexicon understandable only experiencing it. For this reason the collectivity translate itself into a circular, continuous ring bench, positioned in between earth and water. With this tool the people can met each other in a common, pleasant place. The singularity acts the same way, but translating itself into singular seats they becomes an intimate manner of stay in a place. The seats are also tables: they can be lifted up from the platform when necessary, blocked and used. At the end they can be unblocked and lowered to their original role of seats. In this action they found their singularity character, linked to the will of a particular user.

The rest of the functional program follow the same concept, but it approach the city side of the pavilion. Three small blocks, coated with satin stainless steel, detect two accessible toilets and one storage | technical box. A multimedia info point -with a devices recharge system and internet connection- and an outdoor cafeteria | bar countertops, are coated with the same satin steel. They are the last two pair of functional elements of the pavilion, acting like others attractors for the people from all over the location, making the whole pavilion character even more interactive.

BTP - BARCELONA TEMPORARY PAVILION // FIRST PRIZE - Thomas Van Gaver, Julien Hubert, Guillaume Dorne, Audrey Thomas - FRANCE

barcelloon

new outdoor structure for Barcelona

The construction of a temporary pavilion along the promenade of the Port Vell in Barcelona leads us to requestion initially the project site. The city strategic location acts as a connection between the Rambla, persistent trace of the old Barcelona, and the Mare Magnum complex, a symbol of the renewal of the industrial part of city. And secondly, this allows to question the pavilion functional program itself : synonymous with ephemeral, often emphasizes adaptability without regard to its neighborhood. 

It is by combining the two problematics : the functional program and the location that we imagined the new  outdoor structure we have entitled barceloon. The area of the pavilion hosts a lot of streams compounds as by tourists than by citizens of Barcelona. We thought the pavilion in order to create an installation that would allow free pedestrian and vision rather than a closed space.

The project provides a contextual quality in the pavilion that seems to us important to bring to this site by not letting appear the boundary between modernity and history. We saw this project as an opportunity to requestionner the relationship between the scale of man and the space he practices. It is this way of creating space with a structure and land forces that make us want to use materials designed for different logical to those commonly used in construction. The balloon as inflatable and self-supporting element seemed to us, respond to this problem thanks to its lightness, its ephemerality but also by its form that would meet the principles of composition of the surrounding buildings. 

The pavilion that we propose is a space composed of about 200 balloons secured to the ground with ropes.  Organized on a rectangular plan of 50m by 25m, the proportions of the pavilion echoes the maritime buildings on each side of the square. Its classic plan attempts to blend into the historic urban landscape. The balloons levitated create space pavilion working on the interface between the soil and the canopy. In addition to the effect of shade house, balloons of different sizes and placed at multiple heights offer more spaces to passersby. 

This is a sensory experience around the levitation and the relationship between interior and exterior of a place. The public space under a structure can interfere with the social practices of users. The hierarchy in the size of the balloons will mark the various programs on the ground. The furniture on the ground, to contrast with the lightness of the roof and to meet the need for sustainability of space in relation to the public space will be built in mineral material. Such an extrusion of the materiality of public space, benches and other furniture pavilion will be made of marble to give a seat to the pavilion.

SKY CONDO - NEW YORK CITY FARM TOWER // FIRST PRIZE - Joseph Varholick & Posin Wang - U.S.A.

The organism is complex: born of man, serving nature, subjugating nature. It is a dichotomy of agrarian and industrial - of old ways and new technologies. It is the homestead and the factory, sited on worn grounds and new frontiers. The vertical farm defines an altogether new way of life, a culture that is not easily reconciled with the schemas of our society and as such creates the illusion of contradiction and confusion. The education and installment of a new society of urban agronomists, with a currently inaccessible understanding of a deep, cultural and spiritual commitment to ecology is perhaps the greatest challenge facing agriculture in an urban environment. The vital movement towards the production of sustenance in our cities is by its nature radical … and in order to be embraced, it must turn our culture on its ear.

It is the urban farm’s necessarily unorthodox mindset which leads us to the most radical, yet rewarding of schemes. New York, the city of towers has been pursing verticality for over a century. It was here that the first elevators were installed, where the steel-frame skyscraper was pioneered and brought to new heights. In this place that reaches the sky

we continue to challenge the occupant’s orientation to the ground plane. We have taken the farm and the field and turned it skyward; it becomes the literal connection between earth and heavens, as New York truly becomes oriented vertically. Our ephemeral fields are kinetic looms of vegetation, held aloft by buoyant dirigibles in the atmosphere. Urban agriculture is liberated of the dimness and grime of the street-level city, and opened up to light and air. It is the deployable hanging garden, an icon and a park of an entirely different experience, the new lungs of the city. It adds new dimension to the natural aspect of the city by adding a vertical axis to the highline viaduct, opening the possibility for greenery and agricultural growth in three-dimensional space. We envision

the vertical field as a set of movable and re-configurable parts. These may be re-oriented to grow different crops, hangared in the building’s atrium for winter, or set aloft at

a separate location until ready for harvest. While this kinetic field is woven into the permanent structure of the building it provides a sort of urban theatre within the void of the open atrium, allowing another enthralling experience along the highline path. The high- line and street levels are interconnected and programmed with an open market that allows for social interactions and the sale of produce to the local population.

The residencies in the two wings of the building are interconnected by a doubly-helical path, punctuated by communal gardens which are each meant to accommodate 3-4 units. With the addition of balconies to each unit, the act of growing as prescribed by the provided spaces, becomes a socially-scalable event. There exists the private or individual garden at the scale of the household’s balcony, the communal garden, at the scale of the terrace which is shared and maintained by several households, and the public farm, which is main- tained by the entire building and provides food for the local urban population. These are functional, yet social spaces, all intertwined with the intent of supporting a culture ca- pable of the deep ecological values needed for the venture of urban farming.

We propose a program that produces food in proportion to healthy human diet, using a local labor population which in term consumes the produce.      This ensures a high quality of crops and a meaningful connection to the ingredient. A culture has the opportunity to thrive and mature around this mutual endeavor to provide, and the sharing of labor’s rewards. New jobs are created, and a popilation is educated about their own livelihood ad well was the greater environment's. The culmination of these practices is an architectural organism that stands as an icon in the city. It is an urban event, a metropolitan asset, and an object of progress.

The vertical farm employs a variety of technological innovations aimed at sustainability and productivity. High-altitude balloons sheathed with screens for moisture harvesting are an artificial raincloud, returning water to the farm via a drip-line. Using stored electri- cal power from photovoltaic arrays this water can be split via electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen. Like an inverted lung, the farm vents oxygen into the carbon-rich city. The hy- drogen is used to inflate dirigibles that hold the farm aloft. Windmills continually rotate the farming system, ensuring all crops are equally exposed to light, and allowing the field to be used as its own water lift for irrigation. As the farm passes into the atrium, crops are harvested and the growing medium is replenished and re-sown in a giant loom-like appa- ratus. All of these systems are made lightweight and mobile through material and structural innovations, such as the use of lightweight composites and alloys. In the colder months it is intended that the vertical structure is stored within the building’s atrium and used for greenhouse growing as durable plastic drop sheets are used to enclose the void, and trap solar radiation (this serves the double-purpose of creating an insulated air-void around the heated residences). All organisms in the farm are selected as part of a sustainable ecological web that can operate as a closed loop, or aid in the support of other endemic species, supporting and enhancing the biodiversity of the island, and extending the mission of the highline.

Our proposal not only allows for a radical alteration of the Chelsea neighborhood, but also envisions a flexible and deployable system, reconfigurable for a variety of environments and circumstances. The production of food in our urban centers is a vital step towards the sustainable city that may be realized only through the mass deployment of these practic-

es and infrastructures. The adaptability of this scheme is paramount to its implementation and the general proliferation of vertical, urban farming. We see this model as an archetype that establishes a timeline, one which matures with a new urban skyline of filled with sus- tainable agrarian-urbanity, with skyward fields of green.

Archiculture: a documentary film that explores the architectural studio (full 25 min film)

COPENHAGEN MODERN LIBRARY // THIRD PRIZE - Nguyen Quoc Thanh - SOUTH KOREA

“HYGGE” SEED

As the new model of library for the future, the new library of Copenhagen is intended to be such a urban connectivity spot over a standard library which could improve the social life quality for the citizents and preserve the brand of Copenhagen as the most livable city in over the world; on the other hand it’s intended to be well interactive with the specific site context which has great historical significance and architecture. Grasping this idea, the proposal was implemented with the prior aim of satisfying the context adaptability and the performability in encouraging people communication of the new library.

After research about the location and neighbours of the new library, the site was found as an invisible entity that currently splits the surrounding context to different pairs of spatial parts with distinct features and functions (Urban zone - Open Space, Residence - Public Garden). Therefore, the building form was intentionally shaped from the need of a smooth transition in terms of space to fit and gently connect the surrounding space together. The model then was developed with the purpose of making the the new library to be not only well adaptable, sustainable but also enjoyable from inside-out. It is designed to offer a flexibly countinuous space that facilitates the users for browsing information and stimulates the communication between them. The external zone was designed as a highlight of the library where the visitors could find for themselves a free zone for outdoor activities and enjoying the beautiful landscape of the sea. The proposed sloping form of the building not only brings the novel visually experience for the people but also has a efficient energy consumption due to the shadow utilization and natural ventilation stimulation. In addition, with the original mass skin and external lighting system, the new building’s presence is supposed to transmit the fresh air to the context’s appearance by interacting as the decorative lighting system suporting for the urban context.

As a fundamental building the culture of Copenhagen in the future, the proposal for the new library is expected to make the building to be as a urban connectivity sport -  as the name of the project – ‘urban “hygge” seed’ with the desire of becoming the pioneer-building offering the good social atmosphere beside the fundamental function (education) in that people could be well communicated and be sastisfied with enjoying their life in Copenhagen.

COPENHAGEN MODERN LIBRARY // SECOND PRIZE - Matteo Silverio - ITALY

The new central library promote the use of technology as important knowledge vehicle. For this purpose, all digital items are stored in the main server that can be consulted using laptops, tablets or smartphones thanks to the library software.  This app connects the users devices with the main server using the internal Wi-Fi and it permits to read -in cloud- books, magazines as well as watch movies or listen music.

The app also manages the entire paper books catalogue, that is stored in a big framework that is both structure and bookshelf.  The low-rise bookshelf part is a “classic” shelf and it is used for the kids and the bookshop areas. Differently, the higher shelf are managed by the library apps that uses an automated drone system to find and deliver the stored books.

The whole building is wrapped in a polycarbonate skin, creating a translucent surface able to show both internal and external activities and transforming the building during the entire day.

The envelope homogeneity transfigure the library in an abstraction of the Danish traditional buildings, introducing a new and modern element into the historical Copenhagen cityscape.

 Two big volumes (the telescopes) suspended into the internal building void host most of the functions strictly related to “classic” library. The control area, the info point , the consultation and the lecture rooms taking place in these two volumes that are principally silent holding spaces for individual study or researches. In these areas there are different types of seats and light solutions, ensuring a good psychophysical comfort according to the different users’ needs. Moreover all the seats are oriented to big windows that frame some of the best city landmarks, amplifying the users’ sensorial experience.

COPENHAGEN MODERN LIBRARY // FIRST PRIZE - Christoph Jantos - SWITZERLAND

"A room without books is like a body without soul."
Cicero, Marcus Tullis

In recent years society and our environment have become more and more digital.

Due to the internet we can now access information, texts, pictures, videos, books and their stories wherever and whenever we want to.

The huge success of  the internet is mostly based on the enormous participation factor of millions, or even billions of users worldwide, who share their skills, their knowledge and their passions with others.  They make their knowledge available and accessible to others and therefore they take an active role in shaping the internet.

With the emergence of the internet and the steady availability of information, modern libraries are currently facing new challenges. The sales figures of Kindles, iPads, Ebooks etc. are growing since several years compared to stagnating sales output of classic books. Nevertheless the classic book outlived a number of different other printmedias.

The submitted project BogSamler / New Modern Library attempts  to convert the basic idea of the internet (formally and content-wise) and its participative aspect into real architecture; with a new and innovative, functional and building concept.

Similar to the internet, the New Modern Library provides a simple „naked“ structure that, over time, will be filled up with book contributions by the people of Copenhagen .

In the end it will host a unique and rare accumulation of site-specific books and stories of the city’s inhabitants. Old, unwanted books, magazines or records don’t need to be thrown away anymore but can be contributed in a sustainable and recycled way to the library.

You can either contribute your object personally by going there or you send it via a new launched website www.bogsamler-cph.dk. Just click on contribute and your book will be picked up at your place. At the library the book will get a selfmade unique slipcase to protect it from any damage or direct sunlight. The colour of the slipcase indicates the genre of the contributed object (book, record, magazine etc; documentary, fiction, fairytale etc.). Therefore the pattern of the building will change by different arrangements (sorted by author, by year or by genre)

The BogSamler is embedded into a network of 20 libraries across the city of Copenhagen. Its very one time book-stock will give it a very special character in this network. The project site is located in the centre of Copenhagen close to the water at the major intersection of  Frederiks Kirken, Amalienborg Slot and Operaen, as well as the former historical industrial brick storage buildings alongside the old harbour. In recent years the city of Copenhagen has put a lot of effort into successfully reactivating former underused plots alongside the waterfront.

The green park Amaliehavn, built in the eighties, and the walkway along the water are a very popular and well-visited leisure destinations  for both residents and tourists.

In size and volume the BogSamler refers to the historical storage buildings alongside the water and completes by mirroring along the Frederiks Kirken-Amalienborg Slot-Operaen axis the urban landscape. The building fits functionally as a „library of the people“ complimenting its neighbours, Amalienborg Slot and the New Opera House.

From the outside, the facade of the BogSamler looks like an oversized bookshelf which will be filled over time with books. The fine and small size of the books reflects the construction method of the nearby brick storage buildings.

A nice detailed and transparent glass skin façade protects the timber frame supporting structure and library from cold temperature and rain, while the horizontal bookshelves protect the interior from direct sun in the summer.

Niches of different sizes and shapes integrated in the facade provide hyggelig spaces for reading, working, relaxing, surfing and meeting. From them you have a nice view either of the nearby  Amalienborg and the waterfront as well as a view across to the cityscape of Copenhagen, or to the inner Bog Samler Forum. In this way  the library can already be used by the people in its „naked“, unfilled state.

Most of the public functions like the entrance area, the Info Point, the Book Store and the Cafe are located on the open, transparent and from all sides accessible ground floor. Toilets, lockers, storage, technical rooms and smaller meeting rooms are located in the basement.

The existing trees alongside the project site will be preserved to improve the quality of a stay in the functions based on the south-facing ground floor by providing shade and protection from the direct sun.

A direct walking path leading from Amalienborg Slot to the Kastellet/Den lille Havfrue  will be guided through the heart of the building, the BogSamler Forum.

This space is meant to serve as a public area in which the people of Copenhagen can come together on events, lectures, presentations, discussions, concerts etc.

Interaction and communication amongst the people of Copenhagen are the heart of the building.

From the BogSamler Forum two tribunes with integrated stairs lead to the first floor of the library. On them you can also linger comfortably, read, or listen to any ongoing events.

The northern part of the library makes up the central core, security, distributed workshop spaces and the child daycare with a playground on the top floor.

The BogSamler wants to be the opposite of a top-to-bottom-project or classic project-developer-architecture. Basically, it is a democratic  project that encourages the people to take part in designing their environment and to improve it by making a personal contribution.