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Centro de interpretação de Mapungubwe Um centro cultural em África por CLÁUDIA MELO26 Setembro 2010 Um centro cultural em África Neste projecto, a ecologia é entendida como promoção e melhoria do meio ambiental e social, aspectos indissociáveis para uma economia mais consciente do valor da natureza e das pessoas. O Centro de Interpretação de Mapungubwe, da autoria do arquitecto Peter Rich, é o grande vencedor dos Earth Awards 2010 (Prémio da Terra), na categoria Arquitectura, que visa promover e inspirar uma nova economia e novos consumidores no mundo inteiro. Aqui, ecologia é entendida como promoção e melhoria do meio ambiental e social, aspectos indissociáveis para uma economia mais consciente do valor da natureza e das pessoas. E na atribuição do prémio, o júri realçou a riqueza e complexidade do Centro: é, simultaneamente, um exemplar de "arquitectura pobre" - edifício de muito baixo custo que recorre a tecnologias e métodos ancestrais -, com um forte impacto na economia e na comunidade local, e com um sentido estético de celebração da experiência da arquitectura enquanto objecto e relação com o lugar. Situado na África do Sul, na confluência dos rios Limpopo e Shashe , o Centro implanta-se numa "mesa", formação geológica que resulta da alteração do curso do rio Limpopo, que inicialmente desaguava no oceano Atlântico, passando a desembocar no oceano Índico. Este sítio, que se estende ao longo de um quilómetro, foi considerado sagrado por diversas tribos locais, albergando fauna e flora de espécies ancestrais, e que são o objecto da visita e do Centro. A par da geometria, o sítio foi a fonte de inspiração para a edificação do Centro. "O resultado é uma composição estrutural que está autenticamente enraizada no local" e que se organiza segundo três níveis. A primeira ordenação é geométrica, em que os edifícios do centro se implantam formando um triângulo equilátero, forma recorrente em antigas construções locais, como as pedras encontradas na colina Mapungubwe. A partir desta primeira é criado um segundo sistema, que corresponde ao edifício propriamente dito, feito de diversos volumes de formas ondulantes, que resultam das suas coberturas em arco e abobado que ora saem abruptamente do chão, evocando o acontecimento geológico das antigas "mesas", ora organizam espaços habitáveis celebrando antigas culturas do local. Construídos à base de alvenaria de terra e pedra, estes volumes possuem uma qualidade "intemporal" ou universal, que resulta da sua forma e material. Interiormente, criam espaços ctonianos, escuros e sombrios, que evocam as formas mais ancestrais do habitat humano - a gruta e caverna. Exteriormente, todos estes espaços encontram--se ligados através de terraços, espaços de estar que privilegiam a vista para a envolvente e o sol. Um terceiro e último sistema é feito a partir de caminhos e percursos, ao ar livre e debaixo de árvores, delicados e sinuosos que contrastam com a força e a rudeza dos volumes construídos. Além da ecologia e da universalidade, a consciência social também faz parte do projecto. Assim, os operários do Centro foram os desempregados locais sem formação em construção, a quem foram ensinadas as técnicas ancestrais de construção e, principalmente, um ofício. "Por isso, o Centro não só conta uma história como também faz parte de uma história em evolução, de uma cultura que se desenvolve em simbiose com o seu legado natural", conclui o arquitecto. in http://dn.sapo.pt/inicio/artes/interior.aspx?content_id=1671442&seccao=Arquitectura peter rich architects: mapungubwe interpretation center, south africa south african firm peter rich architects have been named winner for the category of culture (completed buildings) at the 2009 world architecture festival. mapungubwe interpretation centre is situated at the confluence of the limpopo and shashe rivers. the mapungubwe national park celebrates the site of an ancient civilization linked to the great zimbabwe trading culture in the context of a natural setting that re-establishes the indigenous fauna and flora of this region. the interpretation centre is set on the side of a mesa, formed from the dramatic geological events that resulted in the limpopo river changing its course from flowing into the atlantic ocean to discharging into the indian ocean. the ceremonial centre of this civilization is located on a sister mesa, one kilometre away from the site, is the visual climax of the architectural experience orchestrated in the design of the centre. this is a poverty relief project using ecological methods and materials. the complex landscape was both the inspiration for the design and the source of most of the materials for its construction. this resulted in a composition of structures that are authentically rooted to their location. the equilateral triangle provides the primary ordering, set out from a line running parallel to the contours. secondary elements are fixed in position by this geometrical system, significant because of its reference to triangular motifs etched on stones uncovered on mapungubwe hill. the heart of the interpretation centre is visually contained by two hollow cairns that evoke the route-markers found in southern african cultures. timbrel vaulting is used to construct the billowing forms that expose the arched edges of their thin shells, an analogy of the archaeological revelation of past cultures. the domical language is contrasted by the delicate walkways that create a zigzagging ramped route through the complex. the visitor’s first view, across a seasonal stream, is of the principal vaults springing directly from the land on robust buttresses. volumes are linked by terraced seating, contrasting the structured horizontality of the contours with the diaphanous domes and arches. the surfacing of all of the masonry in local rubble stone creates a timeless quality. it is as if they had erupted from the earth in a geological event similar to that which created the mesas of the site and mapungubwe hill. the route provides the visitor with a multiplicity of experiences, evoking the complex social interactions of the many cultures that have traversed the site. the strong southern light is tempered by rusted steel screens that echo the network of branches of indigenous trees; horizontally slatted natural timber evokes traditional shade structures. the arrival point is marked by the first of the hollow cairns, lit by an oculus that tracks the path of the sun. the experience of the internal exhibition space is cavernous, articulated by the exposed tiles made from the local soil. light is filtered through fused coloured glass, with dappled patterns reflected from the ponds that cool the air that naturally ventilates the buildings. the termination of this central space is a second cairn, representing the sunset and housing the golden rhinoceros that has become a southern african icon. visitors have a choice of route: ramp and stair, internal and external, to move into the upper parts of the vaults and appreciate the privileged view of the lower volume, as did the ancestors from their elevated position on the plateau of the hill. the route continues outside the covered spaces, leading to the highest part of the site and affording a view across a flat expanse to mapungubwe hill in the distance, with its backdrop of the limpopo. in http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/8082/peter-rich-architects-mapungubwe-interpretation-center-south-africa.html

Câmara da Praia da Vitória vai ter novo edifício de serviços Publicado: 2010-09-21 17:54:15 | Actualizado: 2010-09-21 17:54:15 Por: Luciano Barcelos O novo edifício de serviços da Câmara Municipal da Praia da Vitória ficará situado na Praça Francisco Ornelas da Câmara, ao lado da Biblioteca Municipal. Trata-se de um projecto do arquitecto José Parreira e, para já, assenta em 4 alternativas. Nenhuma das opções pressupõe remodelar o edifício actual, adquirido pela autarquia por 750 mil euros. O edifício será construído de raiz e em todas as propostas está patente a arquitectura contemporânea. A discussão sobre as propostas será aberta ao público numa sessão que decorrerá na próxima Sexta-feira, onde estará, também, presente a Direcção Regional da Cultura (DRC). Para o autarca Roberto Monteiro e para o arquitecto José Parreira, as opções carecem de discussão pública, uma vez que a Praça Francisco Ornelas da Câmara tem uma grande carga afectiva para os munícipes da Praia da Vitória. O novo edifício de serviços da CMPV deverá ter aproveitamento de águas e painéis solares. As 4 propostas rondam o total de 2 milhões de euros. Roberto Monteiro afirmou que a autarquia vai tentar conseguir uma comparticipação de 80% de fundos comunitários europeus. Notícia: Tatiana Ourique in http://ww1.rtp.pt/acores/index.php?article=17315&visual=3&layout=10&tm=7 Novo edifício dos serviços da Câmara da Praia da Vitória São apresentadas publicamente na sexta-feira, 24, as quatro propostas para o aspecto exterior do edifício que vai concentrar na Praça Francisco Ornelas da Câmara os serviços da Câmara Municipal da Praia da Vitória. Roberto Monteiro, que falava numa conferência de imprensa ontem, na Academia da Juventude, explicou que a consulta pública (que vai decorrer no Auditório do Ramo Grande, às 18h00) pretende garantir aos praienses um espaço para perceberem as propostas do arquitecto José Parreira (responsável pelo projecto) e puderem emitir a sua opinião sobre cada proposta da imagem exterior do edifício. “Neste projecto estão decididos dois aspectos: a disposição dos espaços interiores e que o edifício existente tem de ser demolido, devido à sua qualidade estrutural e ao facto de não se adequar às necessidades. Mas, tendo em conta que se trata de um imóvel na Praça Francisco Ornelas da Câmara, onde há uma afectividade por parte da população, queremos que todos tenham a oportunidade de apresentar a sua opinião sobre as quatro propostas de arquitectura em cima da mesa. É preciso, contudo, não nos esquecermos que a imagem exterior deste edifício terá de respeitar também o parecer da Direcção Regional da Cultura, já que esta entidade tem uma palavra a dizer no que se constrói nos centros históricos”, justificou o autarca. “A construção deste edifício insere-se no plano que traçámos para a revitalização do centro urbano da cidade. Este plano é composto por seis medidas: o projecto de requalificação do centro urbano, que incluiu intervenções nas ruas, passeios, mobiliário urbano, etc.; a construção do parque de estacionamento urbano, cuja conclusão ocorrerá até ao final de Outubro; os programas de modernização empresarial, cujos diagnósticos estão prontos, estando em curso as acções junto dos empresários; a dinamização de actividades que atraiam público ao centro da cidade, caso do Praia Motor Show ou dos passeios de moda; a aquisição e requalificação de imóveis, caso do edifício onde está instalada a Praia em Movimento; e a deslocalização de serviços públicos e camarários para o coração da cidade, nomeadamente os serviços autárquicos, hoje instalados na Rua Gervásio Lima”, explicou. Marco na paisagem “O projecto da autoria do arquitecto José Parreira garante-nos um novo edifício, moderno, integrado na paisagem da Praça Francisco Ornelas da Câmara e que será, sem dúvida, um marco na paisagem arquitectónica da cidade”, sublinhou Roberto Monteiro. O novo edifício terá quatro pisos, concentrando todos os serviços da autarquia. Segundo o arquitecto José Parreira, no primeiro piso ficarão concentrados os balcões de atendimento ao munícipe. “No centro do edifício ficará instalado um jardim vertical, que será comum a todos os andares. Uma das nossas preocupações foi incluir todos os mais recentes sistemas de eficiência energética, caso de painéis solares, sistema de aproveitamento das águas pluviais para as águas sanitárias, etc. O objectivo é que este edifício se transforme num exemplo em termos de funcionalidade para serviços camarários e em termos de aproveitamento das novas tecnologias para a sua eficiência energética”, explicou o arquitecto. “Para o exterior, apresentamos quatro opções, que procuram interpretar a imagem e a volumetria dos edifícios da praça, tendo por base a intenção de o edifício que vai substituir a casa do Dr. Eugénio ser um imóvel de linhas contemporâneas, que represente o século XXI, tal como os edifícios que o ladeiam representam várias épocas”, argumentou José Parreira. A construção do novo edifício camarário na Praça Francisco Ornelas da Câmaras está orçada em cerca de dois milhões de euros, tendo a aquisição da casa do Dr. Eugénio custado 750 mil euros à autarquia. in http://www.auniao.com/noticias/ver.php?id=21388

5º aniversário Amoreiras: a polémica passou de moda, o shopping subiu de estatuto 27.09.2010 - 11:48 Por Ana Henriques, Marisa Soares Faz hoje 25 anos que foi inaugurado o primeiro grande shopping center digno desse nome em Portugal. Odiado por uns, admirado por outros, sobreviveu à polémica e à concorrência. Valeu a pena? Naquele final de tarde do Outono de 1985, Nuno Krus Abecasis andava em campanha para renovar mandato à frente da Câmara de Lisboa. Uma mulher abordou-o quando distribuía propaganda no interior do recém-inaugurado centro comercial. Nunca mais votaria nele depois das Amoreiras, disse ela em tom acusador. Farto da polémica em torno do projecto de Tomás Taveira, que havia defendido com unhas e dentes contra tudo e todos, e que servia agora de arma de arremesso eleitoral, o presidente da Câmara de Lisboa soltou um impropério: "Meta o voto no..." Contado por quem acompanhava na altura o carismático autarca do CDS, o episódio ilustra bem a virulência com que se travaram de razões os que acompanharam, há um quarto de século, o aparecimento em Lisboa do primeiro centro comercial digno desse nome. Que, apesar de fazer hoje 25 anos de existência, não dá sinais de falta de vitalidade - como seria de esperar de um qualquer jovem dessa idade. Adaptou-se aos novos tempos, apostando em lojas de maior dimensão, e nas classes sociais com mais poder de compra. De monstro megalómano passou a local onde vai às compras quem não quer andar aos encontrões. A polémica ligada às opções estéticas, essa passou de moda. Morreu? Nem tanto. "Aquilo é horroroso. Com o tempo ficou com ar de brinquedo velho que já ninguém quer. Era uma boa altura para ser demolido", opina o cronista Miguel Esteves Cardoso, concedendo, no entanto, que o centro comercial tem bom ambiente. Portugal ainda não tinha entrado na CEE (Comunidade Económica Europeia) naqueles longínquos anos 80. Fá-lo-ia três meses depois da abertura das Amoreiras, num cenário de crise pouco propício a investimentos duvidosos como este. Presente na inauguração, o Presidente da República Ramalho Eanes não regateou elogios ao empreendimento, precisamente por causa da "ousadia" do investimento em tempos de crise. Ao todo, foram gastos 64 milhões de euros, suportados, entre outros, pela construtora Alves Ribeiro e pelas seguradoras Império e Mundial Confiança, que eram empresas públicas. Todos integravam a empresa proprietária das Amoreiras, a Mundicenter. Só mais tarde veio o tempo das "vacas gordas", lembra o arquitecto José Manuel Fernandes, que considera os promotores uns "visionários", porque "sabiam que o sucesso viria pouco depois". E veio - como diz o historiador Paulo Varela Gomes, como "um sinal antecipado da prosperidade do cavaquismo". O país estava a mudar. Um "par de bandarilhas" O culto das marcas pelos consumidores era um fenómeno incipiente, até porque muitas delas não tinham sequer entrado em Portugal. Foi neste cenário que surgiram as grandes torres espelhadas de topos e base coloridas, simbolizando, segundo o seu autor, dois guerreiros defendendo a sua dama, numa alusão à Lisboa medieval. Houve logo quem preferisse metáforas tauromáquicas: pareciam "um par de bandarilhas cravadas no dorso da cidade", observou o arquitecto Nuno Portas. O assunto "pôs os portugueses a falar de arquitectura como nunca tinha acontecido", lembra Varela Gomes quando fala desta "importação directa da típica arquitectura americana". Quer pela dimensão do empreendimento, considerada excessiva, quer pelo seu aspecto pouco convencional. Entre as vozes críticas estava ainda a de Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, que não era tanto contra o aspecto da obra, mas sim contra a "falta de planeamento urbanístico" durante os mandatos de Abecasis. E hoje? "O problema principal continua lá. Mantêm-se o congestionamento de trânsito e a entrada caótica em Lisboa", responde. Do lado oposto da barricada, dos que defendiam a liberdade criativa que inspirou as Amoreiras, estava o arquitecto Manuel Graça Dias, que ainda hoje continua a achar saudável que as cidades construam marcas de época como esta, neste caso "a marca de um movimento pop (popular) filiado no pós-modernismo". Por outras palavras, é o que recorda também outro crítico de arquitectura, Jorge Figueira: "Os anos 80 não se podem pensar sem a movida do Bairro Alto, o Tal Canal do Herman, as músicas do Variações e o Amoreiras." Data desta época o termo "taveirada", sinónimo não só dos trabalhos característicos deste autor como também de mamarracho. Graça Dias analisa o termo: "Surge num período em que ficam prontas não só esta como também outras obras de Taveira que o homem da rua considerava excessivas: o edifício do Banco Nacional Ultramarino, na Av. 5 de Outubro (Lisboa), o do Totobola, na Av. D. Carlos..." Contestadas, as Amoreiras acabaram por fazer escola. "Hoje não há cidade de província que não tenha um pequeno edifício manhoso que não tente copiar alguns destes detalhes", observa. Um frontão aqui, uma coluna acolá... Para Graça Dias, ao serem amadas por uns e odiadas por outros, as Amoreiras "abriram uma brecha" que, mesmo muitos anos depois, permitiu maior tolerância para com edifícios considerados estranhos, como a Casa da Música, no Porto. Excessiva a meio dos anos 80 - o próprio Tomás Taveira sempre sublinhou não ser seu o plano que permitiu tamanha volumetria naquele local -, a escala veio, afinal, a revelar-se adequada, no entender deste arquitecto: "Não há a sensação de andarmos perdidos, existe um equilíbrio entre a escala e a decoração." Uma teimosia "As Amoreiras marcam uma ruptura na vida de Lisboa", diz Teresa Barata Salgueiro, investigadora do Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa. "E do país." O complexo beneficia da adesão à União Europeia, quer por via do dinheiro que ela traz, aumentando o nível de vida dos portugueses, quer por via da entrada de empresas estrangeiras em Portugal, várias das quais se instalam nas torres de escritórios. "À qualidade do espaço, maior do que nas galerias comerciais até aí existentes, junta-se a oferta de serviços e de lazer", nota Teresa Barata Salgueiro. "O centro comercial tem uma gestão profissional, já preocupada com o mix", a localização e a mistura de lojas. "Por outro lado, o complexo inclui, além do comércio, escritórios e habitação", algo também inovador para a época. Apesar das excursões ao shopping de gente vinda de todo o país, o sucesso do modelo não foi imediato, nota a investigadora. É então, três anos depois da abertura das Amoreiras, que as chamas devoram o Chiado. "As pessoas deixaram de ir à Baixa e precisavam de uma alternativa", recorda. Antigo adjunto de Abecasis, Luís Duque lembra-se bem da teimosia do homem que ficava na câmara a despachar processos até às quatro ou cinco da matina. "Sem ele as Amoreiras não tinham sido feitas", garante, recordando a sua teimosia nas causas em que se empenhava. "Se fosse hoje, surgiriam contra o projecto 40 petições e 30 abaixo-assinados..." E há cinco anos, o próprio Taveira admitiu que é "um pouco surpreendente" que o tenham deixado construir "semelhante objecto". Nem a Mundicenter nem o arquitecto Tomás Taveira quiseram prestar declarações sobre as Amoreiras. in http://www.publico.pt/Local/amoreiras-a-polemica-passou-de-moda-o-shopping-subiu-de-estatuto_1458100?p=2 O Shopping que mudou os hábitos dos lisboetas Champanhe e tapas oferecidos, hoje, nos 25 anos do Amoreiras Telma Roque Houve excursões. Veio gente de todo o país e muitos lisboetas saltaram da cama já a pensar em ver de perto essa obra controversa, demasiado arrojada para a época e que estava a ser vendida como "uma cidade dentro da cidade", inaugurada faz hoje 25 anos. “Ainda me lembro da polémica. Tudo aquilo parecia demasiado grande e exuberante. Ou se criava uma grande empatia com aquela arquitectura modernista, ou odiava-se”, diz Aurora Piedade, residente na zona das Amoreiras. Aurora confessa que, a dada altura, se sentiu “chocada” à medida que as paredes cresciam, mas não nega que isso lhe aguçou a curiosidade. Como seria lá dentro? E assim foi uma entre as milhares de pessoas que circularam pelos corredores na abertura ao público, um dia após a cerimónia oficial, presidida pelo general Ramalho Eanes, que ocupava então o cargo de presidente da República. Hoje, se Aurora entrar no Shopping das Amoreiras, a obra mais emblemática do arquitecto Tomás Taveira, será recebida com champanhe e tapas, numa acção de charme da administração. Inovador, a começar logo pela arquitectura, o Amoreiras foi o primeiro grande espaço de comércio e serviços, acabando por mudar hábitos. “As idas ao cinema vulgarizaram-se. Foi neste shopping que soube o que era um hamburguer, uma pizza e comida chinesa. Já podia comprar roupas parecidas com aquelas que via nos filmes e nas novelas”, revela Andreia Nunes, uma cliente. Durante mais de uma década reinou sem concorrência. O Centro Colombo, ainda maior, retirou-lhe alguns clientes. Veio anos mais tarde, o Vasco da Gama e o El Corte Inglés, qualquer um deles com o metro à porta a “descarregar” milhares de clientes. O Amoreiras ajustou-se à nova realidade. Transformou o que seria uma desvantagem numa vantagem. “É este sossego, este ambiente quase familiar que me fideliza”, diz a cliente Susana Marques. E engane-se quem pense que foram os outros centros entretanto inaugurados (entre os quais o Dolce Vita Tejo, na Amadora) que mais abalaram o shopping. A construção do túnel das Amoreiras foi altamente prejudicial. “Evitem as Amoreiras” devido às obras foi um slogan mortífero. No ano passado, a administração anunciou obras de remodelação, mas pouco mais fez do que substituir parte da cobertura. Nelson Leite, director-geral do Amoreiras optou por não dar explicações. Tomás Taveira, que, em 2009, fez saber que as travaria em tribunal, por terem sido entregues a outro arquitecto, também se remeteu ao silêncio. in http://jn.sapo.pt/paginainicial/pais/concelho.aspx?Distrito=Lisboa&Concelho=Lisboa&Option=Interior&content_id=1671877

LESS IS MORE, voilà une idée en architecture qui prend ici tout son sens. Maria Veloso et Vasco Aragao, le duo de AA signent ici un magnifique projet d'une simplicité incroyable. Mais simple ne veut pas forcement dire simpliste, le rapport à l'existant et très fort par la réutilisation des matériaux du site tout en amenant une modernité formelle et une élégance dans la juxtaposition des matières et le souci du détail bien mis en oeuvre. On notera la force de l'assise, un mur en pierre sèche typique du nord du Portugal avec ces villages de bergers en pierre sèche "les brandas", un habillage/bardage bois qui fonctionne comme une seconde peau et le cadrage en double vitrage qui par sa dimension permet en rapport direct à l'extérieur. Il s'agit d'un "open space" constitué de deux modules répondant aux besoins vitaux, un pour l'eau (salle de bain) l'autre pour le feu (cuisine), le reste étant libre à toute modularité. Pour ce qui est de la structure, de l'IPN, isolation et bardage bois, ce qui confère une grande légèreté à la construction, et une rapidité et facilité de mise en oeuvre ou assemblage. BEAU, SIMPLE et EFFICACE, tout ce que l'on aime. NG House Ville: St. Tirso - Portugal. Client: Norte Golfe. Architectes: Arquitectos Anónimos®, Maria Veloso and Vasco Aragão. Photos: © Abel Andrade Consultant Structure: Hélder Ferreira Superficie construite: 80m2 Superficie du site: 1100m2 Date du Projet: 2006 Livraison: 2006 in http://ustidesigner.over-blog.com/categorie-2035.html

BIBLIOTECA DE ESPANA by GIANCARLO MAZZANTI Santo Domingo Savio / Medellin COLOMBIA 2005 / http://www.giancarlomazzanti.com/

CHEFS DE PROJET : Fran Silvestre Navarro _ Mª José Sáez COLLABORATEURS: David Gallardo Llopis Carlos García Mateo Pedro Vicente López López José Vicente Miguel López José Ángel Ruíz Millo Fernando Usó Martín Alexandre Marcos Jorge Lucas Abad PROMOTEUR: Naves y Fábricas, S.L. | Guillermo Caballero de Luján CONSTRUCTEUR: COARCO LOCALISATION: Urbanización Santa Bárbara. Godella. Valencia SUPERFICIE PARCELLE: 1150,00 m2 SUPERFICIE CONSTRUITE: 782,85 m2 http://www.fransilvestrenavarro.com/

EDIFÍCIO D. JOÃO V LISBOA Localização: R.de Campolide- Sete Rios Promotor: Sociedade de Construções Chile, S.A. Área acima do solo: 34 300 m2 (156 fogos) Nº Pisos acima do solo: 26 Nº Pisos abaixo do solo: 3 Projecto: 2008

21Aug 2010 By Sebastian J — Filed under: Houses , Aland Islands, Daniel Andersson, Finland, Floating Architecture Daniel Andersson shared with us his project Icebergs. An iceberg only shows the tip above the water surface, the rest stays hidden below. These floating summer cottages in sheltered bays an lakes around Åland Islands, Finland investigates this concept. See more images and architect’s description after the break. Cabin villages are a normal sight aroun the Åland Islands. The client Ålands Hotell & Restaurangskola asked for a refine concept to attract more tourists during summer months. The functions are arranged in a spiral form elevating from the lowest point, the living room and up through the entrance to the roof which serves as a sun deck. The shape of the cottage acts a ship hull pushing away water to stay floating. Secondary pontoons are placed underneath the body and also works as stabilizers. The floor plan is 60m2 with clear definition between private and public. All functions are arranged around the central atrium that also contains the staircase. The atrium provides the light and underwater windows provide views. A sauna is located in the bathroom and is given easy access to run out, up the stairs to jump into the water. The cottages are anchored to the seabed in clam areas due to its vulnerability for high waves. Water and electricity is connected through underwater cables and pipes to a central station on the mainland. Precautionary bilge pumps are installed under the staircase to remove all water that would leak over. in http://www.archdaily.com/74221/icebergs-daniel-andersson/#more-74221

Lisbon Cruise Terminal / Carrilho da Graça Architects 24 Aug 2010 By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Awarded Competitions , Carrilho da Graça Architects, Lisbon, Portugal Competing against Aires Mateus and Gonçalo Byrne, William Consuegra, ARX and Zaha Hadid, Carrilho da Graça Architects were awarded first prize for their proposal for the Lisbon Cruise Terminal. The creation of the terminal provides the opportunity to address the interstitial space between the city and river. Designed as a simple volume that responds to the “desire of liberating the surrounding area”, the terminal will create a new public realm providing green spaces that can support varying activities for the city and adjacent neighborhoods. More images and more about the winning design after the break. “One of the key points of this proposal is the maintenance of the existing dock’s structure, reaffirming its memory by keeping the void space and recovering the surrounding stone walls,” explained the architects. The building’s simple and compact design solution create a flexible space for the necessary program. “The building is assumed towards the park and the city as a pavilion, an overflow system. It appears to be a floating volume, as it is broken, generating tension zones and inflections that suggest entry and exit points for the building,” added the architects. The building is wrapped by a series of paths which provide a mean to slowing “discovery of the surroundings while passing through the different facades.” The path ends at the roof which assumes the features of a stage, relating with the river and the city without any obstacles. IN http://www.archdaily.com/74608/lisbon-cruise-terminal-carrilho-da-graca-architects/#more-74608

in http://www.archdaily.com/74645/battle-over-midtowns-skyline/#more-74645

A imagem que mostras é uma caricatura daquilo que pode ser feito não é para ser levada a serio. A leitura que eu faço é a de imaginar uma torre não como um edifício mas sim como a criação de diversas plataformas de lotes onde se pode construir inúmeras moradias unifamiliares. Tu questionas porque razão havemos de ter milhares de tectos se podes ter um só tecto. Respondo em duas palavras: Privacidade e Vizinhança. Ao teres a possibilidade de criar a tua própria moradia unifamiliar aumentas a tua privacidade e diminuis as desvantagens da vizinhança. Porem manténs as vantagens da Vizinhança. Este projecto recria na verdade uma nova topografia para assentar a cidade. Ou seja, em vez de afirmar que este projecto é a criação de uma arquitectura podemos afirmar que se trata afinal de uma Estrutura. Esta estrutura afinal recria uma nova topografia, um prolongamento da superfície terrestre. E nesta nova superficie terrestre são construídas novos edifícios. Esta mesma estrutura é rematada por uma torre. Aqui a topografia artificial transforma-se em Arquitectura.

in http://www.evolo.us/architecture/hydrascrapers-in-shanghai-are-a-network-of-air-purifiers/#more-4797 Esta rede de purificadores pode ser vista como Jardins Suspensos que podem ser usufruídos pela população de Shanghai. Mas tambem podemos imaginar que alem de Jardins podemos imaginar neles uma nova topografia.

French architect Jaubert Francois proposes a new skyscraper for Paris that consists of two towers joined by a vertical park that starts at the ground plane and finishes at a soccer pitch on the rooftop. The “Hyper-Tower” is a mixed-use development with residential and sports facilities on the top levels and commercial and leisure areas in the first floors. The structure is a reinterpretation of the Arche de La Defense but instead of creating an un-programmed void, Jaubert Francois creates a lush garden for the city. The interior spaces spill into the green void through terraces in each level. in http://www.evolo.us/architecture/ecological-skyscraper-in-paris-with-green-terraces-in-each-floor/#more-4838

For the first time in its modern history, Syria had to import wheat after a serious drought in 2008 where the majority of the farmers’ crops failed. At the same time, the fertile land of their oases is rapidly disappearing under the increasing urban sprawl – water and green open spaces are very precious commodities in this region. In response to the alarming situation in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries, architects James Murray and Tobey Lloyd from the United Kingdom proposed a series of vertical hydroponics oases which provide housing and allotments for local residents. It only utilizes ten percent of the water needed in regular farming. Hydroponic towers can increase the yield and quality of horticulture crops. At the same time, by eliminating the soil, you eliminate soil borne disease and weeds while gaining precise control over quality. Offices and laboratories are also provided for the scientists as well as housing for the caretakers. A local market is provided at the base of the tower where local produce will be sold. An external and internal “waffle” structure provides anchor for “growth” pods. A series of structural pipes feed these hydroponic pods which plug-in to the main structural frame. The project also counts with water collectors, purification tanks, wind turbines, and solar panels. in http://www.evolo.us/architecture/vertical-oasis-in-syria-is-a-hydroponic-farm/#more-4915

A nível pratico este edifício é inconcebível. E não devemos olhar para este projecto como o Objecto Final mas como um Manifesto Teórico para reflectir. A Ideia da Cidade num Edifício não é nova. A Unidade de Marselha assenta na ideia de ser uma pequena cidade. Para Koolhaas os arquitectos nova-iorquinos no inicio do sec XX seguiam esta ideia de criar pequenas cidades em cada quadra. Mas aqui a ideia é transformar um edifício como um prolongamento da cidade.

1 . Coloquei este projecto por ter um conceito interessante. Existe uma continuidade da cidade horizontal para a cidade vertical. Existe uma tentativa de criar uma cidade vertical que podia ser mais explorada. 2 . Existe nele uma narrativa em que a cidade se transforma num banal edifício de escritórios que tem como referencia o World Trade Center. Ou, vendo de cima para baixo, a torre que se vai adaptando á envolvente que o rodeia. 3 . Esta Ideia de criar uma Cidade Vertical não é nova. O que vemos aqui é um "poema urbano-arquitectónico". O Dialogo da suposta Cidade Vertical com a Torre enquanto Edifício. Juntamos Urbanismo com Arquitectura. Quando falamos de cidade devemos falar em Urbanismo e não de Arquitectura. Este Poema tenta então recriar um Dialogo entre duas entidades morfológicas distintas - A Cidade vs Edifício.

While the Kota is the center of power, a manifestation of Jakarta, as the center of the Indonesian government in all activities: social, cultural, economic, and political; the Kampung is an unstructured, informal settlement characterized by high population density, poverty, and compact community patterns. The forced dispersal of Kampung communities disrupts social networks and forces citizens to horizontally relocate to inhabitable flood plains. A vertical Kota infrastructure for Kampung settlement condenses social relations and provides a foundation for the future of the city. In order for Indonesia to participate globally a symbiotic relationship must exist between Kota and Kampung. Architects Robert Gilson and Catherine Caldwell proposed this project which is interested in the multiple scales of economic symbiosis within the skyscraper as an urban from. The ‘Kampunkota’ is a tower that seeks to engage the wider possibilities of vertical dwelling. It is a gradient of Indonesian lifestyle that challenges and respects the socioeconomic divisions within Jakarta. The skyscraper emerges from a Kampung, blending perfectly with its urban fabric and providing new infrastructure. As it goes up, the tower slowly transforms into a Kota for more cultural and luxurious lifestyle. The idea is to create a fusion between the two with intersections, where a new type of lifestyle emerges – one that benefits from the wealthy Kota, but nurtures from the strong communal bonds and traditions of the Kampung. in http://www.evolo.us/architecture/kampunkota-skyscraper-blends-two-lifestyles-in-jakarta/

Bosque Altozano Club House by Parque Humano The house occupies a natural ledge on a hillside looking towards the panoramic valley of Montana Monarca, in Morelia, Mexico. The building has been conceived as a homogenous stone mass, hollowing out a huge opening that slopes from ceiling to floor, framing the hillside panorama. A sloped celosia grid meant to evoke renaissance perspective drawings was placed in the middle of the core in order to distort and emphasize the view. The amber light filtering through the artisanal stained glass placed on the celosia window blends with the colored space, generating a chromatic continuity that during the course of the day moves imperceptibly through an endless scale of oranges, red and yellows. Light also enters through two wooden skylights located in the middle of the room, helping to balance the colored light that comes from the window. A few rich, tactile materials were used in combination with the light to create a strong ambiance. The program inside the house consists of a dining space, an open terrace, and a lounge area. Apart from the timber on the roof, the house consists of a steel frame covered by local stone. Visit the Parque Humano website – here. Photography by Paul Rivera, ArchPhoto in http://www.contemporist.com/2010/06/11/bosque-altozano-club-house-by-parque-humano/#more-14789 Architects: Parque Humano Location: Morelia, Mexico Project Team: Jorge Covarrubias + Benjamin Gonzalez Henze with Said Arias, Omar Martinez Client: Bosque Altozano, CP Francisco Medina, Ing. Jorge Casar, Lic. Jose Carredano Structure: Ing. Ricardo Camacho Electrical: Islas Ingeniería Interior Design: Parque Humano Landscape Design: Parque Humano Lighting Design: Parque Humano, Arten Luz, Javier Ten General Contractor: Bosque Altozano Project Area: 800 sqm Project Year: 2007-2009 Photographs: Paul Rivera, ArchPhoto The house occupies a natural ledge on a hillside looking towards the panoramic valley of Montaña Monarca, in Morelia, Mexico. The building has been conceived as a homogenous stone mass, hollowing out a huge opening that slopes from ceiling to floor, framing the hillside panorama. A sloped celosia grid meant to evoke renaissance perspective drawings was placed in the middle of the core in order to distort and emphasize the view. The amber light filtering through the artisanal stained glass placed on the celosia window blends with the colored space, generating a chromatic continuity that during the course of the day moves imperceptibly through an endless scale of oranges, red and yellows. Light also enters through two wooden skylights located in the middle of the room, helping to balance the colored light that comes from the window in http://www.archdaily.com/63376/bosque-altozano-club-house-parque-humano/

Mountains & Opening House by Eastern Design Office This building is a design room for a Japanese sneaker brand as well as a residential house. The site is in Takarazuka-city of Hyogo Prfecture. It is located in an exclusive residential district that commands an entire view of the Osaka Plain. The architecture is built on the slope of a hill with an elevation of 330 meters. The level difference of the site is 8 meters. Taking advantage of the slope, one of the characteristics of this site, an architecture which suits the desires of two persons is built. A. To be underground in the warmth of the earth. B. To fly like a bird. 1. The site has an 8 meter difference in height. 8 meters is higher than a two-story building. The lower floor is in the ground of the slanted site. It is invisible from the upper road. 2. There is a bedrock layer 1.5 meters beneath the ground surface. It is so hard that even a shovel car could not crush it. Dig to the bedrock and the foundation is supported by this bedrock. 3. Build two mounds using the soil dug. Insert a residence between these two mounds. 4. Built on “a new topography-mountain”, all parts of the building are close to the earth. The mountains are designed to emphasize the slope. An exclusive residential area on a hill features a good commanding view as its sales point. Development of this kind of community is planned in a similar way with no individuality. We consider this phenomenon as “a loss of topography”. We have dreamed of a mountain whose slope was scraped away. The lost mountain is designed into this architecture. Architecture is not built on a site where the slope is flattened. By contrary the angle of the slope is increased, which results in two mounds. Between these two mounds a living space is built, and the upper story floating on these two mounds is a design room. 1. Observe the Gulf of Osaka, high-rise buildings, Kobe port, Kansai Airport, Itami Airport, and shadowy blue mountains. 2. The land originally slanted at an angle of 18 degrees. Mounds are built there to let the slope undulate. 3. These mountain waves are topography where no previous topography existed. The upper floor was designed to float on these mountain waves. 4. We have designed the form which passes over the waves. Is it a dream of a long-distance ship going over high waves or is it a dragon? The dream of this architecture is like a voyage setting out. An 18 meter-long terrace. The sea and a range of mountains 60 kilometers away can be observed. When standing on this terrace, rows of other houses in this area are out of sight. This is the way we have arranged this architecture and its openings. You can get a sense that your body is slightly floating. It is our intention to give the sense of being on a deck of ships, but not in the house. The design room on the upper floor of this architecture is a ship. The plan is designed in L-shape. The edge protruding greatly from the slope is an opening that swallows the outside. Straight eaves run amidst the curvilinear forms of the topography. The eaves project in a powerful manner not to be beaten by the inherent force of the topography. They are thin, thick, short, long and carved. To be protected by the house, yet at the same time have the feeling of flying away. Making two extremes into one. This is realized in the architecture in the corresponding forms of the upper and lower floors. It is a cave and also a nautical form. It is flying away, yet it is anchored. It is drifting, yet it is homely. It is sky, and it is Earth. It is far, yet it is near. 1.5 meters beneath the ground surface is hard bedrock. The foundation is raised on this bedrock. For this, the excavated earth was used and the red curving line was designed to achieve this. In other words, by heaping up the excavated soil, a new undulating mountainous topography is built. The lower floor is built under the mountain. The form which runs over the mountains is the upper floor. The corresponding upper and lower floors are made into one form. This is a slope when architecture is erased. The architecture of the “house” is a “mountain.” The plan for this slope is to shape the mountain structurally, but that goal was to let people feel the uninterrupted flow of the curves that define the mountain. Let the people have a sense of closeness to the wave-like mountain. A small change to the curve will lead to a loss of balance, affecting the way openings should be designed, the mountain, and the entire architecture will also have to be change its form. However at this moment not even one person felt unnatural when standing on this undulating slop. Putting the ideas of a “slope” into order. The correlation between rising and falling(up and down) , crossing far and nearby nature. The multifarious worlds that people can sense in a place called “slope” A person standing on a slope. A person crouching on a slope. A person flying off a slope. Only on a slope can people look back on the road they’ve climbed and, also can look at the way they will go from now on. It can be called a visional place that inspires people. Mountain/Opening (summary) 1. A “house” is a “mountain.” An “office” is a large “opening. 2. It is topography without topography. The site is located in an exclusive residential area on slanted ground. High-class communities look “similar” in any area both at home and abroad. This is because the original topography is rebuilt into even land to build houses. Leveled ground has no more topography. We, therefore, built a new topography there. 3. Two mounds are made on a slope. This is the “topography” of the house. The house is “in the mountain.” We have designed a floor to float on top of these mounds. There is an office inside it. It is a design room for the maker of a Japanese sneaker brand, Dragon Beard. 4. The lower living space is surrounded on three sides by the soil from the slope and mounds, which looks like a cave where a bear is hibernating. A house built in the earth gives you relief 5. The upper floor is as open as birds flying in the sky. The big curvy opening seems like a dragon flying over the mountain. Far-off sea and mountains in the distance can be observed. 6. Protected by the earth and flying into an open air. This is an architecture where extremes meet into one. 7. The site has an eight-meter difference in height. The nature of the soil is bedrock, so it is very hard. Taking advantages of this level difference (i.e. slope, hard bedrock is not raked but on the contrary, the slope is emphasized. The mountains are also utilized for technical significance as well. Deck on the Mountain The Material of the Mountain The outside (exterior) mountain is formed into a mound by piling up soil excavated from the slope. The surface of the mound is a type of raw material made from crushed marble called “Kansui”. Glittering fragments of crushed marble on a whity surface shine brilliantly. There are two white mountains. The living quarters are inside the white mountain while atop the white mountainous wave is a deck. One of the two white mountains functions as a structural support for this building, while the other mountain conceals the bathroom. These two mountains are also set into the living spaces of the residential quarters. The Structure of the Deck The framework of the upper floor is steel and the lower floor is reinforced concrete. The upper floor evokes a sense of being on the deck of a boat and in order to achieve this feeling architectural columns and walls are designed as to make one unaware of their existence. Entering the house from the northern road, a 14 meter wide opening and the 16.5 meter x3 meter terrace outside create the feeling that your own body is floating in the scenery. This is a deck. To achieve this, we used two different methods. 1. Revaluation of the trusses 2. Concealing the structural members in the curves 1. It is not immediately apparent; however, since horizontal slits were cut into the northern wall, trusses were set into it. It is like the structure of a bridge. Bridges are set into the upper part of the horizontal slits which allow the floor to float in the air while concealing the structural device. 2. Columns are in the curves forming the openings and this also is concealed. The curves of the openings respond each other with the curves of the mountains. A fantasy created by the repeated curves appearing over and over again. Living Space + Opening + Mountain The lower floor fully utilizes the slope of the mountain. The hidden areas become mountains while the areas that is required light become valleys. These rolling undulations are all part of the design. Two Horizontal Eaves The upper and lower floors are used in different ways. The upper floor is a design room. The lower floor houses residential quarters. That is there are public spaces within the residential quarters. The demand of how the spaces should be is different; therefore, the structure is also different. Taking balance to unify the upper and lower portions, the curves of the mountain are made continuous with the curves of the openings. There are two thin iron plate eaves on the openings: one with the length of 14 meters on the upper floor and the other with 16.5 meters on the lower floor. The thickness of the iron plate is only 9mm. The straight line of these two eaves emphasizes the expansive spreading horizontal width of this house. Consequently, this makes you forget that the house is on a sloped site. Blue and White The overall whiteness is not just a general white coat of paint. It is white mixed with blue. This is because we want white that corresponds with the blue sky. In addition, we intend this white to reflect the light of fragments of marble scattered in the raw material which covers on the surface of two newly built mountains. Location: Takarazuka Hyogo Japan Client: AMERICAN CLUB INTERNATIONAL CO, LTD Usage : Office ,House Site area: 711.46 m2 Total floor area: 361.84m2 Structural Engineering: HOJO STRUCTURE RESEARCH INSTITUTE Constructor: Fukasaka Co., Ltd Photographer: Koichi Torimura Anna Nakamura+Taiyo Jinno/EASTERN design office in http://www.contemporist.com/2010/07/12/mountains-opening-house-by-eastern-design-office/#more-16561

House in Pozuelo de Alarcón by A-cero Architects The balance on which rest the three principles defining this construction, beauty, firmness and utility give us the key to confront its forcefulness, which emerges as a great sculptural work. It is a plastic reality: the singularity of the house defines a researching purpose that places value on aesthetic originality and artistic excellence. It stands out for its geometric purity, material sophistication and compositional elegance. The travertine marble shell is understood as a refuge and protection of identity. The purity of shapes creates a complex that is consistent with a structure formed only by concrete walls with an absence of intermediate pillars. It stands on a plot situated on a longitudinal north-south axis that brings sunlight into all the rooms. The slope of the land allows all the storeys to have an issue to the outside. The entire architecture appears framed within an exceptional environment: a garden of generous dimensions continues the harmonious lines of the construction, like a soft rug dotted with abundant planters and flowerbeds. A large steel beam marks the entrance via a colossal door. Inside, the window concept disappears and turns into openings. The size is suitable, proportioned and appropriate, thus conferring importance to the open spaces, the soft colours and the clean lines of the finishes. Beauty is localised in essential and simple minutiae and finds emotion in the detail, becoming the axis on which its logic turns and the point of support for its aesthetic projection. The visual experience of brightness and colour impregnates the architecture with its placid and unanimous sensibility. There is an evident link between the rooms and their outward continuity, with routes marked by the absence of doors, which are replaced by panels. Noteworthy in this line is the 17-metre window that shifts inwards, opening up the living room to the garden via one of the laterals. The rooms are comfortable, ample, with slight decorations and everything reduced to essentials, through volumes situated on two axes and two floors with a basement housing the garage in a startling design, the gym, a cellar, the music room and the indoor swimming pool. Revealing great skill in the layout, we find on the ground floor a large cylinder in marble, a material present in all the rooms on this floor, which organises what develops around it: the living rooms, dining rooms and service zone joined via a staircase with a magnificent red backdrop from which hangs a work of art in grand display and with the upper floor housing the bedrooms, the bathrooms finished in ash wood and the library, arranged as a great box of books, around a glass walkway overlooking the main drawing room. Visit the A-cero Architects website – here. in http://www.contemporist.com/2009/12/07/house-in-pozuelo-de-alarcon-by-a-cero-architects/

Se tiverem um exemplar do Nova Iorque Delirious de Rem Koolhaas e se ja o leram devem ter visto a ilustração de Nova Amesterdão. Koolhaas refere que a planta da cidade nada tinha a ver com a Nova Amsterdao na altura. A mesma planta segundo Koolhaas viria a ter uma influencia no comportamento dos urbanistas, arquitectos e investidores imobiliários na construção de Nova Iorque. Agora vejam as diferenças entre a ilustração de Nova Amesterdão que aparece no livro e uma ilustração de Lisboa anterior ao Terremoto de 1755. Nova Amesterdão 1671 Lisboa Antiga Via Strange Maps in http://bigthink.com/ideas/21500

Fotografias

IN http://www.dailyicon.net/2008/10/towada-art-center-by-ryue-nishizawa/

House SB, Ljubljana by Bevk Perovic Arhitekti October 6, 2008 Filed Under: House Design House SB, Ljubljana Architect: Bevk Perovic Arhitekti Floor area: 190 m2 Project: 2002 Built: 2003 – 2004 Address: Pot v Smre?je 28a, SI-1000 Ljubljana Type: single family residence Project team: Matija Bevk, Vasa Perovi? Photo: M.Paternoster This single family house was designed by Bevk Perovic Arhitekti and located in a suburban settlement on Ljubljana’s outskirts, House SB is not at all a typical Slovenian single-family house. The architects opted for a patio typology with two wings on different levels framing a small garden area. While the house opens welcomingly towards its surroundings, its street face is almost standoffish. But unlike traditional houses, House SB is not hidden from curious passers-by behind a fence. Instead, the house itself is designed as a fence that keeps street life at distance. The light-filled living area in the upper wing is an open loft space that contrasts with the seclusion of the bedroom area below. At the intersection of these two overlapping volumes one can appreciate the complexity of the house. A rigorous use of materials (the whole house, including pitched roof and terrace, is clad in larch wood planks) and lack of decoration give the architectural concept its strength. Everything unnecessary has been omitted leaving the surfaces smooth and abstract. About Bevk Perovic Arhitekti: Office founded in 1997. Run by Matija Bevk and Vasa J. Perovi?. Matija Bevk, b. 1972, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1999 graduated from Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Vasa J. Perovi?, MA BiA, b. 1965, Belgrade, YU. 1992 graduated from Faculty of Architecture, Belgrade, YU, 1992-94 masters degree Berlage Institute of Architecture, Amsterdam, NL in http://www.besthousedesign.com/2008/10/06/house-sb-ljubljana-bevk-perovic-arhitekti/

Return to the High Line in New York • Two years ago Paul Owen visited the High Line, a stretch of abandoned elevated railway that was being transformed into a park in the sky. Now that the line is open, he returned to photograph one of New York's most intriguing new attractions New York's historic elevated train line becomes a parkManhattan's iconic High Line carved a route through the 20th century at a height of three storeys. Now it is to be reborn as a green space Paul Owen guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 November 2008 17.05 GMT Article history The tracks of New York's years ... The High Line overhead railway in New York in 2000. Photograph: copyright Joel Sternfield 2000 From the tracks of the High Line – the derelict elevated railway on New York's Lower West Side currently being transformed into a mile-and-a-half-long "park in the sky" – this most bustling of cities seems suddenly quiet and still. Three storeys above the hubbub of Chelsea – where a few days earlier people had queued round the block to vote for Barack Obama – even the perpetual horns of taxi cabs seem muted, and the only human voices heard are the occasional shouts from workmen. The Hudson river flows gently out towards the skyscrapers of Jersey City. Golfers thwack balls towards the huge nets of Chelsea Piers. Up on the tracks, the concrete path that will form the backbone of the new park splits off in places to weave between seed beds, recalling the plant life that sprang up between the tracks during nearly 30 years of disuse. Elsewhere, between new wooden benches and young beech and pine trees, stretches of the steel track have been restored to their original positions. At two points during this first section of the line – due to open in spring – the route ducks right through huge gaps in private buildings where goods trains used to deliver directly to the upper floors of warehouses. The park will end at a new public plaza in the fashionable Meatpacking District, overlooked by a new outpost of the Whitney Museum of American Art. The High Line has attracted embarrassingly lavish praise since the project to save and renovate it began almost a decade ago. In 2001, Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker wrote of the then-overgrown and under-threat tracks: "The High Line does not offer a God's-eye view of the city, exactly, but something rarer, the view of a lesser angel: of a cupid in a Renaissance painting, of the putti looking down on the Nativity manger." But Friends of the High Line, the campaign group that saved the line from demolition and is now in charge of rebuilding it, seems to be seeking a simpler reaction from the public, something closer to photographer Joel Sternfield's verdict upon seeing the tracks for the first time: "It's green! It's a railroad! It's rural! Where am I?" The High Line was constructed in the early 1930s as part of New York's West Side railway. Train tracks had originally been built at ground level along the middle of 10th Avenue, but this proved so dangerous that the stretch became known as "Death Avenue", and trains had to be preceded by a man on horseback, nicknamed the West Side Cowboy, waving a red flag as a warning to pedestrians. The High Line was the solution. A mile and a half long and 30ft above street level at its highest point, it stretched from the Meatpacking District on the Lower West Side up to West 34th Street, level with the Empire State Building, covering 22 blocks in total. At certain points the tracks disappeared into the upper floors of warehouse buildings in order to deliver meat, milk or manufactured goods, reappearing again on the other side. But as the freight industry switched from rail to road, use of the High Line declined. Part of it was pulled down in the 1960s, and the last train ran in 1980, carrying "three boxcars full of frozen turkeys" for Thanksgiving, according to actor Ethan Hawke, who narrates a video about the line on the Friends of the High Line website. In the years that followed, residents and businesses in Chelsea lobbied for the disused tracks – now overgrown with weeds and plants – to be torn down. In 1999, two locals, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, met at a community meeting and formed the idea of trying to save the High Line and turn it into a "park in the sky". "We looked for other organisations working to save the structure but nobody was," says David. A former magazine writer, David was working on an article about the changing face of Chelsea when he first noticed the line. "It just captured my imagination. It seemed like an amazing opportunity to create something that would allow people to experience the city in an utterly new way. To go and tear it down without considering how we could use it seemed a waste to me." After forming Friends of the High Line, David and Hammond persuaded the rail company that then owned the site to take them up on to the tracks. "It was extremely exciting," says David. "We went up through one of the old factory buildings. I remember stepping out on to the tracks, and there's an incredible 13-block-long stretch immediately: this incredible vista of wild grasses and flowers. It took my breath away." With the help of celebrity backers such as Hawke, fellow actor Edward Norton, and designer Diane von Fürstenberg, FHL managed to overturn mayor Rudy Giuliani's demolition orders and get the new administration of Michael Bloomberg behind the project. The group held a design competition for the refurbishment or reuse of the tracks, and proposals – including a rollercoaster and a mile-and-a-half-long swimming pool – were publicly displayed at Grand Central station. The winning design, by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, was chosen in 2004, and resembles a long walkway above the streets, flanked by lawns, flowers and trees, with numerous benches and access points via stairs and escalators. The model seems to be the Promenade Plantée in Paris, another elevated railway that has been remade as a long, overhead public park. Also similar is north London's Parkland Walk, a trail following the line of a former train track from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace. Groundbreaking for the new High Line took place in April 2006, with Bloomberg in attendance as well as New York senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, and the first stretch of the line is set to be completed early next year, with the second finished in 2010. The line runs through former industrial neighbourhoods now defined by flats, restaurants, nightclubs, art, and fashion, and this area is being transformed by the project. The 2005 re-zoning that approved the park also allowed for new construction alongside the track and last year New York magazine identified an already-emerging "High Line neighbourhood", complete with "glittering retail spaces and restaurants and condos", as well as High Line-themed restaurants and festivals. In what may be a sign of things to come, in September Calvin Klein celebrated its 40th anniversary by building a temporary structure leading up to a section of the line and throwing a party up there featuring actors Halle Berry, Claire Danes and Jared Leto, among others. A couple of streets up from the new Whitney outpost, LA's celebrity-friendly Standard hotel is set to open a branch above the line between 12th and 13th Streets. David says the credit crunch has had some impact on all this building work. "There was a flurry of building starts at the time the High Line was approved; there are certainly fewer things starting now. But there is still an extraordinary amount of activity: cranes all over the place and numerous buildings under construction. "We hoped it would attract architects and developers who would create extraordinary and original buildings along it – and that's really come to pass." David hopes the High Line will not only be used by people strolling to work or eating lunch, but will also become "a real destination for visitors to New York … a cultural destination". Craig Schwitter of Buro Happold, the lead engineer on the project, suggests it could host open-air markets, concerts and other artistic events. The project that began with an attempt to save the elevated wilderness that Alan Weisman, in his book The World Without Us, identified as an example of nature taking back the urban landscape has now morphed into something rather different: a regeneration project for an entire neighbourhood. But David is happy with that. "It's at once a preservation project about the city's past and a construction project about the city's future," he says. "The High Line has always evoked the passage of time, with the incredible landscape that has sprung up on top of it." He had wanted the new design to retain some of that original, unique landscape, "but there was no way it could be walked on without being destroyed. The challenge for the design team was to do that and allow the public to come up in a safe and accessible way." To that end, the plan uses plant material "pushing up through walkways" and reintroduces railway tracks in a number of locations. At two locations the new High Line will go through "doughnut holes" in private buildings, just like the old freight trains did when the buildings were warehouses. "It will be quite clear to visitors how it worked," says David. David, 45, and Hammond, 39, a former painter and consultant, now run Friends of the High Line full-time. The group, which has a staff of 16, is itself now transforming – into a "conservancy", an organisation that will manage and maintain the park in partnership with New York City council. David and Hammond are currently trying to raise both the $50m to build the park ($22m has been raised already) and an unspecified sum to maintain it and pay for staff once it has been completed. Yet above 30th Street, where the line snakes around the West Side rail yards, FHL is still the campaigning group it once was. This section of the line is still under threat and could be torn down as part of the redevelopment of that area. "That's something we are fighting very strongly," says David. That part of the line has not yet been designed, although the basic plan is to connect it to the Hudson River Park at 34th Street. New York is a city of spectacular views from towering vantage points. But according to David the High Line is different. "It's called the High Line, but it's not that high. It's three storeys off the ground. I think that's what's so special. It's not that experience on top of the Empire State Building where everybody is like ants or little toys. You can shout down to people on the street. It's connected to street life but at a distance. There's a sense of remove." "There used to be a lot of elevated rail in the city," notes Schwitter, "but that was all removed after world war two." The High Line restores that perspective, he says. "A quieter perspective, somewhere to walk quietly, and observe the city." in http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/nov/18/new-york-high-line-park The High Line in New York The High Line elevated railway in New York - disused since 1980 - is now being rebuilt as a mile-and-a-half long public park. See the line as it used to be and in its new incarnation as a serene platform from which to view the city. Captions by Paul Owen GALLERY http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/jul/13/return-high-line-new-york