QUILOTOA CRATER BELVEDERE | Vertigo-like experience of a flooded volcano

Turquoise waters, a breathtaking walk into the void.

The Quilotoa is an active volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes: its crater is flooded with turquoise waters, making it an extraordinary scenery and one of the country’s most breathtaking attractions. The caldera has an altitude of 3,974 meters above sea level, and its diameter is approximately 3 km. Its surrounding vegetation includes low grasses, endemic shrubs and small trees. All these elements create a landscape of restrained beauty. Shalalá is one of the communities that have ancient ties to the volcano.

Jorge Andrade Benítez, Javier Mera Luna and Daniel Moreno Flores designed the Quilotoa Crater Overlook.

Though the  the Quilotoa Crater and its lake can be viewed from many angles, the belvedere, which is set on the top edge of the caldera, creates an unparalleled viewing experience, thanks to its two-fold use: one may choose to reach the edge of the crater and walk over the cliff on the extending platform, which produces a vertigo-like sensation. At the same time, a space for passive viewing is created below the platform, where the user is protected from the elements and is able to have a lengthy moment of contemplation and introspection.

TYPOLOGY | The covered market

How does a typology survive?

The COVERED MARKET  is a special building that offers, thanks to its structure,  the proper space for buying and selling, creating a direct contact between the seller and the customer.

Cultural Center in Castelo Branco | Josep Lluís Mateo

”The project presented the challenge of addressing the great complexity of the public space and the various traffic and urban problems of the historical center of Castelo Branco. The aim of the Cultural Center was to turn the old town into a cultural nerve center for the city”.

Project by Mateo Arquitectura

Graphics by Archiscapes

Original photos by Adrià Goula

 

12 times NYC… or some other city with an Empire State Building

As seen by photographer Randy Scott Slavin:  In his work called “Alternate Perspectives” NYC becomes an unknown city of nowhere, only its landmarks are recognizable.

“In my music videos, I’ve continually tried to take concepts to the next level, to push the ideas to be more engaging, moving and stimulating—and I approach photography with the same philosophy. When I began shooting landscapes, I was compelled to push the perspective.”

Utilizing panoramic photography in his very own way, he is able to convey the sense of place without binding it to a specific geographic location or to a known site. In his pictures there’s a sort of overflow which hints at NYC and, looking closely, Times Square and the Empire State Building are obviously there.

However, these are not pictures of Times Square or the Empire State Building; or of New York, for that matter.

They are a surrealist collage of colors, textures and elements.

Times Square

Empire State

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Randy Scott Slavin is an award-winning director and photographer. He is based in New York.

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THE (architectural) HORROR STORY >> monstrocity #1

The ugliest buildings in the world.

“A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.”

Frank Lloyd Wright

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“One Athens” apartment building | Doxiadis and Divercity

How does one turn a modernist office building into contemporary luxury living?

Conversion of a well known 1950s landmark, originally designed by Constantinos Doxiadis, one of the leading figures of modern Greek architecture. Located in the foothills of Mount Lycabettus, the site was also the headquarters of Doxiadis and home to Athen’s technological institute and first computer.

The project by Divercity: as if modernism could benefit from today’s materials…

Orange cube | JACOB + MACFARLANE Architects >>> a controlled explosion

Who bit the  orange  cube?

Dominique Jakob and Brendan Macfarlane are Paris-based architects who designed the appropriately named Orange Cube in Lyon, France. The building is part of the larger “Confluences” urban planning project to revitalize Lyon’s waterfront.

Surprisingly enough, it is not a museum, but an office building.

The building, however out of this world it may seem, is actually quite rational in its design process: which makes it all the more remarkable, when you notice how inventive it looks like. Designed as a simple cube, it literally conforms to its zoning boundaries in plan, only to be carved and pierced in section and elevation, allowing natural daylight into the heart of the building. The light-well, which would have been necessary anyway, is ingeniously tilted and extruded to face the river and direct views towards the water. In addition to this, it helps ventilation enter the building. 

The lightweight façade is filled with random openings and is finished off with a second canopy, which is punctured with pixilated patterns that are supposed to recall the flow of the river. This outer shell, though plain yet perforated at first sight, is in fact void for over 60% of its surface.

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“We were very aware of changing an area that was a depressed kind of no-man’s-land and giving it a new energy”

[ MacFarlane ]

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Matadero cineteca & contemporary art centre, Madrid

BETWEEN SPACE-DESIGN AND CRAFTSMANSHIP.

a scene out of “Cosmopolis” into a movie by Godard

By  Churtichaga + Quadra-Salcedo, the 1908-built slaughterhouse and livestock market of Arganzuela transformed into an art centre / cinema.

Woven irrigation pipes, which recall the old art of interwoven baskets; bare-faced brick walls; kilns (i.e. ovens), as a reminder of the Matadero’s old function. 

The fragile balance among the different finishes, materials, lights, spacious volumes and their industrial scale make up for a seductive place,  especially for them vintage-lovers, and a spectacular effect. 

For a cultural complex that exudes nostalgia – from the use of poor materials as a reminder of craftsmanship and popular techniques, to the paved piazza in front – the clash with contemporary art forms and sustainability issues is a remarkable and pleasant surprise.

Where do these unprecedented interiors come from?

Innovation in Detail.

DETAILS | An illustrated library of architectural details (part 1)

Outstanding projects revolving around exceptional details

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Renzo Piano | the Menil Collection – Houston, USA

Roof detail

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Renzo Piano | High Museum expansion – Atlanta, USA

Metal façade and roof/skylight detail collecting zenital light

Arena do Morro in Brasil | HERZOG & DE MEURON

How to upgrade a creativity-oriented favela?

“Arena do Morro” is the first project that has been realised within a wider urban proposal to redevelop one of Natal’s favelas.

Arena do Morro – Night view1

Arena do Morro – View1

Arena do Morro – View2

From the architects, Herzog De Meuron:

Mãe Luiza is not a typical “Favela”. Its identity and character have been formed both by the unique natural setting and the creativity of the people of this strong community. Mãe Luiza is nestled between the protected natural zone of the dunes of Natal and the commercially developed oceanfront.

The existing structure of the old gymnasium – a concrete field framed by columns and trusses without a roof or walls – defines the starting point for our project. Its geometry is extruded over the entire building area, creating a single large roof whose shape is limited and defined by the site boundaries. The roof introduces a new scale in Mãe Luiza and at the same time establishes a relationship to the widespread traditional approach of using a generous roof to create large public spaces in the North East of Brazil. It becomes a symbol of the community.