From Heavenly Heights To Dungeons

From Heavenly Heights To Dungeons
From Heavenly Heights To Dungeons

Video: From Heavenly Heights To Dungeons

Video: From Heavenly Heights To Dungeons
Video: Alatheia - Heavenly Heights (Original Mix) Beyond The Stars Recordings [Promo Video] 2024, March
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The organizers of the Pritzker Prize made two important announcements this fall. First, the next award ceremony, regardless of the name of the laureate, will be held in Beijing. Despite the fact that recently China has been at the center of world architectural life, and many of the Pritzker Prize winners are building there, the ceremony has never been held in China (although the prize has existed since 1979), and this situation should be changed. The Beijing City Hall strongly supported this decision.

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In addition, the jury for the Pritzker Prize

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Included were Zaha Hadid and Stephen Breyer, a US Supreme Court Justice. If before Hadid, this gradually renewing committee included other "stars" of architecture (for example, Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano), then there were no prominent lawyers there yet. Breuer's appointment was dictated not only by his extensive experience in making a variety of difficult decisions, but also by his active participation in the federal program for the construction of administrative (including judicial) buildings designed by the best American architects.

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Zaha Hadid also attracted press attention in connection with her work at home in Iraq. She is already designing a new building for the Iraqi central bank, and is now invited to participate in a competition for

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an opera house project in Baghdad. The Iraqi authorities, obviously, see in cooperation with the famous compatriot a reason to demonstrate to the whole world: the country has completely returned to a peaceful life and is busy with the development of culture and art.

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As for Hadid's native London, his architectural "star" temporarily became Vladimir Tatlin: in connection with the exhibition "Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935" at the Royal Academy of Arts, its tower was erected in the courtyard of its building - "Monument III Communist International ". A bright red 10-meter monument was erected under the direction of the British bureau Dixon Jones. The exhibition will run until January 22, 2012.

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But in Great Britain they are keenly interested not only in the Russian avant-garde, but also in their own heritage. The Guardian newspaper polled its readers to determine the best building in the country. It was Durham Cathedral (12th century), an outstanding monument of the Norman style, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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The pavilion in the Belgian city of Limburg conditionally continues the theme of cult architecture. Called Reading Between the Lines, this facility by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh is shaped like a small church. It is composed of steel modules forming an openwork "masonry"; depending on the point of view, its walls and roof seem to be monolithic, then melting in the air.

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Also related to the sacred sphere is the temporary altar, built for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Freiburg. This altar, designed by the famous engineer Werner Sobek, was installed on the city's airfield; the mass was attended by about 100,000 people.

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The altar was something like a stage with a cantilever ceiling; all of its parts - a metal frame with a laminate cladding, a polymer floor membrane - were designed for easy assembly and disassembly, as well as for reuse. At the base of the altar, the sacristy and auxiliary rooms were hidden. For the service were used pieces of furniture created by Zobek for the visit of the Pope to Germany in 2006; after mass they are planned to be distributed among the churches of the Freiburg diocese.

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Кресло Skape от Vitra. Фото предоставлено Vitra
Кресло Skape от Vitra. Фото предоставлено Vitra
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The second design event of Benedict XVI's visit was his speech at the Freiburg Concert Hall. During the performance, he sat on a chair specially made for the occasion by Vitra. This is a variant of the Skape model for senior managers. The Pope's armchair was upholstered in white leather, and its high back was embroidered with his coat of arms.

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This fall, the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) has expanded its architectural collection: it includes a model of the famous Parque Biblioteca España library in Medellin by Colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti, as well as two models of his kindergarten El Porvenir in a poor area of Bogotá. The architectural collection of MOMA began to take shape back in 1928, and there are many masterpieces, in particular, an extensive collection of works by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. But the museum's management rightly believes that one should keep a finger on the pulse of modern architecture. Mazzanti is the first Colombian architect whose designs were acquired by MOMA, but obviously not the last: the curators are now expanding the Latin American section, recognizing that this region is now one of the architectural "leaders".

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Colombia has also attracted former partners Norman Foster and Richard Rogers: Foster is designing the Proscenio Cultural Center in Bogota, and Rogers is planning the master plan for the city center. Colombia, due to its unstable internal situation, has long experienced a shortage of high-quality architectural projects, but now the desire to catch up is obvious: we previously reported that Juan Herreros (a former partner of the Spanish Bureau Abalos & Herreros) won an international competition for the project of a large congress center in Bogota.

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Large projects also attract Santiago Calatrava. According to the British newspaper Daily Telegraph, he received a fee of 15.2 million euros for the project of a complex in Valencia (consisting of three skyscrapers and 8 residential buildings of lower storeys). However, due to the crisis, this project will not be implemented. A particular acuteness of the situation lies in the fact that we are talking about public money; the officials in charge of the project initially named the amount of the fee at 2.6 million euros, and only a trial initiated by the opposition made it possible to find out the true state of affairs. Although some Valencian politicians are now accused of corruption, this will not affect Calatrava's money: in his case, the court found no violation of the law.

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In New York, they are going to create an underground park with private funds, according to The Architect's Newspaper. Taking the High Line, an abandoned Manhattan railroad overpass, now converted into a beautiful park, as a model, architect James Ramsey, head of RAAD Studio, plans to remodel Williamsburg Bridge underground railway station, now abandoned.

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For lighting, it is planned to use the technology of "remote windows": using optical fiber to transmit light from solar collectors at ground level to the underground hall; this method has been used in Japan since the 1970s. The sun's rays delivered downward are suitable for photosynthesis, so a park can be set up on an area of 5,580 m2. On cloudy days and at night, it is planned to use a hybrid electric lighting system.

N. F.

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