The new CaixaForum Valencia has passed the halfway mark within Valencia's City of Arts and the Sciences complex, as explained by La Caixa Foundation deputy general director, Elisa Duran, on a site visit alongside the architect and Could 9 leader, Enric Ruiz-Geli.
How many times have you been faced with the challenge of designing a cultural center? While this may seem like quite a feat, many architects have had to design a program that blends a community center with culture.
Among the projects published on our site, we have found numerous examples that highlight different responses, from flexible configurations to sites that prioritize central gathering areas for citizens and activities. See our series of 50 community centers and their plans and sections below.
A project of relevant scale is rarely a single Man’s work. From the village barn raising events done in the 18th and 19th century to the standard taskforce that a project developer engages nowadays, a build structure requires many hands on-board, bringing forth different inputs and expertise to shape and execute it.
Following China's rapid urbanization and emergence of new districts and public buildings, MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, has won an international competition to design the new Zhuhai Cultural Arts Center. Their proposal, titled "Village Under the Dome", will be situated within China’s Pearl River Delta in the Yinkeng Village, a historic town that has recently been demolished and relocated by the municipality to make room for new projects. Instead of rebuilding over the demolition, their design offered a conservation and renewal of the village, creating a new function of the original site.
The International Architectural Design Competition for Shenzhen Opera House has announced the selection of the proposal Light of the Sea submitted by Jean Nouvel as the first-prize winner of the contest. “A masterpiece where music meets the sea”, the design doesn’t adopt the conventional enclosed form of opera houses, but it integrates the building into the coastline, showcasing a visionary public cultural landmark.
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After MAD’s Wormhole Library, the city of Haikou revealed a pavilion by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Scheduled for the end of spring, the ribbon-like white pavilion with an accessible roof will be one of the first public waterfront interventions to be completed in the spring of 2021. Shaping the future of Haikou city and Hainan Free Trade Port, the master plan of 16 permanent destinations re-imagines the future of coastal living.
The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France, known also as Beaubourg, is set to undergo major renovation works. Designed in the 1970s by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, and inaugurated in 1977, one of the capital’s leading cultural attractions is scheduled to be closed completely as of the end of 2023 until 2027. Showing signs of aging, especially when it comes to the heating and cooling system, escalators and elevator malfunctions, and asbestos that must be removed, this is not the inside-out museum's first revamp, in fact, it was closed down once before in 1997, during its 20th anniversary, for a couple of years.
Adjaye Associates has unveiled its design for a new historical center for African consciousness, the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg. Named after the previous president of South Africa, the project is an opportunity to realize the dreams of Thabo Mbeki to advance and empower an African renaissance, according to the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner Sir David Adjaye.
Shigeru Ban, Pritzker Prize-winner, and Ole Scheeren, RIBA silver medalist, were appointed for the Hangzhou Wangjiang New Town master plan. Creating new art and cultural destination in the historical city, the project in collaboration with New World Development and K11 Group seeks to build a landmark that meets the needs of the new generation.
Bratislava’s existing Istropolis culture and congress center will be replaced by a new cultural destination designed by KCAP and Cityförster. Creating a multifunctional cultural and social center, with a state-of-the-art concert and congress venue, the intervention will also transform the surrounding area into a modern open neighborhood comprising green and public areas.
Christensen & Co. Architects has designed a brand new culture house and library for the small town of Viby, in Denmark. Conceived as a sort of living room for the city, the project will be a “place for lingering and staying”, introducing social zones and an open architecture to the urban space.
With more competition entries coming our way, our curated selection of best-unbuilt architecture features this week, exceptional projects presented in an international context. ArchDaily has rounded up another collection of proposals, gathering interventions from across the world, and highlighting never-seen-before programs, designs, and innovations from our readers’ submissions.
The article includes a couple of groundbreaking projects from the Far East with a Panda Sightseeing Tower, a production complex, and the regeneration of an industrial area in China. In addition, the selection showcases a proposal for the Jacques Rougerie Foundation Space and Sea Generation in Melbourne, Australia, and a finalist for the LACMA Not LackMA International Design Competition. Other proposals highlighted encompass a Multi-cultural Complex in South Korea, a recreational zone on an Austrian lake, a peace pavilion in Senegal, and a dream mansion "between mountain and sea" by Penda China, to name a few.
.jpg?1613464615 "Sou Fujimoto. Image Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects")
.jpg?1613464611 "Sou Fujimoto. Image Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects")
.jpg?1613465267 "MAD- Wormhole Library. Image © SAN")
.jpg?1613465249 "MAD- Wormhole Library. Image © SAN")
