Ozel Office, a practice based in both LA, California and Istanbul, Turkey, has designed a competition proposal for an Opera House for Izmir, a port town off the Aegean Coast. The competition challenged participants to see architecture as a “catalyst” that could potentially help the city re-center itself as a hub of economic activity and source of cultural significance. The collaborative effort within the office, especially led by Guvenc Ozel and Erdim Kumkumoglu, produced a proposal where the ”architecture becomes a catalyst that reinforces the relationship between the old city, the new city, the waterfront and urban culture. In short, our vision is a synergy of spatial, cultural as well as practical and contextual aesthetics.”
More images and more about the project after the break.
C.F. Møller Architects just won a shared first prize in the competition for the new Opera and Culture Center in Norway, entitled Kulturkvartalet. This new Opera Center will house the country’s oldest opera in Kristiansund, the capital of the region of Nordmøre. The site proposes an interesting challenge as the new design must integrate two existing buildings with the proposed new urban center, and the most critical component becomes the shared urban space between the old and the new which will ultimately connect the Opera and Culture Center with pedestrian streets and a nearby park.
Serero Architects shared with us the Saint-Hilaire Du-Harcouët Media Center, a 300-seat performance hall with a foyer, 4 art and music studios, 1 restaurant, a rehearsal hall, administrative offices and associated technical spaces. They received first prize in a restricted competition and it’s expected to be completed by 2012.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
Vedran Pedišić, Mladen Hofmann (SANGRAD architects), and Emil Špirić and Erick Velasco Farrera (AVP_arhitekti) shared with us their winning proposal for the New Zagreb Crafts Centre Competition in Croatia. The architects presented an introverted island organized around the central public communications and spaces.
See more images and architect’s description after the break.
Tham & Videgård Arkitekter received first prize for the competition to design the Bergman Center, a foundation and a meeting place with focus on Ingmar Bergman’s oeuvre and on Fårö as his artistic base. You can see more images and architect’s description after the break.
G.Lab* by Gansam Architects and Partners sent us their proposal for the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul, using a mix of reinforced concrete and steel structure to create two interesting volumes to house 5,000 years of history.
Images, drawings and the project statement after the break.
It’s amazing how different can five cultural centers look. From USA, China, Denmark and China, here’s our third selection of previously featured Cultural Centers. Check them all after the break.
Prism Gallery / PATTERNS PATTERNS has designed a new three story cultural center for West Hollywood, California. The center, known as Prism, will become a cornerstone of artistic experimentation, carving a new niche for the arts in Southern California. The facade will be the first in the nation to be constructed entirely out of a resin based composite polycarbonate (read more…)
