Zagreb Airport - New Passenger Terminal, Zagreb, Croatia

Riegler Riewe's proposal for the new terminal at Zagreb airport
For an airport terminal building meant to be placed amidst strong landscape elements of different 'natures', consideration of its own nature is of the greatest importance. Not as an afterthought but as an integrative element of the highly anthropised environment whose elements should imply consciousness of a new kind of abstracted artificial landscape.

The project formulates the idea of integral planning, where elements constitute the whole: from the large scale landscaping pattern along the runway to the monumental terminal hall interior spaces; from the overall traffic solution to the integral way daylight is brought into deep interior spaces and infrastructural ducts distributed. 'Natural' and 'technological' layers of this project constitute an integral infrastructural landscape.

'Airport City' is conceived as an abstract orthogonal matrix of volumes, surfaces and corridors that can grow according to different possible scenarios. Its non- hierarchical nature enables open arrangements of various future uses.

The passenger terminal consists of two distinguished parts; the multi-level terminal hall and the long pier in front of it. The terminal hall comprises departure, arrival and transfer floors connected to outside covered space under the huge canopy, offices and public facilities top level and technical basement level with a separate vehicle traffic access. The pier is merely a communication space positioned along the apron border as defined by the Zagreb Airport Master Plan.

The terminal hall is developed on a square plan, under the large flat roof of 167m x 150m. The roof is 5m thick, divided in 6m x 6m squares and supported by 'space columns' shaped like squeezed tetra pack prisms. This structure is enveloped by translucent glass plates thus bringing the daylight all the way down to the underground floors of the terminal hall.

The secondary structure of slabs that forms the functional floors of the terminal hall is structurally independent. The roof contains various technological aspects of the airport terminal building. Uniformly closed from the bottom side, it opens up to the aerial view exposing the most of this infrastructural landscape. The terminal hall is approached from the Airport City landside. Its large roof protrudes in the outdoor space thus forming a canopy supported by the same space columns.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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High Line, New York, United States

The High Line creates new public space from derelict urban platform
The High Line is a 1.2 mile conversion of an abandoned elevated railway into a new public park along the west side of lower Manhattan. The project establishes an urban corridor for habitat, wildlife and people, providing opportunities for future links between neighbourhoods, greenways and parkways. The line transforms 6 acres of paved surface into landscape.

Through a strategy of agri-tecture - part agriculture, part architecture - the High Line surface is digitized into discrete units of paving and planting which are assembled along 1.5 miles into a variety of gradients from 100% paving to 100% soft, richly vegetated biotopes. The paving system consists of individual pre-cast concrete planks with open joints to encourage emergent growth like wild grass through cracks in the sidewalk. The resulting “pathless” landscape encourages the public to meander in unscripted ways. The park accommodates the wild, the cultivated, the intimate, and the social. Access points are durational experiences designed to prolong the transition from the frenetic pace of city streets to the slow otherworldly landscape above.

The High Line was a design collaboration by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Road Bridge Krusrak, Sneek, Netherlands

Onix and Achterbosch Architecture complete a unique bridge for Dutch city of Sneek
Commissioned by the Province of Friesland, and in conjunction with Achterbosch Architecture under the combined name of OAK, Onix has developed a road bridge that connects 2 districts of Sneek on either side of the A7 motorway. The bridge was designed for a municipality that wished to establish a new city marker along the motorway.

The Department of Public Works, the user of the bridge, stated that it wished to use more wood in its constructions. To the design team, the challenge was to realise a bridge in a responsible and sustainable way, and to capitalise on the latest innovations in wood construction. The architects regarded it as important to elaborate the wooden bridge in such a way that it would be both recognisable and new to Sneek.

The contours call to mind the traditional cheese-cover farmhouses of Friesland; the construction evokes reminiscences of the building expertise that it still abundantly present in the old city; the wooden beams reflect the shipbuilding industry, with Sneek as the water recreation city par excellence in the North Netherlands. All these aspects led to the first uncovered wooden bridge in the heaviest load class. This bridge is not only a novelty for the Netherlands but also for countries such as Canada, Norway and Switzerland where the covered bridge is a well-known feature.

The bridge consists of Accoya wood, an acetylated type of wood that has been produced in a factory in Arnhem for around one year now. The acetylation of wood is a process that makes wood almost imperishable. The design of the bridge is a fusion of infrastructure, construction, art and architecture. As a component of the renewed A7 motorway, the wooden bridge was envisaged at two positions. The second wooden bridge will be realised in 2010. The interface of the A7 with the inner city is thus defined for the motorist, for whom, when on the motorway, the bridge is a city marker. For passers-by crossing over the motorway, it is a gateway between the inner city and the suburbs. Besides motorized traffic, pedestrians and cyclists also make use of the bridge.

The two wooden trusses have been coupled together at the centre to ensure stability. The arched form arose by optimising the cross-section of the bridge for traffic. In conjunction with the triangular structure of the framework, this offers surprising visual perspectives. The bridgehead on the suburb side is a green dike element, whereas on the inner-city side it is a concrete span that bridges a waterway.

The bridge was created as the result of an intensive and integrated design process. In consultation with the client, we were able to compile a team of professions and critics who made it possible to realize the bridge. The bridge was built by a contractor from the town of Schwäbisch Hall in southern Germany, where the tradition of producing half-timber houses, and also bridges, is well known.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Centre West 4, London, United Kingdom

Hammersmith to get new transport interchange
London Buses are improving their existing bus station facilities at Hammersmith which is at the hub of many routes. The project retains the bus station at first floor level, and increases physical area by installing a deck over the underground railway and over the vacant site on the North East corner of the Hammersmith Gyratory. The complex engineering required to expand the bus station, particularly over the railway, requires careful planning and extensive consultation with third parties.

The scheme looks to integrate a brand new 21st Century bus station facility connecting to the underground station, with a landmark quality office building above ground. The design has been driven in the first instance by achieving the best possible bus station layout, and many options have been explored and examined during this process.

The movement of buses and people is at the very heart of the concept. As a major new interchange station linking all modes of public transport, the architects aim to capture the spirit of movement within the architectural solution. As buses circulate on the first floor they weave their way around the central passenger waiting spaces and the entire floor area is utilised for bus standing facilities and bus stops. This sweeping path translates to a plan footprint which uses the full extent of the site, manifesting on the facade as a series of upper floor projections.

The projections mark the entrance to the bus station from ground level, whilst also becoming a visual and tactile surface that the passenger moves through (escalators), walks upon (floor surface), is covered by (roof plane) and experiences when on the bus (ribbon).

The ribbon is a striking feature of the design which is an expression of the dynamic function of the bus station. The ribbon forms the street facade of the bus station, and is re-introduced to the upper parts of the office building in an holistic approach. The spaces behind the projecting upper floors become conference rooms or amenity spaces, these also present themselves to the inner elevations facing the bus station, so that the building can be seen as an object with all facades having a public presence.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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TKTS Booth and the Redevelopment of Father Duffy Square, New York, United States

..Creating an Urban Icon at the Crossroads of the World
The new TKTS booth and the redevelopment of Father Duffy Square create a new center for Times Square, one of the world’s most popular and iconic destinations. The project began in 1999 with a design competition to re-design the popular TKTS booth. While the competition brief simply requested designs for a small scale architectural structure to replace the existing ticket booth, Australian firm Choi Ropiha reframed the problem as one requiring a broader urban design response to invigorate and provide a center for Times Square, and won the competition.

In 2001, Perkins Eastman was brought on board to evaluate the Choi Ropiha scheme, and developed several approaches and from those a final design which, while informed and inspired by the original concept, used a distinctly 21st Century set of approaches: glass would now be employed as the TKTS Booth’s sole structural component for the steps and the TKTS Booth itself would be free standing within the glass enclosure. Cutting-edge technology was integrated throughout the lighting and mechanical systems as well. LED arrays beneath the steps create buoyant luminescence underfoot. Five geothermal wells circulate a water/glycol mix 450 feet below Broadway and back again through heat exchangers that cool the interior in summer, warm it in winter and keep the staircase ice free. Completing the transformation of Father Duffy Square was the work of William Fellows (now with PKSB), who transformed the public space of the square to allow for increased pedestrian traffic and more prominence for Father Duffy’s commanding statue.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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