The Palace of Culture was built in 1982, the standard project was developed by the Design Institute commissioned by the Tourism Council. The Palace of Culture is a striking example of the Brezhnev era architecture: the area of the building is about 12 thousand meters and since construction, it has never been renovated. The reconstruction lasted six months and amounted to approximately 300 million rubles.
The rectangular shape of the building is made in the style of modernist architecture: it houses a cinema and concert and lecture halls, dance halls, recreation areas, educational spaces, exhibition spaces, a chess club and a library.
“Sede CAF Región Sur” is the result of a national architecture competition promoted by the Development Bank of Latin‐American and sponsored by the local government of Montevideo in 2012.
By terms and conditions of the contest, a mix‐used program building was required, in the historic city center of Montevideo ‐ the “Old City”‐ a sector full of history and strong urban symbols, next to the limit with the “New Expanded City”.
The Bank headquarters, a cinema complex for “Cinemateca Uruguaya”, the relocation of the historic “FunFun” bar, 150 public parking lots and public changing rooms, are the main project areas. The conditioning and recovery of the immediate urban environment are key requirements of the entire proposal. The biggest challenge then was to achieve coexistence within a single building and urban space, such diverse functional requirements.
In the location behind the Solís Theater, there was an existing building, the Former Central Market, which was almost abandoned and deteriorated, as well as its nearby public spaces.
Architects: LAPS Arquitectos (Arq. Carlos Luis Labat Nadal, Arq. Ricardo Pierino Porta Turban, Arq. Nicolás Scioscia Salvatore + Arq. Luis, Fernando Romero Fregenal)
Project: Sede CAF Región Sur – Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina
Location: Ciudadela 1229, Montevideo, Uruguay
Photography: Javier Agustín Rojas
Client: CAF – BANCO DE DESARROLLO DE AMERICA LATINA
Article source: gmp · Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner
A new high-rise building makes its impact on the skyline of Hangzhou, the Chinese metropolis with 9 million inhabitants. The 130-meter-high tower is part of the extension and redesign of the GDA Plaza, a business center in the traditional business quarter of the city, which includes a shopping mall and hotel. Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), who had previously won the competition, were in charge of the design and implementation.
West Lake is considered a focal point and special attraction of the old, traditional city of Hangzhou. Its exemplary cultivated landscape is an outstanding feature of this 9-million-person metropolis to the south-west of Shanghai and, in 2011, was designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. At Wulin Square, in the midst of the flourishing business center not far from the lake, the GDA Plaza Hotel and Business Center was reopened. As part of a redesign and extension, the existing complex with hotel and shopping mall was recreated and made into a completely new unit. The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), who had previously won the competition in 2007, were in charge of the design and implementation. At one cor-ner, the GDA Plaza was substantially extended by a new 28-story building with a gross floor area of 57,500 square meters, whilst the existing main building was retained as far as possible but completely reorganized. This has created additional offices and commercial premises, as well as new leisure facilities such as cinemas and restaurants.
Design: Meinhard von Gerkan and Nikolaus Goetze with Magdalene Weiss
Project Leader Competition: Jörn Ortmann
Competition Design Team: Jan Blasko, Cai Lei, Cheng Ying, Sun Ya-jin, Zhu Honghao
Project Leader Detail Design: Chen Ying, Fan Xiaodi, Huang Meng
Detail Design Team: Mareike Asmus, Jiang Yi, Kong Rui, Claudius Lange, Mao Yuqi, Alexander Schober, Martin Seibel, Sun Ya-jin, Tian Jinghai, Wang Qing, Zhao Chonghan
1956: Raymond ‘Mondse’ Wollaert was a well-known and beloved citizen of Merelbeke. With his wife Germaine Willems, Raymond owned a butchery and a café. In the fifties he built the film theatre adjacent to it. This cinema was there upon transformed into the famous banquet hall. The name REGI was actually composed from the first names of the Wollaert family: R (Raymond), E(Etienne, son-in-law) and GI for Germaine and Gisèle (daughter). The cinema was opened in February with a big dance party. The next day, the chairs were speedily put in place for the first film Daddy Long Legs with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in the leading roles.
2017: Studio Regie is a production and post-production studio, searching for a location for film productions. The interaction and relationship between the current activities of the production studio and the history of the cinema were a unique perspective to work with.
Kashirskaya Plaza features a multitude of public amenities, conveniently blending retail, fitness, cinema, entertainment, food & beverage, and a supermarket. The result is a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood destination that celebrates its existing natural surroundings, including an adjacent public park. Organic elements are drawn into the project to create a place of comfort and leisure, locally inspired and linked to its environment. Connections to the natural world are also seen throughout the interior of the project. Four main atriums are designed thematically to link with the natural elements of water, air, fire, and earth.
In the redevelopment project for this shopping gallery, Unibail Rodamco West field and UGC decided to create a new multiplex cinema of national stature for UGC Ciné-Cité with 18 theaters and 3,800 places.
The theaters are laid out around suspended decks in the curved volume of an impressive envelop made of glass “scales”, developed by L35, the shopping gallery architects. They like cinemas along a street. They are accessed from above, with the exits on the ground floor. Interiors are subdued, with floating, pleated black ceilings. The project is designed to highlight the use of raw materials and sleek finishes.
The new Opera House is an important part of a new urban c for Shanghai that aims to place the city at the forefront of the globe, economically, scientifically, and culturally. The Opera House is expected to become one of the major cultural landmarks of Shanghai – the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan names it as the most important initiative to strengthen Shanghai’s cultural and global influence.
“The Shanghai Grand Opera House is a natural progression of our previous work with designing performing arts centers,” says Snøhetta Founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen. “It is a culmination of the competence and insight gained through projects such as the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the Busan Opera House in South Korea, the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Canada, and the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers renovation in Paris. The Shanghai Grand Opera House is a product of our contextual understanding and values, designed to promote public ownership of the building for the people of Shanghai and beyond”.
Adjacent to Suzhou Canal which has inherited the cultural context of the South of the Yangtze River for thousands of years, the project features elegant and humanistic aesthetics, and fully shows people's imaginations and pursuit of an elegant lifestyle.
The smell of books, the coordinated combination of terrazzo and wood, and subtle detailing, together create a soft, elegant and harmonious atmosphere in the overall space, with fascinating texture.
SO? has redesigned an existing 20000 m2 public cultural center by a major renovation project for Beylikduzu Municipality in Istanbul. Located in a district with 317.000 population, the project serves as a major public spot with its vibrant facilities such as library, children library, multi-purpose hall, playground area, workshops and studios and cinema halls, all reconfigured and redesigned by SO?. The building has gone under both structural and architectural renovation that require the redesigning of the entire interior and the façade.
Creation reflects our inner selves. Some consider it as a mirror; it can get very personal to create and to design. Thus, if we want to create groundbreaking designs, it is us that need to have a breakthrough. If we want to reveal the intrinsic quality of beauty, we need the constructs of beauty. In this process, self-reflection and self-doubt are involved, and deconstruction is inevitable.
This UA cinema in Shanghai celebrates deconstructivism, a postmodern architectural movement that has started since the 1980s. Deconstructivism is about moving away from the shackle of traditions, questioning pre-existing rules, challenging pre-dominating frameworks. It is a movement about freedom and oppression. The deconstructivist philosophy originated from the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, who had influenced some architects during the start of the movement. His approach can be seen in some architectural designs, where there is an absence of harmony, continuity and symmetry in the lines and forms. This design is an attempt to participate in the movement, by creating non-rectilinear shapes that visually appear with unpredictability and controlled chaos. By disassembling space, perhaps a new meaning can be given to the usage of space.