In 1833 the town of Northam was gazetted; with the Ballardong Noongar people suffering intense and bloody repression until 1841 when relations became generally peaceful. In 1905 The Aborigines Act allowed the State to have complete control of ‘protection, control and segregation of Aboriginal people’ and in 1933 the whole Aboriginal population of the town was exiled to the Moore River Native Settlement- some 200 km away and in another “country”. The laws that enabled this were only repealed in 1954, and the Ballardong families returned to the town.
In 2016 the Shire Council obtained funding to create a new Cultural Centre that would promote and support the Ballardong Noongar people of the Avon Valley.
The city of Jishou, where the Jishou Art Museum is located, is the regional capital of Xiangxi (western Hunan), a minority autonomous zone. Initially, the municipal government considered parcels of lands in the development zone outside the city; however, we the architects proposed to build the art museum in the center of the old town because we believed that a cultural facility should be easily accessible. A river called Wanrong runs through the middle of Jishou, which makes the most central location for the art museum over the water course and the art museum then doubles as a pedestrian bridge naturally. We hope that people in Jishou would not only make a special trip to see art but will also encounter art on their way to work, to school, or to shop.
The project was selected to participate in the 2nd round of the Open Architectural Competition “Kursk 2032” to create a concept for the restoration of the historical and cultural appearance of the central part of the city of Kursk.
Multimedia dance performance Both Sides is created as the culmination event of the Latvia’s centenary. Through the music, choreography, scenography, video and light projections, the story of the emergence of Latvia and experience of the last hundred years is told. 2000 m2 large stage is designed in the shape of Latvian flag. The flag is used not only as a symbol of the nation, but also as a space making element. It creates dance floor for large scenes of groups of dancers and smaller spaces for soloists. The polygonal surface of the scenography works also as a giant video projection screen for Latvian history photo and video interpretations.
Studio Vertebra has been entrusted with the Bukhara City project which is planned to be constructed in Uzbekistan’s city of Bukhara on a 535 thousand sqm area located between the historical city and the airport with half a billion dollars’ worth of investment. Studio Vertebra’s role in the project will include urban planning of the Bukhara City project and architecture and interior architecture designs of all the buildings included within the scope of the project as well as acting as the project management consultant, which will also involve selection of all investors and contractors.
The island of Porquerolles (France) is a real natural monument. Given its location in the very heart of a natural park, the protection of the site is a key dimension of the project.
Due to its belonging to the Natura 2000 perimeter, any land use for construction is prohibited. The creation Contemporary Art Foundation is therefore proposed as an extension of a Provencal villa. It is to secure a spatial configuration and an architectural language that integrate into the building, while demonstrating its contemporary character.
The site contains ruins that form part of the UNESCO Pearling Path. The entire building functions as the entrance to the cultural heritage and the foyer for the medina. It is an urban room for the people of Muharraq with the scale of a public park. Concrete elements are placed along the property boundary to form a new locus in the dense city. A large space is created in which a forest of columns and wind towers hold a horizontal plate 10 meters above ground. A roof, understood as an archaic gesture, donates vital shadows for the people of Muharraq in this very hot climate and produces a new and unique situation through its different scale. Slightly set back in the shadow is an enigmatic house in which the museum of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage is located. As a totality the building creates a universe in itself that is the entrance for the Pearling Path and the city beyond.
Article source: Philippe SAMYN and PARTNERS sprl, architects & engineers
Zhoushan Harbour
The local government of Zhou Shan (East China – an archipelago of islands) confided to Wang Shu the mission to rehabilitate the harbour and industrial area of the Lujiazhi Island into a touristic and cultural area, while protecting the quays and keeping maritime activities as memory of the industrial past of the bay. Turning this into a multinational project of innovative contemporary architecture, Wang Shu involved his 14 fellow laureate architect of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2007 to 2009. Each of the 16 projects focuses on contemporary sustainable architecture.
Tags: China, Zhoushan Comments Off on 574-1c Lujiazhi Cultural Coffee Shop in Zhoushan, China by Philippe SAMYN and PARTNERS sprl, architects & engineers
Republic Square of Mardin designed by Ankara/Istanbul based office 4M Salalı Architects with an area of 9.000 sqm, aims to create a new cultural focus in the heart of historical city of Mardin by transforming a central location surrounded by many precious historical buildings. The project’s construction phase has begun and it is planned to be completed in September 2019.
Republic Square of Mardin is located in Mardin which is situated in the south-east of Turkey. Mardin is one of the most distinctive cities in Turkey with reflections of the cultural influences of various dynasties throughout the history. Historical buildings such as mosques, shrines, churches, monasteries and caravanserais in the city, represent different religious beliefs and cultures. Also, it hosts stone houses which have been listed as world heritage sites. Republic Square of Mardin is designed to be an accessible, extroverted and modern focal point in harmony with the historical texture of Mardin, which has hosted numerous civilizations in its thousands of years of history.
Article source: Philippe SAMYN and PARTNERS sprl, architects & engineers
The Building
This cultural centre sits in the centre of Namur, on the north bank of the Sambre River, facing the historic centre of the town known as “Le Grognon”. Designed by Victor Bourgeois and built at the start of the 1960s, the building required renovation and extension to meet the current requirements of local people and to accommodate the redevelopment of the rue des Bouchers and the banks of the Sambre River.
The building used to consist of a 400-seater theatre at one end of a rectangular box-shaped space on four levels with a south-facing curtain wall (looking over the Sambre River) built up against a curved rectangular box-shaped space on five levels, known as the “croissant”, which has an east-facing curtain wall and a south-facing end wall which has no openings.
Tags: Belgium, Namur Comments Off on Maison De La Culture De La Province De Namur in Belgium by Philippe SAMYN and PARTNERS sprl, architects & engineers