The Roques Blanques Metropolitan Cemetery, within the realm of Collserola’s Natural Park at El Papiol, Barcelona, has been developed over 30 years. Since its conception in 1981, the graveyard was conceived as a 122 Ha garden to be developed in different phases, reaching a current day total of 7 built clusters. The site has since been able to adapt to changes in customer demands, proposing new burial paradigms and aiming to facilitate remembrance and family relationships with their deceased loved ones. Furthermore, mutual respect for the environment and nature has allowed us to propose a ground-breaking proposal for new ecological burial forms that is 100% biodegradable. 

This intervention, based on respect for and conservation of the environment, involves the development of cluster number 6, with a surface of 8,600 m². With its very pronounced orography of exemplary pines and holm oaks, it is ready to host 1,500 new graves.

The challenge consisted of creating an accessible space for the practice of funeral rites that would preserve the environmental values of the site and contribute to the recovery of biodiversity characteristic of the Natural Park. The new cluster becomes an entry path to the forest, complemented by a green terrace, a meadow reflecting Collserola’s agricultural past, and a butterfly garden as a retaining system to minimize the impact on the existing topography.

Building with nature

Thus, a vertical garden based on Krainer wall technology was proposed, which is an innovative system based on bioengineering applied to the landscape. As a natural retaining system, it generates a large green terrace, including a suitable and accessible space for new graves, allowing for the integration of existing trees and adding new local species. It is designed to be built quickly with natural materials from the immediate surroundings.

The technology combines dead and living materials, often called ‘live mesh’. It evolves over time, relating the degradation of dead elements (trunks) with the roots and the growth of living elements (shrubs and bushes). A natural dynamic evoking the life cycle: a concept intrinsic to the idiosyncrasy of a cemetery as a meeting point between people and their ancestors over time.

The Krainer wall has a length of 304,5 ml, a height of 1,5 m, and a base width of 2 m + 1 m of path. It is located on the inner slope of the garden terrace, releasing a large green meadow and viewpoint.

Building for nature

The Krainer wall is the most appropriate place for the ‘Butterfly garden’, a new burial space hosting different species of vegetable that contribute to an aromatic environment, and serving as a living space for a wide variety of pollinators, including butterflies. The wall has been designed with considerations of the importance of orientation and protection from the elements, including wind. The wall converts it into a protected and intensely sunlit space, ensuring long and generous flower blooms all year long, while sheltering the surrounding fauna. To foster the presence of butterflies, shrubs and herbaceous species with outstanding blooming qualities and bright, contrasted flowering have been selected. Native plants, adapted to local conditions, have been selected, giving reference to a typical Mediterranean thicket.

The ‘butterfly garden’ enhances biodiversity, revitalizing the spaces of Collserola Natural Park, a learning resource in which to observe, identify, and examine our environment’s insects and plants.

Nature-based solution

The design follows the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ principles, favoring a circular economy: a zero carbon footprint intervention, generating no residue. Additionally, the project regenerates the existing forest and reactivates life in the natural park. This intervention has a very specific use, and is good for a limited period of time – it is expected to have a useful ephemeral life of approximately 30 years, after which it will return to the original state of the forest. This period of time suits the purposes of mourning and remembrance, while being built with dry construction, no water consumption, and using natural and local materials exclusively.

Battle i Roig

Jordi Surroca

The post Landscape Architecture in Roques Blanques was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The inspiration behind this project in Morelia, Mexico, is derived from carefully listening to the subtle murmurs and whispers of environments like this, as well as the client’s search for protection and shelter. At the same time, this project generates a continuity in the beautiful living surface around the land, forming a new hill in a place already surrounded by many.

Four concrete walls surprisingly emerge from the landscape; two of them bearing the land of the new hill created, and two others framing the access as they escort guests into the house.

The path leads to an old tree. After crossing this threshold, going down a few solid stone steps, and opening a heavy steel door, a concrete vault stands, supporting the loads of the green bed sheet that rests upon it; providing a sensation of being inside a cold, dark, but strangely cozy cave.

The flooring emphasizes an aroma of wood that is perceived when surrounded by pine trees, providing balance to the cold temperature of the concrete; and finally, steel that, with time and rainfall, acquires an appearance like tree bark.

As for the spatial organization, public areas on the left side of the house are completely exposed to the wooded ravine, and on the right side are open more timidly to a courtyard with treetop and sky views.

The refrigerator and appliances are hidden, the lighting is arranged very discreetly, and only the four main materials were included: stone, wood, concrete, and steel. It was very important for the client to preserve the rough and primitive atmosphere of being in the mountains.

HW Estudio Arquitectos

Cesar Bejar

The post The Hill in Front of the Glen was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Located in the center of the historical area, the site of the Museum is adjacent to the Imperial Kiln ruins surrounding many ancient kiln complexes.

Jingdezhen is known as the “Porcelain Capital” in the world because it has been producing pottery for 1,700 years. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen exported a huge amount of porcelains to Europe.

Jingdezhen was growing naturally fitting in the valleys surrounding rivers, hills, and mountains because of the porcelain industry. The early settlements of the city developed around kiln complexes which included kiln, workshops, and housing. The street pattern was generated by nature and the porcelain industry. Most of the small alleys in between kiln complexes have always approached the Chang river in order to transport porcelain products to the river. The main streets have always been along with Chang river to bring all businesses and commerces together.

Situated on a fairly restricted historical area adjacent to the east side of the Imperial Kiln ruins, the plan of the Imperial Kiln Museum was aligned with the north-south street grid of Jingdezhen. With its entry, water pools, and bridge facing west, embracing the open file of Imperial Kiln Ruins to welcome visitors from Imperial Kiln Relic Park. Public pedestrians can wander through the forest under the green canopy, going through the bridge, flowing into the foyer of the museum.

The Imperial Kiln Museum comprises more than half a dozen brick vaults base on the traditional form of the kiln, each of the vaults is of a different size, curvature, and length. They were naturally applied to the site, carefully integrated with many existing ruins including a few ruins that were found after the construction.

The unparalleled, liner, and arched structures of the museum, like old kilns, reach below the level of the street to not only give the flexibility to adapt itself into the complicated site, but also to achieve the intimate scale of interior space. This strategy – in part also as a response to the height of surrounding historical buildings – leads to productive ambiguity in relation to the building’s horizontal datum. The “insertion” of the building into the ground of the site produces a series of public spaces at street level. More importantly, it allows for the design of a number of more intimate open vaults, and courtyards within the museum. Most of those public spaces are covered under shaded and are protected from the rain because it is hot and it rains a lot during summer in Jingdezhen. One of those open spaces, two open vaults sited in both ends, will also reveal the traces of the historic fabric on the site.

When one walks on the bridge, enters the foyer, and turns left, he will pass a series of arched exhibition spaces lightly varied in size and with contradicting openness (enclosed or open to the sky) to encounter a gentle stair, in the end, flowing down to the underground level with five sunken courtyards. Meanwhile, people can obtain a three-in-one (kilns-porcelains-people) museum experience when they see those porcelain, ruins, and sunken courtyards which create manifold layers’ experiences with ancient bricks on the façade. As someone turns right at the foyer, he will respectively pass the bookstore, cafe, tea room, and finally reach a semi-outdoor area under the arch, witnessing a picturesque scene. When daytime surfaces, these arches reflect the waves of water while low horizontal gaps tempt people to sit down on the floor to see the long horizon of the Imperial kiln ruins. A similar surprise would be created when someone sees the Longzhu Pavilion of the Imperial kiln ruins through the vertical seams when he is on the way to the auditorium before accessing the foyer.

Five sunken courtyards varied in size have a different theme: gold, wood, water, fire, soil. Those five themes not only reflect old Chinese thinking about the earth but also associate with porcelain making techniques.

The overall experience of the museum tries to rediscover the roots of Jingdezhen, to recreate the past experience among kiln, porcelain, and human being.

The architect was fascinated by local ancient kiln tectonic and material. Looking in the past, craftsmen built the brick kiln without scaffolding in a very special way. Thin and light brick kiln achieved a maximum interior space with minimum materials, the brick kilns appeared in organic forms reflecting heat flow from one end to another.

The basic structure of the museum is an arch structure system, it is made up of concrete poured in between two layers of masonry brick walls. There is a small arch to be layout perpendicularly to connect two arches.

Using recycled kiln bricks to build houses and all kinds of buildings is a significant character in Jingdezhen because brick kilns have to be demolished every two or three years in order to keep a certain thermal performance of the kilns. The entire city was covered by recycled kiln bricks. Those bricks record warmth and are inseparable from the lifeblood of the city. In the past, the children would take a warm brick from the firing kilns to place in their schoolbags to keep themselves warm the whole day during freezing winter.

The materials of the museum are dominated by bricks, recycled old kiln bricks are mixed with new bricks to reflect the local culture of construction.

This interweaving of two different historical phases proposed by the combination of new and old bricks must arouse interest, curiosity, create new questions, and give new answers. These create interaction with people’s minds who inevitably evoke memories and enjoy a unique experience. The past cannot be erased but can be rewritten by recounting a new awareness and maturity, a sort of contemporary archeology.

The visitors can have a 360-degree sensory experience through the repeated contact between exterior and interior that stimulates the touch, smell, hearing, and sight and transports them into a sort of trip between past, present, and nature.

Even the light evokes active and tangible memories and is the proof of how ancient techniques can be reinterpreted and reread in a contemporary key.

The interior natural light is achieved by both skylight and sunken courtyard and is inspired by smoke holes of the ancient brick kiln. The skylight in the hollow cylinder shape is distributed on the top part of the arch to provide natural light during daytime and artificial light at night time.

Studio Zhu-Pei

schranimage

Tian Fangfang

Zhang Qinquan

The post Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

In a beachside residential area of Herzliya, TEO (the Theodor Herzl Center for culture, art, and content) comes into view as a distinct single-story building, eminently lower than the neighborhood’s enclosed private mansions. The freestanding TEO opens up a wide panorama toward the west—the horizon over the ocean—thus rupturing the visual and social narrative of walled luxury villas this area of Herzliya is known for. The insertion of a fully exposed public cultural center as an event in the surrounding urbanscape was key to the design strategy.

TEO provides a unique functional facility to the city’s art-practicing and culture-seeking residents. The plan is designed within a 50 by 50 m² square around an offset central patio surrounded by the various programs: a music conservatory, a dance school, art and ceramics studios, a gallery, a senior recreation center, and a cafeteria. An upper partial floor houses a library complemented by a 300 m² open deck.

The uniqueness of the design lies in the coherence of a precise geometric module that is strictly enforced throughout; Concrete (on-site casts & precast units), textured glass, and metal flow seamlessly from exterior to interior surfaces. Cutting-edge sealing techniques were used to protect the building from the rain while maintaining its flat roof silhouette and tight proportions.  

The patio (292 m²) makes available a space of quiet and welcoming scale. The floated, draining floor provides a pleasing horizontal surface from which a single mature oak tree rises. Direct sunlight from above dynamically projects its presence across the patio’s surfaces, creating ever-changing visual compositions of organic against geometrical form.

A.Lerman Architects Ltd.

Amit Geron, Nimrod Levy

The post TEO Center for Culture, Art and Content was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Junshan Cultural Center is located just outside of Beijing, in the midst of the undulating mountain ranges and meandering rivers near the Miyun Reservoir. Originally this was just a typical two-story sales building on the outskirts of Beijing; Neri&Hu was asked to transform this donut-shaped building into an iconic clubhouse and sales center. Neri&Hu took advantage of the existing courtyard typology by crafting two sequences of interlocking journeys, one for clubhouse members, and one for sales center guests. All programmed spaces are designed so that they are in proximity to nature. The layering of the primary courtyard and smaller gardens allow the architecture to merge harmoniously with nature.

Drawing inspiration from its context, the architecture combines traditional northern features with contemporary architectural language and is transformed into a new interpretation of architectural expression. The building quietly rises out of the water as a brick mass with carved out spaces for programs interlocked with gardens that blur the boundary between inside and outside. On the façade, warm-toned wood- patterned aluminum panels form a veil that softens the heaviness of the brick facade. Moments of the screen connects with each interior space, creating a façade that is spontaneous and different on every face. In terms of materiality, traditional gold brick tiles form the foundation of the building mass, extending from exterior landscape into the interior “in-between” spaces. With brick and wood panels as the primary backdrop for the interior, a common theme throughout the interior is the sculpted ceiling.

Programmatically, the cultural center provides a number of luxurious and spacious amenities for its members. It includes a 100-person multi-purpose hall for events, a spacious business lounge and bar, a feature library, children’s reading room, private function room, family media room, a red-wine and cigar lounge bar and a rooftop deck. Part of the cultural center is functioning as a sales center. A double-height reception welcomes potential buyers to embark on a journey through the media room, winter garden, then upstairs across a bridge over the courtyard to a generous sales presentation lounge complete with VIP rooms, bar and children’s playroom. One of the most prominent spaces in the clubhouse is an art gallery, equipped with a series of hanging moveable walls for a flexible display system. The sculpted ceiling above gives some visual connection to the upper level, while a large glass picture window allows the space to extend into the courtyard. On the second floor, a generous yet inviting private dining room, complete with a bar and show-kitchen allows members to rent out the space for special functions. The red-wine and cigar lounge bar and rooftop deck on the third floor has an uninterrupted view of the surrounding mountainous landscape to west. Space comes alive with the many different geometric cuts carved out to interact with the sky and daylight such that each space is ever-changing when light is reflected off of the rich texture of Venetian plaster. The layering of customized furniture, refined brass metal detail, natural veins of stone accents, softness of fabric, and delicate lighting elements work together to compose a sense of understated luxury.

Neri&Hu Design and Research Office

Pedro Pegenaute, Xia Zhi

The post Junshan Cultural Center was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

In the historic center of a well-preserved village, opposite the church, a wine barn and its adjoining house were to be restructured in order to create an intimate and special living environment.

Features of heritage and prestige remained in the existing house: the stone staircase, the cement tiles, and the wooden roof framing, while the barn’s large volume and minimalist forms have turned into an open-plan and fluid living space, opening right up to the exterior through a square patio at the rear.

The existing house space is given over to the bedrooms, whereas the old wine barn welcomes the everyday family life activities. The archetypal barn form, all in one long structure, successively provides the kitchen, living room, and large table leading out onto the patio and the swimming pool. The position of the pool, adjoining the building, creates various atmospheres for each moment of life, allowing to experience the seasonal rhythms throughout the natural vibrations of air and matter.

On the outside, part of the roof of the original barn was removed to design the open-air patio. The composition of this space – within four walls – echoes the Mediterranean lifestyle. Furthermore, the choice was made to keep one of the gable stone walls of the barn, a vestige of the past, to ensure the thermal efficiency of the building. The limestone retains the right humidity level throughout the night, especially in summer, keeping the place cool and pleasant to use.

The patio also features half of the lap pool. The “half-pool half-patio” pattern gives this water slice its fundamental posture: it is the pivot of the overall outdoor composition and connects it with the indoors.

The three dimensions of architecture, history, and technicity are in dialogue and this project writes a “tailor-made” narrative in each and every detail, giving the place its own unique spirit.

(ma!ca) architecture

Julien Kerdraon

The post House in a City Center was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.