Update

By the middle of this century, more than 65 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities. This poses a great challenge to the public hand worldwide to act as initiator, stimulator and promoter of future-oriented inner-city processes. To acknowledge and promote such processes, the Senate Department for Urban Development Berlin calls for entries and participation for the first Europe-wide Urban Intervention Award 2010.

The award honours outstanding projects in urban spaces, which significantly contribute to the redefinition, revival and revaluation of inner city quarters, and honours creative urban projects of high architectonic quality. The requirement for projects is that they emerged from innovative and interdisciplinary interactions of cooperation-partners from different areas and disciplines, such as culture, architecture, initiatives, economy, etc.

Prominent realised projects will be awarded in two categories: building projects and temporary projects. Building contractors or initiatives as well as architects and artists as project authors may submit their projects, which must have been completed between January 2005 and August 2010 in Europe and within an urban context.

Submission deadline: 14 September 2010

Detailed information for application requirements are available at:
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/staedtebau/baukultur/urban_intervention_award/index_en.shtml

UNStudio’s recently completed design for an existing loft located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan explores the interaction between a gallery and living space.

The main walls in the loft flow through the space, and together with articulated ceilings create hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas.

The existing loft space was characterized by challenging proportions: the space is long and wide, but also rather low. Gently flowing curved walls were introduced to virtually divide the main space into proportionally balanced spaces. This created zones of comfortable proportions for domestic use, while simultaneously generating a large amount of wall space for the display of art.

Architect, Ben van Berkel notes that “the loft really is a hybrid space; as much a private museum as a living space. Because of that, flexibility is all; few rooms are actually fixed and most are interchangeable, so that in the end the areas devoted to living and to art are completely merged.”

While the walls form a calm and controlled backdrop for the works of art, the ceiling is more articulated in its expression of this transition. By interchanging luminous and opaque, the ceiling creates a field of ambient and local lighting conditions, forming an organizational element in the exhibition and the living areas.

Berkel continues, “The desire for open space was paramount. Even though there are numerous art works and books, the apartment remains very light and open. At the same time, unlike a gallery, large, open living spaces can appear too cool or sterile. The wooden floor and the lighting system furnish the space with warmth and intimacy. The lighting in the loft is highly connected to both the art works and the living spaces and can create different atmospheres at different times of day.”

The meandering walls frame an open a space that privileges long perspectives, with more sheltered corners and niches nestled in the curves. In this hybrid space a floating exhibition wall blends into library shelves on one side and into a display case on the other side.

Added to this mix is the appreciation of the city which is expressed in the ‘framing of the views’. The former windows in the South wall have been replaced by full floor to ceiling glass panes that frame and extend compelling views, over a full glass balcony, towards downtown Manhattan.

http://www.unstudio.com/

The Architecture Foundation, Ordem dos Arquitectos and British Council are developing an exchange programme between the UK and Portugal for 2010-2011. more