‘Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter ApS won in 2004 the competition to convert Jægersborg Water Tower into a mixed-use building. On the upper floors, student housing units mark the perimeter of the existing structure. Each unit is expressed by a protruding crystal-like add-on that brings daylight into the apartment, and offers unobstructed views to the surrounding landscape.

Together, the crystals and the communal balconies add both a human scale, and a new sculptural layer, that emphasizes the landmark character of the tower. The lower floors are inhabited by a youth center, and contain several large multipurpose rooms. A combination of tall windows and colored panels create a varied pattern that surrounds the youth center. Large garage-style doors on the ground floor open up to extend the active indoor space into the outdoor playground.’

For more pictures visit: www.dortemandrup.dk.

In June 2008, Jean Nouvel presented in Barcelona, Spain, the Centre de Poblenou Park, a gigantic sustainable garden of 5,5 hectares designed as ‘meeting point’ and ‘acoustic microclimate’ playing with light and shadows.

The main garden of the park has a forest very well organized ending at one end of the park with a ramp of volcanic soil. In the second garden, the woodland surrounds the building of the old Oliva-Art factory and takes the citizens through a visual and olfactory experience. In the third garden the most prominent feature is a crater that carries the visitor with a spiral to the ‘center of the Earth’.

‘The Market Hall by MVRDV is part of the new inner city heart for the Laurens Quarter, the pre-war center of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

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Chinese architectural firm Studio Pei Zhu were invited by the Guggenheim Foundation to design a museum for them in Beijing, located adjacent to  the forbidden city in a 200 year old Hutong neighborhood.

The architects have combined traditional architecture with new buildings. The existing architecture generates a strong experiential memory and connection to place allow strong presence of existing buildings; create soft presence for new architecture.

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Architects Pieter Peerlings & Silvia Mertens are Sculp(IT), who live and work in this remnant space of 2.4 meters wide, 5.5 meters depth and 12 meters height.

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‘Panoramic Garden of CCIS project by Sadar Vuga Arhitekti presents the first structural and programmatic intervention into the project already realized by our office.

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‘The building for the Netherlands Institute For Sound And Vision by Neutelings Riedijk Architects consists of five levels under ground and five levels above ground. In the underground, the national archives of Dutch radio and television recordings are stacked around a deep canyon. Above ground, a staged volume contains the media museum. The third element is the office building of the institute. The three volumes together enclose a large public atrium. The facade of the building is a screen of coloured relief glass that depicts famous images of Dutch television, a composition by graphic designer Jaap Drupsteen.’

Completion 2006