Certaines villes d’Inde font des efforts démesurés pour essayer de rendre les environs vivables. A vrai dire pour l’instant ils ne le sont techniquement pas : trop de pollution, trop de trafic et trop de bactéries pour qu’un humain normal puisse y dépasser l’espérance de vie d’une mouche*.

MAIS la lutte contre le poumon noir, le camion tueur et le champignon rampant a trouvé ses champions ! J’ai nommé : la poubelle-animal et le tourniquet rouge.

Pic-pirate dans un parc municipal

Pingu mange vos merdes

Le toboggan Destination Finale

Un cheval, pourquoi pas

T(F)ail

The Dumbo experience

*En années de mouches, elles vivent peut-être vraiment plus.

Histoire d’une renaissance

“La ville est très attrayante pour ceux qui, comme moi, ont vécu plusieurs années à Barcelone, car elle offre de curieuses analogies avec la capitale catalane malgré leurs différences de destin : l’une, dévastée guerre après guerre depuis les Carolingiens ; l’autre, à peine touchée par deux bombardements. Cependant, au milieu du XXe siècle, l’une et l’autre étaient des centres industriels barbouillés de suie, envahis par la crasse, le chaos urbain, le désordre et la mauvaise vie. A tel point que leurs propres habitants les jugeaient infâmes, même si ces villes passaient pour pittoresques aux yeux de l’esthète étranger.

(…) quand [Stéphane Lebecq, professeur d’histoire médiévale à l’université de Lille] était enfant, vers 1960, il avait honte chaque fois qu’il rentrait dans sa ville après un été passé aux Pays-Bas ou en Bretagne, lieux impeccables, policés, ornés de monuments intacts depuis l’Antiquité. Lille, en revanche, était un lazaret de brique entouré d’un parc industriel empoisonné. Son opulente bourgeoisie vivait dans l’une des pires villes européennes.

Puis, soudain, vers les années 1970, cette ville à demi-morte est revenue miraculeusement à la vie (…) L’effort local conjugué à l’appui du centre allait assurer aux Lillois une victoire définitive en 2004, après qu’ils eurent décroché le titre de capitale européenne de la culture et donné la dernière impulsion à la tâche commencée trente ans plus tôt. Au fond, c’est une histoire qui ressemble à celle des Jeux olympiques de Barcelone en 1992 (…)

La Lille actuelle est charmante, toute en teintes ocre, citrouille et bleu indigo, parsemée de terrasses. Son centre piétonnier est vivant, bigarré. Il y vient beaucoup de touristes anglais, belges et néerlandais, ce qui remplit de satisfaction les habitants – et les rues de commerces luxueux. Elle possède en outre un musée sensationnel, le deuxième de France, où (nous y voilà enfin !) on peut admirer un Goya sublime (…) J’espère que le destin des villes refaites n’est pas de mourir, comme les lapins, d’un coup sur la nuque, mais il est certain que, lorsqu’on veut garder toute sa superbe, la chirurgie ne suffit pas (…) Outre le simulacre chirurgical, il faut injecter du sang neuf, mais avec discernement : à Lille, les pansements architecturaux de Rem Koolhaas, de Jean Nouvel, de Christian de Portzamparc ajoutent un mur de verre spectaculaire, telles ces énormes lunettes noires que portent les opérées pour masquer la misère. Comme dans le miroir de Goya, au lieu de dissimuler la chirurgie, le verre scandaleux la rend plus visible, plus éclatante. Car le vrai visage de la ville, c’est le centre où se rassemble la population, loin des hordes touristiques et des ravalements de façade. Son visage authentique, sa vérité.”

Félix de Azúa – El Periódico de Catalunya – 14/05/09

L’ambition nationale du Grand Paris, par Christian Blanc

Le 23 novembre, j’ai présenté à l’Assemblée le projet de loi qui sera l’acte I du Grand Paris. La veille, l’exposition des projets des dix équipes d’architectes-urbanistes, chargées par le président de la République d’imaginer l’urbanisme de la future métropole, fermera ses portes ; elle aura permis à un peu plus de 205 000 visiteurs de rêver aux visages possibles d’une ville-monde post-Kyoto. Ce projet de loi ne signera pas le passage du rêve à une réalité affaiblissant notre ambition. Car si nous avons tous le même grand désir et la même grande ambition, nous sommes aussi tous conscients du temps et des rythmes nécessaires pour transformer nos rêves en réalité.

Le Monde.fr

Un chantier qui devrait s’achever autour de 2025

• La Société du Grand Paris, créée par le projet de loi sur le Grand Paris, est chargée de la réalisation du métro. L’État sera majoritaire au conseil de surveillance où siègeront la Région et les huit départements d’Ile-de-France. Elle participera à l’aménagement des terrains autour des quelque quarante gares. L’État pourra signer des “contrats de développement territoriaux” sur ces zones avec les élus.
• Le tracé du métro sera arrêté par décret en Conseil d’État après consultation des habitants par la commission nationale du débat public.
• L’emplacement des gares sera connu fin 2010. Les travaux commenceront en 2013. Les premiers tronçons seront mis en service en 2017. Le chantier devrait être achevé autour de 2025.
• Le coût de la construction du métro est estimé par Christian Blanc à 21 milliards d’euros. Il prévoit une dotation d’État de 4 milliards et un emprunt de 17 milliards remboursables en quarante ans.
• Le projet de loi sur le Grand Paris crée l’établissement public d’aménagement du pôle scientifique du plateau de Saclay (Essonne).

Voir aussi

• Le Monde.fr – Grand Paris : faut-il croire au pari de Christian Blanc ?
• Le Monde.fr – Le projet du Grand Paris n’est pas métropolitain, par Daniel Behar et Philippe Estebe
• Le Monde.fr – “On ne dit pas non au Grand Paris”
• Le Monde.fr – Les architectes se sentent “comme le cresson autour du rôti”
• Le Monde.fr – Le mille-feuille politique de la région-capitale
• Le Monde.fr – Quel Grand Paris prépare Nicolas Sarkozy ?

Précédemment

• Patrick Guyennon.fr – Michel Bourdeau : “L’horizon de la ville n’est pas un mirage d’architecte”
• Patrick Guyennon.fr – Paul Chemetov : “Les mirages annoncés du Grand Paris se sont dissipés”
• Patrick Guyennon.fr – Le projet du Grand Paris est menacé de s’enliser dans la confusion, par Jean Nouvel

A lire !

• Paris et le désert français, par Jean-François Gravier (Flammarion, 1947)

900 Fifth Avenue

As a real estate broker and city planner, I am often asked if I could choose any building to live in, which would it be? Well, I have diverse tastes as I admire the architecture of Richard Meier, yet I like the pre-war classic with a touch of modernity at 740 Park. Of course, one could argue Robert A.M. Stern’s 15 Central Park West meets all the criteria i.e. pre-war layouts, modern mechanicals and so forth. The Prasada on CPW is another lovely building from pre WWI. Also, spending my formative years at Kips Bay Towers, I have a love of private open-space and functional design. However, I am going out on a limb and advising my goal is 900 Fifth Avenue.

OK, I admit, the building is usually overlooked and is not well known on probably the most well known avenue in Manhattan. However, I have been asked which building would be my first choice for a residence:

Location: As I have preached, it’s all location, location, location. In addition to being located on the always popular Upper East Side and fronting/addressing 5th Avenue, I consider the site of the building to be a premium. The west view of course is unobstructed Central Park. However, the south-view which is usually secondary or worse with most 5th Avenue buildings is a premium. Looking over the Frick Museum, the view is unobstructed and offers vistas including Central Park and Midtown. The south view from the lower floors looks onto the magnificent setting of The Frick. The upper-floors, a view of Midtown. The only other building on 5th Avenue which comes close to offering the dual west and south view package is 1080 5th Avenue; a post-war with a view over the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Guggenheim Museum.

Exterior: The façade while considered somewhat dated by present tastes must have been radical for 1958. Instead of the generic white brick used for many post-war apartment houses, the architects Sylvan and Robert Bien (father and son) included dark gray metal and aluminum to off-set the bay windows from the flat brick façade.  For residential architecture, the design was radical for the era, more appropriate for office buildings being developed in Midtown on Park Avenue. My personal view, the building stands out along an Avenue of eclectic designs from classical pre-war to modernist disasters designed for economic gain and not taking the urban fabric and design into context.

Interior: With 20 stories and only 50 units, the building is the perfect size for my tastes (full disclosure, I reside in a 65 unit, 18 story building co-op). Apartments have central air thus no protrusions of wall-through or window air conditioning units. Most apartments in the building range from 6-9 rooms, all with generous layouts and superior views as mentioned above. Amenities include a gym and garage.

Lobby and 1st Level: The granite base at human eye level fits correctly with the buildings design offset by the minimalist landscaping yet providing a cohesive design. The canopy and doorman station are similar to other 5th Avenue buildings.

 In New York City we have elevated building design to a commodity i.e. Candela, Meier, Nouvel, Stern, McKim, Mead and White and others.  The older pre-war buildings may offer generous layouts, however without extensive renovations (seen and unseen), such apartments can be a labor of love. New buildings from the past decade may have been designed by “starchitects” with name recognition; however the glass curtain wall is a most efficient oven in summer and freezer in winter.

We usually dismiss mid-century apartment houses as lacking the charm of pre-war and not having the cache of contemporary structures. I must be a contrarian. I see the mid-century buildings such as 900 5th Avenue as unique examples of design and taste during an era of profound change within society. For example, 900 Fifth respects the floor plans of pre-war buildings with 6-9 room layouts yet envelopes the design within a modernist façade.

Buildings such as Manhattan House and Imperial House once dismissed as boring white-brick are enjoying renewed popularity for their interior courtyards, efficient layouts and outdoor space i.e. balcony’s. The period of apartment house construction between 1945 and 1970 in New York is a time or transition on many fronts including design, land values, functionality and others. Post 1970, the City entered a fiscal crisis coupled with middle and upper middle-class flight to the suburbs as construction came to a grinding halt (as demand waned and financing was cost-prohibitive).  With the building book of the 1990’s and early 2000’s my question is “Will these building stand the test of time and be appreciated in 50 years or will they wallow in obscurity or be razed?”

What’s a port city to do when its main function of receiving ferries and ocean liners from abroad becomes obsolete? Hire architect Jean Nouvel and spend $29 million on a public swimming facility to lure travelers back! Les Bains des Docks (literal translation dock baths) provide a swimming experience that is modern in every sense, but draws on the relaxing traditions of ancient Roman and Turkish bath houses.

This is worth a trip to Le Havre just to experience a public bath house in such a sublime modern setting.  A girl can dream!

Here is a video tour of the building.

Michel Bourdeau : “L’horizon de la ville n’est pas un mirage d’architecte”

L’architecte et urbaniste répond point par point aux récentes prises de position de ses confrères Paul Chemetov et Jean Nouvel au sujet du Grand Paris.

Le Moniteur

Paul Chemetov : “Les mirages annoncés du Grand Paris se sont dissipés”

Dans une tribune exclusive adressée au Moniteur, l’architecte et urbaniste Paul Chemetov réagit aux propos de Jean Nouvel sur “l’ensablement” de la consultation sur le Grand Paris.

Le Moniteur

A live-action film begins, high above the skyscrapers of Manhattan. The viewpoint moves south, and begins to peer down over the crossway of Tribeca. A metallic sphere descends from even further above our view. Is this a preview to the next Michael Crichton big-budget sci-fi movie? The sphere begins to bubble slightly, only reinforcing its status as alien, and slows as it reaches the ground. Small columns and planes of steel begin to follow, dropping on a concrete plaza and smashing the original sphere into a blob shape, reminiscent of an Anish Kapoor sculpture (and which we find later, is one).  A tower is being constructed in front of us, a steel and glass Jenga game. This is a promotional film for 56 Leonard, a now-stalled skyscraper designed by Herzog & De Meuron, and may explain what this design is all about.

The French architect Jean Nouvel said, “Cinema has taught us to see images in relation to time. A town is read through motion, travel. Most contemporary architects take into consideration the journey of the human being through space.” How we move through space (transition) is one of the essentials of architecture (along with structure, light, materials, etc). How do architects analyze space through film? How might this lead to a greater understanding of design, or enable us to better criticize it? Historically and recently, the promotional video has been created by architects to sell space, as well as to explore transition and meaning in the buildings they create. And so, the promotional film is more complex than it first appears.

With the aid of professional filmmakers, the architects can explore their buildings with a new language.  For example, Herzog and De Meuron and Tronic Studio (Vivian Rosenthal and Jesse Seppi ) recently produced a promotional film for 56 Leonard (in 2008); the building is a high-end glass and steel tower in Tribeca, New York City. In “56 Leonard,” the camera swoops around the building from outside, an impossible perspective in reality (reality which seems to be blurred in an extreme way). The film may be about how the building is constructed; this is a high budget action film where steel beams and columns appear out of the sky, 56 Leonard appearing to be built as a stack of legos. The film reflects the architect’s process of design.

The work of Tronic Studio has been one of the catalysts of my research into films; more on their work to come….

Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel>, the new 82-story MoMA building will be erected next to the museum and will stand 1,025 feet tall. That’s 225 feet shorter than the initial proposal, which would have measured as tall as an antenna-less Empire State Building. But the City Planning Commission cut the height last month. Though the City Council approved the new building plan in a 44-3 vote, some are unhappy with the location and may threaten legal action. Until then, the project will continue as planned, under a deal with developer Hines. The building is set to include luxury housing, hotel rooms, and more exhibit space for the museum.

Curtain Up!>

En una singular conversación a modo de tertulia es que dos grandes pensadores discuten sobre objetos singulares, objetos singulares que van de la filosofía y la arquitectura a través de las tendencias e ideas de Jean Baudrillard y Jean Nouvel.

Muchas son las formas de abordar la arquitectura y su construcción ideológica, pero en definitiva la presentada en la publicación “Los Objetos Singulares Arquitectura y Filosofía” es una de las que sin más, da un acercamiento a éstas dos disciplinas que de forma dialéctica construyen obras de arte.

Premisas como ¿Qué es un objeto singular? o ¿Hay una verdad en la arquitectura?, son las que comienzan a encaminar lo que se va convirtiendo en una tertulia a lo largo de las páginas leídas, donde uno como lector se siente totalmente inmerso en una charla que nos da visos de la genialidad filosófica de las construcciones arquitectónicas.

Radicalidad, espacio y libertad, hiperrealidad, verdad, y otras son las vertientes discutidas en el libro que nos dan una mirada sobre la profesión del arquitecto también, del arquitecto como constructor de espacios, y como prestidigitador que engaña a los sentidos creando espacios virtuales de ilusión.

Ambos pensadores dan paso a sus argumentos entre diversas obras que van desde la monstruosidad de las ciudades totalmente cosmopolitas hasta la poética de la creación en la pobreza, o las mismas concepciones de las ciudades del futuro en una realidad representable.

Seducción, metamorfosis, estética de la desaparición y utopías sobre la concepción de la luz, los espacios, y la materia, son temas que se trastocan en el ir y venir de la lectura, una lectura que una vez que comienzas no puedes dejar de seguir, ni evitar imaginar los espacios y las grandes obras en las urbes que dan plausibilidad al poderío estilístico.

Varias son las muestras citadas en la publicación que edita el Fondo de Cultura Económica y que en definitiva valen leerse y apreciarse, a través de la guía de dos grandes pensadores.

Aquí dos obras que utilizan para ejemplificar sus conceptos, las que de solo ver dan paso a interpretar a través de una lectura amena, digerible y en 126 páginas, los argumentos del filósofo y el arquitecto.

Beaubourg

Fundación Cartier

othername®

J’entendais ce matin, sur France Inter, l’architecte Jean Nouvel expliquer que pour éviter que la ville soit ennuyeuse, pour développer l’urbanité, il fallait abandonner le « zoning » et rétablir la mixité des activités. La ville, commentait-il, ne peut plus être la juxtaposition de quartiers spécialisés, les uns pour le travail, les autres pour le repos, d’autres encore pour le loisir, etc…Il regrettait que certains quartiers vivent le jour et soient vides la nuit quand d’autres connaissent la réciproque. Il dénonçait ces quartiers résidentiels dans lesquels on s’ennuie.

J’étais heureux d’entendre affirmer une telle évidence que les urbanistes et les politiques ont semble-t-il niée depuis des décennies. Je me souviens que l’une de mes premières taches lorsque je suis devenu maire, il y a maintenant 32 ans, fut d’établir un POS, un plan d’occupation des sols. Je m’étais, dès alors, insurgé contre le zonage que la loi imposait : ici une zone industrielle, là une zone commerciale, ici une zone de logements, ailleurs des espaces verts ou des terrains pour équipements publics. Dans les zones d’habitation, un commerce de proximité ne pouvait pas s’implanter si le plan ne l’avait pas prévu ! C’était à mes yeux le contraire de la vie !

Si je m’insurgeais, c’est que je savais que lorsque je visite une ville, je cherche à découvrir le centre ancien, celui qui, généralement s’est construit sans zonage et même sans plan d’urbanisme. Il m’intéresse parce que justement il reflète un mode de vie urbaine, une architecture et un urbanisme aussi spontanés que possible. Je n’éprouve, je ne dois pas être le seul, aucun plaisir à visiter les quartiers périphériques qu’il faut franchir avant d’atteindre le cœur d’une cité, ces zones industrielles, ces zones commerciales, ces barres de HLM bien sur, et ces lotissements dans lesquels s’alignent des pavillons trop semblables, implantés selon des règles strictes, dans des rues en cul-de sac.

Je sais que ce type d’urbanisme a rencontré l’adhésion majoritaire : il faut chercher la tranquillité, éviter le bruit des usines ou du coq le matin, ne pas subir les nuisances de la circulation automobile, éviter le contact quotidien avec le voisin immédiat, bref se couper de la vie et de la ville, quitte à organiser des fêtes de quartier pour établir un lien qui n’est plus naturel… Six mandats plus tard, nous débattons encore avec mes collègues de l’adoption d’un PLU, Plan d’Urbanisme Local, qui figera pour les années qui viennent la direction que devrait prendre le développement urbain de ma commune.

A nous d’imaginer la ville de demain, dans l’ignorance pourtant de tant d’éléments qui pourraient survenir. De cette démarche, les aléas, l’inventivité, la spontanéité de la vie sociale sont exclus. Pour suivre l’idée de Jean Nouvel, il y a encore du chemin à faire ! S’il est vrai que, dans ma commune de 6000 habitants, le zonage n’a pas de conséquences trop désagréables – parce que nul n’y est jamais loin de rien -, il devient très grave dans les grands centres urbains.

Jean Nouvel abordait le sujet à propos du Grand Paris et dans le cadre de la conférence de Kyoto sur le réchauffement de la planète. Il suggérait par exemple que des immeubles à usage de bureaux soient réaménagés pour que puissent coexister bureaux et logements. En fait, il nous proposait de revenir à ce qu’était la ville autrefois : l’endroit où coexistaient toutes les activités. Il est vrai que la mixité logement, travail, commerce, loisir, éviterait beaucoup de déplacements dont les villes et leur environnement sont terriblement victimes.

Rapprocher les logements des lieux de travail et de commerce serait bénéfique pour tous. En région parisienne, mais aussi dans tous les grands centres urbains, combien d’heures souvent stressantes perdues dans le transport, et quel volume de CO2 rejeté inutilement dans l’atmosphère ? Et à Paris, aux heures de loisir, ce sont quelques quartiers seulement – ceux qui concentrent les lieux de distraction – qui attirent un public trop nombreux pour qu’il soit convenablement accueilli, créant embouteillage, pagaille, et insatisfaction.

Si le réchauffement de la planète pouvait nous contraindre, collectivement, à des démarches plus conformes au bon sens, à revenir à une conception de la ville plus humaine, il faudrait presque s’en réjouir !

Jacques Fleury

Le projet du Grand Paris est menacé de s’enliser dans la confusion, par Jean Nouvel

Il est urgent de retrouver l’ambition initiale et l’imagination collective.

Le Monde.fr

O Instituto do Mundo Árabe, localizado próximo a Catedral de Notre Dame, na área central de Paris é um centro cultural com museu, espaços para exibições, uma biblioteca, um centro de documentação, um auditório, um restaurante, oficinas infantis e escritórios. A escolha do arquiteto partiu de uma concorrência promovida pelo então presidente da França, François Mitterrand. No projeto, o arquiteto Jean Nouvel recria elementos da cultura islâmica e os aplica na fachada Sul do edíficio inovando assim no formato dos brises que ele utiliza para filtrar a insolação excessiva. Ele cria um elemento que se baseia num diafragma das câmeras fotográficas, abrindo e fechando de acordo com a intensidade luminosa do exterior, tudo isso controlado mecânicamente com o auxílio de células fotosensíveis. O efeito disso no interior do prédio é um controle da entrada de luz que lembra muito a arquitetura islâmica. A outra fachada, de frente para o Rio Sena é completamente espelhada refletindo a paisagem do rio e da cidade de Paris. O prédio vale a pena de ser visitado, pois ele foi construído na década de 80, época onde essa questão de conforto e sustentabilidade ainda não era tão discutida e utilizando-se ainda de uma técnologia inovadora para filtrar a luz.

Institut Du Monde Arabe
1, rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard
Place Mohammed V
75236 PARIS CEDEX 05
Tel: 01 40 51 38 38

Vue et dîner gastronomiques…

Insolemment installé sur le toit du Musée du Quai Branly, le restaurant Les Ombres offre une vue époustouflante à tout grand amoureux de Paris et de cuisine gastronomique. En effet, l’établissement est désormais célèbre pour sa terrasse exceptionnelle surplombant la capitale et faisant face au plus connu des monuments parisiens: la tour Eiffel.

Curieux de tester cette table dont tout le monde parle, nous avons décidé, malgré les avis divergents, de lui laisser sa chance. Sobrement mais élégamment décorée, la salle offre un espace immense et aéré où chaque table trouve son intimité. Le cadre raffiné qui joue sur un registre contemporain imaginé par Jean Nouvel, mêle pertinemment matière brute, cuir et bois. Avec son toit en armature moderne et son volume asymétrique au vitrage panoramique, l’architecture semble répondre à celle de la Dame de Fer qui la couve de son regard bienveillant. La terrasse quant à elle, s’offre délibérément à ce monument à la taille de guêpe qui se pare d’une robe aux milles joyaux la nuit venue, un charme magique indéniable.

Sébastien Tasset, le chef du restaurant, propose une carte sans frontières: il offre un savant mélange de saveurs traditionnelles et inattendues, associées aux couleurs d’une cuisine moderne dont l’inspiration vient incontestablement d’ailleurs. Une véritable porte ouverte sur le monde. Le résultat est fabuleux de délicatesse et de légèreté. Le chef compose une partition enchanteresse et livre ainsi une œuvre gastronomique haute en goût et en arômes, pour le plus grand plaisir des yeux et des papilles. Les assiettes sont créatives et soignées, les produits de qualité et issus du commerce équitable, les chaires savoureuses.

Idéale pour un dîner en amoureux, cette table prisée aux atouts séducteurs se doit d’être visitée: la cuisine se révèle à la hauteur du cadre. Légère ombre au tableau, l’addition peut très vite devenir lourde…

Les Ombres, 27 quai Branly, 75007 Paris. Réservation au 01 47 53 68 00

http://www.lesombres-restaurant.com/

Dancing House van architect Frank Gehry in Praag, niet ver van de upcoming wijk Smíchov.

PRAAG, 28 SEPTEMBER 2009. ‘Als je op de Karelsbrug staat, zoals duizenden bezoekers dat al voor jou deden, lonkt boven aan de heuvel de burcht. De wijk Malá Strana strekt zich uit aan de linkeroever van de rivier Moldau. Aan de andere kant van het water de torentjes en de straten met kinderkopjes van Staré Mêstro, de oude stad. Dwaal hier rond en je zult al snel verloren lopen in dit middeleeuwse doolhof, alvorens voldaan neer te strijken op een van de fraaie pleinen’.

Zoals vele reisgidsen begint ook Time Out met een liefdesverklaring aan de stad Praag. Dat is terecht natuurlijk. Qua schoonheid kan Praag zich meten met de mooiste steden van Europa, met het historische centrum dat op de werelderfgoedlijst van Unesco staat en de prachtige kleurrijke gebouwen in barokke, gotische en jugendstilstijl.

Maar in steden die van nature al mooi zijn, is de noodzaak en bereidheid tot verandering meestal niet zo groot. Criticasters vinden toeristische magneet Praag een tikkeltje saai. Het bruist niet, het culturele leven komt maar niet echt tot bloei en qua moderne architectuur moet de grote sprong voorwaarts nog worden gemaakt.

Praag: 1,2 miljoen inwoners

Langzaam wordt dat anders. In de wijk Holesevice, in het noorden van de stad, is DOX Centre for Contemporary Art een welkome aanvulling op het kunstaanbod in Praag. Frank Gehry’s Dancing House, een gebouw dat vanwege de vorm ook wel Fred & Ginger wordt genoemd, is eigenlijk het enige architectonische hoogstandje dat door de inwoners van Praag word gepruimd. In die categorie valt ook de technische bibliotheek, een futuristisch gebouw met een ronde façade van glas. Maar het zegt veel dat het pas deze maand is geopend, terwijl de plannen al uit de jaren negentig van de vorige eeuw dateren.

Maar goed, er gebeurt tenminste iets. Ga eens kijken in Praag 5, in de wijk Smíchov, op de zuidelijke linkeroever van de Moldau. Tot 1922 een zelfstandige gemeente, daarna werd Smíchov een foeilelijke buitenwijk van Praag, gedomineerd door zware industrie. Dat is nu anders. Eigenlijk alleen de Staropramen bierbrouwerij, de grootste van Praag, herinnert nog aan het industriële verleden. Het is nu een toeristische attractie; er worden rondleidingen gegeven en je kunt er dineren.

Vanuit het centrum (Praag 1) is het met de gele lijn vijf minuten met de metro naar Smíchov. Loop het Andelstation uit en je staat onder het grote glazen Andelgebouw, voltooid in 2001, van architect Jean Nouvel. Daar recht tegenover ligt Nový Smíchov, een glimmend winkelcentrum, op plek van de voormalige machinefabriek Tatra  CDK. In dit complex huist de grootse bioscoop van Praag en supermarkt Tesco is zo uitgestrekt dat het personeel skeelers nodig heeft om de schappen tijdig te kunnen bijvullen.

Het Joodse museum en synagoge in neo-Romaanse en Moorse stijl ligt naast het Andelgebouw en staat in alle architectuurboeken van Praag. Het Andel’s Hotel om de hoek, ontworpen door het Britse architecten- en designduo Jestico + Whiles, heeft verschillende internationale prijzen gewonnen. Smíchov is tegenwoordig ook een van de meest populaire uitgaanswijken voor de inwoners van Praag. 

Voor de industriële boom was Smíchov een behoorlijke chique wijk. Niet ver van het metrostation staat villa Bertramka, in de achttiende eeuw het tijdelijke verblijf van Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Het ligt, hoe kan het ook anders, aan de Mozartova 169. Het is nu als museum te bezichtigen en in de tuinen worden concerten gegeven. Ook voor je portie culturele ontspanning kun je dus rustig langs de Moldau  afzakken naar Smíchov.

There’s still something of the naked ape about man when you put him next to, or inside, certain modern structures. More than merely sculptural forms or places of shelter, they transcend their function and become a kind of totem for what we wish we were. Think of the black monolith that appears throughout 2001 A Space Odyssey – the inscrutable object that apparently brings intelligence to Neanderthal Earth. It is the pure essence of a technology we can’t comprehend, the badge of modern civilisation. Within its simplicity and blackness lie all possibilities. Also sprach Zarathustra.

A radical new skyscraper being planned for downtown Zagreb, designed by Croatian architects Hrvoj Bakran, Drazen Plevk and Zdravki Krasic, doesn’t so much recall as replicate on a much larger scale the black monolith of 2001 A Space Odyssey. The 160 metre high, slender jet-black minimalist building will tower over an unremarkable landscape like an intergalactic visitor. In Zagreb it will be the tallest building in the city, and the public excitement around the plans couldn’t be greater if it came with the promise of alien advanced intelligence for all in its proximity.

The sinister sheen and geometry of the 2001 monolith has inspired more than just architects: you can see it in the work that Hedi Slimane produced at Dior Homme and in Peter Saville’s book and album covers and installations. Its purity is as much about its lack of colour and reflectivity as its form. Pure black or white buildings strip things down to form and magnify their impact.

As Vicky Richardson, editor of the architecture and design magazine Blueprint says: ‘It’s a pared down reductionalism rather than minimalism; an anti-design statement. Featureless black and white facades make a statement that they – unlike so much gratuitously iconic architecture – are serious, restrained, contextual and not trying too hard. It’s a rejection of self conscious architecture.’

OMA’s Dubai Renaissance tower was conceived as ‘anti-icon,’ according to OMA’s Rem Koolhaas. Though this self confidently blank, white, 200 x 300 metre monolith lost out in competition to Zaha Hadid’s Dancing Towers and won’t be the central feature of the Business Bay in Dubai, plans are going ahead with it on another site. Dubai, where every new piece of architecture is all singing, all dancing, would seem the most radical context in which to reject self conscious architecture. Thankfully the Dubai Renaissance’s gimmick (to revolve) has been dropped after Koolhaas admitted it was a novelty with an eye on the competition. The resulting tower will be eminently more powerful in its restraint.

The use of white in architecture is nothing new, of course. It has a functional pedigree in that it reflects the heat of the sun, something that gives Santorini and many other Greek towns their gleam. But a number of European contemporary architects have gone beyond Mediterranean function, most notably Portugal’s Alvaro Siza, whose elegant modernism is often celebrated with him hailed, according to Chris Twaddle, of London based architecture studio kennedytwaddle, as ‘the architect’s architect.’ As Twaddle, one of the UK’s rising stars of modernist urban design, says: ‘Siza uses white as a response to climate, but it’s the clarity that it gives his buildings that’s magical. His work shows that “colour” is only one of the many elements that make a scheme successful.’

Siza’s Santa Maria Church, built in the early 90s in Marco de Canavezes in Portugal, is illustrative of how the practicality of white in a hot climate can become transcendental. From one end it appears to be a simple whitewashed concrete construction of three tall windowless  columns, while from the exterior of the altar end, a smaller column attaches to a larger one with a sweep to the rest of the ‘box’ of the building. Although the windows, where they exist, appear small in scale, they are cut into the curves in such a way that they flood the inside white stucco space with light reminiscent of a Hammershoi painting. As fellow architect Marc Dubois puts it: ‘It’s a space which assigns a sacred dimension to the light.’ Siza’s use of white strips things down to pure form. In a similar way, Delugan Meissl’s new Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, which is much more playful and angular, and looks inherently ‘Porsche’, could have appeared overbaked with an over reliance on texture or glass, but with so much white on it, it’s pared back. Equally, plans for Daniel Liebeskind’s Creative Media Centre, to be completed in 2010 in Hong Kong, detail a building with sharp, aggressive points, slashed horizontally with windows, tempered by a calm white surface. Both of these projects share a sense of futurism, something that the use of white has always signified. New fabrications are also being used to accentuate the sci-fi element: The Seeko’o (meaning ‘glacier’ in Inuit) Hotel in Bordeaux has been clad in Corian, a material more commonly used for ultra sleek high-style interior surfaces.

The UK architect David Chipperfield works repeatedly in pure white. His studio design for sculptor Antony Gormley in London is blank and necessarily industrial (Gormley needs the kind of space that any light-to-medium industry would require) but resonates with more impact than that of a mere factory: the punctuation of windows (or rather the lack of punctuation) makes the frontage more sparse, the roof is in a geometric saw-toothed pattern and the inner walls are seamless, like those of a gallery.

Chipperfield’s background includes work on shopfittings for the likes of Issey Miyake and Joseph in the 80s, when minimalism was all, and the focus was on both stock and the rarified air between that stock. His own brand of reductionism has carried over into his architecture today. ‘I think that “icon architecture” has a certain danger,’ he says. ‘Everything has to look spectacular, everything has to look like it’s changing the world, even if it’s not really doing that much.’ Chipperfield is leading the move away from icons and ego.

The plans for his Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate are at once eyecatching and restrained. It has a discernible dialogue with its environment: there is a maritime feel in the building’s sail-top silhouette. Though nowhere near as literal as something like the crazed Vasa Museum building in Stockholm with its masts, wooden construction and slanted slate roofs, there is still an echo of the majesty of big ships sailing around the Kent coastline. ‘We are trying to make something that’s abstract and contemporary on the one hand but completely inspired by its own task and function,’ says the architect. Similarly, his Gormley studio plays artfully off the Kings Cross warehouses surrounding it, but is focused on its purpose – a place in which Gormley can sculpt.

Pure black is more commonly used on smaller, but still sensational, projects. David Adjaye’s Dirty House, the live/work site of artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster, is one of the most celebrated buildings in London’s burgeoning new look East End. It too has the impenetrable look of the 2001 monolith – its brickwork has gone incognito behind thick black anti-graffiti painting and its windows are reflective with no apparent frames visible from the street. It sits one block back from Bethnal Green Road, quiet but ominous, like the architectural equivalent of one of Mark Rothko’s Black-Form paintings.

Simon Conder has built two beach houses on the eerie Kent no-man’s land of Dungeness and the first of these, finished in black rubber, has brought as much attention to the area as did artist Derek Jarman’s similarly black, but traditional, fisherman’s cottage, a short walk away. Conder’s structure is a modernist take on the ramshackle homes that line the beach, but its intense, vulcanized blackness makes it the most dramatic structure on the coast. In many ways it’s the inverse of Siza’s white – there are environmental issues to consider on Dungeness, and many of the traditional cottages are black from weatherproofing with pitch. Conder takes the image and accentuates it without turning it into a cartoon. That said, there is something delightfully fantastical about the house, sitting on the pale shingle as if it had been dropped there by a tornado from a weird parallel Kansas.

The use of pure black or white has a trickle down effect. Two of Cazenove Architects’ UK projects have been on small scales, and used dense black exteriors but also colour. Their Abbey Children’s Centre has some of the dandy, diagonal flair of mid-century modern on top of a low-rise strip of rooms, painted black but with a door panel of hot pink and windows of sunflower yellow and aqua. Their offices for Lee Valley Regional Park Authority are black but with prominent angular windows working on horizontal, vertical and skewed axis. Both buildings find their strengths in the core weight of the use of black.

Reductionalism isn’t without its problems or controversy. It can be challenging. It can be unnerving. Last year saw the completion of work to reinvent the façade of Edward Durrell Stone’s landmark building at 2 Columbus Circle in New York. The work, which was carried out as part of the conversion of the building into the new home for the Museum of Art and Design, has been condemned as ‘the rape of 2 Columbus Circle’ by the City Review’s Carter B. Horsley. The original 1964 structure was an undeniable folly – a mixture of Venetian palazzo elements in odd, stretched proportions, and almost entirely windowless. The new building has a façade of bands of glass, arranged in lines that appear to read, ‘HI”. It’s an unremarkable building. Inelegant. But the former structure was remarkably unpopular. Why? Arguably because it was unsettling in the context of midtown Manhattan; it did have a marvellously sinister tone – its blank Vermont marble facades suggested a Moorish mausoleum.

Author Tom Wolfe was one of those who defended the old building, and blames its fall in part on the rise of Ephemeralism in architecture, which he claims ‘arrived in 1994 with Jean Nouvel’s Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris… embracing transparency with plain glass walls, voyeurism and branding – making the exterior design remind you of the enterprise within.’ Ephemeralism and Reductionism are almost polar opposites. Ephemeralism would appear to be a perfect fit for big business in big cities, while the latter is a far bolder school of pure vision.

What’s happening in Zagreb, and in Dubai, would suggest a shift away from transparency, voyeurism, branding and, of course, ego. It might be challenging, scary even, but then these are challenging and scary times.

Visual, or conceptual, headlights orient.

During my several long walks in Berlin, I have been many times surprised how the television tower planted in Alexander Platz could help me to orient myself, once I knew its location. Although some my argue that it goes against flannerie, I couldn’t stop thinking how useful it was, even only to slowly build my own mental map. And nor even to relate how many people told me they found it so ugly.

It reminded me of this book written by Jean Nouvel, Jean-Marie Duthilleul and Michel Cantal-Dupart (Naissances et renaissances de mille et un bonheur parisiens, Paris, Les Editions du Mont-Boron, 2009, 638 p.). Published as their contribution for the Grand Paris proposal (among ten other teams), one the propositions they present is to multiply high visual marks in Paris. I could remember a sketch of the Gare de Lyon train station, whose clock tower would have been considerably risen. I rarely get lost in Paris, now. However I get so often bored by the constant Haussmanian continuity and homogeneity, and the lack of stricking towers.

From the Chrysler building to the Empire State building, hundreds of multistory office and real estate towers reign over Midtown Manhattan. Here, office buildings rise into the clouds while retail stores line the streets. Midtown is an area that has been built up again and again, continually reinventing and developing itself. The City is known for its skyscrapers but, few outsiders know that they are mainly in Midtown. So, when a developer decides to construct a skyscraper, what is the preferred location? Midtown seems to be a perfect fit, but some people disagree. Regardless of the height or aesthetics of these buildings, some residents refuse to allow another high-rise to take over their neighborhood.

In 2007 Hines Development bought the 17,000 sq. ft. “S” shaped lot at 53 53rd Street for $125 million. French architect, Jean Nouvel, was chosen to design for the oddly shaped property that spans 53rd and 54th Streets. Calling his creation the Tower Verre, the design is an imaginative swirl of glass and metal that tapers elegantly toward the sky.. The tower would house a hotel, condos, and 60,000 square feet of dedicated MoMA space. In order to achieve the planned height of 1,250 feet (100ft higher than the Chrysler building), Hines Development must buy air rights from adjacent buildings, St. Thomas Church, University Club and MoMA. The Landmarks Preservation Commission and the City Council then must approve this transfer.

Fifty-third Street is a cultural artery in the heart of Midtown. St. Thomas Church and the University Club have landmark status. Others, including Pellii’s CBS building (nicknamed “Black Rock”) and MoMA’s sculpture garden, are studied for their urban significance. Notable architects who have designed structures within this block include Phillip Goodwin, Edward Durell Stone, Philip Johnson, César Pellii, and Yoshio Taniguchi. Nouvel’s stature and vision make him an excellent choice to join this distinguished company. He recently received the Pritzker Prize for his work on over 200 projects around the world. In New York City, he completed 40 Mercer, a condo building, as well as a proposed high-rise condominium located on 11th Avenue and 19th street, next to Frank Gehry’s IAC building

The 75-story tower itself is divided into four parts: the luxury condos, the hotel, MoMA galleries, and a public space (including a restaurant and lounge.) Although the condos will occupy a majority of the building, three floors have been devoted to the MoMA gallery expansion and will no doubt be a financial plus to the traffic and business in the tower.

The exceptional tower height requires more square feet of air rights than most existing lots allow. The space that Tower Verre hopes to occupy comes with only 210,000 sq. ft. of air rights. Because 1,250 ft translates to 786, 562 sq. ft. of air rights, Hines Development needs to gain an additional 576, 562 sq. ft. of air rights from adjacent buildings. That’s where St. Thomas Church and University Club come in. Although they agreed to the transfer in exchange for maintenance preservation and a façade update, community members who oppose the project are attempting to block the transfer as a means to stopping it. They argue that the transfer is not in the best interest of the area and that the buildings involved do not need the money to maintain their landmarked status.

Community members and Landmark councils oppose the Tower Verre on the grounds that it will be too tall in context with the immediate 53rd /54th street block, and will not fit harmoniously into its surroundings. They also believe that the building will impede on its neighbors in architectural aesthetics and will over-shadow the lower buildings. Community Board 5 voted 12 to 1 against the transfer of air rights from the church and the Club to the new site. Liz Kruger, State Senator, said that the residents of the tower will also add to congestion of the local infrastructure, namely, the subways, schools and hospitals.

Local New York City architects, Skidmore, Owings and Merrell, support the Tower Verre based on its grand architecture. Critics Nicolai Ouroussoff, of The New York Times, and Justin Davidson, of New York Magazine, have both praised it. Ouroussoff stated that the Tower Verre would be “one of the most exciting additions to New York’s skyline in a generation.” Since the tower will be constructed in Midtown amongst other skyscrapers, it will not be out of context for the Midtown area at large. Although it will be able to accommodate 300 residential units, only 120 units are projected in the proposal. But even if the maximum number of condos becomes a reality, there will not be enough full time residents for the city to mandate that the developer do a socioeconomic and infrastructural survey of the area. This would seem to negate Senator Kruger’s objections.

If the Nouvel designed tower fails to gain approval, there is another tower waiting in the wings. And, that one has already been approved. The unnamed tower would stand under the height of the current museum tower, but an expansion rendering shows that this tower may also be enlarged in coming years. The preapproved tower is not by any means an architectural breakthrough. It’s a glass box like so many other New York buildings. Although it would not interfere with sunlight initially, the potential expansion of the tower to the same height as the Tower Verre eliminates any functional advantage that design might have. And, given it’s lack of aesthetic appeal, it pales in comparison to the Nouvel tower.

Despite strong opposition from community members, landmark and historical councils, the Tower Verre should be built. Although opponents narrowly define the neighborhood, the tower is in context with its extended midtown Manhattan locale, as well as other buildings in the immediate area. The presence of the Nouvel design on the street will compliment the adjacent architectural neighbors, and the tower will undoubtedly be an instant landmark. MoMA is a cultural institution on a street of culture and arts. Nothing but a significant piece of architecture should be considered. But architecture aside, MoMA will receive 60,000 sq. ft. of space in the tower to expand their galleries and storage space. This alone is a significant cultural benefit to the area, and is a generous allowance, especially from a real-estate developer. The infrastructure concerns that the tower evokes from community members are ill founded. The tower will house too few residential units to cause the city to mandate a preconstruction analysis from the developer. This affluent area presently contains many residential units and would be a suitable location for luxury condominiums. Building the tower on this block will not significantly impact the existing density of residential units, and may, in fact, prove to be financially advantageous for all concerned. And, it is for this reason that a developer interested in building affordable housing would be unlikely to choose this design for another part of the city.

The 53rd St. lot will eventually be developed regardless of design Why not make it one that excites the imagination? In New York City, where undeveloped space is virtually nonexistent, it is rare to see a project that the architect can start from the ground up. This empty space adjacent to a world-renowned museum dedicated to modern art should be valued, not wasted. Nouvel’s design should be embraced as the grand opportunity it is.