Paris, Lisbon and Shanghai-based practices Jacques Ferrier Architecture and Sensual City Studio have turned what could have been an ordinary ‘office plus car park’ into an opportunity to radically reassess the surrounding urban district of Xujiahui in Shanghai.
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New Koper Urban Park is set between Piranska Road and the Semedela promenade, and between the Grande canal and the area just beyond the city market. Piranska Road represents a new stage in the development of the town’s infrastructure while the promenade is one of the more important features of the town having once acted as the link between the city on the then-island and the mainland. As such, it counts among the characteristic elements in the panorama of Koper. The connection ran between the sea and the salt ponds. As the city developed during the past decades, the former salt-pond area was gradually filled in. The land thus recovered represented a major development potential for the town. Nowadays, these surfaces are partially built, but there are still extensive unoccupied surfaces, including the area under consideration. The key characteristic of the area is the immediate connection with the promenade and the sea, which is to be recognised as a significant spatial quality. The area is partially occupied by a large car park behind the city market. In the broader context, the area represents the first contact with the sea for the visitors to the Slovene coast, and it represents the starting point of the riviera between the towns of Koper and Izola. Only a comprehensive and co-ordinated treatment of the entire belt along the promenade will be able to visually and functionally connect the two currently separate parts of the town into a logical whole.
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When it comes to choosing your home’s landscaping, trees are a needed element. They are versatile, dynamic and attractive. Trees provide screening and shade. They also define space and create habitat. With trees, it’s important to choose the right size. A few tips can help.
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Analyzing the past and present of the Superior Tannery we have chosen to develop the architectural project starting from two inputs directly linked to the skin: its structure, that is a three-dimensional interweaving of fibers at the mercy of tensions and the fascinating fragmentation of the aerial ribbons a chain on which the hides are hung in the various processing processes.
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Landscaping can be defined as the process of altering a plot or parcel of land by manipulating terrain, adding more plants such as trees and shrubs as well as ornamental features in order to make it more attractive or otherwise different from the norm. In layman terms, it can be referred to as the art of gardening, so to speak. It is mostly carried it privately in homes or housing establishments, as well as public spaces such as parks, walkways and oriental or themed gardens. It is a task that incorporates scientific as well as artistic principles to bring out the desired results. A practice that dates back hundreds of years, landscaping has been regarded as a necessity for anyone looking to enhance the aesthetic value of any outdoor space. There exist varied reasons as to why landscaping may be carried out, from wanting to create a sustainable terrain, that preserves and saves on natural resources such as water, to recreating a certain garden outlook that appeals to particular styles and tastes.
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Riga, the Baltic states’ largest city, will see the mostly abandoned buildings of its historic Kimmel Quarter transformed into a thriving commercial development, and Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects is behind the winning design to revitalize the neighbourhood.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects won a competition to design Kimmel Quarter, an 11,500-square-metre area that assumes nearly an entire city block in Riga’s Central District. Kimmel Quarter is the former home of Brewery Kimmel, a 19th century beer brewery that in its wake left an industrial complex filled with buildings that, while now mostly abandoned, are rich with history. The project called for a design that realizes the vision of a vibrant new city block with deep historic roots. Schmidt Hammer Lassen was one of eleven participants, along with firms like Henning Larsen and Zaha Hadid, invited to the open competition.
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Skorba is a small village in the vicinity of Ptuj, Slovenia’s oldest town. Once a typical village with a clustered settlement pattern, the passage of years and the proximity of the city caused it to grow out of turn, transforming it into a commuter suburb without a clear structure. The organic growth resulted in a markedly heterogeneous development organised along the access roads, with no public surface layout and without a clearly legible village centre.
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Inspired by the playful soapy bubbles of a child’s toy wand, this architectural kit-of-parts creates domes of colorful fabric meant to uplift urban shade-seekers in overheated areas.
