General @ 28 Aug 2008 08:45 am by Robert Schmidl
We found a cool article on city structures by Bricoleurbanism, a Canadian blog which focuses on the city, the landscape and the fields that manipulate them from the perspective of urban design and landscape architecture.
The article refers to a publication by the Star, a Canadian newspaper, called ‘Beyond Density’. This publication deals with on the efforts of a Canadian city called Mississauga to create a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly downtown. To prove the city’s problem – the large scale of the block patterns – the article includes urban forms or fabric drawings of 9 cities in order to compare the scales of the fabric of the street network.
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General @ 03 Jul 2008 06:00 am by Robert Schmidl
Today it is popular to create city ranking corning very different aspects. We appreciate the interest into this topic very much. Now, Monocle magazine will publish the 2008 edition of the 20 Most Livable Cities index in their July/August issue. Monocle’s unique ranking goes beyond the usual metrics that only look at housing costs and schools to include the possibility of getting a good glass of wine at one in the morning, the quality of new architecture, the ease of setting up a business and even the number of cinema screens. They write “Months of good-natured, frequently late-night and jetlagged debate have produced Monocle’s definitive (and just a little subjective) guide to the world’s most liveable cities. Correspondents were dispatched worldwide to assess the cities. The entire issue is devoted to the concerns, forces, people and policies that make our cities work.”
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General @ 08 Oct 2007 02:04 pm by Elena Turyanskaya
The IULA 2007 goes to Parc Central de Nou Barris i Placa Virrei Amat, Barcelona (Spain), planned by Arriola & Fiol arquitectes, Barcelona/ Spain.
The ceremony of the International Urban Landscape Award (IULA) took place in Frankfurt/Main (Germany) on Friday 5 October. The winner was chosen by the jury from around 60 entries from EU, Switzerland, USA, Canada and Mexico.
The official certificate of recognition for the Public Favourite from PerfectCity voting was handed over to a representative of the Department of Urban Planning Bydgoszcz for the project Bydgoszcz Water Junction (Poland).
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General @ 21 Jul 2007 12:47 pm by Eurohypo
For the next two months PerfectCity.net will support the International Urban Landscape Award 2007 in a special rubric IULA special. The IULA special aims to provide the platform for opening and supporting international dialogue, discussion and exchange of expert opinions about urban design and related interesting projects.
For the second time, the International Urban Landscape Award will honor a ground-breaking, newly designed or redeveloped urban space.
From more than 60 entries from EU, Switzerland ,USA, Canada and Mexico 35 international projects were pre-selected for the jury session. The jury identified a short list of 5 projects for the award 2007:
- Green Arch Paunsdorf, Leipzig, Germany (Häfner/Jiménez, Berlin)
- MFO-Park in Zürich, Switzerland (Planergemeinschaft MFO/Burckhardt+Partner, Raderschall Landschaftsarchitekten Meilen)
- Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, USA (Weiss/Manfredi, New York)
- Parc Central de Nou Baris in Barcelona, Spain (Andreu Arriola/Carmen Fiol, Barcelona)
- Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Gustafson Porter, London)
PerfectCity.net presents 35 pre-selected projects in detail in the IULA Special. You are invited to vote for your favourite project and to share your thoughts and professional opinions about the projects.
The results of the public vote will be announced at the award ceremony at the End of September and the winner chosen by the public will be invited for a special mentioning. The election of the public favourite is open until September 1st, 2007.
We look forward to your active participation in the discussion about urban design and the future of our cities!
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| Project title |
Gran Via de Llevant |
| Place, country |
Barcelona, Spain |
| Project type |
Road design |
| Client |
Generalitat de Catalunya (Public Authority) Direcció General de
Transports, Institut Municipal d’Urbanisme and BIMSA |
| Planners |
Arriola & Fiol Architects, Barcelona/ Spain |
| Construction period or completion |
2004-2006 |
| Area (sqm) |
250,000 |
| Costs (million Euros) |
16,500,000 |
Gran Via runs from East to West and is one of Barcelona’s main traffic arteries. It was planned at the
end of the 1960’s as a multi-lane expressway with adjacent strips of greenery and crossings at regular
intervals. In the 1990’s, plans were discussed to overbuild the expressway because of intolerable
traffic noise and exhaust fumes. But in acknowledgement of its function as an entrance gate to the
city, it was decided to keep the visual connection between the road and the city. At the beginning of
the decade, it underwent comprehensive redesign.
The design aimed at transforming the expressway into an urban system, which would make an
amendment to public space and adapt as a design theme its function as a gateway into the city. This
was achieved by separating through traffic from local traffic. The road level for the through connection
was lowered and noise barriers were installed. Access roads connect the main road to „service roads“
on a higher level. The „service roads“ in turn connect to the streets of the adjacent urban districts.
New pedestrian bridges connect the two sides of the road.
The green strip along the road was transformed into a linear park that negotiates the difference in
level between the urban fabric and the „service roads“. The park is structured by sequences of tilted
beds and level squares. Clusters of trees establish visual connections between the two sides of the
road. Two water tables were integrated in the park, connected by an aqueduct including waterfall
features. Public furniture was custom-made.
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| Project title |
Parc Central de Nou Barris i Placa Virrei Amat |
| Place, country |
Barcelona, Spain |
| Project type |
Park and square design |
| Client |
Pro Nou Barris SA, Barcelona City Council |
| Planners |
Arriola & Fiol arquitectes, Barcelona/ Spain |
| Construction period or completion |
2000-2007 |
| Area |
16.6 ha (park), 17.000 qm (square) |
| Costs (million Euros) |
18,000,000 |
In this park, Arriola & Fiol architects create an artificial landscape based on cubist forms.
The area is situated close to the city centre and before was urban wasteland. Challenges lay in the
lack of a proper roads system, in the incoherent building typologies existent, and in the inclination of
the site. The design brief was to bring together all these different elements, while at the same time
keeping their individual characters.
The basic module of the design is a triangle, being the most flexible geometric form. In order to meet
the brief, the method of fragmentation was introduced. The spatial outline of the design is based on
two levels with 6 metres’ difference. This is negotiated by variously tilted slopes and ramps.
Sculptures reminiscent of palm leaves identify the park. They are employed to emphasize entrances
and exceptional spaces in the park. Their design adapts the triangle shape. Fibreglass was used
which filters the sunlight and becomes a light source at nighttime. The paving was custom-made and
also adapts the triangle shape.
Water forms a main element in the design and surfaces in aqueduct fragments recycled from site, in
ponds, fountains and waterfalls. Subterranean reservoirs serve to collect and feed the water system.
The park is made accessible by a lining promenade. 2000 trees were planted to create a lush green
space in the middle of the city. Being typical of the region, pine was mostly used, while Eucalyptus
trees mark the park entrances. The trees inside the park create small, intimate spaces. The roads
system was completed to allow traffic circulation.
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The development project in the Poblenou district of the city provides for a structural redevelopment of the old industrial landscape into a high-tech district based on the 19th century city plan.
The Poblenou district lies within the eastern sector of the Eixample, the Barcelona urban “extension” of 1859 designed by Catalan engineer Ildefons Cerdà. Cerdà had linked a clear geometric grid onto the mediaeval cityscape of Barcelona – a cityscape that continues to be held in high international regard. In the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century entrepreneurs in Barcelona established a large number of industrial manufacturing plants, with the factories being located primarily in the Poblenou district.
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General @ 07 May 2007 02:05 pm by Robert Kaltenbrunner
Although the general framework of urban development is constantly changing, the model of the European town with its traditional town planning and building culture still pertains. But with regard to the actual urbanisation, it is necessary to redefine town planning, urban design and architecture in today’s terms.
In today’s European settlement pattern the historic town represents only one of many hubs within an extensive network of transport routes, and scattered industrial, residential and leisure areas. There is no longer an inner and outer, only local correlation between different “textures”. Nature, which once enveloped everything, is now itself enveloped. Today agriculture and parks need the walls that formerly surrounded the towns.
In the light of these trends and phenomena, the term “European City”, often ideal-typically distanced from the “American City”, has gained popularity.
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General @ 05 Mar 2007 10:57 am by Gesa Loschwitz
In 2050, 75 per cent of the world’s population will live in towns. Today, this figure is already 50 per cent whereas, a century ago, only one in ten people was a town dweller. Urbanisation is proceeding rapidly. And the consequences of this can be seen by visiting any of the world’s metropolises and, indeed, by visiting the 2006 Architecture Biennial in Venice. (more…)
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