UN Studio and MVRDV (in collaboration with the spanish office GRAS) have recently sent us their competiton entries for the Ciudad del Motor in Spain, which has been won by the widely published, but less interesting fish-shaped design by Foster.
UN Studio’s design is a continuous dynamic form, a structure ducking to the ground with a motor-sport aesthetic, reminding of the visual language of an BMW ad. MVRDV’s proposal is a group of buildings - blocks breaking from the ground in a sandy desert, creating an ensemble of squares. Where UN Studio’s design is a new object in the landscape, MVRDV’s design forms part of it. More of a place, less of an object. You can download MVRDV’s project PDF, complete with sections and plans (Thank you, Oana!) here:
UN Studio’s project description:
The building is organized as a continuous loop with two crossing points, offering multiple visitor experiences all related to thetopic of speed and movement. Like a real city, the design for the Ciudad del Motor contains and facilitates multiple programmatic elements, such as a shopping mall, experience centre, museum of movement, a multifunctional hall, a hotel and housing towers. The design of the building is based on the generation of a maximum interaction with the surroundings, especially the tracks, with the Grand Stand accessed via a programmed bridge.
From MVRDV’s project description:
The combination of the racing activities and the dry, arid landscape gives the new Alcaniz race track area a distinct character. Its development can be easily compared with Las Vegas. But can we learn from Vegas again? More ecology? Less gambling? More leisure based on the powers of the landscape?
Maybe instead of an artificial new icon, that specific contradiction, this specific situation itself can lead to an outstandingly remarkable development and approach. Each of the different programs have there own timing, size and character. By positioning them close to each other, they can share their parking, they can create a climatic pocket and they can share a collective plaza. And the rest of the grounds can be used in the future… It gives a compact settlement that enlarges the possibility for remarkability in the vast landscape.
By covering the undeniably huge roofs of the program with the found material (red sand, stones, small plants, vegetation), the buildings can obtain a heavy roof that can act as temperature buffer for the program. The buildings gain a more ecological and natural character. They “blend” in with the landscape.
In related news, Ben van Berkel & Caroline Bos have been awarded the Charles Jencks Award, which is presented annually to the individual who has recently made a major contribution both to the theory and practice of architecture. As the winner of this international award, Ben van Berkel will be giving a lecture at RIBA, in Jarvis Hall at 18:30 pm on 16th October. Other recent projects of UN Studio include the Waldschlösschen bridge in Dresden, which features the typical fluidity of the UN Studio’s project, but surprises with minimal fragility in the elevation.
UN Studio about the bridge:
The design for the Waldschlösschen bridge in Dresden creates an infrastructural connection that spans a length of 800 meters accross the widest parts of the unique and beautiful Elb flood plain, forming an integral part of this landscape. From the banks of the surrounding area, wide transitions taper to establish an interconnecting network for the continuous flows of the diverse users. The asymmetric and topographic shape of the bridge evolves from its inherent conditions, whilst simultaneously integrating the bridge into the outlines of the undulating landscape.
at 23:08
fascinating, how you cannot tell an MVRDV rendering from an OMA one anymore. On the one hand a bit boring, on the other: we’ll be able to discuss architecture again, not renderstyles!
Wonderful project, anyway!
at 23:36
Yes. I’ve also observed this convergence in render styles, just open the latest A10 or Mark publication. High quality rendering isn’t an obscure magic anymore, only practiced by nerdy gnomes in dark cellars. The now maturing generetion of architects is the first one which put their hands on 3d visualisation software at university, and takes it for granted. Which is good - just another tool. In adddition to that, the high end features have become accessible - everybody can render with mental ray now and get the global illumination, the subtle shadows, the caustics. And that shows.
I hope, on the other hand, that this liberation from technical obstacles gets over this similarity and gives way for a new variety, where the medium again is explored, and not just employed.
at 16:17
First of all hello to my dysturbed friends!!!
To this discussion I would add that the representation can be outsourced to a few excellent rendering offices doing the images for starchitects: http://www.arte-factory.com/ for example.
Sometimes I feel that these unpolluted “real images” overshadow the look of the real building once the construction is done… nothing left for comprehension of the viewer and expression of the creator.
On the other hand this seek for reality flattens any individual investigation in representation (as in spanish architect Isaskun Chinchilla’s drawings and others (see: http://www.freshmadrid.com/estudios.html).
Be aware of “reality” I would say!