Quilligan Architects • Work • Civic • Redesign of Ramses Square, Cairo, Egypt.

Quilligan Architects • Work • Civic • Redesign of Ramses Square, Cairo, Egypt

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  Overview

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  Overview to West

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  Perspective to South

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  Plan

Redesign of Ramses Square, Cairo, Egypt

About the project: The key objective has been to define Ramses square physically and give a sense of place to the remodelled square by reinforcing the edges, removing the high level traffic, and reorganising the surface traffic. The design upgrades and provides new attractions to the square in the form of shopping, cafes, public events with music, and films.

• Client: National Organisation for Urban Harmony
• Projected Value:
• Date of completion: Ideas Competition
• Awards: Quilligan Architects awarded 2nd place for this design in a major international design competition

AR Emerging Architecture 2009 Winner.

AR Emerging Architecture 2009 Winner 4 of 4: Sports Research Centre, Guijo de Granadilla, Spain by Jose Maria Sanchez Garcia

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The Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture Awards, sponsored by Ramboll and Austin-Smith:Lord, celebrates the best pieces of design by young architects from across the world. This sports research centre in Spain was among the four principal winners

This giant ring-shaped building is inscribed in a wooded landscape; it’s eerily perfect geometry suggests something not quite of this world.

This facility provides research, training, recreation and business facilities for sports professionals in a tranquil, landscaped setting. The brief for the building included a reception and information centre, physiological laboratories and accommodation, together with a business centre and cafe.

The site lies on a thickly wooded peninsular in a reservoir in the Tagus river basin. A narrow neck of land connects the peninsula with the shore, and the site is subject to periodic flooding.

The building itself is a narrow uniform strip of single-storey accommodation, 7m wide and 200m in diameter. The assorted functions are disposed around the circular plan. The ring is hoisted on slim piloti, well above the level or any potential flood water.

The flat roof is fully accessible and becomes a giant treetop walk. offering views of the reservoir and peninsular. Although the building may appear monumental, the curvature means it tails off into the woodland, becoming highly integrated and part of the landscape. The stainless steel cladding panels reflects vegetation.

Architect Jose Maria Sanchez Garcia
Project Team Enrique Garcia-Margallo Solo de Zaldivar, Rafael Fernandez Caparros, Maribel Torres Gomez, Laura Rojo Valdivielso, Francisco Sanchez Garcia, Jose Garcia Margallo, Marta Cabezon, Mafalda Ambrosio, Carmen Leticia Huerta
Location Guijo de Granadilla, Caceres, Spain
Building type Research centre
Photography credits Pablo Calzado, Roland Halbe & Jose Maria Sanchez Garcia

AR Emerging Architecture 2009.

Water front Bunkaza Cultural Plaza, Osaka, Japan, by Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects & Associates

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The Bamboo Forest, 6 Collins Huts, and the Folded Plate Hut are all part of the new waterfront Bunkaza Cultural Plaza which has been constructed for the Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009.

The folded rib structure of the roof of the largest hut is designed to resemble the Japanese craft of origami. The structure cantilevers out over the water and is proposed to host music and theatre events.

The Bamboo Forest is constructed from the forests found locally on the river Douzima. The trees are bent into shape to create frames on which artists can hang work or create temporary shades while they work.

Each component of the Collins huts are designed to fit within a common 2.4m wide car, these can then be transported, constructed, and removed and reconstructed easily after the event.

AR Emerging Architecture 2009 Winner.

AR Emerging Architecture 2009 Winner 1 of 4: Bridge School, Xiashi, China by Li Xiaodong Atelier

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AR Emerging Architecture 2009 Winner 1 of 4: Bridge School, Xiashi, China by Li Xiaodong Atelier

The Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture Awards, sponspored by Ramboll and Austin-Smith:Lord, celebrates the best pieces of design by young architects from across the world. This year, one of the four principal winners is Li Xiaodong Atelier’s project for a school in a remote village in the Fujian Province of China

The lightweight structure spans a creek in a single bound, and resembles the archetype of the inhabited bridge.

Supported on concrete piers, the simple steel structure acts like a giant box girder that has been slightly dislocated. The steel frame is wrapped in a veil of thin timber slats which filter light and temper the interior with cool breezes.

Inside are a pair of wedge-shaped classrooms tapering towards the mid-point of the structure. The school can be transformed into an impromtu theatre or play structure, and Li Xiaodong hopes the building will become a social centre for the village.

Although it is possible to use the building as a bridge, a narrow crossing suspended underneath the steel structure and anchored by tensile wires offers an alternative and more direct route.

Architects Li Xiaodong Atelier
Location Xiashi, Fujian Province, China
Type of project School
Project architects Chen Jiansheng, Li Ye, Wang Chuan, Liang Qiong, Liu Mengjia, Nie Junqui
Building contractors Zhangzhou Steel, Xiashi village
Photography credits Li Xiaodong

ARBOL DE LA SEMANA

CASUARINA CUNNINGHAMIANA Miq. / CASUARINA EQUISETIFOLIA L.

Familia: Casuarinaceae
Nombre común: Casuarina, pino australiano.
Lugar de origen: C. Cunninghamiana es originaria de Australia, mientras que C. equisetifolia procede de Australia, Malasia y Polinesia

Etimología: El nombre del género alude al Casuar, ave corredora australiana, cuyo plumaje recuerda al follaje de ciertos árboles del género. La primera especie está dedicada a Allan Cunningham, botánico inglés del siglo XIX que trabajó en Australia. Equisetifolia, alude a hojas parecidas a las del equiseto.

Descripción: Son las especies más altas dentro de su género, pudiendo alcanzar 30-35 m de altura. Copa piramidal, sobre todo en los primeros años. Tronco recto con la corteza áspera, fisurada. Ramas erectas o algo péndulas. De lejos tienen el aspecto de un pino, siendo confundidos por los profanos de la Botánica. Lo que a simple vista son las hojas aciculares son realmente ramillas muy delgadas que asumen el papel de hojas en cuanto a la fotosíntesis se refiere. Las verdaderas hojas son escamitas dispuestas en los nudos de esas ramillas, necesitándose una lupa para observarlas. En C. Cunninghamiana el número de escamas es de 8-10 en cada nudo o verticilo, mientras que en C. equisetifolia L. es de (6)7-8. Las flores son unisexuales. Las masculinas están dispuestas en espigas terminales. Las femeninas en amentos cónicos en las axilas de escamas foliares. Frutos globosos, de alrededor de 1 cm de diámetro, con bracteólas prominentes, aglomeradas. Semillas aladas. El tamaño de la semilla oscila entre 3-5 mm en C. Cunninghamiana y hasta 7 mm en C. equisetifolia.

Cultivo y usos: Se multiplican por semillas fácilmente. Poniendo los frutos a secar, pronto se desprenden las semillas, que con un buen almacenaje pueden ser viables por un periodo de 1-2 años. La germinación, sin tratamientos previos, suele ser alta. Las casuarinas tienen pocas exigencias, siendo quizás C. Cunninghamiana la más exigente en cuanto a temperatura y calidad del suelo. Soportan la proximidad del mar y los suelos pobres y salinos. Se utilizan como ejemplar aislado para que puedan desarrollar todo su porte. En alineaciones hay que disponer de espacio suficiente