Image courtesy Complex City

A media library, space which preserves and gives access to audio-visual contents, sound documents and video recordings, material considered as cultural testimony with the same value than written documents.

Image courtesy Complex City

Divided between paper and virtual information, it characterizes a reality of a modern way to use space, these places will evolve in a parallel manner to media progress but especially to technology progress, having as main support the computer supplied with Internet.

The brick concept:

Designed in the area of Toulouse, this media library has the purpose of exalting the brick, an architectural material considered as a cultural patrimony of this region.

Image courtesy Complex City

Elevations are made of two types of bricks: a varnish brick and an extruded brick with a technology which makes possible to collect solar energy during the day and to use it for lighting during the evening. Each extruded brick is located in a precise place, symbolizing a study of Internet network connections existing now a day. These networks create a random virtual map, bridge of internet connections, synonymous of "media" interconnections.

Image courtesy Complex City

Image courtesy Complex City

Treatment of interiors:

With a simple program, the interior is a sober space that encourages "media"tation, meditation, and lecture.

+ Project facts

Network connections
City, country –Toulouse, France

Designer /Architect – Olivier Brouillard "Firm: COMPLEX CITY"
Status of project / expected completion if applicable – Competition
Year- 2012
Floor area – sq metres-500 m²
Number of floors-2
Firm website – www.complexcity.fr
Photo credit- Complex City

Courtesy Marcin Wielgosz

Courtesy Marcin Wielgosz

Hocky is a project economical in terms of form whose main goal is to ensure high functionality and comfort in domestic use. In couches and armchairs an innovative solution consisting in movable armrests was adopted, which can also be used as backrests or tables placed anywhere on the piece of furniture. This creates the possibility to configure the leisure and workspace optimally.

+ Project facts

Name: Hocky
Design: Marcin Wielgosz

+ All images and drawings courtesy Marcin Wielgosz

Courtesy Office of Architecture

Introduction:

At the northern edge of the emirate of Dubai, lies the neighboring emirate and city of Sharjah. Historically one of the wealthiest towns in the region and an important trading centre due to its strategic location in the gulf. While Dubai's economy is mainly focused on free trade, finance, and tourism, Sharjah plays an important supporting role by providing home to most of the foreign workforce employed in Dubai. On one side stands Dubai's glittering and spectacular search for postmodern magnificence, while on the other side Sharjah is focused on the preservation of a very strong tradition ill-suited in many ways to integration into a modern, globalized world.

Courtesy Office of Architecture

Nevertheless, Sharjah aspires to develop its own identity and it is investing massively in public infrastructure. Sharjah's lagoons are the most prominent man-made landscape feature of the city. With the objective of increasing the waterfront area, the project aims to bring "water to the desert". At the center of one of the lakes there lies an artificial island, which is currently perhaps the most attractive potential location for urban public development and an icon for Sharjah.

Courtesy Office of Architecture

The challenge:

The site, with its prime location shall be sculpted by such an architectural form and function that it redefines the entire perception of the area, proving Sharjah with a new identity.

The project " WATER VILLAGE" is thus envisioned for this site, meant to be a new icon for the city of Sharjah. The "Water Village" is meant to embrace the public-use vocation of the artificial island without ignoring its potential as part of the planned or already built system of public spaces. The “Water Village” will have a total surface of 150,500 square meters, which is the surface area of the island.

Courtesy Office of Architecture

The water village has the following Functions:

• 20 Public Open Spaces, 500 square meters each one.
• 100 Public Roofing Spaces, 100 square meters each one.
• 1 Water Park, 5.000 square meters.
• 1 Thematic Hotel with a maximum of 200 rooms (besides other facilities), 10.000 square meters.
• 10 Playgrounds, 1.000 square meters each one.
• 1 Covered Water Sports Facilities (MEN ONLY), 10.000 square meters.
• 1 Women-Only Recreational/ Sports Center, 10.000 square meters.
• Central Park and Gardens (walking trails, seawalls, boulevards) 85.500 square meters.

Courtesy Office of Architecture

The concept:

Dubai has already well-established its identity in the world, and if Sharjah too aims to do so it shall do it uniquely. The built environment of Dubai is Heterogeneous as it is defined by the plethora of modern iconic buildings, individually competing for recognition with their unfamiliar forms and scales.

Sharjah's water village on the contrary shall form a homogenous canvas with its context by being rooted in traditional patterns and yet being individually modern in its form.

Courtesy Office of Architecture

Landscape:

Defined by curves, it forms the center of the water village and integrates with the built in smaller forms similar to the central one.

The Built :

Defined by the Rigid Geometry, it is arranged around the central public space and provides the roofed open spaces for protection against Sharjah's Harsh Climate.

The built and the Un-built engulf each other to form a comprehensive public open space providing a plethora of experiences. The detailed intricate egde of the built maximizes the view of the surrounding area. The outer most layer of the landscape integrates the built into the sea, and provides a series of public beaches for people.

The water village is developed using natural scales and fractals, therefore in spite of being starkly different in its form the experience of the building shall never seem alien and dominating, and people can related to the building just as they relate to the setting where the water village sits.