Cementerio islámico, Altach (Austria), by Bernado Bader Architects. SPECIAL MENTION 2014.
The construction of a cemetery apt for Muslim rites meets the requirements of a very considerable minority, enabling many immigrants to bury their dead in the land where they have settled.
The town of Altach is in the federal state of Vorarlberg where, although 78% of the population is registered as Catholic, Austria’s largest concentration of Muslims resides. In recent decades, immigration has multiplied the number of practising Muslims living in the country, which has been significant in Western Europe since 1979 when the Islamic community was acknowledged as a corporation under public law, and the religious freedom of Turkish, Bosnian, Afghan, Kurdish, Chechen, Iranian, Arab or Pakistani Muslims was thus recognised. Nevertheless, Austria only had one Islamic cemetery until 2012. Moreover, such religious requirements as bathing the deceased, burial without a coffin, and collective prayer in the Musallah (prayer hall) require highly specific installations, but the town of Altach was willing to satisfy this need.
In 2004, several communities of Muslim immigrants organised a joint initiative to request a cemetery where they could bury their dead in the land where they have settled. Nine years later, and with support from the local council, the cemetery was opened. It is organised around six spaces with parallel walls which, owing to the road running past the cemetery, are staggered in their layout so that they are all oriented towards Mecca. Five of these spaces are unroofed burial enclosures, while the sixth contains facilities for ablution rites, congregation and prayer. The main entrance façade, which closes off the courtyard and the Musallah, features oak latticework, thus combining the local woodcraft tradition with the abstract geometry of Islamic art.
If the European nature of the cemetery is not evident, neither is its quality as urban public space. Questioning its public condition from the standpoint of secularist requirements would be unjust given the profusion of bell towers in Europe’s squares. The urban-space aspect of the place can be defended on the basis of its capacity of satisfying the demand of a very significant minority in the region. Most difficult of all is to exclude it from the idea of Europe. This is not only because, since its very beginnings, Islam has been clearly present in the history of the continent but also – and especially – because increasing numbers of Europeans of different origins are contributing towards making plurality one of Europe’s greatest riches.
Developer.- City Council of Altach.
Authors.- Bernardo Bader Architects with the collaboration of Azra Askamija (Interior Design Prayer Room) and Eva Grabherr (Prozess Work).
Country.- Austria.
Surface.- 8.400 m².
Coste.- 2.300.000 €
Project.- 2007.
Work.- 2009.
End of work.- 2012.
AUTHOR
Bernardo Bader is a well-known Austrian architect who was awarded the Aga Khan Foundation’s Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2013) for the Islamic cemetery in Altach. A professor at the University of Liechtenstein, Bader has also received the Weissenhof Architectural Furtherance Prize for young architects (2007).
Opening of Rainham marshes, London, by Bernado Bader Architects. SPECIAL MENTION 2014.
A peripheral area of surprisingly well conserved natural richness has been made accessible to Londoners so that they will discover it, learn to love it and protect it from the probable depredations of urban sprawl.
Rainham Marshes, on the eastern edge of London constitute the largest floodplain to the north of the Thames estuary. They take in the towns of Purfleet and Thurrock, as well as Rainham suburb, which belongs to the London Borough of Havering. Despite their proximity to Europe’s largest metropolitan area, the marshes still conserve many of the traditional features that characterised them in the Middle Ages, when they were used for grazing sheep and cattle. Since they are also home of a great diversity of migratory birds and rare plants, they have been given the highest level of habitat protection designation in the United Kingdom. If this zone survived the typical environmental devastation caused by industries and infrastructure on city outskirts, it is because it was a firing range belonging to the British Army until 2000, when it was acquired by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the London Borough of Havering.
In 2006, as the marshes were opened to the public, a series of interventions was underway with the aim of improving accessibility. In the centre, earth was moved to fill an old rubbish tip and create a silt lagoon, while the wetlands remain at both sides. The western ones, crossed by six footbridges in weathering steel and connected with Rainham suburb by the Trackway Bridge, are once again used for grazing. At the eastern ones, near Purfleet, the landscape is mainly doted by reed-beds and overseen by an RSPB bird-watching lookout. Several sculptural elements in Portland stone have been placed in different parts of the marshes, to be used as benches or to evoke the military past of the zone.
Since they were opened up, these wetlands have found a new place in the public imagination of Londoners, who can now enjoy wild nature near the city. Some criticism has been voiced about the introduction of excessively anthropic elements which may distort the real experience of a truly wild landscape. It has also been noted that high levels of public access may irreversibly interfere with the delicate environmental balance of the place. However, accessibility is the necessary condition for people discovering, learning to love and defending these marshlands which, otherwise, would not last long.
Developer.- Greater London Authority | London Development Agency | Design for London | London Borough of Havering | Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Authors.- Peter Beard_LANDROO M | Peter Beard, Alexander Gore, Sabba Khan, Dingle Price, Gregory Ross, Mark Smith, Keita Tajima.
Country.- United Kingdom.
Surface.- 6.400.000 m².
Cost.- 6.000.000 €.
Project.- 2003.
Work.- 2006.
End of work.- 2014.
AUTHOR.
Peter Beard is an English architect specialising in environmental projects and the recovery and conservation of green spaces by means of small-scale infrastructure. Notable among the awards he has received are the World Architecture Festival Prize (2009) and the National Prize of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2011.
http://www.peterbeardlandroom.co.uk/
“Baana”: pedestrian and bicycle corridor. Helsinki (Finland). Helsinki City Council. SPECIAL MENTION 2014.
A deep railway canyon splitting the urban fabric is converted into a pedestrian and bicycle corridor in a resource-saving collaborative process that also respects the memory of an industrial past.
In 1894 a railway line was constructed on the edge of the Helsinki city centre, running between the central station and Länsisatama (“West Harbour” in Finnish). This required the excavation of an open-air canyon of seven metres deep and almost a kilometre and a half long. Helsinki subsequently expanded, surrounding the cutting which, although crossed by seven bridges, still constituted a gash in the urban fabric. In 2008, the cargo port was moved to the Vuosaari neighbourhood and work began on a new residential zone in Länsisatama. The railway connection was no longer necessary and questions about the future of the cutting were being asked.
Covering the canyon to make an underground tunnel would restore continuity to the urban layout, but this option is expensive and will take time. Meanwhile, in a process that has involved residents, university students and a range of municipal departments, the space has been temporarily converted into a corridor for pedestrians and cyclists. Linking Länsisatama with the city centre by way of a series of landscaped areas pervaded with railway motifs, the track has been named “Baana”, or “Rail” in colloquial Finnish. Bike lanes have been asphalted and access has been provided from both sides, although the original tracks and stone walls have been conserved. The rugged darkness of the cutting contrasts with nearby sports and artistic installations in colours as bright as those of the goods containers that used to move along the track.
Austere, versatile and resistant, this recycling of the railway track has been embraced by very different kinds of users. It is so successful that widened bike lanes are now being considered, and even the possibility of extending a “Baana network” of similar tracks throughout the city. Fruit of a complex process of cooperative endeavour involving the administration, academics and residents, this example of temporary urban planning safeguards industrial memory, saves resources for the future, and also establishes a non-commercial shared space. With this successful balancing of costs and benefits it would seem that the eventual project of covering of the cutting can wait.
Developer.- Helsinki City Executive Office.
Authors.- Helsinki City Planning Department | Helsinki Public Works Department | Loci Landscape Architects Ltd.
Country.- Finland.
Surface.- 16.000 m².
Cost.- 5.000.000 €.
Project.- 2003.
Work.- 2009.
End of work.- 2012.
AUTHORS
Helsinki City Council (Department of Urban Planning).
http://www.hel.fi/wps/portal/Kaupunkisuunnitteluvirasto_en
“La Lira” Theatre. Ripoll (Spain). RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes SLP. SPECIAL MENTION 2014.
A porch and a footbridge fill an empty space left when an old theatre was demolished, thus becoming a frame for the view of the mountains and a gateway giving access to the old town centre.
For many years after the demolition of the “La Lira” theatre, a vacant lot remained in the centre of Ripoll, a town of high annual rainfall in the Pyrenees foothills. With blind flank walls on either side, the empty block afforded some breathing space in the narrow Verdaguer street but it also broke the continuity of the urban façade overlooking the River Ter. This gash was highly visible to many outside visitors who entered the town from the railway station or by road to visit its Romanesque Monastery. It was also an unsightly interruption in the town’s connection with the river which, from the Middle Ages until well into the twentieth century, supplied water for Ripoll’s metallurgical industry, which was renowned throughout Europe because of its use of the “Catalan forge”.
In 2003, the local council called for entries in a competition with a view to converting the vacant lot into a public space. The land is now occupied by a new theatre which, benefitting from the demolition of the original one, has kept the same name. Today’s “La Lira” theatre takes the form of a high porch sheltering a versatile open space, beneath which there is an underground multi-use room. Although the ceiling is impermeable, it lets light through by means of parallel slats which fold down on either side to cover the flank walls. The intervention as a whole has thus become a window that reconstitutes the riverfront facade and frames the view of the mountains from Verdaguer street. It is also a gateway giving access to the old town centre by way of a footbridge crossing the River Ter.
Both porch and bridge are made of weathering steel. The rough surface of the metal fits well with the aged facades of the adjacent buildings, while the diversity of its treatments evokes the metallurgical tradition of the town. However, the most pertinent tradition recovered by the new “La Lira” is that of nineteenth-century markets and railway stations which have managed to remain somewhere between the closed building and the open space. Like those public porches, the new theatre in Ripoll avoids wasteful use of glass and air-conditioning, while gaining in versatility in the ways in which the space can be used, as well as showing solidarity with its urban setting.
Developer.- Ajuntament de Ripoll.
Authors.- RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes SLP | Joan Puigcorbé.
Country.- Spain.
Surface.- 599 m².
Cost.- 761.219 €.
Project.- 2004.
Work.- 2005.
End of work.- 2012.
AUTHORS
RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes SLP is a studio based in Olot (Girona), founded in 1987 by the architects Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramón Vilalta. In 2010 they were named honorary members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). They have received the international Belgian Building Award (2011), and were also named honorary members of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2012. Moreover, they have been awarded the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia National Prize for Architectural Culture (2005) and named (2008) Chevaliers de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.
FINALISTS
Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium Multi-Purpose Hall, Copenhaguen, 2013
Danish Maritime Museum, Helsinki, 2013
“Schaustelle” - Space for Experiments, Munic, 2013
“Connected city”, Rotterdam, 2012
Market Hall and central squares, Gent, 2012
“Water square Benthemplein”, Rotterdam, 2013
Redevelopment of Place de la Republique, Paris, 2013
City center pavilon and public square, Ginhac de la Nerta, 2013
"Encants Barcelona" Market, Barcelona, 2013
P.Zoranic Square and S.Budinic Plaza, Zadar, 2013
Leisure path along the Vistula river, Warszawa, 2013
Príncep's Bastion: the completion of the works along the City Walls, Palma, 2013
Public Swimming Pool in Verona Street, Bucarest, 2012
Morii channel urban restructuring, Reghin, 2012
“Cañada Plan”, Madrid, 2013
“Social Housing, Sociable Space”, London, 2012
Ribeira das Naus Riverfront Public Space - Zone 01, Lisbon, 2013
“Occupy Gezi”, Istanbul, 2013
“sk8+U”, Arbúcies, 2012
