- Sabine Drey
In the Sonnwend neighbourhood of Vienna, roughly 5,000 dwellings are being created at present. As part of a new competition stage, a further 400 residences are to be added. This time, the theme is "smart living", a term that signifies a variable housing concept for small, low-cost dwellings. The tenants' contribution is €56 for the utility value and the rental costs €6. Geiswinkler & Geiswinkler Architects have designed a total of 148 flats to a low-energy standard, of which 116 are "smart dwellings" with areas of 40 m², 55 m² and 70 m². Most of these units extend through from the street on one face to the courtyard on the other and have various layouts and functions - office, loft, shared flats, single or family dwellings. To permit this range, a reinforced concrete skeleton frame was created without load-bearing elements on the living areas, with prefabricated clip-on balconies on the street face and with access galleries on the courtyard side. The latter provide access not only to the dwellings but also to communal areas such as laundry rooms, play spaces and storage areas. The compact form of construction, the simple, vertically continuous load-bearing system, the use of prefabricated elements with integral service installations and a restriction to only three window sizes also ensure cost savings.
Even before the construction stage, tenants had a say in the size and layout of the dwellings and later the use of the communal areas.
On the transparent ground floor, an urban space with shops links the courtyard with the public street areas. Two blocks attached to the long strip flank the courtyard and separate it from the planted areas of the "play woods". Coloured balcony cladding and glazing to the ancillary spaces set a cheerful note in the urban environment.
Lava architecten transformed an old mission building in Leuven into a place where circus arts, music, theatre, and dance coexist under one shared roof. Effective soundproofing is the precondition for the shared use of the facility.
The Jewish Museum in Šeduva commemorates the culture of Eastern European towns before World War II. With their building, Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects from Finland reimagine the small-scale structure of one such village. Its residents were murdered in 1941 by Nazis and their local collaborators.
The new UCCA Clay Museum advances the millennia-old tradition of artisanal ceramics the Chinese metropolis Yixing is renowned for. An armour of red clay tile encloses the exhibition spaces and the open timber roof constructions above them – an expressive space for the presentation of modern ceramic art.
The Glasshouse Theatre adds a fifth venue to the heritage-listed Queensland Performing Arts Centre. It can be flexibly used for concerts, operas, and dance and theatre performances. The glass facades of the deeply cantilevered foyer visualise the theatrical art of illusion on the exterior.
In their restoration of the Monastery of Santa María of Sijena, Pemán y Franco and Sebastián preserve traces of destruction, rebuilding, and decay spanning 800 years. Recently, they remodelled the east and north wings into an exhibition space for the convent’s valuable artworks.
Housing for the homeless often consists of stacked contain ers. While the overnight shelter designed by Hild und K utilises prefabrication, thoughtful details adorn the robust building through which the Munich-based office conveys impres sions of warmth and home.