A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Garden Restaurant in Hanover, Germany by Architekten Schweger Partner, 2000 The following text is contributed by Architekten Schweger Partner with images by Bernhard Kroll. The garden restaurant at the "Herrenhäuser Gärten", which was awarded a 1st prize following a competition, was designed and built to meet the high aesthetic standards of the internationally known garden ensemble. Located on the grounds of the former kitchens by the fig gardens, the design for the new building adds to the existing visual relationship between the gallery, the atrium and the old Herrenhäuser street. The architectural idea is to manifest the theme of the hedgerows instead of making the new gastronomy appear like a building. Shifting through greenish glazed glass translates the baroque theme of hedgerows into architecture. The ide...

City Hall of Utrecht in Utrecht, Netherlands by Enrick Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue, 2000 The following text and images are by Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue (aka EMBT Arquitectes Associates SL) for their renovation of the City Hall of Utrecht, Netherlands. There are three ideas behind the new project... 1. Rediscover the value of the interior spaces of the neo-classic building, of the Medieval room. 2. Return to the idea of a municipal building as a conglomerate of the diverse houses of the city. 3. Maintain the monumental quality of the facade and create a more open construction to facilitate the municipal building and the new square at the back relating better. 1. Rediscover the value of the interior spaces: a. The monumental part of the building will be evident on the ground floor.....

Vienna International Center Square in Vienna, Austria by awg_AllesWirdGut, 2001 The following text and images are by Vienna, Austria's awg_AllesWirdGut (in cooperation with Marianna Milioni & Daniel Hora) for their urban study of Vienna International Center Square (Wien Mitte). The initially occupied urban space of empty surfaces becomes a playground of urban actions through the strategy of subtly structuring the surface. The objective is not to design definite structures, but rather to design possibilities, that is, open structures, capable of relocating differentiated urban functions to adequate sites. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Wien Mitte is a space of streams. It is not only defined through physical creation of architectural boundaries, but also through its explicit pattern of streams moving at d...

Gérald-Godin College in Sainte-Geneviève, Quebec, Canada by Saucier+Perrotte Architects, 1999 Reusing and adding to a 1932 Jesuit monastery, the Gérald-Godin College in Ste-Geneviève by Montreal's Saucier + Perrotte Architects takes a contemporary view of relating to yesterday's buildings. Roughly the same size and height as the existing building, the addition breaks dramatically from the static, yet dignified, design of the original with a daring, angular form that seems to move both toward and away from the existing. Consisting of classrooms, labs, offices, a library, a sports center, a cafe, and an auditorium, the college divides these spaces amongst the old and new buildings and an underground portion that links the two. This last maneuver gives the addition a contextual scale, so it stands apart from its su...