The Belvedere is the highest point in the Village and features a stibadium where people can gather to take in the views

Among and around the buildings that will house hockey players and hurdlers, cyclists and swimmers throughout the duration of this summer’s Olympic Games in London are public spaces that strive to meet the exacting Olympic standards of excellence and performance, but which have a much more longterm goal. Architonic speaks to Vogt Landscape Limited, the architects behind a public realm project that has been a challenge of speed and endurance, but that they hope is fit for both Olympians and for generations of future inhabitants.

read Alyn Griffiths’ ‘Olympic Landscapes’ article in full on Architonic

Miami Beach SoundScape West 8 2011 © Robin Hill for West 8

It could be argued that the pinnacle of urban landscape architecture was reached in seventeenth century France and the French formal gardens of Jacques Boyceau and André Le Nôtre, or in Britain in the nineteenth century, when Joseph Paxton and John Nash were transforming former Royal Hunting grounds into places for Victorian gentry to promenade. Contemporary urban architects and designers are rarely afforded the same amount of space, money and time as their antecedents and are more often tasked with transforming abandoned plots, redundant structures or characterless inner city areas into suitable places for public recreation. Here, Architonic looks at some recent successes that add value to their surroundings by pushing the boundaries of park design. (by Alyn Griffiths)

read the ‘Park life: the evolving approach to designing urban public space’ article in full on Architonic

Detail of Burri's Landi bench materialised in Natwood

Wood in the Public Space – an Exciting Challenge: we identify a city based on its buildings, its landscape architecture, and its density – however, it is above all the city furniture that makes a cityscape unique and distinctive.

City furniture must have a timeless design, be extremely resistant, and above all must stay beautiful for a long time at minimum maintenance. The life cycle costs of a city infrastructure are an important factor for investment decisions. With wood especially, there may be long-term problems caused by standing water or moss which damages the surface and adversely affects aesthetics, safety and user comfort. This means that life cycle costs could be significantly reduced if these weaknesses could be eliminated without a coating while at the same time substantially increasing durability.

read this article in full on Architonic

New Cultural Centre by Fündc; photo by César Gª Guerra

Hailed as ‘the largest urban intervention of the last decades made on Pozuelo de Alarcón municipality, Madrid province’ and covering a total area of 20.000-square-meters, this imposing concrete cultural centre and the adjacent ‘network of pedestrian spaces’ has been recently completed by the Spanish practice specialising in architecture and urban planning Fündc. (more…)

To be completed in March/April 2011: 'Metropol Parasol' by Jürgen Mayer H.

The Berlin based architectural practice around Jürgen Mayer H. is about to complete a new icon for the Anadalusian capital Sevilla. The recent opening of the market hall marked the partial completion of the comprehensive project. The ‘Metropol Parasol’ scheme with its large structures offers an archeological site, a farmers market, an elevated plaza, multiple bars and restaurants underneath and inside the parasols, as well as a panorama terrace on the very top of the parasols.

(more…)

Centro Abierto de Actividades Ciudadanas by ParedesPino Arquitectos, photo by Jorge López Conde and Paredes Pino

The Madrid based ParedesPino Arquitectos recently completed this urban installation of permanent parasols, the Centro Abierto de Actividades Ciudadanas (CAAC), in Cordoba in the south of Spain.

The central piazza is located close to the train station and is venue for a market twice a week. The prefabricated parasols shade this higly frequented open space, solve the artificial lighting and allow drainage of water inside.

(more…)

New Bike Share System in Copenhagen by RAFAA

The Zurich based architect and designer Rafael Schmidt submitted this new bike sharing system to a competition which was organised within last year’s International Climate Conference in Copenhagen. The system involves a comprehensive architectural intervention into the urban centre.

New Bike Share System in Copenhagen by RAFAA

“The Bike Share System must become more than just a transporting system. It deals not only with the problem of stocks and flows of people, but must add extra value to its user and to the city itself. We suggest that the Bike Share System becomes an integral part of the city. The bicycles should function as censors and inform the system about certain behaviours, so that the system can react according to the situation.To predict the performance of a system, the entities have to exchange information. An internet-based platform can analyse the different interests and could then manage possible conflicts. The bicycles are equipped with GPS und W-Lan, so they are connected to each order and can inform the system about their position and status. (Is a bike being used? Where is the bike and where is it moving to? Is there a reservation for the bike? etc.) Privacy protection is a matter that has to be taken into account in the process. To increase the number of commuters travelling by bicycle from 37% to 50% by 2015, approx. 25.000 bicycles have to be integrated into the urban fabric; these bikes will need at least 20.000 m2 of storage space. We see a high risk of overloading the squares, streets and stations of Copenhagen. Therefore, our focus is to reduce the „visual pollution“ wherever possible. At the same time, easy accessibility as well as the system’s visual presence has to be maintained (hide & show policy). The following proposal distinguishes between three different trajectory scales: S,M and L.”

New Bike Share System in Copenhagen by RAFAA

New Bike Share System in Copenhagen by RAFAA

New Bike Share System in Copenhagen by RAFAA

New Bike Share System in Copenhagen by RAFAA

more information about the project

Namba Parks in Osaka / Japan

Bringing green into the world’s metropolises – especially the fast grown megacities in Asia seem to meet this challenge.

Namba Parks, located in Osaka, Japan, was named as one of four outstanding developments selected as a winner of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 2009 Awards of Excellence: Asia Pacific competition.

Namba Parks in Osaka / Japan by The Jerde Partnership

Designed by The Jerde Partnership, Namba Parks sits adjacent to the Namba train station. It was conceived as a natural amenity in the city, literally an urban jungle, offering a sloping rooftop park that is bifurcated by a sinuous, open-air “canyon” path that reinforces the connection with nature while forming the primary circulation pattern.

Open-air “canyon” path: Namba Parks in Osaka / Japan

Namba forms a dramatic new identity for the city. Alongside a 30-storey office tower and 46-storey residential tower, the project features a new lifestyle commercial center with a rooftop park that crosses multiple blocks while gradually ascending eight levels from the streets of the city. The sloping nature of the park serves as a green and highly visible oasis in a city where nature is sparse. By connecting to the street, the sloping park plane will draw people up and into the project among groves of trees, green spaces, water features and outdoor terraces, where they can dine, read, socialize, or simply taking in views of the city.

Rooftop park on Namba Parks in Osaka / Japan

more information at World Architecture News

to The Jerde Partnership website