LANDFORM BUILDING
Projects Studied
Spain's City of Culture
(by Jawad Ramal)
The city of Culture in the Spanish city of Galacia, was commissioned by the Spanish government in an attempt to create a landmark that would serve as a major touristic destination for people around the world. For such a large project, naturally Peter Eisenman was selected in a competition to carry out this project due to the conceptual uniqueness and harmonious nature of his proposed design. The uniqueness of this design is represented in the selected images while also illustrated the many traits of a Landform building. Using the topography of the landscape in the Spanish province of Galacia, as inspiration for the design of the structure, represents the main characteristics of Landform buildings.
Kursaal Congress Centre and Auditorium
Spain
(by Andrew Boyle)
"Two Beached Rocks"
Designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, The Kursaal Congress Centre and Auditorium was completed in 1999 on the North coast of Spain.
As one walks along the beaches of the San Sebastián Bay, the structures of Kursaal appear quite simply in the distance as two beached rocks. [1] Throughout time and space, different perspectives of the seemingly simple structures reflect different aspects of the surrounding environment. Rafael Moneo has allowed the unique site of the San Sebastián Bay to shape and colour the Kursaal Auditorium and Congress Centre. This architectural shift to transparency through geological form is central to Landform Building.
Museum of Islamic Arts
Qatar
(by Ruwanthi Mudalige)
The Museum of Islamic Arts situated in Doha, the capital of Qatar, was a governmentally commissioned project designed by architect I. M. Pei, famous for his Louvre Pyramid project. Through the provided selection of images, drawings, models and virtual viewing spaces provided, this exhibition examines how the Museum of Islamic Arts emulates the essence of Landform Building within the Middle East. This Landform Building style could also be understood as a branch of Islamic Architecture in itself since it demonstrates its most popular, flat roofs, earth colors, and simple geometric format. However, this structure is not about becoming one with the land, or morphing into the topography of the land, but about representing the land through creating an iconic architectural structure that adapts to the sandstorms and such natural calamities of the region. Overall this structure stands as an excellent example as to how architecture could be influenced by not only geographic locations but also climate and culture ultimately building a landform.
Jebel Al Jais Mountain Resort
UAE (Rosamond Mengdi Zhou)
Jebel Al Jais Mountain Resort is designed by OMA, completed in 2006 in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. As a significant case in landform building, instead of the traditional way of “domesticating” the surrounding mountains, the architecture has been made self-organized within its natural assets. The resort proposes a unique path that deliberately and also boldly navigates the mountain, to connect the most dramatic points, capturing a diverse range of conditions. OMA intends to make the development of this project align with the path that allows the majority of the site to stay untouched, therefore to preserve the natural integrity of the mountain as much as possible. The most eye-catching part of this mega-structure should be the dam. It looks just like a giant waterfall running in the valley, but actually is filled with apartments and hotel units. The point of imitating the nature is always one of the most prominent characters of landform building.
Refence:
http://www.oma.eu/projects/2006/jebel-al-jais-mountain-resort
Yokohama Ferry Terminal, Japan
What is Landform Building?
Yokohama Ferry Terminal is a post-modernistic answer to above question by Foreign Office Architects. It serves as a hub of transportation, public park for urbanized metropolis, and iconic architecture which symbolize Japan internationally. Its structure plays on both perception and conception, architecturally. It challenges the normally accepted concept of wall and floor, by eliminating the joint between them. Furthermore, it brings the various different structures as one unified body of structure, like different forms serving different programs becomes one body through feeling of being tectonic. It uses the concept of landscape as urbanism, an accidental or spontaneous creation of personal and interpersonal event. It provides a new idea as to define what is land, form and building.
© 2014 by Ruwanthi Mudalige, Rosamond Zhou, Andrew Boyle, Jawad Ramal and David Jang