CONTEMPORIST

UNESCO World Heritage Centre by Najjar & Najjar Architects

Posted: 02 Dec 2011 01:02 PM PST

Najjar & Najjar Architects have completed the UNESCO Marine and World Heritage Centre in Krems, Austria.

Description from the architect:

The design includes a new shipping pier and a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. A large roof spans the area like a wing and connects the elements. The amply roof, desiderated point of arrival, forms likewise a remarkable gate to the landscape of the "Wachau". Alongside the City it leads the every day life's fugitives to the place of experience, of emotions. A new place of articulation assumes a shape, creates strong connections between river and city, between landscape and urbanism. The large gate forms the frame for different encounter possibilities, whether cultural, culinary or interpersonal. Zone of communication, gastronomy, commerce and ticket counter conflate into a whole. The Zone of communication of the World Heritage Centre is located at the areas Westside; it guides the visitor in a literary and also in a visual way into the culture of the region. 6 lines of illuminated screens offer the possibility to represent the "Wachau". An inviting outside staircase leads the visitors from the promenade to the "Gate of the Wachau". Washed concrete produced from Danube gravel and also several planting accentuations with reed communicate the close proximity to the river.

Visit the Najjar & Najjar Architects website – here.

Photography by Manfred Seidl

Spiral House by Joeb Moore + Partners Architects

Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:24 AM PST

Joeb Moore + Partners Architects designed the Spiral House on the coast of Connecticut.

Situated along the Connecticut shoreline of Long Island Sound, this single-family house is conceived of as an extension of both its natural and social contexts. The crux of the project lies in the juxtaposition of two systems of geometry—projective and radial—defining the project's response to these environmental and social conditions in both formal and conceptual ways. Projective geometries render the site as pure landscape; that is, as an expanse of scenery that can be viewed from a single point. The radial geometry at work in the house, tied to notions of water, waves, and sea, creates the spiraling form that relates social spaces to private spaces and seamlessly adjoins interior with exterior.

Visit the Joeb Moore + Partners Architects website – here.

Photography by Jeff Goldberg/ESTO and Todd Mason Halkin