Holding of #Hezardaf_festival in Palengan, Kurdistan

The "Hazar Daf" (Thousands of Daf-iranian drum) ceremony was held on Friday evening (April 19,)2024 with the presence of a large number of people and Daf players from all over the country in the touristic and historical village of #Palangan in #Kurdistan province.

• In this mystic ritual, the tambourists, standing on the roofs of the terraced houses of the village and playing the tambourine, sing the mystical sound of birth.

According to Mustafa Fatemi, Director General of the Tourism Development Office of the Ministry of #Cultural Heritage, the case of Palengan Kurdistan and seven other villages will be sent to the World Tourism Organization for selection as a global village.

Video available for those interested: https://t.me/newsvideofa/2015

#Iran #Music #Drums #Festival #Culture

so evil and t it just carries on

WIDESCALE #DESTRUCTION OF #CULTURAL #HERITAGE IN #GAZA by Geraldine Kendall Adams #MuseumsAssociation

"As of 25 January, Unesco says it has verified damage to 22 sites in Gaza since the war began, including five religious sites, 10 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, two depositories of moveable cultural property, one monument, one museum and three archaeological sites.

Other media reports suggest that the destruction may be more extensive. Earlier this month, several news agencies reported that Israeli forces had demolished the main buildings of Al-Israa University, south of Gaza City, including a museum housing around 3,000 objects of art, archaeological artefacts, specimens, materials and instruments."

#CulturalHeritage #Museum #Archaeology #Gaza #War #Unesco #Architecture

https://odysee.com/@januszkowalskii1979:e/Khazar-Theory---Israel-DNA-Claims-(Noam-Chomsky):9

through each our heart.

#chomsky #khazar
#culture #cultural #cult #tradition
#stopthissillygame #racists #racism
#ethics #politics
#now

Yasser Arafat memorial destroyed by Israeli forces | AJ #shorts

Watch the moment an Israeli bulldozer destroyed a memorial to former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank. Scholars say ...#AlJazeera #AlJazeeraEnglish #Israeli #Palestinian #Tulkarem #YasserArafat #alJazeera #aljazeeraEnglish #aljazeeralive #aljazeeravideo #aljazeeraEnglish #aljazeeralatest #aljazeeralive #aljazeeralivenews #bulldozer #conflict #constitute #cultural #deliberate #destroyed #destruction #heritage #latestnews #memorial #newsheadlines #occupiedWestBank #president #warcrime
Yasser Arafat memorial destroyed by Israeli forces | AJ #shorts

https://www.nationofchange.org/2023/10/25/why-capitalism-cannot-finally-repress-socialism/

Why capitalism cannot finally repress socialism
By Richard D. Wolff -October 25, 2023

..."Over the last two centuries, as #socialism spread from Western Europe across the globe, it interacted with very diverse #economic, #political, and #cultural conditions. Those interactions yielded multiple, different interpretations of socialism. For some, it was an evolving critique of #capitalism, especially its injustices, inequalities, and cyclical instability. For others, it became the ongoing construction of an #alternative economic system. More broadly, millions were brought to socialisms that aimed to change basic social institutions (family, city, government) that capitalism had subordinated to its needs. The different, multiple socialisms debated and influenced one another, accelerating change within them all.
...
Such a socialist system entails the continuance of traditional capitalism: enterprises owned and operated mostly by private capitalists, individuals, or corporate groups. What it adds that makes it socialist is a government (often but not necessarily run by a socialist party) that closely regulates and supervises markets and enterprises.

Such socialist governments aim to moderate key effects of private capitalism including its very unequal distributions of income and wealth, extreme business cycles, and unaffordable access by the general population to healthcare, education, and much else. Progressive taxation typifies socialist governments’ means of intervening in otherwise private capitalism. Moderate socialisms of this sort are found in many European nations, in the programs of many socialist parties around the world, and in the statements and writings of socialist individuals.
...
People have often organized their collaborative production and distribution of goods and services as self-conscious communities within larger societies. Sometimes such productive communities were organized hierarchically with governing groups (councils of elders, chiefs, kings, lords, and masters) paralleling how they organized residential communities. At other times, they organized productive communities more horizontally as democratic cooperatives. A rapidly rising concept of socialism in the 21st century differs from the three basic models discussed above in its focus on and advocacy for the organization of workplaces as democratic, productive communities functioning within society.
...
Among critical socialists’ analyses, some eventually reached the conclusion that previous socialisms focused too much on the macro-level of capitalist society and too little on the micro-level. Socialism cannot only be about the balance between private and state enterprises, about “free” versus state-regulated markets, and about market versus state-planned distributions of resources and products. That limitation can and should be broken. Failures at the macro level had causes at a micro level that socialists had too often neglected.

When socialisms left the internal organizations of production and distribution enterprises inherited from capitalism largely unchanged, they made a major error. They left in place human relationships that undermined chances for enterprises in socialist economies to reach socialism’s goals. A truly democratic society cannot be built on a foundation of productive enterprises whose internal structure is the opposite of democratic. The employer-employee capitalist model is that foundational opposite. Capitalist employers are neither chosen by nor genuinely accountable to their employees. In worker cooperatives, by contrast, the employer-employee division is ended and replaced by a democratic community. The employees are likewise and collectively the employer. Their one-person-one-vote decisions, by the majority, govern what gets produced: how, where, and when. They likewise decide democratically what to do with the fruits of their collective labor, how enterprise revenues will be distributed among individual workers, and as investment funds and reserve funds."...

carnism...

#carnism #animals #cultural

#greece #european #global #environment #ecology #technology #social #cultural #social #economics #politics #news

ANNOUNCEMENT

I regret to announce the discontinuance of 'Food for Thought'

Unfortunately, as some of you already know, I’m currently suffering severe liver cancer, and although undergoing chemotherapy, it is unlikely that I shall live for more than another four-five months. Obviously I need to use the time I have left in other ways.

Ian Kenway

Today marks 7 years since Khaled al-Asaad, Syrian #archaeologist, was tortured and beheaded by #ISIS for refusing to lead them to the locations of #Palmyra's hidden antiquities.

He was 83 years old.

A hero who died defending #Syria’s (and the world's) #cultural #heritage.

#SayHisName

#greece #european #global #environment #ecology #technology #social #cultural #social #economics #politics #news

Food for Thought - July 2022

https://www.phidoc.net/food_for_thought.html

#greece #european #global #environment #ecology #technology #social #cultural #social #economics #politics #news

Food for Thought - April 2022

https://www.phidoc.net/food_for_thought.html

Brooks + Scarpa releases concept for Holocaust memorial in Florida

LA studio Brooks + Scarpa has released designs for a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust to be constructed outside of the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee.

The firm designed the project to address different aspects of the tragedy in the context of Florida. The state has the highest number of living Holocaust survivors in the US, and five museums and memorials dedicated to the victims.

Brooks + Scarpa's sculpture was recently chosen to be built by the Holocaust Memorial Review Committee, formed by the state government in 2015.

Brooks + Scarpa won a competition to design a Holocaust memorial for the Florida State Capitol

Lawrence Scarpa, who grew up in Florida, says that the design was personal. "Half of my cousins were Bar/Bat mitzvah’d and Jewish culture was always part of my life" he said. "Additionally, many of my direct relatives were killed in the holocaust."

"I feel like by winning the competition and being the designer of a memorial with such a historical significance, that in some way, by being able to design the memorial it also memorializes my own family’s grief, suffering, survival, hope and success," added Scarpa.

Called Passage of the Heart, the memorial will be placed in the Florida State Capitol complex, designed by Edward Durell Stone. The sculpture, composed of triangular stone forms, was designed so that visitors could walk through it.

The sculpture will have a limestone exterior and a bronze interior

The objective of the design is "to become a symbol of the celebration of life, but also a journey of transition and hope, where the visitor travels thru the memorial, back in time while contemplating the future," said Brooks + Scarpa in the description for its submission.

The Florida limestone exterior is meant to symbolise stones placed at the graves of the dead, with the Hebrew word for "stone" carved in the face of the material. At the base will be etchings of the names of all the largest concentration camps.

Randomised numbers cut into the bronze will symbolise the tattoos forced on victims

Inside, a bronze-clad interior will be divided into 22 panels, symbolising the number of countries directly affected by the Holocaust.

On these panels, random numbers akin to those assigned to prisoners at the camps will be cut into the metal surface. The numbers will cover the entirety of the bronze panels to show "the magnitude of the loss of life".

The panels will be backlit at night so that the numbers shine through even in the dark, as a symbol of "enduring life thru tragedy".

[

Read:

Short film offers tour of Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names by Studio Libeskind

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/10/07/short-film-dutch-holocaust-memorial-studio-libeskind/)

"We want to prompt visitors to think about their moral and ethical responsibilities when they see injustice," said Brooks + Scarpa.

Interactive aspects are also incorporated into the design. Digital projections will be projected on the stone face for educational purposes and small gaps will be left between the walls of the memorial where visitors can leave mementos.

Visitors will be able to walk through the sculpture

In 2018 an additional memorial recognising the victims of American slavery was also approved for the Florida State Capitol Complex, although the current status is "unclear" according to a release on the project.

Memorials for the victims of the Holocaust remain extremely relevant. Last year, Daniel Libeskind, the designer of the Jewish Museum of Berlin as well as the planner of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex, completed a memorial to the Dutch victims of the Holocaust in Amsterdam.

Imagery is courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa.

The post Brooks + Scarpa releases concept for Holocaust memorial in Florida appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #cultural #news #usa #bronze #florida #memorials #sculptures #brooksscarpa #limestone

Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Centre by Mathieu Forest Architecte resembles a stack of ice cubes

A stack of nine frosted glass "ice cubes" atop a pool of water houses this cultural centre in Xinxiang, China, designed by French practice Mathieu Forest Architecte.

The Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Centre was designed as a sculptural icon for a new winter sports tourism district in the city, which will in future include an indoor ski slope.

Mathieu Forest Architecte has created a stacked cultural centre in China

Inside the centre's nine cubes are a restaurant, cafe, shops, reading and children's spaces, with the stacked form used to create a series of open-air terraces that overlook the surrounding plaza and water pools.

"The ambition of the project is to create a strong urban indicator that unites the whole district," said Mathieu Forest Architecte.

It is designed to resemble a stack of ice cubes

"[It] does not look like a classic building – it is not possible to figure out the number of floors, it is a sculpture out of scale, a pure and monumental volume," it continued.

The ice-like appearance was achieved through the use of printed glass panels, which are attached to the concrete structures with minimal metal fixings to avoid the need for any frames.

The building sits beside a pool of water

During the day, the appearance of the glass panels changes depending on the light conditions, revealing certain areas of the interior and concealing others.

At night, illumination from the interior creates a glowing effect, turning the centre into a "lighthouse" for the district.

The ice-like appearance is achieved with patterned glass panels

"The texture of the glass facades is composed of a multitude of tangled translucent ice crystals that filter the light and the vision from the interior," said the practice.

"It is a question of hiding, whilst showing, to provoke mystery and the desire to approach," it continued.

[

Read:

Triptyque's marble and glass showroom was designed to "look like an ice cube"

](https://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/04/triptyque-groenlandia-building-marble-glass-ice-cube-sao-paulo-brazil/)

Each cube is stacked at a different angle, creating a variety of compositions depending on the direction of approach. Some cubes cantilever above the plaza and others are positioned to create small gaps to walk between.

In the central cluster of cubes, a double-height ground floor creates a large, open foyer, leading through to a reading room that opens onto a paved water terrace.

The panels are attached with minimal metal fixings

While this foyer merges the cubes into a single space at the ground floor level, their upper levels intersect and project out into it, creating balcony spaces supported by large white columns.

Two cubes sit away from the central area, connected via paved paths that cross the water pool and containing a shop and restaurant.

The glass facades glow at nighttime

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has led to a booming interest in winter sports in China. See the buildings that were used to host the games in Dezeen's guide to the Winter Olympics' architecture.

The photography is byArchExist.

---

Project credits:

Architects: Zone of Utopia+Mathieu Forest Architecte

Client: Henan Rongshou Xinchuang Culture and Tourism Real Estate Co. Ltd.

Designers: Qiang Zou, Mathieu Forest

Design team: Zeng Teng, Wu Di, Wang Zhuang, Arnaud Mazza, Ma Jia, Xue Qixun

Local Design Architect: Henan Urban Planning Institute & Corporation

Structure: Arup Group Limited

Curtain wall: EDUTH

Landscape design: Hassell Shanghai

Landscape design construction: QIDI Shanghai

Lighting: PROL

Interior design: WU:Z DESIGN

The post Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Centre by Mathieu Forest Architecte resembles a stack of ice cubes appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #cultural #chinesearchitecture #china #glass #visitorcentres #culturalbuildings #irregularlystackedboxes #xinxiang

Studio Seilern Architects surrounds moated plaza with 20-metre-high colonnades

London-based Studio Seilern Architects has enclosed the Gouna Festival Plaza in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna, Egypt, with a trio of colonnades.

Built within an artificial lagoon, the plaza is the first stage of the Gouna Conference and Culture Centre, which was designed to be a landmark cultural destination for the resort town.

Studio Seilern Architects has designed the Gouna Festival Plaza in Egypt

"Our client wanted to put El Gouna on the map, culturally speaking, and commissioned us specifically to create an architectural vision that achieved this," said Christina Seilern, principal of Studio Seilern Architects.

"The idea was to give Gouna a cultural venue that would unify the town in a strong urban gesture, and give it a new point of focus with a captivating cultural venue," she told Dezeen.

The 20-metre-high colonnades are the tallest structures in El Gouna

The plaza was developed for Egyptian-Montenegrin businessman Samih Sawiris, who owns the resort town and previously commissioned Studio Seilern Architects to design the Andermatt Concert Hall in Switzerland, as the first stage of the cultural complex.

A 600-seat concert hall and a conference centre, also designed by Studio Seilern Architects, will be built within the plaza over the next couple of years.

It was designed to be a multifunctional space that will host the annual El Gouna Film Festival, sporting events and concerts as well as functioning as a public plaza between events.

The complex is surrounded by a moat

"We wanted to create a beautiful new public space with a dual function," said Seilern.

"It will act as a venue for a wide range of major cultural events, and the ground for a concert hall and conference centre, the next two phases of the project," she continued.

"It should feel like an awe-inspiring and captivating public space for events such as the Gouna World Squash tournament or the film festival, or feel intimate and welcoming for a wedding or festive gatherings, while also acting as a tranquil and wonderful place to visit when not in festive use."

A concert hall will be built in the central plaza and a conference centre in the southern section (left in image)

Set on a series of artificial islands, a trio of spaces is enclosed by three L-shaped colonnades.

The concert hall will be built within the central plaza and the conference centre in the southern area, with the northern section left as a flexible space.

[

Read:

Studio Seilern Architects raises the roof to create Andermatt Concert Hall in the Swiss Alps

](https://www.dezeen.com/2019/06/17/studio-seilern-architects-andermatt-concert-hall/)

The 20-metre-high colonnades, which are the tallest structures in El Gouna, were designed to define the complex architecturally while providing shade from the sun and shelter from wind.

"We want the visitor to feel awe and wonder when they arrive," said Seilern. "The scale of the colonnade is counteracted by the softness of the internal cladding of the colonnades."

The columns are detailed and sand-coloured on the inside of the colonnades

The staggard and interconnected columns were made from glass-reinforced concrete, with a sand-coloured interior profile and a white, flat exterior.

"The warm sand-like colouring of the column cladding is evenly lit at night, appearing as a large sculpture reflected in a mirror-like body of water," Seilern continued.

"The effect that we sought is one of absolute peace – a space for reflection which can turn into a festive place for gathering."

The colonnades provide shelter from wind and rain

Studio Seilern Architects aimed for the architecture to draw on the grandeur of ancient Egyptian buildings along with Moorish influences.

"We are contextualists and were keen to create an architecture that reflects the impressive architectural legacy of ancient Egyptian architecture," explained Seilern.

Gouna Festival Plaza was designed to be a landmark in the resort town

"We were keen that the design emerges from a language that relates to the history and culture of the site," she continued.

"The use of the arch was generated from the notion that the arch is a Moorish invention. Combined with the monumental scale of Egyptian architecture, such as is seen in Luxor, we played with this idea by oversizing the perimeter columns."

Studio Seilern Architects has previously created a restaurant on top of Mount Gütsch in the Swiss Alps, a charred-timber performing arts centre in Berkshire and a house on a rocky ledge above an African dam.

The photography is byPaul Riddle.

The post Studio Seilern Architects surrounds moated plaza with 20-metre-high colonnades appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #cultural #publicandleisure #egypt #studioseilern

Gensler releases plans for winged Flight Test Museum in California

Architecture firm Gensler has released plans for the new Flight Test Museum in Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles.

The design combines the dimensions of an airport hangar with the shape of the Nighthawk aircraft, an American stealth plane first built in the 1980s.

"The reimagination of the Flight Test Museum coincides with the rise of commercial space exploration and the 75th anniversary of the breaking of the sound barrier," said the studio in a release.

The 60,000-square-foot (5,570-square-metre) "hangar" will have a metallic angular roof that slopes down to create a pavilion over the glass entryway.

The Test Flight Museum designed by Gensler will be on the site of the current museum

"We expanded the roof area by creating large undulating, stretched planes of metallic perforated metal, giving rise to distinctive wing-like shapes that shimmer and offer striking silhouettes against the surrounding desert landscape," Peter Wang, principal and design director on the project for Gensler, told Dezeen.

A primary hangar will be surrounded by a second-storey viewing platform so that visitors can see the displays from above.

[

Read:

Killa Design's Museum of the Future opens in Dubai

](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/02/22/museum-of-the-future-killa-design-dubai/)

Plans include a welcome lounge, gallery space, classrooms, library, and gift shop, as well as a bar dedicated to Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes, the aviator who founded the first movie stunt pilots' union.

Sited in the desert where some of the first jet and space flight technologies were tested, the finished museum will hold more than 80 historic aircraft, with room for other larger aircraft in the planned outdoor exhibition spaces.

Initial construction on the project has begun, with completion slated for 2024.

Gensler is one of the world's largest architecture firms, with almost 50 offices globally. Following the death of its founder Art Gensler last year, Dezeen highlighted eight key projects from the company.

Other architecture projects that take influences from hangars include the MEETT exhibition centre by OMA, as well as Italian office Piuarch's transformation of an old aircraft hangar into Gucci's headquarters in Milan.

Renderings are courtesy of Gensler.

The post Gensler releases plans for winged Flight Test Museum in California appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #cultural #news #deserts #california #usa #museums #aircraft #culturalbuildings #gensler #militarydesign

David Chipperfield completes theatre and hotels in Jingdezhen cultural district

David Chipperfield Architects has built a theatre and hotel complex in Jingdezhen, China, as part of a masterplan to revive a former porcelain factory district.

The London-based studio's Berlin office developed the Ceramic Art Avenue Taoxichuan masterplan for the city known as China's porcelain capital.

The project involved transforming an entire urban block close to the city centre into a cultural district that celebrates the city's unique industrial heritage.

Taoxichuan Grand Theatre is one of several new buildings on the site

Former factory buildings on the site have already been converted to create a museum, a ceramics market and porcelain shops, and David Chipperfield Architects is also building a music academy.

With the completion of the Taoxichuan Grand Theatre and the hotel complex – which includes two hotels and an events venue – the renewal of the site is almost complete.

According to David Chipperfield Architects, the ambition behind Ceramic Art Avenue Taoxichuan is "not only preserving and converting the existing buildings for reuse, but complementing the urban quarter with new buildings to gain a contemporary presence".

The site includes a complex of four hotel buildings

The designs for the new buildings reference the industrial architecture of the old porcelain factories.

All of these buildings prominently feature brickwork, referencing the materiality of the old warehouses. But the bricks are often arranged as perforated screens, which gives them a more decorative quality.

Pedestrian walkways are a key element of the masterplan

The buildings are all linked by a boulevard and a pedestrian promenade, to encourage visitors to explore the whole site.

The Taoxichuan Grand Theatre incorporates two venues, a classical opera house and a black box theatre.

Mushroom-shaped columns characterise the theatre building

The building is characterised by huge mushroom-shaped columns that frame the main foyer. Located both in front of and behind the glazed facade, they support a monumental, projecting concrete roof.

The interior of the foyer is also concrete, with tactile details like timber-lined surfaces and a wall of glass blocks.

A wall of glass blocks frames the foyer

The curved form of the horseshoe-shaped opera house is visible from the street and also extends into the foyer. Its 1,200-seat auditorium is lined with walnut veneer and framed by three balcony levels.

"With this classical European format, the auditorium reflects the meaningful connectedness of audience and performers as one community who jointly experience an artistic performance as a singular, authentic live event as opposed to today's digital environment," said David Chipperfield Architects.

A horseshoe-shaped opera house has 1200 seats

The black box theatre has a more contemporary feel, with a flexible and mobile stage setup.

The space is lined in blackened wood and can be opened up to facilitate open-air performances.

[

Read:

Cavernous brick vaults define Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum in China

](https://www.dezeen.com/2020/11/16/jingdezhen-imperial-kiln-museum-studio-zhu-pei-china/)

Located immediately south of the theatre complex, the hotel complex is made up of four buildings plus a former dormitory that has been converted into apartments.

All four of the new buildings have a similar aesthetic, with brick walls, deep-set windows and recessed balconies.

The hotel buildings are a linked by a steel and glass structure

They are connected at ground level by a more lightweight structure built from steel and glass, which ties the entrances together and makes it easier to navigate the site. This space can also be used for public exhibitions and activities.

The hotel buildings are organised around open-air courtyard gardens, while the events block contains a series of flexible function rooms.

Hotel bedrooms are organised around courtyard gardens

"The semi-transparent facades of the function rooms and the perforated balustrades of the hotel balconies act as a filter between private and public areas," said David Chipperfield Architects.

"The staggered brick columns bring the overall building volume in relation to the human scale."

The Academy of Music is due to complete in 2022

Due to complete in 2022, the Academy of Music is under construction at the southern end of the Ceramic Art Avenue Taoxichuan site.

Set to include teaching facilities, recording studios and a 350-seat concert hall, the facility is being created within two former factory buildings that are being upgraded with new tiled roofs and a bold new interior layout.

The materials palette for this building includes maple veneer, pine wood and mastic asphalt.

[

Read:

Liangzhu Culture Museum by David Chipperfield Architects

](https://www.dezeen.com/2008/11/05/liangzhu-culture-museum-by-david-chipperfield-architects/)

David Chipperfield Architects has completed a number of projects in China to date, including the Liangzhu Culture Museum, the Xixi Wetland Estate and the Moganshan Road office block, all in Hangzhou.

Ceramic Art Avenue Taoxichuan is the studio's first project in Jingdezhen, a city where investment in culture has become a priority in recent years.

The Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, designed by Studio Zhu-Pei, opened to fanfare in 2020, while the Sanbaopeng Art Museum, designed by DL Atelier, opened on the outskirts of the city in 2017.

---

Project credits

Architect: David Chipperfield Architects, Berlin

Client: Jingdezhen Ceramic Culture Tourism Group

Local design institute: ISA Architecture, Shanghai

Acoustics: Kahle Acoustics, TongJi Architectural Design

Lighting design: Leox

Landscape architect: Possibilism Design Studio, ISA Architecture

The post David Chipperfield completes theatre and hotels in Jingdezhen cultural district appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #hotels #architecture #cultural #landscapeandurbanism #instagram #davidchipperfield #china #theatres #jingdezhen

O-office Architects builds sculptural seaside chapel in China

Architecture studio O-office Architects has placed a sweeping, bright white chapel on a beachfront in China to serve as a "spiritual and figurative anchor" on the coastline.

Located in the city of Shanwei, a historic fishing settlement in southern China, the chapel takes the shape of a swooping structure that is oriented toward the sea.

The Seaside Chapel of Jinting Bay was designed by O-office Architects

The Seaside Chapel of Jinting Bay is triangular in plan, and comprises a wide linear axis at the entrance and a tall vertical axis facing the beachfront.

The vertical sea-facing elevation and the horizontal land-facing elevation are joined by three swooping curved planes that function as the chapel's exterior walls and roof.

The chapel is intended to serve as a totem on the coastline

"The inspiration behind this seaside chapel is the coastline of the Jinting Bay – part of the South China Sea, and the Matsu Culture of this region," O-office Architects told Dezeen. "The tension between the newly constructed, generic skyscrapers blocks that sprawled along the coastline and the sceneries of natural serenity."

"We tried to examine and create this new 'totem of the sea' with a parallel perspective of history as we receive the commission to design a place of ceremonial worship, emphasising and terminating the central axis of this emerging city along the seaside."

The form was informed by the city's fishing history and surrounding skyscrapers

The entrance to the chapel, which faces inland, spreads horizontally across the site and obscures the view toward the beach. It is accessed via a 36-metre-long paved walkway that bisects a shallow pond.

The curved exterior walls that flank the chapel guide visitors from the wide, linear entrance toward the narrowing and vertically extending rear.

[

Read:

Syn Architects tops wedding chapel in China with illuminated "moon"

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/10/28/syn-architects-hometown-moon-chapel-china-architecture/)

The ground level houses the chapel while the basement contains storage, waiting areas, bathrooms and staff areas. A staircase that links the ground and basement level also provides access to a roof terrace.

"Inside are abstract forms of a traditional screen, courtyard and hall, spread horizontally against the central axis of the new city, allowing people in the middle of urban jungle a place of spiritual repository," said the O-office Architects.

A staircase is positioned behind the entrance

The studio used concrete across the exterior to ensure the structure was resistant to strong winds and coastal erosion.

"Concrete also adds the intrinsic 'sculptural' touch to the building itself – so that this chapel not only stands there as an object in the field but a sculpture paying homage to the sea," it explained.

"Originally we chose the colour white for this chapel's symbolic meaning as a totem of Matsu, for the purity of the Matsu goddess", the team continued, referring to a popular Taoist and Chinese Buddhist sea goddess.

The structure is built using white-painted concrete

Floor-to-ceiling glazed walls line the entrance, providing the chapel with transparency that frames the worship area and seafront.

The ceiling rises from the widest point to join the tallest axis. Glass spans the height of the rear wall allowing light to flood into space, similarly framing the beachfront, sky and sun.

"This new 'totem' creates a spiritual and figurative anchor for the rapid-emerging coastal city, to re-establish a connection node in-between the city and the rural, land and sea."

The chapel has a sculptural form

O-office Architects was established in 2007 by He Jianxiang and Jiang Ying in Guangzhou. The firm works on projects from urban design and architecture to exhibition and furniture design.

Also in China, Syn Architects topped a chapel with a shallow pool and an illuminated half-moon that aims to encourage visitors to explore the surrounding natural landscape. Open Architecture built The Chapel of Sound, a monolithic concrete events space that was designed to resemble a piece of the natural landscape.

The photography is by Wu Siming.

---

Project credits:

Principal architects: He Jianxiang & Jiang Ying

Project team: Huang Chengqiang, Cai Xinqian, Peng Weisen

Structural consultant: Lao Xiaojie, Sang Xiling

ME consultant: Bun Cong M&E Design

Floodlight consultant: BPI

The post O-office Architects builds sculptural seaside chapel in China appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #cultural #china #worship #chapels #oofficearchitects

MVRDV to install neon-pink staircase and viewing platform on Het Nieuwe Instituut

Dutch architecture office MVRDV has unveiled plans to install a giant neon-pink staircase across the exterior of Rotterdam's Het Nieuwe Instituut that will lead to a viewing platform in the same colour on its roof.

Titled Het Podium, the temporary installation will extend from the ground level plaza in front of the Het Nieuwe Instituut, adjacent to the MVRDV-designed art storage building Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, and rise along the side of the cultural centre.

Het Podium was designed by MVRDV

The staircase will be supported by a scaffolding system beneath and lead to the roof of the Het Nieuwe Instituut, which will be topped with a neon pink podium-cum-viewing platform that offers visitors panoramic views of Rotterdam.

The installation will form part of the Rotterdam Architecture Month, providing the festival with a central location that will be free for members of the public to experience while also hosting a number of architecture events.

[

Read:

MVRDV's Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen opens, giving the public access to 151,000 artworks

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/11/08/depot-boijmans-van-beuningen-rotterdam-mvrdv/)

Het Podium will extend the height of the building, which is roughly 20 metres tall. The steps will provide visitors with a scenic, bright-pink guided walk to the rooftop. A lift from within the Het Nieuwe Instituut will also allow visitors step-free access to the rooftop podium.

The installation will be the successor to MVRDV's 2016 staircase installation The Stairs. This installation similarly lead visitors to the roof of an office block in Rotterdam's city centre and was built as part of the city’s 75th anniversary of its post-war reconstruction.

It will be installed as part of Rotterdam Architecture Month

Het Podium is set to open on 1 June 2022 in time for Rotterdam Architecture Month and will be open to the public until July.

The rooftop podium will be host to a number of lectures, talks, films and exhibitions.

In 2021, MVRDV opened the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, directly opposite the Het Nieuwe Instituut, which provided the public access to 151,000 artworks.

Also in 2021, Het Nieuwe Instituut appointed Aric Chen as general and artitstic director.

Rotterdam Architecture Month is taking place in Rotterdam from 1 to 30 June. SeeDezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Sheppard Robson updates and extends Alan Short-designed theatre in Manchester

Architecture studio Sheppard Robson has remodelled the eccentric Contact theatre in Manchester, UK, stitching in a "new and distinct" metal-clad extension.

The overhaul was carried out by Sheppard Robson to improve the layout and energy performance of the building that was completed by British architect Alan Short in 1999.

Sheppard Robson has extended the Contact theatre in Manchester

Sheppard Robson's goal for the project was to refresh the Contact theatre while preserving Short's original vision for the building.

Working with ME engineers at Max Fordham, the project also enhances the efficiency of the building's original sustainable design features, such as the chimneys that made it the first naturally ventilated theatre in the UK.

The extension is clad in metal

"At the heart of the brief was to extend and refresh Contact whilst carefully preserving the building and organisation's progressive spirit," Sheppard Robson partner James Jones told Dezeen.

"Overall, the refurbishment and extension together work to make the building more accessible, future-focused, economically and environmentally sustainable."

The extension contains performance spaces

Contact was established in 1972, but its Short-designed home was created following an investment from Arts Council England in the 1990s.

The theatre and arts venue is best known for championing youth leadership and creativity. To reflect this, Sheppard Robson consulted with a group of young people associated with the theatre throughout the redesign.

[

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"The [co-creation] process ensured that the building continues to be more than just a space to see a performance," Jones explained.

"It is far more deeply embedded with the community and new ways of engaging young people in the arts."

The existing building has also been remodelled

The 300-square-metre extension to the theatre is designed to complement Short's original quirky design, while also boasting its own unique aesthetic.

To achieve this, Sheppard Robson covered it with standing-seam aluminium and zinc cladding that echoes details of the existing building that are also finished with metal, such as the main entrance.

"Externally, we read the Alan Short design to be a complex 'village' of forms that articulate the range of spaces within the building," Jones explained.

"We wanted to add to this with a form that was clearly new and distinct, but still part of the village – the use of materials helped achieve this."

Circulation has been improved in the public areas

The extension comprises three storeys and is topped by a pitched roof arranged around two ventilation chimneys that nod to those on the original buildings.

In the same way as Short's original design, these chimneys are used to naturally ventilate the extension's interiors.

Inside, the ground floor of the extension comprises performance spaces as well as a health and science development created in partnership with the Wellcome Trust.

The first floor has offices for Contact staff, while the top floor contains rehearsal spaces and workspaces for artists and cultural organisations.

A new cafe and bar has been added to the entrance

Sheppard Robson's alterations to the Contact theatre's existing building included the improvement of sound insulation and circulation in the building's public areas. A new cafe and bar have been introduced at its entrance to "lift the arrival experience of the building", Jones said.

Upgrades were also made to reduce the building's overall carbon emissions, which the studio has predicted will see an annual drop of 13 per cent.

These improvements included changes in the way users can monitor and control air quality and airflow rates of the building's original natural ventilation system to minimise heat loss.

Lighting in the theatre now relies on LEDs

The new naturally-lit offices replace old cellular workspaces in the original building, and feature external shading to reduce overheating. All lighting has been swapped for LED technology, while an efficient central heating plant was introduced in place of 20-year-old boilers.

To track the reductions in the theatre's carbon emissions, Max Fordham will now monitor the building's energy consumption over the next two years and provide advice for optimisation.

Sheppard Robson said the improvements "lift the arrival experience of the building"

Sheppard Robson is a British architecture studio founded in 1938 by Richard Herbert Sheppard. It has offices in London, Manchester, and Glasgow.

Other projects by the studio include the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital in Johannesburg and a barn-style extension for a horse hospital in Edinburgh.

Elsewhere, architecture studio Haworth Tompkins also recently completed a number of theatre renovations, including the revamp of Bristol's Grade I-listed Old Vic theatre and the overhaul of the historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London's West End.

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#all #architecture #cultural #uk #extensions #manchester #theatres #renovations #culturalbuildings #sheppardrobson

Bidi Bidi music centre designed to "change the narrative around refugees" in Uganda

Ethical investment company To.org has enlisted architecture studios Hassell and LocalWorks to create a music centre that will uncover talent in the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda.

Due to break ground in April 2022, the Bidi Bidi Music & Arts Centre will provide a platform for gifted artists based in the huge settlement, which is home to over 270,000 South Sudanese refugees.

"We want to change the narrative around refugees," said Nachson Mimran, CEO and co-founder of To.org.

"Someone once told me that talent is equally distributed while opportunity is not, and that become really apparent when I first visited a settlement in Uganda," Mimran told Dezeen.

"In one week we interacted with so much talent – athletic talent, visual artists, beat boxers, rappers – but there was no infrastructure to support them. That's why we launched this mission."

The Bidi Bidi Music & Arts Centre will have earth block walls and a lightweight roof

To.org has an innovative business model that combines venture capitalism with creative activism.

At Bidi Bidi, the organisation is collaborating with non-profit Playing for Change Foundation and NGO SINA Loketa, with the ambition to create both a community resource and a creative incubator.

The building design has been developed through a partnership between international architecture firm Hassell and Kampala-based LocalWorks, in collaboration with engineering giant Arup.

The structure will take the form of a sheltered, open-air amphitheatre that can double as a performance venue or a community meeting space.

It will provide a recording studio and spaces for music training. There will also be a tree nursery, a vegetable garden and fresh water facilities – all essentials for a community where food shortages are rapidly worsening.

The interior could be used for community meetings or performances

The building will collect rainwater through a huge funnel in its lightweight roof structure – similar to the Serpentine Pavilion created by Diébédo Francis Kéré, an architect who has also been involved with To.org.

"The type of structures that Francis does are really great for climate, so we we learn a lot from him," said Xavier de Kestelier, a principal and head of design at Hassell.

"Instead of having a thick roof that radiates heat, this lightweight roof will actually cool down the building."

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](https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/20/drone-video-diebedo-francis-kere-serpentine-gallery-pavilion-2017-movie/)

The walls of the Bidi Bidi Music & Arts Centre will be built from compressed earth blocks.

"The design is a very interesting combination of low tech and high tech," said LocalWorks founder Felix Holland.

"The walls of the entire building will be made out of material excavated right where the building is being built. We will cut a terrace and start making blocks on site."

The project is due to complete by the end of 2022

The Bidi Bidi Music & Arts Centre is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

Mimran is confident it will make an impact on the settlement, which was only established in 2017, when South Sudanese refugees were forced to flee the ongoing civil war.

He points to a previous project in Nakivale, another Ugandan settlement, where To.org worked with locals to build a small building shaped like a 1977 Chevrolet ice cream van.

Mimran has since seen the building being used as a meeting room, a pirate radio station and a production facility for organic sanitary pads.

The building will be located at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in northern Uganda

Mimran believes these areas such as Bidi Bidi need to be treated as new cities, able to thrive as long as they are provided with the right infrastructure.

"Anything we do here, we bring the same dedication, energy and quality as elsewhere in the world," he said. "That's how we change narratives."

Other recent projects in Uganda include the Mount Sinai Kyabirwa Surgical Facility, which is topped with solar panels.

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#all #architecture #cultural #news #bricks #hassell #handmadebricks #uganda #biobricks

Open Architecture reveals design for Sun Tower in China

Chinese studio Open Architecture has unveiled its design for a viewing tower in the coastal city of Yantai in the north east of China.

The Beijing-based architecture studio designed the 50-metre-high tower to look like a giant sundial.

OPEN Architecture has revealed visuals of Sun Tower

The form of the tower, which will act as a landmark in the city's new coastal district, was informed by watchtowers that were built in the area during the Ming dynasty.

When it is complete, Sun Tower will be a cultural facility with views of the sea, a semi-outdoor theatre on the ground floor, a winding exhibition space, library and observation deck.

Sun Tower will be a cultural facility where people can also enjoy nature

Standing in the centre of a circular plaza, it will be constructed from two white concrete conical forms connected and braced by horizontal slabs and ramps.

The space within the inner shell of the Sun Tower was designed to act as a sound collector, absorbing and amplifying the sound from the sea.

The upside-down upper shell houses a library and observation space

In summer, rain will drop from a circular opening in the roof and be collected in a small pool. In winter, this pool will be dried out and used as a fireplace.

"Immediately when we conceived of the design we wanted to reference ancient human rituals, honoring the sun, moon, and stars, and offering a space for reflection and contemplation," said Li Hu and Huang Wenjing, founding partners of Open Architecture.

[

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](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/11/05/open-architecture-chapel-of-sound-beijing/)

Open Architecture will also work with Aric Chen, artistic director of Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, to create the building's exhibitions, which will focus on digital exhibitions and big data.

"We wanted to ensure the building had an authentic purpose and function, creating spaces that juxtapose the incredible ocean views with the forward-thinking digital exhibitions that explore nature," added Li and Huang.

A semi-outdoor observation space will be on top of Sun Tower

Open Architecture designed a shallow pool, misting devices and fountains for the plaza that will surround the building.

A linear pool of water will cut across the plaza, which will aline with the shadow of the Sun Tower follows on the day of the equinox.

The pavement will be covered in a series of elliptical ring pattern. The intersections between the rings and the waterway mark the building shadow's footprint at specific hours on the equinox day.

The 50-meter high building is a composite shell structure

The project is currently under construction and due to complete in 2024. Open Architecture recently completed a rock-like concert hall outside of Beijing named Chapel of Sound and an art gallery within a sand dune.

The renders are courtesy of Open Architecture.

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