In addition to the Benetton competition providing participants with the possibility to redefine the influence of retail in an urban landscape, the competition also provided participants with the choice to design “Building A” or “Building B”. While we shared some of the winning proposals for Building A (Grzegorz Witold Woronowicz and Giuseppe Iodice), we now share Maarten Scheurwater and Oliver van den Hoven’s proposal for Building B, which placed second in the competition.
More about the winning proposal after the break.
The competition is interesting because although the two buildings are independent, with their locations about 800 meters apart, their programmatic requirements and square footage are identical. As with Building A, the competition clearly expressed the need for the 12 level building to be formatted in this manner: the underground levels must provide parking and storage space; the ground and first floor (1200 m² each) must be subdivided into 3 commercial units, the second to fourth floor (900 m² each) are designate for office space; the fifth and sixth floors (675 m² each) are for office facilities; and the seventh floor (675 m²) will be apartments.
“The Benetton competition brings together two seemingly conflicting domains: the dynamic world of fashion on the one hand and the static domain of architecture on the other. The central objective of this project is to design a timeless building for an industry that creates new collections and appearances every season,” explained Scheurwater.
For Scheurwater’s proposal, a projected volume roughly covering the entire site is split into two parts: a cube and a thin slab. The void adds an intimate shopping experience for those passing by to become attracted to the entrance area marked by the two split forms. This small space creates a welcoming environment to combat the massive form. ”The programme in the competition brief implies a thinning from the base upwards. This thinning is purposely internalized in this project by means of a large void that gets larger towards the higher levels,” explained the architect. By keeping the thinning effect internal, the structure maintains it massive silhouette throughout the levels.
Most of the facade features a curtain wall design with 4mm thin slabs of local Persian marble mounted on the outer glass panel of the curtain wall. The facade creates a translucent feel as light and shadows glow through the marble to highlight the openness and lightness of the interior. The facade does not only create an interesting environment at the street level, but also carries those same properties through its higher levels. The filtered light “renders the beautiful textures in the marble and brings calm and character…to this inner world”. As the light intensity changes throughout the day, so to does the appearance of the facade. During the night time, the light from the office spaces, shops and apartments filters through the facade in different directions to light the structure “like a lantern that can be distinguished from as far as the elevated highway and further to the South.”
Scheurwater van den Hoven Architecten
Maarten Scheurwater
Olivier van den Hoven
www.svdharchitecten.nl
The international competition Designing in Teheran seeks to modernize the Iranian city by fusing the existing cultural area with a more contemporary environment. Such an environment will include influence from the fashion world through the introduction of new retail areas. This competition is comprised of the design for two towers, Tower A and Tower B, which will provide retail space for the popular clothing store the United Colors of Benetton. The jury has selected three winners for each tower, and soon will narrow the selection to one winner per tower. The proposal by the team formed by Grzegorz Witold Woronowicz, Jakub Piotr Kalinowski, Piotr Kus and Krzysztof Rewski was selected as a winner for Tower A, attempting to create a new kind of shopping experience for users within the complex.
More sketches and more information about the winning proposal after the break.
Located on the corner of Salmak Street and Vali Asr Avenue in Tajrish Square, the 1500 m² lot will feature the 12 level structure (including four below ground levels). The competition outlines the specific programming for each floor such that the underground levels must provide parking and storage space; the ground and first floor (1200 m² each) must be subdivided into 3 commercial units, the second to fourth floor (900 m² each) are designate for office space; the fifth and sixth floors (675 m² each) are for office facilities; and the seventh floor (675 m²) will be apartments.
The designers’ approached the project as a way to create not just a dynamic modern retail area, but as the opportunity to address the shopping behavior of modern users. The designers address the social change of how modern retail spaces lack the dynamic atmosphere the old markets had with their lively chatter and friendly atmosphere. In an effort to inspire that same kind of shopping space, a passageway that functions as an “inner street” runs through the building. The two green areas that boarder the passageway give more of a private feel to the space and also create a lush environment for the shoppers. ”The passage idea…is nothing new. But the way of shopping is. It forces customers to think about other people in the shop,” explained the architects. “A big slide fixed to the ceiling. Clothes are hanging on it. If you want to see some item you have to move also some other clothes to get yours. This could cause inconvenience to the others. If you want to avoid it, you have to negotiate with other customers interested in this group of items how you can move all the clothes not to disturb them,” he added.
The building’s form is a modern-take on the ziggurat, a historic icon for the region. Clad in engraved aluminum panels inspired by traditional Persia decorum, the façade protects the interior from over-heating and creates a decorative, complex shade for the interior. On the upper levels, which include offices and residence areas, the window shutters are also made of these panels so the façade stays continuous in its design.
Architects: Razan Text & Context
Location: Tehran, Iran
Principals: Alireza Taghaboni & Parisa Alimohamadi
Constructed Area: 300 sqm
Project year: 2008
Photographs: Razan Text & Context
We had suggested a house to a friend: “we will make you a home; fitting the best friend”. He didn’t wait for something special; a normal villa, just safe and out of harm’s way, as possible as it could. Municipality laws and the high slope of the site (as the first design’s guidelines) lead us to a terraced sketch.
The site was extended to the south-east. A pure, unbelievable, sunlit view in front of us. There for we made it like two boxes; a box on the other one, Like two frames: to record different views of the same location and beyond all for catching pleasure sunlight the most.
They wanted to specialize the uncovered space on the first box to their celebrations and ceremonies, so we moved bed rooms to the downer box and put the kitchen and living room in the upper one; an answer to their request: relating the court yard with the public rooms.
The sloped covering on the final roof is also a technical solution for hard winters and the snow load.
And in relation to those scratched wooden covers that attached to the balconies edges: they have made for protecting house from wind, snow, and all who wants breaks into a house, for the security that friend mentioned, for L.Fontana, the painter we like, and to present an artificial view to the nature.
Main access is the stairway from the main entrance (in the lower level/the border between out and in) to the main entrance of the building (upper box / public room), and in the middle of its way there’s a way to the personal area (upper box).
Kitchen is a suspending cube.
