Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Drawing_Peter Wilson

Napoli Bagnoli

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Competition / Area development / Masterplan

COUNTRY: Italy

CITY: Naples

YEAR: 2020

COMPETITION: Closed competition

COLLABORATORS: OTTAVIANI ASSOCIATI, GREENCURE landscape & healing gardens, Gianluca Peluffo&Partners Architettura srl, Nicola Gallinaro

The proposal is based on two complementary strategic choices: the interpretation of the park as a green flow, made up of a great variety of landscapes within which there are clearings that welcome the various episodes of industrial archeology, and the redesign of the seafront in continuity up to the island of Nisida, making it possible to expand the space for the beach and the Porto Turistico.

Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Collage
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Zip Line
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Drawing_Peter Wilsoni
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Drawing_Peter Wilson
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Drawing_Peter Wilson
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Drawing_Peter Wilson
Napoli Bagnoli_Naples_Neapel_Masterplan_Gebietsentwicklung_Area development_Drawing_Peter Wilson
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition

Mittelhafen

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Competition / Office

COUNTRY: German

CITY: Münster

YEAR: 2020

COMPETITION: Closed competition, 2nd Prize

GFA: 12.740 sqm

CLIENT: Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe

Both the property side facing the city port and the street side to “Am Mittelhafen” require representative façades. Therefor a building in the north-south axis is required, which fills the property over the entire length. The two narrow views speak a suitably dignified language – to the waterfront through an invigorating silhouette that adds a building with personality to the row of existing office buildings. The opposite side facing the street is emphasized by an expressive façade – in contrast to the buildings in the immediate vicinity, which do not have such a concise addresses. This gives the quarter a much needed “urban flair”.

Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition_Elevation_Ansicht
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition_Elevation_Ansicht
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition_Plan_Grundriss
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition_Plan_Grundriss
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition_Section_Schnitt
Mittehafen_Munster_Aerzteversorgung_Competition
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters

Raakspoort

Detail

Raakspoort – City Hall and Bioscoop

TYPOLOGY: Office / Leisure

COUNTRY: The Netherlands

CITY: Haarlem

YEAR: 2011

GFA: 18.500 sqm

CLIENT: MAB Development Nederland B.V.

AWARDS: NRW Jaarprijs, Best Retail Development, NL, 2013

Brick Award, Worldwide Brick, GB, 2012

PHOTOS: © Christian Richters

Transformative processes, particularly those relating to delicate fine-grained historic cities like Haarlem are complex and protracted. In the case of the Raaks project it took more than ten years to evolve from the considered Urban Masterplan (Donald Lambert – Kraaijvanger Urbis) through a sequence of workshops and program rethinks to the final ensemble, which opened in October 2011.

At the outset BOLLES+WILSON were given responsibility for the outermost block of this close packed, highly urban redevelopment precinct – which as it turns out (and as the masterplan prescribed) intertwines almost seamlessly with the adjacent small-scale urban fabric – a neighbourhood. The edge block must both shield (traffic) and invite (pedestrians), it must signal and respectfully take its place in the sequence of facades that define the historic limit of the medieval city. Initiating site workshops brought together neighbourhood representatives, city representatives, developers and architects – BOLLES+WILSON, Claus en Kaan, Jo Crepain and Kraaijvanger Urbis (who also had responsibility for the large format carpark below).

The complex functional mix began with one large and seven smaller Cinemas on the upper levels, a subterranean Casino and below that a parking deck (for croupiers and gamblers). Even at this stage the two functions were divided by a bisecting passage leading from the visible and representative outside facade to the networked block interior. The question of scale and historic referencing of the windowless

Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Ansicht, elevation
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Christian Richters
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Lageplan, site plan
Raakspoort, Raaks, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Grundriss, ground floor
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters

City Library Helmond

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Cultural

COUNTRY: The Netherlands

CITY: Helmond

YEAR: 2010

COMPETITION: 2006, First Prize

GFA: 5.630 sqm

CKIENT: City of Helmond

COLLABORATOR: Vrencken Hoen Architecten

AWARD: Fritz Hoeger Preis 2014, Winner Special Mention

PHOTOS: © Christian Richters

Like most Dutch cities Helmond is busy reinventing itself. The new City Library, which officially opens in October 2010, is the first component of a comprehensive new inner city shopping zone (masterplan: Prof. Joan Busquets). Directly adjacent to the new library are the 1970’s Tree Houses and Theatre by Piet Blom. Here the new library facade is moulded and sloped in dialogue with its dramatic neighbour. A between space, a block internal café terrace, a comfortable and dramatic extension of the existing enclosed Theatre Square is the result of this spatial symbiosis.
The outer, street-facing facade is the representative face and entrance of the new library. Upper level projections mark the extremities, brackets (ears) carrying large-format ‘Bibliotheek’ letters. A horizontal facade articulation differentiates ground level shops from glazed and setback first floor (Children’s Library) and the brick surface of the upper office level.

A careful detailing and material choice for external surfaces provides a ‘tactility’ fitting to the historic Helmond city centre. Rough dark brown and unusually horizontal bricks (Hilversum format 50 x 290 mm) on upper levels have open vertical joints and a beige horizontal mortar joint, stressing the layered grain of the brickwork. In contrast the base is in a flat beige brick (in 3 different heights – 50, 100, 140 mm). These are not laid in mortar, but glued together – resulting in a stone-like solidity and homogeneity.

The internal spaces of the library are developed as an unfolding spatial sequence. Much of the ground floor is given over to retail. Entry is from both sides – via a generous double height entrance hall to the street side and via the more intimate café and event corner facing the Theatre Court. The upward sequence is announced by a grand stair, which arrives at a first floor exhibition deck and the ‘piano nobile’ of the library. Here information stations, bookshelves and children / teenager zones are arranged around a central media Hot Spot: precisely circular, a Chinese-red sandwich. The Hot Spot offers the digital latest. The route continues upward concluding in the light-filled upper level with a long working bench integrated in the long ‘tree house-facing’ window.

BOLLES+WILSON’s commission also included furniture and lighting elements, the choreographing of atmosphere and character. Lanterns in the foyer, a newspaper reading table, a striped and upholstered café bench seat with Scandinavian lighting, information counters and a group study room with fragments of a 1950’s mural mounted on the wall, are among the long list of localised detail. The philosophy is one of multiplicity, a user-friendly comfort already much appreciated by librarians and reading Helmonders.

City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Photo_Foto_Christian Richters
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Sketch_Skizze
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Siteplan_Lageplan
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Section_Schnitt
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Plan_Grundriss
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Plan_Lageplan
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Plan_Grundriss
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Lamps_Lampen
City Library_Stadtbuecherei_Helmond_Sketch_Skizze
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, Rainer mader

Kaldewei Entrance

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Office

COUNTRY: Germany

CITY: Ahlen

YEAR: 2007

GFA: 550 sqm

CLIENT: Franz Kaldewei GmbH & Co. KG

PHOTOS: © Rainer Mader, Christian Richters

The small ‘signalising’ pavilion re-focuses and re-orients the visitors entrance to the main Kaldewei production plant. The pavilion stands like a bookend in relation to the original 1930s Works Facade of the leading manufacturer of enamel steel bathtubs. It connects to new reception spaces within the existing structure and to a planned administration wing.

The mass of the stone-clad volume projects acrobatically. Structural dexterity is not the issue, mass is here co-opted as a silent, announcing presence. The lobby behind is carved out of the existing volume. Meeting rooms hover above the entrance, the white stone of the new facade extends inwards as lobby floor and wall material. A steel spiral stair stands centre-stage and backlit by a dematerialised ‘Light Wall’. After the spatial expansion of the lobby, lower ceilings and an emphasized materiality of wood panels introduce a contrasting intimacy. The ‘Actor Stair’ leads the visitor through a short but complex spatial sequence. The spatial and material language here is closely related to that of BOLLES+WILSONs first Kaldewei building. – the nearby KKC (Competence Centre) 2003-2005.

Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, christian Richters
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, plan, Lageplan
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, christian richters
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, christian richters
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, treppe, foto, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, treppe, foto, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, treppe, foto, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, plan florrplan, section
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, sketch, Skizze, Peter Wilson, drawing