Public Facilities: The Latest Architecture and News

Architects: nARCHITECTS Location: Beirut, Lebanon Design Team: Eric Bunge, Mimi Hoang (Principals); Tiago Barros, Stephen Hagmann, Hubert Pelletier (Project Architects); Seung Teak Lee, Julia Chapman, Christopher Grabow (Design Team); Competition Phase: Alice Wong (Project Designer), Dominique Gonfard, Adam Vana Architect of Record: ABC Technical Team: Lamia Jallad, Bascir Muhanna, Johnny Salman Client: ABC S.A.L. Structural Engineer: BRM Lighting Designer: DEBBAS Landscape: ZMK Project Year: 2011 Project Area: 50,000 sqm Photographs: Courtesy of nARCHITECTS

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Personeni Raffaele Schärer Architects shared with us their competition proposal for an AquaPark in the Swiss Alps where they won the second prize. Located in an exceptional geographical context, the quality of the alpine setting was decisive in shaping the design of this particular water park. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The greenway is a modern twist on an outdated concept. Ancient cities sprung up around trade routes. Many modern US cities were originally formed according to access to a local train station or navigable river. Today’s metropolises were brought to success by an advanced highway system. All of these circumstances were brought about by two prevailing factors, location and traffic. In a post-modern world however, when the infrastructure has been laid and a consumer society comes to live for a variety of new reasons how can these concepts be applied. The answer lies, partially at least, within the recent push for a developed greenway system.