Capita Symonds, Gatwick North Terminal Extension

As the Olympics draw closer, Britain moves one step nearer to delivering participants and spectators there on time. Capita Symonds have recently completed the complex extension of Gatwick’s North Terminal, the busiest single runway airport in the world. The upgrade involves a new state of the art passenger and transport interchange, Departures and Arrivals concourse extension and new multi storey car park. The extension costing £150+m, will increase the passenger capacity by 10 million.

Hundven-Clements Photography have been onsite to document this monumental structure in the depths of winter. The weather was not our side during the day so the interior was where we begun, later on in the day we were blessed with 20 mins of colour as the sun set. With a multi layered approach to design by Capita, a swift transition between shuttle transport and the departure halls has been created. The dramatic roof generates a pleasant feeling of openness allowing natural light to illuminate the platforms during the daytime.

Photographing operational public structures on this scale comes with an array of logistical and photographic challenges. The first being access, understandably Gatwick has high security regulations in place, so an interview to obtain a permit to photograph was essential. Once onsite we found the general public to be surprisingly accommodating with appearing in photos, I guess the prospect of two weeks in Mauritus away from a British winter helped! Let us know what you think of the new development.

 

 

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Summer 2009, by Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA

The Serpentine Gallery delivers another fascinating structure for the British public to contemplate whilst strolling through Hyde Park, London.  After lasts year substantial installation by Frank Gehry, this years pavilion has a much more transient atmosphere. Blending the boundaries between sculptural art form and a functional sun (if your lucky) / rain  shelter it certainly invokes a response from onlookers. I couldn’t help but feel that the most exciting interaction with the organic shaped aluminum surface was surely on the top. Unfortunately this was a privilege reserved exclusively for the cleaners!

The architects say:

‘The Pavilion is floating aluminium, drifting freely between the trees like smoke. The reflective canopy undulates across the site, expanding the park and sky. Its appearance changes according to the weather, allowing it to melt into the surroundings. It works as a field of activity with no walls, allowing uninterrupted view across the park and encouraging access from all sides. It is a sheltered extension of the park where people can read, relax and enjoy lovely summer days.’

Contemporary Cinema Design.

This is the latest completed project from the Norwegian design firm Fuggi Baggi. Using experimental lighting and structural techniques they have produced a stunning space that can be adapted for multiple purposes. At Bergen Kino the ceiling consists of drilled aluminum plating pre pressed in to a series of wave like structures. Independently controllable RGB lights have then been fitted, being RGB any desired colour can be created and even low resolution graphics can be displayed using the lights. The cinema resides in an old theatre which used to be double the height of the existing space.

I found the whole experience of photographing the space surprisingly relaxing. With long exposures of up to 5 minutes I really had time to appreciate the subtle nuances of colour and spatial design in the auditorium. Whilst tempted to enjoy a film in the space I decided ‘Bob The Builder’ was probably not the most productive use of my time! The rest of the Bergen Kino complex is due to be renovated over the next 3-4 years.

Clash Architects, Sleeperz Hotel, Cardiff

All photography by Daniel Clements, published in Building Design, June 09

Frank Gehry Architect, Cinémathèque Française, Paris, France.

PARIS: For the better part of a decade, this city’s only Frank Gehry building has been standing abandoned, a sad monument to a failed American dream.It was planned as a new headquarters for the American Center of Paris, which was founded in 1931 and had long drawn crowds to its rambling Left Bank home as a place to discover American culture and to learn English.

But the dream of a dazzling image went sour. The new center opened in June 1994 – and closed just 19 months later.

Bad planning was one culprit. The new center absorbed almost all the £21 million raised by the sale of the old center on the Boulevard Raspail, leaving little to cover its running costs. With a minimal endowment, dwindling private donations and no U.S. government support, the organization was forced to put Gehry’s neo-Classical-style and Cubist creation up for sale.

Now, thanks to the French government, the building has begun a new life, this time as the headquarters of the Cinémathèque Française, the legendary film center that was the cradle of the New Wave movies of the 1950s and ’60s. To make this happen, the government chipped in about £11 million for the building and spent £20 million on adapting its interior.

Extensive alteration was necessary. Originally designed around exhibition spaces, artists’ studios and a state-of-the-art theater, it now has to accommodate four new movie theaters of different sizes and France’s film library. But the original atrium has survived, and two floors are still reserved for exhibitions, while its distinct exterior remains unchanged.

What makes this transformation unusual is that it was not carried out by Gehry, although he did participate in the selection of Dominique Brard of l’Atelier de l’île as the project’s architect. “It’s unique for someone else to rework a contemporary building designed by a living architect,” Brard told Libération, the Paris daily. “Above all, Gehry!”

Article by Alan Riding, International Herald Tribune.