Tower of the Winds

Tower of the Winds

Toyo Ito & Associates

Location : Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Date of completion : 1986. Client : Committee for the 30^th Anniversary of Yokohama West Station. Architect : Toyo Ito & Associates. Associates : Gengo Matsui, O.R.S. (structure), TI. Yamagiwa Inc. (lighting), Masami Usuki. Photography : Sinkenchiku-sha, Tomio Ohashi

The Tower of the Winds is located on a urban center of accelerated energy typical of Japan’s major cities, which are immersed in the vortex of the twin paradox about architecture that we are proposing.

The primitive ventilation and water tower that existed in the bus terminal square of Yokohama station has been re-covered, following its restoration, by an elliptical cylinder of perforated aluminium some 21 m (70 ft) high. When night falls, its surface loses all form. All that can be seen is a network that traps the essence of each moment, filters all the available environmental information, and interweaves it to produce the fabric that is the reality of the palces.

The direction and speed of the wind as well as the intensity of the traffic noise are transformed into electrical impulses to become an ephemeral architecture of light. The tower is a mirror of its circumstances, and thus is not material. The tower is never the same, which makes it ephemeral, cahanging in essence

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)

Wrapped Reichstag

Wrapped Reichstag

Christo & Jeanne-Claude

Location : Berlin, Germany. Date of completion : 1995. Architect : Christo & Jeanne-Claude. Associates : Michael S Cullen, roland Specker, Wolfgang Volz, Sylvya Volz. Scheme : Wrapping of the Germani Parliament building. Photography : Wolfgang S Wewerka.

For 14 days, from 24 June to July 1995, the German Parliament in Berlin, the Reichstag, was wrapped in a metallic fabric, tied down on all sides as if it were parcel. Christo and Jean Claude had been pursuing this idea since 1971. Twenty-four years of work and perseverance, involving the public and many institutions in the project, permitted them to realize their ambition with this emblematic new work. A contract was signed between the city of Berlin, government authorities in Bonn, and the artists had to provide :

- Insurances for all the personel and property involved with the city of Berlin and the federal government;

- Complete and satisfactory removal of all the wraping material;

- Full cooperation with the Berlin community;

- Personel contracted from among the local inhabitants;

- Communication with and access to the daily activities of the Reichstag during the process of the work.

The work was entirely financed by the artists, as on other occasions, when projects have been paid for by the sale of drawings, preliminary studies, collages, etc, .. thus dispensing with the need for sponsors, and guaranteeing the indepedence of the work.

The artists used 10 ha (25 acres) of aluminized polypropyelene material and more than of 16 km (10 miles) of cord of the same material, in order that, for a number of days, they could hide the Reichstag, the true symbol of German democracy, from public view.

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)

East Couplet Street Urban Improvement

East Couplet Street Uban Improvement

Randall D. Beck, Carol F. Shuler, Kevin Berry

Location : Scottsdale, USA. Date of completion : 1995. Client : Cities of Scottsdale and Phoenix. Architect : Randall D. Beck, Carol F. Shuler, Kevin Berry. Associates : Sandy Gonzales Corner design and construction contracts administration Photography : Richard Maack, Carol Shuler

The renovation undertaken in the East Couplet Street area comprised the development of a garden which winds along the paths, providing spaces of different sizes. The objective was to convert this garden zone into a bird sanctuary. The palnting was selected with the aim of providing cover and food for a wide variety of bird species. Trees and bushes were planted to act as windbreaks, deaden the noise of the traffic, and provide shade to people using the area. In the center of the Hummingbird Garden, five steel sculptures were installed, a little over 4.5 m (15 ft) high, which evoke the form of flower corollas. The configuration of the walks reproduces on the ground the shape of these flower sculptures. Low winding walls have been built along the walks and mini-plazas for people to sit. While the pavement has been painted red and ochre, the colors of the flower alluded to by the sculptures. The effect achieved contributes to the trnsformation of an area previously not particularly pleasant for walking and leisure into a place of relaxation, with a highly original concept of modern aesthetics.

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)

Overtown Pedestrian Mall

Overtown Pedestrian Mall

Wallace, Roberts & Todd : Gerald Marston

Location : Miami, USA. Date of completion : 1994. Architect : Wallace, Roberts & Todd : Gerald Marston. Photography : Gary Knight & Associates.

Overtown is the name used for the African-American district of Miami, where this pedestrian zone project is now located.

The Overtown pedestrian zone is part of a policy of revitalization, both economical and cultural, to stimulate both private investment and community pride in this historic district.

The project and its execution were carried out in the record time of four months, all the more commendable considering that the process involved public bodies, residents associations, and such groups as landscape architect, civil engineers, and even a local artist. Gary Moore. The latter, together with Gerrald Marston, the landscape architect of the firm Wallace, Roberts & Todd, were the leading lights behind the genesis and coordination of the project’s basic concept, in which spesial importance was given to historical and cultural references, the sense of African American vibrancy, and the use of metaphoric meaning.

The project consists of two elements; one involving the closure of a section of the public highway to traffic; and the other, perpendicular to the first, running under the Dade County Railroad

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)

Collserola Tower

Collserola Tower

SIR NORMAN FOSTER & Ass.

Location : Barcelona, Spain. Date of completion : 1992. Client : Municipality of Barcelona. Architect : Sir Norman Foster & Associates. Scheme : Telecommunications tower, restaurant, observation, platform, and parking lot. Photography : John Edward Linden.

The projec is a mixture of a traditional television tower with concrete coloumn and metal masts supporting the radio antennae themselves, all passing trough a high tech filter charateristic of the architect.

The tower combines three basic elements : a concrete coloumn, 4.5 m (15 ft) in diameter and 209 m (686 ft) high; a central body with 13 platforms, the height of a 23 story building, which houses the electronic equipment; and the cables that support the structure.

The communications tower, designed by Norman Foster, involved a complex engineering operation. Situated on one of the hills in the Collserola range, the structure occupies 10 ha (25 acres) of land situated 448 m (1470 ft) above sea level. The tower itself occupies only 3.5 ha (8.5 acres), while the rest of the site is a huge parking lot.

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)

Montjuic Tower

Montjuic Tower

SANTIAGO CALATRAVA

Location : Barcelona, Spain. Date of completion : 1992. Client : National Telephone of Spain. Architect : Santiago Calatrava. Scheme : Communication tower and surrounding gardens. Photography : David Cardelus

The Montjuic telecommunications tower was erected as one of the symbols of the spirit of the Barcelona Olympics. The idea prposed by Santiago Calatrava materialized as a white figure 119 m (390 ft) in height. Its inspiration was antropomorphic, its attitude one of offering. The coloumn is inclined at an angle of 17” to the vertical, which is the angle of the summer soltice in the city, so that the tower became a monumental sundial.

A semicircular corona completes the tower’s natural imagery. The Montjuic tower had to perform various functions :

Firstly, it had to be a node in the fixed radio communication service, as part of the infrastructure in support of small capacity short range radio links;

Secondly, it had to provide connections for automatic mobile phone services;

Finnaly, it had to be a substitute for the old Montjuis Radio Station.

Once the hectic Olympic games were over, it was no longer use, and the tower has now become just a decorative element of the city landscape.

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)