Aleppo is one of the oldest cities in the world. It has always been perceived as one of the most important and influential cultural centres far beyond Syria and the arabic world. To live up to this fame the city has decided to open an international competition about the design of a cultural center whose main program is to comprise in addition to a library also an opera and a theatre.

Unfortunately, perhaps due to the political turbulences in the country, the outcome of the competition was never decided and the future of the project is still open.

The volume of each of the three main functions, opera, theatre, and library, is optimally tailored to the specific demands of the respective utilisation and clearly visible from the outside. The position of each function within the context depends on its interfaces with the other functions in the building as well as on the interfaces with the surrounding city and the visual contact with its important historic sites. Accordingly, all important transparent parts of the outer shell, as for instance, the background of the stage of the theatre and parts of the facade of the large reading hall, refer to the nearby world-famous citadel of Aleppo. This several thousand years old landmark therefore serves as the main cultural scenery for the new centre. Read the rest of this entry »

LAVA’s Digital Origami Emergency Shelter is a concept for an inhabited molecule. The design is based on a water-molecule, referencing the Japanese Metabolist movement’s idea of prefabricated capsules as living space.

The base molecule can be shipped as a flat pack, cut out of local plywood, or dropped off by a helicopter. The interior can then be carved out of wood, cardboard, newspapers or other locally available materials.

Chris Bosse said: ‘the project plays with ideas of prefabrication and personalised inhabitation, as well as stacking of multiple units, while giving an opportunity for individual expression’.

Each unit contains a sleeping space for two adults and one child as well as a little space for eating and reading. Battery or solar operated LED light brings the shelter to life, turning it into a lantern, a sign of hope.

The Emergency Shelter exhibition features shelters by local and international architects and will be on display on the Customs House forecourt Sydney, Australia from 1-3 September 2011. Read the rest of this entry »