International architecture magazine A10 is famous for focussing not only on starchitecture in the capitals of the Western world, but highlighting projects by young architects on the fringes of Europe. Recently, A10 published the second edition of its yearbook, New European Architecture 08/09.

The book presents new projects from Budapest to Bilbao and from Grafenegg to Stavanger, with texts contributed by the correspondents who regularly supply A10 with news from their regions. In addition, there are essays about current issues in the fields of urbanism and architecture, as well as interviews with Aaron Betsky and Philip Oswalt and short reviews of three iconic buildings that were handed through the media last year: the Caixa Forum in Madrid, the opera house in Oslo and the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.

But these three prestige projects are an exception. What the book mainly focusses upon is, in the words of editor Hans Ibelings, “exceptional architecture created under everyday circumstances”. A good read, and certainly a lot of inspiration for architecture travellers!

New European Architecture 08|09, ed. by Hans Ibelings and Kirsten Hannema, Publisher: A10 Media, Distribution: Idea Books, 160 pages, ISBN 978-90-79222-05-6, Price: €39.50

Posted by: guiding-architects.net

Network-member a-tour from Hamburg offers two open excursions to Amsterdam and Hamburg in May and June.

The trip to the Netherlands takes place from 5 to 7 June and includes 1 full day and 2 half days of guided tours in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam, organized by local network member architour. On the programme are the university campus of Utrecht, housing blocks by MVRDV in Amsterdam-West, the IJ-front of Amsterdam and the inner city of Rotterdam, including Museumpark and Kop van Zuid.

The excursion to Copenhagen will take place from 8 to 10 May and includes 1 full day and 1 half day of guided tours, organized by local network member Scaledenmark. Part of the programme are Amager beach, Holmsbladgade culture house by Dorthe Mandrup, student housing and housing blocks in Ørestad by a.o. Plot, BIG and MVRDV, the opera house and Amerikaplads masterplan by West 8.

Coach transfer from Hamburg is offered for both tours.

For more information about the tours, please contact a-tour: mail@a-tour.de

Photos: Office building Kraanspoor in Amsterdam by OTH Architects (top) and Prism House for Sports and Culture in Copenhagen by Dorthe Mandrup in Copenhagen (bottom).

Posted by: a-tour

Ticket B, our network member in Berlin, organizes a special excursion to Tokyo from 14 to 21 March, 2010.

The excursion will be guided in German and English by Ulf Meyer, a German architecture journalist and Japan-expert who currently teaches at Kansas State University. The programme includes projects by Kenzo Tange, Kisho Kurokawa, Toyo Ito, MVRDV, SANAA, Tadao Ando, Foreign Office Architects, Kengo Kuma, Herzog & de Meuron, but also an early-morning visit of the Tokyo fishmarket and a trip to the town of Kamakura. Individual extensions of the tour to e.g. Kyoto are possible.

For the detailled programme and any other information that you might require, please contact Ticket B: info@ticket-b.de.

Posted by: Ticket B

Every three years, the city of Hamburg hosts the architecture event Hamburger Architektur Sommer. In 2006, young architects Torsten Stern, Marco Pawlik, Stephen Perry, Stefan Schrick and Ulrich Hahnefeld contributed the Architekturbox (see image on the left), an information and communication centre for the event. Located next to the Binnenalster, opposite Jungfernstieg and nearby the Kunsthalle and main station, thus in the heart of the city, the Architekturbox, which was based on a private intiative of the architects, turned out to be the main contact point for all visitors over the summer months.

Three years on, Hamburger Architektur Sommer will take place again – but it will be boxless. For 2009, the architects had designed a new information centre (see image below), based on their experiences from 2006.

This time, the Architekturbox was to be realised next to the city hall. Unfortunately, the city has recently withdrawn the assigned plot without suggesting any alternatives. It looks like the Architektur Sommer will have to make do without a central meeting point for visitors this year – and hope to succeed in realising an Architekturbox again for the 2012 edition.

Posted by: a-tour

Amsterdam-based office SeArch is currently building a spectacular lookout tower on the grounds of Schovenhorst manor in the centre of the Netherlands. The tower is nearly 40 metres high, has a steel construction and a staircase that winds around it. On top there’s a circular platform planted with trees, meant to resemble a piece of forest that’s lifted into the air – a very Dutch way of playing with nature, as nature is, of course, invariably man-made in the Netherlands.

The official opening will take place in summer, but from the outside the tower already looks quite finished. And if you visit Schovenhorst manor, you also shouldn’t miss the little teahouse that’s located just across the road from the tower and was designed by young Amsterdam office na-ma.

Posted by: architour

The young architecture office of Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera has won the Catalonian FAD Award for Architecture 2008 with a social housing block for young people in Barcelona. We’re very happy about the jury’s decision to give the prize to a building with a subtle architectural language and a strong social focus. Hopefully, it’s a sign that arbitrary international starchitecture, which took over in Barcelona just like in many other places in the last years, is behind us and we’re going back to the roots.

The project with twenty-seven low-rent housing units for young people was a result of a competition for architects under 40 years of age, organized in 2003 by the Catalonian Architect’s Association (COAC) and the Catalonian Government. The brief called for six units per storey, to be accommodated on an oddly shaped site in Sant Andreu, Barcelona. The resulting units measure 44 square metres (for 1-2 persons) and 51 square metres (for 2-3 persons). The approach to the project was to work from the inside out, carefully considering the spatial qualities and the sequence of the interior spaces – something which we feel would certainly deserve to get more attention in social housing in general.

Posted by: Geilinger Arquitectura

The Ruhr area is famous for its series of landmarks, created by international artists on top of former mining dumps and in converted industrial buildings. One of the most important artworks is the Tetraeder (Bottrop/Ruhr area), realised by Wolfgang Christ and Jürgen LIT Fischer in the 1990s, during the period of “Strukturwandel” in the Ruhr area. Now the Tetraeder is the focus of attention again, due to an artwork that triggered a huge public discussion in the Ruhr area. The question is: who is allowed to define the public space?

Tetraeder in Bottrop by Wolfgang Christ and Fred F.’s aliens at the foot of the sculpture.

52-year-old Fred F. from Bottrop has created some images of aliens on the platform on top of the mining dump which serves as the base of the Tetraeder. He made them from old stones, which he collected on top of the hill and sorted according to colour (light grey to dark grey). Then he re-decorated the hilltop.

When the Regionalverband Ruhr rebuilt the platform and brought it back to its original state, it caused a landslide of public indignation: Many people in the area are convinced that Fred F.’s aliens were artworks as well.

Posted by: FAR

This is one of those nice little online-tools that can keep you from working for hours: Tiltshiftmaker.com turns flat holiday shots into photos in tilt-shift-style that look like tiny models. Great for architecture pics with a lot of detail and depth. Just upload your photo, play a little bit with the focus and download the result.

Posted by: architour

Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana are famous for drawing inspiration from their immediate surroundings. As alchemists combining materials, textures and colours, the Campana Brothers have created a unique vocabulary of design, giving poetry to everyday and even garbage materials.

Their latest creation, YES! Hotel Athens resulted from a partnership between the Brothers and Dakis Joannou, owner of YES! Hotels and among others, the founder of the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, member of the Board of Trustees of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and of the Tate International Council and also a member of the International Directors’ Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

As the Campana Brothers’ first hotel project, YES! Hotel Athens is an adventurous design undertaking, due to open in late Summer 2009. It is a pioneering venture of luxury accommodation combined with ecofriendly design. The hotel will integrate art, architecture and design, transcending the museum or art gallery experience, provoking the senses and challenging the perception of space.

An important part of the renovation project is the integration of ideas from a group of design and architecture students and young professionals who have got together in a workshop directed by Fernando and Humberto. The workshop group is creating furniture and prototypes whilst exploring methods and techniques associated with the Campanas’ style: reusing and reinterpreting local material and culture. 10 of their creations will be on display at the Albion Gallery during the launch of YES! Hotel.

Here are some sneak peaks of the workshop products. You can find more on the weblog created especially by and for the Campanas’ workshop.

Posted by: Arcult.gr

The Centre for International Light Art in Unna/Ruhr area is the only museum worldwide which focusses exclusively on artworks from the field of lighting and illumination.

Soon a new artwork by James Turrell will be opened to the public. There’s a short movie about this work and the underground museum on the website of Der Westen – unfortunately only with commentary in German, but the images should speak for themselves.

Posted by: FAR