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An exclusive architecture excursion is organised every year for members of the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE that provides unparalleled access to the planning and building activity in a particular town, city or region. These excursions not only include visits to urban development projects but also numerous lectures by local experts, by developers, architects or representatives of the local authorities, in a programme of innovative architecture with enthralling insider tips.
Madrid 2016
15.09 – 18.09.2016
The ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE excursion for 2016 took us to Madrid. Architecture and the culture of building are in the DNA of this only about 500 year-old city. Every epoch since the founding of the capital by Philip II in 1561 has left its striking "interventions" in the urban structure of the city: the impressive historical buildings of Plaza Mayor, Plaza Santa An, Paseo del Prado and Granvía bear testimony to this. The architecture of today rests upon this rich foundation. On the agenda were, among other places, the Ensanche de Madrid, Madrid's Northern expansion, San Chinarro as an example of the most recent urban expansion and, of course, the Parque Madrid Río, one of the most ambitious greening projects in Europe.
London 2015
In 2015 the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE took us on an excursion to London, probably the most exciting architecture metropolis in the world. New neighbourhoods and skyscrapers growing skywards, a rich cultural past meets a lively, modern present — a city of contrasts.
Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science, provided an initial introductory overview of London. In addition, the following architects' offices gave us insights into their working and architectural worlds: Allies and Morrison, Sergison Bates, as well as Foster + Partners. Tour destinations included projects such as: Saw Swee Hock Student Centre by the Irish office of O’Donnell + Tuomey, Bridport House by Karakusevic Carson Architects, Tate Britain by Caruso St John Architects, Southwark and the City of London, the Barbican Centre by Chamberlin, Powell + Bon, but also the Docklands, Canary Wharf and the Olympic Park. Members of the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE were given a guided tour with expertise provided by Ken Allinson, Architectural Dialogue, with insider tips from Victor Callister from the City of London Department of the Built Environment.
Vorarlberg 2014
"The better Switzerland" is how Christian Seiler describes the Bregenzerwald. "Happy residents, flourishing crafts and first class architecture". But also because Dietmar Steiner was partially responsible for the fact that seven world class architects have designed seven bus stations in Krumbach and so unexpectedly generated world-wide media interest in the region. Alongside the Wartehüsle (bus-stops), we pay a visit to the Islamic Cemetery by Bernado Bader, which has already been awarded several prizes, the Vorarlberg Museum completed in 2012 by Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten as well as the Life Cycle Tower by Hermann Kaufmann. Dietmar Eberle in person gives a guided tour of his 2226 office building, and in his carpentry workshop Markus Faisst teaches us respect for wood as a raw material. We use the return journey to also visit, among other projects, the Mehr als Wohnen housing project in Zurich North. The latter having been initiated to mark 100 years of municipal housing policy in the City of Zurich and the Zurich Wohnbaugenossenschaften.
Helsinki / Talinn 2013
The buildings of Alvar Aalto accompanied us on every step of our Architecture Lounge excursion to Helsinki in 2013: the Enso-Gutzeit Building, Otaniemi Campus, Paimio Sanatorium as well as Aalto House and Studio. Alongside these, we visited the new urban development zones close to the city, such as Jätkäsaari and Kalasatama, as well as Vuosaari and Viikki in the east, the area that is helping the city to grow into a metropolis with new urban flair. Chief architect Mikko Aho from the Helsinki planning authorities shed light on the growth process as well as the Wood City project in West Harbour. A day trip to Tallinn brought us closer to the Soviet Modernist heritage: Linnahall Cultural Center, the Culture Factory, the Olympic Sailing Centre in Pirita, Flower Pavilion and Song Festival Stage as well as the satelllite towns of Mustamäe and Väike-Õismäe.
Copenhagen 2012
The new urban development projects in Copenhagen (Ørestad, Nordhavn and Sydhavn) and Malmö (Westhavn) were on the agenda for the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE 2012 excursion. Visits to the architecture offices of Henning Larsen Architects and BIG Architects as well as the lecture by the urbanist Tina Saaby revealed current trends in the pulsating city of Copenhagen. A stroll in the Copenhagen inner-city districts with site-seeing at a number of buildings by key proponents of early modern Danish architecture allowed participants to view more recent architecture informed by the background specific to 20th century Danish architecture history: formal reduction, allusions to traditional craftsmanship, sensitivity towards materials and light, architecture as a player in the Scandanavian state welfare model. The highpoint of the day's excursion to North Zealand were the buildings by Jørn Utzon and, of course, by Arne Jacobsen.
Basel 2011
In 2011 the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE travelled to Basel, where a tight schedule took in current urban development projects from Pro Volta to the harbour development in the north of Basel. The highpoint of the trip was a visit to the office of Herzog & de Meuron, with a very personal one-hour project presentation by Jacques Herzog, but also the tour of the Novartis Campus with Vittorio Lampugnani.
Moscow 2010
In 2010 the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE excursion took us to Moscow, where local expert Sergey Nikitin acquainted us with the rich diversity and contrast of his hometown: Moscow Constructivism (Melnikov, Ginzburg, Le Corbusier et al.), the district of OSTOZHENKA, where almost every contemporary Russian architect has already completed a project and where the most expensive apartment building in Moscow, built by the architects Project Meganom, is situated, MARYINO, the most densely populated district in Moscow with Soviet Union-style social housing, or SOKOL, the 1920s garden city. Visits to a range of architects' offices were, of course, also on the agenda, including Project Meganom and Mossine & Partners, but also to the Moscow must-sees like the Kremlin, the Tretjakov Gallery or the Winzavod — Moscow Centre for Contemporary Art.
Beijing 2009
The highpoints of the ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE trip to Beijing in September 2009 were the Olympic Village with the National Stadium by Herzog & de Meuron, the visit by the developers Modern Group and their two housing projects by Baumschlager & Eberle, and to Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl as well as the model homes at the Commune by the Great Wall by developers Soho, Caochangdi Village by Ai Weiwei and an invitation to visit Pei Zhu's studio.
Istanbul 2008
As the result of strong internal migration, Istanbul has grown into a metropolis with a population of almost 17 million (figures range between 12 and 17 million) since the 1970s. The city is continuing to grow very spontaneously, provisionally and informally despite a series of master plans designed to control urban development. The rebuilding follows the pattern of European cities, with a typical tendency towards increasing social polarisation and spatial segregation. The social and economic historian Orhan Esen showed the historical development of the city very clearly during the 2008 Architecture Lounge excursion from Yesilköy via the Dolapdere and Kagithane valleys up to Göktürk in the north.
Manchester & Liverpool 2007
The urban development zones of Manchester & Liverpool were on the travel agenda in 2007. The line-up ranged from the Civil Justice Centre by Denton Corker Marshall and Connell Mott MacDonald to British developer Urban Splash's innovative housing projects, and evening drinks in Manchester's new landmark, the Beetham Tower by Ian Simpson.
Chicago 2006
The main attractions of the architecture excursion to Chicago in 2006 included a trip to the offices of SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP), a personal invitation from Donald Powell of Powell/Kleinschmidt to his home in the Lake Shore Drive Apartment High-Rise Building by Mies van der Rohe, the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Hyatt Center, where we met Martha Thorne, Executive Director of the Pritzker Prize. Equally unforgettable was the architecture River Cruise tour along the Chicago River in blazing sunshine.
Barcelona 2005
Highlights of the tour to Barcelona in 2005 were without doubt the Sport Complex of Ribera Serrallo de Cornella de Llobregat by Alvaro Siza, the project for the expansion of the trade fair by Toyo Ito, the Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel, or the apartment building by Benedetta Tagliabue.
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