Architecture in Focus – serie

Architectural competitions date back centuries, today they play an important role in architectural practice as they offer architects vital opportunities to pitch their work across the globe. Competitions also allow previously unknown designers to demonstrate their ideas and their potential by gaining exposure in the world of architecture. 100 richly illustrated projects displayed in this volume cover a wide scope of contemporary building types and concepts, that range from commercial to residential and educational, whilst also incorporating extravagant futuristic visions of urban planning for various town sections and cities. Renderings, structures in their planning phase and unrealized projects show the exciting scope of architectural possibilities. This book delves into the heart of unrestricted architectural creativity and offers astounding insights into the unique work of both established as well as up-and-coming designers.

The automobile has shaped the appearance of our streets for 100 years now. At the same building types have been created to serve it. Parking garages and gas stations as new species of architecture and showrooms whose exhibition spaces and display windows are markedly different from the usual businesses have decisively changed the cities. This book is dedicated to this type of architecture, showing esthetic and technical solutions of the past few years. Not a few architects have been unmistakable „car freaks“ (Frank Lloyd Wright), or been occupied with the automobile (Le Corbusier: Maison Citrohan), or have actually designed cars (Walter Gropius for Adler). This fascination of the profession can also be seen in the architecture built for the automobile today.

This book compiles contemporary designs worldwide that break through the stereotype of doctors’ practices as cold and often stressful environments. All projects aim at balancing medical technology and functionality with the need to create a welcoming and comfortable environment for the patients, visitors and staff. Apart from general practitioner’s offices, those of dentists and a wide variety of specialists are also presented. The solutions range from practice design in an existing building to entirely new buildings for one or more offices. Doctors’ Practices demonstrates today’s architectural responses to the complex demands of healthcare – a very fast-developing field.

Architecture for rescue services has come a long way in the past decade. Buildings for the police, fire brigades and ambulance stations have lost their often purely functional and shed-like appearance and have begun to strive for recognition as an equitable architectural typology since Zaha Hadid’s trailblazing Vitra fire station in Weil am Rhein. This building type certainly is a challenge as there are numerous conditions to be taken into account in terms of functionality and especially security. The examples chosen for this title show an amazing diversity of emergency architecture. The buildings presented frequently house more than one institution, using the latest technology and communication techniques to successfully combine different functions under one roof. The projects included range from the rural two-bay ambulance depot to police headquarters and airport fire departments.

Although convention and conference centers are in high demand, the competition is tough, so new concepts are constantly being developed. They come in a range of forms, shapes, sizes and contexts. They can form part of a hotel, an airport, a skyscraper, a mountain-chalet or stand completely on their own. This wide range allows for an exciting variety of stunning architectural and design possibilities that in combination with state-of-the-art technology make a convention center a successful enterprise. The criterion for the project selection for this volume is to cover the entire spectrum and provide a well-founded overview of the current trends. The buildings selected are by acknowledged specialists for convention centers as well as architects, who approach the attractive planning task from different perspectives.