Profile: Conservation of Gjirokastra

Each day for the next couple of weeks, we will profile one project that has been nominated for the 2010 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture.

Today's project is the Conservation of Gjirokastra in Albania:

The town of Gjirokastra in southern Albania is a well-preserved example of an Ottoman Balkan town, distinguished by its residential architecture but also notable for what is absent: unusually for an Ottoman town, it has only one minaret—the rest having been destroyed during the communist era. Declared a ‘museum city’ in 1960, Gjirokastra’s architectural heritage was preserved and maintained well by its Institute of Monuments for several decades. With the collapse of the regime and the economy in 1992, however, the town’s institutional structure disintegrated and skilled workers and craftsmen emigrated to Greece and elsewhere.

The Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organisation has, for the better part of the last decade, attempted to reverse the decline of Gjirokastra’s built heritage through a grassroots programme that emphasises the development potential of conservation: Preservation projects are designed with a focus on adaptive reuse and sustainability, integrating training, business development and community outreach. Its many projects to date include the restoration and reuse of the castle of Gjirokastra; the rehabilitation of the bazaar; the restoration of cobblestone streets and creation of pedestrian walkways in the old town; and the preservation of several significant buildings.

Click here for more information on the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture  / GCDO

Aga Khan Award for Architecture  / GCDO

Aga Khan Award for Architecture  / GCDO

Profile:Madinat al Zahra Museum, Cordoba

Each day for the next couple of weeks, we will profile one project that has been nominated for the 2010 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture.

Today's project is the Madinat al Zahra Museum in Cordoba:

The tenth-century palace city of Madinat al Zahra is widely considered to be one of the most significant early Islamic archaeological sites in the world, and the most extensive in Western Europe. Excavations at the site are still ongoing, and the museum was conceived as a place to interpret the site and display the archaeological findings, as well as to serve as a training and research centre and the headquarters of the archaeological team. A refined and subtle design by the architectural firm Nieto Sobejano, the museum complex blends seamlessly into the site and the surrounding farmland: a series of rectangles composed of walls, patios and plantings which, taken together, seem more like a landscape than a building. The architects took the ground plan of three excavated buildings as a starting point, as though the museum had been waiting to be revealed from the ground. Visitors are guided through a sequence of covered spaces and voids: the main public functions are arranged in a cloister around a broad patio. Two more courtyards define the research centre and the external exhibition area respectively. The impact of the building and its audiovisual programming is already evident in the large numbers of people who come from all parts of the country to visit the museum and hear its story of tolerance and convivencia under Islamic rule in Spain.

Click here for more information on the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Melissa Walsh, Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez

Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Melissa Walsh, Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez

Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Melissa Walsh, Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez

Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Melissa Walsh, Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez

A Walk in the Parc

One sign of a great city is a great park.  In this case, the Parc du Bruxelles in Brussels.  It's a lovely French-style urban oasis with allies of trees, dramatic fountains, and a collection of apparently historic marble busts watching people promenade.  There's even a couple of secluded trails though the denser parts of the foliage which give young couples cover for the canoodling.

Hines Breaks Ground in Poland

Hines, the Houston-based international real estate developer, has broken ground on its latest project -- Twarda 2/4, a 43-story skyscraper in Poland.

The residential tower was designed by Chicago starchitect Helmut Jahn.  The full Hines press release follows.

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HINES ANNOUNCES THE START OF CONSTRUCTION

ON LUXURY RESIDENTIAL TOWER IN WARSAW, POLAND

(WARSAW, POLAND) - The Warsaw office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that construction has begun on Twarda 2/4, a 43-story 274-unit residential tower located at the center of Warsaw on Twarda Street adjacent to Grzybowski Square and near the Palace of Culture and Science. Project completion on the for-sale apartments is expected in the third quarter of 2012.

World-renowned architect Helmut Jahn, principal of the Murphy/Jahn design studio, was chosen through a competition in 2007 to design the 344,320-square-foot tower.   Apartments will range from 560 to 3,766 square feet.  In addition to the refined finishes and spectacular views, Twarda 2/4 will include state-of-the-art building features to meet the highest Western-European and American apartment standards.  The ground floor will contain 77,000 square feet of retail and office space for sale in the five-level horizontal podium of the project.  Below-grade parking for 299 cars will be provided.

Hines is managing the development on behalf of a consortium of private investors. HOCHTIEF Polska is the contractor on Twarda 2/4.  Site preparation work began in November of last year. 

 "We are delighted to bring this high caliber project to Warsaw, and are happy to be joining forces with HOCHTIEF for the second time in the city," said Mieczysław Godzisz, managing director for Hines Poland.  "As demonstrated with our previous undertaking, Metropolitan office building located at Piłsudskiego Square, we will add to our track record of delivering technically sophisticated, architecturally significant buildings."

"The high-rise apartment tower at Twarda Street is one of the largest residential projects under development in Warsaw," said Henryk Liszka, head of the management board of HOCHTIEF Polska.  "Every new development poses new challenges.  To ensure the highest quality working and living standards for the future inhabitants of Twarda 2/4, we will draw upon our expertise gathered over our history of constructing numerous upscale projects."

 "Since the market has experienced several false starts on comparable residential projects, we believe it is important to rebuild consumer trust in upscale projects such as Twarda 2/4," explained Iwona Strzelecka, project manager for Hines Poland.  "Sales will commence in late autumn, when construction is well underway and a sales office is in place to give potential buyers a feel for the quality that will be contained in the project." Pricing for the apartments has not been set; however, it will be competitive with the market.

Hines entered the Poland real estate market in 1997 with the development of Metropolitan, a Class A office building at Piłsudskiego Square in Warsaw.  Metropolitan received the MIPIM Award in Cannes in 2004 for the Best Office Building in the World.  Hines also developed the Impresja apartments in Wilanow.  Currently, the firm is developing the Arboretum residential complex and the Sterlinga Business Center in Łódz and the Quattro Towers residential complex in Gdansk.

Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm's historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes 1,111 properties representing more than 451 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments.  With offices in more than 100 cities in 17 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $22.2 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Hines is also a world leader in sustainable real estate strategies, with extensive experience in LEED^®, ENERGY STAR^®, BREEAM in the United Kingdom, France's Haute Qualité Environnementale and with the German Sustainable Building Council.  Visit www.hines.com for more information.

Slice of Life: Hanging Out the Laundry

When Americans travel overseas, they're often surprised by all the laundry people hang out in public.  We've seen it on sticks in Singapore and lines in Lyons.  But in many places in America, it is actually illegal to hang out one's laundry because it's considered unsightly.  Fortunately, that is changing as people try to save money and chemicals and energy and harness the power of the sun and the wind to dry their clothing for free.  And that sunlight-and-breeze scent that the fabric softener companies try to hard to sell us on is available free on the other side of the window.

These clothes are hanging off a balcony in Ischia Porto, Italy -- a wonderful little resort town on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples.

Slice of Life: The Low Countries at Their Best

Since the Renaissance, artists have flocked to the Low Countries (Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg) to practice their craft.  Scenes like this show the Old World at its best.  An artist paints the Grand Place (Grand Market in English, Grote Markt in Dutch) in Brussels, Belgium while flocks of tourists mix with locals admiring the plants for sale.

More Brussels buildings
More Belgian architecture