Multifunctional and Adaptable Spaces- Scherpenzeel Kulturhus

With the current economic climate being an issue around most of Europe building sport facilities is the last thing that many communities mind. Creating a space with multiple uses is now being seem as a solution.

The Kulturhus building in Scherpenzeel with this in mind the building contains such space as a church, youth home, small theatre, day-care centre and a sports hall. The design of the building was too split the building into lots of blocks so that extension in the future become a lot easier. This is a very similar concept that I used in my lifetime homes project. 

Urban Design- The Crown of Septiemvri Soccer Stadium

With a lot of my previous blogs I've been looking at sustainable sporting facilities. Sporting architecture can have a major impact on a area so I have started to look at the urban design around big sporting facilities and inner city developments.

More designs now are becoming not just about the stadium but about the facilities provided around the area as stadiums are becoming the central hubs of cities and towns. Urban design is key, and I have been looking at some proposal that have taken this into consideration.

The Crown of Septiemvri Soccer Stadium proposal was a project where not only a football stadium was wanted but a residential, commercial and sports centre space was wanted.

The plot is on a central park in Sofia so would be at the centre of the city and would therefore become a hub of the city. The urban design of the area would consist of 20000 m2 of residential area, 22000 m2 of office, 8000 m2 of sports facility as well as the stadium and 3 more football pitches.

Biological Concrete for Living Wall

Sustainability is a very talked about word at the moment with lots of companies and architects vying to come up with the newest sustainable technologies and the most sustainable buildings to date. Living walls are something that I had been researching throughout the first term so this new technology was very interesting to me.

  
(photo from ArchDaily)

Barcelona Tech structural technology group have started developing a new living wall that doesn't involve any fix on technologies but actually grows within the structure itself. The new concrete technology encourages the growth of organisms on its surface.

The concrete combines three layers on top of a structural element and gives ecological, thermal and aesthetic advantages. Within these three layers is a unique layer that absorbs and stores rainwater, the water doesn't effect the building as there is a waterproof membrane but must help with the growth of organisms on the surface.