Magma Architecture Wins AIA UK Design Award

Posted on mayo 18, 2013 by :: noticias arquitectura ::

Magma Architecture‘s Olympic and Paralympic Shooting Arenas have just been distinguished with a 2013 AIA UK Excellence in Design Award. Driven by the desire to evoke an experience of flow and precision inherent in the shooting sport through the dynamically curving space, the shooting arenas were the only buildings of the London 2012 Games to be selected. While all three ranges were configured in a crisp, white double curved membrane façade studded with vibrantly colored openings, the fresh and light appearance of the buildings truly enhanced the festive and celebratory character of the Olympic event. For more images and information on their award-winning project, please visit here.

Magma Architecture Wins AIA UK Design Award originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 18 May 2013.

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Masrah Al Qasba Theater / Magma Architecture

Posted on septiembre 26, 2012 by :: noticias arquitectura ::

Architects: Magma Architecture
Location: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Design Team: Martin Ostermann, Lena Kleinheinz, Hendrik Bohle, Philipp Mecke, Anke Noske, Carlos Lara
Project Year: 2012
Photographs: Courtesy of Magma Architecture, Torsten Seidel

Project Area: 820.0 sqm
Mechanical & Electrical Engineering: Sarraj SMEP Engineering Consultants
Acoustics: Akustik Ingenieurbüro Moll
Client: Al Qasba Development Authority

The conversion of the Masrah Al Qasba Theater in Sharjah is the first project to be completed by magma architecture in the United Arab Emirates. Visitors to the 300 seat auditorium find themselves wrapped in a sculpturally undulating space evoking recollections of the landscapes of Sharjah. Carefully concealed lighting elements shining through stretchable fabric surfaces enhance the spatial sensation of continuous enclosure. The Masrah Al Qasba Theater is shortlisted for the 2012 LEAF Awards.

Design

The client brief was to create a theatre design equally rooted in the nature and history of the Emirate of Sharjah as embracing its cultural future. The design for the new Al Qasba conversion is based on a subtle atmospheric amalgamation of everyday life of the past and contemporary world of theatre. In the days of nomadic life news was transmitted through oral narrative in the open-air of the nocturnal desert landscape. The design of the Al Qasba auditorium refers to the nature of Sharjah as inspiration and suggests an inverted, fully enclosing scenographic landscape. Undulating surfaces with light strips on fold lines scatter across the ceiling evoking images of evening sun streaking sand dunes. Visitors entering the auditorium disconnect from everyday life to immerse into the surprising and striking space of the staged narrative in the new Masrah Al Qasba Theater.

Past and present are also mirrored in the choice of materials for the project. The interior skin is created out of textile, a traditional building material in the region, albeit in a high tech contemporary make. The textile wraps the walls and ceiling of the 300 seat auditorium space in a continuous smooth surface. Lights on fold lines gently accentuate the double curvature shapes. The design enables illuminating the space without blinding the visitors with lights. Placed on the inclined ceiling surfaces facing the stage the auditorium lights remain invisible from the spectator seats. Additional spotlights installed in the cracks in the surface can be switched off to create a softly dimmed illumination for lectures and talks. magma architecture also designed and refitted the theatre lobby and adjoining rooms. A completely white space with soft light in changing colors invites visitors to meet and linger and enhances anticipation of the theatre visit.

Context

The Al Qasba is the main entertainment, cultural and tourist destination of the Emirate of Sharjah. Two 150m long and four stories high buildings face each other on the banks of the Al Qasba Canal. They house art galleries, shops, restaurants, business centres, meeting halls and offices flanked by the Etisalat Ferris wheel to the North. The Masrah Al Qasba Theater is the venue of cultural and entertainment events like the annual Sharjah film festival. magma architecture was commissioned with the design in 2008 by the Al Qasba Development Authority. Construction started in Sharjah in 2011 and was completed in 2012.

Technical Details

A technically simple solution was developed to create the double curvature surfaces of the auditorium. Ceiling and walls of the auditorium are covered with a polyamide and spandex textile stretched over an aluminium substructure. Telescopic rods push out the expandable fabric to form the hills and valleys of the enclosure. The angle of the aluminium bends were defined using a computerized bending machine. The fire rated fabric is fixed with Keeder clips into a framework of aluminium profiles. Technical installations such as air conditioning, sound equipment, light fittings, electrical wiring and acoustic insulation are concealed behind the porous fabric surface. Maintenance spot lights and ventilation outlets and intakes are recessed in ceiling joints.

Masrah Al Qasba Theater / Magma Architecture originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 26 Sep 2012.

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Exhibition: “Design Stories – The Architecture behind 2012″

Posted on agosto 10, 2012 by :: noticias arquitectura ::

Click here to view the embedded video.

As the world turns its eyes to London in 2012, Design Stories examines the architecture and engineering behind the 2012 sporting venues. It provides a unique Olympic experience – a place where people can explore and view drawings, images, videos and amazingly detailed models of London’s key new sporting venues.

The exhibition draws back the layers of complex engineering and explores the ideas and design principles that lie behind the venues. At its centre the exhibition features a stunning 14-metre graphic mural capturing the energy and contrasting styles of the new Olympic and Paralympic buildings.

The 2012 sporting venues and lead architects featured in the exhibition include:

Olympic Stadium – Populous
Aquatics Centre – Zaha Hadid Architects
Velodrome – Hopkins Architecture
Basketball Arena – Wilkinson Eyre/KSS Design Group
Handball Arena – MAKE
Hockey Centre – Populous
Shooting venue – Magma Architecture
Waterpolo venue – David Morley Architecture
Eton Manor – Stanton Williams.

As the Games begin the audio visual element of the installation will transform into a live screening lounge from Monday 30 July, providing an exceptional central London location to cheer on the record-breaking athletes and experience the stunning new venues they will compete in.

Admission to all RIBA exhibitions is free. Galleries at 66 Portland Place are open Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm; and until 10pm on Tuesday.

Gallery 1, RIBA 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD

Exhibition: “Design Stories – The Architecture behind 2012″ originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 09 Aug 2012.

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Sede olímpica de tiro | Magma Architecture

Posted on agosto 8, 2012 by :: noticias arquitectura ::

Ubicado en el barrio de Woolwich de Londres, magma architecture ha creado la Sede olímpica de tiro, que será el anfitrión de eventos de este verano para los tiradores de rangos 10, 25 y 50 metros. Compuesto por dos estructuras semi-cerradas y un centro totalmente cerrado, las construcciones temporales son completamente móvil, de fácil desmonte y vuelto a montar cuando se necesita sin dejar un daño permanente.

Armaduras de acero modulares y cubos de volúmenes simples con 18.000 metros cuadrados membrana de PVC de doble capa estirada sobre
los edificios. Los salientes circulares de colores actúan como nodos de tensión para apoyar la membrana que abarca una amplia área de superficie. Sino que también crean puntos de entrada y salida para la ventilación natural y mantener las temperaturas interiores de confort y crear las entradas en la planta baja. La naturaleza semi-transparente de las tiendas de campaña reduce la necesidad de iluminación interior, haciendo de los proyectos que sean casi totalmente autosuficiente.

Olympic Shooting Venue / Magma Architecture

Posted on junio 18, 2012 by :: noticias arquitectura ::

Architects: Magma Architecture
Location: London, England
Client: Mott Macdonald
Project Client: Olympic Delivery Authority
Total Footprint: 14,305 sqm
Total SeatingCapacity: 2,900
Architectural Design Team: Martin Ostermann with Lena Kleinheinz, Hendrik Bohle, Susanne Welcker, Pablo Carballal, Niko Mahler, Philipp Mecke, Diana Drogan, Veljko Markovicz, Manuel Welsky
Photographs: J.L. Diehl, Magma Architecture

The London Shooting Venue will accommodate the events in 10, 25 and 50 m Sport Shooting at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the southeast London district of Woolwich. The first Gold Medal of the London Olympic Games will be awarded at the venue for Women’s 10 m Air Pistol on the 28th July 2012. After the event the three temporary and mobile buildings will be dismantled and it is planned to rebuild them in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Shooting is a sport in which the results and progress of the competition are hardly visible to the eye of the spectator. The design of the shooting venue was driven by the desire to evoke an experience of flow and precision inherent in the shooting sport through the dynamically curving space. All three ranges were configured in a crisp, white double curved membrane façade studded with vibrantly colored openings. As well as animating the façade these dots operate as tensioning nodes. The 18.000 m² of phthalate-free pvc membrane functions best in this stretched format as it prevents the façade from flapping in the wind. The openings also act as ventilation intake and doorways at ground level. The fresh and light appearance of the buildings enhances the festive and celebrative character of the Olympic event.

The shooting venue is not situated in the Olympic Park, but has its own location in Woolwich on the grounds of the historic Royal Artillery Barracks. It is estimated that more than 104.000 spectators will watch the competitions. The three buildings comprise 3.800 seats divided between two partially enclosed ranges for the 25 and 10/50 m qualifying rounds and a fully enclosed finals range. Together they form a campus on the green field. Their up to 107 m long facades refer to the structured length of the Royal Artillery Barracks building, but have their own contemporary architectural expression.

Guided by the high requirements from the client, the Olympic Delivery Authority, sustainability was a key factor in shaping the design. All materials will be reused or recycled. All three of the venues are fully mobile, every joint has been designed so it can be reassembled; and no composite materials or adhesives were used. In addition, the semitransparent facades on two of the three ranges reduce the need for artificial lighting and the ventilation is fully natural. The tensioning detail was achieved through an efficient configuration of modular steel components commonly used in temporary buildings market. The double-curvature geometry is a result of the optimal use of the membrane material.