Bastide Niel on Miroir d’Eau in Bordeaux | MVRDV

Jovana — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 07:32:36 +0000

Bordeaux, a reminiscent town of times long past, a surviving relic of World War II and so on. As a legacy of history, Bordeaux represents itself as an atypical heart of Europe, the soul of the worker, adorned with rail tracks, barracks and historic set pieces. The town itself is now the envisionment of “older” times; carrying the burden of architecture now long lost to us as time. The urbanism within Architecture often seeks to revolutionize, using historic preservation not only as a powerful, conservative measure but carefully bringing in a green concepts resembles the epitome of thoughtful design. This thoughtful planning often goes into the heart and soul of inspirational works across the architectural frontier, taking from the old to give a new shine upon the futures ahead; we seek to find a conversion rather than just a contrast.

Courtesy of MVRDV

The plan for Bastide Niel, conducted by the urban community of Bordeaux and the MVRDV is not of little scale. Their objective to make a 35ha expansion of Bordeaux' central city is a bold one, bringing the city limits right onto the Garonne River. Offering over 3000 building sites, to include homes and municipal functions as well as urban attractions, Bastide Niel's heartfelt reconstruction of a once old, stagnate region is both surprising and yet so subtle.

Courtesy of MVRDV

However, it comes with a green twist, instead of simply retrofitting the old, MVRDV has an intent to create one of the largest zero-energy neighborhoods on the globe. Their ability to recognize a future need for conservative energy functions, while still building a society city for the times ahead will help it become a lively extension of the original historic city. Using warm colors, pastel contrasts and a lively theme, Bastide Niel and Bordeaux shall receive a facelift like none other. Adding glass walkways and powerful roof structures, an incredible brightening of once old times not only shows a level of appreciation for design aspects long ago, but also intends to pay homage to a city that shows pride in its histories.

By: Kristin Hoover

Courtesy of MVRDV

Mirrored World | Unknown artists

Jovana — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 08:22:59 +0000

Wow. Hoofa. Shazam. Hey. Holy Shneikies! Feel free to add your own expletives, those are all I will provide. These photos of mirror instillations in almost every location type imaginable are a current trend. They cannot be ascribed to one artist in particular. And that makes them all the more interesting and inspiring, really. What a wonder it would be to come across a reflected datum line in the middle of forest. Or to instantly become the coolest neighbor (albeit probably one which is hated by all birds) when you install your very own mirrored fence?

There is, however, something a little bit sad about these things. It seems that in a world where urbanism is progressing at a seemingly breakneck pace, nature is becoming almost a novelty.

Perhaps these instillations serve to sow us how we urban dwellers have been led astray- to need mirrored images to ignite fascination in nature. The beauty of nature is surely enough and those that regularly dwell amongst it may find these reflected images almost heretical (and perhaps rightly so).

By: Matt Davis

Arch2O.com » urbanism

Bastide Niel on Miroir d’Eau in Bordeaux | MVRDV

Mirrored World | Unknown artists