22.10.2024

Rosa Barba Prize 2023: Winning project

Building design

The Tangshan Quarry Park in Nanjing by Z+T Studio receives the Rosa Barba Prize 2023. photo: Hai Zhang

Z+T Studio’s Tangshan Quarry Park in Nanjing has beaten ten other finalists to win the Rosa Barba Casanovas International Landscape Architecture Prize 2023. The prize was awarded by a jury at the 12th International Landscape Biennial in Barcelona.

Z+T Studio’s Tangshan Quarry Park in Nanjing has beaten ten other finalists to win the Rosa Barba Casanovas International Landscape Architecture Prize 2023 – or Rosa Barba Prize for short. The prize was awarded by a jury at the 12th International Landscape Biennial in Barcelona.

Spread across five continents and ten countries, the finalists of the Rosa Barbar Prize 2023 showcased a wide range of landscape architecture approaches from around the globe. Tangshan Quarry Park stood out with its special narrative on the relationship between nature, humans and non-humans. In addition to the Tangshan Quarry Park, other projects also received awards. Three projects received recognition for their promising approaches: the Prado District of Medejean project in Medellín (Colombia) by Edgar Mazo, Hope in Cape Town (South Africa) by Tarna Klitzner Landscape Architect and West Midlands National Park near Birmingham (England) by Kathryn Moore. The Audience Award went to the park in the Prado district of Medellín by Edgar Mazo and was thus awarded twice.

Z+T Studio transformed a disused quarry into a public park. The Longquan quarry, located 30 kilometers east of Nanjing, was in operation from 1990 to 2004. In 15 years, four large craters were created on the southern side of Tangshan Mountain. The rock faces have height differences of 50 to 250 meters. These were stabilized and the quarry was subsequently made accessible to visitors. The mining history of the site is integrated into the new park’s educational program. Visitors can experience the negative effects of mining through educational elements.

The project covers an area of 40 hectares and consists of four large craters. One crater is used as a spa for a hotel, another for camping and music festivals and the two remaining craters are part of the park. The park is criss-crossed by footpaths and viewing points. The design also includes a meadow, a playground and a lake.

A large part of the project was concerned with increasing the biodiversity that has been lost due to mining. It was important to the authors that users of the park could follow and experience the recovery of the natural area. According to the planning team, the ecological condition of the former quarry has improved significantly since the park was completed in 2019.

Z+T Studio succeeds in translating a well thought-out concept into a poetic, species-rich and educational landscape architecture project, according to the jury of the Rosa Barbar Prize 2023. Human and non-human actors are taken into account. Dynamic processes are uncovered and environmental and social ecology are integrated into the project. The social significance of the project was particularly important to the jury. It had demonstrable potential for positive social change and benefits for different sections of the population. In addition, the regeneration and reclamation of the natural area and the cooperative approach were particularly praised.

The jury for this year’s twelfth Landscape Biennial in Barcelona was made up of landscape architect Martha Fajardo, architect and researcher Julio Gaeta, IFLA President Bruno Marques, landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom and Harvard Professor Gareth Doherty.

225 international projects were submitted. Of these, eleven finalists were selected and presented on the first day of the Biennial at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. The winning projects were announced on the last day of the Biennial. The Rosa Barba Prize is endowed with 15,000 dollars and is awarded to a project built in the five years prior to the call for entries. The winning projects and finalists will be published in the Biennale’s book catalog. The Biennial is organized by the Collegi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

The Rosa Barba Prize 2023 was awarded at the twelfth edition of the Landscape Biennial in Barcelona. Read here what the biennial could do even better next time.

28.11.2024

Living stonemason’s workshop at the Hessentag

Building design

“Life is so colorful” – the motto was the program at the 56th Hessentag in Herborn. In addition to Johnny Depp, who performed with his band “Hollywood Vampires”, and well-known German stars, the stonemasonry trade was also represented.

“Life is so colorful” at the 56th Hessentag in Herborn. In addition to Johnny Depp and his band “Hollywood Vampires”, well-known German stars and the stonemason trade also performed under this motto. From May 20 to 23, 2016, school classes and visitors were able to find out more about the profession of stonemason and stone sculptor and try out their skills on the stone themselves.

11.12.2024

The light of history

Building design

The extensions stand out clearly from the brick and glass architecture of the historic waterworks.

The small town of Mons in Belgium has a turbulent past. In the Mons Memorial Museum by architect Pierre Hebbelinck, the light and dark sides of its history find architectural expression.

Buffer zone, border area, battlefield: Belgium has historically always been a crossroads of European history – and therefore also a stage for its often tragic chapters. This is particularly evident during a visit to the Mons Memorial Museum, which opened in 2015 and is located in the small town of Mons in the southern part of the country.

Pierre Hebbelinck from Liège was commissioned in 2011 to convert a historic industrial building into a museum dedicated to the history of the region. The brick, iron and glass waterworks is a typical witness to the economic boom that the Walloon region experienced during the industrialization process in the 19th century and had to be renovated and extended in line with the preservation order.

The architects opted for two wing extensions, whose exterior façades were painted white to clearly distinguish the new buildings from the existing ones. They clearly divided the functions between the three buildings, with the interior design of the individual rooms corresponding to the exhibition content: the windowless, oppressive rooms of the new buildings focus on the most dramatic chapters of local history – war, deportation, occupation – while the large hall of the old building is dedicated to liberation, democracy and freedom.

The view outside

The hall in the middle of the complex, glazed at the gable ends, serves as a transparent reception and catering area and is crossed by a 15-metre-long walkway. This connects the permanent exhibition in the left wing with the rooms for temporary exhibitions in the right wing.
The architects attached great importance to the lighting concept: in addition to the lighting, which is differentiated according to function, the historic glass fronts of the listed old building were also professionally refurbished to optimize the incidence of sunlight and improve the quality of stay for visitors to the café and bookshop. The large glass windows, which are divided by metal bars, were also renewed.

Open and closed

The closed nature of the extensions forms a contrast to the open and transparent existing building. A strategically placed aisle in the exhibition tour leads to an open space in the basement, whose brick-clad, monotonous red walls can be read as an architectural image of the tragic wartime past of the Mons region. There are also narrow windows that allow light into the interior like crevices in a rock, or provide a view to the outside at certain points: For example, to a war memorial at the crossroads or to important elements of the city’s history in the public space.

Photos: François Brix.