The Milan-based architecture collective Baukuh works at the interface between practice and theory – in a widely networked European group of architects.

The Milan-based architecture collective Baukuh works at the interface between practice and theory in a widely networked European group of architects. A portrait of a generation that grew up in the Superdutch era.

Baumeister: What does “Baukuh” stand for?
Andrea Zanderigo: Baukuh was originally part of another project, a collective for architectural theory that we wanted to realize in a larger circle of friends. The group was to be called “Bunte Kuh”, after the city in Nietzsche’s book “Also sprach Zarathustra”, but it never came to fruition. After winning the “Europan 7” competition, we then decided to transform the theory group into an architectural office with the addition of “Bau”.

B: In the last ten years, architecture collectives without hierarchies have formed with increasing success throughout Europe. However, collectives already existed at the end of the 1960s as a response to the fundamental changes in society necessitated by student movements. Why the return to collective work?
A Z: Architecture has always been a collective product in terms of its creation and design process. We are convinced that collaboration leads to a more rational architecture: When you design together, you have to have a clear approach in mind to make it convincing. This process does not conflict with individual creativity, which can also emerge within the framework of rational decisions. And this is also evident in our buildings themselves.

B: Your intensive engagement with theory is reflected in various publications and the curation of the magazine “San Rocco”. I have the feeling that architects pursue theory more intensively, especially in times of crisis. Why are you engaging so intensively with theory today?
A Z: First of all, a special situation in Italian architectural culture plays a major role here: our generation always had the impression that Italian architecture hadn’t created anything really interesting in the last 30 years. If you don’t have any direct masters, if you don’t identify with a certain cultural environment, then you have to find your masters and references in the past. This requires an intensive study of theory. However, it would be wrong to think that this is an isolated Italian case: we recognized the interest in theory among young European architects even before our office was founded. Even in countries like the Netherlands, where there was no decline in construction activity during the decisive phase of the superdutch, young architects wanted to reflect – with the aim of critically examining and redefining the architectural process. During our student days in the 1990s, we experienced an overkill of Dutch building culture, first and foremost of course the work of OMA, which had such a strong influence on us all. The impact of the book “S,M,L,XL” was impressive in a university world that, at least in Italy, was still bound to Rossi’s concepts of context and typology. The Koohlaas theories ended up mixing in our case with the teaching of the last Italian masters: Rossi and Grassi. In general, we think architecture should always look not only to the previous generation, but five, ten, 100 or 500 years back.

You can read more about this in Baumeister 5/2016

Interested in the latest competition results in landscape architecture, but hardly have time to look at them properly? In the G+L competition overview, Heike Vossen provides monthly updates on the most exciting competition results. Redesign of the Moselle forecourt, Bernkastel-Kues, 1st prize Planorama Landschaftsarchitektur, Berlin The landscape architects from Planorama have designed a wide flight of steps to create an entrance to the town on the banks of the Moselle. With a view of the opposite bank and the […]

Interested in the latest competition results in landscape architecture, but hardly have time to look at them properly? In the G+L competition overview, Heike Vossen provides monthly updates on the most exciting competition results.

The landscape architects at Planorama have designed a wide flight of steps to create an entrance to the town on the banks of the Moselle. With a view of the opposite bank and the historic church backdrop, the staircase serves as a place to linger or as a grandstand. It links the old town with the lower-lying riverside square, which was previously mainly reserved for parking. “The work impresses with its clear, spacious structure,” said the jury. The central square and recreational area on the riverbank is derived from the Bernkastell urban structure and forms a clear reference to the extension of the old town. The continuous riverside promenade is primarily for pedestrians and cyclists, while the parking areas required for shipping tourism are arranged in the peripheral areas, with access roads outside the center. The Moselle cycle path is accompanied by a row of trees and is integrated into the wide Moselle promenade. A uniform paved surface connects the promenade and the riverside square, while a change of surface also structures three “islands of relaxation” with open groups of trees in the middle of the large square.

The bdla North Rhine-Westphalia competition for young designers was looking for a “climate garden” to be presented at the Kamp-Lintford State Garden Show next year. Graduates Jenny Ohlenschlager and Lisa Brunnert impressed the jury with their garden concept “The Heat”, which focuses on the microclimate and the ongoing sealing of our living environment. The approach is both conceptual and tangible – a tree-lined garden space with an open asphalt surface concealed inside. The juxtaposition of the sealed surface and the planting enables visitors to have a direct sensory experience when the weather is right, through clear differences in temperature between the vegetation, which is described as wilderness, and the exposed asphalt surface. Additional explanations or information boards are not necessary. The shade of the vegetation, together with the air-cooling evaporation, spares a defined area of the asphalt surface throughout the year, the conceptual core moment of “The Heat”. Two weather stations document the microclimatic differences.

With their strategy of activating open spaces in the Oberhausen district of Sterkrade by means of selective interventions, the landscape architects from Kraft.Raum won over the jury in the multiple commission. In future, two action ribbons will run from the city entrances in a north-south and east-west direction through the pedestrian zone. They will connect all parts of the city center and serve as orientation markers for visitors. The bands stand out from the surrounding pavement as two-metre-wide strips of paving and define the front zone of the stores on one side. They integrate existing trees and shrubs as well as new plantings and the individually developed modular street furniture. The redesign of the respective squares at the entrances to the city creates striking opening spaces: Enclosed by a pruned wooded frame, their center remains free for multifunctional uses. As the central market square, the “Kleiner Markt” is given a defined square inlay, complemented at the sides by a loose grove of trees.