Take a wide-ranging tour of the stunning contemporary buildings transforming Far North landscapes from Labrador to Sweden. Plus: London architect Gianni Botsford raises the roof – a sweeping copper one – with a dramatic residence on a tight Notting Hill plot, while Anna Heringer, the German-born architect with vast experience in Asia, extols the benefits of building with mud.
In the northern-focused May issue, AZURE travels to the Arctic Circle and environs to take stock of the myriad architectural wonders being erected there. On the coast of Labrador, Todd Saunders’s sinuous cultural centre for the local Inuit population creates a new benchmark for the region, while Icelandic architect Pálmar Kristmundsson’s beachfront retreat – on the site of a former concrete factory – breaks the mould when it comes to getaways. In the Faroe Islands, meanwhile, a town hall-cum-pedestrian bridge by Henning Larsen North Atlantic both nods to and expands local aesthetics; the Danish-based firm’s main office has also left an indelible mark in Sweden’s northernmost city, where its civic building for a transplanted mining community serves as a symbol of hope.
Elsewhere in the issue, AZURE chats with German architect Anna Heringer about her well-established devotion to ultra-local materials, which, given her extensive experience in Africa and Asia, includes bamboo and mud. (Heringer’s school in the Bangladeshi city of Rudrapur, built with both of those media, won an Aga Khan Award for Architecture.)
And in London, architect Gianni Botsford takes us through his dramatically capped, multi-level residence on a tight site in Notting Hill. Among the building’s many highlights is its soaring copper roof, which was crafted by hand in Italy and shipped to the U.K. in pieces.
Plus: Architecture critic Alex Bozikovic immerses himself in Thomas Phifer’s monolithic addition to Maryland’s Glenstone Museum, where the single structure deceivingly dubbed the Pavilions practically sinks into its setting (a 120-acre landscape designed by PWPLA). In Italy’s seismically active Friuli region, meanwhile, the Turin firm ElasticoSPA responds to heritage regulations by outfitting a concrete coach house with handsome floating screens assembled – meticulously and ingeniously – from local rocks.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
FOCUS ON ENGINEERED AND NATURAL STONE
Exploring the unique beauty of stone and solid surfacing
BEST IN SHOW
On-the-ground reports from IMM Cologne and IDS Toronto
OFFICE FURNITURE
The best conference tables, task chairs and more
The May issue of Azure is available here.
