dolder grand hotel zurich
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Dolder Grand Hotel Zurich, Switzerland 2002-2008
Description
Towering above Lake Zurich, the historic The Dolder Grand has been reinvented to form a luxury-class city
resort. The scheme integrates a substantial new extension, more than doubling the hotel accommodation
and reconnecting it to the surrounding forest and resort. Remarkably, although it provides double the floor
space, the new building consumes half the energy of the old - or 75 per cent less energy per square metre.
The Dolderbahn cog railway station has been reinstated, enabling the local community to enjoy the site
while experiencing something of the building itself.
The scheme restores the logic of the original hotel, designed in 1899 by Jacques Gros, and the external
fabric has been restored and rendered in the original red and ochre palette.
Internally, the planning has been transformed. The most significant moves have been to create a linked
suite of grand public rooms, including a new ballroom, and to reinstate the grand southern entrance so
that arriving guests now enjoy breathtaking views across Zurich and the Alps. Two new wings frame the
historic Dolder, complementing the addition of a spa and a new ballroom.
The new wings are fully glazed; and stencil-cut aluminium screens line the facades to form balustrades and
provide shading, their tree pattern resonating with the surrounding forest. While the geometry of the new
elements is fluid and organic, the colour palette echoes that of the existing building to harmonise the
overall composition.
A highlight of the hotel is the new 4,000-square-metre spa. The winding stone walls that begin in the
landscape continue inside to frame a canyon-like space for the pool. In some areas the walls are perforated
to allow sunlight to filter in, and provide a dynamic play of light and shadow while maintaining absoluteprivacy. Geothermal heat pumps beneath the spa contribute to the efficient energy strategy. This is further
enhanced by a high-performance envelope comprising insulated triple-glazing and natural shading.
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Cranfield University Library Cranfield, UK 1989-1992
Description
Founded in 1946 as a school for aeronautical engineers, Cranfield University is today one of Britains
leading technical education and research establishments, incorporating a wide range of postgraduate
studies, and is a major foreign currency earner for research contracts. The new library was commissioned
to provide a much-needed focus for the developing campus. Consistent with the innovation characteristic
of the university as a whole, its design reformulates the concept of the library away from the closed book
stacks, forbidding screens and security barriers of traditional libraries to something lighter, more open and
accessible.
Built on a square plan, the building consists of four barrel-vaulted, steel-framed bays, one of which forms a
broad central atrium - the hub of the library - linking all three floors.
The overhanging roof provides sheltered walkways along the sides of the building, while at the front it
extends to create a vaulted entrance canopy. Commentators have note d the buildings evocation of a
classical temple, complete with peristyle and portico, which is perhaps appropriate given the symbolic role
it plays at the heart of the campus.
In contrast to the traditional library, maximum use is made of glare-free natural light and views, with
rooflights at the apex of each vault bringing natural light to the atrium and upper floors. Daylight is evenly
distributed across the ceiling by gull-wing deflectors and can be supplemented by indirect lighting from
continuous fluorescent tubes.
External shading to the glass facades minimises heat gain during the summer months and allows
comfortable conditions to be maintained through a ventilation-only system. The seven kilometres of openbookshelves are located on the upper levels, freeing the ground-floor entrance area for social uses,
focused around a coffee bar. Storage systems are designed to adapt easily to advances in information
technology, while a perimeter desking system allows students to plug in their own laptop computers and
have instant access to the Universitys electronic databases.
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Saint Benedict Chapel / Peter Zumthor
The Saint Benedict Chapel, located in the village of Sumvitg, Graubnden, was designed by the Pritzker
Prize Laureate Peter Zumthor in 1988. The modest, human-scaled exterior of the chapel encapsulates the
beauty and simplicity of Zumthors works, while the interior showcases his unparalleled craftsmanship.
The chapel was constructed in the small village of Sumvitg following a 1984 avalanche that destroyed the
baroque-style chapel of the village. The hillside site for the new chapel, which provides breathtaking
mountainous views, is protected from future avalanches by a surrounding forest.
In an interview with The New York Times, Zumthor once explained his process: When I start, my first idea
for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. Its not about paper, its not about
forms. Its about space and material.
Although Zumthor used modern materials and techniques for this particular design, the cylindar-shaped
chapel blends naturally into its context, without offending the traditional and historical dimension of the
Alpine village. For example, the chapel is constructed with wooden shingles and snips, similar to the local
traditional houses.
The roof of the chapel is reminiscent of the hull of a boat. Mediating between the expressive roof and the
more traditional, wooden base below, is an elegant, minimal solution: a ring of vertical wood columns and
glass panels that crown the chapel, allowing natural light to penetrate the interior space.
The single interior space contains minimalist wooden columns, beams and benches, s howcasing Zumthors
craftsmanship and his delicate approach to material and details.