Unexpected Landscape, Paisagem Inesperada
Luise Marter's Diploma Project, Universität der Künste, Berlin
Advisors: Norbert Palz, Gabriele Schultheiß and Jeanne-Francoise Fischer
Max Taut Prize 2016; Jury: Donatella Fioretti, Patrick Gmür and Mathias Noell
A found place in Lisbon, for years abandoned and solidified in a construction process, has lost its original meaning and has been forgotten and neglected in a sociocultural context. Unnoticed and protected by 12 metre high walls, an oasis of spontaneous vegetation emerged from its ground. The place is to be understood in the context of the ‘hortus conclusus’, enclosed and finite, landscape and architectural space. It shuts itself off from the outside world, the urban reality; it is a gap in the dense urban fabric; it is an oasis and a clearing giving a view to the sky above. The place is a mode of the ‘hortus conclusus’ by contemporary conditions whose old and new boundaries seek redefinition in the perception within the neighbourhood and as an architectural proposal.
Programmatically, the proposal seeks to guarantee polyvalence and reversibility of uses in order to provide a long-lasting platform for the city and its numerous collectives and local associations, which due to a difficult economic and a complex political situation are neither granted space nor the opportunity to act. The structures provide a kind of infrastructure for those very activities. The Gate and the courtyard with the Kiosk extend the urban into the interior of the plot; the Wall defines a border and an entrance to a wide clearing in the neighbourhood. They provide the inner space of the project with a typological ambiguity; nor just a court or a patio, nor truly a park or a garden; a space for all the probabilities, an unexpected landscape.
The Wall, which is the site’s northern border to a rather familiar neighbourhood, resolves all activities in a vertical manner - strolling and viewing, resting and meeting in the garden. The wall is the recurring motif of the gardens of Lisbon - enclosed, at the same time hiding and revealing. Through two openings one steps into the core of the structure - a play of stairs, which provides access to three levels and finally the garden. Shading structures on all levels generate spaces of various sizes to stay and rest, meet and overlook the ’clearing’.
The Gate joins the neighbouring facades of the housing buildings of the city block. Similar in proportion and materiality, yet the public function becomes visible. A generous opening in the ground floor leads the visitor into the depth of the plot. A staircase on the left opens to lead up to the first floor with a central multipurpose space, while the second floor gives room to administration and studio activities. Both floors open to balconies facing both the backyard and the city.
The Kiosk, half a building, half a roof mediates between courtyard and garden as a hinge, the connecting space. The Garden, framed by the three architectural structures, functions as an insinuated, staged landscape. It explores the relics of a state and process from which it emerged, and within the focus it is given an ongoing change over time.
Luise Marter's Diploma Project, Universität der Künste, Berlin
Advisors: Norbert Palz, Gabriele Schultheiß and Jeanne-Francoise Fischer
Max Taut Prize 2016; Jury: Donatella Fioretti, Patrick Gmür and Mathias Noell
A found place in Lisbon, for years abandoned and solidified in a construction process, has lost its original meaning and has been forgotten and neglected in a sociocultural context. Unnoticed and protected by 12 metre high walls, an oasis of spontaneous vegetation emerged from its ground. The place is to be understood in the context of the ‘hortus conclusus’, enclosed and finite, landscape and architectural space. It shuts itself off from the outside world, the urban reality; it is a gap in the dense urban fabric; it is an oasis and a clearing giving a view to the sky above. The place is a mode of the ‘hortus conclusus’ by contemporary conditions whose old and new boundaries seek redefinition in the perception within the neighbourhood and as an architectural proposal.
Programmatically, the proposal seeks to guarantee polyvalence and reversibility of uses in order to provide a long-lasting platform for the city and its numerous collectives and local associations, which due to a difficult economic and a complex political situation are neither granted space nor the opportunity to act. The structures provide a kind of infrastructure for those very activities. The Gate and the courtyard with the Kiosk extend the urban into the interior of the plot; the Wall defines a border and an entrance to a wide clearing in the neighbourhood. They provide the inner space of the project with a typological ambiguity; nor just a court or a patio, nor truly a park or a garden; a space for all the probabilities, an unexpected landscape.
The Wall, which is the site’s northern border to a rather familiar neighbourhood, resolves all activities in a vertical manner - strolling and viewing, resting and meeting in the garden. The wall is the recurring motif of the gardens of Lisbon - enclosed, at the same time hiding and revealing. Through two openings one steps into the core of the structure - a play of stairs, which provides access to three levels and finally the garden. Shading structures on all levels generate spaces of various sizes to stay and rest, meet and overlook the ’clearing’.
The Gate joins the neighbouring facades of the housing buildings of the city block. Similar in proportion and materiality, yet the public function becomes visible. A generous opening in the ground floor leads the visitor into the depth of the plot. A staircase on the left opens to lead up to the first floor with a central multipurpose space, while the second floor gives room to administration and studio activities. Both floors open to balconies facing both the backyard and the city.
The Kiosk, half a building, half a roof mediates between courtyard and garden as a hinge, the connecting space. The Garden, framed by the three architectural structures, functions as an insinuated, staged landscape. It explores the relics of a state and process from which it emerged, and within the focus it is given an ongoing change over time.
