Units for Reconstruction was made by Miguel Vieira Baptista as part of The Castle in Three Acts, an exhibition in Guimarães Castle inviting artists, architects and designers to explore the themes of construction, destruction and reconstruction.

"After my first visit to the castle I started to work in the office without a measuring tape," explained the designer. "I just stretched my arms, pointed out dimensions on the wall and defined thickness using my hand."

He then developed a series of cylinders, blocks and planks that echo some of the proportions of the tenth-century castle.

The approximate sizes and the human scale of the objects allude to the absence of a rigid system of measurement when the castle was built.

One of the cylinders is cut into wedges to act as an angle ruler, while two planks join at a right angle to form a set square.

The objects are made from MDF and painted white, and were arranged inside the castle as though they'd been left behind by a carpenter or stonemason.

Above: Guimarães Castle

The exhibition was held last summer as part of Guimarães' year as a European Capital of Culture, which also included a tower of straw bales and a tiny cinema where audience members had to crawl like a centipede to get inside – see all installations from Guimarães.

Photographs are by André Cepeda.

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Here's some more information from the designer:

Units for Reconstruction

During 2012 the Portuguese city of Guimarães hosted a great number of events as part of the programming for the European Capital of Culture. One of these events was the exhibition "The Castle in 3 Acts" where several artists, architects and designers were commissioned to develop work under the idea of construction, destruction and reconstruction.

Above: the designer demonstrates human-scale measurements

Miguel Vieira Baptista's site-specific work was the towers of the city’s iconic castle, often described as the place where Portugal's birth took place around the year 1128. A castle by definition is an architectural piece that runs through the endless sequence of the exhibition's themes.

Miguel Vieira Baptista approached the challenge from a designer’s point of view and developed a series of measuring elements to be used on a hypothetical reconstruction of the castle. The piece consists of large-scale rulers along with several plates and blocks of varying sizes that relate strongly with the existing building.

"After my first visit to the castle I started to work in the office without a measuring tape. I just stretched my arms, pointed dimensions on the wall and defined thickness using my hand." His collaborators translated these imprecise measures in to technical drawings. The process sounds unusual, but designers often use this approach in the creative process. The metric system can hinder the flow of the design process. He wanted to allude to the nonexistence of a metric logic when the castle was built by accentuating the site, the materials, construction techniques and the human scale.

Above: diagram of installation inside the castle

Miguel Vieira Baptista's installation explored the idea of tooling for the reconstruction phase. Upon arriving at the 2nd floor of the castle tower, the visitor was left with the impression of entering a carpenter or stonemason's workshop with all these site-specific units of measure lying on the floor.

Units for Reconstruction
2012
Painted MDF, various dimensions

The Castle in 3 Acts exhibition, Guimarães European Capital of Culture
Collaborators - Pedro Almeida, Rui Lopes, Vanessa Domingues

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Miguel Vieira Baptista appeared first on Dezeen.

We love projects that involve castles. Windows are set within two-metre-deep recesses in the stone walls of this castle visitor centre in southwest Germany by Swiss architect Max Dudler.

Positioned at the entrance to the historic Heidelberg Castle ruins, the two-storey visitor's centre borders the retaining walls of the sloping grounds, alongside a seventeenth century saddle-store.

The roughly cut stone blocks that comprise the exterior walls are made from local sandstone.

Inside the building, the windows sit flush against the white-plastered walls, while the floor is finished in terrazzo.

If you're a fan of castles, see more stories about them here.

Photography is by Stefan Müller.

Here's some more information from Max Dudler:

Heidelberg Castle Visitor Centre

The first new building to be constructed at Heidelberg Castle for more than four hundred years – a visitor centre designed by architect Max Dudler – is now open to the public.

Heidelberg Castle ranks as one of the most important Renaissance buildings north of the Alps. Having been partially destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, and on many occasions since, the castle was abandoned altogether in the eighteenth century. Today the famous ruin serves as a museum. Receiving more than one million visitors a year, it is one of the country’s top tourist destinations and makes a lasting impression on international tourists visiting Germany.

The purpose of the visitor centre is to familiarize guests with the castle before they proceed to the castle proper. The visitor centre showcases the castle’s history as well as orientating guests so as to ensure a trouble-free visit. In May 2009, Max Dudler’s design prevailed in the architectural selection procedure. The visitor centre’s foundation stone was laid in summer 2010, making it the first new building to be constructed at Heidelberg Castle for more than four hundred years. This building shows how the contemporary architecture of Max Dudler is rooted in history. At the same time, its abstract form underscores both the grandeur and actuality of this German cultural monument.

The new building is situated outside the old defensive ring wall, at the entrance gate to the castle and garden (Hortus Palatinus). The narrow strip of land chosen for the new structure lies between a small garden house and a saddle store built in the reign of Frederick V. The building backs onto a seventeenth century retaining wall which shores up the park terraces above. With its building lines following those of its neighbours, the sculpturally designed visitor centre structurally completes this small ensemble of buildings in the forecourt area.

In architectural terms, the building blends in with the surrounding historical fortifications through its re-interpretation of elements of the existing site’s architecture. The window embrasures, for example, are set more than two metres into its walls, echoing the large-sized apertures that can be seen in the neighbouring saddle store. The windows of the visitor centre are positioned according to the building’s interior requirements and also offer visitors new visual relationships with the entry building and garden outside. The popular Elisabeth Gate in particular can be seen from many parts of the interior. The façade’s deeply-set embrasures are made possible because of the special layout of the building: the broad expanse of its exterior walls hide a number of small side rooms and a stairwell. Like pockets (French: poches), these interior recesses offer space for display cabinets, shelves and seating areas, while the centre of the narrow building remains open.

For the façade, local Neckar Valley sandstone has been machine-cut to form a monolithic wall of roughly-cut blocks with joins that are barely visible. This masonry detailing is a contemporary re-interpretation of the historical retaining wall, with its hand-cut, undressed stonework. Unlike the heavy relief of the building’s exterior, the surfaces of its interior are smooth. The large window panes are fitted flush with the white plastered walls, as are the lighting panels set into the white plastered ceilings. The floor consists of a light blue polished terrazzo. All the fixtures and fittings in the recesses, as well as the doors and other furnishings are made of cherry wood.

Ensuring a smooth flow of large numbers of visitors was a particular challenge posed by the architectural brief. Dudler’s design solves this with its ingenious ‘architectural promenade’ through the building: visitors proceed from the entry hall through to the educational room, then up onto the roof terrace with its elevated views of the castle before exiting via the exterior stairs at the rear of the building to begin a tour of the castle proper. In this way, the full potential of this small building is realised, ensuring it has both multi-purpose usage and allows the maximum throughput of visitors.

Building Name: Besucherzentrum Schloss Heidelberg
Location: Heidelberger Schloss, Schlosshof 1, D-69117 Heidelberg
Client: Land Baden-Württemberg represented by Vermögen und Bau Baden-Württemberg, Mannheim Office
User: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg

Building Volumes: 490 m² usable floor area, 770 m² gross surface area, 3450 m³ gross building volume
Total building cost: 3 million Euros

Design and Construction Period:
Design commenced: April 2009
Construction commenced: 2010
Building Completion: December 2011

Architect: Max Dudler
Project Manager: Simone Boldrin
Co-workers: Patrick Gründel, Julia Werner

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by Max Dudler appeared first on Dezeen.

Portuguese architects Comoco have added a weathered steel cafe and a wooden gazebo on the hill of a castle in the town of Pombal.

The two new structures accompany a set of repaved pathways, as well as a new castle entrance and reconfigured parking area.

The two-storey cafe is clad in Corten steel and features large windows that overlook the surrounding town.

Located near the bottom of the hill, the rectangular timber pavilion is constructed from evenly spaced wooden slats.

This isn't the first castle project we've featured by Comoco Architects - read about a visitors centre with walkways built through and around a castle here.

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here's a more detailed description from Comoco Architects:

Reorganization of Pombal Castle’s Hill. Pathways and Facilities
Comoco Arquitectos Luís Miguel Correia, Nelson Mota, Susana Constantino

Previous State

Throughout the last decades, Pombal Castle and its surrounding area have been doomed to seclusion from the core of the city at its feet.

For the ordinary city user, the Castle was only a background for the everyday, a mere identity reference that resonated with the history of the city more than with an actual experience of it. “Rua do Castelo”, a street defining the South and West perimeter where the hill meets the city, embodied the boundary that defined those two realms.

From that street, some connections with the walled precinct were possible. They were, however, just a vague memory of previous uses, and their conservation decayed progressively, hampering public use.

The area’s vegetation - nowadays uncritically cherished by the population - is, paradoxically, the result of the abandon to witch this area was devoted throughout most of the 20th century.

Aim of the Intervention

The project for the reorganization of Pombal Castle’s hill was launched by the city’s municipality with the goal of promoting the re-centralization of that area. The basic brief of the commission encouraged a design that would help fostering the use of that historic area by both residents and tourists.

A more elaborated programme was developed collaboratively by municipality’s politicians and technicians, together with the design team and enriched by the feedback delivered by the population at the proposal’s preliminary stage.

The basic premise was that the project should improve the connections between the urban areas at the bottom of the hill, the hill itself and the walled precinct.

The articulation with the Castle, the hallmark of the city, should be tackled in order to preserve its importance for the population’s shared identity.

To increase the area’s attractiveness some facilities should be created to answer needs such as car parking, comfortable and safe pathways, resting and contemplation areas and a cafeteria. Archaeological and preservation works should also be central to bring about and highlight the area’s history.

Description of the Intervention

The basic character of the intervention is an attempt to deliver an approach were the new designed elements should be clearly defined against the background of both the natural and the built pre-existing elements, without challenging the latters’ character, tough. The project defined three areas, each of which with a different approach.

In the first area, the south and west slopes of the hill, the approach was focused in the idea of flow. This idea was thus developed creating and highlighting connections between the urban areas at the bottom of the Castle’s hill, pathways along the slopes and gazebos to provide shelter and foster diverse experiences in the contact with the landscape. The materials used were prominently plastered walls, stone and grit pavements, and wooden structures.

In the second area, in the surroundings of the cemetery, the approach was concerned with the idea of a topographical design of the infrastructure. Both the parking area and the adjacent facilities were designed as topographical elements, concrete walls supporting the transition between sharp differences of levels.

Finally, the third area, surrounding the walled precinct, aims to enhance the Castle as the main built element of the area. The west access to the Castle was redesigned, including the platform at its bottom.

The surrounding area of Santa Maria’s Church was also redesigned to provide a public space that could foster its appropriation as a privileged stage for performances and other cultural activities. The material that is thoroughly used in this area is limestone, the same used in the main landmarks, the Castle and the Church’s ruins.

To work as a connector between these areas, a cafeteria was designed, proving thus an additional element to attract visitors to the area. To highlight its singular role in the overall intervention, the cafeteria was built using a metallic structure and finished with corten steel panels both on its façades and roofs.

It embodies, thus, the design’s strategy of affirming the new against the pre-existing preserving, however, the identity of the place. With this project we aimed at creating a delicate balance between nature and artefact.

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Here are some photographs of a renovated fortress in northern Italy that now features patinated steel bridges, an extended underground tunnel and concrete towers.

Austrian Italian architects Markus Scherer and Walter Dietl overhauled the site in 2009, when it hosted a regional exhibition.

The fortified site was originally constructed in the nineteenth century by the Habsburg family, who were nervous about revolutionary iedas spreading from France and catching on in their own neighbourhood.

Since then, it has been used as a gunpowder depot, army territory and as a venue for the 2008 European contemporary art biennale.

Two sandblasted concrete towers with horizontal fissures lead visitors through to a ticket office, shop, bar, restaurant and exhibition area.

Restored vaults provide exhibition rooms with newly exposed brick arches and steel staircases.

One of these staircases leads down into the extended underground tunnel, which was apparently once used to hide gold stolen from the Bank of Italy.

Steel bridges emerge from windows to create external routes between first and second floor rooms, crossing an artificial lake.

Elsewhere, the granite walls of all existing buildings onsite have been restored, while roofs have been waterproofed.

Other stories about renovated castles and strongholds include a castle converted into a mountain museum - see all our stories about castles here.

See also: our recent feature about about caves and grottoes.

Photography is by Alessandra Chemollo.

Here are some more details from Markus Scherer:

The Fortress of Franzensfeste

“Begun under Francis I in the year 1833 – completed by Ferdinand I in the year 1838”, reads the Latin inscription over the gate of the fortress. In just five years, over 6,000 workers and soldiers built a blocking position at one of the narrowest points in the Eisack valley. It has the dimensions of a small town and, with a surface area of 20 hectares, is the largest fortification in the Alpine region. With this monumental defensive work the Habsburgs hoped to halt the advance of the revolutionary changes provoked by the French revolution. Designed by regimental engineer Franz von Scholl, it consists of three autonomous sections: the upper, middle and lower fortress levels. It has clear and simple classicist lines; it is functional and impregnable. As the military threat did not materialise in the decades following its construction, however, the fortress rapidly lost its importance. By the end of the 19th century it was merely used as a powder depot. In 1918 Franzensfeste came under Italian rule and was used by the army until 2003.

Acquired by the province of South Tyrol, new opportunities for the preservation of this cultural monument have arisen: the former fortress is intended to become a place for meetings and cultural exchanges. In 2008 it was one of the four venues for the European biennale of contemporary art, Manifesta 7, and in 2009 it hosted the South Tyrolean regional exhibition.

The Meran architect Markus Scherer prepared the lower fortress level for Manifesta 7, an exhibition surface area of over 3600 m². Preservation of the buildings and the character of the fortress was paramount. The huge granite blocks making up the walls were restored, the roofs waterproofed and the windows repaired. Walled-off spaces were opened up and later additions removed. The size and extent of the complex are not at first obvious from the courtyard behind the main gate. The monolithic structures with small, regularly spaced window apertures are on different levels around the compound, connected by ramps. The lowest are lapped by the dark waters of the adjacent artificial lake. New galvanised steel railings and staircases have improved safety. Two windowless concrete towers with lifts and staircases link the buildings. The surfaces and the material used interpret the historical building method anew: they are concreted in irregular 30-70 cm sections, with a fine layer of sand between each. These layers were flushed out to produce an irregular horizontal joint pattern and granite sand was used to adapt the towers to the surrounding colour, with the surface roughened by sandblasting.

Click above for larger image

These objects, with their military numbering, now accommodate a visitor centre with a ticket office and shop, as well as a bar, restaurant, a play area for children and, last but not least, a large exhibition area. Visitors to Manifesta are greeted by a seemingly endless series of rooms. The carefully restored vaults of exposed brick-work and the plastered walls, some decorated with murals, have retained the aura of the past. On one of the walls can be read “Immer vorwärts!”, always forwards, understandable in every language spoken in the Empire: let modern art breathe fresh life over the walls! New items such as grilles, handrails, doors and the two free-floating bridges over the lake, connecting two buildings, are all constructed of galvanised, patinated steel: the existing elements form a pleasant context for their cloudy black coloration.

Click above for larger image

The existing tunnel, where the Bank of Italy’s stolen gold was found, was extended and a 22-metre long vertical shaft driven through the rock to connect the lower to the middle fortress. The black concrete stairway with its golden handrail (Kunst am Bau (The Art of Building) by Manfred Alois Mayr) spirals upwards like a sculpture.

Click above for larger image

The stairs and lift end in the partially destroyed powder magazine. This was redesigned as the new entrance building, while the new adjacent building of compressed concrete (coloured to match the existing construction through the use of granite sand) provides the outside edges of the missing sections and contains all the sanitary and technical areas for the middle fortress.

Click above for larger image

The remaining buildings have as far as possible been left as they were found. Only certain elements such as safety grilles, rails and ramps have been added and these, as in the lower fortress, are of galvanised, patinated steel.

Client: Autonome Provinz Bozen
Project managment: Arch. Josef March (main coordinator)
Geom. Hans Peter Santer (Project leader)
Hbpm Ingenieure - Ing. Julius Mühlögger, Ing. Gunnar Holzer (Project leader)

Architect: Markus Scherer, Meran with Walter Dietl, Schlanders
Construction supervisor: Markus Scherer, Meran – Klaus Plattner, Bozen
Collaborator: Heike Kirnbauer, Elena Mezzanotte
Structural engineering: Baubüro-Klaus Plattner, Bozen
Safety coordinator: Günther Rienzner, Bozen
Electrical and domestic engineering: Planconsulting, Burgstall
Finishing: 05.2009
Location: Festung Franzensfeste, Franzensfeste

See also:

.

Messner Mountain Museum by EM2	Museum Extension by Nieto Sobejano	Jaffa Flat by Pitsou Kedem

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and Walter Dietl appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch architects Concrete designed flattened parasols of rusted steel to shelter the terraced restaurant outside a historic castle in Girona, Spain.

The canopy is composed of twelve steel-coated discs that overlap one another to cover up to 200 diners at the restaurant.

Gaps between circles on the canopy surface are filled with glass.

Transparent curtains can be hung around the parasols to provide additional protection from the wind.

Surrounding the courtyard is the fourteenth century castle, which was converted into a boutique hotel back in 1999.

This story is our third in recent months to feature a converted castle - see our earlier stories about castles converted into museums in Germany and in the Alps.

Photography is by Ewout Huibers.

More information has been provided by the architects:

Program: a terrace covering to accommodate 200 people.

Short design story

Hotel Castell D’emporda located in Girona, Spain offers a signature restaurant including a large terrace with great views over the surrounding landscape. Concrete designed, at the clients’ request, a roof or covering for this terrace with the possibility to create an enclosed space with full wind and rain protection. One of the design conditions was to create a covering that works in harmony with the historical and listed building. Additionally we wanted to maintain the terrace feeling while be seated under the covering.

Click above for larger image

In principle a terrace is an outdoor space where one can enjoy the weather. If necessary, you need a parasol for sun or rain protection, but there is almost no obstruction between the visitor and the view. The solution was to create abstract parasols. 12 Circles in divers diameters are placed randomly on the terrace. Where the circles touch they melt together, the open spaces between circles are filled in with glass. The circular parasol shapes enhance the feeling of being in an outdoor environment on a terrace. The shape of the covering appears as a separate almost temporary element, leaving the ancient building untouched.

A glass roof or a winter garden would to much become a building, create a feeling being inside a structure and would also appear as an extension of the building, damaging the ancient character.

The top and edge of the parasols are made in rusted steel, seeking harmony with the ancient building and the natural environment. The white painted steel columns and ceiling create an open and light outdoor atmosphere under the parasols. Transparent sliding curtains can be hung easily in colder periods but always stay open. When the mistral winds suddenly appear the whole terrace can be closed in a couple of minutes.

Round and square marble tables and two white leather lounge couches create different seating facilities. Underneath one parasol a circular outdoor bar is placed. The restaurant now has his own name: Margarit.

Click above for larger image

History Castell d'Emporda

Castell d’emproda was build in 1301 on a hill nearby the small city of La Bisbal close to Girona (Spain). The castle has been owned for centuries by the Margarit family. In 1973 Salvador Dali wanted to buy the castell for his wife, but the owner refused a payment in artworks. Since 1999 Castell d’emporda has been transformed into a boutique hotel.

Project: Castell D’emporda
Client: Albert Diks, Margo Vereijken - Castell D’emporda - La Bisbal, Girona

Concept, architecture and interior: Concrete
Office address: Rozengracht 133 III
Postal code: 1016 lv
City: Amsterdam
Country: the Netherlands

Project team concrete: Erikjan Vermeulen, Rob Wagemans, Cindy Wouters, Melanie Knuewer

Advisors:
Building regulations: Figa Arquitectos - Girona
Structural advice: Bellapart Construction - Olot

Contractors and suppliers:
Steel construction and corten steel: Bellapart Construction - Olot
Groundwork, ceilingwork and electrical: Burgos Gasull – la bisbal
Transparant curtains: Iaso - Lieida
Bar, loungeseating and tables: Roord Binnenbouw - Amsterdam
chairs: Academia - Italy
lighting: Modular

Covered area: 250m2
First briefing: januari 2011
Opening: june 2011
Duration of construction: 2 months

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