Sanaa architecture firm won competition to design AGNSW 'Sydney Modern Project'

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

Check this out! Fantastic news...

They design very beautiful, sensitive-to-their-purpose buildings..

http://www.archdaily.com/tag/sanaa/

oh and this.......

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/tokyos-sanaa-architects-win-art-gallery-of-nsw-sydney-modern-design-compet...

[i-need-a-martini]

I'm not a fan of their work. They design structures for the sake of structures rather than for purpose.

They are what we call 'competition architects'. They enter all the global competitions (and yes they win a lot) in the hope of getting your name known globally and in the hope someone will actually give you a job. Competition winners usually design hard to build structures but then fail to deliver on function and practicality. A good example was the MCA in Sydney - they won the compettion but couldn't deliver design documentation. Neither did their design address the heritage of the building.

I was very pleased when they got ditched off the project.

And now they have won the AGNSW project with a design that looks exactly like all their other designs. All that glass looks beautiful but it means the gallery won't be able to actually display any art in it because of damaging light and issues of humidity control.

I dunno...

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

I dont agree..

I am a big fan. I have visited the 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa, the New Museum in New York, the pavilion for the Serpentine in London and the Christian Dior store in Omotesando, Tokyo. 

All these buildings are different and yet have similarities..their use of transparency and materials and yes, they do use glass, and often long corridors, but for me its about seeing it used as a skin between interior and exterior...there is a restraint as well, and a typically Japanese understated, unadorned beauty. As far as not being able to display art due to lighting and climate control, the New Museum had no difficulty in producing spaces that fell away from the artwork to great effect. Photographs show the reflections and the austerity and the design can look quite cold, its when the spaces are inhabited and adorned that they can be better understood.

As far as being seen to be 'competition architects' that is not what my friends who are architects think. They are really happy that Sanaa are being given the opportunity to work here in Australia- the firms they work for also apply for competitions- its a way of competing for larger and more interesting jobs with bigger budgets, and of course gaining publicity and more projects. I cant agree with 'competition winners usually design hard to build structures but then fail to deliver on function and practicality' There are plenty of public buildings that fail to deliver on function and practicality, and most of them have not been designed by 'competition winners'

My memory of the fiasco that was the competition for the new MCA, is different..I remember that there was a problem with the site due to some dockyards(historic?) which were not included in the original plans of the site. Sanaa designed a building that won the competition, and then when told their plans needed to be altered due to the dockyards being retained, they were unable to alter details which were paramount to their design, and the cost of changing the foundations due to the dockyards being retained wouldnt be met by an increased budget. They won the competition, and then the opportunity was taken from them.

The next winning firm, Sauerbruch Hutton won the re-held competition for the MCA and their project didnt go ahead, even though they won! because they wanted to demolish part of the original MCA, and there was a public outcry. Its funny to recall how many people suddenly wanted that old Maritime Services Board building to be protected- it definitely increased the attendance.. 

Finally,(3rd time lucky) the competition was re-re-held and Sam Marshall in partnership with the NSW Government Architects won and the new wing for the MCA was built.

Im not saying for a moment that Marshalls design is better or worse than what Sanaa or Sauerbruch Hutton would have achieved. All 3 firms won the same opportunity, they were all design winners for the same project. Only one was successful in seeing their work built.

For others who may not know of this firm, they have won the Golden Lion at Venice and also the Pritzker Prize.

This is a list of the other firms:

Candalepas Associates Sydney 

David Chipperfield Architects London 

Fender Katsalidis Melbourne 

Herzog & de Meuron Basel 

Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA Tokyo 

Kengo Kuma & Associates Tokyo 

Kerry Hill Architects Singapore 

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos Madrid 

RPBW (Renzo Piano Building Workshop) Genoa 

RMA Architects (Rahul Mehrotra Architects) Mumbai 

Sean Godsell Architects Melbourne 

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects New York

I would like to see Sean Godsell Architects and Herzog & de Meurons projects too.

[icyfroth]

Do they know about boiling water in the microwave?

[Anonymous]

it will look amazing

[lloydslights]

Drive-thru Art Gallery - Would you like a Still Life with that?

DEB

[bright.ton42]

They enter all the global competitions (and yes they win a lot) in the hope of getting your name known globally and in the hope someone will actually give you a job

And that's wrong...  because?

[bright.ton42]

Yes Youcan .."unadorned beauty",   Stunning work.   Thanks so much for the links and explanations.

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

You are welcome bright! -

I think it will be a very successful building..its good to talk about these big projects- when Federation Square was built, everyone here in Melbourne had an opinion- from taxi drivers, to artists and of course architects..I remember realising that one of the real issues for people looking at the building was the fractal geometry architecture..it seemed a lot of people hated it. It wasnt the scale, the interior spaces or the footprint, the biggest issue was not even the price (which was something like 4 times the original budget!!) though this was also remarked on. 

I dont hate it, but I do have problems with the colour of the sandstone they used..perhaps in time it will weather and look less like elastoplast (!) but it has striations in the stone that compete with the angles, I see the building quite regularly, and have noticed it has kind of settled in, with more and more activity in the environment..

It can be difficult to view art there- the architecture can encroach on the interior spaces in a way that is too dominating, but I have also been surprised by shows there, seeing what the installation crew are able to do to alter the interiors from exhibition to exhibition can be fascinating, and definitely pushes the experience for the visitor.

[bright.ton42]

It's interesting seeing Federation Square in the way you've described it ....the striations in the stone competing with the angles, that's a good point., I hadn't thought of it like that.   .

I disliked it intensely when I first saw it but I must say it is growing on me in time.  I like the use of light inside in that it gives an airy spacious feel.     (not too good at describing architecture, better with art)  I don't recall what the other submissions looked like to compare it with.  I can see what you mean by the architecture competing with artworks though.