Whether a Capsule Hotel or Trade Fair Stand: Less Is More

educed to the essentials, space means no more and no less than a section of a building enclosed by walls, floor and ceiling. But how much space do we really need – on a business trip, on vacation, at work, to live? Can we say, the more the merrier? Or should we take literally the Japanese proverb ”Dai wa sho o kaneru“: Less is more? The discussion of such questions is stimulated not least by the growing density of cities and the realization that square meters alone does not qualify judgement about the quality of a room. In the end, it totally depends on what you make of it – and not just in Japan.

The Ninehours hotel in Kyoto is a perfect example. They very simply and visually bring’ it to the point: 1h + 7h + 1h. Sometimes the modern traveler needs a hotel only for sleeping. Perhaps to take a shower in the evening upon arrival and to freshen up the next morning before moving on. Capsule hotels such as ”ninehours“ have emerged due to the scarcity of affordable hotels in densely populated Japanese metropolitan areas. With their extremely minimalistic concept, they have not only filled a niche, but have also turned into a tourist attraction.

TEXT ANDREA WALBURG

KEY DATA

PLACE Kyoto, Japan

PROJECT REALIZED IN 2015 PROGRAM Hotel

RECOMMENDED BY imb-troschke, Germany www.imb-troschke.de

After competing plans and differences of opinion over what to do with the former Palacio de Correos, a proposal arose to build a new urban unit –a civic space with value and identity to reverse the condition of fragmentation and deterioration of perhaps the most emblematic area the city – transforming it into a cultural link between the historic city center and the area of Puerto Madero.

After competing plans and differences of opinion over what to do with the former Palacio de Correos, a proposal arose to build a new urban unit – a civic space with value and identity to reverse the condition of fragmentation and deterioration of perhaps the most emblematic area the city –transforming it into a cultural link between the historic city center and the area of Puerto Madero.

The old post office building was designed as a freestanding object. A proposal from B4FS Studio meant that the new Cultural Centre of the Bicentennial would become a key element in the spatial composition of the new Urban Park. The old building was made into an active and vibrant building to pass through, blending with the city from a plane of use split into several levels accessible to passerbys from the park. It would again become, as it was in the past, an iconic object within the city.

B4FS found value in the heritage and history of this academic building, and felt it should be maintained.

They preserved the building‘s representative visual aspect; its order, symmetry, planes and edges. There is no sense of modern intrusion; its exterior and ceremonial areas of the palatial interior are preserved in full.

In the back of the building is the complex prism (two-thirds of the building on Calle Corrientes) that conforms to the original technical function and is complimented by an architecture and industrial technology which allows greater use, allowing for the space necessary for the location of the contemporary art programs. The functionality allows for multiple configurations of museum rooms of different sizes and shapes, thereby accommodating the various contemporary art productions, and rooms for symphonic and chamber music, a gallery and restaurants.

Centro Cultural del Bicentenario (Bicentennial Cultural Centre)

Refurbishment and conversion of former Post and Telecommunication Palace and ideas for its surrounding area. TEXT DODECAEDRO

KEY DATA

PLACE Buenos Aires, Argentina

AWARDS

First prize, international competition, 2006

PROJECT REALIZED IN 2006

TEAM

Enrique Bares, Federico Bares , Nicolás Bares, Daniel Becker, Claudio Ferrari, Florencia Schnack

PROGRAM Cultural Center

RECOMMENDED BY Dodecaedro Group, Argentina www.dodecaedrogroup.com

„Designing