Iconic shape of building relates with old city fabric - Essay Example

Iconic shape of building relates with old fabric: The Kunsthaus Garz The Kunsthaus Garz is a cultural building that merged architecture and design in one. A product of a contest won by a group called Spacelab commissioned for the 2003 European Capital of Culture celebrations when Garz, Austria was named such, it was a design depicting a blue bubble. It was created by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, a project that at once was seen as impossible to make. As an urban project, it took modern methods of design and building to be finished in its semi-liquid, organic form, using sailing design method called 3dl (Stangl, 3).

Garz is one of the more important cities for the Slovene, in Austria, and considered as even more symbolical than Ljubljana in Slovenia. A student city for the huge daytime population of its six universities, Garz is a mix of old, historical architecture and new one, with Kunsthaus representing the new side. It is currently used as an arts and culture center focused on contemporary arts (Cook and Fournier, 11). It fits as another modern architecture for Garz as it did not follow conventional building methods but took from ship building as well as design of curves as popularized by the CAD program.

The curved designs were cast and the materials were made of fiber glass using pressurized structure. As a portion of a city, the Kunsthaus Garz continues a tradition that made Garz what it is today – a popular destination for rich cultural exploration. Some of the more historical buildings include the clock tower, Karl-Franzens Universitat or the Charles-Francis University, the University of Graz, and another contemporary urban project the Mur Island. Built environment is integral on the formation of cities or the urbanization process.

Earlier attempts at populating and developing one area prior to becoming a city includes massive infrastructure projects including buildings, transportation, housing, and the many elements that complete a city center: industries or forms of employment, commercial areas, education, religious, culture and arts. This is where the Kunsthaus Garz enters- as a modern symbolism for culture. Whereas many urban areas today are undergoing rehabilitation or redevelopment for their existence has reached their limit, the Kunsthaus Garz is a continuation of urbanization as it is not yet considered a sustainability problem.

Its immediate environment contributed to the Kunsthaus Garz identity and use for it still has not reached its expiration period. Until then, it will hope to represent “contemporary” or “modern” design as it is understood today. It was not designed to blend with the historical aspect of Garz, but an anomaly to defy time and current trends. Like many before it, it represents an evolution, digital developments in design as represented in construction, reflecting the on-going trend of its time.

It is called a “friendly alien” for not conforming to the prevalent historic architecture of the city. Reference: Cook, Peter & Fournier, Colin. A Friendly Alien: Ein Kunsthaus fur Graz. Hatje Cantz Publishers. September 30, 2004. Print. Stangl, Gernot. Kunsthaus Garz. Gernot. Accessed June 2011 from http://gernot.xarch.at/kunsthaus_graz/ Web.