Square

Establishing Eleftheria Square as the city’s primary gathering space, Zaha Hadid Architects’ (ZHA) design creates new connections intended to unite a divided capital. Nicosia’s massive Venetian fortifications separate the old city from its modern districts, while the city’s ‘Green Line’ divides the capital into two disparate communities.

Musikhuset Esbjerg and Esbjerg Kunstmuseum have a new lively forecourt that encourages community and gathering around a cymatic pool. The new Henning G. Kruses Plads square is designed by BIG Landscape to celebrate the city’s relationship with the sea, characterized by both Esbjerg’s maritime history and Henning G. Kruse’s life.

Architects Roberta Jiraschek and Daniela Niederauer, from the Curitiba firm Sum Architecture, launch House. The authorial design piece brings the concept of urban kindness to the furniture: amidst the bustle of the city, the multifunctional furniture connects the user to the green of nature. Designed for the outdoor area, it provides a true sensory experience that promotes socialization. The clean and geometric design adapts to different uses and users.

In the last few decades, there has been an unprecedented scale of human migration on the land of China. Countless simple youths born in the countryside have left their native land, experienced drifting and tempering, and finally merged into the vast sea of people in the city, becoming a cornerstone of the urban development. However, there are 350,000 pieces of natural bamboo strips from the bamboo sea in the south of the Yangtze River coming to the northern metropolis after traveling about 1,200km, and setting up a stage to support Tianjin’s fashion life. This is an unexpected encounter between the rural nature and the metropolis, and also a long-lost reunion between the wandering youth and the source of life.

The new installation designed by TITAN is inspired by the relationship between form and balance established by architect Mathurin Crucy, who designed both the square and the theater in the late 18th century. Featuring a roller skating rink, this temporary structure has been adapted to the irregularities of the ground and plays with its natural slope, giving the square a renewed sense of centrality, and opening it up to hours of fancy-free skating. Measuring 38m in diameter, the main structure is made of prefabricated white concrete, while the rink track is poured-in-place white concrete.