Performing Arts Centre _ Chelmer Valley High School
Designed by Juliet Quintero, Julian Löffler and Jean Taek Park whilst at LCE Architects.



Jean Taek Park as a young boy witnesses a rapid growth and expansion of Seoul and destructions of existing urban fabrics and pristine nature. The blinded humanity penetrates into urban areas as well as deeper parts of countryside.

His architectural position derives from his educations in Korea and in the U.K.  In Korea he undertook apprenticeship for Prof. Yi Eun Young who has a strong pursuit of the essence of human beings and society in rationalist modern designs adopting basic geometric forms. In the U.K. He studied at the Architectural Association where rigorous architectural processes and thinking are more valued over the final result of a design product. In particular, Cinematic Architecture, architecture of light, duration, emotion and (de)materialisation, which is established by Pascal Schöning, significantly influences his latest thoughts. His AA Diploma project was awarded with Honours in 2006.

jtparchitecture

Bhola Tower + Floating Rice Field for 500 people in 2050

Idea

Rising sea level by global warmingis one of the most imminent& influential environmental crisiswhich will inevitably force usto reshapeour life on earth.It has been mainly causedby us human-being, especiallywho are living in developedcountries with more economicpower & technologies to adaptthose changes systemically than the world's other poor countries, which are relatively less responsible for this ongoingclimate changes.(According to research, Unites states produced more than 20%, while Bangladesh did 0.2% of global carbon footprints.)Bangladesh is one of these poor countries which are highly vulnerable to sea level rise, because it’s located in the world’slargest deltas of Ganges River. Due to this geological location, 80% of Bangladesh is flatlands, and 20% of them are located1 meter or less above the sea level.



According to research from UNEP, whose expected rise number is the most extreme case,there will be 17 million environmental refugees until 2030 by 1.5 meter sea level rises, while there might be 0.3 meter risetill 2030 per World Bank’s analysis. As a result of this various range of possible scenarios, this project is assuming 1 metersea level rise in 2050 as a possible future scenario. The shrinkage of habitable land is inevitable result of the sea level rise.




Nonetheless, this is not the only problem by that.First of all, Salinity intrusion is expanding the affected area by salted water and it directly affects their agriculturalproduction(mainly Rice), which is almost the only way for Bangladesh people make their ends meet.  In addition to those,monsoonal heavy rain & frequent cyclones keep causing flooding, and it accelerate the Erosion speed of land, which people ofBangladesh can live & grow crops on.



The loss of fertile croplands by erosion and salinity intrusion, deteriorated exponentiallyby sea level rise, directly means the food security of Bangladesh can be totally collapsed. Migration to other areas or othercountries might be one option for them to survive; however, high population density of Bangladesh and very strict border controlsby India due to severe historical conflicts between two countries are making the possibility of migration very weak.

SITE

The site, Bhola Island, is one of the largest islands of Bangladesh. This island is experiencing most of the environmental difficulties,which were mentioned above. By land erosion, half of the island had been washed away since 1960 and sea level rise in the Bayof Bengal is accelerating those aspects with expansion of saline land & water, while the population is getting larger.



As one of possible future solution for those environmental innocent people in Bhola Island, I suggest a self sustainable floating habitat,which is consisted of 30-story Tower, 70 ft radius Wind Turbine, 700 ft radius Floating Rice Field, Desalination Facility &35 ft deep Central Fresh Water Reservoir below the tower, Constructed Wetland for Phyto-remediation to reclaim gray wateron each floor of residential unit of the tower, Fog-Net to collect water from the air and small harbors.

ksharch studio

The Opera today not only represents our cultural identity, much more than that, it is there to form, shape and create our growing cultural awareness and manifestation. We set increasingly stronger demands to the institution; it is no longer just a passive playground for the elite but can become interactive, democratic, giving as much as it takes, responding to our ambitions and expectations. The Opera house can become the most essential cultural expression that we have in our developed urban societies.
The Opera in Busan is a place to meet, a place to be together in our common cultural context.



The Busan Opera house relies on our current experience of contemporary opera buildings, including the interactive attraction of an open and inviting typology. Some of the functions, especially its one level and horizontal functional layout is based on Snøhettas experience of designing easy flow and communications within such a building.

The form of the Busan Opera house is derived from its own context and culture.

The basis for the lay-out refers to Kun (Heaven) meeting Kon (Earth) which again meet Kam (Water). The classical trigrams of these elements both describe this site exceptionally well, whilst they refer to the historical and philosophical relationships that are of great importance to Korean culture. The slight bending of the surfaces in Snøhetta’s design are the bars of the trigrams slightly deformed to touch and meet each other in a subtle manner.

The geometry of the building consists of two opposing curves. The lower arching curve bridges the site and anchors the project in the ground. The upper embraces the sky and the Opera is created within the interplay of these surfaces, where the earth touches the sky and the mountains touch the sea. The four corners of the building connect the city and the cultural landmark to the sea.



Two of these corners are lifted to form an entrance from the city and an entrance from the sea. These entrances are linked in a continuous public space, flowing around the Opera house and out into the public plaza. The upper plane is lifted on the opposite diagonal to accommodate the programmatic volume and to create an exterior plane that both arches down to the City and the sea at the same time as it peels upwards to meet the sea and the sky.

The compactness and sustainable elements of the project have great importance on economy, sustainability and long-term maintenance of the building.

Building upon the typologies we have previously developed in Oslo the Opera in Busan is changing earlier perceptions of the relationship between opera institutions and its users and the public. By designing an open, inviting and participative building typology, Busan will mark the entrance into a new era of global contemporary architecture reflecting today’s values of equality and democracies, effectively contributing to civic and cultural life on a broad level.

Snøhetta will remain loyal to our contextual and landscape oriented designs also in the future, because we believe this typology to be the most relevant connector between a contemporary public and a contemporary architecture.