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24 August 2010

V&A at Dundee : Making it happen - exhibition of short-listed designs

An exhibition of models and design concepts for the V&A at Dundee will be held at the University of Abertay Dundee from September 29th.

The 'V&A at Dundee - Making it Happen' exhibition will feature work from the six shortlisted teams of world-class architects and designers who have put forward outstanding ideas for a landmark building that will house the V&A at Dundee and dominate Dundee’s waterfront.

The V&A at Dundee will be Scotland’s leading centre for design. Remarkable design requires a remarkable home, and the public are invited to get involved with shaping this project by giving their views on the proposals

The six shortlisted companies who will be featured in the exhibition are:

  • Delugan Meissl Associated Architects
  • Kengo Kuma & Associates
  • REX
  • Snøhetta
  • Steven Holl Architects
  • Sutherland Hussey Architects

They were shortlisted from more than 120 entries to an international design competition. The teams will have models and descriptions of their designs on display.

'This is another exciting step forward for the V&A at Dundee and it is a first chance for us all to see the potential shape and style of the building, as envisioned by six world-class design teams,' said Lesley Knox, Chair of Design Dundee Ltd, the company which has been established to drive the V&A at Dundee project forward, and Chair of the jury panel who will select the winning design team.

'We hope as many people as possible visit the exhibition and express their opinions on the various models and designs. The Centre will occupy a prime site on the Waterfront, which must be one of the most dramatic settings in Scotland, and we intend to have a building which is worthy of the site.'

The exhibition will be held in the University of Abertay Dundee library in Bell Street, Dundee, from September 29th to November 4th. All are welcome to visit the exhibition and admission is free.

The winning design will be chosen by the jury panel before the close of the exhibition.

The V&A at Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a ground-breaking partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum - the world’s greatest museum of art and design - and the University of Dundee, the University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise.

The V&A at Dundee is looking to create a landmark building, which will be sited at Craig Harbour right on the banks of the River Tay. The site is being made available through the Dundee Central Waterfront Partnership, the joint venture between Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise which is revitalising the prime area of land linking the city centre with the River Tay.

Designers were invited to make proposals for a building that reflects the V&A at Dundee project partnership’s desire to stimulate commerce as well as local and visitor interest.

The V&A at Dundee will:

  • be a rich and inspiring resource for design and creativity.
  • attract visitors from Dundee, Scotland and further afield to world-class travelling and permanent exhibitions.
  • improve the attractiveness of Dundee and its region to business.

Opening hours for the exhibition will be:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 am to 9 pm
Wednesday 9 am to 5 pm
Saturday - Sunday 10 am to 5 pm

NOTES FOR EDITORS

V&A at Dundee - Making it Happen
Six designs - One City - Your chance to shape the future
September 29th to November 4th
University of Abertay Dundee Library
Bell Street, Dundee

Opening hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 am to 9 pm
Wednesday 9 am to 5 pm
Saturday - Sunday 10 am to 5 pm

Admission free

www.VandAatDundee.com.

THE SHORTLISTED TEAMS

Delugan Meissl
Delugan Meissl Associated Architects were formed 15 years ago and are based in Vienna. Their first major buildings were two large-scale housing projects in Vienna: the 'Beam', built in 1998 and the 'Mischek Tower', which was completed two years later. More recent projects include the Global Headquarter Sandoz of the Novartis Company (2003), 'Ray1', the often published house on a rooftop near Vienna’s city centre, the 'City Lofts' and the 'High Rise' in the Wienerberg district.

Besides multiple successes in international competitions, Delugan Meissl’s contribution for the first Architecture Biennal in China attracted international attention. The completion of the new Porsche Museum, the forthcoming building of the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam and an ex-aequo first-prize selection for the 'Darat King Abdullah II Cultural Center' of Amman, Jordan (2008) are evidence of the firm’s further steps into international work.

Delugan Meissl is based on an open structure which encourages interaction and interdisciplinary exchange which are in their view crucial parameters for each professional challenge they face. They believe that interaction between disciplines such as natural sciences, arts and music leads to the most creative new results and to surprising coherences. Their structure resembles a wide spread network rather than a hierarchic organization, in which each member contributes by sharing their ideas and using their specific talents and abilities. According to this general approach, their office cooperates with individually formed groups of renowned partners and specialists for the realisation of international projects.

The design team led by Delugan Meissl includes Wenzel+Wenzel (Germany), Werner Sobek (Germany) and Büro Kiefer (Germany).

Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma & Associates is a middle-size architectural practice founded in 1990 in Japan with their European offices based in Paris. They are involved in a wide range of design scales from furniture and product design to architecture and urban scale planning.

Kengo Kuma is a Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Tokyo and has won many awards including the prestigious Architectural Institute of Japan Award in 1997. His stated goal is to recover the design of traditional buildings and to reinterpret it for the 21st century utilising the inspiration of light and nature to help achieve this.

The essence of their approach is the use of natural materials in order to create airy, open spaces filled with sunlight. They believe that their architecture must be flexible and open; structures must harmonize with and be "friendly" towards the human body. Everything must be light and gentle; from the planning of the structure and the ventilation system to the designing of the way light filters through the building. These principles are the complete opposite of what a concrete building normally stands for. Only by taking this path do they believe architecture finally blends into and becomes one with nature.

Two recent examples of this approach are; the 12,000sqm Art Museum for the City of Nagasaki in Japan completed by Kuma in 2005, and their designs for the Contemporary Arts Centre in Marseille, France, which is currently under construction.

Kengo Kuma’s team for the V&A project includes cre8architecture (Scotland), ARUP (UK), Optimised Environments Ltd (Scotland) and CBA (Scotland).

REX
REX is an internationally-acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City, USA. Their recently completed work includes the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre for the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas, and the Istanbul headquarters for Vakko and Power Media (Turkey’s preeminent fashion and media companies).

Other cultural projects in progress include Museum Plaza, a 62-story mixed-use skyscraper housing a contemporary art center in Louisville, Kentucky, and the new Central Library and Music Conservatory for the city of Kortrijk, Belgium. REX is designing a large residential development in Songdo Landmark City, South Korea.

Notably, within the past year REX received second prize in two international competitions; one for the new Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, and the other for the Finnish Innovation Fund’s Low2No sustainable development in Helsinki, Finland.

REX actively works at all scales of design, from the urban masterplan for Governors Island, an invitation-only design competition of 172 acres in New York City, USA, down to the tiny (Doll)House for Calvin Klein’s flagship store in New York City, USA.

REX was originally founded in 2000 by partners Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas as OMA New York, an American affiliate of the Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). In 2006, OMA New York severed its strategic alliance with OMA and Prince-Ramus renamed the firm REX. While serving as OMA New York’s Principal, Prince-Ramus was Principal in Charge of the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum, the Guggenheim Las Vegas Museum and the Seattle Central Library, hailed as Time magazine’s 2004 Building of the Year and by the New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp as 'the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review in more than 30 years of writing about architecture.' In 2005, the Seattle Central Library was awarded the top honours bestowed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the American Library Association (ALA). It also was the first LEED-Silver rated building of its type in the United States.

The REX design team for the V&A project also includes Magnusson Klemencic Associates (USA), DCI (USA), Buro Happold (UK), Bureau Bas Smets (Belgium), Lord Cultural Resources (USA) and Urban Splash Group (UK).

SNØHETTA
Snøhetta is an integrated architecture practice established in 1989 upon winning the international design competition for the Alexandria Library in Egypt. Since its completion in 2001, this historic building has received many awards and prizes, including the highly valued Aga Khan award in 2004. The company currently has around 120 people, based in Oslo with a smaller branch office in New York and soon to be represented in the Middle East.

The practice has a long track record of delivering world class arts and cultural buildings across the world. Their concern for cultural buildings has sustained the practice throughout its life and is reflected in their current portfolio that includes the 1,600 seat Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the World Trade Centre Museum in New York, and the Cultural House in Sandvika, Oslo.

Snøhetta’s long-standing experience in the international marketplace has been characterized by several unique characteristics. Its emphasis upon larger projects, especially larger international public projects such as theatres and museums has given it the capacity to create unique architectural designs using the most contemporary methods of planning. Snøhetta is equipped to undertake a holistic design process due to its rich mix of architecture, landscape and interior disciplines.

The Snøhetta multidisciplinary team for the V&A project includes Gareth Hoskins Architects (UK), Lord Cultural Resources (Canada), Davis Langdon (Scotland), Adams Kara Taylor (UK) and the BDSP Partnership (UK).

Steven Holl
Steven Holl Architects is a US-based, internationally recognised, design oriented firm with locations in New York and Beijing. Steven Holl founded the firm in 1976, and it now has a total staff of 50. The firm has been recognized with numerous awards, publications, and exhibitions for quality and excellence in design, including ten AIA (American Institute of Architects) National Honor Awards, 27 AIA regional awards, the 1998 Alvar Aalto Award, the 2001 Grande Medailles D’Or from the French Academie D’Architecture and the 2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.

Named by Time Magazine as America’s Best Architect, Steven Holl has a unique design sensibility for 'buildings that satisfy the spirit as well as the eye.' SHA specializes in works for the arts and higher education such as the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki, Finland); the University of Iowa’s School of Art & Art History; Seattle University’s Chapel of St. Ignatius; and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO), which The New Yorker calls 'one of the best museums of the last generation.” Recently, SHA completed the Linked Hybrid (Beijing, China); the Herning Center for the Arts (Herning, Denmark); and the Knut Hamsun Center (Hamarøy, Norway). The firm’s current work includes a new building at the Glasgow School of Art (with jmarchitects), the Arts Building West at the University of Iowa, and the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at Princeton University.

The design team led by Steven Holl includes jmarchitects (Scotland), Guy Nordenson & Associates (USA), ARUP (Scotland), Thomas & Adamson (Scotland), Michael van Valkenburgh Associates (USA) and Transsolar Energietechnik (Germany).

Sutherland Hussey
Sutherland Hussey Architects was established in 1997 and is based in Edinburgh. The office has a diverse range of work ranging from large urban planning proposals and public and private commissions to small one-off commissions for private clients. Their portfolio of projects has come about through thirteen years of building up a reputation for high quality design. Although they have yet to receive significant commissions in Scotland, their skills and commitment are bearing fruit abroad and they now have a wide portfolio of work ranging from Master-planning to the design of Embassies, Hotels, Museums, Factories, Commercial developments and residential work.

Completed projects to date include private residences (The Barnhouse, Highgate, was awarded the AJ First Building Award at the 2002 Stirling Prize ceremony), an Art Gallery in Inverness and a cheese factory in Cornwall (also being awarded an RIBA award and the Civic Trust Special Award in the ‘rural buildings’ category in 2003). Their arts project in Tiree was awarded the RSA Gold Medal, a RIBA Regional Award , the RIAS Architecture award, and was short-listed for both the Stirling Prize in 2003 and the Mies van der Rohe Award for Architecture in 2005. It was also recently featured in the Guardian’s round-up of the last decade of architecture and was featured on a Royal stamp.

More recently they have been working on two major museums in China which are both now under construction. In 2007 Sutherland Hussey won the International Competition to design the Chengdu City Museum in Sichuan, China. This 60,000sqm museum includes gallery space, puppet theatre, administrative facilities and commercial outlets. In 2008 they were appointed as architects for a £25m Archaeological Museum in Neihulang, Inner Mongolia, China.

The V&A design team led by Sutherland Hussey includes 3DReid Architects (Scotland), AECOM (Scotland), Morham & Brotchie (Scotland), Gross Max (Scotland) and KSLD (Scotland).

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The jury panel which decided on the shortlist was:

  • Lesley Knox (Chair)
  • Mike Galloway
  • Graeme Hutton - Dean of the School of Architecture, University of Dundee
  • Moira Gemmill - Director of Projects & Design, V&A
  • Jill Farrell - Regional Operations Director, Scottish Enterprise
  • Professor Nicholas Terry - Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Abertay Dundee
  • Jim Eyre - Wilkinson Eyre Architects

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University of Dundee
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