Blog: Back in of the keyboard and ready to go...

By Kirsten Kiser, Editor-In-Chief, arcspace.com

kk - Back in of the keyboard and ready to go
Before my longer than expected work/vacation trip I told you we are going to start weekly features about the work of the younger generation of architects who will be designing our environment for the 21st Century.

We have already featured the work of Studio Granda from Reykjavik and Søren Robert Lund from Denmark and talked about the architects Berger + Parkkinen from Austria who designed the Master Plan for the Nordic Embassy Complex in Berlin as well as the joint exhibition House at the Complex. You can look forward to hear a lot more about their work.

In the planning stage are features from Artto Palo Rossi Tikka from Finland, Marc Barani and Manuelle Gautrand from France, Crosson Clarke Architects from New Zealand, Edge from China, Jarmund/Vigsnæs from Norway, Mathias Klotz from Chile and many more.

A project by Manuelle Gautrand, France

My next feature for DA is the Esbjerg Concert Hall in Denmark; a collaboration between Jørn Utzon with his son and partner Jan Utzon. The impressive white building stands in a park in the center of the city with a view over the harbor and the sea.

Photo courtesy Jan Utzon The Esbjerg Music Hall

As we are only a few month away from the opening of Bo01, The City of Tomorrow, I will be going across the Øresund Bridge to Sweden frequently. The City of Tomorrow, situated on the best site in Malmö, Sweden with views of the Øresund Bridge and Copenhagen, consists of two parts; a permanent housing area, with about 800 new apartments, and an exhibition site. The whole expanse covers about 30 hectares.
Included in the scheme is the Turning Torso by Santiago Calatrava and buildings by Mario Campi of Zürich, Moore Ruble Yudell of Santa Monica with Bertil Öhrström of FFNS, Gert Wingårdh and Ralph Erskine from Sweden and the young Danish architects Kim Dalgaard and Tue Traerup Madsen.

The Bo01 Plan. Turning Torso by Santiago Calatrava is Nr. 13.

P.S. My first night back I had dinner with documentary producer Anne Gyrithe Bonne and her husband architect Jens Ladegaard, to meet Denmark Tungwana from Cape Town. Yes, his first name is Denmark because his father, one of the many unknown African soldiers who joined the allies during the Second World War, admired the courage of the Danish resistance.
Denmark is now Deputy Director of the Robben Island Museum and is also heading the fund raising for "The Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island"; a memorial building on the waterfront of Cape Town. Robben Island is where Mandela was kept prisoner for 18 years and also where Denmark was a prisoner for 7 years.
Denmark came for dinner because Anne Gyrithe Bonne is working on a documentary, "The Will to Live", about human rights defenders which will include an interview with Nelson Mandela. I was thinking that arcspace and all of you from around the world visiting arcspace could help raise the money for the building. If we all, over 600,000 visitors a month, give as little as $1 we can make a big difference.

Think about it and I will give you all the Foundation information very soon.
kk