Contemporary Design News

News of Contemporary Design, Architecture and Interiors

Urban Design

WXCA to create ‘green district of the future’ on the site of a former car factory in Warsaw

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The 60-hectare FSO car factory in Warsaw, which manufactured 4 million cars over 60 years, is to be transformed into a green space accommodating 17,000 residents and providing employment for 13,000. Polish architects WXCA, collaborating with SAWAWA urban planners and Warsaw City Council have designed the masterplan for developers OKAM. The first phase of the project is scheduled for 2026, with completion expected by 2050.

The plan aims to foster a sense of community and establish a timeless, high-quality, living and working space 5km from the centre of Warsaw.

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Elementarna transforms a glassworks factory and the surrounding urban areas in Ptuj, Slovenia

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Slovenia-based architecture studio Elementarna, with headquarters in Ljubljana, has renovated the Old Glassworks buildings and upgraded the adjoining public spaces in the historic town of Ptuj, Slovenia. The Old Glassworks, with its courtyard, and the formal Vrazov trg square – an urban landmark for cultural events – along with the adjacent streets, connect Castle Hill, the town, and the river, creating a vibrant city.

The two halls of the Old Glassworks incorporate cantilevered folding doors, allowing the spaces to fully open up to the courtyard and forming flexible event spaces.

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Urbanizing Suburbia published by JOVIS

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JOVIS has published ‘Urbanizing Suburbia. Hyper-Gentrification, the Financialization of Housing and the Remaking of the Outer European City’. The book is edited by Tahl Kaminer, Leonard Ma and Helen Runting. Urbanizing Suburbia looks at how increasing house prices have displaced residents from inner cities, created opportunities that have changed densities and demographics in the suburbs,  and subsequently made outer cities less suburban. This is examined in the context of four European Cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm and London. Photo Berlin page 312 © Leonard Ma. JOVIS

Urbanizing Suburbia Stockholm streetscape (c) Rutger Sjogrim
Stockholm streetscape. Page 335 © Rutger Sjogrim
Urbanizing Suburbia JOVIS (c) Anna Bateson
London suburb. Page 325 © Anna Bateson
JOVIS Urbanizing Suburbia Cover
Urbanizing Suburbia cover

Christ & Ganterbein design a new bridge in Aarau, Switzerland

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Architects Christ & Ganterbein, with headquarters in Basel, have designed the new Aare Bridge in Aarau, northern Switzerland. The new bridge replaces a concrete bridge from 1949 and forms an urban public space at the entrance to the historic old town. Drawing inspiration from the stone buildings of Aarau, the bridge features a seamless reinforced concrete design with geometry that minimises the use of concrete.

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