Great Egyptian Museum Competition | Frama

Mysterious organic forms emerge out of flowing sand dunes, shimmering objects, which might be covered by sand and be revealed again the next day. Crater like circular rings, with tilted edges that keep the traveling sand away are surrounding parks with obelisks and statues from ancient Egypt. Urban Environments proposal for the Grand Egyptian Museum takes the visitor through an unexpected journey.

The design of the Great Egyptian Museum derives from an algorithm related to traveling sand dunes and the surrounding rock formations, which are found in the deserts of northern Africa and in particular on the site. A self-organizing structure, resulting in freely formed organic shapes that emerge from the
surrounding sand dunes. The dialectic termination that respects the character of the landscape and its history in adding a new idiomatic feature creates a strong contrast to the geometric shape of the nearby pyramids. This ties the museum strongly to its place, yet formally keeping the building free of any
cultural association.

The diverse Souk-like circulation patterns have the advantage of permitting the visitor either to have a comprehensive experience of the whole exhibition or to pursue any number of meandering routes. The main entrance-hall is the mediator between the complex organizational system, the inside and the
outside of the museum. It is a wide and open space with connections and
visual relationships to the exhibition and the circular parks.......more

The extension of the Kunsthall in Bremen | Frama

The extension of the Kunsthall in Bremen is a building that evokes a sense of mystery through its ability to seamlessly integrate with its surroundings, yet maintain a sense of architectural autonomy.

The language of the extension is articulated through the dichotomy of its main interior spaces: the open light-flooded circulation areas and the closed cubic exhibition areas. This results in a differentiated sculpture, which is wrapped by a partly transparent, partly mirroring façade. This main gesture fragments the reflection of the environment on the building exterior and on the walls of the interior exhibition cube. These distorted reflections of reality, evocative of Dan Graham’s mirrored sculptures and Andy Warhol’s camouflage portraits, stimulate the imagination of the visitors yet integrate the building into the surrounding park and existing museum.

On an urban scale, the addition is carefully planned to portray the relationship between the park and the city, through its setback from the street and museum. The building mass is carefully placed to capitalize on the urban qualities of the site and re-introduce the continuity of the green belt surrounding the city of Bremen. While its façade blends the building into the park, its engaging sculptural quality and urban setting renders the building as an attractor, inviting visitors to the new exhibition complex. The architectural language of the Kunsthall addition is such that it respects and preserves the delicate site conditions, yet adds a strong contemporary counterpart to the existing museum......more

Urban Island Osaka By FRAMA Architects BDA

The strategy for the transformation of the 24-ha Umeda Cargo Station into a dynamic landscape uses architecture to facilitate a lively urban condition. Being close to the transportation node of Osaka Station, which 2.5 million passengers use daily, the design creates a synergetic model to introduce density and heighten the urban experience by directly drawing on its immediate surroundings.

Through 3D modification, the dynamic layouts of the existing cargo station train tracks are depicted through a series of volumetric adaptations. The resultant spaces extend over the landscape like fingers towards Osaka Station. These projections create a single architectural entity, further densified through the placement of three multi-use towers situated at the southern perimeter. The Triple Towers directly face the Yodogawa River and provide ample city views for visitors to enjoy.

This resulting “urban island” is therefore connected to Osaka station visa-vie a diverse new public park system situated between the dynamic volumes of the track projections. These urban gardens foster a variety of recreational, social and cultural experiences, while acting as a lung for the new complex and a mediator between the human and architectural scale. The driving concept behind this design is depicted through the relationship of the main promenade, which is sealed off from the surrounding traffic and the surrounding gardens. The public walkway therefore acts as the pedestrian circulation system and the gardens act as the attractors, inviting visitors to meander in from Osaka Station.

The design effectively takes advantage of urban diversity and dynamism through the integration of density in both the vertical and horizontal scales. The analogous architectural and spatial relationship between the infrastructural, park, and tall building system provides an iconographic image for the new city quarter....visit FRAMA