The Design Advocate: /// PAR News ///

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PAR

Setup as a platform for exchange, PAR translates an ongoing effort of spatial and cultural analysis into building form. This year we've been involved with projects in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. We like to keep you informed - hereby our year end newsletter.

RECENT

PAR in collaboration with SES, RLA and Buro Happold were awarded honorable mention in the international competition for the Keelung Harbor Port Terminal in Keelung, Taiwan. A gateway to the nation, the 120.000 m2 project is comprised of a ferry terminal and 70 meter office tower.

(image above shows the entrance from Zhongshan Road)

Image: Labtop

Earlier this Fall, PAR along with engineering partner ARUP, presented Extreme Ocularity at the Chicago Facade + Innovation Conference. The presentation featured our approach to designing a high performance facade for a zero carbon building in the challenging climate of Helsinki, Finland.

Image: PAR

Our design for a 15 ha private equestrian ranch in José Ignacio, Uruguay will be presented during a site visit over the winter holiday. Set upon a plateau, 7 buildings integrated with the surrounding horizons are approached by a processional on axis with the sea. Taking inspiration from Le Corbusier's masterwork Ronchamp, punctuated thick masonry walls amplify light and sound.

PUBLICATIONS

Mark, #41, Dec/Jan 2012-13

Future Arquitecturas, 33-34

Concept, Vol. 163, 11-2012

Competitions, Winter 2012

IN THE OFFICE

- We welcome to PAR Lan Chen, Devon Montminy, Jesus De Anda and Anabelle Del Valle.

- PAR celebrated the groundbreaking for a private house in Los Angeles on August 13, 2012. Terraced into a canyon near the hollywood sign, the M House is scheduled to top out in Summer 2013.

- Look out for PAR's new website designed by our friends at 2x4 in early 2013.

ON THE RADAR

Image: PAR

We have been working on 2 museum proposals which are still in judging procedure. For the Cagliari Galerie Comunale D'Art, PAR designed a network of separate but interconnected galleries that unfold and open into the landscape. Simple, primitive forms and local materials reflect a Sardinian sensibility, while the gesture of breaking up the museum into discreet volumes transforms the cluster of galleries into an architecture that is at once contextual and abstract.

In Athens, we developed together with engineering partner ARUP, the adaptation of a 14.000 m2 former grain silo into a Museum of Underwater Antiquities. A system of void spaces introduces a spatial configuration that brings daylight to public areas whilst engaging the surrounding urban context. At moments of subtraction, the cartesian grid of the silo building translates into a newly contoured geometry, expressing the old within the new.

PAR_ARUP_ATHENS MUSEUM

EXHIBITIONS

The Archipelago, a proposal for 400 houses in Leeuwarden, NL was honored with a AIA National Emerging Architecture Award and an AIA Next LA Honor Award. The project was exhibited at the American Institute of Architects 2012 National Convention.

PAR's finalist proposal for the Keelung Harbor Competition was up for exhibition in Taiwan alongside entries from NMDA, Asymptote, Mecanoo and ACDF. The opening took place September 20th through 27th of November.