10-03-18 // ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENT 1: ENTRANCE

BOARD contributed to the publication “Architectural Element 1: Entrance” published by the South Korean Publishing House DAMDI. The volume includes interviews and projects from architecture offices from all around the world.

Together with some of BOARD’s projects the following interview with Bernd Upmeyer on the “entrance” appears in the publication:

Entrance

DD: What is the favourite entrance you have designed and why?
Bernd Upmeyer: In 2009 we made a design for the House of Arts and Culture in Beirut in Lebanon that we entitled “Free Space”. The entrance to this building is one of the favourite entrances I ever worked on, because it does not really exist, or exists only occasionally and when the façade, which can be moved up, is moved down and closed – only then doors become necessary. However, when the façade is moved up, the ground floor is basically an extension of the public space that surrounds the building. This establishes a great freedom to cross the site and the building in all different directions and to integrate the building in the urban context, but also to use the performance and exhibition areas on the ground floor flexibly with adaptable spaces.

DD: What is the least favourite entrance you have designed and why?
BU: The freedom of being able to cross the building from all different sides and directions, similar to the one we created for the House of Arts and Culture in Beirut, we tried to achieve recently for the design of a youth center in the city of Heidelberg in Germany, too. Nevertheless, since the client urged us to define one clear main entrance, we had to create a recognizable hierarchy among all the entrance doors. Due to this fact the entrances of this project became less exciting for me, making the main entrance my least favourite one of this project. Because with the equal status of all the doors and the possibility of free crossing we wanted to connect the surrounding neighbourhoods, but also the open spaces with each other through the building…

… the entire interview can be read in Writings.

Title: Architectural Element 1: Entrance
Contribution: Entrance
Author: Bernd Upmeyer, BOARD
Date: March 2018
Publisher: DAMDI
Location: Seoul, South Korea
ISBN: 978-89-6801-074-3
Pages: 11, 44, 48, 52, 58-59, 65, 71, 92, 96, 104, 106-107, 109, 116-117, 119