Manmade nature: Neuchate's arteplage explores issues of ecology and sustainability, through an array of quasi-biological pavilions.Famous for its picturesque medieval chateau and rock stars' villas, Neuchatel clings to the steep wooded slopes on the north bank of its eponymous e·pon·y·mous adj. Of, relating to, or constituting an eponym. [From Greek ep  numos; see eponym. lake. Here the expopark is a narrow lakeside wedge (formerly a car park), separated from the town by a fabric wall printed with Expo images and a tableau tab·leau n. pl. tab·leaux or tab·leaus 1. A vivid or graphic description: The movie was a tableau of a soldier's life. 2. of local history. Rows of pollarded trees (relics from the car park) structure and animate the landscape. Taking 'Nature and Artifice' as its theme, Neuchatel's arteplage investigates issues of ecology, sustainability and humankind's uneasy relationship with the planet, through an array of quasi-biological pavilions and pseudo-plant life. Onshore, the most arresting structure is the 'Palais d'Equilibre', a monumental wooden sphere clad in pine planks reclaimed from Peter Zumthor's Swiss Pavilion at the Hanover Expo. Designed by Herve Dessimoz of Groupe H Architects, it dramatically demonstrates the potential of timber both as a renewable resource Noun 1. renewable resource - any natural resource (as wood or solar energy) that can be replenished naturally with the passage of time natural resource, natural resources - resources (actual and potential) supplied by nature and a structurally economical material capable of long spans. Inside, a wide ramp snakes up through the womblike wooden interior to the visual accompaniment of by now familiar doom-mongering videos. Offshore, a pontoon pontoon, one of a number of floats used chiefly to support a bridge, to raise a sunken ship, or to float a hydroplane or a floating dock. Pontoons have been built of wood, of hides stretched over wicker frames, of copper or tin sheet metal sheathed over wooden bridge runs parallel with the expopark, offering good views back towards Neuchatel and connecting with the main architectural event: Groupe Multipack's manmade island surrounded by artificial reed beds. The rippling lime green 'reeds' are in fact slim poly carbonate shafts whose tips store sunshine during the day; after dark this energy is used to emit a faint luminous glow, magically illuminating the lakeside. Supported by 460 piers, the platform and its modest exhibition pavilions are sheltered by a trio of pancake-shaped inflatable in·flat·a·ble adj. Designed to be filled with air or gas before use: an inflatable mattress. n. An object or device that can be filled with air or gas, especially: a. roofs that act like giant parasols or umbrellas, depending on the vagaries of the weather. The non-Euclidean geometry non-Euclidean geometry, branch of geometry in which the fifth postulate of Euclidean geometry, which allows one and only one line parallel to a given line through a given external point, is replaced by one of two alternative postulates. of the canopies is intended to evoke the natural forms of water lilies Water Lilies (or Nympheas) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926). The paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years . Stilt-like steel columns cross-braced by tensile wires hold up the roofs. Individual exhibitions on robotics, water, energy and natural disasters are conceived as diverting infotainment. Perhaps because there is no assertive superstar vision (Groupe Multipack is an earnest collaborative of Swiss and French designers), Neuchatel has ended up being the least memorable of the four arteplages (the flying-saucer roofs are a bit of a formal cliche), but it still has its moments. Architect Groupe Multipack, Neuchatel Landscape architect Oxalis oxalis (ŏk`səlĭs) or wood sorrel, any species of the plant genus Oxalis. Most of the cultivated kinds are tropical herbs used as window plants. Architects Photographs Paul Raftery/VIEW |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion