Yağmur Yıldırım Mimar / Architect
Inspired by the defining natural elements of the City of Salzburg, this proposal takes form. The master plan of this development abstractly mimics the city and becomes the Microcosm of the city of Salzburg itself, with the defining mountains and Salzach River flowing through. To create a dialogue and a personal, meditative experience we have cut a narrow creek at the edge of the rock wall, which guides and invites the public through the site. Just like the Salzach River, it creates a new boundary, provides movement and extends the nature into the site. The old path is incorporated in this sequence where the water travels from the highest elevation on the site through a small waterfall and becomes the collector of melting snow water, icicles, and rocks. This pedestrian path is carefully designed to allow the public to enjoy the natural beauty of the forest and the rock face without disturbing the privacy of the residents. This water canal also provides a place for exhibition of outdoor water sculptures.
Architecturally this project simulates the rock formation, deposits and random composition of a quarry site where pieces of rocks are chiseled from the mountain and then cut to smaller pieces stacked up in a random fashion. Each block then becomes a container, a wrapping enclosure of smaller blocks or apartments within, allowing each living unit to be unique with magnificent views. With this approach the mountain becomes a “generator” rather than a “backdrop” The buildings here are set back from the rock-face, and they hover over their bases just enough to create a tension from where one could almost reach out and touch the rock. One hundred residences occupy not only the 6 new structures on the site,but also the historically preserved existing brewery vaults and the adaptivere-use of an office building. A series of courtyards, roof terraces and balconies provide indoor/outdoor spaces for the residences. Underground parking is available to all residents and additional spaces are provided for city use in times of music festivals.
ABOUT HARIRI & HARIRI ARCHITECTURE
Established in 1986 by Iranian-born Cornell-educated sisters Gisue Hariri and Mojgan Hariri, this New York-based firm is one of the most progressive American firms of their generation. For nearly 25 years, they have imbued conceptual, residential, commercial and institutional projects with their own unique brand of sensual modernism. In 2012 the firm was included in the prestigious Architectural Digest AD100, and selected for inclusion in the Guggenheim’s Contemplating the Void exhibition, a celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark museum’s 50th Anniversary. They have been honored with numerous awards including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award for Architecture and inducted into Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2006. The firm’s designs have also been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications worldwide including the Unprivate House exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and The US National Building Museum.The firm’s celebrated recent projects include the US $80-million Sternbrauerei Salzburg (a world-class residential and mixeduse development in Salzburg, Austria), a 50,000-square-foot loft building in the heart of the Dallas Arts District and the US $250,000 Rock Crystal chandelier for Swarovski. Their Monograph Hariri & Hariri – Architecture
Buildings & Projects (Images Publishing) documents the highly creative and evocative twenty-five year career of internationally
acclaimed sister team, Hariri & Hariri Architecture. This superbly designed book presents the firm’s visionary achievements,many of them previously unpublished, in the areas of urban, residential, commercial, cultural, hospitality and product design as well as art and design objects. It also includes their much publicized projects such as The Sagaponac House and Studio, the first completed in the now era-defining Houses at Sagaponac in Long Island, New York, as well as their Wilton Pool House winner of an Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Award,and HGTV’s Top Ten #1 landmark pool house.
