Nordic centre Planica - Studio AKKA

Slovenian landscape architects “Studio AKKA” and architects “A.BIRO” are responsible for the on-going redevelopment of Nordic Centre, Planica. The ski jumping complex was considered to be one of the best in the world, though it is believed that there is much room for improvement since it is now becoming seriously outdated.

The redevelopment will introduce far more facilities and services for the wider public to enjoy, allowing visitor experience to be strongly enhanced. Indoor services will include a restaurant, saunas, wind tunnel, ski-flying educational centre and outdoors, there will be an expected football pitch, children’s playground and theme park. Whilst competitions will be operating, a communication centre will be functioning in replacement of the educational centre.

“Our plan is for the centre to be self-sustaining, covering its operational costs from the revenue. Excluding the competitions, Planica is visited by 30,000 to 40,000 people annually. By offering sports and tourist products, we would like to provide guests quality leisure time and keep them in Planica for a longer period,” says Gros. As a former ski-jumping coach, he is quick to point out the significance of the centre for ski-jumping: “Not only will training become cheaper. The coaches will also be able to choose from a wide range of training options and athletes will have top-quality facilities close to their homes.” (http://www.sloveniatimes.com/en/inside.cp2?uid=D3427434-45BC-235E-6F7E-00BF50638C51&linkid=news&cid=13C09426-03B1-428E-48D0-1B4B054546FD)

Studio AKKA - http://www.akka.si/

I came across this graphic design project when browsing through landscape architecture blogs online, I thought that it would be worth posting primarily because of its overall dramatic effect on the viewer. As expressed through the imagery above, it shows how quickly the signs appearance changes when one approaches it from various perspectives on foot, though since this artwork is focussed towards the driver the designer carefully calculated at which points (in vehicle) the message should be much clearer. These "sweet spots" are usually first experienced by those who are entering and exiting the car park by vehicle up to 15 metres away.

"Purple Pleasure", Carve Landscape Architecture

“Carve” is a landscape architecture, engineering and industrial design practice that was established in Amsterdam, NL by Elger Blitz and Mark van der Eng in 1997.

The company specialises in a wide range of facilities that benefits the younger population, they generally design urban recreational playgrounds, parks, school grounds, skateparks and installations which include play equipment, street furniture, boundary solutions and other sports and gaming facilities.

In 2010 “Purple Pleasure” was the answer to the local populations need for an outdoor space to congregate, play and leave a noticeable statement on their surrounding landscape. As the name suggests, the space is coated in a vibrant and noticeable shade of purple, the features situated around the space are sculpted in such a way to provide limitless possibilities of use, all sculpted features are smooth in order to convey a sense of harmlessness to its users, some include coping edges for improved skateboarding utilisation. The centre of the area is open, providing ample space for activities such as football and basketball to take place in amongst the sculpted perimeter, acting somewhat like a unique area for sport spectating.

Carve Landscape Architecture - http://www.carve.nl/?pm3=20&lg=en