The title of this article is not a coincidence, as we are in the month of the feelings!

I would like to take advantage of and bring in a different form of interpretation of architecture, as dynamic and pleasant as I think.

Why is human emotion a crucial factor when designing architecture?

By generating emotion, architecture reaches almost poetic levels of perception, that is, when it creates an emotional connection with the individual, the message conveyed is deeper experienced and lasts in time!

Let’s just think a little …

People do not read poetry, see theater plays or visit museums every day of their lives, but they experience architecture at every moment of their lives! Probably not in an observational way, but unconsciously yes!

Emotions either positive or less are generated in a very natural way… let’s say, architecture is under the pressure of human emotion all the time!

But let’s not forget that those who do architecture, from its creators who sculpted it to the freshman students, have the same sensitivity and experience, and here come into play the duties, the professional ambition, the personal sensitivity of a number of other factors which are the fuel of the creativity machine!

Architecture has the sublime duty that through forms and volumes, it creates to generate emotions in real time, inevitably, in everyone!

That being said, I have attempted to categorize architecture precisely in this sensitive perspective, to give it the color and form of the emotions.

– Adventurous Architecture

– “Honest” or brutalist architecture

– Peaceful architecture

– Powerful architecture

– Playful architecture

Source: https://starbusinessmag.com/arkitektura-dhe-ndjenjat/

Saint Benedict Chapel , 1988

The modest, human-scaled exterior of the chapel encapsulates the beauty and simplicity of Zumthor’s works, while the interior showcases his unparalleled craftsmanship. The chapel was constructed in the small village of Sumvitg, Switzerland following a 1984 avalanche that destroyed the baroque-style chapel of the village. The hillside site for the new chapel, which provides breathtaking mountainous views, is protected from future avalanches by a surrounding forest.

Therme Vals, 1996

Kolumba Museum, 2007

Zumthor, consistently mindful of the use of the materials, and specifically their construction details, has used grey brick to unite the destroyed fragments of the site.   These fragments include the remaining pieces of the Gothic church, stone ruins from the Roman and medieval periods, and German architect Gottfried Böhm’s 1950 chapel for the “Madonna of the Ruins.” The facade of grey brick integrates the remnants of the church’s facade into a new face for the contemporary museum. Articulated with perforations, the brick work allows diffused light to fill specific spaces of the museum.  As the seasons change, the”mottled light shifts and plays across the ruins,” creating a peaceful ever-changing environment.

Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, 2007

In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life , one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction. This concept rings true in the design of Peter Zumthor to the Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, where a mystical and intimate interior that invites reflection, is masked by a very rigid rectangular outer . Very somber and reflective feelings that become inevitable in one’s encounter with the chapel make it one of the most remarkable pieces of religious architecture to date.

The Leis Houses (Zumthor Vacation Homes), 2009

Peter Zumthor has built three timber houses, the Oberhus, the Unterhus and  the Türmlihus, for himself and his wife Annalisa in the hamlet of Leis. He has extended the traditional Strickbau (literally “knitted construction”) building technique to include new design principles that allowed the installation of large picture windows. Stretching from floor to ceiling, they frame the landscape that resembles wall paintings inside the houses.

Steilneset Memorial, 2011

In collaboration with Louise Bourgeois

Zumthor simply describes his collaboration with Bourgeois in an interview with ArtInfo as the following, “I had my idea, I sent it to her, she liked it, and she came up with her idea, reacted to my idea, then I offered to abandon my idea and to do only hers, and she said, ‘No, please stay.’ So, the result is really about two things — there is a line, which is mine, and a dot, which is hers… Louise’s installation is more about the burning and the aggression, and my installation is more about the life and the emotions .”

Secular Retreat, 2018

The house is situated on a South Devon hilltop, England, one mile from the coast above the small Hamlet of Chivelstone. The dramatic layered-concrete and glass design sits horizontally on the site, framing stunning views across the landscape in all directions, where no trace of another building interrupts the lines of the rolling hills. Hand-rammed concrete forms both the interior and exterior spaces, to give the building a mass and scale characteristic of Zumthor’s work.

Source: archello.com

This honeycomb characterizes the lamp both aesthetically and optically, providing an even and comfortable light emission.  A product positioned perfectly half-way between home and professional use, Calipso is suited to a variety of applications – expressing Artemide’s traditional approach to deliver high performance lighting with a unique and emotional expressiveness.

Source: artemide.com

It has an ‘L’ shape ground-floor blueprint, with two different entrances both accessing on abundant gardens. The main entrance door is very monumental with symmetric organic volumes. The organic lines follow also the way the terrace’s metallic handrailing was designed and implemented. Its focal point is the entrance that representing the main symmetry ax of the building, is composed of three, 2 storey high, rectangular columns. The ground floor facade, the three entrance columns and the surrounding walls are covered with red brick tiles an element that links the entire composition of this villa.

Source: https://thealbanian.house/

Porto Palermo Castle

The Porto Palermo castle, or as it is known as the Castle of Vasiliqia, is located in the bay with the same name on the coast of the Ionian Sea in southern Albania, on an island about 30 m away from the coast. The casle of Porto Palermo is one of Ali Pasha Tepelena’s many palaces, which he gave as a gift to one of his wives, Vasiliqia, whom, according to chroniclers of the time, the Pasha of Ioannina was very fond of. Although said to have been built as a gift, by the sea, for Pasha’s wife Vasiliqia, the triangular castle is dated to be older than Ali Pashaj, which he restored it in the name of love.

Swallow’s Nest Castle

Boldt Castle

Boldt Castle, located on Heart Island in upstate New York, was commissioned in 1900 by George C. Boldt, a wealthy hotelier who built the residence as a symbol of his overwhelming love for his wife, Louise. Just four years after construction began, Louise suddenly died. Heartbroken, Boldt halted work on the castle and never returned to the island. The magnificent structure fell into ruin until 1977, when the property was acquired by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, which restored the castle inside and out.

Taj Mahal

During his 30-year reign over India, Emperor Shah Jahan took many wives, but none was as adored as his third, Arjumand Banu Begum, commonly referred to as Mumtāz Mahal, “beloved ornament of the palace.” When she died in 1631, Jahan enlisted a board of architects to devise the Taj Mahal in her honor. The main complex was completed in 1648, and the surrounding buildings and gardens were finished five years later. The emperor spared no expense for the now iconic monument: More than 20,000 sculptors, calligraphers, and craftsmen were brought to the city of Agra to work on the marble-clad masterpiece.

Kellie’s Castle

This far-flung estate in Batu Gajah, Malaysia, was devised as a family home by Scottish-born William Kellie Smith for his wife, Agnes, and their young family. The pair married in the early 1900s and moved to Malaysia, where William owned a plantation, and built a small fortune. Legend has it that Agnes was unhappy with their small wood home; to please his pregnant wife, William decided to erect a hilltop castle, reminiscent of those found in their native country. When he died unexpectedly in 1926, plans for further construction came to a stop and Kellie’s Castle was abandoned.

Source: architecturaldigest.com

Single-Family Home in Las Encinas

Conceived as a “geode”, the massiveness it presents with its large blasted granite cladding contrasts with the glass, which appears as a “hole within a rock, covered by a generally crystallized substance”. Nevertheless, this “geode” is not natural. Instead, the hand of man intervenes in it, and leaves its mark with the vertical fissures found on the blasted granite…

Parish Church of Santa Monica

Ponferrada Church

The fundamental premise of the project has been the faithful implementation of all the functional and symbolic requirements demanded by the new provisions adopted by the liturgical reform. The chapel is presented as the protagonist of the set. It is located at the point of maximum visibility and accessibility, facing a Rose Garden.

Parish Church of Solace

This parish center is located on a corner plot in a residential area. The extended side is situated in front of a green zone and the lateral side faces residential buildings. The rest of the surroundings are still undeveloped. On the north side, the entire surface which coincides with the length of the structure is occupied by an English style garden at the height of the basement, to allow light and ventilation and give a courtyard that can be accessible by the public.

House of Pantano de San Juan

This is a weekend house, therefore it was asked of us to incorporate a controlled and manageable security system. In fact it is almost a concrete bunker, inaccessible and blinded from outsiders except the glass spaces which are high enough to pose no safety issues. In its exterior appearance the house is extraordinarily simple, it has a rectangular ground plan which gives natural solutions to the complexity of the program.

Integrated Social Services Center

The building is situated on the Rambla, with access from both lateral streets. It will be accompanied by a future theater and a library which has already been built. The area has been slowly consolidating with the construction of high-density social housing, giving it a very important sense of scale.

Faculty of social sciences in Pamplona

Although designed as a faculty of journalism, the new building should allow the use of classroom theory by students from other disciplines. Due to the location of the power within the university campus, the order included the initial design of a place of union of all buildings, and also envisaged the expansion of the library.

Some of Kolevica’s projects that have left traces in the modern Albanian architecture and urban planning of the capital and other cities are: Residential Building behind the National Bank of Albania in Tirana, the Office and Residential Building near the Ministry of Justice, Residential Building near the former ‘Bllok’ in Tirana, Residential Building in the so -known Embassy Road, ’Skenderbej Street’; 7 floors residential Building in Korca (the first in the country at that time),  ‘Morava’ school in Korca etc.

During his career he was regularly confronted with obstacles from the totalitarian system, until he was sent to the ‘Valias’ mine as a construction technician.

His life as an engineer and architect is summarized in his book ‘Architecture and Dictatorship’.

Kolevica has been interested in poetry and literature since his early youth. He is known as a translator of many world-famous poems, mainly from Russian and German. The poems created by him reflect his artistic spirit and the life under communism.

Awards:

1. Labour Order II, 1983
2. Award of the Republic of Albania III, 1984
3. ‘Great Master’ award by the President of Albania
4. ‘Citizen of Honour’ of the city of Korca
5. The Crown of Poetry, 2004
6. ‘Great Master of Architecture’ by SHASH – 2019

Source: SHARE TIRANA OMNIA Award

Aqua Table Platter

Launched for 2014 Zaha Hadid Design collection, this table is inspired by the undulating wave of the London 2012 Olympic Aquatics Centre, the Aqua Platter conveys the fluid rhythms of water in motion.

Belu Bench

Charlotte Olympia

Charlotte Olympia has collaborated with Zaha Hadid Design on two limited edition pieces in tribute to the late visionary Zaha Hadid, a platform wedge shoe and a clutch bag, both featuring fluid forms in Perspex with rose gold metal accents.

Cloud Kennel

The “Cloud” kennel was created for BowWow Haus London, a public exhibition in aid of Blue Cross for Pets. It is a cocoon-like kennel elevated slightly above the ground to protect dogs from cold floor surfaces, constructed in sustainably sourced plywood with a digital design and fabrication.

Flow pot sculpture

Looking as if they belong in the MoMA Sculpture Garden, these massive statement pieces are actually indoor/outdoor planters with fluid curves. The planters are rotationally molded linear low-density polyethylene that is 100-percent recyclable after use. The pieces are hand-lacquered in white or black.

Zephyr Sofa

Offered in a limited edition of only 12 pieces, Zephyr was unveiled at Salone 2013. The seemingly amorphous shapes of both the seats and backrests took inspiration from natural rock formations and erosion patterns. Hadid designed the units to be combined if desired to create larger islands or archipelagos of seating.

Avia and Aria

The sculptural form of this suspension light series is created with separate layers of Slamp’s proprietary materials: 52 layers of Opalflex techno-polymer for Avia and 50 layers of Cristalflex techno-polymer for Aria. Both feature multiple points of light to provide 360 degrees of illumination in dramatic fashion, as well as a downlight.

Source: zaha-hadid.com & architizer.com

YACHTING CLUB VILLAS ELOUNDA BEACH RESORT, 2006-2008

Located on a spectacular sea front site on the Greek island of Crete, Elounda Beach is one of the world’s leading hotels. Set back on Crete’s northeast coast, the row of volumes face the water as anchored yachts towards the sea, while addressing and complementing the urban context on the land side. The newly created pathways between the bungalows afford open views to the sea and have a reduced scale that echo the streets of coastal villages of old in a contemporary way.

JANSEN HEADQUARTERS, 2008-2012

WALJONG MUSEUM, 2009-2013

Set on the beautiful island of Jeju, South Korea, facing the sea, the proposed site of a new private Museum represents an ultimate challenge to build a factory of dreams, “la fabbrica dei sogni”.
The site has an extraordinary potential of being a gateway between sea and mountains. The new volume designs and redefines the landscape; it appears as unfinished, as a growing presence who’s ideal edges are joined through the perception of the viewer.

 WAP ART SPACE, 2013-2017

The new residence-gallery presents itself as a contemporary urban castle where living spaces are supported by production space. It is a succession of spaces, closed and open, full and empty, compressed and decompressed. It generates a perceptual map, translated into distinct moments of usability, yet still interconnected.

SAMSON ASSUTA ASHDOD UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, 2013-2017

The new Ashdod hospital is born out of the roots and the culture of Israel. We regard it as a home for the inhabitants of Israel whoever finds himself here, feels at home. The project has been shaped through symbolic design choices that serve, through every detail, to root this new organism to the ground that hosts it. The project has been developed through the careful consideration of the sensations of both the people who find themselves, at critical moments of their lives, in need of care, and of those who work here.

SWISS HOUSE XXXII, 2014-2017

Swiss House Rossa represents the constant commitment to build with respect for the places we inhabit and to make every effort in helping our understanding of civilisation. This is an opera that lies on the cusp between art and architecture, a living sculpture. Alongside its primary role in protecting man from the elements, it is an architecture that needs art to complete it.

SWISS HOUSE XXXIV, 2015-2017

This design is an articulated construction meant for the enjoyment of the spaces for many years to come. From afar the building is a marker in the landscape, it expresses a meaning already suggested by its context. From close up, it is a collection of many things and from within, a world, that changes with the passing of the hours of the day and the days of the year.

CHENOT PALACE WEGGIS, 2017-2020

Chenot Palace Weggis is born of the earth and its guests, it envelops us, respects the natural environment that welcomes it and its legacy of millennial values. Architecture is not an adventure into temptations but a journey into emotions.

Source: macullo.com

Yalıkavak Palmarina

The main motivation of the project design, for the renewal and extension of the existing marina complex,  aimed both to correspond fully to the needs and desire of the new comers and to create a dialogue with the authentic qualities of the place, that would find its belongingness in the built and social aura of Yalikavak. This tendency may briefly be described as “being Mediterranean.”

Sancaklar Mosque

Antakya Museum Hotel

The archeological findings discovered in an excavation on the project site in Antakya, directed the employer who was planning to build a five-star hotel, to build a museum-hotel on the site. The dichotomy between the public program of an archeological park and the private use of the hotel becomes a major input in the design process.

Bergama Cultural Center

The commerce along the Cumhuriyet Avenue continues with the rambling stores that intrude the pedestrian walkways. To sustain the commercial life that exists here and at the same time not to displace the tradesman were the main reference points. In the design, the commercial units recede a step back to keep the alignment alongside the avenue and create a shaded arcade.This arcade creates an interior courtyard by surrounding the area from three sides allowing the stores to work towards both to the street and the courtyard.

Maslak No 1 Office Tower

The project for the office building to be situated on the Mecidiyekoy-Maslak axis, was conditioned by the tension between density of its environ and the tightness of the project site. It was the client’s wish that the building would be a prestigious building, just like all the other surrounding buildings which only meant to be prominent, having been developed with no certain rule, plan or order.

Eyüp Cultural Center and Marrıage Hall

The building’s scheme is organized as a part of the structural landmark to cater versatile cultural activities with its structure that is put between platforms on different levels. This structure has a nuptial hall, a 750m2 multi-purpose wedding hall where different events could be held, the foyer and many other subsidiary spaces. The theatre hall, is provided with acoustic features which will enable conference, seminar and mini concert events to be held.

Pilevneli Gallery

Pilevneli Gallery is an assertive example of adaptive re-use located in Dolapdere, a district at Taksim. The area is currently undergoing an urban transformation focused on art and culture. The gallery is situated on the main street, its structure demands attention with its characteristic neutral facade of anthracite vertical lamella and neatly composed linear openings.

Zorlu Center

In collaboration with Tabanlioglu Architects

The Zorlu Center is at the junction of the Bosphorus Bridge European connection and the Büyükdere axis that connects the city center with the business district Maslak. With its easy access from important centers of Istanbul, it is also one of the few sites that face south, with the old city view making it a ‘subject of desire’. The mixed use project being developed on this area deals with contradictions such as grandeur and modesty, public and private, institutional and domestic, social and distinguished, together with structural and topographical considerations.

Source: emrearolat.com