Urban Spaces: Canopy

Source: epdlp

La Placa dels Paisos Catalans, Barcelona, Spain, 1983 designed by Albert Viaplana and Helio Pinon

Its most conspicuous feature is an enormous metal canopy, held aloft by spindly columns. ...The canopy contributes the monumental scale appropriate to a ceremonial urban gateway, but it makes no concession to the Beaux-Arts grandeur typical of railway architecture -- or, indeed, to any conventional idea of grace. -- Herbert Muschamp, New York Times, August 02, 1992

This plaza in front of the Estacio de Sants (railroad station) is an empty, useless disaster of a space. There is no gathering place, no vistas...in short there is no there, there. This desolate void is no way to arrive or leave a great city. -- PPS

More drawings and images from architect's web site.

Lotus International(39), pp. 9-14

Source : fras1977

Thames Barrier Park, London, UK, 2000 designed by landscape architect Allain Provost, architect Patel Taylor in collaboration with Group Signers and engineers Ove Aarum

On the north bank of the Thames and with stunning views of the awesome flood Barrier lies a jewel in the crown of London's parks. Thames Barrier Park lies in Silvertown, and is supported by the London Development Agency.

Set within 22 acres of lawns, trees and hedges, the waterside park features fountains, gardens, wildflower meadows, a children's play area and a 5-a-side football/basketball court, with magnificent views of the barrier. -- official web site

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Source: Machado and Silvetti Associates

South Boston Maritime Park, Boston Massachusetts, USA, 2004 designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates

The largest zone at the northern end of the park provides a raised lawn panel with a continuous staircase lining Northern Avenue. Two large pergolas at the lawn’s inner edge mark the transition to the central zone, creating a backdrop for events seen from Northern Avenue. The middle zone contains a low café structure and outdoor seating areas, while the southern end of the park is conceived as a more intimate area of benches and densely planted shade trees.  -- architect's web site

Source: openbuildings.com

Calder Woodburn Rest Area, Goulburn Valley Highway, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, 2008 designed by BKK Architects

There is a long and rich history of the service station as an urban, suburban and rural icon within Australian car culture. The familiar image of a large floating roof providing shelter go the services below is a strong memory for all that have taken a road trip.

The Rest Station marks a point on the journey, a place for pausing; a place for reflection and to strech ones legs. The roof serves as both shelter and sign in the landscape. It celebrates road culture and acts as a nodal point in a countinuing journey. -- Open Buildings

Source: ZGF archdaily.com

Simon and Helen Director Park, Portland, Oregon, USA, 2009 designed by OLIN

Formerly a parking lot the size of a city block, Simon and Helen Director Park now offers Portland a significant new urban experience.

A signature element is a glass and wood canopy accessible from the adjacent sidewalk and sitting high along the street’s edge, offering views over the park.  -- ArchDaily

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Source: Nicolas Waltefaugle archdaily.com

A Canopy and a Pavilion at Porte des Lilas, Paris, France, 2009 designed by Matthieu Gelin & David Lafon

The shelter is a pure construction. Its expression is linked to the elements of structure that compose it and which are necessary to its stability.  The canopy holds its strength and continuity through materials.  The folding that comes out from the ground forms both a wall and coverage.  Pilars stroll freely like pedestrians in a group. The cover and the pilars are then read as two autonomous entities improving the perception of overhangs.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Matt Winquist archdaily.com

Phoenix Civic Space Shade Canopies, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2009 designed by Architekton

Floating above the park, four canopies create a series of outdoor rooms defined by undulating green planes that reflects the park’s corrugated topography. -- ArchDaily

Source: Machado and Silvetti Associates

Silver Spring Civic Building, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, 2010 designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates

Alongside the entry spine to the east lies the major composition of public spaces, arranged sequentially, so as to create a direct visual and civic relationship between the Great Hall, Prefunction Space, Portico, and Plaza. These spaces are arranged along a common axis, and are directly related to one another through similarity of width. Doors from the Great Hall lead directly into the double-height Pre-function Space, which is, in turn, directly accessible to, and visible from, the Plaza.  -- architect's web site

Source: a3lab archdaily.com

WestendGate, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2010 designed by Just Burgeff architekten + a3lab

The organic tree-like structure of the sculptural roof is easily recognizable from a great distance. 1000 sqm of roof surface extend at one point up to a height of 14 meters, zoning in the square, with translucent air cushions filling out the construction and providing office workers and hotel guests refuge from the rain.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Jonas Adolfsen archdaily.com

Lantern Pavilion, Langgata, Sandnes, Norway, 2010 designed by AWP / Atelier Oslo

The proposal used the iconographic shape of and old, uplifted wooden house. By the redefinition of its traditional construction and by making it glow in the dark, a new landmark for the city was created, a symbol of the old city upscaled to the new city’s dimensions, dealing with the Norwegian wood ancient architecture motives to design a contemporary object.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Studio Gang Architects archdaily.com

Lincoln Park Zoo South Pond, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2010 designed by Studio Gang Architects

A new boardwalk circumscribing the pond passes through various educational zones that explicate the different animals, plants, and habitat found in each. A pavilion integrated into the boardwalk sequence provides shelter for open-air classrooms on the site. Inspired by the tortoise shell, its laminated structure consists of prefabricated, bent-wood members and a series of interconnected fiberglass pods that give global curvature to the surface.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Wing Yi Hui + Lap Ming Wong

Wood Pavilion designed by Wing Yi Hui + Lap Ming Wong, two students from Hong Kong studying at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design

The performance-oriented design studio, under the guidance of Professors Michael U. Hensel, Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel and Dr. Birger R. Sevaldson , gave the students the opportunity to explore the performance of the wood and create a “customization possibility” within the constraints of a “platform of standardization.” -- ArchDaily  

Metropol Parasol, Plaza de la Encarnacion, Seville, Spain, 2011 designed by J. H. MAYER Architects

the breathtaking sequence of undulating umbrellas is the largest wooden structure in the world. The design of the Metropol Parasol is part of the redevelopment of the Plaza de la Encarnación, designed by J. MAYER H. Architects , the project becomes the new icon of Seville, an identification which affirms the role of Seville as one of the most fascinating cultural destinations in the world.  -- Social Design Magazine

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Source: design/buildLAB

Covington Farmers Market, Covington, Virginia, USA, 2011 designed by design/buildLAB

The Covington Farmers Market was designed and built by design/buildLAB, a third year architecture studio at the Virginia Tech, School of Architecture + Design focused on the research, development and implementation of innovative construction methods and architectural designs.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Adrià Goula archdaily.com

Sant Antoni Sunday Market, Barcelona, Spain, 2011 designed by Ravetllat Ribas Architects

In order to safeguard the Sunday activity we covered the central area of the street with a light roof, supported by arcades on the sidewalks. The structure is permanent, but there is a partially retractable roof that can reduce its surface during weekdays and increase the coverage to the market stalls on Sundays. -- ArchDaily

Source:David Frutos archdaily.com

Deck Over A Roman Site, Parque Del Monlinete, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain, 2011 designed by Amann-Canovas-Mauri

The primary goal of the project is to respect the existing remains, using a long-span structure, which requires the least amount of support for lifting the cover. The intervention unifies all the remains in a single space, allowing a continuous perception of the whole site. The cover also generates a new urban facade in the partition wall. -- ArchDaily

Source: Tim Van de Velde archdaily.com

Market Hall, Ghent, Belgium, 2012 designed by Marie-José Van Hee + Robbrecht & Daem

Rather than just providing an open space for events, they sought, by meticulously positioning a market hall, to rectify this deficiency and reinstate the presence of old urban areas that had become unrecognisable. The building positions itself between Poeljemarkt, Goudenleeuwplein, and a new lower ‘green’ connecting to the ‘brasserie’, bicycle park and public toilets below the hall. And although the building clearly occupies a position on the 24,000m2 site, it fits in well. Compared to St. Nicholas Church, Belfry and Cathedral, it assumes the heights of a lower group of buildings such as the adjacent town hall, from which it derives, mathematically, its profile. -- ArchDaily