Landscape scale buildings. Agadir by OMA and Yokohama by FOA

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between the scale of the buildings and the landscape scale, both urban and natural, in which they are located. In the same article are analyzed two case studies conducted by a teacher and his pupils: a hotel in Morocco and the Maritime Terminal in Japan. The main reason for studying these two examples is that both proposals use the scale of the territory in which they find themselves. The graphical representation is important in order to achieve their design purposes, so the tools used are also analyzed. Studios undertaking these projects are also larger in scale and size than traditional studios: OMA and FOA. These projects, which are located respectively in Agadir and Yokohama, are not big size projects, but large scale. The main finding is that both are projects that, while not extremely large in size, they are actually in scale, since in them is referred to a higher architectural scale using geometry and structure of the mega-territory in which they are located, so it can be considered mega-infrastructures of that territory, becoming in its prolongation rather than mere objects deposited on it. Are operative topographies of the project that are presented as an interesting design strategy for project designers and researchers about the integration of surrounding buildings at both scale and programmatic levels.