PORTFOLIO of selected projects __ a.wittlin associates

PORTFOLIO of selected projects (international _ realized and unrealized)
RADIO FREE EUROPE HEADQUARTERS PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." - Abraham Lincoln, 1809 - 1865. " what more felicity can fall to creature, than to enjoy delight with liberty... " - Spenser

	Funded by the United States Congress and the American people, Radio Free Europe's mission is to promote democratic values. The new building through its form and articulation expresses the idea of democracy and the ideals of liberty, freedom and independence. Asked personally by RFE President Dine, we (Architect Wittlin) were requested to create and specifically design an "architectural gem". This is achieved with the 3 upward-reaching and outward-opening (petal) forms that extend from the box-like core (bud) which is the assembly hall. Each wing/leaf is an office building for the respective realms of radio broadcasting, television production, and administration. RFE broadcasts in 34 languages to 35 million listeners in 25 countries worldwide. The shape of the building connotes a flower in bloom, its fragility and the all-enveloping beauty and openness of freedom (with subtle albeit direct reference to the "Rose" and "Tulip" Revolutions of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan respectively; as well as the host country's Czech "Velvet" Revolution and others). The structure itself and the principle it embraces are the light, the flame, and the beacon of hope and freedom for all peoples everywhere.

"It is impossible not to be sensible that we are acting for all mankind; that circumstances denied to others but indulged to us have imposed upon us the duty of proving what is the degree of freedom and self-government in which a society may venture to leave its individual members..." - Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Joseph Priestley, 1802. " The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the Republican model of government are justly and deeply considered...and finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." - George Washington at his First Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789.

APB HEADQUARTERS PLZEN, CZECH REPUBLIC

The client is the leading heavy equipment operator (cranes, bulldozers, front loaders, graders, dump trucks, demolition balls, trenchers, etc.) in the republic. The program includes new international head office buildings, a parking structure for company vehicles - as well as a broader layout of large hanger-type sheds for mechanical repairs, storage and maintenance of the heavy machinery. There are also auxillary buildings for tires and dozer belts, and housing (30 homes) on this expansive site. Crucial to the gently sloping landscape of the site are flat areas for the parking and placement of the heavy machinery. A class of assemblage of forms and open spaces (buildings and flat planes) is established to articulate a sequence of defined spaces solely in terms of congruent placement. Directly denoting the nature of the client’s business in machinery, the facade reflects the elemental metal parts of a dozer belt. Hot- and cold-rolled steel plus corten steel plates and troughs (inverted and outverted), together with sheets of glazing, align and extend the storeys of the administrative office buildings. Recycled tire-rubber panels are utilized for the facade of the parking structure.


ORPHANAGE "GIRAFFE" MOST, CZECH REPUBLIC

Situated atop the village, this former rectory is being re-constructed into an independent family orphanage by the Zirafka ('giraffe') Foundation. The existing buildings were constructed in the 1700's in the Baroque style and are being re-planned to facilitate families of 2 married parents and up to 6 children. New buildings are planned for the garden area which bespeak the new residents and the original agrarian needs of the priests. These include studios for young adults transitioning into selfhood, stables for horses, a community center, and a meditation chapel. Existing buildings donated by the Catholic Church on a 100-year lease. All the design work is pro bono.

ROTHORN SKI-LIFT ROTHORN, SWITZERLAND
An invited design competition atop a mountain which uses the stone to be excavated for the foundations as the material for the building's walls - each of which lean onto the adjacent walls, similar to a house of cards. These walls are layers of flat stone splicings which are the structure and are kept in place with iron slip-fit plank-rods. The building has a second glass skin for heating purposes. The program includes a restaurant for skiers, a large banquet hall, a cultural (mining) museum, employee apartments, and a panoramic terrace on the roof.

BUILDING W60 - HAPIMAG SWISS RESIDENCE HOTEL WENCESLAS SQUARE 60 PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
This 1892 building will have a new inner intensity and physical presence. The intention is to blur the line between hotel and home for the visitor; almost as if you are getting the key to a great apartment from a good friend. All historical and artistic values are carefully preserved in order to construct the feeling of a luxurious downtown building in the heart of Central Europe. Facing onto Wenceslas Square (originally a horse market) and the dominant bronze equestrian statue of St. Wenceslas, the building is slotted amidst magnificant edifices that line the square and seat many international banks, multi-national companies, boutiques, hotels and significant cultural points of interest. The deliberate thoughtful juxtaposition of the old and the new. Modern contemporary interior elements are placed alongside historical ones to make a composition of form and memory. The creation of an identity of sensibility through the utilization of sophistication and practicality.



HOUSING IGIS, SWITZERLAND


Set in a vast gently-sloping apple orchard in a small rural village, these residential buildings are considerately aligned and placed to allow for maximum views downward towards the wooded farming valley beyond. The local brick factory provided the clay for the study model.
OPATOVICKA 11 - INFILL APARTMENT BUILDING PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

Urbanisticly, this infill apartment building is designed to link up with no less than 7 small, interlocking courtyards and gardens that form the quiet, haven-like environment of this Prague city block. Just two blocks from the Vltava River, the lot for this new building of apartments sits quietly towards the middle of the block and southwards, and faces onto a large interior courtyard of tall maple trees full of leaves, a children's slide and a sandbox. The new design is L-shaped in plan. The back arm extension to the building is seen as an appendage to the rectangular volume towards the street. It is more of "a glass pavilion in the garden" and has a lighter, more delicate character than the massing of the main part of the building. Configured thusly, the building will allow for the maximun intake of natural (indirect) light and air flow into the spaces of the building.
	Through the use of various types of glass (including matte, milk, sand-blasted, stained), the surfaces of the building will reflect or hide what happens behind them, and at the same time, control light emissions. The facade to the street is flush, while the windows have a small setback facing onto the courtyard. The ground floor is a simple shop with open-plan apartments above.

MERIT HALL DORMITORY UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN - MADISON MADISON, WISCONSIN
W60 CAFE-BISTRO WENCESLAS SQUARE 60 PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC


PEACE SPHERE BUILDING NAGASAKI, JAPAN

Located on a pier in the city of the last atomic blast on earth, the building is a monument to the human longing for peace. Emerson calls the sphere "the flying perfect". Here spheres are flattened into large poly-carbonate disks with maps of the world etched onto their surfaces, wherein obstacles to peace such as war, starvation and environmental disorders are depicted by location. The disks slide horozontally and also vertically. One singular disk is white - symbolizing peace, purity and placidity. The walls are concrete (one material which survives blasts); the entry is a sliding panel of wood; the flooring is textured concrete with the linear "tatami" elements in lava stone. The approach to the design is one not dissimilar to the Japanese terms "wabi" and "sabi" which define a spare, solitary beauty and serenity. It shall have the spirit of contemplation of world suffering and pain. While at the same time, the sensation of the disks will be one of floatation and non-alignment to the standing visitor who rotates their body within the space. Each disk reads as the beads of a rosary - concentrating on one yet compelled on to the next one.



JOHNSTONE FAMILY RESIDENCE - COURTYARD/GARAGE ADDITION SHOREWOOD, WISCONSIN
PARK EAST CORRIDOR HOUSING MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
HOUSING PROJECT BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

HOUSING BLOCK LUGANO, SWITZERLAND