Brief Summary
STAR strategies + architecture is a practice of architecture and urban design based in Rotterdam since 2006.
STAR analyzes the relations of architecture and urbanism with their social, political, and cultural contexts. The office is interested in all fields relevant to architecture - from information design to regional development - and works in projects of any size, from single houses to large masterplans.
The Strategy orchestrates all the principles of the work of STAR. STAR applies strategic thinking to architecture, and architectural views to strategies. STAR follows a meticulous design process, researching the program and context of each project to allow for a successful adaptation to possible and unpredictable scenarios in the future.
Strategy is a long-term plan of action
STAR undertakes all the phases of the design, from its conception to its realization, always working in close collaboration with its clients and external consultants. The office has received several awards in international competitions of architecture, design, and urban planning in The Netherlands, China, Iceland, Lebanon, and Spain, where STAR won first prize for a 60.000 m2 mixed-use building in the Digital Mile in Zaragoza. STAR has initiated and developed studies about Rotterdam, Spijkenisse, Zaragoza, and Dubai – the latter in cooperation with Rem Koolhaas and AMO, with which STAR collaborated in the exhibition “The Image of Europe” in Vienna for the Austrian European Presidency in 2006. The ongoing STAR study “The Re-Creation of the European City” about secondary cities in Europe has been extensively published and presented. The Regional Government of Aragón has partly supported the study.
Currently STAR is working on a reurbanization plan for the Station Paseo in Elche, Spain. This commission is the result of winning First Prize in the International competition for the Mirador del Palmeral (Palm Grove Viewpoint). Other firms that competed for the Mirador project include MVRDV, SANAA, Lapeña&Torres and Ábalos+Sentkiewicz. The project is composed of three parts: Mirador, visitor’s pavilion, and reurbanization of the Paseo. The Palmeral has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In response, since September 2009, STAR has been studying the consequences of preservation and developing strategies for intervening in protected areas.
The work of STAR has been published in several magazines, books, and newspapers in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Korea, Germany, or Uruguay.
