Meetingpoint Music Messiaen Zgorzelec

European Centre for Education and Culture — Meetingpoint Music Messiaen, Görlitz/Zgorzelec, Poland

1st Prize in the competition for the architectural and urban design concept, 2009

On the site of the former prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VIIIa, Olivier Messiaen completed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps during his captivity. The work was first performed in the camp on 15 January 1941 and is today regarded as one of the most important chamber music compositions of the 20th century. At this historically significant location, the Meetingpoint Music Messiaen was conceived as a European centre for remembrance, education and culture.

Ruairí O’Brien’s winning design connects the memory of the site with contemporary creative activity, creating a place for encounter, exchange and reflection.

The concept is structured around two areas: the “Island of Remembrance” and the “Island of Hope”. Together, they describe a movement from the past into the present and onwards into the future. Generous, rounded forms shape both the architecture and the landscape, forming a deliberate counterpoint to the rigid, grid-based and purely functional thinking of the National Socialist system.

On the “Island of Remembrance”, two cylindrical buildings stand as calm yet striking figures in the landscape. Already visible from the road, they appear like a spatial exclamation mark: unfamiliar and at the same time inviting, timeless and quiet. The smaller cylinder accommodates the supporting functions of the memorial site — including the entrance to the permanent exhibition, café, cloakroom, seminar rooms, library, lecture hall and archive.

A glazed bridge leads into the second cylinder, the Void of Remembrance. Here, light enters the space from above. The gaze is drawn first to the water in the floor and then upwards through the levels to the open glass roof, beyond which only the sky is visible. Display boxes and columns tell the story of the site. On special occasions, the silent space becomes a resonant setting for music, memory and the present moment.

The “Island of Hope” complements this place as an area for encounter, communication and education. The Maison Olivier Messiaen offers space for creativity, retreat and shelter, while the theatre building is designed for events, theatre, cinema and concerts.

O’Brien’s design creates an ensemble that understands remembrance not as a closed chapter, but as a living process: history is preserved, questioned and carried forward into the future through cultural activity.

Services: HOAI work phases 1–3, basic evaluation, preliminary design, design, 2009–2012
Promoter and client: Meetingpoint Music Messiaen e.V., Görlitz
Building owner: Fundacja Centrum Wspierania Przedsiębiorczości w Zgorzelec

Mobility center Reitbahnstreet

“Future traffic development is an important topic for architects. That’s why the study of the mobility center for Dresden’s city center is not about a parking garage in the traditional sense, but rather about flexible architecture for an innovative, future-oriented mobility concept.” Ruairí O’Brien With the concept we are in line with the medium- to long-term mobility development, in which the use of the automobile is only one option among many alternatives. The central location in the city center and the proximity to the main train station enables different mobility approaches to be linked in an innovative mobility hub (electric mobility, bike & ride, park & ​​ride, rental stations, charging stations, rentals, etc.) and thus sustainable concepts for the city Future. An innovative, adaptable and evolving architectural concept was developed to take into account the future development of the city and transport in the city. Transformability is a property that will be important for future architecture in general to demonstrate true sustainability. The future decline in motorized individual transport and the long-term development towards a car-free city are already conceptually integrated here and the conversion of the building to benefit other uses, such as living, working/office, trade/services, has already been planned in advance. A sensible solution should be found for the inner-city brownfield site at the back of Prager Straße, with which the existing backyard atmosphere can be improved through the urban development context of Prager Straße and other current problems in connection with the inner-city development of Dresden can be addressed – as a benefit for the city and in favor of less vacant wasteland.