LAYER CAKE

摘要

Until recently, the Spanish city of Valencia was dominated by a number of large white edifices of the wedding cake variety, designed by local hero Santiago Calatrava. Now, with the completion of David Chipperfield's hospitality building for the 32nd America's Cup, here is a building for those with a more refined taste. The building is not only far easier on the eye than Calatrava's flamboyant skeletal creations, but was also far easier to construct, meeting the client's break-neck programme to be designed and constructed in just 11 months. Emerging at pace from a final head to head with Jean Nouvel, the Chipperfield building - loosely described by the architect as an elegant car park - epitomises simplicity, with four deep decks stacked and staggered to optimise views across sea and city.