Prefabricated design has come to be known as a fast, green, and cost-efficient way to create buildings. Although this technique has most prominently been used with small residential structures, it’s now taken a turn towards greater, larger projects. With prefabricated towers and skyscrapers now in the works (and, in some cases, going up in as little as six days), pre-fab begs the question: is it really safe? Does quick production time lead to instability, making prefabricated buildings more likely to collapse?
Last year, Google founder Sergey Brin demoed Google Glass a new technology from the big G that puts an augmented reality display in front of your eye. The device is scheduled for early release to developers and creatives (in order to get feedback before the $1,500 product finds its way to the general public) in just a few weeks, but it has already been highly acclaimed by the media (including Best Inventions of the Year 2012 by Time).
Approaching zero-waste is a matter of changing the way our culture thinks about use and reuse. It's not an impossible task, and San Francisco is leading the march to establish a feasible means of enacting public policy, structuring programs and educating the public on what it means to be "zero-waste". With a goal set for 2020, SF hopes to keep 100% of its waste out of landfills. Mayor Ed Lee estimates that the leading waste management company "Recology" is diverting nearly 80% of trash from landfills to be recycled or turned into compost. This begins with a public policy that sets a standard and gains traction as citizens embrace the goals of the city. Support programs reinforce these guidelines that eventually become habits and a cultural response to treating our environment.
Read on after the break for more on San Francisco's road to "zero-waste".
BD’s research reveals that China remains the world’s largest construction market (a title it’s held since 2010); that the Asia-Pacific Market is expected to be the largest by 2020 (with projected value of $4.6 trillion dollars); and that China, India, and Brazil offer the best growth potential for architectural services. Not surprisingly, the survey’s top three ranking firms - Aecom, Gensler, and IBI Group - all have a significant presence in these markets.
However, are these mega-firms really the best models to aspire to? With the economic crisis making it everyday more evident that there are more opportunities abroad than at home, where is a firm to go? China? India? Brazil?
Almost certainly not.
Find out whether/where you should go abroad, after the break...
Our latest movie in our Films & Architecture series is another ’60s classic, this time by the master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. In North by Northwest we see a New York in the heyday of its architectural glory, with one scene taking place at a newly constructed United Nations building. In fact, the last scene takes place in a “house” that, under Hitchcock’s instructions, was meant to seem designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (in reality, the house was just another set design). The film shows a variety of urban spaces, and puts special emphasis on the contrast between the densities of urban and rural realms.
The Creators Project released two new documentaries this week which feature the brightest new minds in design and architecture. The first piece investigates the work of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and interdisciplinary design firm behind NYC’s High Line and Lincoln Center, and more. The second piece introduces us to the digital deviants OKFocus behind their new alpha-channel video experience for Tanlines’ “Not The Same.” The first video is above and the second video can be viewed after the break.
DRL10 [C]Space Pavilion by Synthesis Design + Architecture in collaboration with Alan Dempsey. Image, SDA
A few weeks ago there was a flurry of debate about one of Zaha Hadid’s designs being copied, or at least copied in terms of its outer form. Very soon after this I discovered an interesting article in the most recent issue of MIT’s Leonardo: Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology.The article, "Hybrid Reassemblage: An Exploration of Craft, Digital Fabrication and Artifact Uniqueness” by Amit Zoran and Leah Buechley, raises some interesting points about the nature of originality, the subjective experience of making original things, and the potential for digital technology to impute this subjectivity to new and repeatable objects. In essence, the authors are discussing the position of craft, the hand-made, the personal, subjective act of making something that is singular and based on a personal process, the negotiation of decisions and risks with tools, materials, and design intentions.
While some familiar names grace the list (Arup comes in at number 1 for Service Engineers), we felt the list was a great way to spotlight many companies whose work seldom goes acknowledged (and without whom, the architecture we love would never come into being).
Check out the best architectural partners of 2012, after the break...
The design proposal for the Aurinkokivi School competition in Vantaa, Finland by Rudanko + Kankkunen was recently awarded a purchase prize for its inspiring architecture and child-friendly spaces. The concept is simple yet fresh: traditional gabled building wings meet and form a surprising composition at the heart of the building. The building is mostly on one level and can be realized with repeating construction elements. It is designed to be inexpensive to build, yet highly fresh and inviting. More images and architects’ description after the break.
How do we talk about architecture? Housing? Cities? Culture? Politics? And, equally important, how don’t we talk about them? Comments on Foreclosed, a forthcoming book and online archive of public reactions to Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream, a 2012 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York that was co-curated by the Buell Center, has been produced to document just this kind of public discussion and the various platforms that shape it.
On February 18th, The Buell Center will mark the completion of the book and website, www.commentsonforeclosed.com, with a public event, “Comments on Comments”. A performance of excerpts from the archive will open a multimedia panel discussion and Q&A. In so doing, certain gaps in the public conversation on American housing and urbanism will be identified, and systemic deficiencies called out.
Taking place this coming Wednesday, February 20th, Winy Maas, a Netherlands-based architect, urbanist and co-founder of the internationally-recognized firm MVRDV, is scheduled to speak at NewSchool of Architecture and Design (NSAD) at 9:00am PST on the topic of “What’s Next?”. The free lecture includes a discussion on the recent works of MVRDV and the research institute The Why Factory, a think tank directed by Maas in collaboration with Delft University of Technology that develops scenarios and models of the city of the future. For more information, please visit here.
Designed by ODA, 100 Norfolk Street expresses the unlimited potential and ambition hidden in the New York Block as it stands significantly taller than its neighbors. Located within the Lower east side Manhattan, the design creates a rather unusual condition, a mid-block – freestanding building overlooking the area, offering strong light exposure for the interior residential spaces and direct views of Downtown, Midtown and the Williamsburg Bridge. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Inspired by the textile industry of Southeast Asia, Yann Follain, co-founder of WY-TO Architects, has designed a Floating Skeleton at Art Stage Singapore to greet the fair’s visitors. The wire-framed floating structure will act as a gateway to Asia’s global art fair. The over-sized loom theme follows through into the new VIP area – The Whirl. Follain has deliberately used lines (representing thread), color, light and textures to represent the diverse and differentiating cultural influences on the established textile industry of Southeast Asia. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Initiated by KÉK – Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre in 2007, the 5th Annual Budapest Architecture Film Days will be taking place February 28-March 3. The main intent of the event is to use the medium of film to highlight the most subtle processes in architecture, design and urban development. This year, the 4-day festival proposes the richest and most diverse program of its half-decade existence to those interested in architecture, design and cities. The event opens with a portrait of one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, Oscar Niemeyer. For more information, including a complete program of events, please visit here.
Above is a video created by A4 Studio which features three of their projects located in the shore of the biggest lake of Middle-Europe, Lake Balaton. The Club 218 and Sio Plaza are two of the three projects in the film that have been published on Archdaily. All projects featured here are very modern works and emphasize A4 Studio’s creative design methodology. The architectural gestures of these projects is shown in detail as a child is shown moving in and around the buildings on a scooter.
BAT + Arquitecnica + LaSuma Paisajistas shared with us their first prize winning proposal in the Eco-Zone competition for a center for cultural and linguistic diversity and an energy platform (renewable + energy efficiency technologies), including all their necessary content of museographic character. Their proposal aims to value the pre-existing built and landscape of the estate Zabalegi in San Sebastian. The architects seek to remember through their intervention, raising some core structural sections that are born from the house of the Indian, that the first stone or seed of this project was planted by Mr. Arteaga when he to donated his plot performing an act of social responsibility. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In recent years there has been a lot of talk in the United States about our aging population in terms of social security funds and medicare. We have asked how we should deal with the impending problem that our elderly will outnumber the population that can take of them. While speculations for a solution have generally settled within the realm of the economy, urban planners and architects are asking a different set of questions and looking for solutions regarding how we design. It is important to note, that while most of the discussion has been framed about the aging "baby-boomer" generation, Jack Rowe, speaking at the symposium for Designing Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging Population in Washington, DC, pointed out that this concern is a conservative estimate of the bigger problem in our "demographic transformation". In fact, the trend is far more expansive; medical advancements and a longer life expectancy mean that for the next few generations each aging population is expected to outlive its parents and will exceed the population of its children. This makes the issue at hand a more over-arching concern, or as Rowe later states, an issue that all members of society must face.
This is why we must think about architecture and urban planning in terms of adaptability for the aging, as we have already starting thinking about it in terms of handicapped accessibility. More after the break.
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) recently announced they will use the proposal by Populous and Ateliers 2/3/4/ for the design of the Grand Stade. After several months of discussions with three competing groups, the FFR has made its choice of designers and has issued the first computer-rendered images. The FFR Grand Stade will be much more than a stadium; the 82,000 capacity venue will become the ‘national stadium of rugby’. It will host all the French rugby home matches, and also accommodate conventions, shows and a broad range of sporting events thanks to its multi-purpose design. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Exploring the evolving way in which we work, the POP-UP Office is an installation by DUBBELDAM Architecture + Design that uses modular units that can be combined in different ways. The result is a workspace that is simultaneously bare bones and tailored to the individual. This design becomes a great response to the profound shift in the way we work; when all we need is a surface to work on and a place to plug in, the working environment is no longer static. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Upon winning the contract to design the new State Fire Brigade School in Wurzburg, gmp Architekten recently presented their design which involves a new practice hall on the site of the Fire Brigade School in order to meet the changed requirements of the training program. The site is in a very exposed location so that the new practice hall building will be visible from afar, and will clearly mark the position of the State Fire Brigade School within the Zellerau neighborhood. More images and architects’ description after the break.
A join venture between Treurniet Architectuur, Michiel Clercx Architectuur, Addis Mebratu and S7 Architects PLC recently won the international design competition for the new building complex for the Ethiopian Parliament. The project represents the wide variety of 85 million people living across a fascinating landscape of 1,000,000 km2. The new building is of significance for every individual, every ethnic group, its thoughts, its interests and its own way of living. By creating a recognizable shape whith a strong symbolic value, the architects make full use of the site located on the hill in the middle of Addis Abeba. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designed by Salon2, their ‘Haze’ Pavilion proposal aims to transform Istanbul Modern into a garden of stages while preparing an unexpected architectural condition for the distant relationship of İstanbul and the sea. Through an experiential design, the pavilion shifts the perception of a specific shore condition of the Tophane Pier and creates its own cool microclimate in the warmest days of the year it to accommodates various events. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Gem Barton, based in Brighton, England, is a writer, academic lecturer, curator and designer. As a regular contributor to journals and magazines such as Mark, Blueprint, Design Bureau and Inhabitat she explores and share her passion for architecture and design. Gem's column 'The B-Side' will look at the alternatives to architectural traditions and explore what it means to be knee-deep in the 21st century design world. Follow her @gem_shandy
Allow me to make an unlikely comparison of two powerhouses: Zaha Hadid (62) and, bear with me now, Lady Gaga (26). Both are breaking the mold with their unique aesthetics; both are at the top of their respective industries; both are commercial successes. However, there is one undeniable difference: it only took the world a few years to recognize Lady Gaga and for her to skyrocket to fame. It has taken Dame Hadid the better part of three decades to receive a comparative level of acclaim. Is it fair to compare successful architects and super songstresses? In an architectural world where we are faced daily by terms such as ‘celebrity’ and ‘starchitect’ it may well be time to look deeper into the matter.
Read more about what architecture could learn from the Music Industry, after the break...
