Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Location: Trento, Italy Architect: Renzo Piano Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Courtesy of RPBW, RPBW – Stefano Goldberg, RPBW – Paolo Pelanda, Colombo Costruzioni – Alessandro Gadutti, RPBW – Cristiano Zaccaria
Black Spectacles is hosting two sessions of their ‘Digital Design Crash Course’, a three day online course this August and September, which focuses on strategies and skills for working rapidly and creating beautiful work. The seminar will show students and professionals how to utilize a variety of design software including AutoCAD, Revit, Sketchup, Rhino, Grasshopper, & 3ds Max. You will develop an understanding of the geometric limitations of each software, so you know what tools to work with based on your design interests.
The 20th person to register for each session will be able to take the seminar for free. The deadline to register for the first session is August 10 and the deadline to register for the second session is September 7. More information after the break.
Although the city is seen as a place of meetings and exchanges, many urban centers have become over-saturated with cars and car parks. This phenomenon has created a series of “non-places” that have claimed “common areas” from city dwellers. Occupying a space no larger than a typical parking spot, the Architettura Dolomiti Pavilion reflects on David Chipperfield’s “Common Ground” theme and explores ways on how to exploit these common areas currently occupied by parking places. This wooden pavilion reinterprets and reintroduces the “larin” – a traditional space found in the rural houses of Belluno where the family meets to eat, drink and share stories – in an effort to create an intimate space within the city that offers an escape and an opportunity for interaction amongst city dwellers. With this pavilion, Dolomiti Architetture explores the possibilities of “a new life free from cars” within the city center that also reflects their values of environmental sustainability by using disassemblability techniques, recycling methods and renewable raw materials.
The Architecture Dolomiti Pavilion is currently being occupied by the city dwellers of Belluno, Italy. Continue reading for the architects’ description.
Soon to be Shenzhen’s tallest tower at 660 meters, the Ping An Finance Center by KPF will anchor the city’s new Central Business District. Positioned at the southwest corner of the intersection of Yi Tian Road and Fu Hua Road in the Futian District, the tower will connect with neighboring properties in addition to Shenzhen Line 1 Gou Wu Gong Yuan metro station. More details after the break.
In an article published by The Wall Street Journal called For Creative Cities, the Sky Has Its Limit, Richard Florida discusses the development of urban environments and their relative successes. As human migrations are trending towards big cities, the design and appropriation of space within these cities is increasingly important. Florida cites that trends indicate that by 2050 cities will make up 70% of the global population. With so many people, elevate density within cities will be unavoidable, but what Florida emphasizes is that it isn’t just density that makes a vibrant and thriving city. Citing Shanghai and New York City as examples of dense urban environments, Florida explains the differences in their relative architectural and urban developments and the prosperity that follows. The fundamental difference? The prevalence of mixed-use neighborhoods in New York City that overpower the innovation of strictly financial districts of either New York or Shanghai.
Let’s look at these examples after the break.
The proposal for the New Keelung Harbor terminal building by Synthesis Design + Architecture (SDA) focuses on the synthesis of three core concepts into a coherent, elegant, and iconic solution which signals the formation of a new identity for Keelung Harbor. Inspired by the geometric patterns of Taiwanese Hen Cages and the structural shells of luxury racing yachts, the building takes shape in a dynamic gradient form that transitions from exo-skin to exo-skeleton in response to programmatic content as well as performative requirements. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Over the past 50 years, DETAIL has presented countless architectural highlights, which, in their time, drove development forward thanks to their experimental designs or groundbreaking use of materials. Yet, how have these once innovative designs fared? What lessons have been learned? Have the buildings changed over the decades?
Yesterday, we shared the appointment of Wiel Arets as the new dean of the IIT College of Architecture. And, to continue with news in the academic realm, the UNStudio pair of Caroline Bos and Ben van Berkel have been awarded Honorary Professorships at two leading international universities, the University of Melbourne and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, respectively.
In a conceptual master plan, Luis Callejas, Melissa Naranjo and Manon Mollard of LCLAOFFICE have created a series of operational clusters that can be inserted onto the Kiev Islands to preserve the natural essence of the islands, while providing outlets for experiences. The Kiev Islands represent the unique opportunity to allow those in an urban center to balance urban life with the offerings of these natural places.
More info, plus great diagrams, after the break.
With a challenge of creating regeneration and community development in Trent Basin, Nottingham, UK, which meets passive house requirements, the first stage winning proposal for Isover Multi-Comfort House competition focuses on the minimization of the A/V ratio of the building. Designed by Evgeni Leonov Architects, the egg shape is used as inspiration to this project since the egg is known as one of the most energy-efficient forms of nature. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Architects: D.I.G Architects Location: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan Design Team: Akinori Yoshimura, Maki Yoshimura Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Tomohiro Sakashita
Architects: 1+1>2 Location: Tả Phìn, Sa Pa District, Lao Cai province, Vietnam Project Architects: Hoang Thuc Hao, Pham Duy Tung, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy Project Manager: Red Dream Project Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Courtesy of 1+1>2
Best of Housing by DETAIL Magazine: Housing is something individual: we each have our own ideas and aspirations for it, and we express a lifestyle by the way in which we house ourselves — the way in which we dwell. To dwell means to be “at home”, where one ideally has a sense of well-being.
When it comes to housing, there have been numerous studies of standards, developments and trends, which have analysed and compared people’s needs. But as needs change over time, so do trends. And also the global and demographic changes affecting society alter the way we dwell and flexibility becomes a decisive criterion.
The subject of housing also includes the integration of individual buildings in an urban context. Especially in cities, people often live in compact spaces in which there are fewer personal spaces and more communal areas. Yet each of us longs for a space of our own. Therefore it becomes important that designers develop ideas that meet our shared need for a balance between personal and communal space.
The annual Seattle Design Festival, created by Design in Public, is an event that encourages all to ‘engage our world’ by offering the public an opportunity to better understand design and how it adds value to our lives, our city, and our region. This fun-filled weekend, which takes place September 20-23, is a collaboration among ten nonprofit partners that created an ambitious set of offerings: more than 35 events, including tours, films, speakers, exhibits, installations, and family programs—all aimed at a public audience. For more detailed information, including a complete list of events going on that weekend, please visit here.
Architects: Robert Siegel Architects Location: Calais, ME, USA Project Team: Robert Siegel, Eduardo Ramos, Richard Tobias, Brad Burns, Julien Leyssene, Wayne Walker, Holly Williams, Heather Pfister, Eva Hermoso, Justin Huang, Fatmir Hodzic, Scott Schwarzwalder, Tomonori Tsujita, Kelsey Yates, Rita Afonso Project Year: 2009 Project Area: 100,000 sq ft Photographs: Paul Warchol
Uruguay has been invited to be one of the Latin American countries participating in the 2012 Venice Biennale. Located in a former warehouse of the Biennale, which has belonged to the Uruguayan State since 1960, the Uruguayan pavilion will present their curatorial proposal, Panavision – an exhibition that will feature six diverse and emergent Uruguayan practices that will not exhibit their work, but rather their practices as a way to spark a discussion on contemporary Uruguayan architectural agenda.
The practices representing the young generation of architects for the 2012 Uruguayan pavilion are the following:
Architects: Tazu Rous Location: Koningin Maria Hendrikaplein, Gent, Belgium Photographs: Dirk Pauwels
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Provost Alan Cramb announced today the appointment of Wiel Arets as the new dean of the IIT College of Architecture. Born in the Netherlands, Arets, an internationally acclaimed architect, educator, industrial designer, theorist, and urbanist, is known for his academic progressive research and hybrid design solutions. He is currently the professor of building planning and design at the Berlin University of the Arts. His architecture and design practice, Wiel Arets Architects, has multiple studios throughout Europe and its work has been nominated for the European Union’s celebrated ‘Mies van der Rohe Award’ on numerous occasions.
Arets, who was dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam from 1995-2002, will join IIT this fall and will lead an academic program originally shaped by the vision and work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Considered by many to be one of the founders of modern architecture and design, Mies chaired the IIT architecture program from 1938-1958 and designed the IIT Main Campus, home to many of his iconic structures including S.R. Crown Hall.
Continue reading for more.
“Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect” (2008) filmed by Markus Heidingsfelder and Min Tesch, and produced by Arthouse Films, Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect offers a “thought-provoking portrait of the architect”.
The AZA 2012 Biennial Festival in Cape Town, South Africa will feature six international architects to join South African architects in a conversation about architectural practice and its role in the context of the city. The participating speakers include David Adjaye, founder of Adjaye Associates, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima of Atelier Bow-Wow, Tatiana Bilbao, Teddy Cruz of Estudio Teddy Cruz, Rahul Mehrotra, founder of RMA Architects and Kibwe Tavares co-founder of Factory Fifteen, in addition to others. This is the second Architecture ZA event, a premier urban culture festival that brings together cutting-edge thinkers and multi-disciplinary practitioners from around the world. It will be held on September 13-16, 2012 and will include various events, talks, film screenings, conferences and tours.
Read on for more about the speakers invited to AZA 2012.
GREENHOUSE TALK, a comparison of design cultures in the great countries of Eastern Asia and Europe, will be taking place August 28 from 9-11am as part of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition at la Biennale di Venezia. Promoted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Rome and supported by Image, the main protagonists of this meeting are Pritzker Prize Laureate Wang Shu of Amateur Architecture (China), Rahul Mehrotra of RMA architects (India) and Francine Houben of Mecanoo (the Netherlands). The meeting, introduced by Pippo Ciorra and commented by Ole Bouman, will be an informal discussion in the Serra dei Giardini in Venice. For more information, please visit here.
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer whose work is focused on industrial (and post- industrial) landscapes. His pictures were so inspiring that moved Jennifer Baichwal in 2004 to record a documentary based on them. The result is an impressive film full of really powerful images that questions the limits between natural and artificial.
It seems to be a premonitory view of the current development issues, where the scale of industrialisation processes is such large that is capable to generate a whole new environment. A totally new landscape.
Let us know about your ideas of these “manufactured landscapes” and what can we do with these spaces afterwards?
In our final segment of Thinking Past Day 17 – our series examining the larger implications of hosting the Olympic Games – we conclude with ideas for the future host cities that involve dividing the Games across 7 permanent sites, complete with reusable architecture and a focus on sustainability at the urban level.
The effects of urban displacement coupled with post-Games housing concerns for the Athletes’ Village in Olympic Park – which we addressed in Part II - will definitely test the future viability of the Olympic Committee’s planning strategies. It is interesting to note that in relation to the entirety of the Olympic map, the area designated for the Village represents only a minuscule portion of the land that must be reintegrated post-Olympics. So, if we zoom out from the Athletes’ Village, what will become of the vast expanses of land currently supporting the major sporting facilities?
