...

Avataaariii! half day in the lab!
http://www.avatar-architettura.it

NeverEnding Story

Cleaning cycle of Santa Maria del Fiore has not finished yet..
As usual, when they will reach the facade (starting point), they will have to clean all over again!

Back to Florence

My favorite time to walk this city:
Florence, December 19, 3 AM

Quotes II [i am not starting a new series!]

During an in depth conversation about architecture and inspiring architects, a naive (to the topic) friend intervened:
"sorry, i dont know that much of architecture, but you guys never talk about Renzo Piano.."
RENZO, RENZo, RENzo, REnzo, Renzo, renzo....
From the top of his position...the professor replied:
"Even Renzo Piano doesn't talk about himself"!

Quotes

"..You can't be an architect with that kind of [young] skin".
Amazing conversation with Bee-Zee and s[Babi] about architecture, age, love, sleepless nights, alcohol, academic experience, life directions...

Existenzminimum IV: some more shots - part 2

2005 mc-h project,
Horden Cherry Lee Architects, London
The m-ch measures 266cm x 266cm x 266cm. The ceiling height is 198cm and the door width is 60cm.
micro-compact (as they say), capsule II, stacking in process





Marcin Panpuch's Sphere House for the 2005 Royal Institute of British Architects' Future House Exhibition.
nomadism II, not conceived to be minimum.



But someone else made it minimum!
Tom Chudleigh's Free Spirit Sphere, British Columbia, somewhere out of cell phones range, 2005
not only architects deal with the theme...did Tom Chudleigh really move on the trees?
http://www.freespiritspheres.com/index.htm
built movable pod is moving!, nesting instead of stacking, still we may think of some kind of "green" megastructure

Existenzminimum IV: some more shots

SpaceBox project by Mart de Jong of the design office Vijf in Rotterdam. 18sqmt
It's actually being used for many students dorms around Holland and Germany.
stacking V, cellular II, assembling and removable units -- reminds me Le Corbusier's Unite' d'Habitation in Marseille
dont know about some colors choices though!






(superpublished) Loftcube, Studio Aisslinger, Berlin 2005
half minimum half loft, very cool design, way too expensive. don't stack or aggregate, don't move, 8 persons can build it in 3-4 days
definetely hybrid!

Murphy's Law: the equation

During my full immersion online...researching on Aerogel
[dont ask me why, please!]
i ran into the equation of Murphy's Law!!! I could not believe it...my beloved Murphy's Law
i could not prevent myself to keep the news among my bookmarks and post about it!

"If anything can go wrong it will!"
that i place among those laws that have shaped mankind
can be now expressed through the formula

[(U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)]
where U=urgency, C=complexity, I=importance, S=skill, A=aggravation and F=frequency



many believe that Murphy's Law is a popular product. On the contrary, it was named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer from the Edward Air Force Base (North Base), who was working on the project MX981 (how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash) in 1949.

http://www.murphys-laws.com/

Existenzminimum III: keep trying+a few surprising detours

Episode 1 -- Asian extremes

Abandoned City San Zhi, Taipei, unknown year
stacking III, magic pods, weird landings, definetely amazing [gotta go!]

pics taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/formica/215808100/

Archtectural Body Research Foundation Arakawa + Gins
Reversible Destiny Lofts--Mitaka, Tokyo 2005
stacking IV, avant-gard or radical?, alice in wonderland, not so minimum [Lofts], zen influences

more proposal from Arakawa+Gins: Living Body Museum+ Dwelling ideas

more info @ http://www.reversibledestiny.org/mitaka.php

Dinamic City: Beijing Boom Towers, 2005
aggregations, megastructures III, connections II, new communal living?, give us the flying vehicles!

more @ http://www.dynamiccity.org/news.php?news_id=22

Existenzminimum II: capsules, pods and bubbles

I am getting more into this because it's happening to run into new, very diverse exercises of existenzminimum. I am finding it of inspiration for my thesis research.


Arata Isozaki's "Clusters in the Air" scheme, 1962
futuristic capsules, megastructure, cantilever[ing], unbuilt.



Archigram's Bubble City, 1966
radical chic, megastructure II, mobility, connections



Archigram's Living Pod, 1966
machine, nomadism, plug-in, megastructure self-distruction






Moshe Safdie's Habitat for the Montreal Expo, 1967
stacking, cellular, degenerated [MINIMUM rent sounds to be 4k/month]
i still dont like most of his work, but this one is cool



Kisho Kurokawa's Nagakin Tower, 1971
stacking II, super capsule, space ship, kisho on the moon!

ica in southpark

i finally made it to attend some classes!
me in southpark



via zee, via bassam.

Tracking Routes

November 11: hundreds of books are released in Milan by the Bookcrossing people! an article shows up on the first page of one of the main Italian newspaper. I immediately get curious and look for Bookcrossing website (i wish i was in Milan, hunting!!!)
Bookcrossing is a way of diffusing books around the world: one become a member and register his books...then "release them in wild". Every book has a journal, and hopefully those who find one will make a journal entry, read the book and release it again!
I love this stuff! in fact i signed and bought a release kit!
But then i wonder how initiatives like that comes to the minds of their creators. Reading bookcrossing's history i found the link to two "historic" tracking projects - WheresGeorge and GeoCashing!
With where's george it is possible to register and track U.S. bills..i thought it was nice...but quite impossible!
Surprising delightful instead is GeoCashing! It's a scavenger hunt for cashes, physically positioned by the members and tracked down with a basic GPS equipment.



These people has their rules, code and language! There are 7 ongoing geocashing only in my neighborhood, Logan Square.
Geocashing is now being used by the primary schools in North Carolina to introduce technologies to students.
I would spend my whole life only partecipating in this kind of projects!!! :-)

bookcrossing

where's george

geocashing

DasSparkHotel - contemporary existenzminimum

Bauatelier Gropius photographed in 1927–28 by Edmund Collein.

I am always pretty amazed of how opposite themes keep going on parallel paths.
So i am amazed by the technologies and webness condition (things i like a lot to chat about) as well as i am amazed by the poeple who still experiment on existenzminimum.

pics from www.dasparkhotel.net

DasSparkHotel is in Austria and it costs the price you're willing to pay for it! (which is a great incentive).. It's an ongoing project, supported by the customers who visit it!
I would like to try!

more info