Friday, March 30, 2007

[pause]

Ica's thesis is due in 4 weeks.
These are shots taken @ IIT.
Spatial stories, [tired]people i spend my time with, high rises @ high altitudes, augmented bodies, experiments, sleepless nights and a lot of junk food.
Welcome to our architectural world.









Thursday, March 29, 2007

WeekEnd Event


The arch.city.art gallery will be holding a party to not only celebrate the end of its run but also to house a party for Juan Herreros and his students from Madrid this Friday, March 30. The festivities begin at 6 pm.

FYI: full coverage of arch.city.art exhibition i posted about can be found on Bee-Zee (among my links)

Aesthetic Contradictions: Basalt Garden

“If we want to enjoy nature, we will take our car and drive to a forest”.






Backyard not as a tiny portion of green but as a place o enjoy sun and rain. A single bush of bamboo, only to prevent the view from outside.

The black granite floor tile of the interior living space is prolonged through rough basalt stones, variable in lenght. The white walls inside are recalled by the translucent polycarbonate fences. To stress the fact that the bamboo is merely a means to get higher than the allowed 2 mt of a fence, it was fenced in by polycarbonate.

Secret gardens, undefined edges.

  • Krill.nl
  • Unveiled Twist - Chicago's Spire

    Last Monday, Santiago Calatrava presented the latest design for the Chicago Spire.
    The new twisting high rise for the city's lake front will be 2000ft tall, the tallest building of US.
    Still raising issues on security after 9/11.

    The story
    Blair Kamin for the Chicago Tribune

    Impressive shots from the older design, which i preferred.




    Wednesday, March 21, 2007

    Elastic Habitat

    Avatar Architettura+Peter Lang
    FIRST RESPONSE PLASTIC TUBE HOUSE: THE COMPLETE FLEXIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN: "FROM THE BIODEGRADABLE SPOON TO THE CITY-ELASTICITY!"







    "First Response Plastic Tube House functions as basic unit in the 'Elastic Habitat family': It serves as the primary short term module residence in ElastiCity, that in extreme cases of emergencies can be used to house refugees on a temporary basis." (Peter Lang).

    Complete text here
    more on Elasticity here

    [via arch'it]

    Tuesday, March 20, 2007

    Density







    "Hak Nam, City of Darkness, the old Walled City of Kowloon was demolished ten years ago, in 1993, and to the end it retained its seedy magnificence. Rearing up abruptly in the heart of urban Hong Kong, 10, 12 and in some places as many as 14 storeys high, there was no mistaking it: an area 200 metres by 100 metres of solid building, home to some 35,000 people, not the largest, perhaps, but certainly one of the densest urban slums in the world. It was also, arguably, the closest thing to a truly self-regulating, self-sufficient, self-determining modern city that has ever been built."

    more info+pics taken from here

    *thanks to Arturo for the forwarding

    Sunday, March 18, 2007

    Melbourne is Ferrari-Red


    :)

    Nembro's lessons

    Nembro is a small municipality in the province of Bergamo, Italy. It counts roughly 11.300 residents.
    Recently Studio Archea realized there a public library: the exterior walls of the new building are covered with a brise-soleil system realized with rectangular pieces of earthenware that resemble books. Light+shadow+color for an original outcome.






    Nembro is not new to strong architectural practice. Last year the municipality launched a competition for a bike path along Gavarnia creek, won by DAP Studio and Paola Giaconia with a valuable project.





    Small realities-big ideas are growing.

    Saturday, March 17, 2007

    Icon works: Battersea Power Station


    Do you remember this cover? Pink Floyd's Animals, 1977.
    The Battersea Power Station, a huge brick complex, is one of London's icons.
    It was closed for almost 20 years until the past October and November, when it opened again in occasion of China Power Station, an exhibit promoted by the Serpentine Gallery and hosted into Toyo Ito pavilion - located there for the Serpentine since 2002.









    Toyo Ito Pavilion

    After that exhibition, BPS definetely closed its doors to the public in order to undergo a huge renovation project, which will convert the site into a multifunctional area. The design for the new BPS is signed by several offices among which Grimshaw, Ron Arad, Arup, UN Studio and West8. End of works: 2011.