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A recap of events at UC's School of Architecture and Interior Design

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    Mitigating Complexity

    By DAAP-SAID
    Nov 1, '12 5:04 PM EST

    Recap of lecture on 10/17/12 - watch video here

    Hagy Belzberg: Mitigating Complexity

    http://www.belzbergarchitects.com

     

    mitigating complexity – varying programs, clients, budgets that architects must balance

     

     

    Howser Landscape Installation AWOL

    - a host of a local public tv show has a house in the desert, but is paranoid & wanted a fence in the desert to prevent people from coming onto his property
    - ship hulls cantilevered out of ground – radiate so much heat that no one would want to come near; performance patterning

     

    Skyline Residence
    - part of the set for Crazy Stupid Love
    - environmental performance – building is balanced with prevailing winds
    - sun shields – environmental patterning, passive architecture
    - movies projected onto guest house; viewed from green roof over garage

     

    Walt Disney Concert Hall
    - design 12,000 sf inside building
    - acoustical isolation critical in many spaces
    - restaurant, café, retail, members lounge
    - hanging bubbles from ceiling absorb sound, conceal HVAC, emit light
    - CNC – relatively new technology within architecture at the time
    - proverbial curtain created in wood ripple wall (absent in actual concert hall)
    - water jet cut glass stacked bar – again playing on the idea of a ripple

     

    Kona residence, Hawaii
    - move away from kitsch architecture common in Hawaii
    - formal dance and gift making as icon
    - technology is void without a reference to icon
    - house – view of volcano and ocean at either end of open gallery that creates axis and displays collection of wife’s orchids
    - sustainable design for client who doesn’t want it
    - reflecting ponds – volcano clouds; acid rain
    - technology & iconography – ceiling pattern is indigenous, not colonial
    - entry – upside down basket; been gifted; built in LA & reassembled by island workers

     

    Denver Art Lab entry piece
    - architecture had to be signage
    - canopy, benches part of a folded skin
    - fabricated pieces – lightweight fiberglass transported by truck
    - weird tongue sticks out, inviting people in

     

    LA Museum Holocaust
    - Holocaust survivors came to LA – first “museum” in country – moved place to place
    - build around existing monument in 1972 – surrounded by federal, state, and city land
    - concentration camp architecture – not progressive, feels cheap – do away with this language but with huge resistance
    - series of rooms – darker and lower, turn and release into light
    - donor wanted iconic building, but building pushed below and allowed the language of the park to read – duality of happy park and dark themes
    - long ramp down to entry – park and street sounds disappear
    - language of connectivity
    - 9th grade students in LA are required to learn about Holocaust, so many exhibits are interactive
    - designing project while still under construction
    - swimming pool contractors used full scale stencils & guide wires to create interior concrete structure
    - black cubes with interactive media
    - walls with 1.5 mil voids placed near playground – symbolic, haunting deaths of youth, helping young visitors understand magnitude of Holocaust

     

    LA Conga Room
    - took pattern from rumba steps – becomes floral
    - parts of the ceiling are agitated; absorbed more sound per program
    - work closely with acoustic engineers
    - shoot horizontal lights across patterns to create multi-faceted affects
    - pattern of ceiling brought down into a "head dress" above entry
    - each person proceeds under head dress when waiting

     

    9800 Wilshire in Beverly Hills (in progress)

    - convinced client not to demolish an old building but to bubble wrap it instead
    - slump glass – 4’ x 8’ sheets heated and were allowed to slump in formed pattern
    - 3 layers – safety and high performance glass
    - during design, the building was sold to a new owner who wanted to do a new Spanish or Mediterranean style building
    - pushed instead for mechanically ventilated façade over existing building
    - spiderwebbing to clear pattern on glass
    - sky canopy to conceal HVAC

     

    Conclusion

    making technology relevant – performance based, not just off the shelf



     
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About this Blog

This blog will provide a recap of events - lectures, gallery openings, major reviews, etc. - at the University of Cincinnati's School of Architecture and Interior Design. Most entries are written by graduate assistants at SAID; other authors will be noted by post.

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