Archinect - News

Can't make it to Denver? Bring the AIA National Convention 2013 to you!

2013-06-19T14:22:00-04:00

For the 145th consecutive year, the American Institute of Architects is holding its annual convention this week, June 20-23. It is the biggest gathering of Architects and designers each year, and it is always held different host cities. This year, Denver is the location.

Traveling to the convention has generally been a challenge for many architects who are not within driving distance, but with increasingly more robust internet capabilities, it is now possible for architects, non-architects, AIA Members and non-members to take in the convention experience from their home, office, library, coffee shop or any other location with hi-speed internet access.

The 2013 AIA National Convention will provide the most real-time access to online participants ever as the AIA will host the 2013 AIA Virtual Convention over the same days as the event in Denver. Eager participants can join the experience with live streaming of content from the convention via computer (Windows and Mac OS platform...

Ancient Roman Concrete Is About to Revolutionize Modern Architecture

2013-06-17T15:39:00-04:00

After 2,000 years, a long-lost secret behind the creation of one of the world’s most durable man-made creations ever—Roman concrete—has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future.

World's most expensive (and probably tackiest) motorhome goes on sale for £2m

2013-06-12T18:59:00-04:00

The space-age eleMMent Palazzo comes complete with a colossal master bedroom, 40-inch TV, on-board bar, fireplace and even its own rooftop terrace. But the most impressive piece of luxury is the 'Sky Lounge' - at the press of a button the 40ft home transforms into a personal retreat with pop up cocktail bar, underfloor heating and extravagant marble lighting.

Editor's Picks # 319

2013-06-11T11:52:00-04:00

Paul Petrunia spoke with Ali Jeevanjee and Ben Anderson from the Flux Foundation, an Oakland based organization dedicated to producing large scale public art via a collaborative process. To this end they installed Sidewalk's End at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, California, back in April 2013.

News
Over at the LA Times Christopher Hawthorne reported on LACMA's unfurled Peter Zumthor's design. Mr. Hawthorne wrote "Still a work in progress, the design is full of gestures that are more speculative, even searching, than fully formed. One crucial element that remains under-developed is how it will feel to walk beneath the museum's raised main floor — and how the underside of the building will be clad or look as seen from the ground. (In such a large, dark piece of architecture it will be important to keep that space from feeling cave-like.) The plan so far has little to say about landscape architecture". Gregory Walker had a few questions "is this really any ...

How the U.S. Government Waged War Against the House of Tomorrow

2013-06-06T19:06:00-04:00

Trade organizations and builders of all stripes joined in the call for a tamping down of public expectations — especially those that might get cut out of the new modern style of construction. You see, plastic and glass and steel were the future. And since wood wasn't exactly presented as the building material of tomorrow, organizations like the Arkansas Soft Pine Bureau were happy to contribute by advising the industry to tone it down...

The race to build the first 3D-printed building

2013-06-06T19:02:00-04:00

Architecture has a habit of adapting its aesthetics to new technologies, whether consciously or unconsciously. Some of the most beautiful buildings of the Industrial Revolution -- the cantilever Forth Bridge, for example -- were designed by engineers, not architects, for example. Architecture quickly absorbed the idea of buildings that reflected their purpose.

Full-Page Ad Inspired By Turkish Protests Is One Of Indiegogo's Fastest Campaigns Ever

2013-06-05T14:39:00-04:00

As protests have rocked Turkey over the past few days, three Turkish professionals in the U.S. decided on Sunday that they had to take some action. Turning to their technology backgrounds, the trio launched a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to buy a full-page ad in the front section of the New York Times in support of their fellow Turkish citizens who’ve clashed with the government across dozens of cities.

For more information on the protests in Istanbul, check Orhan's report with ongoing commentary. Here's a link to the Indiegogo campaign.

Editor's Picks #318

2013-06-05T01:58:00-04:00

Evan Chakroff penned Art Basel comes to Hong Kong a report wherein Mr. Chakroff analyzed "During the yearly art fair in Basel, Switzerland, the city is activated and reconfigured, and art is brought to the forefront of civic discourse. What, if any, impact could the fair have on daily life in a city of 7 million? How would this art world mega-event translate to the Hong Kong context?"...

News
Orhan Ayyüce drew our attention to #occupygezi in Istanbul where mass protests and battles are still raging over the government plans to build a "Shopping Mall” on the site of an historic civic park.

Parad0xx86 shared "I was in Besiktas and Taksim today. Taksim is like a total war zone with windows smashed, cars turned upside down, beer cans all over the streets..All the buildings have anti-Tayyip graffitis. There are thousands of people in Taksim right now and they aren't going anywhere". mantaray pointed out "that NPR interviewed protesters today, and one of them turned out to be an a...

3D printing expert lists the reasons why he thinks the technology is overhyped

2013-06-04T20:17:00-04:00

This is the future! And it is, in some respects — it’s going to open so many things up in the world. But that doesn’t mean to say that you will do it yourself or that it will decentralize manufacturing, like the hype seems to suggest. So, no revolution? The main issue lies with raised expectations, build quality, price and usability. So here we go, my list of reasons 3D printing isn’t all you think it’s cracked up to be.

Facebook's positive experience with Gehry in California leads to commission to design new NYC office

2013-06-04T11:52:00-04:00

The company will be moving all of its teams from its current office near Grand Central to two floors at the new office, the interior of which architect Frank Gehry has agreed to design. Gehry is already leading the expansion of Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, CA. A source familiar with Facebook's plans said the company is "extraordinarily pleased with [Gehry's] ability to delivery an incredible quality of design at a remarkably efficient price"...

Faulty tower: Glasgow's £10m white elephant

2013-06-03T11:43:00-04:00

When it was built, it held the Guinness World Record for the "tallest fully-rotating tower" - although to be fair, there was not much competition for that particular accolade. The 127m-tall (416 ft) steel and glass tower, the highest building in Scotland, was the only structure in the world able to rotate fully through 360 degrees from base to top. Neil Baxter, secretary of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland says the idea was unique: "Nobody had ever tried to do that."

The problem, however, is that it doesn't work.

The tower has now been closed since August 2010 and the science centre recently announced it had settled a lengthy court action with the contractors.

Science centre bosses said they had received "substantial" compensation but there seems to be very little prospect of the tower ever turning again.

Architect Peter Wilson, of Edinburgh Napier University, is one of the critics of the project.

"The fundamental thing about this is that when it was initially designed, it was never meant to be built," he says.

"It was intended for an 'ideas' competition."

'Act of Parliament', by Shift//Delete, turns the Gherkin into the world's biggest penis

2013-05-31T17:47:00-04:00

... we have turned the Gherkin into the worlds tallest penis. A penis that is being gratified by our parliament with a sexual act. A 180m high erection for deregulation and global capitalism. We have created this art work for all those that are suffering cuts to their budgets, benefits, working hours, rights, freedoms and quality of life as Parliament perpetuates the age old practice of taxing the poor for the mistakes of the rich.

Bluetooth is coming to your deadbolt

2013-05-30T19:20:00-04:00

The August Smart Lock is the secure, simple, and social way to manage your home’s lock. Now you can control who can enter and who can’t—without the need for keys or codes. And you can do it all from your smartphone or computer.

Key-less entry has been available for cars for ages. It's about time buildings adopt this new technology. Fortunately, this new product is designed by master product designer Yves Behar, of Fuseproject.

Adobe is scratching the surface with new analog tools for digital drawings

2013-05-29T16:18:00-04:00

Our XD team revealed a few projects they're working on at Adobe MAX 2013. The team has been exploring how new form factor displays, new interactions (like touch and gesture), cloud connections and even new hardware might change how you all create and in turn how it might impact what software we need to build.

An Insider's View of the Myths and Truths of the 3-D Printing 'Phenomenon'

2013-05-29T15:34:00-04:00

Never before have we had a technology where we can so freely translate our ideas into a tangible object with little regard to the machinery or skills available. Yet just as the microwave didn’t replace all other forms of cooking as initially predicted, 3-D printing will not replace other manufacturing technologies let alone industrial-scale ones for a variety of reasons. It will complement them.

Editor's Picks #317

2013-05-28T19:03:00-04:00

In the latest edition of Working out of the Box: Archinect interviewed Larraine Henning who is currently seeking funding for A Practical Guide to Squatting on Indiegogo. @bawshaw commented "@LandMass - agreed. although the thesis is interesting, this is not out of the box in terms of a career"...Yet Connely Farr disagreed "@ LandMass - yep. you sound like an ass".

In the latest edition of Working out of the Box: Archinect interviewed Larraine Henning who is currently seeking funding for A Practical Guide to Squatting on Indiegogo. Buy a copy of the book “A Practical Guide to Squatting”, and help support independent art and promote the squatting movement! During the interview, she reflected "I think the most valuable thing architecture school bestowed upon me was tolerance and persistence...School taught me to bear conviction and purpose with whatever project I take on, to be earnest and to take judgement in stride"...

@bawshaw commented "@LandMass - agreed. although the thesis is interesting, this is not out of the box in terms of a career. half of my graduating class ended up taking similar paths; more as a product of the recession than anything else. these paths may be alternative to the modern career, but not to architecture specifically. i do applaud her for doing what she believes in".

Yet Connely Farr disagreed "@ LandMass - yep. ...

How Engineers Are Building a New Railroad Under New York City

2013-05-28T15:13:00-04:00

The biggest public transit infrastructure effort in the US is almost completely invisible — unless you’re 160 feet underground. The East Side Access project will connect the Long Island Railroad to New York’s Grand Central Terminal via a massive tunnel under the East River. Actually, that tunnel was the easy part; it was started in 1969. The hard part? “We are building a brand-new railroad here,” says Michael Horodniceanu, president of Metropolitan Transit Authority Capital Construction.

Beautiful photographs by Dean Kaufman. To view more of his photos from this story, go to his website.

Sears to convert defunct department stores into data centers

2013-05-24T14:51:00-04:00

Sears Holdings, the 120-year old retailer (which now includes Kmart), plans to start converting its struggling and defunct department stores into data centers, Data Center Knowledge reported today. A new unit of the company, Ubiquity Critical Environments, will lead the charge. Thanks to Walmart, specialty shops, an economic downturn and—the sweet irony—online shopping, department stores are heading toward extinction, and Sears is feeling the pain particularly hard.

The too-smart city

2013-05-22T20:01:00-04:00

We’re already building the metropolis of the future—green, wired, even helpful. Now critics are starting to ask whether we’ll really want to live there.

Editor's Picks #316

2013-05-22T11:11:00-04:00

Beth Mosenthal penned a thoughtful Op-Ed titled The Ego and the Architect. Therein, she briefly examined "the idea of ‘leadership’ in an architectural office".

News
Celebrating the fact that "the Museum of Modern Art blinked" Michael Kimmelman wrote an article Defending the Former American Folk Art Museum Building. Donna Sink commented "A lovely, calm argument and well- written article. Fingers crossed that MOMA's less egotisticsl and more community-focused board members will listen".

Archinect talked to Ivan Blanco, designer of the competition-winning entry in the LA Film Festival Director's Lounge Design Competition. Ivan heads LA-based multi-disciplinary design studio Blnko Design Labs. Eric Chavkin enjoyed the interview but had a couple of thoughts "The scheme is, well, kind of typical but does address the very important IMHO the after film-aspect of going to a screening. The 'windows frame' metaphor is just weak".

Following the release of CLOG: Brutalism—the NYC-...

What is the future of the library?

2013-05-16T18:36:00-04:00

For the first time since Henri Labrouste (1801-1875), currently the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, formulated the conception of the new, democratic library, the central library is fighting for survival. The relevance of these gloriously inflated book boxes is being questioned in an age that looks to the Internet for its intellectual resources.

El Paso, laser scanned in 3D

2013-05-16T14:23:00-04:00

Robert González wants to create a 3D digital replica of Downtown El Paso, using lasers. The director of Texas Tech’s fledgling architecture program in El Paso says the student project would be part of a new historic preservation program he is developing here. The project would create a permanent record, in 3D, of El Paso’s most historic and endangered buildings.

An exhibition of 3D captured border cities from around the world projected onto giant scrims filling an abandoned maquilladora, might be an interesting project.

Isotopes v.02 Is An Audiovisual Cage

2013-05-14T20:01:00-04:00

Design studio Nonotak—Noémi Schipfer and Takami Nakamoto—have created an installation, called Isotopes v.02, which is a reaction to the Fukushima nuclear meltdown that happened back in 2011. The piece featured at Geneva's 2013 Mapping Festival and consists of projected light which entices the viewer to investigate further. But, once the unsuspecting visitor has headed towards the light like a moth to the flame, they become trapped in this beguiling maze...

The Dubai Frame is becoming a reality, to be complete end of 2014

2013-05-13T14:47:00-04:00

Lootah said the project is a complete glass, transparent structure resembling a huge window frame intended to highlight the attractions of the city so visitors can view the skyscrapers on Shaikh Zayed Road from one side — symbolising modern Dubai — while the other side of the frame will show the old Dubai landmarks of Deira, Umm Hurair and Karama. “The electrical panoramic elevators will help visitors move through its facilities as if they are moving in the sky inside the glass frame,”

As some of you may remember, when the winner of the ThyssenKrupp Elevator Award was announced 3 years ago, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the selected winner. The winning entry, "Dubai Frame" by Fernando Donis of the Netherlands, was a 150m tall structure designed as a literal frame of the city of Dubai.

Well, it appears construction on the monument has begun, with a completion date estimated for the end of next year.

Click here to read the 3-year old news article announcing the winner, with the flood of reader comments.

Architectural Photography without Architecture

2013-05-13T13:44:00-04:00

Slowly it dawned on me that this was not a photograph of a real building but a total digital fabrication. I was shocked, not in a moralistic way but, rather, with amazement at the masterful deception and amused pique at being fooled.

The technologies of representing architecture have advanced steadily over the years, from drawing to photography to digital rendering — and have lately taken a new leap.

On Places, Belmont Freeman argues, "the crafts of architectural rendering and photography have now merged into a common activity of digital image-making — so completely that one can conceive a work of architecture and produce a 'photograph' of it without having to go through the expensive, tedious and corrupting intermediate step of actually building the building. Welcome to the world of architectural photography without architecture."

He discusses the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions "After Photoshop: Manipulated Photography in the Digital Age" and "Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop"; the MoMA exhibition "9 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design," and recent books of photography by Frédéric Chauban and Ezra Stoller.

...

2013 National Design Award Winner James Wines among speakers at Saturday 5/11 "WWW Drawing" symposium in NY

2013-05-09T18:30:00-04:00

The (de)vices and virtues of hand drawing versus digital drawing will be debated at "WWW Drawing: Architectural Drawing from Pencil to Pixel" at the Drawing Center, in SoHo New York, this Saturday May 11 from 2-4 pm — a symposium co-produced by Penn State University's Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and the Drawing Center.

Speakers include renowned architects James Wines (just-announced 2013 National Design Award Winner for Lifetime Achievement, and President of SITE Architecture, Art & Design), Michael Webb (Archigram, Cooper Union), and Mark West (University of Manitoba) — the "Ws" of the project title — along with five rising stars of computational design, fine art, architecture and programming: Daniel Cardoso Llach, Andrew Heumann, Seher Shah, Ann Tarantino and Jürg Lehni.

A new documentary video of the March 2013 WWW Drawing Workshop at Penn State U will debut at the symposium, which will be co-moderated by Stuckeman School Head of Architectur...

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Announces 2013 National Design Awards Winners

2013-05-09T17:08:00-04:00

Winners of the 2013 National Design Awards, selected from a variety of disciplines, were unveiled today by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City.

Prison Architect and the moral dilemmas of a prison simulator

2013-05-09T11:38:00-04:00

“Part of the research I did for that game is I went around to Alcatraz in San Francisco because I wanted to have a level where you break into a prison,” Chris Delay, one of Introversion’s co-founders said in an interview. “I started working on how to simulate a prison and how it was going to work. It was then that it occurred to me that building a prison was quite good fun, and that it shouldn’t be, but it is.”

The physical architecture of the Internet Archive

2013-05-08T15:08:00-04:00

This film was shot in October last year when the Internet Archive celebrated a landmark --10 petabytes of stored media. Tour the space, which still looks more like a church than a library and see where millions of books are digitized and stored in a facility in Richmond, CA.

Cities Of The Future, Built By Drones, Bacteria, And 3-D Printers

2013-05-08T12:43:00-04:00

*This screed is awesomely entertaining and full of cool links, even though it’s almost entirely implausible..There’s also the occasional built-from-scratch Brasilia. So, some people might build a city like this in some central-planned, high-tech rush, before realizing that urban drones, bacteria, and 3DPrinters are fated to become as old-fashioned and pokey as swoopy, Space Age Brasilia is right now. - Bruce Sterling

As part of the Futurist Forum series, Chris Arkenberg composed some vignettes, suggestive of how urban architecture(s) could transform from than the rigid construction methodologies of today, the result being that "Architecture will lose its formal rigidity, softening and flexing and getting closer to the life we see in plants".

h/t Bruce Sterling here