Archinect - News

An Architectural Photographer on Saving Russia’s Wooden Churches

2013-02-21T03:06:00-05:00

Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” is the result.

Kingdom of Kitsch

2012-12-31T12:12:00-05:00

The oversize public monuments and buildings in the capital of North Korea confirm the subservience of the citizen to the state and display the ghastly aesthetic imperatives of totalitarian art.

The WSJ's Eric Gibson reviews the book "Architectural and Cultural Guide: Pyongyang," edited by Philipp Meuser, a German architect and architectural historian.

Pharrell: Places and Spaces I've Been

2012-10-05T13:37:00-04:00

In his own unique graphic language, he details his extensive creative pursuits, including clothing lines, jewelry, and accessories designs for Louis Vuitton, furniture and other product design, limited-edition toys, graphic designs, skate graphics, and collaborations with Moncler, Marc Jacobs, the artist KAWS, and with architects Zaha Hadid and Masamichi Katayama/Wonderwall.

d3 launches first volume of d3:dialog: >assemble

2012-08-17T17:08:00-04:00

d3 publications, offering global perspectives on architecture, culture, technology, and production, just announced the launch of the first volume of d3:dialog: >assemble.

Here's the official announcement we've received from d3:

>assemble will debut at the Beijing International Book Fair and Frankfurt International Book Fair in Fall 2012.
d3 publications may be purchased on-line in Europe and North America (Amazon).

Assemble
d3:dialog, International Journal of Architecture + Design
editors, Gregory Marinic & Mary-Jo Schlachter
320 pages in full color

Investigating contemporary issues in architecture, urbanism, and design, d3 views collaboration across the disciplines as a catalyst of change, and thus, seeks to actively build a global network of hybridized creative communities. d3 situates itself in this role out of the conviction that an expanded discourse in architecture fosters learning, creativity, and innovation.

d3:dialog is an international journal of con...

A Stunning Survey Of Pics By Eero Saarinen's In-House Photog

2012-08-15T15:02:00-04:00

In 1954, a young Hungarian went to work with Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. As his then colleague, Cesar Pelli, describes him: “[He] was a small sensation: he had a fur-trimmed coat, a homburg, and a Van Dyke beard.”... He had been a distinguished architectural student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, in Paris, and a draftsman under Le Corbusier... he was quickly tapped as the in-house photographer, creating pictures that became indelible symbols of the Mad Men age of Modernism.

John Comazzi Publishes Biography of Photographer Balthazar Korab

2012-08-08T14:19:00-04:00

A new illustrated biography, Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography, by John Comazzi at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture tells the story of Balthazar Korab, one of the mid-twentieth century's most celebrated architecture photographers. It's the first book dedicated solely to Korab's life and career, with a portfolio of more than two hundred images from Korab's professionally commissioned architecture photography as well as close examinations of Saarinen's TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana.

Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography is available from Princeton Architectural Press.

The Sky's the Limit: Architecture With an Edge

2012-06-22T20:18:00-04:00

"The Sky's the Limit: Applying Radical Architecture" (Gestalten, $78) features 135 cutting-edge projects completed in recent years, broken into categories like organic flow, sharp structures and smarter surfaces. The ultimate aim of these buildings, writes Sofia Borges in the preface, is to evoke "pure, immersive sensation."

Frank Lloyd Wright's Lesser-Known Contributions to Graphic Design

2012-05-07T14:44:00-04:00

In Frank Lloyd Wright: Graphic Artist (public library), Penny Fowler examines Wright’s ingenious and bold graphic work — his covers for Liberty (some of which were so radical the magazine rejected them), his mural designs for Midway Gardens, his photographic experiments, his hand-drawn typographical studies, the jacket designs for his own publications, including The House Beautiful and An Autobiography, and a wealth more.

Just released: Design Like You Give A Damn [2]: Building Change From The Ground Up

2012-05-02T18:56:00-04:00

Architecture for Humanity front man, and long-time Archinect contributor, Cameron Sinclair is proud to announce the launch of the second edition of his game-changing book, Design Like You Give A Damn - a "handbook for anyone committed to building a more sustainable future."

Dear Friends,
It has been 6 years since the release of Design Like You Give A Damn [1] and we are honored to announce the release of a follow-up companion artfully titled Design Like You Give A Damn [2]. Packed with more than 100 case studies, one-on-one interviews, an extensive 'how to' financing section and the history of Architecture for Humanity 2006-2011. Like the first, ALL PROCEEDS will go to supporting our programs but this time we will let Amazon do all the shipping....

Get it today, buy for your 10 closest friends and make us the number one design book in America!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0810997029

Get the book before May 24th and tweet/facebook a photo of yourself (or a pet) holding your f...

bracket [goes soft]: Dredge Locked

2012-04-19T13:10:00-04:00

In anticipation of today's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we are showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you tonight!

Dredge Locked
by Alex Yuen

Unnoticed by many, Houston’s shipping channel, like many such commercial waterways around the globe, is subjected to a continual process of dredging, in order to maintain a certain breadth and depth to accommodate the vessels that enter and leave Houston every day. This material, however, is seldom regarded as anything but waste and is deposited and contained, either within the channel or on shore, taking up space and spreading the harmful bi-products of the petrochemical facilities in the area. Up to this point, such actions have rarely been scrutinized and this system of isolating and hiding the contaminated material, even at such a massive scale, continues. Yet as the world and Houston move into a new era of awareness and accountability, major possibilities are lost by simply sweeping ...

bracket [goes soft]: GROUNDING: Landslide Mitigation Housing

2012-04-18T13:41:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we are showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

GROUNDING: Landslide Mitigation Housing
Jared Winchester / Viktor Ramos

“Landslides and other ‘ground failures’ cost more lives and money each year than all other natural disasters combined, and their incidence appears to be rising. Nevertheless, the government devotes few resources to their study — and the foolhardy continue to build and live in places likely to be consumed one day by avalanches of mud.”
- Brenda Bell, The Atlantic Monthly, (Jan. 1999)

Precarious relationships between human occupation and geophysical metamorphism are a common occurrence along coastal California and Los Angeles County in particular. The architecture of this region is a perpetual game of chance between tranquil domesticity and the danger of its tragic upheaval. To mitigate future catastrophic events, salvage currently unbu...

bracket [goes soft]: ESP // Estuary Services Pipeline

2012-04-17T16:49:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we are showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

ESP // Estuary Services Pipeline
by Bionic / Marcel Wilson

The Estuary Services Pipeline is a regional utility infrastructure designed to cope, adapt, respond, and leverage the changes presented by sea level rise in the 170 miles of coastline in the San Francisco Bay estuary. This century sea levels are projected to rise as much as 55” due to global climate change. This epic disaster will unfold slowly and threatens our most productive economies, infrastructures, cultures, and coastal ecologies. The sheer magnitude of the issue promises uncoordinated efforts among governments, agencies, and the private sector. Response is likely to be slow, late, and resource intensive. The pipeline is a coordinated large-scale force for the San Francisco Bay Metropolitan Area that leverages all available resources to engage...

New Book: Generic Specific Continuum

2012-04-17T14:06:00-04:00

The work of Spanish architect Julio Salcedo is shown in this book as a series of built and speculative projects. Salcedo's houses, early achievements that stunned both academic and professional circles with their freshness and precocious sophistication are presented with unpublished competition proposals for large-scale buildings. The projects in their varying locales, scales and ambitions all demonstrate a commitment to architecture as a conceptual medium with a capacity to tackle complex ideas as well as a material practice with a transformative worldliness. Each is a built essay that works through architectural problems of form, construction and material to achieve a thought-provoking resolution in a difficult yet satisfying beauty. The book complements a thorough graphic documentation of selected projects with Salcedo's own writings and critical essays by Luis Rojo and Ivan Rupnik.

As Michael Sorkin said at the Book Launch Party: "The book feels like a series of snapshots ta...

bracket [goes soft]: Buoyant Light

2012-04-16T18:24:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we will be showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

Buoyant Light
by Claire Lubell and Virginia Fernandez

The Canadian Arctic is a vast landscape, dotted with remote communities whose lives depend on natural cycles for subsistence. While imagining widespread distribution, Buoyant Light is sited in Igloolik, an Inuit community of 1600 at 70 degrees North with active creative and research programs. Like much of the Arctic, Igloolik is witness to acute changes in permafrost, sea levels and ice. As an island, it is particularly vulnerable to unreliable freeze-thaw cycles of the sea which directly affects safe hunting and traveling.

Image: View of Igloolik at night, illuminated on land and water by a distributed series of buoyant lights.

Buoyant Light consists of a balloon and a buoy which serve a dual function: to harvest solar energy, providing Iglooli...

Arctic Architecture: Svalbard

2012-04-09T13:30:00-04:00

Arctic Architecture: Svalbard is the first book in a series that will explore the inevitability of northward human migration, its impact on the landscape, and the possibility that sustainable architecture can accommodate human expansion while minimizing environmental damage. Additional volumes focusing on other Arctic locations are also planned. But your support for this first volume is critical.

I'm using Kickstarter to raise funds for participation in The Arctic Circle, a residency for artists, architects, and scientists that takes place in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard. During the residency, I plan to explore the landscape and existing settlements and use that research as the basis for a book, Arctic Architecture: Svalbard.

The book will include maps, diagrams, large-format photographs, and drawings that document the past and present, along with several theoretical projects that show how climate change might affect future settlement of this currently inhospitable landscape. Recent projects by Norwegian architecture firm Jarmund/Vigsnæs, as well as the "Doomsday Vault" in Longyearbyen, demonstrate how architecture in Svalbard is affected by geographic isolation and the extreme climate. I want to take these influences even further, exploring what the architecture of Svalbard could be like decades or even centuries from now.

With some scientists claiming th...

CLOG : APPLE Launches in NYC this Friday

2012-02-13T14:54:00-05:00

Here's a hot event for you New Yorkers this week: CLOG is officially launching its anticipated second issue, titled CLOG : APPLE, at Van Alen Books this Friday, February 17, 7pm.

CLOG : APPLE showcases over 50 international contributors, including architects, designers, cartoonists, comedians, engineers and other industry leaders. Highlights include an examination of Steve Jobs's Eichler-designed childhood home; the evolution of Apple's store designs; its leading role in innovative glass engineering; the symbolism and urban implications of the new Cupertino headquarters design; reactions to Apple Campus 2 by notable architects and critics; and an interview with one of Apple Computer's original three founders, Ronald Wayne.

Contributors include Michael Abrahamson, Paul Adamson, Gary Allen, Collin Anderson, Haik Avanian, Rachel Berger, Freek Bos, Gabrielle Brainard, Tom Brooksbank, Keith Burns, Marcus Carter, Haiko Cornelissen, Philippine d'Avout D'Auerstaedt, Erandi de Silva, Kevin Erickson, Matthew J. Giordano, Hanny Hindi, Julia van den Hout, Allyn Hughes, Alex Kilian, Klaus, Austin Kotting, Michael Kubo, Jimenez Lai, Nicholas Leahy, Christopher Lee, Fr...

Q&A: Guy Horton

2012-02-06T14:11:00-05:00

We’ve received emails from people just starting out or thinking of going into architecture asking for advice. It gets heavy sometimes. People who have been laid off in the recession have also written to share their stories. One architect I know told me without irony that he wishes he had read it before starting out on this path.

Metropolis Magazine's Susan Szenasy interviews Archinect's own Guy Horton about his recently published book The Real Architect’s Handbook: Things I Didn’t Learn in Architecture School.

The history of the skyscraper

2011-11-17T20:52:48-05:00

Consider for just a moment the modern skyscraper. [...] The Chrysler Building in New York. The World Financial Center in Shanghai. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. They transform skylines and help define what it means to be a modern metropolis. But once upon a time, they were just places for people to work. Kate Ascher traces that history in her new book, "The Heights: Anatomy of A Skyscraper."

Directly related, this quote from the article's commentator KylgoreTrout: "The Burj in Dubai is a magnificent achievement: Except for the trucks waiting to dispose of the sewage hauled from it every day, in lines that take 24 hours of waiting. The visible structures are splendiferous; the non-existent infrastructure, not so much. - What happens when you flush a toilet in the world's tallest building (source: Boing Boing)"

Unhappy Hipsters goes to print

2011-10-09T23:50:52-04:00

From the creators of the wildly popular Web site Unhappyhipsters.com, this essential guide is for today s hipsters what The Official Preppy Handbook was for prepsters. The authors advise on a number of topics. Readers will learn how to navigate the vast array of concrete finishes and plywood grades, accessorize with children and pets, opine with authority on rooflines.

The Sketches Behind the World's Most Magnificent Buildings

2011-08-25T19:36:53-04:00

The inspiring recent release Architects' Sketchbooks celebrates the earliest traces of a building's coming into being, the ideas that pave the way for the precision of engineers' calculations or CAD renderings. Through the book's beautiful reproductions of original blots, jots, and scribbles, we can see that even the most awe-inspiring edifices begin as a line—as reassuring an insight into the creative process as any.

Ediciones Vibok awarded with FAD Thought & Criticism 2011 prize

2011-05-31T07:49:07-04:00

Ediciones Vibok has been awarded with FAD Thought & Criticism 2011 prize for the book Collective Architectures, edited by the architect Paula Alvarez FAD Awards (Promoting Architecture and Design) were created in Barcelona in 1958 with the aim of promoting cutting-edge trends and recognize the quality of new approaches and open researches in contrast with traditional languages.

We are pleased to share with you very good news.
Ediciones Vibok has been awarded with FAD Thought & Criticism 2011 prize for the book Collective Architectures, edited by the architect Paula Alvarez

Collective Architectures, Vibok first title, has its starting point in an initiative by Santiago Cirugeda (Urban Recipes) which mobilized dozens of groups to recycle 45 containers-homes from a dismantled temporary settlement, into a multitude of self-built and self-managed spaces that were distributed throughout the Spanish territory. What began as a map of war of the Iberian peninsula, soon became a cooperation network extended to Latin America.

This book captures the whole adventure through a selection of ten projects developed between 2007 and 2010, as well as written contributions from different authors in what constitutes a coral essay on the possibility of connecting politics, life and architecture.

Paula Alvarez's edition commitment it to narrate this experience...

Q&A: Architects’ Sketchbooks

2011-05-19T19:31:28-04:00

To combat the relentless move toward electronic technologies, many schools are integrating such analog technologies as pencils, pens, water colors, pastels, in addition to teaching the manipulation of the latest computer software.

Metropolis Magazine's Susan S. Szenasy interviews Will Jones about his book "Architects' Sketchbooks".

Greg Lynn and Mark Foster Gage's new book being presented at AIA

2011-05-17T12:57:00-04:00

Co-editor Mark Foster Gage will present Composites, Surfaces, and Software: High Performance Architecture. Composites, Surfaces, and Software: High Performance Architecture explores how computer technologies and digital fabrication techniques give architects unprecedented tools for crafting performance and aesthetics through cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Architect as Auto Designer: Le Corbusier's Minimum Car

2011-05-13T14:38:26-04:00

“Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile” ($49.95) focuses on Le Corbusier’s design for a “minimum car,” a two-seat, bare-bones people mover with a sheer, angled front. His design existed only in drawings during his lifetime, but became probably the most famous of all automobile designs contributed by architects.

Light, White and Space: Architect Max Gordon

2011-05-03T15:19:50-04:00

As the guiding principals of British-born Max Gordon, a contemporary architect who designed the first Saatchi Gallery and constructed apartments for Richard Serra and Elizabeth Murray, he adhered to a notion of simplicity.

WSJ blog "Speakeasy" discusses the late minimalist architect Max Gordon, and the recently published book on his work by his brother.

Art & Agenda: Political Art and Activism

2011-04-28T17:50:15-04:00

Life has become significantly more political in the new millennium, especially in the aftermath of worldwide financial crisis. Art is both driving and documenting this upheaval. Increasingly, new visual concepts and commentaries are being used to represent and communicate emotionally charged topics, thereby bringing them onto local political and social agendas in a way far more powerful than words alone.

In the light of politically active artists facing more and more opposition and oppression (Ai Weiwei remains under Chinese arrest), the just released book Art & Agenda is an important documentation of current urban interventions, installations, performances, sculptures, and paintings and also points to future forms of political discourse.