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shadowless buildings and anti-gravity schemes

treekiller

the guardian reports that H&dM have concocted a building that will cast 'no shadows' in paris.



gimme a break! how can a building have no shadow? Maybe at solar noon, there will be an imperceptible sliver of a penumbra behind the building, but otherwise, there must be a shadow. or maybe at sunrise on the solstice there is no shadow. if we lived in a simulated trumanshow dome, then the sun would be in the same place everyday - but :



I thought that H&dM were too smart to spout hookum like this.

Any other recent bs spotted out there - like 'green skyscrapes' worth discussing?

 
Nov 3, 08 10:01 am
vado retro

maybe its a vampire building. can it see itself in a mirrored building?

Nov 3, 08 10:05 am  · 
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brian buchalski

i think the "no shadows" line is just a clever way of admitting that it will never be built...

...but it anyone could build a shadowless building, i'm sure it would be H & dM

Nov 3, 08 10:35 am  · 
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job job

I like 'vampire' buildings. sexy (thought - why are there no depictions of fat vampires... chubby, fat-ass blood suckers fleeing in the night)

maybe it's a unicorn building?

Nov 3, 08 11:01 am  · 
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Cranky Pantz

the luxor hotel... PART II!!!!

Nov 3, 08 1:18 pm  · 
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strlt_typ

here's h&dem's vampire building

Nov 3, 08 2:59 pm  · 
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brian buchalski

halloween is over...please take the spooky pictures down now and replace them with holiday music for xmas & new year's, please

Nov 3, 08 3:08 pm  · 
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drums please, Fab?


h&dem anti-gravity scheme

Nov 3, 08 3:26 pm  · 
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MArch n' unemployed

what is that FRaC?

Nov 3, 08 3:33 pm  · 
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drums please, Fab?

CaixaForum Madrid by Herzog & de Meuron

previous archinect thread

video

Nov 3, 08 6:09 pm  · 
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o d b

just speculation here...

maybe the shadows cast by the building will only be projected onto its own massive pyramidal form and not the surrounding context? if so that's an interesting inverse of the pea in the mattress problem--they've inserted a hippopotamus in the mattress but it is never felt...

Nov 4, 08 10:00 am  · 
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drums please, Fab?
It all sounds a bit David Copperfield, but it's not done with mirrors. Instead, the Tate Modern designers have crafted an ingenious computer-aided skinny pyramid design for the 50-storey building – more like a shark's fin - which, thanks to its shape and orientation, will not block out sunlight from its neighbours, they say. The shape will also allow for "optimum solar and wind power generation", apparently.

i'd like to see the shadow studies, but i guess they would show .. nothing? or they keep all the shadow on their property for morning/afternoon sun.

i used to really be into this stuff, believing in 'solar rights' and all that - form follows sun

Nov 4, 08 1:15 pm  · 
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treekiller

what piqued my bs detector is that there are no qualifiers for when there will be no shadows. If they stated that no shadows would impact neighbors between 10am & 3pm march through september only - I would buy it. but their unconditional claim that irks me - show us the shadow studies before making such a claim.

If the building is oriented north-south, then the shadow is minimized during mid-day, but increased in the am & pm. if the building is oriented east-west, the mid-day shadow is increased. so which is it?

Nov 4, 08 2:36 pm  · 
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drums please, Fab?
Nov 4, 08 2:49 pm  · 
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drums please, Fab?


we need a site plan

Nov 4, 08 2:51 pm  · 
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drums please, Fab?


so if it is oriented east/west (long side facing south) with a park behind it (to the north) .. it wouldn't cast shadows on another building?
more images

Nov 4, 08 2:55 pm  · 
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o d b

if a building cast a shadow in a forest and there were no other buildings around for the shadow to project upon, would that shadow actually have been cast?

philosophy 101, by odb.

Nov 5, 08 5:51 am  · 
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