8.9. It is a big one. Tsunami happening! Watch it Live on Al Jazeera and USTREAM We hope our friends are safe.
8.9. It is a big one. Tsunami happening! Watch it Live on Al Jazeera and USTREAM We hope our friends are safe.
raymonde: when a tragedy strikes, we worry about the people and things familiar to us in the area, because that's the connection we have with a place. p2an heard that his friends are safe, it's only natural to then wonder about the buildings with which he is familiar.
Architects and builders are at the forefront of assigning blame when buildings collapse, regardless of the regulatory conditions of the place. Didn't you notice how little rebar was sticking out of the rubble in Port-Au-Prince? How much illegal corner-cutting resulted in unnessary deaths in Qinhai, China? Because Sendai Mediateque was an innovative structure in a country with stringent seismic design codes, it's absolutely reasonable to wonder how it fared in a major earthquake and resulting tsunami, especially if you're an architect in some other earthquake-prone area of the world. Yes, raymonde, the disaster is still developing, but as an architect, I'd say you have a professional obligation to find out how the experimental architecture of the region survived once the "experiment" was actually run.
I would actually like to see a run-down of a variety of projects. Renzo Piano's Maison Hermes comes to mind, considering that project's "flexible spine" structural concept and the fact that people said they saw skyscraper's "swaying" in Tokyo.
I think it's completely logical to wonder about how places and buildings fared during a disaster. We, after all, spend all our time thinking about how places benefit people. We should be alert to when they don't. That itself doesn't take away from our concern or grieving. I just wrote a post about this: http://mvmtbldg.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/japan-earthquake/
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terrible, i've heard from my jp friends and they're ok.
i wonder how ito's sendai mediatheque held up, sendai is one of the nearest cities to quake?
p2an i wondered the same thing when i heard. As far as I know Sendai was right near epicenter.
wondering about sendai mediatheque at this time is not only intolerably stupid but crass.
as an architect the news of an earthquate does make one wonder about such things.
especially with the mediatheque with its unusual construction.
raymonde: when a tragedy strikes, we worry about the people and things familiar to us in the area, because that's the connection we have with a place. p2an heard that his friends are safe, it's only natural to then wonder about the buildings with which he is familiar.
Donna Sink: just speak for yourself.
And you do so too, raymonde.
Architects and builders are at the forefront of assigning blame when buildings collapse, regardless of the regulatory conditions of the place. Didn't you notice how little rebar was sticking out of the rubble in Port-Au-Prince? How much illegal corner-cutting resulted in unnessary deaths in Qinhai, China? Because Sendai Mediateque was an innovative structure in a country with stringent seismic design codes, it's absolutely reasonable to wonder how it fared in a major earthquake and resulting tsunami, especially if you're an architect in some other earthquake-prone area of the world. Yes, raymonde, the disaster is still developing, but as an architect, I'd say you have a professional obligation to find out how the experimental architecture of the region survived once the "experiment" was actually run.
I would actually like to see a run-down of a variety of projects. Renzo Piano's Maison Hermes comes to mind, considering that project's "flexible spine" structural concept and the fact that people said they saw skyscraper's "swaying" in Tokyo.
very well put vincent.
and i'm glad to hear p2an's friends are ok :-)
We've posted video from the Mediatheque during the earthquake:
http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=105152_0_24_0_C
No damage.
I think it's completely logical to wonder about how places and buildings fared during a disaster. We, after all, spend all our time thinking about how places benefit people. We should be alert to when they don't. That itself doesn't take away from our concern or grieving. I just wrote a post about this: http://mvmtbldg.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/japan-earthquake/
Fantastic post, superinteresting, both here and on your own blog. Thank you for sharing that.
Thank you, Donna! Always appreciate your thoughts.
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