Oshin Vartanian and his colleagues slipped a group of people inside a brain-scanning machine and flashed hundreds of interior designs -- some curvy, some angular -- in front of them. They then had the choice of describing each room as either "beautiful" or "not beautiful."
The study found that participants overwhelmingly preferred interior spaces with curving coffee tables, meandering sofas and winding floor patterns to rooms filled with angular furniture and rectilinear design.
— cnn.com
Archinect inaugurated a new interview series The Deans List. For the first installment, Archinect talked with David Gissen, the Director of Architecture at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Reflecting on current trends and his own interests for the future of architectural education... View full entry
In the latest development of this ongoing story, Related Companies submitted the new conceptual plan designed by Gehry Partners to the Los Angeles Grand Avenue Authority earlier today, Nov. 25. The $650 million development addresses the three-acre block across the Gehry-designed Walt Disney... View full entry
Holm Architecture Office was recently commissioned for an idea proposal to revive the existing buildings of the Domino Sugar Factory in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The factory opened in 1856 and was once the sugar processing center of the U.S. before it shut down in 2004. The factory has been empty since then. — bustler.net
All images courtesy of Holm Architecture Office. View full entry
"Personally when I did the project of the Art Museum in São Paulo my basic concern was to make an ugly architecture...A poor architecture with free spaces that could be created by the collective...Most people find that the museum is poor, and it is. I wanted to make a poor project. That is, formally and architecturally ugly, but that would be a usable space, that would be something that could be taken over by men". - Lina Bo Bardi — Cosmopista
A recent opinion piece in O Estado de S.Paulo proposed fencing in the wonderful open plaza of Lina Bo Bardi's MASP, as one solution for addressing concerns that the space is becoming a mini cracolândia. This situation it is argued has negatively impacted the MASP and it's cultural prestige... View full entry
[U]nlike some other states that have moved to ban the use of LEED in public projects this year, [...] the Ohio resolution, SCR 25, takes on LEED v4 directly, asserting that LEED v4 should no longer be used by Ohio state agencies and government entities and that the state's Office of Energy Services begin an immediate review of alternative rating systems, codes, and standards. — Eco Building Pulse
Citing LEED's failure to adhere to "recognized voluntary standard development procedures," such as ANSI, the resolution makes a move to ban the use of LEED for its government buildings because of LEED's apparent lack of openness, transparency, and scientific basis in the development of its... View full entry
"Sometimes,” wrote Charles Lindbergh in his 1953 flight memoir, The Spirit of St. Louis, “the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see.”
And sometimes, it looks like a bunch of genitals.
— slate.com
Recently: Unnecessary Muffness; Jon Stewart discusses Zaha's "f**kable buildings" View full entry
Later it was the stamping ground of the 19th century’s version of today’s “starchitects,” including Andrew Jackson Downing and his disciples, like Calvert Vaux and Frederick Clarke Withers. Their work — grand Second Empire Victorian, Gothic revival and Queen Anne houses — is everywhere — NYT
Lisa Selin Davis profiles the town of Newburgh NY, which has grand but neglected architecture and is reminiscent of 1980s Brooklyn, before gentrification. The community is working to revitalize the troubled city and it's architecture. However, some doubt whether the recent influx of artists/new... View full entry
Re-Thinking the Future's International Architecture Thesis Award 2013 recently concluded with the announcement of this year's winners. The exclusive international design competition recognizes the best in student thesis projects.
Starting with 525 registrations, 265 entries were shortlisted for the first round of screening. The competition pool was then narrowed down to 80 submissions that advanced to the next level of grading.
— bustler.net
Public/Institutional, First place: Center for Musical Experimentation | Victor Diaz Ortega, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain Residential/Housing, First place: (Re)Interpretations of Nature | Nathan Fisher, Lawrence Technological University, Canada Sustainable Design, First place: Urban... View full entry
There are usually four types of homes in science-fiction films: futuristic, retro, dystopian or modernist.
The futuristic, space-age dwellings are mostly white, in which tables and chairs might hover above the floor and doors slide open automatically with a hum. This was the default style of the mid-20th century. It has been used less frequently in recent years...
— ft.com
[...] London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, who yesterday announced that almost all ticket offices on the London Underground transport network would close by 2015 [...]. There are 268 ticket offices on the network in total, and around 260 are set to close [...] Ecommerce giant Amazon is reportedly in talks with Transport for London to use the closed ticket offices as “drop off” points for deliveries. — techcrunch.com
It makes plenty of sense for Amazon to be eyeing up prime Tube real-estate — which could enable it to build out a whole conveniently-sited network of its delivery Lockers in the U.K. Capital — giving London’s commuters a handy stop-off point to get their goods. View full entry
The Macedonian government has spent huge sums turning its capital, Skopje, into a neo-baroque architectural nightmare. The project's gaudy excesses camouflage a disastrous economy and troubling record on human rights. — spiegel.de
Seven projects have been shortlisted for the World Design Impact Prize 2013-2014. The nominated projects were unveiled during the 28th General Assembly of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) in Montreal, Canada from Nov. 18-19.
The World Design Impact Prize raises awareness to the value of industrial design to provide solutions that address challenging global issues and social well-being.
— bustler.net
The shortlisted projects are: ABC (A Behaviour Changing) Syringe BioLite HomeStove Family By Family Laddoo Project Leveraged Freedom Chair Potty Project Refugee Housing Unit View full entry
Candy Chan has done us all a solid -- the "architect-to-be" made an info-graphic that splits up the topics covered by two of the most popular A.R.E. test-prep books, Kaplan and Ballast (PPI). (Continued from Part I, ARE 4.0 contents) ARE 4.0 Reading The ARE seems to be such a mystery to a... View full entry
Looking for some insight into the A.R.E.? Candy Chan, an "architect-to-be" and graphic designer in New York City, breaks down the topics covered by the Architect Registration Examination on her blog, "ARE we there yet?". The blog chronicles Candy's test prep strategies and info on the A.R.E... View full entry
