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Orhan noted that in the language of "architectural poetics, the living room bathes you in a beautiful California light, washes your soul and takes your thoughts into the Pacific Ocean through the large window which sets the elevation on that side. Outside is wide and open, nurturing the peaceful inner space, this is something only great architecture can bless you with and masterfully achieved as in Schindler made experience."
Orhan Ayyüce, reported on his visit to Schindler's 1926 Lovell Beach House which the MAK Center and its brilliant curatorial team were able to gain access to as a 2011 fund raising event. Orhan noted that in the language of "architectural poetics, the living room bathes you in... View full entry
Anthony J. Lumsden, a prolific Southern California architect who helped develop new ways of wrapping buildings in smooth glass skins, died Sept. 22 in Los Angeles. eric chavkin shared a personal memory “I remember Tony Lumsden. He taught 5th year studio at SCI-Arc , the time between Cesar Pelli and Alberto Bertolli...Lumsden's after work crits started from later afternoon and lasted to evening , always over-sketching on flimsy. A roll a night. One student after another.”
Sherin Wing, takes A Macro Look at Unemployment and the Economy. In the piece she examines what the architecture profession can do in the face of high unemploymentand the current macro economic conditions. Most importantly, she believes “First, they must stop simply... View full entry
Orhan Ayyüce, alerts Archinect to the fact that recently LADOT “erected traffic signal in front of historically significant Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. No notification was ever sent to institutions, individuals and organizations in charge of the house which is open to public.” Janosh believes “That's so audacious that it's the perfect example of LADOT's total detachment from the world outside of traffic engineering. Cars, after all, can't appreciate architecture.”
Guy Horton, author of Contours, Archinect's featured series on the business, politics, and culture of architecture, gets real regarding our current economic situation. He states "discussions about the recession in the architecture field have been less than up-front and honest. Much of this... View full entry
Suzanne Labarre of Fast Company uses the term "Lady Parts" in a review of the self-designed Shanghai studio by/for Taranta Creations. Liebchen correctly points out "When its vaginal, its a "design crime." But Philip Johnson gets to hold his little Johnson/model of the AT&T building on the cover of time magazine and everyone's fine with it? http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1979/1101790108_400.jpg"
In the third part of the CONTOURS: feature Sherin Wing, talks about urban justice. Specifically the needs of those impoverished, living in our own urban centers often in what Sherin describes as "Segregated urban centers". Drawing on the work of Edward Soja, Distinguished Professor... View full entry
In a recent Washington Post article architect Roger K Lewis wrote about a recent article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology which examined how commercial architecture’s similarity across nation provides mobile Americans with a sense of stability. Donna Sink, thinks it has less to do with with concepts like "familiarity-seeking" and more to do with the profit motives of developers.
In the second part of the CONTOURS: Whither Goest Thou, Green Economy: feature, Sherin Wing looks at the how the R-word index and the drag that the so-called PIIGS is having on the economy, are impacting the greening of the economy. Her essay attempts to put aside overblown... View full entry
Richard Hamilton the British painter and printmaker and pioneering figure in Pop Art, died on Tuesday. Donna Sink, used it as a teachable moment noting "I *just* showed this collage to my students as an example of an experiential rendering of a non-specific space. RIP", referring to Richard Hamilton's 'Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?', which is often referred to as the first example of Pop Art.
In Archinect's newest feature CONTOURS: Whither Goest Thou, Green Economy?, Guy Horton, claims "If the Obama administration is guilty of anything it is of being too optimistic and, yes, hopeful. The culture, with all of its working and non-working machinery, was not ready for big green to be... View full entry
News In the lead up to 9/11 Christopher Hawthorne wrote "The tall tower is architecture's most famous building type and also the one most clearly at odds with the profession's roots. Fundamentally, architecture is shelter, a concession that we're afraid to face the elements without... View full entry
theids wants to start a conversation about the Animal Architecture Awards. To theids, "this is not Animal Architecture. I feel that they have taken a term that was already being used to describe other projects... which pre-dates this competition that has been hosted for 3 years. " der flaneur cautioned "Zoomorphic is an architecture book for 1st year students that want to see 'cool animal-looking buildings'."
News Apple’s just-opened 4th Street (N. Calif.) store, is designed so that the new sidewalk, store window panels and inside stone floor tiles all are dimensioned and positioned to present a symmetrical appearance. subtect feels "This is a really terrible drawing. if you draw the room volume as... View full entry
Leagues and Legions (aka LGNLGN, a think tank at the intersection of architecture and publishing) and the Institute for Urban Design (IfUD) are asking critics, practitioners, academics, community organizers, and the general public to weigh in on one of four questions dealing with issues of... View full entry
Following a drop of almost a full point in June, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) fell again by more than a point in July. allSTAR believes "its time to get creative with business strategies and contracts. also not a bad time to hire risk managers"
News Following a drop of almost a full point in June, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) fell again by more than a point in July. allSTAR believes "its time to get creative with business strategies and contracts. also not a bad time to hire risk managers" The Cupertino City Council... View full entry
New images of Jean Nouvel's Torre Verre were revealed. George Showman comments "It's frustrating they cut this thing down so it wouldn't offend the tourists on the Empire State viewing platform (well, I love that view too, but always wish there were more tall buildings to look at). The new version is not nearly as beautiful, taken as a monolith...Finally: can't believe there is still the money in high-end real estate to pay for this kind of ridiculous building."
The newest ShowCase features Butaro Hospital in Rwanda designed by MASS Design Group. Besides the locally-sensitive design of the complex, the project is noteworthy for it's emphasis on social design through capacity-building. "Beyond providing access to first-rate healthcare... View full entry
Orhan Ayyüce comments "as simple as it is, one of the most beautiful houses i have seen in this age of dwell magazine and ikea type of joint business deals which tend to glorify form and materiality to boredom.."
Archinect's newest Showcase features the House in Geumsan. The project is located in South Korea and designed by Hyungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh + studio_GAON. With the project the designers tried to highlight the element of Korean architecture that distinguishes it from Japanese or Chinese... View full entry
Team NJ — as the group of architecture, planning and engineering students from NJIT and Rutgers — has built a futuristic-looking, one-story house, using modular, precast-concrete, construction, as their entry for the 2011 Solar Decathlon.
News Barry Lehrman shared the news that Leonard Parker FAIA, founder of one of Minneapolis's most significant architecture practices and a well-loved professor at the University of Minnesota, has passed away at after a long illness at 88. He also posted an excerpt from an 1986 Star Tribune... View full entry
To which chung writes "that the graduate's exchange of gratis labour for recognition in realising something like the ginger bread house is part of the spectrum of shrewd procurement that gets you a starchitect's remaindered maya shape at the other end of the scale."
In a feature entitled A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down, Chris Hildrey, visited the Brunswick Centre site of the Incredible Edible Gingerbread House - a life-size gingerbread house created by alma-nac, on behalf of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity... View full entry
Meanwhile eric chavkin suggested that "This skate board house has more to do with physio-culture like some experimental soviet projects ie the slanted floors of 'the house of dreams', an architectural experiment to study effects on dreaming. I like the anti-gravity aspects and it reminds me of the space station interior in Kubrick 2001 Space Odyssey it expresses the anti-gravity ideal of early modernism.
In a feature entitled Architecture and Design Graduates – How to Secure Your First Position, James Long/Ellicott Long provides "some useful guidance on how to maximise your chances of success in securing that initial role and draws on examples" that he has experienced both in the UK... View full entry