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A drawing in [Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's] 1883 manuscript Free Space might be the first depiction of humans in orbital weightlessness. Four figures float in a spherical spaceship, each pointed in a different direction, disoriented... This basic design — primary thruster, secondary retro rockets, axial gyros for orientation — has been used by all crewed Russian and American spacecraft to date, including the International Space Station. — placesjournal.org
Looking back at the history of outer space design, Fred Scharmen brings past innovations into the present with applications for our future. Starting back in 1883 with the first design for humans in outer space (seen below), Konstantin Tsiolkovsky imagined a new way of thinking about spatial... View full entry
These 7 iconic buildings have been reconstructed in different architectural styles, such as The Louvre in Brutalist style pictured above. The effect is jarring to say the least... Buckingham Palace in Bauhaus style: Falling Water House in Classical style: Museu de Arte Contemporânea de... View full entry
Architectural representations often embody the tension between familiar and unfamiliar. In an effective rendering, the new buildings or landscapes share the same illusionistic space with images of existing buildings or landscapes, producing an almost exquisite confusion between real and unreal. — Places Journal
Architectural renderings are not photographs; or are they? Susan Piedmont-Palladino examines the hyper-real imagined worlds of contemporary architectural drawings through theories of the uncanny, and considers the disconcerting effect that occurs when "we can't quite sort out the relationship of... View full entry
William Kaven Architecture have just released additional renderings of the firm's redevelopment proposal for Portland's Broadway Corridor, giving a more complete picture of their broader scheme. In addition to the initial release of Portland's tallest towers last November, the firm has now... View full entry
As the brand-new rendering above shows, the luxury condo tower designed by Jean Nouvel will boast an unusual amenity: floors 2, 4 and 5 of 53W53 will serve as new gallery levels for the Museum of Modern Art when construction is completed. Additionally, according to a fact sheet, "benefactor W... View full entry
It’s full speed ahead for the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the $1B museum sited in Exposition Park in Los Angeles and designed by Ma Yansong. Rising four stories, the 115-ft. tall building will house some 300,00 square feet of floor area containing exhibition space, a library, two... View full entry
Back in 2015, the 11-storey, AHMN-designed scheme for Google's headquarters was deemed "too boring" by Google CEO Larry Page. Heatherwick Studio and BIG were brought in to add some pizazz to what was an admittedly fairly straightforward, boxy design. Today's freshly unveiled renderings show a more... View full entry
Peter Zumthor released new renderings for his LACMA redesign last week, and boy are people not impressed! We talk about the "undercooked" look of Zumthor's snaking concrete inkblot plan for the museum, and experiment with a new segment devoted to ranting on the podcast. You've been warned.Listen... View full entry
While pronounced ocular structural features are not unheard of (consider the exterior of DS+R's Broad Museum) Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, is drawing attention to his firm's mirrored spherical auditorium sited in the almost complete 34,200 square meter Tianjin Library. “The Eye is the... View full entry
LHB has become one of the nation’s first design firms to incorporate virtual reality, or VR, across the sweep of its in-house teams [...]
“With VR, you can inhabit the space in full scale...You get a far more physical sense of what that space is going to be.” [...]
Virtual reality also has potential to be “the great equalizer,” LHB’s Fischer noted. A middle-school maintenance worker can put on a VR headset and notice design flaws that might go unnoticed by project managers.
— startribune.com
More from the VR-desk:Rendered reality: the VR journalism of Emblematic GroupAre virtual reality systems sexist?Using virtual reality to bridge the gap between architect and clientDrury architecture students are experimenting with virtual reality technology Oculus RiftSpacemaker VR lets designers... View full entry
Kaleidoscope challenges the dominance of gendernormativity, ableism and race-blindness in architectural drawings by diversifying the population of represented peoples in renderings. Choosing to include underrepresented people in drawings not only reflects reality, but also actively imagines a more just, inclusive, and pluralistic society. — Kaleidoscope
h/t @Justin Garrett Moore View full entry
Initial renderings of the $300 million development depict a cluster of five architecturally distinct buildings distributed across the 2.6- acre site around a central plaza. In total, the project will comprise 333,600 square feet, and have 249 residential units. One of the architects’ primary goals was to make the site as approachable as possible to invite the surrounding community in to shop, dine, or simply relax in the plaza. — Architectural Record
Renderings and model photos were released today of Frank Gehry's proposed design for the 8150 Sunset Boulevard project. Positioned at the so-called Gateway to the Sunset Strip at the curving intersection of Crescent Heights Boulevard, Havenhurst Drive and Sunset Boulevard, Gehry's mixed-use... View full entry
Paul Cadden’s work is astoundingly realistic. — Visual News
If you think straining over Photoshop for hours on end sweating out the nuances of that latest rendering of a project is time-consuming, Paul Cadden voluntarily spends his time drawing photo-realistic versions of photographs with pencil. Only pencil. According to the artist's website, "Although... View full entry
Whatever your feelings are toward the Olympic Games, plans for the upcoming U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum and Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs are pushing forward so far. For starters, the Museum unveiled Diller Scofidio + Renfro's initial design concepts for the 60,000 sq.ft building, set to... View full entry
For this month's Wide Lens, a column that investigates the relationship between architect and photographer, Photography & Architecture editor Julie Grahame shares some insight from her interview with architectural photographer, Scott Frances.Julie Grahame:Post Production and Retouching of... View full entry
