From the Karmatrendz Blog
Floating site on the river
This site, where is floating on river and confronted the graceful landscape, was strongly recognized to me as a part of nature, from the first time that I met. From then, I started to visualize “the architectural nature” as a place of recreation. Form of site = Form of architecture = Maximum efficiency of landuse. While maximizing the efficiency of landuse, the leaner concrete mass, that cherishes the courtyard where is filled with the water and the greenery, was laid out on this site along the irregular formed site line. This courtyard is “The architectural nature” and a central recreation space as extended river that communicate the river and architecture. Continuous circulation of stepped roof garden – Creation of new green land in this site The whole part of the step typed roofs, where is moving upward with various level, are directly linked to the bed rooms in upper floor. Finally, this stepped roof gardens are linked to both sides of the inner court at where swimming pool is. The inner court where is filled with the water and flower and fruit, and the whole of the roof gardens are circulated as the continuous landscape place and that is the place as “architectural nature” in concept. Sucking in dynamic-surrounding landscape Naturally, all of the rooms inside this site-shaped-mass are laid toward the picturesque landscape to enjoy the graceful scenery surrounded this site. The huge panoramic view framed with sloped ceiling line that is composed with the lines of stepped roof gardens and the bottom line of the inner court, is the major impression of inner space of this house. Promenade inner space of skipfloor made the promenade roofgarden-space of skipfloor. Skip floor plan of inside of this house produced various dramatic spaces. Floating boxes with bamboo garden – Dynamic, unrealistic sequence of interior space. As “The architectural nature”, floating white polyhedral masses that have the built-in bamboo gardens, produced the various stories of vertical space Landscape architecture – Harmonizing with the surrounding landscape The shape of the mountain type composed of irregular polygonal shaped concrete mass and metal mesh was designed to harmonize with the context as “the architectural mountain”. There was the intention to be a part of the surrounding context that consisted of the river and the mountain. Architectural Island – Island House As a result, this house was to be “The island house” as an “architectural island”.
More photos and information from the Karmatrendz Blog
The Shaw house by Patkau Architects, practicing in Vancouver, BC, Canada won the American Institute of Architects National Honor Award in 2005 – But take another look…it’s still way ahead of its time.
Check out more photos at the Patkau website.
Freelancers Union strongly supports the national effort to increase quality, affordable coverage for our members and all independent workers.
The current health care system is failing, and it hurts independent workers more than most.
Freelancers Union has been building solutions within, around, and despite our nation’s crippled health care and insurance system for over ten years. We have confronted some unpleasant realities along the way—from skyrocketing medical costs to an outdated employer-based system.
We have also found many inspiring models, some of which have not only informed our work but are also reflected in the health reform proposals being crafted on Capital Hill. But with the debate moving into high gear, politics and buzzwords are overshadowing conversation about priorities and goals.
What kinds of reform have the potential to truly benefit Freelancers Union members? We’ve outlined five measurements of success and explained the ideas behind them and the policies that could achieve them. We hope these pages will help you better understand our organization and the freelancer’s place in the national debate.
Learn more about where they stand here.
CFA is a member of the Freelancers Union but does not endorse all policy or advocacy positions taken by them.
If you cannot spare 18 minutes now, be sure to come back when you can. This is a must for architects, designers, green & sustainability enthusiasts and thinkers of all kinds.
From TED.com TEDTalks podcasts
Danish architect Bjarke Ingels rockets through photo/video-mingled stories of his eco-flashy designs. His buildings not only look like nature — they act like nature: blocking the wind, collecting solar energy — and creating stunning views.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AYE3w5TWHs]
About TEDTalks
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the “Sixth Sense” wearable tech, and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts.
architect, Design, eco building, Green Architecture, green building, green buildings, Green Built Environment, Landscape Architecture, modern architecture, modern buildings, new buildings
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Danish Architect Bjarke Ingels, TED.com, TEDTalks
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Via Bustler
Chinese-born American architect I. M. Pei, who is best known in Europe for his transformation of the Louvre in Paris, has been named today as the recipient of one of the world’s most prestigious architecture prizes, the Royal Gold Medal.
Laureate of the British Royal Gold Medal: I. M. Pei (Photo: Owen Franken)
Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by the Queen of England and is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence “either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture”.
I. M. Pei is one of the most prolific architects of all time having completed over 170 projects and more than 50 master plans. At the age of 92, he remains actively engaged in architecture. His work easily spans the divide between commercial and cultural architecture, and he is equally respected and sought after by clients in all fields.
Glass Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, France by I. M. Pei (Photo: pmorgan)
Ieoh Ming Pei (always known as I. M.) is a Chinese American architect, born in China in 1917. He traveled to the United States in 1935 to study architecture, and never returned to live in his home country. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received a Masters degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Gropius and Breuer, coming under the influence of the International Style which was to inspire his work for almost 70 years. His first commission was for the noted planner-developer William Zeckendorf: the Miesian Mile High Center in Denver. He set up his own practice in 1955. His best known buildings are probably the National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado (1961-67), the East Wing of the National Gallery Washington DC (1968-78), the John F Kennedy Library, Boston (1965-79), the Bank of China, Hong Kong (1982-89), the Grand Louvre expansion and renovation (1983-93) and the Miho Museum in Shiga, Japan (1991-97). In recent years he has completed major museum projects in Luxembourg, China and Qatar. His only building in the UK is a private commission: a tiny pavilion in Wiltshire.
Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historic Museum) in Berlin, Germany. Extension premises by I. M. Pei (Photo: Mazbln)
I. M. Pei has been honored by America, France, Germany, Japan and the UK where he is an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts (1993). He has been awarded the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Medal for Architecture (1976); the American Institute of Architects – the Gold Medal (1979); the American Academy of Arts & Letters – Gold Medal for Architecture (1979); La Grande Médaille d’Or of l’Académie d’Architecture, France (1981), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1983); the Praemium Imperiale for lifetime achievement in architecture, Japan (1989); Officier de La Légion d’Honneur, France (1993) and the Thomas Jefferson Medal for distinguished achievement in the arts, humanities, or social sciences (2001).
Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong by I. M. Pei (Photo: WiNG)
Speaking from New York, I. M. Pei said of the honour,
‘It is a great honor to receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. I am humbled indeed to read the names of those who have preceded me as recipients. I look forward to attending the ceremony in February, and to thanking personally RIBA President Ruth Reed and the Honors Committee, and David Adjaye, who nominated me.’
I. M. Pei was nominated for the 2010 Royal Gold Medal by David Adjaye. His citation concludes with a personal tribute: ‘When I began my studies in architecture, I. M. Pei was already a giant in the cannon of greats. His work seemed effortlessly capable of creating extraordinary clarity out of complex and conflicting demands. His is an agile ability, working with Heads of State, Kings and Queens, “hard nosed” developers and non profit institutions, in each case creating revealing, extraordinary works of precision with quality and detail.
‘I remember as a young student first visiting the Louvre in Paris and marveling at its extraordinary ability to unify and modernize what was a much loved but disparate institution and behold its magnificent, gravity defying, glass pyramid. He became a role model for me as a young architect.’
RIBA President Ruth Reed, who chaired the Honors Committee which selects to Royal Gold medal winner said,
“Chairing the Honors Committee was my very first duty as President and it was an honor for me too. The Royal Gold Medal is a most auspicious award and we have chosen in I. M. Pei a very special winner. He is one of the greats of 20th – and 21st – century architecture; a man whose work I have always admired. A list of his influences and those he has influenced reads like a roll-call of the Modern Movement. Seldom has such a reward been so overdue or so just.”
I. M. Pei will be presented with the Royal Gold Medal on February 11, 2010 at a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, when the 2010 RIBA International and Honorary Fellowships will also be presented.
The Royal Gold Medal was inaugurated by Queen Victoria in 1848 and is conferred annually by the Sovereign on ‘some distinguished architect for work or high merit, or on some distinguished person whose work has promoted either directly or indirectly the advancement of architecture.’
Previous winners have included Sir Charles Barry, Sir George Gilbert Scott, Alfred Waterhouse, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Charles Voysey, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Kenzo Tange, Ove Arup, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, Louis Kahn, James Stirling, Berthold Lubetkin, Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Nouvel, Rem Koolhaas, Toyo Ito and Alvaro Siza.
This year’s RIBA Honors Committee was chaired by the President of the RIBA, Ruth Reed with David Adjaye OBE, architect, Adjaye Associates; Edward Cullinan CBE, architect, Edward Cullinan Architects; Max Fordham, Environmental Engineer, Max Fordham Partnership; Anne Lacaton, architect, Lacaton & Vassal (Paris); and Laura Lee, Client, Maggie’s.
I instantly dug this retreat house. Tell me you wouldn’t be living large vacationing here. Take a look.
What other’s are saying:
Good Millwork
Weekend RETREAT! Amazing use of wood architecture. Sexy lake diggs! Vertical facades are opaque to outside, yet allow view of lake and garden from within. I can picture myself lazing about on the dock and even really enjoying some time with the family while gathered about that awesome fire pit.
Multi-planar use of small plank wood beams at floor and ceiling makes it look like a builder’s nightmare (but we could handle it). Anyone here speak Flemish? I sure don’t but I would like to visit this place if they’re willing to accept a sawdust producing, mono-linguistic American.
Wim Goes is an award-winning architect, born in 1969 in Ghent. Wim Goes Architectuurwas established in 1997 and the firm’s work includes private, public and retail projects, ranging from the stunning Yohji Yamamoto flagship store in a neoclassic building in Antwerp, to museum, office and design environments. This year, he was chosen as one of the 40 under 40 European Architects by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
The Cool Hunter
The bucolic setting of this lovely private refuge is located in the tiny hamlet of Bachte-Maria-Leerne in the Flemish district of Belgium, about 10 kilometers from the country’s third-largest city of Gent. Gent-based architecture studio Wim Goes Architectuur designed the beautiful extension to this residence. The wooden addition sits above a new wine cellar and extends partly over the pond.
The natural, graying wood, the green vegetation and the blue sky and pond create a harmonious balance, accented by the slim vertical lines of the largest surfaces. Goes’s signature style combines intentional, unpretentious simplicity with functional clarity, and results in stark beauty with Japanese-Finnish undertones.
In this residential structure, Goes created an elegant facade that encompasses both visual and structural grace. The facade is created from slim strips of wood (only 6 x 8 centimeters in cross-section) selected for the straightness of the growth rings in each piece of wood. And although the wood will still warp slightly in the rain and sun, this does not pose a structural problem because the facade does not need to bear wind load — the wind will blow right through the strips. The only structural load the wood strips must carry is the vertical load of the roof.
Wim Goes is an award-winning architect, born in 1969 in Ghent. He established Wim Goes Architectuur in 1997. The firm’s work includes private, public and retail projects, ranging from the stunning Yohji Yamamoto flagship store in a neoclassic building in Antwerp, to museum, office and design environments. This year, he was chosen as one of the 40 under 40 European Architects by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. – Tuija Seipell.
See additional photo’s from The Cool Hunter that accompany this text.
From our friends at ArchitectureNews.com
Thom Mayne has revealed his dramatic design for the new $185 million Perot Museum of Nature and Science at Victory Park in Dallas with groundbreaking due this Autumn. Described as a “living educational tool featuring architecture inspired by nature and science,” the new facility designed by his firm, Morphosis, will provide 180,000 sq ft of display and archive space on a 4.7 acre site just north of downtown Dallas.
“Museums, armatures for collective societal experience and cultural expression, present new ways of interpreting the world,” said Mayne. “They contain knowledge, preserve information and transmit ideas; they stimulate curiousity, raise awareness and create opportunities for exchange. As instruments of education and social change, museums have the potential to shape our understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live.
“The new Perot Museum of Nature & Science in Victory Park will create a distinct identity for the Museum, enhance the institution’s prominence in Dallas and enrich the city’s evolving cultural fabric.”
At 170 ft and 14 stories high the structure presents itself as a cube structure atop a plinth. Working to a theme of ‘nature in an urban fabric’ its roof alone offers one acre of rolling native landscape featuring all the native flora and fauna of Texas and including a large urban plaza for events. Surrounding the building too landscape design, created in conjunction with Dallas-based Talley Associates, brings together science and technology with nature acting as an extension of the building design. The two are so integrated that, to mention one example, the parking lot is used to generate energy to power water features (post-rain).
80% of the building will be open to the public (an unusually high percentage) and facilities will include 10 exhibition galleries, including a children’s museum and outdoor playspace/courtyard; an expansive glass-enclosed lobby and adjacent outdoor terrace with a downtown view; state of the art exhibition gallery designated to host world-class travelling exhibitions; an education wing; large-format, multi-media digital cinema with seating for 300; flexible-space auditorium; public café; retail store; visible exhibit workshops; and offices.
A signature design feature within the museum is a 54-foot continuous-flow escalator contained in a 150-foot tube-like structure that dramatically extends outside the building. It will take visitors from the light-filled lobby atrium to the museum’s top floor. Patrons will arrive at a fully glazed balcony high above the city, with a bird’s-eye view of downtown Dallas.
“We believe the new Museum will provide an unforgettable experience for our visitors and help them better understand and appreciate the world we share,” said Nicole Small, President and CEO at the Museum of Nature & Science, “And our hope is that it will inspire young people – and those of any age – to pursue careers in math, science and technology.”
architect, architecture critic, Landscape Architecture, modern architecture, modern buildings, new buildings
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ArchitectureNews.com, Dallas, Morphosis, Museum, Museum of Nature & Science, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Pritzker Prize winner, Talley Associates, Thom Mayne, Victory Park
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Once again the folks at RADDblog post an exciting story about architecture & design. Look at this beautiful brick wall built by a robot, allowing the designer to realize designs advanced in computer aided design programs directly to the construction process with no compromise. Later this month the robot will build another wall in Manhatten. Lean about it below.
From RADDblog
Construction will begin on a wall to be built entirely by a robot – designed by Swiss architects Gramazio and Kohler – in New York later this month. The same robot, R-O-B, was used to construct the award-winning Structural Oscillations installation at the 2008 architectural biennial in Venice. The new sculptural brick wall – called Pike Loop – will be constructed on Pike street, New York, in full public view over a period of four weeks. Construction will commence on 29 September. The robot has been mounted on a low-bed trailer, allowing it to manoeuvre along the wall as it places more than seven thousand bricks. The wall is the next step in three years of research into full-scale digital fabrication in architecture using industrial robots, conducted by the architects at ETH Zurich. Gramazio and Kohler will also be exhibiting their research at the Storefront for Art and Architecture gallery in New York.
