blog wunderlust : 30 May 2011

You can preserve the old and tie it in with the new

Ann Hodges

Parklet stolen | Venice vs. Santa Monica: Is the Architecture Different? | Are architecture tattoos lame? | The Art of the Promo Shot | An Architect’s fear that preservation distorts | Place for Trace | pendant lamp ceiling fan | Harlem is Nowhere | Putting the urban in suburban | Great places: dense, wired, and sustainable | an empty city for 1 million people | How Britain is failing its modernist masterpieces

last word: Bjarke's Utopia, a Danish architectural Renaissance

A Plea for Modernism

A Plea For Modernism from Evan Mather on Vimeo.

The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, Louisiana has been celebrated worldwide for its innovative, regionally-expressive modern design – the structure sustained moderate damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has remained since. The school is slated for demolition this summer. DOCOMOMO Louisiana is advocating for its restoration via adaptive reuse. “A Plea For Modernism” is narrated by actor Wendell Pierce

Alvaro SIZA - Meteorology Service Building

Among Alvaro Siza and Adolf Loos there is an affinity that is based on neoclassical common vocation. The "almost nothing" is the Loos figure that recurs in the projects developed by Alvaro Siza too. Extreme synthesis even in this Meteorology Service Building with a circular plan and a cylindrical shape for a six floors structure with a diameter of 33 meters, it functions as a sort of kaleidoscopic labyrinth

Profile: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol

Named the 2011 Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Awardee in Landscape Architecture, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) is an international landscape architecture practice based in Seattle, Washington founded by Kathryn Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie, and Shannon Nichol.

They have experience in designing landscapes that are widely varied in size, type and scale. The carefully crafted spaces are typically born of its context and express the sculptural qualities of the landscape whilst that offer moments of contemplation in intimate and tranquil settings. These spaces often reflect the professional backgrounds of the designers many trained in landscape, architecture, engineering, graphics, ecology, and other sciences.

Recent project include the Lurie Garden of Millennium Park in Chicago, the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, and the new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle.

house of the week 114: Suncrest Residence

Suncrest is a 3,000 ft² home designed by Heliotrope Architects located on a 26 acre site on San Juan Island one of a number of islands in the Salish Sea, a waterway straddling the US and Canadian border. The house is intimately connected to the landscape - curved, long and low in a way that both minimizes the impact and maximizes on the site by cradling the landscape and orient views, ultimately enriching the experience for the owners.

more here

2011 Cleveland Design Competition

2011 Cleveland Design Competition. The competition jury is scheduled to be announced on May 27th, 2011. Please keep an eye out on the Cleveland Design Competition webpage for more information

Call for Papers: AXIS #11

blog wunderlust : 23 May 2011

we live for the most part within enclosed spaces. These form the environment from which our culture grows. Our culture is in a sense a product of our architecture

Paul Scheerbaut (1914)

The New York Apartment: A Biography | graffiti from around the world | Burying Le Corbusier | BIM Well With Others | Passion Plays | 21 for 21 winners revealed | The Architect 50 | Building culture means cutting the compromises | Architect as Auto Designer: Le Corbusier’s Minimum Car | BIM Lawsuit Offers Cautionary Tale | Islands in the stream | stephanie de rouge: [what's] in your fridge | Ten design lessons from Frederick Law Olmsted

last word: talk like an architect

Kim Coleman

As part of the Herman Miller Points of View (POV) series, this interview spotlights Kim Coleman from Cigolle X Coleman as she explains the use of materials in her design for the TR + 2 StudioHouse.

Nathan Sawaya

Nathan Sawaya, a sculptor working with LEGO bricks, talks about how his work and its role as outsider art vs. art that belongs in established galleries on Ogilvy's Create or Else channel.

TED talks ::: Thomas Heatherwick

house of the week 113: Goulding Summerhouse

Originally designed by Scott Tallon Walker Architects for Sir Basil Goulding in 1971 - 1973 the summerhouse is located on a manicured garden site in Enniskerry, Ireland it was restored 2002. The modern residence is delicately perched on the banks of the Dargle Valley cantilevering the remainder of the 142m² house over the river, minimally disturbing the natural vegetation.

New Work ::: Metropol Parasol

 © J. MAYER H. Architects

 photo © David Franck

 photo © Fernando Alda

 photo © Fernando Alda

designed by architect J. Mayer H is part of the redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnacion, Seville, Spain and contains an archeological site, a farmers market, an elevated plaza, multiple bars and restaurants spread over 12,500 m².
At 28.50 m high spread over 4 floors the Metropol Parasol becomes a unique attraction for Seville and at €90 Million building is now considered to be the largest timber structure.

via

10 Rules for a Sustainable Architecture in Jamaica

Architects have a large responsibility to design sustainable solutions for the built environment that are responsive to the social, economic and environmental needs of the local context and people. Buildings form a large part of the built environment and are large consumers of energy to facilitate the trade of goods and services. It is therefore important that we construct and design solutions that help to lower energy and maintenance costs while increasing the efficiency of the functions they are conceived to serve.

Read the rest the article by Architects Damian Edmond of Form via ECCO magazine

blog wunderlust : 16 May 2011

[Caribbean architecture] is not only about addressing climatic issues, but about expressing the vibrancy of the people through colour and texture

Abiola Andrews

(c) Benjamin Benscheider/ Seattle Times

Moon Life United Nude Flat Pack Shoe | Metabolism, the City of the Future and the Tower of David | How Good Designers Think | Shipping container school isn't made from shipping containers | Tiny apartment shows the value of a good fit or claustrophobia | Rice, straw and coconut the new alternatives to wood | Arson blamed for fire at iconic Barcelona church | Contemporary meets island living |

last word: How to Green your Hotel

ADA 2011 Architecture Dissertation Award

AWR is inviting students from around the world to take part in a competition for graduate theses on sustainable architecture and design innovation. The goal of the competition is to increase and promote sustainability culture and green architecture.

Participation is open to all graduates of architecture and engineering faculties, from all over the world. The theses, whether individual or group work, must have been defended between January 1, 2009 and October 31, 2011.

Theses submitted to the competition should fall under the following categories: urban planning, architecture and technology

RIP - Jackson Bunside

Celebrated architect, artist and cultural icon Jackson Burnside passed away on the 11th May 2011 at the age of 62.

A staunch advocate of Bahamian and Caribbean expression in both the arts and architecture, his professional career was self-defined as "a rambling through the culture of the Bahamas, connecting diverse disciplines and integrating intuition with common knowledge."

Jackson Burnside was the recipient of numerous national and regional honours and awards, and acted in an advisorial role at the Caribbean School of Architecture - the only one in the English speaking Caribbean. He is most remembered by students and professionals alike as an advocate for Caribbean architectural heritage, for it's common sense in teaching appropriateness of material, climatic conditions and structure in developing design in synthesis with nature.
more

Lego-style apartment transforms into infinite spaces

via the Improvished Life

on the boards: Museu Luiz Gonzaga

Museu Luiz Gonzaga designed by architects Francisco Fanucci and Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz Brasil Arquitetura is one of 6 museums to be built throughout the country housing the written and musical collections of Luiz Gonzaga. The 7000 m² new building extends from to an existing old shed along the dockside affording views to the waterfront. The slender profile of the building is raised to allow the ground floor to engage the piazza defined by the tower Malakoff.

house of the week 113: Casa em Guarujá

The 1,300m² vacation home in Sao Paulo, Brazil was designed by architects Bernardes + Jacobsen. The entry to the house has a discrete façade, that is low, horizontal and un-obstrusive from street level. Composed as a pavilion with a double height canopy supported by columns, bedrooms sit overhead public programmes all toward spectacular views of the sea of the Guarujá.

photos by Leonardo Finotti

blog wunderlust : 9 May 2011

 bring them all together [...] show that painting, sculpture, architecture and design are all one

Walter Gropius

urban physic garden | Critical Regionalist Landscape Urbanism | One man, 100,000 toothpicks, and 35 years | What If Your Food Hired an Architect to Redesign Your Kitchen? possibly without a fridge | How to Build a Monument to Nazi Evil Without Celebrating It | Peter Eisenman on the difference between house and home | decorate the potholes | Green building in Zimbabwe modeled after termite mounds

last word: Under the Bleachers: Beneath Longwood Gardens’ new terraced landform, sustainability blooms

Dwell on Design Open Mic in LA - Call for Submissions

TED talks ::: James Howard Kunstler

James Howard Kunstler believes public spaces should be inspired centres of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. However, he argues, what exists in America are places not worth caring about, ugly everyday environments where entropy is made visible.

I recently received this link from the Poltrona Frau Group for their new iPad app that allows you to customize, navigate, imagine and visualize any of their 3 brands; Poltrona Frau, Cassina and Cappellini. There is also a similar app for the iPhone

on the boards: Comic & Animation Museum

Netherlands based architecture practice MVRDV have recently been awarded first place in the competition to design the Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou, China. The design is defined by eight giant balloon-shaped forms that house the varying functions of the museum.

via Dezeen

Abel Building Solutions Caribbean Construction Awards

The purpose of the Abel Building Solutions Caribbean Construction Awards is to both recognise the merit of our regional industry and encourage the pursuit of excellence. The CCA, celebrates the players in the construction industry whose work shows true excellence in design and construction.

The awards were judged by an international panel that represented a cross-section of the industry; engineer Raymond Charles - United Kingdom, architect Marcos Barinas-Uribe - Dominican Republic, architect Llewellyn van Wyk - South Africa, engineer Tony Gibbs - Barbados & engineer Donald Mullings - Trinidad

2011 Awardees

Amonle Studio Workshop - Antillean Gothic

Awards:
Architecture - Innovation

Gillespie + Partners - UWI Daaga Lecture Theatre

Awards:
Architecture - Large Building
Architecture - Overall Winner

Peter Jervis & Associates - Basic Medical Sciences Complex

Awards:
Engineering - Large Building
Engineering - Innovation
Engineering - Overall Winner

Caribbean Office of Cooperative Architecture ( COCOA ) - Munding Residence

Awards:
Architecture - Small Building

Capital Signal Co. Ltd - Rockley to Coconut Walk Waterfront

Awards:
Contracting - Innovation
Contorting - Overall Winner

blog wunderlust : 2 May 2011

Architecture is an act of love, not a stage set. It is the power of invention, of creation which allows man to give the best that is in him to bring joy to others.

Le Corbusier

architecturally inspired jewelry | Huge Subsidy for Stadium Architect | 15 best bedrooms on film | 10 Surreal Botanical Spaces From Around the World | A cross-Section of Canal Street, NYC by Alan Wolfson | Taliesen @ 100 | Seeking Skeuomorphs | Frank Harmon: The Taliesin Experiment | Sticks and stones: can architects be built in the classroom? | the most ridiculed works of public art |

last word: Currently I'm reading the Secret Lives of Buildings a central theme shared in blog post Architectural Ecology

on the boards: Hamu Mukasa Library

The Hamu Mukasa Library in Mukono, Uganda designed by architects Perkins & Will, is a part of new urban master plan for the Uganda Christian University designed by multi-national AE firm FBW.