Daniel Libeskind's The Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, Kentucky

The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge in Covington provides a dynamic addition to the skyline of the greater Cincinnati area and is a dramatic departure from the surrounding waterfront buildings. Its curving crescent form and sloping roof line are designed to maximize views, with each unit having an unobstructed view of the Cincinnati skyline. Through the vertical, non-repeating articulation of the facade, the building breaks from the repetitive, horizontal orientation of typical high-rise buildings. Its multiple layers blur the distinction between interior and exterior, both visually and experientially. This texture also functions to provide shade to all units from the east sun... (to find out more...)

text and images from: http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/the-ascent-at-roebling-s-bridge/

posted by s-uperchii

Quotes on Design

Quotes are infectious things in the design world. A good quote is often more timeless than the work it speaks of – guiding generations of architects. So for today’s post we’re bouncing around some words of wisdom that often guide us in our own design process.

Good design means not leaving traces of the designer and not overworking the design-Naoto Fukasawa

I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good.-Mies van der Rohe

I would like my architecture to inspire people to use their own resources, to move into the future.-Tadao Ando

When engineers and quantity surveyors discuss aesthetics and architects study what cranes do we are on the right road.-Ove Arup

It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.-Steve Jobs

It is essential to an architect to know how to see: I mean to see in such a way that the vision is not overpowered by rational analysis.-Luis Barragan

Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.-Le Corbusier

Good design is as little design as possible.-Dieter Rams

The engineer’s first problem in any design situation is to discover what the problem really is.-Unknown

If everyone loves your work you’re playing it much too safe.- David Carson

Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.-Bruce Mau

I think so many of the objects we’re surrounded by seem trivial. And I think that’s because they’re either trying to make a statement or trying to be overtly different. What we were trying to do was have a very honest approach and an exploration of materials and surface treatment. So much of what we try to do is get to a point where the solution seems inevitable: you know, you think ‘of course it’s that way, why would it be any other way?’ It looks so obvious, but that sense of inevitability in the solution is really hard to achieve.- Jonathan Ive

When architects get prizes, the people suffer.-John McCarthy

Trapped by a Cartesian cage I wanted to break out-Cecil Balmond

Simplicity, sincerity, repose, directness and frankness are moral qualities as essential to good architecture as to good men.-C.F.A. Voysey

Honor your clients – they could have gone out and bought a new home on their credit card instead of hiring an architect.-Will Bruder

Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.-Daniel Burnham

A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.-Victor Hugo

The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring.-Paul Rand

There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.-Jane Jacobs

We require from buildings, as from men, two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it; which last is itself another form of duty.-John Ruskin

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.-R. Buckminster Fuller

-From BUILDBLOG

passage & images from: http://buildllc.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/quotes-on-design/

posted by afterrabbit

MOBILE ART

This is kind of elegant to me. Very static piece of mass with dynamic flows occuring on the outer surface & circulating through the inner spaces.

For another similar video with English subtitles, go to http://mobileart.excite.co.jp/movies/index.html

By the way, after stopping by at Hong Kong, the pavilion is currently in Tokyo.

images from: http://www.architecturelist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/chanel-mobile-art-pavilion_.jpg & http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/2420400523_08470af1cd_o.jpg

posted by afterrabbit

Wenchuan Earthquake - Shoddy Construction

The cause for my recent gloominess came from no places other than the disaster of Wenchuan Earthquake, which shook me quite severely, not my body, but my heart.
To think of countless adults & children, some even of my own age, who had bright hopes and dreams for their lives & their future, were wiped away in an instance by the earthquake, denied by the emotionless nature... my heart bleeds...

As a matter of fact, the number of death & casualties would not have been that high if it weren't the shoddy construction (豆腐渣工程) of the school (and other) buildings. This happened as well in the 921 earthquake of Taipei last time, and many other places I am sure. When the Hell will this Finally come to an end?

This issue has pulled me into the serious and frustrating doubt on our own profession, our own industry where I will be in a few years.
What are we doing? I see lots of great, functional, secure, sturdy, beautiful architectures around the world, but almost all of them requires expensive technologies, expensive materials, expensive services (I don't deny there exists low cost yet great & assuring methodologies) from ourselves the architects, the consultants and stuffs. This is a service which only the rich or maybe some moderate class people can afford to seek, at least it seems so.
What about the poor and some small scale domestic infrastructure constructions that emphasizes on low cost? May be schools? hostels? hospitals? low cost high density housings? public toilets? Here 'low cost' is an inevitable and one of the most important issues in many cases, where also demands maximum occupancy. Then there comes that minor (or not, I don't know) group who puts their gain above the safety of the end users!

I see Taipei 101 is around 500m tall and is designed to be quake-proof, with expensive high-tech equipments & design; On the contrary, the schools in Sichuan are only a few stories high, but heck they crumpled completely within seconds!
Can safety be measured by money or cost?? NO!
The poor has got the rights to be ensured safety too, like the rich class who would gladly pay to get it!
The poor and innocent deserves protection & shelter from us architects, designers, contractors, engineers!

Please be moral enough to care about others' lives.
We architects & builders' duty is to give shelter, protection and happiness to the people through our work, NOT to simply gain ourselves and leave others to death!!

"Sucky Builders who built the schools, see how you kill???!"



Maybe I am being a little bit too idealistic, but hey I am a student. And isn't this what we should be striving for regardless of being students or whatever??
I apologize if you find the post emotional or aggressive, but the words are what in my mind.


images from: blog.sina.com.cn/rss/1371348207.xml & news.cctv.com/china/20080519/105514.shtml

posted by afterrabbit

Latest Update! on DATUM:KL 2008 - Distinction

DATUM: KL 2008 - 4 & 5 July 2008 (Friday & Saturday)

I am pleased to enclose the latest updated Datum: KL 2008 e-flyer together with the speakers' profile for your information. The registration form is also enclosed.

I wish to inform you that Li Hu of Steven Holl Architects, USA/China has withdrawn as a speaker due to some unforeseen urgent work commitment, which will clash with Datum's dates.

We are fortunate that we have managed to get Ben van Berkel of UNstudio, The Netherlands, in place of him.
(from PAM 08 President Ar Lee Chor Wah, 26th May)

For enquiries please go to http://www.pam.org.my/

posted by afterrabbit

AIA Green Building Awards 2008

Each project in the 2008 "Top Ten Green Projects" awards by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) was evaluated on ten measures, documented extensively on the COTE Web site. These include design innovation, community context and land use, longevity, bioclimatic design, water and energy conservation, materials, and indoor environment. The ten winners — plus one honorable mention — approach sustainable design through an exemplary integration of architecture, technology, and natural systems. One of this year's winning projects, the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center, a LEED Platinum-certified environmental education center near Baraboo, Wisconsin, designed by The Kubala Washatko Architects, Inc. This beautiful project, aided by the deeply forethoughtful stewardship of Leopold himself, has apparently the highest number of LEED certification points of any new building to date, at least as of late 2007. (to find out more...)






text and images from : http://www.architectureweek.com/2008/0514/news_1-1.html

posted by s-uper-chii

Marina Bay Sands,Singapore

The complex, part of the continuous necklace of activities surrounding Marina Bay, forms a gateway to the city. Marina Bay Sands, located on the Marina Bay waterfront, is a mixed-use integrated resort. The complex is organized around principal axes that extend into the surrounding urban fabric. Marina Bay Sands integrates a diverse program including an event plaza, three 55-story hotel towers containing 1000 rooms each, a hotel sky garden bridging across the tops of the towers, offering 360-degree views of the city, bay and sea, accommodating outdoor amenities for the hotel. Also included in the project is a state-of-the art convention center, two theaters seating 2,200 and 1,800, a casino, and a garage for 4,000 cars.A series of layered gardens extends the tropical garden landscape from Gardens by the Bay towards the bay front. The complex will be open to the public in December 2009. (to find out more...)

Project by Moshe Safdie and Associates

text and images from: http://arcspace.com/architects/Safdie/marina/marina.html

posted by s-uper-chii

National Trust Announces 11 Most Endangered Sites

On Tuesday the National Trust for Historic Preservation unveiled its 2008 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The private, nonprofit organization has released the list annually since 1988 to galvanize preservationists and community members to save threatened buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes. The effort has been mostly successful: only six of the 200 total identified sites have been lost so far.

This year’s sites are a diverse collection, ranging from Art Deco treasures to a Modernist hotel. They are as follows:

• The Boyd Theatre; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• California’s State Parks
• Charity Hospital and surrounding neighborhood; New Orleans, Louisiana
• Great Falls Portage; Great Falls, Montana
• Hangar One, Moffett Field (former Naval Air Station); Santa Clara County, California
• The Lower East Side; New York, New York
• Michigan Avenue Streetwall; Chicago, Illinois
• Front Park, Prospect Hill, and Columbus Park neighborhoods; Buffalo, New York
• Statler Hilton Hotel; Dallas, Texas
• Sumner Elementary School; Topeka, Kansas
• Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and Bonnet House Museum and Gardens; Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida

(to find out more..)

passage from:
http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/080521endangered.asp

posted by midori mizu

Iceberg Project

JDS/JULIEN DE SMEDT ARCHITECTS and Aarhus- based CEBRA, in collaboration with the Dutch firm SeArch and French architect Louis Paillard wins the competition to build a 25,000 sqm housing complex in the new Aarhus Docklands development.
The Iceberg negotiates this problematic, by remaining far below the maximum heights at points and emerging above the dotted line at other moments. “Peaks” and “canyons” form; eliciting the project’s iconic strength while ensuring that all flats will be supplied with a generous amount of natural lighting and waterfront views. (to find out more..)


images & passage from:
http://www.dezeen.com/2008/05/21/iceberg-project-by-jds-architects-and-cebra/

posted by midori mizu

Whitney Museum Unveils Design by Renzo Piano for New Downtown Building

The centerpiece of the design is its indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces. The expansive third-floor special exhibition gallery will be approximately 17,500 square feet, one of the largest free-span exhibition spaces in New York. Galleries for the permanent collection on the fourth and fifth floors, and for long-term projects on the top floor, will total approximately 30,000 square feet. The building also will offer dedicated space for a stateof- the-art education facility; a research library; a conservation area; a multi-use space for film, video and the performing arts; a 175-seat theater; and a study center (the theater and study center both being firsts for the Whitney). Other amenities include a restaurant; a cafe; a bookstore; a lobby; and a ground-floor exhibition gallery, accessible to the public free of charge, that will contribute to the vibrant street life of the area.Mr. Piano's design takes a strong and strikingly asymmetrical form-one that responds to the industrial character of the neighboring loft buildings and railway while asserting a contemporary, sculptural presence. The upper stories of the building will spread freely beyond the base, stretching toward the Hudson River on the west side and stepping back gracefully from the elevated park of the High Line on the east side."The first big gesture of the design is its cantilevered entrance, which transforms the area outside the building into a large, sheltered public space," said Mr. Piano. "In this way, beneath the second-story level of the High Line park, the Whitney adds a street-level gathering place of its own. From this public space, visitors will be able to see through the building entrance and a series of large windows on the west side of the building to the Hudson River and beyond. This is one of several ways in which we respond to this remarkable site, drawing on its vitality and trying to enhance it at the same time." (to find out more..)

passage & images from: http://www.dexigner.com/design_news/whitney-museum-unveils-design-by-renzo-piano-for-new-building.html

posted by afterrabbit

NEXT GENE20

International Master Architects Aggregative Brainchild In Next Gene 20 Ao-di grand land architecture Project. Next Gene, the meaning is next generation gene and next generation, representative the environment and life style of people live in the future. That international Architects join in collective architectural project is the first time of Taiwanese architectural history. Ao-di Grand Architecture International Project invites ten international and domestic architects to think the relationship among land, building and people, the architects on the same land , dialogue and design the housing, the project is called "the forum of different kind buildings" ,”the PK match of architecture”, it is also "the live exhibition hall" of Taiwan Architecture. 10 International Architects Kengo Kuma、Akihisa Hirata、Hailim Suh、Toshiko Mori、Yung Ho Chang、MVRDV、IaN+、Fernando Menis、GRAFT、Julien De Smedt 10Taiwanese Architects Shu-Chang Kung、David Chun-Tei Tseng、Kris Yao、Jay Wen – Chieh Chiu、Kyle Chia-Kai Yang、Hsueh Yi Chien、Irving Hung-Hui、Ray Chen、Sheng-Yuan Huang、Yu-Tung Liu
(to find out more..)

Aimai House, Kengo Kuma

Ridge House, Hailim Suh

FlexiVilla, Toshiko Mori

COCOON, Kris Yao

Observer, MVRDV

and 15 more @ NEXT GENE20

passage from: http://www.next-gene20.com/books_home_eng.html

images from: http://www.next-gene20.com/project_work_1_eng.php

posted by afterrabbit

head-in | im kopf

In the eleventh exhibition of the jetzt/now series at the Berlinische Galerie magma architecture designed a dramatic installation custom tailored for the 150sqm exhibition space based on experiments with the specific properties of materials, form, colour and light. Focus is an amorphous sculpture made from orange synthetic fibre that is stretched between the walls and ceiling of the exhibition spaces creating spaces with a high design quality. The complex and smooth form has not been developed on the drawing board or on the computer, but is created through an empirical method. It is the result of a series of experiments testing the properties of extremely flexible fabric (Polyamide and Elastan) under force impact. (to find out more..)



passage from: http://www.magmaarchitecture.com/flash_en.html
images from: http://www.thecoolhunter.net/events/Its-All-In-Your-Head/

posted by afterrabbit

Datum Flyer - Update

Updated version of the flyer for the upcoming DATUM:KL 2008 - DISTINCTION forum at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Added speakers: Hailim Suh (Korea) & Nader Tehrani (USA)

posted by afterrabbit

House in Tenerife, Canary Islands

The entrance to the house leads to the upper tier of the double-height living room. And descending the concrete staircase, the minimalist interior becomes second nature against the surrounding backdrop – where the blues of the sky and the sea appear vertically in formation. Before long, the sensory experiences from the natural world envelope the built form, and the house’s relevance in its surroundings are revealed.

The layout places living areas of the home on the shorter end of the L-shaped form, while both bedrooms and bathrooms sit along the longer side. Both living and sleeping spaces open out to a wooden deck and pool that spills into nature. The heaviness of the concrete double-story living room allows glass panels to sit effortlessly on the deck. The room’s only furniture, le Corbuiser’s chaise and Mies’ Barcelona chair face out, away from a small fireplace that meets a wall of two-storey shelving. (to find out more..) (and more..)

passage & images from: http://www.thecoolhunter.net/architecture/House-in-Tenerife-Canary-Islands/

posted by afterrabbit