I have to sort of agree with my friend Stefan architecture is getting a little boring, it did excite me for awhile and even now I still get happy here and there when I see certain new architecture (things with glass, ha, I’m weak for glass structures) but overall I’m a little tired, yawn status even. It’s like we are going through that phase that I think well hope are starting to come out of with design, design with getting so much attention that designers were the “new” rockstars and everything was design this or design that. But in the face of mainstreaming design it also starting becoming really dry, as if designers were just throwing anything together, or just making something for buzz/media coverage sake but in the wake of all this the core reason of design was being left out, to solve a problem. And now I’m feeling that architecture is hitting that phase, we’ve already dubbed the new coin phrase “starchitects” and have those big names designing everything from buildings in Dubai to sneakers or giving them reality series’. But focusing on architecture so much and giving it all this press is the ying and yang affect, the good is it brings awareness to architecture and helping bring people to appreciating it more which is a good thing. The yang is that by doing so you have made it where the more coverage one receives the more commissions he/she will receive making it a kind of celeb rag type case in architecture, the more out there, wild, and press hungry you can be the more money you will seemingly make. So, in my opinion architecture is now being made more out of the “gotta wow” them concept then the, “how can we made this structure work beautifully, effortlessly, and functionally”. Now, I’m not an architecture expert, or a road scholar, I’m just a guy with an opinion (a good one in my opinion), a computer, and a thing for architecture. But, like I said before sometimes architecture can still get me excited and the new California Academy of Sciences designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano (great last name right?) did just that, it excited me. It lets me know the forward movement of architecture is still happening and the future is bright, and as long as there are architects willing to pull of this type of work, in this style, simple with complexity, then I’ll be a happy man. The opening of the building is in 2 days, you can read the NYtimes article here or you can jump straight to viewing some images of the place here.
Another Wallpaper* magazine photo gallery this time the new bubbling architecture being done over in Poland. Poland just move up from, “probably not ever going to visit there”, to, “maybe I’ll visit there”. Photo gallery.
Designer Ross Lovegrove and architect/ecologist Ken Yeang discuss future possibilities on how we could blend the use of the environment and natural sources of energy to build buildings and even cities around those fundamentals. Yeang talks about a process he calls, eco memasis, in which you use the environment as more of a guideline, its imitating the process in nature rather then just ignoring it and building around it, you build with it. Lovegrove talks about implementing design into natural energy concepts of the future and making sure that design is not to be left behind in this movement but to be used to help it move forward and progress. And an example of that ideology is his ’solar tree’ which uses lights up at night by using the light source energy it was getting from the day time. If this is the future we can look forward to, then I’m excited to be apart of this time and waiting to see how these changes come about over the years to come.
The Olympics that just passed was highlighting athletes the Chinese history and LED’s. Greenpix is 2,200 sqm LED media wall powered by solar panels. The media wall was built by Simone Giostra & Partners in coordination with engineering experts ARUP. The above is a film in which Simone Giostra talks about the Greenpix media wall, its engineering he even discusses how he’s trying to convince the Chinese government to allow the wall to upload user generated content from Mac’s and PC’s.
I’m not much fan of the snow these days too many dreadful memories of having to shovel the driveway off multiple times during winter. But when I saw the ICEHOTEL I immediately wanted to buy me some snow gear and head out to Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, which is 200 kilometers north of the arctic circle. The ICEHOTEL was conjured up by group of foreigners who stayed in an igloo one night, and the rest is ICEHOTEL history. The hotel is rebuilt every year from scracth, artists, architects and designers from all over go to Jukkasjarvi to build the ICEHOTEL out of water and ice from the River Torne. Each year the hotel takes on a whole new look and interior based on view of the designers and architects working on it. You can view more images of the current ICEHOTEL here, plus a little video.
The tallest skyscraper in the world is almost done, the Burj Dubai tower is currently at 650m and is estimated to end at 818m (2,684 ft), and should have 162 habitable floors. The skyscraper is already shaping up to be something amazing, Gizmodo has more images of what has currently been constructed as well as some incredible interior images, all shot by David Hobcote. The interior alone is something out of a futuristic movie, like a Matrix-esque experience when riding an elevator up 162 floors, better not have a fear of heights if you plan on visiting the Burj Dubai.
Austria isn’t exactly a well known country besides Arnold Schwarzenegger and the guy who created Red Bull they don’t really have much else to known for, that was until now and the Amalia House. The house was built by GRID Architects and is a two level home with the outer surface covered entirely by artificial grass. Now that’s just one more thing we can associate with Austria, oh, and they do currently have 3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze) in the 2008 Olympic games. Keep working hard Austria you might get confused with Australia soon enough.
I think glass buildings are and probably will be some of my favorite structural designs forever; just they way the glass can be played with and used in so many ways just fascinates me. And the building by Barkow Leibinger Architechts in Seoul, Korea is just another example of how if used right a glass building can create an amazing look. The Trubec Building which it’s called is made up of glass panels that form triangular and trapezoidal shapes giving it a some what of a carnival mirror look.
The Switch building is located in the Lower East Side of NY and it houses apartments and an art gallery. The building was constructed by the nARCHITECTS, they also handled the interior design of the building as well. The building was designed to look like one of those sideways light switches and I’m definitely a fan of the off-setting switches/window designs going up the building.
In the Swisshorn Gold Palace everything is made of gold, even the toilet seats. It took 5 years, over $50 million and 2.5 tons of gold for the gold palace to be completed. This was a joint collaboration between the Swiss watch brand, Swisshorn, and Hang Fung Gold Technology Group. The golden palace was created as a new tourist attraction in Hong Kong and was a way to help expand the Swiss watch brand into the Asia Pacific market.
“The Las Vegas of the Middle East, on steroids”. If you follow architecture, design magazines or travel magazines Dubai has been the talk for over a year now, having some of the worlds best architects come in and build some of the worlds most dynamic structures to ever be built. With all the money being pumped into Dubai it’s already becoming a dreamland, I know I dream to visit. So with all the hype Current TV did a report on the fast growing architecture boom being constructed over in Dubai, soon to be the “new” city in which the rich and the want to be rich will vacation and live (well, have homes there). The video will take you through a look at some of Dubai’s architecture and even a close look at The World Islands. The man made islands are designed to represent all the world continents, when finished there will be 300 small islands broken up into 4 categories. They even show how they created the islands.
So what do Russian gangsters do with their spare time, they build the worlds tallest wooden building, well that is if you’re Nikolai Sutyagin. It took Nikolai 15 years to get up too 13 floors, 144 ft and possibly a world record. All that even with a 4 year hiatus when he was sent to prison back in 1998 on racketerring charges, his 3rd time serving a prison sentence. But even at it current status the building isn’t complete and will it ever, who knows, but it’s tall enough right now to compete with the old women who live in a shoe.
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