Sunglass: Bringing Architectural Drafting into the Modern Age
Sunglass, built by two TED fellows, Nitin Rao and Kaustuv DeBiswas, is a collection of three products: the company’s Sunglass Player, which allows artists to incorporate the objects that they’ve created with the software into other web services like Behance. The player is fully interactive, allowing someone to rotate, flip, and scale the model that they’re currently building, through their mouse and, again, without Flash installed. At a time when Autodesk’s AutoCAD suite of software, costs upwards of $5,000 for a single copy and feels clunky on most machines, Sunglass brings some true innovation to the drawing table.
The Sunglass Stage is the actual building block — literally — of the suite, as the team has designed this to allow simultaneous editing from a number of artists in a simple drag-and-drop interface. This sort of collaboration can be key for the product, as it allows people to work together in a well-thought-out interface, regardless of what type of computer they own.
Seen in pandodaily.
Project Sammaan: Design Challenge 1 Competition
Driven by the collaboration of Quicksand Design Studio, Jameel Poverty Action Lab, the city governments of two large cities in India, and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Project Sammaan is a development project that seeks to create improved sanitation services for the urban poor residing in slums in India. The challenge seeks to discover radical ideas and new perspectives that will help us in our attempt to reinvent low-cost urban sanitation. The goals is to design and build 119 sanitation facilities in urban slums in India. Collectively, these facilities will have 1200+ toilets, bathrooms, spaces for washing clothes, and will benefit 60,000+ people. The project started in February 2012 and will last for 16-19 months at the end of which these toilets will be operational. The deadline for submissions is May 15. For more detailed information, please visit here.
Marin Living: Home Tours
Taking place May 12 from 1oam-4pm, the Marin Living: Home Tours, hosted by AIA San Francisco, is an open house tour featuring five projects that showcase and celebrate the richness of our local built environment in hopes of engaging the general public about the value of good design and its impact on our daily lives. Now in its third year, Marin Living: Home Tours offers an inside look at the wealth of great design in our region. Tour-goers will have the opportunity to explore cutting-edge residential projects in Sausalito, Mill Valley and San Rafael, meet design teams, and discover innovative design solutions. Featured projects exhibit sustainable features, innovative use of materials and thoughtful integration with the neighborhood and surrounding landscape. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit here.
Days of Architecture 2012
One of the most prominent architectural event in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Days of Architecture, which takes place May 10-13, includes different lectures held by local and international architects, exhibitions, movie screenings etc. The topic for Days of Architecture 2012 -City(and)conscience, aims at questioning the cities of today, not only by the experts, but the broader audience too. “Urban Farmers”, “Informal Cities”, “Social sustainability”, “Green City and mobility” are some of the topics to be discussed by architects from different parts of the world, while presenting contemporary processes, projects and approaches in practice. More information on the event after the break. (more…)
Riverside Museum Wins European Museum Academy Micheletti Award 2012 / Zaha Hadid Architects
Attracting more than 1.4 million visitors since opening in June, the Riverside Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, recently won the European Museum Academy Micheletti Award 2012. Named the most innovative museum in the fields of technology, labor and social history, Riverside competed against museums in 12 other European countries to win the 17th annual award. More information on the award after the break. (more…)
Data Driven City / Mekano Studio
The new city, designed by Mekano Studio, will be a smart data city, a city driven with data, a city that can help each person to choose and decide, a City respects the human mind and gives him the option to take part in his own life as it must have to be. The data city is a city that administrates everything with a real time data, in order to evaluate and respect the time factor as well and to increase the productivity with a well organized community. More images and architects’ description after the break. (more…)
Adream – European Competition in Architecture and Design Realization in Eco and Agro Materials
Open to students and professionals in architecture and design fields, the Adream 2012 competition, a European competition in architecture and design realization in eco and agro materials, the aim of the competition is to support the sustainable management of natural resources by modern designs, as the potential of sustainable and organic materials on their current use extends. Jointly organized by the Free State of Thuringia and the Picardy region organized a European project to promote new developments, hope that with their research, companies and universities in the area of these materials will increase steadily to their use in their construction and product culture. The deadline for submissions is July 31. For more information, please visit their website here.
‘Translate the Intangible’ Symposium
Taking place at the Architectural Association (AA) on May 11, the ‘Translate the Intangible’ symposium addresses the challenges of communicating dynamic aspects of contemporary design methodologies through static mediums such as text and images. As current design-oriented fields have amplified the implementation of computational and generative tools for various motives, the process of documentation and representation of the design process has become more difficult to express.
As such, Translate the Intangible will bring together a multi-disciplinary group of leading practitioners from different fields to discuss the challenges involved in expressing the process involved in their work and propose new perspectives addressing this issue. Organized by the AA PhD in Architectural Design students as part of the AA Public Programme, the event will serve as a platform for the PhD in Architectural Design students to present and discuss their individual research. For more information on the event, please visit here.
Ball-Nogues Studio “Yevrus 1, Negative Impression” Exhibition
The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is pleased to present “Yevrus 1, Negative Impression,” an installation designed for the SCI-Arc Gallery by alumni Benjamin Ball (B.Arch ‘03) and Gaston Nogues (B.Arch ‘94) of Los Angeles-based Ball-Nogues Studio, opening June 1 and running until July 8 at SCI-Arc.
Constructed from non-architectural artifacts, Yevrus 1, Negative Impression is a disposable architecture of literal references that calls into question the contemporary architectural vogue for digital complexity and abstraction. The cast impressions of 1973 Volkswagen Beetles and speedboats unite to form a strong structural whole that serves as a lookout tower in the SCI-Arc Gallery. More information after the break. (more…)
‘Towards a New Re-Construction after 311 Tsunami in North-East Japan’ Symposium
Hosted by RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), the ‘Towards a new re-construction after 311 tsunami in North-East Japan’ Symposium will take place in London on May 8, where they will present a culmination of over a year’s work by dedicated Japanese architects working closely with local communities in areas worst affected by the disaster. Ideas and proposals will be shared for building a safe and sustainable future for those whose lives and communities were devastated on 11th March 2011. For more detailed information on the event, please visit here.
CULBURB Shaping Cities Symposium + Workshop
CULBURB’s Shaping Cities Symposium + Workshop, which takes place at the Centre for Central European Architecture May 22-23, asks what the nonprofit organizations are today and questions their role in the creation of city space. Are they non-elected groups of interest promoting their own interpretation of public good? Or do they represent a litmus paper of the level of democracy in the society? who can shape the life and form of the city? How and why? a unifying web database of such organizations from whole Europe will take place on the ground of the event. For more information, please visit here.
Call for Submissions: MONU Magazine’s #17 Issue – ‘Next Urbanism’
This new issue of MONU will explore how cities of the “Next Eleven” countries are already different and will be different in the future, from the cities of the “BRICs”, but also from the ones of the “MEDCs”- the more economically developed countries – in terms of their politics, their economies, their geographies, their cultures, their social aspects, their technology, their ecology and in the relation to their physical structures, such as their architecture. To investigate what kind of urbanism the cities of the “Next Eleven” countries might develop, this call for submissions for MONU #17 invites descriptive texts, comparative analysis, critical surveys, scientific studies, photo essays, and data-based infographics and research on the topic of “Next Urbanism”. Submissions are due before June 30. More information after the break. (more…)
King’s College London – The Strand Quadrangle Competition
RIBA Competitions recently announced the launch of a new Invited Design Competition on behalf of King’s College London. Expressions of Interest are sought from architects or architectural practices for the redevelopment of the Quadrangle and its associated buildings at the College’s historic Strand Campus in London WC2. This £20 million project to design and redevelop the Quad site will provide an additional 3,700 square meters of teaching space and student facilities. King’s is committed to appointing an architect based on their ability to bring innovative thinking to a significant historical site in order to revitalize a learning community. The deadline for receipt of Expressions of Interest is June 1. More information on the competition after the break. (more…)
Think Space 2012 Programme: Past Forward Competition
Zagreb Society of Architects just launched the new Think Space 2012 cycle of competitions with its annual theme, Past Forward. Devised by this year’s guest curator Adrian Lahoud, a former winner in the 2011 Borders Cycle, this programme cycle aims to repeat three competitions that radically transformed architectural culture The Peak (1982), Yokohama Port Terminal (1995), and Blur Building (1999), with participating architects in the original competition acting as jurors in the current one: Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher (jurors for The Peak), Alejandro Zaera-Polo (juror for Yokohama Port Terminal) and Ricardo Scofidio & Charles Renfro (juror for the Blur Building). Each competition starts and ends on the same date, so competitors may make their choice and decide on participating in a single or more competitions. More information after the break. (more…)
PUC Building: 525 Golden Gate / KMD Architects
The PUC Building on 525 Golden Gate Ave, home of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, could have been just another government administrative building. But, the City and County of San Francisco, along with KMD Architects, embraced the design challenge of achieving LEED Silver status. Now nearing completion, the building is expected to exceed LEED Platinum requirements and has been dubbed the greenest building of its kind. The architects had humble goals for the architecture as well, which included creating an “urban room” among the civic buildings in the area, creating a healthy and pleasant environment in the interior workplace to promote performance, efficiency and comfort, and represent the best value possible for the city and county of San Francisco.
Join us after the break for more.
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“Consumed” Architecture + Urbanism Symposium
Taking place May 3, the “Consumed” Architecture + Urbanism Symposium, put on my the University of Manchester’s School of Architecture, the event looks to explore the theme of consumption in the urban built environment through a selection of invited speakers from a variety of locations and professions. Current speakers include; Joseph Grima Editor of Domus Magazine, Mario Minale of Mario Minale Designers, Berndt Jespersen and Mette Skobjerg of Kalundborg Symbiosis, and Gavin Elliott of BDP is to Chair. More speakers are to be confirmed in coming weeks. The event is taking place in Manchester, at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. For more information, please visit their website here.
2012 MA Prize Competition: Green Dwelling
Modern Atlanta (MA) and Manifesto Architecture is pleased to announce the second annual MA Prize competition. The 2012 MA Prize entries will be carefully selected by a prestigious international jury of practicing designers and scholars and will be displayed at this year’s MA12 “Design in Human Week” in Atlanta. This year the prize calls for designers to submit projects that critically consider today’s notions of sustainability as applied to the modern dwelling. This award aims to highlight projects of all scales, that showcase a critical investigation into sustainable design practices in the home as well as projects that thoughtfully deal with the unique geographical, social, political or cultural conditions. The submission deadline is May 7. More information on the competition after the break. (more…)
‘Sea Dragon’ Sculpture / JOH Architects
Drawing inspiration from Geelong’s history and from a future with strong visions of sustainability and independence, the ‘Sea Dragon’, designed by JOH Architects, is a wind driven sculptural sea monster in the heart of Geelong, a bay orientated port city with a history of both farming and industry connections. This industrial machine like creature will guard the Geelong harbour like nothing in this proud city’s history while remaining fearlessly independent drawing energy from the harbor’s natural environment. More images and architects’ description after the break. (more…)
Garden School / OPEN Architecture
OPEN Architecture recently created a new kind of school system that provides a balanced and joyful learning environment integrated with farms and gardens. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Chinese philosophy which had always centered on the harmony between people and nature, the architects feel it is urgent to bring the ancient philosophy back to the core of our education, and put it in the context of new challenges ahead. If there is one thing that we have to put above all other issues for the 21st century, it is probably the vulnerability of nature, especially in the decades to come, and amidst all the looming environmental crisis. More images and architects’ description after the break. (more…)
‘Modernism in Architecture & Urbanism: China, India & the West’ Conference
One hundred years have passed since Le Corbusier’s Voyage to the Orient. Although he didn’t venture into the Far East, his influence – and that of Modernism – is recognizable across the world. This conference, hosted by Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University October 18-19, looks at modernism’s significance to architecture and urbanism from Europe to India. It will explore its lasting, or fading, influence on China; and China’s influence on it. Architecture, and indeed the world, has changed massively over the last century, so this conference will explore what contemporary ideas can be drawn from different historical periods and different social circumstances. More information on the conference after the break. (more…)
‘Who Builds Your Architecture?’ Event
With architects building globally – often disconnected from their own cultural and political contexts – what is their responsibility toward the workers who construct their buildings? Organized by the Vera List Center in collaboration with Kadambari Baxi (Barnard College), Mabel O. Wilson (Columbia University GSAPP) and curator and writer Beth Stryker, Who Builds Your Architecture?, which takes place May 3 from 6:30pm-8:30pm, examines the links between construction practices and workers’ rights; and provokes broader questions about contemporary forms of globalization where architecture takes central stage. Sociologist Andrew Ross, architects Peggy Deamer and Fred Levrat, and Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher on the Middle East Bill Van Esveld reflect on how architects imagine their role, particularly on how their buildings may transform society—not just through their physical forms, but through the ways in which they are constructed and used. For more information on the event, please visit here.
