Happy 103rd Birthday Oscar Niemeyer
ArchDaily would like to wish Oscar Niemeyer a Happy 103rd Birthday today. In 1988, at age 81, Niemeyer was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, together with American architect Gordon Bunshaft. Setting the pace for us all, Niemeyer continues to practice architect from his office in Rio de Janeiro, with ongoing projects in Brazil and Spain. He even recently composed the song Tranquilo com a Vida, download and listen here.
Tranquilo com a vida (composed by Oscar Niemeyer)
Richard Meier and Oscar Niemeyer met in October and here are some photos that Richard Meier & Partners shared with ArchDaily. We will soon be featuring an interview with Richard Meier, so be sure to keep a look out.
Follow the break for Richard Meier and Oscar Niemeyer.
Kowloon Walled City
Architect Christmas Card: A Workshop for Mr. & Mrs. S. Claus
When you combine imagination, architectural detail, and team work, cool things can happen, as seen in one architecture firm’s annual christmas card. In 1975 Don Reeves challenged his staff, “Rather than send out some nice architectural drawing for our holiday greeting to business friends and family, let’s do a working drawing of Santa’s workshop! Take the next 45 minutes or so, and have at it!” His staff enjoyed the challenge and four days later a sticker board was put up in the office, with a brainstormed functional workshop.
The office updates the christmas card annually, adjusting to the trends and tweaking architectural details, throughout the year suggesting ideas. A complete set of drawings has been maintained by the office from 1977 to 2010. “You’ll recall that this was before reprographics really existed so, each year, we had to redraw the whole thing in order to add the newest features,” Don shared.
It hasn’t just been a way to spread cheer, or a teambuilding exercise, as people call the office every year to verify that they are on the distribution list – receiving the latest drawing of the workshop.
Full story found at AIA San Diego.
The Indicator: Photographing the Architect, Part 2: The Mystery of Dora
He is so much older than she, isn’t he? You can see they love one another. They are not just sitting together. She is leaning against him, her head against his temple. Though they are looking in different directions, they are as one and inhabiting a private realm of emotion. His gaze regards us but it is she who draws our attention by looking away. It is 1926 and he is content. He seems more at ease posing with Dora than alone. Without her he must clasp his hand together, unsure of how to hold himself.
More after the break. (more…)
Architects in Movies
From the mid 1900′s to the beginning of the 2000′s, being an architect as a profession has made its way into key roles on the big screen for many big shot celebrities. Whether the roles they play in the movies are similar to the reality of the profession or not, I’m sure many architects that have watched some of these movies feel honored that their profession is one that deserves to be highlighted in ways that are not not just in architectural publications, but in the cinema world as well. More images after the break. (more…)
Video: The future of architectural visualization?
Remember Zebra’s holographic sheets we presented you back in February? Well, Zebra Imaging has released new videos that show how this technology can be used for planners/urban designers (as seen on Seattle’s video above), or to get an accurate preview of HVAC.
Price for this sheets? $1,500 for a 12- x 18-inch version to $3,500 for the largest 2- x 3-foot size.
Another video after the break:
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Vertical Safari / Influx_Studio
The aim of Influx_Studio was to create a unique zoo experience that would implement a new urban function and redefine the typical layout for wildlife sightseeing for its visitors. Through their dynamic, vertical attraction in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a new kind of building is conceived with hopes of inspiring other architects around the globe as well as increasing awareness to the diversity of ecosystems. More images and architect’s description after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: 101 Things I Didn’t Learn in Architecture School
This article is co-authored by Sherin Wing
1] Even if your boss is your friend he may have to axe you to save his business.
2] Read the book, On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt. Carry it with you. It’s pocket-sized.
3] Do not drink at work and especially do not get toasted around your colleagues under any circumstances.
4] No matter how highly you may think of yourself you may still be a minion in the eyes of others who hold more power than you.
5] Once you leave architecture school not everybody cares about architecture or wants to talk about it.
6] All eating habits and diets acquired during school should be jettisoned.
7] The hygiene habits you kept in architecture school are inappropriate for real life; bathe regularly and change your underwear.
8] The rush and exhilaration you experience in studio may be inversely proportional to how much you will enjoy working for a firm.
9] It’s architecture, not medicine. You can take a break and no one will die.
10] Significant others are more important than architecture; they are the ones who will pull you through in the end. See 49.
Keep reading after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: My Robot
Deep in suburban southern California, the future of architecture has already arrived. This future is not just about more complex forms and compound geometries. It is not simply about software but how to make what is generated with software a reality. It is about processes, ways of working, and materials. It is also about more control for the architect. This is what Guy Martin had in mind when he started his own firm.
Guy Martin Design, is quite possibly the most famous firm you have never heard of. He’s the guy who figures out how to make some of Philippe Starck’s more complicated creations, translating the digital into the physical.
Mr. Martin works behind the scenes in a non-descript warehouse with no windows. Thankfully, he has a huge ventilation system. He spends most of his time here with Marie, his robot accomplice. He’s moved up in the world. He used to operate out of a shipping container (also without windows) in the parking lot of SCI-ARC—until he graduated and was asked to leave and take that damn container with him.
Keep reading after the break. (more…)
The Highline, a new icon
On last week’s Family Guy episode the characters go to NY, illustrated by the Highline with the Standard Hotel.
No skyline, no Liberty statue, no Freedom Tower, no Times Squares, no Central Park. The Highline just became an icon. No wonder why many cities are now looking for their own Highline effect.
Presentation tips for Architects, Part II
This Inspiration Series is brought
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As we discussed last week, presentations are very important for our profession. That’s the way we relate with our clients, and also with our colleagues. A good presentation could get your project approved, or quickly dismissed if you don’t plan it right. For example, a presentation to a client compared to a presentation for a group of architects is very different, even if the project you need to communicate is the same.
On the previous article we shared some tips based on Garr “Presentation Zen” Reynolds on how to prepare a presentation for architects. Now, we are going to share with you some tips on how to deliver your presentation. This is the most important part, as no matter how good the slides are, you should be the one in control of the presentation and not the large images on your background.
Stadium for International Lunar Olympics / Brian Harms & Keith Bradley
When Brian Harms and Keith Bradley found a competition with such a unique premise, calling for the design of a moon stadium, they were interested in designing for an environment with which they were unfamiliar. The competition allowed them certain freedoms not typically present in an architectural studio project. This was the first time the two fifth year architecture students of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo collaborated on a design project and hope to work with each other again in the future. More images and project description after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: Notes on a Fake Holiday
When Thanksgiving rolls around, even the most cynical, edgy writers start spewing sentimental drivel about family or the meaning of being thankful. They are weak and clearly under the influence of this fake holiday—you know it was invented by Abraham Lincoln, right?
Suddenly, all my Twitter tweeters have ceased shamelessly promoting themselves or constructing clever little comments about the great things they are doing, or the great things they are thinking, or something great that someone else is doing or thinking. Now it’s a constant stream of kindness and sincerity. Good Magazine asks, “What are you thankful for?” I am thankful that this insanity will be over by Friday. I’ll also be thankful when they return my calls.
I wasn’t going to write about Thanksgiving. It is not my favorite holiday. You eat too much and have to sit around and talk with relatives. This year, my wife and I were given an alternative: we were invited by a neighbor to eat too much and sit around and talk with her relatives. This sounded entertaining. In fact it turned out to be more entertaining than I ever would have imagined.
More after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: When SPOT Dreams of Electric Sheep
Scott Draves (aka SPOT) produces software art that makes my brain melt. I’m almost positive it’s doing something neurological similar to the pink beam of light fired at Horselover Fat’s brain in Philip K. Dick’s novel, VALIS. These self-generative, evolving, extremely beautiful and complex images are encoded with information words do not adequately capture. Moreover, they warp conventional understandings of computer-generated imagery.
It’s appropriate to mention VALIS (Vast Active Living Intelligence System) because Draves’ art operates like some crazed living system, a rhizomatic artificial intelligence bouncing through space and beamed off-world. What will the aliens think of us when they receive these transmissions millions of years from now? If NASA ever does Voyager 3, this should be in its memory.
More after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: Storming the Archives
A few months ago I came across an interesting project by Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG. He did a post entitled “Bloggers in the Archive”. The concept is so simple and obvious, but it struck a chord with me. The best ideas are like this.
He spent a couple months rummaging through the collection at the Canadian Center for Architecture as part of their visiting scholars program. His goal was to expose many of the artifacts that are hidden away in the collection.
More after the break.
Presentation tips for Architects, Part I
This Inspiration Series is brought
to you by Veer.com
Our profession is all about presentations. It all started at university in the architecture studio, a whole semester had to be condensed into a 10-minute precise presentation in order to get the crits to understand your project, and it continued into professional life as the main tool to communicate with your co-workers, clients, a jury or with other architects in a lecture.
A good presentation could get your project approved, or quickly dismissed if you don’t plan it right. For example, a presentation to a client compared to a presentation for a group of architects is very different, even if the project you need to communicate is the same.
As I usually have to give at least a couple presentations per month, I have always tried to make them worth and not waste other people’s time. A big help for that has been Garr Reynolds, the “Presentation Zen” from which I haven taken some key points of which I will share with you in order to make a good presentation, adapted to our profession.
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The Indicator: Coffee and Jelly Beans
When it’s late at night I start drawing connections between things that at first sight don’t seem to belong together. It makes me think of Jim Jarmusch’s 2003 film, Coffee and Cigarettes. Coffee and cigarettes go together, but the people sitting at the table sometimes did not. The contradictions and discomfort are what made the film work.
More after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: But What Does It Mean?
Ai Weiwei is a complicated individual living in complicated times. But he’s an artist so this goes without saying. He’s constantly challenging the status quo and seems to thrive on it. But for him there may be no other way of being human, given the role he has accepted as an artist.
For many artists, it is this way. Regardless of nationality, art is about getting into trouble, not about sitting safely in one’s designer loft. Notice how artists flock together whenever they move into rough industrial neighborhoods. Many people like to think of themselves as artists. It’s easy to adopt this pose. Very few, however, actually take risks either in their work or to produce it. Ai Weiwei risks everything for his work.
More after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: Following the White Rabbit through Google Earth
What does a life look like when viewed through Google Earth? On the surface, it simply looks like different settlement patterns that morph depending on the altitude setting. Some places have 3D buildings, but most do not. In a few cases, the 3D buildings were inaccurately rendered. The person who had done them had never actually visited these places from my life. He was merely going off the satellite image and guessing at building heights and shapes. I, on the other hand, posses a great deal of information.
What would it look like if I annotated these maps with my memories; if I extruded the buildings? The notations would be so dense as to obscure the territory itself. Should Google give the responsibility for these geographies to those who contain them within their memories? Maybe Google should hire me to be the custodian of my own territories, past and present.
More after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: I’ve Seen Things You People Wouldn’t Believe
The 2011 TED Prize-winner is the artist who goes by the tag, JR. His enormous photographic installations obscure the facades of buildings, overlay streets, and sometimes collage to cover clusters of buildings in one massive broken image.
While some shy away from calling his work “street art,” I don’t see any shame in this—especially given the clear social justice objectives inherent in the imagery. It presents the faces, literally but never as cliché, of invisible and overlooked peoples. In this way, it is street art in the best sense of the term. You walk into the street and there it is and it has something to tell you. It takes buildings and turns them into indexes of shame, embarrassment, nobility, hope—whatever you might associate with the everyday struggles of the displaced lower-classes.
More after the break. (more…)
The Indicator: The Forest for the Trees, Or, What Does This Have to Do With Architecture?
Here in Sequoia, after the first snow, my most pressing problem is not shelter, bears, or cougars, but how to write about architecture while being awed by natural wonder.
What architecture there is in these mountains could be considered basic: it protects from the elements, you can build a fire, and it has wi-fi. I am perfectly happy with the minimal design the US Park Service has provided: there is a lodge with a massive stone fireplace and the immediate forest (active bear country) is unobtrusively dotted with tiny clapboard cabins for park personnel.
More after the break. (more…)
