Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750
Barry Bergdoll, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and professor of modern architectural history at Columbia University, will present the 62nd A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts Series. The Mellons are among the most prestigious art history lecture series in the world and have been delivered annually since 1952 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. For this year’s series, Bergdoll will present “Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750.”
More about the lecture series after the break…
Tower of London Competition 1890
While the Eiffel Tower was negatively received at first for its utilitarian appearance, it soon became a major attraction for Paris, France in the late 19th century. It represented structural ingenuity and innovation and soon became a major feat, rising to 300 meters of7,500 tons of steel and iron. Just three years after its unveiling, London sponsored a competition for its own version of the tower in 1890. The Tower Company, Limited collected 68 designs, all variations of the design of the Eiffel Tower. Proposals were submitted from the United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Turkey and Australia. Many of the designs are bizarre interpretations of utilitarian structures, following the aesthetics of the Eiffel Tower, only bigger and taller.
Join us after the break for more on the story of the Tower of London. (more…)
My Motherhood + Architecture Adventure / Samara Greenwood
In a recent article for The Guardian, Hannah Rosin interviewed Emily White, a Facebook executive, who noted that our lives are no longer about work/life balance, but rather the work/life “merge.” Much like women in high-power executive positions, women in architecture (and particularly mothers) similarly must learn how to negotiate never-ending demands – from the workplace and the home – on a daily basis.
Samara Greenwood discusses this difficult “work/family equation” below. You can find the full, un-edited version at Parlour: Women, Equity, Architecture, If you like this post, you may also enjoy Work/Life/Work balance, by Andrew Maynard.
My own motherhood + architecture adventure began six years ago – so far, it has been a pretty wild ride. There are times I have felt invincible, like I’ve found the magic key to a brilliant life. But more often than not life has felt out of whack, like something wasn’t quite right. Again and again, I’ve attempted to put my finger on the problem, to find the missing piece of the jigsaw. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I don’t.
I don’t think I am alone.
Lightweave Palm Observatory / X-Studio
Conceived by Mexican architect Ivan Juárez from X-Studio, the Lightweave Palm Observatory consists of a dialogue with the natural landscape context of Bahia de Todos os Santos, Brazil. The project explores a local artisanal textile technique using the coconut palm leaf found in the island as raw material. It then forms an interior space for personal reflection which creates a visual dialogue between the interior and exterior landscape that it delimits. More images and architects’ description after the break. (more…)
Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative / The Getty
For architecture students, the Modern Movement is typically the most recent and most defined architectural style movement that history classes focus on. We appreciate the architects and artists of that time and respond to their buildings and ideas with reverence. Despite our appreciation for the buildings that came out of this era, conservation methods are meeting new challenges in conserving these buildings that have not aged well as they have reached their 50-year heritage protection eligibility. This is where the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (CMAI) comes in. A “comprehensive, long-term, and international program” that is part of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI). CMAI aims to enhance conservation methods that in response to these aging buildings and create a knowledge data base of training programs and publications that reflect the advancement of these strategies.
More on the GCI and its initiative after the break. (more…)
Download the “From Mad Men to Mies” Wallpaper to your Tech Device
After receiving a lot of compliments on our “From MadMen to Mies” graphic, we decided to let you take a little piece of Mies (the original Mad Man) with you wherever you go. Click through the gallery below to find the wallpaper for the technological device of your choosing – iPad, iPhone, Android phone, MacBook, or Samsung Tablet. Take one, or heck, take all. In this case, less isn’t more.
Journey to the Center of New York: Can Design “Cure” Our Cities?
Walk into the cafeteria at the Googleplex and you are nudged into the “right” choice. Sweets? Color-coded red and placed on the bottom shelf to make them just a bit harder to reach. “Instead of that chocolate bar, sir, wouldn’t you much rather consume this oh-so-conveniently-located apple? It’s good for you! Look, we labelled it green!” [1]
Like the Google cafeteria guides you to take responsibility of your health, Google wants to transform the construction industry to take responsibility of the “health” of its buildings. They have been leveraging for transparency in the content of building materials, so that, like consumers who read what’s in a Snickers bar before eating it, they’ll know the “ingredients” of materials to choose the greenest, what they call “healthiest,” options.[2]
These examples illustrate the trend of “medicalization” in our increasingly health-obsessed society: when ordinary problems (such as construction, productivity, etc.) are defined and understood in medical terms. In their book Imperfect Health, Borasi and Zardini argue that through this process, architecture and design has been mistakenly burdened with the normalizing, moralistic function of “curing” the human body. [3]
While I find the idea that design should “force” healthiness somewhat paternalistic and ultimately limited, I don’t think this “medicalized” language is all bad – especially if we can use it in new and revitalizing ways. Allow me to prescribe two examples: the most popular and the (potentially) most ambitious urban renewal projects in New York City today, the High Line and the Delancey Underground (or the Low Line).
More on “curative” spaces after the break. (Trust me, it’s good for you.)
Unique Architecture, Unique Dining Experiences
This post is presented by S. Pellegrino, Fine Dining Lovers.
Restauranteurs are having a tougher time to please their customers, now turning into food aficionados. For the foodies, dining is more than just a gourmet, refined preparation. It’s all about the science of the food, where it comes from, how it is prepared, and dining becomes a full experience. In this aspect, the environment where the food is served has turned into a very important part of this experience.
In this post we are going to present to you restaurant projects that offer unique dining experiences, through innovative architecture.
2011 MAD Travel Fellowship: Call for Submissions
The MAD Travel Fellowship was launched by MAD Architects in 2009 to provide mainland Chinese students with an opportunity to travel abroad and research an architectural topic of their choosing. It is only through travel the visceral experience of walking into a space – that one can begin to understand the full context and meaning of architecture.
In the past two years, with the support of long-term sponsor VERTU, 10 students from all over China have received the grant and traveled to destinations including Greece, Switzerland, the United States, and Egypt.This year, 5 students will have the opportunity to travel for 7-10 days in their chosen city or region of independent study. Following their trip, the students will give a public presentation of their experience.
Qualifications, submission and further information is available after the break.
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The Atmosphere of Paris Cafes / Nicolas Dorval-Bory + Raphaël Bétillon
We’ve featured a few projects by Nicolas Dorval-Bory, such as his extension for an artist residency and a sustainable house for winter sports; and now, he and Raphaël Bétillon have shared their latest conceptual project focusing on re-thinking Parisian bistros. A strong cultural component of Paris, the bistro offered a place of intense life and intellectual dynamism, with its typically noisy ambiance and chattering clients. However, recently, Dorval-Bory and Bétillon have felt that the bistro has slowly begun to loose its sense of vitality, as bistros are becoming “often disappointing, stuck up in ornaments of another century, mimicking with decors for tourists times when the lively creative atmosphere filled the place alone.” So, the pair decided to explore the atmosphere of such bistros in an effort to improve the quality of this traditional space. This approach has created a bistro that literally responds to the people occupying the space, leading to some interesting scenarios on an experiential level. ”Our intervention would then be about the control and expression of these atmospheric bodies, a contemporary way to celebrate climate as the primary user’s envelope. Architecture would split into two : on one hand, a built layout designed as a structuring machine, a back frame controlling, on the other hand, flows, phenomenons and invisible particles,” explained the architects.
More images and more about the project after the break. (more…)
Strelka presentation at the Venice Biennale
As we told you in May, OMA + AMO will collaborate with Strelka, a postgraduate school for media, architecture and design in Moscow.
Now, the presentation of this very special partnership will take place at the Architecture Biennale 2010 in Venice on August 26th between 2:30 and 3:45 pm.
More information after the break.
Landscapes of Quarantine
Several times I haves asked myself what is inside Geoff Manaugh’s mind. The author of the BLDG Blog has been pushing architectural thinking (or more like stretching, bending, twisting…) by proposing views of an uncertain future (while linking this to our past), leaving an open door that invites us to think about architecture in a non traditional space-restricted way.
Sounds weird, but I can´t really define it. Maybe we should stick to his definition: ”Architectural Conjecture, Urban Speculation, Landscape Futures”.
A couple of days ago Geoff told me that he is going to be in NY during the fall, where he will run an an independent design studio, called Landscapes of Quarantine, “meeting to explore the spatial implications of quarantine”. The studio will run from Oct 6 to Dec 5, and he has already confirmed a group of ten people, whose backgrounds include architecture, sound design, urban gaming, comic books, film, photography, art, landscape, and food. The studio will conclude with an exhibition at the Storefront Gallery.
But the interesting part, at least for our readers, is that the studio is open for public applications. If this sounds interesting to you, just head to BLDG Blog and read the details about Landscapes of Quarantine and on how to apply.
p.s.: I also recommend you to follow Geoff at Twitter, as he is constantly sharing ideas and links worth reading. And another thing worth reading is his book: The BLDGBLOG Book.
Three student projects from Tulane City Center
The Tulane City Center houses the Tulane University School of Architecture’s urban research and outreach programs. So far this year, the students at the Tulane School of Architecture have built three projects, a Green Pavillion (a sustainable exhibition on rainwater re-use, a Farmer’s Market in Hollygrove, and a LEED certified (soon to be) house in Central City. All of these projects are located in New Orleans.
You can find more on the Tulane City Center here. Images and description of the three projects, after the break. (more…)
Design Build Bluff Studio
Rural Studio has been a good teaching model, which made students get involved on communities as they learn architecture, a good approach to form architect’s that are part of the society. This model, first initiated by Sam Mockbee in 1993, is still being used in schools in the US. A good example of this is DesignBuildBLUFF, a studio taught by Hank Louis (AIA) through the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning.
First year architecture graduate students build a home for a needing family on the Navajo Reservation near Bluff, Utah. During the first semester the students design following the requests of the client, and during the second semester they actually build the house. Because of the remote nature of the sites the buildings are usually required to function off-the-grid. This gives students an opportunity to explore sustainable methods and materials.
DesignBuildBLUFF is a non-profit funded by charitable donations and grants. Building materials are often donated and they seek to utilize the latest in innovative and “green” products.
The Sweet Carolina House (pictured above) built in 2006 won the People´s Choice Award from the AIA Utah Chapter. You can see more on their past projects at their website, and keep up to date on this year´s house fund raising, design and construction on their blog.
This model is also being used by the Universidad de Talca in Chile, on which graduating students need to build their work as part of their final examination, resulting in over 100 buildings that are part of the community infraestructure, growing every year. You can see some good examples: a canopy for wineyard workers (which allowed the wineyard to obtain ISO certification), a lookout for a tourist route funded with goverment funds and rest stops on the landscape across the region.
