Articles

Architects: a.gor.a Architects Location: Mae Sot, Thailand Architect In Charge: Albert Company Olmo, Line Ramstad, Jan Glasmeier Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Franc Pallarés López

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Almost two years ago, on November 13th 2010, I had the chance to attend to a very special seminar to celebrate the 80th birthday of Kenneth Frampton at Columbia’s GSAPP. During that intense day, five north american practices presented their work followed by an interesting debate: Rick Joy Architects, Stanley Saitowitz / Natoma Architects, Patkau Architects, Steven Holl, and Shim Sutcliffe Architects.

For the 13th Venice Biennale, Kenneth Frampton was invited to have his exhibit at the Arsenale, where the works of these five practices was presented on a series of videos, on a simple installation designed by Steven Holl.

While we don’t have the videos shown during the Biennale, we present you the full video of the seminar (almost 6 hours), made available online by the GSAPP.

More information about the “Five North American Architects as a Common Ground” videos shown at the Biennale:

Opening tonight in Los Angeles at the WUHO Gallery: Inside Marina City: A Project by Iker Gil and Andreas E.G. Larsson.

For more than two years, Iker Gil and Andreas E.G. Larsson documented the lives of residents in the non-Euclidean geometries of architect Bertrand Goldberg’s iconic Marina City (1959-67) in Chicago. Celebrating Goldberg’s original vision for affordable apartments in a central, high-density location, this revealing series of photographs provides a rare, behind-the-scenes tour of the diverse array of people and living spaces within these popular cylindrical residential towers.

The Museum of Copying, curated by British architect’s FAT, was one of my favorite exhibitions at the Venice Biennale. The subject of copy in architecture has always interested me, in relation to how the series of copies in the form of iterations are what make architecture evolve. The concept is explored in this exhibit with three installations, starting with Villa Rotunda Redux, the iconic Palladio building copied (or reinterpreted?) through history now digitally fabricated and casted.

During the Biennale we had the chance to talk with Sam Jacob (@anothersam) from FAT, who explains us more about the Museum of Copying on this video (full interview coming soon!).

More about the Museum of Copying from the architects after the break.

Architects: Espaço Cidade Arquitectos Location: Lisbon, Portugal Architect In Charge: João Silva Vieira Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Courtesy of Espaço Cidade Arquitectos

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Architects: ACXT Location: Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain Architect In Charge: César Caicoya Gómez-Morán Design Team: Beatriz Pagoaga, Oscar da Costa Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Aitor Ortiz

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OMA has been selected from four competing international architectural practices to design the new École Centrale engineering school and its surrounding urban development in the research and innovation zone of Saclay, southwest of Paris.

Spearheaded by Clément Blanchet, director of OMA projects in France, the winning “lab city” concept contrasts the corridor linearity of the typical laboratory. The design proposes a low level, glass-roofed superblock that contains an interior open plan grid, where various activities can interact and be overlooked simultaneously. Continue after the break to learn more.

Curated by Alexander Ponomarev and Olilga Milentiy, the Ukraine Pavilion presents mobile museums projects under the concept of “Mirage Architecture”. The exhibition focuses on a conceptual design for a Museum of Contemporary Arts in the Antarctic.

“In order to build new Utopia, there is no need to raze the world. There are still places on Earth with clean, free spaces, offering room for cooperation and co-creation. On of these places is the Antarctic”, says Milentiy.

Learn the story behind the ukrainian pavilion after the break

Taking the place of the existing building complex that was built in the 70th century for the Soviet Military Headquarters of the Caucasus region, the TBC Bank Headquarters strives towards being an oasis, representing both a nourishing source but also a sense of rescue. Designed by Architects of Invention, their second prize winning proposal offers visitors an experience, a discovery of boundless resource within secure parameters. Visitors enter through the building’s opening, like a key entering a lock, and a lush and fertile oasis appears before them. More images and architects’ description after the break.

This post, by Maria Popova, first appeared on her excellent blog Brainpickings.

There’s something inescapably alluring about pocket-sized compendiums of quotes by great architects and designers — take, for instance, those of Charles Eames and Frank Lloyd Wright. Fittingly, The Architect Says: Quotes, Quips, and Words of Wisdom (public library) gathers timeless wisdom on design and architecture from more than 100 of history’s most vocal — and often dissenting — minds. What emerges, besides the fascinating tapas bar of ideas about the art and science of building, is the subtle but essential reminder that what lies at the heart of creative legacy aren’t universal formulas and unrelenting tents but perspective, conviction, and personality.

Le Corbusier (1887–1965) stands for the honesty of drawing:

I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies.

More quotes from architects, after the break…

Last we updated you on the David Wright House, the Arizona home Frank Lloyd Wright designed for his son, things were looking up – the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy (FLWBC) had gotten the unanimous decision of the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission to recommend Landmark Preservation to the City Council.

Unfortunately, the developer, John Hoffmann of 8081 Meridian, says that really doesn’t matter to him.

According to yesterday’s New York Times article by Michael Kimmelman, Pheonix city policy requires owner consent before designating any building for historic preservation. Since “8081 Meridian never gave its consent, and has no intention of doing so, Mr. Hoffman says he rejects the landmark process outright.”

Hoffman’s demolition permit has been voided by city officials, but he maintains that the permit is legal – it just expires today.

More on the precarious fate of the David Wright House, after the break…

Frank Gehry continues to amaze us – we recently shared the octagenarian’s vision for Zuckerberg’s expanding Facebook campus, and now the architect will tackle a master plan for Miami’s iconic Bacardi Tower and annex. Designed by Enrique Gutierrez, a collaborator of Mies van der Rohe, with amazing tile work by Brazilian artist Francisco Brennand, the Latin-infused modernist tower served as the Bacardi headquarters for nearly 50 years. Just this morning, the National YoungArts Foundation announced that it is the proud new owner of the main 8-story tower, and the “Jewel-box” 1975 annex, designed by Igancio Carrera-Justiz, with glass mosaic walls based on designs by German artist Johannes Dietz. The organization acquired the property for a steal – the Miami Herald estimates the buildings’ $10 million price tag weighs in at less than half of its market value – and is excited to make a permanent home to expand their activities.

Gehry work will not involve either of the buildings’ exteriors, which will be completely preserved, but rather, the project will include transforming the site’s parking lot into a park that will connect with a Gehry-designed performance hall just north of the existing buildings.

More after the break. 

Designed by Fernandes Arquitetos, the Nacala airport aims at better utilization of natural lighting and ventilation, reducing consumption of power associated with the use of artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation systems. It will have water intakes and sewage treatment for irrigation of green areas. The building proposed is basically on the ground floor, where the functional program that meets the operation and passengers is developed, like the check-in area and boarding and arrival rooms, which are located in the north and south wings. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located in Trafalgar Square in London, the BE OPEN Sound Portal focuses on an experience that would be all about the sound. Designed by Arup, they thought it would be great if people could really concentrate on sound in Trafalgar Square, which would take people away form hustle and bustle into a space where they can concentrate and immerse themselves in sound. The original idea was that they would be able to take people away from London to another place, to hear the sound of a melting glacier or an acoustic model of the big bang. The plan is effectively two concentric circles: the inner circle for the sound and the outer circle forms the entrances. Both pieces mask the background noise. They are shells to shield the noise. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: ACXT Location: Huesca, Spain Design Team: Ana Morón Hernandez, Raimundo Bambó Naya, Pedro Lafuente Lles Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Iñaki Bergera

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Architects: NL Architects Location: Arnhem, The Netherlands Project Architects: Guus Peters and Bart Schoonderbeek (Schipper Bosch) Design Team: Pieter Bannenberg, Walter van Dijk, Kamiel Klaasse Team Members: Lorena Valero Miñano, Inés Quinteiro Antolín, Jaewoo Chon Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Jeroen Musch

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Installed on Parliament Square, London, the ‘House of Flags’ is a flexible, demountable, and totally reconfigurable architectural intallation conceived as a gigantic ‘house of cards’ in the Eames’ spirit. The project was designed by AY Architects after an invited international design competition initiated by the Greater London Authority for the Mayor of London’s ‘Wonder Series of Incredible Installations’. 206 panels depict the flag icons of the nations and combined create a collaged image of the world. All together they make up a large building jigsaw, a united ‘house’ of symbols, shimmering colors and perforations. More images and architects’ description after the break.