Videos: The Latest Architecture and News

Toshiko Mori, FAIA, founder and principal of Toshiko Mori Architect, discusses her work, including the Darwin D. Martin House Visitors Center. The lecture begins with a 15 minute documentary “A Girl is a Fellow Here: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright”, produced by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation.

In this interview by Jan Schevers and Esther Schevers, Stephen Bates of Sergison Bates architects discusses how education is tied to exploration and research. As a professor at TU Munich, each semester offers an opportunity to take on new themes in architecture that allow him to break conventions that come up in practice and are oftentimes associated with the ways in which his students have been taught. More discussion after the break.

As a follow up to last weeks coverage on the Rio Carnival 2012 kick-off in Oscar Niemeyer’s newly renovated Sambadrome, we would like to share with you this stunning tilt-shift video capturing the essence of Rio de Janeiro and the colorful parade of the Carnival. You will also catch a glimpse of famous mosaic sidewalks of the Copacabana Beach Boardwalk designed by the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.

Creators: Keith Loutit and Jarbas Agnelli Music: Jarbas Agnelli Special Thanks: Rede Globo, Liesa and Jodele Larcher

*This video was filmed during Carnival of 2011.

After winning the RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship in 2011, Sahil Despande of the Rizvi College of Architecture in Mumbai has focused his research on understanding an urban planning scheme that would look beyond the typical architectural desires of constructing houses and public spaces, to the broader problem of providing proper sanitation. Proper sanitation is not a necessity most can afford; in fact, over 2.5 billion people have poor access to proper sanitation and for 1.5 billion, access is seemingly impossible. Without such a basic amenity, a city or settlement’s economic and health structure are often jeopardized. Despande feels the issue of providing proper sanitation is one in which architects often shy away from, as master plans focus on spatial aspects of the formation of a city rather than trying to install the proper infrastructure necessary for its citizens. In his research, Despande traveled to thirteen vastly different cities – ranging from the poorest informal settlement, Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya to places such as Zurich, Beijing and Delhi – in an effort to study the existing sanitation systems and understand the cultural context in which they reside. Despande’s research is bringing sanitation to the forefront to generate awareness about its inherent linkage with public health, and urge architects to tackle the issue to improve the conditions for billions of people. Check out his presentation and let us know what you think of his research findings.

Brought to you by Studio-due, Luce/Light explores four contemporary buildings of concrete, iron, water and glass that share a unique and indissoluble relationship with light. The Italian buildings featured are Fabrica by Tadao Ando, Il Cubo Nero (The Black Cube) by Silvia Dainese Studio + dns dsn, the Nardini Grappa Distillery Bolle by Massimiliano Fuksas and Memoria e Luce (9/11 Memorial) by Daniel Libeskind.

Above is a video put together by 24studio on what today we call the National Museum of Science andTechnology – MUNCYT – which was born in 2001 as A Coruña Center for the Arts designed by aceboXalonso studio. The video coincides with the article written about the politically controversial building which was conceived as a single container to house two buildings of diverse nature: the new Dance Conservatory of the provincial Council of A Coruña and a Provincial Museum of ambiguous content. More info can be viewed here.

In reference to Living Steel‘s 3rd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing, Glen Murcutt discusses his ideas surrounding the issue of sustainability. He emphasizes the strategies employed by the top contenders such as the planning of orientation, thermal performance, and human effort in addition to other variables involved in sustainable architecture. One particular method that Murcutt stresses is using materials that can dissolve back into the earth, citing earth walls as an excellent medium to build with and their inherent thermal mass qualities. Each team was invited to present their ideas in person, a variation from previous years which Murcutt believes led to the highest quality of work and diversity of the competition series.

RIBA President Angela Brady discusses design in 2012 with British architect Richard Rogers. Together, they discuss the important issues surrounding housing and cities, both agreeing that “intensification is critical”. Homes built within a compact city are said to be five times more efficient than those built outside the city. This realization is an important fact that should guide government officials, builders and architects to work together towards more intelligent and beneficial growth patterns.

Digital technology touches nearly everyone’s life. Be it delivered through cell phones, home entertainment devices, ATMs, storefronts or countless other means, digital design is big business and Robert Miles Kemp is at the forefront of that exploding movement.

The son of a carpenter and general contractor, Kemp visited job sites from the time he was small. At nine years old, his father gave him the challenge of designing a structure for a neighbor, which was subsequently built. Kemp loved both the process and the end product. Thus began a career in architecture. More after the break.

Together, BIG + Times Square Alliance + Flatcut + Local Projects and Zumtobel celebrates Valentines Day with a BIG red pulsating heart in the middle of Times Square, New York. The 10-foot-tall heart pulsates as the 400 transparent, LED lit, acrylic tubes sway in the wind. Once people touch the heart-shaped sensor, the light grows brighter and the pulse beats faster. Joining hands with more people will increase the intensity of the heart.

“The heart reflects what Times Square is made of: people and light – the more people, the stronger the light,” Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG.

See the love with the video above and more images after the break.

+ 19

An extended view of Water Cathedral, the selected project by GUN Arq for the 2011 YaP installation in Santiago, Chile, shot by photographer Cristobal Palma.

The Water Cathedral is a large, horizontal urban nave for public use. The structure is made up of numerous slender, vertical components, which hang or rise like stalactites and stalagmites in a cave, varying in height and concentration. The project incorporates water dripping at different pulses and speeds from these hanging elements, fed by a hydraulic irrigation network. When filled with small amounts of water, the stalactite components act as interfaces out of which water droplets gradually flow and cool visitors below. The stalagmites topography provides elements of shade, along with plants and water that collect under the Water Cathedral’s canopy.

Last week, the MoMA and the PS1 announced HWKN as the winner for the 2012 YAP in NY.

More videos by Cristobal Palma at ArchDaily:

Check out Great Spaces’ clip on the Brooklyn Bridge, one of New York’s amazing infrastructure feats. The construction of the bridge was a family affair as it was designed by John Roebling in the late 1860s and then completed by his son and daughter-in-law. One must imagine New York’s “skyline” of the 1800s to fully understand the innovation and the magnitude of such a massive project. For more about Roebling’s bridge, be sure to view our AD Classics coverage.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN’s “The Next List” features the bold and innovative ideas of Bjarke Ingels, focusing on the West 57th project that is transforming Manhattan skyline. Ingels states, “In the big picture, architecture is the art and science of making sure that our cities and buildings fit the way we want to live our lives.” The video also features comments from Robert A. M. Stern, Dean at Yale School of Architecture, and Douglas Durst, the developer of West 57th. Check it out!

First Run Features

Watch Thomas Leeser of LEESER Architecture share some insight into what architecture means and how his firm expresses that philosophy. One of our favorite lines is when Leeser stated, “We are not architects with a particular style; we are architects with a particular message.” The clip shares some background pertaining to Leeser’s Museum of Moving Image in Astoria, New York that exemplifies the firm’s idea of a changing continuous media surface and ties the conceptual understanding between film and architecture. What are your thoughts on Leeser’s closing comment when talking about the Bric media center and Urban Glass project – “Our work can influence and change the world around us, there is a really impact…it’s not just like another building” – perhaps, not just in terms of Leeser’s work, but for the field of architecture at large.

A well known architectural classic by Le Corbusier, the Notre Dame du Ronchamp, or more commonly referred to as Ronchamp, is featured very elegantly in this video by italian architect Franco Di Capua. The curved roof that peels up towards the heavens, the curving walls, and the the sporadic window placement on the walls are just a few of the architectural elements that make this project such a marvel.

British architect David Chipperfield recently gave an interview with Crane.tv discussing his architectural philosophy and affinity for the German culture. He expands on his approach to architecture and touches on his work for the completed reconstruction of the Neues Museum in Berlin. Be sure to check out some of his other recent works including; The Hepworth Wakefield art gallery in Wakefield, England, Turner Contemporary – a visual arts venue in Margate, England, America’s Cup Building in Valencia, Spain, and the Central Public Library in Des Moines, Iowa.