Videos: The Latest Architecture and News

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.

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.

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.

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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.

Todd Saunders of Saunders Architecture will be giving a lecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich on January 25th at 7:30pm. Led by a strong contemporary design sensibility, Saunders has worked on cultural and residential projects right across Norway, as well as England, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Canada. The studio believes that architecture must play an important role in creating place, using form, materials and texture to help evoke and shape memory and human interaction.

Architectural Dialogues is a film by Sasha Waltz shot in the unconventional setting of three museums and cultural centers: Neues Museum in Berlin designed by David Chipperfield Architects in collaboration with Julian Harrap, MAXXI National Museum of the XXI Century Arts in Rome designed by Zaha Hadid and the Jewish Museum in Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind.

More on the film with trailers after the break!

Check out this great video on one of our favorite landscape architects, James Corner. Named one of Time Magazine’s Game Changers - “innovators and problem-solvers that are inspiring change in America” – thousands have enjoyed Corner’s work on the High Line, and we are excited to monitor the progress of Corner’s recent joint win with SOM on Cornell’s NYC Tech Campus. The video sheds light upon Corner’s philosophy on landscape and how public spaces are a defining component of urban spaces. “…As designers, you bring an incredible sense of optimism and faith….and the capacity of good design to transform what may be perceived as negative to something very positive,” explained Corner. Overall, we found the video inspiring and we hope you enjoy it!

In this TEDx sponsored talk, Rachel Armstrong - co-director of AVATAR (Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural Research) in Architecture and Synthetic Biology at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL) – speaks about the dangerous relationship that we have developed with machines since the industrial revolution and ways we can break that habit. Along with her research on “living materials” and “synthetic biology”, Armstrong is looking for ways to rebuild the relationship between our reliance on machines and the systems of nature and our ecologies that are often neglected.

More on this talk after the break.

On December 17, 2011, the New York Chapter of the AIA held a panel discussion about the Occupy Wall Street events that have spurred people from all over the country into political involvement. The discussion featured nine panelists with introductory remarks from Lance Jay Brown and Michael Kimmelman and closing remarks by Ron Shiffman (all listed below). It focused on aspects of the built environment, public spaces and how they reflect the way in which people assemble.

Follow us after the break for more about this discussion, including video.

Founder of Amateur Architecture Studio and Head of Architecture at the China Academy of Art, Wang Shu was the first Chinese architect to hold Harvards Graduate School of Design (GSD) Kenzo Tange professorship. The Harvard lecture honors architect Kenzo Tange by bringing distinguished architects from around the globe to the GSD.

Since Wim Wenders’s new documentary “Pina” hit the theaters this month, the online world hasn’t stopped talking about the German film director’s plan to create a 3D documentary film on architecture. In a recent interview with the Documentary Channel, Wenders revealed his plans stating, “I have actually already started a long-term project, another documentary in 3D. It will take several years, but it’s going to be about architecture. I have always wanted to do a film about architecture, and I have a lot of architect friends. But that is another subject I never really knew how to approach with film. I realized through PINA that architecture is something that could have a real affinity to this medium. We started shooting already, but it’s at the very, very beginning. That’s going to be my next documentary project in 3D, but I would definitely also do a narrative film in the future in 3D as well.”

Continue reading for more information and videos.