James
A prefabricated house built by Living Homes designed by Ray Kappe
Prefab seems to have been the panacea for many young architects seeking to make a name for themselves. Many efforts have not gotten off the ground and frankly many have not been overwhelmingly impressive. But a name like Ray Kappe (founder of SCI-Arc and a well respected west coast architect) lends a certain credibility to this prefab proposal.
There is a lot to like about Living Homes first product as designed by Kappe - green materials, solar power, living roof system, reduced construction waste. A model home is currently under construction in Santa Monica, California, and Living Homes is apparently developing a community near Joshua Tree National Park thus creating their own economy of scale. Plus they'll let you buy your own prefab to plant wherever you like.
You can check out Living Homes at CA Boom 3 where they will be exhibiting in the "prefab Zone" and presenting at the Speakers Conference.
Link: Living Homes
Contemporary Furniture Design Exhibit
THAW is one of the largest contemporary design exhibits in Western Canada, and will take place during The Works Art and Design Festival from June 23rd to July 5th, 2006. THAW 2006 is looking to showcase medium to large sized furniture, accessories and lighting designs.
The show is juried and curated by the Industrial Designers of Edmonton Association (IDEA), a group with which our very own Adriean is affiliated.
Deadline is April 1, 2006... no foolin'.
Link: THAW 2006 Call for submissions (pdf)
Link: IDEA
Site specific installations at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park
Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, one of the first outdoor sculpture parks in the country, is seeking site-specific installations from artists, architects, landscape architects who integrate notions of point of view, landscape, architecture and art. Proposals featuring collaborative and interactive concepts as well as green/organic architecture will be given special attention. Stone Quarry Hill is unique in its mission of showcasing emerging and established artists whose work focuses on the relationships between art and nature.
Deadline is September 1, 2006.
Link: Stone Quarry Hill
- Site/Sight: Landscape & Architecture
Via: Archinect
NYIT studio explores the big box invasion into urban territory
When the unstoppable Wal-Mart comes to town, there is sure to be a struggle, and the push to open big box stores in more urban areas has been no different - in fact it has raised new issues as can be seen in the current proposed New York City location.
A studio 3rd year studio at NYIT led by Matt Dockery explores "a hybrid public / private venture designed to allow New York City to reap the benefits of low-cost merchandise without suffering the negative impacts of Big-Box stores on public space, local business and the environment."
The site used by the studio is in Brooklyn adjacent to the proposed Atlantic Yards project designed by Frank Gehry. The charge to the students is to create a new building type to house a mixed program: big box retail, a public arts market, assembly hall, public services, and a parking garage.
Link: Big Box vs. Big Apple
Much more: BoxTank - Multi-Tiered Wal-Mart Becoming Reality
Urban fragment images
City of Sound's Dan Hill has created some wonderfully layered photo composite images of cityscapes, one of which is featured in Artkrush's current Architecture and Design issue.
Great stuff... congrats on the publication, Dan.
Link: City fo Sound - Fragments gallery
Link: City of Sound - Artkrush features fragment
Custom contemporary furniture from reclaimed lumber
Andrew Moe is a
designer/craftsman and founder of a new green design company based in Brooklyn, New York. Moe builds custom contemporary furniture crafted from reclaimed lumber from old structures.
I love the quality of old wood, let's face it... new lumber just isn't the same... old wood provides a richness and quality unachievable with new material. And of course recycling old material saves trees and room in landfills. I am drawn mostly to the pieces which recall some sense of the past use of the materials - chunky beams and planks crafted into simple forms providing a nice contrast of rustic and modern.
Link: Moe Design Studio [Thanks, Andrew!]
The 7th edition at Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens, Québec
We announced the selection of the designers to participate in the 7th edition of the International Garden Festival a while back. And today we have some images to share of some of the gardens which will be on display. The Festival will feature eleven temporary gardens by designers from five countries.
The International Garden Festival runs June 24 to October 1, 2006 at The Redford Gardens / Jardins de Métis in eastern Québec.
Link: International Garden Festival [Thanks,Lesley!]
Link: Jardins Métis, Redford Gardens
Reference:
International Garden Festival 2006 (L+L)
Reference:
International Garden Festival 2005 (L+L)
Decodeine - Liquid Architecture
Architect and digital designer Dr. Margot Krasojevic has worked with Zaha Hadid and run studios at the A.A. and Bartlett as well as schools around the world. Her research and design practice is focused on time sequence, palimpsest and spatial narratives. During the past five years she has been engaged in work, publications, exhibitions and research on "pathological space" as displayed on her websites: Decodeine.
Dr. Krasojevic explores the perception of context as an environment of force and motion, a continuous seamless contextual metamorphosis rather than as a neutral vacuum, to question auto-pilot responses to our built environments. Both websites explore elements of projects which look at criteria's such as chemical imbalances in the brain, genetics and subjective interpretations of space, altering our perceptions and appropriations of the physical world.
Link: Decodeine.org
Link: Decodeine.com
"The West Coast Independant Design Show"
We've been covering CA Boom since it's inception, and we're looking forward to their third effort being held Thursday, March 23 to Sunday, March 26, 2006. It's a design show of a different stripe, where both professionals and consumers are invited. Here's the deal:
Three & half days of cutting edge design including tours from leading contemporary architects of recently completed projects, exhibits from independent designers, architects & manufacturers, panel discussions whose participants are the leaders and innovators of the contemporary design community and kicking off with a rocking design community opening night event.
The highlight of the show are the home tours - 5 homes per day. All but two one of the homes have been announced and we have listed the tour details and other show info after the jump.
Link: CA Boom 3
OUR COVERAGE OF THE FIRST TWO YEARS
Reference: CA Boom II - Compiled links and wrap up report (L+L)
Reference: CA Boom - Description and complied links (L+L)
Landscape Architecture Masters Thesis by Veenu Jayaram
Veenu Jayaram was among the landscape architecture students I met when I sat on the jury for the BrownLAb studio at the University of Southern California Landscape Architecture program. She recently completed her graduate work, and contacted us to share her thesis project.
Examining the patchwork of surface parking lots in Downtown Los Angeles Venu saw an opportunity for intervention realizing that these parking lots occupy much of the land in the Central Business District, yet are only utilized for limited hours, and for the limited purpose of temporary vehicle storage. She proposed that parking lots can serve a more dynamic program that recognizes economic realities while serving the multiple needs of the urban environment.
The proposal takes into account the studied needs within the CBD for the existing and growing residential population in addition to the daytime workers. New infrastructure, planting and programming strategies allow the space to be more flexible while remaining compatible with the need for parking space.
Alumninum furniture and objects
I first saw the work of MuNiMulA over at Design*Sponge last week... I was impressed with the straight forward yet beautiful creations and decided to check them out a bit further. Turns out MuNiMulA is a design and manufacturing firm located in Quincy, Michigan... coincidentally, I spent quite a bit of time during my childhood in the rural countryside not too far from Quincy. Now, quality of their work is reason enough to feature MuNiMulA here, but that bit of serendipity just sealed the deal.
The anodized aluminum construction of MuNiMulA's line of furnishings make them perfect for indoor/outdoor living - light weight, durable, versatile and practical. The clear anodizing leaves the aluminum with a slightly matte silver finish is often used in the marine and boating industry. There is a caveat for the colored finishes though; prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause the bright colors to fade over time. MuNiMulA’s upholstered pieces are offered in weatherproof Spinneybeck leather or outdoor canvas by special order.
Link: MuNiMulA [Thanks, Jenifer!]
Derelict. Dilapidated. Discover. - Interventions in urban decay
Detroit is one of the most spectacular examples of boom and bust in the United States - once opulent and then blighted - this capital of the Rust Belt is one of the nation's fastest shrinking cities and prime example of the phenomenon of "white flight" and, subsequently, sprawl. Large numbers of buildings and homes have been abandoned and many have been torn down or have fallen down and cleared away. Yet many vacant buildings remain in various states of decay.
Preceding the recent Super Bowl held in Detroit, an anonymous group calling themselves the DDD Project (Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland.) began targeting highly visible abandoned structures for intervention. Marked with a circled "D" in chalk by the city for demolition by the city years prior, the DDD Project transformed the houses, creating highlights within a context of depression, with a coat of bright orange paint, covering every surface of the facade: "Every detail is accentuated through the unification of color. Broken windows become jagged lines. Peeling paint becomes texture."
Link: The Detroiter - Paint the Town Orange
Link: Michigan Radio - Urban Blight Gets a Paint Job
More: dETROIT fUNK - D.D.D.
More dETROIT fUNK - Tiggeriffic
More: hamtramck star
Via: Metafilter
The ASLA declares April 2006 as National Landscape Architecture Month
All right you landscape party people... the American Society of Landscape Architects has done it again, declared the month of April as National Landscape Architecture Month. So, order up a big load of mulch to celebrate, or keep an eye out for ASLA Chapter events... the weekly breakdown listed after the jump.
ASLA chapters across the country will celebrate with public outreach activities to help communities "Discover Landscape Architecture," the theme for this year. The month encompasses Earth Day on April 22 and the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted on April 27, who founded the American landscape architecture profession.
Link: ASLA - Landscape Architecture Month 2006
Article: Landscape Career Discovery (pdf)
Article: Hire A Landscape Architect To Add Value To Your Home (pdf)
Article: Design for Active Living (pdf)
New Architecture in Spain
Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City opened Sunday and runs through May 1, 2006.
Spain has been a happening center for architecture for some time now... does anyone not now know of Bilbao? But this exhibition documents more recent architectural developments, with Moneo's 1998 Murcia City Hall serving as the spring point. Though it seems to me that perhaps Spain's architectural awakening stems from the preparations for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The show features a broad range of architects from the well known international players to young local up-and-comers. Christopher Hawthorne of the LA Times writes, "'On-Site' is at its best a sophisticated essay on the idea of architectural middle ground, particularly between youth and experience and between globalization and regional context."
The exhibition features 35 significant architectural projects that are currently in design or under construction. These works are considered in relation to an additional eighteen projects, each of which are a major architectural accomplishment completed in Spain within the last few years. The projects presented will reflect the geographic and generational diversity of the current wave of new projects and their architects, as well as a wide range of scales - from a single private house to a new international airport. The exhibition will not only reflect the accomplishments of Spanish architects, but also the contributions of professionals from elsewhere.
Link: MoMA - On-Site
Audio slideshow: MoMA - narrated by curator Terence Riley
Photos: Roland Halbe
Review: NY Times - A Survey of Spain, Architects' Playground [images]
Review: LA Times - Spain expands on its sense of place
Review: Washinton Post - Gains in Spain
Related: The Observer - Cutting-edge Sp
Interactive experiences inspired by the dramatic natural beauty of the alps and the athletic competitions of the Winter Olympics
We Clipped an article in the NY Times a bit over a week ago about curator Lance Fung's Snow Show, the interdisciplinary collaboration of art and architecture on the slopes at Sestriere, site of current Torino Winter Olympic cometitions. New images are now online showing the completed works of snow and ice.
Investigating and bridging art and architecture, the Snow Show pairs artists and architects together to create ephemeral works from snow and ice. This year's show explores a more southern latitude and environment from previous incarnations of the snow show, and folds athletic competition into the design considerations. Indeed the entry by Carsten Höller with Tod Williams and Billie Tsien takes this notion to the limit with their participatory design.
Participating teams are:
Paola Pivi & Cliostraat
arsten Höller & Tod Williams and Billie Tsien
Jaume Plensa & Norman Foster
Yoko Ono & Arata Isozaki
Kiki Smith & Lebbeus Woods
Daniel Buren & Patrick Bouchain
The show opened February 6 and runs through March 19, 2006. Photos of "melting" will be posted on the Snow Show website later...
Link: The Snow Show
Fold up glass wall system... creates its own canopy too!
Funny that I just happened to run across this manufacturer of horizontal bi-fold doors on the Archinect forum since I was thinking about utilizing such a system for a project I am currently designing.
Frank Jonkman & Sons is a manufacturer of greenhouse systems, but as they mention on their website, this horizontal bi-fold door system has amazing potential beyond greenhouse applications.
The benefits of the system, other than the "cool" factor:
- Requires no extra space within the adjacent walls for storing open panels
- No track or threshold required at ground level
- It can be easily installed in new or existing buildings
- It is available in any width or height and the panels may combine virtually any combination of glazing materials
Link: Frank Jonkman & Sons Ltd. - Horizontal Bi-Fold Doors
Putting alternative construction study into practice
At the University of Arizona in Tucson, Mary Hardin has established a sort of desert Southwest counterpart to Mockbee's famed Rural Studio, blending architecture education and practice into a practical laboratory of experimentation and discovery.
Ms. Hardin's academic and professional activities involve community outreach and the design of affordable housing. She leads students in the exploration of alternative construction methods - such as rammed earth, paper bale and straw bale - and is presently researching the strength and other qualities of rammed earth in partnership with UA Civil Engineering faculty. She has written and published a number of papers about design/build studios and the projects done with her students.
Professor Harden has also designed a beautiful modern rammed earth home with Richard Eribes, Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture at UA, which we spotted over at Earth Architecture.
Link: University of Arizona D+B
Link: Mary Hardin
Article: AridLands - Rammed earth constructions
Book: Stylus Publishing - From the Studio to the Streets
Related: Design Matters: Best Practices in Affordable Housing
Hanging garden
An interesting take on the archetypical terra cotta pot by French designer Vincent Vandenbrouck.
The pots are grouped via steel bars which slot into slices on each side. The steel bar and wire suspension system allows eight or twelve pots create a vegetable wall. Might create a mess when you water... but whatever. Single pots are also available in a non-hanging version.
Available through Paris showroom Compagnie.
Design: Vincent Vandenbrouck
Link: Edition Compagnie
Via: Reluct
Glowing stones for indoors or out
These cool sculptural outdoor lights provide a nice soft glow... no need for a bunch of 150 watt flood lights on the patio, folks.
Created by Italian designers Marta Laudani & Marco Romanelli with Massimo Noceto, they look great clustered together or scattered along a pathway. Use them inside too if you like... the designers also have an indoor version made of opaque Murano glass called Stone of Glass, but the outdoor ones could be used indoors as well.
Made of durable, weather-tested polyethylene. Uses screw-in fluorescent bulb.
Design: Marta Laudani & Marco Romanelli with Massimo Noceto
Manufacturer: OLuce
Buy: Y Lighting
Via: Better Living Though Design
Also: Product Dose
Related: Bloom (L+L)
Landscape architect chosen for Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California
Ken Smith is ready for his prime time close up in the O.C.
As posted in Clippings earlier, the political wrangling has come to an end, and the Orange County Great Park board has selected Ken Smith's design team for the commission. The three finalists offered two compelling designs, and one competent but, to quote Chris Hawthorne, "irredeemably bland." The Smith team proposal had received high marks from the public via an online poll as well as two design juries.
The winning project team lead by Ken Smith is composed of Enrique Norton of TEN Arquitectos, artist Mary Miss, Buro Happold Engineers, Mia Lehrer + Associates, and ecologist Steve Handel.
The design concept is broken into three integrated yet distinct elements, "Three Parks in One: The Canyon, the Habitat Park, and the Fields and Military Memorial." The team states its goal to set new standards for sustainability, ecological responsibility and public space in Southern California. Ground breaking is expected this spring, with some parts of the park opening as early as 2008.
Link: Orange County Great Park
Link: Ken Smith Presentation Doc 1 Doc 2 (pdf)
Article: O.C. Register - Ken Smith selected as Great Park designer
Reference: Orange County Great Park (L+L)
Architecturally designed hardware and furniture by Cutler Anderson Architects
Founded with the intent to partner with architecture firms to create a line of products and buildings (thank you Michael Graves), Reveal Designs has begun to market and sell furnishings and hardware designed by their charter partner,f Cutler Anderson Architects of Bainbridge Island, Washington.
I have admired James Cutler's modern arts-and-crafts-inspired detailing and design for some time, and the introductory line exemplifies these traits drawing from the firm's custom detail designs for past projects. The product line currently includes designs made metal or a wood/metal combination: door-levers and knobs, drawer pulls, a door knocker, chairs, tables, etc. The designs are elemental and purposeful revealing construction and function in their form.
Link: Reveal Designs
Link: Cutler Anderson Architects
Via: Inhabitat
A major new public space proposed for Dublin, Ireland
Dublin continues to grow and change at a fast clip, and with quality design leading the way.
American Landscape Architect Martha Schwartz has been selected to design a large public space in the Docklands section of Dublin. The 10,000 square meter Square will be located at the west end of Grand Canal Dock facing the River Liffey and will be one of the largest paved public spaces in the city.
Her design features a striking composition of a red "carpet" extending from the theatre into and over the dock crossed by a lush green "carpet" of paving with lawns and vegetation. The red “carpet” will be made of bright red resin-glass paving covered with red glowing angled light sticks. The green "carpet" of polygon-shaped planters will offer ample seating and will connect the new hotel to the office development across the square. The planters will feature marsh vegetation to soften the space and to act as a reminder of the historic wetland nature of the site. These will bring colour and variety to the space and act as a setting for the new buildings.
Link: Dublin Docklands Development Authority
Firm: Martha Schwartz Partners
Via: Pruned
An urban Dublin neighborhood school / Seeing Éire [I.5]
Back to Ireland as promised, and a month after my last post in the Seeing Éire series no less. Here we will take a closer look at one building in Dublin by O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects, a building which made an impression on me nearly eight years ago and which took my two visits to Dublin to finally see in person.
Set in the Georgian south Dublin neighborhood at Mountpleasant Square, the design for this school responds equally to site, program and context. The concept interweaves a series of internal and external spaces in response to program requirements connected by a linear spine. Spaces interlock to make one block which provides a strong edge and presence to the busy street to the north, while the south facade presents a softer face with a verandah opening outwards to a sunken playground/garden on the south of the building in deference to the adjacent residential terraces. Salvaged brick and stone create the perimeter shell while wood cladding and detailing defines the more interior facing spaces.
Firm: O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects
Link: Archeire - O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects win RIAI Gold
Article: RIBA Journal, December 1998, Volume 105, No 12 - Lesson Plan
See it: Google Maps Ranelagh Road at Mountpleasant Road & Old Mountpleasant
Reference: Seeing Éire [prologue] (L+L)
Reference: Seeing Éire [I] - Ailtireacht na Baile Átha Cliath (L+L)
Reference: RIAI Awards 2005 (L+L)
...make 'em be landscape architects and librarians and such
An article by Marty Nemko in U.S.News & World Report lays out a list of the "most–and least–rewarding careers" for 2006 in four categories: excellent, good, fair and poor. Architecture lands in the "fair" category, while landscape architecture is placed as an "excellent" career choice.
Architecture:
Many outsiders think this is a terrific, artistic career, but they don't realize how long it takes before an architect gets to design a building.
Landscape Architecture:
Because most landscape architecture projects don't have as many components as the design for a building, young landscape architects may get to design entire projects. Also, the training is shorter.
Read. Digest. Vent.
Article: U.S.News & World Report - Most–and least–rewarding careers
A free book that shows how to attain Platinum LEED on a conventional budget
Portland based Interface Engineering has published an illustrated guide demonstrating how to achieve Platinum-LEED on conventional building budget in a FREE 48-page book which uses their current project for Oregon Health and Science University as a case study.
Busting a key economic myth, Interface Engineering of Portland, Oregon (has) engineered a top-level green building on a conventional budget, opening the way for other large scale projects to achieve high performance at standard cost. The firm also released an illustrated guide sharing the secrets and principles behind the project, formally known as The Center for Health and Healing at the River Campus of Oregon Health & Science University.
Link: Green Building Breakthrough
Via: Groovy Green - Green Building: Delivering Champagne on a Beer Budget
Center for Health and Healing project team:
Architect: GBD Architects
Engineer: Interface Engineering
Draw attention to America's irreplaceable and diverse garden and horticultural heritage
Historic buildings are not the only treasures on our nation's cultural endangered species list -- America 's landscape legacy of gardens is also at risk. In an effort to raise awareness for these nationally significant resources, the Washington, D.C.-based Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) along with Garden Design magazine, have issued a Call for Nominations - Landslide 2006: Spotlight on the Garden.
Nominate a great American landscape. Deadline for nominations is January 31, 2006.
Link: The Cultural Landscape Foundation - Landslide 2006
Via: Archinect
Ozark chapel honored with AIA 2006 Twenty-five Year Award
It is one thing to celebrate a new building, but it is another to look back and recognize an outstanding design that has stood the test of time. We have an award winner looking back 5 years to show you from Ireland as well, but here is a building in the US which has been awarded a 25 year award. And I am sure that the Throncrown Chapel will continue to be celebrated for some time to come.
There are not many iconic modern religious structures which come immediately to mind. Thorncrown and Lloyd Wright's Wayfarers Chapel are certainly two of the most significant modern religious buildings in the US that come to my mind. Interestingly both of the Wrightian Organic Architecture school of thought.
Architect E. Fay Jones’s unique appreciation of the site and environment are what make the Crownthorn Chapel so special. Beyond the striking structural concept it is the way that Mr. Jones made use of the tracery of the trees, the dappled light through the foliage and branches, the rooted connection to the earth and the soaring slot of sky above which make this building truly remarkable.
Link: Thorncrown Chapel
Link: AIA - Thorncrown Chapel Selected to Receive AIA 2006 Twenty-five Year Award
Architecture of Dublin
Getting back to Ireland as promised, let's take a look at some modern Irish architecture in Dublin. Although Adriean did not tag along with my wife and I on our trip... at least not that I know of... he was feeling the Irish architecture vibe as well with his post highlighting some of this year's RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) award winners.
Following is more of what I have seen in Dublin... I will sprinkle some comments in with the photos. For those who want to dig deeper, check out The Reflecting City. This site is part of a current mixed media exhibition detailing the urban transformation in Dublin over the past decade. The site allows you to delve into the history, present and future of city via an interactive zoned map. The site focuses on nine districts and provides related images, interviews, virtual tours and abundant information related to the community, planning and projects.
Link: The Reflecting City: The Reconstruction of Dublin
Reference: Seeing Éire [prologue] (L+L)
Reference: Seeing Éire [II] - Temple Bar (L+L)
Reference: RIAI Awards 2005 (L+L)
Help develop a guide for safer rural buildings
It's competition day at L+L... this one by Architecture for Humanity.
In an effort to improve the long term shelter needs of those displaced by the Kashmir earthquake, the competition seeks to assemble a manual for distributing knowledge of earthquake resistant housing construction to make sure that homes are rebuilt safely and potentially save lives in the future.
It is free to enter and teams have until January 20th 2006 to put together schemes that utilize local materials and technology.
Link: Architecture for Humanity - Design[ER]
Via: Archinect
Design a cart that can provide shelter and storage.
For 2006 designboom started a non-profit-project : an international design competition under the title 'shelter in a cart'. The call for entries is now open. Participation is free. Deadline for entry submission is March 10, 2006.
The brief:
Urban homeless use carts to carry their possessions and to collect goods (like bottles, cardboard, etc.) that they then return to various recyclers in exchange for cash. this provides a small and valuable income. It is essential that your cart design not only accommodates all these functions but that it is affordable
(for production and for private parties or charity organisations
who wish to donate them).
Link: Designboom - Shelter in a Cart
