UO: A Caution on Hong Kong Envy

Hong Kong. Photo by Flickr user Thomas Birke.

Despite the impulse to marvel at Hong Kong’s sophisticated planning for and investment in infrastructure and urban density, might people there welcome some New York-style urbanism? Norman Oder, author of the watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report, recaps two conferences that suggest that New York’s mechanisms for community input on development projects, imperfect as they are, may themselves be worthy of a little envy from concerned citizens facing top-down urban planning regimes. -C.S.

via Urban Omnibus

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , | View Comments

a place in the shade

Architecture is an agent of change, which is why a leader like Mahatma Gandhi is called the architect of the nation, writes Charles Correa in ‘A Place in the Shade: The new landscape & other essays’ (www.landmarkonthenet.com). “Neither the engineer, nor the dentist, nor the historian. But the architect, i.e., the generalist who speculates on how the pieces could fit together in more advantageous ways. One who is concerned with what might be.” And to do this, in the context of the Third World, we must have the courage to face very disturbing issues, he adds.

The author invites architects to offer their ideas and energy to the society and resurrect the ‘shared aesthetic’ that once existed. Tracing the historic precedent to such sharing, he informs that for throughout most of Asia, the architect’s prototype in the past was the mimar or mistri, i.e., an experienced mason/ carpenter who helped with the design and construction of the habitat; even today in the small towns and villages of India, the practice continues.

“Owner and mistri go together to the site, and with a stick scratch out on the earth the outline of the building they wish to construct. There is some argument back and forth about the relative advantages of various window positions, stairways and so forth. But the system works because both builder and user share the same aesthetic – they are both on the same side of the table.” It was exactly this kind of equation that produced the great architecture of the past, from Chartres to the Alhambra to Fatehpur Sikri, reminds Correa.

Imperative read on a contemplative afternoon.

via The Hindu

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , | View Comments

Advertisements for architecture

.
What would an advertisement for architecture look like?

OpenHAUS Architecture and DARCH invites design/architecture professionals and students to create an ‘Advertisement for Architecture’. The most outstanding of these entries will be exhibited at the award winning Surry Hills Library and Community Centre, Sydney, Australia from 20 October until 07 November 2010.

Entry + Registration Deadline: 20 September 2010
For more information visit http://openhaus.org/exhibitions/aa2010/
View entries from last year’s edition here

Posted in Broadcast, Competitions | View Comments

The most exciting street on Street View

Most of us have used Google’s Street View on Google Maps before- the feature that allows us to virtually navigate the streets of the world via our computer screens. To make this happen, Google sends off cameras fixed onto roving vehicles to document each street around the world and then digitally piece these images together to re-construct the built environment.

What if, the view of the street life that Google captures were constructed as an artwork? This is what the “Street with a view” project attempted to do. Through assembling a cast of characters, a pseudo-street life was created on Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh and has since been immortalized in the Google servers. Watch the video and head on over to the project’s website and be amazed at ‘the most exciting street in the world’.

via GOOD

Posted in Broadcast, News | View Comments

West Kowloon Cultural District- Masterplans

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority has unveiled three Conceptual Plan Options for the West Kowloon Cultural District (“WKCD”).The three Conceptual Plans revealed were:

  1. Project for a New Dimension – prepared by Office for Metropolitan Architecture, led by Mr Rem Koolhaas.
  2. City Park – prepared by Foster + Partners, led by Lord Norman Foster.
  3. Cultural Connect: Key to Sustained Vitality – prepared by Rocco Design Architects Limited, led by Mr Rocco Yim.

OMA

OMA’s proposal revolves around the concept of creating 3 villages, connected by public spaces, all of which with a strong emphasis on creating vibrant street life and cultural production through which activating the cultural district. The connections with its immediate surrounding is also critical in the proposal with the ambition that this will encourage a vibrant neighborhood.

Foster + Partners


A massive waterfront city park anchors the project, becoming a venue for outdoor performances and  activities while offering views of the harbour and Hong Kong Island. A series of outdoor terraces and promenades will also link the cultural buildings to the waterfront. On top of that, what’s most encouraging of this proposal is the sinking of vehicular routes underground thus restoring the ground plane to bicycles and pedestrians and also its carbon-neutral ambitions.

ROCCO

With a distinct 3-band urban grid comprising of the Green Terrain, the Cultural core and the City link. Focusing on connections, both physical and visual, the masterplan’s strength lies in its ambition to create multiple activity nodes along the area not only at various key buildings but also the in-between spaces that results.

See all three proposals via the WKCDA website
More at Dezeen

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged | View Comments

Studio Mumbai builds some Mumbai in London’s V&A

A Mumbai architectural firm impresses a global audience with its poetic interpretation of how an Indian family of eight can live in harmony in a mere corridor of space

Read more: Studio Mumbai exhibition in London’s V&A | CNNGo.comhttp://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/play/studio-mumbai-architects-821151#ixzz0x3BeEX60

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , | View Comments

it’s a …bus?

The Straddling Bus

China is home to more people than any other country on Earth, and they’re moving into megacities at a rate that’s simply unprecedented. Managing a transport plan for such a colossal number of people presents a traffic congestion and pollution quandary the likes of which we’ve simply never seen before. The Straddling Bus is an amazing public transport solution that drives over the top of the cars on a slightly modified road, able to stop without interrupting the traffic flow and to glide over the top of congestion. This go-go-gadget bus is far quicker and 90 percent cheaper to build than a new subway route, it’s solar/grid electric powered and it’s no pipe dream – construction starts at the end of this year.

via Gizmag

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , | View Comments

hk, eat your heart out

Hong Kong has always looked down on Guangzhou as its poor mainland cousin. But while the affluent former British colony has stalled for years over plans for a massive cultural district, Guangzhou has gone ahead and built one. Funny that a Hong Kong architect, and a pretty famous British one, are responsible some of the spanking new venues.

more via The New York Times

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , , | View Comments

China’s real estate bubble: bursting?

Bubbles do just that: burst. An apt adjective for China’s building explosion? No pun intended. With the price of copper, aluminium and steel growing steadily while property prices begin to tip over, many wonder if too much has come too soon, even for a country that is 1.3 billion people. And they have good reason to, seeing how the collapse of the Chinese economy could have devastating effects on the world economy. Der Spiegel‘s Wieland Wagner compares today’s Chinese boom to Japan’s building bubble of the 80′s; putting the Japanese in a rut that has lasted in some ways to this day. Others, like the larger-than-life, husband and wife team of Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi of SOHO fame, remain optimistic that the buying of property will continue to sponsor further construction; amidst fears that rising prices could be too expensive for the millions of migrants making the move from rural areas into bigger Chinese cities. But the buildings will continue to rise, with Zhang claiming that the market, which she follows with both ears to the ground, will have the final say.

Der Spiegel OnlineChina’s Real Estate Bubble Threatens to Burst

Bloomberg -Beijing Billionaire Who Grew Up With Mao Sees No Housing Bubble

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , , | View Comments

eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition

eVolo is pleased to invite students, architects, engineers, and designers from around the globe to take part in the 2011 Skyscraper Competition.

The annual eVolo Skyscraper Competition is a forum for the discussion, development, and promotion of innovative concepts for vertical density. It examines the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and the city.

The exponential increase of the world’s population and its unprecedented shift from rural to urban areas has prompted hundreds of new developments without adequate urban planning and poor architectural design. The aim of this competition is to redefine what we understand as a skyscraper and initiate a new architectural discourse of economic, environmental, intellectual, and perceptual responsibility that could ultimately modify our cities and improve our way of life.

The use of new materials, technologies, aesthetics, and novel spatial organizations, along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution are some of the multi-layered elements that the participants should take into consideration. This is also an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of a dynamic and adaptive vertical community.

There are no restrictions in regards to site, program or size. The objective is to provide maximum freedom to the participants to engage the project without constraints in the most creative way. What is a skyscraper in the 21st century? What are the historical, contextual, social, urban, and environmental responsibilities of these mega-structures?

www.evolo.us

Details after the jump: Continue reading

Posted in Broadcast, Competitions | Tagged , , | View Comments

a nullah plan

Instead of being paved over, drains can be put to better use.

Ever thought of Delhi as a criss-crossed mesh of waterways, with boats plying and walkways, cycling paths and parks on either side? That is the dream that 70 architects have presented to Delhi’s rulers. They are waiting to make the dream a reality, and have a blueprint for how Indian cities can put their canals and drains to use rather than cementing them over.

More at The Business Standard

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , | View Comments

Iran seeks more urbane image with sleek new London embassy

Design for the new embassy of Iran

Tehran looks to escape association with SAS and 1980 siege by building contemporary structure with emphasis on culture

What’s in a building? The intrinsic ability of architecture to reflect its civilizing sponsors has been acknowledged by architects and their critics alike. We saw this most recently with China’s efforts to boost its public image with events like the Beijing Olympics and the more recent Shanghai World Expo; which saw the commissioning of new public buildings that directed every inch of their efforts towards remaking national reputation. In London, the Iranian government has kickstarted a renewed effort to escape its tainted seige history with a new £100m building by Dr Armin Hohsen Daneshgar. Featuring “a dramatic cantilevered arch, acutely-angled walls and irregularly punched-out windows,” its architect believes the building, sited in a sensitive area of historic buildings, will embody “Iran’s public image in London”. Others, like local residents and neighbouring homeowners, have decried the scheme as “like a spaceship”, “an eyesore out of keeping with the rest of the area”, “catastrophic” and “hideous”. Paul Finch, chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the government’s design watchdog, praised what he had seen of Iran’s design. “The building seems to be a statement that they are a contemporary culture rather than utterly traditionalist and its rather surprising and refreshing in that sense,” he said. Well then, what’s a critic’s word worth when compared to public opinion?

Read more at The Guardian

[Image Courtesy Dr. Armin Hohsen Daneshgar]

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged | View Comments

5 types of stories in Architecture press

Architecture news is predictable. After having lived within the architecture news stream for a few years, I’ve observed that most articles in any architecture news website or magazine will pretty much follow a few very familiar story arcs. Not that there’s anything wrong with the types of news but just to shake things up a bit, maybe there could be one or two new angles to cover the world of architecture?

For those who don’t live in the architecture-producing world, do indulge me in a moment of thinking aloud. As to those who are in that whole built-environment-making business, I hope you will share with me your thoughts by the end of the post.

May I present the 5 most common types of news distilled using a very un-scientific research process. Health warning: Some of the materials below might be considered blasphemous against the sacred art of architecture.

1.The death of a (somewhat) famous architect.

Architect dies. Works get glorified. Past colleagues and students reminicise. Posthumous monograph appears.
The annoying skeptic says: “Oh. Ok, your time’s up dude. Thanks for the good times but really, I’ve never been to any of your buildings. Whatever. ”

Alternative angle: “Oh we are so glad that bugger died. No more ****y buildings.”

2.The shiny new building news.

Architect finish project. Architect sends super Photoshopped photos of buildings void of humans. Same photos gets published in 50 magazines. Other architects criticize/ignore. Fanboys gush.

The annoying skeptic says: “Oohh..New! Sexy! Next please. Oh wait, did you just photoshop away that power socket? And isn’t it very uncomfortable to be in that room? And isn’t that very similar to that other building that you did? ”

Alternative angle: Invite people to your new building, get them to take photos and videos (using handphone cameras, point & shoot and DSLRs), tell them to give a honest review of the building on their blogs, twitter, etc. , consolidate these user feedback and tell the story of that new building.

3. Look, another architecture award!

Featuring loads of submissions with flashy,voluptous, sexy renderings that are usually one-liner design, these award showcases are increasingly becoming a beauty pageant show. And the winner is the one who will strive for world peace (or in architecture equivalent, “sustainability”) while being sexy at the same time. These awards are usually judged by “star” architects who have already won many other similar awards.

The annoying skeptic says: “Congratulations! I see you’ve mastered photoshop and that rendering/modelling software! How does it feel to have some external validation?”

Alternative angle: Unfortunately, such ego-masturbation recognition within the industry seems to drive most architects and the media.

4. Interview or feature article with the flavor-of-the-month “designer”.

Every now and then, there will be an architect that will be talked about by students and professionals alike. Like a movie star who has a new movie opening soon who will then be seen on 20 different magazine covers, a similar phenomenon can be seen in the architecture industry. This is usually related to “The shiny new building news” or the “Look, another Architecture Award” kind of news. Usually in the form of a lengthy interview or a feature article tracing back to his first works and his eventual ‘maturity’, these articles serves to justify the spotlight that is being given to the architect.

The annoying skeptic says: “Not you again!”

Alternative angle: Interview that poor architectural assistant who had to slog through 18 hour workdays making changes to the drawings that his boss unrealistically promised the clients tomorrow. OR that architect who does ridiculously boring buildings because he has completely lost his design soul.

5. The ‘critical’ piece

Written by esteemed academics, PhD and Masters degree students and other practitioners with ‘authority’, these pieces dissect architecture through the use of words. Using their linguistic prowess and superhuman ability to cite references to other books that they have probably read again and again, these pieces of writing explore the academic depth of each building, each policy, each design technique and, everything related to it.

The annoying skeptic says: “So what’s your point again? In simple English?”

Alternative angle: An amateur’s point of view to architecture. Told and spoken like the way normal(-ish) people do?

Is that really the best we can do?

This post first appeared on misterdibster.com on January 13 2010

Posted in Features, Magazine, Opinions | View Comments

1000 Singapores

Singapore recently unveiled its presentation for the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia. Titled 1000 Singapores – A Model of the Compact City, the pavilion responds to this year’s theme of People meet in Architecture by presenting to the visitors a cross section (literally) of this compactly planned, high-density tropical island.

With one 35m-long model and a thousand images, the exhibition will tease apart the many melodic strands of this intricate planning fugue to show how it all comes together as one complex system.

Through vignettes of Singapore’s landscape including its high-density housing estates, multi-storey parking solutions, industrial parks, recreational facilities, water collection systems, educational facilities and also road & rail transport systems among others, a picture of a meticulously planned, efficient and integrated system, all designed to fit within 710sq km of land is presented to the world. With this ‘slice’ of Singapore, the visitor is invited to consider the possibility that Singapore’s urban city planning might ‘offer a powerful model for the compact city of the future’.

The pavilion is curated by Mr Khoo Peng Beng and Ms Belinda Huang , both of ARC Studio- designers of The Pinnacle, together with Mr Erik G. L’Heureux and Mr Florian Schaetz, both Assistant Professors at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore.

There will be more about this in the near future but meanwhile do visit the official website and perhaps you can tell us what you think.

Official Website: www.1000singapores.com

Others: Straits Times report

Posted in Broadcast, Exhibitions | View Comments

MY HAPPY CITY-A mini series: CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

Singapore’s annual architecture festival, Archifest , organized by the Singapore Institute of Architects, is set to return in October 2010 with the theme ‘Happy Cities’. This year, the festival organisers are looking to create a 3-episode mini-series, each approximately 3-minutes long that will provide an introduction to the key ideas explored in the festival. To be produced and directed by FIVEFOOTWAY and COMMONPEOPLE, the video will premiere at the opening ceremony of Archifest 2010 before being screened at the month-long Archifest exhibition at Singapore’s National Library and also at the Archifest 2010 Forum. The video will also be made available online as part of the festival’s publicity efforts.

The directors are looking for enthusiastic and talented students to assist in producing, shooting and editing the mini-series. This will be a wonderful opportunity for students to get hands-on experience in creating a production that will be one of the key elements in a national-scale event. The experience from this project will be valuable for the portfolio as students will get to be involved in the production from conceptualization to its screening. All students involved in the project will be duly credited for its production.

Interested students are to submit a portfolio with relevant links of past works to hello@fivefootway.com before 22nd August 2010. Only successful applicants will be notified.

More details will be released to successful applicants on 30th August 2010.

Contact: Adib Jalal | hello@fivefootway.com

Posted in Broadcast, News | View Comments

So is there really a problem with architecture shows?

Some days ago, an article by Jia-Jun titled The problem with student shows was posted on this website and unsurprisingly, it elicited strong reactions from the ground especially those who were closely associated with the NUS exhibitions that were mentioned in the article. The reason these reactions were not expressed in the comments section will elude me but suffice to say, people were definitely talking about it in their private conversations.

One such response arrived in a Facebook message which I will reproduce here with kind permission from the author (name removed):

I just read one of your article on student shows, can you enlighten me on the intentions of the article, it seemed to have slammed us big time in a negative way.

Hope to get your reply on this soon. thank you.

Those sentences suggested that the original article needed to be elaborated to which my reply was as follows:

Let me begin by saying that the article’s intention was never to ‘slam’ you for the sake of putting all of you down. We (Myself and JJ), being products of the NUS system itself, are truly encouraged at the fact that the thesis exhibition can stand on its own feet. Having attempted it ourselves, I personally know the amount of effort it takes to pull everything together and no one can take that away from you. Of course it would be safe to simply give everyone a pat on the back for effort and gush about how wonderful it is but being safe is easy. To progress, we need to do the difficult thing which is to take a step back and be critical about what we see. And that is what the piece of writing did.

As you would have noticed, the article questions the very nature of all architecture exhibitions. It is questioning the year-end-exhibition format, its intentions and ultimately its audience. I don’t think this is something unique only to Singapore but rather one that is very deeply rooted in the fraternity across various architecture schools around the world. In fact, it was the AJ article that triggered alot of thought in us about this. Also, the fact that myself and my peers were there to see the exhibition that you put together and also the City Exhibition gave us a context to relate to and a basis for us to craft our case.

The article is saying that perhaps it is time for us to re-look at the means in which we present architecture to the public. With such a prime location and a wonderful opportunity to tell the world about architecture, what should architects and architecture students show? Do we need to show everything? Do any of these intricate building sections matter to the masses? Are these mapping diagrams understood by anyone other than architects? How accessible are these highly imaginative concepts to those who have no introduction to the subject matter? This is what we mean by “overzealousness” in the article.

Having said that, I also understand that it is not easy to edit out a work that is loaded with intellect. After all, how does one present a year (or five years depending on how you see it) of hard work to the public? How can one present a project crafted with much academic rigor to the masses?

Of course all of this assumes that the audience that the exhibition is trying to reach is ‘the public’ and so often we hear that the audience is “both the public and the professionals” but lets not kid ourselves, both of them are looking at completely different things and hence the material that we show should be catered to the relevant audience.

In summary, the whole point of the article was about questioning the status quo and I don’t have a definite answer to this. But I think the answer would lie somewhere within the realm of tighter curation of content. Perhaps a ruthless act of editing and paring down materials to the absolute essence. Or perhaps controlling the graphic and art direction of every display panel so that everything can be presented in a coherent manner. Or perhaps a more imaginative format (who said architecture must be on panels and models?). I think it is about a very careful selection of what we decide to put in and also what we choose to leave out.

I hope that my response gives you a better idea of where we are coming from. I am glad that this has evoked a response from you. In fact, I am even wondering if this conversation and discussion should be brought to a larger audience so that we can hear it all openly in the name of critical discussion.

Looking forward to hear from you again.

Yours in thought,
Adib

The reply was received in good spirit and both of us, the author of the original mail and the two of us at FIVEFOOTWAY, believe that this conversation should be shared with the larger community. So, may I invite you to leave your reactions in the comments section of this post. We would love to hear all the reactions and perhaps share what you think the future of architecture shows could be!

Posted in Features, Magazine, Opinions | Tagged , | View Comments

That signature is about to be valid in other countries

In her speech at the official launch of the 20 under 45 exhibition at the URA Centre yesterday, Senior Minister of State, Grace Fu announced an initiative that will allow Singapore-registered architects to be legally recognized across Asean and APEC.

Singapore architects will soon find it easier to practise in the region and in the world. Currently, those working on overseas projects cannot sign-off and submit building plans to the authorities. But an agreement – known as the Trilateral Agreement on Reciprocal Recognition of Registered Architects in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand – to be signed in October will allow them to do so.

In a design world where national boundaries matter little as evidenced by the number of overseas projects that most Singapore-based designers work on, this reduction in red tape is bound to have some positive impact on the mobility of the professionals. But make no mistakes because having a local partner who is steeped in local knowledge, customs and business practices of its own country will still be critical in the realisation of any project.

via CNA

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , , | View Comments

20 under 45


Singapore- 20 under 45: The next generation is a selection of 20 Singapore-registered architects under the age of 45 as selected by a panel of professionals and academics assembled together by the organisers of the award, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore. Touted as the “the ‘crème de la crème’ of Singapore’s design community” the organisers hopes “to raise the profile of locally-registered architectural talents and provide wider public and industry exposure for them.” With a line-up that included Mr Ong Tze Boon of Ong & Ong who won the 2009 FIABCI Prix d’Excellence for the Residential category and WOHA’s Richard Hassell who received the 2009 Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence in the Asia-Pacific region, it is hoped that these talents would “become sources of inspiration for the younger generation”.

More info at the official website here.

Posted in Broadcast, News | Tagged , , | View Comments