May 29, 2009 | Broadcast | News
China Razes Ancient City to Save it
Preservationists say the demolition of the Old City section of Kashgar, top, is a blow to China’s Islamic and Uighur culture. But work has already begun, center, to raze about 85 percent of the area.
Saying it fears earthquake damage, the Chinese government has moved 900 families from Kashgar’s picturesque Old City, 85% of which will be demolished and rebuilt…“the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in central Asia”…officials have offered somewhat befuddling explanations for their plans.
Image by Shiho Fukada for The New York Times
See Audio Slideshow & Images, via The New York Times
May 29, 2009 | Broadcast | Competitions
Building Re-Skinning Competition
Addressing an Urgent Global Need
We know how to build new buildings with a low carbon footprint, but little attention has been paid to the thousands of existing structures worldwide that are extremely inefficient and have a massive carbon impact. In North America alone they account for 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The goal of the Zerofootprint Building Re-Skinning Competition is to advance the state-of-the-art in retrofitting such built spaces through better design and improved materials and technology, thus creating retrofitting systems that can be scaled to a large number of buildings and deployed globally.
For more information about the Competition details click here
To download Ron Dembo’s Presentation at the Discovery ‘09 Launch click here
May 29, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Sleepovers open architects’ eyes on Nursing Home Design
And why shouldn’t architects start sleeping over before beginning any design project?
The 58-year-old Dallas architect David Dillard of senior living communities lived the life of a nursing home resident for 24 hours.
“It gives you a new respect for the residents,” he said. “Living with them deepens your passion for your work, and it opens your eyes to some practical ways to improve a building’s design.”
Dillard believes so fervently in the value of such nursing home stays that he’s required all senior living architects at his firm, CSD Architects, to pack their overnight bags and join him on the Sleepover Project this year.
This may be a first in the architectural profession, said Ingrid Fraley, head of the American Institute of Architects’ Design for Aging advisory group.
May 22, 2009 | Broadcast | News | Showcase
“People say it’s the end of the icon project,” she says. “Psssht.”
In a sobering interview with the only female architect to have won the Pritzker Prize, Tom Dyckhoff reveals what seems to be the personality and history of the architectural iconoclast whose name precedes even herself:
Nothing withers like a withering look from Hadid. Her eyes are ablaze. “I think it’s too simplistic to say there’ll be no more exuberance in architecture. Just look back. Norman Foster’s Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank — when was that commissioned? During a recession. The Pompidou Centre? In a recession. Lloyd’s? It’s too simplistic to say we’re all afraid, we can’t do icons, we have to restrain. What does that mean exactly?”
via The Times Online
May 20, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi by Asymptote Architecture Nears Completion
Hani Rashid describes the building’s design and its architecture as: “a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle. The search here was inspired by what one could call the ‘art’ and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled with the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological tour de force.”
via Bustler.net
Looking at images like the one above, and ones like this, one can’t help but draw similarities between the Yas Hotel’s twin ‘Grid-shells’ and a certain Theatres on the Bay venue, sitting somewhat in the middle of another Formula 1 city circuit.
May 20, 2009 | Event | Reports
CUBE 2009 with URA
This is a report cross posted from the Design My Place blog by Re:Act.
CUBE or Challenge for the Urban and Built Environment was a competition that re:ACT organised for the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) under its Architecture and Urban Design Excellence programme (A.UDE) as part of its 35th anniversary celebrations. We based the event on our usual DMP workshop framework but threw in a healthy dose of competition to spice things up a bit and to spur the different schools to come up with innovative ideas for the Chinatown area. The result was, we had one of the most creative and stimulating workshops ever with students trying to outdo each other, what with their dramatic presentations and out-of-the-box ideas!
Mr Khoo Peng Beng, priciple architect of ARC Studio and also a great friend of re:ACT was brilliant as usual in his role as Chief Facilitator. Leading a panel of architects and urban planners, he pushed, prodded, shaped and expanded the minds of the young padawans from different schools to come up with 10 awesome strategies to improve the built environment around Chinatown.
In the end, there could only be one winner. Hwa Chong Institution impressed the jury panel the most and walked away with the 1st Prize of $2,000 cash. This was presented to them and the rest of the winners (Temasek Polytechnic - 1st Runner-Up and Serangoon Junior College - 2nd Runner-Up) at the 2008 URA Corporate Plan Seminar on 17 April 09. More photos after the link.
Media Coverage:
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090511-140723.html
http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/04/ura-to-spread-wings.html
More images at the blog.
Also check out our related posts on the event.
May 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Nano Home: Tata looking to sell $7,800 apartments
Plan of 283 sqft apartment, Image Courtesy Shubh Griha
Tata, the Indian company that made worldwide headlines with its $2,000 Nano car, now plans to build 1,000 tiny apartments outside Mumbai that will sell for $7,800 to $13,400 each. The company plans to roll out low-cost projects outside other major cities.
via BusinessWeek
May 17, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Self Healing Concrete
A slab of self-healing concrete bends under 5 percent tensile strain, the force needed to stretch a material by 5 percent of its initial size. While ordinary concrete would crumble under such pressure, the new material forms micro-cracks that can then auto-seal after being exposed to water and carbon dioxide, researchers said in March 2009. Photograph courtesy Nicole Casal Moore/University of Michigan
While traditional concrete is brittle and is easily fractured during an earthquake or by overuse, a new concrete composite can bend into a U-shape without breaking. When strained, the material forms hairline cracks, which auto-seal after a few days of light rain, says study co-author Victor Li of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. For the past 15 years Li, along with colleagues such as study leader and visiting scholar Yingzi Yang, has been developing next-generation concrete for various applications.
Dry material exposed by the cracks reacts with rainwater and carbon dioxide in the air to form “scars” of calcium carbonate, a strong compound found naturally in seashells. The flexible material is just as strong after it heals, the study authors report.
via NatGeo
May 16, 2009 | Broadcast | Events | News
Corner, Hargreaves, and Van Valkenburgh at the Forum for Urban Design in New York
James Corner, ASLA, George Hargreaves, FASLA, and Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASLA, all leading landscape architects, spoke at a panel organized by the Forum for Urban Design. Held at the Museum of Modern Art’s education center in New York City, the session focused on the 21st century park. Despite concerns that park space will increasingly be viewed as an “extra frill” and be supplanted by ”a virtual cyberworld” as part of a “retreat from public life,” parks are viewed as making a comeback. Some questions that framed the discussion include: Why do new parks have a different tactile feeling? Are new parks as adaptable as parks created in the 20th century? How is the relationship between city and park changing? How do parks relate to democracy? What role will citizens have in the 21st century park? Also, what about park networks in city regions, the next scale up?
via The Dirt
May 16, 2009 | Broadcast | Events | Exhibitions
Emergency architecture designs on display at China’s National Art Museum
An exhibition marking the May 12th Wenchuan earthquake has opened at the National Art Museum of China. Entitled “Crossing: Dialogues for Emergency Architecture” the exhibition showcases 16 ingenuous designs, aimed at raising awareness over the prevention and relief of natural disasters and epidemics.
Over twenty architects from around the world brought their designs to the National Art Museum of China for the opening on Tuesday afternoon, one year after the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Province last May.
via CCTV.com
May 16, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Seoul to get Libeskind master plan
Associated Press
SEOUL — American architect Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site, won a design competition to turn the center of the South Korean capital into an international business district.
Mr. Libeskind’s firm announced Tuesday in New York that it had been chosen as master planner for the $20 billion project, which will include a cluster of skyscrapers in residential, office and retail neighborhoods along the Han River. It also will contain cultural and educational facilities and rapid transportation systems.
May 13, 2009 | Broadcast | Competitions
WorldArchitectureNews Awards 09: Civic Sector Buildings
REGISTER BY: 30 JUNE 2009
CELEBRATING ARCHITECTURE SUSTAINABLY
Competitions and awards have always been an intrinsic element of winning new work for architects, but now, under the present economic cloud, it has become ever more important. The value of an award is determined not only by the quality of the jury panel but also by the number and calibre of participants.
Using our exclusive WAN database and contacts around the world, we are able to pull together an unprecedented fusion of high quality architecture and internationally acclaimed judges drawn from both top architectural practices and experts from each sector.
WAN has driven architectural news into the 21st century and now with these awards, we are seeking to break the traditional mould of an annual award with a lavish dinner at the end. Whilst this format can work well at a national level, it is unpractical and unsustainable on a global scale. Taking a fresh approach, the WAN Awards are run on bi-monthly rolling programme by sector culminating in an EXPO early in the next year hosted in a capital city, this will move around the world year by year. A summit is held at the EXPO city where a selection of prominent judges discuss the entries in the backdrop of the local architecture. The video is broadcast around the world through the WAN network providing the highest exposure for the participants with the smallest carbon footprint.
May 13, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Hadid Opera House Burns: internationally flammable architecture
The project, designed by Zaha Hadid with a web-like exoskeleton, includes an 1,800-seat theater as well as a multipurpose hall and support facilities. The building was set to open this fall.
May 13, 2009 | Broadcast | Features | News | Opinions
Op-Ed: Disciplinary Transgressions: looking beyond architecture
“The field of architecture is poised to undergo dramatic changes…changes need to begin “at home” with our own cultural institutions—namely architecture schools…The value of design has increased in all aspects of society, at the same time that the pertinence of architecture has decreased. By remaining hermetic and, dare I say, self-absorbed, we run the risk of relegating to other fields the cultural power of design as an agent for social change. “ By Monica Ponce de Leon for The Architect’s Newspaper
The specific concerns that Ponce de Leon has cited (herself dean at the University of Michigan’s A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Planning) are perhaps pertinent to schools in the United States, but more so also applicable to architecture schools elsewhere in the world which are entrusted with educating new architects… continue >>>
May 11, 2009 | Broadcast | News
1 Day WORKSHOP: 3D MODELLING
This workshop is specially for architecture and interior design
students to produce professional design presentation. Master the
fundamentals of 3D modelling using Google SketchUp and other
applications in just 4 hours including:
-Components and other techniques to greatly reduce file size.
-Photoshop techniques for fast realistic perspectives.
-Photoshop materials and components library.
-Introduction to Vue 7.5 rendering.
Experienced certified trainers.
Small class sizes for individual focus.
Relevant to today’s industry.
Call us at 9852 0325 to register now. Seats are limited.
May 11, 2009 | Broadcast | Showcase
More of Tyersall House / Istana Woodneuk
Images contributed by Mohd Khalid Aijaz Khan.
More of his works at http://www.flickr.com/photos/khalidonmove/2080474448/in/set-72157603356027439/
May 11, 2009 | Broadcast | Exhibitions
Urban Playground
For about 4 weeks at Sculpture Square, the Artists Caravan group had the opportunity to observe, interact and engage with the environment and public in Bugis.
Uraban Playground forms a culmination of these exploratory activities, and through their diverse work methodologies and approach to content specific to the area, they present their own perspectives of this urban landscape.
Sculpture Square. 155 Middle Road, S188977
May 1st to May 24th.
Admission is free.
