February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
China Pavilion completes ahead of Shanghai’s World Expo 2010
Construction of 2010 World Expo’s China Pavilion completed yesterday after two years’ work.
The pavilion, in the shape of an oriental crown, is designed as the literal crowning glory of the Shanghai Expo which begins in May. Coloured in Forbidden City Red, the structure represents the taste and spirit of Chinese culture. 200 videos by students will be shown on 15 screens within the pavilion throughout the 5 month Expo following an open submittal programme where over 1,000 entries were received.
2010 is the first year that China has hosted the World Expo, compared to 8 times each for France and Germany, and 5 for Japan.
February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Nepal – Architect on a mission to save Kathmandu’s soul
Nepal’s ancient capital Kathmandu is famed around the world for its intricately carved medieval temples and ancient royal palaces. But as the once-sleepy city hurtles into the 21st century, the distinctive architecture that visitors once flocked to see is rapidly being replaced by the high-rise concrete structures favoured by modern residents. It is a trend the Nepalese architect Rabindra Puri bitterly opposes — and he is on a one-man mission to prevent the disappearance of what he calls the “soul” of Kathmandu and its surroundings.
Puri, a former sculptor, was struck by the city’s transformation when he returned from a two-year study trip in Europe in 1995. With support from local people, he hopes to restore and modernise around 700 buildings in Panauti. ”Panauti’s cultural heritage has been preserved intact and it is still possible to save it from being ruined (by modern construction),” said Puri.
“In many cities, people are paid to wear traditional dress and play traditional music. But in places like Panauti, it’s a way of life.”\
via AFP
February 19, 2010 | Articles | Magazine
Eastern promise?
“When it comes to interiors, Eastern design principles are more relevant than ever”
According to Denman, Shashi Caan- president of the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers (IFI) – has called for a closer inspection of ‘Eastern’ design principles, citing that interior design has long been largely Euro-centric. While this might sound pleasing to some, further reading into Selina Denman’s article for ContructionWeekOnline.com had me doing a double take. From what initially appears as a call for a greater understanding of so-called ‘eastern’ principles, Caan’s – along with some other voices’ – effort here seems to be a hopeful construction of a faux-pas that can only help to confuse the innocent layman.
While it might be true that the recent focus on sustainability and “sustainable design” has led many – and not just ‘the West’ to consider the broader impacts of design, the IFI president’s particular focus on Japanese principles – Makoto, Heisei, Wa, Shizen, Kanji – to name a few, seems to resonate more like a cluster of marketing bells trying to usher in a new fad than a call for universality in design.
Caan’s call to Japanese principles in design looks increasingly thin when placed beside the work of practitioners of the modern movement in architecture; and even pre-modern architects like the American Frank Lloyd Wright, who had gathered inspiration from the so-called east, looking to examples like the Katsura Palace and Japanese modular systems, while gleaning lessons in the relationship between architecture’s interior and its exterior. Japan-ness in design has been around long enough for us to acknowledge that it is probably untrue that it is only now that these things are gaining in popularity; to put it in Marie-Noelle Swiderski’s words, “The growing popularity of Japanese food is mirrored by changing attitudes towards wellness, where eastern-inspired spas, treatments and attitudes are moving into the mainstream. Eastern music, fashion, artifacts and accessories have also travelled well, as have principles such as feng shui, which have been wholeheartedly embraced in the West.”
The realization of Swiderski’s blatant conflation of ‘Japanese’ with ‘Eastern’ comes as soon as we hear ‘feng shui’ and ‘Japanese’ in the same statement – and confirms the sweeping generalization that only a managing director can make with what one could call ignorance and superficiality. “Balance”, “fluidity”, “simplicity”, “precision” and “craft” are only some of the other name-dropped terms that are sounded out throughout the article, and it can only further serve to shock one how a journal like Construction Week can continue to publish such opinions.
To her credit, Caan’s clumsy call for eastern-adoption is softened by her emphasis on a cultural cross-pollination and some reference to colonial adoption of local influences – suggesting a careful courtship as opposed to a whole-sale cultural invasion. But Like Denman’s groundless rhetoric that asserts new paradigms of living and culture without supporting them, and the way in which restaurants like Nobu, Zuma, and Okku are taken as precedents for such a romance with Japan to blossom; one can only confirm suspicions as to the superficial nature in which some – and not all- interior design is self serving and self-referential, disconnected from context. And with its hands deep in the pockets of capitalism and hedonism (not to say that architecture doesn’t) , it can only serve to further hypnotize the customer and journalist.
If the growing divide between the architect’s sensitivity and the interior design’s heavy handedness is anything to go by, this article is a sure indication.
February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Audacity’s shape – from Outer Space
Seen here is the Dubai coast, from the International Space Station. At left are the man-made Palm Jumeirah islands. At right is a development of 300 private man-made islands shaped like a global map. (Angelina Jolieand Brad Pitt were said, at one point, to be thinking about buying a faux Ethiopia.)
[Image Courtesy NASA via AP]
February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
China Prepares to Salvage CCTV Tower
BEIJING—The Chinese government is preparing to rebuild a skyscraper in the flashy new complex housing the national broadcaster, a year after the structure was gutted by a blaze sparked by fireworks. The boot-shaped high-rise has an exterior steel framework, much of which will be stripped away and rebuilt, and a concrete interior portion that can be salvaged. Preparatory work for the repairs has started on the building site, according to people involved in the reconstruction project.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group still plans to operate a high-end hotel on the upper floors of the building, as it was scheduled to do when the fire struck. “Mandarin Oriental’s intention remains the same,” said spokeswoman Sally de Souza.
CCTV made a rare public apology shortly after the fire, but has repeatedly declined requests for further comment. Meanwhile, the hulking 159-meter structure has stood largely untouched. The better-known CCTV tower, a square-doughnut-shaped building that sits next to it, was unharmed by the fire but remains unoccupied.
via WSJ
One wonders how the architecture has managed to fend off infamous Chinese superstition.
[Image via Getty Images]
February 4, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Packed Streets Have a City of Walkers Looking Skyward for Answers
Mumbai Builds Miles of Elevated Walkways; ‘Yellow Caterpillar’ or ‘Huge Mistake’?
February 4, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Central Horizon
Before you start slamming the massive urban wall you see above, take note that this hits closer to home.
Central Horizon is a high-rise, high-density public housing redevelopment project initiated by the Singapore Government, through the Housing & Development Board (HDB), a Statutory Board under the Ministry of National Development. The 3.1ha site consists of five 40 storey tower blocks linked by 11 storey ‘podium’ blocks in curvilinear form. In addition to the 1158 dwelling units, there are commercial and communal facilities, a multi-storey car park (MSCP) with a landscaped roof garden and a sky garden on the roof of the residential blocks.
The predecessor to Central Horizon was a Singaporean landmark both in terms of physical design (i.e. the longest curved residential block in Singapore built in the 1960s as a quick fix for Singapore’s rapidly-growing population) and in its social and community ties. It was demolished in September 2003 to make way for newer ones to address new housing needs and optimise land use.
As one of Singapore’s first housing estates, it has developed a distinct character through the years. The vision for redevelopment thus sought to create a totally new level of quality in public housing, one that would increase in its value and appeal to a new generation of residents; deliver three times as many apartments on the existing land footprint and be sufficiently attractive to prospective new owners to the area; while employing sustainable systems and construction while preserving the heritage of the site. Kiasu? No. All inclusive, universal design? Maybe. But Central Horizon is one of the largest new objects in our skyline.
more on WorldArchitectureNews.com
Central Horizon was entered in the 2009 WAN.com Residential Awards.
February 4, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Unit One Design completes house ‘with no walls’
Malaysia’s Unit One Design Bhd. nominated for WorldArchitectureNews.com Residential Awards
Johor Bahru, Malaysia – A complex of five buildings, consisting of the main parental house and four individual villas where ‘most of the walls are views’ are linked by landscaped walkways. It is composed of three wings in total, each forming new gardens and courtyards created by walls or difference in levels. Sited towards the apex of the site, the house acts as a wall embracing most of the project where the villas and an orchard sit – the private domain.
more via WAN.com
February 1, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Gary Neville’s house
Make Architects has designed this ultra-sustainable home for England and Manchester United footballer Gary Neville.
The 8,000 sq ft property will be built in the Pennines, and – subject to approval – would become the first carbon neutral home in the north west, according to the practice. A wind turbine will provide power for the property itself and a neighbouring house, while covering much of the house in a green roof of meadow grasses and wildflowers will reduce energy usage. The property, which also features solar panels and a ground source heat pump, is on green belt land but it is understood that the team hopes that it will be allowed to go ahead because it falls into the category of being “truly outstanding and ground breaking”.
The scheme has already been selected as an exemplar project within the UK government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’ programme. If planning permission be granted, preliminary construction work is expected to start later this year.
Maybe they’ve finally found a way to put those weekly wages to good use..
February 1, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Logorama
A world colonized by brands is the theme of a new film by French designers and filmmakers H5. Logorama is a slick 17-minute-long animated movie that appears to lampoon both the Hollywood blockbuster — violent, crude and adrenalized — and the world of branding, a world where logos festoon every surface and where it is customary to be exposed to brand activity at every turn.
via Adrian Shaughnessy at The Design Observer
[Image Credit: Still from "Logorama" by H5]
February 1, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Additional tourist villages planned for Borobudur
Borobudur to Woo Visitors With New Tourist Villages
Jakarta Globe, 20 January 2010
The government plans to develop more tourism villages around ninth-century Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta to draw more visitors and encourage them to stay longer, an official said on Wednesday.
“In 2010 we will develop five more tourism villages in the vicinity of Borobudur Temple. We hope they will attract more tourists, as well as help the local people become involved in the tourism industry,” said Firmansyah Rahim, the director general of the destination development at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Last year, the ministry developed five tourism villages in the Borobudur area, with each receiving financial aid ranging from Rp 100 million to Rp 150 million ($10,800 to $16,200) to renovate tourist facilities such as guesthouses as well as handicraft and culinary centers.
Tourism villages rely on proximity to an attraction, such as Borobudur Temple, to pull in revenue from visitors.
via SEAArch .com
[Image Courtesy Hildo Trazo]
