AutoBAD:
The Perfect Drawing:
Truth Hurts:
If Louis Kahn Wore Nikes:
Winning Ways:
The Next Step:
Put A Diamond On It:
The Paranoid Giant:
Libeskind in China:
Mansions In The Sky:
At last, the ultimate sorting hat of the profession: Choose your answers carefully, as this incredibly scientific process of selection will hold a mirror up to your architectural personality for all eternity!
Without further ado — Quiz: Which Starchitect Are You?
Via: Architizer
‘I have never liked the lack of life in the architectural representations that are often aseptic, clean and neutral. I enjoy imagining what life would be like in these static images. They are comparable to still life paintings.’
The aim of architecture is to design a space where people can live and carry out their activities, yet many renders and illustrations particular to the field are devoid of life and dynamism. Italian artist federico babina has composed 17 vignettes for the ‘ARCHILIFE’ series, adding renowned cinematic stars from alfred hitchcock to audrey hepburn to architect-designed interior spaces — The always glamorous marilyn monroe lounges within the famous Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House; a bathrobe-wearing Marlon Brando waters a plant at Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Fallingwater’ home. ‘In these pictures I try to exalt the ‘banality of everyday life’ of famous performers employed in simple actions that interact with the space that hosts them’, Babina describes.
Images and info via Designboom.
We just can’t help ourselves! Architects have long been delving into other design disciplines, and while some may argue that we should stick to what we know, it seems only natural that our creative flare occasionally overflows into other industries — one of the most popular being transportation. A case in point came to the fore last week, as a certain Kickstarter project went viral: the Hendo Hoverboard has achieved its funding goal and more, with $365,000 currently invested in the experimental product.
It’s been the dream of many to glide along the streets ever since Marty McFly took to his board in "Back To The Future II," so the hype is predictably high. Architect Greg Henderson — CEO of Arx Pax —has developed the floating prototype, and is also promoting a ‘white box’ starter kit that allows people to experiment with ‘hover technology’ in their own homes.
Criticisms have fallen at Henderson’s door, with many feeling that more naïve members of the public are being mislead — this is not true 'levitation’ after all, but existing mag-lev technology on a micro-scale. The board will only work over a conducting surface, so unless the streets are paved with copper in the near future, boarders will be confined to specially designed skate parks. At $10,000 a board, this appears painfully prohibitive at present.
Despite this, the ‘proof of concept’ product is undeniably intriguing, and follows in a long line of architects envisioning vehicles in their search for creative immortality. Here are 5 more classics from down the years, in chronological order.
Ornithopter | Leonardo Da Vinci
Da Vinci was a polymath for whom architecture played just a small part — he had a passion for inventions in every conceivable field, and one of his most famous was the flying machine, or Ornithopter.
The artisan’s many sketches showed the mechanics of the experimental contraption in extraordinary detail. He utilized his vast knowledge of physics to establish a design that would enable a human to produce enough force for sustained uplift, employing all manner of hand levers, foot pedals, and pulleys to do so. While the manual device never proved viable in the real world, the drawings still provide a fascinating insight into early explorations of aviation.
The Dymaxion Car | Buckminster Fuller / Norman Foster
Fuller’s teardrop-shaped concept car was designed as a sustainable exemplar for automobiles. Its quirky shape was based on Aurel Persu’s aerodynamic principles, and it certainly was eye-catching:The Guardian’s Jonathan Glancey neatly described it as “a VW camper van crossed with a pinball flipper”.
The 11-seater (yes — eleven!) was flawed in many ways — steering issues were blamed for the first prototype crashing on the way to the 1933 World Fair in Chicago, killing the driver and severely injuring 2 passengers. Despite this, the design has proven influential for many modern car manufacturers, and British architect Norman Foster adored the vehicle so much, he built his own in 2010.
Unique Circle Yachts | Zaha Hadid
Famed for her use of organic curves and sensuous forms within architecture, it seems that Zaha Hadid’s signature style might be a perfect fit for the dynamics of naval design — take a look at this rendered concept for a Unique Circle Yacht and judge for yourself.
The interlaced structure of the boat is informed by “fluid dynamics and underwater ecosystems, with hydrodynamic research shaping the design of the hull.” Does this translate to a practical seafaring vessel, or a sculptural artifact that would be better suited to an art gallery than the open ocean? I’ll leave that for you to decide …
Pibal Bicycle | Philippe Starck
After designing novel buildings such as the Asahi Beer Hall in Tokyo — not to mention the most famouslemon squeezer in history — Starck teamed up with Peugeot to design this prototype bicycle-come-scooter, intended for a free cycle scheme in Bordeaux, France.
The premise is that in congested city centers, riders can utilize the scooter-like platform to push themselves along on one foot — according to Starck, the extra flexibility for maneuvering provides “an answer to new urban ergonomics.” Some may argue that the Frenchman constructed that gap in the market for the sake of eccentricity, but nonetheless, it’s an interesting experiment in marrying two forms of manual transport.
Zootopia Pods | BIG
BIG Architects caused a stir earlier this year when they revealed designs for a new form of zoo in Givskud, Denmark, where the animals roam free and humans are contained within futuristic globules of mirrors and glass.
The pods — designed as a hybrid of tricycle, boat, and cable car — are intended to immerse the visitors within environments akin to the wildlife’s natural habitats. Whether this forms a cage-free zoo, or a car-free safari park, it’s hard to say — but if BIG’s proposal is seen through, all will become clear by 2019.
Keep your eyes peeled for hoverboard developments; in the meantime, I’m off to watch that movie again …
“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”
Yours levitatingly,
The Angry Architect
Images via Architizer
Tongue-in-cheek architecture blog Building Satire is diving right into the Halloween spirit. Their Architect's Appearance/Morbid Models post features spooky spoofs on some of the world's most renown architects (and an Architizer A+ Award jury member or two). Man-about-town Bjarke Ingels from BIG makes a great freaky Frankenstein, while we couldn't possibly think of a better mime than Tadao Ando - majestically melancholic! - or a more convincing sad-sack jester than sober architect Rem Koolhaas. One note of advice: we'd stay clear of Zaha if we were you...
Images and info via: Architizer
Would I really stoop as low as clichéd architectural innuendo to act as click-bait for an article? Why, yes, it appears I would. Well, now that you’re here, you may as well take a peek at this perfect plethora of architectural models from throughout the last century. The collection illustrates the versatility of models as a medium to convey complex design ideas, as well as some beautifully succinct demonstrations of structural logic.
These are a few of The Angry Architect's top picks, but if you feel I missed a classic, make yourself heard over on Facebook!
Cidada da Cultura | Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman’s undulating display of timber veneer, part of a competition submission for the City of Culture complex in Santiago de Compostela, was sufficiently intoxicating to win him the commission. The model beautifully illustrated the concept — a rippled landscape revealing programmatic voids beneath — and, ironically, gave the architect a huge problem … how could reality ever match up to this stunning piece of craftsmanship?
Terrain | Dwayne Oyler & Lebbeus Woods
Many would think it unlikely that the theoretical musings and extraordinary sketches of Lebbeus Woodscould be accurately translated in 3-dimensional form, but Dwayne Oyler attempted it with no small degree of success. In particular, "Terrain" — a study of architecture as a dense urban landscape — is a striking exhibition in texture, light, and shade using that most humble of mediums: white card.
DZ Bank | Frank Gehry
Love them or loathe them, there is one thing that most would agree on with respect to Frank’s flamboyant waves of titanium and glass: these buildings must present one hell of a challenge to Gehry’s resident model makers. Their skillful dexterity resulted in a fantastic exhibition of the Canadian architect’s work at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany: A particular favorite of mine is the section model for the DZ Bank in Berlin, juxtaposing the linear lines of the existing building with those classic Gehry curves.
LEGO Towers | BIG
For an exhibition in New York in 2007, Bjarke Ingels took his love of LEGO to new heights — quite literally. The pixelated towers — a mixed-use proposal for Copenhagen — are a great example of how serious architectural proposals can be combined with the fun of those iconic colored bricks, providing a tangible vision of a fresh strategy for residential high-rises.
Sagrada Familia | Antonio Gaudi
Many of the greatest architects are known for taking accepted design conventions and turning them upside down — Antonio Gaudi’s model for the Sagrada Familia is perhaps the most literal interpretation of that idiom. The Spanish architect attached a series of weights to string, forming catenary arches in one of the earliest experiments in parametric design. Once inverted, the model forms an accurate skeletal structure to inform the construction of this iconic church’s many organic spires.
Sydney Opera House | Jørn Utzon
In architecture, sexy = simple, and Jørn Utzon’s roof study for his famed opera house is the epitome of simplicity. Utzon created this diagrammatic model to illustrate the rationale behind the geometry of the building’s iconic sails: deriving the forms from dissections of a single sphere allowed the components to be prefabricated, and made construction of the complex shells infinitely more feasible.
Vacant NL | RAAAF
For the Venice Biennale in 2010, experimental studio RAAAF [Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances] created a vast cityscape of the Netherlands’ vacant buildings using a material that will bring out simultaneous feelings of love and loathing amongst architects: blue foam. Suspended above one of the main gallery spaces, the installation was created to highlight the enormous potential of inspiring, unoccupied buildings across the country.
Church Of The Light | Tadao Ando
While blue foam is commonly utilized as an "anti-material" to express pure form, there is nothing more sexy than a beautifully crafted model hewn from the very stuff its real-life counterpart is to be made from. Tadao Ando’s concrete Church of the Light is a case in point — the subtlety of texture, light, and atmosphere can be felt almost as strongly in this model as they are in the iconic structure itself.
New York City | Yutaka Sone
Ok, so this might be classed as a sculpture more than a conventional architectural model, but regardless: the craftsmanship necessary to create it cannot fail to leave one’s jaw on the floor. Yutaka Sone carves vast landscapes from solid pieces of marble, contrasting enormous, sweeping gestures with an incredible attention to detail. Trace the intricately constructed streets, avenues, parks, bridges, and buildings, including recognizable landmarks such as the Empire State Building.
Crown Hall | Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
I could go on about the pure, uncompromising geometries and considered proportions of this model of the S.R. Crown Hall in Chicago, Illinois, but let’s face it: the real star of the show here is the modernist icon that stood just behind it. Mies’ harsh, calculated stare perfectly sums up the design principles behind the building that he is presenting here, and hey: what’s more sexy than an architect who knows exactly what he wants, then goes out and builds it?
Model behavior indeed. Now, let me know the gorgeous models that knock you off your feet ...
Yours stunningly,
The Angry Architect
Images via: Architizer
“Let me tell you one thing. In this world we are living in, 98 percent of everything that is built and designed today is pure shit. There’s no sense of design, no respect for humanity or for anything else. They are damn buildings and that’s it.
“Once in a while, however, there’s a small group of people who does something special. Very few. But good god, leave us alone! We are dedicated to our work. I don’t ask for work. I don’t have a publicist. I’m not waiting for anyone to call me. I work with clients who respect the art of architecture. Therefore, please don’t ask questions as stupid as that one.”
This, followed by the middle finger, was Gehry’s response to a reporter asking the 85-year-old architect how he responds to the critics claiming he practices “showy architecture.”
Originally covered by El Mundo and translated by Gizmodo, the awkward confrontation happened at a press conference in Oviedo, Spain, which Gehry attended to receive the Prince of Asturias Awards for the Arts.
Emotions may have been running high considering this past week Gehry celebrated the opening of the new Fondation Louis Vuitton building which the critics have claimed to be not much more than a “spectacle.”
Well I never. The Angry Architect's Official Response will follow shortly...
Image and info via: Archdaily
Rising from the forest floor like a dense thicket of golden bamboo, the proposed Sleuk Rith Institute in Cambodia marks a new chapter for Zaha Hadid Architects.
It is to be the firm’s first major structure constructed in the region, and their first proposal to consist almost entirely of timber — it also constitutes a notable shift in style, away from the tidal waves of curvaceous concrete and steel that have emanated from this firm over the last decade.
The design, unusually reserved by ZHA’s recent standards, is symptomatic of the building’s somber purpose — the complex will house an enormous collection of documents relating to the harrowing atrocities carried out in the country under Pol Pot’s regime, from 1975 to 1979. Over 2 million Cambodians were killed during that time, around a quarter of the country’s entire population — to conceive architecture befitting such a tragedy is surely a task approaching the impossible. Nonetheless, ZHA have risen to the challenge with a refreshing degree of sensitivity towards context.
During the early stages, project architect DaeWha Kang was guided around the country for five full days by human rights activist Youk Chhang, the leading advocate for the project. This allowed him to gain an in-depth knowledge of Cambodia’s architectural make-up, as well as learning about its traumatic political history. It was an unusually immersive experience for the firm, and the rigorous research has resulted in a subtle, nuanced proposal in contrast to the firm’s swooping, amorphous gestures of the past ten years.
As well as the archive, five intersecting volumes will incorporate a museum, research center, graduate school, and library, encouraging new generations of Cambodians to learn lessons from their country’s fraught past. Surrounding the complex, reflecting pools and a landscaped park will frame the building and offer further spaces for quiet contemplation.
While the five towers nod to the extraordinary forms of Angkor Wat, their twisting timber columns are more evocative of the sprawling roots that have all but consumed parts of Ta Prohm’s ancient walls. Comparisons with the base of Minoru Yamasaki’s World Centre Towers are well founded, but the timber texture lends a warmer, softer glow to Hadid’s incarnation.
The tapering blocks appear simple at first glance, but a closer examination reveals intricate lattices of louvers, resulting in interiors bathed with warm, filtered light. The internal images allude to a muted atmosphere that appears appropriate for the function of remembrance and quiet reflection. The building strives, in the institute’s own words, to “soar upward into the light, conveying aspiration in place of dejection, hope in place of remorse, pride in place of shame.”
Despite these positives however, skepticism over the selection of ZHA will undoubtedly persist — this is a firm that has recently carried out works for regimes with appalling human right records. The Hydar Aliyev center in Azerbaijan, whilst an undeniably stunning piece of sculptural modernism, was constructed against a backdrop of controversy, with many residents being forcibly evicted to make way for the landmark. ZHA also received criticism for turning a blind eye to the conditions of workersconstructing the World Cup stadium in Qatar.
Add to this the fact that the current Cambodian government has direct links to the Khmer Rouge regime responsible for the atrocities of the 1970s, and the project is unable to avoid accusations of hypocrisy. Chhang has responded to such skepticism, defending the choice of ZHA for the commission:
“You don’t choose an architect because of who they have worked with before. Architecture can be a tool to change the vision of a corrupted system. A painter can’t do that, but an architect can.”
Political conflicts of interest aside, the building forms an elegant container and is a softly-spoken tribute to the victims of unimaginable suffering. It is markedly more understated than ZHA’s previous cultural institutions, and rightly so — the documents and artifacts on display should be the primary focus of visitors to this profoundly solemn institution.
On occasion, architecture pales in insignificance compared to the purpose for which it is built. This is one such occasion.
Yours sincerely,
The Angry Architect
Images via: Architizer
In his latest series, ARCHIWINDOW, Federico Babina draws some inspiration perhaps from the headline exhibition the Venice Biennale, investigating some of the most famous window designs architecture has to offer. Babina simply says it is ”a little reflection about architecture and the elements that compose it.”
The images reveal how expressive the element of the window can be, as many of the 25 signature designs will be instantly recognizable for die-hard architecture fans, while others may reveal a previously-unrecognized trend in the work of a particular architect.
“The windows are the eyes of architecture. Through the windows enters the light and shadow that creates spaces. The windows invite us to enter the landscape, and are the cracks through which to spy on architecture,” writes Babina. “I tried to transform a detail into the protagonist to emphasize its expressive capacity. A single window can open up a world of information. It allows you to lean out to find clues of the stylistic and linguistic aesthetics of architecture.”
Images and info via: Archdaily
"Design like you give a damn." That’s the motto of the not-for-profit organization Architecture For Humanity, and it's a memorable one. It sums up the ethos of an NGO that was born in 1999 with a simple idea: that designers could use their skills and passions to change the world, and that great architecture can bring vital hope to communities in need. That rousing slogan has spawned two books, not to mention a major international conference — Design Like You Give A Damn: LIVE! — which took place last weekend in Manhattan at Dwell on Design.
Since its inception in 1999, Architecture For Humanity has grown from a team of two to a full-time staff of over 40, operating from global offices to kick-start humanitarian design programs all over the world. To this end, they have built an extraordinary portfolio of work: the organization has overseen post-disaster rebuilding in Japan, Haiti, the Gulf Coast, New York, and the Philippines. Further to this they have implemented numerous programs that use active spaces as a means for social change— their Football For Hope initiative, involving the construction of 20 football centers across Africa, is drawing to a close after 5 incredibly fruitful years.
It’s proved intriguing enough for me to escape my usual professional shackles for a while: I’m volunteering at Architecture for Humanity until December this year! Now, as the organization celebrates its 15th anniversary, we look at 5 top reasons for YOU to get involved with humanitarian architecture.
Model-making workshop for the Santa Elena Pedritas School in Peru. Image via the Open Architecture Network.
Community engagement
If you have become accustomed to studio life with clients more akin to abstract corporate entities than real-life human beings, it might be time for a change. Working in humanitarian design regularly involves a participatory process, with local people being creatively engaged in the design of buildings that will form a vital core to their everyday lives.
Conducting design charrettes, model workshops, and public forums gives you a chance to connect with the most important people in the design process — the end-users. An exemplar in community engagement came during the design and construction of Santa Elena de Piedritas School, where children took part in a model-making workshop and even helped put together some components of the finished buildings. If there is a way to instill a sense of pride and ownership in a building for local people, this is it.
Salvaged timber used to construct the Hikado Maketplace covered deck. Image via the Open Architecture Network.
Opportunities To Innovate
Circumstances that give rise to a need for humanitarian input are often fraught with difficulty —complex site conditions and limited budgets dictate that new approaches to design are not only considered, they are positively encouraged. This fact is perfectly illustrated by Architecture For Humanity’s Hikado Marketplace project, where a covered wooden deck was constructed using salvaged timber and shingles from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
Unusual constraints and extraordinary factors provide an opportunity for experimentation and innovation that may not be afforded to architects in conventional scenarios: prepare for your creative spark to be well and truly lit.
Santa Elena Pedritas School, part of the Enel Cuore Community Empowerment initiative. Image via theOpen Architecture Network.
International Experience
Architecture is a global industry, but we often get anchored to a practice that, for reasons of fiscal pragmatism, finds the majority of its work close to home. There is nothing wrong with this at all — as Architecture For Humanity often reiterates, the best solutions tend to be local solutions. However, if like me you have a passion for learning about architecture within different cultural, social, and political contexts, humanitarian design can make the world seem like a very small place indeed.
Architecture For Humanity has projects scattered around the globe, with some programs spanning multiple continents all on their own. The Enel Cuore Community Empowerment program, which facilitates the building of schools and community buildings, has seen projects completed or under construction in Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Slovakia, Romania, and Italy. If you want to get involved with projects in vastly varied environments, for a plethora of different communities, a global humanitarian organization could be a great place to start.
The Kitakami "We Are One" Market, Tohoku. Image via the Open Architecture Network.
Skills Beyond Design
While Architecture For Humanity gets heavily involved with design, there is a wide range of other facets to the organization that keeps it ticking. Working within such a group gives you an opportunity to learn a great deal about development and coordination of complex programs, often managing design processes and construction work across entire continents.
Realizing the need for a holistic approach, the organization goes beyond the realms of the construction industry in their efforts to help communities become more resilient. They are integrating rebuilding services with business support on the east coast of Japan — such as with the Kitakami "We Are One" Market — to aid the long-term economic recovery of the region following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Kimisagara Football For Hope and some of its energetic end-users. Image via the Open Architecture Network.
Renewed Purpose
For anyone working in a commercial architectural practice, you will be familiar with the age-old struggle between the design principles we all strive to hold onto, and the need to satisfy developer clients’ desire to minimize fuss and maximize profit. This battle can sometimes lead us to forget why we got ourselves into this business in the first place: namely, our belief that good design can benefit society and improve the lives of people who inhabit our buildings.
Humanitarian design gives architects the means to get back to the grassroots of their industry. They must use their ingenuity to help people with a direct need for all that is fundamental within architecture: shelter, warmth, access to clean water, and — most of all — places around which people can build their communities. Providing these elements is all the more rewarding when you realize that your structure can form a catalyst for revitalizing children’s education, workers' business prospects, and the health of whole communities in the wake of crises.
For more information, to get involved in the organization’s work, or to donate, make sure to visitwww.architectureforhumanity.org. Get on board — use your design prowess to help change the world!
Yours transatlantically,
The Angry Architect
Images via Architizer
Who would have thought it: a French invasion of China!
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel has released further images of his design for the National Art Museum Of China, which commenced construction this month. It is set for completion in 2017, after which it is expected to attract 12 million visitors a year — this would make it comfortably the busiest art museum in the world, overtaking the Louvre in Paris. Big numbers, and even bigger ambitions — an extraordinary press release from the architect claims the museum will undoubtedly take its place “among the greatest museums of the world.”
Construction work is beginning just over a year after Nouvel was announced the winner of an international design competition for the project, beating two other architects who youmay have heard of: Dame Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry. It was a major coup for the Frenchman, and caps an incredibly successful period in terms of major public commissions for his firm — Atelier Jean Nouvel also designed the under-construction Louvre in Abu Dhabi, which possesses similarly ambitious goals of global cultural prominence.
Jean Nouvel has much in common with his prestigious competitors — like Hadid and Gehry, his firm has adopted a "signature style," using a consistent language around the world and transforming his work into a recognizable architectural brand in the process. Nouvel’s signature lies, unequivocally, in the art of perforation — the permeable facades displayed in these new visuals echo a number of his other projects, namely the Doha Tower (winner of CTBUH Best Tall Building Award in 2012), the Arab World Institute in Paris, and the aforementioned Abu Dhabi Louvre.
The gleaming lattice wrapping the building is evocative of bird cages, lanterns, and lacy table cloths, filtering sunlight and producing a magical display of dappled light within the huge public atrium. Within this space, there appears to be a substantial internal garden, bringing with it an explosion of autumnal color that contrasts remarkably with the snow-white finish of the museum walls.
The effect is aesthetically enticing, providing an atmospheric visual similar to the weaved dome and ocean pools of Nouvel’s Louvre. Public areas throughout the building take the spotlight here — further images show a vast "Summer Hall" on the ground floor, its ceiling coated in gold as a reference to the splendor of traditional Chinese art. A swooping funnel of glass provides a spectacular centerpiece to the atrium at the building’s heart.
Longitudinal Section
Furthermore, a huge rooftop terrace with covered walkways provides additional space for visitors to meet and mingle. Each of these features, lavish in their scale and detail, indicates that the public spaces are taking the spotlight ahead of galleries, where actual artwork will be displayed. Why? Let’s dip back into Nouvel’s press release, relentlessly grandiose in its language:
“At the beginning of the 21st century museums are still too often considered as places for conservation, consultation, and education. These are useful functions, but based on conventional thinking and cultural consumption. The museums should become lively places, resonating with invention where exhibits prove that sensations and emotions triggered by art are amplified by time, by the complicit juxtaposition of works from various times, and all the eras of invention.”
Untangling this comically convoluted manifesto, those “lively places” are clearly delivered by a generous public realm, both inside and outside the building.
Unlike the private, protected spaces of many conventional galleries, these spectacular public zones are designed to gather and socialize in, to be photographed and shared around the world, acting as a natural advertisement on social media for the museum across the globe. As a consequence, it appears that the art is taking a backseat to the architecture— the building is a spectacle to be marveled at, when previously museums acted as passive containers, subtle backdrops in front of which the artist’s exhibits could shine.
This is the antithesis of a gallery such as Tadao Ando’s Chichu Art Museum, where the building was designed around precisely prescribed pieces by a minute collection of artists. It therefore follows that the experience within Nouvel’s museum may well be less personal, and certainly less intimate, than that of Ando’s. This is understandable, perhaps, given the scale of the undertaking — however, in order to judge more accurately, it would be valuable to see far more visuals of the individual exhibition spaces to supplement the "wow factor" public realm images.
Despite these misgivings, the images offered up are undeniably striking, and suggest the potential that this building could, indeed, form one of “the greatest museums of the world.” The only question that really remains is: can the reality match up to these ethereal renderings?
I will be following construction progress with interest to find out …
Yours artistically,
The Angry Architect
Images via Architizer
Imagine laying eyes on your first built project … before you have even left architecture school!
One of the most common misgivings that architecture students harbor on exiting university revolves around a lack of demonstrable practical experience — my recent article on the failings of UK architecture courses lambasted a long-running theoretical bias within our schools, leaving students unprepared for the complexities of life in professional practice.
It is incredibly refreshing, then, to report on a different system across the pond in the United States, allowing students an incredibly valuable hands-on experience that benefits both them and the local community simultaneously.
The Colorado Building Workshop was set up in 2010 for students entering their final year at CU-Denver. The Workshop gives students two options, both of which can enable them to benefit from seeing a project right through from conception to completion as they approach graduation. The first of these —University-run program DesignBuildBLUFF — gives architecture students the chance to design and build a new home for a Navajo family in the remote town of Bluff, Utah. A recent success story for this program comes in the form of "Skow Residence," developed by Colorado Students for a couple attempting their own self-build project in the region.
In this instance, clients Harold and Helena Skow had already constructed a foundation for a conventional, gable-trussed home, before running into difficulties. The Skows turned to the Colorado Building Workshop for help, and in stepped a team of students with inquiring minds and a flexible brief that encouraged a healthy degree of experimentation.
Taking inspiration from their client’s wide-brimmed hat — providing crucial protection from Utah’s intense summer sun — the students inverted the typical roof to provide the home with its very own sombrero. In doing so they created a distinctive, contemporary house with passive shading enabling large expanses of glazing across two elevations. The slender framework used for the external envelope was complemented with thick earthen walls and straw-bale insulation for the inner compartment, giving the Skows a consistently cool place to sleep throughout the year.
The students’ relative inexperience was not a cause for concern to the Najavo locals, who were open to the youngsters exploring new ideas in exchange for the donation of time and materials by the DesignBuildBLUFF program. The students also worked in collaboration with senior staff members of UC-Denver, as well as professional structural engineers from Studio NYL. The ability to work with other specialist consultants in this fashion no doubt provided the students with an invaluable insight into professional practice, when they will be engaging with a wide variety of parties throughout the design process.
The other pathway the Workshop provides is the option to manage the design and construction of a public project, usually focusing on facilities for not-for-profit organizations that support arts, education, and the environment. A case-in-point is the Urban Farming Classroom, recently completed in Lakewood, Colorado, by another group of savvy students. Located adjacent to the state’s newest light-rail line, the outdoor learning facility is intended to educate local residents on the topic of city-based agriculture.
The raw industrial aesthetic of the classroom-meets-kitchen is derived from the need to create a hardwearing, weather resistant structure that would also stand up against the risk of vandalism that is inherent within its urban context. The innate structural quality of the steel bar grate structure also meant that a large cantilever was possible, leaving the space beneath free from columns. This allowed for a flexible, open-plan space ideal for many different forms of agricultural demonstration.
Once again, the students collaborated with faculty members and structural engineers to bring their project to fruition, enhancing their knowledge of the construction process and providing the city with a cutting-edge educational amenity at the same time.
These two projects illustrate the potential for students to gain a far more tangible perspective on technical detailing, project management and communication, and the ultimate satisfaction of seeing their work built and occupied by clients. They also show just how invigorating it can be to allow young minds —unhindered by years of conforming to accepted design conventions — to experiment at a one to one scale. The results here are terrific, and for the students, clients, and institutions involved it appears that everyone has benefitted in one way or another.
This is one farming classroom that should certainly provide architectural professors around the globe with some food for thought …
Yours educationally,
The Angry Architect
Design is constantly contemplating the ways in which it can transcend time, reflecting the values of the current generation while suggesting possibilities for the future. In response, each building, product, and every other creation is an attempt to convey a pristine image, with innovative materials and unprecedented gestures that show no signs of aging. Providing more commentary on the subject, visual artist xavier delory has asked: ‘What remains of the utopias and the promises of a better future promised by the modern movement at the beginning of the 20th century?’ He then elaborates with a quote from ’toward a new architecture’: ’But let’s not kick a man when he’s down, every era carries its own burden, and let’s not spoil our pleasure of ‘the wise, correct and superb play of masses gathered under the light.’ With this mindset, delory has set out to begin what he calls a ‘pilgrimage on modernity’.
The photoshopped series of images are a tribute to architectural monuments around the world. The first stopover is ‘Villa Savoye’ and its creator Le Corbusier, one of the founding fathers of the modern movement. The iconic structure has been ransacked and vandalized. the ribbon windows that navigate its perimeter have been shattered, haphazard strokes of paint ornament its pilotis, and large pieces of graffiti cover its stark white free façade. The manipulations intend to make a statement about the ‘five points of architecture’, and in turn, highlight the death of modernity.
Images and info via: Design Boom
If one didn’t know better, they might think that IKEA’s sole contribution to the world of architecture is a liberal sprinkling of royal blue and lemon yellow boxes across the globe. They’ve brought a lot more to the flat-pack table than that though, and their latest playful addition is a 3D floor plan — or perhaps more accurately, a wall plan — in Clermont-Ferrand, designed to mark the opening of their thirtieth store in France.
The Scandinavian king of budget chic has carved out one of its showrooms and tipped it up, transforming it into the most stylish of climbing walls — the piece forms an interactive sculpture and a vibrant, multi-layered billboard for the company. The 30-foot-high wall is fitted with steps and grips, giving the public a novel (if a little strenuous) new way to browse the latest collection. Sofas and swing chairs, IKEA classics naturally, provide handy rest stops on the way up.
Utilizing a vertical floor plan for advertising is not a new concept — back in 2000, Absolut Vodka’s Manhattan campaign featured a swanky apartment adhered firmly to one of its iconic bottles. So, is IKEA’s latest stunt a blatant piece of plagiarism? Of course not — the furniture for Absolut’s promotion was provided by the Swedish company as well. They really are taking over the world, one billboard at a time.
While these installations go down as light-hearted, transient flirtations with architectural design, IKEA are no strangers to more expansive adventures within the industry: here are four of their more notable experiments to hit the headlines over the past few years ...
IKEA Eco Town, East London
Looking to take advantage of the UK Government’s growing struggle to remedy London’s long-running housing shortage, IKEA stepped in with a proposal for Strand East — a 26-acre neighborhood incorporating shops, schools, a theater, and apartments for 6,000 people with varying incomes. The company’s foray into town-planning is undoubtedly their most ambitious venture to date, and includes just about everything a Londoner might need, except — curiously — an actual IKEA store.
BoKlok Affordable Homes
Strand East does, however, include the company’s flagship low-cost residences, named BoKlok, and developed in collaboration with Swedish construction group Skanska. The houses have been built in over 100 developments in Sweden since 1996, and champion the idea of flexible, pre-fabricated templates for flats that give buyers a choice of architectural style without blowing their budget. Fast-forward to 2012, and IKEA flat-pack homes have arrived on US shores in the shape of...
Ideabox Homes
... pre-assembled pre-fabs. The “Aktiv” flat-pack home debuted in Portland a couple of years ago, with collaborators Ideabox boasting: “It’s your own personal euro designer flat ... only where you want it!” Often lambasted for their fiendish assembly instructions, IKEA have banished this issue with Aktiv — they worked with pre-fab specialists, integrating kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom fixtures within a unit that can be delivered on the back of a trailer in just one or two pieces. The interiors are customizable in terms of colors and surface finishes, and the prototype's exterior is clad with timber and metal panels in yellow and gray tones — no IKEA blue in sight, thankfully.
Solar Powered Shelter For Syrian Refugees
IKEA have long been involved with humanitarian work, with their foundation raising funds to help children and families in the developing world for many years. It seemed only natural, then, for the company to dive into the complex issue of refugee housing, designing a form of hi-tech tent, lo-tech cabin that could be used to help Syrian people fleeing to Lebanon during the conflict of the past three and a half years. The units include lightweight solar arrays and insulated wall panels, and should cost just $1,000 when mass-produced.
From the frivolous to the fundamental, IKEA have contributed to the field in a wide variety of ways —those famous meatballs suddenly seem like tiny drops in an enormous, royal blue ocean of ideas.
Right, time to start building that bookshelf I’ve been putting off for weeks ...
Yours exasperated,
The Angry Architect
Images via Architizer
Prefabricated architecture specialists modscape have planned a conceptual property perched above the ocean in the Australian state of Victoria. the project, which is designed for a couple exploring options for a holiday home, hangs off the cliff face in the same way that barnacles cling to the side of a ship.
Envisioned as a natural extension of the landscape, the dwelling shares a direct relationship with the sea below, utilizing modular design technologies and prefabrication methods. residents enter the home through a carport positioned at the uppermost level where an elevator vertically connects each sequential storey. interior furnishings are kept as minimal as possible as not to detract from expansive ocean views, and the property’s distinct spatial characteristics.
Right then, must dash, I'm off to consult a geologist about cliff erosion...
Images and info via: Design Boom
Several years ago, Munich-based photographer Bernhard Lang vacationed at a seaside resort in Adria, Italy and was struck by the perfectly uniform arrangements of colored umbrellas used by each hotel. Last month he returned, this time by air, and shot for several hours on the coastline between Ravenna and Rimini. Lang is well known for his aerial photography of locations around Germany including coal mines, residential life, and industrial sites. You can see more over on Behance, and all of his work is available as fine art prints. All photos courtesy the photographer. (via This Isn’t Happiness)
Is there any stopping Zaha Hadid Architects? Having conquered vast swathes of Europe, the Middle East, and China, the firm’s brand of parametric exhibitionism is now set to land on the riverfront of Australia’s capital of Queensland, Brisbane. Zaha Hadid’s stoic adherence to sensual, sweeping forms appears undiminished, demonstrated by the curvaceous cages of concrete encasing this trio of towers — but where might this project ultimately rank in the firm’s galleria of 21st Century work?
ZHA has been grappling with the high-rise residential typology for some time now. The practice was complicit in a triple crown of towering banality, along with a certain Mr Libeskind and Isozaki, for the master planning of Citylife Milano in Italy. A project of unprecedented glitz but with little in the way of stylistic cohesion, the trio’s piecemeal collaboration resulted in a set of executive paperweights —monoliths with little connection to the public realm at ground level, or to each other for that matter.
The architectural language used for Zaha’s Brisbane debut — entitled Grace on Coronation — is more consistent, to say the least. Each tower is identical, forming a series of gleaming champagne flutes wrapped in spindly white exoskeletons — the architect herself said of the skyscraper’s distinct forms: “the design tapers each structure to minimize their footprint and open the riverfront to the public; creating a vibrant civic space for Toowong within a new riverside park.”
If one was to be cynical (and I have a well-known penchant for cynicism), the idea that the tapering minimizes the buildings’ footprint could be read as a complete misnomer. In fact, the opposite maybe true, in that the buildings are bloated as they rise up — designed to maximize the developer’s return on the upper apartments. The creation of a "vibrant civic space" must also be brought into question, given the incorporation of irregular, grass-topped plinths at ground level. Will these spaces really be utilized in the way ZHA intends, or will they suffer from the same issues besetting almost every Le Corbusier-inspired complex of towers in the park?
History indicates that the public will typically search out specific types of open space that offer enclosure and a distinct sense of place — courtyard cafes, covered arcades, steps in front of libraries and museums, a riverfront coffee shop. It is possible that they can also be convinced to enjoy a break on incidental wedges of manicured parkland, especially in beautiful climates like that of Australia’s eastern coast — but lawns of this kind must be easily accessible from those aforementioned spaces.
On the contrary, the plinths designed by ZHA isolate these green wedges, encircling them with 15-foot walls of pale concrete and restricting access to the park from the street, particularly on the side furthest from the riverfront. Presumably these plinths are designed to conceal car parking, the age-old bane of any urban high-rise design and a necessary evil — nonetheless, the negative impact at street level is undeniable. The firm proposed a similar master plan for residential towers in Bratislava’s Culenova City Center, but in that case the plinths were pushed downwards at the edges to form multiple linkages between the street and public spaces within the development. The proposed plinths in Brisbane do not share this quality — get ready for a warm hike up a series of pristine concrete ramps or steps to reach that hallowed slice of amenity space to enjoy your lunch!
The tower’s cage-like external appearance is reminiscent of another of ZHA’s high-rise residential proposals set for construction imminently, the One Thousand Museum Tower in Miami, Florida. The curves on display exemplify Hadid’s propensity towards the formulaic notion that a sensual form trumps structural function when attempting to sell an image of luxury to prospective tenants. The language that has served her so well on the horizontal is stretched skywards, less concerned with efficient engineering, and more preoccupied with displaying the firm’s signature parametric style on the largest billboard possible — three towers at over twenty-five stories each should do the job nicely (particularly when there are absolutely no existing high-rise blocks anywhere in the vicinity).
Further assessments of the project’s prospective success or failure will rest upon the release of more images — interiors, floor plans, and details of the spaces at plinth level. Regardless of any misgivings about the principles behind the design — particularly those pertaining to the public realm — the fact remains that ZHA are likely to have answered the brief bestowed upon them with customary aplomb.
Developers who appoint this unique firm know precisely what they are going to get, and they also know exactly what sells — high-end tenants will buy these luxury apartments for a hefty fee, unconcerned by any criticisms leveled at the buildings by architects and armchair critics on Dezeen, Design Boom, and, of course, Architizer. While the market is there, Zaha Hadid and her clients will succeed financially — and in this business, that means the firm’s aspirations on world domination will continue unabated.
Which country will be next? Stay tuned to find out …
Yours formulaically,
The Angry Architect
© 2019 The Angry Architect
