architecture world

Architecture of Bird Nest Stadium, Beijing

2008-09-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Bird nest stadium, also known as National Stadium, located in Beijing, China, was designed for use in 2008 Olympic. With construction cost about 423 million US, this stadium has became the is the world's largest steel structure. Designed by Herzog & the Mouron Architect from Swiss and Arup structural engineer, the design was adapted from Chinese ceramics, brought by Ai Weiwei, Chinese artist. The idea comes from a bird nest form, implemented steel beams in order to hide supports for the retractable roof; giving the stadium the appearance of a "Bird's nest".

We already know that sport teams also collect the money from selling merchandises, like t-shirts, souvenirs, and sport equipment like balls, or sport shoes. Beijing is one of the world’s most successful business cities, in Bird Nest Stadium, there are lots of stores sold merchandises from many sport teams. The Olympic-related souvenirs in the shop are sold well as the event is drawing to an end. With 91.000 seats in 258.000sq m land, Bird Nest provide best facilities for sport teams, including dressing rooms, press center, conference room, and production room. Beijing Bird Nest Stadium hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for athletic events, and football final of the 2008 Olympic, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A shopping mall and a hotel, with rooms overlooking the field, are planned to help increase use after the Olympics.

Entrecard TIPS for Dummies

2008-07-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

Entrecard, a new free advertising exchange network where users can advertise their own card ad on any blog in the wntrecard network for free for a certain number of days. Ads are paid for through credits that users earn by visiting other blogs in the network and dropping off their "cards" at those blogs through entrecard widget, which appears on every participating blog in the network, The currencies of entrecard credit called “ec”. It’s fun to use, and also, it can gain traffic to our blogs or websites.

So if you are already in entrecard network, and seems like just a few visitors go up to your blogs, What should you do next to gain those traffic?

1. Don’t be lazy

Visitor drop cards to your blog because they already visit it, so, they are also hope that you also visit their blogs back. Don’t be lazy, and visit back to their blogs. It will be annoying if we always be a visitors, right? So, we also hope that we can be the home owner. That’s why the entrecard users always said: “You drop, I vollow!”. If you are new to entrecard, then what about try to visit your friends there?

2. Create proper image banner

I dont said, create a good banner, but proper image banner. Even if you are already set up the design of your banner with beautiful image, but, if they are not related with your blog, then it is a disaster. For example if your blog is about money, and you design the banner with sensual celebrities image, yes it can tricked your visitor for once or twice, but let’s see in the long term, they will count your blog out for visit.

3. Put your blog in proper categories and tags

This is also need a long term relationship. You have to put your blog in proper categories to reach the proper audience and regular visit. Let say if you had a money related blog, but you put that blog on graphic design blog to attract more visitors. Yes, it may also can trick your visitor for a while, but, as i said, let’s see in the long term, count me out to visit those blog.

4. MISS your blog

MISS means= Make It Simple Stupid. Yes we already hear those slogans many times, but, we often forgot to apply it in our website or blog. I often visiting some blogs, with lots of graphic images or widgets, yes they are beautiful, but it can slow down my internet connections, and cost at my bandwith. I’m a bit lazy to visit those kind of blogs. How bout you?

So, Make It Simple Stupid! Reduce lots of graphic images at your blogs. Throw down that unusefull widgets to your recycle bin. The last is about your post, make it just about 1-4 post in there. (I already redesign this blog and now you can see that it only contain one post in the main page, yea, I like my new blog design very much now! :P) I even visit one of the ec members blog which has 27 post in the front url, and they show those posts at once. Howdy, what a crap! I cannot read it one by one, so, i just shut down those blog immediately. In wordpress, or with several template trick, the post can be cut in the where positions you like. Use that to make your blog looks simpler. That’s all folks, happy card drop!

Andie wicaksono, architect, graphic artist

The difference between web design and graphic design

2008-06-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

Design is a temporary human creation. It will remind change and to be re design at the times passing by. Design refer to designer products in creative and art works. There are two design related works fluorishing in this age of internet, and people often think that it was the same, those are web design and graphic design.

I wrote this because of the miss interpretation from my friend, he said that he had a friend who works as a web design, but that man cannot works on a php language, he just can do lay-out the page. Then I said, your friend is not a web designer, but a graphic designer.

That is just common mistake, because today this two jobs often can be done by one person, as a web designer, and also a graphic designer. Yet this is the same work field, web designer and graphic designer works in the creative media and related works. Lets see it from the contextual keywords, web design means design of a web, and graphic design means design of a graphic. And then, from wikipedia. While web design means = "a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media content delivery via Internet in the form of technologies (such as markup languages) suitable for interpretation and display by a web browser or other web-based graphical user interfaces (GUIs)", while graphic design means = "can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation".

So, while web designer is people who create a website (by overall) from the programming language (PHP, C++, and other robotics words that i don’t know what the h*** is it, lol!) the templates, until the implementation and so on, and graphic designer is people who create logos, layout pages, and until the promotional stage. Lets make it simple, web designers need logical thinking more than creative thinking in their job (they use more left brain), and the graphic designers need creative thinking more than logical thinking (they use more right brain) as vice versa. Can web designer works as a graphic designer? Of course yes, if he or she had creative side, and so the same with graphic designer works as a web designer.

Find anything and everything: The new revolution for online shopping

2008-05-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

I continued my article about guide for designer to sell online. If you like to design a consumer art, build an online store, and sell t-shirt or hat. And now, when you have stated your business categories, launched your first business, what next you have to do? Of course, you have to promote those products. One of the ways to promote your business is the internet. But unfortunately, many sites told that you have to paid for your placement. Traditional shopping sites will only show you stores that have PAID for placement. Not with Shopwiki. It will give a shopper everything. Of course you have to maintain your budget well. Do not spend your advertisement budget on paid placement. Try to search other sites that free, like ShopWiki. ShopWiki revolutionizes online shopping, since it finds every store on the internet by crawling. So, you can promote your store, and maintain your advertisement budget there.

Here is the example: if you produce t-shirt, then you can go to the clothing page. Here we can see that shopwiki refer to some categories there, clothing for women, clothing for men, accessories, children’s clothing, and clothing for sport. Next, let’s see if we go to the clothing for women, you can find some featured articles (ex. seasonal forecast), following the trend, designer fashions, or shop by item. There are also a lot of categories beside clothing, like gift guides, accessories, health and beauty, home and garden, computer and software, electronics, to Video Games category that contain a lot of information about video games products, like Xbox 360. So, let’s find anything and everything, with the new revolution for online shopping.

Steel buildings, a new innovation of construction technique

2008-04-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the innovation of technology, because now we can make a building with the simplest technique using this new steel buildings material. This is good news for every engineer, architect, building constructor and related professional field. We can now construct a building that has zero maintenance, superior in strength, corrosion resistant and features an attractive appearance using future steel. It comes with a complete line of pre-engineered, pre-fabricated metal and steel components for any use. The construction of these steel buildings is very simple, easy to use, and applicable with any custom design. Future steel is pre-engineered, whether your building will be plan in narrow or wide section area, you make the choice. This metal buildings material can be applied to build a garage building, a barn, a shelter, and even a hangar.

The construction of these steel buildings includes several accessories and options. Future steel is pre-fabricated, it means that every steel sheet products is already well fabricated, and so with the accessories and options like foundations, insulation, doors, extensions, end /front walls, partitions, skylights, and ventilators, everything was made from the high quality steel. The steel itself has warranty against perforation for a full 30 years, fire resistant, 10 to 14 degrees cooler in the summer than other building materials, thicker than usual steel materials, rust resistant, and has excellent heat reflectivity. So, if you want to construct a building that has zero maintenance, superior in strength, corrosion resistant and features an attractive appearance, start using this future steel, right away!

Tips on minimize risk when financing in real estate

2008-04-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

Raising money is one of the most crucial elements in real estate investment. It is good if we have available money to be invested. But, it is a nice investment when you can use other people money to work for you. Here are some tips for you to attract lenders to give you loan, so you can minimize the risk when financing in real estate: 1) Make lenders want to do business with you. If you have a good credit record, banks will be willing to loan you money. So, remember this trick, “bank will lend you money when you don’t necessarily need it”. 2) Borrow as much as you can, for as long as you can. The key of a successful investment strategy is to have extra money on hand, because when there is an available opportunity that you know will be a good investment, you can concentrate this idle money there. 3) Borrow from a lender with whom you already have a relationship with. It means that you need to develop a working relationship with one or more commercial lender if you have a sincere interest to be in this real estate business, and, maintain that relationship. 4) Don’t sweat the details. It means that every lender -for example a bank- have their own ways in doing business. You have to accept their agreement, including interest rates, terms of payment, rights of payment, and maturity dates. Don’t be scared with them.

The last one is 5) you have to manage all of your loans in a good way. Sometimes people don’t realize that credit loan, or credit card is just temporary money they can have. They just think that of those credits are facilities given for them. People go to college, graduated, get the most promising job they can have, stayed there while they begin to take a loan or a credit card. They begin to spend all of available limit inside their credits for unnecessary things, like go to the night club, dinner at the best restaurant in town, have a rave party, or buy the latest branded item. Those are the example of the bad credit loans and bad credit credit cards maintenance.

Tips for Real Estate investor: How we learn, and how we prove ourself that we can

2008-04-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

For all of real estate investors, a good college education can really take us far in life. Sometimes, some people are looks smart but clueless when they deal with the real world. Others are street smart but can’t handle anything other than what they’re accustomed to. Knowledge is essential, but it certainly isn’t enough. We have to be able to act based on our knowledge. We must put it to work because the word: “action” is how we learn and how we prove our self that we can.

That’s why we have to find the right education which can teach us about this “action” word. Nouveau Riche University is the best answer for that. Noveau riche, that comes from the french words for “new rich”, is an educational environment that teaches us the way to create our own wealth using the time-tested. This university program provides foundational principles adhered to by all higher-education institutions.

We can learn about real estate business, and so with the practice in Nouveau Riche. This noveau riche can grew out of our desire in real estate business knowledge, trained by proven team of instructors. Nouveau Riche also provides home-study course option with residential real estate encyclopedia, workbooks and CDs that can be learned from home. So, if you want to know how you learn, and how you prove your self that you can, do your “action” today!

Guide for designer to sell online

2008-04-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

For people who work in creative fields, there are always a little difficult to sell or spread a business, because there just a little bit of method that teaches engineer and designer to deliver our talent in business at the college. This can be a little obstacle because when we finish study there, we don’t know where to start our business.

Set up your business with “niche market”, that means you have to target your costumer in a little bit different way from what the usual way people sell. Take an example, if you like to design web, you can sell your idea to sell a web design service. But today, web design service looks like just become a common business, so instead of compete with other big corporate in web design service, you can sell your idea in a different way, create a company which sell a logo design service, this is not a common business service.

If you like to design a consumer art, build an online store, and sell t-shirt or hat there, but don’t sell a usual t-shirt or hat. Try to be specific, sell the vintage t-shirt, or underground hat. Paint the t-shirt with airbrush so it looks like graffiti art style, that just different from what the usual offer for t-shirt today. You can build your online store using ecommerce software. Browse the internet, search for the suitable software for design store, and pick up the one with shopping cart software.

the art of designing a fast website

2008-03-26T04:42:00.000-07:00

In my latest post before, I noticed that internet is one of the alternative media to promote your products or brand. Design your site in a good appearance, so people will like to come and visit your website many times and appreciate it well. In order to manage a good internet site, we have to maintain the development of this site constantly.

Design a website is just like designing a house. The better your house design, the better value you will gain. The better your website performance, the better profit you will gain. The architecture of your website has to be simple, tidy, and can be access. People like to surf from web to web, or do blog walking between sites in fast connection, and of course, people hate the slow access to a website.

Speaking about time to access your website, there are a lot of aspect can make effect on your web time access, those are depend on the internet connection speed they use to access your website, the web design and layout itself, and the from your hosting provider itself. The combination between designing a clean internet site, and the hosting provider will make your web time access faster. So, remove all the not needed stuffs from your space. And the last, make sure you already pick up the best web hosting service.

Maintain your advertisement budget well with Free Classified Ads

2008-03-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

From the designers and creative works point of view, there are several ways to create a good advertisement. For the first time, choose the right frame of your works, with the design, theme, the content and the budget. Next is to know the target of your client’s products or brands, it is important because sometimes advertising agencies failed to do their job because they don’t know their clients well.

Who says promote something will cost you a lot? A creative or unique advertisement is not always expensive, though some of the well maintained companies have lots of budgets at their promotional program, it is not wise to spoiled up your promotion team with plenty of sum. Spend your money in the good way. Besides promote in the well known medias like televisions, radios, or newspapers, you can try internet. Internet is one of the best alternative media to promote your products or brands. There are a lot of ways to promote or sell something here, with lots of varieties to choose, and we can set our budget alone there. Sometimes we can find it free, without any charge, for example is the Free Classified Ads.

This classified ads media provides a good solution for the clients to promote their products or brands. It has plenty of spaces, and well organized; from apartments/real estate, classified, personal, jobs, community, to the restaurant and movies, everything have been arranged there in a clear structure. The ads were classified by cities, like San Fransisco Classifieds or New York City Classifieds, so it will be easier to be find by the consumers, and it is a nice way to target our local market. The simple layouts make it easy to use for everyone. And most of all, of course, it’s free, so no matter what your budget, you can display your ads there without any charge.

The Arrangement of an Exhibition Lay-out

2008-03-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today, event is one of the ways to promote your company’s brand and increase the sales of your products. Whatever your products are, goods or services, consider follow some events held by the local or national event organizer, those are usually held inside the shopping malls or exhibition buildings. Like the name, the word ‘exhibition’ comes from the words ‘to exhibit’, ‘to come’, because there the event organizer want to invite a lot of people to come around to those place, so that the organizer will try to design that place to become more interesting and attractive so that it will increase costumers’ buying mood there.

As professionals related with the design and creative world, an architect or a designer should know a lot of aspects regarding to the arrangement of this exhibition events, because this is one of the key to create a successful event or exhibition. There are two main aspects related with this arrangement, one is the lay-out and the second is the combinations between arrangement of the products and the spaces to display them. We, designers, deal with tiny spaces, just between 2x4 meter square and even less. If we place or display the products there in the wrong way, this will be a total disaster, so, we have to be fully aware about the details there.

Merge the theme of the products you will display with the lay-out theme, in example, mix up ‘modern’ (the theme) and luxurious cars (as the products) with the lavish setting (as the lay-out theme) in your display space. A widely range of varieties can be found in arranging this trade show displays. The placement of truss, or banner stands as decorative elements, can be one of good ways to create an attractive focal point. Whatever the tools you include, you need to create a nice arrangement between the above mentioned elements for a successful exhibition.

ecommerce software: Solution for designers to sell online

2008-03-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the innovation of online network, because now designers and producers can get connected with thousand of their customers with online store. This is one of the good news because now people who work in creative fields, such as architects, home builder, interior designers and more can save time to promote and sell their products and services online through this ecommerce software. This software can be mix and match to fit with every details of the products’ theme. One of them is provided by ashop commerce, which provides shopping cart software. As a leading provider of hosted shopping cart software, ashop commerce offers solution to sell online. The software features is easy to set up, no graphic design skills required, no programming required, complete operational storefront, and has web based store administration.

With this online ecommerce software, we can choose which products and services that we want to include in our store and which ones are not. This model of online store provides online connection to the latest design products. Costumers can save their time in searching their desired products, add them to shopping cart, and go to checkout securely. This internet revolution is a nice improvement of the online technology.

Visiting Europe for Romantic Contemporary European Architecture and Lifestyle

2008-02-27T04:58:00.000-08:00

Europe is not only for big museums, old and classical buildings architecture, but also has a contemporary side. Some of the contemporary architecture that became popular style of architecture (includes that of the last few decades from the 1980s to the present) can be found in Europe. Most destinations in Europe have unique places to visit, like local music scene, entertainment venues, culture, contemporary art galleries, fashions and art exhibitions. Some of these events located in London, Dublin, Barcelona, Edinburgh, and Paris.

Frieze Art Fair, in Regent’s Park, London, provides an place to introduce and endorsed new and established artists to visitors from around the world. I noted in my latest post that Dublin also had tourist attraction and event there, such as midsummer festival, film festival and jazz festival (attached article). Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, held major festivals, like Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Barcelona, Spain with the great number of museums which cover different areas and eras, such as The National Museum of Art of Catalonia with it’s collection of Romanesque art, Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (which focuses on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art), also the Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum and Fundació Antoni Tàpies.

Do not forget Paris, the most popular tourist destination in the world. Not just with the Eiffel, Place de la Bastille or Champs-Élysées, but also with the modern and contemporary architecture buildings such as La Défense, the largest business centres in the world, Plaine Saint-Denis, great places for dancehalls and discotheques such as Guinguettes and Bals-concerts (with the Moulin de la Galette guinguette, Élysées-Montmartre and Chateau-Rouge dancehalls-gardens). Much of the clubbing in Paris happens in clubs like Le Queen, L'Etoile, Le Cab which are highly selective. Electronic music oriented clubs such as Le Rex, the Batofar (a boat converted into a club) or the Pulp is quite popular, where some of the world's best DJs play there.

There are several city hotels there in Europe which could be used as a starting point and accommodation in conjunction with a tourist visit to the most incredible contemporary art events, which can be found in Dublin Accomodation , London Accomodation , Edinburgh Accomodation , Paris Accomodation , and Barcelona Accomodation . A new high-speed train line that runs around most European countries can make it much faster and easier way for us to plan day trips to visit all of those events.

New Zealand Architecture and Lifestyle, great place to a romantic destination

2008-02-22T03:52:00.000-08:00

The architecture of the buildings in New Zealand looks different from buildings in Britain, or even nearby Australia. In the early of the modern age, the architects there seems creating their own way of designing a modern building, while New Zealand's architects of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century are better seen as working within an architectural tradition that spanned the world and as producing notable buildings within that tradition. Buildings in New Zealand create a unique atmosphere, especially for those who may concern with the architecture of unique buildings. The use of timber for buildings in the Gothic style gave New Zealand with the finest buildings, like the example of Old St Paul's in Wellington.

Fantastic urban panoramas can be found at Nugget Point Lighthouse, the top of Mount Eden, One Tree Hill in Auckland, Mount Victoria in Wellington, the top of the Port Hills in Christchurch and Flagstaff Hill in Dunedin. Hamner spring thermal, the natural place where we can enjoy the hot water there is also notable as a romantic place for a couple to visit. New Zealand's forests were inhabited by a diverse range of unique faunas, like the kakapo, the flightless moas (now extinct), four species of kiwi, and the takahē, all endangered by human actions. Unique birds and reptiles also can be found in New Zealand.

Furthermore, in the downtown area, The Ellerslie International Flower Show is also going to be very exciting place to create a wonderful event in such a beautiful city. This place is overwhelmed by the fantastic support from the local horticultural industry, as well as the general public place. Enjoy sightseeing and shopping around the local stores there in Wellington Lambtonquay. The Futuna Chapel, Govett Brewser gallery and Robert McDougal gallery are there between the most enjoyable places to visit.

New Zealand is a popular destination for a number of countries in Asia and worldwide. New Zealand was also said as one of the best overseas holiday destination, like from Cheaperthanhotels NZ or The Daily Telegraph poll. There are several city hotels there in New Zealand, which could be used as a starting point in conjunction with a tourist visit to the incredible landscapes, like Rotorua Hotels, Dunedin Hotels, Taupo Hotels, Napier Hotels, and Hamilton Hotels.

Travel to Ireland for romantic places and curious architecture buildings

2008-02-16T03:44:00.000-08:00

Architecture of the world news to Ireland

Ireland is number three of the largest island nation in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, famous with its nightlife and its tourist attractions, and is the most popular entry point for international visitors to Ireland. Dublin city centre is relatively a small area and can be navigated on foot, with most of the population living in sprawling suburbs. There are four interesting nice cities to visit here in Ireland; those are Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Galway.

Discover the water attractions in Ireland.
Because of the east of Ireland section separated by the Irish Sea, the island of Great Britain, so they were consists of a lot of rocks and interesting water attractions. There are thousands of kilometers of coastline you can visit here for scuba diver with sheltered harbors for beginner and steep rocky cliff faces for the more experienced ones. Water-skiers and wake boarders can also enjoy great facilities around the country.

Curious travelers can found great architecture buildings in Ireland
The architecture of Ireland is one of the most visible features in the Irish countryside - with remains from all eras since the Stone Age abounding buildings. A lot of classical buildings can be found there. Ireland is most famous for its ruined and intact Norman and Anglo-Irish castles, small whitewashed thatched cottages and Georgian urban buildings.

It seems like the Ireland government give supports the tourist sector well. Dublin City Council plans to build a new Luas and public transport bridge across the river Liffey from Marlborough Street to Hawkins Street. Also, the good news is we can reach Dublin’s city center by walking, because it is just a small area and can be navigated by foot. The tourist attraction held in there such as midsummer festival, film festival and jazz festival. They also prepare the tourist accommodation well, some information about Ireland hotels , Dublin hotels, Belfast hotels, Cork hotels and Galway hotels can be found in http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/Ireland/Dublin/.

Exchange your four green houses with one red hotel

2008-02-12T02:51:00.000-08:00

There are two basic categories for a hotel types, those are city hotel and the resort hotel. Several names related with the city hotel type, such as boutique hotel, and convention h o tel. So with the resort hotel type that often called vacation houses, cottages, resort and spa, etc.

Hotel can be said as an advance investment in real estate, because we have to gain severe relevant background and related knowledge to maintain in this building. You have to remember this monopoly principle: “exchange your four green houses with one red hotel”. This four green houses can be related with our own assets to have, that has to be the positive income for us. In planning and designing a hotel context, hotel is an accommodation building to be built in the city center, or in the relevant places such as recreational and vacation places.

From the building form, there are two categories related with a hotel, those are single building, building with one single building to accommodate every activities related inside, and complex mass buildings, those are hotels with partition arrangement of the building mass, including the facility inside.

From the building design, there are two basic categories delivered with hotel, those are built with modern architecture style and classic one. The modern architecture hotel often built with modern materials inside, such as Trump Tower or Ciputra Semarang Hotel, and several with the classic architecture style comes from beautiful classic ornaments like in amsterdam hotels, athens hotels, greece hotels, and prague hotels. Consider that which one comes within your mind, it should be a positive investment ahead. Picture: poolside of Trump Hotel, article edited from the book: wicaksono, andie, "Powering Real Estate Investment", Info comes from cheaperthanhotel.co.uk and several related literatures.

Summer Olympics stadium complex , Tokyo

2008-01-31T02:53:00.001-08:00

This is the great job doing by masterbuilder Kenzo Tange, the famous Japanesse architect, called The Summer Summer Olympics stadium complex, Tokyo. When we look it from the top, we can see that the architecture design of this building is like a stringray fish form. Read what Pritzker Prize citation for this building: “among the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century”. Masterpiece design, handled by brilliant maestro.

We already know Kenzo Tange was very experienced with structure, and so with this high tech architecture style. A lot of steel frame in the roof had been attached into one solid structural main core, formed and combined to be a unique sculpture. Tange used the main core as a vocal point, and then he stretched every single line at the bottom of it, to be like standing a camp. The used of steel blue color in the skin makes this building looks like tougher, matched with its surrounding environment. Tange liked to use exposed structures in his design, a n d s o w i t h this one. The material consist of many structural skin, combined into one form to be like a giant vocal point. Andie wicaksono article. © 2008. (picture from www.ktaweb.com)

Just one word, in my opinion: “creativity can emerge your wildest dream”

Design concept: ***** (I am jealous)

Materials : ***** (two thumbs up!, bravo!)

Publications: ***** (the legendary for both, for the architect, and the architecture)

How save is your construction work?

2008-01-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of common issues today related with the safety of construction works. Frank Gehry, one of the famous celebrity architect that being sued by MIT for his fatal design (see article related), the roof of the mangkang terminal construction that just collapse down and bring down 15 of its workers to the hospital (see attached article), and so on. As one of the main contractor here, I’ve already found that there are a lot of factors those can made these things happen, such as mismanagement of the project, low quality of the materials you have used, or even from the wrong design building placed there, or even, you choose the wrong architect for those project.

I just can hope that we -for every people related with the constructions field, the architects, contractors, interior designers, the project managers- always taking care of our works, because it just related with your reputations. Do not degrade the quality, nor with minimize materials you should have to be place. It will bring down your reputations, and people won’t use you again next if you do them. For the designers, do your job well, just like of what Kenzo Tange done, always preserve your design with surround environment, do not be over confidence, and always gather the consolidation and supervise the details in the field, so this embarrassing moment won’t be happen again. The construction works should always save for everyone, from the beginning of the project until the operation. Picture from yahoo and related media.

Get connected with designer products

2008-01-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the innovation of online network, because now designers can get connected with thousand of online product manager like designer pages. This is one of the good news because now architects and interior designers can save time to hunt products and materials. Hunting desired products can be pain, and usually takes more times and money to spend. With this online product manager, we can choose which products those we want to include in our projects and which ones are not. It cut off a lot of times. If we still unsure, whether we will include these products or materials in our projects or not, we can save it for a while in their workspace. It is more than a trade directory; it’s a live community of people working together. Look at the sample designer products below, a partition product, made from glasses and metal, manufactured by Haworth. This partition will be stored online in this product manager databases.

Designer Pages is the architecture and design trade's online connection to the latest design products. They collaborative community bridges, the gap between designers and suppliers so that professionals can spend less time product hunting and more time on their craft. Suppliers will post and maintain all product listings, and designers can save a product, add it to a workspace, share it with colleagues and request more information directly form the supplier. This is a good sample of project management for architects. Review from designerpages.com

King Abdullah International Garden (KAIG) Projects, Saudi Arabia

2007-12-17T05:34:00.000-08:00

This is the miracle job doing by Saudi Arabia. Known by the large dry dessert land there, was not a problem casts the magic-spell avadakedabra to change the dessert to be an oase. See what designbuild-network.com did with the headline there: “Hailed as one of the new 'seven wonders of the world' the King Abdullah International Gardens (KAIG) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a vast futuristic botanical garden and leisure complex of 160ha, which is to be constructed in the desert just outside the Saudi capital”. Each of the specialist environments in the gardens will allow visitors to travel through a period of time and actually recreates some pre-existing ecosystems based on actual environments which would have occurred on the site throughout time.

The gardens, as an architecture symbol there will also provide much more than a botanical history with facilities to show visitors to tour with the beauty of the world around them and what they can do to preserve it. The gardens three goals are to inform, to educate and to entertain. Nick Sweet is the project director and partner in charge of urban design at the Barton Willmore London. Barton Willmore as architects undertake the $170m project in a joint venture with civil engineers Buro Happold, sustainable development design group Emergy and the Natural History Museum (the Eden Project are also acting as advisors). Andie said, as a designer, architect, two thumbs up for this KAIG Design, well also with the concept to change the dessert to be an oase. Like the other famous Burj al Arab or the Burj Tower from middle east country, I think money is not the problem here. From the materials and publications, every line of aspects are well maintained. The promotion goes well like the design and the structure materials. Pictures from designbuild-network.com.

Design concept: *****(five stars, two thumbs up!)

Materials : ***** (nice elements!)

Publications: ***** (already famous)

Indonesia: The Rapid Estate Developments' Growth Nation

2007-12-12T04:29:00.000-08:00

Indonesia, the former Nation in south east Asia developing countries has just rapidly grown their real estate developments. This archipelago celebrity like nation has just spreads the property developments in several of the province. Jakarta, the capital city, held several Giant projects like the development of Regatta, in Pantai Mutiara.

Also in several cities (means: kota) there we can see a lot of new architectural buildings, landscapes, and nodes of attraction. A lot of malls, shopping centers, hotels and public spaces also can be seen in Semarang, the capital city of Jawa Tengah, Makassar, Manado, and Surabaya, like developed by tycoons like Ciputra, Carrefour's, the Swiss Belhotel chains, Novotel's, and more.
Don't forget with the Paris van Java, Bandung, that has just became the most favorable tourist attractions and shopping destinations with their Factory Outlets (FO) those spread like mushrooms in the rainy days there, even beating the other cities in other countries like Kuala Lumpur and even Singapore.
This is just also a good sign of quality and symbolizes of the nice jobs from their good governance, lead by the President Yudhoyono. The Indonesian government was re-constructed their financials sides aspects and provided secure lands and hopes for their people. The mass traffic and public transportations also become the main priorities to handle. New healthcare and the provision for better health for the common people are also the main points of the recent concern. Indonesia also become a new tour and travel destinations, because of the shock from the 1st and 2nd Bali Bomb Tragedy, the goverment has just try their best to turn down the bad aspects and obstacles, re-constructing the tourist atractions and provide a good influence for the land ownerships and investors.

Bryan Berg The Cards Constructor

2007-11-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

This is the unique way to be creative. Like Bryan Berg has done, this celebrities spends much of his life in creating house of cards. News from CNN said that Berg, the Guinness World Record-honored "Cardstacker," has devoted his career to building houses of playing cards -- and skyscrapers, domes, cathedrals and stadiums, too.
Berg does not use glue, tape or any other tricks to keep these card houses standing. That's what makes Berg's creations so jaw-dropping when people see them.
Berg latest achievement, which took about a month to build, is a record-setting skyscraper that stands 25 feet 9 7/16 inches tall. That tops the previous world record of 25 feet 3 inches, held also by Berg. The Iowa native, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been breaking world records for 15 years.
Berg isn't the only person who knows how to turn kings, queens and aces into floors, walls and roofs. He says people send him photos of their card creations all the time.
They may be learning the tricks of the trade from the master himself. Berg says he doesn't keep his card-stacking methods a secret. Indeed, he's revealed his techniques in a book, "Stacking the Deck: Secrets of the World's Master Card Architect."
Berg says he builds his card houses using a very methodical system. He doesn't randomly place cards here or there. He visualizes the structure and builds it using a type of repetitive geometry that resembles a honeycomb.
Berg's card stacking began at age 8 when he would watch his grandfather play cards. His grandfather wasn't an accomplished card stacker, only a card player. Still, Berg watched him build houses with a single deck of cards between games. Berg took up building card houses as one of his first hobbies.
In 1992, before he graduated from high school, Berg already had his first Guinness World Record for the tallest house of cards. He's held that record continuously since then. In 2004, he added a new Guinness World Record to his resume: world's largest card structure. Guinness created the category when Berg built a replica of Cinderella's Castle for Walt Disney World.
Berg first experimented with card houses at age 8 at his family's farm in Spirit Lake, Iowa. During a high school snow day he discovered a new technique, building using a honeycomb lattice rather than by leaning cards against each other, that allowed him to build large structures.
As an architect, Berg is possibly the only person in the world to make a full-time living stacking cards. Berg earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from Iowa State University in 1997, and served on the design faculty there for three years. In 2004, Berg earned his Master of Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (news and picture from yahoo, data from wiki).

Frank Gehry being sued by MIT

2007-11-07T04:39:00.000-08:00

Architect alert: famous architect Frank Gehry being sued by MIT for his cruel design! This is the breaking news I just read from yahoo, no critics, no review at this time. This is the notice for all of the architects around the world, to reconsider your design with the people live inside, and also with the climate. You don’t have to be famous, you don’t have to be smart, but most of all, use the emphatic. This celebrity is one of the bad example. Read the news below:

“BOSTON - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is suing renowned architect Frank Gehry, alleging serious design flaws in the Stata Center, a building celebrated for its unconventional walls and radical angles.

The school asserts that the center, completed in spring 2004, has persistent leaks, drainage problems and mold growing on its brick exterior. It says accumulations of snow and ice have fallen dangerously from window boxes and other areas of its roofs, blocking emergency exits and causing damage.

The suit says MIT paid Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners $15 million to design the Stata Center, which cost $300 million to build. It houses labs, offices, classrooms and meeting rooms.

"Gehry breached its duties by providing deficient design services and drawings," according to the suit, which also names New Jersey-based Beacon Skanska Construction Co., now known as Skanska USA Building Inc. The suit, filed Oct. 31, seeks unspecified damages.

Gehry Partners did not immediately respond to a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday, and did not respond to calls and e-mails Monday from The Boston Globe. A spokesman for MIT declined to comment because of the pending lawsuit.

An executive at Skanska's Boston office said Gehry ignored warnings from Skanska and a consulting company before construction that there were flaws in the design. "This is not a construction issue, never has been," said Paul Hewins, executive vice president and area general manager of Skanska USA.

Gehry's work includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles” (news and picture from yahoo)

Trump Tower-Chicago

2007-09-23T10:12:00.001-07:00

Located in downtown Chicago, this Trump Tower Chicago will be the second tallest skycrapper behind the Search Tower. As it names, this building is used to be developed by the famed Donald Trump. It will be finished in 2009. See the picture below. This building design deliver setback to give it a visual continuity with the surrounding skyline. The origin of the idea was combining three rectangular masses into one piece of mass. Trump is able to do a mixture between his building’s location and the environment beside. He combines a solid shape with the water element. The waterfront area in front of that building has just creates a beautiful landscape toward the view to site. The next step, he thinks about vocal point. His building should be the most interesting vocal point at all. So, then, he choose a large glasses material to cover the skin of the building. Nice creation! Most of all, this building have a nice figure to stand in downtown Chicago, to be one of the interesting vocal points of view.

Picture courtesy of: citybloc.com

Design: **** (this is good)

Materials: ***** (the luxurious one!)

Publications: ***** (well done!)

Ciputra-Semarang

2007-09-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

This is the Ciputra Hotel, Semarang. As it names, this building’s function is a hotel, and combining with the mall inside. Located in the downtown of Semarang City, that building becomes one of the most recent visiting places by Semarang citizen. From jalan Pahlawan to the city center, Ciputra Hotel has just creates a nice setback with the Simpang Lima court located in front of it. Designing with the post-modern style, this building has shading canopies to prevent the radiation of direct sun light into the rooms. Post modern architecture is one of the suitable styles to be adopted in Indonesia, a tropical region. I was recently visiting this building several times, because I had been a member of SBEC cardholder. Just move inside, and you will se a lot of leakage in the roof. I thought that this building is not well maintains. So that with the cracking in the structure. This is not good for the corporate image. They should do better than that!

Design: **** (nice combination with the wheater)

Materials: * (o-ow, it was cracking!)

Publications: **** (already famous before)