In a rapidly growing urban world, slums and informal settlements provide shelter for a sixth of the planet’s population and unless effective action is taken they are likely to become the most common form of dwelling on earth by 2030.

Parallel to this lies another inconvenient truth that architecture as a profession is affecting no more than 5% of what is built every year around the world.

This sounds like the loudest call for Architecture to re-assume its political content and broaden its field of action, or to eventually accept, as a discipline, its irrelevancy in facing new and inevitable urban challenges.

Id love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below. How can we address these urban conditions and  how do we make a difference?

This post was written by Nick Sowers. Nick is practicing the construction of space with sound and 2×4s in the SF Bay area. He is finishing an M.Arch at UC Berkeley this May after a year of traveling around the world studying militarized landscapes, bunkers, US bases, memorials, and more. Visit his blog

I first became interested in the intersection of sound and architecture while traveling in Japan in 2003. At Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan, there is a famous hallway which makes use of an uguisubari or Nightingale Floor. It’s a simple construction technique where nails are inserted in the floor-boards abutting a small metal bracket, so that it is impossible to walk on the floor without making it squeak. It was a passive ninja-defense system: assuming that a ninja would always find a way past the guards and into the palace, s/he would never get to the innermost chambers undetected.

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You can listen to a Nightingale Floor at Daikakuji, also in Kyoto, here:

If you are interested in sound, naturally you become interested in the technology of sound recording. I bought my first pair of binaural stereo microphones in 2004, a few months before beginning a trip to the Mediterranean. I had spent many hours listening to field recordings including one by a binaural recording enthusiast who walked around the San Francisco Bay over a 24 hour period and edited the piece down to about ten minutes. It was an experience unlike anything I had previously known. I was hooked by this ability for binaural field recording to collapse linear time while generating a consistent 3d image of space.

I went on to record the sounds of Islamic cities like Istanbul and Fez, Morocco. The most profound spaces were not in the bazaars but on the roofscape. The muezzin’s call to prayer in the early morning emanates from multiple minarets in and out of phase with each other, reflecting off of thousands of buildings before reaching my ears. This experience produced in me the desire to understand the urban soundscape. How could this phenomenon not only be described but designed?

There is a history, of course, to the design of soundscapes and it relates to when people started to realize “Hey, cities are loud and we should do something about it!”. The regulation and design of sound is an early 20th century phenomenon.

Emily Thompsen’s 2004 book The Soundscape of Modernity documents both the progression of noise abatement and the advancement of noise-absorbing materials. The culmination of this process is the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where reverberation–the sonic signature of a space–is eliminated to the greatest degree possible, and instead the sound experience is mediated by the loudspeaker. The new field of acoustic science simultaneously made sound the subject of much architectural research and labeled sound as a deleterious effect, an unwanted agent like smoke or mold. (The decibel was invented at this time as a unit-less measure of sound intensity, describing the smallest change in volume that the human ear could detect.) By the 1930s many of the tools for measuring and controlling sound were in development, and the logical extreme was not that sound would be this highly scripted, celebrated quality of buildings but rather it would be regulated, mitigated, and divorced from the space in which it is heard. I have embarked upon a trajectory to challenge this tenet of Modern Architecture.

Once I had my pair of microphones, I began to hear things that I never realized I tuned out. Try this experiment: keeping the levels constant, record a string of experiences throughout a day, as you move through a city and in and out of buildings, and then play it back. You might discover that there is a wide spectrum of sound that our brains selectively eliminate. The act of recording foregrounds your peripheral hearing. Often the recording gives us too much spectral information, and we must go through a digital process to lift the intended sound out of the background noise. But what if instead of systematically eliminating that sound, we seek to amplify it, and to make sense of it.

While I was training my ears to open up to the rich texture of a city’s background noise, I made a discovery which still resonates with me today. This was at the Los Angeles Cathedral by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo.

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The building is adjacent to the 101 freeway. The courtyard is separated from the freeway by a transparent noise barrier, engraved with angels (a holy noise barrier). I was walking around the courtyard, and then I approached the building, making my way to the entrance. I brushed past the exterior wall of the cathedral’s nave and almost missed a gentle rush of sound coming from above. I looked up at the projecting soffit, wondering what it was that I just heard.

I stood there dumbfounded. The sound of the freeway, defracting over the top of the barrier, was being reflected down into a band of space about one foot thick, maybe about six inches off of the face of the building. A personal sound-shower. How many other buildings contain surprises like this? I’m sure Moneo didn’t design this effect into the building, but it’s my favorite part. You’ll never read about it because everyone else was oohing and aahing over the alabaster windows.

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I’ve reached back into my archives and pulled out some recordings from that day. In this track I move from the outside into the courtyard where the sounds of the street can still be heard and then into the sanctified, noiseless space of the interior. The ceiling as you can see above is acoustically treated. The interior form has nothing to do with sound, except to eliminate it.

Designing with sound has never been something I fully considered until now. I remember sitting through the acoustics portion of building sciences in undergrad thinking “well this is interesting but if I do ever design an auditorium or a concert hall, I’ll just hire an acoustic engineer to figure this stuff out.” Like most consultants that the architect hires, their role is often subordinate, not partaking in the design process but rather left with extremely specific tasks like “figure out how I will light the lobby in this particular way.” So if sound is to be more of a player in the design of buildings, architects should be investigating its potentials, just as we obsess over light and visual phenomena through models and renderings. Juhani Pallasmaa has written extensively on the imbalance of seeing with respect to our other senses–touching, smelling, and hearing among them. But we still need to build the tools or adapt those that acoustic engineers use to produce specific effects. Sound in space is more than a poetic notion – it is an atmosphere which all of us inhabit, which can have unwanted health effects if unregulated. Sound is political. Sound is also a layer of construction in our cities.

As the artist James Turrell, like the architect Louis Kahn before him, considers light to be the ultimate building material, what is to be said of sound? I wonder if the end-game is to design a building with sound as the only material. A ‘Blur Building’ of noise. I call it a Soundscraper.

“In the olden days, ninjas would develop their strength by wrestling with dogs, playing video games, and just plain hanging out. Fortunately, not much has changed.“ (excerpt from: Real Ultimate Power : The Official Ninja Book)

NinjaFuel is a theme for posts that will keep you and your Ninja senses alert. NinjaFuel combines recent spottings in the vast online space, funny links, links to my fav tunes, and general Ninja related goodies.

Interesting spottings:

• Got the Avatar Blues? No worries! Ecorazzi presents, Pandora On Earth: 12 Places And Things That Remind Us Of Avatar.
• As the World Burns: Interesting article about how Big Oil and Big Coal mounted one of the most aggressive lobbying campaigns in history to block progress on global warming, via Rolling Stone.
• Tokyo studio Aberrant Architecture have proposed a mobile office canteen so that people working from home in residential areas can feel like they’re part of a big company, via Dezeen.
• Sydney based Gerard Reinmuth of TERROIR has been featured as an artist on the Adam and Eve Projects website. Other featured artists include colleagues Tatiana Bilbao, Bjarke Ingels, Chris Bosse and Nick Cave.
• Inhabiting a Piece of Art: It’s Not Always So Pretty: Short (20minute) Films by Ila Beka and Louise Lemoine look at the difficulties of living in an architectural masterpiece — Heartfelt, thought-provoking and at times hilariously funny. Be sure to check out the videos.
• Deep deep down town move: A short video of a town being moved house by house to escape mine-induced sinkholes, Amazing clip and music,  surreal but amazing. Via BLDGBLG’s twitter feed – Wonderful find!
  
• Robocalypse Alert: $32 million Defense Contract Awarded to Boston Dynamics to build BigDog (The loud all-terrain prototype robot).
• For comic lovers, Credit Card Finder have put an interesting spin on Personal Finance with their ‘PF Comics’
• Study finds Women take significantly longer than men to decide whether or not they find something funny- The comedy circuit via new scientist.

Ninjas to follow on twitter:

• @liam_young is an independent designer and critic, together with Darrly Chen and Liam young are the f0unders of Tomorrows Thoughts Today (TTT).
• @noisyrobot provides some awesome and broad content on Architecture, Music and Astronomy.

Blogs you should be subscribed to:

• Things Magazine
• We make money not Art
• m.ammoth.us

Hilarious Videos:

• Funny episode of Klay World where the ‘klay people’ stumble upon some pancake! “I like to sit on my pancakes…”
• Brett takes a look at the most popular viral videos of 2009 in the Viral Video Film School Final Exam.

Tunes:

• The Flatliners – What the hell happened to you
• Sugar Army – Acute
• Millencolin – Penguins and Polar Bears

That is all for this week from the Archi-Ninja dojo. I always love hearing from my readers with guest contributions or suggestions to include on Archi-Ninja. If you have a suggestion, any ideas, or feedback please e-mail me! e: linda@archi-ninja.com

Sensei Linda *bows*

I was really excited this morning to see a proposal by Buro North, Peter Bennett and Squint Opera. Their futuristic proposal is a reuse concept for Melbourne’s ill-fated Southern Star Observation Wheel. Under their vision, the currently defunct Wheel is converted into a tram depot for flying steam powered trams. And if you remember, the future is of cause, where we all live and travel in the sky ; )

Flying Tram Depot

Their work questions in the most fun way, how to efficiently adapt, reuse and re-function outdated infrastructure.  Their website features the images in super high res so you can zoom around their proposal. Check it out Here.

Lorenzo Bini  co-founded studiometrico in 2004. The Architecture created by his firm emerges from a playful and careful understanding of materality. His portfolio showcases amazing sensitivity to site, local culture and construction technique.

Interviews studiometrico

1. Which of your projects has been the most rewarding and why?

LB: The most rewarding project so far has been the ‘bastard store’. We have been (and we still are) involved in so many ways in this project, there have been so many lucky coincidences and positive feedback that it’s almost scary to think that this project is now over… It’s that sort of feeling you get when you have just finished a very good book: What shall I read next?

The Bastard Store

2. Your recent project, the Bastard Store is a finalist for the ArchDaily building of the year Awards. What aspects of the project make it successful?

LB: It’s the refurbishment of a beautiful existing cinema theatre from the 50’s, so the environment it’s kind of special. It’s the ‘dream come true’ of a bunch of very good friends, who turned their main passion (skateboarding) into a profession. It has been an adventure and a big challenge, it’s a place that contains everything that belongs to the world of its owners. It’s a working place that people never really want to leave… it’s honest and without pretence, a bit like those old houses full of things collected in years. It is an unique place in the world… well, at least everyone is surprised it exists, specially in Italy.

The Bastard Store

3. How do you think architecture will change in the next 50 years?

LB: Architecture is not going to change because it is already constantly changing… It is like ‘Contemporary Art’: at a certain point someone decided that art was contemporary, or ahead of its times, than it will just stay that way…. always changing and eternally repeating.

4. What changes would you like to see in the Architectural profession?

LB: Being able to be in different places at the same time would be a huge improvement for architect’s lives. If only architects could clone themselves and simultaneously be on site, at the  office, with clients and with students…

5. Do you think that Architecture tends to be trendy today?

LB: I think there are many buildings being built today that demonstrate a big emphasis on the way they look, rather than on the way they are built or the way they are spatially organised.

6. What would students learn from reviewing the body of architectural projects you have completed? Do you have any advice for upcoming students?

LB: Most of the students would probably be confused by looking at what we do, then they might want to change profession. Few of them might be a bit masochists, so they’d appreciate the fact that we like what we do…

7. What are you most proud of in your career or any aspect of life?

LB: A happy inhabitant of a place you have built is highly rewarding… apart from that I am proud to remain on the market.

8. Who do you think is the most overrated architect, and who do you think deserves more credit/recognition?

LB: I think it’s nonsense that Zaha Hadid has won the Pritzker Prize and Kazuyo Sejima hasn’t!

9. What aspect of Architecture do you find most important? What is fundamental to your practice and your design process?

LB: The most important aspects of Architecture for me are the construction principle and the quality of the space that is generated. Passion, dedication and optimism are fundamental in the design process.

10. What inspired you to become involved in Architecture? What inspires you now?

LB: I decided to study Architecture because I wanted to spend my time making drawings after years of reading and writing… I had no clue about what being an Architect meant, so I guess I have been lucky.

11. What other interests do you have?

LB: If I have to pick one thing I would say music. My own world wouldn’t be the same without Nick Cave, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Sonic Youth…

12. What is your favourite time of the day, and why?
LB: Just before the sun rises and right after the sun sets. When it’s neither bright, nor dark

13. What would be your ultimate design project?

LB: My own house would be the ultimate challenge, but also a nightmare. I’d also like to design a public swimming pool…

14. What are you doing at the moment?

LB: I am keeping my finger crossed waiting for the result of the last competition we have delivered, in the meantime we are developing the design of an ice cream shop in a small park.

15. Who would you most like to work with on a project?

LB: A design session with Oscar Niemeyer would be the best…

London Gallery

Gardens between apples and trees

Zum

House with Gardens and Caves

I’d like to thank Lorenzo for participating in the interview, it was a pleasure. If you’re interested in getting in touch or finding out more about his projects, e-mail Lorenzo at lorebini@studiometrico.com

I also featured the Bastard Store in a recent post titled 7 Excellent Examples of Adaptive Reuse. Check it out here.

If you are interested in being interviewed and featured on Archi-Ninja, please contact me.

I am fascinated with the concept of a ‘city centre’ primarily because Sydney doesn’t have one! (unless we count George Street which is a big ass congested road) and also because of their public contribution to city. I have recently come across two conflicting proposals for the historic Scottish city of Aberdeen.

Different plans have been developed to revive the area and attract more people to the city centre:

Option one – Development and preservation: has been proposed by Peacock Visual Arts and includes a new contemporary art centre that sits against the existing slopes of the gardens, leaving the site mostly intact. The proposal has full planning permission and most of its funding in place.

VS

Option two – Development and more development: Currently being looked into is that of Sir Ian Wood and ACSEF, who wish to infill the historic gardens with a new concrete square, the proposal demolishes the gardens and the Denburn road and railway line. The project currently has no planning permission and still needs to secure significant amounts of public and private money.

To compare both projects in detail visit here.

I am always in full support of breaking convention however, I think the Architecture industry has a much greater responsibility than that proposed in option 2. We should at times consider preservation and development above ‘demolition’ and ‘in-fill’ solutions. Above all i think we have greater social and environmental responsibility; projects like the New York High Line are a great example where development, preservation and public activation are of equal interest. The Peacock Visual Arts development has a similar intention which is why I support option 1.

There is currently a grass roots opposition campaign against option 2 which is  generating some attention. You can check it out here.

Id love to see your opinion in the comments below.

What’s the difference between a ninja and a trottoir roulant? One we know; the other is a complicated moving walkway system first introduced in Paris in 1900. Don’t get mixed up, though – the trottoir roulant isn’t your typical airport walkway, designed to move groups of sluggish Americans (usually) from one domestic gate to the next. The trottoir roulant is, however and in fact, the ninja of moving walkways: avant garde, complex, multi-faceted, able to operate at multiple speeds and sometimes, even, in multiple directions.

The trottoir never quite picked up as much speed as it could have, though plans for walkways across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York were vaguely thrown around at the beginning of the century, while thirty years even before that, a local wine seller named Alfred Speer (no relation?) tried to convince the good people of Manhattan that what they really needed was a moving sidewalk. HG Wells got ahold of the idea and wrote about it in a short story; the engineers of London’s Underground built the Travelator; and in 2003, a Troittoir Roulant Rapide was unveiled in Paris’ Montparnasse Metro station (only to be taken out of service in May of last year.)

What can we learn from this? First, that laziness knows no bounds. Second, that not all super-stellar ideas can be built. And third, that when it comes to moving walkways, it might be better to think out of the box about where these trottoirs might actually come in handy. Herewith, then, we offer you the Ultimate Moving Walkway Guide, Ninja-Style

1. The Guggenheim New York

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The Pitch: Much has been made of the exhibition design in this Upper East Side Manhatan museum. You walk in, see a big atrium, and then a ramp, going up. The obvious choice is to walk up to the friendly ticket-taker, give up your paid-for (ninjas are ruthlessly honest, after all) ticket, and head on up the show. Problem is, architect Frank Lloyd Wright actually intended for people to take the elevator up to the top and walk down. Some exhibitions at the Guggenheim have only worked if visitors start at the top and head down; others have been designed to operate chronologically, starting form the bottom. Most of the time, people end up just confusedly wandering on through the space, starting at the top, the bottom, the middle. A perfectly installed trottoir roulant would render all these problems irrelevant, while still, being reversible in direction, allowing for at least two exhibition takes.

Upsides: Easy to install; the space is practically begging for it; Frank Lloyd Wright would probably roll over in his grave.

Downsides: Art should sometimes be looked at with a leisurely pace; the museum would lose its sense of easy ambling; Frank Lloyd Wright would probably roll over in his grave.

2. Sagrada Familia

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The Pitch: This Barcelona church, designed by Antonio Gaudi, has been under construction for the last million years and will continue to be for the next thousand. (Note: numbers not accurate). Thing is, visitors are undeterred by its incompleteness and just want to come gawk at the millions (numbers accurate) of mosaic parts. And the problem is, the most thrilling parts of the building are up at the top. Solution? A moving walkway that weaves in and out of the eighteen bell towers, so that people can get right up close to all that detail work. It’s one thing to see the four pillars of the Nativity Façade from down on the ground; it’s quite another to get right up in there, ninja-style.

Upsides: Easier access to great art; the design’s just crazy enough for some airborne walkways to slip right in; it would be a “familia” process.

Downsides: The church might become more Blade Runner, less Barcelona; the symbology would get thrown out of wack; What Would Gaudi Do?

3. Villa Savoye

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The Pitch: As Le Corbusier wrote of the ramp in the Villa Savoye, it produces “ a gradual ascent from the pilotis, creating totally different sensations than those felt when climbing stairs. A staircase separates one floor from another; a ramp links them together.” What Corb forgot is that the process of walking up a ramp is not so unlike the process of walking upstairs; footfalls separate from each other, creating a series of isolated movements instead of one smooth ninja ascent. The perfect fix? Install a trottoir roulant in this Poissy House, and glide straight from French soil to the calisthenics-appropriate roof.

The Upside: It all started in France anyway; this would be a physical iteration of Corb’s super-futuristic mentality; increased space for jumping jacks.

The Downside: This is the Villa Ninja-Freakin Savoye! Not meant for such frivolities.

4. CityCenter Las Vegas

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The Pitch: This latest mega (possibly megalo-) – billion-dollar project to hit the Las Vegas strip opened just a few short weeks ago to a level of fanfare that made it feel like we were all back in the heady weekly-groundbreaking days of 2006. What better idea, then, to travel all the way back in time to turn-of-the-century Paris and install a moving walkway around this multi-building complex? It could start at Jenny Holzer’s spectacular installation, Vegas, in the underground parking garage of the Aria, move up the ramp to pass by Rafael Vinoly’s Vdara, and curve back around past Nancy Rubins’ canoe sculpture, Big Edge. For extra credit, the walkway could jump into Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum-reminiscent Crystals shopping center and climb up the side of David Rockwell’s treehouse. After all, what good are architectural angles if you can’t stick yourself to a moving walkway/wall and play Don’t Touch The Floor?

The Upside: Vegas is a city of such wack-tastic scale that even the sharpest-eyed ninja can get temporally confused: a walkway would help diminish that sense of Sisyphean no-progress.

The Downside: With all the Sirio Maccioni food and free-if-you’re-gaming cocktails, Vegas visitors probably need all the exercise they can get.

5. Salk Institute

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The Pitch: This Louis Kahn building was rendered particularly infamous in his son Nathaniel’s movie, My Architect, in which the relatively estranged offspring roller-skated all over the concrete plaza. Imagine, then, if Nathaniel could have done the same curving swoops, the same leg extensions, the same balletic moves, without having to worry about catching his skates on an errant paternal crack. Imagine, in other words, a series of moving walkways, wending every which way, allowing riders to perform leaps, arabesques, and demi detournes.

The Upside: Architecture with this much space is practically crying out for some version of parkour; Kahn might have appreciated it; the Salk Institute scientists could probably use a little fun.

The Downside: Walkways would remove that sense of absolute mobility and freedom; the younger Kahn would have to deal with his father issues alone in a crowd; the Salk Institute scientists probably don’t need any more distraction.

While it might seem implausible that any of these additions will ever see the light of construction, the point is not to focus on what the trottoir roulant can do for you. Focus, instead, on what you can do for the trottoir roulant, and on seeing these buildings through the lens of play, engagement, and general ninja-tastic awesomeness. Architecture has never been static; the idea of a moving walkway is just another reminder.

“When Paris hosted the Exposition Universelle in 1900, it unveiled its vision for the future of transport. Below ground, the city’s stylish new Metro made its debut, while above ground was something more avant garde. The trottoir roulant was a moving walkway that circled the fair in a 3-kilometre loop, its articulated wooden segments “gliding around like a wooden serpent with its tail in its mouth”, according to one reporter. Nearly 7 million visitors hopped on. A few even brought folding chairs, which proved useful when one woman gave birth in transit. Her child was promptly christened Trottoir Roulant Benost. A new kind of traveller had been born.” Check out the full Story Here.

The below video, filmed at the Exposition in 1900 is playful display of human curiosity.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock – which is most un-ninja-like – then you’ve certainly heard about the Burj Khalifa (formally known as the Burj Dubai) tower designed by Chicago-based architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The Burj Khalifa is a building that breaks many records; not only has it claimed the title of tallest skyscraper in the world, but it is also the tallest structure ever built by man, soaring 828 meters or 2,717 ft to the top of its spire. It also boasts the world’s fastest elevators—they can travel up to 64 km/h or 40 mph—to service the Burj’s 160 floors, which include the first Armani hotel and residences, office space, the world’s highest a swimming pool on the 76th floor, the world’s highest outdoor observation deck on the 124th floor and the world’s highest mosque on the 154th floor.

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Behind the Burj’s glimmering aluminum and glass facade and the fireworks and fanfare of the opening ceremony lies the untold story and the statistics you don’t read:

Low Working Conditions:

It probably comes as no surprise that workers received extremely low pay in return for risking their lives to build the $1.5 billion USD tower. Around 10,000-12,000 workers, mostly poor migrants from South Asia, built the Burj. With no laws governing minimum wages in the United Arab Emirates, some workers reported making less than $10 USD a day, according to a Human Rights Watch Study. It is also common practice for employers in Dubai to confiscate workers’ passports so they won’t leave the country before they’ve completed their duties.

Number of On-site Deaths:

Although many safety precautions were taken in the construction of the Burj Khalifa, it seems almost impossible that there was only one reported construction fatality. According to a spokesman for the developer, Emaar, a man fell to his death in 2007. However, the Human Rights Watch Study speculated that this was a cover-up, omitting deaths related to “heat exhaustion, overwork and suicide.”

Real Estate Values:

Emaar Properties recently claimed that 90 percent of the building had been sold, however it is not clear how much of it will be occupied. A spokeswoman refused to comment on whether buyers have walked away from deals at Burj due to the economic slump. On average, rents in Dubai have fallen between 30 and 60 percent in the last two years, which is consistent with rates for the Burj Khalifa apartments. According to Bloomberg News, “apartment prices in the tower have fallen to less than half of the 10,000 dirhams ($2,700) a square foot that they reached at the 2008 peak.”

The Storm Machine:

German newspaper Der Spiegel speculated that “the tower is so enormous that the air temperature at the top is up to eight degrees celsius lower than at the base. If anyone ever hit upon the idea of opening a door at the top and a door at the bottom, as well as the airlocks in between, a storm would rush through the air-conditioned building that would destroy most everything in its wake, except perhaps the heavy marble tiles in the luxury apartments.” Hyder Consulting, part of the Burj Khalifa project team, denies this claim. While the theory holds some merit and the technical term is called the “stack effect,” air locks have been incorporated and secure so that this condition would never occur.

Sustainability:

No one would presume such a massive building would be “good,” for the environment, but SOM incorporated several sustainable strategies into the design. For example, a condensate recovery system will reduce the need for municipal water for tenant use and landscaping. They estimate that it will recover a volume of water equivalent to that of 14 Olympic-sized swimming pools per year.

Still, Arabian Business reports that the tower will require a total of 960,000 liters or 250,000 gallons of water per day and during peak demand, the electricity needed is “equal to burning 500,000 100-watt light bulbs concurrently.” But how long can the Burj Khalifa last before it burns out? According to Project Manager Greg Sang, the tower was designed to last about 100 years. While that is a decent lifespan for such a tall building, it pails in comparison to the other wonders of our world.

Fascinating Facts:

• During the peak in the design of the tower, SOM’s Chicago office had a team of 100 employees working on the project, as well as others in Dubai.

• According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the tower is comprised of 330,000 cubic meters or 11.6 million cubic feet of concrete, which weighs as much as 100,000 elephants, to put it in perspective, as well as 39,000 tonnes or 86,000 pounds of steel rebar.

• It takes three months to clean the windows from top to bottom. While the cleaning carousels may be technologically advanced, the window washers still use a traditional squeegee with soapy water.

• The external surface of the tower is equivalent to the area of 17 football fields or 25 American football fields.

• The top of the tower sways an estimated 1.5 meters, or the height of the average person, and is visible from 95 km or 60 miles away.

If anyone has some more facts to share about the Burj Khalifa please add them into the comments. I hope you learn’t something new about the tower which is without a doubt the largest Architectural feat to occur within my lifetime.

“In the olden days, ninjas would develop their strength by wrestling with dogs, playing video games, and just plain hanging out. Fortunately, not much has changed.“ (excerpt from: Real Ultimate Power : The Official Ninja Book)

NinjaFuel is a theme for posts that will keep you and your Ninja senses alert. NinjaFuel combines recent spottings in the vast online space, funny links, links to my fav tunes, and general Ninja related goodies.

Interesting spottings:

• Exhibition: Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum runs from February 12-April 28, 2010. Art trap was recently featured over at BLDG BLOG and looks like an amazing submission. Submissions were received from all over the world from a wide range of artists, designers, and architects, including emerging as well as established practitioners.
• Inhabitat asked some big thinkers to share their Green Design predictions for 2010!Alan Chochinov Editor-in-Chief of Core77 looks forward to 2010 as the year for social change.
• Jack Self from Millennium People rounds up his top 20 moments from the last 10 years. Including the Britney + Madonna kiss.
• In another round up, anArchitecture recaps the decade in architecture 2000-2009.
• Marco Casagrande builds a  bug dome. “The cocoon is a weak retreat for the modern man to escape from the strength of the exploding urbanism in the heart of Shenzhen”.
• A very revealing article by Owen Hatherly claims that Sustainability is a dangerous mirage. “Even in Dubai, the language of greenwash is used to distract us from the real design issues.”
• Plans for barangaroo, Sydney are released. Critics have dubbed the worst of ”Dubai architecture”.
• Worst Archiecture of the last decade goes to Daniel Libeskind’s addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, titled “both ugly and useless.” Not sure this is the worst?

Ninjas to follow on twitter:

• @Jack_Self is the editor and founder of Millennium People. He investigates Architecture, City, Psychogeography and Landscape. I am a regular reader and love his fist full of links section.
• @marcustrimble is the founding architect of Sydney-based firm Super Colossal. His blog is highly influential on a local and international spectrum. With 2009 officially over we can see if his predictions correct? Indeed 2010 will be better.

Blogs you should be subscribed to:

• My favorite blogs were recently featured in the ‘Top 9 Ninja Characteristics of Awesome architecture blogs’ you should defiantly subscribe to the following: Arch Daily, AMNP, A Daily Dose of Architecture, Inhabitat, Super Colossal, Designboom, BLDGBLOG, City of Sound, Dezeen.

Hilarious Videos:

• ‘Sexist’ and ‘incestuous’ Toyota Yaris advert was dumped from Australian TV. Never the less a funny video which was taken a little too seriously.

Tunes:

• The View – Superstar tradesman
• Steriophonics – Mr Writer
• Jebediah – Military Strongmen

That is all for this week from the Archi-Ninja dojo. I always love hearing from my readers with guest contributions or suggestions to include on Archi-Ninja. If you have a suggestion, any ideas, or feedback please e-mail me! e: linda@archi-ninja.com

Sensei Linda *bows*