dysturb.net

Rotterdam through wallpaper*

Martin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:08:07 +0000

thank you for the link Melisa!

Experimenta Design 09 Lisboa

Thomas — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:01:14 +0000

Experimenta Design Lisboa Locations

As mentioned below, EXD09 is going to kick off soon.

I am especially looking forward to the talks with Alejandro Aravena and Julien de Smedt on 9th September and Konstantin Grcic and Giulio Cappellini on the 12th. I’ll also have a closer look at the public space project at Jardim de Santos and the project towards a new criticism in design and architecture ‘Stop & Think’ – read more on that in the EXD’09 Detailed Program (pdf).

Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model

Thomas — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:17:01 +0000

Work model for the memorial for the “March Heroes” by Walter Gropius, 1921, Klassik Stiftung Weimar © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2009

Perfectly in tune with my recent move from Rotterdam to Berlin* I can recommend the Bauhaus exhibition in the Martin Gropius Bau (where else?) in Berlin. The exhibition – the largest on Bauhaus in history – will be open until 4th of October 2009, and focuses on the period 1919 to 1933. It is refreshing and and overwhelming to see this wealth of utopian ideas, especially now.

Marcel Breuer’s Lady’s dressing-table from the Bauhaus experimental house “Am Horn”, Weimar, 1923

László Moholy-Nagy, Light Space Modulator, 1922-1930, Model

From the press release:

“Wednesday, the 21 July, the exhibition ‘Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model’ opened in Berlin’s Martin Gropius Bau. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Bauhaus and 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the leading Bauhaus research institutions and museums in Germany – the Bauhaus Archive Berlin, the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and the Klassik Stiftung Weimar – are for the first time jointly presenting an exhibition. With about 1,000 objects it will be the largest Bauhaus exhibition ever. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, cooperating partner in the project, sent 25 objects to Berlin and will present its own exhibition ‘bauhaus 1919 – 1933. Workshops for Modernity’ beginning on 8 November in New York.

Supporting Programme for the Exhibition

A diverse programme of events will be offered to accompany ‘Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model’. It includes a five-day international conference ‘bauhaus global’ (21 – 26 September 2009) supported by the Stiftung Lotto/ Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, as well as a lecture series, cinema nights, workshops, architecture tours and book presentations (see overview of supporting events). Public tours are offered on Saturdays and Sundays at 12:00 and 2:00 pm.

The exhibition is supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. The primary supporters are HOCHTIEF and the Sparkassen-Kulturfond des Deutschen Sparkassen- und Giroverbands. The Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin and the ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE are sponsors of the exhibition. Media partners are the Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb), the newspapers DIE WELT, and the Berliner Morgenpost, and the Wall AG. The installation in the Lichthof was generously supported by Eternit AG and Thonet GmbH.”

*we still have our man Martin in Rotterdam, though!

Michael Jackson Tribute Flashmob

Martin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:13:02 +0000

Amazing flashmob in front of my one of my favourite public buildings/squares: Peter Celsings Kulturhuset in Stockholm (1966-1971).

You could call Centre Pompidous (1972-1976) programmatic qualities a mere copy of it. In my opinion Kulturhuset works even better, the lowered square connects different pedestrian routes and tunnels them under a major street.
The initial design also marks all the functions by lettering them on the facade: OMA’s diagrams of the 90’s.

20 seconds

Thomas — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:11:24 +0000

you and experimentadesign

ExperimentaDesign Lisboa has announced a call to submit a twenty second (20”) video for you to stand a chance to win special passes to EXD’09 Lisboa. More.

I like the idea of constrained design challenges, often leading to more interesting results as absolutely free choice of media. The demo scene comes to mind, with the inherent need to constrain the demos to minimal filesize (a good introduction would be this video), or artists experimenting with a minimal selection of tools: Steve Reich creating sounds by just cutting and looping (interesting enough performed live again by Peter Aidu in the video below), or Lars von Trier and the dogma movement, who banned effects and illusion, to get back to the essence of movie-making.

Steve Reich – Piano Phase (performed by Peter Aidu)

For more about the competition and Experimentadesign –

demoscene

ExperimentaDesign is an international Biennale dedicated to design, architecture and creativity oscillating between Lisboa and Amsterdam. This year’s theme is “It’s About Time”, it starts on 9th September in Lisboa. EXD has invited me to cover their event as a media collaborator. See you there in September.

From the press release:

20″ EXD VIDEO COMPETITION – CALL FOR ENTRY

ExperimentaDesign launched a worldwide Call for Entry inviting design savvy individuals and groups to submit a twenty second (20”) video to stand a chance to win special passes to EXD’09 Lisboa.

EXD is looking for daring creative work for its first ever Video Competition. Submitted works must reflect the Biennale’s spirit and convey a particular vision of the theme for EXD’09: It’s About Time. The winning video would have also considered the look and feel of the communication for EXD’09 Lisboa created by Creative Director Ian Anderson. And will be featured as part of the EXD’09 communication campaign.

The author(s) of the winning video will be awarded all access passes to the Opening Week of EXD’09 in Lisbon including accommodation. EXD will also shortlist 5 runners-up who will receive all access passes to the biennale.

EXD is inclusive of various creative agents and disciplines presenting a bespoke programme for each edition. In this unique and inclusive spirit, the 20” Video Competition was established. To enhance international participation the competition is open worldwide to professionals and students over 18 years of age. The competition will be judged by Ian Anderson and members of the EXD communication team.

Submission deadline is 10 July 2009.
For detailed information, conditions and rules visit:

http://www.experimentadesign.pt/2009/_download/EXD09_20SEC_RULES.zip

http://www.experimentadesign.pt/2009/_download/EXD09_20SEC_TAGS.zip

Berlage 1st Year Studios Final Review

Thomas — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:13:33 +0000

Ningbo Students tweaking their Presentation (photo: Thomas Stellmach)

The Berlage Institute is holding their final reviews for the first year studios today, from 10 to 21:30 (CEST). If you are quick, you can watch the live video stream here.

The first session is already over (When Economies Become Form: Micro-Economic Models as Spatial Prescriptions in Northeast Brazil, Tina DiCarlo and Markus Miessen). H2OBITAT (Freek Persyn, Laurence Tait, Nico Tillie) starts at 14:00 (CEST), and Bridging Untroubled Waters: The Ningbo Mall as a Quest for Alternative Strategies in Open Space Development (Rients Dijkstra, Thomas Stellmach) is scheduled for 18:30 (CEST). Teaching the latter studio has been one of the reason why it has been so quiet around here the during the last weeks…

The guest critics we’ve invited include Carson Chan, Director of Programs, Berlin; Filip Geerts, Assistant Professor of Architecture, TUDelft; Adrian Hornsby, editor, The Chinese Dream; Jorg Leeser, principal of BeL, Cologne; Hiroki Matsuura, architect, Maxwan, Rotterdam; Marc Ryan, architect, West8; Jan Nauta, researcher, nOffice, Berlin; Ralf Pflugfelder, partner of nOffice, Berlin; Caroline Rovers, Stadshavens Rotterdam; Jaap Wiedenhoff, principal, Arup, Amsterdam.

GIS 2.0 Symposium

claudia — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:28:31 +0000

Analysis of spatial distribution of specific population groups (Cooperation with the city Biberach a.d Riß)

The Planungsnetzwerk geo-Innovation of the University of Karlsruhe is organizing its second symposium on the 23rd of april in Karlsruhe. Its all about gis, web 2.0, experiments within urban context with gps and geodata.
Contributors are amongst others the openstreetmap (see also Thomas article openstreetmap) and the unortkataster.

Dynamic map of the inner city (Cooperation with the city of Mannheim)

Rotterdam Design Award Call for Applications

Thomas — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:19:52 +0000

The Rotterdam Design Award started its 2009 application period, deadline is 8 of May.

AutoCAD on OS X Survey

Thomas — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:19:27 +0000

Autodesk’s Survey on AutoCAD on OS X

I have always been a sucker for consistent and smart graphical user interfaces, and work as such mostly on OS X. But I am even more of an efficiency, as in shortcuts, advocate. There are very few applications which balance the rather mouse oriented OS X interface with a smart shortcut system – Aperture being a positive example. Diametrically opposed to the Mac approach is Autodesk’s Autocad application, a technocratic and absurd mess of an application full of inconsistencies due to heritage, which still has a nerdy 1984 feel to it. Nonetheless, I love it. All comments are accessible via a command line, which enables you to just draw on a icon-free black canvas with the mouse hand, while the other hand rests on the keyboard typing out commands (we have discussed the notorious maxwan autocad shortcut system before). Purity. Zen.

This week Autodesk put up a survey on their site asking Acad/Mac users what features they would like to see most (and first) in a AutoCAD on OS X version. The survey is detailed enough to suggest that Autodesk really means it: Acad on OS X would eliminate one of the last reasons to ever boot into Windows again, and make me happy enough to jump around. It seems to be a chance to throw all that legacy ballast over board and give us a lean Autocad. But this will most probably stay a dream, and we’ll probably get another layer of weirdness added to Autocad. But we’re enthusiastic about Acad on a Mac nonetheless, and thus urge you all to participate in the survey to give it some momentum.

Complexity Theory Conference @ TU Delft

Ekim Tan — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:58:08 +0000

Complexity Theories have come of Age

Don’t let the poster mislead you! TU Delft’s U-Lab comes up with a daring conference breaking from its single-disciplinary conservatism. During 3 days from September 24th on mathematicians, physicists, urbanists and designers gather in Delft. They will explore the implications of complexity theories of cities to planning and urban design. Besides hotshot professors Juval Portugali, Bill Hillier, and Mike Batty, gonna-be’s, or maybe wanna-be’s like Egbert and me will take the floor.

The conference has a limited audience capacity, and is first-come, first served! For more information, you may see complexitytheoriesofcities.com, send an email to me and check out the other dates in our calendar of selected Rotterdam Architecture Events.

Three decades of research have established the field of complexity theories of cities as a dominant approach to cities. Now that the field has come of age, it is time to stop for a moment, look back at what has been achieved, with appreciation, but also with sober criticism and then look forward at potentials that have yet to be realized.

As for potentials yet to be realized, this conference will explore the implications of complexity theories of cities to planning and urban design. As examples to what we have in mind consider, firstly, Mike Batty’s (2008) recent observation that “In the past 25 years, our understanding of cities has slowly begun to reflect Jacobs’s message. Cities are no longer regarded as being disordered systems. Beneath the apparent chaos and diversity of physical form, there is strong order …”. Secondly, Portugali’s (2008) criticism that “in their search for statistical data to feed their models practitioners of USM tend to overlook the non-quantifiable urban phenomena” and as a consequence, some of the central questions of 21st Century cities and urbanism”. As for potentials yet to be realized we would like to emphasis in this workshop the implications of CTC to planning and urban design.

Is Almere There Yet?

Ekim Tan — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:39:32 +0000

NL’s ugliest place? (photo: Ekim Tan)

Lately the readers of Volkskrant selected 30 year old Almere the ugliest place in the Netherlands; average Dutch associates Almere with bourgeois, boredom and absence of culture. Almere’s city officers are desperate;
they look up to cities like Maastricht and go as far as buying mediaeval castles from Belgium at outrageous cost. Envying Amsterdam and Rotterdam, they want to have old warehouses and factories for their ‘creatives’. Inspired by medieval cities, Almere desires a city heart, and just got a brand new city center with a heavy shopping program. At a time when old cities themselves wriggle out of generic and conformist shopping-mall-downtowns, why should Almere be the next sheep in the herd?

La Defense Almere by UN Studio (photo: Ekim Tan)

Beyond all these hopeless imitation adventures, Almere is the only growing territory of otherwise stagnating country. The ethnically mixed population profile is rather young, which enjoys the fastest internet connection in the country. Just as in a museum for contemporary architecture, beauties of early as well as late O.M.A, MVRDV, of British [Chipperfield, Alsop], French [Christian de Potzamparc] Japanese [Sanaa], and native [Architecten Cie, UN Studio] are all in Almere’s panorama. Further the local government experiments with new urbanism concepts, such as selforganized-city production; here, one can log on to web and start being part of a planning team. Further, by now Almere has her global export products, such as the Big Brother, which was invented on this young soil a decade ago.

There is the moment where new towns turn adolescent from puberty: they become cities. But is Almere there yet?

All Slides of our airplane tour over Almere (if you’re reading the RSS feed, these images might not show):

see all photos also on our photo page or flickr space

Hunch 12: Bureaucracy – Launch Event

Darrel — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:02:39 +0000

After a couple years without publishing, the latest issue of Hunch #12 will be relaunched in collaboration with NAi Publishers at the Berlage Institute, Rotterdam. The event takes place this coming Tuesday, the 31st March, at 19:00 within the school itself.

After a two-year hiatus, this celebrates the relaunch of Hunch under a new publisher and editorial direction. The event will include introductory remarks by both Rob Docter, general director of the Berlage Institute and Eelco van Welie, director of NAi Publishers; and a presentation of the new editorial direction and the contents of Hunch 12 by Salomon Frausto, editor of Hunch and head of architectural broadcasting at the Berlage Institute.

About Hunch #12: Bureaucracy
Architecture is contingent on the reality of satisfying a client, meeting building codes, acquiring funding, and gaining political support in order to be realized. Twelve thought-provoking contributions by leading and emerging architects, critics, and scholars that explore the role of bureaucracy in shaping contemporary architecture. Subjects range from governmental regulations and new organizational models for professional practice to contrasting forms of urbanism and divergent interpretations of economic value in relation to cultural capital. The authors focus on how select determinants affect the built environment. At the same time they offer architectural speculations, critical observations, and historical perspectives to rethink these processes in order to influence the buildings and cities of today and tomorrow. Along with these topical contributions—which are supplemented by marginalia of short stories, annotations, terminologies, and inventories—four 1,000-word texts and a visual essay complement the issue to reflect on broader theoretical aspects of architecture culture.

Google Maps NL – Street View!

Darrel — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:12:19 +0000

Arcam Architecture Centre, Amsterdam

Google Maps recently updated various cities within Europe, including Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Of course, Europe being much more dense, has caused privacy problems for Google as seen in a row exposed by the BBC News in the UK. While I’ve snooped through some of my favourite spots in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, I’ve yet to explore the limits of what Google has made available online. It seems that some of the secondary cities such as Utrecht and Maastricht still lack the service. Given that the cameras are placed high above a moving truck, there are few (or no) views of pedestrian streets; and perhaps Google should think about capturing Amsterdam by boat?

Kunsthal, Rotterdam

UPDATE: I’ve added a map with the cities where street view is available. The recently added Oxford, London (Millenium Dome), Rotterdam (Ben van Berkel’s Erasmus bridge) and Amsterdam (Mirailles, West8 & Co. at Borneo) are not yet on it. Even more recent are the additions of Cannes, Zaragoza and the Amalfi Coast. Whatever Google’s criteria for inclusion are, we agree with them.

Availability of Google Street View in Europe

4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam – Exploring Urban Futures

Darrel — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:26:12 +0000

Refuge Urbanism; © Unknown

The website for this year’s 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2009 is fully online and operational. Rotterdam architect Kees Christiaanse will curate the program, and has developed the theme: Exploring Urban Futures. He will be working in association with a team in Zurich at the ETH, where he also teaches urban design. In Rotterdam, Christiaanse runs his own office, KCAP, which is recognized for work in both architecture and urban design. Being the 4th biennale, expectations are high following what many perceived as a decline in the scale and quality of the last, 3rd Biennale entitled “Power”.

Squat in the Open City – Squat City; © Unknown

Many events are planned between now and throughout the exhibition, one of which just passed in Zurich at the ETH, The Open City symposium. The AIR Foundation will also be holding a series of Urban Meetings. Also to be exhibited are the results from the international competition, Gotong Royong City – Envisioning the Future of Jakarta, where the registration period is unfortunately already closed. There are lots of events to keep track of, and we will follow-up in the coming months, as well as integrate the events into our Dysturb.Net Calendar.

Gotong Royong City; © Erik Prasetya 2009

The Mission Statement from the curatorial team:

IABR Exploring Urban Futures
The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) is an international urban research biennale founded in 2001 on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. It is an international festival of exhibitions, conferences, lectures and other activities devoted to themes in the field of architecture and urbanism.

Linking the contemporary Dutch agenda to the international context, the IABR invites the design disciplines to examine an urgent social issue in relation to a particular urban condition.

The IABR serves as a platform, a catalyst and a mediator between local and global cultures, thus advocating an international exchange of ideas and encouraging public discussion among designers, researchers, academics, artists, politicians, public authorities, real estate developers and other investors, social organizations and the public at large, at home and abroad.

Why Cities Matter
Our futures will unfold predominantly in cities. Urban dwellers now comprise more than half the world’s population. What we call the countryside will soon be home to less than a third of humanity. Urban regions are the hubs of the global economy and the producers of culture and welfare, yet they are also the source of immeasurable environmental damage. They are the locus of consumers and slum dwellers alike, of globally operating media and financial networks, of crime and tourism. As they absorb the growth of the world’s population, cities struggle to provide adequate and sustainable living conditions for their inhabitants. The most significant challenge for architecture therefore lies in addressing urban problems.

The curator’s biography – Kees Christiaanse:

Kees Christiaanse (1953) is internationally recognized among today’s foremost researchers and practitioners in the fields of urban design and architecture. He studied architecture and urban design at Delft University of Technology. From 1980-1989 he was a partner at OMA in Rotterdam and consequently founded KCAP Architects & Planners with offices in Rotterdam and Zürich.
From 1996-2003 he was Professor of Architecture & Urban Design at the Technical University Berlin; since 2003 he has been Head of the Institute of Urban Design at the Network City-Landscape of the ETH in Zürich. In addition he is a visiting Professor in the Cities Program of the London School of Economics.

Having successfully combined practical intervention and scientific research in diverse urban conditions, Christiaanse is highly qualified to curate the next Biennale, and to structure and intensify its network with research institutions. He is actively involved in concrete urban projects such as the revitalization of port-areas in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Hamburg. In addition, for the Olympic Legacy Masterplan in London, he is designing an “urban breeding grounds” with delicate systems of public spaces on which interactive cultures of mixed use can unfold, catalyzing the redevelopment of the surrounding city. Furthermore, Christiaanse is actively researching, lecturing, and publishing on the theme of the Open City, and has cultivated an impressive international network of colleagues working on similar conditions.

The biennale runs from the 24th September 2009 to the 10th January 2010. It takes place throughout Rotterdam, most notably at the NAi, but with smaller exhibitions at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design and a tie-in exhibit in Amsterdam. The Berlage Institute will also be planning a Master Class linked to this year’s theme.

Further Information Link: PDF launch document.

Antiblob

Martin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:21:11 +0000

Construction of the Prada Transformer Pavillion (from prada-transformer.com)

Have a look at OMA’s most recent project for Prada, the ‘Prada Transformer‘. The project has it’s own proper website, featuring Rem presenting, plans and renderings as well as a construction time lapse in progress.

Open Street Map

Thomas — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:52:08 +0000

Visualisation of OSM edits in 2008 (by ItoWorld)

I’d like to point the german-speaking among you to the ChaosRadio Podcast Issue on Open Street Map. The Open Street Map (wikipedia entry) project is a collaborative effort to create maps without many of the licensing restrictions of other, proprietary, sources (OSM uses the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license). Even though the map is the most visible feature of the project, it is mainly a data-collection effort. Additional information, as in the case of a road data like the amount of lanes, driving direction or speed limits can also be stored in the OSM database. This data can than be rendered in a multitude of ways and styles, like in other GIS systems. In contrast to these systems which cover the professional market, open street map has a more comprehensible interface. At this time about 70.000 people have registered at the project site.

Tracing in Open Street Map

The community is most active in central and northern Europe, and that is reflected in the amount of data and layers you have in the maps. Whereas in areas with an active community the data set is quite detailed, as for example in Berlin, other areas are blank – depending where the focus of the participating community lies. So in some spots you have information down to public phone booths, post boxes and bus stops, whereas in other regions even names of main streets are missing. In that respect the project is comparable to the early wikipedia, and might well grow to similar importance.

Open Street Map, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg

Google also realised this and thus created a similar project inside the Googleverse, called Google Map Maker. Google hopes to ‘crowdsource’ the costly drawing of maps. All rights of the content created by the community go to google, though, in contrast to the OSM model.

Tracing in Map Maker

As far as special layers are concerned – historical, or data for specific projects – google still has the edge, as there is no way yet do to that in OSM. I hope this will be possible soon. A basic way to do collaborative mapping projects with google maps is by creating a kml layers via “My Maps” at maps.google.com, if you have a google maps account. I recently implemented that for a TU Delft workshop, see the example here.

Collaborative Map at theresponsivecity.org

Wonderland Magazine

Thomas — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:40:22 +0000

Wonderland Magazine #3 “Going Public” available now

Wonderland, a young architects network initiated by a group of former Berlagers, is now offering their Wonderland Magazine as a free PDF download. ‘Getting Started’, ‘Making Mistakes’, and now ‘Going Public’ – the titles of the first issues speak for themselves. The magazine is a refreshing hands on manual for young practices and gives some insight into the situation of architecture startups in Europe.

Last Day at Foster Berlin

Thomas — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:26:48 +0000

[display_podcast]

Apart from the burning building series, we observe a new trend on dysturb, architecture practices closing down. After the cuts at OMA and EEA’s bancruptcy, we received the link to the video below. It is filmed at Foster+Partners Berlin office on the day the announcement has been made to the team (Fri 13th), 3 days after it was announced to the press. Unfortunately, some of our friends have been working there. More a about the shutdown at bdonline.

Workshop Advanced Architectural Structures

Thomas — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:35:31 +0000

TU Eindhoven invites to participate in the Workshop Advanced Architectural Structures, from 9-13 March. The workshop deals with generation and production of doubly curved surfaces and includes an introduction to Rhino as well as Processing. Registration closes tomorrow, participation fee for professionals is 300 Euros. Full program after the fold.

Monday 9 March (Room 5 auditorium) Membranes
12:00 – 13:00 Reception

13:00 – 13:15 Welcome (Jan Westra, Dean of the faculty of Architecture)

13:15 – 13:45 Opening, explanation of the workshop (Arno Pronk, TU/e)

13:45 – 14:30 Tensile structures in architectural design (Marijke Mollaert, VUB)

14:30 – 15:15 The detailing of Membrane structures (Rogier Houtman, TenTech)

15:15 – 15:45 Coffee

15:45 – 16:15 Instruction Rapid Prototyping (Bart van de Vorst, TNO)

16:15 – 17:15 Material behavior of membranes (Francoise Fourancier, Ferrari)

17:15 – 17:45 Climatic behavior of textile structures (Mark Cox, TU/e)

19:30 – 20:15 Research in membrane structures (Niels de Temmerman, VUB)

20:15 – 21:00 Research in membrane structures (Gerald Lindner, TU/e )

21:00 – 21:45 Textile projects by (Rogier Houtman, Tentech)

Tuesday 10 March (Room 2 auditorium) Design software
09:00 – 10:00 Tess3D Premier Introduction and overview (Erik Moncrieff, Kurvenbau)

10:00 – 10:30 Coffee

10:30 – 11:30 Rhino/Grasshopper Introduction and overview (Rinus Roelofs, Rhino)

11:30 – 12:30 “Processing”, introduction and overview (Axel Kilian, TUD)

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch

Parallel Workshop sessions: Matrix building

1) 13:30 – 17:00 Rhino/Grasshopper (Rinus Roelofs, Rhino)

2) 13:30 – 17:00 Tess 3D (Erik Moncrieff, Kurvenbau)

3) 13:30 – 17:00 “Processing” (Axel Kilian, TUD)

17:00 – 18:00 Drinks

Room 5 auditorium

19:30 – 20:15 Geometric art (Rinus Roelofs, Rhino)

20:15 – 21:00 scripting at NOX Architects (Thomas Wortmann)

21:00 – 21:45 Design exploration (Axel Kilian, TUD)

Wednesday 11 March (Room 5 auditorium) Tools
09:00 – 9:45 Shaping technology (Nedcam Erwin van Maaren)

9:45 – 10:30 Folding structures (Vinicius Raducanu)

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee

11:00 –11:45 Rapid prototyping and scanning (Bart van de Vorst, TNO)

11:45 –12:15 CNC laser cutter and workshop facilities (Ralf Brodruck, TU/e)

12:15 – 13:00 Mechanical behaviour of lightweight structures (Andrew Borgart, TUD)

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

Parallel Workshop sessions: Matrix building

1) 14:00 – 17:00 Rhino/Grasshopper (Rinus Roelofs, Rhino)

2) 14:00 – 17:00 Tess 3D (Erik Moncrieff, Kurvenbau)

3) 14:00 – 17:00 Rhino drawing lessons (M.Dominicus / A.Mulderij, TU/e)

4) 14:00 – 15:30 Rapid Prototyping Instructions (Bart van de Vorst, TNO)

15:30 – 17:00 Excursion TNO, (Bart van de Vorst, TNO)

13:30 – 17:00 Workshop Lasercutter, Vertigo, (Ralf Brodruck, TU/e)

17:00 – 18:00 Drinks

Projects in practice Room 5 auditorium

19:30 – 20:15 Projects by Grohmann & Bollinger (Manfred Grohmann,)

20:15 – 21:00 The Works of Heinz Isler (John Chilton, Nottingham Trent)

Thursday 12 March (Room 5 auditorium) production technique and shell structures

9.00 Handing in your STL-file for Rapid prototyping. Only correct files handed in before 9.00 hr will be accepted

09:00 – 9:45 Exploform (H. Groeneveld)

09:45 – 10:30 Holland Composites – (Olivier Lauteslager)

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee

11:00 – 11:20 Adjustable mould (Sebastiaan Boers, TU/e)

11:20 – 11:45 Shell structures by BB-con (M. van der Ham)

11:45 – 12.30 Membrane Mould (Arno Pronk, TU/e)

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

Parallel Workshop sessions: Matrix building

1) 13:30 – 17:00 Rhino/Grasshopper (Rinus Roelofs, Rhino)

2) 13:30 – 17:00 Tess 3D (Erik Moncrieff, Kurvenbau)

3) 13:30 – 15:30 Excursion to dome, (M van der Ham BB-con)

15:30 – 17:00 Excursion Bicycle cellar Eindhoven by Fuksas (Arno Pronk TU/e)

13:30 – 17:00 Workshop Lasercutter, Vertigo, (Ralf Brodruck, TU/e)

17:00 – 18:00 Drinks

Chamber of commerce

19:30 Banquet

Friday 13 March (Room 5 auditorium) workshop results and architectural experiments

09:00 – 9.30 Presentation of workshop results (Arno Pronk TU/e)

09:30 – 10:00 Formfinding of grid shell (Olivier Baverel)

10:00 – 10:30 Integration of software in architectural practice. (Erik Moncrieff Kurvenbau)

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee

11:00 – 11:45 Textile techniques/tectonics in architecture (Ivo Vrouwe, TU/e)

11:45 – 12:30 Slim building (Jos Lichtenberg, TU/e)

12:30 Closing and Collecting of the 3D printed parts

Rebuilding the Bouwkunde (TU Delft) – Coming March 14!

Darrel — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:09:37 +0000

Photo © Dennis87 on FlickR

Since the devastating fire that consumed the notorious architecture faculty at the TU Delft in 2008, the architectural community in the Netherlands has been holding their breadth to find out what their new faculty would look like. The open international ideas competition has recently closed, and the TU Delft is planning to launch the project winners at the NAi in the coming weeks.

On March 14th at the NAi, the award winners and mentions will be announced and a debate held to discuss the work. The museum will simultaneous open an exhibition documenting the work that will run until the 7th June 2009. In total 466 entries came from 50 countries, and the competition organizers will publish a monograph of the work this May.

If you’ve lost your job, apply to the Jan Van Eyck Academie!

Darrel — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:53:18 +0000

The highly reputed Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, Netherlands (Map) has sent out it’s call for applications (click on “Applications” on top), to be received by the 15 April, 2009. The research program mainly reaches out to Artists, Theoreticians and Designers, but their openness always for diversity of students. If you are one of the unfortunate former employees of a Dutch office, and want to stick around the Netherlands, here is a great chance. You can bet that the competition to get in will be stiff.

The Jan van Eyck Academie is an institute for research and production in the fields of fine art, design and theory. Every year, 48 international researchers realise their individual or collective projects in the artistic and critical environment that is the Jan van Eyck. In doing so, they are advised by a team of artists, designers and theoreticians who have won their spurs globally. All in all, the Jan van Eyck offers artists, designers and theoreticians time and space to do research and realise productions, either about topics of their own choosing or as part of a project formulated by the institute itself.

Multi-Disciplinary Research
Artists, designers and theoreticians at the Jan van Eyck Academie work alongside each other and establish cross-disciplinary exchange. The academy is not led by predetermined leitmotivs. Artists, designers and theoreticians can submit independently formulated proposals for research and/or production in the departments of Fine Art, Design and Theory. They can also participate in research projects formulated by the departments: After 1968. What is the political?; Circle for Lacanian ideology Critique; Design Negation; ExtraStateCraft; Imaginary Property; The Cross-Cultural and the Counter-Modern. The result is a very heterogeneous programme of research topics. The miscellaneous nature of its research projects and productions make the Jan van Eyck a multi-disciplinary institute. The crosslinks which can exist between individual and/or collective projects and the exchange between researchers with different cultural and intellectual interests result in a creative and challe nging working environment.

Programme
The multi-disciplinary research projects are the basis for the Jan van Eyck programme. Researchers, departments and the institute organise various weekly activities, to which special speakers are invited: lectures, seminars, workshops, screenings, exhibitions, discussions, … These activities are announced on the website and via email.

Since the Jan van Eyck also aims to initiate the debate on art, design and theory and make it public, some activities are regularly organised with partners on regional, national and international venues, such as galleries, museums, academies, universities, …

Departments

Fine Art
The Fine Art department offers a unique space for experimentation, production, reflection and debate. Fine Art researchers conduct high-quality research in an environment that encourages the questioning of the assumptions, forms, meanings and contexts that are tied in with the practice of making art today. The fine arts department welcomes artists, individuals and groups, without stipulating conditions regarding form, content and media.

Advising researchers:
Orla Barry, Hans-Christian Dany, Hinrich Sachs, Imogen Stidworthy, Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi

Design
The Design department focuses on design as research, discourse and publishing. It initiates and supports research projects in the areas of cultural and corporate identity, mapping, print and new media publishing, urban and regional identity, and book design.

The department expressly solicits individual designers to propose and carry out their own research in exchange with the institute’s array of events and presentations. While, formerly, the department used to focus on graphic and communication design, it has since widened its scope to include spatial, product and service design.

Advising researchers:
Keller Easterling, Florian Schneider, Daniel van der Velden

Theory
The Theory department is an international platform for reflection and research. Its mission is to create the opportunity for outstanding researchers to explore alternative ways of shaping their intellectual horizons by providing a stimulating environment for critical inquiry and intense debate. The Theory department welcomes applications from researchers of unusual promise who pursue their artistic and/or intellectual view of the interface of critical theory, philosophy, aesthetics and psychoanalysis with the visual arts.

Advising researchers:
Katja Diefenbach, Dominiek Hoens, Kobena Mercer

Mias Arquitectes

Thomas — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:01:07 +0000

Mercat de Barceloneta (Josep Mias)

I just found out that the office worked at in 2001 in Barcelona updated its website, finally (spanish architects often don’t consider it necessary to be present on the web).

Josep Mias (Mias Arquitectes) emerged as talented young architect from the school of Mirailles and founded his own office in 2001 after the death of Mirailles (see EMBT). I also made that transition from Mirailles to Mias while working there as an intern.

TVCC_timeline

Martin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:13:30 +0000

update: it’s still standing:

more pictures @ movingcities.org

thanks to: 太阳太阳太阳
we’re talking local Beijing time.

1:07爆料User has marked vehicles, are safe to go home, thanks to the concern of everyone, thank you for the support of this report! Hope that all people in the fire Ping’an home! Wishes the injured a speedy recovery! To pay tribute to the brave fire fighters! ! !

1:07 on the road there are a number of taxi cars and more

1:05 There are fire engines and vehicles to the scene of the fire towards.

1:03 only east-west direction along the bus in the walk outside the security line there are still many people, Yuanwang smoke in the building.

At present, the main road 1:02 Sanhuan roads are still closed, have not seen the car, armed police have access to Chaoyang Theater

User claimed 0:59 withdrawal on the road, passing the police station呼家楼, brightly lit inside, there are 7-8 police on standby in the hall. Area where a pedestrian can not see, about 20-30% of the homes also亮着灯.

0:56 blockade pull very long way to evacuate User claimed but in the complex where to wear to wear.

0:53 watch from a distance, there are still open flame, the building enveloped in a touch of smoke.

爆料0:52 in front of friends is moving away from the core area of the evacuation, along the tight police guard.

Netizen 0:46 at the scene said a large open flame has been extinguished, there are several small open flame should be extinguished slowly, on-site masses gradually go back. The reported serious thank you friends, especially at the scene reported that users of this support.

0:29 Building, the west side of 8-9 layers found in a large open flame.

0:28 watch from a distance, the building at the top layer is probably 5-6 more serious damage

0:27 there are still hundreds of people gathered

0:27 came a bus, police have open-circuit

0:25 from the scene of the fire roaring in a 999 ambulance exit.

0:22 at the bottom of the current building open flame has been extinguished the flames at the top of the already very weak.

0:15 has been the discharge of the current period, the building caught fire in place of 500 meters and the sound of fireworks.

0:14 arrived at the scene of a gas vehicle, it is estimated that natural gas pipeline is to be examined.

0:10 have now passed 12 o’clock midnight, the end of the period set off firecrackers, the sound of fireworks outside down finally cease.

0:06 roof open flame continued to burn, flame out into an even channeling

0:05 Building, the external walls of the basic well-preserved glass.

0:04 Building燃火upper point has been extinguished, some from the top down several 10-story about how a new fire up the points.

0:01 爆料Netizen’s site is the first site

23:57 main building is still relatively strong, there is no sign of collapse.

23:56 to see the building outside of the steel frame moldings some bending deformation, but overall relatively stable

23:51 Police began a new round of clearance.

23:50 at the scene to continue to burn in open fires, smoke began to变淡.

23:49 [the people interviewed at the scene] at the top of the building around about 8:30 to start smoking

23:47 onlookers at the scene of the masses is the burning building to take photographs as the background.

23:46 According to today’s atmosphere is the lowest forecast -2 degrees

23:45 We also see that several of the Beijing Emergency Center of vehicles have changed over the

23:43 at the top of the fire with the wind, but also a bit bigger; smoke floating in the north, but almost nothing on the ground feeling the wind

23:42 smoky scene of the fire is still engaged in the construction of the netizens said that there are open fires, he said that if it is white there is no open flame, and generally steam.

Although 23:41 approaching 24 points, but masses still around a lot.

23:39 engaging in the construction of the netizens said that if the floor is completed, there will be self-rescue equipment, water pressure turbocharger, spray top in time to fight the fire, but because the House did not fully completed, speculation may be related to the fire set not complete

23:38 Building, there are open fires in the upper part of combustion, users engage in construction, said the fire point is the building space above the North and the South permeability

23:35 has a similar air burning hair焦糊味Road

23:34 Netizen’s site, the site of the tent has been ignited, but fortunately was timely Fight

23:33 the fire near the ground covered with silver-white film-like material, onlookers at the scene inside the person has engaged in construction, the wall铝扣板is the decoration used in the external walls of buildings, high temperature combustion of this material will melt, the formation of spherical objects falling to the wind, landed after the formation of silver foil-like material

23:19 Building, at the top, there are open fires in central

23:17 police at the scene ambulance fire engines a mastered

23:16 at the scene have a strong pungent smell of smoke

23:15 爆料Netizen site where the wall has become a temporary cordon, the police non-users to observe the fire site

23:14, Chaoyang Road, armed police have come out, wearing a military uniform photographers also work to

23:11 and 4-5 ambulances entered the scene of the fire, medical personnel entering the scene, N cars that read, “Chaoyang sanitation” of the sprinkler at the scene

23:11 smoke in the main building structure is clearly visible

23:06 Building, at the top continue to smoke billowing smoke

23:04 burning building at the scene after the ground has fallen residues, dust, etc.

23:03 2 black and white police cars under the guidance and entered the train, may be leading from the scene command

23:02 Workers at the scene said the fire is from the west side of the building began burning, spread to the eastern side of the

22:59 on the north side of the burning building, has a 15-story residential buildings, according to the fire about 150 meters

22:59 It is regrettable that at a distance of 300 meters of the building place, there are still people in the discharge of fireworks

22:57 According to the workers near the site said the fire is caused by discharge of fireworks, the fire first of all start from the upper part of the building; from the upper part of the burning building until the fire, about half an hour between the time.

22:56 British scene with one digital camera, photos look him is to get the camera onto the flames

22:52 express the users, it should be 10 points or more earlier MTR began broadcast Say Let all get off at the International Trade

22:50 from the subway users, said on the 10th line Guomao station closed, passengers were evacuated

22:48 engineering vehicles to provide an elevated

22:47 Xiaoyun Road, about 200 meters south of the framework of a flashing lights.

22:43 standby firemen boarded the fire engine, it seems that in the rotation

22:43 left open flame 1,2 Department of

22:41 the fire on the north side, 200 meters around the construction site is still normal

22:36, a fire may fire injuries and was taken away from the ambulance at the scene

22:32 According to the vicinity of the masses, said the fire was caused by fireworks was discharged, the building caught fire on the officers have been transferred.

22:31 user is away from the scene of the fire not far from the site of the Agency

22:30 is not too much wind at the scene, smoke was dissipated

22:30 at the scene could hear the sound of firecrackers

22:29 Number of Road white searchlight, playing in the Building

22:28 Police cordon still expanding, the fire continued

22:25 building is still burning in the allocation of flats, about 3-4 layers

22:23 building a smoke to cover up

22:22 netizens changed locations and found that the upper part of the building there are two ignition points, feeling the fire was under control, there is no just so ferocious

22:16 爆料the request of friends in the police back 50 meters, I feel the police to prevent building collapse affected onlookers

22:15 Building the edge of the 6-storey flats to continue burning their 4-5 layer

22:13, about a platoon of armed police cordon at the scene pulled

22:12 The fire has taken control of

22:11 in the burning building to allow

22:10 Jingguang Bridge has become a police car temporary car parks,呼家楼East Bus Rapid Transit stations, a dozen fire engines lined up in standby

22:07 User: 15 of the moon hidden in smoke when the time is now

[Please Abstract] the evening of February 9 to about 9:00, CCTV, deputy floor on fire, the fire rising from the west side, with the continuous spread of fire, on the west side almost destroyed. Then, by the impact of wind, and everyone spread to the east side, and the scope has expanded, and then a lot of fire engines arrived and failed to immediately control the fire, smoke rising.

22:06 爆料Netizen visual distance of the fire about 300 meters

22:05 a lot of people armed with cameras cameras in shooting

22:04 Have the ambulance at the scene, casualties unknown

22:04 Building, towering flames, thick smoke from the very long-distance can be clearly seen near the traffic has been blocked, cell phone signal disturbance.

22:04 Building has internal flashing lights, the suspect is the staff are crying for help. Night about 9:30, the disappearance of internal flash, it is estimated that staff have the basic evacuation. At this moment, from the building above the fire had been caused by the lower spread.

Review of CCTV, deputy floor on fire, the fire rising from the west side, with the continuous spread of fire, the eastern side of the almost destroyed. Then, by the impact of wind, and everyone spread to the east side, and the scope has expanded!

21:59 CCTV building has been smoke cover.

21:58 user is near the scene claimed the fire

21:56 Police have sealed off the region

21:51 feeling a burning building on the eastern side has been almost

21:50 occurred once or twice a fierce explosion

21:49 just heard the explosion, I feel some inclination Floor

21:48 site has dozens of fire engines

21:47 roof intense burning, black smoke in the gold particles

21:46 According to onlookers at the scene, the fire started from 8:30 significant.

21:40 Up to now, the fire is still burning, the dust billowing smoke, near the district residents have felt very choked.

21:30 in the three-ring near the main road, has gathered thousands of the masses.

21:10 not near a phone signal in the region have limited transportation, have a lot of people gathered nearby, television reporter filming. Fire floor, CCTV is not the main building (big pants), is the edge of the CCTV, deputy floor.

Is said to be in the yard fireworks lit the fire started from the third floor and then, has been up.

Today is the Lantern Festival, Beijing, fireworks going off very enthusiastic.

TVCC on Fire

Martin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:43:25 +0000

We just got news that the TVCC, just next to the CCTV building is burning. Looks like we have to add a new category of famous buildings in flames…

source: Oana & 潘石坚

update: DAMN! this thing is burning like a torch!!!
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dggh5mp6_0cmqqrrdb

update: done a bit of research now. 2 interesting things: apparently the FIRE was set off by fireworks that are set off for hours on yuanxiao jie, the last day of spring festival.
It is also reported that “huge chunks are falling off”
via toomanytribbles
The flames are bigger than any I’ve ever seen on a building:

the second thing is that it was first reported by eye witnesses on twitter, sending text messages and mobile phone images. via: building.co.uk

videos HERE

This picture was posted about 15:30 today
It is happening NOW.

Object Rotterdam

Thomas — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:02:54 +0000

Love Bag Ted Noten (by Rob Koudijs)

From 4th to 8th February Las Palmas Rotterdam hosts the Object Rotterdam Fair for autonomous design. Check our calendar for more dates in Rotterdam.

OMA fires 50, wins Taipei competition

Thomas — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:00:23 +0000

OMA doorbell (© r.wiesenberger, may 2008, see original)

OMA announced on Tuesday that 50 of their 300 employees have to leave. Business Director van de Chijs comments that he expects OMA to survive the economical crisis as business is going well. But as they intend to be “terribly careful” the diceded on the lay-offs.

In related news OMA announces the same day that they won the competition to build the Taipei Performing Arts Centre (as widely reported). Have also a look at the very interesting runner-up by Abalos+Sentkiewicz.

Taipei Performing Arts Centre by OMA (click to see original size)

Read on for more pictures and the press release of the OMA design.

Taipei Performing Arts Centre by OMA (click to see original size)

OMA to build Taipei Performing Arts Centre

Rotterdam/Beijing, 27 January 2009 – The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has been awarded the first prize in the design competition to build the Taipei Performing Arts Centre. The design, led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, was selected from over 135 entries from 24 countries by an international jury.

The scheme includes a 1,500 seat theatre and two 800 seat theatres which plug into a central cube, clad in corrugated glass, that combines the stage accommodations of the three theatres in a single whole. Each theatre can be used independently or in combination with the other theatres. Connecting the different theatres offers new and experimental theatrical possibilities. A public trajectory inside the cube exposes parts of the backstage areas otherwise hidden in typical theatres. The cube is placed on a socle preserving the existing lively local food market.

OMA will collaborate with local architect Artech Inc. to build the 40,000m2 theater complex. The stage design is being developed with Ducks Sceno and the engineering is being provided by Arup. The centre is scheduled to be completed in 2013 with a budget of 3.8 billion Taiwan dollars (90 million Euro). The Taipei city council expects the centre to further facilitate the development of local performing groups and add to Taipei’s image as an international cultural hub.

The project is led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren. The competition team included associate André Schmidt and architects Adam Frampton and Mariano Sagasta, amongst many others. Koolhaas’s and Scheeren’s previous collaborations include the CCTV Headquarters and TVCC Cultural Centre in Beijing, as well as Prada Epicentre Stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Image Search Future

Thomas — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:58:47 +0000

Gerhard Richter’s Leserin in various croppings, marquees and hues

Every once in a while I am overcome by the feeling that I could have a glimpse of the future. Using Google Earth for the first time, or discovering screen sharing were such moments. As well as looking at Tineye today. Tineye is a web search service, you show it an image and it finds similar versions of it on the web – all the cropped, distorted, color-optimized, compressed, lower- and higher-resolution versions someone created and uploaded.

Read also what the always interesting things magazine has to say about it [excerpt]:

The site does a good job of pulling up a set of differently sized, coloured and scaled versions of the same painting. Maurice de Vlaminck’s Landscape with Red Trees (1906) gives the above set of thumbnails a ripple of difference – admittedly mostly very slight – but noticeable in terms of hue and crop. But what about paintings by the same artist? Or different versions of the same landscape? (Paul Cezanne painting Mont St Victoire, for example). Or even different views painted using the exact same combination of colours? Imagine if it could be set to find works by the same artist working in a similar way? TinEye could not only help research artistic movements, it could uncover potentially hidden works. It could create new movements.

Erick van Egeraat Bancrupt

Thomas — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:18:11 +0000

EEA’s law office announced today that Egeraat’s practice is bancrupt. EEA has offices in Rotterdam, Budapest, Prag and London and until now we considered the practice’s output mediocre but successful. Apparently the credit crisis arrived to show visible effects on architecture practices. Details, anyone?

Via cobouw.

Al Manakh Second Edition

Thomas — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:33:53 +0000

Abu Dhabi’s Planning Council and the Dutch Architecture Institute agreed a few days ago to cooperate on delivering the second volume of Al Manakh. As in the last issue, OMA will be involved in the research work, as well as Pinktank and Archis.

The issue is scheduled for 2010 and will focus on actual and (what did you expect?) sustainable developments in the Gulf.

via: architectenweb.

Europan Competition Starts Now

Thomas — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:03:04 +0000

Europan 10 launched

Indeed, the ultimate aim of the European vision of the city is to make society, in other words to bring together people of all conditions and origins. However, the dominant trend towards individualisation, the quest for autonomy, cannot be ignored. This is precisely the contradiction that Europan addresses: on the one hand wanting the city – i.e animation, communal life, people – and on the other side wanting intimacy, privacy, home and the immediate circle.

Europan launched the tenth session of their young architects’ competition series yesterday. This year’s topic is inventing urbanity : regeneration, revitalization, colonization.

Whereas the subtopics make sense, the title appears to be far-fetched. Do we need to ‘invent’ urbanity? The principles of urban life are well understood since the first criticism of modern planning had been advanced.

On the other hand I welcome that the recent Europan sessions (‘European Urbanity: Sustainable City and New Public Space’) are much more concerned with density and the urban condition than earlier issues (‘New Housing Landscape’, ‘In-between Cities’). This year’s brief emphasizes equally social and ecological issues.

Participation is limited to the young (i. e. under 40) architect who has 62 competition sites to choose from – 12.000€ for the winner, 6.000€ for the runner-up. The sites are grouped into 3 subtopics –
those that must undergo a strong transformation (regeneration), those that must both keep their identity and redynamise their programme (revitalization) and those that must undergo a development (colonization).

UPDATE: I have put together an overview table of all the competition sites for easy comparison (pdf):

Europan Projects

UPDATE II: Check out the hard-to-find page with the registration statistics. Typical diploma projects come out on top, as of 8th of march 101 registrations for Dunkerque, a harbour pier transformation.

From the Europan Site:

Schedule
Launching : 19 01 2009
End of registrations: 29 05 2009
Entries: 29 06 2009
Results: 18 01 2009
[...]

Questions on the sites via the internet forum
Closing date for submitting questions about the sites
Friday, May 1, 2009
Closing date for grouped answers about the sites
Friday, May 15, 2009

Questions on the rules via the internet forum
Closing date for submitting questions on the rules
Friday, May 29, 2009
Closing date for grouped answers on the rules
Friday, June 12, 2009

Submission of entries
Closing date for submitting or sending entries
Monday, June 29, 2009
Closing date for receipt of entries sent on June 29, 2009 by express delivery or by post
Monday, July 20, 2009

Selection
Shortlisting of entries by the national juries
September-October 2009
Comparative European analysis by the committee of the shortlisted project ideas, followed by the Cities and Juries Forum based on this analysis
November 2009
Final selection of entries by the national juries
December 2009 – January 2010

Results
Announcement of results
Monday, January 18, 2010
International presentation of results
May/June 2010

The Master’s Voice

Thomas — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:05:18 +0000

“I would not like to live in a cublicle house. [...] I would rather live on a bench in Hyde Park.”

Snippets from an 1959 interview with Mies van der RoheSound from the BBC Sound Archive – listen here. Via urbanophil.

Berlage Now

Thomas — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:49:37 +0000

Now Accepting Berlage Applications

The Berlage Institute Application Deadline has been announced a few days ago, 27th Feb 2009 (application forms here).

The Institute is renowned for their 2-year postgraduate program, which emphasises on research and knowledge (you can generally recognise a Berlager by his jargon). An interesting addition is their PhD programme in collaboration with TU Delft, which is undergoing some changes at the moment. Candidates completing dissertations include Roemer van Toorn, Peter Trummer and Sasha Zanko.

UPDATE –
The Berlage Institute 2009–2010 Postgraduate Prospectus is now online.
And the call for participation in the City Visions Europe European exchange program is now available for download: City Visions Europe Call for participation
–

The complete Berlage Team as on their site:

The Berlage Institute Research Board, consisting of Ben van Berkel, Winy Maas, Robert E. Somol, Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Elia Zenghelis, establishes the profile of the Institute by identifying new research trajectories. Each member of the Research Board is personally involved in one or more component of the program. Under the directorship of Vedran Mimica, the program is developed in collaboration with the faculty, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Joachim Declerck, Salomon Frausto, Roemer van Toorn and Peter Trummer, and visiting tutors to generate an unparalleled research environment.

Minimalism, Star Wars, Modernism, and Kubrick

Thomas — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:57:01 +0000

Robert Morris, War (1963) vs. Storm trooper, Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars: A New Heap. Recommended Read.

Action In The City

Darrel — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:00:12 +0000

Exhibition Entrance; Photo: Darrel Ronald

A new exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Actions: What You Can Do With The City, explores the thousands of examples around the globe of people reclaiming urban space through Do-It-Yourself (DIY) actions in order to humanize the failed urban realities around them. While urban action has become a hot subject over the recent years, the CCA has approached the subject from a broad critique that mixes 99 Actions done by artists, architects, designers, politicians, activists, athletes and most importantly average citizens. In many cases the actual museum artifact didn’t exist, thus giving the museum the chance to create the work.

Sk8 Pool Reconaissance; Photo: Darrel Ronald

The show has been curated by Mirko Zardini, CCA Director and Chief Curator (curatorial essay); and Giovanna Borasi, CCA Curator for Contemporary Architecture (curatorial essay). The show runs until the 19th April, 2009 in Montréal.

For many designers and artists, they will already be familiar with some of the work. And for many of us, we’ve already been involved with our own DIY actions for many years. In this regard, the exhibition is especially important in its presentation of these largely hidden actions to the greater public. In compiling the 99 works together under themes such as: Excess, Choice, Frictions, Guerrilla, Planning Smarter and Sharing; the public finds their own worlds recontextualized through an optic of change and imagination. This is hugely important to society, that an attitude of DIY permeates throughout or collective conscious so that our daily lives become more creative. In essence, this is a contemporary stimulation of the inner tendencies that many avant-garde urban utopias, such as Constant’s New Babylon (images) project, and the Situationist’s Dérive championed. His work, based on theories of Homo Ludens, now finds itself in nearly all urban exhibits around the world, most recently in Amsterdam (related article).

But many of the actions are political and economic, with actions started by local civic groups, city councilors and mayors, as well as urban transport engineers. Many of these are the most interesting, because it signifies non-designers encroaching into design territory. Speaking with Mirko Zardini at the press opening, he signals a loss of faith in current city planning and urbanism practice. Citizens and users/stakeholders (ie. the public) are rarely the centre of design and planning decisions. It is therefore an intention of the show to stimulate the debate as to what we need as a society within our societies, and how can we get there. Perhaps it isn’t through the design practices that we actually arrive at a user-oriented, accessible and mutable urban environment.

But could there be such a thing as a pluralist approach to urban design where a sort of long-tail of urban activities can be integrated into the built shared built environment? Or is everyday life left to the citizenry and the urban design is merely the placeholder and facilitator of action. This question was exactly the goal behind a project by Maxwan a+u in Rotterdam. For the Port of Rotterdam, they proposed a “harbour park” throughout the unused strips woven between the enormous network of port activities. [Full disclosure: I worked on the project.]

Subversive Mapping, New York City; Photo: Darrel Ronald

Photos used to argue for the creation of The Highline project in New York City; Photo: Darrel Ronald

From the Press Release:

The exhibition and its accompanying publication present specific projects by a diverse group of activists whose personal involvement has initiated vital transformation in today’s cities. These human motors of change include architects, engineers, university professors, students, children, pastors, artists, skateboarders, cyclists, pedestrians, municipal employees, and many others who address the question of how to improve the urban experience. Their actions push against accepted norms of behaviour in cities, at times even challenging legal limitations. The individuals and groups presented in the exhibition employ a range of approaches, from skating and parkour to dumpster diving and urban foraging. Some engage architecture directly by finding new uses for abandoned buildings, while others create tools for guerilla gardening. In their individual critiques of urban modes of production and consumption, these actors share a conviction that the traditional processes of top-down civic planning are insufficient, and new approaches and tools must be developed from the ground level upwards.

Actions: What You Can Do With the City features international contemporary architectural projects, design concepts, and research conveyed through a range of materials including architectural drawings, photographs, videos, publications, artefacts, and websites. The 97 distinct actions presented in the exhibition are drawn from a larger number identified by the curators. They include projects related to the production of food and urban agriculture; the planning and creation of public spaces to strengthen community interactions; the recycling of abandoned buildings for new purposes; the appropriation of urban sites into terrain for play, such as soccer, climbing, skateboarding, or parkour; the alternate use of roads for walking or rail lines as park space; the design of clothing to circumvent urban barriers against loitering or resting on benches; and many others. The exhibition places particular emphasis on the activists’ tools, which comprise unusual materials ranging from large-scale inflatables and fruit-collecting dresses to seed-bomb rocket launchers and wheelbarrow-bicycle hybrids. Included are masks disguising children as horses, or sneakers customised for sliding along railings.

Exhibition View; Photo: Darrel Ronald

Over the past couple years, the CCA (Youtube Channel) has made a greater effort to extend itself publicly through digital media and it is working, with the quality of work and method improving with each new exhibition. An interesting website has been created, CCA-ACTIONS, and they’ve produced a promo-video (below).

CCA Launch Video for the exhibition

Another fascinating example of Actions in the city is the recent snowboard video (below), Forum or Against’em, from Forum. The just released video especially documents urban riding in Montréal and Québec City last year when we had a near record snowfall which left the city under meters of snow, turning the concrete and steel environments into an endless snowpark.

Star Place Shopping Centre by UNStudio

Darrel — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:13:22 +0000

Photo © UN Studio

UN Studio has recently finished up the Star Place luxury shopping centre in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. FlickR user Hiroshiken has uploaded some photos and videos recently. The best video details the Lighting Installation at night.

Below is the project information and photos from UN Studio (unless otherwise stated):

Project history
Before UNStudio was engaged on the project the architectural firm of Dynasty Design Corp and HCF Architects had already made a design for the location, of which the outlines and main structure were preserved. Consequently, the main structure and volume of the current building were predetermined. Within this framework UNStudio made some important alterations. Within the existing structure, the characteristic integration of program and construction that UNStudio strives for, resulting in the typical column-free spaces normally produced by the architects, was not possible. Therefore, in order to achieve the visual and spatial effects of free-flowing unobstructed spaces by other means, a public void was introduced that brings daylight to the floor spaces and establishes visual connections between the different floor levels.

Architectural design UNStudio
Positioned at an urban plaza with a roundabout, the building occupies a triangular lot, giving it a wide and open frontage. Curving inwardly, the building embraces this position and opens itself fully to the city. For UNStudio the question of the building began with the façade as an urban manifestation. However the chosen solution of a ‘deep’ front elevation, with a prominent pattern made by the application of protruding elements, was immediately reconnected to the internal arrangement of the spaces around the atrium, the circulation through the atrium and the views from the inside to the outside. As a result, the project now consists of a tight package of inside-outside relations.

Internal Circulation Diagram, Photo © UNStudio

Void
The 12-floor deep void is placed beside the façade, rather than deeper inside the building, in order to facilitate such inside-outside relations. This void forms the main connecting element within the building, with three panorama elevators and two sets of escalators forming the vertical circulation. The void consists of a straight, circular opening which optically appears to slant and twist. This optical effect is generated by the way in which escalators have been positioned inside the atrium space. At each floor level the position of the escalators rotates by ten degrees, resulting in a 110 degree rotation from ground level to the roof.

Circulation View, Photo © UNStudio

Surrounding the void, an open circulation space provides direct access to the shops, through doors in the glazed circulation walls.
Each floor can house two to seven units, which operate completely independently. Thus, in contrast to a department store, the shop floors can be seen as individual stacked units, with the atrium functioning as a vertical shop window.

The detailing of the circulation space emphasizes the relation of the inside and the outside; interior floor tiles, arranged in the same patterns which are also found on the sidewalk outside the shopping center, reflect the radiating pattern of the façade. The fire shutters, which are positioned around the central space, roll out horizontally from the columns, along rails which are integrated within recessed lighting rings in the ceiling.

Circulation View, Photo © UNStudio

Façade
The open and transparent glass façade is patterned with projecting horizontal, aluminum-faced lamellas and vertical glass fins that together form a swirling pattern. This pattern breaks up the scale of the building, which, from the outside has no legible floor heights as a result of the one-meter spacing between the horizontal lamellas. Ostensibly, the pattern of lamellas and fins acts as a sunscreen and weather barrier, but in reality the combination of the wish to make a ‘deep’ façade while preserving the internal floor space was behind the choice to apply a pattern to the outside frontage.

The pattern generates a strong urban effect, but has been modified on the basis of internal, functional demands. The vertical fins are for instance shallower and fewer towards the top of the building, where the restaurant is situated, allowing for higher transparency and better views towards the park opposite the building.

Circulation View, Photo CC Hiroshiken on FlickR

The fins are made of laminated, low-iron glass for extra clarity. A ‘frit’ (dot pattern) has been printed on both sides of the glass, so that the fins appear white by day. Thus they seem to be made of the same material as the horizontal lamellas, resulting in the visual illusion of a unified façade pattern. But from the inside, the glass fins offer uninterrupted views to the outside, as the dots are not apparent from the inside, just like net curtains. The production of the fins, which all have different dimensions, was facilitated by parametric design and production techniques.
The façade pattern wraps around the complete building, thus providing the closed rear facade with the same identity, but in a more simplified design.

Exterior Night View, Photo © UNStudio

At night, colored lighting replaces the optical effects produced by the depth embedded in the façade motif, with a fluid layer of changing hues and tones. The dots on the laminated glass fins pick up the colors distributed by LED-lights which are integrated at the bases of the fins. The minimized light fittings contribute to the luxurious appearance of the façade. The night-time appearance of the building is important in Taiwan, which has a tradition of late-night shopping and all-night markets.

Feng shui
The façade pattern was developed using animation software. A series of images was generated, which the client studied with the aid of a feng shui consultant. The final pattern was chosen because it represents a red phoenix.

Project information
12 floors, including 2 basement floor
GFA: 25.500 m2 excl. parking levels
Building-footprint: 2.035 m2
height of facade: 51.30m / total height incl. Elevator machinery: 58.53m

Project Credits
Star Place, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2006 – 2008
Client: President Group, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Location: Kaohsiung
Program: Luxurious shopping center
Design of exterior: Façades and lighting, related exterior spaces
Design of Interior: Circulation zones and Public spaces
Building surface: 25.500 m2 + 11.100 m2 for parking levels
Building volume: 135.000 m3 + 38.000 m3 for parking levels
Building site: 28050 m2
Status/Phase: Realization

UNStudio Credits
Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, Astrid Piber with Ger Gijzen, Christian Veddeler, Mirko Bergmann, Albert Gnodde, Sebastian Schott, Freddy Koelemeijer, Katja Groeger, Jirka Bars, Andreas Brink, Simon Kortemeier, Shu Yan Chan

Lighting design: Unstudio, Arup Lighting, Amsterdam
Façade animation content: UNStudio, Litelife (Cologne,Germany), Alliance Optotek Corporation (Hsinchu, Taiwan)

Executive Architects:
HCF Architects, Planners & Associates, Taipei, Taiwan
Interior Design: Dynasty Design Corp, Taipei, Taiwan
Design Coordination: Mulberry Planning and Design, Taipei, Taiwan
Lighting execution: Alliance Optotek Corporation, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Koolhaas Houselife

Thomas — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:22:14 +0000

Still from “koolhaas houselife” (1998, BekaFilms)

I just stumbled over the website of koolhaas houselife, a movie about OMA’s villa Floriac in Boredaux (flickr images):

This is realized through the stories and daily chores of Guadalupe Acedo, the home’s caretaker and housekeeper, and the other people who look after the building. Following and interacting with Guadalupe, blooms an unusual and unpredictable look at the spaces and structure of the building.

This approach is in stark contrast to the usual clinical clutter-free and people-less depiction of architecture on the one hand. On the other hand it shows us a building not in it’s new (idealised) state, but after some years of use, when small adaptations have been made, some details proved to work well and others fail: the design is confronted with human use, the structure became a home. In Koolhaas words (video after the break):
“You see here two systems colliding: the platonic conception of cleaning and the platonic conception of architecture”.

[display_podcast]

Architecture in NL

Thomas — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:09:07 +0000

the ‘Architecture 10′

The Dutch Government proves again that they see Architecture as one of NL’s marketing-worthy assets. The Royal Dutch Mint has released 10 and 5 Euro coins displaying the names of important contemporary and historic architects, as well as some of their publications. Not buildings, these seem to be reserved for bills. The decision to focus on theory, not practice, ties in with the generous funding Netherlands supports architecture publications with. The ease to shell out books contributed to the ‘Super-Dutch’ era in the 90ies.

The mill about the coin design:

he Architecture five-euro coin was designed by artist Stani Michiels (b. 1973). The design on the obverse of the coin pays tribute to the history of Dutch architecture, with the portrait of Queen Beatrix being distinctively constructed using the names of important architects from Dutch history. The artist used the internet as a popularity-meter to determine the names’ order of appearance.

The reverse of the Architecture five-euro coin draws attention to the striking fact that many Dutch architects have also included publishing books on architecture in their professional activities. To illustrate this phenomenon, recent books on architecture rise up from the sides of the coin like buildings. Through their careful placement they combine to outline the Netherlands, while birds’ silhouettes suggest the capitals of all the provinces.

You can buy it in the Mint’s coin store.

China According to China

Martin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:02:55 +0000

MovingCities.org has published the fith and last part of a wonderful documentary on China. Each part is about 6 minutes and covers different themes.
The documentary is a mix of very quiet, long shots of remarkable sites and thoughts of five local architects to the respective theme.

‘China According to China’ is initiated, developed and shot by Diego Grass Puga from 0300TV, a web channel for architectural broadcasting. It was completely filmed before 2008’s Beijing Olympics and edited right after its ending.

It isn’t an effort to portrait a certain scene [the profiles of each character are quite diverse] but to establish four issues that every Chinese architect has to deal with in today’s practice [opening-up, speed, agriculture & education] all of which may set the parameters of future development for Chinese architecture –and this is no prophecy: power has always proven to be Architecture’s most diligent ally.

Instead of branding/promoting individual genius, this is a story of how an [almost] obsolete discipline struggles to follow the pace of China –just like everyone else, everywhere.

“CHINA ACCORDING TO CHINA” presents a set of thoughts by five local architects on China’s current situation and history. Foreword by MovingCities.
Ai Wei Wei [FAKE design], Jiang Jun [Urban China], Yu Kongjian [Turenscape], Wang Shu [Amateur Architecture Studio] and Ma Qingyun [MADA s.p.a.m.] are in charge of defining the issues that every Chinese architect has to deal with in today’s practice, all of which may set the parameters of future development for Chinese architecture.

China According to China / Part 1: opening-up from 0300TV on Vimeo.

“What is exactly happening here?” [Bert de Muynck, movingcities.org]
We might never know. We neither speak nor read mandarin; and above all: it seems that we’ve forgotten the existence of any kind of Chinese Architecture before the [overexposed] Bird’s Nest. So, we choose five local architects who were willing to share their experience from the inside.

China According to China / Part 2: speed from 0300TV on Vimeo.

Speed [in design and construction]: It isn’t only matter of opportunities and good reflexes: it’s also an issue of control and power. How does Chinese Architecture deals with this form of speed?

China According to China / Part 3: agriculture from 0300TV on Vimeo.

Agriculture: 30 years of fast-placed industrialization and urbanization cannot erase more than 9000 years of agri-culture. Is this destruction/construction cycle about erasing everything? Or is it just another manifestation of China’s agricultural intelligence?

China According to China / Part 4: education from 0300TV on Vimeo.

Education: This five architects we’ve chosen are all part of an extremely wide international network of influences, deeply rooted to the most relevant academic centres [Harvard, MIT] and close to the most renowned architects [Koolhaas, Herzog & De Meuron].
But what’s in it for the average Chinese architect? What about the thousands of students who’re not part of the 12 top Chinese architecture schools [Tsinghua, Tongji and South East to name a few] linked to the West? Are they pursuing individual genius or a mass of skilled workers?

China According to China / Part 5: architecture from 0300TV on Vimeo.

Architecture: 2008, China the discipline has started to shift from a quest for a certain local identity [mid 1990’s – early 2000’s] into acknowledging the social power of Architecture.
In the context of an over-accelerated market, 10.000.000 years of History and an outdated educational system, is there any formula of how to do things right? What can we expect from Chinese Architecture? Ai Weiwei [FAKE Design] has something to say about it. Featuring images of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre and Red Brick Art Galleries [Chaochangdi Village, Beijing].
The End.

Check out more of MovingCities.org here. It is a Beijing-based think-thank investigating the role that architecture and urbanism play in shaping the contemporary city. Established in 2007 by Bert de Muynck (BE) and Mónica Carriço (PT), living and working in Beijing since 2006, MovingCities publishes, collaborates, research, interacts, talks and walks, and operate as embedded architects.

Area with Development Potential >>> Zollverein Coking Plant

claudia — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:04:41 +0000

Model photography of the coking plant with new western part, photo: Claudia Strahl / ASTOC

Once a gigantic high-performance machinery, daily output of 8,500 tons of coke, as well as ammoniac, bitumen, and benzene, workplace for 1,000 people. Since 1999 open to the public. Today development area for the next building stage on the World Heritage Site.

The coking plant development concept has been presented by ASTOC , the cologne based office for which I am working. It is the basis for future land-use plan. Tenor: The coking plant should become an animated area, whilst maintaining its industrial structures. An urban space for culture and work. Varied, self-dynamic, but easily comprehensible and generating an identity.

program zones

The “blue axis” along the row of coke ovens which simultaneously marks the boundary between the black and the white side*1, is assigned a special meaning . It is the entrance, showpiece and – due to its location at the row of the ovens – reception room of the monument coking plant.

The sieving plant in the centre of the “blue axis” will be the knowledge-oriented entry towards the coking plant as well as bridge towards the surrounding. Info point, access to the history of the coking plant, educational institution, conference room. Link to “Nordsternpark” in Gelsenkirchen and to Emscher Landscape Park ( see also Thomas’ article “Emscherpark – Industrial Heritage Done Right”) in the entire northern Ruhr area.

Fundamental ideas of the development concept: Preservation of the existing structures, moderate additions, conversion, settlement. Primarily enterprises from the cultural industry and the service sector. New development areas adjoin the west. Fixed within the development line between the monument and adjacent forest. Variable regarding the division of plots. *2

*1
black side: production of coke
white side: further processing to gas

*2
Extracts from the Entwicklungsgesellschaft Zollverein

James Stirling Lecture at the CCA

Darrel — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:23:27 +0000

Montréal’s Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), in collaboration with the Cities Programme of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will host this year’s James Stirling Memorial Lecture on The City this coming Thursday, 13 Nov. 2008 (7pm) at the museum; admission is free. In it’s 3rd year, the international competition intends to “promote innovative approaches to urban phenomena, and to reposition architecture at the centre of debates on the city of the 21st century.”

This year’s lecture is by Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray of Studio Works (Los Angeles) and will present Beijing Inside Out: Caochangdi.

Research Project

Caochangdi, one of more than 300 urban villages in the city of Beijing, tells a specific story about itself and its mostly illegal residents (including farmers, floaters, taxi drivers, and world-class artists). Also embedded within it are both the problems and the possibilities of a new urban space that is redefining the city of Beijing at this pivotal point in human history when cities make up half of the world’s population. The lecturers, who live and work in Caochangdi, dissect the multiple phenomena that form this dynamic urban condition.

Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray’s winning proposal opens up an original discussion of issues of development in China, going beyond a concern with extreme densification, and addressing a dynamic urban context in a way that is both historically-informed and clearly oriented to emerging social, political and cultural processes.

Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray, principals at Studio Works in Los Angeles, were selected from 43 applicants from 15 countries, ranging from senior scholars and practitioners to emerging voices.

This year’s jury included:
James Corner (Founder and Director of Field Operations, New York; Chair and Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Design), Ann Pendleton-Jullian (Associate professor of Architecture, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, Boston), Matthias Sauerbruch (Architect, Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, Berlin and London), Fran Tonkiss (Associate Director, Cities Programme, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)) and Mirko Zardini (Architect, Urban Theorist, and Director of the CCA).

MVRDV’s Sky Village – Winning Skyscraper Competition Entry – Updated

Darrel — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:51:01 +0000

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects design for mix-use high-rise ‘Sky Village’ for Copenhagen

MVRDV and co-architect ADEPT have just released images of their winning entry for the Rødovre Skyscraper Competition in Denmark. The tower reaches to 116m and is a mixed-use programme of appartments, hotel, retail and offices. We are aiming for more images very soon.

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects design for mix-use high-rise ‘Sky Village’ for Copenhagen

(Rødovre – Copenhagen, November 3rd, 2008) The municipality of Rødovre, an independent municipality of Copenhagen, Denmark, announced today MVRDV and co-architect ADEPT winner of the design competition of the Rødovre Skyscraper. The 116 meter tall tower accommodates apartments, a hotel, retail and offices. A public park and a plaza are also part of the privately funded scheme.

The new skyscraper with a total surface of 21,688 m2 will be located at Roskildevej, a major artery East of the centre of Copenhagen. It is after the Frøsilos MVRDV’s second project in Copenhagen. The skyscraper’s shape reflects Copenhagen’s historical spire and present day high-rise blending in the skyline of the city, it further combines the two distinctive typologies of Rødovre, the single family home and the skyscraper in a vertical village. Consideration of these local characteristics leads to Copenhagen’s first contemporary high-rise.

Responding to unstable markets the design is based on a flexible grid, allowing alteration of the program by re-designating units. These ‘pixels’ are each 60m2 square and arranged around the central core of the building, which for flexibility consists of three bundled cores allowing separate access to the different program segments.

On the lower floors the volume is slim to create space for the surrounding public plaza with retail and restaurants; the lower part of the high rise consists of offices, the middle part leans north in order to create a variety of sky gardens that are terraced along the south side. This creates a stacked neighbourhood, a Sky Village. From this south orientation the apartments are benefitting. The top of the building will be occupied by a hotel enjoying the view towards Copenhagen city centre. The constellation of the pixels allows flexibility in function; the building can be transformed by market forces, however at this moment it is foreseen to include 970m2 retail, 15,800m2 offices, 3,650m2 housing and 2,000m2 hotel and a basement of 13,600m2 containing parking and storage.

Flexibility for adaptation is one of the best sustainable characteristics of a building. Besides this the Sky Village will also integrate the latest technologies according to the progressive Danish environmental standards. Furthermore the plans include a greywater circuit, the use of 40% recycled concrete in the foundation and a variety of energy producing devices on the façade.

A public park adjacent to the Sky Village is part of the project and will be refurbished with additional vegetation and the construction of a ‘superbench’, a meandering public path and bench. A playground, picnic area and exercise areas for elderly citizens are also part of the plan.

Lead architect MVRDV and co-architect ADEPT Architects won the competition from BIG, Behnisch and MAD. Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs present the plan today in Copenhagen together with Anders Lonka and Martin Krogh from local office Adept Architects, Dutch engineering firm ABT and Søren Jenssen act as consultants for the project. Earlier MVRDV realised the Frøsilos / Gemini Residence in the port of Copenhagen: a residential project marking a new way in refurbishment of old silo’s which was highly acclaimed and received international awards.

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Stacking Diagram

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Light, Views and Terraces Diagram

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Organization Diagram

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Programme Flexibility Diagram

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Terrace View

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Street View at Night

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Site Plan

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Level 5 Plan

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Level 10 Plan

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Level 15 Plan

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Level 19 Plan

MVRDV / ADEPT Architects; Model Detail; Model by Made By Mistake

Complexity in American Commercial Space

Darrel — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:57:55 +0000

“A store in Las Vegas offers groceries, slot machines and voting terminals side by side. Early voting has proved popular in Nevada”. © Isaac Brekken for The New York Times

I am struck by this image by Isaac Brekken recently published (article) alongside an article about early voting in the US elections by the New York Times. The article by Jennifer Steinhauer looks at early voting in the US and includes other photos by multiple photographers. On top of being a fantastic photo aesthetically, the complexity it shows so clearly is fascinating.

What it seems to reveal is the at times blunt pairing of capitalism, materialism and democracy in the United States. In the same space you can shop, cast your early vote, and then step over to the slot machines to try your luck. It is of course in Las Vegas, which has a distinct legal and commercial environment, but it forces so many questions to the surface about the culture of this place and the United States in general. Is this what we want in our societies? That democracy and the right to vote becomes a banality only facilitated through commercial space? It highlights that for many people, the idea of a public, civic space that guides a democratic and political process has been completely eroded. The government no longer has widespread representation through architecture and urban space, but rather is hidden within the vast network of privatized and commercialized environments sprawling across the country. Without a White House, and the state legislature buildings, what would be left of civic space?

It is worth looking at Brekken’s other images. He is based in Las Vegas and covers the (what one could consider superficial) things that absorb the city.

…and all of them are male

Thomas — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:02:16 +0000

14.350 people are emailing,…

Let’s jump right into this: Japan has the absolute best census in the history of my known world. Not only does it include normal things like age, sex, and the height of each of your pets, but it also legitimizes the gossipy question of What Are You Doing Right Now? Japan slapped a bunch of people with notebooks and a sacred Numbers Mission: keep a log of what you do during the day, in fifteen minute intervals. And those people did!

Fascinating. What people really do with their time – in Japan. Go to xoxosoma.com.

Here Comes The Sun

Martin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:07:47 +0000

PS10 solar power tower

I’ve watched a highly interesting documentary on the prospects of solar power today. Now an english version is available on youtube:

Also highly interesting: The Car of the Future. Featuring Opel P-1 experimental, a car that ran 375miles on one Gallon. That’s about 160 km per liter or less than 1 liter per 100 km….

Here is an article (again in dutch) that describes the way it worked (back in 1959).
Apparently, just as some other inventions, they were patented by shell and never got into further development. How come?

Berlage Lectures Starting!

Martin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:19:07 +0000

The Berlage Lecture Series 2008/2009 is kicking off tomorrow 21 October 2008 with:

Digital Materiality by Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler
You may have seen their work at the Biennale this year. They did the installation at the Swiss Pavilion, using ETH’s famous brick laying robot. They also just published Digital Materiality in Architecture

ROB, the robot. Courtesy of Gramazio & Kohler

Robots build! At their program in architecture and digital production at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich), the architects Gramazio and Kohler have installed a research facility that is unique in the world. It is based on a computer-controlled industrial robot that produces construction elements directly from design data. The robot works flexibly with a tremendous range of tools and materials. In this way Gramaio and Kohler probe the exciting potential of digital design, construction, and manufacturing techniques for architecture. In their projects they incorporate insights and discoveries from the field of computer-aided production into the architectonic design process, using computers to develop innovative construction techniques and architecture. First structures using robots have already been built, for exampe the much noted Gantenbein vineyard in Fläsch (CH) or the installation at the Swiss Pavilion at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice.

We’ve added the further lectures to our calendar, to which you can subscribe here

28 October 2008
The Model and Its Architecture
Patrick Healy

04 November 2008
Proposals for Decolonizing Architecture
Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti

18 November 2008
Architecture Model Shop
Vincent de Rijk
(also check out our previous post on Vincent de Rijk here)

25 November 2008
Towards a General Theory of the Building Envelope
Alejandro Zaera-Polo (you can see a previous lecture of AZP with a draft of the ‘envelope theory’ here)

02 December 2008
Visual Experience in Painting and Cinema
Hubert Damisch, Teri Wehn-Damisch

09 December 2008
This stands as a sketch for the future: Muriel Cooper and the Visual Language Workshop
David Reinfurt

16 December 2008
Heroes and Losers: Resolution and Definition in Architecture
Hans Werlemann

20 January 2009
Open-Source Urbanism and the Language of the Global Polis
Nader Vossoughian

27 January 2009
The Dictionary of Received Ideas
Enrique Walker

03 February 2009
Contemporary Architecture and the Question of (Architectural) History
Alan Colquhoun, Mary McLeod

The Innerside of the Bird’s Nest

edgar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:15:40 +0000

The inside of the bird’s nest is one of the less documented aspects of the building. The spatial relationships are quite spectacular. Check a collection of pictures on flickr by Manuel Ocana.

Source: Manual Ocana on FlickR

The sky is no limit

claudia — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:58:22 +0000

Illuminated Television Tower; Photo: Iwo Gospodinov

Last week my friends Bob and Christian gave a new silhouette to cologne, by means of illuminating the television tower with a spectacular lighten moved dress.

Up to the 1980s the construction of a television tower was a matter of course for many German cities to underline their urban character. Cologne is no exception: The local Colonius was designed by Erwin Heinle and was finished in 1981. With a height of 266 meters it is not only the highest television tower in Nordrhine-Westfalia, but also a striking landmark that is visible from far. As such, it is an inherent part of Cologne’s skyline by day and night. Unfortunately its significance as a tourist destination has been lost since the closure of the observation platform several years ago.
The architects Christian Dieckmann and Robert Wetzels want to re-raise the awareness for the significance of the distinctive building for the cityscape of Cologne:

An exhibition in the elevated ground level documents the development of the television tower and gives extensive background information. Moreover the panorama view that would be visible from the observation platform (when open to the public) is replicated by means of printable film on the basement windows, and selected architecture and urban development projects are explicated in the “Schaufenster zur Stadt”. At “Liegen unterm Turm” at the bottom of the Colonius visitors can savour coffee and cake and enjoy the television tower from a distinct angle. But the most spectacular event is the artful illumination of the tower. By illuminating its column the Colonius is transformed into a giant sculpture that is thus promoted to a highlight of Cologne’s nightly skyline during plan08.

Illuminated Telekom tower Photo:Iwo Gospodinov

Dieckmann’s and Wetzels’s and vision is to establish a competition in the future: the Colonius Award. International artist and designers shall be asked yearly to hand in their proposal for an illumination of the Colonius. The illumination of the television tower during plan08 is made possible by Stadt Köln, Deutsche Funkturm GmbH and Deutsche Telekom AG.

11th Venice Architecture Biennale: The Making of

szacka — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:17:27 +0000

I was also in Venice for the inauguration of the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale. Unlike the other members of Dysturb, this was the fourth time I have attended the opening of the biennale (in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008). So, for me, it was difficult not to compare Aaron Betsky’s work at the Arsenale to the work that had been done by the previous international curators (Burdett, Foster, or Sudjic) of the other biennales. On top of this, the Venice Biennale is the main case study for my PhD thesis: the 1st Venice Architecture Biennale.

I have to say that when I left the Arsenale after seeing the exhibition, my enthusiasm was lukewarm: on the one hand I thought, as Darrel did, that the theme chosen by Betsky was loaded with intellectual potential and openness of interpretation and that overall, the show was well curated due to the compactness of the manifesto format. (In the past years the Arsenale’s bombarded the visitors with an overload of images, information, texts, and so forth.) But at the same time, many of the installations and accompanying manifestos remained obscure and slightly too artistic for my own tastes, and likely for the taste of many architects.

But now I see the light…

It was partly because I was curious and all together critical about the idea, and partly because I thought that maybe I could found out something that I did not already know about the Architecture Biennale, that I decided to buy “The Making of the Biennale” with Aaron Betsky. It is a DVD on sale for 15 Euros at the Biennale wherein Betsky explains his ideas for the exhibition while walking through each of the 20 installations of the Arsenale’s exhibition.

I finally understand what the Coop Himmelb(l)au machine is for, or what the Zaha Hadid sculpture represents. I also realised that the Peneznic and Rogina installation is made of moving parts, or that the Philippe Rahm piece simulat a miniaturized gulf stream made of hot and cold poles. I even realised that I missed the last installation by the Gustafson Porter group, the Towards Paradise garden, a piece referring to Voltaire’s last phrase in Candide: Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

If there is still time, I recommend you have a look at this video before visiting the Biennale; because even if we don’t like to admit it, there are times when we need a bit of didactics.

Realities:United Interview

Darrel — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:06:55 +0000

The German architecture magazine, BauNetz, has added a short, but smart interview with Tim Edler from Realities:United. Realities:United is by far the leader in media surfaces integrated to architecture, and the short interview articulates how Edler sees their work in relation to architecture and what projects are meaningful to him. He states that in some cases: “Media facades are also a symptom of weak architecture.” Talking about the integration of media in European architecture, he argues that: “Communication media in architecture is often motivated by an image of modernity” and that it stems from our reading of Asian cities or from science-fiction films. The video also highlights a collaboration with Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos from Spain, as featured in the Re-Sampling Ornament exhibition. One of the office’s exciting new projects, the ECB building in Frankfurt, aims “To shift technical systems to an aesthetic role” and proposes the total control of the lighting system at night for a massively orchestrated 3-dimensional sculpted light show.

The video is presented as part of BauNetz TV’s Crystal Talk series, which includes other recognized architects and designers such as Delugan Meissl. Other BauNetz videos can be found at their You Tube subscription page.

Re-Sampling Ornament at the SAM, Basel

Darrel — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:59:28 +0000

Helioskope, © Evan Douglis Studio LLC; Photo: Darrel Ronald

A small but fantastic exhibition, Re-Sampling Ornament, has just finished at the Schweiser Architecture Museum / Swiss Architecture Museum (SAM) in Basel. Curated by Oliver Domeisen and Francesca Ferguson, the show featured a selection of contemporary projects that integrate ornament into the design strategy in a fundamental way, rather than applied. Each of the projects are situated within the context of their ornamental typologies and shown next to historical examples considered as lineage. With the recent fascination with pattern, biology and morphologies in architecture, the exhibit is both timely and a smart addition to the current thinking about ornament as it confronts the still predominant attitude of reductionist modernism. The magazine-style catalogue, SAM #5: Re-Sampling Ornament, is equally as good. It’s also worth looking at the other SAM catalogues accompanying the previous exhibitions.

You can see a small selection of photos on either Dysturb.Net or FlickR.

Urban Meetings – The Air Foundation

Darrel — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:56:25 +0000

Rotterdam’s Air Foundation has a promising lineup of debates as part of their Urban Meetings series of public dialogues. I would especially love to see the debate questioning, “Are cities more important than countries?”
Download the English Pamphlet (pdf).

Urban Meetings
With over half of the world’s population now living in cities, and up to two-thirds by the middle of the century, the issue of how to run a city is becoming increasingly important. Rapid urbanization is having a strong impact on communities, cities, economies, urban ecologies and policies.

How to develop and run a city as an engine for for balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth?? How to connect the challenges of managing and of designing a city in order to further that urban sustainability?

In the context of its 50th anniversary the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) has teamed up with the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and the Architecture Institute Rotterdam (AIR), to present a series of Urban Meetings to explore the outlines of an Urban Agenda for the 21st century.

By juxtaposing the global with the local perspective, and by triggering an exchange between urban managers and developers, and urban designers and architects, the series of Urban Meetings hopes to shed light on where our cities may be heading if headed right.

Among the speakers are Jan Pronk (former Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation and former Minister of the Environment), Anthony Williams (former mayor of Washington DC), Ivo Opstelten (current mayor of Rotterdam), Jaime Lerner (architect and former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil), Vedran Mimica (Director of the Berlage Institute, Rotterdam and curator of the 3rd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam) en Kees Christiaanse (architect, and curator of the 4th IABR).

Urban Meetings:
Wednesday 8 oktober – Are cities more important than countries?
Tuesday 14 oktober – Sustainable cities
Tuesday 28 oktober – Leading cities
Thursday 13 november – Safe cities
Thursday 20 november – Inclusive cities
Wednesday 26 november – My city

The Urban Meetings will be moderated by Felix Rottenberg and will take place in Zaal Staal, in the World Trade Center Rotterdam (Beursplein 33).

They are free of admission and will be held in English. We do recommend that you make reservations: info@airfoundation.nl. Please state your name, the name of your organization, the date of the meeting you wish to attend and how many people will accompany you.

The Best Hipster Bags – Venice Biennale 2008!

Darrel — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:07:06 +0000

The Ecotopedia bag had a nice invention, the over-sized round strap cutout, which allowed you to wear the bag as a big accessory; Danish Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

Upon arriving in Venice for this year’s 11th Venice Architecture Biennale, the Dysturb.Net team was so sick that we didn’t know what to do. But when we began to see this year’s freebie-hipster-cotton-bags that have become a standard give-away from the pavilions, we started to feel better. These bags are the absolute best way to self-promote the individual pavilions, other than offering free drinks, which we also support. On top of this, they can be beautiful, and a great reminder from year-to-year of the best pavilions and their graphic design campaigns. So we said to ourselves, let’s collect them and vote for the best bags…. what a great way to go “beyond building“! To all you future curators of your country’s pavilions, take note = give away some wickedly designed hipster bags and everyone will come!

Click on the photos for a complete high-res shot!

Please comment on which bag you think is the best, and if you have more to submit we would be happy to post them.

The Official Out There Biennale bag, next to the 5-volume exhibition catalogue; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

The official catalogue came at a price though, 50 Euros for press, 70 for visitors. We hope someone builds a Pavilion out of these plastic shells holding the books together.

The Enel promo-bag. Photo: Thomas Stellmach

This neon-orange-glow bag was handed out at the opening ceremony – we missed to get this one while sick at home. We photographed this dude on the 2G Vaporetto Party – he’s lucky we didn’t jump him for it!

Australian Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

This is only the Australian back-up bag, the larger one was already out of stock. The nice booklet with an overview of all the exhibited models was a separate purchase.

Austrian Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

The cliché stays true, black is the most common color.

British Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

Danish Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

The Danish bag was one of the most spotted ones – due to its size, and the nice handle.

Korean Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

Polish Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

Portugese Pavilion; Photo: Thomas Stellmach

We received this bag of the easy-to-miss Portugese Pavillion, which is worth a visit due to Souto de Moura’s mirror installation. The bag came with a really nice book on the piece.

Greek Pavilion; Photo: Darrel Ronald

Swiss Pavilion, the bag came with a purchase of the Design Explorations Book. Photo: Darrel Ronald

Spin the bag fast enough and you get the Swiss flag.

Architecture Bag from the Arsenale Electa Shop; Photo: Darrel Ronald

The Lives of Spaces, Ireland Pavilion; Photo: Shannon Harvey

O V, Luxembourg Pavilion; Photo: Shannon Harvey

What Happened to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2008?

Darrel — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:16:15 +0000

“What’s Left” installation view of graphic design carpet by Thonik, Photo by: Darrel Ronald

Excitement for the idea – Potential of the idea

What happened to the biennale was the main question running through my head the whole time inside the main pavilions this year. The theme, Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, is loaded with intellectual potential and openness of interpretation, and yet did not seem to unite the chosen content exhibited. It is possible that the theme developed by Aaron Betsky was too broad and not accurately defined, or that it was too ambitious without the right resources.

While the biennale is somewhat desynchronised every year –due to the individual country pavilions running with their own themes- this only emphasizes the need for strong curation of the main exhibition pavilions. The Arsenale Pavilion overall read more as a who’s-who list of architects than an intentional presentation of relevant work. Add to this the fact that many pieces of the exhibition where older, well-known works, they were unable to inspire surprise.

Dysturb.Link: For a full set of photographs from the Venice Architecture Biennale 2008, visit our Dysturb.Net FlickR Set

An Te Liu in the Arsenale Pavilion; Photo by: Darrel Ronald

While the Arsenale had a number of well-executed pieces, the overall sequence of the exhibition seemed broken and detached. Within the Arsenale was a sub-exhibit entitled Roma Interrotta / Rome Interrupted, a fantastic set of original urban plan drawings originally produced in 1978 for one of the “International Art Meetings” conceived by the architect Piero Sartogo. The beauty of the plans are not overshadowed by any hype, and the spatial experience is completely discontinuous to the next room, Uneternal City. The experiential contrast of the two rooms, even though the theme is continuous, asks the simple question “Is the Uneternal City more hype than content?” There is a small project by BIG Architects in Uneternal City that proposes a “Pizza Plan” for Rome. While it is funny, it is only that, it doesn’t go further.

Herzog & DeMeuron and Ai Weiwei in the Padiglione Italia; Photo by: Darrel Ronald

The Padiglione Italia within the Giardini felt more successful. The pavilion was tightly organized and the overall sequence was more fluid and continuous. There was more play within the source of content and the type of representation. Photo-collages, installations, sculptures, videos, models and drawings are all put at the service of what each architect/office has been investigating. There is less burden of trying to “go beyond” while still playing with the theme itself.

The theme in its context

When the theme was originally announced, I questioned the theme in a previous post. The uncanny similarity to themes already investigated by Volume magazine are in the least humourous, but also question the originality of the curating. To quote Betsky’s text from the exhibition catalogue:

Out There: Architecture Beyond Building
The 11th Architecture Biennale, entitlted Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, points the way to a beautiful and critical architecture arising out of the tomb of building. It starts out by pointing out what should be an obvious fact: architecture is not building. Buildings are objects and the act of construction leads to such objects, but architecture is how we think and talk about buildings., how we represent them, and how we build them. More generally, architecture is a way of representing, shaping and offering critical alternatives to the built environment. In a tangible sense, architecture is that which allows us to be at home in the world. In our society, buildings are too often the residue of the desire to make another world -a better world, open to possibilities beyond the everyday.

This year’s theme seems uncannily similar to the manifesto of Volume magazine, published by Archis:

About Volume
Volume is an independent quarterly magazine that sets the agenda for design. With going beyond architecture’s definition of ‘making buildings’ it reaches out for global views on designing environments, advocates broader attitudes to social structures, and reclaims the cultural and political significance of architecture. Created as a global idea platform to voice architecture any way, anywhere, anytime, it represents the expansion of architectural territories and the new mandate for design.

We are architects = Are we architects?

I applaud this theme absolutely, and hope that the idea resonates for a long period within the discipline, and within the public. It is obviously a theme that is widely felt within the Netherlands, especially because of the work of offices such as AMO. Their work literally goes beyond the architecture of buildings, but it is important to remember that AMO is often filled with people that have mixed experiences, with backgrounds often more broad than architecture.

Nonetheless, the larger debate about how architects and architecture can go “beyond architecture” is not so widely established within the discipline, and such an exhibition could do well to help establish a strong theoretical and strategic understanding of just what an architect can do in society if it is not building. For this reason, Volume magazine is an enormous contribution to architects opening our vision towards a broader implication in the world.

One danger to taking architects out of our domain is that our talent seems to be neutralized and even made somewhat banal. There are pieces in the exhibit that seem to only reproduce ideas already explored in other fields. One such example is MVRDV’s Skycar City that appears to be a terrible remake (not remix) of what Science Fiction artists have been imagining for over 100 years.

Our Favourite Pavilions!

Poland Pavilion
One of the best projects from the biennale is in fact a series of photo-collages produced in collaboration by two photographers (not architects), Nicolas Grospierre and Kobas Laksa for the Poland Pavilion (no link). The work takes existing photos from well-known buildings in Poland and reimagines the same project in 50 years. The images portray both utopia and dystopia for future urban scenarios. The projection of utopia and dystopia permeates the biennale overall.

Nicolas Grospierre and Kobas Laksa; Photo by: Darrel Ronald

Swiss Pavilion
Some of the most “revolutionary” work (if such a thing exists today) was shown in the Swiss Pavilion. The research at the ETH Zurich in the DFAB unit in collaboration with Gramazio & Kohler Architects proves a totally reinvention of how to build architecture by employing industrial robots. If something isn’t more revolutionary in terms of building construction methods, economics and social norms, I don’t know what is. The swiss have also compiled the work, Design Explorations, into a very beautiful book and useful website.

DFAB research from the ETHZ; Photo by: Darrel Ronald

Japan Pavilion
The Japanese pavilion exhibits the very subtle and sensitive work of Junya Ishigami. He has been recognized for his inventive recent project, the Kait Workshop on the campus of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology in Japan. For the exhibition, 20 students meticulously hand-drew plans and landscapes onto the gallery walls in pencil. The work is quite magnificent, and a small installation behind the pavilion resembles the Kait Workshop.

Junya Ishigami & Associates; Photo by: Darrel Ronald

Danish Pavilion
Curated by the Danish Architecture Centre, the Danish Pavilion has created Ecotopedia, a broad initiative to educate people about environmental initiatives. While I’m sure that many people are either overwhelmed or underwhelmed by the constant debate on environmentalism and sustainability, the Danish pavilion is very ambitious and they deserve credit for taking the pavilion exhibit to another level. While the exhibit is full of data and interactive programs, almost no one has the time and energy to spend reading and absorbing the content. On the other hand, the content is online and preserved for future reference. In the 2006 biennale, Denmark also created a fantastic exhibit, showing the ambition of the country in design. How about a trip to Copenhagen?

Danish Pavilion; Photo: Piero Codato

Dysturb.Link: For a full set of photographs from the Venice Architecture Biennale 2008, visit our Dysturb.Net FlickR Set

Out There: Architecture Beyond Building – Our Best Photos

Darrel — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:19:29 +0000

Rockwell Group with Jones`Kroloff; Arsenale Pavilion; Photo by: Darrel Ronald

Dysturb has spent the opening press weekend at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale. This year’s theme, Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, was curated by Aaron Betsky, the former director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, and now director of the Cincinatti Art Museum (previous article here).

As we start to process the event, we have first uploaded our best images for all of you to see: Dysturb or FlickR. Coming soon will be more detailed articles. To find out more about the individual country pavilions both within the Giardini and around Venice, their listing and links can be found here.

See all pictures here:

Maxwan News

Thomas — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:35:53 +0000

sketch proposal for the IABR Lobby (maxwan a&u)

I am wrapping things up here at maxwan architects & urbanists, as tomorrow is going to be my last day. I will be teaching urbanism at a private university in Aleppo (google maps) in a week.

We have achieved quite a bit recently – not only did we launch our new maxwan website, but we also won the competition for the design of 2009’s Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam (IABR). The motto of next year’s Biennale is ‘Open City’, a term Kees Christiaanse (the Biennale’s Curator) has been working with for a while. Maxwan translates this idea spatially by turning the NAi inside out.

one forum serves them all – inside out concept (maxwan design proposal for IABR 2009)

A more direct access to the main large exhibition hall turns it into a multi-functional lobby/conference-hall/exhibition space, directly exposed to the public space instead of being tucked away in the belly of the building.

open city NAi facade (maxwan design proposal for IABR 2009)

Maxwan’s new website stays true to maxwan’s excel-driven soul, providing quite complete data on the projects including high-resolution images. Check out what I have been working on recently – supervising the Barking Riverside masterplan and previously developing a new vision for Rotterdam’s Harbour.

maxwan new website

ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam – Space and Place

Darrel — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:29:18 +0000

Experimenta Design is an existing festival from Lisbon that has been invited to Amsterdam for the first time starting this September (2008). With a great line-up of events and conferences, the festival is very promising. The Droof Event 2: Urban Play aims to attack the streets of Amsterdam with urban interventions. And of course, any reason to visit Amsterdam is great.

About the festival:

After 4 successful editions in its native Lisbon, ExperimentaDesign, the international Biennale dedicated to design, architecture and contemporary culture, was invited by the City of Amsterdam to branch out to the Dutch Capital. As a result of this, ExperimentaDesign will now take place in alternating years in Lisbon and Amsterdam, each with different programmes.

In 2008, Amsterdam hosts its first edition of the Biennale, from 18 September to 2 November, under the theme Space and Place – Design for the Urban Landscape.

ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 highlights urban culture as the playground for the global citizen. The world’s cities are not only home to over half of the world’s population, they are also a metaphor for today’s cultures and a testing ground for new forms of conviviality and interaction. Throughout its three core exhibitions, the Biennale turns the spotlight on innovative urban design as a process of social action, exchanges and experiment.

As in previous editions of the Biennale, ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 promises to set the city’s pulse racing with a challenging, multidisciplinary programme that combines exhibitions, urban interventions, lectures and debates. For over a month and a half, the Dutch Capital will be host to a fresh selection of international talent, buzzing with playfulness, interactivity and creative energy.

During the Opening Week – from 18 to 21 September – Amsterdam is the ultimate place to be, as the Biennale launches with four days of lively exchange of ideas held in emblematic venues throughout the city.

About the theme – Space and Place: Designing for the Urban Landscape:

For the first time in history the earth’s population is more urban than rural. This means that for most people on this planet, the city has become their natural habitat. When in this context we speak of growth and blossom, terrain and flow, or use other natural metaphors, we speak in fact of engineering, architecture and design. We talk about the city as a landscape, that we have created ourselves and continue to shape.

Shaping a place is as much about imagining it as it is about building. Look at a child playing and you can recognize an arch-instinct shared by all living beings. Stepping over an imaginary line, and closing a virtual door behind him, the child says: now I’m in my home. If he has only sticks and stones to play with, he will use these to demarcate the difference between inside and outside, between a place and its surrounding space.

In design for the urban landscape, such symbolism meets the existential needs of the city’s inhabitants, who use it to define their habitat as a place to be. ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 focuses on the new urgency with which we consider urban public space. We highlight the latest strategies for enhancing public places as theater of public conviviality. From informal – and sometimes illegal – interventions which reclaim the street as the meeting place for independent citizens, to proposals by architects and designers to develop the city’s public space as a playground for social interaction. Plus reflections on how to transform a neutral space into an individual place by an international range of cutting-edge designers.

ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 invites designers, architects and other creatives from all over the world to meet their audiences in one of the finest urban playgrounds of all: the city of Amsterdam.

Talking to Vincent de Rijk

Darrel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:03:38 +0000

Archinect has just published a short interview with Vincent de Rijk, arguably the Netherlands most well-known and admired physical model builder. He has made a large contribution to the aesthetics of contemporary Dutch architecture with his models. Most of us have seen his models in exhibitions, but unfortunately he has no (known) website that covers his work completely. We have also published an early model of de Rijk’s in The Dawn of Contemporary Dutch Architecture.

PIN-UP: Enjoy Architectural Entertainment

Darrel — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:39:13 +0000

PIN-UP #4 – Cover

Now in its 4th issue, PIN-UP: Magazine for Architectural Entertainment has proven to be a great magazine that has lasted past its first few issues to be a hopefully lasting review on architectural and design culture. Having first seen issue #2 back in the summer of 2007 at the Pro qm bookstore installation at Documenta in Kassel, the magazine has been notoriously hard-to-find throughout Europe and North America. Released by Bruil in the Netherlands, the magazine apparently shares similar roots as our other preferred review, Fantastic Man.

Felix Burrichter, PIN-UPs founder and editor was invited to write a short blog post in the New York Times in order to explain his idea behind issue #4 of the inventive review. In addition, he has posted numerous articles on The Moment through the New York Times. The magazine takes a fascinating perspective on the world of architecture and its by-products. The discipline is set within the larger context of design production and the cultural place that architecture plays in society. The articles are great tangents, the fashion coverage is brilliant, the interviews varied and the layout is excellent. If you’re in Montréal, swing by the Canadian Centre for Architecture to pick up your copy.

PIN-UP #4 – Excerpt from the article on Roger Bundschuh

PIN-UP #4 – Excerpt from the article on Aranda/Lasch

PIN-UP – Previous Covers

This is happening to Beijing

Darrel — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:07:13 +0000

With the attention on Beijing, the New York Times has prepared a small but interesting interactive map showing the creation and destruction of Beijing over the recent years. Three sections of the map highlight the new Olympic venues, the urban change of Beijing as well as new architectural projects.

You might have also seen a previous post on Dysturb.Net about associative design and the typology of Chinese housing studied by the Berlage Institute (Rotterdam) that is also fascinating.

CCTV Facade complete

Thomas — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:09:12 +0000

CCTV is ready for the games. The steel ribs reflect the distribution of forces in the construction (photo: Ole Scheeren)

OMA distributed a press release including the above picture (click for XXL) today that the facade developed in collaboration with ARUP has been completed. Just in time for the opening of the Olympic Games for an harmonious skyline, we might add. In that context: the extruded pagoda on the right is the Zhong Fu Tower.

XML architects: interns needed

Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:47:12 +0000

My friends at XML need some help, and asked me for support. They are looking for interns for a period of 3 to 6 months, starting from september. They’re young, small and interesting, and can only offer a minimum salary. Here’s their advert:

XML is a contemporary cultural practice specialized in Architecture, Research and Urbanism. From its base in Amsterdam XML is involved in worldwide cross-disciplinary projects with an emphasis on cultural analysis. XML’s projects are fuelled by a reflection on the contemporary city as source of cultural production. The work has been rewarded several prizes amongst which most recently the first prize in the Europan 9 competition Almere.

We currently invite people to apply for a position as trainee in our office in amsterdam. Candidates should have finished at least two years of relevant design education. Further requirements include:

- excellent model-making, drawing and render skills
- strong graphic and design talent
- willing to actively contribute to the rapid growth of our young office

Applicants for this vacancy should send their cv, motivation letter and portfolio(pdf) to hr@x-m-l.org.

Responsive City Workshop

Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:49:31 +0000

Workshop announcements come in packs. Here is the third one, which I’d like to recommend especially. The INTI supported masterclass compares highly regulated planning strategies in the showcase newtown of the Netherlands, Almere, with the self-organised strategies employed in Gulensu, a clandestine city extension of Istanbul.

Planning is a messy, time and energy-consuming business of trial, error and failure. Success is not a certainty and even when the result is successful, it is often a surprise, not what was actually being sought. Jane Jacobs

THE RESPONSIVE CITY: ISTANBUL – RANDSTAD

Why?
The Responsive City: Istanbul-Randstad* focuses on new approaches to the 21st city. Theories of complexity and their application onto the field of urban design and architecture form its core. Here, the city is seen as a dynamic open system, constantly influenced by interacting bottom up and top down players.
Who?
The Responsive City is an interdisciplinary course offered as an once-only-elective for 16 participants with diverse backgrounds such as human geography, planning, sociology, architecture and urban design.
How?
The course requires a hands-on approach with two intense on-site masterclasses in Istanbul and Almere. Agent-based mapping and responsive design game are main tools of the course. Knowledge/interest in GIS mapping, informal city, Istanbul and/or Almere is highly appreciated.

The Deadline for Application is 5th of September 2008, Dates are 29 September – 3 October 2008 in Almere; 27 – 31 October 2008 in Istanbul. The Masterclasses are run by Prof. Arnold Reindorp, Prof. Juval Portugali & ir. Ekim Tan.

More at INTI, and soon at theresponsivecity.org.

One Land & Platform Paradise

Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:37:18 +0000

FAST, a Amsterdam-based foundation showcasing and critically investigating spatial conditions of segregation invites to Ein Hawd (Israel):

From the 28th of August to 7th September, we will finalize the One Land Two Systems project with a series of public events, workshops, and spatial, social and cultural interventions in Ein Hawd. The project aims at exposing the situation of the unrecognized Palestinian villages in Israel, and at the same time finding alternative planning solutions.

Check the Press Release PDF, or read more at www.one-land.org.

Sin Embargo

Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:09:17 +0000

sine embargo – con embargo

Our friends from Supersudaca host an interesting workshop on tourism in post-castro Cuba in September. It’ll set you back 1000€, but scholarships to reduce the fee are available. The objective of the workshop is to find specualtive answers on questions as:

How will Cuba change its tourist branding in a SIN-EMBARGO scenario?
How will it mutate its current spatial segregation strategy between locals and tourist in a SIN-EMBARGO scheme?
What will be the territorial impacts in a Cuba SIN-EMBARGO that admits cruise ship tourism?
Will Cuba become a role model for next generation tourist developments in the Caribbean and worldwide in a SIN-EMBARGO condition?
What is the emerging territorial paradigm of Sun and Beach in the Cuba CON-EMBARGO? Will it change in a SIN-EMBARGO context?
Will the regulation culture and environmental management remain the same in a ‘liberalized’ Cuba SIN-EMBARGO?
How will Cuba react spatially to the opening of the massive market of second residences for American pensioners in a Cuba SIN-EMBARGO?

The inscription period ends on 15th of August. The (slightly disappointing) results of last years sudapan competition will be at display at RAS gallery in Barcelona from 4th September on.

More at sinembargo.org.

Final Presentations at the Berlage Institute – Watch Live

Darrel — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:18:29 +0000

Exhibition of the Berlage Institute at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale; FlickR photo: Darrel Ronald

The final presentations of the 1st and 2nd year Berlage Institute students are scheduled at the school this coming week and next. All of the presentations are open to the public, and are without entry cost. On the 24th June, the 1st year students will present two studios, Rethinking the All-Inclusive, and the Saemanquem Project; while on the 1st July two other studios, Associative Design: Urban Ecologies, and Capital Cities, The limits of the City: A Strategic Project for Seoul will be presented.

You may also watch the Livestream Broadcasts online.

2007–2008 Second-year final presentations

Associative Design Research Program
Urban Ecologies

There is an ecology of bad ideas, just as there is an ecology of weeds.
——Felix Guattari

In the Three Ecologies the French psychologist Felix Guattari states that now, more then ever, nature cannot be separated from culture. He argues for a politics of “ecosphy”—or the interrelationship of social, mental and environmental ecologies. Based on this thesis, this research studio has hypothesized the forms of urbanization that can be actualized within the various environmental ecologies of Phoenix, Arizona.

The studio has been studying the region’s specific social, economic, political, climatic and material environments with the aim of presenting serious alternatives to the contemporary housing production surrounding Phoenix. Located in a wide valley that has allowed for low-density urbanization with few limitations, the region has maintained rapid and sustained growth since the end of World War II. Pro-growth civic policies have helped fuel an economy that, along with the region’s natural amenities, has attracted many new residents. This growth has resulted in the need for more water, much of it now coming from the Colorado River. This has also created regional and sectorial conflicts between Arizona and its neighboring states as well as between agricultural and urban land uses. Demand for electricity, especially for air conditioning, continues to escalate. An abundance of motor vehicles, but lack of highway infrastructure, has led to increased air pollution and traffic congestion. These specific site circumstances, and limited natural resources, have made Phoenix an environmental ecology between growth and supply.

In opposition to the conventions of typical American subdivision development, the studio is presenting neighborhood models that generate an urban environment. Instead of establishing a predetermined master plan, these growth models follow potential decision-making processes in order to react to various changes within the economic market and the development of complimentary programs according to of inhabitation or demand. They also are actualized in relation to the ecological constraints set by Phoenix desert.

Five projects will be presented that argue that new forms of housing neighborhoods must learn from site-specific circumstances. Each project is structured in four phases, taking a quarter mile section of the Phoenix desert as a case study. From the local vegetation ecology and radiation production to the effects of flooding in relation to the economic value of the raw desert, these projects unfold specific and intensive characteristics of the desert. Additionally, two projects will demonstrate the desert’s potential as an urban growth model of one possible decisionmaking process.

This studio is part of the Associative Design Research Program, headed by Peter Trummer, which investigates the potential and design of new site-specific housing environments by applying associative techniques to all scales of a design process to increase its relevance to the architectural discipline.

Tutor: Peter Trummer
Participants: Tsung-Jen Chang, Botsung Chiu, Daewon Kwak, Tzu-En Hsu, Kyo Suk Lee, Chia-Ying Lin, Fairuz Razali, and Mika Watanabe.
Guest Critics: Lawrence Barth, Christophe Cornubert, Aris Georges, Christopher Lee, Lars Lerup, and Matthew Moore.

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Capital Cities Research Program
The Limits of the City: A Strategic Project for Seoul

We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.
——Hannah Arendt

The studio focuses on the relationship between forms of metropolitan labor and the possibility of political life. As one of the most physically dense, socially complex, and technologically advanced cities in Asia, Seoul is the ideal site to test how economy affects a city’s political life.

It is generally assumed that our contemporary civilization is a post-industrial one, shaped by the emergence and the hegemony of immaterial labor over the production of goods. The studio argues that the place of this process of production is the metropolis.

The metropolis brings these processes outside of their canonical space —the factory— and disseminates them through all aspects of urban life. If we assume that industrialism is not simply the process of production of goods, but a way to make anything economically productive —from the human body to the human mind— then we can presume that we are still part of the industrial civilization where urbanity itself is the ultimate factory. Confronting this scenario, the critical issue this studio explored is what kind of cityness can be imagined in the contemporary metropolis, where production seems to be sustained by economics.

The site of research and design is the conceptual border between the city as a locus of production and the city as locus of political life. The studio attempted to answer how an architectural intervention can consciously frame prototypical forms of density, shared facilities, and living and workspaces. An overall urban strategy for Seoul, consisting of 11 punctual and prototypical urban design interventions, will be presented. In their exemplarity, these interventions are capable of transforming the geography of the entire region. They are mainly concerned with the proposal of living typologies of space that can limit the expansion of the built environment, the proliferation of scattered settlements, and that can foster the creation of places of encounter and sharing that are different from the living and working patterns imposed by economic exploitation.

This studio is part of the Capital Cities Research Program, headed by Pier Vittorio Aureli, which aims to redefine the idea of the city as a political institution by focusing on the relations between architectural form, political theory and urban history by means of large-scale critical urban projects.

Tutors: Pier Vittorio Aureli, Martino Tattara, and Elia Zenghelis.
Participants: Julica Grzybowski, Seung Jeong Hong, Eun Kyung Lee, Alejandro Martinez, German Ramirez, and Tsai-Ching Tsai.
Guest Critics: Christopher Lee, Lars Lerup, Gabriele Mastrigli, and Andreas Ruby.

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Program Tuesday, 1 July 2008

10:30am Welcome by Rob Docter, General Director
Introduction by Vedran Mimica, Director
10:45am Final presentations of the Associative Design Research Program
studio entitled “Urban Ecologies”
12:00pm Comments by guest critics and faculty
12:30pm Round-table discussion with guest critics
Moderated by Peter Trummer, Head of the Associative Design Research Program
1:30pm Complimentary lunch
2:30pm Final presentations of the Capital Cities Research Program
studio entitled “The Limits of the City: A Strategic Project for Seoul”
4:00pm Comments by guest critics and faculty
4:30pm Round-table discussion with guest critics
Moderated by Pier Vittorio Aureli, Head of the Capital Cities Research Program
6:00pm End-of-year exhibition opening and reception
7:00pm Graduation ceremony

——————————————————————————–
Graduating participants:

Tsung-Jen Chang, Taiwan
Botsung Chiu, Taiwan
Julica Grzybowski, Germany
Seung Jeong Hong, Korea
Tzu-en Hsu, Taiwan
Dae-Won Kwak, Korea
Eun Kyung Lee, Korea
Kyo Suk Lee, Korea
Chia-Ying Lin, Taiwan
Alejandro Martinez, Dominican Republic
German Ramirez, Colombia
Fairuz Reza Razali, Malaysia
Tsai-Ching Tsai, Taiwan
Mika Watanabe, Japan

——————————————————————————–
Guest critics:

Lawrence Barth, Senior Lecturer in Urbanism, Architectural Association, London
Christophe Cornubert, Architect, Los Angeles
Aris Georges, Dean, Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Christopher Lee, Principal, Serie Architects, London
Lars Lerup, Dean and the William Ward Watkin Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture, Rice University, Houston
Gabriele Mastrigli, Architectural Historian, Rome
Matthew Moore, Visual Artist, Phoenix
Andreas Ruby, Architecture Critic and Theorist, Berlin

——————————————————————————–
Institute faculty:

Vedran Mimica, Director
Pier Vittorio Aureli, Head of the Capital Cities Research Program
Joachim Declerck, Centre for Architectural Research and Development
Salomon Frausto, Head of Architectural Broadcasting
Roemer van Toorn, Head of the Projective Theory Program
Peter Trummer, Head of the Associative Design Research Program

Wolfgang Tillmans at the Stedelijk CS

Darrel — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:48:46 +0000

The latest exhibition in the temporary location for the Stedelijk Museum CS will be a show curated by Wolfgang Tillmans (b. 1968) which includes his own work situated amongst other artists. The show is entitled, Presence of Mind, and will run through June 20th – September 30th, 2008. While previous works will be included, the show will also include the museum’s recent acquisition, an installation by Tillmans titled, Stedelijk Room.

In the forthcoming exhibition at the Stedelijk, Tillmans reveals the connections between his own work and that of a number of kindred spirits in the art world. Some, like German artist Isa Genzken, with whom Tillmans has exhibited on a number of occasions, share his free and easy approach to images and materials. Others, like René Daniëls and Daan van Golden, are artists who constantly redeploy their own stock of images in new ways. Tillmans also creates a dialogue between his own experiments with the abstract qualities of the photographic image and the work of Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, Robert Mangold and Niele Toroni. The socially committed, political aspect of his oeuvre is reflected in his selection of Roberto Matta, Peter Hujar and Timur Novikov.

The new installation, Stedelijk Room, will be a collection of his work combining:

[...] abstract images with portraits, landscapes, still lifes and townscapes. Tillmans even includes odd references to Amsterdam/The Netherlands, such as his self-portrait Mosshat (1988), made during a period in Amsterdam in his twenties, and a photograph of a painting of William of Orange. There is also an image that refers to one of the first abstract compositions he ever made, on the occasion of the 1998 From the Corner of the Eye exhibition at the Stedelijk. Iconic works from Tillmans’ oeuvre included in Stedelijk Room are Lutz & Alex, climbing tree (1992), police helicopter (1995), man pissing on chair (1997) and the black-and-white image of an intertwined group of friends Arkadia I (1996). In contrast to these earlier photographs, there are also recent, large-scale abstracts like Freischwimmer 118 (2005) and Silver 50 (2006). Finally, Stedelijk Room includes three tables covered with montages of photographs and cuttings from newspapers and magazines which are in permanent dialogue with the images displayed on the walls.

London Festival of Architecture

Thomas — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:52:05 +0000

London Festival of Architecture’ overwhelming website

In a few days – on the 20th of June – the London Festival of Architecture starts and will go on for a month. The program is overwhelming (including events/hubs/themes/tours/projects..), I will write more after I’ve seen it. Go and check their site: http://www.lfa2008.org!

The Bouwkunde is Burning

Thomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:07:02 +0000

Bouwkunde burning today at (photo: Radio TV West)

This morning the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology caught fire.
The building was evacuated immediately, there were no injured.

The probable cause of the fire was a short-circuiting in a coffee-machine on the 6th floor of the northern wing of the building, resulting from water leakage. The fire spread to the upper floors and later to the southern wing. Due to the height of the building, the fierceness of the fire and possible collapsing of the building firemen had to retreat and continue their work from the ground.

According to the fire department the building by Van den Broek and Bakema is to be considered lost entirely and could even collapse due to severe damage done to it’s structure.

Images here (Nu.nl) and here (NOS.nl). Movies after the break.

And see the building going down (dumpert.nl).

Amendment: Original design drawings and history of the building on the nai site.

Open Form Architecture @ Pecha Kucha, Montreal

Darrel — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:36:31 +0000

Fellow dysturber, Darrel Ronald, founded Open Form Architecture in Montréal (Canada) with colleagues Maxime Moreau and Maurice Martel. We were recently invited to participate in the Pecha Kucha Montréal as our first public presentation. Following our 20 slides / 20 seconds at the special edition of Pecha Kucha Montréal as part of the Portes Ouverts Design Montréal festival, we have made the slides, as well as video available online.

The title of our presentation is, Simple Rules, Complex Behaviour, and illustrates a limited selection of our work over the past years dealing with generative design, cellular automata, simple programming and complexity. We have been particularly influenced by the work of Steven Wolfram and his book, A New Kind of Science. Having participated in two of his NKS Summer Schools, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with him and a team of mathematicians and programmers in the United States using Mathematica software.

The presentation is bilingual French and English, just like our favourite city! Unfortunately the first words are cut off, and they are: WE ARE OPEN FORM, and WE LOVE OPEN FORM! We hope you enjoy! Below are our 20 slides, that accompany the video.

WAF? WTF?

Thomas — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:39:15 +0000

World Architecture Festival Barcelona

Emap, a Business-to-Business media group (from their website), hosts the first World Architecture Festival in Barcelona. Architects are invited to put their buildings up for competition (entry fee a smacking 950€), and among the exhibited projects the best will be awarded. The interesting jury (to name a few: Will Alsop, Cecil Balmond, Stefan Behnisch, Richard Burdett, Luis M. Mansilla, Richard Meier, Sir Peter Cook, Neil Denari, Norman Foster, Massimiliano Fuksas, Zaha Hadid, Michel Rojkind, Michael Sorkin, Francine Houben, Robert Stern, Christoph Ingenhoven, Charles Jencks) might redeem the commercial/artificial flair the event exudes. We’ll keep our final judgement to ourselves until we know more about the event.

perceptive pixel

Martin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:23:23 +0000

you like your new multitouch-pad?
check this out:

also check Jeff Han’s presentation @ TED two years ago:

well be standing at drawingboards again!
Thanks for the link Alex!

De Eenvoud – Simplicity

Martin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:20:17 +0000

This friday at 16:30 an interesting exhibition opens @ the Casla in Almere. It will feature the winning projects of the Eenvoud Competition, the third edition for an experimetal neighbourhood in Almere. Its predecessors, “De Fantasie” and “De Realiteit”, ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Reality’ were held back in the eighties and their results are still worth an excursion. More information on that below.

“De Éénvoud” or ‘Simplicity ‘is the result of a competition held in 2006. The brief was to design a freestanding and simple low-cost house, expressing their own wishes and ideas for dwelling. The winners got the possibility to build their design on a beautiful open spot in the woodland of Noorderplassen-West.

The twelve winning projects, amongst which an ornithologist’s house, a rubber house, a convertible house and a scaled version of the Unité d’Habitation were submitted from The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and Sweden. The houses will have a permanent character, with a minimum of building regulations. Some of the projects will be built by the designers themselves; nine projects are still open for clients to join in.

Rubber House, Cityfoerster

Convertible House, Matthias Bauer, Stefan Werrer

Het Huis van de Vogelaar, Anouk Vogel / Johan Selbing

Unite, Joao Pedro Prates Vital Ruivo

The Exhibition “De Éénvoud” opens the 28th of march and will run until 10th of may 2008 @ Architectuurcentrum CASLa, Weerwaterplein 3, 1324 EE Almere Stad
Open Tuesday to Saturday between 12.00-17.00

The Predecessors
“De Fantasie” and “De Realiteit” were meant to stay only for five years, but as always with experimental projects, they usually last longer than permanent houses. The houses are used either for permanent living, as holiday homes or studios.
They are part of a number of special residential neighbourhoods in Almere, amongst which such ridiculosities as The Regenboogwijk (Rainbow Quarter), Stedenwijk (City Quarter), Muziekwijk (Music Quarter), Filmwijk (Movie Quarter), Parkwijk (Park Quarter). De Realiteit and De Fantasie have arguably yielded the most striking architecture. De Realiteit comprises seventeen projects on the Noorderplassen lakes, while nine houses make up De Fantasie on Weerwater.

Hard Glass, BenthemCrouwel

De Fantasie
De Fantasie has developed into a beautiful and tranquil neighborhood on the southwest shore of the Weerwater. Because of the involvement of the people in this area it has the feel of a holiday resort. The intention was to build homes which were to be demolished after five years. However, due to the project’s success, the houses are still standing. A striking design in this quarter is ‘Hard Glass’, by architect Jan Benthem of famous dutch office Benthem Crouwel. It was one of their first projects, now they are building every major train station, airport etc. This project, ‘Hard Glass’ is a glass, cubic villa which has been lifted off the ground by a construction of steel tubes. The living quarters inside the cube resemble an aquarium. The type of doors also used on ships divide the villa’s rooms.
The VVV (the local tourist information office) in Almere has a CASla route description through De Fantasie which you can enjoy without a guide.

ER VLIEGT EEN VOGEL ONDER ONS HUIS , De Realiteit 11,  Dick Bruijne and Gerard Koppelman

De Realiteit
The ‘temporary character’ is also reflected in the much talked-about quarter De Realiteit. Here too the houses are still standing, as they are a resounding success. De Realiteit lies in a fairly remote area, which has resulted in a surprising ambience. The seventeen houses differ in the materials used and the construction, but mainly in shape. The house created by Dick Bruijne and Gerard Koppelman is a striking design which stands out. ‘A bird is flying underneath our house’ is suspended five meters above the ground in a steel frame. The house itself is a small, two-storied wooden cube. The surface area of the house is small in proportion to the steel frame.
You probably also come across ‘Markies’ a house which unfold from a trailer. I guess you won’t see it there though since its constantly on the road.
De Realiteit is situated on the Noorderplassen and the VVV also has a route description on this one.
Check out the website for more details on the houses.
More photos also here

archiCULTURE: The Film

Darrel — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:43:53 +0000

A new documentary film, archiCULTURE, is in the works about the lives of student architects and the culture surrounding the daily life of design students. The film (trailer) is a grassroots project currently seeking money to finance the project.

The Film Synopsis:

Archiculture is a feature length documentary that examines contemporary issues surrounding the realm of architecture through the perspective of university students during their final thesis semester. The film follows the protagonists through the evolution of their respective senior thesis projects and the internal and external conflicts each student faces during this intense year-long process. Interviews with family, friends, significant others, industry professionals, architects, and design professors are woven throughout the film to create a story that builds an intimate connection between the characters and the audience. The emotional storyline will reveal a breadth of experiences ranging from the 4AM deadline dash, to the fulfilling sensation of graduation. The film provides viewers with an in-depth look into the creative yet competitive process of architectural education while also depicting current issues such as the role of architecture in society, the disproportion of gender and race within the profession, and environmentally conscious design. The story is structured in a way that chronologically follows the students’ development of their theses and continually builds suspense as the final critique looms. The film concludes at the students’ final thesis presentation as they find themselves on the brink of their adult and professional lives, and the closure of their adolescence.

Get A Flag!

Martin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:41:00 +0000

June 11th the first Museum entirely dedicated to Graphic Design will be opened by our Queen Beatrix in Breda.
For the opening my friend Teun Castelein will make his graphic statement out of concieved content from 250 participants. Everybody is welcome to design its own flag and mail it to flag@graphicdesignmuseum.com. All designs will be printed on unique flags and put against the building. The result will be an explosion of information. A colourful art piece at the old baroque building of the supermodern Graphic Design Museum.
Really a piece of art that makes people think about modern visual communication, about the position of musea in the contemporary image-culture and the fact that everybody is a designer/ image-maker nowadays.

So invest some 250 €, add another line to your CV and be part of the opening exhibition. You can upload your images here.
It seems to be selling quite well and I’m sure it will look amazing.

Teun did a similar spectacular work of art inspired by the famous website ‘www.milliondollarhomepage.com‘ in 2005. He sold the façade of his Alma Mater, the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam to more than 300 companies, organisations and individuals.

They added logos and trademarks, images of art, poetry and lovenotes. The façade consists of more than 16,000 tiles [35x29cm], each of which is supplied with its own individual printed plastic plate. The result is an overwhelming mosaic of colour and information – a project that seeks to push the boundaries between commerce and art, society and the movements of the market, the private sector and public space. The Sandberg Institute is located on the Amsterdam ring road in the Zuidas district, the city’s new economic centre.

Teun Castelein, who is actually the first man in real size on the web, graduated in 2002 at the Art Academy of Utrecht with a research on Dutch suburban town Hoogvliet, just outside Rotterdam.
This ghetto town had a very negative image, so he decided to start a feel good branding campaign for its citizens as part of the WIMBY! project. One of his proposals was a Hollywood sign of ‘HOOGVLIET’ [which was implemented in a park design by FAT architects]. With this icon of Hollywood he wanted to give the people something to believe in, that you can be somebody! By giving Hoogvliet a bit of Hollywood allure, he made its inhabitants the stars.

So, go get your creativity boiling, convince your boss to spend those Euros and put something more on it than just your average company logo!

Parlez-vous Francais? Don’t miss Métropolitains.

szacka — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:39:35 +0000

I recently discovered a radio program that is broadcast by Radio France Culture every Wednesday from 10 to 11 am. Called Métropolitains, this show existed since 1999 and is hosted by the architectural critic François Chaslin. Métropolitans is a program about architecture and the city. With a smooth voice, François Chaslin and his guests talks about several subjects from landscape architecture to design, lighting, scenography, exhibitions, the city and – of course – its buildings. For example the show of February 27 was entirely dedicated to the British architect Richard Rogers, who is presently presenting a monographic show at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Also have a look at the 5th of March show, which was dedicated to the philosopher and architect Wittgenstein. Celine Poisson, specialist of the Wittgenstein house and professor of design at the Université du Québec à Montréal, was guest of the show. On the 20th of February the roles were reversed: various architects and historians challenged François Chaslin on issues regarding the actual status of architecture.

You can download Podcasts and archives of the show at the Métropolitains site.

Questions & Flowers – a Retrospective by Fischli & Weiss

claudia — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:04:33 +0000

Peter Fischli / David Weiss: “Objects From the Raft”, 1982; Source: unknown

This sunday i went to see the exhibition of swiss artist duo Fischli & Weiss in Milan,Italy, organized by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi. Get the first impression by a video on youtube. It runs until the 16th of march, but afterwards it will move to Hamburg (18. April until 31. August in the Deichtorhallen Hamburg). The exhibition space is the beautiful Palazzo Litta, the perfect frame for their work. They are dealing with a wide range of means: multimedia installations, photography and sculptures.Their most famous piece of work is the movie titled “Der Lauf der Dinge” (How things go), from 1987, at the documenta 8. Their basic principle is to pick up objects and situations of daily life and transforming them into a new context. What do they exactly aim at? Do they try to find answers on the philosophical and theoretical questions of life is their irony and also tremendous humour a notion to cheer up in a complex world?
One extract of a Super 8 movie shows Fischli & Weiss, dressed as a bear and a rat, strolling through Hollywood, questioning life.The bears’ comment ( in “the least resistance”): ” I hate this chaos in the world. Nothing works. Everything is hopeless and sad.”

Stasi Spaces @ FOAM, Amsterdam

Darrel — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:51:42 +0000

Amsterdam’s finest photography museum, FOAM Fotografiemuseum, has what should be an excellent exhibition opening on the 14th March. The new exhibit by Daniel & Geo Fuchs: STASI – Secret Rooms runs until the 4th June 2008, and documents the interior spaces used by the East German Stasi.

From the FOAM press release:

From 14 March 2008 Amsterdam’s photography museum Foam presents STASI – Secret Rooms by the German artist duo Daniel & Geo Fuchs. The exhibition opens up the hidden rooms once used by the STASI, the infamous East German secret service, in a series of monumental photos. While much of the former DDR infrastructure has been destroyed, or given an entirely new function, the clandestine spaces that Daniel and Geo Fuchs photographed are still in their original condition. Offices, cell complexes, bunkers, living quarters and interrogation rooms: everything is exactly the way it was before ‘Die Wende’. The typical East European interiors, with their functional furniture and sober colours seem remarkably stylised in retrospect. Yet above all, what this large, intriguing project shows is the symbiosis of architecture, power and impotence.

In January 2004, the Starke Foundation invited Daniel and Geo Fuchs to participate in an artists-in-residence programme in Berlin. Following their successful Conserving and Famous Eyes projects, it was only now that they discovered the full extent of the DDR’s structural heritage in Berlin. Besides the Palast der Republik (the DDR parliament) this consists primarily of offices of the Ministry of State Security (STASI) in Lichtenberg, Bautzen and Hohenschönhausen. Even today many of these places remain practically untouched.

Daniel and Geo Fuchs researched the historical background of these locations and photographed them meticulously with an large format-camera. They used a strict system, photographing each room from the same perspective. Thanks to the subtle framing, apparently insignificant details acquire a new importance and give each picture an unusual interpretation. A red phone, a large, archaic intercom, typically East German furnishings, a solitary calendar; it all seems as if it were deliberately put in place by a fashion-conscious stylist. That the reality is rather more sinister gives these pictures their typically bitter aftertaste: the places we see here are checkpoints, prison cells, and for example the residence and offices of the former minister of state security. Daniel and Geo Fuchs’s extremely precise pictures gradually draw us into the maelstrom as we realise the awesome absurdity of this most recent chapter of German history.

UN data

Thomas — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:44:44 +0000

UN data: slum population in metropolitan areas 2001

“The UN-system has accumulated over the past 60 years an impressive amount of information. UNdata, developed by the Statistics Division of DESA, is a new powerful tool, which will bring this unique and authoritative set of data not only to the desks of decision makers and analysts, but also to journalists, to students and to all citizens of the world, ” says Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

Since its foundation, the United Nations system has been collecting statistical information from member states on a variety of topics. The information thus collected constitutes a considerable information asset of the organization. However, these statistical data are often stored in proprietary databases, each with unique dissemination and access policies. As a result, users are often unaware of the full array of statistical information that the UN system has in its data libraries. The current arrangement also means that users are required to move from one database to another to access different types of information.

UNdata addresses this problem by pooling major UN databases and those of several international into one single internet environment. The innovative design allows a user to access a large number of UN databases either by browsing the data series or through a keyword search.

I love when major organisations understand that opening up their knowledge to the public is the way to the future. We’ve added the UN database to our our list of resources – scroll down to ‘data’.

VVVV Real-Time Video Programming Toolkit

Darrel — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:22:08 +0000

blackVSwhite from desaxismundi on Vimeo

I have been hearing more and more about VVVV. If you are a fan of Processing, then you’ll surely be a fan of VVVV. The results are amazing, both the screenshots and videos, it is worth a look for its inspiration alone. And if you’re interested in a visual programming interface for real-time video creation, this is a fascinating software:

vvvv is a toolkit for real time video synthesis. It is designed to facilitate the handling of large media environments with physical interfaces, real-time motion graphics, audio and video that can interact with many users simultaneously. vvvv uses a visual programming interface. Therefore it provides a graphical programming language for easy prototyping and development. vvvv is real time. where many other languages have distinct modes for building and running programs, vvvv only has one mode – runtime. vvvv is free for non-commercial use. Commercial use requires a license. Get the latest version from the Download section.

Download VVVV here. And you can scope out the interface screenshots here. And check out the software features through their propaganda here.

If you want to see the best of the VVVV work online, check out these links:
VVVV Blog
VVVV Group on Vimeo
VVVV Group on Youtube
VVVV Pool on FlickR

A couple of my favourite visual artists / designers using multiple softwares, including Processing and VVVV is:
LennyJPG on FlickR and Desaxismundi on Blogspot.

Free Trial Until May – Bentley’s Generative Components

Darrel — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:43:47 +0000

If you’re the type to follow the latest developments in architectural software (read: CAD Geek), then you’ll be excited about this announcement. Bentley Systems has released it’s industry-leading software, Generative Components, as a free trial until May 2008. The software has been making waves, especially in London, over the past few years. I was especially taken by the Generative Components plug-in when I heard Robert Aish speak (director of researcher at Bentley Systems) at the Game, Set and Match conference at the NAi in Rotterdam, 2006.

The software is featured through the Smart Geometry conference series. Presentations from the winter 2007 Smart Geometry conference in New York City is available online, and the list of presenters is impressive. The 2008 Smart Geometry conference is happening as I write in Munich, DE. We will be quite fortunate if the presentations are made available after the conference.

What Bentley Systems has to say about their Generative Components:

GenerativeComponents™ (GC) enables architects and engineers to pursue designs and achieve results that were virtually unthinkable before. Empowered by computational methods, the designers can direct their creativity to deliver inspired sustainable buildings that are freer in form and use innovative materials and assemblies. GC facilitates this by allowing the quick exploration of a broad range of “what-if” alternatives for even the most complex buildings.

This unique generative design software captures and exploits the critical relationships between design intent and geometry. Designs can be refined by either dynamically modeling and directly manipulating geometry, by applying rules and capturing relationships among building elements, or by defining complex building forms and systems through concisely expressed algorithms.

To inform decisions, GC is integrated with building information modeling, analysis, and simulation software, providing feedback on building materials, assemblies, systems performance, and environmental conditions. This integration also ensures that intent becomes reality by enabling designs to accurately and efficiently flow through to detailed production and fabrication.

GenerativeComponents is already enabling leading architects and engineers around the world to deliver inspired sustainable buildings. Among them are Arup, Buro Happold, Foster + Partners, Grimshaw Architects, HOK, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Morphosis, and SHoP Architects.