Archipelagoes

A new home

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Well, it's been a while. Ok, to be completely honest: it's been terribly long since I've last posted here. And no, this is not a post to mention the next reanimation of this blog. However, on the new and improved website studio-also.eu, the studio for my design and research projects, I've integrated a blog. Some of the posts from this blog will be recycled over there. Same, same - but different. So, for future reference, please see the Studio Also website.

OFF!

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:56:00 +0000

It's safe to say that Keith Morris is a hardcore punk legend. In my eyes he was the best singer Black Flag ever had. The most pissed off aggression fitting to the music (just listen to Nervous Breakdown, the vocals just fit). And after that, he founded Circle Jerks, with whom he also made some great (or shall I say legendary) records, like "Group Sex" or "Wild in the Streets" for instance.

And now he's 55 and he's back with a new band, called OFF! It sounds modern simply because it sounds like a band from the early eighties. Wonder how many people can convincingly do a band like this at that age, actually...

Figuring out the hidden meaning of stock photos

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:48:00 +0000

"Lily and Peter were supposed to have a romantic night in, but Peter and a few coworkers went out for happy hour drinks. Peter got drunk, missed dinner, and passed out on the couch.

This actually happens all the time, and Lily is pretty understanding. She’s crying about the ending of Toy Story 3, which they saw four weeks ago."

Some stock photos are just weird. And you can easily spend too much time wondering what the idea behind the photo was. I've definitely wasted part of my life making up stories of the cryptical display in some stock photos. And Kevin Nguyen has done so, too: he imagines the stories behind stockphotos he found of couples fighting.

How much space does one family need?

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:25:00 +0000

I'm pretty sure that the family of Mukesh Ambani will never complain that they "need more space", since their new house has been built in Mumbai.
The house has 27 stories, a height of 173 metres and about 37.000 square metres of floor space. Among others, it contains a car park for 160 vehicles, a cinema with 50 places, a ballroom, at least one swimming pool, several helicopter landing pads, a health club, a dance studio... and many more rooms.

But size isn't everything: it also hosts a staff of 600, that keep everything running smoothly around there. And that's all for a family of five...

In many ways, this entire project is insane and slightly off-putting. But at the other hand: it's not just a showy building but also a load of jobs. And since it's so clearly present in the city of Mumbai (unlike the multi-million dollar mansions of Bill Gates and the likes), it might even draw a bit more attention to architecture and design in this city. Even if you think the project is ludicrous. Even if you think it's shameless to flaunt your wealth so publicly in a city with so many poor people. Even if you think the design by the Chicago-based architects Perkins and Will is unelegant.

Similarly: it might be stupidly oversized, but the prize isn't that shocking: apparently, the house costed about 44 million pounds in construction (about 55 million euros) to build, according to the Guardian. And that's a lot, but at the same time it's not THAT much. What could you buy in your city for that price? Likely not nearly as much, probably partially due to cheap labor in India, of course.
Luckily (for mr. Ambani, at least), the house is worth much more now. Apparently, due to land and property prices in downtown Mumbai, it's worth an estimated 750 million euros (!)

Prinzessinnengarten

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Urban agriculture can mean a lot for a city population. Not only can it provide local food, but it can also create a social landscape in a city.

And Prinzessinnengarten in Berlin does exactly that. Since 2009, a collective called "Nomadic Green" rents a 6000 sqm plot at the Moritzplatz in Kreuzberg. The site has been a wasteland for about 50 years, but with relatively small means it has been transformed in an idyllic urban garden. Not only do locals maintain the garden themselves - thus creating a stronger sense of community in a relatively socially weak area of the city - but it also produces local (healthy and organic) food. Even more so: at Prinzessinnengarten, they strive towards a larger biodiversity. They try to cultivate rare species of plants.

Since the site is only rented, it cannot be a permanent garden. So most of the vegetables are planted in old crates from bakeries, or in large bags. In case the rent is ended (for whatever reason), most of the Prinzessinnengarten could be easily transported to another site. Other than that, by doing so, one doesn't depend on the local soil, since it might not be in the best condition after being wasteland for such a long period of time.

But besides the plants, the food and the greens, the community aspect of the project is quite important. It gives the locals a place to work on food production together, it is a place to educate kids about food, a place to eat together, a place to hang out in a green spot amidst all the concrete and a place that ties extremely different people together. And the idea seems so simple (albeit difficult to actually do, I assume).

Prinzessinnengarten is launched as a pilot project by Nomadic Green, so let's hope that there are many more projects to follow. By them, but also by people that are inspired by their acts.

Liricas Analas

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:04:00 +0000

I like architecture. And I like slightly crappy hip-hop music. When the two collide, it's even better: like in this music video for the song called "Siemis", where the Swiss rappers of Liricas Analas rap their way through the world famous Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor.

Other than a slightly weird video, Liricas Analas (from the Graubünden region in Switzerland) is also quite remarkable because they rap in the Romansh language, the fourth official language of Switzerland (spoken by 0,8% of the Swiss population - only by a couple thousand of people). This, in combination with the display of a famous (and very Swiss) architectural icon whows a certain regional (or national) pride. Since I'm not one of the few that speak Romansh, I have no clue what their lyrics are about. So if it's offensive for any of the Romansh-speaking people out there, don't blame me...

Almost the longest exposure

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:45:00 +0000

Making a pinhole camera can be pretty simple. But still, it can generate some astonishing images. Like the image above. It's made by Justin Quinell by means of a pin hole camera, and it documents the traces of the sun over the suspension bridge in Bristol over a six month period of time. That gives this image an exposure time of half a year! And the result is duely impressive: there's so much detail and subtlety in the image, and that without a complex and expensive camera!

This image has been called the photo with the longest exposure time in the history of photography. But that claim is simply false. The actual longest exposure times have been captured by Michael Wesely. In 2001, he documented the redevelopment of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in single images, making photographs with an exposure time of up to 34 months. Surreal.

I found this through http://itchyi.squarespace.com/.

Minimalist house

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:47:00 +0000

For many designers, the words by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe still ring true: they design by the adagium "Less is more". Mostly, I'd prefer to use Mae West as my source, and design with the thought "Too much of a good thing is wonderful" in my mind.

That does not mean that I cannot value the clean simplicity of a minimalistic approach. Take the Minimalist house by Shinichi Ogawa & Associates, for instance.

The plot for this house in Okinawa (Japan) is surrounded by a wall, and divided lengthways into three strips. One is a courtyard, the other two - divided from the courtyard by means of a strip of glass - make up the living space. The stip closest to the courtyard contains a bedroom, living space and workspace in a single space. The third zone contains the more enclosed rooms such as bathroom, utility room and kitchen.

The entire house is laid out on a 3 meter-grid, in three dimensions.

The subdivision of the living space is conceived by means of a wall-like piece of furniture completely clad in corian, giving more privacy where needed. This organisation and smart layout enables a continuous space, without any obtrusions or subdivisions. It's simple it's elegant: how can you not love a house like that, and admire the future inhabitants for being able to live this way?

I found this project on dezeen.com.

An open source penis

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:18:00 +0000

Open source is a great ideal. However, thus far it has hardly been implemented for objects that are actually needed. Take prosthetics, for instance. They are currently mainly commercial and insanely expensive. Open Prosthetics is aiming to make prostetics more readily available by means of open source.

The question is how amateur culture (which, to some extent, open source always is) will manifest itself in the design of bodily parts. Will actual need be the key focus, or prosthetics designed for extremely personal uses, for comfort, obsession, crime, sleaze, curiosity and pleasure?

This was the starting question for Sputniko!, urging her to design an open source prosthetics to satisfy her own personal curiosity. She asked herself the question
“What does it feel like to have an extra body part (in this case – penis) which reacts to my emotions?”
This turned out to be a design project called Penis Cybernetique. Simply put, it's an open source penis. The penis moved up and down, according to changes in heart rate.

This might just be the final outcome of the ideas behind open prosthetics. Open source body parts can go beyond mere need into the realm of play, culture and curiosity - one can test themselves with extra additions. For me, personally, I'd like to see what it feels like with an extra eye in my neck, for instance. The test is the goal, the means is the end. Is that what this project means, or does it indicate the extremities of open source?

If you want to build on the penis cybernetique yourself: in true open source-style, the entire project code for the open source penis is published online.

Is that a recordplayer in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:35:00 +0000

I think that everybody who prefers vinyl records to CDs or Mp3s has thought about a portable record player at some point in time. And now there is a design for one, by Charlie Pyott. It's called Linos, you can carry it around in your pocket, only need a connection by USB or jack, and is a simple recordplayer for both 33 and 45 rpm. Unfortunately, it isn't in production (yet)...

Infinity is way up there...

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:04:00 +0000

If there's something like the ultimate infinity pool, I'm pretty sure it's located at the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore. The hotel in itself is already quite bizarre: it's the most expensive hotel in the world at about 5,2 billion pounds (which is about double of the former record-breaking hotel, the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi).

The Marina Bay Sands has 2,560 rooms, costing from $500 a night upwards. That's quite impressive. Then, it has a casino, a museum, a theatre, a convention centre and indoor canals. Even more so impressive.
But the most impressive part of the hotel is, in my eyes, the so-called skypool, spanning the top of the three towers of the hotel, at the 55th floor. The pool itself is about three times as long as an olympic size pool, and seems to end in the air. That's because the water flows over the edge into a catchment, situated a bit lower. It's pretty spectacular to be able to swim on the 55th floor, with the skyline of Singapore in the back, and not to have a (visible) edge between you and the surrounding.

The complex is designed by Moshe Safdie, and I found it via the Daily Mail website.

Architecture books

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Books where the theme of yesterdays' post, and books are the theme of todays' post. This time, an online book store. Even though nothing beats spending hours and hours browsing through a bookstore, finding more and more amazing books. It's even more lovely to look through a really specialized bookstore and find really specific, hard to find books.

But not everybody has such a great bookstore close to where they are located, and not everybody has the time to visit those stores during opening hours. So that's why it's great that there are specialized online bookstores. As much as I like amazon.com, nothing beats specialists. In this case: specialists in architecture books. It's easier to find what you want, it's more useful to find more in-depth items and it has more power to surprise. That's what makes architecturebooks.eu such a nice webstore.

The only thing that is lacking from an online architecture bookstore is, ironically enough, good architecture. Like one of the nicest examples I've seen thus far: Academia Bookstore in Helsinki, by Alvar Aalto, on the image above.

Reading list

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:20:00 +0000

I thought it might be interesting to finally start to keep track of all the books I've read, since I'm a book omnivore, and devour pretty much everything. Surely, it makes no sense to try to reach back and figure out all the titles of all books that passed through my hands in the past. So I'm going to start with the books I've read this week. I'm neither going to give a summary, nor any conchise criticism - there are better places for that. It's just a way to keep track of things.

I'm going to keep the list alphabetically, mention the language of the book, and note the dates I've read the books. I'm deliberating mentioning categories, but that might turn out to be tricky. So not only the list is a work in progress, but also the style of the the post.
Also, to make this list interesting for someone else, I'm going to add links to the book.

Banham, Reyner - A Concrete Atlantis (architecture, English). read in Oktober 2010.

Barthes, Roland - What is sport? (philosophy, English) read in March 2011.

Blaser, Werner - Mies van der Rohe Lehre und Schule / Principles and School (architecture, German/English). read in February 2011.

Boon, Vasco van der & Marel, Gerben van der - De Vastgoedfraude (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in February 2011.

Bouwman, Ole (ed.) - Op het breukvlak van twee millennia, gedachten over architectuur (architecture, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Browne, David - Goodbye 20th Century: a Biography of Sonic Youth (music, English). read in May 2011.

Bruinsma, Max - Deep Sites (design, English). read in April 2011.

Brusselmans, Herman - Ex-schrijver (novel, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Brusselmans, Herman - Ex-minnaar (novel, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Brusselmans, Herman - Ex-drummer (novel, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Bryson, Bill - Notes from a small island (socio-cultural, English). read in December 2010.

Crimson Architectural Historians - Re-Urb (architecture, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Draaisma, Douwe - Waarom het leven sneller gaat als je ouder wordt (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in April 2011.

Duve, Karen - Anständig Essen (socio-cultural, German). read in March 2011.

Eco, Umberto - De Begraafplaats van Praag (novel, Dutch). read in April 2011.

Eschbach, Andreas - Ausgebrannt (novel, German). read in April 2011.

Eisenstein, Bernice - Ich war das Kind von Holocaustüberlebenden (novel, German). read in July 2010.

Folkers, Antoni - Moderne architectuur in Afrika (architecture, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Fest, Joachim - Speer, the final verdict (history, English). read in September 2010.

Giphart, Ronald - De Voorzitter (novel, Dutch). read in September 2010.

Giphart, Ronald - Ik omhels je met duizend armen (novel, Dutch). read in January 2011.

Golluch, Norbert - Alles über das Ruhrgebiet (socio-cultural, German). read in January 2011.

Grunberg, Arnon - De joodse messias (novel, Dutch). read in December 2010.

Heck, Jean Paul - Fuck you very much (music, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Heijne, Bas - Grote vragen (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Ibelings, Hans & Hannema, Kirsten (ed.) - New European Architecture 08 09 (architecture, English). read in December 2010.

Ingels, Bjarke (ed.) - Yes is More (architecture, English). read in September 2010.

Istendael, Geert van - Mijn Duitsland (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in Oktober 2010.

Jaud, Tommy - Hummeldumm (novel, German). read in August 2010.

Jaud, Tommy - Millionär (novel, German). read in May 2011.

Kleijer, Evert - Instrumenten van de architectuur (architecture, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Koch, Herman - Het Diner (novel, Dutch). read in September 2010.

Kotkin, Joel - The City: a global history (architecture, English). read in January 2011.

Kureishi, Hanif - The buddha of suburbia (novel, English). read in January 2011.

Lee, Uje - SeARCH C3 Architect Series (Architecture, English). read in April 2011.

Luyendijk, Joris - Een goede man slaat soms zijn vrouw (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Mak, Geert - De goede stad (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Marten, Florian - Kaputtgeplant: Das Elend der Raum- und Stadtplanung (architecture, German). read in May 2011.

Naegels, Tom - Los (novel, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Prakash, Gyan (ed.) - Noir Urbanisms: dystopic images of the modern city (architecture, English). read in January 2011.

Prossliner, Johann - Nietzsches Zarathustra (philosophy, German). read in July 2010.

Rödiger-Diruf, Erika (ed.) - Gründerzeit - Adolf Loos (Architecture, German). read in April 2011.

Sachau, Matthias - Kaltduscher (novel, German). read in July 2010.

Sack, Manfred - Götter und Schafe (architecture, German). read in December 2010.

Shepheard, Paul - The Cultivated Wilderness, or, what is landscape? (architecture, English). read in September 2010.

Sinker, David (ed) - We owe you nothing: Punk Planet, the collected interviews (music, English). read in February 2011.

Slavid, Ruth - Extreme Architecture: building for challenging environments (architecture, English). read in February 2011.

Sloterdijk, Peter - Zorn und Zeit (philosophy, German). read in November 2010.

Stefanidis, Alexandros - Beim Griechen (novel, German). read in Oktober 2010.

Straten, Henk van - Ik ben de Regen (novel, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Tafuri, Manfredo - Architecture and Utopia (architecture, English). read in July 2010.

Taleb, Nassim N. - The Black Swan (socio-cultural, English). read in November 2010.

Thackara, John - Plan B (architecture, Dutch). read in March 2011.

Torday, Paul - Vissen op zalm in Jemen (novel, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Twickel, Christoph - Gentrifidingsbums oder eine Stadt für alle (architecture, German). read in Oktober 2010.

Ulinich, Anya - Petropolis (novel, English). read in August 2010.

Verdonschot, Leon - Hart tegen hart (music, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Verhulst, Dimitri - De helaasheid der dingen (novel, Dutch). read in February 2011.

Vos, Emmie (ed.) - Europan 10 (architecture, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Vuijsje, Robert - Alleen maar nette mensen (novel, Dutch). read in October 2010.

Wallraff, Günther - Der Aufmacher - der Mann, der bei Bild Hans Esser war (socio-cultural, German). read in September 2010.

Westerman, Max - In alle staten (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in January 2011.

Whiteley, Nigel - Reyner Banham: historian of the immediate future (architecture, English). read in February 2011.

Wieringa, Tommy - Alles over Tristan (novel, Dutch). read in Oktober 2010.

Wieringa, Tommy - Amok (novel, Dutch). read in December 2010.

Wieringa, Tommy - Joe Speedboot (novel, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Wijnberg, Rob - En mijn tafelheer is Plato (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in december 2010.

Woud, Auke van der - Sterrenstof (architecture, Dutch). read in September 2010.

Zwagerman, Joost - Chaos en Rumoer (novel, Dutch). read in February 2011.

Zwagerman, Joost - Landschap met klein vuil (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in December 2010.

Zwecker, Loel - Was bisher geschah (history, German). read in November 2010.

Solids

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:27:00 +0000

The question of flexible spaces has always been a difficult one. Mainly, flexibility was defined by constraints. An architect, developer, city planner of someone else defined either a function, the size or the partitioning.
There have been quite some developments around the theme of flexibility, but none of them have been as radical as the concept of solids in Amsterdam.

Solids are about complete freedom, and complete flexibility. Tennants are free to decide the amount of square meters they want to rent - with a minimum of 90 m2. So far, nothing radical. However, tennants can also freely decide what they want to do with those square metres. If they'd like to use it to live in, it's just as good an option to start an office in the building. Pretty much everything goes, as long it doesn't cause disturbance for the neighbors (be it noise, pollution or whatnot).

That's what makes the concept of Solids so interesting: the building gives way to a mixture of functions, even if it isn't completely planned in advance. The buildings live, change and are adaptable to whatever the users would like. This also means that the spaces are completely empty and free of any interior obstacles. There's a front door, a wall and a facade and electrics, gas and water. All the interior walls, bathrooms, and furnishing can be decided by the tennant, and changed at will.
This way, the chance that the building becomes obsolete within some years of construction is pretty small. If there's a bigger market for dwellings, more of the casco spaces will be used as appartments.

A lot can be said about the currently planned Solids - about their facades, about their location in the city and what that means for the possible programming, the connection with the urban tissue, etcetera: but that's not quite the most fascinating part of this concept. The thing is: the appearance of the facade is literally only skin-deep. What makes the concept fascinating is it's flexibility in all senses. Even the rental price is to be decided by the tennants (within some reasonable ranges, of course)!

The concept of Solids is developed by Stadsgenoot, by the way.

Inspired by the Past

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:37:00 +0000

The Hwangryongsa temple, a 9-story pagoda, was built in 645 AD by Silla (one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea), but was demolished in 1238 during the Mongol invasion of Korea.

That building itself would already be worth a post on this blog, but what if you'd want to pay architectural tribute to this building? What if you'd like to make a contemporary statement out of it? Of course, the sheer reconstruction of it would make no sense. It's faking the past, and not doing something that is also connected to the present.

So, the Gyeongyu Tower makes complete sense, doesn't it? The contours of the Hwangryongsa temple pagoda have been carved out of a solid shape, in order to create this building. It shows the historic form in a contemporary way. Mission achieved, I would say. The building is great in it's weirdness, it's so kitchy that I'm really loving it for it's boldness. It's all that's good and evil at the same time, architectonically speaking.

Temporary materiality

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:55:00 +0000

The materialization of temporary structures mainly has a certain genericness. For instance, for the construction of a temporary restaurant (called Studio East Dining) on the top of a construction site overlooking the construction of the 2012 Olympic Park in London the office Carmody Groarke used materials that could be considered pretty standard for a temporary structure. They used scaffolding and boards, borrowed from the construction site, and covered the lot with recyclable plastic.

Using pretty mundane materials doesn't make this a standard or boring building. And that's not just because of the spectacular views over the construction of the Olympic Park. No, it's also because the temporary building itself is rather elegant. A pavillion with no front or back, with a slick and playful form, gives space to a delicate interior. Too bad the restaurant only remains in place until the 4th of July...

I found this project via dezeen.com

Without the hot air

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:05:00 +0000

There's no denying it: sustainability is a hot topic. And, as most sane people would agree, rightfully so. But there is little agreement on what the right measures would be to deal with our current climate crisis (which would be more aply be labelled as a "energy crisis", in my opinion, but that's a whole different subject).

The current trend in sustainability seems to be based on the adagium "every little bit helps", combined with "fake it until you make it". Every little bit is made to sound large, by using numbers that to many a laymen sound vast, blurring the discussion with fake facts and unclear figures.

That's where David MacKay, professor at Cambridge University's department of physics steps in. His main argument is that there should be a clear measure for energy consumption. His basic concept is very clear, as could be seen in this quote "We need to understand how much energy our modern lifestyles use; we need to decide how much energy we would like to use in the future; and we need to choose where we will get that energy from."
Ok, it sounds simple, but how? For him, the starting point is starting to measure everything in a single unit. In the case of energy, of course, Kilowatt-hour: a measure that most people know from daily use.

To give some examples: One kilowatt-hour (1 kWh) is the electrical energy used by leaving a 40 watt bulb on for 24 hours. Or driving an average European car 50km uses 40kWh of fuel. In total, the british lifestyle allegedly uses approximately 125 kWh a day.

Good. Once the basic units and a reference point are established, it's time to see how actual measures add up.
The first example is simple: switching off phone chargers when not in use. It's included in lists of "things to do to go green" all around the world, and sounds like a sensible idea. The truth is that leaving a phone charger switched on uses about 0.01kWh per day – 100th of the power consumed by a lightbulb. Or better yet: switching off a phone charger for an entire day is the equivalent of driving a car for about 1 second!
This being said, it's not that switching off phone chargers is a bad idea. Just note that it's only a tiny bit of improvement. So in this case a tiny bit only helps a tiny bit...

Another example: think about vehicles. Most people consider hydrogen cars one of the sane solutions - they certainly have a "green" feel to them. The odd thing is, that if you really measure it, most prototype hydrogen-powered vehicles use more energy than the fossil-fuel vehicles they replace. The average fossil car in Britain uses 80 kWh per 100 km, the BMW Hydrogen 7 uses 254 kWh per 100 km.
Electric cars, is a different story alltogether: Even if the electricity for electric vehicles comes from traditional fossil-fuel power stations, electric cars are still more efficient than petrol cars; and if in the future we switch over the nation's electricity production from fossil fuels to greener sources, then electric vehicles will win by a mile.

And now the big question: how can we use more (preferably only) renewable energy sources? "As a thought experiment, let's imagine that technology switches and lifestyle changes manage to halve British energy consumption to 60kWh per day per person. How big would the wind, nuclear, and solar facilities need to be to supply this halved consumption? Here is the scale that is required if (for simplicity) we wanted to get one-third from each of these sources: we would have to build wind farms with an area equal to the area of Wales; we would have to build 50 Sizewells of nuclear power; and we would need solar power stations in deserts covering an area twice the size of Greater London."

The interesting thing about the argument David MacKay brings across isn't about solutions, it's about measuring. About carefully looking at actual effects, and cutting away all the hot air surrounding sustainable arguments.
This is uncomfortable for anybody who's making money spreading half-truths about green issues (or green-washing unecological ideas).

He put forth his ideas in a book, aptly called "without the hot air". The cool thing is that the entire book is available as a PDF from (t)his website. It's worth your time, because he delivers a refreshing take on sustainability and energy consumption, and gives an insight that is mostly left out of the equation. There's no politics in this book, only arthmatics. And that's definitely wise for such a widely used and misused theme.

A slightly different view

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:28:00 +0000

Honestly, I don't know that much about Mexico City. I know it's large, it's crowded and it has issues with smog and pollution. That's about it. Looking at pictures gives some kind of impression, but mostly a very incomplete (and potentially enscanated) one.

That's what I like about the photographs by the helicopter pilot Oscar Ruiz. Granted, not every picture has a strong composition, but the images can give you a different feel for the city.
They just give you just that little bit of extra perspective of the life in Mexico City. Like the image above. It does look a bit like a rendering, but it's an actual picture of a part of the low income housing complex in Ixtapaluca, which has a whopping total of more than 10,000 houses.
Or the image below, showing Cerro Chiquihuite, where a wall was built halfway up the hill in order to stop people from continuing to build uphill.
Or, all the way at the bottom, the market at Barrio Tepito. The area is allegedly very criminal and (therefore) dangerous, but the market should be awesome.

All in all, sometimes having a little bit of an overview can give you a better sight of the city than eye-level images.

Airspace rebooted

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:11:00 +0000

Airspace Rebooted from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

In April of this year, much of Europe's airspace has been closed for several days, due to the volcanic ash after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in iceland. itoworld.com, with support from ideasintransit.org, made a visualization of the airspace traffic of Europe slowly coming back to life again.

The flight data is courtesy of flightradar24.com and covers a large fraction of Europe. There are a few gaps (most noticeably France) and no coverage over the Atlantic, but the picture is still clear.

Other than slowing the "reboot" of the flight lines, it also shows the density of airtraffic in on certain lines and airports. It also makes one wonder whether the amount of flight that we, in general, use nowadays will continue to exist - or better yet: how it could be made sustainable to maintain this density of flight...

Maison Eco-rce

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:44:00 +0000

The architect Cyril-Emmanuel Issanchou challenges all the preconceived ideas of what a timber house means. Wood isn't necessarily a material to make archetypical houses, but it can also be a material to make contemporary buildings. Like in this case, a house that looks like no other.
You could say that this project is a means of showing france that timber isn't necessarily less sturdy than stone, for houses. Or as a way of showing how a house can connect to the surroundings. Or a attempt to merge a seemingly random pattern to the functional division of the house. Anyway: a nice image doesn't necessarily need a extensive description and explanation...

Sermon on the train

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:43:00 +0000

Question: how 'public' is public, actually? Especially, how 'public' are 'public lectures'?

Many universities go out of their way to organize lectures that are accessible to anyone who's interested. This means, however, only that an institute choses to liberate only a small part of the information available, at a carefully picked place and time. Generally, the effect is that only visitors from a small circle will attend, not the general public. Most of the time, this isn't out of a lack of interest. It could be that the institute is, despite the open entrance, not easily accessible. Or that people outside the confined universe of the institute don't know when or where the public lecture is. Or think about the psychological barrier someone who's not accustomed to a university might have.
All in all, it's pretty safe to argue that, however good the intentions might be, public lectures are, in fact, not completely public.

The logical next question could be to think about how to increase the public character of those lectures. Think about the biblical public sermons, for instance. Jesus preached on the mount and on the plain, he went towards the public to share his view. If that idea is converted to our times, "Sermon on the Train" isn't that far-fetched.

Here, well known academics, as well as artists, go out into the public realm to share their ideas. Or, more precisely, they hold a lecture on a train in South-Africa. The lecture is announced beforehand by means of posters and such, meaning that people who want to hear the lecture mingle with the normal traveling public.
The difference is that the commuting public didn't choose to listen to the lecture, they are immersed into it, simply because they cannot get out of the train. In that essence, it's a bit like preaching in public - hence the term "sermon". One could ask whether this is more public as the traditional form, what the relation between lecturer and audience is, and who can access (or owns?) the information.

The idea behind the sermons stems from the artists "Made You Look". That means Nare Mokgotho and Molemo Moiloa.
"The works of Made You look are, as the name suggests, tongue-in-cheek interventions that encourage a re-observation of and de-familiarization with the ordinary." as they say themselves.

Art is the path to the darkside?

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Darth Vader's helmet is a pop-icon. Even when it's adapted way beyond it's well-known features (as the colour and the shape), it's still recognizable as it is.

The Vader Project started in 2005 with a simple idea: 100 artists were asked to work with the helmet. For this project, each artist customized a 1:1 scale authentic prop replica of the actual Darth Vader helmet featured in the Star Wars films.
After several years of exhibitions around the globe, the helmets go up for auction on the 10th of July at Freeman's auction house, giving everybody the chance to obtain a arty adaptation of a pop icon.

Real landscapes

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:58:00 +0000

There's a dichtomy between "nature" and "landscape". The two words overlap in meaning, but not completely. Somewhere in time "nature" transcended into "landscape" - indicating the man-made aspects or maybe even a natural scenography.

The photographs of Thomas Wrede imply the question what landscape means to people today. The photos are rather surreal, making the viewer wonder what's real, what's fake and what's enscanated.
Well, instead of a lot of words or interpretation, I'd rather let the images speak for themselves...

Roll it

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:46:00 +0000

There has been many a quest for a small container to live in. In the past there have been concepts like the Suitaloon by Mike Webb, or the Nagakin Capsule Tower by Kisho Kurokawa, and now students at the University of Karlsruhe developed Roll It, a small, tubular building, of which the function and effect can be changed by simply rolling it over on its side. Hence the name.

The idea in itself sounds almost too easy to produce anything even remotely interesting, but in this case it produced a smart conceptual research into space-efficiency. And at the same time, it produced a interesting built form. For more information, check out the project at detail.de.

Archigram archives

noreply@blogger.com (archipelagoes) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:22:00 +0000

Even though the work of Archigram is mainly unbuilt, there's no doubt that they've been extremely influential. There have been loads exhibitions, books and magazine articles on their work; presumably every school of architecture has had at least one lecture series or seminar on them; they've received a RIBA gold medal in 2002 (28 years posthumously); and a vast number of famous (and slightly less famous) architects claimed their influence on their work.

Now there's a comprehensive guide on their work, which you can browse from the comfort of your home. EXP, the Research Centre for Experimental Practice at the University of Westminster, set up a website called the Archigram Archive Project. And the amount of information to be found on the site is huge! You can see the contents of the legendary magazine or read up on the people behind archigram. But, most importantly: there are over 200 projects by Archigram on the site, organized by year.

So if you are only slightly fascinated by Archigram, this website is worth checking out. And if you are avid appreciator on the kooky retro-futuristic, conceptually smart projects by this team, you can litereally spend hours on this site. Like I did...