“Architect James Frazer Stirling’s work has resisted characterisation because of its radical shifts in influence, named by others as prewar modernism to Neoclassicism, Rationalism and Brutalism to Postmodernism. But the continuity of his thinking emerges through the stupefying quantity and variety of material in the James Stirling/Michael Wilford Archive, a tool for understanding an architectural practice of unusual complexity.”

“Notes from the Archive: James Frazer Stirling”
Curated by Anthony Vidler
Thursday, 05/16 – Sunday, 10/14
Canadian Centre for Architecture
1920 rue Baile
Montréal, Québec H3H 2S6
CANADA

suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.

LADG: Snail Pavilion is a competition entry for the Ceramic Tiles of Italy trade show pavilion. The purpose of the pavilion is for the trade association to represent its member companies’ products at a series of shows over a three-year term. Instead of selecting just a few sample products to feature, the scheme uses hundreds of tiles from Ceramic Tiles of Italy member companies to create giant snails that bristle with the range and depth of Italian ceramic products. In this way the pavilion is more like a library with tiles stacked on shelves than it is a surface against which tiles are set in a rigid grout bed. Visitors can literally occupy the entire history and product catalog of the member companies, arrayed as plumage that alternately bristles or lays flat in cowlick whorls.

sP: What or who influenced this project?
LADG: The project was influenced by John Soane.

sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
LADG: Reading Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, and Zadie Smith, Changing My Mind; Listening to John Adams, Staple Singers, Michael Jackson, and Fanfarlo.

sP: Whose work is currently on your radar?
LADG: OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Johnston Marklee, Ball-Nogues Studio, Rembrandt, Turner.

Additional credits and links:

Project Team:
Andrew Holder
Claus Benjamin Freyinger

Neil Leach is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southern California. He has also taught at the Architectural Association, Columbia GSAPP, Cornell University, Dessau Institute of Architecture and SCI-Arc. He is the author, editor and translator of 22 books, including Rethinking Architecture, The Anaesthetics of Architecture, Designing for a Digital World, Digital Tectonics, Digital Cities and Camouflage. He has been co-curator of a series of exhibitions at the Architecture Biennial Beijing since 2004, and was also co-curator of the Swarm Intelligence exhibition in Gallery SH, Shanghai, China in 2010.

neil LEACH
“Desiring Machines”
Wednesday, 05/16
4.30 pm / Building 08, Room 006 (Main lecture hall)
Bauhausstrasse 5
06846 Dessau, GERMANY

suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.

suky HO: My project addresses having two different facade based on site condition of the East and West elevations. I want to build a connection to the surrounding site, yet also maintain a sense of individuality. I was most interested in how the site is exposed to the public on the East (Edgewater Terrace) and West (Silver Lake Blvd.) elevations. There are different characteristics’ among Edgewater Terrance and Silver Lake Blvd. that I addressed in my project as well as how it relates to Richard Neutra VDL House which sits on the North elevation.

The East elevation (Edgewater Terrace) is considered to be a quiet residential neighborhood. Houses are set back from the property displaying a yard. The neighborhood consists of mainly one to two story homes overlooking a view of the mountains. My project responds to these conditions by pushing the house back towards Silver Lake Blvd and creating a yard. From this elevation, the house is display a to two story with a car ramp elevating the house to capture a non-obstructive view of the mountains. The East facade consists of thin horizontal paneling with strips of operable transparent glazing to allow a connection to the outside view of the mountain. The house entrance is located on this side of the street.

The West elevation (Silver Lake Blvd.) is a busy street which overlooks the reservoir. The West elevation is the most exposed during the hottest hours of the day. On the West elevation, an opaque facade is used as a sound and sun barrier. The house at this elevation is considered to be a three story building, aligning with the VDL House. The second level displays translucent bi-fold doors to allow views of the reservoir.

sP: What or who influenced this project?
sH: As a influences, I evaluated how Le Corbusier started his design of Villa Stein with a proportional grid, the golden section in plan and elevation. I took this aspect to subdivide the site based on the golden section in a 3diminsional space. When working with the interior space, I turned to Mies Van de Roche’s Farnsworth House to understand how he generated centralize dense mass and left the surrounding open to interpretation.

sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
sH: I was studying Volkan Alkanoglu Design and Tom Wiscombe Design of their processes of generating forms. I got interested in how they generate forms through the use of modern technology software. I took this aspects and applied to Le Corbusier’s Villa Stein principals to find a way of generating new forms. I was reading Le Corbusier’s Modular and Modular II to understand human proportion and scale as they relate to the built environment. I referenced Zaha Hadid’s “Complete Works” book for not only design but the relationship of movement from outside to inside. I looked at Morphosis and Eric Owen Moss for their line composition, and the poetry they could capture with line drawings.

sP: Whose work is currently on your radar?
sH: Tom Wiscombe, Volkan Alkanoglu, Wes Jones, and Zaha Hadid.

Additional credits and links:
Instructor: Volkan Alkanoglu
Facebook: suky HO
Email: sukythiho@yahoo.com

Brandon Clifford’s work focuses on the realization of digital manufacturing through materials, means and methods of production, as well as the process and representation of direct drawing to better influence the built environment. His focus is neither on the side of the digital or the physical, but rather in response to both. His research and work consistently develop reciprocity between drawing and construction. In 2008, Clifford co-founded Matter Design with Wes McGee. The practice is committed to experimentation and research at a variety of scales, and recently was selected as a finalist in the international West Cork Arts Center competition.

brandon CLIFFORD
Wednesday, 05/16
5.30 pm / GUI Auditorium, Knowlton Hall
Knowlton School of Architecture
The Ohio State University
275 W. Woodruff Ave.
Columbus, OHIO 43210

NORI Concept: Building on Toyota’s leadership role in creating eco-sensitive vehicles, the NORI concept challenges us to look ahead and create a clever vision that addresses fuel economy, emissions, green materials, new design and manufactured technology, and transforms it into an emotionally appealing design solution.

As the majority of current generation automobiles consist of a chassis covered by attached body panels, the NORI concept presents the idea that the body and chassis are one, as a PODULAR form, designed to be strong, light and beautiful. Bioplastics technology is created using “nori” (the Japanese word for seaweed) combined with a carbon fiber weave for strength. Woven into the PODULAR form are solar cells that capture and generate supplemental solar energy. As a holistic solution and new design aesthetic, NORI reduces weight and the number of parts while capturing and generating energy.

At the onset of the DESIGN process for each PODULAR form is a collaboration between designers and engineers, utilizing a “real time” design envelope to ensure the perfect balance of strength, light weight and design aesthetics. This process eliminates traditional design and engineering conflicts of form vs. function, and allows the design/engineering process to come to fruition at the same time.

MANUFACTURING: The PODULAR forms are grown at factories located nearby the sea. Seaweed grows prolifically, and using it as a bioplastics source is an effort to minimalize the impact on the food chain (corn/soy etc) that has previously been used for bioplastics. The solar cells are embedded as part of the growing/manufacturing process.

PERSONALIZATION: PSI’s (partial shape insets) are utilized to shield or expose passengers to the elements and address vehicle regulations (such as covered wheels), while serving as a new form of personalization. The color/graphics of NORI can be changed through an electronically generated data charge sent into the surface. There are no doors: ingress/egress is achieved by stepping over and into NORI’s PODULAR form.

DRIVETRAIN: NORI utilizes four electric wheel motors and a removable battery pack.

Designers: Craig Kember
Erwin Lui
Kevin Hunter

Artist: Studio 400, Cal Poly — SLO
annie BUI, ben HAIT-CAMPBELL, ian CARNEY, hanya CHEN, dion DEKKER, christina HACKETT, nathan KIATKULPIBOONE, mariko KOBAYASHI, emily KIRWAN, mike LOREE, ross MAJEWSKI, isshin MORIMOTO, ryan NEVIUS, nick PAPPAS, alma PADILLA-IRIARTE, farnoosh RAFAIE, pablo SANDOVAL, shanna SULLIVAN, joe VARHOLICK, cory WALKER.

Advisor: Professor karen LANGE

suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
studio400: “We wanted to create a continuous surface that would bring spatial interest and social interaction to the gallery. The woven installation is a solution to providing students and faculty a setting to not only read about our projects, but also to enjoy the space.”

“White” was a gallery installation produced by the 20 students of Studio 400, a fifth-year architectural design studio at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The installation, which served to present each of the student’s research books, was designed, developed, fabricated, and installed by the studio in a collaborative effort. The students developed the design over a period of about a month, with fabrication and installation occurring over a five day period. 80,000 square feet of plastic sheeting was sliced, loomed, woven, stapled, taped and tied to provide a climbable and malleable surface in the 4,500 square foot gallery. “White” supported a variety of interactive experiences above and below this dynamic surface, opening and exploring the relationships between book, user, material, space, and collective group.

Design Intent—
The installation design began with a brainstorming session that involved direct participation by each of the studio’s 20 students. After proposals were presented, it was decided that a climbable surface would divide the space, providing seating for the comfortable reading of the books. An exploration of materials looked at rope, tape, and plastic to create the surface; sheet plastic was ultimately chosen for its flexibility and strength, economic viability given the large space, and its abilities to be easily modified and reused. Once the material was chosen and acquired, studies of traditional weaving methods and full scale mock-ups helped determine the characteristics of the surface. This resulted in a woven surface that could hang in the gallery as well as support the weight of users on it. It was determined that a flexible system of pre-fabricated hanging columns and infill panels would allow the surface to form to specific constraints of the gallery site.

Fabrication and Installation—
Students participated in a collaborative, two-day effort to construct the components for the piece. Circular and straight weaving looms (assembled from re-used materials) allowed for the quick and precise weaving of the columns and panels. Round steel rod was hand-bent into five foot diameter rings that provided a transitional structure between the gallery space and the woven vertical columns. The foresight of using of pre-fabricated elements allowed the piece to be custom-fitted to the gallery space within a three-day time period.

Installation began with placing the vertical columns where the existing structure of the gallery could support them, creating a staggered plan. A sheet of plastic was then hung from the ceiling, the first piece of several that would entirely wrap the gallery space, effectively separating the piece from the distinct characteristics of the Brutalist-style gallery. The pre-constructed infill panels were then woven between the vertical columns, fitted to provide the desired tension and surface form. When the surface was finally installed, the remaining walls and floors of the gallery were covered in sheet plastic. Videos of student work could also be projected onto one of these walls and extra plastic sheeting was woven into various shapes and sizes of pillows that were used as seating under the surface and beneath the vertical columns.

Fabrication of the book’s slipcases also occurred during the installation period. Laser-cut, clear acrylic panels served as the faces of these hanging elements that would be the interface between the installation and the user. The front of each case was laser-etched with a wave-like parametric pattern that complemented the compound curves of the woven plastic surface. The clear front allowed the identity of each student’s book to reveal itself, while the chartreuse back cover served as a unifying element that subtly distinguished the books from their white surroundings.

Book Show Opening—
The opening of “White” was a great success. Students and faculty were introduced to the studio’s research books in an interactive and novel environment. As one faculty member stated, “[White] effectively separates the book show from the gallery. Where other shows seem to be installations occurring within the distinctive gallery, this one seems like a totally different space.” Users were encouraged to crouch or crawl under the surface, rising into the vertical columns where the books were located. They could then engage the books in the intimate space under the surface, or take the books to the more socially interactive space created above the surface.

sP: What or who influenced this project?
studio400: Karen Lange, the random roll of plastic left in studio, and the collective playfulness of twenty like-minded friends

sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
studio400: Listening: Mariko’s ipod, “El Guincho”- Bombay; WHITE playlist (LINK); Watching: Burn After Reading.

sP: Whose work is currently on your radar?
studio400: Architects who are hiring.

Additional Links:

Behance

registration begins 05.14.12

submissions due 08.13.12

awards: US $2500 total and publication on suckerPUNCH

[BRIEF]

///the COMPETITION

Recently, New York’s state government has been trying to legalize non-Indian casinos throughout the state. Current proposals are asking for the construction of seven “Vegas”-sized casinos throughout New York. Although lawmakers have pushed to keep the casinos out of New York City, this ideas competition aims to investigate what a casino would do to New York City and, likewise, what New York City would do to a casino. The New York casinos are being pitched by their supporters as “regional revitalization” tools. Although Manhattan is arguably in no need of revitalization, it does have one clear zone that could use rethinking—Hudson Yards and the area around its neighboring convention center. The existing Jacob Javits Center remains an isolated structure surrounded by a no-man’s-land of parking and train tracks. Cut off from restaurants, hotels, and entertainment, it is hardly an inviting location for a large convention, nor does it allow for or engender connection to the city at-large. You might as well have your convention in Secaucus. There is talk of relocating the Center to Queens, to be sited next to the recently opened “racino” at Aqueduct Racetrack—a major financial success thus far, and example of the excitement people in the five boroughs have for gambling. The proposed convention center would be the largest in the United States. This competition asks entrants to leave the convention center at its current location on Manhattan’s West Side, but replace it and add a hotel and casino to the complex. Entrants are asked to rethink this zone so as to create a dynamic destination in the city for tourists, residents, and convention-goers alike. At the same time, the complex should become a draw for non convention-goers. If a Vegas-style themed casino clearly wouldn’t work in New York City, then what would bring New Yorkers out to gamble? Is it a family focused zone for tourists or an adults-only retreat? The proposed building should incorporate state-of-the-art facilities for both modern gambling and high-tech conventions. The convention center should be unique while remaining flexible, and the casino should shake off both cheesy Vegas aethetics and the dry desperation of Atlantic City to strive for something architecturally rich and complex—while simultaneously entertaining. The complex should also find a way to reconnect to Manhattan’s nearby entertainment districts. Madison Square Garden, Times Square, and the High Line seem cut off, despite their proximity. This complex should aim to recharge its surroundings in the same way the High Line did the Meatpacking District, bringing in pedestrians and cleaning up the area. On the western, waters edge of Manhattan, the site also includes a large pier that can be used for a portion of the program or turned into outdoor parks and recreation areas. The site includes the land the current convention center lies on, the space over the West Side Yard train yard, and the aforementioned waterfront pier. The West Side Yard was designed to accommodate an overbuild in its air rights, and space was left between the tracks for columns to support a platform above the tracks. The history of proposals for the very same site includes the ongoing Hudson Yards Redevelopment and the IFCCA “Competition for Manhattan’s West Side.”

///PROGRAM
Exhibition / Convention Space
2,000,000 square feet

Meeting Room Square Footage
200,000 square feet / 50 rooms

Ballroom
30,000 square feet

Theater
1500 seats

Lecture Hall
200 seats

Cafeteria / Restaurant / Lounge / Retail
60,000 square feet or 20 restaurants and 70 shops

Entertainment Area
40,000 square feet or 4 clubs and 1 large showroom

Gambling floor
120,000 square feet

Operational Facilities
200,000 square feet

Loading Docks
50 truck bays

Hotel
4000 suites

Service, Circulation and Support programs as required

This program is meant to be open and flexible. It should be used as a guideline but changes can be made at the discretion of each entrant.

This is an open, international ideas competition hosted by suckerPUNCH to generate progressive contemporary designs. There are no plans for the Casino/Convention Center to be built at this time. The site is not owned by or affiliated with suckerPUNCH.

///jury/AWARDS

kutan AYATA (YOUNG & AYATA)
ezio BLASETTI (Ahylo Studio)
david ERDMAN (SERVO)
marc FORNES (THEVERYMANY)
ferda KOLATAN (su11 Architecture & Design)
craig SCOTT (IwamotoScott Architecture)
marcelo SPINA (P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S)
mike SZIVOS (SOFTlab)
abigail COOVER (hume coover studio, suckerPUNCH)
nathan HUME (hume coover studio, suckerPUNCH)

$2500 in prizes will be awarded and the winning designs will be published on suckerPUNCH.

///entryREQUIREMENTS

This is an open ideas competition. entrants will be required to digitally submit two [2] boards at 18” high x 24”wide and 150dpi in tiff format with the provided 5 digit code in a 1”x1” square in the lower right hand corner of each board. Image requirements are as follows:

PLANS
all necessary site and floor plans to describe the project including at minimum a ground level plan describing the form, integration of program, and relationship to the site
*scale is at the discretion of the entrant
SECTIONS
one [1] north/south section
one [1] east/west section
*scale is at the discretion of the entrant
RENDERINGS
one [1] aerial view
one [1] street level view
one [1] interior view
*one rendering best describing the formal and atmospheric intent of the project must be rendered at 10” high x 13” wide and 150dpi in tiff format. This image is to be included on the boards as one of the above views.

///competitionSCHEDULE

27 April 2012 competition launch
11 June 2012 deadline for questions
18 June 2012 answers to questions will be posted on suckerPUNCH
25 June 2012 early registration deadline
13 August 2012 project submission deadline
3 September 2012 winners will be posted over the course of the week on suckerPUNCH

///registration/FEES

Entrants may register by submitting payment to suckerPUNCH via paypal and contact info to competitions@suckerPUNCHdaily.com. Once payment and contact info is received, an email will be sent containing all project documentation (including dimensioned CAD plan, 3-D model, aerial photo, site photos, and zoning information) and a 5 digit identification number to be placed in a 1”x1” square on the bottom right corner of each board. The submission procedure will also be outlined in this email.

early registration fee – $35
registration fee – $65
please email any questions to competitions@suckerPUNCHdaily.com

Loris Gréaud: The Unplayed Notes marks the first major gallery presentation of Gréaud’s work to date and his first exhibition in New York in nearly six years. The exhibition features a series of site-specific, multisensory installations that activate new ways of experiencing Gréaud’s on-going investigation of altered realities. The exhibition also includes the U.S. premiere of the film, One Thousand Ways to Enter (2011), which was originally conceived for the artist’s traveling museum exhibition CELLAR DOOR.

loris GRÉAUD
05/05-06/09
The Pace Gallery
534 West 25th Street
New York, NEW YORK 10001

My Masochism is the new title chosen for the new and intriguing event that the creative Roman team of Cityvision will present May 19th, 2012 at 4pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome.

A new independent architecture event will feature the London architect Robert Stuart-Smith of Kokkugia. The underlying theme of the new Cityvision issue and the event itself will be the theme “MY MASOCHISM,” which calls for a critical and ironic remark on the perverse attitude of being architect/artist/creative. “If masochism means to be pleased by an act of violence on our body, then it is certainly inherent in the role of an architect.”

“My Masochism”
Saturday, 05/19
4.00 pm / MACRO
Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome
via Nizza 138
Rome, ITALY