Guller - Guller

” In a time when most European metropolis find their planning options around their airports increasingly limited, Paris is considering the development of its largest strategic reserve of 1000ha – the Triangle de Gonesse – positioned in-between the airport of Charles de Gaulle and le Bourget. The development of this last major land reserve inside the metropolitan area is a unique opportunity to reposition Paris as a city of excellence. Read the full story

Popularity: 10% [?]

Populararchitecture

“A tower of unprecedented scale conceived not as a building so much as a vertical extrusion of the city…”

It is estimated that London will need to provide housing for almost 100 000 new people every year upto 2016¹.
This is the result not only of migration (internal and global) but also the need to replace existing housing stock that is reaching the end of its lifecycle.

The preferred method of dealing with housing need, and the one most likely to be employed in the near future, is to build low density commuter towns outside the metropolis. This method takes up a tremendous amount of valuable greenbelt or agricultural land and seems ever more inappropriate in the context of the need for a sustainable society. Read the full story

Popularity: 5% [?]

Hamiltons

Description of the Beadon Road Project for Development Securities -
(As Published online on Hamiltons Official Website)

Project Description:
The TfL site in Hammersmith sits next to the Hammersmith & City line station and platforms. The brownfield site has lain empty for many years acting as an ugly scar on the face of the busy town centre.

The redevelopment proposal is for an office building with restaurants and a cinema looking over a large area of new public realm which will continue the theme of townscape improvements started with the landscaping of Lyric Square opposite.

The large building sits as a landmark in the town, and is softened in its impact by the use of curved surfaces both on plan and in elevation. This devices of using curved forms can often present a less aggressive form in the streetscape. Edges and corners are some of the most important visual clues that help define the form scale and shape of buildings, and their absence in a building that is curved both in plan and section can have a dramatic impact on their perceived presence in the streetscape.

The building is many facetted and is perceived differently from different view points. The pedestrian at street level will not perceive the extent of the building owing to the slope at high level on elevation and as a smooth form in longer views where the normal roof top paraphernalia is contained within a louvred screen which unifies the overall concept.”

Project Details:

Client: Development Securities
Size: 45,000m²
Project Status: Planning Approved

Popularity: 3% [?]

Arkinetia

” The location of the house, on the edge of an impressive cliff of 300 meters with views to a black sand beach, to Teide volcano and a great extension of the North coast of the island of Tenerife, has been decisive for the architectonic proposal.

The idea of the house consists of inserting a monolithic piece of concrete and glass on a wood platform in the edge of the cliff, emphasizing therefore the geography of the parcel. It is entered from the level superior to a volume of two heights that lodges a free space with direct Vista towards the Teide.

Read the full story

Popularity: 8% [?]

MONU

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR MONU - magazine on urbanism #9 - EXOTIC URBANISM

” Ever since our cities became areas of continuous interaction and ever-expanding exchange the term “exotic” - understood as counterpart to the “local”, the “native” or even the “authentic” - has become a rather vague term. Who - in actual fact - is still able to distinguish between the one and the other, between the exotic and the local? Who would be interested anyway? Yet, once again, there seems to be an increasing fascination with, and interest in, importing and seeing certain urban elements from other parts of the world in our own cities. There are, apparently, more Japanese people visiting the fake Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas than the original in Paris. What makes this displacement so interesting today? Read the full story

Popularity: 5% [?]

Product Description
“In Architecture or Techno-Utopia, Felicity Scott traces an alternative genealogy of the postmodern turn in American architecture, focusing on a set of experimental practices and polemics that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Scott examines projects, conceptual work, exhibitions, publications, pedagogical initiatives, and agitprop performances that had as their premise the belief that architecture could be ethically and politically relevant. Although most of these strategies were far from the mainstream of American architectural practice, Scott suggests that their ambition–the demonstration of architecture’s ongoing potential for social and political engagement–was nonetheless remarkable. Read the full story

Popularity: 4% [?]

Architectural Record

” The zeroHouse by Specht Harpman, a New York City-based firm, is deliberately placeless. It could be erected in Vermont or in Texas, where its unbuilt design won the 2007 Studio Award from the Texas Society for Architects. A slew of high-efficiency techniques afford the house its full energy independence: solar panels store and produce power, allowing a fully charged zeroHouse to operate continuously for up to one week with no sunlight; a rainwater collection plane gathers and diverts water into an elevated 2200-gallon cistern; gravity-fed plumbing fixtures eliminate the need for power-consuming pumps; a compost unit beneath the house processes organic waste and converts it into clean, dry fertilizer that needs to be removed only twice a year; and a high-efficiency heating and air-conditioning system is separately zoned for sleeping and living areas.

The structure of the house contributes to its low environmental impact. Made from prefabricated components, the walls, roof, and floor are all insulated with closed-cell structural foam and achieve a thermal resistance rating of R-58. The full-wall windows in each room are triple-insulated and fabricated from low-e heat-mirror glass. Exterior doors feature vacuum-sealed aero-gel panels to maintain maximum thermal performance. Last but not least, zeroHouse employs a helical-anchor foundation system that touches the ground at only four points and requires no excavation, meaning minimal disturbance to the earth.

While it’s Specht Harpman’s smart design that keeps the house running on nothing, all functions of the house are monitored by an array of sensors and regulated by a “house brain” that can be controlled through any laptop computer. Fully customizable for personal usage patterns, zeroHouse can be used as a weekend getaway or for an extended stay.”

Images are courtesy of Specht Harpman

Formal name of project: zeroHouse

Location: The zeroHouse is being marketed worldwide. It has been designed to work within an operational range of 36 N to 36 S latitude for year-round occupancy, and 47 N to 47 S for partial-year occupancy.

Gross square footage: 650 sq. ft.
Completion Date (Month and Year): Unbuilt
Total construction cost: $350,000

Architect: Specht Harpman - http://www.spechtharpman.com/
338 West 39th Street, New York,
New York 10018

Popularity: 15% [?]

Forum Of Urban Design

The Forum of Urban Design is organizing DIVERGENCE/CONVERGENCE a forum for urban designers. With the participation of: AIA New York Chapter - Center For Architecture and sponsored by Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

DIVERGENCE: The creative economy is more important than ever to New York’s status as a global city, yet creative workers and culture producers are struggling to live and work in NYC.

Meanwhile, London not only continues to challenge New York’s financial preeminence, but is proactively addressing the problems that its creative workers face.
Should New York formally convene stakeholders of the creative economy the way London has to come up with proposals before the city loses its edge? Or is the city’s creative team doing just fine?

MAY 12, 6:00 PM - NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART - 235 BOWERY, NEW YORK, NY 10002
COCKTAILS 6:00 PM - PANEL 6:30 PM - FOLLOWED BY PARTY

Moderator: Joseph Grima, director of the Storefront for Art and Architecture

PANELISTS:
- Elizabeth Currid, professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning and Development and author of The Warhol Economy:How Fashion, Music and Art Drive New York City (Princeton University Press)
- James Surowiecki, New Yorker Financial Page columnist, favorably reviewed The Warhol Economy and disagreed with some of Currid’s conclusions and recommendations
- Francis Greenburger, chairman and CEO of Time Equities, supporter of emerging artists through scholarships and by providing lobby space for art exhibits in commercial buildings
- Paul Owens, co-director and founder of BOP, a consulting firm in London focusing on culture and creative industries and urban economic and social development.
Entrance: Free Read the full story

Popularity: 8% [?]

Archis - Volume #15 is now out.

” Once there was life without books. It’s hard to imagine what that must have been like: an age of stories and knowledge of the world which stretched no farther than a day’s walk. The introduction of the written source constituted nothing less than the creation of a time and space capsule. The story, the idea, insight, knowledge were suddenly free of their messenger and were all able to bridge distances, able to surface, vanish and reappear.
Just as there was a time before the book, there will also be a time after it. In this issue ‘The Last Book’ project is taken up, but as to the consequences of publishing exclusively online - the loss of filters such as the publisher, editor and publication costs - we can only guess. Yet it is clear that our centuries old house of knowledge is undergoing a fundamental renovation, beginning with the solid base of the library. ” Volume #15

Read the full story

Popularity: 5% [?]

- Via BLDGBLOG

” Seattle-based concept artist Daniel Dociu is Chief Art Director for ArenaNet, the North American wing of NCSoft, an online game developer with headquarters in Seoul. Most notably, Dociu heads up the production of game environments for Guild Wars – to which GameSpot gave 9.2 out of 10, specifically citing the game’s “gorgeous graphics” and its “richly detailed and shockingly gigantic” world.

Image: Daniel Dociu;

Dociu has previously worked with Electronic Arts; he has an M.A. in industrial design; and he recently won both Gold and Silver medals for Concept Art at this year’s Spectrum awards.” Read the Interview here

Popularity: 4% [?]