palace of pebbles

in honour of the 20th May eruption, a house made entirely of volcanic rock, in Montserrat...note the almond tree growing from its bearthe.

object interiors - dwellings with spirit

its kinda crap - but hey its a friday lighten up

Jr

Last week Archidose featured the Casa Tolo by Alvaro Leite Siza Vieira in Portugal. An amazing alternative to hillside living.

He's the son of internationally-known architect Alvaro Siza

apologies everyone on the sporadic posts. Saturday morning the volcano went off (or is it on?) as well I've been hanging out with the...see below. Here's a few pics to soothe you over.

- mad

archi-tour

I was busy...will blog later

Parisian outfit lan-architecture

another

atelier soa

via archinect

75% of the world's cork may be lost within the next ten years, so reports WWF as more and more wines are now using screw-tops and synthetic cork.

Cork traditionally sourced from the Mediterranean is a regenerative harvest, that asside from providing numerous jobs, also maintains many forests of trees that equally protects much wildlife.

So I'll be doing my part this weekend by consuming large volumes of corked wine...eco swigging.

via treehugger

Florian Maurer Architects
via MoCo Loco

the architects are coming...

Playing host to a young couple at the office, one has just completed
his M.Arch at the Miami University NOT in Florida, the other is doing
architectural graduate studies in "International Cooperation."

nifty

my mistake guys...too wasted to blog

From the loins of Rem Koolhaas

Zaha Hadid Architect
Foriegn Office Architects
PLOT
MVRDV
Work Architecture
REX-NY

it all began with OMA

everyone wants to be King...especially the Prince

This is being posted everywhere, so why not join the fray. The NY office of OMA - the mega scaled cultural urban poet aka architects, for such projects as the recently completed Seattle Public Library have officially split from their host, run by none other than Rem Koolhaas (cool-ass??). Joshua Prince-Ramus the brain child of the NY-OMA has managed to gobble up the entire practice of 35, including practice partner Erez Ella.


Check the cunning smile, as he plans to take over ala Brutus stabbing Ceaser

via everywhere

Oddly the link to the new practice REX-NY leads you to the old NY-OMA page

arquitronica

nice Modern flavoured work

Pavillion House

Israel Mapp has sent some construction photographs of the Pavillion House in Barbados.

the Incomplete Manifesto

Canadian Designer Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto, also take a look at the Institute Without Boundaries 

Some Modernist housing in the French West Indies

David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge

10 most effective ways to conserve nature and improve our quality of life:

1. Reduce home energy use by 10%
2. Choose an energy-efficient home & appliances
3. Don't use pesticides
4. Eat meat-free meals one day a week
5. Buy locally grown and produced food
6. Choose a fuel-efficient vehicle
7. Walk, bike, carpool or take transit
8. Choose a home close to work or school
9. Support alternative transportation
10.Learn more and share with others

This we like, a chair-screen by Aswoon made of bentwood.

via inhabitat

Swiss stepped bridge

Replacing a traditional rope bridge destroyed by a rock fall in Switzerland, two engineers could only find two points where there would be no risk of rock falls. The solution, suspended a straircase-bridge that spans a distance of 56m over a 70m deep gorge.

All about Prefab

Living Box, prefabricated living unit competition + so much more.

A former school mate just sent me a picture of his "bachelor pad" in Anguilla, West Indies. More images to come.

Building Design features a housing development in Cambridge by Feilden Clegg Bradley collaborating with Alison Brooks and Maccreanor Lavington to produce a range of styles yet reflecting a collective identity.


Alison Brooks’semi-detached houses, featuring prepatinated copper roofs.

White Noise

White Noise, a 2005 movie stars Michael Keaton, as an architect trying to contact his dead wife.

I was flicking through the channels and saw what looked like a familiar office scene...folks dressed rather distinctly in black and greys, the Leinz folders, rolls of drawings everywhere and CAD/graphics on every computer screen. A little interested I watched a little more, open thread stairs, Modern balustrades usually not favoured by most offices nor most Interior Architects (no offense...just a general observation). Hmm they must be architects...I wonder. The scene flashes outside of the office, looking on and I see the entrance door I can't make out the text but the level of detail on an otherwise simple door gave it all away, "yes they are architects!" And then I recalled that I am addicted. Sad sad architect...aint it great!!

Market Square Urban Design Competition

Announcing the Stratford Market Square Design Competition. Professional designers, architects and planners have been invited to prepare urban design proposals for the Market Square site. The objectives of the design competition is to stimulate imaginative architectural and urban design proposals that respond to the Stratford Market Square's context, constraints and opportunities; to achieve design excellence and to improve the downtown core of the City of Stratford.

"The community clearly sees the Market Square as our space – a special place for the people of Stratford... [it] has the potential to become the dynamic heart of the city – a public focal point that invites residents and visitors to enjoy the beauty of City Hall and to linger, interact and attend gatherings in the downtown core"

from Archiseek

Arkinetia features the Canal House by Sander Architects

via Moco Loco

Full ethanol use by next year

Jamaica yesterday started promoting the benefits of ethanol, using 70 government motor vehicles as 'guinea pigs' in a six-month pilot project that it hopes will lead to full public acceptance and use of the fuel by mid-2007. This is a major step for a developing country aiming at energy self-sufficiency.

Plastics to be recycled with Montserrat volcanic ash

By David Eldridge

UK company Plasroc will make roof tiles from the novel composite.
28 April 2006 – UK plastics recycling company Plasroc International has found a use for the millions of tonnes of volcanic ash covering Montserrat after the Caribbean island suffered a disastrous eruption seven years ago.

Plasroc has signed a 25-year contract with the government of Montserrat which will see the Halifax-based company using its own processing technology to blend recycled plastics with the volcanic ash on the island. Plasroc will then manufacture roof tiles from the composite which will be sold in the Caribbean region.

The company is investing £3-4m (E4-7m) in new recycling equipment for the factory in Montserrat. Production will start within the next four months.
Plasroc is planning to source 5,000-10,000tpa of waste plastics, to be derived from EPS packaging, fish boxes and polythene film wastes. This will be sorted and compounded in the UK before being shipped to the Montserrat factory.

The blending of the ash and polymer is not new as the Plasroc group have successfully produced similar products in its factory based in Donegal in Ireland. Slate dust from quarries has previously been used in the composite blend in its products.

Hong Kong Competition

Introducing an International Architectural design competition for the development of the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) part of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) of Hong Kong.

Deadline for Registration: 16 June 2006
Please visit here for more details

links recovered, thanks Andres

Archi-stallations

Worldview is an urban installation for tourists that enables them to record their experience with both an instant-print postcard and a video clip and look through realtime windows into public spaces in other cities. See this and more architecture meets performance at the Hague

inspiration

I thought I would publish something for a little inspiration on making spaces with fresh air...you can thank the folks at treehugger in making more proactive in sustainability issues.



apartments in Guadeloupe

Interesting site featuring miniature cityscapes made from LEGO, via designboom

bad blogger

I've been out of commission the last couple days...short staffed at the moment; but managed to snap this...



the continued renovations to the Government Headquarters.

new ezine - Archfram

Presenting Archfarm, a publication about architecture focused on aspects that seldom have space in other communication channels. A place for critical thinking and the latest proposals on architecture and tangent issues. Archfarm is produced between Dublin and Madrid and is published as a collection of fascicles in pdf format that can be downloaded free of charge under a creative commons lincense. Its page composition allows for both screen reading and efficient printing-binding. The new website for Archfarm is available only in an english version with some structural improvements.

This issue features a new fascicle: Alfedo Puente, historian, interviews Sonia Cillari, artist. Her work breeds in architectural theory to build viewer-driven installations. One more new thing: there's a video in the fascicle, reproduced as video-streaming from their server.

Chicago Townhouse by Alexander Gorlin on Archidose

in a state of Flux

Flux Factory - a not for profit arts organization supporting innovation in things.

this both frightens me yet interests me...I really didn't think there were so many left over fuselages.

Proposed library in Guadalajara, Mexico by creative outfit LOT-EK

via treehugger

Design Within Reach features chairs by 2006 Pritzker Prize Winner, Paulo Mendes da Rocha

updates on BioClimatica2

return of the blog...Experientia - putting people first

and, lights that open and close like petals via design*sponge

Metropolis Magazine features two early education care facilities by Dorte Mandrup-Poulsen in Copenhagen, "stacking the interiors vertically onto a diminutive footprint...so as not to take light away from the neighbors".

Your Hidden City: Natural/Urban

vs



below was my selection

I've been reading on performance art and these names came up, Guerilla Girls. Described as "fighting discrimination with facts, humour and fake fur."

Architectural Review: Browser

Whilst I'm not the biggest fan of their Internet selections nor their criticism, every now and then Sutherland Lyall of the Architectural Review gets it right - well at least the choice of websites. Last month's issue (March 2006) featured Inhabitat & EyeCandy.

Congratulations on the recognition guys...I'll toast to you.

Hidden Place - Density

vs



the top image was my choice for the density category and the bottom was the collective choice. I felt the photograph, as it recessed into the perspective, revealed the nature of city life - congestion a trait shared by the collective choice. See more from the other members of the jury;

Lisa Chamberlain of Polis and who also covers real estate for the New York Times; Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG; Shawn Micallef of Toronto Psychogeography Society Blog; Miss Representation & Jimmy Stamp of Life Without Buildings

Architecture Conference

got to love those Latin-Modernists

Paulo Mendes da Rocha wins the Pritzker Prize. This is the second award for an architect from Brazil (see previous posts on Niemeyer)

via everyone

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

honestly I'll try and send a decent post before the drinking begins

The jury has voted! Your Hidden City Best Density goes to Steph Goralnick's image "escalate". Juror Geoff Manaugh, of BLDGBLOG, interpreted density as "the light effects, where 'density' is interpreted as 'contradiction,' or multiple counter-motions in one frame."



Part of the open-source nature of this contest is that the other jurors may be posting their own winners. We were far from unanimous on our choices, and I invite you to discover the diversity of opinion by visiting the other jurors:

Lisa Chamberlain of Polis and who also covers real estate for the New York Times
David Cuthbert of architechnophilia
Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG
Shawn Micallef of Toronto Psychogeography Society Blog
Miss Representation
Jimmy Stamp of Life Without Buildings

Plymouth, Montserrat




The daily dose (archidose) has recently published "Alberto Burri's Cretto, a massive piece of land art that sits atop the ruined remains of Gibellina, a Sicilian town destroyed by earthquake in 1968," and began thinking if this would be the kind of strategy for the development of Plymouth, a town that met with a similar fate. Given that the area is still under threat of an active volcano, how can we conceptualise the space for future development as a space of memory?

roof 08.04

roof 08.04
Originally uploaded by architechnophilia.

Works to roof over the weekend. New sheeting, riveted and waterproofed.

This month's Dwell magazine featured "Aloft in the Forest," a house-cum loft by designers Stefan & Nicole Andren built in the woods of Oregon. See more at their website, Krownlab

Critical Regionalism - a review

Critical Regionalism remains the most fruitful formulation of Modernism intensifying the role of cultural practices involved in the making of architecture. After the 1960s, taking cues from the socio-political atmosphere, the notion became strongly aligned with environmental and social responsibilty. It implied an approach of design & construction that would impact the landscape & local culture as minimally as possible - yet still deepen andstrengthen the way we regard, experience and value them. The architects that have drove the development of this dynamic movement over the last three generations, are as follows (in alphabetical order - hence the A to Z)

Aalto, Alavo
Barragan, Luis & Bawa, Geoffery
Correa, Charles
Doshi, BV
Eldem, Sedad
Fathy, Hassan
Godsell, Sean
Harris, Harwell Hamilton
I
Jarmund/ Vigsnaes
Kalach & Alvarez
Le Corbusier
Murcutt, Glenn
Niemeyer, Oscar
O'Gorman, Juan
Prasad, Shiv Nath
Q
Rewal, Raj
Siza, Alvara
Tavora, Fernando
Utzon, Jorn
Villanueva, Carlos Raul
Warchavchik, Gregori
X
Y
Zabludovsky,Abraham

the new [architectural] jargon

what do you call an addition that is three times the size of the original?

- domestic takeover

roof 01.04

roof 01.04
Originally uploaded by architechnophilia.

The roof sections are going to be welded out, and reinstated with sheets of galvanized. I am resisting the urge to go at the Jesse James style and have them return it stock.

interior 30.03

interior 30.03
Originally uploaded by architechnophilia.

We've ripped the bagass internal skin off with had been water damaged. One of the many problems associated with using prefabricated materials that have been sitting around for 10 years. I am beginning to question if "Pre-fab is [really] fab?

Z is for Zabludovsky

Convention Centre, Chiapas

Abraham Zabludovsky was highly influenced by the International style and demonstrated an impeccable handling of contemporary design, techniques and materials. Concerned with the craft of building, his aesthetic grew from the availability of stone, earth & clay is often reflective of the arid Mexican landscape.

on site

on site
Originally uploaded by architechnophilia.

Delivered and partial assembly..now the real work begins

design-build

off site
Originally uploaded by architechnophilia.

Not often do I get the chance to be both architect & builder, in the coming weeks I'll be showing a small coversion that melds insitu and a little prefabricated architecture. The building is a small conversion to house the government engineers. Here are the units being assembled off-site

W is for Warchavchik

Itapolis Residence, Sao Paulo

Gregori Warchavchik, a contemporary of Lucio Costo, built a variety of structures in Sao Paulo Brazil, in what was then the Latin interpretation of Modernity. Having been credited in constructing the first Modernist building in Brazil, the aesthetic of Warchavchik was born out of function, albeit what was en vogue. His work however breathed an understanding of the South American climate that was created by a social resistance and deemed vital for the movement's acceptance and development.

ARQUITECTUM: Venice 2006

This competition is open to professional architects worldwide, and concerns the creation of a new bridge that will replace the existing Academy Bridge. Not only will it serve as an axis connecting both sides of the canal and as entry portal to the Rio Alto, but it will also become a City Museum showcasing the history, tradition and architectural splendour of the city of Venice. For more information