anArchitecture

Brick-Wheel.

2009-11-02T17:17:00.002+01:00

Alternative uses - via today and tomorrow.

Change Paradigms in Building Culture - Blog Action Day 2009.

2009-10-15T23:28:00.003+02:00

Can technology bridge the gap between our lifestyle and its resource consumption? What when technology fails to deliver a simple solutions for the world’s population energy demands? We (collectively) would need 1.3 planets to sustain today's world average per capita consumption (for Europe about three planets and the US even five). What is when 1.3 billion Chinese achieve Europe’s consumption level (and hopefully they do)? Shouldn’t we better change our consumption habits? An impossible demand of course – the more so as (economic) growth is still the most important task we face.

Maybe there is no need to sacrifice our living standards – we only have to adapt to a green-lifestyle; architecturally spoken “change paradigms in building culture”, as architect Wilfried Wang demands: to contribute creatively to the development of the existing built environment, to rediscover local building materials and traditions, to react on topographic and climate conditions and more.

The freestanding architectural masterpiece – however - may soon be less common. Happy Blog Action Day!

Dirty Old Loos.

2009-10-11T20:53:00.004+02:00

Adolf Loos, 1905, source: wikipedia

Can we separate the artist from his art? By implication we assume that outstanding personalities are supposed to have a high moral integrity. If the artist is outstanding we might take the personallity for granted.

Surely not for Adolf Loos (1870 - 1933). In 1928, architect Loos was accused of sexual child abuse. The court acquitted Loos in the absence of credible evidence to prove his guilt. However, Adolf Loos was convicted of seducing a minor and was sentenced to four month in prison. (for german speaking readers see "Pyjama und Verbrechen", by Andreas Weigel, or the german article in wikipedia).

I will always think that Adolf Loos has been a great architect, but maybe I will never be able to see his buildings without thinking about his misdoings.

Simple Minimalism.

2009-09-30T07:55:00.003+02:00

Umspannwerk / transformerstation Kenlderstraße, Wien / Vienna

What a façade!

Lexikon der gesamten Technik.

2009-09-24T17:26:00.003+02:00

The encyclopedia of architectural, engineering and manufacturing technology ("Lexikon der gesamten Technik."), by Otto Lueger, first published in 1894, now public domain because its copyright has expired. See parts of the great collection on the wikipedia.

Remembering the Plattenbau.

2009-09-15T09:50:00.006+02:00

36 x 12 m sculpture of Plattenbau Housing, photo on flickr, by gynti_46

Concrete sculpture of a 'Plattenbau' (building made with precast concrete slabs, mostly built in eastern Europe before 89) by Dagmar Schmidt, in Halle, Germany: Public privacy.

Color - Kuler.

2009-09-14T20:02:00.003+02:00

Without color? Adobe's online service 'Kuler' does make color picking easy. Intended for print and web it assists designers in creating color schemes. "No matter what you're creating, with Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community." So, no reason to be afraid of colors.

The International (Style).

2009-09-14T08:59:00.002+02:00

From Wikipedia ("The International", by Tom Tykwer, best known for "Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt"):

"Architecture is central to the meaning of The International. The villains inhabit impersonal buildings, built of glass and steel, which reflects Owen's discovery that anonymous forces operated by readily replaceable people run this world and there's nothing an ordinary citizen can do about it". (Philip French, in his review for The Observer)

The Phaeno Centre Wolfsburg, by Zaha Hadid, as stage setting, image: screenshot from DVD

Dutch Profiles: NL Architects

2009-09-08T22:48:00.003+02:00

NL Architects. A great architectural practice I've had the pleasure to work. (thanks for the link Sören). More infos about NL Architects at their fabulous blog or website. Video found at dutchprofiles.com

I love Jubiläumswarte.

2009-09-07T22:28:00.004+02:00

image by anarchitecture

The Jubiläumswarte, an observation tower in the western outskirts of Vienna (Austria), designed by the Austrian architect Hermann Kutschera in 1955.

image by Ute Bauer

Open Source Architecture.

2009-09-03T21:01:00.001+02:00

There's a thin line between inspiration and copying.

For Sale/TVs From Craigslist

2009-08-17T09:48:00.004+02:00

For Sale/TVs From Craigslist - by Penelope Umbrico

from the artist (Penelope Umbrico):

"For Sale / TVs From Craigslist, are images of the screens of TVs for sale I found on Craigslist. With hints of the seller’s interior space reflected in them, they offer inadvertent glimpses of intimacy and function as self-portraits of the sellers (the camera’s flash announcing the seller’s presence in the image)."

What a subversive image of space.

New Tools. Rhonda Forever.

2009-08-14T09:32:00.001+02:00

Design tools are evolving. The next generation will laugh at us for using CAD. How will it be in the near future?

The hands on the screen belong to James Paterson. He is using "Rhonda", a 3D drawing tool developed by Amit Pitaru circa 2003. They have just started the beta testing.

Plattenbau in Wien.

2009-08-10T18:46:00.003+02:00

Seen on my trip to work - a Plattenbau from 1967 (by Georg Linser and Emil Kapeller). With some adjustments, the front facade would fit in an architecture magazine, the backside however, looks nasty!

Bump into the MuseumsQuartier.

2009-08-08T16:06:00.002+02:00

Don't bump into the logo! (it's maybe the logo of the tenth largest cultural complex in the world)

Höhenrausch–High-Altitude Euphoria II.

2009-08-04T07:53:00.005+02:00

Recently, I have been on the marvelous "Höhenrausch", an art exhibition that guides visitors up to and over the roofs of Linz. It shows art between the sky and the city, offering an opportunity for a unique experience of Linz. See "Höhenrausch–High-Altitude Euphoria" for the participating artists. The timber construction has been done by Atelier Bow-Wow (in collaboration with Riepl Riepl).

Competitions and Reliability.

2009-08-01T12:42:00.004+02:00

Thanks to a comment on Bustler (from Friday, July 31, 2009) I got a little worried about the architecture competition "Up To 35"*. A reader commented, "go to the website...see the Q&A section...read question number 26 and see the answer".

Question 26: I´m not an architect yet and I´m making an internship in one of the jury´s offices. Could I participate as a member of one team, or is there any rule that forbid this situation?

Answer: Yes you could participate given that you qualify and that you are not an intern at the specific office the day of the submission.

(source: http://www.upto35.com/qna.php, from August 1, 2009)

It's surely a mistake and not expressed clearly enough, however, it raises some doubts about competitions.

*"Oliaros, a young property development company, is calling architects up to 35 years old to submit proposals for the construction of an affordable student housing complex in Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio (KM), an area in the historic centre of Athens, Greece."

Hobby.

2009-07-30T20:24:00.003+02:00

image by Matija Grguric, found on flickr

When architecture is just a hobby.

Gender Mainstreaming by Neufert.

2009-07-28T13:35:00.005+02:00

found in Architects' Data, by Ernst and Peter Neufert, 3rd edition, kitchens, page 251

When will they change?

Digital Fabrications.

2009-07-22T22:37:00.009+02:00

Many computer-aided designs never leave the design/development environment: What looks great on the computer screen, often is almost impossible to built. The book “Digital Fabrications” looks to bridge the gap between the digital representation and building, affording a hypothetical seamless connection between design and making.

The Bone Wall, urban a&o, 2006, page 94

It is now possible to transfer designs made on a computer to computer controlled machinery that creates actual building components. This “file to factory” process not only enables architects to realize projects featuring complex, even double-curved geometries, but also liberates architects from dependence on off-the-shelf building components, enabling projects of previously unimaginable complexity: design-build experimentation at a one-to-one scale.

Mafoombey, Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää with Martin Lukascyk, 2005, page 24

The book is organized according to five types of fabrication techniques: tessellating, sectioning, folding, contouring, and forming.

Alice, Florencia Pita mod, 2007, page 114

Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques (Architecture Briefs)
Lisa Iwamoto
144 pages, 175 color ilustrations

Berlin ist Freiheit.

2009-07-17T10:14:00.003+02:00

Spotted in Berlin: Berlin ist Freiheit (Berlin is Freedom) How old is that sticker?

SeatGuru

2009-07-16T22:07:00.003+02:00

diagrams by tripadvisor

Everyday we pick places: at work - best not sitting with your back up against the front door,in cinemas - preferably with a lot legroom, at restaurants - maybe sitting in a niche, etc. Seats are not alike, but how to choose when you do not know the place?

SeatGuru.com offers a solution for airplanes: the site features floorplans and information on just about any configuration of airplane you can imagine. It offers detailed, color-coded seatmap graphics to help identify superior and substandard seats for your flight. Could that be applied for buildings, too?

Smart Power.

2009-07-15T13:08:00.002+02:00

Innovation might be simple, to distribute an idea, however, and to convince people of its benifits is tough. How much of our technology comes from the distant past? Like the circuite breakers? An 130-year-old technology?

This is a problem, says inventor John La Grou during at TED conference in Februar 2009 , because over 80 percent of a all home electrical fires start below the safety threshold of circuit breakers. Listen to the TED talk for details (and join the discussion there).

Le Corbusier in Berlin.

2009-07-08T17:39:00.004+02:00

Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau is presenting the first ~~comprehensive~~ exhibition since 1987 of the wide-ranging work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. The exhibition provides a chronological survey of his 60-year oeuvre. It’s divided into three areas – “Contexts”, “Privacy and Publicity” and “Built Art” – themes that are important to an understanding of Le Corbusier’s work.

Le Corbusier in his “Collection particulière” on the second floor of the Rue Jacob 20, around 1931, © FLC / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2009

Le Corbusier – Art and Architecture
9 July to 5 October 2009
An exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, in cooperation with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London, and the Nederlands Architectuur Institut (NAI), Rotterdam.

[note from 2009.7.15: the exhibition lacks a little real substance - nothing new if you know Le Corbusier work]

My Bike Lane.

2009-07-08T14:38:00.004+02:00

I am a cyclist and sometimes I am annoyed about cars parking / stopping at bike lanes. However, I could never have imagined a website dedicated to denunciate drivers who park on cycle tracks. Users of the service "mybikelane" are asked to post photographs and the driver’s license plate of drivers parking on cycle lanes. Bicyclists taking law into their own hands? Vienna (1122 posts - after New York with 4755 posts) comes in second in the website's user statistics.

Bike Event, Critical Mass, Budapest, source: zsoolt,flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/zsoolt/2428277565/

There might be better ways to reclaim the street - like 'Critical Mass', "a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 cities around the world."(source: wikipedia) Bicyclists gather to show the benefits of bicycle riding and to protest the monopolization of the street by car traffic. They celebrate cycling and assert cyclists' right to the road. Critical Mass has neither leaders, nor a central organization - it is an idea! 600 people participated Vienna's last Critical Mass event on June 17th. Reclaim the streets!