Two Competitions

A couple new competitions that landed in my inbox:

Scion Floorplan
"A competition, open to the design community, where you are asked to design Scion's new dealership showroom. The competition is an opportunity for designers to work with real world design constraints, get noticed by judges working in the design industry, be creative, and possibly win $5,000."

The World Mammoth Museum
A two-stage competition for the International Mammoth and Permafrost Museum in Yakusak, Russia as "part of an ambitious program of creation of a park dedicated to individual and family excursions according to the environmental, ethnography and history themes [and which] lays a great emphasis on the findings of woolly mammoths, frozen more than 10,000 years ago."

Project New Orleans

Here's a site I learned of in studio yesterday. It's called Project New Orleans. It aims to be a complete archive of all the (student?) projects being done for the reconstruction of New Orleans, from Single Family Housing and Urban Design to Flood and Transportation Infrastructure. Big and small, they have it all...or do they? It appears that many gaps exist on the page as of today (expect some "Not Found" errors on certain links), though this points to the need for people involved to fill in those gaps. So if you've worked on a job for reconstruction in New Orleans, be it listed on the PNO web page or not, contact the site administrators to help them with their ongoing research...whenever they get the contact information up there.



If you just want to browse the projects that are posted, here's some of interest:

::ecoMOD2:preHAB by students at the University of Virginia
:: URBANbuild by students at Tulane University
:: High Density Housing by students at CCNY
:: reGrow by students at MIT
:: Inter-Living Systems and Sea Level by students at University of Kansas
:: Inhabiting the Fluid Terrain projects by University of Pennsylvania students

Today's archidose #34

Neurosciences Wedges by ken mccown
The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California by Tod Williams and Bille Tsien.

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Today's archidose #33

IMG_1080.JPG by Evan Burr
Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry.

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Fitzcarraldo

As a way to kick-off the year long South American project in our Urban Design studio, our class watched Werner Herzog's 1981 feature Fitzcarraldo. (Warning: some spoilers follow.)

The film tells the story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (called Fitzcarraldo by the locals), an eccentric foreigner in the jungles of early 20th-century Peru determined to bring opera to the frontier town (as he calls it) where he lives. To raise money for the construction of an opera house he sets out to extract rubber from trees in an inaccessible part of the jungle. Rather than battling rapids upstream, his plans involves "coming from the rear" by carrying a steamship over land from one river to another where they almost meet. But the land between the two rivers is extremely steep and requires strength, ingenuity, and time to traverse. Fitzcarraldo is aided by a tribe of indigenous peoples that have other motives for the seemingly impossible feat.


Still found at Images

Although I hadn't heard of the film before last nite's screening, apparently it is very well known, not so much for its story but for its production history, extreme shooting conditions, and off-screen friction. (A documentary on the making of the movie was even made, called Burden of Dreams.) Apparently, Herzog was almost halfway through filming when Jason Robards -- his first choice for Fitzcarraldo -- became ill and had to leave the film. It was about a year from the start of shooting when they resumed with Klaus Kinski, a familiar Herzog face who clashed numerous times with the director and the locals during filming. While watching the film, this tension isn't apparent (maybe some frustration, the frustration of filming in the Amazon, is), but the realism of moving the ship over land and the subsequent journey down the rapids clearly indicates minimal special effects. It looks like they are actually moving the steamship up and over the hill via winches and sheer force. And from all accounts I've read, that is the case.


Still found at Images

To me the importance and popularity of the film's making, as much as (or over) the film itself, points to a parallel between the character of Fitzcarraldo and the director himself. Herzog could have quit production in the Amazon entirely after Robards left, but he persevered, much like Fitz never gives up in failed attempt after failed attempt at raising money for his beloved opera house. By the end of the film it seems that fate has told Fitz that his dream will never come true, but even then he finds a way to make the most of an adverse and defeating situation.

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

BMW Plant Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany by Zaha Hadid Architects.

The updated book feature is Zaha Hadid: BMW Central Building, edited by Todd Gannon.

Some non-Zaha Hadid links for your enjoyment:

Arkinetia
Well-done architecture blog, in Spanish. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture; thanks Damian!)

Francis Morrone Q&A
An interview with one of the Blowhards. (thanks Andrew K!)

House of Light

Before the recent move I "clipped" this article at PingMag to read later...well, I'm finally getting around to it today. "Staying in James Turrell's House of Light" describes "a modern-built, traditional-style Japanese house where people can stay to experience light in a variety of specific conditions that [Turrell] has arranged for, all centered around a sky-viewing room."

For those unfamiliar with James Turrell, his signature installations are skyspaces that feature a ceiling aperture open to the sky, making it appear flattened, almost pure color. These spaces are intended to influence the viewer's way of thinking via perception. As can be seen by this set, I'm smitten with them.



And after seeing the PingMag article, it looks like I have another reason to return to Japan, to not just sit in a Turrell but to stay in one.

Today's archidose #32

Inside a rainbow by rutger_spoelstra
Offices La Defence in Almere, Netherlands by UN Studio (Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos).

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Three Bits

One::

Corflot notifies me that their 2006 Design Salary Survey is up and running. Unlike previous years, this survey features an architecture concentration in addition to the other design-oriented areas of concentration. Take it now.

Two::

Good Magazine features the article "Chasing Zero" by Ben Jervey, author of The Big Green Apple. In it the author documents his "month-long experiment in extreme urban environmentalism."

Three::

My DSL modem arrived in the mail last night! After some initial problems connecting, it's now up and running. What does this mean? Mainly that when I get home tonite I'll send out my backlog of subscription notices to my weekly readers. And after that those notices will return to their regular frequency, once a week.

Learning from Lawndale

The Chicago Architectural Club today announces the winner of the 2006 Burnham Prize, Learning from North Lawndale: Defining the Urban Neighborhood in the 21st Century. The Burnham Prize, a three-month fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, will be awarded to Kim Nigro of Chicago Illinois. Ms. Nigro recently received her Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois-Chicago (with a B.Arch from Kansas State University, like me), and is working as a project manager at the Chicago-based architecture firm, Wilkinson-Blender Architects.



Her project rethinks the traditional Greystone of North Lawndale with affordability, sustainability, and prefabricated construction as the overriding concepts.



An opening reception is tonight, Wednesday September 20, 2006, 5:30 PM at the Chicago Architecture Foundation's Atrium Gallery, 224 S. Michigan in Chicago.

Book of the Moment

Did Someone Say Participate? An Atlas of Spatial Practice is a book responding to "globalization at work." Editors Markus Miessen and Shumon Basar contend that a "new atlas is being re-drawn for the 21st century" and that their book "re-draws the map of participatory, spatial practice that is a function of such shifts."



The thick and heavily illustrated book has the requisite eye candy (check out the book's web page for some sneaks) set within a highly theoretical and potentially controversial topic, namely the architect's role in globalization.

Upper West Side

This last Sunday was my first "day off" since Labor Day and the start of Urban Design studio. Rather than relaxing at home, my wife and I took the train into Manhattan and walked around the Upper West Side and Central Park, two beautiful areas of the city. Here's some pictures that I've posted on Flickr.


The Lotus Garden, a hidden gem of a garden on the roof of a parking garage. It takes a key to gain entry, except on Sunday afternoon. I'm happy to say I have one now and can go there and relax whenever I feel like it. A few more pics of the garden here.


Pomander Walk, a group of small, London-esque buildings done in 1921. They are now dwarfed by their neighbors, making their small size seem even smaller.


Symphony Space by Polshek Partnership. Entry detail.


The recently-completed Gaynor School by Rogers Marvel Architects.


View of Midtown East skyscrapers from Central Park.

Today's archidose #31

Rotating its way to the sky by bjorn_cph
Santiago Calatrava's Turning Torso tower in Malmo, Sweden.

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HdM Does High-rise

Cisar reports about the unveiling of a tower for Roche, a health-care company, by Herzog & de Meuron. If built, the tower would be located in Basel and would be Switzerland's tallest building. Estimated completion is 2011.



This design follows from the recent trend of torquing, twisting, and spiraling towers, particularly those of Santiago Calatrava. Here, the result is not so much mathematical in nature but in response to zoning requirements, program, organization, and a series of voids that traverse the tower, per this diagram. In some ways, this trend is born from the attempt to distinguish certain designs from others, but the more they are created the more they tend to resemble each other.

More photos are available in scisar's flickr set on HdM.

(via Archinect)

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Beverly Skyline Residence by Bercy Chen Studio.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

LEED Boot Camp
"Helping people get more acquainted with the LEED exam." (added to sidebar under professional)

DVD Ideas
Looking for films on architecture?. Check out this site's architecture category for some ideas. (added to sidebar under guides)

Michielangelo becomes Eikongraphia

FYI, readers:

After 8 months and 88 posts the Michielangelo blog moves to a new site: www.eikongraphia.com. The name "Eikongraphia" is derived from the original Greek word for Iconography.

The new Eikongraphia blog has some important new features:

:: The iconography database is easily accessible by a new interface that presents all filed projects by Theme and within a Top 10 chart.
:: The Narrative gives an insight in the theoretical background of iconography.
:: The Article that Michiel wrote in advance of the Projective Landscape Conference.

This change has been made in my sidebar. Thanks for the update, Michiel.

Today's archidose #30

DSC02595 by sterne_nkr707
WoZoCo's Apartments in Amsterdam by MVRDV.

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Sex and the City

New York-based architect Margaret Helfland writes a two-part coverage of the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale over at ArchNewsNow.



One of my professors, Grahame Shane, called the show superficial but with some interesting exhibitions, though Helfland seems to be taken with the show, calling it "a call-to-arms for advocacy and engagement in the political process." Part one here and part two here.

Today's archidose #29

DSCF1895.JPG by schopaia
Rock Valley College Starlight Theatre in Rockford, Illinois by Studio Gang/O'Donnell (now Studio Gang). Check out schopaia's extensive Flickr set on the Theatre.

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4 Classes

Having my fourth of four classes start yesterday, I thought I would briefly describe each of them for those interested. For those who haven't been "following" this page, I'm talking about the Urban Design Program (PDF link) at City College (part of CUNY). The department is headed by Michael Sorkin and is two semesters in length.

Urban Design Studio

Unlike previous years (since the institution of the studio component in 2000) where each semester focused on a separate project -- one ideal and hypothetical, the other in NYC -- our studio has one project for the whole year. It is the design of a self-sufficient town in South America. Also, unlike previous years, this project is more practical, in that we'll work with the town (in conjunction with a local university) with the intention of implementation of the plan in some form, probably over time long after the studio's completion. It's highly ambitious and exciting for what's a relatively short period of time to tackle the design of a city. It goes without saying that issues of sustainability, among many others, are crucial to approaching the city design, making the project much more timely and important. The studio is taught by Sorkin.

History of Urban Space

Taught by Grahame Shane, this class is built around his new book Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual Modeling in Architecture, Urban Design and City Theory as well as key texts like Lynch's Good City Form and Rowe's Collage City. This was the last class to start (yesterday) and we were treated to a guest lecture on Aranya (or Sector 72, as it's known locally) a mixed-income development in Indore, India by perhaps that country's most famous architect, Balkrishna Doshi. The town is a fascinating example of urban design based on an evolutionary view where occupants are given freedom with not only building design but use. Doshi's plan created plots and laid out services, and while he contributed many house designs for the area, they are the minority. In many ways, it's the opposite of what many might think of with larger developments, in terms of control, level of completion and user input. Immediately, I get the sense that the class will focus on unconventional historical models and methods for looking at the city and urban design.

Reading the City

Film has always been a popular subject for architects, and this class uses film noir as a device for analyzing the city. Unlike other genres (if film noir can be called one is a point of contention but one I will not go into here), one associates noir with the city more than any other place. The dark corners, wet streets, hotels, offices, and other spaces and places of the city litter films of this type. Situate within their dark and paranoid narratives, these films parallel America's thinking towards the city around the end of the war and the move from cities to suburbs. The class fits alongside the others, even though it's relationship to urban design or architecture is not as direct; it's indicative of the program's embrace of other disciplines as well as the intertwined and interdependent nature of expression and thinking. Taught by Joan Copjec.

Urban Ecologies

This class comes full circle back to the design studio and its sustainable focus. Here, ways of thinking about the environment, both historically and in the present, are valued above practical application of ecological principles. This follows from the notion that in order to know what to do about the environment we must rethink the way we look at the environment, primarily as a something we are a part of, not separate from. This is probably the most thought-provoking class (taught by landscape professor Achva Stein), especially in terms of finding ecological change at a time when economy drives decision making. Can ecological thinking work with economical thinking? Or will that decision be made for us, like it or not? We'll see.

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Garden of Planes in Richmond, Virgina by Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect.

The updated book feature is Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

Langen Foundation
Ando's new building in Neuss, Germany covered at arcspace.com.

At Ground Zero, Towers for Forgetting
Ouroussoff's coverage of the three new towers at the WTC site, on the five year anniversary of September 11.

Vision Not Accomplished
More criticism of the towers at The Slatin Report

Today's archidose #28

Denver Civic Center Masterplan by c.boschen
Daniel Libeskind's proposal for a revamped Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado.

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Three's a Crowd

One consequence of being immersed in a full-time Master's program is that news doesn't reach me as quickly as just a few weeks ago. Last night my wife mentioned that three towers were unveiled as part of Libeskind's masterplan at Ground Zero, but it wasn't until checking my e-mail this afternoon after classes that I saw a rendering at World Architecture News, below.



With SOM's Freedom Tower on the far left, the three new designs from left to right are by Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, and Fumihiko Maki. Based on Libeskind's winning masterplan it appears that only Foster stayed true to the sloping top that gestures towards the voids of the Twin Towers and the memorial below. This a bit unfortunate, though Libeskind is quoted in the New York Times (which includes a slide show of the designs) as saying, "The silhouette of the buildings does exactly what the master plan called for." He goes on to say that the buildings should not look the same, something that appears to be the case in their forms but not necessarily their wrappers, where each is some sort of a variation on a glass box, the prevailing trend in just about every tall building these days.

Foster's building, more than fitting the winning masterplan, also -- unlike the others, at least at first glance -- appears to fit its site, at the NE corner of the greater masterplan site. Its sloping, diamond top recalls the Smurfit-Stone Building in Chicago, sited at the NW corner of Millennium Park. Previously the Stone Container Building, it has received much criticism for its stubbiness, flat detailing, and lack of elegance, but its diamond & sloped top acts as a perfect fulcrum from the buildings to the south along Michigan Avenue and the to the east on Randolph Avenue, and vice-versa. Here, Foster's design acts as the corner fulcrum not only horizontally but also vertically, as it sits between the lower Maki and Rogers designs and the tallest by SOM.

Today's archidose #27

santa caterina by TwOsE
Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona, Spain by Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue.

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DSL Woes

Well, as shouldn't be a surprise to many, not everything went smoothly with the recent move to New York. In particular, I'm talking about getting hooked up to the internet at home. It turns out that the order for home phone and DSL service before the move did not go through, so it had to be done again after the move, meaning I won't be connected at home for another two weeks. This isn't a particularly big deal for this page or my weekly page even, but it does mean I can't send out my subscription notices for my weekly page. Hopefully those readers will find their way here and bear with the interruption in service. Regardless, I do apologize for the inconvenience; it probably bothers me much more than you.

Moving on, I was surprised to see today that my current school has a similar school color to my undergraduate school. This was definitely not intentional, though kinda funny. Take a look.





Looks like I'll be purple for the rest of my life.

Today's archidose #26

123_2379 by brywhit
Holy Rosary Church Complex in Louisiana by Trahan Architects.

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Tuesday, Tuesday

My weekly page update:

Morgan Library Expansion in New York City by Renzo Piano.

The updated book feature is The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright & the Taliesin Fellowship, Robert Friedland and Harold Zellman.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

2006 Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competion
Open to "architectural professionals and students who exhibit outstanding ability in hand illustration as well as computer-based rendering."

Mirador
Images of the residential building in Madrid by MVRDV. (Thanks to Pedro M. for the head's up!)

Newhouse Competition
This year is the Newhouse's 25th anniversary of "introducing students in the Chicago Public Schools to careers in architecture, design and the construction trades." The Chicago Architecture Foundation is "looking for past Newhouse Competition students, teachers and volunteers [and] want to hear about what you have accomplished since your participation in the Newhouse Competition." Click the link above to take a survey.

Who SHOULD win the 2006 Stirling Prize?

Are you fed up of having other people decide who should be awarded architectural awards? Well, so is Norman Blogster who has set up his own informal poll for the Stirling Prize, as part of his Architectural Antifreeze. So go check it out and cast your vote!

Also, new posts will have to wait 'til after the Labor Day holiday this weekend, as setting up the home CPU and DSL is taking a while (this and the last post are via the antiquated computers in the architecture school's library).