2007 Weekly Favs

Here's a rundown of my ten favorite projects (out of 49) featured on my weekly page in 2007, in order of their appearance.

Tietgen Residence Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark by Lundgaard & Tranberg


Nazarí Wall Intervention in Granada, Spain by Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas


Christ Church Tower in London, England by Boyarsky Murphy Architects


Housing at Westport, County Mayo, Ireland by Richard Murphy Architects & Taylor Architects


Handmade School in Rudrapur, Bangladesh by Roswag & Jankowski and Anna F. Heringer


Casa no Gerês in Gerês, Portugal by Graça Correia Arquitectos


Centro das Artes | Casa das Mudas in Calheta, Madeira by Paulo David


Instituto Rafael Arozarena in La Orotava, Tenerife by AMP Arquitectos


Nebesa Mountain Retreat in Livek, Slovenia by REAL Engineering


Termas Géometricas in Villarrica, Chile by Germán del Sol

While I'm at it, here's my ten favorite books (out of 46) featured on my weekly page in 2007, in order of appearance. Keep in mind that not all books were published in 2007. The same can be said of the buildings above; many of them were completed previous to 2007.

:: Sensory Design, by Joy Monice Malnar and Frank Vodvarka
:: The Suburbanization of New York, edited by Jerilou Hammett and Kingsley Hammett
:: Function of Ornament, edited by Farshid Moussavi and Michael Kubo
:: Interpreting Nature, by I. G. Simmons
:: Formula New Ljubljana, by Sadar Vuga Arhitekti.
:: Materials for Design, by Victoria Ballard Bell with Patrick Rand
:: Desert America, edited by Ramon Prat, Jaime Salazar, Michael Kubo & Irene Hwang
:: The Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad, by NaJa & deOstos.
:: Strange Details, by Michael Cadwell
:: Architectural Regionalism, edited by Vincent B. Canizaro.

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Ann Demeulemeester Shop in Seoul, South Korea by Mass Studies.

The updated book feature is The Landscape Urbanism Reader, edited by Charles Waldheim and Large Parks, edited by Julia Czerniak and George Hargreaves.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

Daily Blue Print
A site "constantly monitoring the top blogs and blog posts on Architecture. " (added to sidebar under blogs::aggregate)

(CRIT)
Design blog of the MFA Graduate Program at the School of Visual Arts. (added to sidebar under blogs::design+technology)

The Iaakuza Chronicles
Newish, well-done blog by an Italian architectural engineer. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

The Back-of-the-Envelope Bush Library Design Contest
The Chronicle for Higher Education is looking for "designs that are serious, humorous, adventurous, or all of the above" if you were to design George W. Bush's Presidential Library.

3 Blocks, 5 Buildings, 18 Months Later

Back in April 2006 I posted a panorama of a small area in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood undergoing a bit of a high rise building binge. About a year and a half later -- while in town on a vacation over Thanksgiving -- the shifting skyline was starting to take shape, with cranes giving way to glassy exterior walls and approximately 1,000 residential units.

To reiterate from the earlier post, the five new condo towers include (from E-W; L-R in the large photo):

:: Avenue East by Built Form
:: 535 North St. Clair by Brininstool + Lynch
:: 600 North Fairbanks by Helmut Jahn
:: Cityfront Plaza by DeStefano + Partners
:: The Streeter (rentals) by Solomon Cordwell Buenz

Click image for larger, keyed before-and-after view

This view from the raised plaza adjacent to NBC Tower will be further crowded by the coming phases of Cityfront Plaza, which will finally steal the sunlight and views the Grand Ohio condos have been blessed with all these years. And interestingly, even though the Cor-Ten and gold-tinted glass Time-Life Building is out of direct sight in the view, it is apparent as a reflection in Jahn's curtain wall, with especially strong reflections from the gold windows on its base.

Who'd ever think so much development and money would be centered on land named after a founding "squatter"?

Today's archidose #164

MUBE_SNPBL_001, originally uploaded by monarqui.

Brazilian Museum of Sculpture in São Paulo, Brazil by Paulo Mendes da Rocha. (1988)

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Happy Holidays

Snowflakes, originally uploaded by archidose.

Posts will resume next weekend.

Literary Dose #22

"How would you ask today's social question? What are in your opinion the next steps that have to be taken in order to develop a more convincing idea of sustainability?

I am a researcher, not an idealogue, and I never say what must be done. However, I can see that people all over the world are increasingly critical of a civilization that has extraordinary technological and cultural potential and yet sees the persistence of humankind, together with increasing inequality, and dangerous environmental deterioration that may threaten the survival of our species (not of the planet, of us in the planet). In this sense the global movement against corporate globalization has been an important voice to activate a necessary debate about our current model of growth and social organization. Architects and planners, as experts in spatial forms of livelihood, have a major role in influencing the debate. This is indeed a political debate, but can be and must be informed by analysis and alternative design."

- Manuel Castells, in conversation with Florian Sauter and Christian Schmid in Natural Metaphor: Architectural Papers III, edited by Josep Lluis Mateo (2007).

Today's archidose #163

L1050734, originally uploaded by atelier_db.

Since it's been so long since I've featured a urinal on this page, here's the men's room at d'arc club in Timisoara, Romania; designer unknown.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

Last Minute Xmas Book of the Moment

I saw this massive book (14x11x3 inches @ 13.7 pounds)while doing a little Xmas shopping at a local bookstore. Published by little know German publisher (to me) Verlagshaus Braun, 1000x European Architecture is a Phaidon Atlas-esque resource with an obvious focus on Europe that presents each of the 1,000 projects on a single spread with a few images and a brief description.





According to the publisher:

Projects from all parts of the continent have been selected to create a representative overview of the latest European architecture. The great variety of European architecture is guaranteed because there is only one project presented per architect – with high-quality pictures and plans. Particular emphasis has been placed on making sure that many small creative and surprising buildings are presented alongside much-quoted “musts”.

Today's archidose #162

Lucy Daniels Foundation and Preschool - North Elevation, originally uploaded by Miller Taylor.

Lucy Daniels Foundation and Preschool in Cary, North Carolina by Clark and Menefee, 1992.

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Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Londres-Villaroel Building Complex in Barcelona, Spain by Coll-Leclerc Arquitectos.

The updated book feature is America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire by Mark L. Gillem.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

ArchiAfrika
"A group of Dutch architects decided to establish ArchiAfrika on their return from Africa, after living and working for years on that continent. They realised that African Architecture is relatively unknown in the (western) world." (added to sidebar under architectural links::online journals)

The Daily Render
"A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, & Future." (added to sidebar under blogs::landscape+maps)

Stories of Houses
"Stories of Houses feature examples of dwellings from which we can all learn - both the clients during their contemplation about building a house, and the architects to understand and evaluate the life of the clients." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

Firm Faces #6

Last week on my weekly page I featured four hotels, one of them by Juli Capella, aka Capella Garcia Arquitectura. From one look at the intro to the Barcelona-based office's web page -- a man (Juli?) waving at the viewer and watching a snail slither across the screen -- it's apparent the group has a good sense of humor. The office portrait definitely reinforces this characteristic:



Indicating that the studio "was founded at the end of last century but it will probably not outlast this one," this humor is obviously aligned with a tendency to not take themselves too seriously. But if one thinks that this attitude means their buildings do the same, then one will surely be disappointed. When they further say that they hope some of their projects will outlast this century "with dignity," it's clear that the humor and informality does not inform the building designs directly but perhaps makes the difficult process of architecture more enjoyable, or at least more sane, for architects and clients alike.

Weekend Links

Some items of note:

:: AIA Announces Awards—Piano Wins Gold - Renzo, that is.
:: Archinect Travels - The first episode of a well made video podcast.
:: CCTV Building Development Construction - Looks like the two sides are now "kissing."
:: Save the Laminata House - A previous "half dose" faces an uncertain future.

Oscar Turns 100

Today is Brazilian architect Oscar Neimeyer's 100th birthday. This marker is extra-extraordinary as Neimeyer continues to practice architecture, something that might not come as a surprise to fellow architects but is nevertheless amazing. Projects include a new city in Algiers on the drawing board and a cultural center for Avila, Spain.


Sao Paulo marks his birthday with a giant 100 hanging on the Copan building that he designed. Images from BBC NEWS

He plans to celebrate his birthday Saturday with a small party at his home for friends and family which includes his daughter Anna Maria Niemeyer, five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and four great-great-granchildren. [link]

Be sure to listen to Neimeyer on BBC's Radio 4 for a piece with Jonathan Glancey.

(Thanks to seier+seier+seier for the head's up.)

Today's archidose #161

L1030425, originally uploaded by atelier_db.

Barcelona Auditorium (1999) in Barcelona, Spain by Rafael Moneo.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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:: Tag your photos archidose

New York Magazine's Best of 07

New York Magazine features its top ten pieces of architecture in New York (and Connecticut) from 2007. Number one is the building of the moment, the New Museum. The rest of Justin Davidson's list is a bit predictable, but it does illustrate the quality and breadth of buildings, interiors, projects, and exhibitions produced in and for the city and why the place is appealing for residents and visitors alike.

"Green roofs sprouted in the South Bronx, the Glass House opened wide, bus shelters got chic, Frank Gehry finally built something in New York, Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs kissed and made up (after a fashion), and a gauzy aluminum museum rose shimmering over the Bowery." [link]

Literary Dose #21

"[Alvar] Aalto's prize-winning entry for the Finnish Pavilion in the Paris World Exhibition of 1937 was a rhetorical display of different techniques of timber construction, each expressing certain characteristics of wood...The importance of the Finnish Pavilion lay in its demonstration of Aalto's site-planning principles, wherein the plan of the building is invariably separated into two distinct elements, and the space between them being articulated as a space for human appearance, as we will find later not only in the Paris pavilion and Villa Mairea but also in the brick-clad Synatsalo Town Hall dating from 1949."

"Aalto was categorically opposed to treating the topography surrounding a building in a decorative manner. He thought that the natural movement of people in and around a building should be exploited as the primary means for shaping the site...Aalto wrote:

One of the most difficult architectural problems is the shaping of the building's surroundings to the human scale. In modern architecture where the rationality of the structural frame and the building masses threaten to dominate, there is often an architectural vacuum in the leftover portions of the site. It would be good if, instead of filling up this vacuum with decorative gardens, the organic movement of people could be incorporated in the shaping of the site in order to create an intimate relationsip between Man and Architecture."

- Kenneth Frampton, from The Evolution of 20th Century Architecture (2007).

The Aalto quote within a quote is from Alvar Aalto (1963) by Alec Tiranti. Photograph of the Synatsalo Town Hall by Atelier FLIR.

Today's archidose #160

Howeler Yoon Hover 01, originally uploaded by ehoweler.

Hover installation (2007) in New Orleans by Howeler + Yoon Architecture. See more pics in ehoweler's flickr set.

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Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Four Hotels on three continents.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

Architecture Plus
"The premier resource for architects and designers of a New World" (added to sidebar under architectural links::publications)

My Liverpool Skyline
"800 years of views across the Mersey."

Re:Construction
A program that "channels the energy of Downtown [Manhattan]’s rebuilding process by recasting construction sites as 'canvases' for innovative public art and architecture."

AR Awards for Emerging Architecture 2007

Be sure to check out the winners of this year's AR Awards for Emerging Architecture. Winners are EcoBoulevard in Madrid, Spain by ECOSISTEMA URBANO ARQUITECTOS, Vegetation installation in Tokyo, Japan by TAKETO SHIMOHIGOSHI /AAE, and Wall House in Santiago, Chile by FAR: FROHN & ROJAS, with numerous commendations and honorable mentions.



(via architechnophilia)

Half Dose #40: Novelty Hill-Januik Winery

A couple weeks ago I featured The Boxwood Winery by Hugh Newell Jacobsen on my weekly page, the fifth of such a building type that I've featured. Boxwood and the four other projects are a varied mix that illustrates the relative freedom given architects for a fairly new building type that sits somewhere between the pastoral and the commercial.



The Novelty Hill-Januik Winery in Woodinville, Washington by Seattle's Mithun is another notable winery that balances building and landscape to "celebrate wine's agrarian roots."



The building itself is a balance of expansive, industrial concrete surfaces, soft woods and large glazed areas that make the winery an inviting location that doesn't gloss over its industrial context (the building sits between two railroad lines and just south of numerous large industrial buildings) or the industrial mechanisms that make large-scale winemaking possible.



Exposing the barrel room (image below) is but one way of acknowledging this industrial aspect of winemaking, a common gesture shared with other wineries that starts to make a connection between the glass of wine in the visitor's hand and the grape from whence it was made.



The architecture, structured via tilt-up concrete panels, illustrates an approach of using an industrial aesthetic while embracing landscape via extensive gardens and other open spaces. This is an appropriate, though not obvious, way of designing a winery, a building that typically sits in or adjacent to large areas devoted to growing the grapes that end up in that $20 bottle on your dinner table.



Links:

:: Novelty Hill Januik
:: Mithun

Today's archidose #159

Here's a couple images from bjorn_cph's Boston ArchitecTour, showing two different uses of brick in a 50-year span.


DSC_0878, originally uploaded by bjorn_cph.

MIT Chapel (1955) by Eero Saarinen.

DSC_0982, originally uploaded by bjorn_cph.

Stata Center (2004) by Frank Gehry.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

Holiday Gift Books: 07 Edition

Like last year and the year before, I'm presenting a list of some super-pricey though super-relevant architecture books for the holidays. Enjoy!


Tadao Ando 1: Houses and Housing
TOTO
Another book on the Master Architect.


Paulo Mendes da Rocha
By Paulo Mendes Da Rocha and Rosa Artigas
Rizzoli
Last year's Pritzker Prize winner gets the coverage he deserves.


SANAA 1983-2004
El Croquis
Three editions on one of today's most popular architecture duos.


Volume 12: Al Manakh
Edited by Rem Koolhaas, Ole Bouman, and Mark Wigley
Archis
Rem and his gang look at the oh-so popular land of Dubai.


Modern Architecture A-Z
Edited by Peter Gossel
Taschen
Seventeen-and-a-half pounds on those who made Modern architecture.


Adolf Loos: Works and Projects
By Ralf Bock
Skira
Speaking of Modern, a long awaited monograph on one of the most influential.


Suburban Transformations
Paul Lukez
Princeton Architectural Press
Because they surely need to be transformed...


Psychogeography: Disentangling the Modern Conundrum of Psyche and Place
Words by Will Self with pictures by Ralph Steadman
Bloomsbury USA
A great combination of words and drawings.


QUITO: A Flatbed Site as an Agent for a New Centrality
By Joan Busquets & Felipe Correa
A thorough study of one of Latin America's most beautiful cities.