A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Decades from now 2009 may be seen as the year that vertical farming started to take hold. Time magazine named vertical farming one of last year's 50 best inventions . Proposals seemed to arrive almost weekly . And whole blogs -- or parts thereof -- are devoting themselves to the subject. The push for more sustainable and less land-devouring, transportation-heavy, soil-depleting, ground-water-polluting practices of agriculture ranges from systems that fit inside buildings to skyscrapers devoted in their entirety to food production. The former is more immediate and realistic, while the latter's proposals are still in the realm of ideas and fantasy, at least on the large scale many envision them. Spurred by a recent Scientific American article -- penned by a Dickson Despommier, a vocal proponent of vertical farming and the president of the Vertical Farm Project -- I explored to see what forms these hypothetical vertical farms may take, and how they integrate with other fun...

Here are a couple views, outside and inside, of the Madinat Al Zahara Museum and Foundation Offices in Córdoba, Spain by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos . Photographs are by pajaritos13 . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

"Architects have more to offer their clients and society than they realize. Integrating design morphology, material science, and environmental sustainability will undoubtedly inform everyone what is possible or achievable in the built environment, in a manner not previously seen. A focus on architectural science (distinct from building science) must equal our overwhelming obsession with form. It must become the foundation by which to certify a new architectural expertise -- comparable in breadth and scope to medical research. The National Science Foundation should be the logical choice to fund such research but -- incredibly -- it does not recognize architecture as a science! We must demand that our representative organizations, such as the AIA, lobby to change this. Today's broad societal concerns -- global warming, greenhouse gases, resource depletion -- will focus greater public attention than ever before toward architects for answers and innovative solutions. Should they ...

ArchNewsNow links to an article at the Center for an Urban Future at the Center for an Urban Future, which leads me to their sister organization City Limits magazine, where I find in their classifieds that design-guru Edward Tufte is in need of some gallery space in Manhattan . Type of Ad: Space Wanted Seeking: temporary art exhibition space Organization Edward Tufte Description Looking for short-term lease to rent 1500-4000 square foot storefront space for temporary art gallery/exhibition 3-4 months in Manhattan. High ceilings, windows onto street. Street level. Prefer art-friendly location. Contact Janet at etsculpture [at] gmail [dot] com I'm wont to not only wonder about what fits his description (a Chelsea gallery, a vacant retail storefront) but also what doesn't fit. Why Manhattan? Why not Long Island City, South Bronx or Williamsburg? This could open up some interesting possibilities, though I'm guessing Tufte wants Manhattan bec...

Virginia Tech's entry to the 2009 U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon will be on display in Times Square's Duffy Plaza today and tomorrow. Pardon the late notice, but the anticipated five-day display, until Sunday, was just truncated to two days. After sunset tonight would be the best time to take in the house's distinctive Eclipsis facade system which glows colorfully at night. Even though the design did not place in the DOE contest, later in the year the house travels to Madrid to compete in the European Solar Decathlon, one of only two US houses invited to do so. [Not even close to what the house will look like tonight | image sources: Times Square , Lumenhaus (flipped) | rough montage by archidose] VT's description of the Eclipsis system: "The Eclipsis system is an advanced building façade comprising two layers: a metal shutter shade and a translucent insulating panel. The shutter shade slides along the north and south façades, providing protection from direct sunligh...

Barcelona Sky Hotel , originally uploaded by Manuel.A.69 . Habitat Sky Hotel in Barcelona, Spain by Dominique Perrault Architecture , 2008. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Inside Outside by Petra Blaisse, published by  The Monacelli Press , 2009. Hardcover, 504 pages. ( Amazon ) Ken Smith: Landscape Architect by Ken Smith, published by  The Monacelli Press , 2009. Hardcover, 256 pages. ( Amazon ) According to the website of her firm Inside Outside, Dutch Designer Petra Blaisse "works in a multitude of creative areas, including textiles, landscape and exhibition design." Regardless she is known for one thing more than any other: curtains. Blaisse not only considers curtains in a number of ways (light control, audio control, flexible barriers between inside and outside) she treats them like they are more important than the buildings they inhabit. Blaisse may not explicitly say this (and working ...

Terminus Hotel in Bergen, Norway by ON OFFICE The Hotel Grand Terminus in Bergen, Norway takes its name from being across the street from the city's main train station. It occupies a building from 1928, an award-winning design by architects Fredrik Arnesen and Arthur Darre Kårbø but not one covered by cultural heritage restrictions. Designing the hotel's expansion is Porto, Portugal-based ON OFFICE , whose design makes a marked contrast with its predecessor, but it nevertheless responds carefully to its context. The adjacent conditions for the expansion are a binary of sorts: buildings of a similar height to the existing hotel (seven stories) to the south and east; low buildings and open green space to the north and west. ON OFFICE attempts to relate to these two conditions, while at t...

The following text and images are courtesy Undercurrent Architects for their Leaf House in Sydney, Australia. The firm's Palmwood House in London was featured previously on my weekly page . Photographs below are by Hugh Rutherford . Leaf House is building that allows users to be inside and in-the-garden at the same time. Located on an escarpment overlooking the Pacific Ocean, between rugged native bush and manicured garden, the building is a self contained cottage forming part of a private residence, consisting of a canopy roof over a stone podium and glass enclosed deck. The site is viewed and experienced in the round; from all sides, above and below. The building design is therefore unique from every aspect, constantly changing as it is moved in and around. From the house above, the building nestles within the tree line; a series of draped copper roofs reflecting the silhouette of a nearby headland & blending with surrounding foliage. The roof is shaped to minimiz...

Within the last day or two or three came the announcement of a few new projects located in New York City. [Urban Umbrella by Young-Hwan Choi, University of Pennsylvania | image source ] Bustler reports that Urban Umbrella is the winning entry to the urbanSHED International Design Competition , which aims to "create a new standard of sidewalk shed design and develop a prototype worthy of today's New York City." Young-Hwan Choi, a first-year student at University of Pennsylvania, designed tree-like supports that give the impression of lightness and make the area under the "canopy" more porous and accessible. The ubiquitous sidewalk sheds limit movement via horizontal bars required for lateral stability. Choi's design uses Gothic-like ribs to addresses lateral forces in both directions. With lighting integrated into the tops of the ribs, it is a welcoming design, a definite improvement over what's been used for the last 50 years. If it will be as welco...

Looking at this week's WAN BOOKS the cover of Eco Structures by Gianpaolo Sprito and Antonino Terranova struck me as quite familiar. Immediately I thought of Green Architecture by James Wines, published ten years earlier by Taschen . Both seem to find the Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center in New Caledonia by Renzo Piano Building Workshop as the defining example of sustainably responsible architecture. Or at least the sexiest. Trying to find Eco Structures on Amazon.com , it appears that the US release will have a different cover, what looks to be the Eden Project in Cornwall, England by Grimshaw Architects .

Previously I featured online books found at Issuu . Today I'm presenting a handful of books that can be downloaded as PDFs, though these just scratch the surface on architecture-related books that can be found in this format. The last illustrates how even books online don't have to be books in the traditional sense, but can be other content formatted into PDF pages. [ Reinventing Grand Army Plaza by Design Trust for Public Space | 6mb PDF ] [ Street Design Manual by NYC DOT | 6.8mb lo-res PDF | 198mb hi-res PDF ] [ Always Building by Jim Long, Jennifer Magnolfi, Lois Maassen | 5.5mb PDF ] [ A synchronicity: Design Fictions for Asynchronous Urban Computing by Julian Bleecker and Nicolas Nova | 500k PDF ] [ The 21st Century Interior by D.J. Huppatz | 1.75mb PDF ] Know of others? Please leave a comment below with a link.

UDG Science building , originally uploaded by Girona Mac . Giroemprèn Building in the Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona in Girona, Spain by Strain Engineering , 2007. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Barbie's next career just might be architect. Yes, Barbie could be the one who "designs buildings and makes sure they're safe, sturdy, and cool-looking." Your vote (as often as you like, by the way) will determine if Barbie's next career will be architect, or maybe environmentalist, surgeon, news anchor, or computer engineer. About ten years ago I remember an architect doll hitting the scene. Unfortunately all I can find are some mentions of Amanda the Architect from 2001, no images. My mind's eye sees her with dark hair, the requisite plastic frame glasses, and some gear (T-square, triangle) so people knew she was an architect and not something else white collar. Which makes me wonder, what would Barbie the architect look like? And if she were to become an architect, is this what she'd design?

The Transparent City by Michael Wolf, published by aperture, 2009. Hardcover, 112 pages. ( Amazon ) Michael Wolf 's photographs have an obvious and immediate appeal, especially his series focused on the building density and living conditions in China. The flattened elevations of high rises in the Architecture of Density border on the abstract; the repetition of windows and balconies is many times unrelieved, devoid of individual human expression. A much different, but no less beautiful result occurs in his recent Transparent City series shot in Chicago in late 2007, just as the economy started its downward spiral. This last fact is evident in the expressions of people found in Wolf's large-scale photographs, enlarged and pixelated as accompanying details . The series was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and is wrapping up its exhibition at aperture gallery in New York City. The difference between the German-born photographers series...

Shigeru Ban: Paper in Architecture essays by Riichi Miyake, edited by Ian Luna and Lauren A. Gould, published by  Rizzoli , 2009. Hardcover, 232 pages. ( Amazon )   Material Immaterial: The New Work of Kengo Kuma by Botond Bognar, published by  Princeton Architectural Press , 2009. Hardcover/Paperback, 256 pages. ( Amazon ) These recent monographs on two well-known Japanese architects present some of the best architecture coming out of that country in recent years. Both Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma manage to produce a lot more buildings than the contracted bust years of their home country would attest. They do this by extending their reach outside their own borders and by exploring fa...

Azteca Multimodal Transfer Station in Mexico City, Mexico by CC Arquitectos This terminal for connecting various means of public transit (subway, buses, taxes, etc.) is located in the municipality of Ecatepec, arising from a synergy between it, the government of the State of Mexico and private enterprise investments. It's not clear if the last includes the Wal-Mart across the street, but in terms of scale the large terminal sits somewhere between the massive big-box store and the fine-grain surroundings, evident in the aerial linked above. The design by CC Arquitectos shows a sensitivity to this context primarily by providing plazas at its north and south ends. The larger of the two is at the north, near the retail area across the street. To the west of new terminal is the subway station, linked to the transfer terminal by pedestrian bridges immediate...