A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Here are some photos of the " Amazing Flow " installation by Toyo Ito and Akihisa Hirata , as part of Lexus Design Amazing 2013 in Milan, photographed by SomniaArchitectura . A video from Lexus on "Amazing Flow": To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos  archidose

Below are a couple photos I snapped three years apart of the Lower Manhattan skyline. The top one is from a showroom near Madison Square Park and the bottom one is from the roof above Resolution: 4 Architecture on West 28th Street near Sixth Avenue. The foregrounds may be different, but the buildings on the skyline have similar positions, making the changes that have happened in a pretty short amount of time easy to grasp. I've highlighted the major ones, which include the completion of 8 Spruce Street and two buildings rising at the World Trade Center site.

Here are some photos of the Landscape Laboratory (2012) in Guimarães, Portugal, by Cannatà & Fernandes Arquitectos , photographed by José Carlos Melo Dias . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos  archidose

This morning I attended the Municipal Art Society 's Design Challenge for Penn Station presentation at the TimesCenter, in which four architects proposed future scenarios for Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. With their Alliance for a New Penn Station , MAS and RPA are pushing for a major overhaul of the sports and transportation facilities, and this design exercise is one way to drum up interest in the site's potential. I won't go into any detail on why MSG and Penn Station should change, or why it's getting so much attention now, but I'd recommend Michael Kimmelman's articles on the subject from the Times , one from last February and one from just last week . Below are some photos I took (pardon the rough quality and odd angle) followed by brief descriptions from the architects, courtesy MAS. They are in the same order as this morning's presentations. H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture : In pursuit of making rail the “mode of choice”...

If you've ever visited the contact page for architectural photographer Timothy Hursley , you've probably wondered about that warped structure that is represented in four photos at different angles. [Screenshot of timothyhursley.com ] Some insight comes in the form of " The Beauty of a Broken Silo ," a seven-minute film from Oxford American that is definitely worth watching: (Thanks to Keith Z. for the heads up via Facebook.) Update 05.31: Timothy Hursley pointed out to me that there are even hats with the "twisted silo" on it!

Here is a photo of the Triumph Pavilion 2013: AZC Peace Pavilion (on display May 16 - June 16, 2013) at Museum Gardens in London by Atelier Zündel Cristea , photographed by James Attree/JZA Photography . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos  archidose

From Camp to City: Refugee Camps of the Western Sahara edited by Manuel Herz, published by  Lars Müller Publishers , 2012. Hardcover, 512 pages. ( Amazon ) On page 185 of this excellent analysis of the refugee camps of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in western Algeria, Mohamed Lamine, mayor of the El Aaiún camp says: "The definition of 'city' cannot be used for the camps." This statement is born of the fact that residents of El Aaiún and the five other refugee camps still utilize tents for many of their structures, but also because they see the camps as a temporary condition until they can return to the occupied Western Sahara. So stating that the camps are not cities is a political statement, yet for architect Manuel Herz and the ETH Studio Basel , headed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the camps exhibit a number of urban traits that align them closer to cities, and are therefore worth studying. This heavily illustrated b...

Tunnel Monitoring Complex in Hausmannstaetten, Austria, by Dietger Wissounig Architekten, 2012 The following text and images are courtesy of Dietger Wissounig Architekten . The large complex of buildings nestled on level ground along the new Hausmannstaetten bypass road covers three functions: tunnel control center, central repair shop and road maintenance depot. In order to keep the intrusion to a minimum, the building was interpreted as part of the landscape. It follows the course of the road and the green roofs, which regulate the climate and blend in with the fields farmed in strips. A planted embankment forms the boundary to the bypass. Additionally, the way the elongated position of buildings is chosen, they contribute to noise protection in favor of the neighboring small houses. On the one hand, the complex consequently uses the existing topographical conditions to minimize noise, energy and routes. On the other hand, its clear, simple design vocabulary stabilizes the atmo...

About five days a week I walk on John Street past the Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) at 33 Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan, never venturing inside. The "two-level open-air covered pedestrian space," as Jerold Kayden calls it , is frankly an oddity, a fairly large space that is always dark and empty. Further, its dramatic barrel vault does not extend to John Street; instead a small rectangular portal gives a glimpse and access to both the pedestrian space and subway below. [All photographs by John Hill, unless noted otherwise.] But where else do the stairs and escalators beyond lead, besides the subway? And what's with the postmodern design? On Friday I decided to trek through the POPS and do a little research on it to finally get the story behind this oddity. Before heading into the space, lets walk around to the Maiden Lane side from the above views from John Street on the north. Below are two portals that provide access from Nassau Street on the west. The ...

Here are some construction photos of the 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (opening June 8 until October 20) in London by Sou Fujimoto Architect s, photographed by Laurence Mackman . See more photos at Mackman's London Architecture Blog . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos  archidose

Earlier today I happened to be near the east edge of the World Trade Center site, and I noticed the first bits of steel rising above-grade for the Oculus of the Santiago Calatrava-designed WTC Transportation Hub . Unfortunately the only camera on me was the one on my "dumbphone," so pardon the quality: [Top: Photo by John Hill | Bottom: Screenshot from EarthCam (click "Oculus" at bottom)] Below my snap is an aerial view of the construction site from a webcam, captured today at 11:56am. The arrow shows where the steel in the street-level photo can be found in the overall plan, what is the eastern end of the Oculus near Church Street. It's not much steel, but it should be interesting to see this thing rise in the coming weeks, when I'll make sure to bring along my camera.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account  by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, published by Damiani, 2012. Hardcover, 311 pages. ( Amazon ) On May 10, I attended a panel discussion at the Center for Architecture that followed the publication of Diller Scofidio + Renfro 's account of the design and realization of Lincoln Center's transformation . This post is both a recap of that event and a review of the book celebrated that evening. The panel consisted of five people: Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio of DS+R; Anthony Vidler, Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union; Dana Polan, Professor of Cinema Studies at New York University; and moderator Edward Dimendberg, Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California. Dimendberg's presence allowed discussion of another book, his ten-years-in-the-making historical analysis of the firm, Architecture After Images , a book I enjoyed greatly. ...