A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Trilogy: SCI-Arc Pavilions by Oyler Wu Collaborative, published by SCI-Arc Press, 2014. Paperback, 144 pages. ( Amazon ) This book presents three pavilions designed by Oyler Wu Collaborative for SCI-Arc , where husband-and-wife partners Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu teach. This situation is certainly a unique one, since the school has acted as client for the duo's design proposals not once, but on three consecutive occasions, from 2011 to 2013. They were asked each year to create a shelter for about 900 people for the graduation ceremonies taking place in the school's parking lot each September. The first pavilion was dubbed Netscape , an appropriate name given the 45,000 linear feet of knitted rope strung between the tube-steel trusses. Netscape survived into the following year, so Oyler Wu were given the opportunity to add a stage structure, in effect improving the experience of the ceremony while exploring more means of design and construction in the smaller project. Sto...

The work I do with World-Architects includes the Building of the Week feature on the American-Architects platform. For 2014 there were 49 such buildings, and voting is open to determine the Building of the Year . The screenshot below gives a peek of the buildings in the running, but head over to American-Architects to vote . One vote is allowed per person, and the deadline is January 31, 2015.

Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game by George Waters, published by Goff Books, 2013. Hardcover, 140 pages. ( Amazon ) Just like architecture and landscape architecture have reoriented their practices in part toward sustainable ends – designing buildings and landscapes that use less energy and respond to their local contexts – so has golf course architecture. What can be seen as a subset of landscape architecture, golf course architecture has often been held in less regard, since many courses, especially in the United States, are not open to the public and they have a heavy need for irrigation and pesticides, branding courses as resource hogs that do more damage than good. But recent years have seen the creation of golf courses that resemble their natural origins in the British Isles more than the modern courses that litter the U.S. and other parts of the world. Courses like those on the cover of George Waters ' book Sand and Golf (Pacific Grove Municipal in Califo...

Here are some of my photos of the Storefront for Art and Architecture, wrapped by curators Sebastiaan Bremer and Florian Idenburg & Jing Liu of SO–IL for their BLUEPRINT exhibition . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

Here is a sampling of some panoramic photos recently added to the archidose pool. Maison des Associations - Fécamp by G2 architectes, photographed by David Cousin-Marsy: Computer model of a Mies van der Rohe-designed golf clubhouse, by Heiner Engbrocks: Kurkowa 14 estate - Apartamenty Kurkowa 14 by Maćków Pracownia Projektowa, photographed by Maciek Lulko: Visitor center at nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen by BKVV, photographed by Frank Stahl: To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

[All photographs courtesy of Michael Sorkin Studio] If I had a nickel for every time I've read somebody comment in response to one of Michael Sorkin's opinion pieces something like, "What does he know? He hasn't built anything," I'd probably have, well, a dollar and some change. To me that point does not hold relevance for criticism and for being influential in the world of architecture; ideas take precedent over experience, or at least over a particular type of experience, since it comes in all shapes and sizes, not just from realizing a building from beginning to end. Nevertheless, these comments spring to mind as I look at construction photographs of Michael Sorkin Studio's Xi'an Office Building going up near the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport in China. Sorkin's detractors probably won't be satiated by this revelation, but I don't care; I'm just glad to see a creation of his come to life, even if it's ha...

Here are some photos of the Rowing Pavilion (2010) in Alange, Spain, by José María Sánchez García , photographed by José Carlos Melo Dias . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

Performative Skyscraper: Tall Building Design Now by Scott Johnson, published by Balcony Press, 2014. Paperback, 164 pages. ( Amazon ) When in Chicago last fall I stopped by the office of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) to do a studio visit for World-Architects . If any firm is known for tall buildings, it is AS+GG. Sure, there are bigger firms like SOM, KPF, and Gensler that are designing and building this century’s skyscrapers, but they lack the sharp environmental focus of AS+GG. Known primarily for the supertall Kingdom Come Tower, what will be, barring any surprises, the tallest building in the world when completed in a few years, the most striking project I saw on my visit was FKI Tower in Seoul . Its serrated exterior is not just a formal flourish; it is a means of integrating solar PVs into the façade to optimize the generation of solar power. AS+GG is not alone in using form, material and technology together to create more sustainable high-rise bu...

This sounds like a conference worth attending, taking place at Pratt Institute in early March: Sculpting the Architectural Mind Neuroscience and the Education of an Architect In recent years, architects have been mining new research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, object-oriented philosophy, and experimental biology for design concepts and for accounts of the new conditions of materiality. Architects borrow from these discourses to formulate and justify a wide range of design processes, especially digitally-driven ones. But we have failed to discuss how neuro-scientific knowledge can impact architectural pedagogy. This conference considers the roles that applied neuroscience has played and might play in the education of architects. The symposium is structured around invited presentations and panel discussions with neuro-scientists, architectural theorists, historians, philosophers, and artists. Hosted by Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture in collaboration with th...

It seems appropriate that the drive to transform a unused underground trolley station into a venue "for presenting, producing, and promoting cutting-edge arts, architecture, design, and creative endeavors" should take place in Washington, DC. The city, after all, is home to Harry Weese's beloved METRO stations, which won last year's 25-Year Award from the AIA. And let's not forget that DC was home to one of the most important underground music scenes of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat and a DIY attitude that extended to the latter's Ian MacKaye's Dischord label. Dupont Underground , inadvertently perhaps, respectively embodies the desire to have something beautiful under the street level and a bottom-up means of accomplishing it. [All images courtesy of Dupont Underground] The non-profit Arts Coalition for the Dupont Underground describes their mission as "working to transform the unused Dupont Circle ...

Here are some photos of Emerson College in Los Angeles, California, by Morphosis Architects , photographed by Riley Snelling ; see more photos on the photographer's website . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

David M. Schwarz is the 2015 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize . But, if the website of his firm, David M. Schwarz Architects (DMSAS), is any indication, the $200,000 prize is just a step below gracing the cover of a phone book. Which begs the question, "Are Yellow Pages and other phone books still being printed?" [Screenshot from DMSAS Awards page ] In case you can't read the lower-left corner of the screenshot above, it says: If a community is defined by its significant buildings, then there is no greater testament to the status of any one building than to make the cover of the phone book. The book is to architecture, what Rolling Stone is to rock n' roll – a testament to a building's stature, its symbolism, its place within the community. The buildings of DMSAS have been so honored numerous times. We consider it our highest accolade.

Mark your calendars: Thursday, April 2 is the 2015 Lewis Mumford Lecture on Urbanism , to be given by writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit . The 11th annual lecture is presented by the Graduate Program in Urban Design, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York (CCNY), and will be held in the Great Hall of Shepard Hall at CCNY, Convent Hall at 138th Street. It's free, open to the public, and no reservations are necessary. Previous Lewis Mumford Lectures: 2014 - Theaster Gates : " Place Over Time " 2013 - Marshall Berman : " Emerging from the Ruins " 2012 - Janette Sadik-Khan : " It's Not Impossible To Change a City " (audio podcast available ) 2011 - Richard Sennett : " The Edge: Borders and Boundaries in the City " (video archive available ) 2010 - No lecture 2009 - Paul Auster : " City of Words " 2008 - David Harvey : "The Right to the City" (audio podcast...

Earlier today I did two microblogging things: 1. I deleted my "archidose" Tumblr page/account, and 2. I set up a new "Slat Happy" page on Tumblr "Huh?" you ask, "You had a Tumblr?" Yes I did, and I'll admit it wasn't anything special, something I set up as an outlet for very short, image-based posts, featuring whatever struck my fancy. But over time – and I think I had the page for two years, tops – it got neglected, unlike the Unpacking My Library blog, which I started in July and is more focused and more interesting for me to do on a regular basis. Yet I still like the idea of microblogging , so I decided to go the route that most good/successful Tumblr blogs go, which is finding a very specific niche and maintaining that focus over time. (Just think about all of the "F*!k Yeah" and "____ porn" – stair porn, bookcase porn, etc. – sites to see what I mean.) And although I'm not aiming for the levels of appa...

Here are some photos of models from the architectural competition for an overall refurbishment and extension of the “Badisches Staatstheater” theatre in Karlsruhe, Germany, photographed by Frank Dinger . The two first prize winners will develop their designs for the competition's second stage. Delugan Meissl, Vienna, Wenzel + Wenzel, Karlsruhe, first prize: Dietrich | Untertrifaller, Bregenz, first prize: GMP Architekten, Berlin/Hamburg: ALA architects, Helsinki: Benthem Crouwel, Aachen: Wulf Architekten, Stuttgart: Dominique Perrault, Paris: Vasconi architectes, Paris: BHBVT Architekten, Berlin: Rudy Ricciotti, Bandol: LRO - Lederer Ragnarsdottir Oei, Stuttgart: To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose