Architecture Style

Here's a couple of views of 290 Mulberry Street in New York City by SHoP Architects. Photographs are by occam.

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Here's a couple of buildings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia by Vann Molyvann. Photographs are by jiattison. See also New Khmer Architecture.


[Institute of Foreign Languages at the Royal University of Phnom Penh]


[Phnom Penh National Olympic Stadium]

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I hope everyone has a bright and sunny weekend!! Spring is on the way!
Image from the Elms in Newport, Rhode Island.

This Harvard GSD conference in a little over a month is timely and packed with a strong list of speakers, most GSD faculty, naturally.

Ecological Urbanism: Alternative and Sustainable Cities of the Future

The conference will bring together design practitioners and theorists, economists, engineers, environmental scientists, politicians and public health specialists, with the goal of reaching a more robust understanding of ecological urbanism and what it might be in the future.

April 3-5, 2009

Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Limited space—Register Now
Early Bird Registration (before March 10, 2009): $100
Standard Registration (after March 10, 2009): $125
Students: $20

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Rem Koolhaas
Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design, Harvard University GSD

Homi Bhabha
Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University

Louis Sullivan, Wainright Building, construction, originally uploaded by Remiss63.

Construction of the Wainright Building in St. Louis, Missouri by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, 1890-1891.

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Alice Tully Hall, originally uploaded by archidose.

Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, 2009.

Check out the flickr set for 25 more photos of the exterior and lobby.

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GSD 08 Platform: A Year of Research Through Studio Work, Theses, Exhibitions, and Conferences at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, edited by Lluís Ortega & Michael Kubo
Actar, 2008
Hardcover, 241 pages



In terms of books, the output of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) is more prolific than just about any school of architecture. In addition to Rem Koolhaas's Project on the City output and the CASE series, books stemming from studio work are numerous. On my weekly page I've reviewed Function of Ornament, Project Zagreb -- both beginning life as studios at GSD -- and a couple readers from the school's excellent Harvard Design Magazine. Their books are marked by a depth of research that is equaled by the quality of the graphic output, be it diagrams, architectural drawings or renderings. Where other schools would not even think of aiming for a book before a class starts, in many cases that is the goal of GSD studios, owing as much to the school's name and reputation as to the high-quality content.

GSD 08 Platform, like the school's Studio Works, gathers together a year's worth of select student projects. But where those publications clearly focused on the studio, this new book tries to capture the experience at the GSD in and beyond the studio. Alongside the typical imagery of student projects are the professor's project descriptions, excerpts from lectures, essays from students and professors, exhibit documentation, and interviews with architects. All of this fits into eight sections (Techniques, Nature, Non-Formal, Typology, Geographies, Technology, Material, Discipline) that are highlighted by colored pages. It is evident the book's design is carefully considered, be it the graphic design and even the bookbinding.

The sense that one gleans from the various contributions is of a school that embraces those from beyond its borders -- visiting professors and lecturers, especially -- but that is at the same time exclusionary, like an inaccessible castle in days of old. This is reinforced by the omission of bios for the major contributors, making the book geared to those "in the know" rather than to an audience who is not familiar with people the school calls guests, much less their own faculty. Other quibbles of the book are the lack of descriptions for student work (a couple thesis projects receive this treatment) and the lack of even snippets of syllabi or reading lists for classes beyond studios. Highlights include Sanford Kwinter's talk on chreods, Teddy Cruz's speculation on the future of first-ring suburbs, Jin Young Song's impressive thesis project in Korea's DMZ, Homi Bhabha's humble portrayal of the Aga Khan Award), some displays of manufacturing techniques on stone facing, and Shigeru Ban's retelling of how he became involved with disaster relief buildings.

or

In the March / April 2009 issue of 'The English Home' magazine is an radiator cover in a beautiful London home. While this is a table provided by 'White' in Paris, it could easily have been 2 old limestone or terra cotta corbels from your local salvage yard with a marble slab resting on top. Such a great solution for those ugly radiators many of us have in our homes!

My weekly page update:

Marsupial Bridge, Urban Plaza and Bus Shelter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by La Dallman Architects.

This week's book review is The Public Chance: New Urban Landscapes by Aurora Fernandez Per & Javier Arpa.

**NOTE: My next weekly page update will be in two weeks.**

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

ArchitEXploitation
Humorous commentary on the portrayal of architects in film. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

U.S./Mexico Border Wall as Architecture
The blog's title says it all. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

jasonmcdermott
"A research blog by Jason McDermott, who is currently working on his Architecture Ph.D. thesis (Informal Dialogue) in the Interactivation Lab at UTS." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

The New Museum exhibition Urban China: Informal Cities is "a physical manifestation of the magazine Urban China which will explore notions of the informal (or vernacular) as they apply to the current urban situation in China and the United States." Located in the "fishtank" gallery at the rear of the museum's ground floor, the show is visible from the street, a reaching that is reinforced by the words that are duplicated on the glass in gray from the yellow words on the back wall.

The show is in effect a layering of two-dimensional content, from the words and images on the back walls to the words on the glass; in between are issues of Urban China and PCs with a wealth of images from the magazines. Even the three-dimensional objects that sit in the gallery spaces, such as a water bucket made from a basketball, are displayed in silhouette on the wall, as if the content of the object is flattened to the display of information in one less dimension.



The exhibit, by Jiang Jun with curator Benjamin Godsill, could best be described as cursory, as it tries to distill the roughly 30 issues of the Chinese magazine into a relatively small space. The layering of information is necessary, in this regards, so then the exhibit becomes the space and its virtual extension, including a bootlegged issue of Volume (review forthcoming).

Unfortunately the issues of Urban China are not bilingual, so one is reliant upon the decisions made by the artist and curator as to the appropriateness of the expression. I'm not sure if the mapping of towns named after the goods they create is the best use of wall space, but that gleaning that bit of information does help me understand on aspect of the urban condition in China a little better. Instead of yearning for more content in the exhibition, I yearn for more time, to pore over the imagery of the issues and the virtual database at the New Museum.

The exhibition is on display at the New Museum at 235 Bowery until March 29, after which it heads to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (April 26-July 19) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (September 12-December 6).

Winter has returned to this part of the county so it's a good weekend to stay indoors! I hope you all have a great weekend and don't forget to watch the Oscars (or at least the red carpet!)
Image courtesy of This is Glamorous - The best fashion & design blog, check it out if you haven't been!! Image of a doorway from her trip to Scotland - you can see other pictures from her trip HERE. Magical!

Here's some photos of a few buildings under construction in the West Village and Meatpacking District, taken while strolling around last week.


166 Perry Street by Asymptote Architecture


166 Perry Street by Asymptote Architecture


The Standard New York by Polshek Partnership Architects


The Standard New York by Polshek Partnership Architects
(Note the High Line in the lower left corner.)


One Jackson Square by KPF
(Previously)

Click the animation below for a video at Wallpaper* of dRMM Architects' Sliding House in Suffolk, England.

New Documents House, originally uploaded by *Croz.

The Documentation and Information Center of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial in Lohheide, Germany by KSP Engel and Zimmermann, 2007.

For more information on the building see iconeye.

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While in Houston this past weekend, I was able to tour this Mediterranean or Spanish style house being built. It was quite a treat! I hope you can all appreciate these photos and not just the geeky architect in me: you have to use your imagination somewhat as it's still under construction.
The front door had this beautiful limestone surround and mahogany door.On the left hand side of the front was entry to the motorcourt with seperate guest suite off to the far left side (with the ventilation hose going into the window!).

You enter into a beautiful round stairhall with walnut floors and a curved staircase (no banister yet!). The treads and risers on the stair were also walnut (unfortunately covered with paper here to protect them). All of the trim, casing, doors and floors in the house were walnut.From the stairhall you entered into a gallery which opened up to the living room ahead. Terrazzo was in the process of being poured on the floor in a geometric grid, which you can see below.Below you see the living room as seen from the gallery. There is another gallery on the back side of the living room which faces the backyard seen through the french doors. Notice the vaulted ceilings in the gallery! Every opening in the house seemed to be an arch.Off to the side of the entry was the dining room. It had this unusual arabesque entry way that will hold an iron gate which guards the walnut paneled wine cellar.
Seen from the french doors in the living room gallery is this beautiful poolhouse with 5 french doors, spanish tiled roof to match the house and even a decorative chimney.If you look to the left you will see the sides of the house which wrap the backyard. Below is a view of the kitchen area and gallery. You can see the pool being poured as well as a hot tub.Also off the living room was a huge powder room. It had this really beautiful blue shimmery tile in the W.C. that I had to share with you.Off the kitchen was a secondary staircase, also in a round hall (with a windowed tower above providing light).It had an opening into a bar which was visible from the gallery when you entered. On the lefthand side you see the pantry, silver closet and housekeepers office. This is the top of the stair hall with windows providing light.But save the best for last. My favorite room of the house was at the top of the main staircase: a gamroom.

It had a beautiful wood cathedral ceiling and a whole wall of storage built in below a counter.

And the view you ask? It faces a lake of course! I hope you enjoyed the tour!