Friday, March 31, 2006

[ PUshPullBar2 ] closed indefinitely !

It is a very sad news to find out the pushpull forum had been closed indefinitely. The reason is lack of critiques and discussion of Architecture and Design and too much technical approach on sketchup techniques.
In my opinion, the admin should have further considered the branding of the forum, changing the [pushpullbar2] to [Ar+D] to avoid misunderstanding of the readers. However, I think the forum is great, it is free and having people responding to your questions and doubts are valuable efforts. It would have been reacted with more sense of responsibility by just informing the participants before closing the forum. to find out more...
For participants who need their previous forum data, you may find it through google cache. I wish they would reopen the forum asap for architects and designers' fratenity. The forum has great values to me.
Image from http://www.pushpullbar.com/

Thursday, March 30, 2006

House & Atelier Bow-Wow

Located another interesting architectural project. The images describes the process and the detailings. However, it is japanese.
to find out more...
Images located from http://habw.exblog.jp/pg/blog.asp?eid=e0003446&iid=&acv=&dif=&opt=2&srl=1257912&dte=2005%2D10%2D04+05%3A05%3A25%2E000

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Monument Making


It is nice to make your ideas into reality, that is the satisfying part of architecture. I found a blog that shares his process of monument making .
" I usually try to work through the entire project in virtual space on the computer in an effort to minimize surprises, including the whole unfolding process and structural details. Depending on the scope of the work, engineering consultations are handled at this stage as well. Once I have the project pinned down (meaning a signed contract and a down payment), the structural specs are double-checked, and the actual work can begin."
to find out more...

Passage and Images located from http://mtful.blogspot.com/

London Olympic Stadium

"The London Olympic Stadium will be the centrepiece of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The stadium will be located at Marshgate Lane in Stratford in the Lower Lea Valley and will have a capacity for the Games of approximately 80,000."
to find out more...

Image and Passage from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Stadium_(London)

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Collision course

"Digital Project is an integrated building information modelling system that can spot potential structure and service clashes early on, saving time and money. But will the adversarial nature of the construction industry stop it from reaching its potential?" to find out more...

Image located from http://www.ribajournal.com/images.asp?storycode=3064610&sequence=2&storypage=Story&storyType=&featureCode=

40 Bond

40 Bond, a new luxury apartment in New York designed by Herzog & de Meuron, with no visual structure externally, crystalin outlook that changes and adaptive to the lights of sun and environment, situated in the rich architetural environment, the reinvention of the facade, the enriched shopping environment, and many more attractions awaiting for your exploration.
to find out more...

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Cgsociety forum

Cgsociety forum, a forum worth reading to improve your architectural presentation.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Tanjong Jara Resort Malaysia

I shall be going to Tanjong Jara Resort by car tomorrow! The resort had won "The Aga Khan Award for Architecture " , designed by Akitek Bersekutu Malaysia in conjunction with Wimberley, Whisenand, Alison, Tong & Goo; interior designer is Juruhiasan Consult Sdn Bhd. to find out more...
Located some traveller's comment.to find out more...
"This vision of an exclusive resort in Terengganu was based on the belief that the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia was fast developing as a significant destination for tourism. The challenge in the major refurbishment and renovation exercise was to preserve Tanjong Jara's 17th century traditional Malay architectural structures, which won the coveted Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The design of this Resort is derived from the elegantly crafted wooden palaces of Malay sultans from long ago and involved extensive research into traditional forms of craftsmanship, mainly from the East Coast of Malaysia.
The Malay culture and heritage are clearly present in every aspect of this Resort, from the way the rooms and suites are designed, the elaborate details in the woodwork, to the
Gamelan music played every evening. Tanjong Jara Resort promises you an experience that is "Unmistakably Malay". "
Image located from http://archnet.org/library/images/one-image.tcl?location_id=1801&image_id=13491
Passage located from http://www.tanjongjararesort.com/main.htm

4site


4site, a small design firm with interesting projects located in Melbourne and a branch in Sydney. I like the design, the presentations and the simple fine tuned website too.
Image located from http://www.4site-design.com/what/selected_projects/urban/tallinn_module/files/page33-1005-full.html

Weekly dose of Architecture

Introduction of architectural related websites by John Hill, a Chicago architect and the webmaster of A Daily dose of Architecture, can be found in A Weekly dose of Architecture.





Image located from http://www.archidose.org/links.html

Thursday, March 23, 2006

HDRI

"High Dynamic Range images have a much greater amount of illumination information than can be reproduced with a standard display device or captured using a conventional camera with a single exposure. From the brightest light source to the darkest shadow, their pixel values are directly proportional to the light energy in the scene. From a computer graphics perspective, this means that you can use the HDRI file for image-based lighting.
Image-based lighting works just like real world illumination. The environment provides not just reflections but the full intensity of any natural or artificial light source present. If you are looking for the ultimate in realism, there's no better way to light a 3D model. " to find out more...

For some tutorials using HDRI with 3dmax, click here.
Image from http://www.hdri-studio.com/products.html
Passage from http://www.hdri-studio.com/technical.html

The Architectural Presentation Software Package

What is the best software package for architectural presentation purposes?
So far, the following list would be useful for some general knowledge of architectural softwares, the comparisons by the experts can be found here:-
http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2221
http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=882
http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2163
http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1777
http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2501
to find out more...

As conclusion, the best renderer would be maxwell, yet 12h~60hours' rendering time for quality renderings.
Cinema 4D, 3D Max, Vray, etc are time consuming yet with better rendering quality,
Art.R, Cheetah and maybe Carrera for better efficiency, comparing with quality/time/budget.

Feasible pricing workpackage = Intellicad, sketchup, Artlantis, Photoshop
My current work package = Autocad, 3dmax, Photoshop, Illustrator

Image located from http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2221&page=7&pp=10

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Aldo Rossi

Aldo Rossi,(1931-1997) an unforgettable architect on symbolism, associated with the Italian Neo-Rationalist who won the the pritzker's prize in 1990. In 1992 he was given the 1991 thomas jefferson medal in architecture as well as the "campione d'italia" nel mondo prize. He was the nominated honourary member of the american academy of arts and letters of new york and in 1997. He also received the 1996 cultura prize for the architecture and design sector. Aldo Rossi died the 4th of september in milan the same year. to find out more...
"This understanding of the city and its element, its monuments, and its permanences, informed Aldo Rossi 's own designs for public buildings. One of his earliest major public buildings was the addition to the existing cemetery of the city of Modena in northern Italy. Perceiving the cemetery as a repository of social meaning, Aldo Rossi conceived of it as a house for the dead, indeed, a city of the dead. The elemental architectonic forms, as in the elegant stereometrie volumes of the ossuary with its chamfered windows, reflect his ongoing investigations into building typology, that which remains beyond the particular and the concrete." [1] to find out more...

"Ty`pol`ogy (ti pal e je) n. {TYPO- + -LOGY} 1 the study of types, symbols, or symbolism 2 symbolic meaning or representation; symbolism.
De`sign (di zin') -n. {Fr dessein <>
typology is an analytical process, a means of separating the history of architecture (designs or theories) into a system of classification such as genealogy and cosmology. Typology, however, bases its understanding of architecture on forms which are classified into types based on specific criteria. For Rossi it is the ideas of public and private, and rational design and place.[2]
...
Rossi defines architecture as designs (forms) which have persisted over time to become types. Those types constitute the history of the city or its memory, and the culture of the present. Functions vary over time but form remains. It is the desire for permanence that is so characteristic of his work. The history of the city is composed by those designs which persist over time to become types. This permanence of memory (meaning) in the city is based on two principles:
memory - Urban facts which are permanent; those which withstand the passage of time and eventually become monuments.
monuments - These give meaning to the life of the city through memory.
[3]
"Change is within the very destiny of things, for there is a singular inevitability about evolution ...The singular authority of the built object and the landscape is that of a permanence beyond people."[4]
Following the ideas set down in Architecture of the City, we can see how Rossi's architecture becomes one of re-presentation or a typological design which seeks permanence. He wrote "All this allows for a representation of the past with a desire for the present. [For] the past of a man in whom desire is dead ...the past paradoxically glows with the color of the future, with those of hope."[5] So, for Rossi, it is not a lament of the past which he desires, but a recovery of it in the present which establishes continuity within the history of the city."
[2] to find out more...

Thanks to PushPull forum ; located some useful links as listed below: -
- Biography Link
- Pritzker Prize webpage
- Wikipedia Link on Rossi
- Article from Metropolis magizine on Rossi
- Teatro del Mondo
- The Bonnefanten Museum
- Ide Virtual Design Museum
- Arc space
- Newspaper area complex - Berlin
- arBITAT
- Designers
- Orange Skin
- A thesis on Aldo Rossi by Jeremy John Beaudry

Image located from
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/newspaperarea/index.htm
[1] Passage from
http://architect.architecture.sk/aldo-rossi-architect/aldo-rossi-architect.php
[2] Passage from
http://www.uky.edu/Architecture/wakeup/issue4/aaron/welcome.htm



Monday, March 20, 2006

Asgvis

From sketchup to Vray, you got the below listed benefits: -

"-True raytraced reflections and refractions
-Glossy reflections and refractions
-Area shadows (soft shadows). Includes box and sphere

emitters.
-Indirect Illumination (global illumination, global lighting).

-Different approaches include direct computation (brute force),
and irradiance map
- Motion Blur. Includes Quasi-Monte Carlo sampling approach
- Depth-Of-Field camera effect.
- Antialiasing. Includes fixed, simple 2-level and adaptive approaches.
- Caustics
- Optimized materials for faster rendering
" ...and many more [1]


"Here are some of the recent developments for V-Ray 1.5 for 3ds Max, expected this fall. Some of these features were shown at SIGGRAPH. Thanks to Vlado for sending us this preview!" to find out more... [2]

"During the creation of this site a new and very powerful raytracer is being honed and hardened into a high quality rendering system that has a large enough feature list that stands up against rendering systems only known to high-end CG production facilities. If you marvel at the way a green Maple leaf catches a beam of light and then seems to almost hold on to it then this site is for you. The future of vray.info has great possibility and will grow with the life of the software." to find out more... [3]


[1]Passage & Image located from http://www.asgvis.com/StoV.html
[2]Passage located from http://vray.info/features/vray1.5_preview/
[3]Passage located from http://vray.info/about.asp

Kerkythea Rendering System

This is amazing rendering for a freeware's rendering quality. However, as stated here :-
"New Release 1.3.01 Available - 16/02/06
After a long delay, Kerkythea strikes back with a totally new GUI and support for other platforms besides Windows (this means Linux at a first step). The new release is more accurate and puts everything together in a more intuitive GUI based on fox toolkit. The Linux version will be updated shortly.
"
Therefore, there is some restriction, and adaptation for people who want to learn this freeware.


Image and passage located from http://www.softlab.ntua.gr/~jpanta/Graphics/Kerkythea/
rendered by u3dreal

Free Software

A software that is free for project management similar to microsoft project 2003! It is fast to learn and free demo online to find out more...
There is a discussion under Pushpull for free architectural software and MirageSudio.7 concluded a summary for that. Great Blogsphere! However, it takes time to analyze those free software. What is the strenght, the weakness, the effectiveness. It takes afford and time yet worth the doing for cost saving purposes.
Added the links under [-Architectural Matters-] / [Architectural Free Software]~!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Color Changing Methodology on Perforated Sheets

A presentation in our office by 3m inspired me an idea of their product.
The perforated stickers, when applied on transparent material, for instant polycarbonate sheets or color coated glass material, glowing lights from inner layer at night shall reveal the selected color of the pc sheets, while in the day time, the color of the outer layer, the perforated stickers’ color scheme shall remain, enabling the color changing from day time green to night time red!
There is an advertising board they mentioned in China that glows in red at night and stays in blue at daytime for the company’s corporate identity to be maintained incorporating the red color favored by the Chinese.This is definitely a great idea, through perforated sheets, and simple reflection theory of lights.

To find out more on the product, click here for the pdf brochure
Image located from http://www.3m.com/intl/PH/downloads/Dinoc.pdf

Zollverein School of management and design Blog

Located a Zollverein School of management and design blog, reflecting issues upon designs, the philosophy, methodology and management on designs. It is a very interesting subject after working for years in architectural design, having a general picture of the architectural design process, you would tends to have a deeper thought and intention to improve the work package efficiency.
"I recall some early conversations I’ve had last year with the President of the Zollverein School, Prof. Ralph Bruder about the intentions and goals of the Zollverein School Blog.
In contrast to other recently founded schools at the intersection of business & design like
Stanford’s d.school (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford), the Zollverein School of management and design has no big backup organization like Stanford University from which it could directly leverage in terms of teaching methods, models or reputation. In some ways everything is fresh from staff over lecturers to the new Zollverein School building to be opened this summer. This situation is challenging & charming and at the same time loaded with many elements of evolution." to find out more...

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Massimiliano Fuksas

"Massimiliano Fuksas office since the 80's had started to play an important role in the European Architectural Content. Besides developing projects for all over the world, the theoretical reflection and innovation, were always running within the conceptual process. This way of thinking played a key role, directing, the 7th International Architectural Exhibition entitled "Less Aesthetics More Ethics" for the Venice Biennale 2000. All the clients for producing innovative architecture with new construction techniques, low cost and respected schedules had recognized his work. A component of architecture is to be inventive and strive for new creative ways of solving problems. Each project deserves to evolve form its peculiar circumstances and take on an appropriate form in response t the environment, function and urban context. The office won many awards, evidence of our comment to innovation, with many projects becoming the benchmark for the particular building type. Massimiliano has became renowned for his artistic and painterly freedom which he first addresses a project. He is at first an imagist - one who is able to liberate the first ideas into an explosion of line and color seemingly without so much of the mechanical process from mind to hand that often dilutes designs. His inspirations consistently show incredible diversity and his detailed personal awareness of experience results in a parallel obviousness to functionality. It is in this way that he succeeds as both an artist and a constructor. As an architect he is interested in the Process, the Transformation. From sketches to models, models to drawings, and drawings to built form, he differentiates between the exciting immediacy of 'process'- and the stagnant predictability evoked by the word 'progress'. Bored of the chronological linearity expected to a finite and static end result. This smacks of the modern scientific era, which has long passed. Our world has transformed into on which has multiple inputs, which change according to data flows, as unpredictable as that of water." to find out more...

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

WOHA

WOHA is an architectural firm of 25 architects from asia that won numerous awards from SIA and Asia competitions, located in Singapore.
"WOHA's design philosophy is that each project is unique, and the form of a project should evolve out of the particular characteristics of each project. Through the embracing of the various diverse and unforeseen factors that come together in a projcet, unique environments are possible, even in a commercial environment. WOHA do not propose a particular style of a limited formal architectural language; instead, WOHA uses an abstracted vocabulary of form that permits investigating the widest range of strategies to create appropriate design proposals."
to find out more...
Images located from http://www.wohadesigns.com/ , Project is High Rise Residential located at South Sathorn Road in Bangkok.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

GMP Von Gerkan, Marg und Partner

I recalled a world renown architect, GMP who gave speech in our lecture hall in Tong Ji University, that further strengthen my understanding and believes in architectural design. Their philosophy are as attached below:-
"Our ideal is to design in such a reduced form, that the results endure content and time. Formal restriction and uniformity of materials contribute to this standpoint because we understand obviousness as a categorical imperative.We want to design a house simply as a statement, to form it as a durable cover for the variety of human existence.With a critical distance from recent architectural expressions, we try to avoid expressionist forms which are only derived from artistic caprice, without reference to use, construction and functionality. The media renames this traditional simplicity as "new" simplicity.This purism carried to extremes, expressed as a denial of information in drawings and as severely barren buildings, remains alien to us.We want a reduction which is based on plausibility and self-evidence and has to integrate supposed stylistic inconsistencies provoked by building task and site.For the conception of buildings and interiors the positions of dialogical design are relevant as the guidelines of our architectural understanding:
SimplicityVariety and uniformityIdentity with the locationStructural order
"The development of appropriate and acceptable answers and solutions for problems demands an openness for dialogue and the adaptation of one's standpoint to changing conditions.Society and its complex political and economic mechanisms decide what is being built in what fashion.We architects have not only the obligation, but the responsibility to lay ourselves open to this dialogue and take part in the discussions with a firm conviction." "

to find out more...
Passage redirected from http://www.gmp-architekten.de/index.php?id=147&amp;amp;L=1
Image located from http://www.gmp-architekten.de/index.php?id=4&no_cache=1&L=1&tx_mimpdb_pi1[show_detailimage]=0&tx_mimpdb_pi1[mode]=list&tx_mimpdb_pi1[sort]=headline%3A0&amp;amp;amp;amp;tx_mimpdb_pi1[alphabetically]=1&tx_mimpdb_pi1[filter_alphanumeric]=A#sr

Sunday, March 12, 2006

New Autocad 2007 with sketch up feature~!

There is a great news I read. New Autocad 2007 with sketch up feature~! To cope with ever fast growing computer technology, we must be trained to be fast adaptable to this kind of features. As a designer nowadays, you not only need to know how to design, but how to draw too and most importantly to master the design trends. There is thread published in pushpull reflecting this issue~!
The origin might be from here http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/autoCAD.html

After some browsing and surfing, found another link that introduce AutoCAD 2007! to find out more...
Image located from http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/

Friday, March 10, 2006

Simplicity

In a design process, there are plenty of issues needed to be resolve in a building, resulting complexity of building form. It takes analysis, effort, practise and talent to conclude, to comprehend and to simplify a complex building form into few major elements to archieve the combination between aesthetic with functionality issues. That is what I always felt as an architectural designer.
"Minimalism in philosophy or minimalistic philosophies indicates a philosophy formed around only a few elements of life as opposed to the full spectrum. People practicing minimalistic philosophies often resort to living life with the bare minimum of what is required to survive.
Cults often claim to practice minimalistic philosophies, where the leaders exhort their followers to abandon things of value in their lives, including things as basic as clothes and the right to maintain personal hygiene.
Most modern philosophies could also be considered minimalistic in that they resort to providing only a limited set of valued elements as opposed to everything a person needs to live their life, for example a philosophy centered around only money." to find out more...

Italic part located from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalism#Minimalism_in_philosophy

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Soft Toy

The investment on design is just thoughts and ideas, when they are resolved and transformed into physical solutions, they are transformed into gold.
Image located from http://www.mocoloco.com/

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Zlg Design Philosophy

Click the image to have better vision of how ZLG, an established architectural firm in Malaysia reacts on architectural design when computer technology invades into architectural design methodology.
Image located from http://www.zlg-design.com/main.html

Architectural Data Base

Located a foreign data base consisting 3d cad drawings, , introduction of architectural works by a website in foreign language.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Intentionallies

This website is facinating! The design, the interaction, the content, the structure that would amaze you. Click here~! I wish I could do that.
Image located from http://www.intentionallies.co.jp/content_normal.html /product/ chair

HOK

It is important to understand how the others do it, so that you can do better. Standing on top of the giant, is the fastest way to success. Hok is another established firm to be studied."At HOK, design is not an abstract exercise in combining shapes, forms, and materials. It's a problem-solving effort for people.
The reason we exist is to create inspiring environments that enhance the human condition. We believe that truly listening to clients and then responding to their needs ?instead of to our own egos -- leads to inspiring architecture.
Whatever a project's size or budget, we strive for simple, environmentally responsible designs, elegantly executed. By elevating problem solving to an art form, we create places that enrich how people work, play, heal, worship, discover, learn, and travel ?places that improve how people live.
The ultimate measure of a project抯 success is whether it solved the client's problem. We ask questions like: Does this space enrich lives? Did we improve your situation? Did we help?"

to find out more...
Passage located from http://www.hok.com/about/designers/index.htm
Image located from http://www.hok.com/Projects/LandmarkProjects/14F0E697-9AE4-4B19-8354-D10CBC55F7E0/Landmark_40_Grosvenor_Place_DotComWeb.htm?sort=Alpha#

Monday, March 06, 2006

2006 International Bamboo Building Design Competition


"Competition Objectives: This competition has been created to develop new award winning designs for bamboo buildings, raise awareness of the use of certified structural bamboo for building code approved structures, and introduce architects, designers and builders to working with bamboo as a structural material.
Building Design Categories: There are design categories for different types of bamboo buildings, and winners will be chosen in each design category.
Sponsors, Partners and Affiliated Organizations: Bamboo Technologies, currently manufacturing 20 models of certified building code approved bamboo houses, is looking for new award winning designs, and has the capacity to manufacture new designs at its bamboo building factory.
Registration: Open to architects, builders, designers, students anywhere in the world. Registration deadline is December 31, 2006.
Schedule: Submissions by January 15, 2007.
Submissions: Entries are electronic files submitted by ftp or email.
Jury: Juries of experts and notable people are being selected for relevant categories. Events will be planned and announced for winners in January 2007.
Awards: Competition is designed for winners in many categories.• Winning designs may be built by Bamboo Technologies, royalties to designer.• Overall First Prize $5,000. Second Prize $3,000. Third Prize $2,000.• Finalists announced on the competition website and can vote on best designs.• Winning designs will be announced in international publications and media.• Free stay in a bamboo resort house in Maui, Hawaii.• Finalists may be included in upcoming book on bamboo buildings.
FAQ: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the competition.
Research: See our list of bamboo building and design books for reference."

Passage redirected from http://www.bamboocompetition.com/index.html

Image located from http://www.bambootechnologies.com/resortvietnam.htm

Mathiasklotz

Another interesting firm you wouldn't want to miss~!
Mathiasklotz from Santiago de Chile.
Image located from http://www.mathiasklotz.com/en/

Morphosis

It is very important for a design firm to have a spinal philosophy supporting its' work and design. The understanding of design, the methodology used, the philosophy behind is the heart of design. Morphosis is one of the firm I favoured.


The design philosophy of Morphosis:-

"At Morphosis, our method has always been highly intuitive and reflexive, We understand our arena of operation to be one marked by contradiction, conflict, change, and dynamism. And to that end we are interested in producing work that contributes to the conversation, that adds yet another strain to what some may bear as the cacophony of modern life. We hear it as the music of reality. Additional strains layered into the composition will not intensify a cacophony, but add to an exquisite complexity. Our interest is not in deconstruction as a response to complexity and contradiction, but rather it is better described as an interest in reconstruction. Our concern is to establish and work within coherencies or orders which are open-ended and multivalent, organizations that may require more than a cursory examination to discern. While we do proceed with our work through rigorous process, we are constantly on guard to protect an opening for the unpredictable and the unknowable to affect that process so that it is ultimately open-ended and reflexive rather than visionary and pre-conceived.

I suppose that our method does somewhat resemble that of Canetti’s dog-like writer- obsessed with sticking his damp nose into everything, insatiably turning over the earth only to come back to dig it up once again. At time when prudence and precedent might dictate a rolling up of drawings and a laying down of pencils, our office is often just beginning to attack the problem from another angle. Our habit is to turn the question and answer paradigm around as we investigate and reinvestigate our initial response. The question is understood to be open as subject to change’ the work is imbued with the process of grappling with the question rather than with providing a fixed solution. We have found that in order to produce an authentic work of architecture it is often necessary to rephrase and rework the original questions.

How do we rephrase the questions? Where do we look for inspiration? How do we collaborate to produce a building that synthesizes the needs of the owners and users while remaining a “meaningful addition to Tampa’s architectural landscape?”

Our approach to any project is to immediately involve all parties in a creative collaboration to define and understand the scope and the specific objectives of the project. Intensive meetings with the client, end-users, government agencies, and consultants are held with the goal of reaching a consensus regarding the functions of various parts of the project. Out of these intensive meetings clarity of purpose and a coherent set of ideas can be established to guide the project’s development so the design that develops will be mutually gratifying and successful. The process can and must be a collective endeavor. To assure a successful outcome we have developed a working method that involves the extensive use of large-scale physical and computer models. Morphosis’ design studio is a fully networked CAD system with the ability to collaborate with various team members and consultants via modem. Models are developed at every logical step as decisions are made or changed so that the participants in the process have a three-dimensional object or simulation to help them visualized the design solution.

While the programmatic aspects of the project are being defined, our designers begin their assessment of the contextual issues. The context will be assessed on both micro and macro levels. Theses contextual “readings”, although subjective, are balanced through a combination of the local indigenous reading provided by our client group and the “outsider” perspective of Morphosis. Our design process begins with a question/answer paradigm, researching the antecedents and precedents of previous “answers” in order to identify the salient issues. Theses ideas form the basis of our inquiry. What is the civic identity of Tampa? How does Tampa in general and in particular articulate its ideals in formal language? What are the sign systems at work that are taken for granted, overlooked and yet understood intuitively? What is tooo literal, overt and consequently banal and trivializing, and alternately what is too esoteric, vague, or obscure a reference? As we examine and absorb the local idioms and syntax, the architectural language becomes layered with meaning that is connected to the city’s place and time and provides an armature for development."

to find out more of the work...

passage & Image located from http://www.morphosis.net/morph.html Image is of San Francisco Federal Building

Friday, March 03, 2006

Zvi Hecker

This is one of my favourite architect!
"Born in Poland 1931, Zvi Hecker spent his teenage years in Samarkand and in Krakow before moving to Israel in 1950. He studied architecture at the Krakow Polytechnic (1949-1950) and at the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa (1950-1954), where he received his degree in engineering and architecture in 1955. He also studied painting at the Avni Academy of Art in Tel-Aviv (1955-1957). Following two years of military service in the Corps of Engineers of the Israeli army, he set up a private practice in 1959, working with Eldar Sharon (until 1964) and with Alfred Neumann (until 1966). Zvi Hecker was adjunct professor at the Laval University School of Architecture in Quebec, Canada (1969-1972); Distinguished Foreign Lecturer at the University of Texas School of Architecture in Arlington (1977); Visiting Architect at the Washington University School of Architecture in St. Louis (1979); Visiting Professor at the Iowa State University School of Architecture (1980), at the Technion Haifa (1997). Between 1998-2000 Zvi Hecker was guest professor at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna – Meisterklasse für Architektur. He is visiting lecturer at numerous schools of architecture throughout Europe and the United States. Among his early works are: the Club Mediterrane in Arziv, the City Hall of Bat-Yam, the Military Academy in the Negev Desert, the Dubiner Apartment House in Ramat Gan, the Laboratory Building at the Technion, Haifa, the Ramot Housing in Jerusalem and the City Center of Ramat Hasharon. His more recent projects include the Spiral Apartment House in Ramat Gan, the Jewish School in Berlin, the Palmach Museum of History in Tel-Aviv, the Berlin Mountains, the Army Museum in Jerusalem, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, City Center of Bucharest, the Jewish Cultural Center in Duisburg, and the Ansaldo Museum project in Milan. Zvi Hecker’s work has been exhibited widely in various cities including Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, New York, Florence, Berlin, Venice, Vienna, Kiev and others. In 1999 he represented Israel at the 5th Venice Biennale of Architecture, and took part in the 6th and 7th Biennale of Architecture in Venice in 1996 and in 2000. Zvi Hecker has won a number of architectural competitions, and was awarded German Critic Prize for architecture in 1996 and in 1999 the Rechter prize for architecture in Tel-Aviv. " to find out more of his work...
Passage located from http://www.zvihecker.com/index_entry.html
Image located from http://www.zvihecker.com/index_entry.html,
Projects, Large projects & Urban Schemes, Dutch Royal Military Academy, KMar Schiphol, Amsterdam, NL, 2001-07, sketches

Friss & Moltke

A firm from Denmark, that attracts me.
Image located from http://www.friis-moltke.dk/aktuelt/nyheder.htm

Thursday, March 02, 2006

SCDA

There are plenty of theories and existing architectural works that captures your heart with just a look or even a glimpse. What do you like? SCDA would be one of the kind of my taste and style I would strive for.



"The 42-year-old who goes by the name Soo Chan professionally, has been based in Singapore for the last 14 years, but prior to that he studied and worked in the United States for 10 years. The very prestigious Architectural Record, a monthly publication by the American Institute of Architects, named the firm he set up, SCDA Architects, as one of the Design Vanguards of 2003." to find out more...

The philosophy behind:-
1. To achieve naunces of space, clarification of structure, concealation of mechanical and electrical services.
2.To express simplicity through order and defination of everyday rituals living
3. Using monolithic materials, an act of expressing their natural properties.
4. To discipline through a reductive method of designing force, allowing an idea to be developed to its end.
5. To reveal construction methodology where appropriate
6. To acheive meditative spaces that shows quietness and calmness
7. Utilizing wall and intersection of walls and roof planes as expressive element, as both structure and partition.
8. To strive composition of asymmetrical, free plan.





Image located from http://www.scdaarchitects.com/

Portfolio

I think it would be simple and effective way just through uploading your profile or work into your own blog as a self promotion. There is an sample doing this.
Another great portfolio sample here.
Image located from http://blog.miragestudio7.com/portfolio/

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Asymptote Penang Master Planning 2004

This happened 2 years ago. “Seven internationally renowned architects have submitted their proposals to develop the Penang Turf Club. These architects, who were specially invited, come from countries such as France, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan,” he said in an interview.The architects are Naserine Seraji (France); Hani Rashid, Michael Sorkin, and Thom Mayne (US); Almut Ernst (Germany); Ole Scheeren (Netherlands); Riken Yamamoto; and Tetsuo Furuichi (Japan).“They spent several months in Penang, studying the culture and the needs of the locals before drafting their master plan. We have also partnered them with local architects to ensure that their drafts contain elements of Malaysian culture and heritage,” Lim said. to find out more...
ATSA had participated and had something to say. To find out more...

Taichung Metropolitan Opera House


There is an interesting competition I located through PushPullBar2. There are some introduction in a chinese website if you would like to know more. It can be translated by google.
"昨日公告的台中大都會歌劇院(Taichung Metropolitan Opera House)國際競圖,上月剛獲英國皇家建築協會建築金獎(RIBA)的日本東京大學建築學院教授伊東豐雄(Toyo Ito),以一座「壺中居」的大型都市廣場暗藏許多類日本居酒屋的表演藝術殿堂,獲6位評審全票認同勝出。" to find out more...
There is a thread in push pull bar regarding this competition. to find out more...
The images are located from http://forgemind.net/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=650