Beyond Media 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The next 9th edition of beyong media 's theme is VISIONS. The festival is devoted to the visualizations in architecture and how architecture image to be visualized and understood by others.

Therefore, a debate on the relatiomship between the project and media of communication will be held at Stazione Leopolda in Florence, Italy, July 9-17, 2009. Beyond Media is calling for entries for this new edition. Every author of architecture videos is invited to submit his works.
Refer to the official website http://www.beyondmedia.it/ for more instruction of the participation.

Thanks for the email from Martina Cimenti

Happy Chinese New Year 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

新年快乐
祝大家身体健康， 快快乐乐。

Chicken Point Cabin by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Exterior view of the cabin

The idea for the cabin is that of a lakeside shelter in the woods—a little box with a big window that opens to the surrounding landscape.

Mechanism of the huge window

The cabin’s big window-wall (30 feet by 20 feet) opens the entire living space to the forest and lake. Materials are low maintenance—concrete block, steel, concrete floors and plywood—in keeping with the notion of a cabin, and left unfinished to naturally age and acquire a patina that fits in with the natural setting. The cabin sleeps ten.

Photos and info from OSK architects

VM house by JDS + BIG = PLOT

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The VM houses, is the first residential project in Ørestaden. Copenhage. The houses are in the V and M form , where the V houses slopping down and the M houses step upwards. They are formed in such a way to obtain more lights, ventilation and views. The design started with a square planning where two blocks facing each other divided by a canal, the first building was then angled to V form due to the landscape and considerations of optimal lights.

The balconies look like jagged shark's teeth on the south. Night view of the V houses
The M houses utilizes the idea of unite d’habitation of Le Corbusier.
The central corridors, connecting all floors and apartments, are short and get light from both ends - like bullet holes penetrating through the building.Individual terraces are all on the south facing side of the building. The roof terrace is reached from the central corridors. ( from arspace)

Ideas from unite d’habitation of Le Corbusier.

More details of M houses refer to Arspace

Images and info from JDS architect and Archdaily

JDS architect blog

Monday, January 19, 2009

JDS architect blog :http://blog.jdsarchitects.com/
JDS architect website: http://www.jdsarchitects.com

Rich people final resting place-Recoleta Cemetery, Argentina

Friday, January 16, 2009

Recoleta Cemetery in 1953Recoleta cemetery in 1923
Recoleta Cemetery , Argentina is a well known tourist spot in the world. The cemetery located at an exclusive Recoleta neighbourhood and houses many famous and influential individuals in Argentina.

The cemetery layout was designed by the French Engineer and remodeled in 1881. The cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks with walkways linking to other sidewalks full with marble mausoleums. The entrance of the cemetery with tall Greek columns

The cemetery is a good way to see the chronology of what was going on in the Argentinean architecture when the graves were built, from neo classicism and art nouveau to XIX century trends with their angel statues, to more minimalist mausoleums made of marble, as the building dates get closer to our days.

Women statue

Another features of the cemetery is the elaborated statues at each of the mausoluems. Recoleta cemetery carry a tradition to engrave the death date rather not the birth date.

Vocabulary:
A mausoleum (plural: mausolea) is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. A Christian mausoleum sometimes includes a chapel.
(from wikipedia)


Read more about Argentina from Build Blog
photos from Afterlife , matt hintsa,orlando 72, jake(ymon)

ENDEAVOR SCREENING ROOM by Neil M Denari Architects

Occupying 54 ft of street frontage on Camden Drive, the screening room consists not only of a high performance space for viewing films, but also a large pre function lobby area, a kitchen/bar, and a major façade to the street.

Our ambition was to make what is essentially a private space become more public. This serves two purposes: One is to create as much spatial depth as possible in the entry sequence so as to break down the flatness of the “storefront” conditions surrounding it. The other is to create a public identity for Endeavor in a way that the offices cannot.

Images and info from NMDA:

Vocabulary-MONOCOQUE

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Monocoque (French for *single shell*) stands for a construction technique that supports structural load using an object's external skin. (from Materialecology.com)

Monocoque, from Greek for single (mono) and French for shell (coque), is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin. Monocoque construction was first widely used in aircraft in the 1930s. Structural skin is another term for the same concept. (From Wikipedia)

LORD'S MEDIA CENTRE by Future System architect is one of the MONOCOQUE example

The NatWest Media Centre at Lord's is one of the most innovative buildings this century.

It is the first all aluminium semi-monococque building in the world and represents a breakthrough, not just in the creation of a new three-dimensional aesthetic but in its method of construction.

This building was built and fitted out not by the construction industry but by a boatyard, using the very latest advances in boat building technology.

Raised 15m above the ground, the aerodynamic contours of the building reflect the sweep of the plan of the Ground with the enclosing skin formed by a smooth, white, seamless shell. The west facing glazing is inclined to avoid any glare or reflections while providing unobstructed views of the game for the world's media.

Text from Futuresystem architect

Photos from Flickr.com

Daniel Bonilla architects' Chapel in La Calera

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

This is a Chapel designed by Daniel Bonilla Architects , located at Colombia. At a first glance, this rectangular building seems to be just a box constructed with wood and stone. However, the most interesting part of this chapel is the relationship between the still stone and the mobile volume, which are mainly made by steel, glass and wood.

The site and the building. The mobile volume is able to change the scale and level of privacy of the rectangular building. When it is opens, it invites mass of people to gather around. When it is closed, it creates a contrast feeling of privateness.
Comparison of the building in two different closure.

Images and info from Daniel-Bonilla ARchitects

Great Architectural Photographer-TimGriffith

Sunday, January 11, 2009

http://www.timgriffith.com/

The California Academy of Science by Renzo Piano

Saturday, January 10, 2009

The California Academy of Science is providing modern facility for exhibition, education, conservation and research under one roof.

The architect, Renzo Piano applied sustainable design strategies throughout the whole building.

Natural ventilation replacing air-conditioning, efficient building materials, water reuse, green roof, natural lighting are some of the sustainable features in the building. ( refer to arch daily for detail explanation )

The project conserves two limestone walls from the previous building (1934), and houses a planetarium, a rain forest habitat and an aquarium, and several exhibition spaces to house the several Academy collections.

Renzo Piano official website

Archrecord website