“Reduction is always risky, but [Alvaro] Siza’s observations [on his working process] could be simplified in this manner:

place: origin of all architecture.”

“distance: provided by the fact that it’s others who build.”

“discussion: pay attention to those who will be using the building.”

“contingency: the solutions to the specific problems of each job are to be found in the conflicts that accompany the reality of the context of the work.”

“uncertainty: thanks to the vagueness of the goal being pursued at the start of the job. The reaction is not resignation. On the contrary, that all well-done jobs end in surprise is a source of satisfaction.”

“mediation: architecture as something that calls for group work, accepting one’s limitations (constructive, functional, legal, etc.), sacrificing direct personal expression.”

“nonsatisfaction: every architectural work is, in the eyes of its architect, unfinished; the architect necessarily feels that his solution failed to resolve all the conflicts inherent in the surrounding reality.”

“evidence: architecture as the opportunity to test the uniqueness of things, the uniqueness that in their evidence allows us to discern their very essence.”

Rafael Moneo, from Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects (2004)

Photos, from top to bottom (all projects in Portugal, unless noted otherwise):
:: Swimming Pool in Leça da Palmeira (1966) by z.z.
:: Llobregat Sports Complex in Barcelona, Spain (2006) by tiagotchi
:: Social Housing in Saal da Bouça (1977) by z.z.
:: Boa Nova Restaurant in Leça da Palmeira (1963) by andrewpaulcarr
:: School of Architecture in Porto (1996) by z.z.
:: Swimming Pool in Leça da Palmeira (1966) by olotini
:: “Bonjour Tristesse” in Berlin, Germany (1984) by dianavieira

All photos grabbed from the archidose Flickr pool.
fuente:http://archidose.blogspot.com/
descripción:A Daily Dose of Architecture

Villa Bio, originally uploaded by jmtp.

Villa Bio in Llers, Spain by Enric Ruiz Geli.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

fuente:http://archidose.blogspot.com/
descripción:A Daily Dose of Architecture

One of the recipients of this year’s AIA Seattle Honor Awards is the aptly-named Rolling Huts by the critic’s darlings, Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects.

The firm’s embrace and occasional forays into the industrial is clearly evident here, with their steel wheels, frame and less-than-polished surfaces.

The architects responded to local restrictions that restricted cabins (a building “type” this office appears to produce almost constantly), “hit[ting] upon the idea of placing the structures on wheels, effectively making the huts into RVs.”

AIA Seattle praised the project for its playfulness, “a willingness to question local idiomatic practice, [and being] raw, edgy, unafraid of the challenging aspects of nature.” The local organization hits on the idea that “the user cannot escape the fact that the buildings impose on the landscape, with their steel wheels and tentative siting. These simple structures engage the spiritual question of our place in the landscape.”

Nevertheless the interiors are finished in an apparently minimal, clean, and well-appointed manner that makes the experience less than “roughing it,” as one might expect from the notion of a hard-edged, industrial-like cabin on steel wheels.

Links:

:: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects
:: AIA Seattle Honor Awards (Rolling Huts image gallery)

fuente:http://archidose.blogspot.com/
descripción:A Daily Dose of Architecture

My weekly page update:

Park East Synagogue in Pepper Pike, Ohio by Centerbrook Architects and Planners.

The updated book feature is The Production of Space, by Henri Lefebvre, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

Human-Assisted Design
A blog “related to the following areas: algorithm-generated design, generative design, evolutionary design, genetic algorithms, sustainable building construction.” (added to sidebar under blogs::design+technology)

Architecture: the good the bad and the ugly
A “community of architectural critiques…a virtual roundtable where everyone, around the world interested in architecture, can express there opinion.” (added to sidebar under architectural links::forums)

World Planning Day
Oops. Missed it.

M.I.T. Sues Architect Frank Gehry
Missed this one, too.

fuente:http://archidose.blogspot.com/
descripción:A Daily Dose of Architecture

New Museum, originally uploaded by archidose.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art by SANAA in New York City, opening on the first of December.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

fuente:http://archidose.blogspot.com/
descripción:A Daily Dose of Architecture

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about something blobby — for lack of a better term — so when this “design research project on generative, computational form finding” by MRGD (pronounced emerged) landed in my inbox I couldn’t resist.

Urban Lobby is the 2006 Architectural Association thesis project of Melike Altinisik (Turkey), Samer Chamoun (Lebanon) and Daniel Widrig (Germany). In it they investigate “the potential of fuzzy logic as a loose-fit organizational technique for developing intelligent, flexible and adaptive environments.”

The project looks at the urban lobby as a contested and negotiated transient space, between public and private, work and home, transit and statis, etc. Interestingly, the team approaches their design by using an existing 1970s office tower (Centre Point) in London as the starting point for the new lobby, an apparent appendage that links the building to its context while infiltrating the existing at levels higher than the typical lobby’s reach.

This sort of project is more about its process than its result. While images of the latter tend to be the focus in both print and online publications, the former should be stressed, as the form emerges from the process. While the description of the process on MRGD’s web site is rather complex, the image below helps to explain one aspect of it: an investigation of the “self organizing behavior of the hair system.” A number of variables were manipulated with a computer (of course) to derive images that could then be analyzed as potential formal processes for the lobby design.

It’s well worth visiting the project web page to see the various animations and still images of the design’s process and “final” form. It’s a very thorough documentation of the project, aided in part by the computer’s ability to generate images, but more so the team’s drive towards generating “innovative works of architecture with an important urban, social and cultural effects.”

While the project aims to break ground via the use of the computer in the design process, the team concludes by discussing beauty, specifically beauty vs. elegance. They say, “Both are quite different concepts. One is either beautiful or not. Technique comes to play its major role to transform what is considered not beautiful to beautiful similar to plastic surgery. It allows us to push towards beauty by producing elegance. Elegance is therefore achieved as kind of problem solving process, an ability to articulate complexity, and multiple agendas into a resolution.”

Thanks to Daniel for bringing the project to my attention and supplying some images for this post.
fuente:http://archidose.blogspot.com/
descripción:A Daily Dose of Architecture

Imágenes > Ethan Pines / The New York Times

fuente: http://noticiasarquitecturablog.blogspot.com
descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

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descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

Hono light fabricada por Metaphys de Japón, se enciende mediante un “fósforo magnético” y se apaga soplándola como una vela convencional. La luz es emitida por un LED que titila como una vela y es alimentada mediante baterías recargables… Este producto fue presentado la semana pasada en 100% Design Tokyo…

vía > dezeen.com / move your mind

fuente: http://noticiasarquitecturablog.blogspot.com
descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

XXXX house, Yaizu, Shizuoka - Japón / MOUNT FUJI ARCHITECTS STUDIO

Publicado en NA (27/06/07) >>>

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descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

Kaufmann House, en Palm Springs, Richard Neutra (1946)

En venta la Casa Kaufmann, referente de la arquitectura moderna. La casa Christie’s subastará el inmueble, de Richard Neutra, por unos 15 millones de dólares [ELPAIS.com / NYT]

Galería de imágenes > NYT

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descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

ROXBH (Belo Horizonte, Brasil)…..diseñado por el arquitecto y DJ Fred Mafra… más imágenes >>>

fuente: http://noticiasarquitecturablog.blogspot.com
descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

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descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

Casa Darvish, obra del arquitecto Pouya Khazaeli Parsa ..

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descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog

Imágenes (septiembre 2007) de la Nueva Sede Corporativa de Repsol-YPF en Buenos Aires (en construcción), diseñada por César Pelli

Imágenes > NA

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descripción: noticiasarquitecturablog