ARCHITECTURE's topics - tribe.net

Happy non-opening.

2009-06-18T19:11:22Z

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Santiago_Calatrava_Venice_Canal_Bridge.html

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Arhur Erickson Passes

2009-05-24T14:29:09Z

Arthur Erickson, who was widely viewed as Canada’s pre-eminent Modernist architect, died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday. He was 84.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/arts/22erickson.html

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/6486/arthur-erickson-1924-2009.html

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SCIFI program at SCI-Arc vs M.Arch at Berkeley

2009-04-08T23:46:55Z

Hi, I have been admitted to SCIFI program at SCI-Arc and to M.Arch (1year) program at Berkeley.
I would really appreciate opinions about these schools and the future job opportunities they may bring me.

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Frank Gehry 80!

2009-02-18T00:13:44Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYRujeeJIA&feature=related

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The Chicago Spire

2008-08-19T01:17:27Z

http://www.thechicagospire.com/

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TU Delft (Netherlands) collapsed after fire.

2008-05-16T17:48:50Z

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/105731/46ccb8cd/bouwkunde_gebouw_delft_stort_in_topic.html

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floating hotel

2008-05-16T01:00:08Z

TRAVELING AROUND THE WORLD ON A FLOATING HOTEL might be possible by 2020.

French designer, Jean-Marie Massaud, has been working in conjunction with the French National Office of Airship Research on the project since 2005.
The airship is a floating hotel called the Manned Cloud.

It will cruise at a speed of 80 mph (130 km/h) and 18,000ft above sea level. It could circle the earth in about ten days.

It will travel for 3,100 miles (almost 5,000 km) before needing to be refueled.

It is an ecologically friendly way to travel, leaving little impact on the environment without the need for hotels, according to the promoters. It could land for a few days or for a week if there is a big event going on.

The Manned Cloud is almost 700ft long, 270ft wide and 170ft deep. It has a restaurant, a library, a lounge and a gym on the first deck. On the second level there will be 20 passenger rooms, terraces with panoramic windows, a spa and a bar room.

The airship is powered by a giant rear propeller and also has two further engines pointing downwards for vertical take-off.

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AutoCAD on bootcamp?

2008-05-08T02:06:49Z

Anybody knows if it works?
I am considering buying a new mac and run AutoCAD 2002 on it.

Thanks for your input.
c

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Prairie School Archives/MAM exhibit

2008-04-16T20:27:23Z

Milwaukee Art Museum

A Revolutionary in Milwaukee: The Designs of George Mann Niedecken

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April 17 - July 20, 2008
Koss Gallery

It is easy to look back over the twentieth century and witness the rise and fall of particular styles of interior decoration. However, in placing ourselves in the shoes of those Milwaukeeans in 1907, we are able to see how the revolutionary interior designs of George Mann Niedecken must have appeared shocking, strange, and yet, intriguing. As outside of the norm as some of his creations appeared, Niedecken, who is often defined by his work with Frank Lloyd Wright, was able to garner a substantial list of clients from Milwaukee’s upper social strata.

This retrospective of his works explores his commissions in the greater Milwaukee area as developed relative to the space, the client, and the designer himself. Having attended school in Europe during a pivotal period in the International Design movement, Niedecken brought a breath of fresh European air to Milwaukee’s stagnant interiors. He was able to bring back to Milwaukee those tools that he explored while on the Continent and to interpret them for eager clients wanting the new and, in many cases, the avant-garde.

One of his first major commissions was for the newly widowed Emma Demmer, who had just completed her new residence on Wahl Avenue in 1907. The exterior, a very correct shingle-style Queen Anne, did not betray what Mrs. Demmer had commissioned Niedecken to execute by way of interior design. Over the course of the next three years, Niedecken committed himself to creating one of the most fantastic and thoroughly modern interiors in the city. Niedecken designed the furniture, rugs, leaded windows, and light fixtures based on the principles of the Vienna Secession, and all in cutting-edge fashion. What her reaction was to this completed interior will never be known. Mrs. Demmer sold the house in 1912. The Demmer commission is nonetheless an important watershed in Milwaukee interior design, and led to a who’s who of other Milwaukeeans expressing their interest in the talents of Mr. Niedecken. The exhibition will also delve into his work with the Pabst, Bogk, Harnischfeger, and Mayer families, among others, and how he employed different architectural modes for each project. His work and relationships with other Milwaukee architects will also be discussed.

This exhibition celebrates the final phase of a project funded by The Mae E. Demmer Charitable Trust to fully catalog and organize the George Mann Niedecken archive at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Researchers will enjoy improved online finding aids and an expanded second edition of the seminal catalog The Domestic Scene (1897–1927): George M. Niedecken, Interior Architect, formerly out of print. Visit www.mam.org in April for more information.

Supported by The Mae E. Demmer Charitable Trust

This exhibition was organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, curated by John C. Eastberg, senior historian at the Captain Pabst Mansion, and coordinated at the Museum by Liz Flaig.

Exhibition Programming:

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Exhibition Opening
Thursday, April 17, 5:30–8 P.M.; lecture, 6:15 p.m.
Special guest lecturer: John C. Eastberg
Free with general admission. No reservation required.

Conservation of the American Collections: George Mann Niedecken
Saturday, May 3
This daylong program focuses on the challenges of conserving the works by Niedecken in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Collection, including drawings, furniture, and archival material. For payment and reservation information, call 414-224-3277. Sponsored by the American Heritage Society

Gallery Talks
With guest curator John C. Eastberg
Tuesday, May 20, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 8, 1:30 p.m.
Free with general admission. No reservation required.

The Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum is hosting two complimentary exhibitions this spring: Hollyhock House and Olive Hill: Frank Lloyd Wright and Edmund Teske and Louis Sullivan’s Decorative Terra Cotta Tiles,April 19–June 15, 2008. The museum, located at 2220 North Terrace Avenue in Milwaukee, is open Wednesdays–Sundays, 1–5 p.m.

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Beijing's Watercube

2008-04-15T22:21:22Z

I've been very interested in the design of the Beijing Olympic Park, It seems like they are going great lengths to create dramatic impact and sustainable venues
But I have a question about this building "The Watercube"
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-swm-beijing-watercube&prov=ap&type=lgns

Specifically the outer material used on this building; it states:

" The outside skin is made of the Teflon-like material known as ETFE, or ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene. Composed of two layers, it's separated by an interior passage that allows the building to breathe like a greenhouse. "

How energy efficient would this be? Wouldn't it trap too much heat? What does it mean by breathing? Is this material "green"
how easy is it to recycle---Just so many questions
I appreciate your expert opinion.

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Choosing a degree

2007-08-02T18:29:43Z

I currently work as one of many CAD monkeys for a large engineering firm. I was hired on in the electrical department and it's amazing but I still adore the more artistic side/energy of architectural. I've decided to go back to school and get a degree in engineering and eventually archeology. My original thought was to stick with electrical even though I don't find it terribly interesting as it would help further my career and it pays well. But I can't shake the feeling that maybe I should get into architectural instead. Can anyone tell me what fields they have previously been in regarding engineering and what their take on this subject is? I would love to hear some other sides on this..... Many thanks to you all and namaste!

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Airports...we all love airports.Don't we?

2007-07-04T03:48:43Z

Ask the pilot
From free Wi-Fi, great haircuts and massage service to two-mile walks, aggressive loiterers and $10 burritos: Readers name the best, worst and weirdest airports in the world.
By Patrick Smith

Jun. 15, 2007 | The media has a way of simplifying things. The scheme to "blow up" New York's Kennedy airport, for example. How exactly does one "blow up" a 5,000-acre complex -- complete with 30 miles of road, nine miles of runway, nine terminals and dozens of other buildings? (You might remember Ahmed Ressam, the would-be millennium bomber, snagged at the U.S.-Canada border in 1999 and later convicted for planning to "blow up" Los Angeles International.) Short of setting off a nuclear weapon, I suggest it can't be done. Though I'm unsure who feels the greater disappointment: the alleged conspirators or the millions of travelers who openly detest Kennedy airport. If I'm interpreting the polls correctly, it's the opinion of 99 percent of fliers that for the entire place to disappear in a mushroom cloud would be about the best thing that could happen to it.

That's in terrible taste, I know, and a belligerent knock against what is arguably the most historic major airport in the world. If you're into that sort of thing -- of the 41 million people who pass through JFK each year, I reckon a scant few are smitten with nostalgia. How many people milling around Terminal 3 have any idea that that very building was once the storied Pan Am Worldport, the spot where sheiks and stars and dignitaries once waved to crowds before alighting from silver-skinned propliners and 707s? Not many, save for a few employees and enthusiasts like me. That's unfortunate, but not exactly startling, what with Kennedy's unnavigable sprawl, intense crowds, endless security lines, delays and, as anyone who has ever ridden the customs hall escalators in Terminal 3 can attest, some of the most dilapidated facilities in America.

Though at least it isn't Charles de Gaulle. Say what you might about JFK, it's got history, a couple of bright new concourses, and pleasant views of Jamaica Bay. That concrete oubliette on the outskirts of Paris, on the other hand, deserves a category of shame all its own. Aeroports de Paris has pretensions of turning de Gaulle into Europe's largest and most impressive hub. Already it's the second busiest, but to wring such standing from a place so confoundingly disjointed, dank and just plain ugly will be a challenge for the ages. They should start by putting up signs -- signs, at an airport, is that somehow too un-French? -- that actually direct people to the places they need to go, like to the gates, baggage claim and adjoining terminals. Even de Gaulle's rail link -- good luck finding the station -- if you'll pardon my French, sucks.

Perhaps de Gaulle and not its colonial cousin in Dakar, Senegal, whose wretchedness got this conversation started, should take the prize for the single worst airport on the planet, if only because we expect better from European planners and architects. (Then again, it was the Europeans who gave us the Airbus A380, the worst-looking piece of industrial design ever conceived by human beings.)

Truth be told, it's pretty hard to find an airport that is completely and wholly awful. A more useful criterion focuses on specific terminals. Especially in America, where you often find a collection of chronologically mismatched buildings, each with different amenities and levels of comfort, it's not necessarily fair to praise or vilify an entire airport based on one small section -- not any more than it's fair to judge somebody's home by virtue of a single, unrenovated kitchen or bathroom.

But never mind what I think. I promised to open this up to readers, and so here goes. What follows are the more pithy and colorful of several hundred submitted opinions on the best, worst and strangest airports -- or terminals -- around the globe.

Relatively few of you, it turns out, had much to say about JFK or Charles de Gaulle. The raspberries, as you'll see, fell mostly on London's Heathrow. As for places that people actually like, you expressed a fondness for small, easy-access terminals. No surprise there. My only disappointment is that nobody brought up the supposedly gorgeous little airport in Sukothai, Thailand. I've never been, but with its open-air pavilions, ponds and even a flower-fringed runway, Sukothai is purportedly one of the loveliest terminals anywhere. I haven't the room to include them, but special thanks to those who submitted photographs: Mark Prystajecky for shots of the museum-like façade at Lviv, Ukraine; Ali Hammoud for the hilarious welcome sign at Monrovia, Liberia; and Lesley Egbert's snapshot of the psychedelic beehive atrium at Abu Dhabi.

Letters have been edited for space and clarity. The italicized comments are mine.

THE GOOD

Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN)

"Free movie theater, cellphone chargers, lounge chairs with big-screen TVs, quiet areas. Free PlayStation terminals. The best airport I have ever spent time in."

"The best airport is Singapore's Changi, for the following reasons: excellent transit hotel; massage service; excellent food; nonstop flights to dozens of countries; free movies; subway connection to the entire island; cheap taxis; free city tour; the friendliest immigration officers in the world; flower gardens and koi ponds."

And a swimming pool. We'll skip the many other letters raving about how wonderful Changi is. The airport is as much beloved -- or possibly more so -- as its hometown carrier, Singapore Airlines.

Hong Kong International (HKG)

"Why? I got the best haircut of my life there. A full-on shopping mall. A bakery. Helpful signage in both English and Chinese. Plus, riding the train to and from Kowloon is fun, easy and fast, and you can check your bags at the downtown station."

Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)

"Brand new and gleaming, Bangkok's new airport sparkles like the mirrors on the National Palace; gleams like the silks worn by Thai Airways flight attendants. It's cavernous and cool, full of marble and light and a shopping plaza boasting Gucci, Coach, Prada (real, not Night Bazaar counterfeits)."

If you're into that kind of thing. If you want my opinion, the less an airport tries to look like an upscale shopping mall, the better.

Siem Reap, Cambodia (REP)

"Siem Reap International is the gateway to Angkor. The architecture is reminiscent of the local temples, and the giant golden lanterns hanging from the vaulted ceilings add a whimsical touch. Wooden shutters lend the air of a guesthouse, and the pond outside provides a peaceful respite. There's also a pleasant Internet cafe and some great shopping, including a fantastic Artisans d'Angkor boutique. The terminal is clean, spacious and staffed by some of the nicest security personnel I've ever had the pleasure of being frisked by."

Hato Airport, Curaçao (CUR)

"A sleepy building, kept comfortable by cold water pumped up from the deep Caribbean Sea. Flower scents in the night. Crickets. Then in the distance, another sound. The airplane approaches, circles, lands. The KLM wide-body moors at the terminal, towering above it. Hustle and bustle, people coming on and off. Then the plane leaves for Amsterdam and the airport goes back to sleep."

Tel Aviv, Israel (TLV)

"We love Ben-Gurion airport. The new Terminal 3 is centered around a spacious atrium filled with soothing fountains, shops and cafes, all bustling even at 3 a.m. The modern building is clad in marble, yet good acoustics and a lack of televisions make it serenely quiet. Security is thorough and effective, yet respectful and efficient. Free Wi-Fi and baggage carts are added perks. Bathrooms are clean and plentiful -- even in the parking lot!"

Ditto the efficient security and sense of quiet, which I wrote about after my own visit to Ben-Gurion last year.

Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. (GSP)

"The exterior grounds are wonderfully manicured with shade trees, fountains and shrubs. The architecture is airy and moderne. There's a charming, albeit prissy garden. The faux-bronze sculptures are a delight."

"This agreeable place is approached by road through piney woods and onto parklike grounds, giving the feel of approaching a resort hotel, complete with fountain pools at the terminal doors. The long-term parking lots are generously shaded with trees and are an easy walk from the terminal. The swoopy, modernist concourse has comfortable upholstered seats surrounding sculptures and fountains. Best of all is the terrace restaurant and snack bar: more modernist architecture surrounded by an outdoor garden with sculpture and flora native to the Piedmont region. The feel of the place is downright elegant."

Vancouver, British Columbia (YVR)

"Vancouver airport is by far the nicest I've flown into, out of, or through. Spacious atria with local native artwork (including spectacular totem poles), free wireless Internet, and a food court with reasonable prices."

"There's nothing like walking from your plane to customs while strolling past a river and a full-size Haida canoe, the sound of birds and ceremonial drums beating in the background, and a huge wooden raven dangling from the ceiling."

Kona, Hawaii (KOA)

"Like the '50s of an Elvis movie. We disembarked on the tarmac and walked into a beautiful, open-air airport with hutlike bungalows and greenery instead of the usual concrete and glass."

Many Hawaiian airports, even Honolulu International, are open-air, which is something more warm-climate places should copy.

Sacramento (SMF)

"SMF has some great little touches. Traffic is nonexistent and parking is ample and cheap. It'd be nice if the light rail ran out here from downtown, but other cities haven't figured this convenience out either. Second, free Wi-Fi. Word up. Third, plenty of dining choices, and the 'venti' iced coffee is 60 cents cheaper than in a normal Starbucks. Bottom line, it's easy. We don't have much to brag about in Sactown, but our airport is pretty cool."

Reagan Washington National (DCA)

"I'm in love with National (say 'Reagan' under pain of death among locals). Is it the cheery, pleasant yellow that reflects natural light from sky-high windows? Is it the short distances between concourses and the Metro? And National has a real restaurant, with a real wine list (take that, Chili's)."

I'm surprised more people didn't gush about DCA. It has an excellent subway connection, and the beautiful main terminal might just be America's best airport building.

Madison, Wis. (MSN)

"From the curbside, where a glass overhang creates prairie-style shadows on the roadway, to the restaurant dedicated to bratwurst, MSN is imbued with a sense of place while also being extremely easy to travel through. The security staff chat with passengers. The waiting areas have armchairs, fireplaces and local art."

Detroit (DTW)

"No, I'm not kidding. The place was always dark, gloomy. Then the new Northwest terminal opened. The first time I saw it, I was stunned. It was beautiful: light, airy, with a train and moving sidewalks. (Only problem is, the two older terminals are still in use by the other airlines, and look even worse.)"

In the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 North America Airport Satisfaction Survey, DTW finished second best.

Memphis, Tenn. (MEM)

"One thing sets Memphis apart: the smell. With a barbecue stand seemingly every 10 feet, the air is thick with the aroma of grilled meat and savory sauce. Curses on my half-hour layover! If there was any justice, I'd be slumped in a waiting area, sauce-smeared and happy even as we speak."

Four different readers nominated Memphis. All four mentioned the waft of barbecue.

THE BAD

Dakar, Senegal (DKR)

My awful, middle-of-the-night experience in Dakar is what got this whole thing started. I'm not the only one ...

"As a correspondent based in Senegal I have the distinct displeasure of visiting DKR many times a month. I am, because of my job, something of an expert in African airports, and I can back up your assertion that it really is the worst. One would expect Lagos to be a nightmare, for example, but in fact it's pretty much a breeze. Abidjan has a great restaurant, bookstore and pharmacy. The renovated terminal in Accra is terrific and efficient. Bamako and Ouagadougou have small but organized airports, and Bangui is pretty good. N'djamena, Monrovia ... even Kinshasa isn't awful like DKR. None have that grim combination of a total absence of comfort and aggressive loiterers."

"DKR is disproportionately bad considering the relative prosperity of Senegal. I would have expected Ouagadougou's airport, in nearby Burkina-Faso, to be a catastrophe, but it's great. It's similar at Bamako, Mali -- a bombed-out ruin of a city. Somehow, Dakar beats out two of the poorest nations on the planet."

Mumbai, India (BOM)

"Full of hungry mosquitoes the size of horseflies. They flew up my pant legs! Random pieces of equipment are set about with no apparent purpose except to be in the way. No directions to gates or baggage claim. Sullen employees who wish you'd go away."

As many travelers know, India's geographical placement ensures that most long-haul flights arrive and depart in the wee hours, making the experience that much less enjoyable.

Cairo, Egypt (CAI)

"The plane banks over the Nile, then dips its wings to display the plateau of Giza and the Pyramids; the ancient walls of the Old City; the souks and bazaars. Cairo! But is this the airport? It looks and smells like the Greyhound station in San Francisco, circa '59, embodying all the glories and aspirations of Soviet-style nonfunctional architecture. And once through customs, one is assailed by drivers and hustlers hawking everything from pens to thousand-dollar excursions (stay away from the aptly named Al-Joker Tours)."

"Cairo is revolting. The entire place is filled with such dense clouds of cigarette smoke that it is a cancer risk just to fly there. Check-in is a free-for-all mass of shoving and shouting, with hundreds of people begging the indifferent clerks for attention. Luggage men climb upon mountains of suitcases to identify tour tags, pull at the pile until it collapses. The bags are piled on carts destined for various hotels, regardless of where their owners actually are staying. I have no idea what amenities the terminal offers. We were herded into a bare room, placed under guard, and made to stand for hours until our plane was ready. (Once on board, however, I have to say that EgyptAir was one of the nicest airlines I've ever flown.)"

Sheremetyevo International, Moscow (SVO)

"The best at being worst is Sheremetyevo, built for the 1980 Olympics by crazed East German architects angry at their Soviet masters. Dim and grungy, with bizarre hexagonal clusters hanging from the ceiling; populated by roving bands of Gypsies and transit passengers lying around the floor awaiting escape; staffed by surly employees looking for naive foreigners to pad their salary. It's an hour in the passport control line. You retrieve your luggage -- or don't, depending on how well you wrapped it in duct tape -- and lug it to the customs line. After a long wait, an agent paws through your belongings before releasing you into a mob of taxi drivers and thieves."

"You can smoke. You can board a plane while staggeringly drunk and no one will say anything. In a corner on the ground floor there's a mini casino with bizarre games of chance. A shitty sandwich costs $10. The locals are unfriendly. It's still not uncommon to get detained and ripped off by one of the myriad police gangs shaking down passengers. The bathrooms are disgusting despite being constantly cleaned by a gaggle of old ladies who don't mind that you're peeing in front of them. A ride to the city takes two hours due to traffic jams. Taxis cost hundreds of dollars for people who can't bargain with the greedy drivers. And the people arriving on flights from the U.S. seem to uniformly be American adoptive couples -- the single most annoying group of people of all time, for some reason."

"Sheremetyevo was a total nightmare until recently; it's now only a partial nightmare. The planning geniuses constructed two terminals, international and domestic, on opposite sides of the runways, meaning a 30-minute ride on the ring road. No one ever thought to put up signs directing transfer passengers, who must find an unmarked bus cruising around the parking lot while avoiding the scam artists trying to snag you for $50 cab fares."

O'Hare International, Chicago (ORD)

"The logistical ballet of air travel always reaches its statistically inevitable breakdown at O'Hare. Delayed crews, AWOL planes, gate reassignments, deicing delays, storms, power outages. During these fiascoes, there is absolutely nothing to do or see. The new terminals feel like warehouses, and forget about decent food. Topping it all off is the O'Hare Hilton, which I can't help but free-associate with words like 'organized crime,' 'infidelity' and 'despair.'"

Houston Intercontinental (IAH)

"I've yet to experience an airport in a third-world country, but I imagine Houston's Terminal B does a good job of approximating one. It is dimly lit and depressingly colored; there is one tiny deli to serve everyone, and one bathroom. One only needs imagine crates of clucking chickens and guards toting machine guns to complete the effect. Terminal B houses the gates used by Continental's regional jets. They've crammed as many tiny gates as possible into the space, with jets taking off for such glamorous destinations as Brownsville, Shreveport and Wichita. Taken as a whole, IAH is not a bad airport (especially the Pappadeaux restaurant), but avoid Terminal B at any cost."

Key West, Fla. (EYW)

"EYW is onomatopoeically coded. As you said, critiquing airports is all about expectations, which at least for me are elevated when visiting the haven of Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and Harry Truman. What you get at Key West is a sweaty outdoor wait at the curb, surly TSA employees who hate kids, a claustrophobic departure lounge, and an outdoor boarding pen featuring in-your-face jet exhaust. I found myself longing for Vladivostok."

Ontario, Calif. (ONT)

"When flying through Ontario in order to save $15 by avoiding LAX, be aware of the following: Once baggage is checked, you join a throng of frustrated cheapskates waiting to drop their luggage at the bomb scanner. You then graduate to a longer escalator line, which leads to an M.C. Escher maze through security. Finally in the concourse, enjoy the low ceilings, buzzing fluorescent lights, and $10 burritos."

London Heathrow (LHR)

"Heathrow is a random conglomeration of pitifully ugly buildings of the kind often called 'utilitarian' -- a term that hints they were actually designed for some utility, which is not the case. Getting between the terminals requires a shuttle trip that seems to cross all of southern England. There's a pair of traffic lights that turn green every 15 minutes or so, unleashing a stampede of private cars, parcel vans and buses into a spaghetti bowl of roadways and overpasses."

"Changing flights at Heathrow: Get off the plane, up the jetway, up the stairs, across the bridge, down the escalator, wait in line. Down the stairs, out the doors, onto the bus, across the city, across another city, off the bus, up the escalator, down the hall, through the double doors. Have a seat, your flight is two hours late. Down the hall, down the stairs, down the jetway, and onto the plane."

"I worked as a runner on a fly-on-the-wall TV series about Heathrow. Nowhere is as 12th-circle-of-hellish. I can tell you about the maggot-infested, abandoned suitcases at Terminal 1, which did the rounds on the carousel for weeks at a time. I can tell you about the tropical crickets and spiders inhabiting the false ceiling in Terminal 3. I can tell you about the football games the baggage handlers play with your luggage. I can tell you what the burger cook does to your 5-pound burger. London Heathrow. Worst. Airport. Ever."

"Circle for an hour. Land. Taxi for 30 minutes to a stand so distant that it's practically in Sunbury. Wait. Eventually a bus turns up. Drive for 20 minutes. Two-mile walk down corridors. Baggage conveyor broken. Wait an hour; somebody turns up with a screwdriver. Emerge into the rain and pay $100 for a ride downtown. Welcome to London."

"Heathrow is a sprawling mess where nothing works and everything is filthy. You walk for miles on floors matted with dirt; the decor is concrete slabs with industrial pipes precariously suspended from low ceilings; areas are roped off or covered in plastic sheeting; everything looks unfinished and stays that way for years. It is dimly lit, and the signs point you in the wrong direction."

Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)

"Who came up with that absolutely crack-brained triple-horseshoe design -- with a tram that only goes in one direction? American Airlines' annoyingly named SkytrAAin whizzes people to their gate at speeds of up to 6 miles per hour, using a modified electric bobsled that would have looked dated at the 1964 World's Fair."

Lahore, Pakistan (LHE)

"A lot like Dakar, but without the pleasant bistro. Filth? Check. Touts, ruffians and beggars? Check. Vaguely threatening government functionaries? Check. There are also church police, an alcohol ban, and a giant room full of luggage where bribes are extracted to facilitate finding your 'lost' items. I encourage you to visit the airport's dysfunctional Web page. Notice that the photos are retouched and the links don't work."

THE REST

"Washington Dulles airport is at once one of the most beautiful and dysfunctional airports in the country. Those 'Empire Strikes Back' creepy-crawly people-mover vehicles are rage-inducing."

Everyone hates the people movers. But the elegant central atrium at IAD is stunning. It's the work of Eero Saarinen, the Finnish architect responsible for JFK's famous TWA terminal (under renovation by JetBlue) and the Gateway Arch of St. Louis.

"My favorite African airport is Addis Ababa, [Ethiopia,] but my next favorite is Nairobi, [Kenya,] which sadly is being redeveloped. For a few dollars you can rent a small chipboard cubicle, just large enough for a bunk, with clean linen and use of a shower -- more privacy than at any other airport on earth."

"Frankfurt, [Germany's] airport exists in a parallel universe. With its tin-can 'Sprockets' design and harsh halogen spotlights, I suspect it was designed to prevent the jet-lagged multitudes stumbling through its passageways from readjusting their circadian rhythms. Does anyone really begin or end their journey in Frankfurt? Instead, FRA hosts a population of sleep-deprived transient zombies, all marching to a drummer in a different time zone. And the barbaric Germans still allow smoking in the terminals, which reek like a biker bar at 2 a.m."

"Tashkent airport, in Uzbekistan, is literally across a bridge over the railway from the city center. As you cross this bridge there are two signs. On one sign is the Uzbek 'Aq Jol,' which essentially means 'Have a good trip.' The other sign is an English translation that reads, 'Good luck!' Not exactly the send-off you expect at an airport."

"Madrid, [Spain's] Terminal 4 is one of the most beautiful in Europe, but for a long time it was impossible to know what time it was. There were no clocks. Not even on the boarding screens. Anybody without a cellphone went to random desks asking for the time. The employees were a bit tired of this. Finally they installed clocks, and so I no longer have an excuse to miss my flight home to Denmark."

"Pilots' favorite award: Sana'a International Airport (Yemen). It boasts a runway at 7,216 feet above sea level, with no ILS approach in a bowl ringed by mountains. Can you spell 'divert'? Prevailing wind is from the north, gusts from the south. In summer, Emirates' A330s come and go at night, supposedly to benefit from cooler, thicker air. Local fuel is so untrustworthy that Lufthansa carries extra from Cairo -- in order to land and fly back without refueling."

"Architectural wonder award: Phoenix Sky Harbor is positively picturesque. It blends tastefully into the desert, with capacity sufficient to handle traffic that will not materialize until 2050, if ever. Sadly, most gates have seating for 35 people at most, and they are never less than a 10-minute walk from the nearest toilet or water fountain. Clever use of five-dimensional design means that even though most gates are vacant, yours will always be a minimum of a mile from both the parking lot and your connecting flight."

"Lukla, Nepal, is a small town along the path to Everest base camp. There is an airport there, built by Sir Edmund Hillary himself, with flights to Katmandu. The gravel strip is a quarter-mile long, with the wreckage of more than one airplane piled nearby. The strip is built on a slope, allowing planes that are landing to lose momentum before hitting a wall at the end of the runway. Planes take off in the opposite direction, gaining momentum to avoid plunging into the Himalayan chasm below. There are no services, no bathrooms, no terminal."

"And what about Jordan's Queen Alia International in Amman? A nice enough place, but why would anyone name an airport after someone killed in an aviation accident?"

It's worse than that: Prior to adopting the name Royal Jordanian, the flag carrier of Jordan was called ... Alia.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 3 replies

Pisa

2007-06-28T20:54:46Z

Something i thought had been fixed a decade ago.Maybe an interesting article,maybe not?

Leaning Tower of Pisa is saved from collapse
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 6:00pm BST 28/06/2007

The Leaning Tower of Pisa no longer leans quite so much after a £20 million project to save it was hailed a complete success yesterday.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has been straightened by 18 inches,
returning it to its position of 1838. It has been leaning since 1173

The tower, which was on the verge of collapse, has been straightened by 18 inches (45 centimetres) returning it to its 1838 position.

"It has straightened a little bit more than we expected, but every little helps," said Prof John Burland, an expert in soil mechanics at Imperial College London, who was the only British member of the 14-strong rescue committee.

He said the tower was still "very slightly moving" towards being upright, but that it had stabilised.

The tower, which has been leaning almost since building work first began in 1173, was closed to the public in 1990 because of safety fears. The 183-foot tower was nearly 15 feet off vertical and its structure was found to have been weakened by centuries of strain.

advertisementProf Burland said it could have collapsed "at any moment". However, it took nine years of bureaucratic wrangling before any work was done. "That was the difficult bit, getting the work going," Prof Burland said.

The last attempt at straightening the tower was carried out under orders from Benito Mussolini, who wanted it to be perfectly vertical.

Concrete was poured into the foundations, but the result was that the tower sank further into the soil. The straightening of the tower was praised by the president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.

"We have to pay homage to the extraordinary success of the very delicate task of saving a monumental symbol of our history and of our civilisation," he said. "Italy has at its disposal a cultural sensitivity and technical competence of the highest level."

The straightening work involved the extraction of around 70 tonnes of earth from the northern side of the tower, causing it to sink on that side. Before the digging started, the tower was anchored with steel cables and 600 tonnes of lead weights.

Prof John Burland was on the rescue committee

However, halfway through the project, concerns at the ugliness of the weights led to their removal and the tower lurched dramatically. "In one night, the tower moved more than it had averaged in an entire year," said Prof Burland. The weights were hastily reattached.

"As an engineer, I felt confident that we could meet the challenge, but there were times when I really felt we were about to lose it," Prof Burland admitted.

The tower's stonework has also been restored and tourists can clearly see the difference between its levels of limestone and marble.

"If we had not stepped in the tower would have collapsed between 2030 and 2040," said Salvatore Settis, the president of the committee. "This is crucial for the tower's stability and it was a totally Italian success."

The Italian government stepped in after a tower collapsed in Pavia in 1989, killing four people. "The experts suddenly realised that the tower at Pisa, which was similarly built and on the same sort of earth, could do the same," said Pierfrancesco Pacini, the president of the group that supervises public works in Pisa.

Towering attraction

• The Leaning Tower is the bell-tower of Pisa Cathedral and sits in the Campo dei Miracoli, or Field of Miracles

• It weighs 14,500 tonnes and is actually curved, because its builders tried to compensate for its subsidence during construction.

• During the Second World War, the tower was used as an observation post by the Germans.

• Around 2.5 million tourists visited the Campo dei Miracoli last year but tourists are only allowed into the tower in small groups.

• Until the end of August, the tower will be illuminated and open to visitors until 11pm.

Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 931 2921 or email syndication@telegraph.co.uk

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posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Google 3 D

2007-06-17T20:11:09Z

Every building in Amsterdam was put on Google.
Just having had my dose of architecture and design(O.D. really) you may not have enough in your life,check it out.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 6 replies

Second Life in Architectural Practice

2007-05-28T03:21:54Z

If you want to learn more about using the virtual world as Second Life in an architectural practice, I'll be giving a presentation on Autodesk Island Tuesday, May 29 at 10AM Pacific. You'll need to install Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com) and click 'Map' and find Autodesk Island. You can learn more here: http://archsl.wordpress.com/2007/05/24/may-29th-10am-second-life-and-architectural-practice/

Hope to see you there! I'd be happy to answer anyone's questions personaly as well. I'm Keystone Bouchard in-world, and look forward to meeting you there! =)

Best,
Jon

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

LEED Student Funded Building

2007-05-18T19:37:25Z

I'm a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. One year ago the student body voted to finance the $13 mil. renovation of our union building, also known as the CAB. The CAB is a brutalist structure intended to withstand the rainy northwest winters, it is aging rapidly and needs to be brought up to code.

The Architectural & Engineering selection committee is currently assembling questions for firms about their qualifications. I am particularly concerned with the LEED qualifications of two of these firms as their primary consultants have only worked on smaller (scale 1-3) projects. My goal is to weed out firms for lack of sustainable design qualifications.

I would like to have several questions prepared for our Q&A session of the interviews and was hoping some of you here would have specific ideas about what to ask.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

East Bay Design/Build firm seeking contract architect/designer

2007-03-05T17:34:43Z

Baywood Building & Design is seeking an architect/designer to work on a
consulting contract basis on upcoming residential and small commercial
projects. The ideal architect/design candidate would be willing to work in
conjunction with Baywood's in-house design team on preliminary conceptual
design, working drawings and permit documents, including program
development, space planning, construction detailing and specifications,
electrical layout, etc.

This position requires a willingness to work with other creative
individuals, an enthusiasm to share design responsibility, and a unique and
detail-oriented approach to design and architecture.

Baywood Building & Design is an established high quality East Bay
design-build firm. Our focus is on custom residential remodeling and
restaurant/retail commercial work. We emphasize extraordinary client
service, meticulous attention to detail and excellent organization. We also
strive to incorporate an artisan design and green construction sensibility
into our projects.

To get a better sense of Baywood projects and aesthetics, please take a
peek at the portfolio on our website at
http://www.baywoodbuilding.com/portfolio.html. Please email or fax resume,
including three work references, and include portfolio images [or a link to
a website if possible].

In addition, Baywood has a furnished office space in an artistic
design/build office in Emeryville available for rent. We'd prefer to rent
to an architect or designer in the building trades. The space is 13'8" x
10'4", about 140 sq. ft. The office features: shared copier and fax,
kitchen, bath and dining area, security system, light housekeeping included,
single parking space, casual environment with friendly folks and cat,
outdoor patio, and utilities included. The office is conveniently located
off the I-80/580.

Fax: 510.594.2463

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Arch. and Culture

2007-03-01T19:23:25Z

I'm doing a study on how architecture is influenced by culture, but all the books that I've found so far do not clearly talk about the connection between them. Does anyone know of a book that directly approches this topic without going off tangents?
thank you,
gabriel

side question just for the sake of arguing...
is architecture influenced by culture?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 13 replies

Late 1990 or early 1991 Architecture magazine about Milwaukee issue?

2007-02-11T01:03:50Z

I had bought a magazine before i had moved there,It may have been called *Midwest Architect*(?)I don't remember the name of the magazine and have tried libraries and Google,no luck with out the title so trying to make it to hit a contact/nerve .

It was basically a write-up about the downtown area and may have also had a spreadabout another Mid western town.Lost the magazine anhave moved so...

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

SciArc question...

2007-02-09T22:27:08Z

Hi all. I'm thinking about grad school for urban planning and/or design, and came across SciArc's new SCI-FI masters program, and it sounds amazingly fitting for me... but I don't know much about the school, and the program is so new that I can't solicit opinions and insight from alumni. So, I'm wondering if anyone on here has any opinions, suggestions, advice about the program or any other programs I should be checking out (right now I'm thinking about Pratt, Columbia, Harvard, UCLA, and Berkeley).

Thanks!!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 3 replies

The 2-3 year gap

2007-02-06T05:14:22Z

I've been searching for employment with an architecture firm. I have done allot of interesting work and have many unique experiences in my 2 years since graduating from UC Berkeley. However, every employment ad and every firm I speak to has this 2-3 years requirement. And often it is very specific, "2-3 years exp. in commercial architecture req'd...", "2-3 years exp. in working drawing production req'd...",etc. This is really frustrating for me. Does architecture education not prepare us for work? Do firms no long educated its employees, like was long the practice of apprenticeship? And here I am stuck in the twilight zone. How do you get a job with out "experience" and how do you get "experience" without a job?

I put experience in quotations, because, I have a wealth of experience, but it doesn't fit cleanly into the box. I was a Judith Lee Stronach Research Fellow, in which I work for a year with an amazing up and coming non-profit, Public Architecture. I have about 3 years construction experience. I worked in Nicaragua on Design Corps first international project. I have been working for myself for several months designing and producing drawing for residential remodels, it has been quite a learning experience. And last but not least, I just returned from Sri Lanka, where I designed the master plan of an orphanage to be built over the next six years. I also did all the fundraising to finance my trip.

Where did I go wrong? I just want to learn how an architecture firm works. But no architecture firm wants to touch me.
This is mainly a rant, but if you'd like to give any suggestions or discuss the disconnect between architecture education and architecture practice, please do.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 3 replies

M-Arch Program List

2007-01-08T17:24:53Z

Does anyone know of a good place to find a listing of all M-Arch 1 programs nationwide? I'm doing some searching now but thought someone here might be able to help.

Thanks!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

Los Angeles

2007-01-02T20:41:17Z

Myself and my girl are spending New Year's day driving around LA looking at architecture. We have a few good ideas of where we'd like to go, but in your opinions what are must-sees in the Los Angeles area for a one-day trip?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 16 replies

name one good architect

2006-12-23T01:13:44Z

and why?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 28 replies

My wonderful arch friend needs a bit of scanning in SF - can U help? :)

2006-12-22T01:38:33Z

Hi,

My fabulous friend Hooman is a bit new to Tribe, and is looking for a little help getting some drawings and such scanned for his portfolio - can you help?

He's a super cool guy, and fabulous friend (or employee!) material. :)

Here's his post:

http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/listing/I-desperately-need-to-SCAN-some-Architectural-Drawings-some-art-work-for-my-Graduate-School-Application-Portfolio/san-francisco-ca/e24ad320-293d-4a90-aab6-a92370a5aab2

Thanks everyone!!!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Geoffrey Bawa

2006-12-03T15:45:12Z

I just found out about Geoffrey Bawa durring my work in Sri Lanka. He is the famous Sri Lankan Architect. He is renown for his blending of tradional Sri Lankan and modern architecture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Bawa

He's work is worth taking a look at.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

"An Axes"???? - arrrggghhhh!!!!

2006-11-22T18:17:55Z

Why on God's green earth do so many architects and designers insist on calling a single axis (as in the x-axis) "an axes" - pronounced "aks-eze"?

"Axes" is plural, dammit; the singular, when you are only talking about one of them, like just the x-axis or the y-axis, is "axis", pronounced with a short "i" (like "aks-iss").

Do you go around talking about "an apples"? "An oranges"? "A books"? No, of course not. So why would you talk about "an axes"?

Duh. <banging head on wall>

This grammatical abortion drives me absolutely out of my mind, as does the fact that it is obviously being passed on from one generation to the next - perhaps especially that. I've lost count of how many young minds I've watched go through design/architecture school knowing how to say this correctly at the outset, and then taking up the banner that they are shown of *incorrect* pronunciation and usage in the face of hearing their instructors misuse the terms. It's a disgrace.

Learn how to speak proper English, people, those of you who do this crap - and *especially* any of you who are involved in educating new architects and designers in any way. If you don't know proper terminology and pronunciation of those terms in your own field, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. And you should be shot for actually teaching incorrect information to newly forming minds, especially on the university level.

The concept of coordinate axes (plural - axis as the singular) is a basic mathematical concept I'm sure you all learned in high school algebra and had thoroughly reinforced in physics at both the high school and college levels - and with correct pronunciation. Most of you probably even took the "physics for engineers" classes - the hard core stuff for majors. You simply cannot get through even a basic high school math class without knowing about coordinate axes - plural - which are composed of the x-axis, the y-axis, and the z-axis, of course. In all the math and physics classes I ever took, not *once* did I hear these words mixed up - only once I got to design/architecture school. It's totally bizarre.

This isn't some esoteric elite architectural term or concept that applies only to this field, and you don't look at all cool using the plural when the singular is indicated. You just look like illiterate, uneducated idiots to everyone else in the world. At best, it looks like a weird affectation.

/soapbox

There, I feel better now <g>.

Wendy

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 9 replies

cal student looking to save the world

2006-11-20T21:40:08Z

Hey there, I got into Cal for this fall (starts in two weeks) with a major in Architecture (enviro. design) and I'm going to help breath some life into the now defunct ecological design minor. My main goal is to redefine the concept of human progress starting with our homes and workplaces. (insert laughter here) I want to help be a part of the emerging "living structure" concept, using things like waste/grey water management/catchment, living roofs and walls etc, but on a more all encompassing scale in which the home is a living system with waste processed into fertilizer and burnable methane, passive solar gain maximized and used in conjunction with passive cooling systems, minimize ecological impact, creating a habitat for plants and animals pushed out by more conventional building, using native materials in a non-destructive manner, using plant systems to clean the air before it enters the home etc. etc. But as a first step I plan to learn salvage building with sustainablity and "off grid" designs to minimize electrical, water, sewage and waste requirements, so when I graduate I can work with an international aid group... basically I want to fly into disaster/war torn areas and use local labor to salvage destroyed building materials and build (off the grid) hospitals that can be powered by a few solar panels.
Sooooo... who here wants to point me in the right direction, or a least tell me how crazy I am.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 6 replies

Retaining walls

2006-11-16T19:49:00Z

Does anyone have drawings or images of different types of retaining walls?
I'm also interested in alternative materials as retaining wall.
I need this information for a Design/Build orphanage that I'm doing in Sri Lanka.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 8 replies

Kazuo Shinohara

2006-10-15T18:32:35Z

The talented and famous japanese architect died this last July at 81.
He started by doing traditional japanese architecture and then turn to almost savage style comparable to Le Corbusier brutalist end period.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.japan-architect.co.jp/english/2maga/ja/ja0053/work/img/12.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.japan-architect.co.jp/english/2maga/ja/ja0053/work/12.html&h=277&w=350&sz=142&hl=en&sig2=xAROraPD03TJnWmuvPm7Yg&start=5&tbnid=1KAuxqVFUbUNlM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=120&ei=33syRazRO86IJJDcrGw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DKazuo%2BShinohara%2Barchitecture%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.japan-architect.co.jp/english/2maga/ja/ja0053/work/img/11.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.japan-architect.co.jp/english/2maga/ja/ja0053/work/11.html&h=278&w=350&sz=85&hl=en&sig2=1-CFYRjkEOxUWPaK_seVYQ&start=4&tbnid=0viguytBqdjz2M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=120&ei=33syRazRO86IJJDcrGw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DKazuo%2BShinohara%2Barchitecture%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

How do you view the AIA?

2006-10-15T14:37:09Z

Good or bad... indiferent? Are you a member? why? why not?
Just curious.
Z~

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

fire escapes

2006-08-10T22:38:17Z

has anyone ever added a fire escape to a building? i'm looking for drawings and attachment details...

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Do architects have agents?

2006-08-07T21:29:07Z

I was wondering if anyone could help me find a good agent that represents architects.
As well, does anyone know if these agents also represent the same person as a Production Designer in film?
Thanks!~

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 4 replies

Mass. Home Made From Scraps From Big Dig

2006-08-02T21:44:45Z

Mass. Home Made From Scraps From Big Dig

By KEN MAGUIRE (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
August 01, 2006 11:48 AM EDT

LEXINGTON, Mass. - It's over budget, Paul Pedini says of his Big Dig house, but at least "it doesn't leak."

Pedini wants the home - built using steel and concrete salvaged from Boston's $14.6 billion highway construction project - to be a prototype for recycling.

"These materials are as good as you can get," said Pedini, a 51-year-old civil engineer who spent a decade working on the Big Dig. "We were being paid money to junk this stuff. There's something inherently illogical about it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080100595.html

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 3 replies

entry-level

2006-08-01T14:36:16Z

im curious about peoples first jobs in architecture, and how they got them.

ive been inching slowly towards architecture for a few years - in this time ive done some natural building workshops, taken classes on CAD (though im a bit out of practice), and worked as a construction trainer for youthbuild on a neat LEED housing project in new mexico. ive also read alot on architecure, planning, and design, visited interesting buildings, kept up on sustainable technologies, gone to lectures, and completed a humanities BA program that involved a lot of sustainable design and basic drafting. now im looking into grad programs, but want to work in the field for a year or so while i research and do applications.

it seems like all the jobs out there are for CAD-Bots, and ability to crank out documents is pretty much the bottom line for most employers. and since im rusty i come off as less-than-qualified even for them. im in a new city (boston) where i dont have a lot of connections and im having a hard time at it.

id love advice on job hunting, specifically in the boston area where i am, and id also love just to hear peoples stories of how they started out (or are starting out!). id especially love stories and advice on how people got involved in architecture prior to or outside of degree programs.

thanks to any and all!
andy

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

Looking for Atlanta architects Now ! Thanks

2006-07-26T05:32:43Z

A client have a lovely 1920's house in the heart of the
highlands (Atlanta), that needs extensive remodeling, and
additions.
He has alot of ideas, but would love to
have a professional help me draw it up as weel as
get more input. I would love to find someone who
needs a project for thier portfolio, as i can take
extensive before/during/after pictures, and the
project when finished will be magazine worthy. I am
obviously willing to pay a reasonable fee for your
time and ideas, if this sounds at all interesting to
you, please contact me, and we can discuss it all
further. Thanks.

kindly contact Mr. Eric.

(Thanks guys if anybody in Atlanta could help him out )

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

what do you think of your paycheck?

2006-07-26T01:54:53Z

im curious to hear people's opinions on this -

Big jobs that pay badly:
Some careers cost time and money to take up. But don't expect a big paycheck.
August 16, 2005: 3:19 PM EDT
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/15/pf/training_pay/index.htm

Architects
For every Philip Johnson or Frank Lloyd Wright in a generation of architects, there are countless more who work without fanfare on the everyday buildings where we work, live and shop.

Architects may spend up to seven years completing undergraduate and master's-degree studies, or up to three-and-a-half years in a master's program if they majored in another area during college. To be eligible to take the licensing exam, they also must log three years as interns working for licensed architects.

Architects with a master's might enter the work force with between $50,000 and $80,000 in student loan debt. But as first-year interns, they might earn only $34,000, the national median according to the 2005 compensation survey by the American Institute of Architects. Meanwhile, several steps up the ladder, senior architects earn a median of $68,900.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 21 replies

architectural resumes [how creative can you be?]

2006-07-18T05:26:36Z

hi all,

i am job searching for a architectural intern position and i just created a new resume. it is a little atypical. i am using a landscape format as that matches the orientation of my portfolio. is this a terrible idea?

http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/71f/cd9/71fcd988-6a0a-4e80-81f9-566680db5d45

opinions?

thanks,
alex

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

Subliminal and theraputic architecture tribe:

2006-07-17T09:43:46Z

I have started a new tribe, subliminal and theraputic architecture, using architecture as a mechanism for healing:

http://tribes.tribe.net/architecture360

Thanks

:) 3-Radical

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Hello Guys.

2006-06-30T19:29:26Z

Any freelance architect available in here?
...to collaborate in some architecture works that i have in the USA currently, or maybe i could refer you in future to my clients.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

aSmallWorld Exclusive website.

2006-06-30T19:26:08Z

any architects a member of the " aSmallWorld " social website?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Thanks, Frank

2006-06-08T19:29:21Z

Happy Birthday, Mr. Wright!

Your vision lives on....

http://archspace.tribe.net/photos/b6d6e174-6391-4f68-b31c-fe2e536c6d79

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

wonderful exhibit in wash DC

2006-04-23T22:22:00Z

For those of you in or around or visiting washington, dc, i highly recommend the exhibit currently displayed at the finnish embassy, "from wood to architecture." It closes 7 may. Sorry i didn't post this sooner. In any case, better late than never. But it is touring the states (not sure for how long). www.finland.org.

Went to see it this past weekend. I don't know what it is about those finnish architects, but they are on point!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

VW Phaeton factory in Germany

2006-04-15T01:34:23Z

The Factory building gets the Architect half in me going and the Assembly line and process gets the manufacturing engineer half going.

Check it out. Pretty cool.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1837641

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

new pritzker prize winner

2006-04-11T17:02:11Z

hey, i really like this Brazilian architect that received the pritzker today:
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/main.htm

don't miss his work in pdf form at
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2006/pdf/photobook.pdf

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 4 replies

amazing architecture !

2006-03-30T23:35:32Z

http://www.bushflash.com/pl_lo.html

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 12 replies

LA Times - A rousing encore for the Eichlers

2006-03-02T10:01:33Z

A rousing encore for the Eichlers
Futuristic for the '50s, the classic tract houses with their comfortable, open floor plans have attracted a new generation of fans.
By Janet Eastman, Times Staff Writer
March 2, 2006

When Greg Allen was ready to buy his first home, the place he and his wife would raise their family, he could have chosen a number of architectural styles on almost any street.

But what caught his interest was a light-filled midcentury modern home on the curve of a cul-de-sac in Orange. The single-story had a massive living room outlined in windows that streamed into the backyard so seamlessly that it was hard to know if the dog was inside or out.

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-eichler2mar02,0,2414592.story?track=tothtml

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Strawbale houseS

2006-01-31T23:28:36Z

I believe that organic architecture is the most beautiful.

It can be harmonious on every level of existance.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 31 replies

Modified Architecture?

2006-01-25T20:14:38Z

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to drop a quick line in the forums to let you know about Canada's annual design and media culture festival, digifest, which is happening this May in Toronto.

The theme for this year is 'mods' and we're looking for entries in response to our Call for Submissions for modified designs/technologies in three categories:

1. Informative,
2. Performative,
3. Conceptual

If you have worked on any architectural projects dealing with modification or are interested in finding more out about the fest, please visit our website at http://www.dx.org/digifest where you can download the Call for Submissions and send it in. I know this is short notice but the deadline is January 31st.

Cheers,

q./

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Interior Tropical Plants and Flowers

2006-01-08T20:03:59Z

Design, install, and maintain interior tropical plants and flowers for corporate buildings, hotels, restaurants, ect. Provide short and long term rentals,lease or purchse options, elaborate holiday displays, and special event packages. Network with architects, interior designers, Green Building members, facility managers, and more. Our mission is to enhance the quality of occupants working environment by bringing nature indoors. Recent studies show most people spend up to 90% of their time indoors, with long term exposure to chemical vapors that have major threats to health. Evidence shows plants can indeed clean the air and improve overall moral in the workplace.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

what's it like to be an architect?

2005-12-13T23:16:43Z

I'm seriously considering a career in architecture.

I would love to find out a bit more about what people's working experiences are like.
are there any professional architects in this tribe that would be willing to give me some of their time and answer some of my naive questions?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 17 replies

one example

2005-12-12T21:09:42Z

OK,
Here it is.

The world debeut of my episode on HGTV.
Small Space, Big Style
Episode HSSBS-204

The 'Convertable Deuce'
my house on Vernon Ave in Venice will be featured in this episode as
'an upside-down renovation in LA.

...hey, you can lead 'em to water, but you can't make 'em edit with ya.
I'll be seeing it for the first time along with you....

Small Space, Big Style
Episode HSSBS-204

AIR TIMES:
â€¢
January 26, 2006 8:00 PM ET/PT
â€¢
January 27, 2006 12:00 AM ET/PT
â€¢
January 28, 2006 2:00 PM ET/PT

Dreams in Miniature
See small made spectacular!
These homes prove you can dream big in a miniature space.
Today's episode includes a tiny grotto cottage near Miami,
a lofty charm in San Francisco,
a stylist's live-in salon in New York and

an upside-down renovation in LA.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

With Gilded Eyes: Utopian Urbanism

2005-12-11T18:07:12Z

If anyone's interested I've posted a critique on the New Urbanism at urbanparadoxes.blogspot.com. I would appreciate hearing your comments, posted either or on the blog site (or private message).

Frank

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Decorating/Remodelling Disasters

2005-11-24T05:31:22Z

Have you ever undertaken a do-it-yourself remodelling or decorating project without the assistance of an interior designer or architect, only to have it turn out to be a complete disaster, and not at all what you had in mind? Or did it maybe turn out more or less OK, but you're still not all that terribly thrilled with it, and feel like there must have been *something* you could have done differently?

What do it take to fix the problems, or are you still living unhappily with them today?

I'd be interested in any and all stories, from the sale couch you fell in love with but that that wouldn't fit through the door to the addition that leaked and still didn't give you enough added living space or just isn't a welcoming place to spend time in, or anything else.

Wendy

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

Greenbuild

2005-11-06T23:37:34Z

Anybody going to the Greenbuild Conference & Expo in Atlanta next week?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Can someone recommend.....

2005-11-06T23:34:10Z

I am studying to take the ARE and I was wondering if someone could recommend a good architectural history book?
I would like to not just have a study guide, but a book that would be a good addition to a home/office architectural library.

Any suggestions?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 6 replies

New to this

2005-11-04T10:12:27Z

Well I've decided to finally go to school and find my own carrer path and, for no reason I've been able to figure out, I was suddenly drawn to drafting, CAD, and architecture. I had terrible math teachers in high school and am actually looking very forward to truly challenging myself and immersing myself in a world completely different from anything I've ever done. My question to you all is mainly about schooling although I'd love to hear about work as well. In your opinion, what was the hardest part of schooling for you? The most rewarding? The most surprising? And lastly, any advice as I'm both terrified and unbelievably excited to start all of this! Thanks!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 9 replies

ARE Study Guides?

2005-10-08T18:29:35Z

I am almost through with finishing up the ARE exam (after a long absence). I only have two graphic divisions left (Bldg. Planning & Bldg. Technology) and then the Oral Exam after that.

Can anyone recommend any study guides that have helped them in the past with these divisions of the test? Any suggestions would be well appreciated.

Thanks!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

sketches

2005-10-07T04:55:22Z

If you have any sketches you'd like to post on tribe, I'd love to have them up in The Sketchbook's gallery. ANY level of development, early conceptual to well developed sketches.

http://tribes.tribe.net/thesketchbook?r=10025

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Structural / Kinetic / Pyro Engineer ---> Playmate + $

2005-10-06T05:38:46Z

As a licensed architect and sculptor, I often find myself drawn to projects on the edge...
Sometimes, they have limited budgets...
Sometimes, they pay nicely... and hence I can do the others pro-bono...

I have engineers that I work with 'professionally', whom are quite good and even experimental, but their motivation is not simply to PLAY and HAVE FUN.

There are times when I need to hover large pointy things in the air over a crowd, kant out walls that taper below the 'safety factor'...

I am looking for structural / kinetic engineers, especially in the Pacific Northwest [or digitally savvy], that would like to play on projects where we would sometimes get paid, and sometimes not...

Look forward to collaborating with you!

Ciao,
Fredrick
www.fhzal.com

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

(pe)degree

2005-10-05T03:59:35Z

im a design geek and builder looking for advice on whether school (i.e. a three year masters program, i have a humanities b.a.) is worth it.

i have been interested in design and building for several years now, and have worked landscape designer and installer (my own business, residential scale), been a student in new college of california's eco-dwelling program (www.ecodwelling.org) and am currently working a a construction trainer for youthbuild, (www.youthbuild.org) working in partnership with new mexico architect mark goldman and onxy builders to build a l.e.e.d. transitional housing center for teens.

im interested in public open space, building for social good (mockbee's rural studio, builders without borders), natural building, and design of urban space and transit. right now my 5-10 year goal is to be in practice with a sustainable design firm incorporating design of the built environment with natural systems.

i know that some 'architects' forgoe the degree and simply partner with outher, who stamp their plans, or other similarly creative routes. i kinda hate school, so im wondering what the pros and cons of this route are.

im also curious to hear about interesting degree programs, and about non-degreed methods of learning.

thanks to all for your time!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

anyone in NYC?

2005-10-04T01:31:10Z

Why can not we meet in person??

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Upcoming Conference: EDRA37

2005-09-25T13:28:17Z

EDRA37 is now accepting submissions:

The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) invites you to join such distinguished speakers as former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, Mindspring and Greenstreet Properties founder Charles Brewer and others at the next annual conference, EDRA37, on May 3 - 7, 2006 in Atlanta GA. The conference attracts a distinguished mix of architects, urban planners, designers, environmental psychologists, urban anthropologists, policy makers, academics, students and more for unique and in-depth discussions on all matters relating to people and how they interact with their built and natural environments.

EDRA welcomes proposals on a wide array of topics. Our networks include such varied interests as Nature and Ecology, Environmental Gerontology, Cities and Globalization, Active Living, Communication, Health, Workplace, Children, Cyber-environments and more. In addition to networking opportunities EDRA37 offers AIA continuing education credits. The conference attracts presenters from across the globe, and Atlanta offers easy access to airports around the world.

The deadline for submitting presentation proposals is Oct. 15, 2005.
The EDRA37 Call for Presentations can be found at http://www.edra.org/conference/pdfs/CFP_Edra37atl.pdf

More information can be found at EDRA’s website: http://www.edra.org.

We hope that you can join us at EDRA37. Please also feel free to pass this message onto others who would be interested. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at edra37@gmail.com

Thank you,
Meldrena Chapin, EDRA37 Conference Co-Chair
PhD Program in Architecture, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
(currently dissertating in Atlanta)

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Walkable Urbanity

2005-08-30T19:36:20Z

Please check out my blog on "Walkable Urbanity" at http://urbanparadoxes.blogspot.com. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

f.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 4 replies

Calatrava....

2005-08-18T04:42:22Z

Hi all,

I just recieved a writing assignment on Calatrava's Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden. I am a writer who writes magazine articles on Scandinavian design, and would like some input on your thoughts about it.

http://www.turningtorso.com/flash/flash_ok.htm

http://www.bizzbook.com/map/turningtorso.html

I noticed a few of you are Calatrava fans, so your input would be awesome!

Thank you in advance!

*S*

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 5 replies

Help! I need Large Format Printing this Weekend in SF

2005-08-18T04:39:59Z

I'm on deadline for a burning man project, and I need to print templates for the framing members of a large complex curved object.
(it's a giant set of lips, but warped, I call it a "mobius lip" it has a 11' x13' foot print, and it's only part of a larger piece.)

Problem is, I won't have the files done by the end of today, so I need a printer open on the weekend. Suggestions please!?!? I just called BPS and they wanted $1.75/sq.ft, which is insane. I'm looking for more like 75 or 50 cents.

I'm in Oakland but I'll go anywhere.

Any Burners wanna let me use the office plotter saturday morning?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

Favorite living architect?

2005-07-14T05:46:38Z

OK, I looked through the Tribe's archives and, surprisingly, I didn't see any threads that asked people to name their favorite living architect. Unless I missed something, it's a question I'd like to ask here. (If I *did* miss something, let me know and I'll delete this thread.)

I'll start with my favorite for the past 7 or 8 years: Peter Zumthor

IMO, Zumthor produces the most consistently interesting buildings without ever stooping to over-the-top theatrics (a la Gehry, Libeskind, et al).

Who's next?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 21 replies

Apartment can rotate 360-degrees

2005-07-09T21:14:01Z

Here's a ground breaking new design.
All the pipes and wiring are in the middle so it doesn't get tangled up as it rotates. A lot of potential interesting applications.

http://www.glo-con.com/property.php?property_no=AD2_5016

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=136410&aid=8&sro=1

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

New to ARCHITECTURE

2005-06-29T15:00:30Z

As I am new to the Tribe I just wanted to say hello and invite you check out Urban Paradoxes and the various links. I also want to invite you to post those urban paradoxes that you have discovered, as well as your adventures as a flaneur on the new Urban Paradoxes Tribe.

Frank

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

New Renzo Piano Bldg opened on June 20

2005-06-27T09:22:07Z

The Paul Klee Museum in Bern Switzerland
http://194.185.232.3/works/056/

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

isfahan animation, persian architecture

2005-06-26T01:34:04Z

check it out...

http://www.etereaestudios.com/docs_html/isfahan_htm/isfahan_movie_index.htm#

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 4 replies

INFORUM at the U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design

2005-06-22T21:30:08Z

Sustainability: Architecture in harmony with its environment

"Extracting the most appropriate solution to a given site. Digging into the earth and building a building is a sacred act. Our process begins by camping on the site. It's amazing to see and feel everything in an immediate sense. Taking the care to extract the important information. ...physically, socially, culturally, the given microclimate..."

INFORUM at the U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design

Next Generation Architects

panel: Josh Aidlin, Raveevarn Choksombatchai, Byron Kuth, Lisa Iwamoto
moderator: Andrew Wagner

http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/04/04-11architects-audio.html

originally broadcast 11-18-04 by the The Commonwealth Club (San Francisco)

real audio archives of other speakers:
http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/index.html?sortby=date-ascend&fromtime=1072857600&totime=1104480000#listings

__________________________________________________________________

Josh Aidlin - Aidlin-Darling Design
http://www.aidlin-darling-design.com/index2.html

Raveevarn Choksombatchai - LOOM - U.C. Berkeley Architecture faculty
http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/ced_people/faculty/details.cfm?EmpID=136

Byron Kuth - Kuth/Ranieri Architects
http://www.kuthranieri.com/

Lisa Iwamoto - Iwamoto Scott Architecture - U.C. Berkeley Architecture faculty
http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/ced_people/faculty/details.cfm?EmpID=147

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Hi

2005-06-20T16:26:14Z

Is there anyone here in NYC? or NJ? if so, why do not we orgainze a day out ? and on that note, what is a good central location for a BBQ / pot luck?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Is anyone using ARCHICAD?

2005-06-19T20:36:56Z

I purchased ARCHICAD8 about a year ago and it's still in its box. I haven't been able to break the 2D habit and I'm not sure I want to.
It seems I'm more comfortable in 2D plus scale models as required.
So I guess the question is: does anyone use it? Do you like it? Should I just resell it?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 4 replies

3-Year MLA/MArch in Urban Design? MLA or MArch?

2005-06-18T05:14:08Z

I know people have posted before looking for advice regarding graduate programs, but I’m looking for something pretty specific: a professional graduate design degree for individuals without prior design experience (hence the three years) suited to an urban design and planning career.

My background: I’m working as a “junior planner” for consulting firm. I technically studied geography as an undergrad, but spent enough time hanging out in the planning school, which didn’t have an undergrad degree at the time, to convince my current employer that I’d make a good planner.

I’m enjoying the job, but I’d like to broaden my skills and thereby my work. Instead of just describing what makes a good street or neighborhood in a plan document, I’d also like to be able to design a good street or neighborhood and illustrate the principles graphically. I’d like to get a sense of what residential and commercial densities, setbacks, minimum frontages, etc. look and feel like by trying to design within these constraints, and thereby also improve the quality of my plans and zoning codes. I don’t want to stop planning, but I’d like to plan in the more traditional sense in which policy gets mixed with physical form.

So that brings me to my current conundrum—what should I study in graduate school? The ideal program would probably be a MUD program, but these all seem to require a professional design degree. I don’t really want to do an MCP/MUP, because, even with an urban design concentration, I don’t feel like the experience would be all that useful. I’ve already taken several graduate planning courses, and I don’t feel like they were substantially different from the rest of my undergraduate experience or would provide me skills that I could otherwise gain by working for those two years.

So that brings me to either a three-year MLA or MArch grad program, but one which has a strong emphasis on urban design. First off, does anyone have any recommendations? Secondly, which profession would better prepare me for urban design: Landscape Architecture or Architecture? It would seem that both would be to some extent an imperfect fit--not enough built form with a landscape program and not enough landscape/environment with architecture. Looking at the office in which I work, all of the “urban designers” are architects, but the people who actually do the detailed on-ground urban design (streetscapes, plazas, etc.) are landscape architects. That said, I’m not particularly interested in detailed design/construction documentation…but then again I’ve never tried it. Additionally, all of the CNU people (not to start a discussion about the merits/failures of the movement) seem to be architects—not landscape architects.

I’d appreciate any advice that you might be able to share, particularly from people who consider themselves to be urban designers.

Note: I’m cross posting this in several different tribes to get a variety of opinions.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

Any ArchiCad8 users in Southern California?

2005-06-18T04:01:20Z

I'm opening an office in Santa Monica, California in July.
Looking for ArchiCAd8 user

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

breezehouse

2005-06-15T13:27:35Z

http://www.michellekaufmanndesigns.com/breezehouse/

thoughts?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 5 replies

Prefab

2005-06-14T16:58:24Z

Looking for references on prefab manufactureers.
Anyone have a good referal?
I've seen the packaged products by architects and designers. I'm looking for a direct source.

Thanx

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 8 replies

large company or small

2005-06-02T21:19:20Z

I graduated last year and I am still trying to find my place at a firm, currently i work for a mid size store planning/construction company. I was wondering what everyone thoughts are. if a small or large company is better? I find myself stating pros and cons for each.
thanks

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 5 replies

Evolutionary Residential Architecture

2005-06-02T03:59:50Z

What is the future of Residential Architecture? What is the direction that top designers are taking? Is it garish mini castles showing off the decadence of the wealthy minority? Is it ECO Architecture? Is it Zen minimalism? What do the Residential Architects of the world think?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 3 replies

tales of architectural propaganda

2005-05-10T06:55:25Z

just for the fun:

http://www.gravestmor.com/wp/archives/category/porn/

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

urban (bike) explorations in LA???

2005-05-03T04:02:12Z

Hi all. I ve been a member of this tribe for a couple of weeks now. moved to LA about 6 months ago. been getting around by bike'n'bus!!

trained in architecture and LAndscape Architecture, working as a landscape architect now.

would anybody else be interested in urban bike explorations in LA???

Also I you havent been here before, check out this tribe about LA

defunctla.tribe.net

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

House of Good Taste

2005-04-14T09:19:49Z

Does anyone know where I can find a floor plan of the house of good taste from the 1965 worlds fair ? It was a home designed by Edward Durrell Stone.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Renzo Piano @ LACMA

2005-04-07T00:59:13Z

Just in case anyone is interested... More info @ www.lacma.org

On Tour with Renzo Piano and Building Workshop: Selected Projects
March 13–October 2, 2005

LACMA TO PRESENT EXHIBITION ON WORK AND DESIGN PROCESS OF PRITZKER–PRIZE–WINNING ARCHITECT RENZO PIANO

The exhibition evokes the look and atmosphere of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with sketches, models, drawings, dossiers, photographs, blueprints, notes, films, and architectural details displayed as though a visitor had just walked into the architect’s studio.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

LA Times - Brazil's Oscar Niemeyer

2005-03-29T08:52:07Z

Find it at LATimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-niemeyer29mar29.story

COLUMN ONE
He's Still Shaping a Legend
Brazil's Oscar Niemeyer has long since cemented his place in architecture. At 97, he continues to build on it, with a vast new project.
By Henry Chu
Times Staff Writer

March 29, 2005

RIO DE JANEIRO — He was eligible for retirement before man set foot on the moon.

He received the highest honor in his field, the Pritzker Prize, months after his 80th birthday. One of his most celebrated works, the Museum of Contemporary Art outside Rio, was inaugurated in 1996, when he was pushing 90.

His fluid Modernist structures have left an indelible mark on the world and how it conceives its urban spaces. Now Oscar Niemeyer — architect, bon vivant, lifelong Communist, living legend — is closing in on the century mark. Most of the Brazilian's contemporaries and, more satisfyingly, his critics have died.

But this is not a time for resting on his laurels, even at an age when most overachievers would be lucky to be resting in bed. At 97, Niemeyer is eagerly watching one of his most ambitious projects take shape, a mile-long seafront esplanade of buildings and open space in Niteroi, Rio's sister city across Guanabara Bay.

When completed, Niemeyer Way will house two cathedrals, a theater, film institute, plaza, ferry station, memorial and a foundation named after the architect. Situated on enough land for 15 football fields, the promenade will be Niemeyer's biggest creation after Brasilia, the sleek, futuristic capital he designed in the 1950s and that remains his magnum opus.

When the walkway is finished, Niemeyer will probably be in his early 100s — and enjoying every minute.

"I take pleasure in working with architecture," he said recently, seated in the airy Copacabana Beach penthouse that has served as his studio for the better part of 50 years. "A man who lives does what he likes — nothing more."

The description is deceptively modest for someone who has had a profound influence on architecture since his first solo commission 68 years ago. Along with Le Corbusier, who pioneered the Machine Age aesthetics of Modernist design, Niemeyer ranks among the genre's greatest masters, an artist working in reinforced concrete.

He is one of Brazil's most famous and beloved icons, and one of the planet's most famous Brazilians. With the death of American Philip Johnson in January at 98, Niemeyer is the world's oldest practicing architect of international stature. I.M. Pei, 87, is but a younger brother; Frank Gehry, 76, is a mere stripling.

Hunched over and a step slower now, Niemeyer still goes to the office every day, sitting down to think beautiful thoughts at his cluttered drafting table. His hands shake slightly, but he designs from 9 to 5, and usually a good deal later than that. He savors red wine, smokes slender Swiss cigarillos ("it's good for your health") and plays host to weekly philosophical jousts with his remaining friends.

Despite his age, he hasn't stopped admiring the sensuous, skimpily clad beauties Brazil is known for. They still put a sparkle in his failing eyes.

"Women are beautiful, eh? It's so good to be able to design them," he said, in a voice grown low and throaty. "She is man's companion, that's what I say. Life without women is pointless."

Their curvaceous forms have inspired the sinuous, wavy, spiraling lines that are the signature — some say the weakness — of his oeuvre. Windows, walls, roofs, ramps: Where others stride straight ahead, Niemeyer swoops and swirls.

That penchant is evident in buildings from the cathedral in Brasilia, a graceful, slatted structure resembling the top of an onion, to the snaking facade of the French Communist Party headquarters in Paris.

On the esplanade in Niteroi, there is the wavy-topped Popular Theater, the domed building of the foundation bearing his name and, at the walkway's end, the flying-saucer-like Museum of Contemporary Art, which appears to float above the bay from atop a high promontory.

"My architecture is totally different," Niemeyer said, comparing his works with those of Le Corbusier, with whom Niemeyer collaborated on the United Nations building in New York in 1947. "He posited the right angle. I posit the curve…. The universe is covered in curves — Einstein's curved universe."

Arcs and whorls surround Niemeyer here in his hometown. His 10th-floor studio crowns a creamy green Art Deco building with a rippled facade. Outside his window is a breathtaking panorama of Copacabana Beach, its voluptuous, rounded sweep licked by deep-blue sea, ending in the rolling summit of Sugar Loaf mountain.

Rio's famous sidewalks, stamped with undulating black-and-white patterns, dance in the light. But not everyone is as enamored of the curve, or of poured concrete, as he is. Niemeyer's imagination can be an engineer's nightmare.

His trademark twists and turns often put heavy stress on building materials, which require regular repair.

For all their elegance, many of his structures are criticized as being dysfunctional or even hostile to their inhabitants. Workers in some of Brasilia's government ministries complain of being in a sauna, their windows facing east and west, trapping every bit of sunshine and heat. Ventilation inside the presidential palace, a building of almost ethereal loveliness on the outside, was considered a disaster.

In fact, some critics have dismissed the entire city of Brasilia as a triumph of form over function, a flight of space-age fancy that now looks hopelessly out of date, like a 1950s Tomorrowland run amok. The distances between buildings and the broad, treeless avenues have made it navigable only for well-heeled residents and diplomats with cars, whereas poor families — many descended from the workers who helped build the capital — have been banished to the outskirts. One detractor ominously called Brasilia "the Final Solution."

But the harsh appraisals have mellowed in recent years, owing in part to a revived interest in Modernism around the world.

"He's one of the great, true Modernists, and he has lived to watch what he does be fashionable, go out of fashion and come back in fashion again," said Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for New Yorker magazine. "He has always combined European Modernist rigor with a Latin flamboyance. And that combination is uniquely his, I think. Nobody's been able to [do] it as powerfully as he has."

Niemeyer shrugs off both the dismissal and rediscovery of his work.

"I never pay any heed. I do what I like and not what others like," he said. "Architecture is invention. If you go to Brasilia, you may or may not like the buildings, but you won't be able to say you've ever seen anything like it…. Architecture has to hold surprises."

Niemeyer has hewn to that philosophy all his working life, just as he has clung fiercely to radical left-wing social ideals that have not moderated over time.

His affiliation with Brazil's Communist Party, once a strong presence but now a negligible political force, began when he was a young man. He remains an unreconstructed Marxist, quotes Lenin, laments the fall of the Soviet Union, likes Fidel Castro and detests George W. Bush. He designed the banner for Brazil's controversial landless movement, whose adherents invade and occupy property not in use by its owners.

"It's incredible that a country the size of a continent doesn't have a piece of land for every Brazilian," Niemeyer said, shaking his head. "Poverty revolts me."

The walls of his office are adorned not just with his drawings of female figures but also rousing political slogans. "When misery multiplies and hope flies from the heart of men, there is only revolution," goes one. "The screwed don't have a chance," another says.

His shelves are jammed with books on philosophy (Sartre) and politics (Stalin, in French).

"An architect should read. It's not enough to finish school as a good professional," Niemeyer said. "He needs to read and be interested in the world's problems, in mankind, and be prepared to participate in this difficult world we live in, to know there is poverty and to be willing to work for a better, more just world."

Because of his views, Niemeyer went into exile in Paris for part of Brazil's 1964-85 right-wing military dictatorship. The move, though painful, helped expand his reputation, as his designs began cropping up in France, Italy and Algeria. Somehow a few of his designs got built in Brazil in his absence; Niemeyer prefers not to discuss those.

His reminiscences these days are about better times, memories that bubble to the surface during frequent moments of solitude.

Several years ago, he committed his recollections to paper in an aptly titled memoir, "Curves of Time," a meandering look back at a bohemian lifestyle full of friendship, exciting visions of the future and raucous parties. It was also a life with lots of sex: Niemeyer's infatuation with women started early, earning him a bout of gonorrhea in his teens, which he chronicles with dry humor.

Living long and well has brought Niemeyer satisfaction but also sorrow, as frailty and death steadily shrink his world.

Because of his faltering eyesight, his cherished books are now accessible to him only on tape.

Many friends are long gone. Annita, his wife of more than 75 years, died last year, leaving a void not entirely filled by his numerous progeny, including a great-grandson who is studying architecture and is one of the assistants who hover around him attentively.

But melancholy is swiftly cast aside in favor of work, and Niemeyer has plenty of it.

Despite being in what one assumes is the twilight of a long and illustrious career, this sculptor of public space has several projects in gestation — a museum in Rome, a swimming pool complex in Germany. Reinforced concrete is still his clay. When inspiration strikes, Niemeyer can finish a design in as little as a day. At other times, it takes a couple of weeks.

He has a secret wish to be a novelist as well. But he admits that might be greedy.

"I can't complain. I was never ill, I was never operated on, my friends are still friends. I like women, I like to laugh, drink wine, say foolish things," Niemeyer said, dressed casually on a recent morning in khakis and an open yellow shirt.

"I am a person like any other. I was thrown onto the planet, I will tell my short story, and, as with all others, time will erase it. It's enough to look at the sky to see how small we are," he said. "But Lenin said it was necessary to dream. If not, things don't happen."

With that, he got back to work.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

AUDIO - Inflatable shelter report

2005-03-23T09:41:43Z

From PRI's The World 03/21/2005
5th story down... Interesting.

http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/03/20050321.shtml

Inflatable shelter report

Rescue relief workers have struggled for years with poor quality canvas tents used to house refugees and disaster victims. British inventors have been working to create a sturdier, new shelter. Their solution is an inflatable, cement hut. The World's Clark Boyd has details

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

Soviet Arch that Never Was

2005-03-21T00:56:00Z

http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/moscow/01e.htm

I adore buildings like these and most of them were never built because of world war II. Granted I'm not about the lenin statues
but I can't help looking out my window and wishing that american arch had a better appreciation for the majestic.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

BRAZIL: can u mold society?

2005-03-19T16:16:09Z

DOCUMENTARY:
need subjects in Brazil!!!!!!!!
specificly Sao Paolo/ Curitiba/ Rio area
Can u mold society through archietecture?
What went wrong in Brazil?
What was the intention of the government then and now?
Big Brother observation space, or spacious plazas for living life out loud?
What do u think?
can I film a quick interview with u in Brazil?
PORTUGUESE/ ESPANOL/ENGLISH etc. (no matter)
do u have any leads?

SPEAK NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PAZ!!!!!

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

Considering Arch

2005-03-14T13:14:13Z

I'm thinking about heading down the road of architecture as a career path, but I'd really like to hear from people doing it now to see if it's something that's really for me. Anything is appreciated like:

1. A day in the life thing.
2. Best/worst parts.
3. Directions that you think the field is heading.
4. Opinion of University of Oregon's program.
5. I'm particularly interested in socially and environmentally conscious design...anyone have any experience or opinion on this?

Thanks for your time!

Cheers,
Travis

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 30 replies

L.A. Rain & Frank Lloyd Wright's landmark Ennis-Brown House...

2005-03-03T06:45:16Z

Laurel Canyon Reopens, but Slide Threats Persist
By Amanda Covarrubias
Times Staff Writer

9:08 AM PST, March 1, 2005

One lane on each side of Laurel Canyon Boulevard reopened today, a day after mudslides triggered more evacuations despite five days of dry weather.

Among the homes affected is Frank Lloyd Wright's landmark Ennis-Brown House, near Griffith Park. Ground instability prompted Los Angeles officials to declare it uninhabitable.[...]

[...]Southern California has been battered by a series of rainstorms that dumped more than 33.8 inches of rain so far this season. Some meteorologists expect the 2004-05 season to top the wettest on record, 1883-84, when 38.18 inches fell.

Officials on Monday were trying to determine the extent of the damage to the Wright house, a massive concrete compound perched in the hills of Los Feliz just below the Griffith Observatory.

The house has had structural problems in the past, and there were signs Monday that portions of the massive Maya-inspired retaining wall were weakened by the rain. Several other homes in the area also have been red-tagged.

Los Angeles building inspectors determined the Ennis-Brown House was uninhabitable Saturday when they discovered that part of the wall behind the house was crumbling, said Bob Steinbach, a spokesman for the city's Department of Building and Safety.

Inspectors estimated that rain and mud have caused at least $500,000 damage to the house so far, he said.

The problems come as the Trust for Preservation of Cultural Heritage, a nonprofit organization, was embarking on a major effort to restore the compound, which has been deteriorating because of age as well as several natural diasters, including the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The nearly 10,000-square-foot home is made of more than 24,000 patterned, perforated and smooth concrete blocks that contain decomposed granite extracted from the site.[...]

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 1 reply

Philip Johnson died tuesday

2005-03-02T03:27:48Z

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050126/ap_on_en_ot/obit_johnson

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

Thesis

2005-02-21T02:43:53Z

Hey guys! I'm starting to work on my thesis for school (im an interior design major) and i wanted to do a restaurant/bar lounge. Anyone know where i can get a base plan? Thanx

Tina

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 7 replies

Midlife Switch to Architecture as Career

2005-02-21T02:40:45Z

After almost five years in graphic design, I'm realizing I'd rather do something else for the rest of my life. I've always loved architecture, since I was a small child, drawing and modeling buildings and architectonic sculptural forms. Still do.

So I'm considering going back to school for Architecture, probably for a Masters program for licensure. So, I'm curious about two things:

1) What schools would you recommend for a masters program for someone with a non-Arch BA?

2) What opportunities to see a real architecture firm in everyday practice are there? I'd like to at least see what the day to day life of a firm can be like, before I spend 3-4 years of school, as either an internship or working in some minor capacity.

What I'm hoping is that my work will be something that I'm passionately engaged in, and that can live comfortably without being stressed to death or impoverished. I want to like what I do, because I want to do it for 40 more years. (I'm almost 30.)

All commentary will be appreciated. I need information that i won't find in glossy brochures.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 9 replies

victorian studio,s

2005-01-30T16:53:55Z

what did artist typically build in thay era ???

how did they allow for lighting??
any thoughts??

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 6 replies

audre lorde on the erotic

2005-01-29T08:56:46Z

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n63/ai_7675165

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

BATOPHOBICS

2005-01-26T22:40:59Z

Think of an architecture for:

BATOPHOBICS - fear of buildings
KOINONIPHOBICS - fear of rooms
CENOPHOBICS - fear of empty rooms

for more phobias check these:
http://psychology.about.com/library/bl/blphobia_r.htm
http://www.phobialist.com/
http://www.ojohaven.com/fun/phobias.html

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

T/shirts

2005-01-26T17:58:06Z

peep these shirts from archinect:
http://www.archinect.com/tshirts/

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 0 replies

form/function

2005-01-26T17:48:58Z

is this still an argument? do you all talk/think about this?

I might call myself a functional formalist, I think form is the vehicle of function, function being the fruit of space and space being defined by form, filled by material and interlaced with function and context through measure.

for example: ghery's creations start to sway from architecture because they consider themselves trophies, they are never broken or delicately reveal, they are extremely parochial - not even eye candy but 'product' candy. Functions affects form but certianly form fights loudly for its precendent over the partication of people with and within space.

ronchamp: formally similar, but drawn towards in linaments and punctured/sliced, filled with its culture and its people, its a space/structure of particpation - socially, culturally, imaginatively, it seems to truly embrace space in a gentler way - definately austrian in origin. compared to the american personality of ghery's creations.

just thought for fodder,c mon people, tear in!

_Adam

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 14 replies

JAMES TURRELL TRIBE

2005-01-21T03:13:45Z

ok, HERE'S the deal. I've just started a James Turrell tribe and I'd love anybody interested in his work or light integrating sculpture to think about joining. I'd love to begin an open forum for people who would like to discuss his work and light sculpture in general.

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies

question...

2005-01-20T02:42:05Z

i did a drawing in autoCAD 2005, my client has autoCAD 2000.
i need to plot it at his office.
does anyone know how i can open a cad 2000 drawing in cad 2005?
anyone?

posted in ARCHITECTURE - 2 replies