DE sign: (Deconstructing in-order to find new meanings)
A blogging space about my personal interests; was made during training in Stockholm #Young Leaders Visitors Program #Ylvp08 it developed into a social bookmarking blog.
I studied #Architecture; interested in#Design #Art #Education #Urban Design #Digital-media #social-media #Inhabited-Environments #Contemporary-Cultures #experimentation #networking #sustainability & more =)
Please Enjoy, feedback recommended.
p.s. sharing is usually out of interest not Blind praise. This is neither sacred nor political.
Showing posts with label #building design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #building design. Show all posts
The VENICE CHARTER ON RECONSTRUCTION aims at the establishment of clear guidelines for post-war development. Though generated in response to the Syrian conflict, the charter aims to be useful in any other similar possible scenarios. The nature of modern conflicts challenges our understanding of conventional war: they manifest as permanent, asymmetric local and mobile wars between numerous transnational actors, and they extend beyond geographical boundaries. The Syrian case presents an example of how local conflicts involve the whole international community: epochal migrations, global terrorism and widespread violence affect globally every person regardless of any economic, social and religious boundaries.
The Architecture of Refugees: The Question of Ethics
Uploaded on May 12, 2017
Hosted by the MIT Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
Significant transformations in the world's political landscape are signaling the emergence of a new world order that undermines the certitudes established at the end of World War II. At the core of such discussions, the concept of human rights is significantly challenged, calling for a discussion at the core of ethics for the revisions of the principles and mechanisms of intervention. In reaction to these new transformations some have called for a World Parliament representing the people and not governments to replace the UN General Assembly.
The workshop addresses the agency of architecture and design in a context where the disrespect of human rights is aggravated by the incapacity of global institutions to react efficiently. What are the ethical questions regarding the architecture of refugees? What timescales, short or long terms, represent a priority for architecture and through which agenda – refugee relief, historical preservation, camp upgrades and daily life, or rebuilding and resettlement? What is the role of design in front of the degradation and destruction of cultural artifacts? How can design be channeled towards peace building objectives and possible resettlement projects? What are the material, technological, systemic responses to address emergency needs in the context of refugee camps?
Speakers:
Ethics of International Law as a Framework for Displacees and Refugees Balakrishnan Rajagopal
Ethics and Politics of Post-Conflict Repair Delia Wendel
Material Culture and Historical Conservation Admir Masic
After Belonging Carlos Minguez Carrasco
Architecture of Exile: The Permanent Temporariness of Refugee Camps Alessandro Petti
"City Debates 2017 explores the emergence of urban-based political movements in various national contexts where “the city” and/or some of its ingredients (e.g. housing, public space, services, livelihoods) have been serving as the basis for new forms of claims. By documenting comparatively these movements through profiling the actors, strategies, tools, networks of solidarity, forms of lesson sharing, and the frames through which claims have been formulated, the Debates seek to investigate critically and comparatively these new forms of collective action. We ask: Are we indeed witnessing emancipatory political claims or, to the contrary, a reduction of the horizons of the political to the minimal necessities of everyday life? Furthermore, as professionals of the built environment, how do such movements affect our practice? How do they change the premises and assumptions of our profession? On what grounds should we engage such social movements and the spaces they create? What can we learn from their tactics and strategies? ..."
City Debates 2017 Panel 1: The 'Urban' in Social Movements
City Debates 2017 Panel 2: Alternative Urban Ideals
City Debates 2017 Panel 3 Discontent and Mobilization in the Face of Neoliberal Policies
City Debates 2017 Panel 4 Urban Social Movements and Local Governance City Debates 2017 Panel 5 Urban Struggles at the Margins City Debates 2017 Ananya Roy - The Politics of Space & Scale in the Age of Trumpism City Debates 2017 Roundtable 1: Mobilization Experiences: Emerging Strategies and Frames City Debates 2017 Roundtable 2: Towards an Urbanisme Engagé City Debates 2017 Closing Panel Wrapping Up the Debates
For the period of three amazingly fast paced days, full of good energy and futuristic optimism, an architectural marathon took place at the coastal cultural hub City of Beirut... October 2015, a month dedicated by the UN agency, the UN-Habitat for the celebration of #Cities worldwide namely #UrbanOctober. A celebration asserting on the quality of our livable cities, its challenges, ... and shared common spaces, how to improve and advance better healthy lives at them. The topic in itself can be described by professionals as one of the most debatable topics around the globe, as there are many conferences held about it in the past, present and certainly many more to come in the future.
42 Mediterranean based design studios were selected to showcase their most built architectural design projects within the period of the last five years. each architect and design studio had a time of nearly 20 minutes to represent their work, describe the project's details, urban constraints, challenges and its lively overall context. so for the days of the October 8th, 9th and 10th a general public review took place in order to select a winning design project for each specified category established by the organizers. This public review was held in a rather open transparent jury Style, where remarks, suggestions, praises and encouragements were conducted by each member of the Mediterranean jury member in the most positive manner possible, so an atmosphere of win-win situation was happening... To me personally as an observer I felt highly included within the decision-making process of the jury and enlightened by different views on architectural, building design and construction processes. Coming from Syria with a fairly good recent distant from the profession, this rapid style of organisation and presentation was one of the best remedies for all these long years of Conflict and war news. One of the amazing outcomes of the ARCHMARATHON was that famous and practicing architects were part of the participants, close to the public, an easier interaction and networking can occur, which is not the norm in the MENA region or the Arab-World... Finally, I wish all Syrians and war-torn nations a fast recovery of bloody crisis and even a faster come-backs to their normal lives and once occupied professions... The Winning Projects
Archiculture Official Trailer from arbuckle industries on Vimeo. Logline Archiculture examines the current and future state of studio-based, design education. Synopsis Archiculture takes a thoughtful, yet critical look at the architectural studio. The film offers a unique glimpse into the world of studio-based, design education through the eyes of a group of students finishing their final design projects. Interviews with leading professionals, historians and educators help create crucial dialog around the key issues faced by this unique teaching methodology. Outline 1. Intro - Welcome to archiCULTURE 2. Design Education - So What Exactly is Design Education? 3. Studio Culture - Meet Your New Family 4. Critique - Desk Crits, Pin Ups, Juries O’ My! 5. Best Architects - Making it as an Architect 6. School vs. Practice - Two Worlds Collide 7. Starchitecture - The Plague of the Starchitect 8. New generation - The Designers of Tomorrow 9. The Future - I See Myself... To stay updated about local screenings please follow us on our Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Archiculture/176928975652899
Thom Mayne, FAIA, the 2013 winner of the AIA Gold Medal winner and 2005 Pritzker Prize laureate, sat down (via Skype) with 2013 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Toyo Ito, Hon. FAIA. The SoCal Sculpturalist reached out across the Pacific to talk to Tokyo's post-Metabolist master about his career in design and the changing role of architectural practice in a post-digital age.
Mayne describes Ito as an "architect's architect"—and in this exclusive video for ARCHITECT, the two discuss what that means.
Toyo
Ito was born on June 1, 1941 in Keijo (Seoul), Korea (Japanese). His
father was a business man with a special interest in the early ceramic
ware of the Yi Dynasty of Korea and Japanese style paintings. He also
was a sports fan of baseball and golf. In 1943, Ito, his mother, and his
two elder sisters moved back to Japan. Two years later, his father
returned to Japan as well, and they all lived in his father’s hometown
of Shimosuwa-machi in Nagano Prefecture. His father died in 1953, when
he was 12. After that the rest of family operated a miso (bean paste)
making factory. At present, all but one sister who is three years older
than Ito, have died. Ito established his own architecture office in 1971, and the
following year he married. His wife died in 2010. They had one daughter
who is now 40 and is editing Vogue Nippon. In his youth, Ito admits to not having a great interest in
architecture. There were several early influences however. His
grandfather was a lumber dealer, and his father liked to draw plans for
his friends’ houses. When Ito was a freshman in high school, his mother
asked the early Modernist architect, Yoshinobu Ashihara, who had just
returned to Japan from the U.S. where he worked at Marcel Breuer’s
office, to design their home in Tokyo. He was in the third grade of junior high school when he moved to
Tokyo and went to Hibiya High School. At the time, he never dreamed he
would become an architect—his passion was baseball. It was while
attending the University of Tokyo that architecture became his main
interest. For his undergraduate diploma design, he submitted a proposal
for the reconstruction of Ueno Park, which won the top prize of the
University of Tokyo. Toyo Ito began working in the firm of Kiyonori Kikutake &
Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University’s Department of
Architecture in 1965. By 1971, he was ready to start his own studio in
Tokyo, and named it Urban Robot (Urbot). In 1979, he changed the name to
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. He has received numerous international awards, including in 2010, the
22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu; in 2006, The
Royal Institute of British Architects’ Royal Gold Medal; and in 2002,
the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for the 8th Venice Biennale
International Exhibition. All of his honors are listed in the fact
summary of this media kit. He has been a guest professor at the
University of Tokyo, Columbia University, the University of California,
Los Angeles, Kyoto University, Tama Art University, and in the spring
semester of 2012, he hosted an overseas studio for Harvard’s Graduate
School of Design, the first in Asia. His works have been the subject of museum exhibitions in England,
Denmark, the United States, France, Italy, Chile, Taiwan, Belgium, and
numerous cities in Japan. Publications by and about him have appeared in
all of those countries and more. He holds Honorary Fellowships in the
American Institute of Architects, Royal Institute of British Architects,
the Architecture Institute of Japan, the Tokyo Society of Architects
and Building Engineers, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. One of his first projects in 1971 was a home in a suburb of Tokyo.
Called “Aluminum House,” the structure consisted of wooden frame
completely covered in aluminum. Most of his early works were residences.
In 1976, he produced a home for his sister, who had recently lost her
husband. The house was called “White U” and generated a great deal of
interest in Ito’s works. It was demolished in 1997. Of most of his work
in the 1980’s, Ito explains that he was seeking to erase conventional
meaning from his works through minimalist tactics, developing lightness
in architecture that resembles air and wind. He calls the Sendai Mediatheque, completed in 2001 in Sendai City,
Miyagi, Japan, one of the high points of his career. In the Phaidon
book, Toyo Ito, he explains, “The Mediatheque differs from
conventional public buildings in many ways. While the building
principally functions as a library and art gallery, the administration
has actively worked to relax divisions between diverse programs,
removing fixed barriers between various media to progressively evoke an
image of how cultural facilities should be from now on. This openness is
the direct result of its simple structure, consisting of flat concrete
slabs (which are honey-comb steel plates with concrete) penetrated by 13
tubes. Walls on each floor are kept to an absolute minimum, allowing
the various functions to be freely distributed throughout the open areas
between the tubes.“ In delivering the Kenneth Kassler lecture at Princeton University in 2009, Ito explained his general thoughts on architecture: “The natural world is extremely complicated and variable, and its
systems are fluid – it is built on a fluid world. In contrast to this,
architecture has always tried to establish a more stable system. To be
very simplistic, one could say that the system of the grid was
established in the twentieth century. This system became popular
throughout the world, as it allowed a huge amount of architecture to be
built in a short period of time. However, it also made the world’s cities homogenous. One might even
say that it made the people living and working there homogenous too. In
response to that, over the last ten years, by modifying the grid
slightly I have been attempting to find a way of creating relationships
that bring buildings closer to their surroundings and environment.” Ito
amends that last thought to “their natural environment.” In the fashionable Omotesando area of Tokyo, Ito designed a building
in 2004 for TOD’S, an Italian shoe and handbag company, in which trees
provided a source of inspiration. The Ito office provides its own
description of the project: “Trees are natural objects that stand by themselves, and their shape
has an inherent structural rationality. The pattern of overlapping tree
silhouettes also generates a rational flow of forces. Having adapted the
branched tree diagram, the higher up the building, the thinner and more
numerous the branches become, with a higher ration of openings.
Similarly, the building unfolds as interior spaces with slightly
different atmospheres relating to the various intended uses. Rejecting the obvious distinctions between walls and opening, lines
and planes, two- and three dimensions, transparency and opaqueness, this
building is characterized by a distinctive type of abstractness. The
tree silhouette creates a new image with a constant tension generated
between the building’s symbolic concreteness and its abstractness. For
this project, we (Ito and his staff) intended to create a building that
through its architectural newness expresses both the vivid presence of a
fashion brand and strength in the cityscape that will withstand the
passage of time.” After designing critically-acclaimed buildings like Sendai
Mediatheque, Ito became an architect of international importance during
the early-2000s leading to projects throughout Asia, Europe, North
America and South America. Ito designed the Main Stadium for the 2009
World Games in Kaohsiung and the under-construction Taichung
Metropolitan Opera House, both in Taiwan. In Europe, Ito and his firm
renovated the façade of the Suites Avenue Apartments with striking
stainless steel waves and, in 2002, designed the celebrated temporary
Serpentine Pavilion Gallery in London’s Hyde Park. Other projects during
this time include the White O residence in Marbella, Chile and the
never-built University of California, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film
Archive in California. Perhaps most important to Ito, however, are the projects in his home
country, made more pressing by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11,
2011. The disaster spurred Ito and a group of other Japanese architects
to develop the concept of “Home-for-All” communal space for survivors.
As Ito says in Toyo Ito - Forces of Nature published by Princeton Architectural Press: “The relief centers offer no privacy and scarcely enough room to
stretch out and sleep, while the hastily tacked up temporary housing
units are little more than rows of empty shells: grim living conditions
either way. Yet even under such conditions, people try to smile and make
do…. They gather to share and communicate in extreme circumstances – a
moving vision of community at its most basic. Likewise, what we see here
are very origins of architecture, the minimal shaping of communal
spaces. An architect is someone who can make such spaces for meager meals
show a little more humanity, make them a little more beautiful, a little
more comfortable.” For Ito, the fundamental tenets of modern architecture were called
into question by “Home-for-All.” He adds, “In the modern period,
architecture has been rated highest for its originality. As a result,
the most primal themes—why a building is made and for whom—have been
forgotten. A disaster zone, where everything is lost offers the
opportunity for us to take a fresh look, from the ground up, at what
architecture really is. ‘Home-for-all’ may consist of small buildings,
but it calls to the fore the vital question of what form architecture
should take in the modern era—even calling into question the most primal
themes, the very meaning of architecture.” The Pritzker Jury commented on Ito’s direct expression of his sense of social responsibility citing his work on “Home-for-All.” Recently, Ito has also thought of his legacy, as apparent by the
museum of architecture that bears his name on the small island of
Omishima in the Seto Inland Sea. Also designed by Ito, the museum opened
in 2011 and showcases his past projects as well as serving as a
workshop for young architects. Two buildings comprise the complex, the
main building “Steel Hut” and the nearby “Silver Hut,” which is a
recreation of the architect’s former home in Tokyo, built in 1984.
Architecture 22 of 23 The Abby Sainte Foy de Conques
Introduction to Sainte Foy, Conques, France | https://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/france/conques/stefoy/indexintro.html
"The abbey church, which has survived intact in its Romanesque form, is located in the town of Conques, from the Latin concha, meaning a shell (appropriate because the town is nestled in a gorge or hollow). This site was attractive as a retreat from the outside word to the early medieval founders of the abbey. Originally, in the 8th century there was a simple oratory at the site, but once the relics of Sainte Foy were in possession there (a Benedictine monk had stolen them from a monastery at Agen) in 866 and 883, the site was expanded. In the 11th century a new church was begun which was completed by the mid 12th century. This Romanesque pilgrimage church became a major stage on the Via Podiensis, the route between Le Puy and Moissac--one of the main pilgrimage roads to Santiago de Compostela.
The site became famous because it housed the relics of Sainte Foy, the daughter of a wealthy family in Agen who had converted to Christianity and thus refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. In one of the last persecutions of Christians by the Romans, in 303 the proconsul Dacien condemned this 12-year old girl to be burned alive according to the imperial edict of Diocletian. Although the flames were "miraculously" extinguished, the young martyr was then beheaded. Her remains were saved and in later years miracles were attributed to their presence. Once the relics were situated at Conques, they attracted many pilgrims; stories of the blind seeing again or prisoners being freed are attributed to the saint's intercession. (The depiction of Sainte Foy on the tympanum of the church includes shackles hanging above her figure as a way of emphasizing these miracles.) Today in the Treasury of the church one can see some of the most fabulous golden religious objects in France, including the very famous gold and jewel-encrusted reliquary statue of St. Foy."
"At the center of the bottom row there are two doors, one to the left (Christ's right) to Heaven and one to Hell. (See far right image below for the door to Heaven.) Flanking this center scene are views of Heaven and Hell, each with a presiding figure--Abraham in Heaven and Lucifer in Hell. (See next page for Lucifer.) Abraham, depicted in the center, seems to be embracing two of the Elect, each carrying scepters with flowers. On Abraham's left are figures representing the Old Law--two prophets with scrolls and at the outer arch, female prophets, while on his right are New Testament figures..."
Architecture 19 of 23 Pierre Chareu Maison de Verre
AD Classics: Maison de Verre / Pierre Chareau + Bernard Bijvoet | http://www.archdaily.com/248077/ad-classics-maison-de-verre-pierre-chareau-bernard-bijvoet
"Built in 1932, the house uses various industrial and mechanical fixtures juxtaposed with a traditional style of home furnishings all under the transparency and lightness of the façade.
An interesting aspect of this house is the ubiquitous mechanical fixtures. On the ground floor was a medical suite for Dr. Jean Dalsace.
This unusual circulation arrangement was resolved by a rotating screen which hid the private stairs from patients during the day, but framed the stairs at night."
Brian Pagnotta. "AD Classics: Maison de Verre / Pierre Chareau + Bernard Bijvoet" 27 Jun 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed 10 Dec 2015.
Maison de Verre | http://architectuul.com/architecture/maison-de-verre
The Maison de Verre (House of Glass) is a collaboration of the interior and furniture designer Pierre Chareau, the Dutch architect Bernard Bijvoet and The French metal craftsman Louis Dalbet. It was built between 1928 and 1932 and is a stunning example of modern architecture in the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Maison de Verre was commissioned by Dr. Jean Dalsace and his wife, Annie, who had bought the site, a 18th-century hôtel particulier next to the Latin Quarter in Paris. Much to their chagrin, the elderly tenant on the top floor of the building absolutely refused to sell, and the Dalsaces were obliged to demolish the bottom three floors of the building and construct the Maison de Verre underneath, without disturbing the original top floor. Viewed from the courtyard the house which cannot be seen from the street looks, the house looks like a glowing translucent box, its great glass-block facade embedded in the 18th-century fabric and capped by the old one-story apartment level above.
The Maison de Verre’s glass façade is made up of glass blocks supported by a steel frame structure. In the interior, spaces are separated by movable, sliding, folding or rotating screens in glass, sheet or perforated metal. Other mechanical components include an overhead trolley from the kitchen to dining room, a retracting stair from the private sitting room to Mme Dalsace's bedroom and complex bathroom cupboards and fittings. The whole steel structure with bare beams, the canalisation and conduits remain visible from the outside and contribute to the architecture thus transforming utilities into decorative elements. The glass block wall itself, is able to stand alone without the heavy frame. Ventilation through the glass block wall is provided by a series of movable traps. A weight and pulley system opens the window panels, allowing for natural ventilation. This unique system causes a minimum of visual impact on the glass facade of the structure.
The house which was used as a residency also comprised Dr. Dalsace’s gynecological practice which was located on the ground floor. A rotating screen hid the stairs leading to the private apartment in the upper floors from patients during the day, but framed the stairs at night. Pierre Chareau who was a distinguished furniture designer in Paris at the time gave enormous attention to detail, so much that the house itself was sometimes half-mockingly described as an elaborate piece of furniture.
In the mid-1930s, the Maison de Verre's double-height "salle de séjour" on the first floor was transformed into a salon regularly frequented by Marxist intellectuals like Walter Benjamin as well as by Surrealist poets and artists such as Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard, Jean Cocteau, Yves Tanguy, Joan Miró and Max Jacob. When the Nazis arrived in France, The Dalsaces had to flee the country. In 2006, Robert Rubin, an American collector, bought the house from the Dalsace family and carefully restored it. Today it is still in use as a private house.
Architecture 18 of 23 Claude Nicolas Ledoux The Saline of Arc et Senans
From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the Production of Open-pan Salt | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/203
The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, near Besançon, was built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux. Its construction, begun in 1775 during the reign of Louis XVI, was the first major achievement of industrial architecture, reflecting the ideal of progress of the Enlightenment. The vast, semicircular complex was designed to permit a rational and hierarchical organization of work and was to have been followed by the building of an ideal city, a project that was never realized.
The Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains was active for at least 1200 years until stopping activity in 1962. From 1780 to 1895, its salt water travelled through 21 km of wood pipes to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans. It was built near the immense Chaux Forest to ensure its supply of wood for fuel. The Saltworks of Salins shelters an underground gallery from the 13th century including a hydraulic pump from the 19th century that still functions. The boiler house demonstrates the difficulty of the saltworkers’ labour to collect the “White Gold”.
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
The saltworks in Salins-les-Bains and Arc-et-Senans demonstrate outstanding universal value in terms of the extent of the chronological timeframe during which the extraction of salt continued in Salins, certainly from the Middle Ages, and probably from prehistoric times, through to the 20th century. Spa activity has extended its use until nowadays. The saltworks also demonstrate outstanding universal value in terms of the specific nature of salt production in Salins-les-Bains and Arc-et-Senans, based on a technique of tapping sources of salt deep underground, the use of fire to evaporate the brine, and the 18th century innovation of the creation of a 21km pipeline to carry the brine between the two sites. The saltworks express their value as well for the exceptional architectural quality of the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans and its participation in the movement of ideas in the Age of Enlightenment. It is testimony to a visionary architectural project of a ‘model factory.’ Developed and built by the architect and supervisor of saltworks in Franche-Comté and Lorraine, Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736–1806), Arc-et-Senans is the modern and Utopian extension of the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains.
Criterion (i): The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans is the first architectural complex on this scale and of this standard designed as a place of work. This is the first instance of a factory being built with the same care and concern for architectural quality as a palace or an important religious building. It is one of the rare examples of visionary architecture. The Saltworks was the heart of an Ideal City which Claude-Nicolas Ledoux imagined and designed encircling the factory. The unfinished Utopian architecture of the Saltworks still carries the full impact of its futuristic message.
Criterion (ii): The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans bears witness to a fundamental cultural change in Europe at the end of the 18th century: the birth of industrial society. Besides being a perfect illustration of an entire philosophical current that swept Europe during the Age of Enlightenment, the Royal Saltworks heralded the industrial architecture that was to develop half a century later.
Criterion (iv): The saltworks of Salins-les-Bains and Arc-et-Senans provide an outstanding technical ensemble for the extraction and production of salt by pumping underground brine and the use of fire for its crystallisation, since at least the Middle Ages through to the 20th century.
"Claude Nicolas Ledoux
On September 20, 1771, Louis XV appointed Ledoux Commissioner of the Salt Works of Lorraine and Franché-Comté. As Commissioner, Ledoux was responsible for inspecting the different saltworks in eastern France. This gave him an opportunity to see many different saltworks, including those at Salins-les-Bains and Lons-le-Saunier, and to learn from them what one might want if designing a factory from scratch.
Two years later, Madame du Barry supported Ledoux's nomination to membership in the Royal Academie of Architecture. This permitted him to style himself as Royal Architect. (He was already the architect for the Ferme générale, the private customs and excise operation that collected many taxes on behalf of the king, under 6-year contracts.) It was on the basis of his positions as Inspector of the Saltworks and as Royal Architect that he received the commission to design the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans."
