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Posts Tagged ‘architect’

Vibrant Hybrids: Architect Inspired by Local Traditions & Transformers Movies

10 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

extreme designs

Architects around the world strive to incorporate regional design histories into contemporary work, but Bolivian designer Freddy Mamani Silvestre takes it a step further, blending pop culture inspirations into his fantastically bizarre buildings.

transformer architcture

Mamani is an Aymara, part of a people who were historically conquered and displaced by Incan and Spanish populations.He trained as an engineer, then grew into fame designing mixed-use mansions for the rich (generally: stores on the ground floor, apartments above and a penthouse for owners).

eclectic modern

“Mamani’s architecture incorporates circular motifs from Aymara weaving and ceramics and the neon colors of Aymara dress,” reports the New Yorker, “and it alludes to the staggered planes of Andean temples.” It also is inspired by cyberpunk visions and science fiction films like Transformers.

extreme design

Creative, eccentric, joyful, imaginative are all words that have been used to describe his work, though some see it extreme, superficial, garish or gaudy as well. It can be polarizing, with fans praising his audacity and critics decrying the lack of formal method to the apparent madness.

vibrant traditional

fantastic weird buildings

Silvestre works in unusual ways as well, sketching ideas onto walls or simply describing what he wants to coworkers, leaving them to execute the details. He has completed a number of projects in this way in El Alto, the highest city in the world.

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Clone Wars: How Star Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired the Design of Naboo

26 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

naboo-architecture

Much of the magic of the Star Wars films derives from the fantastic landscapes and exotic built environments that serve as backdrops for its intergalactic tales of empires and rebellions. But when world-makers like George Lucas create these places, they often draw on real architects and architecture for inspiration, including the last and largest work of starchitect Frank Lloyd Wright.

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Located north of San Francisco, the Marin County Civic Center consists of a massive rotunda housing a public library, offset by a strong vertical spire and long Hall of Justice (a classic Wright move to emphasize and juxtapose both horizontals and verticals). These same features can be found in the heart of Naboo, a Mid Rim world (near the Outer Rim Territories) featured across a series of Star Wars films.

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royal-palace

As with their cinematic counterparts, Wright’s structures for Marin were designed to relate to the landscape – curved blue roofs pick up on the tones of the sky above while beige/pink walls tie into the earthen surroundings. Arched supports and the voids they create at different scales are also immediately recognizable as similar between the original Terrestrial architecture and its echos in Star Wars scenes.

civic-center-design

views-of-naboo

For Wright as well as Lucas, there is an underlying idea at work in the design: a combining of grandeur worthy of civic architecture but also an aspiration toward something democratic, beautiful but accessible. The settings are also similar: complex and lush landscapes, fitting a similar vision found in both the architect’s and filmmaker’s works: a focus on working architecture into natural settings rather than envisioning dense cities. Lucas has directly acknowledged a debt to Wright for inspiring the architecture found in the Star Wars franchise, but has yet to announce whether he will be working on a sequel story: some of us are still waiting on Starchitecture Wars.

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Baubotanik: German Botanical Architect Grows Buildings Out of Trees

04 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

living-building

Taking arbosculpture to the next level, German designer Ferdinand Ludwig is working to build not just sculptures but bridges and buildings from living trees. Many of his designs will take years or even decades to fully unfold.

building-envelope

His largest project yet in Nagold, Germany, was a multistory structure made up over over 100 trees slowly combined into a single organism, coaxed into place with a steel framework that will eventually be redundant. The lattice of interconnected tree trunks and branches ends up forming its own self-supporting truss system.

plant-structure-interior

nature-architecture

The support beams are labeled with the years in which they can be removed, allowing the structure to stand on its own by 2028. Like a conventional curtain wall on an ordinary architectural facade, this system could be used to wrap other buildings as well.

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Even now, though, the slow-growing ‘building’ makes for a shady and cool space in the summer. Through each season, of course, it changes with the natural cycles of spring, summer, fall and winter.

living-tree-structure

nature-over-time

A pioneer of what he calls ‘Baubotanik’ (think: Bauhaus using botanical techniques), Ludwig’s living plant constructions were inspired in part by native tribes that grow living bridges out of trees over time.

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The Architect: New Film with All-Star Cast Features Egotistical Starchitect

19 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

the-architect-interior

All of the stereotypes associated with the architectural profession and its stars, real and exaggerated, are about to be revealed in an hour-and-a-half movie starring Parker Posey (wife), Eric McCormack (husband), John Carroll Lynch (builder) and James Frain (architect).

Directed by Jonathan Parker, the The Architect‘s trailer gives you a taste of what is to come: “Often the opinion of the client must be disregarded for his own good,” says starchitect Miles Moss (James Frain). “Less is only more when more is no good” (a satirical nod to Mies van der Rohe).

house-plan

The story revolves around a couple that buy a tear-down house and decide to build from scratch. They spot a house they like and hunt down the architect to design their dream home. It quickly becomes clear, however, that their dreams will be replaced by those of the architect, or at best: rendered in concrete, glass and steel. The wife (Parker Posey) may also be having second thoughts about her choice of partner. Architects and architecture often take a back seat to the main story (Sleepless in Seattle), but in this picture, for better or worse, they are the center of attention.

the-architects

His masterful creation meets resistance, probably in part because its semi-circular spaces are somewhat difficult to furnish. “I don’t know why people hire architects, and then tell them what to do,” Moss wonders aloud, frustrated with his clients. Like this one, many of his lines clearly refer to quotes from famous architects both contemporary (Frank Gehry) and historical (Le Corbusier).

the-architect

“These are the sleeping spaces” says the architect, pointing at the plan (“You mean bedrooms?” the husband replies) — “You could call them that” he admits, his voice dripping with superiority (architects are notorious for giving things fancy names). The movie hits on movements from Modernism through Deconstructivism, wrapping them in the comedic story of a troubled couple. Love it or hate it, this is a must-watch movie for fans as well as critics of the profession.

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Architect Overboard: Rusted Ship Hull Flipped into Arts Pavilion

25 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

rusted lead

Cut from a massive decaying sea vessel, this hollowed-out section of hull has been transformed into a seating and performance space outside of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in South Korea.

rusted pavillion space

rusted gutted sea vessel

Located in Seoul, the Temp’L features an original corroding exterior that contrasts with its freshly-painted white interior and an array of greenery adorning it inside and out.

rusted museum seoul

A balcony and spiral staircase let visitors wind their way up inside this partial shell of the old ship, making their way to a semi-enclosed alcove shrouded by trees.

rusted old and new

The red-and-white theme plays off of concrete and brick on the adjacent museum building while the shape and texture set it starkly apart.

rusted exterior display

“Any great cultural vestiges can lose their function,” says Shinslab Architecture. “In the same way, a material can also lose its original value over time.”

rusted trees interior

“The fact that the destiny of cultural relics is to be dismantled, should make us reflect upon what we need to consider for future generations.”

rusted visitors

rusted entryeway

“Temp’L is designed from recycled steel parts from an old ship. It shows not only a beauty of structure, but it has also a recycling purpose…It provokes thought about beauty in our time, coming from a recent past.”

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Dystopian Textile: Beirut Architect Builds Bulletproof Headscarf

19 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

head scarf

Somewhere between disturbing practical and abysmally pessimistic, this gender-neutral, anti-ballistic headscarf draws on a long history of regional fashion traditions but with a depressingly contemporary twist: it is constructed from Kevlar.

bullet resistant textile design

Salim al-Kadi seems ambivalent on the question of the whether this accessory is practical or political, but he put serious effort into making it work, regardless. The K29 Keffiyeh 001 was made from para-aramid synthetic fiber, of the kind used in body armor including bulletproof vests.

bulletrpoof head wrap kevlar

The architect brought the Kevlar to a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon and had her weave in a traditional pattern without compromising the bullet-resisting efficacy of the material. Of course, a shot to the head, cloth or no, is certain to be damaging if not deadly, regardless of whether the bullet is stopped.

bullet scarf middle east

Historically, keffiyeh have been worn around the Middle East as a way for men (and women) to gain protection from sun and sand. It is wrapped in different ways depending on the place, but does not stand out, a sort of hidden-in-plain-sight statement about the state of war and tension in the region.

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Reflecting on a Master Architect: 10 Water-Centric Works by Tadao Ando

28 Jun

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

tadao ando fort worth

Tadao Ando’s work consists of more than just the tangible architectural materials making up each structure, masterfully utilizing reflection, simple palettes and negative space to incorporate wind, water and light into the carefully designed compositions. The self-taught yet Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect infuses these elements – most notably in the form of reflecting pools and ponds – into almost all of his creations, yet it always seems fresh, each structure standing firm in its own identity.

Water Temple, Awaji, Japan, 1991

tadao ando water temple 1

tadao ando water temple 2

tadao ando water temple 3

Serving as the residence for the oldest sect of Tantric Buddhism in Japan, the Water Temple is considered one of Tadao Ando’s most striking achievements. An oval of concrete encloses a lake of lotus flowers, which are symbols of heaven, with a set of stairs leading to its reflective surface. The journey from the gravel path outside up to this pinnacle symbolizes successive places of initiation.

The Oval at Benesse Art Museum Naoshima, Japan, 2004

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Says the architect of this space serving as a museum for the town of Naoshima and his own work, “In the ANDO MUSEUM, I nestled a concrete box within the old mink house. The box has a gently curved ceiling. One of its walls aligns with the main axis of the house and is tilted towards the ridge-beam to generate a feeling of openness that extends dynamically into the space above. Sunlight descends down through the deep space from a skylight opening at the top of the wooden roof. My aim was to create a space that conjures a rich sense of depth despite its small size, where oppositional elements such as the past and present, wood and concrete, and light and shadow clash intensely as they are superimposed against each other.”

Casa Monterrey, Mexico, 2011

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tadao ando monterrey 3

Nestled into a hillside in Mexico, Casa Monterrey’s defining feature is the swimming pool that cantilevers out over the slope, punctuated with concrete walls that strategically frame views of the rocky Cumbres de Monterrey National Park. Designed to accommodate a family, the three-story house is built around a double-height library. A rooftop terrace provides gorgeous views of the landscape as well as that pool, which seems to extend the sky right into the yard.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, 2002

tadao ando fort worth

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One of Ando’s most iconic structures, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth incorporates Y-shaped concrete supports that are doubled by the 1.5-acre reflecting pool that comes right up to the building’s exterior walls. Five flat-roofed pavilions seem to rise up out of the water, constructed in a limited palette of simple materials that make the landscape and the art inside the main focus but still come together into an elegant whole. “By using glass as a wall, physically there is a barrier, protection from the outside, but visually there is no boundary between outside and inside,” says Ando. “There is also the light that comes off the water through the glass that indicates a lack of boundary an can make its presence felt on the wall.”

Church on the Water, Hokkaido, 1988

tadao ando church on the water 3

tadao ando church on the water 1

tadao ando church on the water 2

This classic Tadao Ando work faces seated congregants inside a minimalist church building so they’re gazing out at a cross in the middle of a pond. The church consists of two overlapping cubes, a steel-and-glass entrance structure and the main volume serving as the chapel. The glass wall overlooking the pond can be opened or closed depending on the weather. Unsurprisingly, Church on the Water is one of Japan’s most popular wedding destinations.

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Reflecting On A Master Architect 10 Water Centric Works By Tadao Ando

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3ds max Jubilee church animation Richard Meier architect

06 Aug

archiviz.wordpress.com You can downloading an higer resolution version at link www.megaupload.com modeling, rendering, animation and editing by robertodeangelis@hotmail.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5