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Saving Face: ‘Ghost Facade’ Preservation Worse Than Demolition?

12 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

ghastly grafted facade example

London is filled with grafted facades, nearly two-dimensional artifacts held in place while updated buildings are constructed behind them; many seem to haphazardly half-disguise the boring new structures on which they are grafted. While other cities have done similar, the sheer volume of them in this East End neighborhood is astonishing.

facade combination abomination

The writer behind Spitalfields Life, a web publication, does not mince words in reacting to this partial approach to preservation, which “threatens to turn the city into the back lot of an abandoned movie studio …. As if I were being poked repeatedly in the eye with a blunt stick, I cannot avoid becoming increasingly aware of a painfully cynical trend in London architecture.”

facade ghost grafting

In further criticisms, The Gentle Author bemoans the results as a compromise between “cowed planning authorities” and “architects … humiliated into creating passive-aggressive structures.” Perhaps this gives insufficient credit to architects, some of whom also fall guilty to facadism at times, and have been known to prioritize the exterior over the plan, skin over skeleton, form over function.

facade stabilized new structure

It is dangerous to suppose that preservation is necessarily binary. Compromises are almost inevitably made over time to keep architectural functional, through essential electrical and plumbing retrofits to more debatable code-related upgrades and updates. There is also a case to be made that the streets are a public room of which buildings are the walls, so preserving facades (properly, at least) can maintain the public’s experience of a place.

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Nonetheless, whether you approve of the general approach or cannot see the apologist’s point of view, it is hard to argue against the examples: the executions documented by The Gentle Author range from mediocre to outright terrible. In short: there may be a right way to approach preserving facades as part of new structures, but many architects are doing it wrong.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Architectural Cultures Condensed: Vernacular Dwelling Collages

11 Feb

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

architecture collage 1

Can you distill the architecture of a particular city down to an image of just a single building? Not effectively – unless you’re Sweden-based artist Anastasia Savinova, who scouts and photographs the most distinctive typologies of specific locations and then blends them into a single structure via paper collage. Entitled “Genuis Loci,” the series consists of monstrous, Frankenstein-like cobbled buildings packing in as much visual information as possible.

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“Traveling around cities and countries, I take pictures of buildings, look into windows sneakily, go to local shops, flea markets and bars, watch everyday life – all this helps to build the feeling of the Place. This feeling becomes a foundation for a series of large-scale collages. The Integral Image emerges from visual information and a dozen of associations. While architecture and landscape are visual components of the integral image of the Place, at the same time, this image is inseparably linked with a mentality and a way of life.”

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“It is saturated with ‘an incorporeal something.’ Ancient Romans called it ‘genus loci’ – the protective spirit of a place. In contemporary usage, ‘genus loci’ refers to a location’s distinctive atmosphere. A big house on each collage is composed of many buildings, which are typical for a particular country or city, in their connection with the land and the spirit of the place.”

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Some almost look like they could be real structures, while the rest are pure fantasy, towering dozens or hundreds of feet into the air, sprouting forests from their roofs or balancing precariously on ladders. Can you guess from the images which countries are represented here? If you can’t figure it out, check out Savinova’s website for all the specifics.

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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The Modern Cyclist: 14 Bold Bike Ideas & Innovations

11 Feb

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

bike postale

Minimalist frames, technology-equipped accessories, 3D printing and lots of multi-functionality make bikes more convenient, safe, fun and beautiful, as proven by these 14 cycling concepts and innovations. With modular parts, commuter-friendly features and designs that make racing more fun for casual cyclists, bikes get a functional makeover for the modern age.

Archont Electro E-Bike

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Isn’t this bike a beauty? The Archont by Ono features the profile of a vintage motorcycle, but it’s an electric bicycle with a handcrafted stainless steel frame and 29-inch front wheel. The curvaceous cruiser has a 72-volt battery with a range of 99 kilometers and can go up to 80 km/h.

fUCI Bike: Fast Road Bike for Non-Racers

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Most racing bikes are designed to the standards of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationle), the governing body of every major bike tour in the world, to keep the races fair. But not everyone who wants a fast bike wants to compete in official races, and there are lots of fun features their bikes could have without these regulations. Designer Robert Egger presents fUCI (eff UCI), which has a larger back wheel, electric motor in the hub, a storage space in the wheel and a smartphone mount.

Recoiling Plume Mudguard

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This mudguard has literally got your back when it starts raining, keeping you from getting splattered. With a rubber mount stretching to fit any standard seat post size, the simple add-on absorbs shock so it won’t automatically fold up when you hit a bump. Resistant to rust and corrosion, it suspends over the real wheel or retracts within seconds.

Sno-Bike

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Combining two entirely separate sports, the Sno Bike concept by Venn Industrial Design Consultancy features a Z-shaped tensile frame linking a rear wheel to a single ski controlled by the handlebars. How would it actually handle in real-life conditions? It’s impossible to say, since it’s just a concept, but it looks like fun.

Shibusa Bicycle with Swappable Electric-Assisted Parts

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This sleek black modular bike can be boosted with electric components or made back into a regular bicycle just by swapping a few parts. The award-winning Shibusa design eliminates the bulkiness associated with many electric bikes for a “hassle-free commuter” offering plenty of flexibility. Modular components include a stand-alone bike light, battery pack, storage rack and charge monitor.

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The Modern Cyclist 14 Bold Bike Ideas Innovations

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Grid Corrections: Rural Detours Reflect Curvature of the Earth

10 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & History & Travel. ]

jefferson grid corrections

Driving along a straight highway in the American countryside, you may find yourself forced to turn right or left, then turn again just to keep moving ahead, all to compensate for a rectilinear planning system imposed on a spherical planet.

grid correction

Picture running two fingers along a globe from the equator to the North Pole, starting an inch apart but following parallel lines. Eventually, they will converge and ultimately they will touch. At smaller scales, the effect is all but invisible, but when tens of miles are involved, and as seen from the sky, it becomes quite pronounced.

brid broken road system

Dutch artist and photographer Gerco de Ruijter dug into the history of this phenomena after noticing these periodic “grid corrections” strange during an artist residency at the Ulrich Museum in Wichita, Kansas, that appeared to happen for no immediately apparent reason. They take various shapes and forms, including zigzags, angles and curves, and some are less obvious than others (except from above).

gridded geometry

The cause dates back centuries, to the egalitarian Jefferson Grid, designed to ensure equal and fair land distribution by carving up rectangular townships the undeveloped country west of the original 13 states. Each was six square miles, and framed by borders and roads running in straight lines, parceled for sale and development in part to pay off debts following the Revolutionary War.

grid correction adjustment highway

Those implementing Thomas Jefferson’s plan stumbled upon a flaw in its perfectly geometrical approach, analogous to the classic dilemma of fitting a square peg in a round hole.

gride correction rural america

“It did not take long for legislators to understand that a township could not be exactly six miles on each side if the north-south lines were to follow the lines of longitude, which converged, or narrowed, to the north,” explains landscape architect James Corner in Taking Measures Across the American Landscape. “The grid was, therefore, corrected every four townships to maintain equal allocations of land.”

grid curves

“This added up to a detour every 24 miles, from sea to shining sea,” writes Geoff Manaugh. “These particular doglegs are most clearly seen far from urban centers, in the agricultural countryside, where the regular, quilted appearance of rural land use makes them more visible.” There are perhaps larger lessons to be found in this geometric anomaly, about the best-laid plans and how they intersect with an imperfectly-aligned reality.

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Roller Coaster for Cars: Steep Bridge in Japan is Almost Vertical

09 Feb

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

steep bridge

You’d likely feel more than a little trepidation approaching this bridge head-on, wondering how in the world your car is going to drive straight up a nearly-vertical surface. Spanning Lake Nakaumi between Matsue and Sakaiminato in Japan, the Eshima Ohashi bridge has a gradient of 6.1 percent on one side and 5.1 on the other. The third largest rigid-frame bridge in the world, this intimidating structure is the nightmare of anyone with a bridge phobia, especially since it runs a full mile over the water.

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When you see it from the side, it doesn’t look quite as dramatic, but the angle leading up to the apex is no joke. Its extraordinary height enables even the tallest of ships to pass under it without the need for a drawbridge, allowing traffic to continue between the two cities without interruption. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart.

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Surpassing it in height is France’s MIllau Viaduct, which bests even the Eiffel Tower at over 885 feet from the ground. Still, imagine trying to drive over this thing on a foggy night, in the rain, or even worse, when the roads are slick from snow and ice. It seems like cars would just slip and slide right back down, which probably wouldn’t be as much fun as it sounds.

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Modern Japanese Architecture: Sunny Minimalism by Tomohiro Hata

08 Feb

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

hata reslope 3

Expertly blending the minimalist aesthetics of traditional Japanese architecture with modern sensibilities to meet the needs of contemporary residents, architect Tomohiro Hata graces each of his cleverly-designed homes with his own distinctive style. Haha is particularly skilled at producing sunny, airy residences that feel luxurious, dynamic and fresh despite tight budgets, challenging sites and building regulations.

Re-Slope House

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Modern Japanese architects have found creative ways to enable privacy in densely packed urban residential areas without cutting off access to sunlight, and to balance a cozy cave-like atmosphere in one part of the home with an airy, almost entirely open facade. In the case of Tomohiro Hata’s ‘Re-Slope House,’ the plot is set into a rocky Kobe hillside, cutting off access to light and air in the back half of the house.

Hata’s adaptive design is a wedge-shaped metal volume that follows the slope of the hill, placing oversized windows at the front and inserting wooden platforms inside for varying access to the light. Three open-plan terraced platforms mimic an oversized set of stairs, stepping from a sunny room adjacent to the windows down into the more private rooms. Skylights let the sun pierce through to the back of the home, and sliding glass doors offer access to a top-floor terrace and a set of metal scaffolding on the hillside for plants. The street-facing facade is windowless; nearly all of the glass looks out onto the landscape, blocking the interior from the view of neighbors.

Complex House

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The narrow profile of this plot of land in Nagoya created a challenge for Hata in designing a single-family residence that feels open and spacious, yet also private. The architect’s solution was to create a sharply angled, jagged silhouette pointing most of the windows up to the sky. The series of voids created by alternating pitched roofs brings sunlight in from all directions at various times of day as well as entirely walled-in courtyards.

The clever layout lets the occupants look out without providing passersby with a view into their home, creates a dynamic flow of foot traffic inside and has a far more interesting appearance from the curb than a simple box. The use of simple metal cladding keeps costs down and gives the home a minimalist, streamlined vibe.

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Modern Japanese Architecture Sunny Minimalism By Tomohiro Hata

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Suspended: 13 Hung-Out-To-Dry Abandoned Cable Cars

08 Feb

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Suspended in time and place, only eagles dare go where these abandoned cable cars once reached as these glorified zip lines lost their zip long ago.

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If you build it, they will come… or not, as was the case of the ill-conceived Okutama Ropeway. Constructed in 1962 at an artificial lake west of Tokyo, the two-car transportation system operated for only four years before shutting down for good. Perhaps the builder/owner was unaware of plans to construct a bridge that would make his pride & joy redundant.

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That said, the cars and associated infrastructure have held up remarkably well over the past half-century! Kudos to Lee Chapman of Tokyo Times for visiting this long-forgotten relic and photo-documenting its current (as of July, 2013) status. This video by Riding Japan explores the abandoned and, to quote the videographer “quite eerie” station.

Georgia On My Mind

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Lovely “Seaside Park” in Gagra, Abkhazia suffered significant damage during the early-1990s Abkhaz-Georgian Conflict; the still unsettled political situation and a chronic lack of funding has constrained any moves toward restoration. A single yellow gondola remains in place – its red-painted partner was blown up some years ago during the filming of a movie.

High Wire Act

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Can a cable car system that’s lost its cars still move you? Yes it can… figuratively speaking. Flickr user philm1205 snapped the spindly remnants of an abandoned Soviet cable-way in August of 2007, fifteen years after the fall of communism. One thing about the commies, at least they made the cable cars run on time – or run, period.

“Top Of Youth”

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It’s the “Top of Youth” and the bottom of the barrel in Berlin, courtesy of Flickr user TheSleeping03 and the photo above. Taken on February 6th, 2014 at an old abandoned theme park in the German capital, the image presents the permanently-grounded gondola in a raw yet oddly appealing light.

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Suspended 13 Hung Out To Dry Abandoned Cable Cars

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Slalom House: The World’s First Residential Rooftop Ski Slope

07 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

ski slope apartment complex

Designed for Astana, the cold capital city of Kazakhstan, this ‘white roof’ 1,000-foot ski run wraps around an apartment tower, bringing winter sports right to residents’ doorsteps.

architecture ski slope roof

Despite the length of winters, this urban setting offers little by way of local options, forcing citizens to drive for hours to the closest ski destinations, at least until now.

rooftop ski slope

The slope is designed to wrap around the roof of the building, taking advantage of curves and grade changes all the way down and potentially usable with Snoflex (artificial snow) all year round.

ski slope design

Incorporating 421 domestic units, this 21-floor design by Shokhan Mataibekov Architects was recognized as a finalist in the 2015 World Architecture Festival and is now seeking funding. Additional shops and restaurants on the ground floor would serve both skiers and apartment dwellers. Upon completion, it would be the first such mixed-use skiing center of its kind in the world.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Parasite Houses of Paris: Rooftop Prefabs Cling to Buildings

06 Feb

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

parasitic prefab

Prefab structures jut out from the roofs of Paris’ charming architecture, adding affordable real estate to the densely-packed, land-scarce city in the only way possible: building up. While other cities across the world are knocking down one older structure after another to build shiny new condos that stretch up into the sky, the new units are often too expensive for the average urban resident, and significantly alter the historic character of each individual place.

parasitic prefab

Whether historically significant or not, the older buildings in most cities help give each location its own particular flavor. Razing them to throw up generic condominiums for people with upper-middle-class incomes not only displaces existing residents, it erases much of each city’s personality. A new project called 3BOX aims to compromise.

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Stéphane Malka Architecture has designed a series of rooftop prefabs that work within the context of Paris’ new property law, the Loi ALUR, which aims to construct 70,000 new dwellings per year while also stabilizing rent. The law comes with a relaxation in planning and zoning, enabling new rooftop construction.

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While many of the new dwellings built under Loi ALUR will go on brownfield sites, like those currently owned by French rail company SNCF, others will have to be woven into the fabric of the city in more creative ways. ‘Les Toits Du Monde,’ or the Roofs of the World, offers three different prefab structures bolted onto existing buildings with steel supports.

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Not everyone will be crazy about altering 19th century buildings with these prefab boxes, no matter how science-fiction it may start to look, but the rooftop terraces help make them more attractive, and they could be a good option for structures with less aesthetic value.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Wearable Skylines: Architectural Rings Wrap Up Global Cities

05 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

architecture wrapping cityscapes

Jewelry for urbanists has taken a new turn with these silver, gold and platinum cityscapes, each featuring iconic buildings, monuments and landmarks from major metropolitan centers around the world.

architectural ring collection

Ola Shekhtman, a goldsmith from North Carolina, has crafted rings around cities including San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin and Hong Kong, selling them online via Etsy.

architecture finger jewelry

Growing up in Siberia, Ola wanted to travel the world, eventually visiting London and San Francisco before moving to New York.

architecture silver gold rings

With the help of 3D-modeling software, she created this series to capture the spirit of places she has been and those she yet wishes to visit. Buyers can likewise decide whether to pick places they live, favorite past points of travel or goal-oriented rings for desired future destinations.

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Saving Face: ‘Ghost Facade’ Preservation Worse Than Demolition?

Architectural Cultures Condensed: Vernacular Dwelling Collages

The Modern Cyclist: 14 Bold Bike Ideas & Innovations

Archont Electro E-Bike

fUCI Bike: Fast Road Bike for Non-Racers

Recoiling Plume Mudguard

Sno-Bike

Shibusa Bicycle with Swappable Electric-Assisted Parts

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
The Modern Cyclist 14 Bold Bike Ideas Innovations

Grid Corrections: Rural Detours Reflect Curvature of the Earth

Roller Coaster for Cars: Steep Bridge in Japan is Almost Vertical

Modern Japanese Architecture: Sunny Minimalism by Tomohiro Hata

Re-Slope House

Complex House

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Modern Japanese Architecture Sunny Minimalism By Tomohiro Hata

Suspended: 13 Hung-Out-To-Dry Abandoned Cable Cars

Georgia On My Mind

High Wire Act

“Top Of Youth”

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Suspended 13 Hung Out To Dry Abandoned Cable Cars

Slalom House: The World’s First Residential Rooftop Ski Slope

Parasite Houses of Paris: Rooftop Prefabs Cling to Buildings

Wearable Skylines: Architectural Rings Wrap Up Global Cities

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

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Preservation Puzzle: Extreme Ideas to Save an Urban Facade

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Wearable Skylines: Architectural Rings Wrap Up Global Cities

4-Dimensional Photography: Artistic Time-Lapse City Collages

Archont Electro E-Bike

fUCI Bike: Fast Road Bike for Non-Racers

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Complex House

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