Here are some links to stories that I have found interesting over the past week: The Solar Decation is coming back soon – This semi annual contest amongst architecture and engineering schools to create off grid housing and transportation is set to take over the National Mall on October 9 – 18. I’ll be taking a trip down there and writing about it. The Philadelphia Free Library System is Closing – This is not only regrettable and sad news but totally avoidable, if tax payers were not so dead set against higher taxes in exchange for social programs. Archipreneur has a post highlighting planning “art” – These images of imagined distopian subdivisions are quite striking, not only because they are digital creations done without the use of photo manipulation, but also because of their dialogue concerning the insular nature of suburban communities. Clips … A Daily Dose of Architecture highlights a SLR lens that can eliminate the Dreaded Parallax … Design Public has a post on an interesting wall texture … The Wall Street Journal has an article about starchitects crossing over into fashion … The Architect’s Newspaper has a post about the downside of geothermal energy … The White [...]
Here are some of the links I’ve been looking at today: The washington post has a column discussing the trials and tribulations of the new apple store in Georgetown and what this protracted historic design board rejection/approval process means for future developments here and elsewhere. Icon Magazine has an interesting article about an exhibition at the Tate Modern of two of my favorite Modern Russian Artists: Rodchenko and Popova. I love their creation of three dimensional space within an abstract medium. The Washington Post has an article naming four architecture firms (Morphosis Architects, Richard Meier and Partners, Kieran Timberlake and PEI Cobb Freed and Partners) as having been awarded new embassy building contracts by the State Department. Anyone looking for work near one of these firms office mght stand a good chance of getting employed, especially if you have past government experience. Washington Spaces has a post about McInturff Architects wining an award from Spark Modern Fires for a fireplace design using one of their products. Their design has the fireplace surrounded by glass shelves filled with books. The other entries are presented on the site as well. I particularly like the fireplace in the tiled bathroom.
Since moving to the DC area it has been easy to feel lost in the neoclassical and federalist architecture that pervades the area. Many of the firms here still work within those vernaculars. Those who differ seem to err on the side of bland post modern boxes. I decided that there had to be firms in the area who had a more avant-garde/metropolitan sense in their design aesthetic and so I searched through the websites of over 400 firms listed in the Washington, DC / Northern Virginia (NOVA) / Maryland region. I only looked at architecture firms whose only office is in the DC metro area, and selected those that I felt had a more contemporary/avant-garde design sensibility. I feel that I have achieved my goal of proving that there are small to medium firms in the DC metroplex that focus on creating buildings/spaces that further the architectural dialogue and do not just rehash old building styles for the sake of building. The following firms are in no particular order. amestudio Geier Brown Renfrow Architects Robert M Gurnery, FAIA David Jameson Architect, Inc Randall Mars Architects Fox Architects French Studios Suzane Reatig Architecture envision Schick Goldstein Architects Bonstra Haresign Architects [...]
In the last week Gizmodo has had 2 different posts about Dubai, one detailing a new 1.55 mile high tower design and the other the torturous and abusive conditions of the workforce without which buildings like this wouldn’t exist. This dichotomy between the shining city of modern architecture and the slave dwelling-liked slums have been known for a while, at least amongst the socially conscious in the architecture field. Yet, it is nice to see that a blog that focuses on the new and shiny is finally looking at the workforce behind the product and their abysmal conditions. The thing that really intrigues me here is that almost all societies who hold themselves up as model nations seem to have some sort of slave/lesser citizen class bearing the weight of the whole machine. The development of China has had a similar comparison in regards to poor health and bad working conditions for its construction and manufacturing force. Yet this is not a modern problem, the American dream was built on the backs of slaves, the British empire was made possible by raping the wealth from its colonies, even classical paragons like Athens and Rome were founded on slave labor. This [...]
There is a great post over at ArchitectureMNP showing a stair by the London based Levitate Architects that doubles as a giant bookcase. This is a great way of adapting a zone of typically dead space so that it can serve a dual purpose. I can imagine this would be really useful in some of the Washington, DC town houses that area really narrow and lacking in storage space. With a stair like this you would not need book cases, so wall space can instead be used for artwork and furniture.