"Architecture is a visual art and the buildings speak for themselves." -Julia Morgan, Architect, 1872-1957

"Architecture is not a form; Architecture houses a life."-Jody Brown, Coffee With an Architect

The contextual excerpt:

"No one is excited about the program of a building. No one cares about the materiality of the forms. No one thinks about the building systems. No one really loses sleep over the cost of a building. No one remembers the difficulty we traversed during the process of design. Everyone forgot the 2 week delay, No one is interested in the references we made, and no one remembers the speech you made about balance and harmony at the city council meeting. But, everyone remembers the folding chair they sat in to watch their son or daughter graduate kindergarten and middle school and high school and college. Everyone remembers their first job interview; their wedding day; or the 10 days in ICU after the birth of their 3rd son; or the first time they noticed their Grandmother’s fading memory; or looking into your future wife’s eyes at 2am and slowly brushing her hair out of her eyes and seeing a path that leads to the rest of your life. Architecture is not a form; Architecture houses a life."

See the full article here.

See-Through Touch-Screen Renderer, as found on Dornob.com

IRIS currently has a tablet in pre-production that will change the dynamic of design dramatically. Inventions and innovations like this make me even more excited about the future of design capabilities. In an instant you can scan an image, scale it or draft an addition then show it in 3D against the backdrop of the existing space.

See the full article here
or Watch the IRIS promo video here on YOUTUBE

BLDG BLOG "Farmland World"

Image: "Farmland World" by Design With Company (Allison Newmeyer and Stewart Hicks)

A recent winner of the Animal Architecture Awards, "Farmland World makes the human-animal encounter spectacular, proposing an absurdly over-the-top farm animal theme park—a 'human/machine/animal hybrid adventure-land.'"

 "Part theme park and part working farm, guests arrive to the resort via train and stay as part of 1-day, 3-day or 5-day experience packages. Capitalizing on both recent governmental investments in high-speed rail infrastructure and the plentiful subsidies for farming, the network of resorts combine crowd-sourced farm labor with eco-tainment."

 

This is an interesting commentary on the disconnection of people from the foods and agriculture that sustains us. As an educational tool, this innovative "resort" may make you want to go vegetarian, or may help you learn to make more sustainable food choices.

  

(Plus the park is pretty.)

For the full article on Bldg Blog, click here!

Fashion inspired by Architecture

"Fashion is architecture: it's a matter of Proportions." -Coco Chanel

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times, Don Ashby Sir Norman Foster’s Hearst building echoed in a spring 2009 look from Gareth Pugh.

Don Ashby, Reuters, A Spring 2009 look from Gianfranco Ferré and the Sydney Opera House

Don Ashby, Reuters, An orange Lanvin dress from Spring 2008 and Frank Gehry’s Hotel Marqués De Riscal.

Bottega Veneta and Frank Gehry team up in Italian Vogue

 

Designer Elena Manferdini explores the link between architecture and fashion in her new line

Architecture and fashion are very often linked, whether by shape, color, material inspirations or simply locale. As architects like Frank Gehry take inspiration from flowing fabrics and liquid motion, fashion designers also find motivation in the shapes, structural connections, and materials found in architecture.

Also, many great fashion editorials are shot around architecture. Below are some great examples I found (on trendhunter.com). Enjoy!

Stunning Libraries

In light of our first and current third year project (A religious building meant to house a library of religious art, poetry, and articles on the FAMU campus), I have included a quick study of stunning libraries. :) Enjoy!

Seattle Public Library

 

 

Library in Canada by Hughes Condon Marier Architects

interior view of above

Trinity College Library--"The Long Room", Dublin, Ireland

Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

National Library, Belarus

Resort Library in Koh Samui

SanSovino Library, Rome Italy

Bristol Central Library

British Library Reading Room

Central Library in Vancouver, CA

Delft University Library in The Netherlands

The Royal library Black Diamond in Copenhagen, Denmark