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Fabulous...
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In Moscow, it's common for two buildings to have blind walls facing each other over a wide alley. This setup provides the perfect space for a lithe, little office to build itself a perch. The structure fuses onto the neighboring buildings with steel clamps, hovering off the ground so pedestrians can stroll under it. It also glows at night, thanks to a translucent plastic shell, looking like a wasps' nest from hell.
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architecture atlantic_cities russia

Sure, ok, there's starchitecture that *is* obnoxious. But you know what's wrong with entirely "community-driven" design? It can suffer from Tall Poppy Syndrome (TPS) and end up celebrating the merely subpar. TPS is when you cut everything down to the same size. There are plenty of supposedly pro-community/ pro-people spaces that were built by starchitects (Italian Renaissance, anyone?), and they wouldn't stand a chance under the regime proposed by this article:
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We need to be very strong in our criticism. Both architects and landscape designers (many of whom are trying to outdo the architecture profession with shapes and forms and a "greenwash") need to be challenged. Only then will they be pushed to support communities in their quest to create places that are comfortable - places where community members can have a sense of real ownership and the ability to adapt public streets and places to their unique aspirations and identity.
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Places that are "comfortable"? What does that mean?
(File s.v. "love hurts.")

architecture starchitecture urban_design community sustainable_cities

Interesting. Co-working working hand-in-hand with disruption?
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It takes more than a few couches, high-speed internet and the espresso maker to compete in coworking.

For architects, it’s a huge opportunity to bring novel workplace technologies and a livable aesthetic to these dynamic, changeable and often very messy environments. The winner of the Unconference video contest suggests the overarching vibe — energetic community — while tenant needs are listed in articles like PC Magazine’s “10 best” list, which at least shows what geeks favor in coworking.
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Not sure I'm ready for this...
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The built environment, Boltuch and his colleagues believe, is in need of a social network of its own. So today they’re launching one – called Honest Buildings – that could connect people to the physical spaces where we live and work, the landlords (or companies) that own them, and the tuck-pointing guys and architecture firms who want to compete for our business.

The scope of the site is a bit mindboggling; as of this morning, you can type in any address in America on Honest Buildings and generate a page devoted to it. Imagine, in other words, if Facebook came pre-loaded with a basic profile for every name in the phone book.
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socialmedia buildings architecture cities atlantic_cities technology honest_buildings

Amazing. It was news when British Columbia allowed 6-story wood-*frame* construction a couple of years ago. But *30* stories? Interesting, that this is coming out of Vancouver.
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Architect Michael Green is designing a 30 story building constructed with wood in Vancouver and advocates for more tall wood buildings...
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architecture high_rise wood_frame_construction vancouver

Yeah, I have to admit that I don't get the benefit allegedly bestowed by this donut (or "whitewall motorcycle tire"), either. Why, Apple, why?
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While communities all up and down the Silicon Valley are trying to repair sprawl by replacing it with smart growth, Apple is actually taking a site that is now parking lots and low-rise boxes and making it worse for the community. Yes, it will be iconic, assuming you think a building shaped like a whitewall motorcycle tire is iconic, but it will reduce current street connectivity, seal off potential walking routes and, as I wrote some time back, essentially turn its back on its community. With a parking garage designed to hold over ten thousand cars, by the way.
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apple architecture atlantic_cities kaid_benfield corporatism

2009 article about Ziba's (then-new) HQ, which I visited recently when I attended GOOD Ideas for Cities. It's a knock-out space and building, very beautiful. I found the following passage intriguing, given the interest in 'pinning'...
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The workstations are situated amid an interlocking sequence of podlike meeting rooms connected by sliding doors. It’s in these rooms that teams spend most of the workday, pinning their inspirations and ideas to the walls. “At first they were looking at one big room for everything,” says Jeff Stuhr, one of Holst’s two founders. “But we suggested a sequence of intimate spaces that you could journey through.”
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pinning ziba metropolis_magazine brian_libby portland architecture design

Interesting juxtaposition to earlier bookmark on biomimetic architecture: Richard Driehaus seems unimpressed by newfangled tech advances?
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Q: Does this, by extension, mean there is not a place for modern and more experimental visions of cities and the built environment? How do you feel about contemporary, sustainable architecture?

A: When it comes to sustainability, I welcome solutions in any form, but many of the modern, technological methods, however promising, remain unproven. The environmental value of traditional architectural techniques has been established over centuries. And, regardless of their technological efficiencies, if new buildings are constructed in a way that makes them obsolete within decades, the burden on our resources to build and rebuild our cities will be too great.

Q: You see traditional architecture as part of the increasing interest in more traditional skills (farming, canning, cooking)--can you expand on that?

A: It’s about the satisfaction that comes from meaningful work. I’ve heard the term "slow architecture." Like the “slow food” movement, it describes an architecture whose followers care passionately about the quality of ingredients, about techniques that require practice to master, about a connection to the past and a legacy for the future, about the value (in every sense of the term) of a local focus. And, when the work is done, the intricacies of traditional architecture, like a good meal, offers so much to savor.
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The connection between taste (what we like *to* taste) vs the leap into (bio-)mimicking forms that are essentially alien to us (say, sea sponges) strikes me as having deep evolutionary roots related to survival of the species (and therefore as something that a biomimetic approach can't ignore - because if biomimicry isn't about *our* survival, then what is it?).

architecture tradition biomimicry atlantic_cities allison_arieff

Biomimicry in architecture, from Norman Foster's Gherkin (which mimics the Venus Flower Basket sea sponge structure to cool the building) to Rachel Armstrong and Neil Spiller (who are working on biomimetic materials, like CO2-eating paint for exterior application) to saving Venice from sinking into the Adriatic:
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Armstrong, who is a TED fellow, also proposes to use the protocell technology on an architectural scale to save centuries-old Venice, Italy, which is gradually being reclaimed by the sea. Armstrong believes the protocell droplets could be deployed beneath the crumbling city to act as a living limestone foundation.

“We did some experiments inside the Venice lagoon with architecture students and we know it works with the Venice water,” Armstrong said. “It’s not ready, but the principles are there. It just needs some more research and development.”

All of this work is evolving at a quick pace, pushing architects, designers, biologists and other scientists to rethink how are cities and buildings mesh with the natural world. Now, using technological innovation coupled with inspiration from the biological processes of nature, these dreams are becoming a reality.
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architecture biomimicry building_materials buildinggreen

Pretty amazing, when you think about it: a house built from shredded decommissioned European currencies, a protest against the Euro being foisted on Ireland...
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A cheap flood of credit at the introduction of the single currency caused an extensive property bubble in the early 2000s. However, following its rapid decline, the euro has left Ireland amassed with derelict and empty building, and faced with a deep recession which forced it to accept a humiliating EU bailout last year.
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ireland euro currency art architecture smartplanet

Great interview with Brad Cloepfil. On Portland:
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I don't know why Nike for instance doesn't spawn innovation in architecture. Ziba has played its role -- it hired John (Holmes, a principal at Holst). It's really about how a company sees themselves.

What I like is that people are so critical. That's the thing. Everyone is so hard on the Pearl. It's because we care so deeply. We want more and want the best.

Another way of looking at it is that the people who do those kinds of buildings and residences are people who care about culture deeply. And they care that their company participates in that level of dialogue. That's rare. Here or anywhere else.

Q: How would you tell the next mayor of Portland how to improve design in this city?

A: (...)
...a mayor and government has to feel the cultural expression of their city is important. And I just don't think we have that here. It would be wonderful.
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brad_cloepfil architecture portland

Fascinating look at tactical urbanism.
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City-making may have happened all at once at the desks of master planners like Daniel Burnham or Robert Moses, but that’s really not the way things happen today. No single master plan can anticipate the evolving and varied needs of an increasingly diverse population or achieve the resiliency, responsiveness and flexibility that shorter-term, experimental endeavors can. Which is not to say long-term planning doesn’t have its place. The two work well hand in hand. Mike Lydon, founding principal of The Street Plans Collaborative, argues for injecting spontaneity into urban development, and sees these temporary interventions (what he calls “tactical urbanism”) as short-term actions to effect long-term change.
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“We’re seeing a lot of these things emerge for three reasons,” Lydon continues. “One, the economy. People have to be more creative about getting things done. Two, the Internet. Even four or five years ago we couldn’t share tactics and techniques via YouTube or Facebook. Something can happen randomly in Dallas and now we can hear about it right away. This is feeding into this idea of growth, of bi-coastal competition between New York and San Francisco, say, about who does the cooler, better things. And three, demographic shifts. Urban neighborhoods are gentrifying, changing. They’re bringing in people looking to improve neighborhoods themselves. People are smart and engaged and working a 40-hour week. But they have enough spare time to get involved and this seems like a natural step.”
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nyt allison_arieff architecture tactical_urbanism urban_design urbanplanning urban_renewal pop_up

Nice shout-out to Victoria BC architect Franc D'Ambrosio's Atrium building:
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A transparent ground floor, housing cafes and restaurants, invites people to approach, look in and stay a while. Rain gardens edge the site, a first for a private development in Victoria, catching and cleaning polluted street run-off, and softening the cityscape. The building is organised around the seven-storey wood-clad interior atrium, which introduces daylight into the heart of the structure. The wood, visible from the street night and day through a full-height glass wall at the atrium's south end, distinguishes the building and invites the public to animate this urban room.
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One Millionth Tower is the result of unique collaboration between apartment residents, architects, animators, filmmakers and web developers to re-envision what a declining highrise neighbourhood could be. Through a close collaboration with the Mozilla Foundation – Mozilla, developer of the open source Firefox browser and a pioneer in promoting openness, innovation and opportunity on the web, the HIGHRISE team has created a lush visual story unfolding in a 3D virtual environment. Visitors to the online documentary can explore how participatory urban design can transform spaces, places and minds.

One Millionth Tower re-imagines a universal thread of our global urban fabric — the dilapidated highrise neighbourhood. More than one billion of us live in vertical homes, most of which are falling into disrepair. Highrise residents, together with architects, re-envision their vertical neighbourhood, and animators and web programmers bring their sketches to life in this documentary for the contemporary web browser — one of the world’s first HTML5/webGL documentaries. And it’s got music by Jim Guthrie and Owen Pallett.
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highrise_movie high_rise movie video documentary architecture katerina_cizek urbanism

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an interactive documentary experiment
by Katerina Cizek, Mike Robbins + friends
music by Jim Guthrie, Owen Pallet

You see them all over the world. More than a billion of us live in highrises. But most of these low- and middle-income buildings are now aging and falling into disrepair.

Could life in the global highrise be different?

Take an interactive journey through a virtual landscape, where the power of imagination transforms spaces - and lives.
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high_rise highrise_movie urbanism wired_magazine nfb katerina_cizek video documentary architecture

Hm, really? While I'm generally favorably curious about evolutionary psychology and its implications for architecture, I find the following a bit too prescriptive and overly detailed. Also disagree with the assessment of modernism and critique of its alleged "violation" of the hierarchy of scale...
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Evolutionary psychology provides an obvious reason for why people find traditional urban fabric attractive: during the period of evolutionary adaptation, if people were attracted to the temporary settlements with larger groups of people and more genetic diversity, they had a better chance of finding mates and producing healthy children. Thus, evolution hard-wired us genetically to like settlements that have individual variation and general consistency.

This sort of urban fabric remained common during most of human history, from the earliest vernacular and traditional cities and villages until the earliest twentieth century. Here, too, buildings are similar in overall massing but different in detail.
This is necessarily the way that traditional vernacular urbanism was built. There were only a few available materials and there was a local tradition of how to build, but each family built its own house, so there was individual variation within general consistency of design.
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evolutionary_psychology architecture preservation_institute charles_siegel

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Harvard has no glassy campus pond or placid central green, like many universities do. The Yard, which is the closest thing to a traditional campus green, is dotted with buildings. The tight-knit closeness of the University’s structures, the breadth of their styles, the pocket greenery, and the bustling, untamed public square at Harvard’s core make it an unusual campus, one where faculty and students have to interact regularly.
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“The future intellectual direction of Harvard will be linked to its physical planning and architectural path,” Mostafavi said.

“When there is more and more discussion around collaboration and transdisciplinary practices, the question is: What kind of space do you need for that work?” he added.
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I wouldn't say Jobs responded "shyly" - more like "slyly," which is appropriate to silly attempts by councilors at extorting amenities where they don't belong...
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The individual members of the Cupertino City Council seemed like they were in awe the entire time the infamously charismatic Apple CEO spoke (which isn’t surprising), asking Jobs for free Wifi and iPads for constituents as well as for an Apple store that’s actually in Cupertino and not in the Valley or Los Gatos. Jobs shyly responded to the requests, “I think we bring a lot more than free Wifi.”
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apple steve_jobs architecture

Five basic tips to design "green" from Zillow.
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Designing a new home is part art, part science. It takes both to make a house that’s energy-efficient, uses less material to build, and connects with its building site – what we call “green building.”

But, beauty is skin deep and sometimes “green” is, too. A truly green home is green from the inside out; the “green” can’t be separated from the “home.” Sure, you can make any house more energy-efficient, but that’s usually just cosmetic surgery. Loading up a house with energy-saving gadgets helps a little, but a green home is born that way, starting before the design was just a twinkle in the architect’s eye.
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zillow green_buildings design architecture houses

Not sure I agree that dynamiting Pruitt-Igoe in 1972 was the defining watershed moment - I think the impetus for archispeak is economic - but, regardless, Witold Rybczynski gives a conise critique of the beast...

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The destruction of the utopian "towers in a park" signaled the demise of heroic Modernism and its idealistic foray into social engineering. It also rattled the profession. What were architects to do? A few, such as I.M. Pei, soldiered on, seeking inspiration in a more monumental and stylish version of minimal Modernism. Some adopted Postmodernism, which turned out to be a short-lived fad. A few turned back to Classicism, while some, like Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, redefined architecture as an advanced technological craft.

Other architects, especially those teaching in universities, reacted to the collapse of Modernism by attempting to reinvent the field as a theoretical discipline. The theories did not come from the evidence of the practice of architecture, as one might expect (that was left to Christopher Alexander), but from arcane historical tracts and the writings of French literary critics in hermeneutics, poetics, and semiology. Thus began a new phase in professional jargon.
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