In 1994, a routine construction technique that has been practiced in Hong Kong for over 100 years caught the attention of photographer Peter Steinhauer - and led him to put almost a decade of work into capturing this unique urban phenomenon. The bamboo scaffolding and fabric wrappings he photographs serve the simple purpose of catching construction debris, but at a glance they look more like works by Christo and Jeanne Claude, the artists that have made their name wrapping buildings like the Reichstag in Berlin.
The resulting photos showcase the colossal towers of Hong Kong wrapped in brightly-colored fabric; their usually varied facades are made monolithic, like a plastic massing model rendered full-size. Steinhauer named his photo series "Cocoons" due to the effect they create over time: the buildings metamorphose under cover and emerge transformed.
The Mapo Oil Depot is a valuable industrial legacy of Seoul but has been forgotten for quite some time since its original purpose was terminated. In an era of economic growth in Korea, a fresh approach is needed regarding this industrial legacy, which, ironically can survive in having been forgotten.
The results of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Future Trends Survey for April show that confidence among UK practices remains high at a Workload Index of +35, the same as in March. The positive figures came from across the board, with practices of all sizes and from all regions of the UK predicting increased workloads in the near future. However, after last months' survey showed Scotland as the region with the brightest outlook, the balance of power has shifted back to London, where architects reported the highest index of +45.
UPDATE: The Glasgow School of Art Media Centre reports "With the incident under control indications are the firefighters' efforts have ensured more than 90 per cent of the structure is viable and protected up to 70 per cent of the contents - including many students' work."
A serious fire has broken out at the Glasgow School of Art, Charles Rennie Mackintosh's 1909 masterpiece. The extent of the damage is unclear at the moment, but BBC News is reporting that the fire is believed to have started in the basement, and has spread to the upper floors, where it is breaking windows and smoke is billowing from the building. Images, reactions and updates from twitter after the break.
"We encounter similarities and difference, but what we encounter more than anything else is how intensely all these seemingly stable elements are evolving in time. Sometimes with acceleration, sometimes with moments of stagnation, but actually they are constantly changing. So what seemed to be a look at the repertoire is actually turning into a look at how nothing is stable." - Rem Koolhaas
The Harvard GSD has released a video from the Fall 2013 study abroad studio in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The students who relocated to Rotterdam for last year's fall semester worked on the "Elements of Architecture" exhibition that will open in the Central Pavilion during the 2014 International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, Italy. Watch Rem and the students reflect on their research, after the break...
The world is experiencing exponential growth and Rio de Janeiro, a true megalopolis of six million people, is a prime example. Thus, TEDGlobal 2014 has announced they will be “setting up shop” in Rio’s Copacabana Beach theater in the search to find “fresh thinking” in emerging geographies.
More than 40 speakers and performers have confirmed their attendance, each focusing on the “many facets of the Global South’s rise in influence and power” and relevant new stories from around the world.
Register here and continue after the break for complete list of confirmed speakers and Rio’s Mayor Eduardo Paes’ TED Talk “Four commandments of cities”...
Foster + Partners has been named the UK's biggest architecture practice for the third year running in the annual AJ100 run by the Architects' Journal. The list of the top 100 architecture practices in the UK, based on the number of fully qualified architects employed, was announced at an awards ceremony last night in London.
In the past year Foster + Partners has almost doubled its lead at the top of the list, with its 290 architects putting it 87 ahead of second-place rival BDP, showing how the practice dominates the architecture world not just culturally, but also in terms of business size.
See the top 10 UK practices, as well as the results of the accompanying AJ100 Awards, after the break
Charles Palmer’s Cycling Megacities proposal. Image Courtesy of RIBA
Sheffield University School of Architecture student, Charles Palmer, has been announced as the winner of the 2015 RIBA Norman Foster Traveling Scholarship for his proposal Cycling Megacities. Palmer will use his £6,000 scholarship to fund a study tour of four "megacities" in developing countries: Mexico City, Mexico; Lagos, Nigeria; Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Shenzhen, China. Focusing primarily on bicycle advocacy and urban design, the tour will examine the manner in which socio-political forces impact urban public space, and explore the bicycle as a means of transportation accessible to all social classes.
Sokolniki Park of Culture and Rest and the ArchPolis Centre for Territorial Initiatives, with support from the City of Moscow Department of Culture and the City of Moscow Agency for Parks and Recreation (Mosgorpark), announce a competition to generate a conceptual framework for the development of Sokolniki Park.
Don't miss this exciting opportunity from our friends at Canal 180! The entry period for a competition to design an urban intervention for the city of Abrantes in Portugal has now opened. As a member of the jury, ArchDaily will have a hand in selecting winners that will travel to Abrantes in mid-July to see their design realized during 180 Creative Camp. The deadline for application is June 8th. Check it out and enter now!
Studio Magazine has released their latest issue: POWER. The relationship between architecture and power has been the main character in the urban transformation with no space-time boundaries. In which way nowadays the pair Power-Architecture consciously or unconsciously transforms our cities and the spaces we inhabit?
Ricardo Bofill, Norman Foster and Eduardo Souto De Moura are among the many participating, showcasing ideas, research and aspirations that will add commentary about the current state of architecture as well as highlight philosophical questions and concepts regarding time, space and existence.
A complete list of participants, after the break...
Peter Zumthor with protege Gloria Cabral. Image Courtesy of Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative
Peter Zumthor has chosen to mentor Paraguayan architect Gloria Cabral as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Cabral, a partner at Asuncion-based Gabinete de Arquitectura, will spend a year collaborating with the Swiss architect, who has dedicated his expertise in an effort to learn, create and grow with the young talent.
Describing Cabral’s work to reveal an original spirit, Zumthor stated: “In Gloria’s work and attitude I sense a keen interest in the physical experience of architecture, which makes it exciting for me to collaborate with her.”
Construction is slated to begin in August (2014) on an expansion project that will transform the lower level of Tadao Ando’s Pulitzer Arts Foundation building in St. Louis into a public space for exhibitions, new programs and artist-driven activities. Previously used as offices and storage, the two new galleries, also designed by Ando, will expand the Pulitzer’s programable space by nearly 50 percent. This will be the building’s first major renovation since opening in 2001.
Jose Ahedo, Blanca Pyrenees, Education Center (Els Hostalets de Tost, Spain, 2013). Image Courtesy of Wheelwright Prize
Barcelona architect Jose Ahedo of Studio Ahedo has been selected over seven finalists and 200 applicants to receive the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s $100,000 Wheelwright Prize. The travel grant, now in its second year, was awarded to Ahedo for his proposal Domesticated Grounds: Design and Domesticity Within Animal Farming Systems, which focuses on the innumerable environmental and social challenges related to animal farming.
The jury lauded Ahedo’s proposal for “its integrated approach to a broad range of issues, and for his clarity in identifying architecture and design’s potential to shape more sustainable models of production for a global mega-industry.”
For the last two months, the U.S. Architecture Billings Index has remained in negative territory. Although the ABI rose slightly from the previous month’s 48.8 mark to 49.6 in April, the score still reflects a decrease in design services. As the American Institute of Architects (AIA) reports, the new projects inquiry index also revealed a slight increase, rising from 57.9 to 59.1.
“Despite an easing in demand for architecture services over the last couple of months, there is a pervading sense of optimism that business conditions are poised to improve as the year moves on,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. “With a healthy figure for design contracts this should translate into improved billings in the near future.”
A breakdown of regional highlights, after the break…
This year at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Montenegro Pavilion will present four neglected, late-modernist buildings that were originally constructed as a testament to a radiant new society. An effort to spark discourse about urban regeneration in Montenegro and the future of the former Yugoslavia’s architecture, the exhibition seeks to illuminate the uncanny beauty of each structure as they are regarded to be Treasures in Disguise.
More from the curators and a preview of the highlighted buildings, after the break...
Summer DLAB experiments with the integration of algorithmic / generative design methodologies and large scale digital fabrication tools. Continuing its color based agenda, Summer DLAB immerses in ‘white’ for its 2014 cycle, as a starting point to investigate natural formation processes and interpret them as innovative architectonic spaces. ‘White’ becomes the means of looking into extreme natural conditions which it is associated with. Concepts of emergence, differentiation, and complexity shape the theoretical framework of this investigation. Natural structures of differing scales are observed, which are then abstracted and interpreted into elaborated design proposals. The computational process of Summer DLAB is based on generative design algorithms, as can be seen in natural growth patterns such as the Lindenmayer system and fractal theory. These concepts are carefully interwoven with interaction and participatory design in order to create full-scale working prototypes.
Last year, we featured a post about Sketchfab, the online platform that allows users to display their detailed 3D models through a browser display. Digital models can be uploaded to Sketchfab in over 27 file formats, from .3ds to .dwg, and are viewed online; downloading them is not required. Since our last post, Sketchfab has only grown in popularity, with users from multiple disciplines all over the world uploading their digital work for display. One such user is Soy502. An informal Guatemalan news website, Soy502 has uploaded models of eight of the twelve stadiums that will host FIFA World Cup matches in Brazil this year. These include Das Dunas Stadium, Arena Amazonia Stadium, and Mineirão Stadium. See them, as well as five others, in intimate three-dimensional detail after the break!
To mark the 30th anniversary of Prince Charles' famous "Carbuncle Speech", last week the RIBA held a discussion focusing on the speech's impact on British architecture. The speech in which the prince protested the design of a proposed extension to the National Gallery has been seen by some as expanding the debate around architectural quality, but the panelists on the night disagreed with this view: Owen Hatherley said "The idea he broadened the debate is curious. He shut it down." Similarly, Charlie Luxton commented "He turned the debate from one of quality to one of style – and architecture suffered." You can read more of the panelists' views on BD Online.
The Scottish arts charity NVA is looking for an architect to carry out the restoration of St Peter's Seminary in Cardross, designed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia in 1966. The building is an icon of post war brutalism; the Grade-A listed structure was voted as the best modern building in Scotland by readers of Prospect Magazine in 2005, and is likely to feature heavily in Scotland's show at the 2014 Venice Biennale. However despite this adoration, the building had a very short functional life and has been in a state of ruin ever since it was abandoned in the 1980s.
NVA is looking for an architect "highly skilled in the conservation of modernist buildings" to take on the £8 million restoration, which will see the sanctuary and refectory preserved in a "semi-ruinous state", and a nearby 19th-century greenhouse converted into a visitor centre.
Read on after the break for more on the restoration
Check out the awesome video above in which a souped-up drone soars over the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest tower), filming unbelievable aerial views of fast-developing Dubai. The drone, which has an extraordinary range of up to 3 kilometers, is flown by Team BlackSheep, who have many similar videos of cities such as London and New York on their YouTube Channel. Enjoy!
