R.I. P. Jørn Utzon

Utzon died yesterday at age 90. A legend in the field of architecture, he designed the famous Sydney Opera House. He received the Pritzker Prize in 2003.

A beautiful life of beautiful work. The world is a better place because of his influence.

SHoP - 290 Mulberry

I had a chance to visit SHoP Architect's 290 Mulberry Project while in NYC last weekend, the exterior is nearing completion. The undulating cast-brick surface is very cool.
Some photos I took:

Alphaville - Hall House 1

The Hall House 1 by Alphaville of Japan dropped my jaw. The polygonal concrete box with such a clean, multifunctional interior is extremely well done. I come across dozens of projects like this in Japan, fantastically detailed little residential jewels. We need this kind of quality work in America's urban environments!

This house served as a second home to a couple, with a billiard room that doubles as a theater, an eat-in kitchen, and an upstairs bedroom with glass enclosed bath.

Drool.

National Architecture Billings in a Weak Economy

The images say it all. Billings are down. Architecture firms are making less money. Architects are getting laid off everywhere. Sucky.
via AIA

Unpublished Peter Zumthor Competition Boards - Cornell Architecture Facility

2 competition boards by Peter Zumthor submitted for the Department of Architecture Facility at Cornell University in 2001 recently sold on eBay to the tune of $500. The seller was gracious enough to send me these hi-res images. As a Peter Zumthor groupie, this was unreal for me!

eBay link

Sketchup 7 Released

Google has released Sketchup 7. There are a decent amount of upgrades and changes from version 6, the most impressive is the intelligent model ability with behaviors. For instance stretching a stair adds risers instead of merely stretching the object, or stretching a picket fence adds more pickets. One step closer to BIM, but still a LONG way off guys. Still a fantastic sketch/modeling/rendering tool.
Video of features:



Also available is V-Ray for a sketchup, a mind blowing rendering engine that I have yet to give a shot. See below for sample images modeled in Skethcup and rendered in V-Ray.

Benisch Architekten - Univ. of Baltimore Law Center

The winning design for a new Law Center at the University of Baltimore, a 190,000 sq. ft, $107mm at Charles St. & Mt Royal Ave., has been announced. Behnisch Architekten of Stuttgart, Germany has won the competition. Opening is scheduled for August 2012.

Sketchup Plug-In - Waybe Paper Modeling

I found this nifty little plugin for Sketchup called Waybe that takes your model and unfolds it so you can print it and reassemble it to make a real physical model. I have yet to test it on some architectural models. But I'd think some more complex, Gehry-esque type building forms would either came out really cool, or just not work at all.

Model:

Print:Assemble:

Fun Things To Do In Modern Architecture

Back in 2003 I made a stop in Santiago Calatrava's TGV Station, about 20km outside of Lyon France. I did the usual architect thing; wander around, look at details, take pictures of shadows and details, sketch for a bit, etc. The floors in this place were so smooth and unworn I had to give them a whirl :)



Side note: I noticed about two, yes only two, people actually using this terminal as customers in the hour and a half I was there, and not a single train came through. Hell of an effort to be used that infrequently!

Where in the World - TGV / Gare de Lyon Saint-Exupéry, France

Office of Urban Policy

Barack Obama plans to establish a White House Office of Urban Policy to "better coordinate federal efforts to help America's cities....Because he began as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, he understands at the local level is really where you can impact change and that local government can play a vital role as we try to jump start our economy."

Some government jobs are coming to DC for us Architects! All of you with crappy benefits and who don't want to work on government holidays take notice!

I interested, send in your info here:
http://change.gov/page/s/application

via Washington Post

Sabbagh Arquitectos - Duoc Corporate Building

Sabbagh Arquitectos have completed construction on their Duoc Corporate Building in Santiago, Chile.
I didn't read anything about this building, I just saw this first photo and almost started drooling. Awesome.

Cool New Towers

There's been a lot of fun tall or semi tall buildings being planned and published lately. Let's take a look.

MVRDV & co-architect Adept have won a competition for a mixed use project in Rødovre, Denmark.
via Bustler

The Anara Tower by Atkins Design Studio is being planned in Dubai. The little glass capsule on top will serve as a restaurant with panoramic views.


The Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has released it's design for the Michael Schumacher World Champion Tower also in Dubai. The design is taken from the geometric design of snowflakes and F1 aerodynamics. Maybe I've missed something about buildings in the last few thousand years, but I'd be surprised if this building was going anywhere at 225 mph, ha! Still a good looking structure, I'd grab beers there. To be completed mid 2011.


Last but not least is Herzog & de Meuron's 57-story 56 Leonard Tower in NYC. It comprises 145 units ranging from 1,430 sq ft to 6,380 sq. ft. Completion in Fall 2010.

It comes complete with an Anish Kapoor sculpture, who also did the Cloud Gate in Chicago (see my last post on it) I was in Chicago this past weekend and had another chance to visit it. What a cool experience a big shiny blob is. Really!

This thing amazes me, mostly because of Tronic's jaw dropping renderings and animations. Take a look at Tronic's work.