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Wednesday 23 December 2015

Parametric Design and Parametricism

For decades now architects have using CAD either 2D or 3D. CAD has enable architects and related professionals to communicates their designs. With CAD architects are able to visualize their designs. Today,  a new trend is sweeping the architectural world, it is a form of CAD base design called Parametric Design or Parametric modelling. Parametric design is a fast developing CAD method around the world, in Nigeria we are yet to dive into the trend.  Most firms in Nigeria are yet to adapt this approach to design. This is the paradigm in architecture though it is yet to go main stream globally, I make bold to say that this is the future of design. From these methods an architect can achieve parametricism. There is a clear difference between Parametric Design and Parametricism albeit they are very related.


What is Parametric design? Let's Wikipedia help here. Parametric design is a process based on algorithmic thinking that enables the expression of parameters and rules that, together, define, encode and clarify the relationship between design intent and design response.
With this approach architects and designers are able to specify the key parameters of their model and make changes interactively. Whenever changes are made the rest of the model updates
automatically.


What is Parametricism? Once again let me consult Wikipedia. Parametricism is a style within contemporary avant-garde architecture. The style addresses urban design ,architectural design , interior design, and furniture design. Its impact can also be noted in product design and
fashion design . Parametricism implies that all elements of the design become parametrically variable and mutually
adaptive.


Parametricism is a style of architecture while parametric design is a means to achieving such a distinct style. Parametricism has it formative years from the 1960's. Frei Otto( I wrote about him here)is a proponent of this style. His work is a precursor to parametricism. In designing Munich Olympic Stadium in 1972, Frei Otto in collaboration with Günther Behnisch, experimented with light weight and tensile material, during this period rather than draw his desired shape he allow physical design process and simulation to determine his form. That was tantamount to applying parametric design method without the use of CAD.
Let me talk again about parametric design. The ground of parametric design is the generation of geometry from the definition of a family of initial parameters and the design of the formal relations they keep with each other. Parametric modelling is not just about create shapes but creating relationships between points, lines, shapes and plane. It is about the use of variables and algorithms to generate a hierarchy of mathematical and geometric relations that allow you to generate a certain design, but to explore the whole range of possible solutions that the variability of the initial parameters may allow. In my relative exploration of parametric design with REVIT, I have come to realize that a little knowledge of mathematics(most especially trigonometry) is important.


What are the benefits? The benefits are enormous and instantaneous. Let me state a few. Parametric modelling allow you to make changes at late stage of design without remodeling, a simple change is seamlessly effected through out the model. There are few or no constraints if you know the values or formula to apply. It is a huge leap in the quality of our process, since we are not bound by our tools anymore; now it will be us who design our own tools. On the other hand, parametric design is fundamental when minimizing the effort needed to create and test design variants. Because it is automated it reduce repetitive work. It can be use to test model response to sunlight, it help keep cost of building low since you can test your models within some parameters. Human error is eliminated. There is seemingly endless benefit of using parametric design.
Parametricism as a style continues to evolve in an increasingly complex and fluid network of global communications. Parametricism evolves with the advancing computational design and fabrication technologies. e.g. multi-agent computational systems, genetic algorithms and robotic fabrication. However, it is imperative to state that the emergence of a new style does not occur solely as the outcome of innovation in the technological arena. Classical buildings were base on parametric relationship and proportionality.

Proponents of parametricism are
Peter Eisenman , Frank Gehry , Zaha Hadid , Rem Koolhaas, Wolf D. Prix,
Bernard Tschumi , Daniel Libeskind (Frei Otto, Günther Behnisch and many more.
Zaha Hadid's work: Beethoven's concert hall.


List of Software that supports Parametric modelling.
#Grasshopper for Rhinoceros. (No laugh)
# Autodesk Revit (conceptual modelling)
# Autodesk Maya
# Catia
#RhinoScript
# Generative Component.
#Sketchup
# Autodesk Dynamo( visual programming.

Ways to making Parametric modelling.
Typical environment of a RhinoScript

#Scripting - This is a powerful way that use computer codes e.g RhinoScript and
Scriptographer which is a scripting plugin for Adobe Illustrator™.

Grasshopper for Rhino environment

#Visual Programing- The allow u to put in for on nodes, that are interpreted for your model. Autodesk Dynamo and Grasshopper for Rhinoceros uses this pattern.

Revit conceptual drawing( using adaptive component).
# Sketching - This is the good old drawing method. It involves the use of adaptive components. Autodesk Revit and Sketchup uses this pattern.


Before I wrap up this post, I will implore all architects in Nigeria to embrace the moving train(not literally) and start leaning parametric design,personally am self teaching my self at the moment, aside parametric design improving your design skills, the knowledge could give you a competitive edge in the ever competitive architectural market.


Tuesday 1 December 2015

Chelsea have submitted a planning application to rebuildStamford Bridge into a 60,000-seat stadium.

Chelsea have submitted a planning application to rebuild
Stamford Bridge into a 60,000-seat stadium.
The Premier League champions have consulted over the redevelopment of their West London home, which currently has a capacity of 41,600. And a statement on the club's official website on Tuesday confirmed plans would be submitted to Hammersmith and
Fulham council. Chelsea submit planning application to rebuild Stamford
Bridge into a 60,000-seat stadium. https://t.co/IZhuZmIhDV pic.twitter.com/mCSyTW8DR4
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 1, 2015

"A planning application for a new stadium at Stamford Bridge with an expanded seating capacity has been submitted," the statement read. "This follows a successful consultation process during which we received very helpful feedback.
"The main details of the application are: stadium seating capacity to expand from 41,600 to 60,000 spectators; an outstanding view of the stadium from every seat; an arena designed to create an exciting atmosphere; direct access to and from Fulham Broadway Station, making travel more efficient; stadium facilities improved for every area.
"The planning process will last beyond the end of the season; if the application is granted planning permission there will still be a lot of work to do before redevelopment can start, including obtaining various other consents." Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who bought the club in 2003, would finance the work, which has an estimated cost of £500 million. The planning application was submitted by Abramovich's Fordstam company on Nov. 19, Hammersmith and Fulham council said.
It is confirmation of Abramovich's commitment to the club, despite a woeful start to the season which sees Chelsea 14th after 14 games. There is plenty to do before a new stadium becomes a reality, not least finding a temporary home for around three seasons. The build would be complicated and more lengthy in duration if Chelsea were to remain on site, adding to the cost. Both Chelsea and Tottenham, who are building a new stadium at White Hart Lane, have reportedly been in discussions with the Football Association to play games at Wembley.The build would be complex and involve excavation, with the plan to lower the arena into the ground to achieve the capacity on a 12-acre site. The site is bordered by two train lines which must be built over.

A statement on the council's website read: "The application
comprises the demolition of the existing football stadiumwhich has a capacity of 41,600 seats and other buildings
within the ground, and the construction of a new larger football stadium with a 60,000-seat capacity.
"Other features include ancillary stadium-related uses including a club shop and museum, plus a separate restaurant/cafe use."

Chelsea's plans to redevelop the stadium -- their home since 1905 -- had been initially accepted by the localauthority in September, with the Blues keen to rival thecapacity of Premier League clubs such as Arsenal (60,260)and Manchester United (75,653).

In 2013, Chelsea's hopes of building a new super-stadiumon the site of the Earls Court Exhibition Centre were dashed,after the local council granted planning permission for more than 7,500 new homes on the site.
Chelsea also had plans to develop Battersea Power Stationa year earlier, but the Malaysian consortium given preferred
bidder status announced the completion of a £400 million deal for the site.


Information from the Press Association was used in this
report.

Friday 27 November 2015

Meet Ulo: Interactive home surveillance owl.

Ulo is first of cute and then very smart.
Don't let it adorableness deceive you, Ulo sees all( no, not God), but Ulo is a surveillance camera. A pet Owl that can interact with you through the eye. This is a wonderful invention by Vivien Muller.

You may say this is not architectural and ask why should it be here?. I think we should protect our structure and it occupants. Security is a basic design requirement no matter the kind of structure be it residential or public. Security at the stage design is not always enough. Natural surveillance ( ability to observe one environment) is limited with walls and partitions.

With this in mind, Vivien Muller's innovation is functional yet stylish.


Another interesting thing about Ulo, is that it can be control with your phone. It has it android and IOs application on apps stores. The project has recently gotten and sponsorship and will soon have a global reach.




The innovation was launch here

Thursday 5 November 2015

Form (Ever) Follows Function.


This is the famous axiom about architectural modernist movement. It has become a law, Credo, Dictum, and a principle to students of architecture and design. To practicing architects and Designers( industrial and ICT base). The principle in which most modern architectural designs are govern. This is a principle which purports that the shape of a building or an object is determined by it intended usage, purpose or function. It implies the "end"(function) should determined the "means" (form).

The Origins 

The phrase "form follows function" has wrongly been attributed to Horatio
Greenough, who some believed did works using similar phrase sometimes before it became popular.

The phrase was coin by American Architect and supposedly father of sky scrappers Louis H. Sullivan. In his watershed essay of 1896 titled “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered ,” Sullivan wrote:
"It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law."
You can read the full text here.
Looking back to the time when this essay was delivered, the technology, taste and nature of the economy was different from what it is today, this factors contributed to the need of a new kind of structure and buildings. As  a monarch of modernity, Sullivan seek for a shape that is appropriate, one defined not by the past or antecedent but by function , a building that will deviate from the Roman-Greco style prevalent at the time. There came the birth of modernity(Architectural).

Proponents

There is a strong list of disciples and legends of the noble field who had adopted Form follow function as their core mantra, they include Louis Sullivan,   Adolf Loos, Mies Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Horatio Greenough  and many more.

Interpretation of form follow function.

There are mainly two explanations to this famous dictum "form follows function".

Descriptive: beauty results from purity of function;

Prescriptive: aesthetic considerations in
design should be secondary to
functional considerations.

Since after a year after Sullivan's essay a lot of architect and similar field have written about the phrase dissecting and criticising it. That not withstanding a lot of students of architecture and designing and professional architects and general fields of design have worn this credo as a batch to be proud of to times indefinite.

Saturday 31 October 2015

The Legend: Frei Paul Otto




This legend was born in 31 May 1925 in Siegmar, Germany. He was an architect and a structural engineer. When it concerns the use of lightweight materials there was no one better. He specializes in the use of tensile and membrane structures.
He was a man of many talents. In 1945, he was conscripted as a fighter jet in the WWII. During the same period he intern in Prisoners of War Camp near Chartres.
and with his aviation engineering training
and lack of material and an urgent need for housing, began experimenting with tents for shelter. After the war he studied briefly in the US and visited Erich Mendelsohn , Mies van der Rohe , Richard Neutra , and Frank Lloyd Wright.

CAREER HIGHLIGHT

Frei Otto started his Private practice in 1952 after returning to Germany. His first notable work was at Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Exposition) in Kassel. It was a "saddle-shape cable-net music pavilion. He obtained doctorate in 1954 on Tensile Constructions.
He founded the Institute for Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart in 1964 and headed the institute until his
retirement as university professor. Major works include the West German Pavilion at the Montreal Expo in1967 and the roof of the 1972 Munich Olympic Arena.

The Olympic Stadium Munich.

 Hall at the International Garden Exhibition, 1963, Hamburg, Germany

The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, 1967, Montreal, Canada

Selected Awards 

•1974 – Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture
•1980 – Honorary doctorate of science from the University of Bath
•1996/97 – Wolf Prize in Architecture
•2005 – Royal Gold Medal for architecture by RIBA  2006 – Premium Imperiale in Architecture
•2015 – Pritzker Architecture Prize

Pritzker Award and Death.

Death is an inevitable end no mortal can resist it call. Otto died on 9 March 2015; he was to be publicly announced as the winner of the 2015 Pritzker Prize on 23 March but his death meant the committee  made an impromptu announcement of  his award on 10 March.
Frei Otto was best known for his lightweight structural style and his collaborative, holistic approach to architecture, Otto -- who had sadly passed away on March 9 -- is the 40th laureate of the Pritzker Prize and the second laureate from Germany.
Past recipients in recent years include Shigeru Ban (2014), Toyo Ito (2013), Wang Shu (2012), Eduardo Souto de Moura
(2011), SANAA (2010), and Peter Zumthor (2009). Laureates receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, and a
bronze medallion based on the designs of famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan.
It was reported that  Otto himself had been told earlier that he had won the prestigious prize by the executive director of the Pritzker Prize, Martha Thorne. He was reported to have said, "I’ve never done anything to gain this prize. Prize winning is not the goal of my life. I try to help poor people, but what shall I say here — I'm very happy."

Tributes
Zaha Hadid has paid tribute to "inspirational and enlightening" late German architect Frei Otto, while Norman Foster said Otto's "extraordinary structures altered the nature of architectural form in the 20th century".
Foster added that Otto's "environmentalism, intelligence and foresight have established the defining architectural mentality for the 21st [Century]."
"We first met in Germany early in my career and he became a dear friend," Hadid told Dezeen, following news that the architect had posthumously been awarded the Pritzker Prize

I believe Architect/ Engineer Frei Otto died happy at age 89 in Warbronn, Germany.
Further Reading about him, his works, and awards here on:
Wikipedia
Bustler


Yours
Klem

Friday 2 October 2015

BUILDING ART: THE LIFE AND WORK OF FRANK GEHRY Paul Goldberger

From Pulitzer Prize–winning architectural criticPaul Goldberger: an engaging, nuanced exploration of the life and work of Frank Gehry,undoubtedly the most famous architect of our time. This first full-fledged critical biography presents and evaluates the work of a man who has almost single-handedly transformed contemporary architecture in his innovative use of materials, design, and form, and who is among the very few architects in history to be both respected by critics as a creative, cutting-edge force and embraced by the general public as a popular figure.

Building Art shows the full range of Gehry’s work, from early houses constructed of plywood and chain-link fencing to lamps made in the shape of fish to the triumphant success of such late projects as the spectacular art museum of glass in Paris. It tells the story behind Gehry’s own house, which upset his neighbors and excited the world with its mix of the traditional and the extraordinary, and recounts how Gehry came to design the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, his remarkable structure of swirling titanium that changed a declining city into a destination spot. Building Art also explains Gehry’s sixteen-year quest to complete Walt Disney Concert Hall, the beautiful, acoustically brilliant home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Although Gehry’s architecture has been written about widely, the story of his life has never been told in full detail. Here we come to know his Jewish immigrant family, his working-class Toronto childhood, his hours spent playing with blocks on his grandmother’s kitchen floor, his move to Los Angeles when he was still a teenager, and how he came, unexpectedly, to end up in architecture school. Most important, Building Art presents and evaluates Gehry’s lifetime of work in conjunction with his entire life story, including his time in the army and at Harvard, his long relationship with his psychiatrist and the impact it had on his work, and his two marriages and four children. It analyzes his carefully crafted persona, in which a casual, amiable “aw, shucks” surface masks a driving and intense ambition. And it explores his
relationship to Los Angeles and how its position as home to outsider artists gave him the freedom in his formative years to make the innovations that characterize his genius.

Finally, it discusses his interest in using technology not just to change the way a building looks but to change the way the whole profession of architecture is practiced.

Paul Goldberger is my favorite architectural critics. I have no doubt that this is a master piece about a master of architecture.

The book is sold for $35.00 here.

Information from bookhampton.com was used in this report.

Thursday 24 September 2015

5 Non-Design Skills Every Freelance Designer Needs

Let me be honest with you. The hours, sweat, tears (and sometimes blood) that went into mastering your design skills and software is not enough for you to make it as a freelance designer. You’d think that with all the expensive software (which I’m sure you paid for) and high tuition fees, we’d at least be fully equipped to deal with whatever the design world throws at us. Unfortunately, that’s a dream and this is business.

I agree with designer, Lance Padgett when he says “Creativity and design skills are only half the battle”. There is a lot more to being a freelance designer than knowing how to design and your overall success is dictated by more than just what is in your portfolio. It is therefore because of this that I’ve come to share knowledge of some essential basic business skills that all freelancers should aim to master.

1. Project Management

As a freelance designer it is inevitable that you’ll be handling numerous projects with different
clients at the same time. It is therefore imperative that you learn how to manage a project well.  Mastering the arts of time management, prioritization and organisation are key factors in achieving this. The more successful you are, the busier you are. The
busier you are, the more organized you need to be.

2. Marketing Yourself

“Marketing is a contest for people’s attention.” – Seth Godin. Marketing skills are undeniably vital for any freelancer. Regardless of your ability and availability, if nobody can find you then you’ll probably be looking for a second job soon. As ‘artists’, we tend to forget that this is business and what matters most is your ability to produce results and close sales. I’m not the most
extroverted person, neither am I the most talkative, charismatic or connected. If this also describes you, I have a little trick that helped me. Make it a task to find those who are extroverted, talkative and connected, who thrive on sharing just about anything, and have them market you. Oh, and how can we forget about social media!
It’s literally become a gold mine for freelance designers. Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn,
Facebook etc. – The list continues. This is a great place to start building a brand presence. Get on as many social media platforms as possible. Do it quickly.

3. Entrepreneurship

You need to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It’s a necessity for any freelance designer. You claim to be creative, right? Then it shouldn’t be difficult for you to find new, innovative ways to do what you do. Get out, take risks, make money! Furthermore, always be ready to identify and capitalize on promising opportunities in your field.

4. Client relations

Being one the most important skills listed here, it’s the most difficult to be specific about. Clients come in all shapes and sizes and unlike with a firm or agency, where there is a particular person whose job it is to interact with clients, as a freelance designer, you’ll be responsible for all
client interaction. Not too long ago, I came across a post on a LinkedIn discussion board titled “Client from Hell”. A graphic designer lamented in distress as she shared her experience with a particular client who treated her as a slave, was never sure about what he wanted and wouldn’t pay her for her work. Her story is a familiar one that so many freelancers experience. Unfortunately, even with all of our
artistic and empathetic powers, we can’t truly know what a client is like until after we know them. That’s why, regardless of who you work
with, you must remain true to yourself, set your standards and keep them. Then make sure your
clients know of these standards. Use contracts and take deposits if you have to (and you have to). Many times we designers rush straight into a project especially if it’s an exciting one and forget that this is business.

However, on a positive note, just because a project has ended, it doesn’t mean your relationship with a client has to. If you’re pleasant to interact with and deliver quality
work, clients are more likely to return and even refer you to others.
Oh, and don’t ever be afraid to say NO .

5. Empathy

This is an interesting word but I believe it sums up why we’re designers and not just artists (If
you don’t know the difference, go hunting). In stark contrast to ‘Clients from Hell’, we also get ‘Designers from Heaven – (who have lost their
way)’. Let’s be honest, as designers, we often get too caught up on designing just for our portfolios or for other designers, with little or no
regard for what the client actually wants or needs to communicate.

I first discovered the existence ofthis skill in an architecture theory class. We learnt that empathy validates you as a designer. Your ability to
empathize with your clients and their struggles, as well as those of the end user/customer, ensures that you are making design decisions with the right intent. Ask yourself these questions at the start, middle and end of every project (and answer honestly):

#Is this work really what my client/user wants? (You’d be surprised that most of the time, you may fail at this one alone).

#Is this work communicating my client’s brand/message or my brand/message? (I love squares (don’t ask), I used to find a way to incorporate them into every logo, graphic and website I produced. Then I met an anti-square client…) Does this work make things easier and smoother for my client/user?

If you can’t answer these questions about your work honestly, find people who can. I think they call it a survey. Your clients will always be happier when they know you want to work with them and that you understand them.

Disclaimer:
This was an article By Philip Sulaiman. Read it Here

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Amazing 3d Pencil Graphics


Artists , Architects, engineers and Industrial designers are very good pencils and with it can display their ideas, concepts and plans vividly.

The above mentioned professions especially architecture prides it self in "graphics communication". Students are taught from early stage of their degree program in most higher institutions.

The ability to sketch properly is innate, albeit it can be hone. Good sketchers do not necessarily become good engineers or architects. In fact to be a good architect one must be more than a good sketcher , one must be analytic, innovative and meticulous among other attributes.

Today there are a lot of sketchers who have taken ordinary pencil sketch to new heights. With skills, patience, and finesse, sketchers have produced breath taking 3D pencil sketches... Yes I said 3D. Enjoy this few collections.

Thursday 27 August 2015

Concept development!!

Engineer Syndicate Office Building by Ark Architects http://aasarchitecture.com/2013/11/engineer-syndicate-office-building-by-ark-architects.html Sent from Maxthon Cloud Browser

Saturday 22 August 2015

Weird But Wonderful Buildings

All over the world architects are known for their eccentricity and their ever present tendency to impress, captivate and mesmerize. The ability to communicate on idea or concept varies among architects.
In this post, I bring to you some of the weird and wonderful edifices that you may never have thought existed. I salutes the Architects and their team for this structures. I do not have a personal favorite though, am awestruck by all. Enjoy the view.  These pictures and information will hold you spellbound wherever you maybe!  

1.     Dancing Building, Czech Republic

The Dancing House or “Fred and Ginger” is situated in Prague, Czech Republic. This is an amazing masterpiece of architecture, which has its own romantic charm. There is something so intriguing in the way the buildings hug each other for a dance! It was designed by Vlado Milunic in cooperation with Frank Gehry, it is a stylish and amazing building, which became a symbol of the city! 

2.     House Attack, Vienna Austria

The largest art museum in Austria has more than one reason for why it intrigues so many. Museum Moderner Kunst (MUMOK) is perhaps most compelling for the random house wedged into its roof. While artist Erwin Wurm is well-known for his eccentric, humorous works, “House Attack” in Vienna, Austria is the most puzzling. People walking underneath a house perched in such a precarious position will instinctively walk away in haste! From a distance, this is a rather amusing scene to watch.
House Attack is the first modern art piece you will see upon entering the museum. Go inside and be greeted by an extensive collection of artworks. From classical modernity and cubism to futurism and surrealism, you will be overwhelmed by great variety at MUMOK.

3.     Rotating Tower Dubai, UAE

Have you ever seen a building in motion that actually changes its shape? Sounds unbelievable but not to Dr. David Fisher. This building will never appear exactly the same twice.
It is amazing that you will have the choice of waking up to sunrise in your bedroom and enjoying sunsets over the ocean at dinner.
In addition to being such an incredible engineering miracle it will produce energy for itself and even for other buildings because it will have wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor. So an 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant.

4.     Wonderworks (pigeon Forge, TN, USA)

This structure is just awe-inspiring. The structure is located in Midwest Tennessee. The exhibits are housed in a themed building designed by architect Terry Nicholson to look as it were picked up by severe weather and dropped upside down on an existing building. It serves as a recreation center, annually myriads of fun seekers both young and old flock here. I am too stun to write further. Enjoy the pix below.

5.   The Basket Building, Ohio, USA.

Construction year: 1997, Architect(s):NBBJ
What started out as a dream by Dave Longaberger, Founder of The Longaberger Company, has been built into a giant basket to house the entire corporate offices of the company. 



Dave’s dream was achieved on December 17, 1997 when the Home Office that is designed to resemble a basket finally opened for business. For more read here.

6.     Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria

Its unusual form differs radically from conventional exhibition contexts, many of which maintain the traditions of the modernist "White Cube". The team of architects used an innovative stylistic idiom, known as blob architecture within the historical ambiance of the Murvorstadt. Thus, the gigantic building affectionately called the "Friendly Alien" by its creators Colin Fournier as the Partner-in-Charge together with Peter Cook, in form and material, stands out consciously against the surrounding baroque roof landscape with its red clay roofing tiles but nevertheless integrates the façade of the 1847 iron house. It has an organic shape with a skin made of iridescent blue acrylic panels. Credit : Wikipedia 

 6. Stone House, Portugal

The stone house in Portugal really resembles the famous home of the Flintstones. It is built between two rocks and its architecture has impressed some of the greatest names of the branch. Not speaking that becoming so famous, the house was attacked by some vandals and in sequence of the attacks it was equipped with bullet resistant windows and a steel door. The house is pretty comfortable inside, having a fireplace and everything necessary, so it is a wonderful example of modern architecture in Stone Age style! Unbelievable!

Credit, Nigeriarealestatehub.com


7.  La Pedrera, Spain
 

The building is also called the Casa Mila. I have already written about it. check here.


8.  Habitat 67, Montreal, Canada

Habitat 67 in Canada is a complex which resembles a very interesting arrangement of cubes that kids play with. It is pretty interesting how it was designed – it looks so original and the same time is a building completely stable and comfortable for living! The architect Moshe Safdie created it as a main attraction for Expo 67, when it was officially exposed!


9.The Crooked House, Poland

The crooked house in Sopot, Poland has an extraordinary and amazing structure. It was built in 2003 with design based on the pictures of Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg. It looks as taken from a cartoon movie, its design is “crooked”, but a kind of symmetrically, so it is not ugly at all, just strange!
The interesting part is how builders managed to create this genius idea, but the house is a fact and everyone admires their creativity!

10. The Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum, Brazil

The Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum is significant building for the city; it looks pretty much like coming from another world, or from the outer space! It was built in 1996, designed by Oscar Niemey, who created it with the help of Bruno Contarini. The building is 16 meters high and the diameter of its cupola is 50 meters! The amazing building is gathering admiration from all – architects and ordinary people, who like the uncommon and original! 
Credit, Nigeriarealestatehub.com

11. Forest Spiral – Hundertwasser Building, Germany

This Forest Spiral was completed in 2000 and it is a really amazing building with a green roof, resembling a spiral! The colours, the movement of the spiral the whole design is very stylish and warm, makes the whole building look nice and cozy, a real place to live in!
The designer Friedensreich Hundertwasser, is an artist, which explains why it looks like a masterpiece, and his design was perfectly executed by the architect Heinz Springmann, in two words – they did a great job!


12.Cathedral of Brasilia, Brazil

The Cathedral of Brasilia is a beautiful building, designed to be residence of the Archdiocese of Brasilia. The designer – Oscar Niemeyer made this gorgeous structure using 16 columns of concrete, each of them with 90 tons weight! It is an amazing building, full of light and created with greatest care for details. 

The Cathedral of Brasilia is definitely a building worth to be seen!

13. Cubic Houses, Rotterdam, Netherlands

The Cubic houses in Rotterdam and Helmond, Netherlands were designed by Piet Blom.
They are cubes, situated in different angles over hexagon formed pylons, so they resemble trees, and altogether – make a forest! There are 38 small cubes, and they all are attached one to another, this is a genius idea, which was perfectly completed!

14.National Centre for the Performing Arts, China
The National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA shortly, unlike the newest buildings in China took almost 6 years to be built – it was started in 2001 with the project of Paul Andreu and it was finished in 2007. But all the time it had been built was worth, considering the result – the building resembles an enormous egg, lying in an artificial lake, it is all made of titanium and glass and looks really amazing!

12,13,14 Credit, Nigeriarealestatehub.com

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Is this the next level of Architecture?

Every day technology advances and make life easy for us all, the is virtually no field of endeavors that has not embraced technology of some sort.

Well in Architecture we are not left out, since the Advent of CAD and BIM, drafting and model simulation has become handy, realistic, easily manage and shared. Architects have grab that opportunity with gusto.

Now the frontiers have been expanded the new MULTI TOUCH DRAFTING TABLE. Soon many the field will benefit allow from this me new development,the Students and practitioners alike. Soon many will part ways with their faithful T-Square, Set Squares, Flexible curves, ink pens and tracing papers Etc.

Friday 17 July 2015

News: Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Zaha Hadid's £1.3bn stadium design ditched amid spiralling costs

The curvaceous Aquatics Centre she
created for the London Olympics in
2012 was described as “magnificent”, winning over doubters despite its expense. But Zaha Hadid’s plans for an even more ambitious Games venue have
been left in tatters after Japan pulled
the plug on its controversial national
stadium.

The celebrated British-Iraqi architect’s winning design for the venue, set to be the centrepiece of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, had been compared to a bicycle helmet. But scepticism turned to anger as the stadium’s construction costs spiralled out of control, with one
critic describing it as “a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away”.

In the face of increasing public fury
over the venue’s £1.3bn price tag, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the project would be ditched. The decision means the stadium will now not be ready in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, throwing preparations for the tournament into disarray.

“We are scrapping our plans for the
stadium, and starting from zero,” Mr
Abe said. “The Olympics are a party for our people, and they and the athletes are the main players. We need to make it something that they can celebrate.”

Japan’s decision is the latest setback for Ms Hadid, whose firm has been criticised for working in countries with questionable human rights records.

She is one of my favorite modern Architects,  read more about this news here.