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Tuesday 26 July 2016

The Allurring Ibom Le Meridien Five Star Hotel.

The Approach, which serves as the drop-off.


I will not forget easily my visit there in 2012, then I was with Yu-Pet Konsult during my internship and the firm happen to have a project presentation at the hotel,it was about building the state(Akwa Ibom) office of a top insurance company.

The architecture that embraced me was awe inspiring, believe me I had to hold myself.Soon, I will get back to some of the outstanding feature of this impressive edifice. I am grateful for such an exposure, and at this point will like to add that, young and aspiring architect who haven't been there should visit it either as a case study, field trip or a mere jamboree. There is definitely a lot to learn.
Road to the drop-off. This allows for ease of horizontal circulation.
Scenic views


Tropical paradise with a panaromic view. 

Now lets zoom in to this luxury beehive:


Main
lobby with a clerestory window for light and ventilation



An expanse of adventures and discoveries ranging from the flora and fauna of the Ibom jungle to contemporary architectural design and the warm ambiance of Le Meridien as well as assorted cuisines from around the world. 


An extended one floor resort building with 6 restaurants and bars, 11 meeting rooms that provide 1200 sq.m of function space, 163 rooms and suites, 7 chalets all with private terraces sprawled on 135 hectares of green space with two helipads for chopper arrivals and a jetty at the marina for arrival by water.

Unequalled Golf Resort in Nigeria with a distinctively challenging 18-hole golf course featuring a hilly hazard at hole 3 with a captivating and breathtaking view of the rich flora of the Ifiayong virgin forest.
Adequate lobby space to accommodate people and luggage, trolley and and any services.

Walk way fountain, offer beauty while functioning ass a passive cooling system.


Be curiously aware and connect with Le Meridien Ibom on Facebook at “Le Meridien Ibom Hotel & Golf Resort” on Instagram and twitter @lemeridienibom.

This piece is written from architectural point of view, if you want more on the facility and services please visit their site or the hotel itself.

Signing off after a it has been a while...


Clem.

Friday 1 April 2016

Zaha Hadid Died aged 65

With deep sense of loss and sadness I write about the death of an enigma, Zaha Hadid.

Zaha Hadid's name was and still is so common to architects (practicing and students) designers and the media. Her design are a beauty to behold albeit some being controversial.

ZAHA HADID 1950-2016
She was born in Iraq, but moved to Britain were she lived for most of her life and practice from her London base office. Architect Zaha Hadid Hons. FAIA, DBE obviously let architecture in a better state than she met the noble profession.  After working with some architects she started her in 1979. From her firm  called Zaha Hadids Architect with it office in London which serve as a nest from where many of her iconic designs were hatched. She has won many awards for her style and uniqueness most prestigious Pritzker Architecture price. She recently won RIBA Gold medal.
With her medal.
For three decades and more, she has wowed the world with her designs, she dare into areas many were afraid to venture, she made curves look easy, she worked impressively with new surface materials. She was a fashion designer though didn't make her name there but left a mark. She also made her ingenuity felt in the hardware industry.

Click to download a little clip of her Architectural works.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT
The firm she founded, Zaha Hadid Architect have released an official statement. Read below:



"It is with great sadness that Zaha Hadid
Architects have confirmed that Dame
Zaha Hadid , DBE died suddenly in Miami
in the early hours of this morning. She
had contracted bronchitis earlier this
week and suffered a sudden heart attack
while being treated in hospital.
Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the
greatest female architect in the world
today. Born in Baghdad in 1950, she
studied mathematics at the American
University of Beirut before starting her
architectural journey in 1972 at the
Architectural Association in London.
By 1979 she had established her own
practice in London – Zaha Hadid
Architects – garnering a reputation
across the world for her ground-breaking
theoretical works including The Peak in
Hong Kong (1983), the Kurfürstendamm
in Berlin (1986) and the Cardiff Bay
Opera House in Wales (1994).
Working with office partner Patrik
Schumacher, her interest was in the
interface between architecture,
landscape, and geology; which her
practice integrates with the use of
innovative technologies often resulting in
unexpected and dynamic architectural
forms.
Zaha Hadid’s first major built
commission, one that affirmed her
international recognition, was the Vitra
Fire Station in Weil Am Rhein, Germany
(1993); subsequent notable projects
including the MAXXI: Italian National
Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome
(2009), the London Aquatics Centre for
the 2012 Olympic Games (2011) and the
Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku (2013)
illustrate her quest for complex, fluid
space. Buildings such as the Rosenthal
Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati
(2003) and the Guangzhou Opera House
in China (2010) have also been hailed as
architecture that transforms our ideas of
the future with visionary spatial concepts
defined by advanced design, material and
construction processes.
In 2004, Zaha Hadid became the first
woman to be awarded the Pritzker
Architecture Prize. She twice won the
UK ’s most prestigious architecture
award, the RIBA Stirling Prize: in 2010 for
the MAXXI Museum in Rome, a building
for the staging of 21st century art, the
distillation of years of experimentation, a
mature piece of architecture conveying a
calmness that belies the complexities of
its form and organisation; and the Evelyn
Grace Academy, a unique design,
expertly inserted into an extremely tight
site, that shows the students, staff and
local residents they are valued and
celebrates the school’s specialism
throughout its fabric, with views of
student participation at every turn.
Zaha Hadid’s other awards included the
Republic of France’s Commandeur de
l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Japan’s
Praemium Imperiale and in 2012, Zaha
Hadid was made a Dame Commander of
the Order of the British Empire. She was
made Honorary Member of the American
Academy of Arts and Letters and Fellow
of the American Institute of Architecture.
She held various academic roles
including the Kenzo Tange Chair at the
Graduate School of Design, Harvard
University; the Sullivan Chair at the
University of Illinois, School of
Architecture. Hadid also taught studios at
Columbia University, Yale University and
the University of Applied Arts in Vienna."

The pritzker family also released their own statement:  
 "The Pritzker Family and the Pritzker Architecture Prize organization are deeply saddened by the passing of Dame Zaha Hadid. She was truly a pioneer in the field
of architecture. The 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, she represents the highest aspirations of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She also served on the jury for one year. Zaha Hadid will be remembered for her talent, creativity, commitment, loyalty and friendship."

Details of Zaha Hadid’s memorial service will be announced shortly. Watch this space.


Messages of condolences can be sent to: pa@zaha-hadid.com


Thursday 24 March 2016

Top Universities to study Architecture

Have you been wondering where to go study architecture in a world class environment?  Are you looking for a place to acquire that first degree, Masters degree or your Doctorate degree?

 QS have released the top universities to study the subject of architecture among others. The QS world University Ranking by subject, ranking individual subjects in various Universities. This year (2016) 42 Areas of study were ranked. This ranking according to their website is aimed at helping prospective students to identify the world leading school in their chosen field.

At Archi-appraisal the focus is on the ranking among top universities offering architecture. To a achieve a global standard and acceptable ranking, four components are considered. The four components are combined to reach a conclusion for a school in each of the 42 areas/field of study. The four components are:

 1. Academic reputation
2. Employers reputation
3. Research citation per paper
4. H-index
To know what this four components really mean. Click here.

Here below  is the list for the top universities offering architecture and Other subject in the Built environment.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)/ United States 
2. UCL (University College London))/ United Kingdom
3. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)/ United States 
4. Delft University of Technology / Netherlands 
5. Harvard University / United States 
6. University of Cambridge / United Kingdom 
7. ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology / Switzerland
8. Tsinghua University / China 
9. National University of Singapore (NUS)/ Singapore
10. Manchester School of Architecture / United Kingdom 

11. The University of Hong Kong / Hong Kong 
12. Columbia University / United States 
13. The University of Tokyo / Japan 
14. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) / United States 
15. Politecnico di Milano / Italy 
16. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University / Hong Kong 
17. The University of Sydney / Australia 
18. The University of Melbourne / Australia 
19. The University of New South Wales (UNSW Australia) / Australia
20. Cornell University / United States 
21. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)/ Switzerland 
22. Tongji University / China 
23. Stanford University / United States 
24. KTH Royal Institute of Technology / Sweden 
25. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / United States 
26. University of Pennsylvania / United States 
27. University of British Columbia / Canada 
28. Georgia Institute of Technology / United States 
29. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) / Chile
30. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya / Spain 
31. Seoul National University / South Korea 
32. Princeton University / United States 
33. University of Toronto / Canada 
34. University of Texas at Austin / United States 
35. Cardiff UniversityCardiff University / United Kingdom
36. RMIT University / Australia 
37. Eindhoven University of Technology / Netherlands 
38. The University of Sheffield / United Kingdom 
39. Universidade de São Paulo / Brazil 
40. Technische Universität München / Germany 
41. Yale UniversityYale University / United States 
42. Kyoto University / Japan 
43. The University of Queensland / Australia 
44. The University of Auckland / New Zealand 
45. University of Michigan / United States 
46. University of Salford / United Kingdom 
47. Carnegie Mellon University / United States 
48. The University of Newcastle, Australia (UoN) / Australia
49. KU Leuven / Belgium 
50. Politecnico di Torino / Italy
51-100. Aalborg UniversityAalborg University / Denmark 
51-100. Aalto University / Finland 
51-100. Arizona State University / United States 
51-100. Chalmers University of Technology / Sweden 
51-100. City University of Hong Kong / Hong Kong 
51-100. Curtin University / Australia 
51-100. Griffith University / Australia 
51-100. Hanyang University / South Korea 
51-100. Korea University / South Korea 
51-100. Lund University / Sweden 
51-100. McGill University / Canada 
51-100. Monash University / Australia 
51-100. Nanjing University / China 
51-100. National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) / Taiwan
51-100. New York University (NYU) / United States 
51-100. Newcastle University / United Kingdom 
51-100. Norwegian University of Science And Technology / Norway 
51-100. Oxford Brookes University / United Kingdom 
51-100. Pennsylvania State University / United States 
51-100. Politécnica de Madrid / Spain 
51-100. Queensland University of Technology (QUT)/ Australia 
51-100. RWTH Aachen University / Germany 
51-100. Shanghai Jiao Tong University / China 
51-100. Southeast University / China 
51-100. Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) / South Korea 
51-100. Technische Universität Berlin / Germany 
51-100. TU Dortmund University / Germany 
51-100. Texas A&M University / United States 
51-100. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)/ Hong Kong 
51-100. The University of Nottingham / United Kingdom 
51-100. Tianjin University / China 
51-100. Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) / Argentina 
51-100. Universidad de Chile / Chile 
51-100. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) / Mexico 
51-100. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro / Brazil 
51-100. Université de Montréal Université de Montréal / Canada 
51-100. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)/ Malaysia
51-100. Universiti Malaya (UM) / Malaysia 
51-100 Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) / Malaysia 
51-100. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia / Malaysia 
51-100. University of BathUniversity of Bath / United Kingdom 
51-100. University of Cape Town / South Africa 
51-100. The University of Edinburgh / United Kingdom 
51-100. University of Florida / United States 
51-100. University of Liverpool / United Kingdom 
51-100. University of South Australia / Australia 
51-100. University of Southern California / United States 
51-100. University of Washington / United States 
51-100. University of Waterloo / Canada 
51-100. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University / United States


Someday I hope a university in Nigeria will be able to make the ranking. For the prospective students out there,  Good luck finding admission in any of the institution above.

Signing
Clem.

Sunday 7 February 2016

Zaha Hadid wins RIBA Gold






The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded its Gold Medal, the highest honor in its repertory, since 1848. This year, on Wednesday, at a black-tie ceremony in RIBA’s stately Art Deco building in London, Zaha Hadid, Hon. FAIA, officially received the award, the first woman in the institute's history to win it in her own right.

In the context of England’s clubby association of architects, still very much a fraternity, awarding the Gold Medal to an Iraqi-born exponent of a radically unorthodox modernism—perhaps best known here for twice winning the Cardiff Opera House competition, only to be rejected twice under cloudy circumstances—was a very big deal. Per protocol, Queen Elizabeth II approved the award. Prince Charles, the architectural traditionalist, was probably not amused.

Though Hadid was trained at London’s Architectural Association, and has practiced in the city since her graduation in 1977, it seems every major international architectural prize beat RIBA in honoring the architect: the Pritzker Prize was awarded in 2004, Japan’s Praemium Imperiale Prize in 2009, and the Queen even dubbed her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012. Though RIBA twice awarded Hadid the Stirling Prize and numerous specific building citations, a deep moat of silence surrounded the institute regarding the Gold Medal. Hadid was conspicuous by her absence on the list.
Finally, this year, under the direction of Jane Duncan (only the third female RIBA president), the institute has redressed the “oversight.” Sir Peter Cook, Luisa Hutton, and David Chipperfield, Hon. FAIA, architects with an international point of view, nominated her.




Thursday 14 January 2016

Architecture’s Biggest Prize Goes To Alejandro Aravena of Chile.


You probably haven't heard of that name before now.I must admit same here. He is a non celebrity Architect if you know what I mean.(you are probably wondering : so there are celebrity Architects?) Well, yes.

Alejandro Aravena of Chile has been selected as the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Tom Pritzker announced on 13th January 2016. Mr. Pritzker is Chairman and President of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize. It was announced in Chicago. Alejandro Aravena, known for his pioneering social housing projects in Latin America. 

It is noteworthy, Aravena is an architect based in Santiago, Chile. He becomes the 41st laureate of the Pritzker Prize,
the first Pritzker Laureate from Chile, and the fourth from Latin America, after Luis Barragán (1980), Oscar Niemeyer
(1988), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

Last year laureate, German Architect/Engineer Frei Paul Otto at age 89 died two weeks after the announcement and never made it to the award ceremony.   ARCHITECT Aravena is a 48th year old and is unlikely to suffer the same fate.

While Alejandro Aravena may not be popular around the world he is quiet famous in his native Chile and Mexico, where is designs are social and public driven. He is a credible architect and design, consequently —he was recently named curator of the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale —but his own mode of architectural practice is what sets him apart. Aravena is the owner and moderator of Elemental, which bills itself as a “do tank”—not a think tank—and which sort to  creates “projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure and transportation.”
A hallmark of the firm is a participatory
design process in which the architects work closely with the public and end users.

Elementals.

ELEMENTAL is also known for
designing social housing that they call “half of a good house,” in which the design leaves space for the residents to complete their houses themselves and thus raise themselves up to a middle-class standard of living. This innovative approach, called “incremental housing,” allows for social housing to be built on more expensive land closer to economic opportunity and gives residents a sense of accomplishment and personal investment.

At the announcement, Mr. Pritzker said, “The jury has selected an architect who
deepens our understanding of what is truly great design. Alejandro Aravena has pioneered a collaborative practice
that produces powerful works of architecture and also addresses key challenges of the 21st century. His built work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space. Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people’s lives.”

His most striking body of work is a
series of thoughtful, monumental structures for his alma mater, Santiago’s Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. These projects resonates sustainability, using practical means expressed in radically bold forms. Aravena has also tackled social housing with a deft hand that produces complexes that are both inventive and ennobling on tight budgets. Beyond his native Chile, Aravena has built projects in Texas, Mexico, Switzerland, and China.

In response to being named the 2016 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Mr. Aravena emailed: “Looking backwards, we feel deeply thankful. No achievement is individual. Architecture is a collective discipline. So we think, with gratitude, of all the people who contributed to give form to a huge diversity of forces at play. Looking into the future we anticipate Freedom! The prestige, the reach, the gravitas of the prize is such that we hope to use its momentum to explore new territories, face new challenges, and walk into new fields of action. After such a peak, the path is unwritten. So our plan is not to have a plan, face the uncertain, be open to the unexpected. Finally, looking at the
present, we are just overwhelmed, ecstatic, happy. It's time to celebrate and share our joy with as many people as possible.”


Nina VidicUC Innovation Center—Anacleto Angelini in Santiago, Chile
Cristobal PalmaSiamese Towers at the Universidad Católica de Chile San Joaquín Campus in Santiago, Chile

His works so far includes the Metropolitan
Promenade (1997 - ongoing) and Bicentennial Children’s Park (2012), both in Santiago. After the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile, ELEMENTAL was called to work on the reconstruction of the city of Constitución; their work there includes emergency relief work, a master plan, Villa Verde (incremental housing, 2013), and the Constitución Cultural Center (2014). Other works include a Montessori School (2001) in Santiago, Chile; “Chairless” furniture (2010) for Vitra in Weil am Rhein, Germany; Monterrey Housing (incremental housing, 2010) in Monterrey, Mexico; Las Cruces Pilgrim Lookout Point (2010) in Jalisco, Mexico; Calama PLUS master plan (2012 - ongoing) in Calama, Chile; Writer’s Cabin for the Jan Michalski Foundation (2015) in Montricher, Switzerland; and Ayelén School (2015) in Rancagua, Chile.


 Cristobal Palma
Quinta Monroy Housing in Iquique, Chile
Medical School at Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile(Roland Halbe).



Villa Verde Housing in Constitución, Chile In(incremental housing, the owners will developed the other side). 2014

Sherigu Ban won the prize and his works is social and public responsible. Fast forward to 2016, exactly two year after, an architect with radical approach to social and public housing gets the nod. Well, this may suggest where the jury's search light is beam. Well that is just my opinion.

Congratulations to Alejandro Aravena. To our readers, welcome to the first article of the new year. Hope you liked it. Stay tune.

Cheers
Klem

Credits.
Vanityfair
The Pritzker Architectural Prize
Architect Magazine