From the architect. Power to the People is a 0-energy project composed of seven solar-powered rowhouses. Each flat has its own articulated south-facing roof and the maximum number of solar panels allowed by the municipality.
The building site is flanked by two dead-end streets that are running in an east-west direction, which meant that if the houses were to line the existing streets then half of the flats would have a north facing terrace which is clearly undesirable in a nordic climate.
So we created a small “alley”on the site. The alley is on private property but left open for pedestrian connectivity. it connected the two dead-end streets which not only increased pedestrian activity in the neighborhood but also opened up the property and the neighborhood to the hiking trailheads that are adjacent to the site. This alley allowed the rowhouses to be oriented in a north-south direction which gave all of the flats west-facing terraces with afternoon and evening sun.
For those of us that aren’t based out of a university—and even for many who are—finding research resources that cover the topic you’re interested in can be a challenge. But they can be found, and thanks to the internet your search no longer needs to be limited to nearby libraries. In fact, many world-renowned libraries and magazines are now working to digitize important parts of their collection, while a number of online organizations have sprung up with missions to improve access to information. To help you identify some of the most useful, we’ve put together a list of 18 free websites that offer scholarly articles, publications, photos, videos, and much more.
JSTOR is a must-know, and one that you’ve probably come across before. JSTOR contains digitized back issues of leading academic journals, current issues of journals, books and primary sources. JSTOR’s digital library has a number of excellent architectural publications, and has broad coverage of humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
Well-known for its Case Study House program, Arts & Architecture magazine highlighted the development of single-family dwellings during the Post-war period, with specific focus on the work of Southern California architects like Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler, Charles Eames, Frank Lloyd Wright, and John Lautner among others. Published from 1929 until 1967, the website now dedicated to cataloging Arts & Architecture offers digitized versions of selected articles from 1945 onwards, as well as full issues from the magazine’s last 11 years.
Created by North Carolina Modernist Homes (NCMH) and Hanley Wood (parent company of ARCHITECT), Colossus focuses on 20th century architectural publications, and especially on designs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. When complete, the digital archive will provide over 1.3 million pages, becoming the largest online reference for modernist architecture.
The hugely influential Archigram group was active from 1961 to 1974, and their work has now been digitized. Students from the University of Westminster created this platform in collaboration with the remaining members of Archigram or their heirs. The database include digital versions of drawings, collages, paintings, photographs, magazines, articles, slides and multi-media material, and original texts by Archigram where available. Given that most of Archigram’s work remained unbuilt, its digitization provides a poetic structure to the collective output of the architects involved.
In 2014, Getty Publication launched its virtual library, featuring over 250 titles to read for free online. Works published by Getty Publication complement the work of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Research Institute. The library’s resources cover architecture, but also art, photography, archaeology, conservation, and the humanities at large. You can also find interesting material on Getty’s education portal.
With over 21 million publications, ISSUU is an engaging publishing platform for magazines, catalogs, and newspapers, and has become a go-to platform for small publishers and individuals who want to make their work available online. The digital media company offers both leading and emerging titles, on subjects of culture, arts, lifestyle, and (most importantly) architecture.
Archnet focuses on the built environment and iconic buildings of the Islamic World, and provides a wide range of documentation: images, drawings, publications, seminar proceedings, articles, monographs and architect’s archives. This research tool is a must-see for people interested in Islamic Art and Architecture.
You may know the Royal Institute of British Architects for their awards and advocacy for the British architecture industry—but did you know RIBA also has its online image library? RIBApix features over 85,000 digital images issued from the British Architectural Library. From iconic buildings, to street scenes and vernacular architecture, the platform gives photographic evidence from different historical periods. The collection is frequently updated with recently built projects, and covers interior design, landscape, topography, planning, construction and the decorative arts. All images can be downloaded in low resolution for free, and can be purchased to illustrate a publication.
The Architectural Association’s online photo library contains 8,000 images that represent the highlights of the school’s broader collection. Slides, negatives and prints of historical and contemporary architecture are available in low resolution for educational purposes, but can also be purchased for commercial use. The AA also offers photographs of its students’ work since the 1880s, as well as a video archive for its lectures, conferences, and symposia.
The Courtauld Institute offers online access to some major primary sources and images of its collection. The online database includes 40,000 photographs, cuttings, architectural drawings, and publications, spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Although the Courtauld is best-known as an art history institution, its Conway library focuses on architecture and is a valuable resource for researchers and students alike.
Harvard Library’s VIA (Visual Information Access) provides descriptive records, architectural drawings, and photographs. All images are available for educational use only.
New York Public Library’s photographic archive offers over 180,000 high resolution images that are public domain and not subject to copyright restrictions. These images chronicle New York’s street scenes and historical buildings, and include incredible documentation on the design of the Chrysler building, and construction of the Woolworth building. But the library also has panels of photographs from demolished or destroyed buildings across the world, like London’s Crystal Palace demolished in 1936.
On ArchInform, you will find complete biographies of architects, and descriptions of the buildings that shaped their career. Buildings under construction, completed buildings, and unbuilt projects, as well as awards received and publications are all listed on the website. Moreover, ArchInform has a very wide database that gives credit to both famous and less well-known architects.
Run by Ross Wolfe, this blog presents excerpts of primary sources and historical material. Although it is not an archive in the stricter sense, this platform can prove very useful when researching on Modernist Architecture in Germany and Eastern Countries, and on Russian Constructivism.
Run by the Internet Archive—who you may have heard of thanks to “the Wayback Machine” or any number of their other archival missions—this ever-expanding collection of monthly publications and digitized magazine so far features archives of “The Builder,” the UK’s oldest and most comprehensive magazine on the building industry that dates back to the 19th century.
The magazine Canadian Architect has shared digital archives of its publications since 2008. Articles report on architectural practices in Canada, review designs across the country, explore newly built projects, and look at the use of new technology in current practices.
Location: Lago De Puente Moreno, Jardines de Virginia, Boca del Río, Ver., Mexico
Area: 788.0 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
Associated Architect: Alin V. Wallach
Collaborator: Alejandro Aparicio
Client: INFONAVIT
Exterior Area: 624 sqm
Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
From the architect. COURT is the public space rehabilitation of a public housing unit with more than 8000 dwellings located in the suburbs of the Veracruz port. The unit counts with several open areas, never thought as public spaces, which became residual.
Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
One of those areas had an asphalt court that remained underused for lack of shade and protection from sun, rain and heat. The goal was to create an inhabitable area to reactivate the court and its surroundings.
Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
Floor Plans
Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
More than a roof
The lack of urban amenities gave this roof an extended function to its initial use and became a multipurpose portico-style cover. The program, inserted between the columns, includes balconies, playgrounds, reading room, activity rooms, bathrooms and furniture like stands, hammocks and swings that give alternative uses to the structure. We also integrated an outdoor fitness area, a forum and urban furniture that allows round-the-clock use of the space. The incorporation of local vegetation recovers shade as an essential element of public spaces in hot weather.
Axonometric
The result is a structural replicable model that responds to sports-use but also to recreational, educational, religious and contemplative uses. The court becomes a meeting point for neighbors that works as a community center housing multiple activities.
Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
Detail
Courtesy of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura
Architecture firms OMA and Hassell have revealed designs for a major new museum in Perth, Australia, that will slot amongst a series of heritage buildings (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the bottom of the deepest glacial fjord to the summit of its highest peak, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve in Alaska encompasses some of our continent’s most amazing scenery and wilderness. Photographer David Canales explored this incredible park on a two-week kayak expedition. One day, he decided to hike up the east side of Lamplugh Glacier and captured this terrific view. Photo courtesy of David Canales.
Education is far from being the only aspect of our lives that is constantly changing under the influence of rapid technological development. Since education in many ways determines our children’s future, changes in this field will have the biggest impact on tomorrow’s world.
Recent generations are easily adopting new gadgets and using them for enhancing work and leisure experiences. Will adoption of advanced technology by educational institutions produce the same effect? Let’s talk about technology’s influence on education and possible changes rapid tech development can bring to current educational system.
Changes in the teacher’s role
From ancient times, until the beginning of 21st century, educational process was overly dependent on teachers and tutors. This influenced them to develop fantastic narrative skills and knowledge on many different subjects.
For several millennia, these professionals have been doing a great job and, among them, we can find some of the most prominent minds of human history including: Aristotle, Galileo Galilee, Sir Isaac Newton and Confucius. Now the time has finally come for the teachers to relax, because advanced technology can be used for multiplying the effect of their lectures and enhancing their student’s experience.
In my elementary school, teachers used overhead projectors, cassettes players, VHS recorders and photo slide projectors. In high school, tech advances shift our attention to digital picture, audio and video formats, and enabled our teachers to use all of these media with the help of just one projector and a laptop, without carrying and connecting the old heavy machinery. Tech development also made teachers’ lessons more graphic.
Soon we will be able to use virtual reality simulations for teaching purposes. This means that students will be able to see volcano eruptions or atomic processes or deep space from first person view and with outstanding accuracy and graphics. Of course, this incredible technology won’t leave teachers jobless. Their teaching will just become easier, more graphical and effective.
The look of future classrooms
Today, almost all schools have their media rooms. In the near future, each classroom will turn into the media room equipped with top notch universal home theatres and powerful sound systems .
Wide use of augmented reality concept will also influence the look of future classrooms. It will enable teachers to take their students to virtual field trips. In the middle of lecture about Roman Age, students and teachers will find themselves on the streets of ancient Pompeii, or in the middle of CERN’s Hadron Collider if they wish to switch to physics.
Students will also be able to touch and feel objects they are hearing about because 3D printers will be used for making inexpensive and realistic models.
Free education for all
This is another great concept that is currently reaching its momentum. The Internet represents an unlimited knowledge base, and nowadays, even the most prestigious American universities are posting their lectures, literature and tests online. This enables people to gain knowledge without making tuition payments, or leaving their bedroom for that matter.
Free educational websites will also allow students to repeat lessons they missed. This means that student absenteeism will produce much lighter consequences in terms of knowledge, discipline and curricula.
Some experts worry that free online education will undermine the role of classic educational institutions. This might happen, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Any kind of monopoly, even in educational sphere, can be disastrous for future generations.
Now when top colleges are posting free content online, all other market players will need to invest much more time and money in making their lectures more valuable because it will be the only way for them to attract students. This way we will get the top quality education, which is completely free of charge.
In the end, it is easy to conclude that increasing influence of advance technology on education brings nothing but benefits. Although the question from the headline sounds a bit apocalyptic (because technology take-over is still associated with Terminator 2: Judgment Day movie), advanced tech solutions will be able to help teachers to spark interest and engage their students to learn more.
Rio 2016: a boat ramp designed for sailing competitions at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has collapsed just days ahead of the games’ opening ceremony. (more…)
Aides and chauffeurs have long been made candidates for awards by outgoing PMs, but now the public mood has changed
When is a good time to announce any kind of honours list In Britain? Never is a good time and always has been, as David Cameron was reminded when he opened the Sunday papers. There in the peaceful sunshine of his Oxfordshire constituency home, free from the care of state at last, he found his own resignation list plastered all over the front pages.
Our simple presence can affect others in many ways, even if we don’t realize it. Think only at the moments when somebody’s mood changed just because you were there. For sure, you have been told that many times. The explanation is pretty simple: our energy influences everything around us.
Since everything in Universe is energy, our soul makes no exception. But how it influences other people? Do you know what vibes are you transmitting?
The Royal Ontario Museum extension by Daniel Libeskind, image by The City of Toronto. Image via 99% Invisible
All architects desire recognition of their built work; for their signature design style to be identified, or for the quality of materials and details to outshine those around it. Unfortunately, if every new architectural structure was to insert itself into its context looking to be the star, soon it would become impossible to gauge the civic relevance of the area. Some buildings, such as Daniel Libeskind‘s Jewish Museum, appear dislocated with due cause, but others stand out for the sake of standing out, turning their back on their rich historical setting.
While there can be no singular strategy for contextual integration, Kurt Kohlstedt argues that a consideration of historical context, whether eventually chosen to acquiesce with or deny, will result in richer and more engaging built environment. In his latest essay for 99% Invisible, Kohlstedt unpacks the myriad ways in which a new building can engage with what was there before, highlighting examples which successfully and unsuccessfully take up the challenge. He acknowledges the difficulty of finding the sweet spot, as many designs are unable to navigate the “fine line between contextual and contemporary.”
In his article, Kohlstedt explains that it’s not hard to draw up examples of buildings that are so contemporary they sit disjunctively within their surroundings. Much of Libeskind’s oeuvre, including his Royal Ontario Museum and the Jewish Museum in Berlin, appear foreign against the backdrop of heritage buildings. In both cases, the differentiation of the new building is justified by a program contained within the extension. The shock of their presence contributed to their status as icons, as their innovative form creates a wave of public response. Within their immediate landscape, they are obviously new and are not encroached by a landscape of competing icons.
Louvre Pyramid at night by Benh LIEU SONG. Image via 99% Invisible
Kohlstedt goes on about how the new building phenomenon is especially apparent in Paris, where structures such as the Eiffel Tower and I.M. Pei‘s Louvre extension were initially abhorred, but public interest over time has seen them canonized. This could be seen as a version of the “Bilbao Effect,” in reference to Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum catalyzing a wave of interest and tourism to the Spanish city of Bilbao. While architecture can become iconic by the newness of their form and expression, if the same attempts at iconicism are constantly occurring without awareness of their impact or transition then it results in an unconsidered cityscape.
Extremism can be just as damaging when concerning mimicry as it is with exhibitionism. If a building tries too hard to “fit in” it may become nothing more than a crude copy of its surroundings. Kohlstedt asserts that “rote historical mimicry and facadism can be problematic as well for the legibility of a city,” as building in bygone styles begins to create a city of replicas rather than relevant structures.
P Mill City Museum (left) with adjacent Humbolt Lofts in Minneapolis, image by Kurt Kohlstedt. Image via 99% Invisible
Fortunately, if there are two ends of the extremism spectrum, between them lie infinite possibilities in terms of successful integration or visibility. Within his essay, Kohlstedt identifies several key projects which manage to navigate their context in ways which enrich rather than detract. All of these projects show an awareness of the historical stratification which occurs when people can discern the oldness or newness value of their surrounds, and form a logical response to the problems at hand.
Sig Nordal 