Being a blogger is a wonderful job. It lets you connect to different people with different personalities. Unfortunately, however, finding the right blog topic ideas is no easy task. You can consider it a work of a superhero.
Despite not being able to read people’s minds or predict the future, there are still ways for you to find out what topics you should write about and which ones you can skip. Here are some tricks to keep your blog relevant to its readers and followers.
Play The Digital Detective Columbo Role
Without understanding the personality of your readers, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself walking blindly in finding great blog topic ideas.
The truth, however, is that finding who your readers are is easy. One good trick is to open up a new spreadsheet.
Think of at least 10 features you need to know about your readers. It can include their jobs, hobbies, careers or even their daily problems. You can also take into consideration their concerns.
After listing your criteria down, you can use the wide range of social media platforms available today to get to know your readers. Take note of their profiles as you fill in your spreadsheet.
Facebook, for example, can show you people’s hobbies, professions and interests. Twitter, on the other hand, can reveal people’s most serious concerns.
Aside from these platforms, you can also consider looking through LinkedIn. Reddit, meanwhile, can give you an overview of what your readers are specifically interested in.
After you acquired all the details you need, find out which of them are common among your followers. The summary of all the traits and personalities you acquired will be your basis for finding the best blog topic ideas for your audience.
While it might be a little too intrusive to ask them directly about the most personal aspects of their lives, this does not mean that direct questions are out of the equation.
When you are searching for your next subject, there’s nothing wrong with asking your readers about what they want. Take, for example, the topic of self-confidence. It’s a very broad subject with lots of sub-topics.
To make sure that you write only what your readers want you to write, you can ask simply ask them. The most effective way to gather their opinions is through a survey.
You can create a series of questions that can narrow down your options. However, in drafting your survey, it’s also essential that you consider your readers’ effort in answering it.
Count how many minutes your survey needs to be filled in. If you anticipate it to take a longer time, eliminate some of the questions that aren’t really important.
Don’t forget their help, too. You can send them a gift that conveys the values of your blog. It can be a special access, newsletter or a very valuable piece of content. If you have the means, you can think of a bigger gift.
A blog can educate your readers. This makes it important that you stay updated with the latest trends so that you can impart valuable information to them.
You can consider Google Alerts. The guys from Google are constantly monitoring the recent trends in the web and they provide people access to the pieces of information they gather.
All you have to do is select certain keywords that are relevant to your readers. Enter these keywords in Google Alerts and you will receive an email every time a fresh content related to those keywords are published. By studying such contents, you will always have fresh blog topic ideas to entice your readers.
Form Of Contract Or Procurement Route: JCT Design+Build
Construction Cost : £ 1.27m
Construction Cost Per Sqm: £1,983 / sqm
Courtesy of GROUPWORK
From the architect. Barretts Grove is an archetypal Victorian street of two storey brick terraced houses later interrupted by detached apartment buildings, a tall red gabled LCC school and rubble walled church. The new addition sits amongst these later stand alone structures.
Courtesy of GROUPWORK
If the overall building form is intended to help complete the parade, it and its detailing is also architectonically driven by a choice of superstructure suited to residential use then developed to a smaller domestic and tactile scale. The tall red brick gable facing the street echoes those of the LCC school and is formed in plan by a 1 bedroom apartment with a second smaller block engaged at the rear to create the second 2 bedroom plan. The double stacked and open bond of brickwork states the envelope is not load bearing (of superstructure) but a screen enveloping the whole building including the roof. That is set out with an unbroken grid of large window and door openings to maintain the strength of form despite its slenderness. Wicker woven steel balconies are hung from every other aperture softening that material palette. These are large enough for dining and are alternated to allow neighbours the opportunity to develop the limited social space above and below them when communal gardens are not available. For similar reasons the front door is an extruded version of the bronzed window reveals, becoming a port-cochere with a bench made of the same CLT as the superstructure inviting use when meeting neighbours as well as being convenient to rest yourself and grocery bags while fumbling for keys.
Courtesy of GROUPWORK
On entering it is apparent the exposed Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) acts as the superstructure for all walls, floors and the roof with visible construction joints expressing the method of assembly. Insulation with vapour barrier and protecting sheeting are applied to the outside face before a self-supporting brick rain-screen completes the exterior thermal and protective overcoat. Ceilings are also left exposed with the use of a fire retardant clear varnish and acoustic performance achieved using resilient boards, insulation and a floating timber floor above; these also accommodating the underfloor heating, power, data and hot/cold water services. The ability of the CLT to serve as structure and finish removed the need for plasterboarded walls, suspended ceilings, cornices, skirtings, tiling and paint; reducing by 15% the embodied carbon of the building, its construction cost and time on site. Timber also has inherently more robust and is perhaps a better and warmer domestic aesthetic. Window seats, timber cabinetry and full height doors some with leather handles, others with bespoke and articulated metal locks continue the sense of home.
Courtesy of GROUPWORK
The project required a comprehensive understanding of the different materials involved and their structural properties as well as careful detailing because many of the loadbearing elements are exposed. The concrete basement provides a solid foundation for the building and supports the change in level across the site. The ground floor thickness was kept to a minimum by using the internal masonry walls as loadbearing structure and its soffit left exposed. The superstructure is six storeys of loadbearing CLT panels, spanning up to 6.0m with various voids for the stair and services. The roof is also solid CLT panels, carefully balanced against each other to form the open loft space. Cladding all of this is a staggered masonry façade that is decoupled from the rest of the building to allow it to expand and contract separately. Each of these materials serves a different purpose; acting and moving in their own way but with careful detailing, together they form the seamless combination of structural form and architectural vision.
Courtesy of GROUPWORK
As a whole the building aims to sit sympathetically within the roofline and streetscape this side of the street. Though it has a carefully proportioned balance of openings within the brick façade, closer to the Dutch gables ends of the adjacent school than standard London streets it consciously aims to be idiosyncratic with layers of detail and form that are again closer to the Arts and Crafts desire for the organic than Georgian neoclassical order. This application of design and detailing to varying scales is best described by Edward Ford’s identification of ‘articulated’ and ‘autonomous’ details and the reciprocity of social spaces an echo of Hertzberger’s social housing and specifically Aldo Van Eyck’s idiom ‘tree to leaf as city to house’. This combined approach having the benefit of providing coherent streets with the opportunities for social interaction and illustrating how care can make speculative residential developments feel more like homes as opposed to a readymade and identical white painted commodity.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded its 2017 Royal Gold Medal to Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The 87-year-old is among Brazil’s most celebrated architects, known for his special brand of Brazilian Brutalism which has had a dramatic effect in his home country, particularly in the city of São Paulo. The award continues a spectacularly successful year for Mendes da Rocha, who won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale in May, and was announced the 2016 Premium Imperiale Laureate just weeks ago. Mendes da Rocha has also previously received the Pritzker Prize in 2006 and the Mies van der Rohe Prize for his Pinacoteca de São Paulo project in 2000.
Born in Vitória, Brazil in 1928, Mendes da Rocha first received acclaim in 1957 for the Athletic Club of São Paulo. Since then, he has built a number of other seminal works in including the Saint Peter Chapel (1987), the Brazilian Sculpture Museum MuBE (1988), Patriach Plaza (1992-2002), the Pinacoteca do Estado gallery (1993) and the FIESP Cultural Center (1997). Outside São Paulo, notable buildings include the Serra Dourada football stadium in Goiás (1973), Lady of the Conception Chapel in Recife (2006) and Cais das Artes arts centre in Vitória (2008). Outside of Brazil, his most notable projects are Brazil’s pavilion at Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan, and his Museu dos Coches in Lisbon, completed in 2015.
“Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s work is highly unusual in comparison to the majority of the world’s most celebrated architects,” said RIBA President Jane Duncan. “He is an architect with an incredible international reputation, yet almost all his masterpieces are built exclusively in his home country. Revolutionary and transformative, Mendes da Rocha’s work typifies the architecture of 1950s Brazil – raw, chunky and beautifully ‘brutal’ concrete.”
Responding to the award, Paulo Mendes da Rocha said: “After so many years of work, it is a great joy to receive this recognition from the Royal Institute of British Architects for the contribution my lifetime of work and experiments have given to the progress of architecture and society. I would like to send my warmest wishes to all those who share my passion, in particular British architects, and share this moment with all the architects and engineers that have collaborated on my projects.”
The RIBA Gold Medal jury comprises RIBA President Jane Duncan with Sir Peter Cook, Neil Gillespie OBE, Victoria Thornton OBE and the 2015 Royal Gold Medallist Sheila O’Donnell. Mendes da Rocha was nominated by Neil Gillespie OBE and seconded by John McAslan CBE. Read on for John McAslan’s full citation.
I’m pleased to have been invited to prepare the following citation in honour of the eminent Brazilian architect, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, the 2017 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner. Paulo’s international stature, which has been considerable for decades, arises from a remarkable and sustained combination of architectural originality, social concern, and educational work.
“All space must be attached to a value, to a human dimension,” he said in 2004. “There is no private space. The only private space that you can imagine is the human mind.” He has also said: “Every problem requires thinking, not ready-made solutions. You know that you don’t know, but there is urgency to do something. You have to discover the knowledge – that’s the whole point.” That remark applies not only to the nature of architectural enquiry, but to the way Mendes da Rocha has approached teaching over the decades.
His potential greatness was immediately apparent in 1957 when, as an emerging architect, he designed and built his first major work, the Paulistano Athletic Club. The building immediately confirmed him as an original force among the international modernist avant garde, and established so-called Paulista Brutalism.
Though very different, his architecture projects have the same degree of powerful formal and structural presence as the works of masters such as Louis Kahn and Kenzo Tange. Whilst Mendes da Rocha’s architecture may seem to fit Robert Hughes’ definition of Modernism as “the shock of the new”, his structures are never designed to shock, but rather engage as directly as possible with ordinary people, ordinary lives, and ordinary settings.
The ideas that continue to produce his architecture are still internationally influential. When Mendes da Rocha was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2006, the citation spoke of his mastery of the poetics of space. And this year, when he was selected for the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, the citation referred to the physical and stylistic timelessness of his buildings and the fact that his “astonishing consistency” was the product of “his ideological integrity and structural genius.” His 2016 citation as an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy, also refers to these qualities, and whilst highlighting his influence on the post-WWII ground-breaking work in Scotland of Metzstein and MacMillan and others, brings the relevance of his work even closer to me.
A further and recent accolade for Paulo, is this year’s Praemium Imperiale Award by the Japan Art Association, for this lifetime contribution to architecture.
His architecture resists summary, but it very often counterpoises massive concrete formal elements with relatively delicate transition points of structure. This, in itself, is not uncommon. But the way da Rocha assembles the pieces in the geometry of his buildings remains unique; his engineering intelligence has always equalled his formal originality.
For example, his Brazilian Pavilion at Expo 70 in Japan was effectively balanced on a single point of terrain. At the gymnasium of the Paulistano Athletic Club, six concrete blades supported the thin, pre-stressed concrete circular roof; the blades anchored 12 cables which held up a central cap to the roof: a riveting combination of heavy elements and relatively delicate structural details that added something new to modernist architecture.
The same originality of form, and social connection, can be seen in his Brazilian public buildings in the 1970s and 80s, which included Estádio Serra Dourada and the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo in 1975; and the Forma Furniture showroom and the Saint Peter Chapel in 1987; the latter a concrete structure with two-storey glass facades, and a single concrete column anchoring the centre.
In the 1990s, in his Mies van der Rohe Award-winning scheme, Mendes da Rocha transformed Sao Paulo’s oldest fine arts museum, the neoclassical Pinacoteca do Estado, with internal bridges, a central canopy and an architectural language which magnificently retains, to this day, a freshness and quality of raw beauty and remains, in my view, one of his finest works.
Among his other important works are the Cais das Artes, Vitoria; the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture, Sao Paulo; and the dramatic canopy structure at the Patriarch Plaza, Sao Paulo. His domestic architecture – such as the Casa Mendes da Rocha, Casa Masetti, and Casa King – reflect the same explorations of strikingly clear compositions involving heavy structures and finer details.
Most recently, the scale and articulation of the 2015 National Coach Museum in Lisbon is continuing proof that the humane integrity and structural boldness of Mendes da Rocha’s approach to architecture is absolutely intact.
On a personal note, when I first met Paulo, with his family in Sao Paulo in 2012, I found him to be very clearly, deeply concerned with how architects can improve peoples’ lives and with an unfailing commitment to the art of architecture. He certainly did not consider himself as an heroic designer of iconic architectural objects, which makes this highly-engaging and modest innovator even more engaging and relevant today.
I would like to end my citation by quoting something da Rocha wrote in 2003: “Unlike many people who are afraid of poverty, I have always been attracted to it, to simple things, without knowing why. Not hardship, but the humility of simple things. I think everything superfluous is irritating. Everything that is not necessary becomes grotesque, especially in our time.”
In the increasingly closely bound worlds of architecture, consumerism and corporatism, the resonance of that remark has increased through time. Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s particular genius may have originated in the mid-1950s, but he unquestionably remains an architect – and specifically not a “starchitect” – for our own times. This is surely the essential mark of his greatness.
75 buildings have been announced as the winners of the 2016 American Architecture Awards by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. Now in its 22nd year, the American Architecture Awards recognize “the best new buildings designed and constructed by American architects in the U.S. and abroad and by international architects for buildings designed and built in the United States.”
This comprehensive and even-handed overview of new American Architecture for 2016, allows you (as a viewer) to witness the enormous diversity in the American practice of architecture today, said Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, Museum President, The Chicago Athenaeum. This year’s selection by the Denver jury was more interested in discussions concerning the problems of the environment, social context, technical and constructive solutions, the responsible use of energies, restoration and adaptive- reuse, and the sensitive use of materials and ecology.
The 75 winners of the 2016 American Architecture Awards are:
ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES | Los Angeles, California | 2018. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
GALEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Chicago, Illinois, 2012 by UrbanWorks, Ltd.
COAST AT LAKESHORE EAST, Chicago, Illinois, 2013 by bKL Architecture LLC.
HILL HOUSE 3, Los Altos Hills, California, 2013 by Michael Lustig & Associates, Inc.
Hill House 3 | Los Altos Hills, California. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
MILL VALLEY COURTYARD RESIDENCE, Mill Valley, California, 2014 by Aidlin Darling Design
U.S. COURTHOUSE IN AUSTIN, Austin, Texas, 2012 by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Inc.
BERKLEE TOWER OF MUSIC/ BERKLEE TOWER, Boston, Massachusetts, 2014 by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.
OSF SAINT FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF ILLINOIS, Peoria, Illinois, 2010 by CannonDesign
HEALTH NEUROSCIENCE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, Indianapolis, Indiana 2012 by CannonDesign
THE ZACHARY HOUSE, Ramseur, North Carolina, 2012 by Stephen Atkinson Architecture
The Zachary House | Ramseur, North Carolina | 2012. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
PLEATED HOUSE, Door County, Wisconsin, 2015 by Johnsen Schmaling Architects
THE KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDEN AND ARBORETUM VISITOR PAVILION, Knoxville, Tennessee 2015 by De Leon & Primmer
Bi(H)OME, Los Angeles, California, 2015 by Kevin Daly Architects
Bi(H)OME | Los Angeles, California | 2015. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
RED BARN, Connecticut, 2015 by Roger Ferris + Partners
RENTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, Renton, Washington, 2016 by The Miller Hull Partnership
MERCER ISLAND FIRE STATION #92, Mercer Island, Washington, 2015 by The Miller Hull Partnership
CHK | CENTRAL BOATHOUSE, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 2015 by Elliott + Associates Architects
Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine | La Jolla, California | 2012. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA CANCER CENTER AT DIGNITY HEALTH ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER, Phoenix, Arizona, 2015 ZGF Architects LLP.
The University of Arizona Cancer Center at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center |Phoenix, Arizona | 2015. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
POLE PASS RETREAT, San Juan Islands, Washington, 2013 by Olson Kundig
UCSD BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH FACILITY UNIT 2, La Jolla, California, 2014 by ZGF Architects LLP.
LOS ANGELES RIVER URBAN AGRICULTURE PLAN, Los Angeles, California, 2014 by Perkins+Will
Los Angeles River Urban Agriculture Plan | Los Angeles, California | 2014. Image Courtesy of The Chicago Athenaeum
ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES, Los Angeles, California, 2017 by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with contribution to concept design by Studio Pali Fekete architects and Gensler as executive architects
Slanted slats of aluminium cover the irregular, curving form of this house and cafe in Gyeonggi Province designed by South Korean architecture practice AND (+ slideshow). (more…)
Unused patches of land in a densely populated area of the Thai capital have been transformed into a series of irregularly-shaped football pitches for local residents (+ movie). (more…)
Many people find it difficult to make it through the day, particularly if they have lots of tasks to perform. One of the most common reasons is their failure to establish a set of positive morning routines.
People tend to be more productive after waking up. Establishing a routine can help make sure that you don’t lose this level of productivity throughout your day. Having a system in place can also ensure that you stay organized for the day ahead.
To help make your day better, you can follow these simple steps on establishing positive morning routines.
1. Wake Up Earlier
This should be your major priority. Waking up earlier gives you enough time to do your routine.
Although it’s more convenient to do most of your work at night because it’s quieter and more peaceful, it’s actually not helping you to be more productive. When you stay up late at night, your body’s internal clock gets messed up and you’ll find it hard to get the right amount of sleep.
With less sleep, you’ll have a difficult time getting up in the morning. You can even get cranky at other people.
There are several exercises you can do to start your day right. For one, you can do rebounding exercises.
This type of exercise offers numerous benefits including toning your muscles, clearing your sinuses and improving your creativity. Another great thing about this exercise is that it doesn’t require much space. In fact, you can easily do it in the comfort of your home.
Stretching is another good exercise. It can help keep your muscles in shape and get you ready for the day. You can do these exercises for five minutes each morning and build up from there.
3. Have A Drink
Starting your day by drinking a glass of cold or warm water with lemon is a great way to get your body fit and ready. In preparing your lemon water, make sure that the ingredients you use are safe and clean.
When mixing the drink, you don’t actually have to use a whole lemon. A few drops are enough.
Taking this drink early in the morning can make your breath fresher. It can also give your body lots of vitamins to improve your digestive system and make you feel more energetic.
4. Listen To Some Music
You can listen to any music you want and get inspired and lifted throughout the day. For instance, if you are anticipating a stressful day ahead, you can listen to something soothing. In case you are expecting a very active day, you can listen to a song that will pump you up.
5. Drink A Green Smoothie
Drinking a glass of green smoothie can boost your energy level immensely. Since it has a lot of nutrients and vitamins, it can also improve your immune system to protect your body against infections and other diseases.
6. Have A Healthy Breakfast
Although smoothies are very healthy, they may still not be enough to replace a healthy breakfast meal, particularly if you’re going to do lots of activities for the day. To make sure you have enough energy, you can try eating a full meal that has fiber, carbohydrates and protein.
Make sure that your meal isn’t that heavy to avoid feeling sluggish after. You want to go for meals that can make you alert and attentive.
Meditating involves focusing on a particular thing and blocking everything else out. It’s a good way to relieve stress, improve creativity and increase your memory. You can do this for a few minutes after waking up.
8. Plan Your Day Before Stepping Out
Before you head out, make sure that you have a list of the most important things you need to accomplish for the day. This will push you to stay focused on your goal.
Altaïr house is a private home located in Quebec, Canada. Completed in 2016, it was designed by Bourgeois/Lechasseur architects. Altaïr house by Bourgeois/Lechasseur architects: “This house, whose name refers to the brightest star in the Aquila constellation, is located in Cap-à-l’Aigle, in the region of Charlevoix. Altaïr means “The Flying Eagle.” What makes the house stand out is its “V” shape and long facades that are suspended over nature. While..
Sig Nordal 