New York City – New York – USA (by Miguel Discart)
💙 Sunset on 500px by Aoshi Vn, Ha Noi, Viet Nam☀ Canon EOS… http://ift.tt/2aFFY8Q
New typologies in architecture generally arise in two ways. The first is through a reevaluation of existing typologies that cater to familiar programs such as housing, schools, or healthcare. This is done in an effort to improve on the norm and to challenge accepted architectural notions, as seen for example, in the work of Moshe Safdie and OMA. The other is when an entirely new program, site condition, or client emerges and forces the invention of a new typology simply through their design requirements.
For his Master’s degree project at the University of Alcalá in Spain, Saúl Ajuria Fernández has envisioned the essential civic building of the future: the Urban Droneport. Located in what Ajuria has identified as a “disused urban vacuum” in Madrid, Spain, the Urban Droneport “allows and optimizes the transport of goods with Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems in urban areas” – in other words, drone-delivered packages.
The project is exciting for many reasons, with Ajuria hoping that by designing for something that isn’t completely here yet, it shows how architecture can be “an engine of development and innovation.” Also exciting, for architects at least, is the fact that it provides a glimpse into what could be an entirely new typology of building.
The idea of designing for something completely new is engaging as there are few or no precedents, presenting an entire section of the profession as a blank slate. Of course, this also comes with the responsibility of having to set the stage for future developments in a single design. It is unavoidable that simply through chronology, the first precedent will likely have a disproportionate amount of influence on the future of its typology.
With drones becoming more affordable and more precise, their widespread use in cities is becoming increasingly realistic. Ajuria’s proposal for a drone delivery center is a serious example of an urban opportunity, and may just provide the seed for the development of a new typology.
While it might currently be tricky to envision drones flying alongside pigeons, this sort of architectural accommodation for new technology has been seen before. Perhaps one of the most universal examples of this is the train station. Though commonplace now, in the 19th century the challenge of designing a building that catered for the stopping and starting of trains, alongside passenger needs, was something that had never been approached before.
Like a droneport, train stations are a place of interaction between the mechanical (the train or drone) and the human. In train stations, raised platforms have become common so that passengers no longer need to climb up to the train, assisting a human-mechanical interaction through design. In the Urban Droneport project, as the building’s location is noisy and polluted, the drone hangars form the outer layer of the building. The central space becomes the focus of human habitation, cushioned from the unwanted conditions outside, a spatial solution working in drone-human symbiosis.
The placement of a train station is also important, needing careful consideration of its relationship with a city’s existing rail, road and human networks. Ajuria also took the droneport location seriously, placing it in Madrid’s South Node, a currently unused urban site connecting directly to the highway. Not only does this allow for fast connection with the transit centers of delivery companies – with drones able to use the arteries of highways just as wheeled vehicles do – it also allows the project to be easily adapted to other highway locations.
While the train station typology arose out of necessity, it also came to heighten the experience of travel – black and white photos of light pouring in to Grand Central Station are perhaps the most cinematic example of this. The proportion, color, and care that Ajuria has put into his Urban Droneport’s design also shows this sentiment of celebrating the building’s program.
However, there is one drastic difference between trains and drones: while Grand Central Station does celebrate the commute, it also hides the trains underground. Other stations tend to eject their trains into walled-off cuttings or embankments. Drones however, would not be hidden and separated from the city, but instead occupy the airspace above and around us. This means that architects’ response to the promise of “unprecedented multidimensional urban space” and the need for “buildings that work to facilitate drone navigation and communication” could lead to a new typology entirely–potentially even in ways more definitive and integrated than train stations did in the past.
The Three-Dimensional City: How Drones Will Impact the Future Urban Landscape
ArchDaily’s previous investigation into how drones could reshape our cities.
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After working for decades, getting ready to become a retiree often feels overwhelming. In addition to mentally preparing yourself, you will also need to get your finances ready for the next few decades. Taking the time to make plans now will give you peace of mind knowing that you will be financially stable for many years to come.
It might be tempting to continue dumping as much money as possible into your retirement accounts, but it is almost always more efficient to settle your debts first. Unless you and your financial manager have decided that your retirement accounts are earning much more interest than your current debt, you should try to settle your other loans first. Entering into retirement with absolutely no debt can be one of the most freeing situations you will ever experience.
See Also: What Happens to Debts Of A Deceased Person?
As soon as you are done paying off all the debt you have, you should redirect as much of your money as possible into your retirement accounts. This is especially important if you work for a company that is offering to match your contributions. Making a few smaller sacrifices while you are working will help you build a much bigger nest egg for the future. Many people reroute annual bonuses, raises, and tax refunds directly into their most profitable retirement accounts.
Even if your life slows down after you retire, there are still going to be some emergencies. Unfortunately, those emergencies are much different when you are on a fixed income. While many people drain their rainy-day funds just before retirement, you should consider holding onto it. Having a few thousand dollars in a secure account could help you cover unexpected medical bills or repair work if your vehicle breaks down.
See Also: Are Men Or Women More Successful At Saving For Retirement?
Whenever you are getting ready to make a major change in your life, you should always revisit your estate. Most employees who are getting ready to retire will need to speak with a Probate Lawyer to discuss any changes that need to be made to their will. These legal professionals can ensure that your assets will be passed along smoothly and without any major disputes if you pass away.
There is no single financial tactic that will work for every retiree, and that is why you must do your own research in the years leading up to your retirement in order to build wealth and reduce your debts as quickly as possible.
The post Top 4 Tips for Getting Your Finances Ready for Retirement appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Contemporary Interior Box is a residential project designed by IDwhite in 2016. It is located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Contemporary Interior Box by IDwhite: “Contemporary interior Box is designed in 2016 by IDwhite and is located in Kaunas, Lithuania. This 55 square meter (592 square foot) flat was designed with the idea to separate spaces by contrast. The living room is very bright and clean, through this space, you are able..
‘Green corridor,’ ‘green connections,’ and a ‘green program’ are coming to Vietnam‘s third largest city, Da Nang. Antwerp-based design company OMGEVING was awarded a joint first place prize — out of 39 applicants —for the design competition for Da Nang’s Han Riverfront master plan that has an estimated cost of 85 million euros.
The key principle remains restoring the river nature in the city while creating a park of which the shape refers to the original riverbanks said the jury.
The Han river runs the length of the rapidly growing city of Da Nang. Its riverfront’s new master plan will stay on par with the developments in the area — while also regenerating the masterplan. In addition to a floating market place, a city park, and an urban sports park, four buildings will be employed: an opera building, a water hub building, and a redesigned market hall and concert hall.
A 2.2-hectare park will be situated adjacent to the river, 3,000 new trees will create a design unity at the scale of the city as a whole. Motorbike and pedestrian bridges will sustain both riverbank parks to prosper.
News Via: OMGEVING
From the architect. This house is a hybrid of several types of houses: first of all the first thing it wants is to be a “house of the Camp d’Elx”, as those still populate the rural districts with its peculiar silhouette, whose traditional architecture makes use of ceramic decks inclined and the deep porches -for shade- oriented at noon; But at the same time it also wants to be a “house-patio Mediterranean”, introverted, protected from the outside and purely white; And also has in its genetics a “Californian house”, one of those sophisticated houses of the admired modern architecture of Los Angeles -with whom we share Mediterranean climate- that unfold their plants -many L shaped- in open horizontal spaces which overlook the gardens and the refreshing swimming pools.
As a Mediterranean house, a vital piece of this project is the patio. The patio is a space that widens and multiplies the experiences of the house, and contributes to blur the boundary between the inside and the outside. As it is located in the entrance area of the house, it makes the arrival a very special moment, in fact the whole vestibular space is around the patio. In this house also has been used the patio to articulate the transition from one part to the other, clearly separating the common area from the private area of the bedrooms. And finally the most exciting thing about a patio is that it is an ‘open-air room’ that captures and filters light at different times of the day and year, filling the interior with very different nuances and very changing situations.
Another main part of the house is the kitchen. Around it is generated the whole ‘family life’ and will undoubtedly become the heart of the house in a multitude of moments and circumstances. That is why the kitchen is completely open to the rest of the house, a decision that also seeks the democratization of domestic roles and, above all, the idea of living and enjoying the entire interior landscape of the house. To reinforce this nuclear idea of the kitchen, it is located in the same baryonenter of the common space to precisely be able to dominate visually from that point all the common spaces -dining room, living room, patio and study-library- and all exterior spaces -porche, garden and swimming pool-.
The skylines of modern China are punctuated by architecture that amazes, inspires, and awes. Many of these towering structures are the work of the Beijing-based experimental practice MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong.
People often ask what ‘MAD’ stands for; sometimes, I explain it stands for MA Design, but I like MAD (adjective) Architects better. It sounds like a group of architects with an attitude towards design and practice. I think it is important to practice architecture with an attitude, to be critical and sensitive to the issues and challenges in our world.
MAD Works is illustrated with 300 photographs, architectural drawings, and renderings that offer a thorough exploration of MAD’s international portfolio of completed works, unbuilt projects, and future ideas. The book also features a significant range of buildings including museums, theaters, and residences, as well as commissioned designs for urban planning, urban complexes, and old neighborhood renovations. In 2014, MAD was selected as the principal design architect for the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA), becoming the first China-based architecture firm to design an overseas cultural institution.
Organized thematically, this comprehensive architectural monograph explores the underlying concepts of MAD’s architectural works. MAD Works is divided into five chapters based on a series of creative concepts that reveal Ma’s attitude toward architecture. Named after his five art pieces—Fish Tank, Ink Ice, Feelings are Facts, Shanshui City, and Beijing 2050—the chapters operate as points of departure and inspiration for his subsequent architectural works. These five concepts categorize and organize the 28 featured works.
Including a foreword by Sir Peter Cook, founder of Archigram, and an interview by Aric Chen, curator of art and design for M+, the new museum for visual culture in Hong Kong, MAD Works is a visually stunning and in-depth monograph that catalogues the awe-inspiring works of one of the most dynamic contemporary architecture firms to emerge in the 21st Century.
This architect is the bringer of the new fluency: clearly they emerge out of a very real sense of structure, weight, substance and, above all, form but they seem to have no fear of the hiccups that European or American architecture often gets strangled by – which then have to be resolved, or ‘played’ by niceties of articulation or grammar. At this point it remains for one to pick out from his architecture some intriguing characteristics. Of materiality: that one senses the inherited palette of glazed openings and universal white surfaces may be starting to bore him? That he is still happier with some degree of axial formality that in the West, we associate with pomp, but that he has the spirit to scramble all of it at any minute and make an apparently random plan arrangement.
The old avant-garde figures often went out so far that in their mature work they either lost their public or had seduced them so far that they forgot there had ever been any other type of proposition or aesthetics. It is interesting that Ma Yansong is a frequent lecture visitor to the West, but what does he need from us? The incentive, with this work is reversed, for he has surely bewitched us.
Explorer is a private residence designed by AworkDesign Studio. It is located in Taoyuan, Taiwan and was completed in 2016. Explorer by AworkDesign Studio: “Do you remember how much you like to hide yourself in a small space when you were a child? We all have a dream to create a small world all to ourselves. This project is designed on the theme – Explorer. The client wishes to have..
