BIG strip

a project that all over the blogosphere...

bjarke ingels group [ big ] is a copenhagen based architectural firm. a big place. 85 architects, designers, thinkers doing some amazing work.
their site is a little wild. they only showcase a few highlight projects - this one not up yet. but their firm philosophy is written quite eloquently explaining their desire to harmonize between the two diametric oppositions [historically] in architecture: "investing in the overlap between radical and reality."

big was awarded first prize in the open international design competition for kazakhstan’s new national library in astana. big beat out 19 other entrants which included the ranks of lord norman foster and zaha hadid.

vernacular structures [yurts] are employed as formal inspiration. the result is a combination of elemental architectural concepts [universal archetypes]; circle, rotunda and arch merged, with the addition of the yurt, into an overlapping, flowing moebius strip.

the project amalgamates computer generated design, sustainability and high architectural thought into an absolutely composed and articulate form.

these are some of the best diagrams i've seen yet. wow. clear, elegant, graphic. beautiful, informative, inspiring...

their rendering is something to be awestruck by as well. [see above too]

check out these links for more info, pictures, etc.

archdaily

e-architect

-lomography II-

peter posted up an interesting topic earlier this week. i thought i'd add to his post by showing some of our work.


some silhouettes


zoom experiments


one wish from a lava lamp

these images where made using a variety of light sources [bicycle lamps, l.e.d., headlamps, lava lamps, paper scrims]. creating the composition during a camera shot with an extended exposure. more details to come.

-lomography-

I have recently gotten into photography. its something nick, jessie and I are interested in. but I decided to take a turn into film since its more of a hobby for me than it is an profession (basically i don't have deadlines or clients) :D



they call it the PIKA PIKA project, finally something i found that deals with light art..! hopefully soon in the future i'll be able to do something with medium format. but until then!

detroit winner blogs

Because of my curiosity of the winner's work-- easy to understand considering the sophistication the clips each winning proposal shows, I went on a search to find a blog or web page for each. Unfortunately, I could only find one. Fortunately, it was the first place winner's and it is wicked cool.

The first link shows the project.
http://fachwerk.wordpress.com/

The second link is his related blog.
http://archimorph.wordpress.com/

check.

rouse[d]

1st Place: Jason Pierce, Illinois
2nd Place: David Wolthers, Denmark
3rd Place: Scott Long, New York
Honorable Mention: 2A_eM design Cooperative, Wisconsin (Jessica Wilcox, Nicholas Reiter, Peter Nguyen)

[D]escription:

rouse[D] is a two part competition and exhibition. rouse[D] will focus on re-inventing the city of Detroit through the use of digital computation methodologies!

Experimental and innovative design ideas through exhibition.

This is an international open ideas competition challenging people to come up with designs that will rouse the city of Detroit and encourage an evolution of our understanding of its unique urban environment. We have studied, examined, photographed, and proposed our ideas many times over, but how can we begin to take action to improve the overall condition of what so many believe to be a modern day ruins? Every city has its history and Detroit is no different, but now it’s our turn to “bounce back” and maybe not in the traditional or conventional way, but in a new, unprecedented way that is specific to the one-of-a-kind condition Detroit presents to us. So the solution too, will be one-of-a-kind specific to our Detroit… let’s see what you’ve got…

here's what we got...

something new. something old.

I was introduced to something new this month.



and I got to say. its definitely has got me rocking lately to do a bit more photograpy and design work. hopefully these things will be either posted here or on my personal blog.

this little thing caught my eye recently.
while the team was in detroit we noticed this cute little thing being put up.



We didn't think much of it then. but now looking back, we should have played detective and really checked it out. :(





maybe next time we'll be a little more alert about our surroundings.

heres the link if your interested in reading up on it.
enjoy.

the story of stuff

i forgot to mention that i'll be disconnected for a while. traveling the pacific northwest [cascadia] for the next month or so... posts may be sparse, unless...

but in the mean time here's a little something to take a look at:

rolling huts

located in washington's methow valley, the rolling huts are several steps above camping, while remaining low-tech and low-impact in their design. designed by oska [olson sundberg kundig allen architects] architects, the huts sit lightly on the site, a flood plain meadow in an alpine river valley.



the huts are grouped as a herd: while each is sited towards a view of the mountains (and away from the other structures), their proximity unites them. they evoke thoreau’s simple cabin in the woods; the structures take second place to nature.

you blink when you breathe and you breathe when you lie

there's been a lot of buzz around this group lately. but i must say, when alison mosshart and jack white get together under the dead weather they're so much more hardcore than the white stripes. the kills are great, and the raconteurs rock, but when you bring them together you better be ready for the ride especially with the support of jack lawrence on bass and dean fertita on guitar.



here's a little preview. the group's first album came out a couple weeks ago [july 14] and i was lucky enough to catch them as they passed through minneapolis - rocking the legendary first avenue.

opening with the epic 60 feet tall the band brought the packed house on a wild ride. working their way through the album, some highlights include a cover of "you just can't win" where jack white came out from behind the drums to vocalize. "cut like a buffalo" and "hang you up from the heavens" were crowd pleasers. and true to rocker form jack white shared his gift of guitar with the crowd - absolutely shredding it to pieces. alison mosshart has an amazing stage presence, climbing all over the speakers, rocking around like a drunkard, she commands attention. after burning through two encores the band ended with "treat me like your mother" before walking off stage arm in arm - a true collaboration.

the new music/promotional video, directed by jonathan glazer, it's pretty straight forward flick, but so entertaining, one of my favs on the album:

The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother

design like you give a damn

recently the finalists were announced for the open architecture challenge; eight team finalists for the 2009 open architect challenge: classrooms. the call for entries spurred over 10,000 participants from architects, teachers and students.

“This initiative invited the architecture, design and engineering community to collaborate directly with students and teachers to rethink the classroom of the future. Designers entering the competition were given a simple mandate: collaborate with real students in real schools in their community to develop real solutions,” explained Cameron Sinclair, the co-founder for Architecture for Humanity and this competition.

some of my favorites include;



adaptable hillside classroom
design team: feilden clegg bradley studios & architecture for humanity UK
engineering team: buro happold
partner/ location: bunyonyi community school, kabale, uganda



classroom for salt pan community
design team: rajesh kapoor, prashant solanky, bharat karamchandani, kiran vaghela, gujarat, india
partner/location: cohesion foundation, kutch, gujarat, india



house in the wood
design team: built form, llc / northwestern university settlement house, chicago, united states
partner/location: northwestern university settlement house, delavan, wisconsin, united states



justified architecture in a landscape of transformation
design team: arquitectura justa - wolfgang timmer, fabiola uribe, t. luke young, bogota, colombia
partner/ location: waldorf educational & social organization, ciudad bolívar, bogota, colombia

mke gallery night

a while back i was fortunate enough to be introduced to local artists brent budsberg and shana mccaw exhibiting at the current tendencies show at the haggerty museum. they've done a series of architecturally related installations. relations of scale provoke thought and reveal the artists' creativity and collaboration.

they are curating a show to be opened at the pritzlaff building this weekend [july 24-25]. the building is undergoing renovation and like any advantageous creatives, they're getting they're say in transition. gallery night always makes for a great night out.

if you're swinging to the third ward, hop across the river and see a bit of cream city reinterpreted.



[n]: The Pritzlaff Project

[ l ]: N Plankinton Ave and St Paul Ave

[h]: (One block west of the Milwaukee Public Market)



[d]: July 24, 5:00-9:00pm and July 25, 10:00am-4:00pm



[i]: artists and designers include;

Jason Belmonti

Theresa’Beth

Michael Bouwkamp & Liza Pflughoft

Julio Cordova

Stephanie Dever

Becky Dimsey

Katie Kreger

Beata Krezalek

Rudy Medina

Siya Motamedi

James Pederson

Stephen Strupp

Amelia Toporsh

the start of something beautiful

perspective renderings. catalytic nodes. radical infrastructure. ready to go....




















images © 2Aem cooperative

detroit is burning

only a few hours ago a tanker, carrying diesel motor fuel [all too ironic], lost control, crashed into a bridge and exploded. a series of explosions followed ultimately ending with a melted overpass. the location; i-75, near nine mile road.

check out the whole story

diagrams

images © 2Aem cooperative

updates and more to come....