urban explorer

An amazing installation on the facades of a building in Linz, Austria.  The LED display responds to music that is boomed into the area via speakers surroudning the building. You must Watch Here.

Prince Charles has entered somewhat impressively into the world of architecture with this fine example of….. umm…. yes it is a firestation.  I would say a clear contender for this years Carbuncle Cup, ironically a spin off from the Princes comments, in a speech for the 150th anniversary of the RIBA, on the new national gallery extension in trafalgar quare in 1984. Now as the number of unemployed architects in the the UK is estimated at 30% higher than the official figures,  I would say there might be a few angry dressed in black, thick rimmed glasses wearing subjects of her majesty shaking a few scale rulers in the direction of the Prince. One might suggest; i dont think by taking our jobs dear charles, and turning them into this, you will help us out of our little recession. One might even go as far to say; that would work about as well as the beautiful drainage system on your lovely firestati0n. Read more at the guardian. A daft mess indeed.

Photo: Phil Yeomans/BNPS

Oliver Medvedik, founder of the Bioworks Institute, has revealed plans to grow a watch, read more at wired.

The following is from the Bioworks institute website:

“Positioned at the confluence of art and science, we are a tightly knit
group of designers, artists and scientists who seek to develop new
forms of biological products and designs using biotechnology. The
skills and ideas each of us bring to this project will, we predict,
synergize to produce a radical new architectural craft.

The time has finally arrived when the costs of biotechnology have
diminished to make it financially practical for these tools to be
applied by small groups of skilled and motivated individuals. In
essence, our endeavor harkens back to an earlier era of small craft
workshops, albeit utilizing state-of-the-art techniques and resources.

Ever since the advent of novel forms of genetically engineered
micro-organisms containing human and other genes, originally utilized
as “protein-factories” if you will, coupled with the established
technologies of tissue culturing, we seek to develop not just new
organisms, synthetic ecosystems as well.”

This project reminds me of my final year studio project which was a fusion of some research into genetics, xrays of my own body, maya, and rather a few 4b pencils. I have posted the concept text/story and images below:

P  O  S  T  P  R  O  D  U  C  T  I  O  N:__

The year is 2050 and an emergent architecture known as P o s t p r o d u c t i o n has evolved where buildings are recognised not as singular fixed bodies, but as complex energy and material systems that have life spans and co-exist in harmony.  The production of buildings as we once knew ceased long ago.  Pre-fabrication of components and parts, manufactured and assembled in multiple configurations has ended.  Dwindling natural resources, a lack of skilled labour, and unstable climatic environments forced the professions to search beyond traditional modes of design and construction.  As the morphogenetic behaviour of existing materials became known, studies in their self-organisation and potential complexity proliferated.  These led to methodologies for the development of new materials that allowed variation and heterogeneity to emerge, something that until the early twenty first century was avoided at all costs, when variations within materials were seen as imperfections.

Architecture once lagged behind other research professions, the sciences, manufacturing industries, and the mass media’s.  Now architecture leads the profession with the application and use of emergent technologies.  ‘Wet’ nanotechnology utilises the replication potential of biological cell division and DNA as its machinery, as opposed to ‘dry’ nanotechnology which focuses on the creation of minute traditional mechanical devices that allow the manipulation of matter, atom by atom.  The application of ‘wet’ nanotechnology has opened the door for an architecture that is capable of reacting to its environment, both natural and artificial.  The theory of ‘worlding’ as described by Heidegger has been actualised to its extreme possibilities.  Not only do objects transform and mutate depending on the requirements of their users, but buildings are capable of phenotypic reactions, they evolve according to their use.  No longer are there neutral spaces.  Modernist ideals for the simplification of architectural materials and aesthetics has been reversed.  Complexity and variation in architectural form and programme is uncontrolled.

Genetics proved a key field of research in the emergence of P o s t p r o d u c t i o n.  No longer is genetics used solely for the homogenisation of genetic materials, as in agriculture and biological sciences.  Before architecture adopted the possibilities unleashed by genetic research, biologists and medical scientists mapped the human genome (predominately through the work of The Human Genome Project) and developed technologies that enabled manipulation of the human genome. The human body has become a programmable surface capable of reactions to its environment, controlled by the individual.  Once genetic manipulation techniques had been refined it was possible to use this technology to cure all known diseases and deformities within biological life. But this is an ongoing process, as new diseases and abnormalities are evolving at a rate comparable to that of the methodologies used to counter them.  For architecture the possibilities unleashed by this research were unparalleled.

The design of structures has shifted its focus from the preconception that all materials must be isotropic, that is identical properties in all directions, to one that utilises the potential of materials that contain heterogeneous elements.  The evolution of new materials that are ‘grown’ resulted from these technologies.  ‘Machinic Phylum’ once a term used by philosophers to describe the capabilities of matter, being constantly in movement, in flux, and in constant variation is a commonly used term.

The remnants of buildings remaining from the manufacturing era are encased in the new architecture, parasitic in their appearance new structures enclose and provide new amenity to any buildings that are capable of transformation.  As the existing buildings diminish and disintegrate, they are absorbed by the new buildings and recycled to provide material for the growth of the new structures.

A systemic approach to structural systems has developed where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, meaning change and adaptation within localised areas of building systems are absorbed by the structure as a whole. Spatial fluctuations coexisting with virtual and physical environments, brought about by the fragmentation and spatial compaction of society, are now possible and the “fluid, dynamic world” predicted by Neil Spiller in the later part of the 20th century, has become a reality.

Ross Langdon © 2004

images:

competition winning design by Stani Michiels for a commemorative 5 euro coin, with the theme ‘netherlands and architecture.  more on infosthetics

Below is a quote from Foucault’s Sleep, Models for a Proposal, a free publication by Iconoclast publications that i picked up whilst at Steven Holl’s Kiasma Museum in Helsinki 2006.  The book is a homage to Foucault, the authors explore a “hypothesis concerning the visible: could the constant presence in media (blogs, Reality-TV etc.) become a new paradigm for privacy?”

Along with the text are a series of intricate drawings, maps and diagrams that illustrate architectural proposals and conceptual projects based Foucault’s  writings on power, knowledge, surveillance, territories and societies of control. The book is  beautifully presented and illustrated. A wonderful reference and source for inspiration, especially working on the seafront projects i seem to find myself drawn to. The quote below leads on from a discussion on Deleuze’s fascination with islands and a text on Michael Tournier’s novel Friday. You can download a pdf version of the full publication here.

“In the Archipelago, the islands don’t define the milieu but the space in between: the routes, the streams, the currents and counter currents, whirlpools and calms. This is the space of countless lines of lights intersecting, converging, creating temporary assemblages. This is the multitude.

We are not islands, but the surrounding ocean. Islands are homogenic, stratified and sedimented, the sea heterogenic, smooth and in constant change. The islands are chartered, but the ocean is only modelled or approached according to the law of averages or pattern recognition.

Sometimes people take refuge on islands. Or at least direct their hopes towards them, the reason is simple: all systems (of belief) require a fixed basis – islands represent that which is ideal and permanent. Islands have edges. They are refuges for those who need something to cling to. Most of the time, though, there are monsters on the islands. That’s why Ulysses and his men had to get away., The single eye had to be closed for good. Where did Ulysses and his men hide? Among the sheep: the cattle, the obedient, the stupid. And, relieved, took to the seas again – to get back home.”

Source: Foucault’s Sleep, Models for a Proposal,
Iconoclast publications 8, Turku 2005, p.70

well done to supercolossal, who have just won the competition to design the Australian Peacekeeping Memorial. Supercolossal overpowered 3 other finalists to win the commission.  The proposal includes two monolithic forms separated by fiercly lit space through which visitors may pass in order to enter a calm space for ceremony and contemplation beyond… read more

Langdon Reis Architects have been awarded a special mention in the International competition for the renovation of Tabakalera in San Sebastian.  Following is a short summary of our text and images from the competition submission.  More information can be found on the Tabalalera Website.

 Concept:

The Tabakalera has become a valued ICON inextricably linked with the city of San Sebastian. Its renovation means taking into account its HISTORY in order to define accurately its present and future place in the local community and further afield.

Once emblematic of industrial progress, the new Tabakalera will be the twenty-first century factory of social and cultural enhancement.

Tabakalera has to become a place of ACCESS to culture and ideas, a place of DEBATE, a place where PEOPLE as USERS and ACTORS can learn, communicate and express their ideas and will locally and globally.

As a local icon, the meaning and physical envelope of the renovated Tabakalera is also weaved into the singularity of the Basque cultural environment. I will act as a PLATFORM of interaction, a point in a wider NETWORK where identities are flexible and multilayered, here and there, locally and globally, where one can be Basque, citizen of the world, and European at the same time and anywhere.

Action:

A new urban street is carefully cut through the Tabakalera, maximizing transparency and interconnectivity, whilst minimising disturbance to the existing structure. The internal street becomes a new CULTURAL AGORA.

The four existing courtyards become stages for display, performance and interaction. The street is both an extension of the spectacle within the display/production spaces and a service spine, providing amenity and respite.

Activity flows seamlessly between enclosed and open spaces. Blurring the boundaries between public and private.

Design Team + Credits:

Architecture: Langdon Reis Architects Ltd
Project Leaders: Ross Langdon, Ana Reis
Assitants: Naofumi Takaoka, Moeko Yamagata

Engineering: Ove Arup + Partners
Environmental Engineer: Becci Taylor

3D Rendering: Rock Hunter
Christiaan Klaassen (Internal street image)

Hi everyone,

Just an update as to why i have been so absent over the past few months…and will continue to be for another few weeks.  I have been absorbed by the competition in Norway, we are due to submit in December…. Some longs nights ahead… We have also just won a prize in another competition:  The Tabakalera Culture Factory in San Sebastian.  See the website. I will show post some images and text once the final winner has been announced. Until then……

A giant Kandinsky replica……..”People walk across a copy of Russian-born expressionist Vassily Kandinsky’s painting “Weilheim-Marienplatz” on the pavement of the market square in the southern Bavarian town of Weilheim, Germany, on July 28, 2008. About 500 pupils and Weilheim citizens painted the 2,100-square-meter area, with about 8,000 paving stones, to produce the world’s largest copy of a Kandinsky painting” source: activate. via julie.

The result of a RIBA competition in 2005: here is Charles Barclay Architects finished product.  very beautiful, love the rotating turrets!

see more at dezeen