Architectuul. the blog

Architects, Architecture - Building Knowledge 
Tags



May 2, 2012
 

International Workers' Day: Constructivism Revisited

On the occasion of May 1st, we would like to draw your attention to a series of buildings which were erected as Workers' Clubs in the early days after the October Revolution in Soviet Russia. They now constitute the core of Russian Constructivist architecture and have since become seminal works of this period.

Rusakov7edit
Rusakov Workers' Club via the Constructivist Project

On the blog The Constructivist Project, a young photographer is diplaying a fine collection of photographs around the topic.

Filed under  //   moscow  
Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

April 26, 2012
 

Open Source Furniture. It Works!

On the occasion of an exhibition by Future City Lab, an open source think tank on the future of cities, our friends at OpenSimSim have launched an open design initiative to come up with the furniture for the event (we reported).

After four weeks of collaborative work involving designers and engineers from countries around the world, OpenSimSim has now finalized 3 different stool designs which will be manufactured using 8 to 12 mm thick Eternit fibre concrete sheets. The chairs which were finally selected were jointly designed by Marcel Bilow, Daniel Dendra, Andrea Graziano, Bruno Pereira, Joshua Perez and Kyle Rogler. They will be ready for the exhibition which opens on March 22nd in Berlin.

We are always enthusiastic about open source projects linked to architecture and design, but we are particularily impressed by the fast and seamless collaboration process of this project and by the beautiful results. See for yourself.

Opsimbookfinal-1
If you want to join OpenSimSim's team of worldwide young designers and engineers please write them at be@opensimsim.net or submit your ideas for projects on the OpenSimSim facebook page or the blog.


Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

April 22, 2012
 

Neutra's Fight Against Oblivion

In 1959 Richard Neutra built the American embassy in Pakistan. Now the building is empty and facing demolition.

Karachi4
Another Neutra building, a single house in Los Angeles, was expecting the same fate last year. Although the outlook was initially dire, the building was saved in extremis with the help of the Neutra Institute For Survival Through Design.

Modernism came into fashion again with the rise of design magazines like Wallpaper and the reconstruction of the Barcelona Pavilion, but the wider public still seems to be largely indifferent. What can we do to draw more focus on our Rich Modernist heritage?

Filed under  //   endangered  
Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

April 11, 2012
 

To All Designers Worldwide: Open Call For A Chair

Join the OpenSimSim team to help design a chair /stool for an exhibition in a Berlin gallery. The exhibition will generate ideas for the sustainable city, but will be in need of furniture to help facilitate conversation. OpenSimSim is having an open-call for all designers to create an open-source chair/stool series for this event.

Tumblr_ossm1vamejbzh1qi292vo1_1280
If you want to join this open call, please submit your ideas for projects on the OpenSimSim Facebook page.

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

March 27, 2012
 

Google Celebrates Mies

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe would be 126 years old today. Google celebrates this event with one of its famous doodles. It features a Google-coloured version of the S.R. Crown Hall, home to the College of Architecture at the Illinos Institute of Technology.

Google

Designed by Mies in 1940 and completed in 1956, the Crown Hall is the centerpiece of the master plan for the university campus. The Time magazine called it one of the world's "most influential, inspiring and astonishing structures". To view further inspiring examples of Mies van der Rohe's architecture, put together by our community, take a look at our website.

Mies_van_der_rohe_crown_hall_kl

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

March 8, 2012
 

Tremendously Influential Women Architects

Today on Women's Day, we would like to throw the limelight on women architects who pushed the limits of the profession to new heights. They made it easier for young women today to follow in their footsteps. Here are in no particular order:

 

Denise Scott-Brown

Denise-scott-brown

 

Lilly Reich

Lilly

 

Jane Drew

Jane_drew

 

Kazuyo Sejima

Sejima

 

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky

Margaret

 

Anne Tyng

Tyng

 

Zaha Hadid

Zaha

 

Anne Lacaton

Anne-lacaton-mch-2011

 

 

Elizabeth Diller

Elizabethdiller

 

Billie Tsien

Tsien

 

Alison Smithson

Alison_3

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

February 15, 2012
 

Viewing Platforms

This week we have selected a couple of viewing platforms. We hope you enjoy the views as much as we did.

Top_9
Top of Tyrol: View from the Stubai Glacier in Austria

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

February 8, 2012
 

Winter Cold

It's icey cold all over Europe. This week we have highlighted some buildings that can warm you up, literally and metaphorically. Check out our featured buildings!

Blur_2

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

January 31, 2012
 

Moving Structures

This week, a limelight on moving structures with contributions of our community. Check out the intricate Gucklhupf once situated on Lake Constance, but now dismantled or the astonishing technical masterpiece, an engineer's dream that became a reality against all odds: the Villa Girasole in Italy.

Giras

Girasole, a villa on rails via Tenuous Resilience

The video mentioned in the sources of the Villa Girasole is also worth watching! Many thanks to Lacuna, ziggurat, and thms.

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]

January 16, 2012
 

Anne Tyng, Architect - And Partner Of Louis Kahn

Back in 1944 Anne Tyng who died recently aged 91 was one of the first female architects to graduate from Harvard University. She was fascinated all her life by the Platonic solids, three-dimensional shapes with equal sides and equal angles (cube, dodecahedron, etc.) that the Greeks discovered, da Vinci drew, and Kepler wrongly but beautifully theorized formed the layers of the solar system. These five shapes are the driving forms behind Tyng’s architecture and form the spaces inside which she envisioned life being lived.

Tyng_in_1978

As a young architect Ms Tyng became romantically liaised with the legendary Louis Kahn. They had a daughter together, but as Kahn was still married to his first wife - to tone down the scandal - Tyng left the United States to settle in Rome. They regularly wrote to eachother. And although Kahn destroyed her letters, he kept his. They were later published giving testament to their deeply romantic, but tumultuous relationship. In "Louis Kahn to Anne Tyng: The Rome Letters 1953-1954" she says:

Read the rest of this post »

Posted by Architectuul 

Comments [0]