Architects at the end of 2009
Another year is almost over. How did we, architects, do in the last decade? Did we accomplish our objectives? Did we give anything back to the society? Or did we all get sucked up in the “system”? Here is a link from Los Angeles Times written by architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. I found it quite [...]
CCTV on Fire
Monday evening just before midnight, when Chinese were celebrating the Lantern Festival, fire consumed a building in Beijing that formed part of Central China Television’s new headquarters. Initial investigation showed that the fire had been caused by illegal launches of firecrackers, said a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Government. According to Shanghaiist, CCTV fire suspiciously [...]
Planning for 8.8.8
Beijing is getting ready for the 2008 Summer Olympics which will start on August 8, 2008. New buildings are under construction, service system is getting better, roads are re-paved, and shortly the city is having an overall make up… It is similar to cleaning up your house before your visitors arrive… I have been a [...]
Phare Tower, France
Morphosis won the International Competition for the design of the “Phare�? Tower (Lighthouse), the centerpiece of a redevelopment in the business district, La Défense, just outside of Paris. Mayne beat out the likes of Norman Foster and Rem Koolhaas to win the competition. Its expected completion date is 2012…
Seattle Public Library
I spent 4 hours in the Seattle Public Library that didn’t involve reading! It is a great building, every corner and every level has a different view. You never know what to expect when you turn a corner. The endless yellow escalator is outstanding, and the red administrative floors are breathtaking. Everything is red, the [...]
Skin + Bones
Yesterday I went to the “Skin + Bones: parallel practices in fashion and architecture” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, California. For more information about the exhibit see below. The photo is Shigeru Ban’s Curtain Wall House by Shigeru Ban Architects in Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan 1995. Photo © Hiroyuki Hirai.
20 Houses by Twenty Architects
This volume, now also available in paperback, inaugurates a new Electaarchitecture series on residential architecture and presents an illustrated portfolio of 20 innovative, talked-about houses built around the world during the past decade by both celebrated architects and emerging young designers.
Glass: Material Matters
This was a fascinating exhibit about glass that I had a chance to visit. Glass is part of our daily lives and most of the time we don’t even notice it! Glass: Material Matters is the first exhibition of contemporary glass organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and incorporates more than fifty [...]
