hot n fun

I'll be posting various music and vids of recent interests to complement the daily architectural pieces. So, let's hope you enjoy and take it with a pinch of salt. It's summertime y'all!!

Okay, we wrote this for a purpose, to motivate you at this time;
With this hypnotizing bassline, please feel free to lose your mind;
And get high, get money, get sex, get real, all intertwined;
Oh yeah, this is stadium music, 50,000 at a time;

Chorus:
Let’s get right, let’s get right;
Let’s get right, okay (okay);
Let’s get right, let’s get right;
Let’s get right, okay (okay);

All the girls want, Hot N Fun;
All they looking for is, Hot N Fun;
All they ask for is, Hot N Fun;

They keep wanting that, Hot N Fun;
Look at you, look at me;
Look at you, look at me;
Hot N Fun, Hot N Fun;

Let it go;
Homeboy, she’s dancing for a reason, not just cause on I’m on her hind;
Homeboy, it’s totally obvi, you don’t be listening to her mind;
She want to get right, get money, get sex, get real, all intertwined;
This is stadium music, fifty thou jumping at a time;

Chorus:
Let’s get right, let’s get right;
Let’s get right, okay (okay);
Let’s get right, let’s get right;
Let’s get right, okay (okay);

All the girls want, Hot N Fun;
All they looking for is, Hot N Fun;
All they ask for is, Hot N Fun;

They keep wanting that, Hot N Fun;
Look at you, look at me;
Look at you, look at me;
Hot N Fun, Hot N Fun;

mapping contours

Another project from Unsandong Architects. Unlike their previous 'skinscape' idea, this focuses on topology. Quote:

'We know that we exist not as an individual, but as a unity of many, or even numerous individuals connected to each other. Creating an Publisher’s space is not just setting up the exhibition and office space and putting books in it, but drawing a map that covers all the works in the venue. It depends on the map how the viewer will appreciate the space and books. Through the , I have sought to insert ‘the vessel of new topography’ into homogeneous space. ‘The vessel of new topography.’ an intervention of a new imagination into the space, works as imaginary texts like those of Jorge Luis Borges. We will make-the “Contour Topography” a space for the’ new experience. The Contour space will reflect the real topography by applying the abstract image of it to the floor. The theatrical “Topography” works as canvas for the life, but changes through various new media include book. The multi-purpose topography is an interactive map of office, club, show, seminar, lecture, performance, etc.'

no 2 and scissors at the top

Upsetters Architects have created a complex for a beauty salon and a cafe, whose site has a narrow frontage. In Japanese, such a site would be called 'unagino-nedoko' (a bed for an eel). The client desired it to be like a retreat hence the Architects have utilised the depth of the 2 buildings thus creating an interior space in which people can feel light. Additionally, different materials are used for each part and alternating the roof pitch makes the visitors feel an extension further back. They have also punctured the entrance on the side so as to 'theaterise' what is happening inside. By doing this, passersby would peep into the room. The space for hair dressing is located in the middle and has the other two parts’ exterior walls as its interior wall. It also faces a small garden and the customers will see it over the mirrors.

spruce up well

Here is a project whereby the clients pictured a dwelling for experience - an interplay of privacy and transparency. Petra Gipp Arkitektur have created 2 distinct volumes that hold of each others conditions. One of the volumes contains elemental cells for sleeping, which have a direct connection to the outside via a separate entrance. There is also a large bedroom with an adjacent terrace, and a bathroom, which is open to the sky. And the other, a generous living room and a kitchen, where the public aspects of dwelling take place. The kitchen presents a degree of simplicity and abstraction. In between the two volumes, an internal light well forms itself where light cuts down through a large lantern. This is to release and define a conceptual cut between the two parts of the house; the closed space that turns inwards, and the generously outward looking, open volume. The spacious living room blurs the boundary between inside and outside.

Part of the volume forms an outside space with nothing but a roof as protection from the elements, this part transitions into the large terraces. Materials and details are chosen with care to emphasize an architectonic whole. Elemental panelling consisting of boards of varying dimensions has a coat of iron sulphate and mitred corners; it follows the fluctuating profile of the form, internally as well as externally. Throughout the building, the floors are covered with soaped spruce, and in order to accentuate a unity within the form, so are a few of the vertical surfaces. Concrete cast on site and details out of sheet zinc are other materials used.

stare at me

Look at those eyes!! Need I say more.

PS: Looks like Guido is going through a ginger phase...

ncp carpark take note

Paasdorf is a small street village in Lower Austria where the Architects, feld72 was to position 'Kulturlandschaft Paasdorf' (an art project that is known far beyond the borders of Austria) by means of a symbol on the village square. Their concept was to bring together synergetically two formative components: everyday (local population) and attention (visitors). As you would expect, the square alters its appearance according to the needs both during the day and the seasons. Hence, the village square and car park are not separated into single functional zones but blend together to create a unity that can be read and used in a variety of ways. When not occupied by a car almost every parking space is something else – whether it be a wooden terrace , a flat pool of water, a play area, seating, an urban topography.

fatty banana

Ingredients

White Rum
Banana
Caster Sugar
Orange Juice

Method

Place 4 teaspoons crushed ice, 2 shots rum, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 shot orange juice and a peeled banana in a blender blend for only 10s then serve in a cocktail glass. Done.

stars of five

The Langham, London was built between 1863 and 1865 at a cost of £300,000. It was then the largest and most modern hotel in the city, featuring a hundred water closets, thirty six bathrooms and the first hydraulic lifts in England. The opening ceremony was performed by the Prince of Wales. After the original company was liquidated during an economic slump, new management acquired the hotel for little more than half what it had cost to build, and it soon became a commercial success. In 1870 a former Union officer named James Sanderson was appointed general manager and the hotel developed an extensive American clientele, which included Mark Twain and the miserly multi-millionairess, Hetty Green. It was also patronised by the likes of Napoleon III, Oscar Wilde, Antonin Dvorak, Arturo Toscanini. Electric light was installed in the entrance and courtyard at the exceptionally early date of 1879, and Arthur Conan Doyle set Sherlock Holmes stories such as A Scandal in Bohemia and The Sign of Four partly at the Langham. The hotel was hard hit by the Great Depression and the owners attempted to sell the site to the BBC , but Broadcasting House was built on the other side of the road instead. During World War II, the hotel was used in part by the British Army and then damaged by bombs and forced to close. After the war, it was occupied by the BBC as ancillary accommodation to Broadcasting House, and the corporation purchased it outright in 1965. In 1980 the BBC unsuccessfully applied for planning permission to demolish the building and replace it with an office development designed by Norman Foster.

In 1986 it was sold to Ladbroke Group for £26 million, which purchased the non-US Hilton business in 1987 and eventually reopened the hotel as the Langham Hilton in 1991 after a £100 million refurbishment. New owners extended the hotel and carried out other refurbishments between 1998 and 2000. Now, it is part of Langham Hotels International (based in Hong Kong), and is the flagship hotel of the group. A further round of refurbishment, costing £80m was completed in April 2009. The reconfigured Langham now has 380 rooms, down from 425, a restored Palm Court which has been serving afternoon tea since 1865, a new business centre and 15 function rooms including The Grand Ballroom which holds up to 375 guests for a reception. The new spaces join the Artesian bar, The Landau restaurant and the private dining room, Postillion, created by designer David Collins.

open wound

In Seoul, Korea a so called 'canvas' wall could be seen from a distance. Unsandong Architects have experimented with a piece of artwork 'canvas' that can be thought as 2 dimensional medium and developed a spatial skin for a gallery. Confused yet? These works are nothing new and similar works can be seen by Architects searching for the new generation of space out of structure between the folded and smooth, continuous skin. These 'skinscape' can be initiated by acknowledging the urban fabric as the envelope structure - looking at the city as an enormous folded surface, continuous and sequential. Now, ‘Skinscape’ is an experimental text attempting to combined the Architectural skin and the loose meaning of the term ’scape’.

The Architects for Gallert Yeh have used this concept as a medium to provide and exhibit information onto the huge canvas attracting outside events. The twists and intertwine of the facade creates a spatial complexity like a crack on a skin.

connection needed

Postural Integration, Horizontal Integration, Vertical Integration,

VI: absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution.

HI: absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in the same level of production and sharing resources at that level.

PI: s an alternative process-oriented, body-therapy method which supports individuals in dealing with the challenges in their lives in a more creative manner.

grey etching

At the heart of the Marais district; 76, Rue Saint-Antoine and the adjoining plot at 1, Rue de Turenne sits a 17th century existing building, built on a very narrow site. This building has been preserved and refurbished by Chartier - Corbasson by creating a new facade for the gable-end that bears traces of a buidling that was demolished to make way for Rue de Turenne. The Architects have also enlarged the upper floors to create more spacious accommodations. The gable has been opened out to provide the best possible views while an exterior skin has been added to protect the newly created spaces and give them a certain coherence. The housing units comprises of 2 and 4 room flats and loft-style studios which are accessible by open-air staircases leading up from the interior courtyard. Each flat has a terrace or a balcony and all rooms open onto a central living room thus reducing the need for corridors.

dock chic

NHDRO (Neri + Hu Design and Research Office) have designed a 1930's riverside building into a luxury hotel. Located on the banks of the Huangpu River in the historic dockyard district, the project comprised of 2 buildings, a hotel and an event warehouse. The 19 rooms hotel has a rooftop bar and a restaurant. The Architects have switched the private and public spaces are switched because they felt that it would result in a more exciting hotel experience and provide a strong identifying mark for the hotel.

This Shanghai event space was a former warehouse. Due to its spacious 8,000 sq ft, it has a double-storey ceiling and a flexible layout making it a perfect space to cater a wide range of events.

blue lane

Cycle Superhighway is here!!

Barclays and Mayor of London have been planning this for years. Following the successes of Velo in Paris, our militant mayor, Boris Johnson is pushing for all the lanes to be finalised by 2015. I'm unsure as whether to be excited or just plain critical because there are too many gaps in the system. The blue lines is definitely an eye catching colour especially for the drivers to notice but I wonder whether its width is too narrow to accommodate the ever increasing number of cyclist in the road. I've also noticed that the lane is smoother than its precedessor which is a dream to most cyclist. Unfortunately, as this is London, certain sections of the superhighway is more like a B road because of the narrow streets it passes. This is where the larger motor traffic squeezes themself onto the dear cyclist and a bottleneck appears. Perhaps this is just a slight oversight and hopefully will be rectified in the near future. Boris, you heard it from me first. The new cycle hire booths are slowly taking shape across London. I'm sure it will be a great hit with Londoners and visitors alike. I, for one have registered to be a member, annually of course. £45 and £3 for the electronic key, who is to quibble? I probably get another key for the Brunnette as well although we have 5 bikes between us now - Trek, Scott, Pashley and 2 Bromptons. You can't have too many bikes you know.

There was a great pessimism in regards to this scheme because the public believe that all the bikes would be nicked. Of course some would be nicked and some would be vandalised but doesn't it happen with everything else? We in the UK have this ability to dampen down and see all the negativity in everything! We have this acute ability to criticized absolutely everything even before trying it and I blame this to what I call, a typical 'Island mentality'. More about this concept in future post. As for now, I hope it all goes well and I bloody hope more cyclist learn to be better riders because bikes are not toys! You fucking adults and mediocre cyclist out there should know.

Pedals on and off I go...

new ribbon

The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum by Herzog & de Meuron is a remarkable revival of a building that no longer exists which celebrates the museum from the outside. The Architects have designed it in such a way that the visitors could enjoy a pleasant, functional Californian climate. A sculpture garden, a terrace beneath a cantilevered roof and a children’s garden creates a link between the building and its surroundings through historic elements from the original de Young Museum specifically its original palm trees.

Herzog and de Meuron have allowed their usual material experimentation vision in this new museum by using copper, wood, stone, stone, and glass to allow the design to become part of the land it occupies. Wood flooring is used to create a welcoming atmosphere and large ribbon windows blurs the inside and outside threshold. They have also used copper to cover the facade so it will fade into its surrounding when it oxidises. A 144 ft tower twists from the ground where it aligns with the grid formed by the neighbourhood streets.

omni-directional

Quote: Following the definition of the Masterplan in 1998 for the center of Eindhoven in Holland, studio Fuksas developed the four projects associated with it: the 18-Septemberplein, a square of 7.000 m² with an underground parking lot of 2.300m² for 1.700 bicycles, the Piazza Shopping Mall, a shopping center covering approximately 20.000m² with 6.000m² of office space, the Media Market, a store for sales of electrical appliances and electronic equipment and the Admirant Entrance Building.

The Admirant entrance building is at the same time part of a newly developed shopping area by Heijmans Real Estate, a prominent Dutch building developer. It is located just at the border between the new area and the 18th September square, forming the main gateway to a new shopping axis. This prominent position called for an iconic building, a request that the Admirant entrance building fulfils entirely. It is like a precious jewel, which attracts the public’s attention and leads pedestrians to the heart of the new district. Due to the non-orthogonal shape, the Admirant is non-directional. If we compared the facades of ordinary buildings to billboards one would refer to the Admirant as more of an advertisement column. Its smooth curves allow a dynamic flow around it.

There is no front- or backside; the building envelope is experienced continuously. The building consists of two elements: the 5-storey high primary concrete structure and the glass/steel envelope. Commercial spaces are located on the ground and first level and office spaces on level three and four (plus an additional technical level). The shape of the floor slabs being determined by the form of the façade reach from 950m² on the ground floor to 250m² on the highest office level. Except for the staircase, no vertical elements block the visual connections on the inside of the building. Four big indents of the building envelope create a fascinating diversity of spatial configurations on the inside of the building.

The geometry of the façade varies from vertical surfaces to amorphous shapes, which create a dynamic inside of the building and allow an experience of the facade completely detached from the floor levels. Sophisticated details of the connection of the floor edge to the facade underline this experience. The facade built as today, is a result of intensive form finding during the conceptual phase and subsequent form optimization in the later stages. Its system consists of triangulated glass-faces ported by rectangular, hollow steel profiles. The outstanding design made an exceptionally high quality structural design and precise fabrication essential.

delicieux

Why

I feel that I should diversify and occasionally indulge you readers with posting about food. Now, I'm not interested in making this a foodie blog cause there are too many of those. Plus my real talent apart from Architecture (ahem!) and writing is drinking. So why should I bother. Anyway, with the frequency of the Brunette talking about Spinach and Feta Pancakes, I can't shake the idea off my head hence the post.

What

4 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup soda water
1 1/2 cups flour
1 pinch salt
1 egg white beaten to soft peaks

2 tablespoons butter
1 clove minced garlic
2 pounds baby spinach
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup toasted pine nuts

How

Mix together eggs, butter, cream, and water. Mix together flour and salt. Whisk wet mixture into flour until smooth. Fold in egg whites and let rest for 15 minutes. Place a nonstick pan over medium heat lightly brush with oil. Place 1 ounce of batter in pan and saute both sides until lightly brown. Repeat with remaining batter. For the filling, melt the butter in a large saute pan and add the garlic. When the garlic browns slightly, add the spinach. Saute until spinach is cooked and let cool. Mix with remaining ingredients. Place 2 tablespoons of filling in each pancake and roll them up. Place rolls in 400-degree oven for 4 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Yummy!!

rock solid performance

This quarry is a stage in itself and has benefited from the ambiance of the location, unique in Austria. Usually the path used by visitors to get from the parking lot to their seats in the auditorium and back always was an unatmospheric, merely functional access way, AllesWirdGut Architektur have created a theatrical space where the basic idea of the design is to extend the ambiance of the magnificent rock-face scenery to all parts of the theatrical arena so as to make it a more palpable and visual enveloping experience.