yes...i'm not dead yet...

Happy International Womens Day Honey!

PS: NOT dead but just on sabbatical...

lofty cube

Studio NOA's new residence entrance is a large main hall featuring a 6m high ceiling which serves as a shared common space. It contains a stairwell leading to and connected with the other rooms. This relatively large void gives the residence a sense of spatial continuity as well as openness from the slightly small individual rooms in the house. The Architect created a loft space that can serve as a future children’s room just above the entrance which is currently being used by the husband as a reading area to indulge his love of books. An underground mezzanine space leading down from the main hall serves as a bedroom with ample natural light and ventilation. Leading up from the main hall, the observer is greeted with a compact kitchen and dining area equipped with a food preparation area, storage units for tableware and crockery, dishwasher, rice cooker, microwave oven and garbage bins. Just above this kitchen-dining area, with its low ceiling due to legal height restrictions, a space for wash basin and bathroom and a skylight overhead.

model museum

Richard Meier's Museum Re-opens....nuff said.

A new Dawn

Hey there! Hold up! Look who's there! Yes yes, Paolo is back. Its been a while. How you doin? Many of you probably do not remember me, I put a few posts at the beginning of this enterprise but since then I have failed to add to my commitment agreement with the ever present Mr Watanabe. I can hear the feverish responses already streaming out, 'who the fuck is this Paolo guy!?!'. Well, i've been traipsing around the northern half of Italy, reconciling with long lost friends and long time enemies, even finding love along the way only to be forced out by a belligerent father who wasn't too pleased, which has thus put me back on the path where i find myself today.

What has happened here people? Whilst ive been away, the media and free press has fallen to the wolves of capitalism, despite having had a few scratches left on him Führer und Reichskanzler Murdoch now holds sway to one of the few past times which engages both my mind, heart and soul.. Motor racing. But put that aside the most beloved of all things, the love of my soul, Architecture (it may as well be called the capitalist implementation of the built form) has gone down the pan, even Zaha has managed to produce buildings now!

As you may or may not now, ive been around a long, long time. Seen things come and go but never have I seen a world go backwards to such a degree as ive been witnessing in the UK these last couple of months or even years. During my time in Italy it is evident for all to see that the place is run by dogs feverishly feeding off the quick dime to be found lying on the street. Avenues that 200 years ago were full of joy and wonder, now are devoid of anything, soulless dank vestibules of modern life. Wake, eat, work, eat, sleep. Buildings that stand as the emblem of the monotony of life. But that is another world, the UK is on of the few places in the 'modern' world where dank social housing was prevalent in the 60's and 70's, as a nation, the UK had sailed that boat and was being propelled by the winds of innovation and modernity towards a new path of redemption, so it seemed.

But hold up, it seems the boat has taken in water because all I see out there is young like minded people being forced out of their profession. There is a fight out there lighting up the skies, in which we are all involved. On one side you have the Architect, a one stop shop for all your building needs, an intelligent artistic being who's only goal in life is to walk past his creation and say 'Ahh, I designed that!' Yet on the other side you have the Client/Contractor. The Murdoch/Berlusconi of the building industry with a mantra of 'pack'em an' stak'em boy's, there's gold in them there hills!'. The later, unfortunately is wining, the architect is no more. Since the day some guy with big ears and a few Palaces dotted around told an innovative forward thinking like minded Architect that 'you cannot build this here, start again!', we lost ourselves. We have been resorted to engage with the powers that be and build whatever makes them happy.

Like the media where the BBC is set to lose its independent liberal mantra to a more capitalist, right wing approach, the world of Architecture is set to lose out to the contractor. Small, enterprising architectural practises that thrive on medium developments are falling by the way side. Young, gifted professionals are losing their chance of putting their heart and minds on paper. A once revered professional has now become the lap dog of the few. Paternoster Square, which sits next to the greatest symbol of Architecture at its best in the UK, is the embodiment of modern day weeling and dealing where the Architect is the one getting whipped and being shafted up the rear.

In much the same way as the architectural world, the right wing capitalist power's that be are getting exactly what they want in forcing the the great BBC institution to cut costs or ultimately lose the license fee, its the beginning of the end for this colossal beast. We have now lost the last remaining world wide sport phenomena, F1 to the capitalist right and in the coming years will lose more and more services and ultimately see an independent media organisation become ITV in drag. We are edging closer to have a media which is run much like it is in Italy, one person with the ability to publicise what he wants when he wants to 60 million people. With all that is going on the only person who is smiling...Rupert Murdoch...

To summarise, I could easily put up a picture of something of Architectural merit but that would miss the point. Architecture is something that stimulates all senses. You touch it, breath it, see it and in many cases taste it. It is a concoction of various stimulates which come togehter to interact with your soul, something pictures sometimes fail to encapculate.

abuse and be abused

{Couplet:}

Sweet dreams are made of this

Who am I to disagree?

I travel the world

And the seven seas

Everybody's looking for something

{Refrain:}

Some of them want to use you

Some of them want to get used by you

Some of them want to abuse you

Some of them want to be abused

{au Couplet}

{au refrain}

Hold your head up

Keep your head up

{x2}

Movin' on 

paradise can't be so far

For heavens sake let’s fall in love

It’s no mistake to call it love

An angel’s holding hands with me

How heavenly heaven can be

Here is romance for us to try

Here is a chance we can’t deny

While heaven’s giving us a break

Let’s fall in love for heaven’s sake

Don’t say a word my darling

Don’t break the spell like this

Just hold me tight; we’re alone in the night

And heaven is here with a kiss

This pair of eyes can see a star

So paradise can’t be so far

Since heaven’s what we’re dreaming of

For heaven’s sake, let’s fall in love

green courtyard

The focal idea behind  DI Bernardo Bader's concept is the valuable 'indoor environment quality' achieved by the inner garden courtyard which is hidden from outside views. The site measuring 500 sqm, is located at the outskirts of the village Sulz, Austria. It lies between existing development and the agricultural green belt and girded by highly frequented paths leading to the recreational area in the close neighborhood. The house is arranged on two floors; the ground floor contains the kitchen, dining, living room, secondary rooms and the garage. Meanwhile the first floor are all rooms. The terrace encloses the greened patio in whose centre a tree grows through the open roof.

beach's life

Herbstarchitects created a beach shelter on a site that is small and narrow (16x52m) and set back from the beach amongst a number of similar sites strung on either side of a dead end access road. The building is made up of 3 primary elements; a wall, a so-called 'container' and the negative space between them. To cope with the neighboring buildings along both long boundaries, the bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, lounge and the boat garage are grouped into a long container-like structure and positioned along the eastern boundary. On the western boundary, the Architects created a gabion wall made of stone from a local quarry to define the edge. These 2 elements are connected by a roof structure which is the covered living deck. Retractable screen walls on the north and south faces of the living deck allow protection from the prevailing winds.

pale snow, white wood

Avanto Architect's site is situated on a horse shoe shaped island that faces north and east. The Architects have decided upon a cross like shape villa for showcasing 4 very different views. The exterior is treated all black by contrast to the interior, which is very light. The idea of the dark color was to make the building disappear totally when seen from the lake. The building is insulated well and heated by wood but there is no running water and the electricity is provided by the sun. Vegetables and herbs are cultivated on site and the Vaskivesi Lake is known as a good place to catch a fish called pike-perch.

myrtle tree

Hernandez Silva Arquitectos's house is located in one of the oldest residential colonies in Guadalajara. The irregular shape of the space generates a sharp corner surrounded by the great foliage of trees that are already located on the sidewalk. The Architects scheme is defined in perspective by two very evident brackets where one embraces the front and the other embraces the garden. And the union of both generates a void that tops in the heart of the house with an internal large myrtle tree. The house was designed with high, generous and continuing spaces which allow the continuity of the view all the way to the background. The use of the materials is almost even in all the areas, wood extends from the floor to walls and doors, ceramic floor with perfect interior finishing covers the entire surface, the volumes that stand out are a powerful and well defined spaces, in particular the raw concrete fireplace and the other which is a great hanging wall that divides spaces and fusions as part of the whole.

woof ! woof !

What do you expect to do on Good Friday? Well, I wasn't sure until I was invited for a lunch with some friends in leafy London. Took me a while to get there but alas, when we finally arrived, it was worth the trip. I was pleasantly surprised with the Overground trains. Reminds me of Barcelona and Hong Kong. Long carriages for less crowded experience. Even the new stations are above par as well. Something I wasn't expecting in London. The party was a small one but the invite did insists on bringing some beverages preferably wines. I was still on my binge £5 budget and found several really good plonk for the price and my supermarket of choice is Waitrose. Anyway, after waiting for the Brunette to get ready, I made my way to the local Sainsburys near me and bought a couple of red wine called Longue-Dog. Yes, yet another wine from the makers of Chat-en-Ouef. What a blast! I've decided to try all these wines with cartoons of animals on the label. Hardly a smart way of buying wines but who cares, so far it has done me well. What next, the singing penguin? Don't laugh, there is such a bottle!!

housing estate

Atelier d.org is experimenting a new compact housing concept in the middle of a private housing estate by building an eco-aware house and proposing a return to living closer to the natural elements. The evolution of the urban shape of housing estates using new house layout makes the neighbourhood denser thus creating a new relationship between the living rooms and the outdoor spaces. The Architects focused its attention to bioclimatic principles to benefit from passive natural energies and complement energy saving technologies. The parcel-house is partly built on the lot limits which is contrary to the classical layout of housing estates. It allows organising the outdoor space with specific objectives directly linked to the interior spatial design.

lucky oven bird

The Punta House is located on an open lot alongside a reservoir in the countryside of Uruguay. From the start, the location of the residence on this open country wasteland imposed various challenges for the Architects to create private spaces. Their solution adopted from the beginning was a one-level house which, on one side looked out to the waters of the reservoir and the other, to an internal patio demarcated by stone walls defining all of the spaces of the house. Marcio Kogan's fundamental concept was the organisation of a plan on a flat slab structured by rationally distributed pillars and supported laterally by stone walls. Under this slab a wooden box contains the bedrooms, the kitchen and utility room. Meanwhile, at the ends of this wooden box, two all glass enclosed living-rooms organize the collective program of the house. The Architects created a large deck and pool in front of the house. The construction used local material like the stone 'piedras lajas' for the the walls and floor. The wooden box is composed of folding panels of mashrabiya. begins to take on the house. Some wild flowers embraces the house and atop one of the stone walls an oven-bird makes his home which, according to local tradition, is a sign of luck.

chinese tiles

The water house is a private house located at the foot of snow mountain Yulong, China. Li Xiaodong Atelier have used the ancient trading settlement whose old town is famous for its historic network of waterways and bridges as inspiration thus the reason why the house synthesises traditional forms and techniques to make a contemporary building that resonates with place and history. The Architect saw it as an interlocking series of contemplative, inward-looking courtyards, the house has an open yet closed courtyard space. The emphasis on local-texture and non-decorative detailing is to create a house on the background from which, nature could be appreciated fully. The cluster of simple timber and glass pavilions with tile-clad pitched roofs evokes traditional forms but is still evidently of its time. The Architects have used the cooling, calming presence of water by threading it through the house. The interior space is kept to a minimum following the idea appreciating nature from within while the details are important contributors to the final results of the architecture.

golden gate view

Terry + Terry Architecture designed this modern house in San Francisco with a shared language of simple materials and clean detailing because they believed that this aesthetic creates the warmth and calmness essential for a family in an urban setting. The Architects created the main floor at garden level which contains the common spaces, balcony, living room, kitchen/dining and outdoor living spaces. A sloping roof planes hover above and are contained between the longitudinal concrete walls. Large glazed openings in the front and rear of the house create transparency between indoor and outdoor spaces. The lower portion of the dwelling holds the less public spaces such as the guest room, children’s playroom, and utilities. A roof deck is inserted by the Architects at the top of the house which functions as a continuation of the garden living space. A detached garden studio is located at the rear of the property. This small satellite structure serves as a home office, and as additional family space. Concrete is used because it provides thermal mass for energy efficiency. The concrete absorbs heat energy during the day, keeping the interior comfortable, and helping to maintain a moderate, baseline temperature for the cooler evenings. Since the house is located in a relatively dense urban area, the concrete walls also add protection against fire. Transparent glass and wood-skinned walls are used between the perimeter concrete walls. The wooden walls allows ventilation between the skin and the underlying wall thus avoiding heat build up in the wall and interior spaces.

...miau...miau?

What a wonderful weekend! A weekend packed with Formula 1, Virgin London Marathon, lots of sunshine, warm weather and lots of wines. The Brunette is currently obsessed with searching a breakfast bed tray (??....or is it bed tray??). So far, we have been to a few shops, lots of website and have found zilch. After a few hours of search for this elusive crumb producing device for the bed, I was close to killing myself. Then, the heavens opened and Waitrose was in front of me. I couldn't resists and convinced her that perhaps, the breakfast bed tray would be in there. She knew what I was up to of course and convincingly agreed. I was walking straight up to the wine aisle and came across this rather interesting vin blanc. Chat en Ouef, a word play in regards to Chateauneuf du Pape. The label was interesting as well, with a cat perching on a rather large egg. I just had to try it. What is the verdict? Amazing wine. Great value for money. Highly quaffable. No sight of 'The Tray'. Nevertheless, the Brunette is happy. We are definitely buying more of the 'Chat'.

Miau! Miau! Miau!