beat that lady gaga

Simply AMAZING!!

promenades à pied d'hiver - trois

More excerpts from previous un-posted writings: 

Today is the past and tomorrow is the future. Goodbye 2010 and hello 2011, soon Alcoholic Architect will be a year old. Like a baby, the breast-feeding years are not finished yet. The nursing time and the sleepless nights by the late nights are still ongoing. Brunette thought my comparison of this blog as a baby is ridiculous. What does she know, she hasn't got one - not that I know yet at least.

Talking about the future, everyone seems to have a dream, idea and hope of best wishes but, the reality is we wished that we hadn't drank that much on the New Year's Eve. Come on, be honest with yourself!!

We decided to take a longer walk through the old cobbled stone Paris this morning before heading to Boulevard Hausmann. The view of Paris from the top of Printemps while sipping champagne is sweet. Brunette's fur coat is waving at me in the wind and she ordered a Manhattan. The sky is clear, soiree is happening and the fireworks is impressive. Recession, what recession?? The pyro-boys are making a killing. The fireworks goes bang! The crowd goes whoa! The pyro-boys goes ching-ka-ching!!

golden leaves

Autumn in New York

Why does it seem so inviting?

Autumn in New York

It spells the thrill of first-nighting

Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds in canyons of steel

They're making me feel I'm home

It's autumn in New York

That brings the promise of new love

Autumn in New York

Is often mingled with pain

Dreamers with empty hands

They sigh for exotic lands

It's autumn in New York

It's good to live it again

Lovers that bless the dark

On benches in Central Park

It's autumn in New York

It's good to live it again

promenades à pied d'hiver - deux

Excerpts from previous unposted writings:

Walking on Champs Elysees on Christmas day evening, I'm struck by how busy it is. The whole road and pedestrian walkway is gridlocked with shops selling knick-knacks for parents walking with their children, group of young guys out for the prowl, tourists buying vin chaud to soak up the experience, young couples holding each other so tightly as not to lose each other, early twenties girls braving the bitterly cold weather wearing nothing more than short skirts, open toe heels and thin stockings and us. I had decided to leave London for a quiet end of the year celebration; a sort of reset button. The soiree invitations are as abundant as ever but I've politely declined all of them. There is something rejuvenating about not lifting a finger for Christmas and I haven't done something like this for a long long time.

Wrapped warm walking out to the street, the Brunette commented about how nice it is to have the pied the terre at Miromesnil. I explained that the choice is clear, it's a stone throw away from Le Bristol and Le Crillon. She laughed. Our walk ended perching at the bar in Le Crillon Bar ordering a Negroni por moi and a Sakura for mademoiselle. The drinks were excellent thanks to the head barman Frederick. Behind us, a few couples yong and old sitting in the deep red chairs attentively listening and sharing each others company. By the piano, Anton sits comfortably deep in trance while feeling the jazz he's playing; something I truly appreciate.

work in progress

Randy Brown Architects purchased this property and decided to move into the house during its construction project with the intention for it to be a laboratory for architectural experiments. The Architect have ch osen the site in a partially wooded area with rolling hills with views to the west and south. The existing house is located on the highest ground of the site on the edge of where the trees meet the native prairie grass meadow.

The project has been built by the Architect's own hands with each of the last four summers, architectural students have been hired to assist with the design and construction. This project is intended to continue for the rest of the Architect’s life as a 'Work in Progress'. Green building technology were integrated as much as possible such as passive solar, natural ventilation insulated concrete forms, R-45 roof insulation, renewable materials, radiant flooring, heat pumps, and a green roof system. The idea was to explore ways to intertwine what is man-made with what is natural and the intention is to create a house that is so interconnected with the land that it is simultaneously natural and man-made.

promenades à pied d'hiver - une

After sorting all the papers and files on my desk, I came across some writings I've done back in December 2010 which I haven't posted. Duh!

Also, I have noticed that there isn't much interesting projects that I would be bothered writing about. Double Duh!! So, I've decided to post those thoughts mainly from my winter away in Paris. A nice break from all the seriousness of Architecture I guess...

sunday roast

Sunday morning rain is falling

Steal some covers share some skin

Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable

You twist to fit the mold that I am in

But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do

And I would gladly hit the road get up and go if I knew

That someday it would lead me back to you

That someday it would lead me back to you

That may be all I need

In darkness she is all I see

Come and rest your bones with me

Driving slow on Sunday morning

And I never want to leave

Fingers trace your every outline

Paint a picture with my hands

Back and forth we sway like branches in a storm

Change the weather still together when it ends

That may be all I need

In darkness she is all I see

Come and rest your bones with me

Driving slow on Sunday morning

And I never want to leave

But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do

Sunday morning rain is falling and I'm calling out to you

Singing someday it'll bring me back to you

Find a way to bring myself back home to you

And you may not know

That may be all I need

In darkness she is all I see

Come and rest your bones with me

Driving slow on Sunday morning

light & trees

BAK Architects JD House is located on a 20m x 30m plot of land in the coastal Mar Azul forest, Argentina. The residence designed primarily in concrete, wood and glass is blended into the topography and vegetation on the site. The client specified a house that could accomodate visitors within the building as well as a generous outdoor expansions. The land on which the house is situated follows a gentle slope that provided a welcome challenge for the design of the house. The house sits very high above the ground in order to adjust to the level changes on the site thus providing a heightened condition of privacy. The Architects conceived the house as two pure prisms, located in a clearing among trees of various heights, as intersecting perpendicular forms that joined at half levels. Volumes that alternate between high and low ceilings, depressed floors to provide a dynamic space of a variety of functions and different level of transparency through the house is equally as important as the opacity of the grey concrete walls. The views through the house direct the eyes onto the landscape beyond the house whereas the concrete walls direct light and provide organised views within the house.

menu gestapo

Every Goddamn year, the 14th of Feb is the worst day to be an individual. As like any other day, I would get up and get ready to go to work. But, on the 14th, all hell break lose! Fucking red balloons made into arches, giant white teddy bears hugging love hearts, red heart shape cut-outs pasted on window fronts, red roses cramped into every shape and size of buckets that can fit them, my local M&S filled to the brim with £20 dinner for two meal deals and worst of all, in every restaurant, I am succumbed into a 'Valentine's Set Menu'. Forced into submission to order what everyone else is eating, I retire in despair to my local take-away Indian - Bombay Bicycle. What the fuck is a 'Valentine's Set Menu' anyway?!?! What about the single people?? Are they expelled into the abyss during the day of 'couple-dom'? How selfish these couples? Grinning from ear to ear in happiness, eyes glazed in love and vision blinded in content - FUCK YOU ALL!! All I want, is to be able to choose what I Goddamn want to eat and not forced into some mediocre duck terrine shite!

Calmness decends after my rant and I bought roses for the Brunette. Not the typical and over-used red ones but a selection of white and pink roses. Who cares about True Love when Eternal Love with Youth is better. Happy Valentine's Brunette and hope you like Indian tonight.

paper folded phoenix

BKK Architects Beached House plays out the journey of a holiday home. This sequence of unfolding spaces and views have been the concept behind the whole design. Volumetric origami was adapted in the folding of spaces to resembles the house like a small village or informal site occupation that has aggregated over time. The Architects have responsed to prevailing conditions within the site hence the external spaces are located, nestled, between these elements and are orientated according to the shift in the wind and sun patterns throughout the day. Various options are available for the owners use because the Architects have intended that living in the house will be an unfolding series of moments, linked closely to climate and site that will continually delight and surprise.

planes & bomb - three

Finally from William Laven

pink facet

UNStudio's Agora Theatre is an extremely colourful, determinedly upbeat place. The building is part of the masterplan for Lelystad to revitalise the pragmatic, sober town centre. The Architects responded to the ongoing mission of reviving and recovering the post-war Dutch new towns by focusing on the archetypal function of a theatre. Both the interior and exterior walls are faceted to reconstruct the kaleidoscopic experience of the world of the stage.

beautiful night

Some day, when I'm awfully low,

When the world is cold,

I will feel a glow just thinking of you

And the way you look tonight.

Oh, You're lovely, with your smile so warm

And your cheeks so soft,

There is nothing for me but to love you,

And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,

Tearing my fears apart

And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,

Touches my foolish heart.

Yes you're lovely, never, ever change

Keep that breathless charm.

Won't you please arrange it?

'Cause I love you

Just the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,

Tearing my fears apart

And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,

Touches my foolish heart.

Yes you're lovely, never, ever change

Keep that breathless charm.

Won't you please arrange it?

'Cause I love you

Just the way you look tonight.

Just the way you look tonight.

Darling

Just the way you look tonight.

planes & bomb - two

More from William Laven

yummy yum yum

This Culinary Art School is located in Tijuana, Baja California. At a quick glance, any stranger would say anything but a professional cooking school is housed inside these two volumes, which function as the main characters, and where materials like exposed concrete, steel, garapa wood, glass and metal structure are combined. Gracia Studio made sure that the space is located with not very much in its surroundings, which is why the two main volumes face each other, creating a transition space: the grand plaza. The greater volume contains the administrative offices, classrooms, library, and the wine cellar. On the secondary volume, the cooking stations, with absolute transparency between it and the plaza, as well as with the other workshops. The Architects are characterised not only for solving functionality and aesthetics, but contributing with creativity in each project, as well as low-cost and use of new technologies and local materials, which translate into an innovative architecture.

plot tracing

This hut is situated in a small Alpine village in Slovenia. Being part of Triglav national park, you would expect it to have very strict rules of construction and architectural design. The brief was to incorporate the site's limitation because the client bought the site together with existing construction permit for the generic project' Their demand was not to change construction permit but change the elements of the house to suit his family. OFIS arhitekti created a house with a volume of  6 x 11m, a 42 degrees pitched roof, external dimensions and material types remained the ones from the existing project. Elements such as stone, wooden columns, facade patterns are taken from local environment to continuity with the surrounding typology. The Architects created the interior to suit the needs of the family with the central staircase that rotates around the fireplace that heats both floors. There are 3 bedrooms and bath with sauna on top floor with minimal corridor. The ground floor space is a singular room with kitchen, dinning, living and storage.

gong hey fat choy

To commemorate this years Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rabbit, I shall post the Estonian Playboy Feb 2011 cover. Happy Chinese New Year to whom my fellow readers who are Chinese (obviously).

dominance aggression

The term Dominance Aggression is usually used in behavioral problem in dogs. In normal context, this is seen as behavior by an animal that asserts its dominance over another or a human, such as competing for food, resisting control measures, or assuming dominant postures. What is all this about Guido? What have this got to do with Architecture? Yet another Guido's random rambling?

Well, not at all you self-loathing critical readers! I came across this idea last week when I happen to notice a particular well-known project Architect that follows this symptom. So, I wonder whether this problem has a widespread implications in our professional industry. To help understand this problem, I shall explain its context in dogs and mirror it with my fellow human Architect/s. Shall we start?

Most dogs (Architects) are content to let people (Senior Partner/Directors) be in charge. As puppies (Students / Juniors), they quickly learn to look to us (Senior / Lead) to let them know what we (Senior / Lead) want them (Students / Juniors) to do. Some dogs (Architects) seem to have a harder time with this. A dominantly aggressive dog will consistently growl, snap, or bite when a person does something, or asks the dog to do something, which the dog (Architects) does not like. This is different than a dog (Architect) that is assertive or pushy, but will obey a firm command. This is also not the same situation as a dog (Architect) which has been pushed beyond her limit by cruelty or pain. A dominantly aggressive dog (Architect) has an inappropriate response to normal situations. The dog (Architect) is trying to control the situation with her reaction, rather than allowing a person to have control.

These dogs (Architects) may be protective over food (Food) or toys (Toys & Money), or favorite sleeping areas (Flat, House, etc). They may react if they are groomed (Office Culture), or if you stare (Office Red Tape) at them, or if they are punished (Displinary). In the beginning, the problem usually only occurs at certain times, for example, if you disturb your dog while she is eating (Lunch / Dinner / Coffee Break). Then it begins to occur more often, when you move to place the leash (Senior looking) over her head, or tell her to get off of the sofa, etc. The problem is not the situation, but the issue of control. Yelling, or physical correction such as scruffing, rolling the dog over, or 'hanging' the dog by her collar or choke chain (displinary action or internal corporate culture) are not appropriate or effective form of discipline, and will only make matters worse. These attempts to 'show the dog who is boss' may challenge the dog (Architect) to be more aggressive, may injure and do nothing to teach a more appropriate behavior in place of aggression.

What can be done to stop this aggressive behaviour? Neuter the bastard, I'd say!!

planes & bombs - one

San Francisco photographer William Laven's "War Models" presents a highly unusual and thought-provoking document of the military aircraft currently in use in the Iraqi theater of war. For these are not hackneyed, gung-ho Top Gun spectaculars of the real machines but rich, intricate overhead studies of the raw plastic parts from unassembled model airplane kits purchased at a local hobby shop. Of the forty aircraft flown in Operation Iraqi Freedom, model kits are made of twenty one. 

Here Laven exhibits carbon pigment inkjets on Hahnemuhle archival paper of 18 of them. These black and white prints touch on the American fascination with symbols of power. At once full of boyish nostalgia and lethal foreboding, these rich, shiny and intricate agents of destruction become yet more fascinating when you understand the images are scaled in relation to each other in precisely the same proportions as their real world counterparts. Each image is 1/72 the size of the actual aircraft. The AV-8 Harrier, for example, is small enough that two could squeeze into the typical San Francisco house lot, while two B-52 Stratofortress bombers would overcrowd a football field.

fine detailing

TSC Architects have designed a minimalistic house situated in Hinomiya, Japan. Similar to their project in Mukouyama, this residence shares the same strategy of a softened aesthetic thanks to a limited, yet thoughtful, material selection and color palette. The Architects design explores the changing quality of light within the residence as large openings and slatted cedar screens allow natural light to penetrate the open floor plans. The main living spaces open onto the courtyard as a way to expand the interior with views of the sky. They have also paid a particular attention to detailing, not only with regards to the material, but also when incorporating natural elements.