its like sugar baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

I needed the shelter of someone's arms, and there you were
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs, and there you were
With sweet love and devotion
Deeply touching my emotion
I want to stop and thank you baby
I want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

I close my eyes at night
Wondering where would I be without you in my life
Everything I did was just a bore
Everywhere I went it seems I'd been there before
But you brighten up for me all of my days
With a love so sweet in so many ways
I want to stop and thank you baby
I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

You were better to me than I was to myself
For me, there's you and there ain't nobody else
I want to stop and thank you baby
I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you
How sweet it is to be loved by you

australian flamingo

Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects design is located in Florida Beach, Western Australia has its design emphasis and focus on the immense Indian Ocean. All of the space is aligned and extruded through a strict dialogue of plan and section revealing the intensity and variety of this great ocean. The Architect designed this house to capture the dying qualities of receding holiday homes in the area while screening the occupants from the emerging suburban houses and protecting them from the strong winds and storms. A deck is created on each of the cardinal points allowing the occupants to live externally any time of the year. Their reference point for the design was found in a sketch by the great Danish architect Jorn Utzon, an image of people congregating on the beach under the dense, stormy Copenhagen sky. The section undulates in relationship to the plan form; each space includes an undulation that is eventually revealed at the beach side as a series of undulations connecting the living, dining and kitchen spaces to the dynamic ocean environment. The section extrudes from the beach end to the street side, those spaces that do not contain a direct view to the ocean maintain the memory of the ocean view through the continuing section. The external cladding is a strictly controlled ribbon of uncut compressed fibre cement sheeting and rough sawn plywood panels, the plywood inhabit the deck spaces and the CFC provides a durable exterior to storm exposed areas which is a restraint reference from the past holiday homes. While the exterior is tactile and articulated, the interior is smooth and sculptured with subtle variations of white paint colour and gloss levels differentiating interior elements and reflecting the exterior. A continuous band of high performance glass articulates the wall cladding from the roof, the roof overhang is carefully sized to exclude summer sun and admit low-level winter sun. The stretched western overhang excludes the low level sun allowing the occupants to engage in comfort with the setting sun. Constructed almost entirely of plantation pine timber, prefabricated and transported to Florida, the raw structure appeared like the carcass of a great whale. The use of steel is minimised to a few select areas where thin columns support the dense undulating roof creating tension in the context of the ocean view. A native landscape garden surrounds this platform, carefully screening the surrounding suburban houses and providing an additional filter to the Western sun and Indian Ocean.

flake ice cream

The Kiosk by partnerundpartner-architekten is located in the park of the Bundesgartenschau located in Potsdam. The kiosk is an extension to an existing cafe that sells ice cream, lemonade and coffee. The kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on all sides. The Architects followed the Islamic culture of constructing it by rough tree trunks that supports the roof made of straw and wood. The kiosk was designed in a close collaboration with structural engineers. The inner shell of the kiosk is made of multi-wall panels and has no structural function.

make it nice all the way

Someone to hold me tight

That would be very nice

Someone to love me right

That would be very nice

Someone to understand

Each little dream in me

Someone to take my hand

To be a team with me

So nice, life would be so nice

If one day I'd find

Someone who would take my hand

And samba through life with me

Someone to cling to me

Stay with me right or wrong

Someone to sing to me

Some little samba song

Someone to take my heart

And give his heart to me

Someone who's ready to

Give love a start with me

Oh yes, that would be so nice

Should it be you and me, that would be nice

Someone to cling to me

Stay with me right or wrong

Someone to sing to me

Some little samba song

Someone to take my heart

And give his heart to me

Someone who's ready to

Give love a start with me

Oh yes, that would be so nice

Should it be , you and me?

I could see it would be nice...

basaltic lagoon

This project by Aires Mateus intends to evoke the architectural landscape of the Azores, drawing upon the form and material that embed the collective memory of this island and archipelago, that have become, with time, a second nature of this place. With this in mind, the Architects have made the buildings as archetypal volumes, simple and compact and clad with the local basaltic stone. This building asserts itself as the largest of the group to build around the lagoon. The buidling draws on an intermediate space between exterior and interior – the courtyard. This element results from a subtraction to the volume, cutting it from within the central zone to the exterior limit of a facade thus enabling access to the interior. This internal courtyard also becomes the point where the main internal compartments are revealed. The Architects conceived this building as a sculpture - a block of raw matter that is intentionally cut into to capture light and the lagoon itself.

The building for temporary accommodation is a compact volume of four fields compartmentalised into four units. The building is cut in each of the four facades by a wooden threshold that enables the penetration of light and access to each of the accommodation units. There is an established hierarchy of heights between the four spaces related to the solar orientation of each unit. The exterior wall of the building is structural where the necessary infrastructures and services run as oppose to the light interior timber walls.

false serenity

Woke up cranky this morning. Didn't sleep very well and the Brunette wasn't in the best of moods. Something is worrying her and I can't get to the bottom of it. I'm beginning to see that as we get older, we worry about ridiculous things. I was going through some old pictures and I suddenly came across this picture that reminded me of the Brunette. I like the false serenity that this picture portrays in the cheerleaders dressing room. I'm sure it's not the case in real life but nevertheless, I let myself being tricked into this fantasy.

Much the same like real-life, the portrayal of serenity sometimes often shatters when the winds of moods blows in. Just remember to remain calm and collected, keep a monotone voice and be as objective as possible. If not, all hell will break loose and before you know it, you are surrounded by 4 white walls while eating Haagen Dazs waiting for Casino Royal stream on the computer to upload.

Luckily, Brunette has calmed down and informed me of her worries. Nothing too serious that we can't fix. That's the beauty of it!

toy blocks

Reiulf Ramstad Architects has been involved in designing a new kindergarten in Oslo. Again in Oslo you might say! The kindergarten offers 2 units for children between 1-3 years old and 2 units for children between 3-6 years old. The Architects had to adhere to many cultural heritage guidelines for this particular site. The area is characterised by residential buildings from 1900-1950 and due to this, the local authority wanted the kindergarten to have a contemporary expression. With its location in the middle of a small city park, the kindergarten has an outdoor area that is protected like an enclosed garden.  The solution was to enable the 4 kindergarten units to function both independently and together as required. All units share a common area and a kitchen in the heart of the building. Administration is placed on the upper floor separate from children area.

red red wine

The Red house is located in the western suburbs of Oslo in the site of a former garden on the east bank of a heavily wooded river valley. JVA have placed the building perpendicular to the stream, to heighten the dramatic potential of the setting and to avoid obstructing the view for the house beyond. The Architects organised the house on two floors; living spaces are on the top floor which is oriented towards south and the view and the lower floor houses the children’s bedrooms which faces the river valley to the north beneath the trees. This double orientation is the basis for the architectonic dynamic of the project. The client have chosen red to showcase their personal temperament.

homogenous roofs

This Aires Mateus project is a response to very specific conditions which is the recovery of existing wood-masonry buildings. The idea of providing a complex with a homogeneous unity under a sloping roof. The Architects design begins with the existing material conditions, depending on their inhabitation potential. After that, the brief suggests the renovation of the masonry buildings, adapting them for use as individual rooms, while one of the two wooden volumes is converted into a two-bedroom pavilion and the other is the pavilion for common areas. Observers would notice that the street entrance emerges through the sandy ground, which is used as a basis for all the constructions. This treated material is spread as paving inside the community pavilion, qualifying the domestic conditions with a sense of natural comfort. The textural continuity of powerful material like sand changes the scale of the interior spaces, making the act of inhabitation a unique poetic experience, fitting for the sort of experience sought for this place.

invisible haus

Paritzki Liani Architects designed the E/A House in the Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv. Since this part of the city is oriented north-south, there are only two types of houses here: one type consists of a row of connected houses facing the street, forming a continuous wall parallel to the street, as in the case of the original E/A House. The second house type consists of courtyards containing small structures. The Architects have undoubtedly used the form and volumetric composition of E/A House to closely relate to the urban context. The housing block is suspended between two patios of different dimensions and between two swaths of light and greenery thus allowing natural ventilation of the ground floor living room and kitchen. The white wall expresses the introverted nature of the house while serving as an integrative element. Small gardens provide views of nature from the interior, creating a visual continuity with the green of the plane trees growing along the street. The observer arrives at the first elongated patio which is the first spatial sequence of the house and establishes a filter between the private interior and the exterior. Just beyond that, the wide windows open to the two patios. The dimensions of the living area create an atmosphere of tranquility and silence in contrast to the outside noise. Two narrow staircases leading upstairs are carved into the walls, with users facing the light and surrounding greenery. In contrast to the tactile impressions of the exterior, the optical modeling of the interior appears more natural. The varying shades of light-grey cement create an uneven penetration of light.

jazz-matazz

Go on Miles!!

water books

Morphosis created this Giant Campus project that is a compact village which accommodates diverse functions in a flexible framework of forms that move in and out of a folded landscape plane. Situated amid existing canals and a new man made lake, the undulating office building interacts with an augmented ground plane, joining architecture to landscape and environment to site. The East Campus office building contains 3 zones: open, non-hierarchical office space; private offices, and executive suites. Meanwhile the library, an auditorium, an exhibition space, and a café situated on the east campus is also located into the environment. On the West Campus, additional program space-submerged below an expansive, undulating green roof- includes a pool, a multi-purpose sports court, and additional relaxation and fitness spaces for employees. The landform culminates to the west at a company guest hotel where glass-floored private bedroom suites project over a wildlife pond. The Architects have carved out the landscape for several plazas to provide outdoor break and recreational spaces for employees. Several features on the project maximise both energy efficiency and occupant comfort includinga a green roof that provides thermal mass that limits the heat gain and reduces cooling expenditures, the façade’s double skin and insulated glass curtain wall minimize solar heat gain and improve overall efficiency, a central circulation spine, along with the recreational amenities and plazas provide opportunities for chance encounters and places for employees to gather without the confines of cubicles or unnecessary divisions and finally the narrow profile of the office building combined with a system of skylights ensure that employees have continuous access to natural daylight.

who loves you?

All I can see is black and white

and white and pink with blades of blue

that lay between the words I think

on a page I was meaning to send her

You I couldn't tell if it bring my heart

the way I wanted when I started

writing this letter to you

If I could you know I would

just hold your hand and you'd understand

I'm the man who loves you

All I can be is a busy sea of

spinning wheels and hands that feel

for stones to throw and feet that run but

they come back home, make no difference

ever known, make no difference

ever known to me

If I could you know I would

just hold your hand and you'd understand

I'm the man who loves you

All I can see is black and white

and white and pink with blades of blue

that lay between the words I think

on a page I was meaning to send her

You I couldn't tell if it bring my heart

the way I wanted when I started

writing this letter to you

If I could you know I would

just hold your hand and you'd understand

If I could you know I would

just hold your hand and you'd understand

If I could you know I would

just hold your hand and you'd understand

I'm the man who loves you

I'm the man who loves you

lost in translation

I came across a lost animal outside my house today. It was raining and miserable, I look upon the wet, cold and shivering animal in pity. Who knows where it has been and how far it has travelled? I took the animal into the house and gave it some food. Who knows when was the last time it ate anything, poor little thing. As the hours past, I could see it having more energy and the warmth of the house made it feel much better. Perhaps, I should adopt it? But, what shall I call it? That's my dilemma. Lonely lost animals can be quite strange because it's used to doing things their certain way. Do I have the time and energy to house-train it? Perhaps. Looking at it closely, I'm beginning to feel attach to it. Damn it! The animal got to me. Bloody hell, looks like it'll be the new addition to the house.

Mental note: Need to tell Brunette about my new housemate. Wonder whether she'll agree.

renoir on a postcard

If I was to live a parallel life, I would like to have this score from Bill Conti to follow me wherever I go. Bliss!!

bouldering faith

BNKR Arquitectura's clients brief was pretty simple; the chapel had to take full advantage of the spectacular views and the sun had to set exactly behind the altar cross. Lastly, a section with the first phase of crypts had to be included outside and around the chapel. The Architects had 3 objects obstructing the views, one being large trees and abundant vegetation and the other a behemoth of a boulder blocking the main sight of the sunset. The solution was to raise the level of the chapel at least 5m. Doing this creates the least possible impact on the site thus reducing the footprint of the building to nearly half the floor area of the upper level. In a purely mimetic endeavor, the chapel look like 'just another' colossal boulder atop the mountain.