Architecture Begins Here

How To Prevent Flood In Your House

2011-06-11T00:24:00.003+08:00

How To Prevent Flood In Your House

The natural role of a flood plain is to channel excess water during periods of heavy rainfall to rivers and other bigger channels.But where you have flood channels been blocked or walled off, then the artificially narrowed or blocked water must rise higher to compensate for the narrow channels, often time it becomes an embarrassment to a community.

CAUSES OF FLOODING
1) Deforestation- As activities of man becomes more intense, the trees around are being fell and these lands are claimed for other purposes. These areas will be exposed to flood as time goes on.

2) Development, Jobs and Affluence- like in every part of the world people loves to leave close to river because of economic and leisure gains, for farming (irrigation) ,water, transportation and even waste disposal.

3) Poverty- When you have too little to pay for a conducive environment, then you are most likely to settle for anywhere you find yourself, also constructing a drain gutter may be too expensive for you.

4) However not only areas close to rivers are prone to flooding, Unnecessary blocking of public drain channels and overbuilt environment may cause flooding.

5) Even in some houses bad foundation of buildings could lead to flood right inside your house. Areas with loose soils when building houses on them are expected to have water protecting membrane laid down round the foundation to prevent water rising to the floors through the walls from foundation. Also oversite concrete or german floor ought to be done for such area infact for every building, but the cost of doing it makes virtually anybody with low budget to ignore this important part of your building.
For those with considerably strong soil, you can use the method I used to at least saved some money, though not the best alternative.

What I did—–
After raising all the blocks to foundation level what I did was just to look for a carpenter to nail planks around the top of blocks (both internal and external) with about 100mm space to accommodate concrete directly on top, you may ask why did I do just that alone, as I said I am trying to save money and most of the water from ground will percolate through wall to the top and soon you may begin to see the effects.

To prevent flood , these are the major steps to take
(i) You can raise the foundation level of your building this will make your building to be higher but will probably save you from flood when the runoff is high. Though it will cost you more to raise the house from ground, it may perhaps be more economical at the long run, besides a well built house standing alone gives it an elegant look.

(ii) Make sure when paving the surrounding environment, the paving or whatever, slopes along water runway so that water entering your environment will naturally follow the gradient or slope of the land.

(iii) If you found out that your house is usually flooded after rainfall because the pavement/screeding of your environment was not done to slope towards the natural water flows, you can channel water from the roof of your house with a pipe to water channels, underground tanks or drain gutters.

(iv) Replace damaged pipes around the house, the ones from public utilities and your own.

(v) You can erect a retaining wall or fence made of concrete to block strong rushing water.

(vi) If number (v) is expensive you can use sandbags

(vii) The most important of all, when carrying out your project consider drainage gutter if you envisage future flooding problems.

(viii) In large scale done by Organisations and government, Dams,large water channels, and leeves are provided to further fights flooding. Leeves are embarkments composed of soil and earthen materials that are used to prevent annual flooding in many areas just like what you have in V.I bar beach presently been done by the Lagos state government. With a levee it requires very high volume of rain water before flooding can occur. But the drawback is that if the water level is high enough to past through the fence(levees) then the flooding will be most and will cause several times more damage.

Stormproof Your Home and Create an Emergency Kit for Severe Weather

2011-06-11T00:19:00.000+08:00

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—No matter what part of the country you live in, chances are good you've noticed a change in storm patterns throughout recent years. As the climate warms, there tends to be fewer storms, but the ones that do strike drop a lot more water in a shorter amount of time.

August through October is when most storms develop, but the devastating weather that's struck several Southern U.S. states this week shows that isn't always the case. Whether or not your area is becoming more prone to thunderstorms or hurricanes, there are steps you can take to protect yourself against the major damaging effects of strong storms. And when extreme weather events occur, and emergency kit can make it easier to evacuate should you need to leave the area.

Know how to deal with the big three:

#1: WATER

• Perform a roof check before a leak appears. "The most costly home repairs are those caused by the intrusion of water. From roofing to building framing and foundations, these problems often build up over time and are exacerbated by driving rains and heavy flooding," explains architect Steven Bingler, founder of Concordia, a planning and architecture firm based in New Orleans. "The best way to avoid big surprises later is to address existing issues immediately and plan intelligently."

To start, grab a pair of binoculars and look over the outside of your roof. Damaged, loose, or missing shingles or tiles, missing or loose nails, and sagging areas are tipoffs that it may be time for a new roof, or at least a roof repair. Inside your home, go into your attic and look for water-stained areas, especially around the chimney and vents. If the stained area is wet or soft, it’s a current problem and will need to be fixed.

• Make water flow away. "The first and most important principle is to be certain that all ground surfaces are sloping down and away from the building," says Bingler. "After that, the water can be channeled to lower-lying streets or stormwater sewers." If you notice that land slopes toward your home, contact a trusted contractor with experience in flood mitigation to avoid a serious and costly washout in your home.

• Make your lawn a sponge. An especially ecofreindly way to manage stormwater is to replace as much as your turf-style lawn as you can with native plants and permeable surfaces (like gravel or sand) that soak rainwater into the ground. All-grass lawns can create as much rainwater runoff as concrete.

For the more ambitious homeowner, rainwater coming from roof gutters and downspouts can be channeled to underground storm water detention basins or rain barrels and cisterns. To create a detention basin, dig a deep hole and fill it with 2- to 3-inch-sized gravel, and then cover the top with soil. "The size of the basin should be calculated to accommodate the projected worst-case stormwater volume, which can be easily calculated by a local engineer," says Bingler. These basins hold the rainwater and let it slowly soak into the soil (instead of flooding your basement).

• Plant thirsty native plants and trees. The basin can also be elongated into a deep trench, with a perforated pipe, known in many places as a French drain, at the bottom. The trench can extend many feet around the house and be fed by the downspouts coming down from the roof gutters. It's a great way to keep your landscaping well watered. "In my own home, where my wife is an avid gardener, we extended fingers from the circular trench out into the landscape, so when it rains the plants are delighted to get their water from top-down as well as bottom-up sources," Bingler says. The plants and trees (particularly native ones that do well without much fuss from you) can soak up gallons of water a day, and later transpire it back into the atmosphere. "It is a nifty system that can make the most of stormwater management with many benefits all around," Bingler adds.

#2: WIND

• Check your landscape. Before storm season hits, trim dead wood and weak, overhanging branches from all trees around your home. Certain trees and shrubs don’t hold up well in high winds, so ask your local nursery which ones do best. Avoid planting invasive species, like Norway maple, because they damage local ecosystems. Also, bring in any lawn chairs or other outdoor furniture when a storm is forecast, so they don’t end up smashing through one of your windows.

• Cover and reinforce. If you live in a place prone to hurricane-force winds, you should either install commercial shutters, or prepare 5/8-inch plywood panels to cover your windows in the event of a hurricane warning. You can download free plans to show you how to prep the plywood but it's important to buy these materials before a storm nears, because many hardware stores sell out fast when high winds appear in the forecast. Garage doors are often the first thing to be ripped from a home when hurricane-force winds strike, so make sure you reinforce them as well.

• Find a safe room. If you don’t live in an evacuation zone or a mobile home, or if your local authorities aren't instructing you to leave, it's important to have a safe room ready when strong winds approach. Stay inside and away from windows and glass door, and make sure all interior doors are closed. If things quiet down for awhile, it's still important to stay away from the windows. It could be the eye of the storm, and winds could quickly whip up again. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it's best to stay in a small interior room, closet, or hallway on the lowest level of the house.

• Know what to turn off. Sometimes authorities will instruct residents to turn off utilities. But if not, crank up your refrigerator to the coldest setting and keep the door closed. This will keep perishable items fresh as long as possible in case the power goes out. Also turn off propane tanks to reduce the chance of a fire, fill your tub with water so you can clean, and flush the toilets, in case your water source is cut off.

#3: LIGHTNING

• Get inside! The National Weather Service's rule of thumb is for storm safetyis simple: "When thunder roars, go indoors!" That's because when you're outside, there's little you can do to lower your chances of being struck by lightning. If you are outside and hear thunder, get inside a building with inside walls, wiring, and plumbing, or a car with a full roof, for protection.

• Prepare like Ben Franklin. If you want to deal with lightning before it strikes, consider hiring an experienced contractor familiar with lightning protection systems. These consist of metal lightning rods on the roof that send a lightning strike into the ground and away from your home.

• Find the safest spot in your house. Know before a storm strikes if there’s metal meshing in the concrete of your basement. If there is, you shouldn't have contact with that area during a storm. Lightning can enter your home through a direct strike, the ground, or plumbing and wiring. Stay away from windows, washers and dryers, TVs, stay out of the shower or tub, and stay off the phone. Surge protectors won't protect your electronics, so unplug them before a storm strikes. And remember, chatting it up may pass the time, but talking on the phone is the most common scenario for most indoor lightning injuries.

CREATE AN EMERGENCY KIT
It's also important to create a family emergency kit to have on hand in the event of serious weather. Here's what you should include in it:

• Battery-operated NOAA weather radio
• Cash (in small bills) and credit cards (some ATMs won’t work in the middle of a disaster)
• Bedding and clothing, including rain gear
• First aid kid with medicines and prescription drugs
• Wet wipes, alcohol-based hand sanitizer (60 percent alcohol or higher), feminine hygiene products, and diapers if there’s a baby in the house
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Surgical and N-95 masks in case someone in the house becomes sick with the flu—it could prevent transmission
• Paper plates, cups, and plastic or compostable utensils
• Fully charged cellphone and corded phone
• List of emergency and family phone numbers
• Books and games
• Pet food and water, medications, carrier/cages, leashes, and immunization records
• Sealable waterproof bag or container where you can store insurance and Social Security cards, medical records, and other important documents.

• Food and water: At the very least, keep your house stocked with a gallon of water per person per day, for up to a week, and enough nonperishable food, snacks, and juices for a week (don’t forget the manual can opener!). Store them in coolers so they can be quickly loaded into a vehicle if you need to evacuate. Make sure your car always has a full tank of gas if evacuation due to severe weather is a fact of life in your area.

Urban Mediascape

2009-12-16T15:06:00.000+08:00

"The cantilevering roof plate is a dominant component of the architectural expression; during the day and especially in the evening, when the transparent façade allows the building to glow from the inside."

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects
Urban Mediaspace
Europaplads, Århus, Denmark

Relationship between Architecture and Technology. Mies Van de Rohe

2009-12-16T14:49:00.003+08:00

“...Architecture depends upon its time.
It is the crystallization of its inner structure,
the slow unfolding of its form.
That is the reason why technology and architecture are so closely related.
Our real hope is that they will grow together,
that some day the one will be the expression of the other.
Only then will we have an architecture worthy of its name:

architecture as a true symbol of our time”

Mies van der Rohe (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969)

3ds Max Tutorial to Use Lighting and Reflections HDRI

2009-10-10T08:58:00.002+08:00

Here’s a 3ds Max tutorial that have purpose to use HDRI - lighting and reflections. For this tutorial I am using 3dstudio MAX 6 and Brazil 1.2 to render. Do not dispair though if you do not have Brazil, its only a renderer, the tutorial goes through how to make it with 3dsmax alone. Brazil just speeds up the rendering process for my benefit. Unfortunately if you are using 3dsmax3 you will need to upgrade, if you are using 4 or 5 you will need to download this

http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/downloads/max/hdri/HDRI_v1.0.1.zip

And if you are using max6, then thank your lucky stars, its already installed for you (isn’t that nice of good old discreet?)

HDRI light probes can be downloaded from
http://www.debevec.org/Probes/

HDRshop can be downloaded from
http://www.debevec.org/HDRShop/
HDRshop is a must have for any 3d enthusiast and also essential for working with HDR images. Although not in this tutorial.. I don’t have time to explain hdr shop nor setting up probe images from mirrored ball to latitude/longitude.

1. OK, firstly, if we are going to make lighting and reflections, we need something to light up and reflect the environment. As you can see from the image below, i have really pushed the boat out and created, not just one sphere, not two or three, but four, and to further advance my cg talents, I’ve also created a plane for my four amazingly complex spheres to sit on. And doesn’t it look spectacular right now? Really the objects aren’t important, since no one really uses HDRI to light 4 spheres anyway, just use the tutorial to light any scene you like.

2. Now that we have our brilliantly creative starting point. Lets create some HDRI reflections.

Firstly, download this - http://www.bfgc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/hdri/Apt-probe.hdr

Secondly lets add the reflection map: goto rendering> environment, under background, click the “environment map:” box (its the one that currently says none in it), choose bitmap and then choose the apt-probe that you just downloaded, after you click ok it brings up another window, press ok on this one too. Now, with the environment window still open, open the material editor aswell. Drag and drop the “map #1 (apt-probe.hdr) into a free slot in the materials editor setting it as an instance, and follow the next instructions: -In the “coordinates” rollout, change the mapping type to “spherical environment” (its in the drop down box next to mapping if you get stuck looking), and change the blur to 0.1. now scroll down to the “output” rollout and set the RGB level to 100 (or any number, it really depends how you want you reflections to look).

3. Great our shiny objects are now reflecting nicely Lets make some nice lighting. Create a skylight and place it somewhere in the middle of your scene above your objects.

Download http://www.bfgc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/hdri/apt-BLRD.hdr and then place it in the “none” box underneath “sky colour” in the modify proerties of the skylight. Do exactly the same as you did for the apt-probe by instancing it into the mats editor and using the same settings as the reflection map. Note: you will have to ensure the “environ” button is checked in the “coordinates” rollout before you can change the mapping to spherical environment render, and there you have it.. HDRI.

3ds Max Tutorial to Make Crystal Ball

2009-10-10T08:39:00.004+08:00

Here’s a 3ds Max tutorial to make a crystal ball. This tutorials will show you an easy way to make a crystal ball. Enjoy it!

First reset max. Then choose the sphere Object, then take your cursor and make a nice sized sphere.

Now press “m” to bring up the material editor, and select a normal gray unmodified material and check the three boxed circled below:

Now we have to make a nice reflection. To do this go to “maps” in your material editor, and open it up. Then check reflection, and click were it says “none” to chose he image that you want it to reflect. To get the right effect you are going to need something that is a shiny chrome color. If your version of max came with the materials that mine did than chose the chrome material below:

Now we need to give the ball a “see through” affect. To do this go to maps, and check “opacity” and were it says “none” click and chose “falloff”.

Now scroll back up to were the material colors are now you are all done, when it is rendered you should get an image very close to the one below:

Enjoy it!

V-Ray Grass

2009-10-10T08:28:00.004+08:00

If you are using v-ray and don't use the VRayDisplacmentMod, then you should switch to mental ray! I use both, but v-ray is very powerful at performing geometric displacement, and is superb at creating organic objects; even grass looks good with displacement. Mental ray is good at displacing small polygons of geometry, where V-ray is good at displacing detail over large polygons. For this reason v-ray 1.50 sp1 is much more successful at creating grass for very large sites; a big plus!

A torus-knot with VRayDisplacmentMod modifier (light cache & irradiance map with 2 vray area lights)

The shader is simply just a VRayMat, with a grass map in the diffuse slot. Then I applied the VRayDisplacementMod modifier to the object. I instanced the image map from the shader into the displacement modifier.

VRayDisplacementMod settings:

• For something like grass it’s very important to use 2D mapping rather 3D mapping.

• I instanced the image map from the shader into the Texmap.

• I changed the amount to 4” to have taller grass blades.

• I increased the resolution to 2048 for better quality.

Tour on Garden and Sea house

2009-05-29T17:40:00.009+08:00

Garden and Sea / Takao Shiotsuka Atelier

By Nico Saieh

Architects: Takao Shiotsuka Atelier
Location: Japan
Client: Private
Project year: 2008
Constructed area: 237 sqm
Photographs: Toshiyuki YANO (Nacasa & Partners Inc.,)

The site faces the sea and has deep depth. And it inclines toward the sea by the vertical interval like 2M. We arranged the house in the center of the site. The plane shape of the house is wedge to spread towards the sea.

We planned the first floor as a place to enjoy a garden. The part facing the garden of the half underground is a glass window. By it, a slope of the ground just appears as form of the openings. The exterior floor covered with the white gravel. Since it is surrounded by the outside wall, outside can also be felt like the interior of a room. By place to stay and movement at that time, relations with a person and the ground surface change.

The second floor enabled it to set up a sense of distance with the sea variously in the inside of a building. The both ends of cylindrical space long in the direction of marine are glass windows. An indoor partition wall is also glass. We can look at sea side and the location of the other side at the same time from the room. Even if the sojourner is in any place, he can see or feel the sea.

The first floor that enjoys the yard, the second floor that enjoys the sea, and 2 space were divided clearly. Owner enabled it to spend the time of non-every day by going back and forth mutual space with the different feature appropriate for the cottage.

Best Green House

2009-05-29T15:05:00.006+08:00

Good Things, Small Package: A two-bedroom house and the subdivision it hails from defy Texas conventions

Shipley Architects

…Cheatham divided the site into 50 building lots, divvying the number between progressive spec homes and empty land that purchasers can reinvent with the help of an approved architect…

…Shipley Architects has been chosen by land buyers four times, and it has wrapped up two projects. Most notable of this pair is the 1,500-square-foot residence known as UR 45, which the local firm designed for Urban Edge executive Rick Fontenot…

…"Rick observed me working and responding to some of the problems with the other houses," Dan Shipley, FAIA, says of his selection to work on UR 45. "I think he saw a flexibility to experiment and to adjust to smaller budgets." Indeed, UR 45 currently contains just two bedrooms…

…The little terraced building sits on six concrete piers, with its back to the street: An opaque carport marks the east-facing street side of the house, and Fontenot and his wife enter the house via a ramp that leads to a door on the long, southern elevation; it opens directly into a living room with kitchen island…

…“There’s nothing particularly exciting about the form except that I think it’s well-proportioned and has a certain logic to it,” Shipley says, adding, “Because it’s very compact, floats above the piers, and that you enter it from this gangplank, it’s like a houseboat.” Both the carport and house volume are wrapped in southern yellow pine boards normally used in porch flooring…

…Between the great room and its westward view of local DART trains sits a porch that cantilevers over a ridge leading down to the light rail’s tracks. This deep outdoor room protects occupants from direct sunlight, while trees soften the glare of summer’s late-afternoon rays…

…Shipley, who cites foam insulation and geothermal air-conditioning among UR 45’s sustainable features, says that even though fenestration “is probably less than 25 percent of the building envelope, we tried to locate all the glass so you always feel close to natural light.”…

…In a poetic example of that effort, light filters into the great room through open risers in the stairway that separates the great room from a guest bedroom…

… The stairway leads to the second-story master bedroom suite…

…Stair treads
comprise glulam salvaged from other Urban Reserve projects, while the flooring is recycled from the dance floor of Fontenot’s own wedding…

...Architect and client are aiming to certify UR 45 as LEED Platinum. The designation would stand as an example for the neighborhood because—while Shipley compares Urban Reserve to “a parking lot full of nicely designed cars like Coopers and Fiats”—the subdivision is conscientious, too...

…The DART station is nearby, and the team that includes Cheatham and Fontenot have removed few trees from the site, implemented rainwater harvesting, and minimized street widths and the stormwater runoff that correlates with it.

X House / Arquitectura X

2009-05-29T13:56:00.015+08:00

Architects: Arquitectura X - Adrian Moreno Núñez, Maria Samaniego Ponce
Location: La Tola, valle de Tumbaco, Quito, Ecuador
Contractor: Adrian Moreno Núñez, Carlos Guerra Espinosa
Client: Adrian Moreno Núñez, Maria Samaniego Ponce, Lía Moreno Samaniego
Design year: 2003 – 2006
Construction year: 2006 – 2007
Structural Engineer: Pedro Caicedo
Electrical Engineer: Pedro Freile
Services: Raúl Cueva
Constructed area: 380 sqm
Photographs: Sebastián Crespo

Design Concepts

1
Not having a site when we started design on our house, we set out an elemental scheme that could work both in Quito and the valleys east of the city; this meant distilling our experience into an abstracted form, inspired in the work of Donald Judd, that could be placed in any of the sites we would be likely to find: an open ended box, whose spatial limits would be the eastern and western ranges of the Andes.

2
As we had no actual place, we looked to the spaces we felt our own, and found the patio as the essential place maker throughout our architectural history.

3
On the other hand was our fascination for the prototypical glass house and its possibilities in our year round temperate climate.

4
While the patio creates a sense of place it has to be enclosed in order to work, so the mountains can’t become the spatial limit. The glass house is perfect for that unlimited sense of space; the addition of a patio to the glass house gave us the chance to adapt to the different site possibilities.

5
We separated the private and public spaces defining a patio, the service spaces and circulation could be added as a plug-in as needed depending on site conditions, further defining the patio.

6
Finally this diagram could be fitted into the open ended box according to specific site conditions that would define orientation, size and proportion.

Zaha Hadid announces new project for Cairo

2009-05-29T13:09:00.004+08:00

Zaha Hadid announces new project for Cairo
By Karen Cilento

Zaha Hadid announced her latest design, the Stone Towers, for the expanding district of Cairo, Egypt. Within the 525,000sqm towers, Hadid’s design provides office and retail spaces, a five-star business hotel with serviced apartments, and sunken landscaped gardens and plaza called the Delta.

Further project description after the break.

“I am delighted to be working in Cairo. I have visited Egypt many times and I have always been fascinated by the mathematics and arts of the Arab world. In our office we have always researched the formal concepts of geometry - which relates a great deal to the region’s art traditions and sciences in terms of algebra, geometry and mathematics. This research has informed the design for Stone Towers,” Hadid commented.

Hadid’s towers were inspired by the ancient Egyptian stonework which incorporates a variety of patterns and textures. Working off this inspiration, the facades on the North and South elevations of each tower adopt a vocabulary of alternating protrusions, recesses and voids. Such spaces will emphasize light and shadow, which will, in turn, accentuate the curvatures of each building within the development.

“With a large-scale project such as the Stone Towers, care must be taken to balance a necessary requirement for repetitive elements whilst avoiding an uncompromising repetition of static building masses,” states Hadid. “The architecture of Stone Towers pursues a geometric rhythm of similar, interlocking, yet individually differentiated building forms that creates a cohesive composition,” Hadid added.

The towers will add much needed space to Cairo’s expanding region and will fuse smoothly into the existing urban landscape. Hisham Shoukri, CEO of Rooya Group said, “There is a overwhelming need in Egypt for developments of the highest international standards required by the serious and growing investment climate of the country - ultimately contributing to making it a hub for multinationals in the region. The Stone Towers needed an architect with daring ideas, innovation, international expertise and experience…it needed Zaha Hadid.”

Architectural Record's House of the Month

2009-05-29T12:12:00.005+08:00

Screen House

New Westminster, British Columbia

Randy Bens Architect
By Ingrid Spencer

Reuse, renew, recycle, renovate! When New Westminster, British Columbia, couple Jeanine Harper and Les Linfoot, and their three sons, aged 18 to 26, needed more space, they decided to build onto their 2,500-square-foot 1950s ranch-style house. “It was an L-shaped, low-slung, post-and-beam house,” says local architect Randy Bens, who did the redesign. “The house was so neutral, and it had this nice red oak flooring which was in very good shape. We knew that we could update and expand the home but still keep a lot of the existing structure and walls.”

New Westminster is about a 20-minute drive from Vancouver, and Harper and Linfoot’s house sits atop a hill in a suburban area rich with mid-century Modernist architecture. “I grew up in an architect-built, Modernist house,” says Harper, “so I like that aesthetic and wanted our house to echo the sensibilities of the neighborhood.” Linfoot, an artist, says he wanted their house “to move into at least the 20th century and maybe even the 21st.” Like Harper, he appreciates a lack of clutter and smooth transitions between inside and outside spaces.

Bens understood that with three boys in the house (for the moment, at least), Harper and Linfoot needed private space. His redesign created a 1,000-square-foot upstairs addition comprising a painting studio, master suite, and deck. “Architecturally,” he says, “the goal was to knit together the old and the new with simple gestures and materials that would be sympathetic to their context, yet fresh.”

Zoning laws wouldn’t allow Bens to create an upper addition that would fill out the footprint of the existing house, but that was not his intention. “The climate here is very gray and rainy, the light very soft. We wanted to be sure light would get into all parts of the house,” he explains. Bens organized the addition’s massing by creating chunky new volumes to sit on existing structure, but added a double height to the downstairs living room, and created upstairs decks that would take advantage of views. To shade the south-facing double-height living room, the architect created a horizontal screen of stained timber and anodized aluminum for the exterior. Placed at a 90-degree angle, the screen protects the entr

y from rain and sun, and adds a horizontal element to counter the vertical nature of the added volume. Vertical cedar siding, gently sloping roofs, exposed glued laminated beams and rafters respond to the aesthetic of the neighboring mid-century post and beam houses. To add a contemporary element, Bens installed zinc panels above and alongside existing window openings, aligning them with new openings above.

Inside, the architect retained the original floors (and added recycled fir flooring on the second level) and extended neutral white walls though the house as a palette for Linfoot’s art collection. New millwork, including built-ins, was constructed from a mixture of Appleply and Plyboo. Rounding out the sustainable features for this house that has

no air conditioning, the upstairs bathroom incorporates Paperstone, a tile made of recycled paper, on the counter and tubs, and a composite recycled tile is used on the floor and shower walls. A new steel stair connects the two floors, and decks are made of pressure-treated cedar. “It’s all very simple,” says Bens modestly. “Wood floors, white walls—it’s hard to screw that up.”

Harper and Linfoot have a bit more to say. “The view, the whole upstairs, it’s hugely pleasurable,” says Harper. “More than just light, there’s a lightness to the house that is such a nice thing. It flows, there’s so much space, yet it’s also quite cozy.” Says Linfoot, “Cookie cutter houses don’t appeal to us, and while we know the hou

se reflects features of others in the neighborhood, we’re also surprised by the people who we see standing on the street and staring.” But for Linfoot, it’s not just all about his house. “We wanted to use a young architect for this project,” he says. “It was important for us to be part of the patronage of someone with talent who’s just starting out.”

Harper and Linfoot now have the house of their dreams. Whether their adult sons leave them to it remains to be seen.

Frank Lloyd Wright Quotations

2009-05-28T23:50:00.002+08:00

Frank Lloyd Wright Quotations
"Truth Against the World"
(Updated during June 1998. More quotes being added all the time)

"Freedom is from within"

"An expert is a man who has stopped thinking - he knows!"

"The truth is more important than the facts"

"There is nothing more uncommon than common sense"

"The heart is the chief feature of a functioning mind"

"An idea is salvation by imagination"

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On Life

"The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes"

"Life always rides in strength to victory, not through internationalism . . . but only through the direct responsibility of the individual"

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities" - from An Autobiography, 1932.

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On Marilyn Monroe

"I think Ms. Monroe's architecture is extremely good architecture"

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On television and other diversions

"I wouldn't mind seeing opera die. Ever since I was a boy, I regarded opera as a ponderous anarchronism, almost the equivalent of smoking"

"Television is bubble-gum for the mind"
(This one has also been recorded as "Television is bubble-gum for the eyes")

"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger"

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On God and Nature

"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature"

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you"

"God is the great mysterious motivator of what we call nature, and it has been said often by philosophers, that nature is the will of God. And, I prefer to say that nature is the only body of God that we shall ever see. If we wish to know the truth concerning anything, we'll find it in the nature of that thing"

"Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain"

__________________________________________________

On pepper

"Don't eat it. It will kill you before your time. Avoid it"

__________________________________________________

On himself

"Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change"

"I feel coming on a strange disease -- humility"

__________________________________________________

On art and architecture

"The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization"

"Organic architecture seeks superior sense of use and a finer sense of comforat, expressed in organic simplicity."

"Buildings, too, are children of Earth and Sun"

"Mechanization best serves mediocrity"

"No stream rises higher than its source. What ever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was. He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built."

"Classicism is a mask and does not reflect transition. How can such a static expression allow interpretation of human life as we know it? A fire house should not resemble a French Chateau, a bank a Greek temple and a university a Gothic Cathedral. All of the ism are imposition on life itself by way of previous education."

"Organic buildings are the strength and lightness of the spiders' spinning, buildings qualified by light, bred by native character to environment, married to the ground."

"A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart."

"Less is only more where more is no good"

"Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art"

"Respect the masterpiece. It is true reverence to man. There is no quality so great, none so much needed now."

"The room within is the great fact about the building"

"Form follows function-that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union"

"Every great architect is -- necessarily -- a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age"

The architect must be a prophet . . . a prophet in the true sense of the term . . . if he can't see at least ten years ahead don't call him an architect"

"An architect's most useful tools are an eraser at the drafting board, and a wrecking bar at the site"

"Consider everything in the nature of a hanging fixture a weakness, and naked radiators an abomination"

The following quote could perhaps been woven into an introduction to Star Trek :
"Space. The continual becoming: invisible fountain from which all rhythms flow and to which they must pass. Beyond time or infinity"

"The space within becomes the reality of the building"

"Space is the breath of art"

"True ornament is not a matter of prettifying externals. It is organic with the structure it adorns, whether a person, a building, or a park. At its best it is an emphasis of structure, a realization in graceful terms of the nature of that which is ornamented"

"A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines"

__________________________________________________

On other architects

"All I learned from Eliel Saarinen was how to make out an expense account" (said after he returned from a South American trip with Saarinen)"

"Well, now that he's finished one building, he'll go write four books about it" about Le Corbusier

"He exposes all the function on the top and puts the form below. It's as if you were to wear your entrails on top of your head." (about un-named well known architect of his day)

__________________________________________________

On government and other institutions

"Toleration and liberty are the foundations of a great republic"

"A free America, democratic in the sense that our forefathers intended it to be, means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call democracy is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it."

"Democracy is the opposite of totalitarianism, communism, fascism, or mobocracy."

"Maybe we can show government how to operate better as a result of better architecture."

"We should have a system of economics that is structure, that is organic tools. We do not have it. We are all hanging by our eyebrows from skyhooks economically, just as we are architecturally"

"A vital difference between the professional man and a man of business is that money making to the professional man should, by virtue of his assumption, be incidental; to the business man it is primary. Money has its limitations; while it may buy quantity, there is something beyond it and that is quality"

"I believe totally in a Capitalist System, I only wish that someone would try it"

"Bureaucrats: they are dead at 30 and buried at 60. They are like custard pies; you can't nail them to a wall"

" Harvard takes perfectly good plums as students, and turns them into prunes"

__________________________________________________

On his buildings and his own work

"I have been black and blue in some spot, somewhere, almost all my life from too intimate contacts with my own furniture." (1931)

"Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves"

"The one on my board right now" - What FLW said when asked which of his buildings was the most beautiful

"Move the chair" - Wright's response to a client who phoned him to complain of rain leaking through the roof of the house onto the dining table.

__________________________________________________

On cities

"It [New York City] is a great monument to the power of money and greed. . .a race for rent "

"Tip the world on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles"

"Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world" (1939)

"Abandon it." -- Frank Lloyd Wright, on being asked how he would go about improving Pittsburgh

__________________________________________________

More quotes

"'Think simple'" as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles."

"Get the habit of analysis- analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind."

Other relevant quotes (not by Frank Lloyd Wright)

"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, the first woodpecker would destroy civilization" (Weinberg's Law)

"There are two things wrong with a Frank Lloyd Wright house. People will hardly let you get one built and will hardly let you live in it when it's done." - client Gregor Affleck

A guide to good school design

2009-05-28T22:20:00.001+08:00

Hampshire County Council has six simple rules that have kept it at the forefront of school design, says Rory Olcayto

‘Good design must be “up front” to popularise the whole idea of building. It cannot be something that is taken for granted. Much more, it needs to be the visible shop window of an enlightened local authority, something that it can take pride in and perhaps in its more confident moments even boast about. It should infiltrate the visual standards of everything from signwriting and graphics to interior design, and a good deal inbetween. It should not be restricted to buildings, but should include spaces and environments generally, involving at the same time collaborations with artists and sculptors.’

This simple philosophy, which links good design to good local governance, was outlined by Hampshire County Council’s legendary head architect and 1991 RIBA Gold Medal winner Colin Stansfield Smith in Hampshire Architecture: 1974-1984, a book he edited in 1985. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed and Smith has long since retired from the architecture department to which he brought global acclaim with the schools he designed.

However, a new generation of county architects, under the tutelage of Bob Wallbridge and Alec Gillies, Hampshire’s joint heads of architecture, now adhere to the same philosophy, keeping it at the forefront of British school design. Two of Hampshire’s recent schemes, Lee-on-the-Solent Infant School and Pinewood Infant School featured in CABE’s primary school case study document published last month, and Pinewood picked up a RIBA Award last year.

Here, Wallbridge and Gillies provide a basic guide to the principles that underpin Hampshire’s approach to good school design: Place, Learning, Movement, Community, Environment and Tangibility.

Rule 1: Place

The success of a project lies in how well it engages with its setting. There must be a sense of belonging, but there must also be delight. For Pinewood Infant School in Farnborough, we created a tranquil courtyard as an oasis among existing trees.

Rule 2: Learning

We design flexible learning environments with input from educationalists in pedagogy linked to space planning and use. Many of our schools open on to sheltered outdoor spaces, such as Lanterns Children’s Centre, Winchester (pictured), and Old Basing Infant School, Basingstoke (also pictured).

Rule 3: Community

We try to place schools, such as PinewoodInfant School (pictured), at the heart of a community, where it can be used by the neighbourhood. In our role as landowner, we have the opportunity to develop schools that integrate into the urban setting. In this way, we can promote the co-location of services and a sense of community cohesion.

Rule 4: Movement

The spatial strategy of locating a school should be born out of the necessity to control movement. Inclusiveness and control have to be reconciled, while keeping the protection of pupils in mind.

Rule 5: Environment

We value existing structures. For Burnham Copse Primary School (pictured), Basingstoke, walkways were added to allow first-floor access and to shade classrooms. Whiteley Primary School (pictured), Fareham, typifies our use of monopitch sections to cross-ventilate classrooms and let in light.

Rule 6: Tangibility

Both internally and externally, the layout of the building and its wider site, the materials used and the displays of children’s work all contribute to the educational experience.

Sustainable Parking at Santa Monica

2009-05-28T20:08:00.004+08:00

Sustainable Parking Structure Will Have Santa Monica Motorists Seeing Green

By Jorge Casuso

March 28 -- Hoping to make history, Monica City officials unveiled what is likely the nation’s first sustainable solar-powered parking structure Tuesday.

The six-story, 882-space structure at the Civic Center features photovoltaic roof panels, a storm drain water treatment system, recycled construction materials and energy efficient mechanical systems.

The $29 million structure -- which sits near the entrance and

exit ramps at the end of the 10 Freeway -- also features ground-floor retail, art works on every floor and sweeping city and ocean views.

“From the Santa Monica Mountains to Catalina Island, these parking spaces have the best view in town,” Council memebr Kevin McKeown told the crowd gathered on the top floor, as a cold wind swept in from the white-capped ocean a few blocks away.

Green Building Basics

2009-05-28T19:53:00.002+08:00

What Makes a Building Green?

A green building, also known as a sustainable building, is a structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green buildings are designed to meet certain objectives such as protecting occupant health; improving employee productivity; using energy, water, and other resources more efficiently; and reducing the overall impact to the environment.

What Are the Economic Benefits of Green Buildings?

A green building may cost more up front, but saves through lower operating costs over the life of the building. The green building approach applies a project life cycle cost analysis for determining the appropriate up-front expenditure. This analytical method calculates costs over the useful life of the asset.

These and other cost savings can only be fully realized when they are incorporated at the project's conceptual design phase with the assistance of an integrated team of professionals. The integrated systems approach ensures that the building is designed as one system rather than a collection of stand-alone systems.

Some benefits, such as improving occupant health, comfort, productivity, reducing pollution and landfill waste are not easily quantified. Consequently, they are not adequately considered in cost analysis. For this reason, consider setting aside a small portion of the building budget to cover differential costs associated with less tangible green building benefits or to cover the cost of researching and analyzing green building options.

Even with a tight budget, many green building measures can be incorporated with minimal or zero increased up-front costs and they can yield enormous savings (Environmental Building News, 1999).

Your Brain on Architecture

2009-05-28T19:27:00.007+08:00

This Is Your Brain on Architecture

BY Michael CannellFri May 8, 2009 at 10:08 AM

Neuroscientists are uncovering how the design of your home or office can make you smarter, faster, happier. Is brain science the next big design trend?

In the 1950s Jonas Salk was working on a cure for polio in the basement of a Pittsburgh laboratory. Stymied and discouraged, he went to Assisi, Italy and wandered around a 13rd-century monastery. There, among the cloisters, he felt his mind unwind. Fresh lines of pursuit came to him, including the breakthrough that led to the vaccine.

Salk was convinced that the monastery had influenced his mind. So convinced, in fact, that he solicited the architect Louis Kahn to design the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, in hopes that other scientists might benefit from serene surroundings.

Sixty years later Salk's hunch is now backed up by empirical evidence as new research in neuroscience hints at how our surroundings affect feelings and behavior. In the current issue of Scientific American Mind, Emily Anthes describes how ceiling height, colors and other design factors influence attention and creativity. Scientists are just beginning to address these questions, in part by studying changes in brain activity as subjects make their way through virtual reality rooms.

The neuroscience of design is still in its infancy, but it has its own organization, The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture in San Diego, and some architecture schools now include some basic neuroscience in their curriculum. Are we on the verge of a new field of emotionally intelligent design? Here are few early findings:

A study by neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School found that faced with photographs of everyday objects--sofas, watches, etc.--subjects instinctively preferred items with rounded edges over those with sharp angles. Mose Bar, a neuroscientist, speculates that our brains are hard-wired to avoid sharp angles because we read them as dangerous. He used a brain scan for a similar study and found that the amygdala, a portion of the brain that registers fear, was more active when people looked at sharp-edged objects.

A study published earlier this year in the journal Science found that we remember words and other details better when surrounded by red, and that we're more creative and imaginative in the presence of blue. So if your staff is, say, proofreading or debriefing they're better off in a red room. But if they're brainstorming ideas for a new marketing campaign, blue is the color.

Joan Meyers-Levy, a professor at the Carlson School of Management has found that ceiling height also affects brain function. High-ceilinged rooms encourage you to think more freely and abstractly, she reported, and low-ceilinged rooms leads to more attention to detail. "If you're in the operating room, maybe a low ceiling is better," she said. "You want the surgeon getting the details right."

Are we hard-wired to dislike minimal interiors? A joint study by MIT and the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health suggests that clutter increases the "memorability" of a room and establishes a reassuring sense of place. In other words, a generous scattering of objects generates a fondness for the place.

Aspiring Architects to be from University of San Carlos

2009-05-28T01:15:00.003+08:00

i miss all my batchmates..
and i will miss them more :[

we are the architecture students of
University of San Carlos-College of Architecture and Fine Arts
since 2004.

we were together since our first
and adjustment years.
the torture, taste of failures
and sleepless nights.
the taste of bad critics by beloved professors.

we've been through it all,
and now, we all fade...vanish,,,
juz like a wind and separate ourselves
from each other.
feeling sad , hoping when can
we be united again?

we are now in our own path of tomorrow.
seeking for success and more success in life,
bringing within us
our unforgettable memories
in archi life @ USC :[

(and im gonna cry now )

My T-Shirt Designs

2009-05-26T22:49:00.012+08:00

Hi bloggers~
good day!!
...
.......
................
This summer, I've started
making Tshirt designs.
my designs are simple.
i keep it minimal but beautiful.

below are sample photos of it.
more from my designs at---> www.nifnif.deviantart.com

P.S.
All I'm asking for is please
no stealing,
there's a thing called
"ASKING PERMISSION"

~~ thank you :)) ~~

--------------------------------------------

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Click Images for Larger view

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Click Images for Larger view

Architectural Presentations

2009-05-17T02:09:00.007+08:00

The main source of the presentations posted below are:

1. deviant art architectural presentations
2. yahoo architectural images

-1-

click image to view larger

Programs used:
Viz
AutoCAD
Photoshop

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click image to view larger

This is an example of a concept presentation

-3-

click image to view larger

Nature. Mankind.
It is adamant that the two must co-exist in perfect harmony…

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water.
The artist has envisioned a structure that
would have the potential to bring man and nature together.
A structure capable of erasing the boundaries between man and nature…

To engender a feeling of contemplation prior to and at the destination…

To establish a connection between man and nature within the confines of the structure…

-4-

click image to view larger

An extremely well presented clear design using raw and practical materials. Careful consideration of the environment to respect and integrate with this desert setting.
[Paul Grayshon- Director of Smith and Smalley Architects Ltd., formerly of Grimshaws, Hopkins and Chetwoods.]

---------------------

I must say that I like to see the solar panel for the iPod but, it could be more integrated on the structure. It somehow makes me think about it, do you need music to enjoy the landscape? Will you truly enjoy the landscape or the music you are listening? About the materials, may I say that is metal panels, metal is an extremely good conductor of heat and you place that on the desert…even creating shadows it will become like hell to be. I like the location on the top of the hill, but the sitooterie contest is also how adapt your structure to the ground itself, you use pilotis, turning the relation with the earth into nothing. I can see that the ground structure is very different from the rest, why… not continue with wood it would be twice good for the project, better material with less conduction of heat and visually a better composition. Instead of watching Glenn Murcutt’s works you should have checked who really understands the place for it’s qualities, I’m talking of Alvaro Siza, if you can check the Leça da Palmeira pools and the Tea House also in Leça da Palmeira in Portugal. Good presentation, simple and objective.
[Alexandre da Luz Mendes, ~sleurope of *archiffect- ’the’ architectural photography group on DeviantArt.com ]

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I like the concept of no waste and certainly desert organisms have to be very frugal with the resources available to them.
I think that you would need a lot more shade and that the opening would potentially be smaller.
Where’s the occupant, how is it used?????
Definitely the most thought through idea.
[Jason Bruges- of Jason Bruges Studio (www.jasonbruges.com) Previously working for Fosters & Partners, Jason’s recent work includes an installation at The Puerta America Hotel in Madrid.]

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Designed for extreme conditions with attention passive heat control and water storage, particularly enjoyed the rammed earth walls as means to regulate heat. The shelter would be a welcome retreat in such a hostile environment. The only reservation I have with the design, is that it is not clear how one would get there, by car or on foot. How far is civilisation from this perch? In a hostile environment such as the desert, it would have to be near or accessible by road, which would undoubtedly influence the design considerably.
[^{Jane McAllister- Design tutor, Oxford Brookes University and London Westminster College.]}---------------------

A place for nomads to rest; beautifully constructed of local materials and represented in context in such a way that I can hear the warm desert wind whispering through the shutters. I love the concept of this space, and enjoy the efforts to create a self-contained beach-hut for the desert. The rammed earth wall is an extension of desert into the living space, and the shanty-like qualities of the corrugated iron give the project place in the harsh environment of the Australian desert.
On a pragmatic, environmental level, I am not sure that the rainwater collection provisions will provide sufficient water for the dehydrated explorer, or that the building will not heat up greatly under the desert sun. Maybe a wind powered well would have added movement and a more reliable source of fresh water to the design?
An enjoyable project, nonetheless, that is well represented and thought-out.
[^{Toby Shew- Design tutor, Oxford Brookes & former RIBA Silver Award nominee.]}

World Builder

2009-05-17T00:57:00.002+08:00

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

ECODesign

2009-05-16T21:02:00.011+08:00

Sustainable design a.k.a ECODESIGN is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability.

The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design"[1]. Manifestations of sustainable designs require no non-renewable resources, impact on the environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment.

1. Solar Panels for electricity.

2. Thermo Block protection walls, roofs and floors are fire
earthquake, hurricane and water resistant and
terminate proof. The revolutionary process and
material will change the way we live and save massive labor
and material cost.

3. Electrolyzer splits water and makes oxygen, hydrogen
and distilled water.

4. NU Preserve which is a revolutionary natural preservative
used in paint helps prevent rust, mold and fungus.

5. The Graywater System will use micro terrain ecology
to maintain the preferred condition. Graywater uses
bathwater and washwater to grow edible food,
plants and herbs. Greywater is then pumped to the
toilet for flushing and ultimately sent to the Blackwater
Botanical System.

6. Natural Purification system(plants, fruits, trees, banana leaves).
Banana leaves have been known to clear airborne carpet fibers from
the air, giving the occupants beautiful oxygen to breathe.

7. Blackwater Botanical System uses a rubberized cell to contain
toilet water used to grow non-edible flowers and plants.
In this fourth and final cycle all of the retreats waste is filtered
processed and re-used.

8. Water Cistern - Harvesting rain from the sky 4 times with
the state of the art filtering system. A 10,000 gallon cistern
would equal 40,000 gallons as it cycles its way through the
shower sink , greywater, rainforest cell then flush to the black
water rainforest cell. At the end of the cycle nothing is left for
septic or sewage. Trully Guilt Free Living.

9. The passive solar double greenhouse admits the sun
and buffers extreme summer heat or extreme winter cold
from entering living spaces. For example if outside temp is -10 deg
1st barrier blackwater green house is 38-40 deg, 2nd barrier
grey water greenhouse is 62-64 deg, 3rd barrier living space is 68-70 deg
with no heat on in the building. And the state of the art Convention Roof
Vents take out extreme heat in the summer.

10. Wind Turbine for electrical power,

11. energy pod contains Bio-fuel/ Hy-Fuel generator backup and a
plastic alkaline fuel cell that is 5kw. Hy-fuel is a hydrogen and
Biio-fuel mix which creates a highly efficient clean fuel. The Energy pod
contains Solar-Wind-Hydrogen-Biofuel-Hy Pane-Fuel Cells.

12. Air products Hydrogen fuel station using free range organic hydrogen
to fuel cars.

13. Solar engine makes heat to drive a motor, generate electricity,
make hot water and make a lot of hydrogen.

14. Car, truck , bus & hydrogen retrofit; it takes 4 hours to retrofit
a gas vehicle. HydroGene(559)907.7623

15. Hydrogen storage well will act like a battery system storing free
range hydrogen for cooking, cooling, heating and to fuel cars.

16. HyPane propane hydrogen blend that makes gas cleaner, more
effiecient and cheaper to operate.

17. DNA Vortex wind turbine produces electricity and hydrogen.

18. Home Gasifier will turn garbage into hydrogen and electricity.

19. Vortex water falls for energizing and oxidate restructive water.

The Unusuals

2009-05-14T18:57:00.007+08:00

i think i have been to this island in my dreams nyahaha.

i just don't know for real where in the world is this :O

but, it's really unusual...and awesome too :P

|
|
|
v

here's some more...

Gelatissimo @ The Singapore Flyer

2009-05-13T16:53:00.005+08:00

Gelatissimo

30 Raffles Avenue
Singapore Flyer #01-14
Singapore

NOW in Philippines!!!
|
|
|
v
Ayala Terraces, Cebu City :]

so far, i tried tiramisu and choco mint.
tiramisu was great..
choco mint is fine but not suitable
as an ice cream flavor..
next time i wanna try strawberry.

PRICE:
-95.00 Php for 1 scoop-
or
-3.00 SGD for 1 scoop-

Zaha Hadid & projects

2009-05-13T16:39:00.005+08:00

Zaha Hadid was born October 31, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

She is currently Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in Austria.

In 2006, Hadid was honored with a retrospective spanning her entire work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Some of her projects:(not yet established)

Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Model

This model of the forthcoming Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre is probably the most spectacular of all the models in the show. Architecturally the project - which was announced earlier this year - marks a new direction for Hadid, with the building’s forms being variously described as resembling an internal organ or a pair of mating lizards.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Pavilion for Chanel

This design for a mobile exhibition venue for fashion brand
Chanel was launched in Venice last week during the
Art Biennale opening weekend.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaha_Hadid
http://zahahadidblog.com/category/projects

Cheating

2009-05-13T16:27:00.004+08:00

Cheating happens when you start looking for what you don't have. Somewhere along the way, you will meet someone who will be more charming or sensitive than the one you're already with. more sexy. More thoughtful. Wealthier. Better in bed. And you will meet someone who will need you and pursue you and go loco over you more than your partner ever did. Because no boyfriend/girlfriend is perfect. Because your husband/wife will only have 90 percent of what you're looking for.

So, cheating happens when you look for the missing 10 percent. Say your girlfriend is melancholic by nature. You may find yourself drawn to the pretty girl next-door who has a cheerleader laugh no matter what she says: I broke my arm yesterday, ha ha ha... Or because your girlfriend is a couch potato who is always in pajamas and smelling of garlic and cooking oil, you may fall for the CK-One-smelling colleague who comes to work in a sharp pinstripe blazer, high heels, and a red pencil-cut skirt. Or because your boyfriend is the type who never shuts up even when you've tried using duct tape, your heart may skip a beat when you sit next to a brooding, mysterious Latino on the bus.

But wait... That's only 10 percent of what you don't have. Don't throw away the 90 percent that you already do! add to the 90 percent the 100 percent that represents all the years that you have been with each other. The storms you have weathered together. The many adjustments you have made to better understand each others little quirks and idiosyncrasies. The wealth of memories that you have accumulated as lovers. The old sparks that can always be rekindled by the walk on the beach, barefoot and underneath the stars.

Cheating happens when you start looking for what you don't have. But faithfulness happens when you start being thankful for what you already have.

I just LOVE sushi

2009-05-13T15:53:00.003+08:00

Sushi Day..

(Shake Sushi from Terriyake Boy,
Terraces-Ayala Center Cebu)

most of the people i know dont like
Japanese food coz they dont eat Raw Foods
well wth, it's delicious and fresh!
i just love Fresh Recipes...

Sushi Roll is the best i think.

Icon Artists [JOIN NOW]

2009-03-25T02:00:00.003+08:00

Graphic Names by nifritti sy

2009-03-24T14:21:00.052+08:00

Requests Rules:

1. I only produce 4-6 names in a week.
2. patience is a virtue.
3. follow the format on my welcome card above
on how to request.
4. Not following instruction won't
be entertained.

[it will take you to a page
where you can leave a comment
and request]

-1-

-2-

-3-

-4-

-5-

-6-

-7-

-8-

-9-

-10-

-11-

JOIN THE CLUB NOW!!!

it's easy, be a member of ICON ARTISTS
CLUB by recruiting 10 people to request from me.

to join

PLS. COMMENT TO ME THIS FF INFORMATION:

Ur Avatar!

Name:
Avatar name:
Location:
Age:
Club job:

-NEXT-

click below to post the
information on comments section in this post

...............................................................

Club Jobs:

Club Artist
-designs cards or graphics for the club

Club Advertiser
-advertises the club to any social network sites

Club Checker
-checks the daily attendance of the members

Club Recruiter
-recruits people to request from this club

TAKE YOUR PICK!

EARN POINTS!!!
[each attendance is equivalent
to 500 points]

earn points by signing the daily attendance.
what's the attendance?
If ur online that day or viewing my page
you leave a comment on this post
with this format:

Date: MM/DD/YY
Name:_______
Avatar Name:______

YOU CAN ALSO EARN POINTS

by recruiting people to request graphic names.
1 RECRUIT = 600 points
3 RECRUITS = 900 points

-BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF A MEMBER'S CARD-

GAIN STAR POINTS

HOW?

if you reach this club points:

50,000 pts. =
150,000 pts. =
350,000 pts. =
650,00 pts. =
1,000,000 pts. =

[star points can be seen in ur club id]

Amazing Concept Buildings

2009-03-18T12:32:00.002+08:00

1. Lilypad Island

This may fall in the first category we mentioned above, but the sheer audacity in dreaming up such a project needs to be applauded. Architects like Vincent Callebaut really push imagination and creativity.

According to forecasts of the GIEC (Intergovernmental group on the evolution of the climate), the ocean level should rise from 20 to 90 cm during the 21st Century with a status quo by 50 cm (versus 10 cm in the 20th Century). Award-winning Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut visions Lilypad as a permanent refuge for those whose homes have been submerged in water due to ocean rise caused due to global warming.

The ‘Lilypad City’ can house 50,000 inhabitants and would float around the world as an independent and fully self-sutainable luxurious super home. With lakes, artificial mountains for scenery, solar panels, wind tunnels and powerstations to harness wave energy, and no roads and no cars, Lilypad looks one clean green mega city.

2. Songjiang Hotel

The beauty of this hotel is the way in which it negotiates the rugged terrain. The challenge involved designing a sustainable hotel in a quarry.

The hotel uses geothermal energy for electricity and heat, a green roof, and natural cooling properties of the quarry itself and yeah, Bungee jumping for guests!

You got to say Atkins did an awesome job. In case you are rubbing your chin thinking that the name does sound familiar, these are the guys who built the Burj Al Arab.

3. Dynamic Architecture - Rotating Tower

Bored with seeing the same scenery everytime you look out of the window? Check out the Rotating Tower by David Fischer which is a building in which each floor has the capability to rotate on its axis and face a different direction according to the resident’s preferences. In addition the building is able to produce its own energy from wind

4. Infosys Building, Kuwait

The proposed Infosys building in Kuwaits reminds us of DNA strands interlocked together. We are told that the building would keep on rotating.

Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright

2009-03-17T14:56:00.001+08:00

"Fallingwater"

by Frank Lyod Wright

.... .... ....

Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence, is a house designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania.

Fallingwater was the family's weekend home from 1937 to 1963. In 1963, Kaufmann, Jr. donated the property to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. In 1964 it was opened to the public as a museum and nearly five million people have visited the house since (as of January 2008). It currently hosts more than 120,000 visitors each year.

Fallingwater stands as one of Wright's greatest masterpieces both for its dynamism and for its integration with the striking natural surroundings. The extent of Wright's genius in integrating every detail of this design can only be hinted at in photographs.

Fallingwater's structural system includes a series of bold reinforced concrete cantilevered balconies; however, the house had problems from the beginning. Pronounced sagging of the concrete cantilevers was noticed as soon as formwork was removed at the construction stage.

For more info:
pls. visit http://www.fallingwater.org/

Topic created by:

Photoshop Brushes

2009-03-17T09:59:00.002+08:00

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Live in a mountainous house?

2009-03-15T20:32:00.003+08:00

This is a collective housing project by Sou-Fujimoto which should be completed by now. It is located in the centre of Tokyo on a 143 sq m plot of land. Made of wood, it is designed so that you experience the house like it is a mountain. How fun!

Topic created by:

I am Quietly Passionate?

2009-03-15T13:32:00.003+08:00

You Are Quietly Passionate

You are a loner, and you're fine with that. You find the most fulfillment in solitude. And you never feel more lonely than when you're in a crowd.

You fall in love with ease and confidence. Even if you've had bad experiences in the past, each new love is a reason to start completely over.

You are a deep and contemplative person. You are as passionate as everyone else, but your passion is not always apparent.

Your sense of humor is goofy and silly. You are good at making almost anyone laugh.

The Beach Test

Life of an Architecture Student :D

2009-03-15T11:45:00.002+08:00

If you are an architecture student you've probably experienced:

1. the taste of wood glue

2. changes in your vocabulary: homework to project, ball to sphere, etc

3. you don't understand how somebody can spend less than $20 at the supplies store

4. you hate people telling you "go to sleep" or "do you still have a lot of work?"

5. your friends and you do7. you can easily discuss with authority the effects of caffeine on different drinks

8. no matter the effort you put in a project, somebody will always say “why don’t you add this? or “why don’t you change this here? or “i think that…but…yeah, its ok?

9. you’ve heard all your ipod songs in a week

10. you aren’t seen in public without bags under your eyes

11. whenever you get invited somewhere, it is followed by “or do you have a lot of homework??

12. you’ll dance ymca with a choreography without a drop of alcohol in your system

13. you write down a quick message with a tech pen, lead holders or markers

14. you constantly make up excuses for courses that are not design related why you didn’t do your work

15. you have more pictures of landscapes and places than of people

16. your worst nightmare consists of not finishing a project

17. someone once called you “lazy? and you wanted them murdered

18. you can live without human contact, sunlight, food, but if your technical pen's ink runs out… chaos!!!

19. when somebody lends you an cheap ordinary pen you look down at it

20. you don’t care about sports cars, your favorite car is the one where you can put in your model and your huge computer

21. you design spectacular things without the idea of the cost

22. you have the modern mark: a blister in your palm’s hand for the constant use of your mouse

23. everybody tells you how they admire your work, “but there is no money for it?"LOL

24. you’ve gained the ability to sleep in whatever surface: pencils, keyboards, backpacks, your studio
mates, food, etc

25. you always have the idea that your project will always be recognized

26. when you finally have free time to go out you keep thinking “who was the idiot that designed the restaurant’s bathroom?? “who designed this menu?? or “who designed this [chair, table, lighting, fork, etc]?

27.you've been at many sunrises, yet you've never seen one

28.you need to read all this in a facebook group to realize how weird your life is....

my life's Perspective :D

2009-03-15T10:22:00.001+08:00

According to this site,
http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx
here's something about me :D

...................................................................................................................................................................

Your view on yourself:
You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education:
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:
You like privacy very much because you enjoy spending time with your own thoughts. You like to disappear when you cannot find solutions to your own problems, but you would feel better if you learned to share your thoughts with a person you trust.

You Are Very Warm

You are kind, caring, and empathetic. A lot of warm energy radiates from you.

And it's not an act - you truly like people. You get a charge from people being around you.

You are are easy going and very socially adaptable. You're willing to overlook peoples'quirks.

You enjoy meeting people from all walks of life and helping them if you can. Giving makes you feel good.

How Warm Are You?

HOW TO JOIN?

2009-03-14T22:49:00.004+08:00

JOIN THE CLUB NOW!!!

it's easy, be a member of ICON ARTISTS

CLUB by recruiting 10 people to request from me.

to join

PLS. COMMENT TO ME THIS FF INFORMATION:

Ur Avatar!

Name:
Avatar name:
Location:
Age:
Club job:

-NEXT-

click below it will take you to the GRAPHIC NAMES,
post ur form on the comment box
found on the bottom of the page.

...............................................................

Club Jobs:

Club Artist
-designs cards or graphics for the club

Club Advertiser
-advertises the club to any social network sites

Club Checker
-checks the daily attendance of the members

Club Recruiter
-recruits people to request from this club

TAKE YOUR PICK!

EARN POINTS!!!
[each attendance is equivalent
to 500 points]

earn points by signing the daily attendance.
what's the attendance?
If ur online that day or viewing my page
you leave a comment on this post
with this format:

Date: MM/DD/YY
Name:_______
Avatar Name:______

YOU CAN ALSO EARN POINTS

by recruiting people to request graphic names.
1 RECRUIT = 600 points
3 RECRUITS = 900 points

-BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF A MEMBER'S CARD-

GAIN STAR POINTS

HOW?

if you reach this club points:

50,000 pts. =
150,000 pts. =
350,000 pts. =
650,00 pts. =
1,000,000 pts. =

[star points can be seen in ur club id]

I'm for Green Architecture

2009-03-14T22:25:00.002+08:00

A sustainable building, or green building
is an outcome of a design which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use
—energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health
and the environment during the building's lifecycle,
through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal.

Reducing environmental impact

Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. Buildings account for a large amount of land use, energy and water consumption, and air and atmosphere alteration. In the United States, more than 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km²) of open space, wildlife SUPS habitat, and wetlands are developed each year.

Practices

Green building brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off. Many other techniques, such as using packed gravel for parking lots instead of concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water, are used as well. Effective green buildings are more than just a random collection of environmental friendly technologies, however.^[9] They require careful, systemic attention to the full life cycle impacts of the resources embodied in the building and to the resource consumption and pollution emissions over the building's complete life cycle.

On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable design is the philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. There are several key steps in designing sustainable buildings: specify 'green' building materials from local sources, reduce loads, optimize systems, and generate on-site renewable energy.

Materials

Building materials typically considered to be 'green' include rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo (because bamboo grows quickly) and straw, lumber from forests certified to be sustainably managed, ecology blocks, dimension stone, recycled stone, recycled metal, and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable (e.g. Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from paper flakes, compressed earth block, adobe, baked earth, rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass, cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fibre plates, calcium sand stone, high and ultra high performance concrete, etc.^[10]^[11]) The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) also suggests using recycled industrial goods, such as coal combustion products, foundry sand, and demolition debris in construction projects ^[12] Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation.

Reduced energy use

Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy use. To increase the efficiency of the building envelope, (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space), they may use high-efficiency windows and insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors. Another strategy, passive solar building design, is often implemented in low-energy homes. Designers orient windows and walls and place awnings, porches, and trees^[13] to shade windows and roofs during the summer while maximizing solar gain in the winter. In addition, effective window placement (daylighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric lighting during the day. Solar water heating further reduces energy loads.

Finally, onsite generation of renewable energy through solar power, wind power, hydro power, or biomass can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building. Power generation is generally the most expensive feature to add to a building.

Reduced waste

Green architecture also seeks to reduce waste of energy, water and materials used during construction. For example, in California nearly 60% of the state's waste comes from commercial buildings^[14] During the construction phase, one goal should be to reduce the amount of material going to landfills. Well-designed buildings also help reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants as well, by providing on-site solutions such as compost bins to reduce matter going to landfills.

To reduce the impact on wells or water treatment plants, several options exist. "Greywater", wastewater from sources such as dishwashing or washing machines, can be used for subsurface irrigation, or if treated, for non-potable purposes, e.g., to flush toilets and wash cars. Rainwater collectors are used for similar purposes.

Centralized wastewater treatment systems can be costly and use a lot of energy. An alternative to this process is converting waste and wastewater into fertilizer, which avoids these costs and shows other benefits. By collecting human waste at the source and running it to a semi-centralized biogas plant with other biological waste, liquid fertilizer can be produced. This concept was demonstrated by a settlement in Lubeck Germany in the late 1990s. Practices like these provide soil with organic nutrients and create carbon sinks that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting greenhouse gas emission. Producing artificial fertilizer is also more costly in energy than this process.

2009-03-14T21:22:00.001+08:00

goodevening people =] !!!!
it's my first night here in blogspot
and i juz wanna spend this time introducing myself...

I'm nif-nif by the way..
but my real name is Nifritti S. Sy..
I was born on September 24,1987..
I'm now 21 years old, turning 22 this year ,, O.o
I live in a shared apartment with my 2 cousins in Cebu City,Philippines....
my family lives in Singapore..
i have two siblings..
a younger sister 'Mitch Alyn' and a special younger brother 'Mark Daryl'...

im in college right now taking up architecture..
i am very passionate about my course and deeply inlove with it..
and becoz of it i have sleepless nights and sleepy days..LOL=p
but it's ok thou...i never had the thought of giving up..
it's my passion...

my hobbies are rendering anything that i design..[mostly]
going to the beach with friends...[usually fellow archi students]
goin out of town and takin photos...lol :D
takin photos of landscapes and buildings..
surfing the web everynight..[architectural sources]
playin table tennis for 5 hours straight...O.o
shopping once i got extra money!!!:D [who doesn't wanna treat herself?]
..and there's nothin more interestin that that about me..hehe =p

well, my interests are..
simple things and simple thoughts..
anything and everything about Architecture..
and im interested in excitements and places[explorations]

hmmm..i guess I've said enough for an intro of myself..
don't worry, many more blog posts will be comin out soon =]

goodnight readers!!!
honey dreamzzz :D

LOve,
nif*nif