Architecture Begins Here

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 35

Amazing Concept Buildings

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.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 1

Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright

"Fallingwater"

by Frank Lyod Wright

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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.