Thursday, February 23
Saturday, February 4
Architectural Edu > Brit
Architecture Review EXCLUSIVE:
The submissions to the current RIBA President’s Medals demonstrate once more that architectural education in Britain is operating in a parallel universe. The (best?) students of the current generation as well as their teachers seem to think that the ordinary life processes of contemporary society are too boring to merit the avant-garde’s attention. Instead we witness the invention of scenarios that are supposedly more interesting than the challenges actually posed by contemporary reality. The points of departure for the majority of projects are improbable narratives with intended symbolic message or poetic import.
Accordingly, the resultant works are statements or allegories rather than designs. This is evidenced by the emphasis on evocative, atmospheric imagery, with little or no demonstration of how the visualised spaces organise and articulate social life processes and institutions. For instance, the Bronze Medal (first prize in the Part 1 category) proposes to place ‘an acoustic lyrical mechanism’ into a quarry in Bangalore. ‘The building is played by the wind, acoustically transforming the abrasive sounds of quarrying.’ The Silver Medal (first prize in the Part 2 category) presents itself in the form of a dystopian science fiction movie in which Brixton is transformed into ‘a degenerated and disregarded area inhabited by a robot workforce’. The robots are supposed to symbolise immigrant labourers; they are meant to represent racist exploitation.
One of the runner-up projects presents itself with sarcasm as a ‘genetically engineered “nature factory” for luxury goods, masquerading as a revamped “eco-industry”’. Like the Robots of Brixton this ‘nature factory’ is not a design but an ironic allegory intended as critical commentary.
The other projects in this category that have been selected and highlighted by the RIBA Journal (by publishing them with a project description) ‘engage’ the following ‘topics’: an algae monitoring facility, a retreat for Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and a storage building based on the fictional narrative that all citizens would deposit personal things into safety boxes throughout their lives in order to be later confronted by their past.
Although there is rather less explanation about the other entries, the project titles (eg, Pyrolytic Power Plant, Tsunami Alert Community, Hydrodynamic Landscape, Mushroom Farm, Guild of Tanners and Butchers) as well as the dominance of atmospheric (mostly dark, cloudy, poetic and dystopian) imagery suggests a similarly idiosyncratic, unreal understanding of what constitutes a worthy design brief. The last two years were also similar: the 2010 winner was a ‘shipwrecking yard’ and the 2009 winner proposed ‘motorised coastal defence towers acting as a warning device to mankind with respect to climate change’. Again, these are not designs of spaces intended to frame social life, these are narratives and messages pushed by evocative imagery.
There is no doubt that creative imagination and skills are in evidence here. However, it is difficult to see what such works achieve and contribute to the advancement of the discipline of architecture. The RIBA’s director of education, David Gloster, seems to endorse what I criticise here: ‘The ability of the best work to create its own world while still reflecting everything that has been going on around its authors was captivating.’ Gloster also welcomes what he considers to be ‘a pronounced political edge’ and he takes this as an indication that ‘students haven’t given up on architecture as catalyst for change’.
I believe that architecture co-evolves with other subsystems of society like the economy, politics, the mass media, science etc. In this co-evolution innovative architecture can be as much a catalyst for progress as innovations in science, the mass media, or in the political system. However, I doubt if the invention of other worlds as arenas for imaginative design is the way to achieve this. I also doubt that architecture could be a site of radical political activism. I believe that architecture is a sui generis discipline (discourse and practice) with its own, unique societal responsibility and competency. As such it should be sharply demarcated against other competencies like art, science/engineering and politics.
Architects are called upon to develop urban and architectural forms that are congenial to contemporary economic and political life. They are neither legitimised, nor competent to argue for a different politics or to ‘disagree with the consensus of global politics’ (as David Gloster suggests). ‘Critical architecture’ commits the fallacy of trying to substitute itself for the political process proper. The result might be a provocation at best, but often ends up as nothing but naive (if not pompous) posturing. Success in the world is not to be expected from such pursuits.
The demonstration of creative imagination and virtuoso visualisation skills is not enough to merit an award. Should we not expect the best students and teachers at the best architecture schools to make a serious contribution to the innovative upgrading of the discipline’s capacity to take on the challenges it might actually face via its future clients and commissions?
I consider the best schools to be a crucial part of the avant-garde segment of the discipline charged with the permanent innovation of the built environment. It is here that systematic research and serious design experiments can be conducted in ways that are more principled and more forward looking than would be possible within professional practice on the basis of real commissions. Academic design research allows designers to select and focus on specific aspects of the built environment, and abstract from other aspects.
Academic design research − and a Part 2 project could play this role − is not a full simulation of a real project with all its concerns. Thus neither the design brief, nor the design solution of an academic thesis project, have to be pragmatic in a straightforward way. The realism I mean is of a more subtle order. It calls for an optimistic probing of our contemporary world with respect to the opportunities it offers and considers the vogue of otherworldly narratives as counterproductive.
better view >
http://www.architectural-review.com/view/overview/ar-exclusive-schumacher-slams-british-architectural-education/8625659.article
SCHUMACHER SLAMS BRITISH ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION
The submissions to the current RIBA President’s Medals demonstrate once more that architectural education in Britain is operating in a parallel universe. The (best?) students of the current generation as well as their teachers seem to think that the ordinary life processes of contemporary society are too boring to merit the avant-garde’s attention. Instead we witness the invention of scenarios that are supposedly more interesting than the challenges actually posed by contemporary reality. The points of departure for the majority of projects are improbable narratives with intended symbolic message or poetic import.
Accordingly, the resultant works are statements or allegories rather than designs. This is evidenced by the emphasis on evocative, atmospheric imagery, with little or no demonstration of how the visualised spaces organise and articulate social life processes and institutions. For instance, the Bronze Medal (first prize in the Part 1 category) proposes to place ‘an acoustic lyrical mechanism’ into a quarry in Bangalore. ‘The building is played by the wind, acoustically transforming the abrasive sounds of quarrying.’ The Silver Medal (first prize in the Part 2 category) presents itself in the form of a dystopian science fiction movie in which Brixton is transformed into ‘a degenerated and disregarded area inhabited by a robot workforce’. The robots are supposed to symbolise immigrant labourers; they are meant to represent racist exploitation.
One of the runner-up projects presents itself with sarcasm as a ‘genetically engineered “nature factory” for luxury goods, masquerading as a revamped “eco-industry”’. Like the Robots of Brixton this ‘nature factory’ is not a design but an ironic allegory intended as critical commentary.
The other projects in this category that have been selected and highlighted by the RIBA Journal (by publishing them with a project description) ‘engage’ the following ‘topics’: an algae monitoring facility, a retreat for Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and a storage building based on the fictional narrative that all citizens would deposit personal things into safety boxes throughout their lives in order to be later confronted by their past.
Although there is rather less explanation about the other entries, the project titles (eg, Pyrolytic Power Plant, Tsunami Alert Community, Hydrodynamic Landscape, Mushroom Farm, Guild of Tanners and Butchers) as well as the dominance of atmospheric (mostly dark, cloudy, poetic and dystopian) imagery suggests a similarly idiosyncratic, unreal understanding of what constitutes a worthy design brief. The last two years were also similar: the 2010 winner was a ‘shipwrecking yard’ and the 2009 winner proposed ‘motorised coastal defence towers acting as a warning device to mankind with respect to climate change’. Again, these are not designs of spaces intended to frame social life, these are narratives and messages pushed by evocative imagery.
There is no doubt that creative imagination and skills are in evidence here. However, it is difficult to see what such works achieve and contribute to the advancement of the discipline of architecture. The RIBA’s director of education, David Gloster, seems to endorse what I criticise here: ‘The ability of the best work to create its own world while still reflecting everything that has been going on around its authors was captivating.’ Gloster also welcomes what he considers to be ‘a pronounced political edge’ and he takes this as an indication that ‘students haven’t given up on architecture as catalyst for change’.
I believe that architecture co-evolves with other subsystems of society like the economy, politics, the mass media, science etc. In this co-evolution innovative architecture can be as much a catalyst for progress as innovations in science, the mass media, or in the political system. However, I doubt if the invention of other worlds as arenas for imaginative design is the way to achieve this. I also doubt that architecture could be a site of radical political activism. I believe that architecture is a sui generis discipline (discourse and practice) with its own, unique societal responsibility and competency. As such it should be sharply demarcated against other competencies like art, science/engineering and politics.
Architects are called upon to develop urban and architectural forms that are congenial to contemporary economic and political life. They are neither legitimised, nor competent to argue for a different politics or to ‘disagree with the consensus of global politics’ (as David Gloster suggests). ‘Critical architecture’ commits the fallacy of trying to substitute itself for the political process proper. The result might be a provocation at best, but often ends up as nothing but naive (if not pompous) posturing. Success in the world is not to be expected from such pursuits.
The demonstration of creative imagination and virtuoso visualisation skills is not enough to merit an award. Should we not expect the best students and teachers at the best architecture schools to make a serious contribution to the innovative upgrading of the discipline’s capacity to take on the challenges it might actually face via its future clients and commissions?
I consider the best schools to be a crucial part of the avant-garde segment of the discipline charged with the permanent innovation of the built environment. It is here that systematic research and serious design experiments can be conducted in ways that are more principled and more forward looking than would be possible within professional practice on the basis of real commissions. Academic design research allows designers to select and focus on specific aspects of the built environment, and abstract from other aspects.
Academic design research − and a Part 2 project could play this role − is not a full simulation of a real project with all its concerns. Thus neither the design brief, nor the design solution of an academic thesis project, have to be pragmatic in a straightforward way. The realism I mean is of a more subtle order. It calls for an optimistic probing of our contemporary world with respect to the opportunities it offers and considers the vogue of otherworldly narratives as counterproductive.
better view >
http://www.architectural-review.com/view/overview/ar-exclusive-schumacher-slams-british-architectural-education/8625659.article
Tuesday, January 31
AUB > Understanding the Arab...Spring?
AUB Questioning >
Understanding the Arab...Spring?
Uprising?
Revolution? Awakening? Citizen revolt?
Monday, January 16
Design E2 : I
It's an old series but never too old.
The Fifth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu1t5CtcbEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDnvY6xHOjw&feature=sh_e_top&list=SL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD-e98PHY0c&feature=sh_e_se&list=SL
Channel
http://www.youtube.com/show?p=dF9tP5oI9HY&tracker=show6
http://www.youtube.com/user/PBS
http://www.e2-series.com/
One could see all podcasts of Three seasons on the web site =)
http://www.pbs.org/e2/
The Fifth
Design: e2: China: From Red to Green?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu1t5CtcbEU
Design: e2: e2 - The Green Apple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDnvY6xHOjw&feature=sh_e_top&list=SL
Design: e2: Gray to Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD-e98PHY0c&feature=sh_e_se&list=SL
Design: e2: The Green Machine
Design: e2: Deeper Shade of Green
One playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJX7ejAKsTg&feature=bf_prev&list=PLC4408D1A96D09C2E&lf=results_mainChannel
http://www.youtube.com/show?p=dF9tP5oI9HY&tracker=show6
http://www.youtube.com/user/PBS
http://www.e2-series.com/
One could see all podcasts of Three seasons on the web site =)
http://www.pbs.org/e2/
Thursday, January 12
A map :: IAA
International Architectural Atlas on Archdaily
nice new navigation into #architecture today.
nice new navigation into #architecture today.
Wednesday, December 28
Monday, December 19
poet of Vertical movement
The Poet of Vertical Movement
Tado Ando
List
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8186178287044605215&hl=en
Tado Ando
One definition of #Architecture by Chalie Rose.
List
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8186178287044605215&hl=en
M A D
'ordos museum' by MAD
MAD architects: ordos museum completed from designboom on Vimeo.
dutch photographer iwan baan has documented the recently completed and opened 'ordos museum' in ordos, china by
beijing-based practice MAD architects. situated at the create of a dune-like hill, the building appears to have landed
from another world into the recently created urban center within the once gobi desert. the masterplan is mindful of the existing
cultural traditions of the area while addressing the progress and future of the city, allowing the community to congregate and lounge
within the surrounding plazas. surfaced with metal panels, the undulating exterior protects the interior from the region's harsh winters
and sand storms.
upon entering the museum, an atrium with characteristics of a cave and canyon become apparent, introducing swaths of daylight
from above along with shadowed passages leading towards galleries. a series of bridges traverse the chasm from one void to another
guided by the changes in illumination. residents of the area may circulate through the interior to efficiently cross from one side of
the site to the other without entering exhibitions. employees of the center are provided a natural work environment with office and research spaces which flank a south-facing internal garden.
to view the complete set of photographs, click here.
http://www.iwan.com/photo_Ordos_Museum_Mongolia_China_MAD_Architects_Ma_Yansong.php
see designboom's initial coverage of the museum during construction and substantial completion.
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/18132/iwan-baan-photographs-ordos-museum-by-mad-architects.html
MAD architects: ordos museum completed from designboom on Vimeo.
dutch photographer iwan baan has documented the recently completed and opened 'ordos museum' in ordos, china by
beijing-based practice MAD architects. situated at the create of a dune-like hill, the building appears to have landed
from another world into the recently created urban center within the once gobi desert. the masterplan is mindful of the existing
cultural traditions of the area while addressing the progress and future of the city, allowing the community to congregate and lounge
within the surrounding plazas. surfaced with metal panels, the undulating exterior protects the interior from the region's harsh winters
and sand storms.
upon entering the museum, an atrium with characteristics of a cave and canyon become apparent, introducing swaths of daylight
from above along with shadowed passages leading towards galleries. a series of bridges traverse the chasm from one void to another
guided by the changes in illumination. residents of the area may circulate through the interior to efficiently cross from one side of
the site to the other without entering exhibitions. employees of the center are provided a natural work environment with office and research spaces which flank a south-facing internal garden.
to view the complete set of photographs, click here.
http://www.iwan.com/photo_Ordos_Museum_Mongolia_China_MAD_Architects_Ma_Yansong.php
see designboom's initial coverage of the museum during construction and substantial completion.
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/18132/iwan-baan-photographs-ordos-museum-by-mad-architects.html
Wednesday, December 14
MVRDV . architecture Clouding
MVRDV . architecture Clouding in an era of could computing
(who said media & computation cultures are mere conceptions)
Monday, December 12
Fix it!
Fix it! The Energetic Society as a New Perspective on Governance for a Clean Economy: Maarten Hajer
The ambitious goal of a clean economy and a high-quality society can be achieved.
It is "the existing powers of creativity and innovation within society that offer opportunities for green growth,” says Maarten Hajer in The Energetic Society, the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency Trends Report. Yet in order to exploit the potential of this energetic society, Hajer says, governments need to adjust and act in a timely way, otherwise they will be exposed to the powers of the energetic society that may effectively obstruct government initiatives. We need a new partnership and a new division of responsibilities.
Innovation means planning for action and initiative, accepting the fact that mistakes will be made, and making certain that improvements are identified and implemented rapidly. Such innovation calls for a different type of government based on the notion of “radical incrementalism.” Putting the sustainable achievements of institutions and businesses in digital, shareable form is important for providing valuable examples and feedback.
The challenge is to do more with less – something for which there is no instant solution. New ideas will constantly be required and may be stimulated by a government that commits itself to clear objectives and engages in new forms of social engagement.
http://www.picnicnetwork.org/maarten-hajer-1Wednesday, December 7
City 2.0
At TED everything could happen. It's been a very enjoyable & inspiring platform ever since i learned about it in 2008.. it never fails one searching for an original, genuine words or some Courageous voice.
Thank You #TED platform & people behind it for make it happen.
For the first time in history, the TED Prize winner is not an individual, but an idea that greatly impacts the future of planet Earth… and the winner is The City 2.0. The City 2.0 is the city of the future, a future in which more than ten billion people are dependent on. The idea is not a “sterile utopian dream” but rather a “real-world upgrade tapping into humanity’s collective wisdom.” More urban living space will be constructed over the next 90 years than all prior centuries combined, so it is time to get it right.
Continue reading for more information on The City 2.0 and details on how you can participate.
Provided by the TED Prize press release:
The City 2.0 promotes innovation, education, culture, and economic opportunity.
The City 2.0 reduces the carbon footprint of its occupants, facilitates smaller families, and eases the environmental pressure on the world’s rural areas.
The City 2.0 is a place of beauty, wonder, excitement, inclusion, diversity, life.
The City 2.0 is the city that works.
Each year, TED Prize is awarded to an “exceptional individual” who receives $100,000 and “One Wish to Change the World.” Visionaries from around the globe will be given the collective opportunity to craft one wish for The City 2.0.
Back in 2006, TIME’s person of the year was Y O U. It became evident that we are in charge of shaping our own destiny and we are one collective whole. If you wish to contribute an idea for The City 2.0, write to tedprize@ted.com and join the conversation here.
The wish will be announced on February 29th, 2012 at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California.
“On a Leap Year date, we have the chance, collectively, to take a giant leap forward.”
Reference: TED Prize, TIME Magazine
Sunday, December 4
salam mn ard salam
a version of Antique Damascene peace...
Image of Mr. Nizar Alkak collection on #Facebook
Image of Mr. Nizar Alkak collection on #Facebook
Wednesday, November 30
مسابقة الشعر والقصة القصيرة للكتاب العرب الشباب
مسابقة الشعر والقصة القصيرة للكتاب العرب الشباب
لقد شهد العالم العربي خلال السنة الماضية تغيرات هائلة - اخبرنا عنها باسلوبك الخاص-
يدعو
المعهد الدانماركي بدمشق جميع الشبان العرب ذوي المواهب الادبية تحت سن
الثلاثين للمشاركة في مسابقة ادبية .
الهدف منها إعطاء جيل الشباب فرصة و
امكانية التجاوب بطريقة فنية
مع الوضع الراهن في العالم العربي.
Application
الجوائز
افضل 12 الى 20 عمل سيتم نشرهم
في مجموعة نثرية باللغتين العربية والدانماركية .
اضافة الى ذلك سيتم دعوة
ثلاثة رابحين في المسابقه للمشاركة في المهرجان الادبي الدولي ( CPH:LITT )
الذي سيتم عقده في كوبنهاغن الدانمارك في آيار, 2012.
لجنة التحكيم
ستضم لجنة التحكيم مجموعة من الكتاب والباحثين من العالم العربي .
الأعمال الادبية
يجب ان تتوافر في العمل الأدبي الشروط التالية:
- أن لا يزيد عن 20صفحة.
- أن يكتب باللغة العربية الفصحى.
- يجب أن يتجاوب بشكل ما مع الوضع الراهن ببلدك
لديك حرية الاختيار بين الاجناس الادبية التالية:
القصة القصيرة ,الشعر .
شروط المشاركين
- عليك كمشارك في المسابقة ان تتوافر بك الشروط التالية.
- ان تكون من مواليد 1982 فما فوق.
- ان تكون مواطنا عربيا .
كيف يمكنك المشاركة في المسابقة
عليك إرسال عملك الادبي بشكل ملف word أو PDF على بريدنا الالكتروني
Shortstory@damaskus.dk
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