January 2012 Blog Posts (15)

One of my passions through the years has been the art of film. I used to go to movies growing up and we would see two or three films in a row on the weekends. When I went to school to become an architect I was amazed to find that there were classes on the…

In the city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos Museum stands as a bright shell protecting the local culture from the encroaching urbanism.  It was conceived as a reaction against the strict geometry of the city’s masterplan.  Inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s “Manhattan Dome," MAD…

In traditional homes, bedrooms (and maybe a bathroom if you’re lucky) constitute the only private – or sometimes only semi-private – space within a home.  The rest of the living space is communal.  House with Empty…

plaza Norte- Perú

Can the words graceful and fort describe the same building?  Apparently so, as you can see from the beautiful renderings of the planned Kirk Kapital A/S headquarters by Olafur Eliasson.  The building is part of a new…

The middle of this playground in Copenhagen used to be marred by a sad, anonymous, graffiti-covered structure.  Now, however, MLRP Architects have transformed it into Mirror House, an inviting…

Stadslab European Urban Design Laboratory operates as an international think tank and design laboratory for urban design in today’s cities. We develop tailor-made Master Class programs aimed at participants with an academic background in architecture, urban planning or related fields. Our programs allow hosting municipalities and regional authorities to have cases of their choice examined in one of Stadslab’s Urban Design Laboratories. The general aim of all programs is to offer design…

I've known a lot of cooks in my time and they all say something similar - "You eat with your eyes first!" Architecture is similar in that it is a visual art before it is a functional trade. This project by VAUUM is quite a visual feast. The…

The Sea Tree is an elegant piece of sustainable architecture that is deliberately not accessible to humans.  The design by Waterstudio.NL will serve as a habitat for the local native plants…

Located in Quebec, Canada, the Hotel de Glace is painstakingly constructed using 500 tons of ice and 15,000 tons of snow.  Thirty construction professionals worked long hours to erect the basic framework, and then handed the finishing…

Architects and Building Designers are confronted with the challenge of making sustainable architecture that is relevant to the times we live in. A primary area whereby an architect needs to create sustainable design in is the component of energy efficiency in buildings. Constructions are huge consumers of energy in many ways and the building industry has led to having a high level of energy use. This necessitates consequently for buildings to contain essentials for sustainability in order…

How many styles of modern architecture and how to classify? Here I sum up some classification, just in my personal understanding.

By Nation: Chinese style, Japanese style, Singapore style, Englishness, French style, American style, etc.

By Area: continental style, Euramerican style, Mediterranean style, Australian style, African style, Latin America style, etc.

By Type of Architecture: Villa, office building, business architecture, religious building, and other architecture…

Slipped into a 7 x 50 meter site, the Slit House challenges the traditional notion of large glass-filled windows.  A 105 meter wall wraps around the site, slashed with sixty 140 mm wide slits.  The architecture by…

The Crescent Moon Tower is the architectural design project submitted to the 11^th ThyssenKrup Elevator Architecture Award by the California-based firm…

Today I surfed on a forum and saw a topic like this "Can anyone point a name of a famous architect known for his work with cool concepts?" The architect I first thought of is Zaha Hadid. She and her works impressed me deeply. I have read some information about her. She said something like this (I cannt remember exactly, but the meaning is similar)-I also don't know what the next building will be like; I continue to try all kinds of media variables, in every design, new invention appears.…