koolhaas houselife

a new film about architecture!

this is a film about the house in bordeaux designed by OMA/Rem Koolhaas, as experienced by the housekeeper who cleans it. koolhaas houselife is a decidedly contemporary take on a contemporary building, how fitting.

Rem Koolhaas’ Maison a Bordeaux, photo courtesy of ‘A company’

the home, named ‘best design of 1998′ by time magazine, was designed for a man bound to a wheelchair following a traffic accident. there are three levels to the building, all connected by a central elevator/room. the bottom floor is carved into the ground, the middle level is a 3×3.5m glass room which rises and lowers to the other levels of the home, and the top level has bedrooms for the family. the glass elevator-room is lined on one side with bookshelves!

Rem Koolhaas’ Maison a Bordeaux model, courtesy of MoMA.org

check out the trailer at bekablog.

solar tower = spirit level?

maybe i’ve been reading eikonographia too much, but seville’s solar tower bears an uncanny resemblance to the aptly named spirit level.

Seville’s Solar Power Tower, from Inhabitat

Spirit Level, Corbis

that, or a descending angel from the heavens.

aga khan museum toronto’s best-kept secret

Perspective rendering of the future Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, from canadianarchitect.com

The Aga Khan (آقا خان), spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, is celebrating his golden jubilee this year. Fittingly and well-deservedly, his media presence has been everywhere. The Aga Khan has spent his life promoting community development, pluralism, peace, and as a plus, a legacy of great architecture.

The New Ismaili Centre by Charles Correa, from canadianarchitect.com

The Aga Khan seems to have taken a liking for Canada, and we have two major projects under construction right now in Toronto and Ottawa. Toronto outbid London (England!) for the Aga Khan Museum, a three-part project consisting of museum, religious, and cultural centre.

The Fumihiko Maki designed Aga Khan Museum, from canadianarchitect.com

The designs are still being completed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki, celebrated architect Charles Correa, Vladimir Djurovik of Lebanon, with Moriyama & Teshima from Toronto overseeing the project construction. This is truly a stellar cast of architects, and I have high hopes that this will be the most exciting project in Toronto for years to come (complete in 2011).

View of Vladimir Djurovik’s landscaped gardens, from canadianarchitect.com

It is too bad though that the old Bata Shoe headquarters were demolished for this plan… As the Toronto Star’s Christopher Hume aptly remarked, “Surely there’s an element of irony when an architecturally worthy building must be destroyed in the name of culture.”

Canada’s second Aga Khan project is the Ottawa Centre of Pluralism, to be housed in the former building of the War Museum.

Aga Khan Centre of Pluralism in Ottawa, photo courtesy of the Government of Canada

genetic algorithms in architecture

steve fuchs’ work done with m.i.t./the a.a.’s genr8 program using genetic algorithms.

eisenman on slavery

architorture. stop it.

from eikonographia.

“In response to the deleted post here at Eikongraphia about the working conditions as an unpaid intern at SANAA, Matthew Allen has send me the following conversation between Peter Eisenman and Jeffrey Kipnis. It’s the fourth of December 2007, GSD Harvard:

Audience: ”I would really appreciate it if you could give us your perspective on the employment of unpaid interns.”

Peter Eisenman: “I think that I want to answer the question clearly because, first of all, it’s a practice that occurs in journalism, it occurs in art, it occurs in film, et cetera. I know more people that are unpaid interns, that want to get experience. First of all, we are not allowed to pay people without work permits and most of our unpaid interns are in fact foreign workers, and the way you get into our office, is - an internship is three months, you can’t do anything for three months anyway - and then we usually hire those people who survive, et cetera, and pay them, and get them working papers, and get them into graduate school, and give them seminars, et cetera. So, I don’t want to even deign to even give that question - because it was meant in a kind of snarky way.”

Jeffrey Kipnis: “No it was not!”

Peter Eisenman: “It was! It was meant snarkily.”

Jeffrey Kipnis: “I don’t think it was.”

Peter Eisenman: “I want to respond to it and say: thank god for people who are unpaid interns. When I started in architecture, I was an unpaid intern. I think the practice is fabulous. People who move up in the world all start as unpaid inters. Thank you.”

Jeffrey Kipnis, pointing to Jacques Herzog: “They don’t have any unpaid interns.”

Peter Eisenman: “No. They only pay people.”

Peter Eisenman, the boss

a designed parking lot

Hotel Puerta de America parking lot, Madrid. Photo courtesy of teresasapey.com

Even the most successful designers have to get their big break somewhere. It was Tobias Wong who made his own big breaks by self-financing his projects like the Money Pad and Philippe Starck Chair-Lamp. I truly believe you have to be willing to bet on yourself with your own money before you can expect others to invest in your projects.

Tobias Wong went to a number of print shops, including Kinkos, before he finally found a printer willing to bind his stack of 100 one dollar bills. Photo courtesy of Theme Magazine.

Teresa Sapey got her break designing the Hotel Puerta de America parking lot in Madrid. Instead of going the traditional route of designing hotels, store interiors, and restaurants, Teresa decided she coud do something different. It’s a spectacular space and the novelty of it has brought her into the world of celebrity: Madonna has held a party in the space, Frank Gehry has contacted her about doing a joint project, and she has become well-known by artists and other architects alike.

Hotel Puerta de America parking lot, Madrid. Photos courtesy of teresasapey.com

ids 2008 collaborations

The four ‘collaborations‘ were designed by Toronto firms Teeple Architects, KPMB, Johnson Chou, and Giannone & Associates. Each team was allowed to use just one material for the construction of a concept from floor to ceiling.

Contours, Teeple Architects and Willis, using Dupont Corian

KPMB Architects, Taproot, & Tron-X, using Smith and Fong PLYBOO

detroit in a flash

My trip to the automotive capital. Yes, it’s run down and there were a lot of abandoned buildings, but there was a lot of new activity too: the new compuware center in the heart of downtown, the newly renovated detroit institute for arts, the high-end malls in the suburbs. One day was definitely not enough time to see the city, and I could have easily spent a week there.

Michigan Central Station sits abandoned and awaiting future plans (photos: A Chau)

“Q: What must I do to be saved? A: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (photo: J Chau)

The Ford Rouge river factory sits on a sprawling campus in Dearborn. (photo: A Chau)

The Detroit Institute for Arts renovation by Michael Graves is tasteful, mixing a modern style with relics from the past. Each section of the galleries subtly reflects the work on display, through Gothic Arches, careful stonework, or monumental squared columns. The DIA has one of the most extensive collections in all of the states. (photos: A Chau)

I would argue that it was in Detroit where the international style found its place. here is Minoru Yamasaki’s building at Wayne State. Detroit is also home to Mies Van Der Rohe’s Lafayette residences, and Albert Kahn’s many buildings. (photo: J Chau)

The Guardian building in downtown Detroit was recently renovated and restored by SmithGroup. (photo: A Chau)

anechoic chambers

Anechoic means literally a room without echo. They are used in acoustics to test in free field conditions. These chambers produce some of the wackiest spaces… like this one where the man looks like he’s floating in space.

microsoft’s new research building

Robert Scoble posted his photos of the new Microsoft Research Center last week. There are a couple of really interesting spaces inside, including the anechoic chamber (below) with so much sound absorption you can literally hear your heart beat! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Who says Microsoft doesn’t innovate?

Anechoic chamber for research where complete silence is required. I wonder if designers could benefit from a room like this?