I’m a big fan of Veer’s catalogues and mailings, their graphic design and fonts are always so well meshed and on-target.

more at http://ideas.veer.com/wallpaper

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.

Photos by Andrew Chau & Welland Sin

The One and Only, Kweku and the Movement, and First U Get the Sugar at Sala Rosa, Montreal. April 5.

it’s spot on.

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.

this 40-storey tower is a new method for harnessing solar energy. an array of mirrors focus sunlight to a specific point in the tower, which stores the energy for future use. the u.s. national renewable energy lab estimates thatby 2020, electricity could be produced this way for 5.47 c/kWh.

Seville Solar Tower and its Array of Mirrors, from Inhabitat

the rays of light remind me of santiago calatrava’s white bridges with their spreading cables, and norman foster’s milau viaduct. they capture the ephemeral quality of light and temporal nature of buildings.

Sir Norman Foster’s Milau Viaduct in France

Santiago Calatrava’s Jerusalem Light Rail Bridge, photo from skyscrapercity.com

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

Another part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is involved with restoring historic architecture in impoverished countries using funds donated by Ismaili Muslims around the world.

Rehabilitation of the Historic City of Shibam, photo courtesy of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Last night was the opening of the Aga Khan Historic Cities Exhibition at the McCord Museum. The travelling exhibit profiles projects that prove a socially conscious architecture is possible. As Karim Rahemtulla of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture describes,

Central Market rehabilitation, Aga Khan Award for Architecture winner

“The Exhibition shows five projects… Each shows how conservation and revitalization of cultural heritage - often the only asset available to the community - can provide a trampoline for social development. Our experience suggests that such projects have a positive impact on conservation, strengthening of local civil society and governance, increase in incomes and economic opportunities, greater respect for human rights and better stewardship of the environment.

Posters by Evelyne Bouchard

A video of the Tunisia installation at the McGill School of Architecture. The exhibit explores the notion of private space in the traditional Islamic medina. The wrapped cloth restricts access to the interior courtyard but allows for liminal views to the sights and sounds of the country.

Video by Andrew Chau

barack obama’s just too convincing for his own good.

i’m not even american and i feel patriotic when i hear him speak.

i think he’s finally convinced me with his talk about mixed race.

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

i believe that scripting, integration with biological algorithms, is where we will be headed in design. instead of designing these big monuments with a single focus, we now have the technology to develop design more in the vein of nature.

we can have a more natural way to develop the form of the building as well as in terms of sustainability.

more resources:

columbia university - a4667 algorithmic architecture course

genr8 - surface design tool using evolutionary algorithms

iaac - digital technologies in architecture

john frazer - an evolutionary architecture

proxi.wiki - computational techniques in architecture

Surprisingly enough, there do exist urban farms in Canadian cities.

Ottawa Central Experimental Farm from above, Image from Google Earth

One is the Ottawa Experimental Farm, which is very close to downtown (just southwest of Parliament Hill). This farm not only has a large swath of land dedicated to growing crops and testing out new cultivation techniques, it has an extensive built campus of research laboratories, government ministries, greenhouses, visitor facilities, and even an arboretum.

McGill University’s MacDonald Campus from above, Image from Google Earth

In Montreal, McGill University`s MacDonald Campus serves the agricultural sciences faculties. There is an extensive farm for teaching, research, and learning purposes attached to a campus of university buildings, residences, and libraries.

Crops growing in the midst of Ottawa, Image courtesy of Friends of the Central Experimental Farm

These farms are a good alternative to the large urban park that has been copied from Central Park so often. They can provide the breathing room for a dense city, connect people to nature and food, and make productive use of land at the same time. Urban farms can accomplish all this without even needing to be housed in skyscrapers and other crazy inventions!

More:

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: Central Experimental Farm

Friends of the Central Experimental Farm

Urban-ism: Sustainable Food