arch-peace news and articles: In the fantasy world of reconstruction let’s try calling a spade a spade
"The notion of reconstruction is complex and involves careful planning of the stages that will comprise at least immediate emergency solutions and then permanent reconstruction. Planning involves a thorough knowledge of the areas in questions. The staging needs to be conceived in a manner that facilitates a smooth transition from one stage of the process to the next. Unfortunately this is not easy to achieve and as I saw in Managua, Nicaragua almost three decades after the earthquake, inappropriate planning can later prevent the implementation of permanent solutions. For instance..." Read here.
10.4.10
arch-peace news and articles: In the fantasy world of reconstruction let’s try calling a spade a spade
17.5.09
Grocon awarded bushfire cleanup contract
Stumbled on an obscure bushfire-related link while doing some research for another project.
http://www.grocon.com.au/pdfs/melbourne/BushfireCleanup.pdf
further links:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25116284-661,00.html
It is interesting because Grocon are known for their work with concrete-based construction. Eureka tower is an extremely unusual building because it is a concrete-based extra-tall skyscraper, rather then the usual steel frame.
Many of the residents of the bushfire areas were concerned about ending up in over-regulated concrete bunkers that would destroy their lifestyles in order to make them fire-safe. It is interesting that Grocon has won the contract for this job, as it would seem that the Government is indeed leaning towards concrete-based reconstruction. It should be noted that the contract is just for clean-up and demolition, but I'd imagine this would position the company excellently for reconstruction tenders.
1.5.09
tomorrows thoughts today
stumbled across this blog with a pretty ambitious mission statement :
"exploring the consequences of fantastic, perverse and underrated urbanisms"
.... maybe worth a look
23.4.09
Sustainability / Trans-disciplinarity:
A concern for people and environments between confusing terminology and outdated approaches
Ashraf M. Salama, Ph.D.
Professor of Architecture
INTBAU: Sustainability / Trans-disciplinarity, A Concern for People and Environments between Confusing Terminology and Outdated Approaches
The proposed approach adopts the view that sustainability cannot be addressed as one subject; it includes different disciplines and issues requiring systemic thinking. A fuller understanding can be achieved by investigating the key issues simultaneously; not dealing with them separately each at a time. It is envisioned that this approach would include technology and engineering issues; organizational, human and management issues; functional, behavioral and cultural issues; financial issues; and urban and landscape issues. It is also believed that these issues should be integrated within a political, legislative, comprehensive process while learning from the past; the vernacular, the traditional, and the development practices that acquired meaning over time.
(...)
22.4.09
In Defence of Eye Candy
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/indefenseofeyecandy
I thought that this article had interesting bearing on the topics we were discussing today, and was interesting in that it approaches the subject matter from the angle of a graphic designer, not specifically that of an architect - though I think the relevance to us as architects is fairly evident.
(A friend of mine is a web designer, and he links me such articles every now and then, which is how I stumbled across this one)
"We’ve all seen arguments in the design community that dismiss the role of beauty in visual interfaces, insisting that good designers base their choices strictly on matters of branding or basic design principles. Lost in these discussions is an understanding of the powerful role aesthetics play in shaping how we come to know, feel, and respond."
(replace 'visual interfaces' with 'buildings' and the statement is just as pertinent)
Our language constrains visual design to mere styling and separates aesthetics and usability, as if they are distinct considerations. Yet, if we shift the conversation away from graphical elements and instead focus on aesthetics, or “the science of how things are known via the senses,” we learn that this distinction between how something looks and how it works is somewhat artificial.Often when we're forced to clearly state 'what is real' and 'what is non-real', aesthetics quickly fall by the wayside - or, are subservient to the 'reality' of function ('form follows function'). What this article appears to be getting at is that through new cognitive research, form is function; how humans appraise, interact and make decisions is directly related to their emotional response to that object/website/building.
“...emotion is not a luxury: it is an expression of basic mechanisms of life regulation developed in evolution, and is indispensable for survival. It plays a critical role in virtually all aspects of learning, reasoning, and creativity. Somewhat surprisingly, it may play a role in the construction of consciousness.”
Perhaps what is real is not necessarily what is immediately tangible and aesthetics are not so removed from the process of 'real', 'practical' architecture.
18.4.09
Architecture Fiction: a proof of concept
Architecture is fiction
(worth checking out and please tell us what you think...)
"Architecture is a fiction," states Aaron Betsky in the first edition of Beyond that will appear this month. Beyond I is the first bookazine packed with short stories on architecture.
Beyond will be published twice a year. The first issue, entitled "Scenarios and Speculations," contains the story "White Fungus" by the science fiction writer Bruce Sterling, the comic "Re:doing Dubai" by Wes Jones and the reprint of Superstudio's "Twelve Ideal Cities."
Beyond*
Pedro Gadanho
ISBN 9789085066958
("White Fungus," a work of architecture fiction by Bruce Sterling.) http://www.sunarchitecture.nl/upload/49d601a8ba4b25.51434338.pdf
Find this (source): http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2009/04/architecture-fi.html
14.4.09
The Situationist take on architecture and play
The Situationists, famous for being part of the revolutionary student movement of mid last century France, have the following take on architecture and play:
http://www.monoculartimes.co.uk/architexts/architectureplay.shtml
13.4.09
sustainability of the ego?
A great talk from Elisabeth Gilbert, quite relevant in the discussion of 'starchitects'...
12.4.09
6.4.09
Critique: "Architecture imagined as ecological"
Check this out: "Architecture imagined as ecological," by Javier Arbona.
The all-encompassing discourse of sustainability is tangled up with global geopolitics at every turn, but that discourse hides its tail. What’s worse is that “sustainable architecture” can be the proverbial “greenwash,” as I think has become more than evident. We would only have to pass a roll-call of all the eco-resorts done in years of economic fluidity.
Find this article: http://javier.est.pr/2009/04/04/architecture-imagined-as-ecological/
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