Over at Colossal is a nice piece on this book: ‘Bamboo Contemporary’ which Spotlights 14 Designs Advancing Sustainable Architecture Around the World.
The house above is just one of the many featured there that you want to take a peek at.
Bamboo is an impressive material for many reasons. To see why, head over to Colossal and read that piece.
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Posted in architecture
Tagged architecture, bamboo, buildings, materials
Starchitect Frank Gehry is proposing a new set of towers for Toronto, and BlogTo has the latest on it here: Frank Gehry towers in Toronto updated again and people say they look like cheese graters.
I like it. I like the lack of smoothness to it, a quality so many basic buildings have in the downtown core (though there are many good ones, too). I like how it looks like towers of blocks slightly askew. I also like it has many units: we need more places for people to live in Toronto.
I do wonder, though, if the final version will look anything like that. Or even if it gets built at all. I vaguely recall that Gehry’s designs for his version of the AGO were scaled back due to lack of money. And the ROM designs of another starchitect, Daniel Libeskind, went through transformations as well, though I believe for different reasons It would be good to have more Gehry in Toronto. If we get it and what it will finally look like remains to be seen. It may not looks like a cheese grater at all by the time it appears on King Street.
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Posted in architecture
Tagged architects, architecture, blogTO, buildings, design, starchitect, Toronto
If you are a fan of Brutalism, you will want to visit this: Attack the blocks: brutalist treasures under threat – in pictures | Cities | The Guardian
You might want to even visit them, because for some of them, their days are numbered.
I imagine that in the next 50 years, the number of Brutalist buildings currently existing will be significantly reduced. That would be a shame. Brutalism gets knocked hard, and I can see why. But worse than Brutalist building are boring buildings from all different architectural styles. I’d like to see those go first. The world could use good Brutalism in their cities. Here’s hoping it doesn’t undergo severe decline.
Comments Off on The crumbling and outright destruction of “brutalist treasures”
October 1, 2018 in architecture, new!
Tagged architecture, Brutalism, buildings, ideas
If you want to build a tiny home, Dwell has a nice list of resources for you here. I particularly like the one above. There is a wide range though, and if you are considering building such a home, see Dwell.
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Posted in architecture
Tagged architecture, buildings, homes, tinyhomes
Fortunate souls walking along New York’s High Line can catch a glimpse of the magnificent building pictured above. Now, thanks to Design Milk, you can get to see what it looks like inside by going here: 520 West 28th Condominium Residence by Zaha Hadid – Design Milk.
Not surprisingly, it is as gorgeous on the inside as it is on the outside. I would love to live there. Take a peek inside and you’ll see why.
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Posted in architecture, decor, design
Tagged architecture, buildings, decor, design, designmilk, highline, interiordecorating, newyork, nyc
This piece, Worst of McMansions — McMansions 101: What Makes a McMansion Bad…, not only clearly explains why McMansions are so ugly, but it shows why other houses are appealing. A good primer for anyone interested in buildings and architecture, especially for someone looking to build a new home. I
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Posted in architecture
Tagged architecture, buildings, mcmansion
In this piece, Are we killing Yonge Street? from NOW Toronto Magazine, there is a good discussion on what is happening to development on Yonge Street in Toronto. NOW reports that for a lot of development happening on Yonge Street, the facades of the existing building are kept and much of the development is happening behind it. The article argues that this is a bad thing, and they raise some good points.
What I think they don’t touch on are some of the alternatives. Toronto is fortunate in that there is development ongoing. For poor cities, the alternative is boarded up or demolished buildings and vacant neighborhoods. Instead, we have neighborhoods and buildings being improved. That’s good.
Another alternative is the old buildings being torn down and replaced with new storefronts and new buidlings. I think some of that is good, but I also think preservation of old buildings is also good.
When it comes to preservation and improvements of old buildings, I also think that some of them should be preserved outright. However, Toronto is a growing city, and in some cases, we need larger buildings. In that case, facadism is a good compromise.
Now whether or not facadism is effective or not depends on at least two things. The first is how well the new architecture uses the existing architecture. Done well, the marriage of the old and new building results in something that enhances the area and preserves the city while allowing it to grow. The second thing that determines if facadism is effective is how the new building affects the neighborhood. Here, I think, is the root of the problem. It’s not so much facadism as it is gentrification. Old buildings get preserved, but old stores do not. New developments can cause rents to rise, driving out the stores and organizations that made the neighborhood great. You get bank branches and big chain stores replacing old bookshops and cafes.
I hope the next phase of development tries to understand how to preserve not just the existing architecture, but the neighborhood as well. I realize that is a difficult task, but it is one worth trying to accomplish.
Posted in architecture, cities, economics
Tagged architecture, buildings, cities, economics, nowmagazine
Up against that, TD Centre still retains the purity of a temple. And you don’t put billboards on a temple, unless you want to anger the gods.
It’s worth reading that article to get a viewpoint of someone who thinks of architecture as something pure and museum-like.
To me, the owners of the TD buildings are doing reasonable things with a building that functions as a work environment. You can make the argument that the building should never vary from the original intent of the architect. You can also make a good if not better counter argument that the building should be able to adapt to changes over time, and that the building should allow for the people in it to make adaptions to suit them.
The author seems to be arguing that building should remain fixed and never change, never learn. If that seems like an odd idea — that building should learn — I recommend this book: How Buildings Learn, by Stewart Brand. You can get it here. Also, if you search for it on Google, you will see alot of material derived from it.
Comments Off on On the unnecessary preciousness of architecture
Posted in architecture
Tagged architecture, buildings, design, TD, Toronto
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