Archive for December, 2011
World Climate Map
The Köppen-Geiger climate classification world map.
Living Harbour
Danish Architects Lundgaard & Trandberg winning proposal for a ‘Living Harbour’ in the Telakkaranta area, Hietalahti docks, Helsinki. This is part of the old dock area which now is mostly empty and being rebuilt. This is the year that continued the small but growing trend that started I think in 2010 in which foreign Architects actually have a [...]
Koolhaas Interview in Der Spiegel
These days, when a building is constructed, there is less individual involvement. Take the old SPIEGEL building by Werner Kallmorgen. One can assume that (SPIEGEL founder) Rudolf Augstein saw this building as his personal statement. There was something at stake for him when he had it built. It was supposed to reflect the identity of [...]
So long and thanks Christopher
Christopher Hitchens died yesterday. I happened on Hitchens slapping some inane point down, using almost verbatim the quote below. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of [...]
Portable Cathedrals
Our idea is to offer an alternative to a discourse dominated by the likes of Engadget, Techcrunch, DPReview, Gizmodo et al. Sites like these cover products and services in unparalleled levels of technical detail and with respected in-depth knowledge. Yet they rarely discuss design in any meaningful way or the wider cultural impact of such [...]
100 Estonian Houses
A great, and long post showing again why Estonian Architecture punches way above it’s weight.
B.I.G. in Levi
B.I.G. has won a limited competition for a new Ski resort in Levi in the North of Finland. With a skiable roof and a looping circular plan. Having been to a few Finnish ski resorts including Levi it will be nice to see something different than faux swiss chalet for a change. (via)
South Harbour Results Back
Helsinki’s South Harbour competition has posted the entrants on the web, the results come later. There is alot to chew over here not least that this is the area where the proposed Guggenheim has been proposed to be located, and probably the most controversial development area in Finland right now. You can vote and leave [...]
Ice Cube Talks Architecture
The Eames made structure and nature one. This is going green 1949 style, bitch. Believe that. — Ice Cube (via)
Imre Makovecz
So I just found out that Imre Makovecz the Hungarian Architect had died a few months ago. I wrote my first dissertation on him back in ’92 -´93. In the Summer of 1992 his office was one stop for me on my Eurorail tour. I went to his studio one day, looked round the [...]