Tag Archives: lists

Summer Listings

So I’m about to go on holiday for a month and with about 30 half finished posts, 3 or 4  half read books at home and a partially updated website, this is all par for the course so I’m not going to worry about updating anything in particular (also par for the course).

It might be worth pointing out a few things about the redesign though. Firstly its based on Scherzo by Leon Paternoster, go over there and check it out. It’s html5 and a responsive design try checking it out by resizing your browser, then look at it on your phone. Also it supports Internet Explorer with the respect it deserves, so try using ie8 or up.The redesign was prompted by a rethinking by me of my footprint on the web.

With the partial demise and rebirth of delicious and the current stagnation of flickr both services that got me into the social side of the web I have kind of rethought this webspace as the safest and only place to really put my non physical stuff. Mandy Brown summed up better than I could say about my attitude to how things are preserved on the web. Everything else then, twitter, facebook, whatever, is just a conduit, and a conduit that will close or monetise my stuff at some point in the future in a way I can’t accept.

So everything else from now on becomes a place through which I go. Everything that’s really mine stays here. That means that I’ve started a shadow site called hyper.lewism which is just my collection of things I do on the web whether it be bookmark, tweet or comment I want to keep or find a building or picture I like. lewism stays as it is mostly my thoughts about the built environment, hyper.lewism is a bunker and linkblog of everything else I’m interested on the web that’s mirrred back to me so I can keep it. We will see how it goes.

Anyway in the real world I have some major things to do to sort out our new house and I’ve been thinking about how we live in conjunction with that. So hacked from Saul Griffiths‘ talk & Jyri Engeströms‘ list here is a rough list of how I’m going to enjoy my summer a little better.

  • Eat Less and More Healthily.
  • Exercise More.
  • Spend more time with my family.
  • Live Closer together (in a philisophical way also).
  • Breathe cleaner air.
  • Drink cleaner water.
  • Relax & Listen to some muisc.

My Music 2008

I thought I’d try to quantify my music listening for 2008 which was a year of big changes for me as I downloaded more music this year than bought physical copies for the first time.

The total number of tracks I listened to through last fm in 2008 was 5679.

I still listen at home almost exclusively through my Hi-Fi, so it’s mostly not scrobbled,  and comparing even 320 kbit/s through my ipod connected to my amp is a different experience from a cd through same amp and speakers, so tracking my listening and fully enjoying uncompromised audio still don’t seem to me to be able to be satisfactorily brought together.

My lastfm profile is therefore a little skewed towards electronica than my actual real listening although if you look at the list below of what I bought last year you will see it still makes up the majority of my purchases.

A list of the records, in all formats, I bought last year (deep breath!), there must be some I’ve missed and I’ll update if I ever spot them.

Continue reading →

Where is the good new Architecture?

The New York Times has a list of the 10 best buildings of 2008. The AR has an as ever excellent list of emerging architecture for 2008 which is more interesting the NYT good but slightly vanilla list.

Varnelis asks where the good new Architecture of the 21st Century is, but I think it’s too early to say, a quick look at the emerging Architecture lists from AR for example and you will see much interesting work which maybe hasn’t had the exposure the they deserve yet…

For 2008 in  Scandinavia the biggest and most important project was probably the Oslo Opera House by Snøhetta (photo above). The next few years though big projects will be fewer and more thinly spread, but as ever I believe some of the best Architecture being produced now is not necessarily budget related.

2007 Roundup

As part of their review of 2007, Building Designs top 100 practices by size is out. Compared to last year its only a shuffling at the top really;

1. Gensler

2. HOK

3. Nikken Sekkei

4. Aedas

5. Foster & Partners

6. SOM

7. BDP

8. RMJM

9. HKS

10. Atkins

Last years list.

There is another list site at Baunetz but it looks at media coverage of practices, with its mega projects in all corners of the earth Fosters is the only practice that makes both lists.

World’s Most Expensive Cities

top10 expensive cities

Helsinki is no.10 most expensive city on the planet in the twice yearly report, though its clear using New York and therefore the American Dollar puts European cities automatically at a price disadvantage. However the story of the top 10 is expensive European cities and I think that’s pretty accurate, and that comparisions between Euro currency Cities are probably more accurate again. (via)

Finnish Architecture and Design Websites A List

I have started putting together this list of websites in Finland to do with Architecture and Design so its all easily accessable in one place.This is my list so far if I’ve missed one or you would like one added please comment, I’ll update this periodically also;

Update

Two organisations you can get unemployment insurance from as an Architect working in Finland.

Update 2 (18.01.2011)

2006 Roundup

sea bath photographer:Ã…ke E:son Lindman

I think 2006 was really the year skyscrapers became the driving force of BIG (if not necessarily good) architecture, from Beijing to Edinburgh Skyscrapers are being proposed and realised in ever more iconic fashion, and I don’t see much changing this year either. AR has a nice awards page for emerging architecture in 2006, which includes the sea bath by White Arkitekter near Copenhagen (see photograph above by Ã…keson Lindman) . It also includes the mafoombey acoustic space which I saw at Habitaire2005. At Building Design they have compiled a list of last years biggest 100 architectural practices. The top ten are;

  1. Nikken Sekkei
  2. Gensler
  3. HOK
  4. Aedas
  5. SOM
  6. BDP International
  7. Perkins & Will
  8. Foster & Partners
  9. RTKL Associates
  10. HKS Inc.

Evata is ranked as the biggest in Finland and one to watch to perhaps get into the top 100 another year.

Book Challenge

Georg has a book challenge for me (passed on from Kirsty), and I’ve got to take him up on it as it’s a really nice challenge to do.

1. The book that changed my life.
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. I was really ill working in Madras when I started reading this. When I finished I felt much better and somehow changed.

2. The book that I have read more than once.
There aren’t many of these, maybe about four or five in my entire life. Two stick out though Maybe Pride and Predudice by Jane Austin. I think we had to read it at school. I finished and read it again and then everything else by Jane Austin. A great book for the settings and the insight into human actions all wrapped up with a little romance.
The other one would be Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino a book of amazing prose beauty.

3. The book I would take on a desert island.
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. Because someone is always worse off than you and it reminds you of the awesome power of nature compared to a human and the feelings of being alone.

4. The book that made me silly.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It must have had some lasting effects…..
5. The book that made me cry.
Cats Cradle (sometimes Ice 9) by Kurt Vonnegut a deeply powerful book. In the end we have only ourselves to blame.

6. The book I would like to see written.
The one that’s in your head now….go on write it!

7. The book I hoped would never be written…..but should be read.
OK This is the book I hoped would never be written- but should be read. The Cap or the Price of a Life by Roman Frister . A holocaust survival book like no other. One night in the camp, Frister is raped by a fellow prisoner, who then steals his cap. Anyone who lines up for morning roll-call without his cap was immediately shot. And so, to survive, Frister stole the cap of another prisoner–who was then shot dead in his place.

8. The book I am currently reading.
Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and Its Peoples (Paperback) by Alan Palmer. Did you know that Tallinn is named after the Danes?

9. The book I’ve been meaning to read.
For Architecture p0rn it would be KM3 the New Book from MVRDV Architects, ready to drool over the images, projects, videos etc…..otherwise perhaps Albert Camus ‘ L’Etranger.

10. I challenge the following bloggers;
Jon
Jukka
Darren
Igor
Christoph

Looking back at this list I’ve missed out so many essential books because they didn’t quite fit into a category or I am remembering once again, I only see mistakes or am temped into making lots of sub lists. All these great books can change your life a little bit I think.

A Finnish Reading List

I keep meaning to start my own, but in the meantime the Guardian compiled a list which seems pretty good with good shortcuts too. Personally I’m still waiting for an english language biography of Kekkonen which would have some great stories as well as profile a very interesting and key cold war politician.

Update: Georg blogged this entry and following a short conversation we are trying to do some joint reading, I’ve copied his starting list below which I pretty much agree with. Would anyone else like to give it a go?

* Johanna Sinisalo – Not Before Sundown

* Mikael Niemi – Popular Music from Vittula

* Leena Krohn – Tainaron, Dona Quixote and Other Writings

* Mikko Rimminen – Pussikaljaromaani