Architecture: Styrofoam Homes Are Typhoon-Resistant, Refillable with People or Coffee

(via Gizmodo). Gotta love these foam houses! According to the article each is only 175 pounds and is easily carried. The original article includes shots of the interiors which look surprising roomy! All the usual caveats regarding non-rectilinear room shapes apply, however.

Architecture: Styrofoam Homes Are Typhoon-Resistant, Refillable with People or Coffee

Here Comes the Neighborhood – A Housing Project, MoMA-Style

NYT reports on new show at MoMA, “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling,” which documents the state-of-the-art and history of prefab dwellings. Photo above is of Kaufman and Ruf’s System3 house being assembled for the show.

Here Comes the Neighborhood – A Housing Project, MoMA-Style – NYTimes.com

An Interactive Map of Beijing

The New York Times online includes an interactive map feature describing/showing new architectural monuments in Beijing. Includes links to photos and videos of the new airport terminal, national stadium, television headquarters, acquatic center and more.

An Interactive Map of Beijing – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com

Austinist: Learning From Beijing

Photo of Beijing’s 2nd Ring Road by xiaming on Flickr

Austinist reports today that UT School of Architecture students will be collaborating with students at Tsinghua University to design green spaces for Beijing.

Fritz Steiner, dean of UT’s architecture school, said planning green
infrastructure for one of the world’s fastest growing cities could
provide insights for future projects in Austin. “Both cities have a
very rapid growth rate and are doing what they can to accommodate it,”
Steiner said. “The scale is different, but the issues are similar.
Traffic on the Fourth Ring Road is no different than a traffic jam on
I-35. People in both cities want to move to the most beautiful parts of
the city, but as more people move there the qualities attracting them
there decline.”

Austinist: Learning From Beijing

Gizmodo: Home Floating Over the Pacific Brings Peace, Insane Envy

I don’t know if the house works well, but the view sure is great! From Gizmodo.

Architecture: Home Floating Over the Pacific Brings Peace, Insane Envy

Architecture: Pop-Up Hotel Rooms

Saw this on Gizmodo:

A French company called Abilmo has developed collapsible hotel-style dwellings that users can construct in just about any location.

Architecture: Pop-Up Hotel Rooms

Dymaxion Man

The latest New Yorker includes a profile of Buckminster Fuller by Elizabeth Kolbert. She walks through the usual history of Fuller and his many inventions, included his invented vocabulary. To me the most interesting thing about Bucky was his frequently recounted story of contemplating suicide and deciding instead to devote his life to serving humanity as a whole. As recounted by Kolbert:

With no job and a new baby to support, Fuller became depressed. One day, he was walking by Lake Michigan, thinking about, in his words, “Buckminster Fuller—life or death,” when he found himself suspended several feet above the ground, surrounded by sparkling light. Time seemed to stand still, and a voice spoke to him. “You do not have the right to eliminate yourself,” it said. “You do not belong to you. You belong to Universe.” (In Fuller’s idiosyncratic English, “universe”—capitalized—is never preceded by the definite article.) It was at this point, according to Fuller, that he decided to embark on his “lifelong experiment.” The experiment’s aim was nothing less than determining “what, if anything,” an individual could do “on behalf of all humanity.” For this study, Fuller would serve both as the researcher and as the object of inquiry.

Good article and a nice introduction to Bucky for those unfamiliar with the breadth of his work.

«Link»

They also have a great slideshow online with the article here

MoPo 2008

Eikonographia has announced the MoPo 2008 list – the 20 or so most popular architecture blogs for the year.

MoPo 2008

1. BLDGBLOG
2. City of Sound
3. Archidose
4. Pruned
5. Interactive Architecture
6. Architecture.mnp
7. Subtopia
8. Life Without Buildings
9. Tropolism
10. Mirage Studio 7
11. Strange Harvest
12. Architechnophilia
13. The Where Blog
14. The Arch
15. Super Colossal
16. Sit down man, you’re a bloody tragedy
17. Brand Avenue
18. Architecture Chicago Plus
19. Hugh Pearman
20. Varnelis
21. Lebbeus Woods
22. Part IV
23. Eye Candy
24. Architectural Videos
25. Kosmograd

Some good ones on the list that I hadn’t heard of. Also good to see Lebbeus Woods‘ site on this list – his writings and creations deserve to be seen by more people and its great that the Internets are helping to make that happen.

http://www.eikongraphia.com/?p=2441

New Harvard dean has designs on our future « Architecture Daily

From the Architecture Daily blog a link to a Boston.com story about the new dean at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. The interview with Mohsen Mostafavi discusses his views on design and urbanism and his plans for the future of the GSD.

You were an associate professor of architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in the ’90s and director of the professional degree programs. How has the school changed since then? I think there’s a great deal of fascination these days with more socially based, activist forms of practice. I think the students are more and more conscious of both the significance of signature architecture but at the same time, the potential alternatives to that form of practice. So, specifically, how can we be ethically responsible and also not sacrifice the commitment to design?

New Harvard dean has designs on our future « Architecture Daily

Steve Harrison

Had lunch today with Richard Schwartz, founder of SoloMio and Diffusion and one of the original inventors of the Paradox database. He mentioned an old friend of his who had started in architecture and then ended up in software (at Xerox PARC), Steve Harrison (http://people.cs.vt.edu/~srh/).

Looking at his list of publications, it seems like Steve has crossed back and forth between design and computer science – with stopovers in HCI, technology-enabled collaboration, and spatialized multimedia. Prior to PARC he had an architectural career with Skidmore Owings & Merrill in San Francisco. I’m actually surprised we didnt run into his work when we were putting together the International Conferences on Cyberspace.   

It will be interesting to contact Steve and discuss how he sees the connection between design education, architectural practice and his later career in software technologies.