Category Archives: Pure Architecture

Rem Koolhaas and Cornell University

Posted on by

One of the big challenges was to establish a natural gathering place for architecture students that would also unite the disparate elements around it, from the 19th-century rustic style of Sibley Hall to the early-20th-century industrial style of Rand Hall. Rather than create a showy building thrusting upward or sprawling outward, Mr. Koolhaas said, he transformed a parking lot into what is essentially a flat plate, with one level above and one below.

Rem Koolhaas returns to his alma mater Cornell University to unveil his new design for the school of architecture. Planned since 1990, the design plans of two earlier architects were scrapped. Koolhaas was hired in January and his design almost immediately found acceptance.

Quirky Seattle Homes

Posted on by

I love the quirky homes on the West coast. The cities on the west coast have a unique sense of character which although can be weird at time is mostly refreshing from the sameness that we encounter in the American urban wasteland. Seattle Dream Homes, a real estate resource network showcases unique home designs and not just your run-of-the-mill cookie cutter subdivision homes.

One such quirky home is Lisa Petrucci’s home. Looks like an ordinary home from the outside, complete with a pink flamingo in the yard, it is a virtual delight from the inside. It certainly seems like a house that has been lived in and not like those fancy homes that are meant only for the architectural magazines photo-ops. Lisa has an amazing collection of dolls, photo frames, and exotic artefacts. I liked this “reading center” section of her home. It looks like a children’s dream home.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Falling Water Animated Walkthrough

Posted on by

Pretty cool animation walkthrough of the famous Kaufmann house or as popularly known, Falling Water by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Although this animation doesn’t compare to the real thing which I did couple of years back, it can be the next best thing. However, don’t expect someone to jump out and start shooting. If you do, probably you should be playing fewer video games and watching more walkthroughs :)

Beautiful Subways of the World

Posted on by

After reviewing subway logos last week, we turn our attention to actual subway structures which can be a work of art in itself.

There is surely something about bagging a public transit terminal design contract that makes architects go whoopie! They tend to stretch their imaginations, work in collaboration with artists and structural engineers, and turn out really interesting pieces of work. You can even imagine these structures to be completely functional first and yet amazingly captivating. This design by Santiago Calatrava for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) terminal at the World Trade Center (WTC) site in Lower Manhattan is already creating a buzz:

Although airports can be pretty dramatic, for now we turn our attention to subways. See more pictures here. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Space Hotel

Posted on by

Wouldn’t you kill for a view like that? Well, except you don’t have to.

A company of architecture of Barcelona and a group of aircraft
engineers of Florida (EUA) are developing a prototype of room of space
hotel, baptized like Galactic Suite, so that the tourists and astronauts who are decided to travel to the space have a site where to lodge.

Read more.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

No Floating Text

Posted on by

One of my favorite buildings, The Guggenheim Museum i currently undergoing renovation. Stripping away the paint has revealed an interesting detail.

Guggenheim Sign

The original sign was started out a little higher than it is at currently. Design Observer informs us that Frank Lloyd Wright, the building’s architect always tied in the lettering on a structure to the soffit. He never used “floating text”; part of his philosophy of emphasizing horizontality and emphasizing building lines and datum.

This may not seem like an architecture-altering detail but treat it like an interesting nugget that makes the art of restoration a little more gossipy.

Googleplex

Posted on by

Google’s headquarters or fondly known as Googleplex required an unique design brief. It needed to “balance its utopian desire for transparency with its very real need for privacy.” L.A.-based design firm Clive Wilkinson Architects negotiated a steep learning curve to understand the way Google works and then design spaces to optimize their performance. The design was a mix of open spaces that we so identify with Google and enclosed private spaces that engineers need to code furiously.

Googleplex Design

However, after spending time with Page and Brin and the Google engineers that would occupy the building, Wilkinson realized that he was dealing with a distinctly different species of personnel. “We’ve always worked with people who were a mix of left and right brain,” Wilkinson says, “but engineers are very left brain. They might work in teams, but they require a high level of concentration; they sit in front of the computer and crunch formulas in the most extraordinary way.”

Read more.