Europe's Most Advanced Wooden Architecture - international conference in Umeå 21st-22nd November

Around the world, the construction industry begins to understand the value of wood, a renewable material that grows just outside our doorstep. What role will wood play for sustainable architecture, industry, science, economy and societies? It is about time for Sweden to look into the process from plant to product! These issues are dealt with in WOOD 2013, which opens at Virserum Art Museum 5th May 2013.

At the international conference at Umea School of Architecture you can listen to the idea of some of the foremost in Europe on wood and wooden architecture. Walter Unterrainer, Hubert Reiss, Herman Kaufmann, Véronique Klimine and Pekka Heikkinen are some of the speakers. Wood and wooden architecture in sustainable cityplanning is another issue.

info@virserumskonsthall.com

www.virserumskonsthall.com

http://www.virserumskonsthall.com/php/index.php?arkitektur&catid=17

World Habitat Awards

The World Habitat Awards were established in 1985 by the Building and Social Housing Foundation as part of its contribution to the United Nations International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Two awards are given annually to projects that provide practical and innovative solutions to current housing needs and problems. Every year an award of £10,000 is presented to each of the two winners at the annual United Nations global celebration of World Habitat Day.

How to Enter

Introduction

Projects & approaches are sought that …

• Demonstrate practical, innovative and sustainable solutions to current housing issues faced by countries all around the world.
• Can be transferred or adapted for use as appropriate.
• View the term habitat from a broad perspective and bring other benefits as well, such as energy or water saving, income generation, social inclusion, community and individual empowerment, capacity building or education.

The World Habitat Awards (WHA) competition has a two-stage entry process:

Stage I submissions need only comprise a summary of the key aspects of the project. From these preliminary submissions, ten projects are selected by an Assessment Committee to go forward to Stage II of the competition.

Stage II submissions are evaluated by an independent advisory group before being put to a panel of international judges, which includes the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the Rector of the United Nations University, Tokyo. Evaluation visits are carried out to some of the projects prior to the final judging.

PLEASE NOTE THAT: All Stage I submissions of the 2012 competition have been assessed and everyone who made a submission has been notified about the results.

If you would like to submit to Stage I of the WHA 2013 competition, your submissions must be received by 1st November 2012.

http://www.worldhabitatawards.org/enter/?lang=00

A night in Bangladesh

This picture belongs to Reshad Kamal. I´ve downloaded it from National Geographic as a reminder that not everything is the work of ¨starchitects¨. That´s why I called my blog ¨Thoughts on Architecture and Urbanism¨, I´m not always showing beautiful buildings. This is the real world. From the National Geographic´s ¨Your shot¨:

There is no other space for some people to sleep at night in Bangladesh. They lay down in open places like railway station, bus stop, terminals. This railway station is like that! Here lots of people stay at night to sleep, including the animals. These two individuals are friends by the same condition of living homeless, foodless, and security-less!

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/daily-dozen

Frank Gehry´s design for Toronto

David Mirvish’s proposal for a massive new project by architect Frank Gehry in the heart of Toronto’s theatre district seems to have caught the city off guard. But should it have? Downtown Toronto (indeed, much of the city) is going through a metamorphosis of extraordinary proportions, both in the number of projects now eclipsing other North American cities and in the move to buildings of a scale we haven’t seen before. A flight into the island airport reveals a burgeoning forest of towers bringing huge infusions of new condos as well as new office buildings and new institutions growing and reshaping themselves.

REFERENCE: Text and two first pictures from the article by Ken Greenberg

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/extreme-makeover-torontos-density-challenges/article4580541/

An image from Frank Gehry’s designs for David Mirvish’s project to remake his properties at King Street West and John St. in Toronto. (Courtesy of Gehry International Inc.)

(The first picture reminded me The Simpsons´ chapter when Frank Gehry rejected Maggie´s requirement for a concert hall in Springfield. When he makes a paper ball of the petition, the idea is born).

Here, the consequences:

Frank Gehry Really, Really Regrets His Guest Appearance on The Simpsons

An interesting data from The New York Observer:

¨The Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle takes two crews about three months to clean, and New York by Gehry, a 76-story rental tower on Spruce Street with rippling stainless-steel siding, takes six to nine months, depending on the weather — cleaning crews will stay indoors if conditions are too windy, for example. (Extell Development Company declined to describe its plans for washing windows at its One57 project, which at 90 stories will be the tallest residential building in the city when it is completed.)¨

http://observer.com/2012/07/it-takes-up-to-nine-months-to-clean-frank-gehrys-wavy-spruce-street-apartment-tower/

Árboles sobrevivientes de Hiroshima

Uno de los árboles sobrevivientes de Hiroshima. Foto de Fogcat en 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fogcat/285534808/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Los árboles también son parte de la memoria de un pueblo, de una sociedad. He leído con placer esta nota de Diana Fernandez Irusta y comparto algunos párrafos:

En la mañana del 6 de agosto de 1945 sólo hubo muerte y horror en Hiroshima. Un fuego abrasador -la inconcebible temperatura de 4000°C, ¿cuántos soles estallaron ese día sobre sus desprevenidos habitantes?- lo calcinó todo.

En segundos, edificios, escuelas, parques, niños, adultos, jardines y mascotas, dejaron de ser lo que eran. La bomba atómica convirtió a la ciudad en una enorme herida abierta: restos informes y carbonizados entre los que se esparcía, invisible y letal, la radiación.

Pasado el primer impacto, mientras la gente seguía muriendo (más de 100.000 personas fueron borradas del mundo, casi en un abrir y cerrar de ojos ), los científicos calculaban los efectos del desastre: al menos 70 años, estimaban, habría que esperar para que algo nuevo creciera en aquella tierra arrasada.

Sin embargo, en octubre de ese mismo año la vida siguió otro curso. Contra todo pronóstico, en el área más castigada por la explosión, comenzaron a asomar pequeños brotes de verde. El milagro tenía nombre: Ginkgo biloba, Diospyros Kaki, Ilex rotunda y Alcanfor. Los árboles de Hiroshima. La silenciosa promesa de continuidad y protección que tanto necesitaban los desolados sobrevivientes humanos.

SUEÑOS EN VERDE

"¡Llegaron las semillas!" Julio Bernal, integrante de la comisión de padres del Instituto Argentino Japonés Nichia Gakuin, habrá pensado que el azar a veces posee una lógica contundente. El pasado 6 de agosto, en el 67° aniversario de la explosión que cambió todo, la directora del Jardín Botánico de Buenos Aires le concedió el honor de abrir un sobre con un contenido muy especial: semillas de las especies sobrevivientes de la bomba. "Son 170 árboles -explica Julio-. Si vas a Hiroshima, los podés ver. Cada uno tiene una placa que lo identifica."

Hace un año, integrantes de una ONG japonesa (ANT-Hiroshima) comenzaron a recoger estas semillas. Junto con Green Legacy Hiroshima (iniciativa vinculada con la ONU), concibieron un hermoso proyecto: crear, con los descendientes de los 170 sobrevivientes de la bomba, jardines para la paz en diversas partes del mundo. Sobres que contienen semillas cuidadosamente seleccionadas pronto salieron de Japón y viajaron a jardines botánicos y universidades de Rusia, Holanda, Sudáfrica, Colombia y Singapur. Uno de ellos llegó también a la Argentina gracias a las gestiones y el convenio con el Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays, realizados por los padres del Nichia Gakuin.

Tras su largo viaje desde la otra punta del mundo, las 176 semillas destinadas a nuestro país se recibieron con la emoción con que se asiste a un nacimiento. Una parte quedó en el Botánico. El resto está a cargo de Francisco Kitagawa, otro integrante de la comisión de padres, que asegura: "Quisiera que los niños, alguna vez, puedan jugar bajo las sombras de estos árboles". 

SIGA LEYENDO:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1514770-para-plantar-un-futuro-mejor

Acerca de Pedro E. Guerrero, el fotógrafo de Frank Lloyd Wright

Estaba leyendo un artículo traducido de William Yardley en el diario Clarín, sobre la muerte de Pedro E. Guerrero, quien fuera el fotógrafo exclusivo de Frank LLoyd Wright, y la historia es tan simpática que comparto la primera parte de la misma. Me quedé pensando en lo que es el destino, un muchacho que vivía cerca de Wright y, obviamente, tenía talento para la fotografía:

Pedro E. Guerrero, ex estudiante de arte que había abandonado sus estudios, se presentó en la polvorienta entrada de la casa de Frank Lloyd Wright en 1939, audazmente se autodeclaró fotógrafo y pasó el siguiente medio siglo trabajando estrechamente con él y registrando en película la arquitectura modernista, murió el jueves 13 de aeptiembre en su casa de Florence, Arizona, a los 95 años. Su hija, Susan Haley Smith Guerrero, confirmó su deceso.

    

Guerrero tenía unos 20 años cuando su padre, pintor de letreros, lo exhortó a que dejara de holgazanear en la casa familiar de Mesa, Arizona, y probara suerte presentándose ante Wright, que acababa de mudarse a la zona. “Me dijo: ‘¿Por qué no vas a ver a ese fulano Wright en la colina?’”, contó Guerrero en una entrevista con The New York Times en abril. “Cuando me presenté allí por primera vez, Wright quiso saber quién era yo. Le dije: ‘Me llamo Pedro Guerrero y soy fotógrafo’. Nunca me había presentado de esa manera. Él me dijo: “Entra y muéstrame qué puedes hacer’.”

    

Guerrero, que había estudiado fotografía antes de abandonar los estudios en la Art Center School de Los Angeles (ahora llamada Art Center College of Design), mostró su relativamente reducida carpeta –Wright tomó nota de varios desnudos femeninos- y rápidamente se entendieron. “Al ver las obras del Sr. Wright en el desierto, decidí tratarlas como si fueran esculturas”, agregó Guerrero. “Eso le gustó mucho.”

Durante los siguientes veinte años, hasta su muerte en 1959, Wright puso toda su confianza en Guerrero, considerándolo su fotógrafo exclusivo. Guerrero, a su vez, se enamoró de la obra de Wright y con frecuencia viajó a fotografiar sus edificios. (Dijo que el living de Taliesin, la aclamada casa de Wright en Wisconsin, era la habitación más hermosa que hubiese visto). También tomó una serie de fotografías famosas de Wright explicando los principios de la arquitectura con sus manos.

Su sociedad llevó a otros artistas a convocarlo, entre ellos los escultores Alexander Calder y Louise Nevelson, y la carrera de Guerrero prosperó. A comienzos de la década de 1950, vivía en New Canaan, Connecticut, para estar cerca de Nueva York. En aquella época, muchos arquitectos modernistas se estaban mudando a la zona y construyendo estructuras que serían un hito, como la Casa de Cristal de Philip Johnson en esa ciudad. Guerrero fotografió la obra de Johnson así como la de Marcel Breuer al tiempo que trabajaba en forma independiente para Harper’s Bazaar, House and Garden, Architectural Forum y otras revistas. Sin embargo, cuando Wright lo llamaba, todo lo demás debía esperar.

http://www.clarin.com/arq/arquitectura/Adios-fotografo-Wright_0_781722051.html

The visibility of research. CALL FOR PAPERS

Historically, society has recognized architects for their role in the creation of buildings and less so for their role in the production of knowledge. Research advances the discipline of architecture by introducing new ideas, testing questions, defining methodology, developing technology, and promoting critical discourse. Yet exactly how research shapes design and the built environment is not always clear. For many, its contributions remain all but invisible.

The theme of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) 2013 Architectural Research Conference is visibility, in all its possible connotations. The goal of this year’s conference is to interrogate the idea of visibility from a variety of perspectives, in order to bring research itself into sharper focus.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte welcomes researchers, educators, and practitioners in architecture and affiliated design and technical professions to participate.

Call for Paper Abstracts - due October 8, 2012

Note: a call for poster abstracts will be announced October 8th.

The conference committee invites paper submissions on new and continuing research in the following topic areas:

• POLICY: Educating policymakers, practitioners, and the public
• CULTURE: Making visible: new ideas, minor voices, and topics on the margins
• SUSTAINABILITY: Visualizing sustainability and performance in buildings
• HISTORY: Maps, media, and models in architectural history
• URBANISM: Technology, connectedness, and the urban environment
• CONSTRUCTION: Innovations in materials and construction visualization
• PEDAGOGY: New visions and revisions in architectural education

An open session is available for topics that fall outside these areas. The final organization of this session will be determined in response to the submissions received.

The paper and poster reviews of this conference will be conducted in two stages. The first stage will involve a blind peer review of abstracts. Successful review at the abstract stage will result in an invitation to submit a full paper or poster for a second-stage blind peer review. All materials will be submitted through an online interface and must adhere to conference guidelines. Authors are limited to one submission per session topic, for both papers and posters.

http://arcc2013.uncc.edu/

The destruction of Aleppo, Syria. A Unesco world heritage site

A fire rages at a medieval souk in Aleppo, Syria, in an image taken from Shaam News Network video. Photograph: Anonymous/AP

Picture downloaded from hindu.com

A huge fire has destroyed parts of the medieval souks in Aleppo, Syria, following raging battles between rebels and government troops.

The city is a Unesco world heritage site and the labyrinth of narrow alleys and shops was once a major tourist attraction and is one of Syria's largest commercial hubs.

Over the past two months, the city, home to 2.5 million people, has become a focus of the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad's regime, with near daily fighting and shelling.

Activists posted online videos which showed the fire around wooden doors and shops and a pall of smoke hanging over the city on Saturday.

Ahmad al-Halabi, an activist based in Aleppo, said residents were struggling to control the blaze with a limited number of fire extinguishers and low water supply: "It's a disaster. The fire is threatening to spread to remaining shops," he said. "It is a very difficult and tragic situation there."

The souks of Aleppo, a maze of vaulted passageways with shops that sell everything from foods to fabrics, perfumes, spices and artisan souvenirs, are a tactical prize for the combatants. They lie beneath the city's towering citadel where activists say regime troops and snipers have taken up positions.

Many of the shops have wooden doors, and clothes, fabrics and leather wares inside helped spread the fire, activists said.

Rebels and government troops have roughly controlled half of the city each since the offensive began in August.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/29/medieval-aleppo-souks-fire-syria

Old town Syria. Aleppo. From news.nationalgeographic.com

Destroyed Aleppo. From http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/9/29/syria-and-beyond-live-coverage-political-drift-in-new-york-m.html

Destroyed Aleppo. From Worldtv.com