New York City Day Trip 1-- IAC building

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie7SB-C1VNc

On November 13th, 2010, a sunny beautiful warm Saturday,  a van full of Mount Holyoke students led by Professor Davis, Lauer and Kaynar went on a field trip to New York City to explore the architecture of the city. As one of the students in the group, I loved the trip and enjoyed the design works we saw on the way. This is the first journal of this series to record our exploration of New York City.

As we drove into the city, we passed Frank Gehry's IAC Building. I remember watching the above video of Vimeo projection on IAC building, but this was my first time to see the building in person.

The IAC building is located in the Chelsea Manhattan, with Hudson river on one side and the High Line on the other side.

sketches of IAC Building

This is the initial sketch of the IAC building, which looks really "Frank Gehry". 

This is a sketch from July 2005, showing the "sails" structure. The building's white color and rhythmic zigs are intended to evoke sails,  in homage to Diller's fondness for the water, who is the chairman and chief executive of IAC.

The following are some sketch models.

I have to admit, that personally, this one is my favorite model along all the study models I saw pictures of. I really like its dynamic shape and the flowing feeling it generates. It looks light, and fun, liking a dancer performing with confident and joy.

The winning design is the following one:

I am usually  not a big fan of all glass tall office buildings, but I cannot help being fascinated by this design and the use of the glass facade of this building with its white patterns. There are 1,437 glass panels on the 'curtain wall'  and 1,349 of them has their own unique shape and degree of twist. The 'sugar coated' look comes from the tiny white dot patterns on the glass, called frits. 

In the afternoon of our trip, we were walking on the High Line and enjoying the view, and the IAC building came into our sight again. Viewing it from the other side of the building, I start to appreciate how this building sits in the site of Chelsea Manhattan.

 

New York City is a place that carries a lot of memories in the history of city development. The surrounding site of  IAC Building is consisted of mostly old brick industrial buildings. The IAC Building demonstrate how important context is when designing a real building. He did not copy or follow the surrounding buildings, but plays against them by composing this modern structure. The sail like curves seem to embrace the surrounding buildings and speak to each of them.

I really enjoyed having the chance to experience one of Mr. Gehry's building. The feeling it generates is really different from just seeing the picture. I have to admit, that deep in my heart, I with the building is a little "crazier" and even more "Frank Gehry". As his first work in NYC, the IAC building adds a modern look to this area of NYC. I look forward to seeing the interior of it one day.

source: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/06/gehry_slideshow200706#slide=1

Earth as material

sources: http://www.archdaily.com/87550/first-principle-earth-as-material-freeform-deform/

When we talk about sustainable green architecture, we try to establish a harmonic relationship between the architecture and the earth. A project called "First Principle: Earth as Material" by Freeform+Deform proposes an interesting new way for buildings: turn earth into a part of the architecture.

The method used to integrate earth into architecture in this project is peeling off the skin of earth and turning it into a wall or some other parts of the architecture.

From the diagrams shown above, we can tell that the central design idea is for architects and clients to link the earth to the structure through building a tight relationship between the site/landscape and buildings. The earth itself, with its plants, land, valley, caves, etc.defines the fundamental idea of architecture. This reminds me of the primitive hut, which was build by tree branches as the standard in architecture theory.

primitive hut

Under Freeform+Deform's design, Earth is used in architecture structurally, aesthetically and materially. This new approach to green architecture is fascinating because it helps us better understand the world and offer us an opportunity to literally "dive" into the earth as a part of living.

12 principles of ecological architecture--T.I.A. Architects

Information in this articles comes from my boss--great architect--Tullio Inglese, For more information please visit http://tiaarchitects.com

During this past summer, I interned at T.I.A. Architects in Amhest, MA. My boss Tullio Inglese and this small architecture studio taught me a lot about ecological architecture. By learning about his generic designs and touring his sustainable house and tea house, I came to a better understanding of his 12 principles of ecological architecture.

1. Preserving the Biosphere

2. Reusing Buildings

3. Energy and Form

4. Generic Design

5. Energy Production and Conservation

6. Healthy Buildings

7. Site Harmony

8. Appropriate Materials and Methods

9. Divine Proportions and Alienments

10. Waste Management

11. Social Responsibility

12. Peace Process

Out of all 12 principles, what I was exposed to the most was 8: Appropriate Material and Methods and I learned a lot about wood construction.

Wood use decreases carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, lowers energy consumption and pollution, and provides longevity and adaptability.It came from the nature and eventually goes back to nature, so there is one of the most sustainable material available.

Some people may argue that if we all want to build houses with trees, we will have to cut all the trees. However, the reality is the opposite.We we want to build more with wood, what we increase is the demand for managed forests, which have a greater CO2 impact than unmanaged forests. This is because that managed forests have younger,stronger, healthier trees and those trees can sequester more carbon.

Wood also takes less energy to make and it is easier to transport. Here are some statistics from Tullio's paper:  Eco-Wood: The Ecological Benefits of Building with Wood 

"Compare the energy used to produce one ton of wood to that of other construction materials: 5 times more energy is required for one ton of cement; 14 times more energy for the same amount of glass; 24 times more energy for steel; 126 times more energy for aluminum." By getting wood as material from local forests, we can save lots of energy.

Can wood structure last?

The answer is definately YES!

The Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts has stood for 374 years; Urnes Stave Church in Norway has stood for about 860 years; and the Horyu-ji temple in Nara, Japan has stood for about 1300 years; all of them are made of wood!

Wood is also easy to work with because of its great tension and flexibility. In addition, wood does not smell bad and it has a good acoustical property. Last but not least, wood is beautiful!

Here are some pictures of my boss's house--the Queen Truss House. It is influenced by Japanese architecture style to combine building and nature together in harmony.

sources: http://tiaarchitects.com

Danish--riding to green

The Shanghai 2010 Expo comes to an close today!!! Let's say bye-bye to the Expo by watching this interesting video about biking through the Danish Pavilion.
The pavilion offers to the visitors this bike track as an symbol for the danish way of life--go green, ride your bike!

Here in the United States, riding is mostly just an exercise and sport. Not many people actually ride their bikes to school or work. Things are different in Denmark. My friend who studied abroad in Denmark last year told me that many people in Denmark ride their bikes as transportation.

Here is a video:
http://www.archdaily.com/69212/learning-from-copenhagen/

This is a perfect example of bike riding changing the city. In Copenhagen, people ride their bikes everywhere and even uses cargo bikes to take children to places.
Ride your bike--this is something everybody can do to help reduce pollution and CO2 emission.Why not exercise while you go to work and help the city go green at the same time?!

So why doesn't people here in the States do this?
The most important reason is that there is not a good enough system for bikes--roads, and instructions. Only when there is separate bike lines for bikes only,and everybody learns about rules of riding a bike on street, people will then feel comfortable and safe to ride their bikes to places.
If we have the bike line, if we show people this can really be done, if we teach kids to bike since kindergarten, this simple step can really change life.

What can architects do? They can play a huge role in this change. Architect can help design better roads and help figure out how to use structures on street to help riders feel safe. Architects can also build nice bike parks and rest stations for riders to help complete this riding system.

rural studio

http://www.cadc.auburn.edu/rural-studio/
The Rural Studio is an undergraduate program of the School of Architecture at Auburn University. I recently watched a documentary about this program and was deeply moved by the design & build aspect of architecture.


At the rural studio, students spend a year in rural Alabama and build real houses for people who need housing in the community. The video we watched showed how students built a small home for a local "music man" so he could move into a real house and have clean running water for the first time in his life.  


I was deeply moved by the connection between the builder student team and the music man. His smile and happy life attitude inspired many students. The students live together, design together and then build together. Throughout the time they spend on the project, they are learning real architecture instead of paper architecture.


It is impossible to be a good architect without building something just like we would never want a doctor to operate on us if he has only practiced on models before. So it is important for architecture students to actually know about building houses. During this past summer I was interning at T.I.A. Architects in Amherst, MA. During the time I was there, my boss--the architect was building a ramp for the studio because the old one started to break down. Ramp is something really simply compare to a house, but when I was helping him, I realized that I know nothing about real architecture if I just draft on tables and the computers. I learned from the name of each nail to how to cut wood, and it gave me a whole new prospective of architecture.


Later in the summer, I volunteered for "Habitat for Humanity" in Easthampton, where we worked on a real housing project for a family there. During the day I was there, we did painting, measuring, air conditioner installing, and drywall. I did not know how to do any of those before. When I drill over different layers of walls for the hole for air conditioner, I saw exactly what the walls were composed of. I also started to realize that a community project like this is not all about beauty, but more importantly, about how to use the least amount of money to build more efficient and comfortable housing. The design that's nice and cheap to build is the best design. No fancy form is needed here, but a nice place for a family with kids.


After watching the video of rural architecture, I really hope to one day have the chance to be a part of a design&build team during my learning process towards being a real architect. 

parking tower

This is a picture of a parking tower in German. 

http://kirubashankar.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/08/parking-tower-you-gotto-give-it-to-the-germans-w.htm

Parking towers like this are seen more and more around the world nowadays because of the increasing number of cars and limited space available for parking.

I still remember I was totally amazed and shocked when I saw a parking tower the first time. Today, when I was looking at this picture, I suddenly wonder, can we build a housing tower like this?

As a college student, I hate moving. Every year, I have to move all my stuff out of the dorm and move into a new dorm room. I always wish I could just take my room and bring with me to the next destination of mine. There are probably many people like me, especially young people, who have to rent cheap, small spaces when going to school or first start working and don't like moving. If we can build a housing tower, we can all keep our room and take this room with us to wherever we go. The room could just be like a shipping container with our bed, desk, dresser and everything we need in it. Whenever we need to go to a new place, we can use our car to drag it from one housing tower to another one at a different place. In fact, it will just work like hotels except I get to be in my OWN room all the time! How exciting is that!

Here is a sketch of my "housing towers":

This house has a cuboid shape with a courtyard in the middle. There is an elevator for moving the house at one of the corners. Different floors are for rooms that stays for different length of time, which helps to decide where exactly to place each room. The architecture itself is basically a skeleton. When we want to move a room in, we start from the first floor, move it up using the elevator and then move the room horizontally to the slot it needs to be in.

If every city has one of this "parking tower" for rooms, many people can take their own room with them when they do short road trips or visit a friend.

see you

ivanka: 'seeyou' concrete gravestone design at milan design week 09


    I found this design a perfect demonstration of combining human and nature. Designers today are interested in a wide range of projects, but not many of them are interested in gravestone design. This project by architect Maurer Klimes Ákos and Ivanka Concrete Design Company was the star of Milan design week 2009 for a reason. 
    I really like this design because it shortens the distance between visitors and the gravestone by offering reflection of nature. The visitors are encouraged to walk close to the gravestone, touch it and feel it. The cross carved on the surface of the gravestone represents the beauty and meaning of life. If there is water held in the cross, it will reflect visitors themselves . They can see their face and the nature around them reflect from the water on the gravestone, which adds a dramatic effect to this design, and the emotions of the visitors.

    It's also interesting to see the contract between the sharp edge of the overall shape of the stone grave and the soft edge shape of the cross. This contract suggested the strength and silence of death, while mixing soft emotions, the sadness and the hope in the site.

For many reasons, people do not really pay attention to grave stone design anymore. However, this interesting project suggested how strong and emotional a project can be when adding spiritual elements into it. Here, nature, love, and cycle of life is what I can read our of the design.

source : http://forgemind.net/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1128