The EmTech Wave Canopy 2009

Michael Weinstock describes the constraints and creativity behind the Wave Canopy, the EmTech Masters programme construction project for 2009, which was located on the upper terrace of the Architectural Association's premises in Bedford Square. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Information Modelling as a Paradigm Shift

Building information modelling (BIM) is not just a change in software or skills sets, it requires a paradigm shift. Dennis Shelden , Chief Technology Officer of Gehry Technologies, outlines the more ‘fundamental, subtle and profound decisions’ on the road to BIM. It is necessary to fully consider not only the impacts both ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ from the conventional design phase, but also the possible creative restrictions as there is a potential trade-off that comes with the emphasis on collaborative processes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

muf architecture/art

Barking, in east London, has become the unlikely site for a regeneration project by muf that dissolves art, architecture, landscaping, psychogeography and instant mythology. Swedish architect and critic Claes Sörstedt highlights the ‘attractive combination of mystery and utility’ that he finds in this reinvented piazza. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alice Tully Hall,New York

This sensuous redesign of a 40-year-old concert hall at the Julliard School is the first major project completed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in their planned remodelling of the entire Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Jayne Merkel believes this lively, elegant, personal and welcoming building bodes well for the dozen other public places and performance spaces that the architects will be renovating there over the next few years. It also suggests that the most respectful way to treat historic structures may be to meet them head-on. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Digital Cities

Code, it would seem, is everywhere. We are beginning to understand that much of our natural environment is based on rule-based behaviours, from the emergent swarm intelligence of flocks of birds and schools of fish, to the complex patterns of snowflakes, ferns, seashells and zebra skins. And nothing escapes. Not even the human body. The human genome is being mapped out and sequenced by scientists to provide a genetic blueprint of human life itself. In this context, it is hardly surprising that architects are now beginning to explore similar principles in the design studio. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Feildbarn

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios are leading an initiative to find an alternative use for the disused field barns of the Yorkshire Dales that will retain for prosperity these beautifully crafted structures roughened and enhanced by time. David Littlefield describes the pilot project in Lower Wharfedale, near Skipton, in which a timber pod has been created to provide basic accommodation for holidaymakers seeking a countryside break close to nature. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pattern Deposition: From Scripts to Applications

Is the widespread adoption of existing design software appropriated from other disciplines limiting architects' potential for pattern-making? Could the development of complex code applied to equally complex pattern problems open up alternative avenues of expression? Mike Silver illustrates work by himself and other architects and artists that suggest that new kinds of software-driven pattern recognition and simulation computer models are opening up the field. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distructuring Utopias

In order to meet the challenges of fast-paced urban transformations, Laurent-Paul Robert and Dr Vesna Petresin Robert of Rubedo call for a rethinking of the perennial Utopian model of urban design. They espouse a design strategy that is both able ‘to reflect the dynamics of urban growth and decay’, while meeting the needs of a ‘post-capitalist economy’ - a condition in which change is the only constant. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

L.A.W.u.N. Project #21: Cybucolia

The project here, begun in 2009 by the Invisible University,¹ a collaboration between the EXP/University of Westminster and the Architectural Association, speculates on the ‘dis-urban’: new effects on the post-print, post-digital landscape at a local and global level. Samantha Hardingham and David Greene provide the narrative. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Designing for Disassembly (DfD)

The redundancy of existing buildings that leads to demolition and the unnecessary disposal of structures and their parts is one of the most challenging aspects of the current construction industry. This large-scale problem of obsolescence leads to the squandering of existing materials and resources on a massive scale. Here Elma Durmisevic and Ken Yeang advocate a means by which disassembly can be designed into buildings from the outset. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Unconventional Low-Cost Museum

Valentina Croci describes how a diminutive museum dedicated to the feminine arts in Salerno, southern Italy, provides an intimate experience for visitors: its modest interior being enriched by an interface of information panels and interactive installations designed by Id-Lab in Milan. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Basking in a World of Your Own Making

As the credit crunch bites in, are pockets of young architects reviving a battle against commodified materialism? Neil Spiller describes how he has experienced this close to home with his own class of 2009 at the Bartlett which has reactivated its own brand of Surrealist cybernetic research, inspired by Dalí. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ashmolean Museum,Oxford

In November 2009, the Ashmolean Museum opened a new extension that doubled its gallery space on its existing city centre site. Howard Watson looks at how the redevelopment of the museum has been to its benefit curatorially, optimising the display space available for its extensive collections, but also enabling new connections to be made between artefacts in a way that fully tells the stories of civilisations across the globe. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

99.7 Per Cent Pure

The HEPA air filter is only capable of processing 99.7 per cent of airborne particles, leaving 0.3 per cent unaccounted for. Mason White describes the work of Canadian installation artist An Te Liu who made air-filtration appliances his main subject. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Navigating the Computational Turn

UNStudio has developed its own practice model for connecting colleagues and collaborators and sharing accumulated knowledge and techniques: the ‘Knowledge Platform’. Ben van Berkel with members from the UNStudio Smart Parameter Platform describe three projects at very different scales - the Burnham Pavilion in Chicago (2009), Raffles City in Hangzhou, China (2011) and Arnhem Central (2012) - that encapsulate UNStudio's working methods and approach to computational processes.     

New Patterns in Urban Design

Brian McGrath and VictoriaMarshall discern the newly resilient urban patterns that are emerging in the meta-city, shifting and adjusting to changing local and global conditions. Based on smart infrastructure, self-sufficiency and hybrid local models, highly adaptive design patterns take the form of responsive micropatches rather than overarching masterplans. As demonstrated by the featured projects, ‘pattern recognition’, sensory mapping techniques and sensitivity to a city's ecosystem are becoming essential tools to the urban designer. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

junya.ishigami+associates

The Executive Director of Storefront in New York Joseph Grima tips off the young Japanese architect Junya Ishigami for our attention. Ishigami's extension to the Kanagawa Institution of Technology might at first glance resemble a humble greenhouse. Stripped back far beyond the bare essentials, it has a finely tuned structure that enables it to be supported on pillars alone and elevates it to the poetic. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L＇Aquila： Modern Provisional Measures

The case in analysis is Santa Maria di Collemaggio, the church symbol of the town of L＇Aquila and the most important example of Romanesque style in Abruzzi, tragically damaged by the earthquake in 2009. The following paper starts with an accurate analysis of the Basilica, whose historical, stylistical cultural characteristics make it an unicum in the whole urban environment. The authors tried to identify in which way these values have been compromised or altered after the earthquake through several analysis （surveys, historical researches etc.） aiming at the recognition of collapses, the cracks profile, the structural transformations caused by the provisional measures： the goal is to provide a kind of Basilica ＂cognitive manual＂ that will be useful for the future interventions. This first analysis allowed to understand many aspects： on the one hand, the constructive phases and which damages were caused by past careless interventions of restoration, drawing attention to the vulnerability elements of the Basilica; on the other hand, the innovative technologies and materials of the post-seismic provisional measures and their exact location.     

Pierre Thibault

At a time when little in architectural design seems like uncharted territory, Brian Carter, Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Buffalo, The State University of New York, goes northeast to Quebec and encounters the work of architectural explorer Pierre Thibault. He describes how Thibault sets out to develop projects in some of the most ‘remote, expansive and sparsely settled’ areas of the region, responding afresh to the landscape and its indigenous culture. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lighting Up

Through the work of London practice Cinimod Studio, led by Dominic Harris, Valentina Croci explores the potential that lighting design offers for interactive work, whether it is transforming unwelcoming urban spaces or enhancing the public's experience of the city. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.