Monday, May 14, 2012
City of the Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, designed by Santiago Calatrava.

City of the Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Posted at 3:58 PM 1 note Tags: Valencia spain Architecture
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Singapore’s Supertrees

Singapore’s Supertrees

Posted at 5:56 PM 3 notes Tags: singapore Architecture parks
Monday, May 7, 2012
Unbuilt London: Tall Towers And Strange Skyscrapers

Unbuilt London: Tall Towers And Strange Skyscrapers

Posted at 4:30 PM 2 notes Tags: london skyscrapers Architecture
Thursday, May 3, 2012
“We have created these visual roads in the sky. These rather ludicrous and arbitrary imaginary sky corridors around St Paul’s. I spoke to a Parisian who told me “You British really do puzzle me. In Paris, Haussmann arranged all the roads in long boulevards so you have these long vistas, but you Londoners have Haussmannised the sky even though it is a mess on the ground.” I mean, what’s wrong with seeing the Shard from Parliament Hill? If you really don’t like it, walk 20 yards to one side and the view will be different.” Sir Terry Farrell - The Shard: ‘There hasn’t been a building like this in living memory’ 
Posted at 2:58 PM 1 note Tags: Architecture shard london Paris skyscrapers
Saturday, April 14, 2012
The Nakagin Capsule Tower was at the top of my list of buildings to visit in Tokyo. More pictures here and here. (photos © PD Smith)

The Nakagin Capsule Tower was at the top of my list of buildings to visit in Tokyo. More pictures here and here.

(photos © PD Smith)

Posted at 12:22 PM 7 notes Tags: Nakagin Capsule Tower Tokyo Architecture metabolism

Fascinating video on the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. H/T Tim Abrahams

Posted at 12:18 PM 2 notes Tags: Tokyo Architecture metabolism Nakagin Capsule Tower
“Whatever one thinks about a building such as the España library – and there are those who find it less successful as an actual building than it is in terms of looks – it marks a critical shift in urban policy. For decades, cities in South America have acted as though favelas or barrios didn’t exist – rarely wanting to legitimise them with transport links, electricity grids or running water, they were largely left to their own devices. This library, sitting in the middle of one as it does, makes the slums as visible as can be, and in so doing acknowledges them as part of the city proper and not some unfortunate eyesore. This is a massive U-turn since the days when it was common to speak of “cutting out the cancer” of the slums. For once, architecture-as-spectacle is not being used as a tool to market the culture industry, but to make poverty visible.” Justin McGuirk in the Guardian

“Whatever one thinks about a building such as the España library – and there are those who find it less successful as an actual building than it is in terms of looks – it marks a critical shift in urban policy. For decades, cities in South America have acted as though favelas or barrios didn’t exist – rarely wanting to legitimise them with transport links, electricity grids or running water, they were largely left to their own devices. This library, sitting in the middle of one as it does, makes the slums as visible as can be, and in so doing acknowledges them as part of the city proper and not some unfortunate eyesore. This is a massive U-turn since the days when it was common to speak of “cutting out the cancer” of the slums. For once, architecture-as-spectacle is not being used as a tool to market the culture industry, but to make poverty visible.”

Justin McGuirk in the Guardian

Posted at 12:12 PM 4 notes Tags: Architecture Colombia Bogotá Medellín favelas slums libraries
Friday, April 13, 2012
The facades of some houses are as expressive as faces… More images here & here & here (photos © PD Smith)

The facades of some houses are as expressive as faces…

More images here & here & here

(photos © PD Smith)

Posted at 8:59 AM 2 notes Tags: Tokyo Architecture
Monday, March 26, 2012
The new Departures Concourse at King’s Cross Station, London. Nice blog on IanVisits

The new Departures Concourse at King’s Cross Station, London. Nice blog on IanVisits

Posted at 11:12 AM 8 notes Tags: railway stations railways Architecture london london transport
Thursday, March 22, 2012
“I’m deeply aware of the misfit between my profession and the current moment. There is an enormous amount of technology that undermines the legitimacy of building or physical space, and so I’m deeply aware of the vulnerability of architecture as a plausible activity or discipline. And for that reason what I think architecture can still do, or ought to focus on, is to represent moments where collectivity is an attractive experience rather than an imposition. For me libraries have that incredible quality. Each of us can be motivated by our own motivations, but nevertheless sit together in a room like that, that is an exceptional experience of sharing even though you are completely alone. That is for me what the most interesting part of architecture can be.”

Rem Koolhaas speaking at the New York Public Library 

A Daily Dose of Architecture
Posted at 3:01 PM 14 notes Tags: rem koolhaas Architecture
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Kim Jong-il’s priority as regards architecture in North Korean cities was to ‘combat and promptly do away with fame-seeking, formalism, art for art’s sake, imitationism, and all the other unhealthy creative attitudes that find expression among architects’. Pyongyang’s Architecture on trial

Kim Jong-il’s priority as regards architecture in North Korean cities was to ‘combat and promptly do away with fame-seeking, formalism, art for art’s sake, imitationism, and all the other unhealthy creative attitudes that find expression among architects’.

Pyongyang’s Architecture on trial

Posted at 1:32 PM 16 notes Tags: North Korea Architecture
Friday, March 9, 2012
Tour Signal (2008), Jean Nouvel. Abandoned skyscraper designs for La Défense [via Market Urbanism]

Tour Signal (2008), Jean Nouvel.

Abandoned skyscraper designs for La Défense [via Market Urbanism]

Posted at 5:28 PM 4 notes Tags: Paris Architecture skyscrapers future cities
Montreal’s Habitat 67 wins Lego contest. But don’t hold your breath for a Lego model…

Montreal’s Habitat 67 wins Lego contest. But don’t hold your breath for a Lego model…

Posted at 2:50 PM 3 notes Tags: Montreal Architecture housing
“The proximity of extreme beauty and extreme vulgarity, and sometimes the collapse of the two in a single image, in my view, is uniquely Japanese.” Rem Koolhaas
Posted at 2:49 PM 1 note Tags: Architecture rem koolhaas Japan metabolism
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Ningbo History Museum. Architecture of China’s Pritzker winner, Wang Shu Gallery. Article. (LAT)

Ningbo History Museum. Architecture of China’s Pritzker winner, Wang Shu

Gallery. Article. (LAT)

Posted at 7:00 PM 2 notes Tags: Ningbo China Wang Shu Architecture