Joshua Prince-Ramus: Building a Theater That Remakes Itself

Joshua Prince-Ramus believes that if architects re-engineer their design process, the results can be spectacular. Speaking at TEDxSMU, Dallas, he walks us through his fantastic re-creation of the local Wyly Theater as a giant "theatrical machine" that reconfigures itself at the touch of a button.

via: TED

Video: Lemonade

So... I am not sure why I have two posts about getting laid off back-to-back. I guess I am just assuming that most architects and designers might find this topic of interest.

Watch this great documentary about the upside of getting laid off.

Video Description:

After a 37 year-old copywriter is laid off from a large ad-agency in 2008, he starts a blog for other unemployed ad professionals. Once the site launched, he decided to create a promotional video featuring the faces and stories of other laid-off execs.

New York Times: Architect, or Whatever

At the Ballard Farmers’ Market in Seattle on a recent weekend, passers-by could be forgiven for thinking John Morefield was running for political office. Smiling, waving and calling out hellos to everyone who walked by his stand, he was the picture of friendliness. All he needed was campaign buttons and fliers.

By KRISTINA SHEVORY
Published: January 20, 2010

In fact, Mr. Morefield, 29, is no politician, but an architectural designer looking for work. He was seated at a homemade wooden stand under a sign reading “Architecture 5¢,” with a tin can nearby awaiting spare change. For a nickel, he would answer any architectural question.

In 2008, Mr. Morefield lost his job — twice — and thought he could ride out the recession doing design work for friends and family, but when those jobs dried up, he set up his stand. As someone in his 20s without many contacts or an extensive portfolio, he thought he might have an easier time finding clients on his own.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Mr. Morefield said. “I had no other option. The recession was a real kick in the shorts, and I had to make this work.”

A troubled economy and the implosion of the real estate market have thrown thousands of architects and designers out of work in the last year or so, forcing them to find or create jobs. According to the latest data available from the Department of Labor, employment at American architecture firms, which peaked last July at 224,500, had dropped to 184,600 by November.

“It’s hard to find a place to hide when the economy goes down,” said Kermit Baker, the chief economist at the American Institute of Architects. “There aren’t any strong sectors now.”

And it’s not clear when the industry will recover. Architecture firms are still laying off employees, and Mr. Baker doesn’t expect them to rehire until billings recover, which he thinks won’t be until the second half of this year at the earliest.

In the meantime, many of those who have been laid off are discovering new talents often unrelated to architecture.

When Natasha Case, 26, lost her job as a designer at Walt Disney Imagineering about a year ago, she and her friend Freya Estreller, 27, a real estate developer, started a business selling Ms. Case’s homemade ice cream sandwiches in Los Angeles. Named for architects like Frank Gehry (the strawberry ice cream and sugar cookie Frank Behry) and Mies van der Rohe (the vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate chip cookie Mies Vanilla Rohe), they were an immediate hit.

“I feel this is a good time to try new things,” said Ms. Case, who did a project on the intersection of food and architecture while studying for her master’s in architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2008. “You do things you always wanted to do, something you’ve always been passionate about.”

Since she and Ms. Estreller rolled out their truck, Coolhaus, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival near Palm Springs last April, they’ve catered events for Mr. Gehry’s office, Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Channel.

Their initial investment was low: they bought a 20-year-old postal van on Craigslist and had it retrofitted and painted silver and bubblegum pink, all for $10,000. With seven full- and part-time employees, they now make enough to support themselves and have plans to expand (a Hamptons truck is in the works and they are trying to get their products into Whole Foods stores).

Leigh Ann Black was working as an architectural designer in Seattle when she lost her job over a year ago. After a long struggle to find work, she finally moved back to her hometown of Water Valley, Miss., in June, to take care of her sick grandmother.

Ms. Black, 30, is now living above her parents’ garage, but she finally has time to indulge her love of pottery. She recently converted an old horse barn on her family’s farm into a studio, plans to apprentice with local potters and has applied to several post-baccalaureate ceramics programs, with the hope of selling her wares at farmers’ markets and someday teaching art.

“This is not where I imagined I’d be when I turned 30, but I feel really inspired being back,” she said. “There’s something about being with family and not feeling upset about meeting rent, car payment and groceries every month. Now I have some breathing room.”

When Debi van Zyl, 33, was laid off by a small residential design firm in Los Angeles in May, she decided to do freelance design work for as long as she could, and she picked up jobs doing exhibition design for the Getty and Huntington museums. In her spare time, to relax, she started knitting what she describes as “kooky” stuffed animals like octopuses and jellyfish. Then, at the urging of the readers of her blog, she began selling them on Etsy. Les Petites Bêtes Sauvages, as she calls them, have helped her pay the rent and other bills for the last few months.

“You think you’re in charge of your profession, and then the recession hits and you realize that your career is market driven,” Ms. van Zyl said. “It’s forced me to push myself and become more individual. My motto is don’t say no to anything.”

Richard Chuk, of Lombard, Ill., said that since he lost his position as a commercial designer a year ago, when two of his firm’s clients — both developers — lost financing for their projects, he has been looking for any job he can find to support his wife and children, ages 6 and 7.

Mr. Chuk, 38, began his job search in a good mood because of the wave of optimism surrounding the presidential election. During the first three months, he sent out nearly 150 résumés, applying for many jobs he was overqualified for. (Sears, Home Depot and Lowe’s all turned him down for jobs as a designer because he was overqualified, he said.) He had only one interview.

After that, he said, he applied for the rare job that popped up but spent most of his time taking care of his children, studying for his architectural licensing exam and renovating his basement.

This month, he began commercial truck driving school.

“You feel this year of your life is gone,” Mr. Chuk said. “It’s lost wages and lost experiences. But you have to keep positive and move forward. I look at this as an education. It opens up more doors and you never know when it’ll help you.”

As for Mr. Morefield, the architect in Seattle, he started his booth (and a Web site, architecture5cents.com) with the hope that it would bring in sufficient income to get by until he could find another job. As it turned out, he received so many commissions — to build a two-story addition, a deck, a master bedroom — that he realized he could make plenty of money working for himself.

Last year, he made more than $50,000 — the highest salary he ever made working for someone else — and he expects to do even better this year.

“It’s developed into what I was supposed to do,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, it’s scary, but I love every minute of it. If someone offered me $80,000 to sit behind a computer, I wouldn’t do it.”

By KRISTINA SHEVORY

Via: New York Times

The Third & The Seventh - 100% CG Architecture Movie

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.

Compositing Breakdown (T&S) from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Exeter Shot -- Making Of from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

See more at thirdseventh

Macros_ Eposode 3 with Greg Lynn

Video of Shigeru Ban by L Studio

Studio Banana TV Interviews Toyo Ito

Studio Banana TV interviews Japanese architect Toyo Ito on the occasion of his lecture at the European University of Madrid. Toyo Ito is one of the world’s most innovative and influential architects. Ito is known for creating extreme concept buildings, in which he seeks to fuse the physical and virtual worlds. Interview realised with the sponsorship of the European University of Madrid.

Toyo Ito (伊東豊雄) is a Japanese architect born in 1941. He graduated from Tokyo University’s Department of Architecture in 1965. His office Toyo Ito & Associates is a world leading exponent of architecture that addresses the contemporary notion of a “simulated” ciy, and has been called “one of the world’s most innovative and influential architects.”

After a brief stint in the Metabolist studio of Kiyonori Kikutake, in 1971 he started his own studio in Tokyo, named Urbot (”Urban Robot”). In 1979, the studio name was changed to Toyo Ito & Associates. Throughout his early career Ito constructed numerous private house projects that expressed aspects of urban life in Japan. His early experiments include the Tower of Winds, the Egg of Winds and the Pao House for nomad women. Later projects include the Yatsushiro Municipal Museum and the Shimosuwa Municipal Museum. More recently he has built the Sendai Mediatheque (2001), the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London (2002), TOD’s Omotesando Building in Tokyo (2004), the World Games Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2008) or the Torre Fira BCN Building in Barcelona (2009).

Ito has defined architecture as “clothing” for urban dwellers, particularly in the contemporary Japanese metropolis. This theme revolves around the equilibrium between the private life and the metropolitan “public” life of an individual. The current architecture of Toyo Ito expands on his work produced during the postmodern period, aggressively exploring the potentials of new forms. In doing so, he seeks to find new spatial conditions that manifest the philosophy of borderless beings.

Special thanks to Eriko Kinoshita from Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects

Interview by Cornelia Tapparelli. Translation by Yayoi Kawamura.

Between Mission Statement and Parametric Model

click here to check out this great essay by Tim Love dealing the battle between sustainability and parametric design taking place in our universities.

The New Facebook for Architects? Architizer Has Arrived.

It has arrived... The new social network that is specifically devoted to architects known as Architizer has luanched. Marc Kushner and his partner, Matthias Hollwich set out to design a website that would focus on connecting the vast networks of people, firms, and projects surrounding the discipline of architecture.

The main objective for this project was to create a website that would allow unrestricted access for young firms and architects to get there work seen by the masses, not through the traditional blogs and magazines, but rather through an unbiased forum of fellow architects.

Visit or Join by Clicking Here

Rankings of the Best Architectural Firms

Now... I know that rankings are seen as being meaningless in the profession of architecture. But, if you were ever wondering which firms are seen as being the best in the world, check out this ever-changing list by the German magazine BauNetz.

Click here to see the International Rankings

This is My Kind of Paper Architecture

New Zealand Book Council: Going West from Kreatif360 on Vimeo.

Logan Arts Center - Tod William Billie Tsien

I thought it was necessary to post the most current work of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien as their work always represents extreme craft and detail. But I was equally impressed by their most recent representations of the project.

Integrating Art and Architecture

Soaring skyward from a luminous, light-filled core, the new Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts will be a catalyst for creativity at the University of Chicago. A cornerstone of south campus, the visually stunning glass and stone building design by award-winning architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, seamlessly bridges the space between art and architecture.

Minimalism

The elegant modernist design (a hallmark of the couple) features a striking eleven-story, 155-foot tower, punctuated with light, open air terraces, and roof top decks. The vertical tower, rising from the urban landscape like a silo, will offer unparalleled views of the Chicago skyline, as well as provide multi-levels for interdisciplinary experimentation: teaching and presentation spaces for cinema and media studies, music, theater and performance, dance, and visual arts are intentionally interwoven throughout. A café anchors the building, connecting to the “podium,” which houses visual arts studios and shops and is topped with a sawtooth roof angled for northern exposure.

New Resources for the Arts

The center will add significant space and resources to Chicago’s visual arts, theater and performance, music, and cinema and media studies programs—and inspire everything in between. The architects conceive the building as a “mixing bowl,” fusing spaces, weaving individual rehearsal rooms with artist studios, critical theory classrooms with shops, and media editing labs with a video production studio. Public spaces include ensemble rehearsal rooms, black-box and proscenium theaters, a performance auditorium with exceptional acoustics, a gallery, a state-of-the-art film screening venue, a café, and dynamic outdoor spaces.

text courtesy of UChicago Arts

Projection Mapping on Existing Architecture

Battle of Branchage from seeper on Vimeo.

Great Grasshopper Intro Video...for Beginners

click here or the image to be linked to the videos page.

This is a “quick” introduction to Grasshopper did for SHoP Construction’s fall studio at NJIT run by Jon Mallie and John Cerone. Most of the things in this video are covered in other videos on the site but it introduces a few new features added to Grasshopper. Toward the end of the tutorial we cover relationships between Grasshopper and Excel. If you want to skip ahead to that part it is near the 100min mark of the video. This tutorial skips over a lot of the basics regarding canvas navigation, component colors, etc. and dives right in to some examples.

via: designalyze

Peter Guthrie's Farnsworth House

I have said it once, and I will say it again. Peter Guthrie is one of the most talented 3d artists that I have ever come across.

Check out his latest renderings (yes renderings!!!) of the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe.



Guthrie' s meticulous attention to detail, lighting, and materials are simply second to none. Keep up the amazing work...

You can check out more of Guthrie's work on this website and blog.