palette places

In the words of Miss Lush the world has gone palette-o-rama mad! I don't know about you but I seem to be seeing them all over! We love palettes so here are some of our top palette picks:

Amber's number 1, The Palettenhaus in Linz...

The Kinglake temporary village, constructed by Monash University students in consultation with Emergency Architects...

My personal fav, Mano Ponnambalam and Jenny Heim's ILLUMS BOX, a 2009 Sculpture by the Sea entry...

and lastly Section8 in Melbourne where thirsty vistors can lounge around and grab a drink from the shipping container bar (a container-o-rama blog will be featured next!)

category of culture

Peter Rich Architects have recently won the World Building of the Year award for the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa at the World Architecture Festival held in Barcelona earlier this month.

This is an authentic, beautifully crafted and culturally deep rooted building. A very deserved winner I say.

More info and images can be found here.

HOMEmade

We previously blogged about Anna Heringer and the inspirational Handmade school in Bangladesh here. After hearing her speak at the Finland Symposium I thought we should update you all with the latest HOMEmade project. These three family houses are a tribute to local craftmanship, a testament to true community participation and basically a great lesson in how to provide modern, functional design that is appropriate to its surroundings. Oh and did i mention that they are also beautiful?

Anna has been nominated for the CurryStone Design Award and we wish her all the best! While I am at it, also in the running for this award is Rob Hopkins from Transition Network fame. If you haven't heard about the new wave that is Transition Town then you should definitely jump on board... Rob wrote the Transition Handbook and since then more than 200 towns have taken on the Transition principles. The first Transition Town was started in 2006 in Totnes, UK where the community banded together to grow local food, lower their energy use, plan more pedestrianised paths and cycle ways and even create their own currency to boost their local economy. It just shows what can happen when communities work together...

a safe haven

We have recently come across these great structures - the Safe Haven library and bath house.

In January 2009 TYIN Tegnestue invited 15 norwegian students to participate in a workshop at the Safe Haven Orphanage, Thiland. The workshop was led by Associate Professor Hans Skotte and architect Sami Rintala (who has just chaired the Edge Symposium in Finland! More on him later).

The most immediate needs at the orphanage was a library and a new sanitary building. TYIN worked on a bathhouse, together with the Karen workers from Noh Bo, while the workshop participants put their efforts into the library.

What an amazing result! We love this project and just wanted to share with you what can be achieved with a small budget and local materials.

Finland Symposium

b+c has been invited to attend the 11th International Alvar Aalto Symposium by our good friends Finnish Architects Hollmen, Reuter and Sandman (mentioned also here.) To see more of their stunning projects visit the NGO website Ukumbi (A Swahili word meaning forum, verandah and a meeting place for dialogue and discussion.)

The Symposium will be held on 7-9th August at the University of Jyväskylä which was designed by Alvar Aalto in 1954—55. As one of the b+c team is currently in Europe we are hoping to make it to this fantastic event. This statement below sums up why we think it is important for us to attend:

Inside the urban hubs of the Western world, a feeling of safety prevails. We continue to enjoy the highest standard of living ever known to humankind. At the same time, we are fully aware of the results of our culture of consumerism. Therein lies the greatest paradox: We are forced to actively forget reality to be able to enjoy the facade of excess we have created around us.

Yet outside the main stages of the metropolis is where our work is needed. There are a few architects who challenge the conventions of the profession and the ever-dictating forces of the market; they go where the real problems are and try to solve them with insight, economy and wit. These people are the pathfinders towards the next revolution in architecture, which will not focus on style, but on the balance between man and nature – or, in short, survival.

Sami Rintala, Chairman

To see the amazing programme and line up of speakers visit here.

2009 open architecture challenge: classroom

The 2009 Open Architecture Challenge is to design the classroom of the future. This competition in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity and Orient Global is asking teachers, students, architects and designers to get involved and to design a classroom for a school of your choosing.

According to the World Bank, educating all children worldwide will require the construction of 10 million new classrooms in more than 100 countries by 2015. This is a global competition and is a great opportunity to come up with some excellent classroom designs. So get involved if you can, we are!

Below are 2 images of the Kutamba AIDS Orphan School in Uganda, which is just one of the examples of some beautiful and inspiring Architecture on the Open Architecture Network.

The Art of Architecture

There is a fantastic collection of Le Corbusier works currently showing at the Barbican. It is an amazing collection of original models, interior reconstructions, drawings, furniture, paintings and sculptures. His ideas of social housing and utopian urban plans still resonate today. Working your way through the exhibition, you can see why he is dubbed the most influential architect of the 20th century!   

nigel

I have to share with you all the blog of artist/photographer Nigel Peake. It is so refreshing to see fun, architectural images so equisitely hand drawn and the photos are great too!  

His website Second Street is a joy too... so many quirky drawings and the water colour site is just so cool. Make sure you check it out. 

Thanks Nigel. 

checkonsite.com

This is a top website for those of us who love to check out architectural delights when in foreign cities! If you have ever travelled with an architect you will know that we would walk all day to catch sight of a precious gem of the building variety. Website designer/creator and fellow architect, Leigh knows all too well the hours you spend scouring the cities streets. Leigh has cleverly taken the stress out of this process by creating an online database for her three passions in life - architecture, photography and travel.

Checkonsite is an online reference created by a community interested in identifying and locating the sites worth checking out throughout the world. Through this site you can locate buildings or sites worth checking out using google earth, suggest and share your favourite site or building and say what you think of a building by adding comments.

So if you are planning a trip to a new city and wondering what architecture you should be checking out? or you know what you want to see, but don’t know where it’s located, or if you have some photos from previous trips you would like to share, why not checkonsite!

Tribute to Utzon

Jorn Utzon, who was just 38 years old when he sketched the design for the Sydney Opera House, passed away in Denmark on the weekend, in his sleep. Today the flags on the Harbour Bridge will fly at half-mast.

Utzon entered the "international competition for a national opera house at Bennelong Point" expecting to come third. His design was initially flung into the reject pile, but picked out again by US architect Eero Saarinen. Seidler described it as a "piece of poetry" and American Louis Khan said that "light didn't know how beautiful it was, until it was reflected off this building".

Utzon received the prestigious Pritzker architecture prize in 2003 for his design. The jury singled it out as among the most iconic buildings of the 20th century, saying it "proves that the marvellous and seemingly impossible in architecture can be achieved".

friday again!

Thank goodness! It's been a long week! I do believe we only have five Fridays left in Sydney before we will all be in Katolo to continue community consultations and begin construction for the Secondary School for Girls. Woo hoo!

Tonight we're heading to our alma mater, The University of Sydney to check out the final year architecture students' exhibition.



[in]form Graduate Exhibition 2008 is on at the Wilkinson Building at The University of Sydney, 148 City Road, Darlington from 6pm. Hope to see you there and if not have a lovely, sunny weekend!

garbage warrior

Now this is one amazing guy. Anyone seen this documentary? A friend who is in the know about all things waste has watched it. I am yet to, but just visiting the website and watching the trailor was enough to inspire.

For 30 years, renegade architect Michael Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of "Earthship Biotecture" by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony.

Based in New-Mexico, Michael has come up against many critics, so much so that he was stripped of his architecture licence. These earthships defy state standards and Reynolds has continued to lobby for the right to create a sustainable living test site.

It was when the Tsunami struck that Reynolds was able to use his pioneering skills to rebuild communities such as the Andaman Islands. He was able to teach the locals how to recycle cans, bottles, tyres and collect rainwater off these structures for clean drinking water.

He looks to be a wild character, a one of a kind and as some put it a hero of the 21st century! I will be heading out to grab my copy of Garbage Warrior for sure. To watch the full length trailor visit here.

Sand-bag Architects win top prize!

South African architects MMA have been awarded the inaugural Curry Stone Design prize of $100,000 for their ingenious solution to the Design Indaba 10x10 low-cost housing challenge.  established this year by the university of Kentucky College of Design through a very generous gift from architect Clifford Curry and his wife H. Delight Stone.  The prize recognises breakthrough design solutions with the power and potential to improve our lives and the world we live in.  The 10x10 housing project initiated by Design Indaba paired 10 teams of South African architects with international designers to pioneer new affordable housing systems.   The objective of the competition was to come up with affordable, attractive, innovative responses to the urgent need for housing the urban poor.  

MMA were awarded the Curry Stone Design prize for their pioneering design and innovative pilot project to build 10 affordable houses using a sand-bag construction system.  

Thanks to The Architects Newspaper for posting this great story with beautiful images and a great interview with the architects. 

Luyanda Mpahlwa, who shares the firm with Mpethi Morojele, s

aid that a key component of the house was to provide not only shelter but also social justice and pride.  The house was originally designed...as a house for 50,000 rand ($6,200), which required some unusual thinking.  In addition to utilizing inexpensive and locally accessible building materials, which required not even a single electrical outlet to put together, the designers turned to the community to build the houses.  Mpahlwa said that this approach saved not only the cost of labor but gave the community an added sense of ownership and provided work for the community riven with unemployment.   

It is great to hear that Mpahlwa is planning to use his prize money to build more 10x10 houses and sponsor underprivileged kids to attend architecture school.  These architects are fabulous inspiration!! 

green school

The world's first green school has just opened in the riverside jungles between Denpasar and Ubud. Constructed entirely of bamboo the Green School's goal is 'to prepare students to become responsible global citizens in a world offering challenges and opportunities that can not be imagined at this moment'. Most students are children from all over the world with some local Balinese students offered scholarships to attend.



And with classrooms that are as spectacular and beautiful as these, the journey from pre school onwards will surely be one to remembered.




It's enough to make me want to go back to school! If you're in Bali - the school is open for tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am sharp. Bookings are required.

if all the world was paper...

Our friend Fliss sent us this link to pingmag. Shigeru Ban's banlab is responsible for the amazing work in Sichuan Province where a massive earthquake in May ripped through reaching a magnitude of 8 on the richter scale.

The banlab research centre in conjunction with the Keio University has used cardboard tubes to build temporary school buildings. The article discusses the importance and role of architecture after disasters.

As a material paper is cheap, and more importantly, it uses materials that are available anywhere in the world. It is also structurally sound, so you do not have to worry about safety issues. Shigeru Ban has already used paper tubing for rebuilding after earthquakes in: India, Turkey and Kobe.

This excerpt particularly inspired me on this particular Monday:

People tend to think that architecture is only about building skyscrapers and homes. And sometimes, architects let that kind of attitude go to their heads. Architects have to think about what they can do for society. The answer to that is doing something for people who need help. That’s an obligation.

Check out the article to see the finished paper school! And check out Fliss's stuff too... she is one talented lady. Thanks for the heads up Flissy!

hip hip hooray - it's world architecture day

So today is the day - Happy world architecture day! Architects are encouraged to wear their black uniform and spend a little moment remembering all those buildings that have come and gone, celebrate the beauty of the built environment yet remember the impact the construction industry has on our beautiful planet... Treehugger has some suggestions for architects on this day of days.

Perhaps next year we could try and pass the idea that today is an architects holiday - but alas for now it's back to the drawing board! Happy drafting.

sydney architecture festival 08

Who else can't wait for the loooong weekend? If you are in Sydney why not pop along on Monday to the Architecture Festival, a celebration of the city's unique built environment. It aims to engage with the public about architecture and to explore critical aspects of sustainability in the built environment.

The 2008 Sydney Architecture Festival will be held on Monday 6 October World Architecture Day. The Festival features architectural tours of the city; talks and activities at the World Heritage listed Sydney Opera House; lectures, exhibitions and kids activities at Customs House; tours of Cockatoo Island and much more.

Of particular interest is the headline talk - A forum discussing the past, present and future of Circular Quay, its architecture and urban design. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating will be joined by architect Richard Leplastrier, Sydney City Councillor John McInerney (himself an architect and town planner) and Sydney Morning Herald architecture critic Elizabeth Farrelly together in conversation with Alan Saunders, presenter of ABC Radio National's By Design program.

There will be an exhibition of the NSW Chapter Award Winners and our friends at AWF (featured here) will have an informative display at Customs House which is also a must see!

Visit here for the full program.

friday afternoon inspiration

A few beautiful photos of inspiring spaces to get everyone through the rest of this Friday afternoon. The first three are The Hof residence, designed by Studio Granda..... isn't it amazing.

The next few images are of a lovely apartment in Amsterdamn, I think we all at bricks + cartwheels could very easily live or work here. The light is lovely. 

The Hof house found here and the apartment found here.

facade

What a talented photographer Tom Evangelidis is. His exhibition Facade celebrates the colourful patchwork of architectural styles from Prague, Bucharest, Hanoi, St Petersburg, Sophia, Istanbul and Havana. Not your typical postcard images, he captures honest details - peeling paint of once beautiful homes, concrete monstrosities.... each work revealing intricate links to politics, culture and class.

The book is also beautiful! The exhibition is on at the Depot Gallery from Sept 2 - 6

grand designs + kevin

This is a top watch, if not for the architecture lovers amongst us then for those who love to see people reaching for their goals and their dream home (some more dreamier than others...)

Kevin McCloud is the writer and presenter of Grand Designs and oh how we love his little words of wisdom - such as this which i found here:
'...it’s important to remember how all good architecture adds to places by enriching our environment, not by ticking boxes and conforming to a series of policy requirements. Good architecture has individuality and soul, man.'

Kevin accompanies self-builders on their journey to create their dream home, as he offers advice, guidance and often a sympathetic ear as budgets and schedules inevitably run over...as they always do! This weeks episode was classic! Kevin was worried about the outcome of the huge Lime Kiln House, but came to the conclusion once weathered a little this house will settle into its environment... hmm

We love how each build pushes the boundaries in some form or another, whether it be in the materials, siting, scale or the spaces themselves. You can catch Grand Designs now airing Tuesdays at 8:30 ABC.