MUF does a dive

for its first stand-alone building of an enclosure for a roman ruin, MUF chose to be playful in its detailing, much to the detraction from the whole. an otherwise extemely boring building that resembles a rendered garage could have been much better considering their fifth member was once a project architect at Foster's and a past colleague of mine in hong kong, having moved on to allies and morrison before joining the playful fuzzy triangles. their gain is her loss, although seemingly not putting her refined eye to the test.

clean air hybrid buses chosen by MTA-NYC

congratulations to new york's mta for choosing well-designed and environmentally friendly hybrid engine buses for daily use on ny's streets. the outer shell of the bus, with its crisp, rectilinear edges, makes minimal use of gratuitous curves and expensive engineering-intensive extras. the buses' hybrid engine, using a combination of petroleum and battery power, is what makes this bus unique. toyota claim their new hybrid sedan produces less emissions in a cross-country trip that we could produce painting a 500-square-foot room. sign me up.

too bad 99.9% of the remaining buses and cars on america's roads are still using massive gass-guzzling engines, like the 3-5 litre engines for most sedans and SUV's. incredible.

Ezra Stoller, Architectural Photographer, 1915-2004

Ezra Stoller's photographs of modern architecture define an era characterised by hope, prosperity and progress for design in architecture and for post-war life in general. His work lives on through henry urbach architecture gallery in new york, and his photography agency, now run by his daughter.

want architecture news?

check out these sites i've been browsing recently...

building design (UK)

ArchNewsNow (US)

architect's newspaper (NYC)

archiseek (discussion forum - international)

it's official - Design is good business

all too often the impact of good design is misunderstood or entirely ignored by business, industry and the public in general. the benefits of good design are manifold and far reaching in their scope. the UK design council has a great site with plenty of resources and information on why we should look to designers to improve our lives and the world in general.

with the QNS Hall of Science, polshek tries - and fails

Polshek's new addition to the 1964 Hall of Science in Queens, NY is a travesty of postmodern stick-on bits masquerading as modern architecture. This, from an architectural practice whom I usually admire, is an utter dissappointment. Poorly executed, its external appearance belies what may have been an intelligently conceived addition to a building interesting in form but, again, disappointing in exetution. Sorry guys, but Foster wannabees is all you will ever come close to if you keep doing rubbish like this.

hugh pearman blasts a frozen MoMA and museum elitism

lucidly observed, the eliteist culture of art museums is yet again perpetuated by the $20usd entry fee - what a travesty.

contemporary architects, experimental/avantgarde

top picks:
asymptote
behnisch
ben van berkel
eisenman
NOX - Lars Spuybroek
softroom
calatrava (contentious in this category, however not a minimalist)

contemporary architects, modern/minimalist

in the category of contemporary architects, modern/minimalist - top picks, overall achievement:
tadao ando
chipperfield
foster
gabellini

perrault

piano

rogers

williams-tsien

MoMA NYC gets mixed reviews - and rightly so

a previously unknown architect internationally, Yoshio Taniguchi comes under great international scrutiny for his addition and renovation to new york's MoMA. Praise, lavished by many critics, architectural press, and admirers, was thick and plentiful, and not entirely off base, depending on your feelings about 1) modern architecture, and 2) modern architecture serving museums.

a primarily negative piece written by Hilton Kramer of NY's Observer begins to tackle the question of these two issues - mainly, the appropriateness of modern, minimal, white-walled, stark architecture in the context of museum architecture. Are lifeless white boxes and cold surfaces and materials really the best conditions in which to experience art? Isn't the intention to provide an element of lifelessness? Aren't these spaces simply backdrops and subservient to the artworks themselves? Isn't a 'bland' backdrop of colour and texture best for a full experience of the work itself? More on this soon...

kahn, mies, koenig - case studies in modernism

three of my favourite modernist architects, for three very different reasons.

"You can never learn anything that is not a part of yourself."
louis i kahn

"Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space."
"I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good."
ludwig mies van der rohe
see also ludwig mies van der rohe by Franz Schulze.

"Industry has not learned the difference between what is beautiful in its simplicity and what is ugly although equally simple...."
"The pressure is so great that the architect is a captive. He functions best as a free agent."
pierre koenig
from Esther McCoy. Case Study Houses 1945-1962. p118, who passed away, strangely enough on 04.04.04 , aged 78.
see also pierre koenig with foreward by norman foster.

ribbons to the south, ribbons to the east

seems that wallpaper has featured two projects this month by FOA and rojkindarquitectos that employ a similar vocabulary to my njr design. the rojkind project in mexico, casa pr 34, is much better - very simply executed with excellent contrast generated by the red steel sleeves. the foa project in london, BBC operahouse, is not bad either, slightly more complicated, yet generating quite interesting forms with the ribbon. thanks guys for lending creedence to my vocabulary. thanks also to diller+scofidio who really started it all with the eyebeam atelier.

njr - nanjing ribbon concept development

some thoughts about a conceptual project of my own I've been working up since may, called the nanjing new gateway - ribbon scheme. The concept was developed based on the notion that, as a retail building at its base, there needs to be an architectural device for inviting people into the building and moving them up into the full height of the tower, both physically and visually. It is also an integral 'form-and-structure-making' device for creating interesting internal multi-level open spaces, interconnecting multiple levels of the building with distant quadrants of the site.

Through developing this concept, I have felt that there may be, in it, the essence of developing a 'signature' style of my own - an aesthetic vocabulary that is distinctly my own and comes from a deep, internal source of aesthetic inspiration (whatever that is). In addition, only today did i recognise that this concept has multiple applications that have already been somewhat delineated whilst in my current position. An important revelation in my view.

another glass box - in jeopardy

thanks to david chipperfield, who normally executes outstanding work, for producing another glass box a' la Foster for BBC Scotland, which has in fact relegated him to design advisor in favor of a local joe to finish off 'on budget'. shame really - for both parties. the title should read - 'boring building brings bad publicity for top architect'.

check out the philosophy of architecture and design site

its considerbaly better populated than this and contains (practical) advice on process and practice; philosophy (theory) of creation and creativity in the production of architecture and design (either objects or images), as well as philosophy of process and practice, and ideas about creative inspiration - obtaining and retaining it.

check it out, www.phad.blogspot.com or email me for an in-depth chat - rk@richardkulczak.net or check out my online portfolio and CV at www.richardkulczak.net . thanks for stoppin by...

grain elevators

always been interested in grain elevators, some of these websites showing works in upstate new york are more interesting than others. perhaps they are akin with a modernist interest in industrial buildings and their simple purity. in fact, they just look cool...

http://www.albrightknox.org/pastexh/Engel/photos.html
http://urbandesignproject.ap.buffalo.edu/gr_el/book.htm

George Washington Bridge Bus Station by Pier Luigi Nervi, 1963

ArchNewsNow

lars spuybroek, NOX - lecture

www.noxarch.com

NOX's recently completed 'son-o-house', a tangled mass of visceral stainless steel forms with an interactive soundtrack, is a good example of Spuybroek's work, difficult to define as art or architecture, which embraces complex new techniques of design, construction and interactivity. Other recent projects include the Maison Folie de Wazemmes in Lille.Method, manufacture and experience are the themes that will be explored in this lecture, which will be followed by a discussion with Professor Scott Lash, Goldsmiths College, chaired by Mark Cousins, Architectural Association.

Tuesday 12 October 6.30pm Jarvis Hall, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London W1Tickets cost £7 / £4 RIBA members and are available on 020 7307 3699 or at www.riba-gallery.com

This lecture is organised with the generous support of the Royal Dutch Embassy. NOX: Machining Architecture is published by Thames & Hudson and will be available from the RIBA bookshop from 12 October.

grimshaw - selected projects lecture

Led by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the Directors of the firm will present a number of their current projects. These include the recently completed and highly commended Rolls-Royce Manufacturing Plant and Headquarters, and ongoing plans for the Minerva Building in the City of London.

The selected projects and speakers are: Bath Spa - Sir Nicholas Grimshaw Zurich Airport - Christopher Nash Rolls-Royce Manufacturing Plant and Headquarters - David Harriss Minerva Building - Neven Sidor Performing Arts Centre for Rensselaer Polytechnic, New York - Andrew Whalley Spencer Street Station, Melbourne - Keith Brewis The lecture will be chaired by Hugh Pearman.

Tuesday 5 October 18.30 Jarvis Hall, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London W1
Tickets cost £7 / £4 RIBA members and students. To book please go to www.riba-gallery.com or call 020 7307 3699.

'From Fantasy to Reality' Peter Cook

Founding member of Archigram, Professor Peter Cook will discuss the architectural drawing as a means of expression, as an alternative to the architect's idealised dream of the perfect client, fantastical building materials and the ideal site. The fantasy architectural project need not be practical or even buildable and it can provide optimistic visions of the technological advances of the future, an opportunity for architectural flights of fancy. Cook will also discuss his feelings on finally completing a major building himself (with Colin Fournier) the Kunsthaus in Graz, Austria.

'From Fantasy to Reality' Peter Cook Monday 27 September 18.30 Jarvis Hall, Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, W1

Tickets cost £7 or £4 for RIBA members. To book please go to http://www.riba-gallery.com or call 020 7307 3699

welcome...

... to this blog on architecture and design of note, a graphical and image-based supplement to the philosophy of architecture and design weblog.

the intention is to provide links, images and commentary on interesting projects, both real and virtual.

if you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

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