paris paris paris, paris paris pairs, paris paris parissssssssss

So we've been in Paris for around two days, and theres a ton of things that we've seen. To give ya'll and idea, I'll put up some pictures. There will be much more detailed posts perhaps later on. Due to time constraints, this may be all we can do. We'll update consistently and fully upon our return from Paris. In the mean time, just bear with us while we educate and enjoy ourselves in Paris.

More pics after the break!

and we're off!

The writers of this blog are taking a trip to Paris. Provided that we cannot update there, we will post once we get back. Stay tuned for delicious posts of our adventure stories.

the void. the guggenheim.

The void of the Guggenheim has become the setting for a new project. Artists and architects are invited to fill the central atrium of Frank Lloyd Wright's museum. I could go on and on about spaces and voids and their relationships, but what I thought most interesting while looking at the proposals is the relationship between artists and architects. Looking through the proposals, sometimes it isn't immediately apparent which one is by an artist, and which is by an architect.

For anyone who has been to the Guggenheim, the void in the center is a piece of art in itself. The white balconies spirals elegantly up the building, guiding visitor flow around the museum. To change the void would drastically change the visitor experience, because the void is something museum visitors constantly revisit as they move around the exhibits.

It would be incredible to see all these projects built. The vast variety presented in these proposals gives testament to the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright. Contemplating the void suggests that sometimes, creating good spaces may be more important than creating works for them.

Appletopia

Appletopia

Architects like to talk about utopias, dystopias, and occasionally, heterotopias. Some like to think that they can change the world and make it perfect. And while the utopia has yet to be attained, there is one group that has come closer to it than anyone. Since the announcement of the Ipad, something has been stuck in my head. Apple Computers is the the closest thing the world has to a functioning utopia. Explanation:

Like any utopia, there is a man in charge, a man who calls the shots and has the final call. One thing, this dictator’s name is Steve and he wears turtlenecks.

Google Trend Decides

Google trends is possibly the least used feature among the millions that Google now has. It also happens to be the one that I find the most humor in using. It compares the total hits of up to five search items. This can easily be used to decide battles, such as that which is the main focus of this blog: Architecture versus Dinosaurs.

But I decided to utilize my other three search item spots and chose some all-stars from each group: T-Rex, Frank Gehry, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Also, I limited it to the last 12 month period, since around 2005 FLW had a spike which put his data twenty times above that of the next competitor; kudos Mr. Wright, 2005 seemed to have been your year, but it's throwing off my data, so...

The Results...

Architecture Wins

On a relative scale compared to the most popular result:

Architecture (Light Blue) 1.00

Dinosaur (Red) 0.40

T-Rex (Orange) 0.08

Frank Lloyd Wright (Green) 0.06

Frank Gehry (Purple) 0.02

The almost illegible graph Google gives us:

A decisive win for architecture, and an embarrassing loss for dinosaurs, although it is notable that the most popular dinosaur, the t-rex, had 40% more hits than FLW, and 350% more than Frank Gehry. Sorry Mr. Gehry, but your time has come and passed and you're already less popular than a extinct over-sized reptile from 65-68 million years ago, and you're not even dead yet.

RAWR: 1, chitecture: 1

All tied up...

Car-o-saurus

Source

decorated sheds

Extremely well done and entertaining video of a world filled with corporate logos and advertisements

Courtesy of The Awesomer

[link]

duck

recolouring red china

Lately, I have become increasingly aware of and interested in the work of Chinese architect Ma Yansong and his firm MAD architects and recently discovered a little article about them from almost three years back. It discusses Ma's proposal to turn Beijing's Tiananmen square from the stagnant historical-political feature that it currently is into a greener, more lively space that even Beijingers will find reason to check out.

What strikes me most is how poignant the proposal is, not because it represents a major urban makeover, but because it is a serious reassessment of one of the oldest political centres in the world. Furthermore, it is a radical proposal from a Chinese national. As the article mentions, China has recently become the canvas for some of the world's most famous architects to realise their wildest ideas, yet they are mostly westerners who have been given a plot of land to build up and redefine a skyline, but their projects don't really affect common Chinese people. This proposal not only affects all the inhabitants of Beijing, but nearly every citizen of the most populated country in the world. The Chinese government has been able to cover up all infamous images of tanks and protesters and the overwhelming majority of Chinese in China remain oblivious to the events that took place at Tiananmen back in 1989.

Ma establishes that "Our aim is to propose not to criticise, to raise the issue of public space. The way we do our architecture is to show that we can come up with our own solutions. We don't just take orders. That is why we want to show this project to the public first." Unfortunately the government has not allowed Ma to get his wish as they have prohibited images of the proposal from being published, yet I still applaud Ma's efforts to initiate such a radical architectural discourse in China. Hopefully more of his country men follow suit and China's glass skyscrapers will start to give way to more progressive and life bettering projects.

[article]

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This Week In RAWRchitecture: Burj Dubai vs the Brachiosaurus

Burj Dubai
Classification: Skyscraper
Height: 828m
Time to build: Six years

Brachisaurs
Classification: Sauropod
Length: 25m (13m height)
Time to fully grow: 10 years















The Burj Dubai, is now the world's tallest tower. Measuring at 828 meters, it is almost a third taller than the Empire State Building. Designed by SOM, the Burj Dubai tested the limits of architectural engineering and set a design precedent for future towers of this nature. Unlike those that came before it, where height was a condition set before the building begins, the Burj Dubai had an over engineered foundation that allowed its height to be pushed as construction went out.

The Brachisaurs, was, and is still, the tallest creature to walk the earth. Although other dinosaurs may surpass it by weight (more on that in perhaps the later weeks), the Brachisaurs is still the tallest. It is unmatched in terms of height or length, and probably will never be .( Maybe by giant squids, but those only semi-exist)

Size Comparisons

Verdict: Brachiosaurus wins

The Burj Dubai may be the tallest tower now, but projects are already planned to surpass it. Sure, it's an engineering marvel, an astounding display of human achievement, but the Brachiosaurus is the tallest land creature ever to exist, Its a marvel of nature produced by years of evolution. (or intelligent design, whatever you believe in) It represents the perhaps absolute limit of land creature sizes on Earth. Nothing is going to pass it, at least not for another million or so years. Burj Dubai, I'm really happy for you, I'm gonna let you finish, but the Brachiosaurus is the tallest land creature of all time. OF ALL TIME.

RAWR 1 - chitecture 0

Additional Readings

Interview with Bill Baker, Engineering genius on the Burj Dubai

Everything you want to know about the Burj Dubai, plus pictures.

Brachiosaurs

talk like an architect

In my experience, I have found architects to mostly be highly articulate people. However, there are words and phrases that seem to pop up again and again in architecture discourse (or monologue) that seem to have become part of the collective lexicon of architects. For a discipline based on creativity and diversity, such a universal verbal arsenal seems a tad stale. On the flip side, architects also seem justified to make up their own words. Seems fitting given the architect's nature to create original objects/spaces/thoughts out of previously established or fabricated materials/units/concepts. Regardless, if you want to start sounding like an architect, start by using these words to talk about things that not everyone will agree with.

Agglomeration

Anathema

Apotheosis

A priori

Array

Condition

Datum

Dialectic

Dichotomy

Disjunct

Distopia

Fabric

Form

Genius Loci

Heterotopia

Override

Polemic

Proliferation

Relentless

Sensual

Sexy

Simulacrum

System

Texture

Typology

Ubiquitous

Urban - proposition, context, framework...

Utopia

Wack up

Zeitgeist

-opolis

First Post

RAWRchitecture is result of the perfect union of Architecture and Dinosaurs. Many of you may feel that these are two very unrelated things, but we hope to prove you wrong. Through the life of this blog, we will consistently revisit the two main topics of this blog, Architecture and Dinosaurs. For this blog, we have gathered the brightest minds currently residing in Anderson 146/147.