Amazon in Seattle

NBBJ designed Amazon’s Seattle Headquarters in 2012, but now they added three biospheres to as the “heart” of its high-rise complex in Seattle’s Denny Triangle. Planned for employees only, the bold-designed spheres drew instant reaction, from online comments and at a public hearing before a city design review board. Each sphere features five floors of flexible work space totaling 65,000 square feet and would be capable of accommodating mature trees, according to plans.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/sphere-shaped-offices-for-amazon-seattle-nbbj/

Ideal Elements

In the building industry, granite and marble are very commonly used, and yet often, with a lot of confusion. While they are both slabs cut from blocks of stones—both hard, both attractive and both workable into many surface elements—their qualities and applications can be quite different. Here are a few nuggets on what makes them so...
http://business.inquirer.net/68175/stepping-onto-the-benefits-of-marble-and-granite

the Authentic Materials

The restoration and conservation of stone monuments is a complicated multi-disciplinary task and the decisions finally reached must be based on a firm and detailed knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of both the authentic materials and the substitute stones. In this volume, scientists from different disciplines (Structural Engineers, Archaeologists, Architects, Chemical Engineers, Geologists) present their experience and their scientific work in progress concerning the properties of a series of stones that have been used for the erection of some of the most important stone monuments of the international cultural heritage and are used today for substitution of missing parts or completion of damaged ones. http://books.google.gr/books?id=GM47EQvTXeEC&dq=structure+and+failure+by+kourkoulis&hl=el&sa=X&ei=5LClUZLrMtOd0wWcpICoCw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA
 

The 7th Continent

The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean has been increased a hundred times over the past 40 years accumulating and forming what we know as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a great hazard to the earth ecosystems balance.
http://www.evolo.us/featured/the-7th-continent-kinetic-islands-clean-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/

Sculpture of Tomorrow

Sculpture is an international, monthly magazine dedicated to all forms of contemporary sculpture. It contains provocative criticisms, knowledgeable technical discussions and timely exploration of new materials and techniques. The members’ edition of Sculpture includes the Insider newsletter, which contains information on professional employment, commissions, and exhibition opportunities for sculptors and On Record (announcements of members’ accomplishments).
http://www.sculpture.org/redesign/mag.shtml

The value of Stone Education

On April 12, 2013, TexaStone Quarries hosted students from Texas Tech University and members of the West Texas Chapter of AIA. This event was part of the Building Stone Institute (BSI) Designer Education Series, featuring four AIA Continuing Education Units. The event also drew stone companies from Colorado, Idaho and Indiana.
http://www.stoneworld.com/articles/87538-texastone-quarries-hosts-stone-extravaganza

Construction Sector in Poland

Poland is coming off the biggest construction boom in its thousand-year history and it does have a lot of roads to show for the effort – but there is one stark gap: Poland has not managed to produce any significant construction companies.
The picture is dire. The construction sector’s share of the economy is plunging – down by 14 per cent as a share of value added to the economy since 2011; employment is flat and likely to fall; industry sentiment is gloomy; and the construction sector’s returns on the Warsaw Stock Exchange have plunged.
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/12/poland-lots-of-construction-but-where-are-the-companies/#axzz2ToLxmARk

Warriors

The Golden State Warriors recently announced that Snøhetta and AECOM have been selected as the architecture team to design the Warriors’ new sports and entertainment complex on the San Francisco waterfront.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/circular-stadium-for-the-golden-state-wariors-sn%c3%b8hetta-aecom/

Grand Canopy

Successful collaboration between US firms SO-IL and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson resulted with a winning proposal – Grand Canopy was awarded first prize on a competition to design an art museum at the University of California’s Davis campus. Their design envisions uniting indoor and outdoor spaces beneath a large steel roof – the canopy. Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art is therefore conceived as a landscape of galleries and workshops, referencing the flat plains of California’s Central Valley.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/grand-canopy-wins-the-competition-for-the-art-museum/

Terra in Crete

Terra Insola is an architectural workshop taking place this summer (2013) in Crete, Greece. This workshop will have four areas of development: theoretical, computational, material fabrication and film documentation:
• Research (material in situ expertise, know-how, political and cultural involvements, rituals, literature, mythology, extraction-transformation, symbiosis)
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/terra-insola-architectural-workshop-in-crete-greece/

Morpholio Project

The Morpholio Project unveils seven new and forward thinking design tools with the launch of Morpholio 2.0, the App Store’s number one portfolio app. The app re-imagines the portfolio as a design utility, moving it into the fast, flexible, at-your-fingertips device era. The project seeks to advance the ways that creatives access, share, discuss, and get feedback on their work from a global community of users.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/morpholio-2-0-7-new-tools-for-the-creative-world/

a Uniqueness Approach

Elegant design of the Taiwanese Tower, designed by Decode Urbanism Office is derived from natural parameters of the wind combined with the characteristics of the base. Designed as landmark architecture, the tower stands out due to its uniqueness and progressive approach. The façade of the high-rise is innovative – composed of multiple wind-driven generators supported by the structure. When the generator rotates, the façade changes along and the amount of produced energy is sufficient for the whole tower.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/taiwanese-wind-tower-by-decode-urbanism-office/