a Seagull!!!

RMJM Istanbul has been shortlisted in a global competition to design the iconic 95m high Airport Traffic Control (ATC) Tower of Istanbul New Airport, due to open in 2018. Inspired by authentic symbols of Turkey, the competition saw applications from many renowned international design brands, including RMJM Istanbul.

http://www.evolo.us/architecture/airport-traffic-control-tower-that-looks-like-a-seagull/

Greece, Spain, Italy and UK

The ancient staute was located in the middle of the old town, on a podium, with its legs closed. The project doesn’t want to present again a copy of the original structure, 4o meters tall, made of bronze, but to make the visitor shiver and feel the same identical emotions that his ancestors felt looking at it for the first time, more than 2200 years ago. To recrate those feelings, the structure must be unique and original. The project considers a brand new position, not in the middle of the city, but outside its walls, as a new voice, a new point of reference for the ships at night time. The construction will exploit the most recent technologies, employing energy from renewable sources and “intelligent systems” to prevent the consequences of earthquakes and wind forces, providing reliability and flexibility. The structure will be completely sustainable, with a hughe contribution in preventing pollution. The external surface will be entirely covered with solar panels, thus being one of the first buildings of its kind, a technological achievement of our times.

http://colossusrhodes.com/colossus_of_rhodes_project/

Languedoc Roussillion

http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/26/languedoc-roussillion-photography-of-natural-stone-competition/

Aequorea

Hi People of the Land,

My name is Océane. I'm 15 years old. I'm an aquanaut teen. I was born in immersion in 2050 in an underwater farm called "Aequorea" off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Bio-inspired, the farm draws its name from a bioluminescent, light-emitting jellyfish characterized by its articulated, webbed tentacles. These tentacles enable it to swim and ensure its stability, while producing its own energy.

http://vincent.callebaut.org/page1-img-aequorea.html
 

Mosaics

Hall 1 of the Trade Fair showed ideas by international designers for natural stone in pavement

„Carpets of Stone“ was the name of the presentation within the framework of Marmomacc 2015’s „Italian Stone Theatre“. Curators Raffaello Galiotto and Vincenzo Pavan had invited international designers to develop ideas for pavement in natural stone.
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/23/marmomacc-2015-carpets-of-stone/
 

Keep Safety Active

30 minute online tuition about daily hazards encountered in the stone and ceramic tile industry and how to avoid them
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/22/keep-safety-active-webinar-available-in-mia-bookstore/

VERTIGO

Architects and designers are busy developing new ideas for the upwardly mobile in stone, e.g. stone steps

 

„Lithic Vertigo“ was the title one of the Marmomacc 2015’s „Italian Stone Theatre“-presentations. The stage was set for architects and designers in the process of reaching upward – a constant challenge. Natural stone is ideal for the job: every era has its typical and representative stairwells.
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/20/marmomacc-2015-lithic-vertigo/
 

the Architecture of Tristan

 

 

http://www.naturkundemuseum.berlin/
 

architectural education philosophy

This project aims to find a methodology for the creation of contemporary architecture within an existing traditional settlement. Key component is everything new to emerge from the existing structures, change according to its needs and transform the old, forming an organic relationship between them.
As a settlement example was chosen the area of Moutallo's in the city of Paphos and in which the construction of an architectural school is been proposed. Moutallo's was the Turkish Cypriot city district and has a long history that starts from the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottomans in 1951 AD. Through a turbulent history culminated by the Turkish invasion in 1974, was abandoned by the Turkish Cypriots and was finally inhabited by Greek Cypriot refugees.

http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/projects2015/school-of-architecture-mouttallos-id10617

Contemporary Archetypes

In Lloyd Alter’s preface in the book [ours] Hyperlocalization of Architecture he quotes Christopher Alexander, “When you building a thing you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must repair the world around it, and within it. So that the larger world at that one place becomes more whole.”
So begins the short film featuring author Andrew Michler who sits down with the journalist of the Dot Earth Blog Andrew Revkin at the New York Time Building, to discuss the concept and projects of hyperlocal architecture. The unscripted discussion explores how contemporary architecture responds to, and transforms, place and synthesize the needs of both people and climate. The conversation explores regions in the book exemplifying innovative design principles, ranging from the tiny homes of Tokyo, to the eclectic and kinetic architecture of Australia.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/new-film-on-hyperlocalization-of-architecture/
 

Central Park in Shamrock Condo, Lima, Peru

First of all the volcano symbolizes the soil destruction of the flowing morphology and changing the landscape into free shapes and forms. And second, the volcano expresses the fertility of natural vital elements such as water and green. The terrain itself is a structure like a flowing skin that generate from the core of the volcano. Finally it represents a "scenographic" topography with the lighting "sparkles" elements.
Furthermore the design for the park is organized in 5 layers...
http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%B9/central-park-in-shamrock-condo-lima-peru-id10620

Yellow Citrine Necklace

 

Film actress and humanitarian, Angelina Jolie Pitt, has made a gift of an extraordinary jewelry to the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection. The 18-karat yellow gold necklace features 64 graduated bezel-set cushion cut citrine gems highlighted by a 177.11-carat pear-shaped citrine drop.

http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/13/yellow-citrine-necklace-donated-to-smithsonian-by-angelina-jolie-pitt/

Πάντων έδος ασφαλές αιεί...

http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/11/peter-randall-page-the-one-and-the-many-at-fitzroy-place-london/

“Hyper Building”

 

Why we still design cities by dividing the ground in urban plots and defining heights for each building? Why don’t we think our cities as a whole, planning them from the three dimensions at the same time, allowing us to define positions freely for our constructions in the space (x,y,z axes).
Let’s think and create new cities in a three dimensional development system that won’t consider the ground as the main one, and will permit to have several of them “floating” on air. That would allow the creation of new green areas on the rooftops, creating new forms of living, working, circulation… and public space relationships.
http://www.evolo.us/competition/already-there/
 

the city from an elevated platform

Jon Sealey, Design Director of Marques and Jordy has submitted proposals to transform Bangkok’s skytrain system.He proposes an elevated bicycle lane coined as “the skyride” which cantilevers from the existing train line structure. “The idea of the skyride is to reduce the congestion on the roads and encourage people to commute to work by cycling.” Explains architect Jon Sealey.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/bangkoks-version-of-new-yorks-highline-seeks-to-invigorate-the-skytrain-system/
 

The global increase of quarried stone amounted to 3.85%

The Italian specialist for statistics ascertains sustained growth while lamenting unused opportunities

Considerable growth in global natural stone trade is the over-all assertion of Dr. Carlo Montani’s bilingual statistical yearbook „XXVI Rapporto marmo e pietre nel mundo 2015 / XXVI Report marble and stones in the world 2015“. 2014 saw an increase of 6.7% over the year prior in exports by tonnage (56.9 million t over all).
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/06/dr-carlo-montanis-xxvi-report-marble-and-stones-in-the-world-stone-branch-in-sustained-bull-market/

Pendant Drops

Mimicking the process of sacred behavioural patterns in religious rituals, the Sikh Temple designed by Maria Esteban Casañas at the Bartlett School of Architecture, proposes a syncretic model of architecture that merges the poetic with the functional through ornamental formation. Originating in two-dimensional patterns, the temple emerges through volumetric transformations that morph Sikh sacred geometry into a three-dimensional inhabitable space. The existing Sikh temples are of rectangular nature, however, this proposes a new typology in which the ceremonial routines in the temple dictate its geometry, such as that of circumambulation.
Source: http://www.evolo.us/architecture/an-architecture-of-pendant-drops/
 

artifacts from the Mayas and Aztecs

Reconstruction of the historic sandstone elements in the façades has reached the halfway mark

It is probably the most ambitious natural stone building site in Europe at the present time: The reconstruction of the Berlin Palace – Humboldtforum will consume some 9.000 m³ of stone over a surface of 22.500 m² heritage façade.
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/03/europes-most-ambitious-stone-building-site-9000-m%c2%b3-sandstone-for-the-berlin-palace-humboldtforum/
 

a ‘bond of excellence’

Thanks to a gift by the Fondation Philanthropia, Latona’s Fountain and Parterre, two masterpieces of the gardens of Versailles, are getting a new lease of life. This exceptional restoration project has taken more than two years and has called upon a remarkable synergy of knowledge.
Created by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Latona’s Fountain is without doubt the most famous work in the gardens of Versailles with its tiered polychrome marble centrepiece, rich sculptures in lead and marble and cleverly designed water jets. Situated in the centre of Le Nôtre’s Grand Perspective, it is also the key structure in the hydraulic system of Versailles.
More than three centuries after its creation, deterioration had affected the fountain and its components. Work on the infrastructures, hydrant system and sculptures was needed urgently. Modifications had affected the structure’s overall stability with impacts on the general watertightness of the pool. Launched in 2013, the work is now complete...
http://presse.chateauversailles.fr/works/restorations/latonas-fountain-brought-back-to-life/
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2015/12/02/exhibit-in-versailles-le-roi-est-mort-commemorating-the-sun-kings-death-300-years-ago/
 

the Works of Architecture

The fragmentary thoughts that follow were motivated by the realisation that the architectural criticism that is levelled today without social, political or professional cost to the critic is only minimally related to the etymology of the word criticism (kritiki).[2] The critical discourse of recent decades does not usually consist of an expression of opinion about works of architecture and architects in order to identify their positive and negative features. Equally rare is the intention to produce "documented evaluation of a work or an artist, i.e. to assess them on the basis of specific criteria."[2] On the contrary, criticism or kritikarisma, which means "the levelling of criticism with the intention of emphasising the negative aspects of the work being judged and of underestimating its positive ones"[3] - has flourished, as has utilitarian[4] commentary, which places the effectiveness or expediency of the argument above truth or a fair assessment, recalling the art of the Sophists in antiquity.[4] Thus it is natural for architectural criticism today to lean in the direction of irrationality, exaggeration, and commentary that is ignorant of history, seeking to make an impression with its rhetoric, but also with its fallacious reasoning, irony, complacency and factionalism. Deconstruction and utilitarianism provide the prevailing moral and philosophical foundations for critical discourse today, which sometimes praises or flatters and at others "pans" people, ideas and works, or treats them unjustly, reflecting the ambitions of those judging and the vested interests of the group to which they belong.
www.greekarchitects.gr