http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/ Full issue contents of ArchitectureWeek - The magazine of design and building en-us Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss ArchitectureWeek Editorial System editor@architectureweek.com editor@architectureweek.com http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/news_1-1.html In celebration of Earth Day, the Committee on the Environment COTE of the American Institute of Architects annually selects ten buildings that demonstrate exemplary "green" design and construction methods. The AIA's 2006 "Top Ten Green" buildings successfully integrate architecture, technology, and natural systems. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/news_1-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/news_2-1.html In an age when sleek glass and steel seem to dominate design headlines, there is still room for creativity in the venerable media of stone and tile. To celebrate accomplishments with these materials, the international trade show and conference "Coverings," managed by National Trade Productions and sponsored by several industry associations, recently presented the winners of two awards programs. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/news_2-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/news_3-1.html Jane Jacobs, who turned 20thcentury modernist urban thinking on its head in 1961 with the publication of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, died last week in Toronto, nine days shy of her 90th birthday. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/news_3-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/design_1-1.html Contemporary residences by Australian and New Zealand architects share several common themes, most notably a sense of environmental stewardship and a desire to blend with the surrounding landscape, whether it's a historic urban street or a protected coastline. These architects favor indooroutdoor rooms and often zone houses into pavilions. "Green" features abound, including natural ventilation, use of natural materials, photovoltaic panels, and rainwater collection systems. And often, the location itself is spectacular and framed in views from the interior. Editor Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/design_1-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/design_2-1.html From the New York brownstone to the Shanghai shop house, the rowhouse enjoys widespread success as an urban housing type. A midrise infill development in Buenos Aires, designed by Argentinean firm Canda Gazaneo Unga, illustrates the rich potential of this type, translating it into an elegant modern idiom and configuring it to achieve contemporary urban densities. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/design_2-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/design_3-1.html On a former industrial site in East London, overlooking the Limehouse Cut canal, renowned housing designers Jestico Whiles have completed work on Abbotts Wharf, a landmark housing development. It is situated in the ethnically diverse regeneration area known as Limehouse, an upandcoming neighborhood with commuter links and views to the center of London. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/design_3-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/building_1-1.html When you hear "modular classroom building," what do you think of Cheap gray boxes on cinderblocks Tacky trailers covered with vinyl "brick" siding Such makeshift classrooms can be seen next to schools and colleges all across the United States temporary solutions to space shortages that seem to hang around for years. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/building_1-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/building_2-1.html Thousands of years ago, a primitive mortar helped transform a pile of stones into an enclosure of habitable space. Since then, a complex interweaving of technical and social change has continually redefined the way we build, culminating in the modern practice of architecture and building design. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/building_2-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/building_3-1.html Whipped by winds on a mountain slope in northern Pakistan, Graham Saunders moves carefully amid the shattered remains of a mudwalled village, surveying the damage caused by a powerful earthquake in October, 2005. Sliding a digital camera from his hip pocket, he photographs each pile of splintered timber and stone. As an architect who has encountered many similar scenes for the last decade, his mind is already on what it will take to rebuild here. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/building_3-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/tools_1-1.html In the fall of 2004, Google acquired Keyhole, a global satellite imaging program that offers users anything from an astronaut's view of the earth down to a bird's eye view of a taxi doubleparked in a city street. But unlike some computer software that stagnates after being acquired, this product, now dubbed "Google Earth," has only become better. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/tools_1-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/tools_2-1.html In my thirdyear architectural design studio at the California Polytechnic State University, assignments are crafted to encourage students to refine skills in both digital and analog media physical modeling and traditional drawings to allow them to see the advantages and disadvantages of both, to develop a critical attitude toward media, and to develop a design project using these tools. Early design exercises are exploratory, and students are encouraged to use formZ for its iterative ability and its facility in generating rich graphic vocabularies that suggest spatial character and experience. This is balanced with physicalmodel building and traditional drawings to sort out issues of scale and siting. Later exercises require students to translate early vocabularies into functional building elements. Associate Professor Thomas Fowler, IV Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/tools_2-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/environment_1-1.html Fiftyoneyearold Kengo Kuma, among the bestknown Japanese architects of his generation, tends to use each of his residential commissions to explore a single building material. In a dense Tokyo neighborhood, for example, he designed the socalled Plastic House. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/environment_1-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/environment_2-1.html As a noted architectural experimenter, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was a natural choice as keynote speaker to open the studentrun HOPES Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability conference for 2006 in April. Now in its 12th year, the conference weaves together a mix of architectural scholars, practitioners, and students to promote a deeper understanding of sustainable design issues. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/environment_2-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/culture_1-1.html Volunteers of all types dedicate themselves to improving the human condition. Some architects, for instance, donate their time pro bono to groups that could otherwise not afford the design and advocacy services needed to improve their built environments. Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/culture_1-1.html http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/culture_2-1.html When Germanborn architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the famous twintower Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago, these modern icons, also known as the "Glass Houses," took their place in line along a lakefront history exhibit of the city's residential architecture. Editor Wed, 31 May 2006 23:59:00 GMT http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2006/0531/culture_2-1.html