architecture

Brick

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Brick, William Hall, with introductory essay by Dan Cruickshank, ISBN: 9780714868813

Brick, William Hall, with introductory essay by Dan Cruickshank, ISBN: 9780714868813

Brick is book of photographs of buildings made from bricks. It is one of a series of architecture books produced by Phaidon that focus on a specific material (Wood and Concrete are others in the series). The book is much more interesting than if sounds. It features amazing buildings of from Cathedrals to Industrial chimneys from around the world including some that are hundreds of years old.

The video below gives a glimpse inside the book.

The Wonderful Barn, Kildare

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The Wonderful Barn

The Wonderful Barn

The Wonderful Barn is an unusual and striking structure, based on the design of an Indian rice store. Built as a poverty relief project funded by John Glin of the Castletown estate, and therefore of historical and social interest, the conical grain store is one of only two in the country and has interesting details such as the external stone stairs and unusually-shaped openings.

Images via Diggy's Way of Seeing Text quoted from The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Guillermo Kuitca

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I've mentioned Guillermo Kuitca a number of times on this blog before and here are a couple of videos I've come across today. The first is Kuitca's piece Stage Fright which is described on Youtube as "animation for Kuitca's Show at Gallery Met at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. 2007". The piece relates to the artist's series of "drawings" involving inkjet prints of coloured theatre seating plans being dipped in water of varying temperatures.  The second is the first of a three part conversation between Kuitca and the curator Douglas Dreishpoon Albright at Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo NY. The other two parts can be found on this youtube profile.

Mafoombey - Acoustic Space

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Mafoombey is a cardboard space for listening to music designed by Martti Kalliala & Esa Ruskeepää.

"The structure consists of 720 hand-cut pieces of cardboard sliced horizontally, then stacked on top of each other with no adhesive. It was designed using 3D modelling and scale models with the help of architect friend Martin Lukasczyk. The space includes a sitting area for two to three people and a DVD player to play music. Energy-saving lights and surround-sound speakers are built into the 360-layered structure, with one central wire leading out to plug in for electricity.

The cardboard was donated to the students from Finnish paper manufacturer Stora Enso, in whose factory the students cut the pieces with a controlled knife cutter one-by-one. The design won the competition and was built, becoming the first built project for the 26-year old architects."

More info and pictures here

Slime Mould Imitates Tokyo Rail System

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"The researchers decided to task the slime mold with a problem human designers had already tackled. They placed oat flakes (a slime mold favorite) on agar plates in a pattern that mimicked the locations of cities around Tokyo and impregnated the plates with P. polycephalum at the point representing Tokyo itself. They then watched the slime mold grow for 26 hours, creating tendrils that interconnected the food supplies. Different plates exhibited a range of solutions, but the visual similarity to the Tokyo rail system was striking in many of them"

Via boingboing

Serious Studio Space Problems in Dublin

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The Irish Times have an article today about the objection proposed demoliton of the Hendron Building which houses artist's studios including Broadstone Studios. The article claims 60 studios will be lost. (This figure seems a little high - I hope there has been a mistake though there certainly will be a substantial amount of studios lost).

Pallas Studios will be forced to leave their building on Foley St. in February resulting in the loss of a further 14 studios (including my own). Some of these studios are shared by more than one artist . If the Times' figure is correct there will be more than 74 artists in need of studio space in Dublin in the near future!

The proposed development of the site of the Hendron Building is to include "a gallery or studio" but these seems a perfuctory concession and I am sceptical as to how substantial this will actually be. The fact that they are unclear as to whether it will be studio space or a gallery shows this has not been thought through. I imagine this will either materialise as a very commercial painting shop or will be dropped from the plans entirely.

A 14-storey "landmark" building at the centre of the site, which is on a hill, would be visible from the city quays.

The proposed scheme does contain plans for an artists studio or gallery, however it is primarily a residential and office development.

Labour city councillor Emer Costello, who lodged a joint objection with Labour TD Joe Costello, said the inclusion of the studio or gallery space was "sheer tokenism" and the height of the 14-storey tower was excessive.

"The Broadstone Studios is currently home to 60 artists studios and gallery space on this site with 10,00 square feet. These studios are very successful and make a significant contribution to the local community."

Ms Costello said she was also concerned about the inclusion of an aparthotel. Plans for the restaurant appeared to be more of a "communal dining room for the aparthotel than an actual restaurant local people could frequent".

© 2008 The Irish Times

Full article here

Image: High Hopes by Lee Welch