These Architects Are Using Video Games to Rethink Modern Living. In November 2018, a 66-year-old man named Tommy Thompson was wheeled into Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt’s courtroom in Columbus, Ohio, clad in a dark blue suit and looking like he had just served four years in federal prison. Thompson’s hair, once thick black curls, had given way to a bald pate, and with a long white beard and piercing eyes, he looked like a slightly hairier Christopher Lee, the actor who played the wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings. Throughout the trial, Judge Blunt interrupted Thompson’s testimony to reprimand him for veering wildly off course. Thompson had long insisted that he suffers from neurological problems and chronic fatigue syndrome, which impairs his memory, and that his meandering explanations were a symptom of the distress foisted upon him.
But Judge Blunt, like other officials who’d presided over civil and criminal cases against Thompson, claimed that his malingering was the maneuvering of a hyper-intelligent con man. “We’ve found it. In July 2012, U.S. The Case for Making Cities Out of Wood - Nautilus - Pocket. An Alphabet subsidiary is planning to build a futuristic neighborhood, not out of concrete and steel, but wood—and wood is looking good.
Photo by Daici Ano / Flickr. In 2018, Dan Doctoroff, the C.E.O. of Sidewalk Labs, Google’s sibling company under Alphabet, answered a question about what his company “actually does” during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session, replying, “The short answer is: We want to build the first truly 21st-century city.” Quayside, a Toronto neighborhood the company is developing in partnership with a Canadian tri-government agency, is the first step toward Doctoroff’s goal. It has been in the news because it could inspire a Black Mirror plot: It will be built from “the Internet up,” according to a project document, a merger of “physical and digital realms.”
Fittingly, according to the New York Times, “No obvious way to opt out of Quayside’s surveillance systems exists, except by staying out of the area.” “Our proposal is that we need timber to save us.”
Buildings Can Be Designed to Withstand Earthquakes. Why Doesn’t the U.S. Build More of Them? When the shaking started at 5:46 a.m., Yasuhisa Itakura, an architect at a big Japanese construction company in Kobe, was sitting at his desk finishing a report he had toiled over all night. His office swayed, but the books stayed on their shelves and nothing fell off his desk. “I thought to myself, this earthquake is not that big,” Mr. Itakura said. It was, in fact, catastrophic. Mr. The technique that protected Mr. Chile, China, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Turkey and other countries vulnerable to earthquakes have adopted the technologies to varying degrees.
But with notable exceptions, including Apple’s new headquarters in Silicon Valley, the innovations have been used only sparingly in the United States. Earthquakes are of course natural phenomena. Japan, through both government mandates and its engineering culture, builds stronger structures capable of withstanding earthquakes and being used immediately afterward. “Do we want to be more like Japan and are we willing to pay the price?” Mr. Why are the public restroom stalls in America built with huge cracks between the door/pieces of wall that people can see right through? Remembering Italian designer Alessandro Mendini. Mathematically perfect rings could soundproof the world. A team of Boston University researchers recently stuck a loudspeaker into one end of a PVC pipe. They cranked it up loud. What did they hear? Nothing. How was this possible? Did they block the other end of the pipe with noise canceling foams or a chunk of concrete? No, nothing of the sort. The pipe was actually left open save for a small, 3D-printed ring placed around the rim.
Dubbed an “acoustic meta-material,” the ring was printed from a mathematically modeled design, shaped in such a way that it can catch certain frequencies passing through the air and reflect them back toward their source. The implications for architecture and interior design are remarkable, because these metamaterials could be applied to the built environment in many different ways. The researchers also believe that HVAC systems could be fitted with these silencers, and drones could have their turbines muted with such rings. Are you a robot?
How to build a skyscraper out of wood. Sign Up for Our free email newsletters Building skyscrapers out of wood: It sounds bizarre, unsafe, maybe even a bit twee. But it could actually be the future of construction. "Each material has its different pros and cons, and there's no reason that timber shouldn't be part of that larger discussion," Todd Snapp, an architect with the global firm Perkins + Will, told The Week. Snapp is the design principal guiding the firm's River Beech Tower project, an 800-foot residential skyscraper that would be built almost entirely out of wood. (Artist's rendering of the River Beech Tower project. Granted, River Beech Tower remains purely conceptual — a collection of designs and models, with no actual plans yet to build it.
Nor is it the only such effort. Perkins + Will actually got its start in Chicago back in 1935. But why the effort in the first place? For one thing, wood is lighter and more flexible than steel or concrete. On top of that, timber is a cash crop, just like corn or potatoes. Why do all new apartment buildings look the same? A wave of sameness has washed over new residential architecture. U.S. cities are filled with apartment buildings sporting boxy designs and somewhat bland facades, often made with colored panels and flat windows. Due to an Amazon-fueled apartment construction boom over the last decade, Seattle has been an epicenter of this new school of structural simulacra.
But Seattle is not alone. Nearly every city, from Charlotte to Minneapolis, has seen a proliferation of homogenous apartments as construction has increased again in the wake of the financial recession. A Twitter query seeking to name this ubiquitous style was a goldmine. Some suggestions seemed inspired by the uniformity of design in computer programs and games: Simcityism, SketchUp contemporary, Minecraftsman, or Revittecture. Some took potshots at the way these buildings looked value-engineered to maximize profit: Developer modern, McUrbanism, or fast-casual architecture. It boils down to code, costs, and craft. Architecture student | Architecture student's life | Pinterest | Architecture student, Architecture and School Architecture.
The battle to curb our appetite for concrete. Image copyright Getty Images We extract billions of tonnes of sand and gravel each year to make concrete for the building industry, and this is having an increasing environmental impact as beaches and river beds are stripped, warn campaigners. Alongside this environmental damage, the building industry is also a major contributor to greenhouse gases - cement manufacturing alone accounts for 7% of global CO2 emissions.
In many countries, sand is often extracted illegally from beaches or river beds. But once sand is taken from a river, the water flow can become faster and more violent - and the water table alongside a river will fall, affecting farming along the river bank. Dredging beaches for sand increases coastal communities' vulnerability to storm damage - because sandy beaches act as sponges absorbing a storm's excess energy - something that is increasingly likely because of climate change. So far our appetite for sand and gravel shows no sign of slowing down. Image copyright John Orr. What Architecture Learned From TB Hospitals. Since the widespread use of antibiotics to treat tuberculosis started in the 1950s, most people have forgotten about the disease that was, at one point, the deadliest illness in America. But go back two or three generations in your own family, and chances are, you’ll find at least one relative who was affected by tuberculosis, also known as consumption or “the white plague.”
Death rates from TB peaked in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, exacerbated by overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and poor nutrition. Between 1810 and 1815, the disease accounted for more than 25 percent of deaths in New York City. In 1900, it was still the country’s third most common cause of death. Robert Koch discovered the tubercle bacillus in 1882.
As germ theory became better understood, medical professionals knew that isolation was key to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. A person’s best hope for recovery was to live somewhere with plenty of fresh air, sunlight, rest, and nourishing food. Feed. Demand for tiny homes is getting bigger. More than half of Americans would consider living in a home that's less than 600 square feet, according to a survey done by the National Association of Home Builders. And among Millennials, interest increases to 63%. "Tiny is inevitable," says Soren Rose, founder of Klein, which in 2017 began seeking out renowned architects to design tiny prefab homes. While tiny homes are attractive and novel, there are some design and logistical challenges. Rose says that it will take the combination of form, function and freedom for tiny to take off on a wider scale.
"You see these amazing tiny houses in magazines and on television programs, but you can't really buy them," says Rose. David Latimer, a tiny home designer and owner of New Frontier Tiny Homes in Nashville, says the challenges to wider acceptance of tiny homes is also procedural. But with some design enhancements and evolutions in financing and zoning, the tipping point to a wider acceptance of tiny living may be coming. Architect designed. How to make cities more walkable. You’ve probably seen the term “walkability” thrown around in relation to cities, neighborhoods, and even apartments. A city’s walkability, per Walk Score, is determined by analyzing how many errands can be done without a car, and cities with the highest scores (like Boston, New York, and San Francisco) often come with an incredibly steep cost of living.
On Walk Score’s one to 100 scale that evaluates cities with a population of 200,000 or more, New York City is the most walkable city in the country with a score of 89, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, is the least walkable with a score of 29. The average walk score of all American cities with a population of over 200,000 is 49. Walkability is treated as a static part of a city; your city is either walkable or not. You either need a car or you don’t.
But a city’s walkability is dynamic and can be improved with people-oriented city planning, which will benefit the local economy and make societies more equitable. Thaler Explains How "Choice Architecture" Makes the World a Better Place. GSky Plant Systems, Inc. - The leading provider of Green Walls in North America. Could A Tiny Mobile Studio Solve Your Housing Crisis? : All Tech Considered. A startup in Austin, Texas, has built the prototype of a tiny home that could stack up, in a "rack," and move when you do. Kasita hide caption itoggle caption Kasita A startup in Austin, Texas, has built the prototype of a tiny home that could stack up, in a "rack," and move when you do. Kasita If you travel for work — and you're tired of living out of a suitcase, renting rooms and sharing bathrooms with grungy roommates — there's a man in Austin, Texas, who has a possible solution.
Jeff Wilson gives me a tour of the first prototype. It's a steel box, about 10 by 20 feet. The Kasita unit comes with a washer and dryer, dishwasher and subwoofer. The Kasita unit comes with a washer and dryer, dishwasher and subwoofer. The Kasita does not have a walk-in closet. "This is really the personal expression space," Wilson says. Wilson has a vision: that this little Kasita will be just one unit in a vast global network.
He's already leased the land for a rack in Austin. He doesn't buy it. How Self-Assembling Granular Materials Are Changing the Future of Architecture. Architecture is a conservative discipline, not least because of the exacting standards of stability and safety that all human-made structures must adhere to. The forces acting on and within any structure must be carefully calculated and the design modified accordingly. Little can be left to chance. At least, that’s the traditional view. But some designers are toying with another idea—that there’s a different way to build that exploits randomness rather than avoids it. This kind of building will rely on new kinds of granular materials that when tipped into place, bind together in ways that provide structural stability. That may sound like science fiction but today Sean Keller at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and Heinrich Jaeger at the University of Chicago explain how this kind of “aleatory architecture” is finally becoming possible.
First some background. More interesting is the way they bear loads. There is downside though. Mountain Cottage | TKP Architects. ← Go Back Mountain Cottage © 2015 TKP Architects pc. Own Less, Live More - Slide Show. Early in their marriage, Lily Copenagle and Jamie Kennel began crafting a simple idea: creating a home that was just big enough for the two of them, so they didn’t have to waste time or money maintaining it and they could focus on other things.
They also wanted it to be environmentally sustainable, and they knew that reusing stormwater would help them save money. So a rain scupper made of galvanized aluminum and muffler tape feeds water to the bamboo plants that offer privacy on the street-facing side of the house. While living small has its share of vocal advocates, it is still underrepresented in the American housing market, and even the architects the couple interviewed balked at the idea, said Ms. Copenagle (shown with Mr. Kennel). “They kept telling us, ‘You really don’t want this.’” “We can certainly afford a bigger place with a higher price tag,” Ms. The dogs share the sleeping space, which can be closed off from the main living area with a curtain. MVRDV - PROJECTS. Dumpster swimming pools on Park Avenue Yahoo! Green.url. Residential.url.
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THE small HOUSE CATALOG. City of Tomorrow. Painted Joists Basement Design Ideas, Pictures, Remodel and Decor. Sarah Susanka's secrets to a Goldilocks house that's not too big, not too small, but just right for you. In pictures: World Architecture Festival 2014 shortlist. Qatar Reveals World Cup Designs. Kingdom Tower. New contemporary home in Lawrenceville offers lots of nods to older buildings. Small House Society. Sustainable Living and Tiny House Resources - Treading TINY. Tiny Home Builders. THE small HOUSE CATALOG.