Digital Beijing Energy, Waste & Recycling Beijing, China Studio Pei Zhu, Beijing, China Urbanus, China 2008 World Architecture Festival 2008 - Shortlisted Zhu Pei - Studio Pei Zhu The rapid development of the digital age has greatly impacted our society, our life and the urban realm. If the industrial revolution resulted in modernism, contemporary architecture needs to explore what will form out of the current revolution of information. Beijing’s government has promised the world that the 2008 Olympics will present the highest technological content of any in history. Conceptually, Digital Beijing was developed through reconsideration and reflection on the role of Chinese architecture in the modern information era. Resembling that ubiquitous symbol, the bar code, the building emerges from a serene water surface. Solid and void become a construct to define the relationship between the exterior and interior as well. Digital Beijing is a manifestation of both program and its contemporary context.
From Architecture To Science Fiction - 93 Buildings New trends emerge in architecture. Old styles are left behind and architects now go for the ultra-modern look, the futuristic style of buildings. They shouldn’t be blamed for this, don’t get me wrong, I actually admire this attitude. It’s bold and it must be appreciates because they’re looking ahead in the future and setting some landmarks for the young architects that will come. For us, the humble mortals, they’re offering a great spectacle of shapes and colors, leaving us the opportunity to simply gaze at their brilliant work. You know how in the 90’s, many great architects were gathered in Netherlands to rejuvenate the city with modern buildings? You may have seen some of these buildings, they’re already classics among the fans of conceptual architecture, but I bet that there are some of them that you will see for the first time. Sonnenhof ACME UN Memorial Agora Theatre – Lelystad, Netherlands Air Force Academy Chapel – Colorado, USA Apeiron Hotel – Dubai, UAE Art School – Singapore
BBC blows £220k of licence fee on training staff o use an iPhone | Daily Mail Online 783 employees taught how to use the gadget over a period of three yearsLast year's training figure was £42,000 - which is the lowest so farBBC has spent around £2.5million buying more than 4,000 iPhones, 400 iPads and 800 MacBooks for staff in the previous two years By Amanda Williams for MailOnline Published: 08:38 GMT, 13 October 2014 | Updated: 10:03 GMT, 13 October 2014 The BBC has spent more than £220,000 on iPhone lessons for staff. Figures have revealed the corporation spent licence fee payers' money teaching 783 employees how to properly use the gadget over a period of three years. This works out at a cost of nearly £300 per person. The BBC has spent more than £220,000 on iPhone lessons for staff. Earlier this year it was revealed that the BBC spent around £2.5million buying more than 4,000 iPhones, 400 iPads and 800 MacBooks for staff in the previous two years The BBC spent around £2.5million buying more than 4,000 iPhones, 400 iPads and 800 MacBooks for staff i
Crime-fighting surveillance planes provoke privacy controversy 12 October 2014Last updated at 19:41 ET By Ed Ram BBC News WATCH: How US surveillance planes are able to spot murders on the streets A US company has developed a way to monitor entire neighbourhoods, using a technology originally developed for the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bang. Such killings happen almost every day in the US - and when no witnesses come forward, it can be hard and very costly to convict the perpetrators. Now, one company says it has an answer. By flying a special manned plane over a city, Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS) says it is able to view and record everything that is happening on the ground across a 25-mile (40km) area. Rigged with 12 high-resolution cameras, a spliced together picture of a sort of "live Google Earth" map is beamed down from the aircraft to analysts. The PSS named the high-resolution camera system mounted on the plane Hawkeye II A 600Mbps down link transmits images from the plane to the PSS command centre "Threat to democracy"
Transparent S-House leaves little to the imagination The S-House, by Yuusuke Karasawa Architects (Photo: Koichi Torimura) Image Gallery (42 images) Even in a city that boasts an above-average proportion of quirky homes, Tokyo's S-House, by Japanese architect Yuusuke Karasawa, stands out from the crowd. View all Completed earlier this year and located near Omiya train station in Saitama, Tokyo, the S-House takes up a physical footprint of 50 sq m (538 sq ft) in a narrow plot surrounded by other houses. "I'm trying to present [S-House] as a prototype of architectural space suitable for the age of the network and information," explains Karasawa (via Google Translate). Though the occupant would definitely need to be the outgoing type, the master bedroom and bathroom are located in a basement that's sunk a little beneath street level, so aren't quite as subject to prying eyes as its design would suggest. Source: Yuusuke Karasawa Architects via Dezeen Share About the Author All articles by Adam Williams Post a CommentRelated Articles
15 Most Futuristic Architecture Projects of Zaha Hadid Zaha Hadid is a name that is synonymous with stunning design and innovative architecture. She was the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize way back in 2004. With over 950 projects that are spread across 44 countries, it has become a trusted brand that is easily recognized and is revered in the world of architecture. Over the years Zaha Hadid Architects produced some of the most amazing and futuristic buildings ever conceived. Design for the BEKO Building in Belgrade (BI) From United States to the Far East, from the affluent Middle East to the heart of modern London, you can today see the works of this ingenious architect all across the globe. London Aquatics Center While Zaha Hadid Architects might have come up with far more amazing buildings with fascinating form, the London Aquatics Center is unarguably the most viewed. An undulating roof sweeps up from the ground as a wave, enclosing the pools of the Center with its unifying gesture. Heydar Aliyev Center, Azerbaijan
Tomorrow's cities - what happens when lights go out? In the first of an eight week series of articles about how technology is changing our cities, Jane Wakefield asks whether a city that is plugged into the network is vulnerable to hackers. The nightmare scenario that has had government leaders and city bosses biting their fingernails for decades has come true. Chicago has been hacked. The traffic lights have ceased to function, leaving roads in chaos. The city has no electricity. It is in the hands of the hackers. If the scenario sounds far-fetched, you'd be right - for now at least. It is in fact just a scene from recently released video game Watch Dogs, which features a near-future Chicago in which players control Aiden Pearce, a highly skilled hacker who can break into the urban operating system that controls the infrastructure of the city. But as cities become ever more connected to the network, with sensors in everything, including the roads, traffic lights and even the bins, could it really happen? Cities under attack Source: F-Secure
Interstellar (2014) Movie Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here. Untitled Steven Spielberg Space Travel Project Post-Production: Filming completed; editing sound, music and effects as of December 14, 2013. Storyline The film will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding. A sci-fi film that delves into Caltech physicist Kip Thorne's theories of gravity fields. Additional Notes: The script is based on scientific theories developed by a Kip Thorne, a theoretical physicist, a gravitational physicist and astrophysicist at Caltech. The film will be co-produced and distributed by two studios, with Paramount Pictures handling Domestic distribution and Warner Bros. Few details are known about Matthew McConaughey's character,
We’ve made the Ebola crisis worse So why was this epidemic not contained long ago, like previous ones? It didn’t help that it hit countries with few medics: Liberia was left with only 30 doctors when its civil war ended in 2003, compared with 2,000 beforehand. It is also down to the poorly resourced countries to report outbreaks; this one was not identified until March, three months after the first victim is thought to have caught Ebola from a fruit bat. But previous, controlled episodes of the plague also occurred in poor African countries. This time, however, the world was slow to react. That may have reflected budget cuts. $1 billion from its planned two-year budget. This week, the Commons International Development Committee condemned the Government for cutting aid to Liberia and Sierra Leone, saying this may have helped compromise their health systems. In all, the crisis has revealed huge deficiencies in how the world responds to epidemics. New houses mustn’t ruin our glorious old towns
Sustainable, economical and architecturally inspiring: the rise of timber as a modern construction material | Construction Global Sustainable, economical and architecturally inspiring: the rise of timber as a modern construction material Timber is often regarded as one of the most sustainable materials for mainstream construction projects, while at the same time often criticised as being expensive and architecturally restrictive. Yet new thinking has meant timber can now be approached as an economically viable option for large scale projects that does not mean sacrificing on architectural creativity. Leading the way in a new timber revolution is cross-laminated timber (CLT). Layers of softwood timber planks, of varying thickness (between approximately 20mm and 50mm), are glued and pressed together at right angles to each other. In illustrating just how economical, sustainable and creative timber can be, we believe the recent work completed by Ramboll at William Perkin High School in West London offers a clear example of why timber should now be a serious contender when selecting building materials. Sustainability
Tomorrow's cities: How the Venus Project is redesigning the future 25 August 2013Last updated at 19:34 ET Is it possible to create a radically different society? One where material possessions are unnecessary, where buildings are created in factories, where mundane jobs are automated? Would you want to live in a city where the main aim of daily life is to improve personal knowledge, enjoy hobbies, or solve problems that could be common to all people in order to improve the standard of living for everyone? Some may think it is idealistic, but 97-year old architect Jacque Fresco is convinced his vision of the future is far better than how we live today. Continue reading the main story To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed. All CGI images copyright the Venus Project. Audio by Jane Wakefield. Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Related: Tomorrow's cities: The city of 2050 Tomorrow's cities: Do you want to live in a smart city? The Venus Project More audio slideshows: The man who built the Dome