road printer

(via BLDGBLOG)

ENNEAD (formally known as Polshek Partnership)

Yesterday Polshek Partnership announced to the office that the firm will officially change its name to Ennead Architects. Ennead describes the group of nine deities in Egyption mythology but refers to the nine partners of the firm.

The New York Times wrote an article about the firm check it out in “What is a Name? Firm Will Find Out” 

Architect Magazine also has an article but describes how Ennead hopes to “avoid the fate of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, which people still think of as I.M. Pei’s firm, 20 years after Pei retired”.

Also check out the new website. You may even find me in the studio photo!

BP diagrams

I came upon these diagrams of the BP oil spill on today’s NYtimes online coverage.

Also check out these interactive diagrams and other multimedia on the spill.

Kimbell by Khan and Piano

In today’s New York Times, the front page article in the Arts section is an article about the addition that Renzo Piano will propose for the Kimbell Arts Museum by Louis Khan. The article describes the conversation of the addition including the change in promenade that the addition will create, the ghostly duplicate (in plan) that the addition will appear to be, and how the buildings reflect who the respective architect looked up to. While Louis Khan looked up to the architects of antiquity, Renzo Piano worked with Louis Khan early in Piano’s carrer. The question I have for the addition is why the addition is all glass. While the Kimbel Art Museum is careful with its light manipulation, the glass addition is, well, just glass. What do you think?(via the NYTIMES )

Animated Stereoviews of Old Japan

I stumbled upon these animated stereo views of old Japan by Japanese Photographer T. Enami (1859-1929). Simple gif animation that oscillates between the positives of a stereoscopy. I think the digital animation helps the analog stereographic cards without needing immediate use of a stereoscope. What helps one see the power of the stereo views in animation is the extreme contrast between foreground, middle ground, and background. Because the image was taken to show far distances, the parallax shifts show up dramatically in those with extreme contrasts in ground. (from top to bottom “sumo wrestlers”, “clam diggers having lunch”, “along the Fuji River”, “firewood dealers”. via pinktentacle)

Sukkah City: NYC 2010

Perhaps appropriately proceeding Kai’s parametrics blog post, I came across Sukkah City:NYC 2010In an attempt to jump start culture and creative thing, Reboot is organizing Sukkah City:NYC 2010

Sukkah City: NYC 2010 is a competition with parameters as dictated by the old the old testament and reinterpreted by 21st century thinkers.

My favorite rule is “At night, one must be able to see the stars from within the sukkah, through the roof”
I also enjoy their “hand breadth” units of measure.

Biblical in origin, the sukkah is an ephemeral, elemental shelter, erected for one week each fall, in which it is customary to share meals, entertain, sleep, and rejoice.

(via: Sukkah City: NYC 2010
)

wats:ON

Landscapes of Quarentine Opening Reception

Landscapes of Quarantine
Mar 10 2010 – Apr 17 2010
Opening reception: Tuesday, March 9, 7pm

Group exhibition exploring the spaces of quarantine, from Level 4 biocontainment labs to underground nuclear waste repositories.

Landscapes of Quarantine features new works by a multi-disciplinary group of eighteen artists, designers, and architects, each of whom was inspired by one or more of the physical, biological, ethical, architectural, social, political, temporal, and even astronomical dimensions of quarantine.

Works on display:
Pages 179 – 187, Joe Alterio
Q-CITY: An Investigation, Front Studio | Yen Ha & Michi Yanagishita
MAP 002 QUARANTINE, David Garcia Studio
Did We Build The Frontier To Keep It Closed?, Scott Geiger
Field Notes from Quarantine, Katie Holten
Hotel III, Camp II, Lab IV, Cell V, Mimi Lien
Cordon Sanitaire, Kevin Slavin
Context/Shift, Brian Slocum
Containing Uncertainty, Smudge Studio | Jamie Kruse & Elizabeth Ellsworth
NYCQ, Amanda Spielman & Jordan Spielman
Quick, Richard Mosse
Thermal Scanner and Body Temperature Alert System, Daniel Perlin
Precious Isolation: A Pair of Invasive Species, Thomas Pollman

(via Storefront for Art and Architecture and BLDGBLOG)

Pine Cone Oscillator

Below are print screen images of a time lapsed video of a pine cone oscillating after being showered in a controlled environment. The natural system of the pine which responds to its environment is, no doubt, a system to be studied at a greater depth for architectural purposes.
Pine Cone Time Lapse

honeycomb under glass

Manipulating Erwin Redl

(Screens in Space via BLDGBLOG)

Picasso and the Conservation Department

A woman was reported to have fallen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and collide with “The Actor” by Picasso (left). The Metropolitan Museum of Art reported that “the damage did not occur in the focal point of the composition” and that the staff of the conservation department would repair the piece before its exhibit in April. As a former intern, I’m happy to see that the conservation staff is finally getting some publicity (despite the unfortunate circumstances). The conservation department employees the masters. Just to give an idea of what master means, a potential applicant of the textile and tapestry department MUST know and be able to produce every single stitch, knot, or sewing technique from every single culture from every period of time. To identify a stitch, one must be able to note the material, the age, how it was treated, AND, when repairing, how to replicate the material, age, and treatment in such a way that the repair is unseen and does not do any damage to the artifact. If the textile was damage in a repeating area, for example, once in the first century AD and once under the eyes of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a conservationist must repair as the was received to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The damage repairs from the first century must appear as such to avoid altering history.

Dealers say a painting of this scale and period could be worth well over $100 million.

On Friday afternoon a woman taking an adult education class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art accidentally lost her balance and fell into “The Actor,” right, a rare Rose Period Picasso, tearing the canvas about six inches along its lower right-hand corner. Immediately after the accident the painting was taken to the Met’s conservation studio so experts could assess the damage, museum officials said. A statement released by the Met on Sunday afternoon said, “The damage did not occur in the focal point of the composition and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair — which will take place in the coming weeks — will be unobtrusive.” The canvas — about 6 ½ feet by 4 feet — was hanging on the wall of a second-floor gallery with other early Picassos. The museum declined to identify the woman, but said she was not injured. Picasso created the painting, which depicts an itinerant acrobat theatrically posed, during the winter of 1904-5. Museum officials said they expected the repair to be completed in time for “Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” an exhibition of some 250 works from its collection opening on April 27.

(via The New York Times)

Crayola Diagramed

The diagram read as being architectural. It seems as if the colors come forward as they progress left to right.

…the average growth rate: 2.56% annually. For maximum understandability, he reformulated it as “Crayola’s Law,” which states:The number of colors doubles every 28 years! If the Law holds true, Crayola’s gonna need a bigger box, because by the year 2050, there’ll be 330 different crayons

(via http://notes.caseyagollan.com/)

Aspiration?

(via archi-ninja)

“I wanted someone to barf when they look at it”

Space Invading: Deformed Courtyard by Thom Faulders