Found on the Revit Kid blog… Nearly forgot about this project, it’s been so long in the making. I must say: even us old timers, who vaguely remember the studio experience, will get some enjoyment from this film. I cannot wait for it to begin making the art house rounds. Here’s a teaser.
FILM SYNOPSIS
Archiculture is a feature-length documentary that explores the role that architecture and design play in our daily lives. The film follows five architecture students through their final senior design projects in order to shed light on the critical issues impacting our built environment.
It always fascinates me the way folks who use Revit on projects are so willing to share their work, their process and their joy with the rest of the AEC community. This project, by _Space Architecture (http://www.spacegroup.co.uk/), really shows how the whole project team benefits from using Revit as their BIM solution to the benefit of better architecture and a happier client. View the video, it’s really informative as there are interviews with the design and construction team members right down to the tradesfolk getting the work done and resolving collisions before they happen in the field.
Small cities deserve well-designed civic buildings and museums. This is one, designed by the accomplished Seattle firm Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects (soon to be renamed Olson Kundig Architects), whose body of work is well known throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The building is so nick-named for the 180 foot long double glazed wall which runs like a spine through the entire project and partially defines an outdoor court. The official purpose, at least currently, is the Art and Children’s Museum of the larger organization, the Whatcom Museum. The History Museum will continue to function in the old City Hall building, which is a historic landmark in itself. The new building will be the first museum in Washington State to be built to LEED Silver standards. Here’s the official announcement from the city, which also contains an interesting time lapse video of the construction.
The building shell went up very fast with mostly precast concrete insulated panels. These have a very stone like quality about them which is interesting in itself. The storefront details are well done, but the double curtainwall Lightcatcher steals the show. I definitely recommend a visit to see the building, and of course the artwork inside. The current exhibits are actually very interesting and feature some prominent artists from around the globe.
I attended the grand opening last weekend among great fanfare. Attendance was free, thanks to a local bank as the event’s sponsor. My only complaints were that on opening day, the upstairs atrium gallery was a little too narrow for the crowds trying to weave their way to the main exhibits. Ironically, the photographs displayed on that wall were of the area’s logging history. Perhaps it was the curator’s intent to create a human log-jam, creating an interactive exhibit. Second, that upstairs level really seems like a programmatic mish-mash. It is a small building, but seemingly unrelated rooms like an exhibit space and the children’s activity room were next to the director’s glass jewel box of an office, which couldn’t have had more Design Within Reach furnishings if it had been the company’s 1st Ave showroom in Seattle. Lastly, and this isn’t the building’s fault by any means, I was dissapointed that the roof garden over the lobby was not accessible. There are patio blocks and seating out there as well as an informational sign explaining the virtues of the living roof and rainwater collection. I guess I’ll read it another time.
I took a few photos of the atrium, and exterior. The lobby was too full of people to see much, but is a well-designed arrival space. Since it was dusk, these are a little grainy. Maybe it’s time for a new camera, or should open the manual for once. FYI: No photographs are allowed in the exhibit spaces, as is typical in most museums. Enjoy.
My only complaints were that on opening day, the upstairs atrium gallery was a little too narrow for the crowds trying to weave their way to the main exhibits. Ironically, the photographs on that wall were of the area’s logging history. Perhaps it was the curators intent to create a human log-jam. Second, that the roof garden was not accessible. There are patio blocks and seating out there as well as an informational sign explaining the virtues of the living roof and rainwater collection. I guess I’ll read it another time.
OK, so it’s not really a house, but perhaps a really good house wine. Every once in a while you find a very intriguing use of technology in architecture schools. Lately, the amount of good work has been not scarce. In this example, however there is evidence of biomimicry, parametric scripting, simple rendering using ambient occlusion, and using Ecotect to present sustainable analysis data in very compelling and rich ways. Bravo Andrea!
Development is fast and furious on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. As noted by Beau Turner, there’s already a new version of the Sketchbook Mobile application. Finger painters’ unite:
Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile does look like a cheap thrill, and a way to document ideas quickly. The demo reel has me reaching for my virtual wallet. So, rather than commenting on something I don’t yet have (an iPod touch or iPhone), I turned to someone who does. Here’s the reaction of my good friend Rui Duarte, a designer in the smallest U.S. state (Rhode Island) on his reaction to the tiniest design tool.
After trying it out for a few minutes it just felt right as a drawing tool, the ease of use factor is high and the tool set is just enough in the free version to get almost any idea down on paper. There is a mirror mode that parallels each line making symmetrical drawings a snap (yes symmetry is boring I know). I already carry my iPod touch to client meetings and may be using this app to sketch.
Bye bye cocktail napkins. I will miss how you bleed ink and tear, now get back under my beer. Perhaps we can replace the moleskin one day too… Maybe as early as February if rumors hold true.
Possibly?
After all, who wouldn’t want a mid-sized form factor that could act as sketch pad, movie viewer, traveling portfolio, and wicked game system? Keep dreaming for now, and click on the image for more rumors – caution (MNBSFW).
Sketchbook Mobile does offer an interesting price-point at $2.99, to play and get used to creating art interactively on a pressure-sensitive touch screen. I’m sure people will want to check out big brother, Sketchbook Pro. We may not all be artists, but this app may just let people loosen up a little and discover their inner finger painter.
Why are you showing me an image of a greenhouse? It’s a house, but a different shade of green. And it’s not for growing in the way you’d think. Huh? I will explain.
Perhaps a good reason to start pushing for software vendors to get animation of building components into their BIM or CAD applications, besides the cool factor, is this notion of biomimicry. Autodesk has formed a mini-web dedicated to the topic, which seems to have slipped by unnoticed. The concept is wonderful. Why not use nature as inpiration to build buildings that add to, rather than take away from their environment. Is sustainability simply just getting to a balance on the tipping point to success or failure? What has been gnawing away at the gut of BIM is the ability to design and simulate the design features in-place. It’s no fun to pull the design into Max and start adding “ik” controls just to understand the impact of an operable feature. Concurrent design and analysis becomes critical in the AEC world as designers become more sophisticated about the questions they ask their software to answer. Much like an industrial designer can test out moving parts of a machine with Inventor, architects should have the same level of sophistation in their own tools. Perhaps we are soo good at borrowing without complaint, that we are a good target for ‘upselling’. Don’t give us your laundry list of things that might do the job, let’s get the tools to do what we want internally, to avoid the asynchronous nature of exporting and importing peices and parts of a moving puzzle. Oh, yeah… so back to our little green, er red house.
So here, I present the house of the week – yes, it’s the same view as above. Then where did all that glass go? Why, it’s underneath the sliding roof form. Cool. Why? Be patient, and I’ll explain.
While not necessarily an example of biomimicry, this house certainly has the ability to react to it’s environment. When the living room is too sunny, slide some shade over the patio, change the view… it opens up some very interesting possibilities. Click through to see the whole progression.
I recently purchased Spore Galactic Edition, and yes it’s really a time drain. I had not realized why I like this game until recently. You get to design things parametrically, for fun!?
OK, this is silly, I know. But very addictive. The controls are interesting and so easy to learn to use. If you are unfamiliar, I’ve embedded a link to one of their tutorials on YouTube. Be prepared for silly-tecture. The return to serious posts will be soon, promise.
Here’s a very interesting video showing firms competing to envision what cramped cities may look like in 100 years. Hurray, flying cars at last! I wonder what will be powering everything though.
It makes one wonder how we quantify all the claims of sustainability in design. I’ll explore a new toolkit by IES, released for Revit Architecture in a later post that may help.
