One week of Design and Architecture - Press Review

Posted on May 21st 2013, 02:00 PM

To Advance Micro-Living Designs, Have Design Students Live in Tiny, Unfurnished Spaces. Yea or Nay?

You've heard the expression that [American] football is a game of inches. So, increasingly, is living in Manhattan.

This video of Luke Clark Tyler's apartment (captured by Kirsten Dirksen's Fair Companies) has racked up nearly two million hits, and for good reason: Tyler downsized from his previous 96-square-foot palace to shoehorn his life into a 78-square-foot studio. But what really makes this video distinct from other "tiny living" vids we've seen, and what should be of interest to the Core77 reader, is that Tyler is a trained architect who can design, build and install his own things, like his sideways Murphy Bed.

Also observe the little details, like how he's using eyehooks as toothbrush- and razor-holders and how the bottle-stays on his shelves are just wooden dowels held in place by two carefully-placed sheetrock screws on either side.

This is giving us a potentially cruel idea for design education--but before we get to that, watch the vid:

Now for our idea. It would be interesting if in your third year of architecture or ID school, after you'd gotten a handle on design basics and learned to use power tools, students were assigned tiny individual living spaces like this--with no furnishings whatsoever. The student would then spend a semester design-building their own living space, working off of a fixed budget.

Design is supposed to be about making things that matter, and we think the early lesson of creating your own habitat would be a valuable one. Plus we think you'd...

From Otto-otto

Posted on May 21st 2013, 01:43 PM

Project Buzz: Station Center Family Housing by David Baker + Partners

The new Station Center Family development by David Baker + Partners Architects is located in Union City, east and south of San Francisco. The workforce housing contains 157 affordable rental units in two buildings that frame a public playground and overlook a new plaza and eventual direct connection to the BART station.

The community room opens onto a fitness center and pool deck, and opens entirely to a grand courtyard, creating a large indoor-outdoor gathering space.

The courtyard—designed along with all the building landscaping by Fletcher Studio—features allotment gardens for residents, formal and informal seating areas, and a play yard populated by playful concrete gorillas.

The low-energy building used a range of complementary sustainable strategies—including solar domestic hot water, high-efficiency boilers, and rooftop photo-voltaic arrays—to achieve LEED for Homes Mid-Rise Platinum certification.

San Francisco artist Mona Caron creating a towering mural on the 5-story entry tower, visible from the neighborhood and neighboring train tracks.

From Complex

Posted on May 21st 2013, 01:28 PM

China Has Been Building Odd "Copy Towns" Based on Architecture Across the World (Video)

Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, even soon Manhattan.

From Otto-otto

Posted on May 21st 2013, 01:02 PM

Taliesin Spring’s Energy-Efficient Technology Update

Frank Lloyd Wright’s imaginative Taliesin Spring will receive an update from green lighting designer and founder of Studio Lux, Christopher Thompson who will introduce energy-efficient technology to the historic site. Thompson’s lighting design looks to create a Net-Zero energy use campus by merging the architectural wonders of Taliesin Spring with the best of 21st century lighting technology.

This marks Studio Lux’s continued working relationship with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation who first sought out Thompson’s firm to update Taliesin West, the main campus of The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Scottsdale, Arizona.

From Design-milk

Posted on May 21st 2013, 01:00 PM

The Glass House by AR Design Studio

What was already a house with rich history in Winchester, UK, became even more so when AR Design Studio came in to renovate the old servants’ quarters of a larger home they’re a part of. When excavation began, bodies (yes, bodies) were discovered buried underground. Police brought in archeologists who determined that the site had been used for Roman burials. The artifacts and bodies were cleared and taken to a museum for research and The Glass House project was once again back on track.

The servants’ quarters had fallen apart over the years and when the occupants of the larger house decided to downsize, they chose to tackle the project and realize their love of glass. The designers took it from there and created a glass staircase and glass extension sandwiched into an alcove in the rear of the building that opened up into the garden.

They managed to seamlessly add the frameless modern extension on to what appears to be a traditional brick house and did it well. The glass-covered structure allows light to flood the first floor communal spaces, while the original, cave-like spaces remain private for the family.

I’m wondering how much sunscreen they have to wear…

They installed a staircase to connect the ground floor with the cellar.

The light carries through to the double-height entrance space which features that unbelievable glass staircase.

The floors are covered in a ceramic tile that looks like wood instead of a more traditional wood floor because it won’t discolor...

From Dornob

Posted on May 21st 2013, 01:00 PM

Plywood Accents Show Potential of Undervalued Material

Plywood, long considered a material best hidden in any finished space, has been slowly making its way into the mainstream material handbooks of architects and interior designs – and for good reason.

Aside from being inexpensive, it is rich in texture and can be purchased in higher grades than what people typically think of (though, for some, knots are part of the fun, too).