| 12th Nov 2012✧19:01388 notes
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Atelier Olschinsky - Cities II and Structures
“Contrary to what our gut tells us, good design—the kind that provides utility and delight—can be affordable. The issue here is not about spending more, but about spending smarter.
Sure, designing for the human experience will indeed be an extra and likely expensive cost if it is an afterthought; something retrofitted to the final functional design.
But when we design our sidewalks, bike lanes, and transportation circulators with the concern for human experience at the forefront, joy is surprisingly cheap.”
| 20th Feb 2012✧11:2444 notes
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Actually a really interesting article about China’s shifting cityscape and the impact of foreign Architects. Here’s an excerpt:
“A few days ago, China Daily editor Liu Yujie brought attention to the budding sentiments of the Chinese against the use of their country as a “playground for international architects.” In a piece entitled “Bad boy architects & China’s new face,” Liu criticized some of the most publicized new buildings to transform China’s cityscapes. Offending culprits include Rem Koolhaas’ CCTV Headquarters, the asymmetrical steel “underpants” that many now view as a humiliating blemish in Beijing’s central business district, and Raimund Abraham’s Jingya Restaurant, an imprudent tribute to the “awesome power of the ocean” that shamelessly clashes with the nearby Forbidden City.
While China’s raging economic success has attracted throngs of first-class architects and spurred what is arguably the largest urban construction movement in human history, many Chinese are now reevaluating the burst of shiny new buildings designed by reckless Pritzker Prize winners and the like, many of whom view China as “a perfect blank canvas,” in the words of Zaha Hadid.”
My own thoughts are pretty much: fuck anyone who thinks any city, any space, is a blank canvas. That’s not how this works.
Urbanized: A Documentary Film - “Urbanized is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica and Objectified. Urbanized looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area; 75 percent will call a city home by 2050…”
For those in Boston, it’s playing at the MFA on Friday (11/04) at 7pm. Join me!
via MFA.
| 1st Nov 2011✧08:33678 notes
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