Photography and Architecture

Photography: Decaying Architecture, Cuba.
The art of photography plays a very pivotal roll in architecture and design. We snap photo’s and show then to new clients or flip through the pages of Architectural Digest and critique our fellow designers work. Photography allows us to share our work with the world and marvel at the accomplishments of others. I have a great love of photography, especially when the artist has a truly great eye and the ability to find true beauty in architecture. Best known for many works, Michael Eastman’s work in Cuba is truly wonderful; Eastman has captured the beauty in decaying, rundown buildings. While this may not even be his intent, I find this series to be truly inspiring and full of beauty in a decaying world. Eastman style of photography is not to turn to artificial light but to use long exposure times, he waits as long as it takes for the natural light to illuminate the room and expose his film properly. Eastman has been involved in photography for thirty or more years and is a self taught artist.

I Enjoy the photos above for they're uniqueness. One like a western ghost town and the other what was once a stunning bath, now soiled and stained.

Above the two photos are stunning because of these architectural elements the Columns, the ceilings, the arches and beautiful floors.

These two pictures I love because of the furniture, so beautiful. These antiques have inspired countless knock offs.

What I love most about the two pictures above is the Chandeliers. I used to spec out Murano glass pieces just like those, they are two beautiful fossils of what was once grand and fabulous.

Lastly the grand staircased, now cracked and bearing Fidel's name.

To see more of Michael Eastman's work check out  http://www.eastmanimages.com/

Church of Santa Monica

Architecture: Doing it well in Spain.

Flipping through a recent Wallpaper Magazine I was impressed by the stunning design and architecture of the Church of Santa Monica in Madrid, Spain. The church was designed by the architects Ignacio Vicens and Jose Antonio Ramos also of Madrid. I’ve always been a fan of Spanish architecture past and present and not just the work of Spanish architects per say. There are some brilliant architects from Spain of course such as Santiago Calatrava a great architect of the 21st century and Antonio Gaudi who designed the Casa Mila or Sagrada Familia, just to name a couple. Then of course there are great structures built by famous architects like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Frank Gehry or famous works like Miles Van Der Rohe and the Barcelona Pavilion (1929). Spain is on my list of places to visit, because of its unique blend of historic architecture and modern 20th and 21st century works.
The Church of Santa Monica in Madrid however is like a piece of art and the photos by photographer Gallo Quirico are simply stunning. This church and its architects though are quite a mystery however. The Web site of Vicens&Ramos is very, well, underwhelming. The photos of their work are wonderful, but they are lacking in information about the projects or they’re work and even about the architects themselves. From what I have discovered Vicens & Ramos have been designing for well over twenty years and they’re work seems to be very secret. I’ve not been able to find much info about them on line. I did find one book reference to them that seems to be out of print and is very expensive to buy from used book sites that are mostly Europe based. The Church itself is difficult to find info on also, I have had difficulties finding a web page or even what type of faith the church is associated with. Aside from all of this I feel that the church of Santa Monica is a truly inspired work, check out the photos below.

Marcel Wanders

Great Talent, Design and Vision

His name is Marcel Wanders and he is the visionary behind some of the most innovative and exciting furniture and interior design today. This dreamy Dutch designer has revolutionized the design field with his sometimes whimsical styling and ambitious designs. Wanders is noted for being one of the designers to help form Droog Design and the creation of his Knotted Chair, which won him international fame back in the 1990’s. Since then Wanders has designed for some of the hottest European furniture/lighting manufactures such as B&B Italia, Poliform, Moroso, Flos, Boffi and Cappellini. Another of note is Moooi of which wanders is Co-founder and art director, Moooi is currently of the HOTTTEST international design labels. I was first introduced to his products while attending the ICFF in NYC not to long ago. I found his work inspiring, sometimes dazzling while remaining functional for every day use. Wanders accomplishments range from teaching at various design academies in the Netherlands and else where to lecturing for companies suck as Nike, organizations such as IDFA and at the SFMoMA. Wanders has been featured in some of my Favorite publications such as Wallpaper, Icon, Elle Décor, I.D. Magazine and even the Washington Post, Business week and lastly the New York Times. If you are a designer, architect, engineer or a novice, I highly recommend checking out his site at http http://www.marcelwanders.com/ .

A personal favorite when designing is selecting lighting and Wanders meets all of my own eccentric and functional lighting needs
One of the coolest designs I saw at the ICFF was the Zeppelin Chandelier a very classic looking piece taken to the next level with its fabric wrapping and disco ball looking bottom globe. It reminds me of a haunted house with a chandelier covered in cobwebs.

A new edition to his collection is the Sky Garden, from an article I read the inside of the dome was inspired by old plaster ceilings.

In the US, Wanders has been working on the opening of the Mondrian hotel and residences in South Beach MIA. These images are hard to get and mostly computer generated but give you a great idea of the style and vision of this place.

Another very cool design worth checking out ont he Web is the Mandarina Duck (IT) Store that Wanders designed. Wanders career in my opinion has gone beyond being "one to watch" on to being a leader in the industry and perhaps one of the most brilliant minds of our time.

Terreform1

My Latest Obsession

Green Design is the way of the future and my most recent internet investigations have lead me to a group called TERREFORM1, they are a Non Profit organization for Philanthropic Architecture, Urban and Ecological Design. http://www.terreform.org/
The group was formed to advance socio-ecological science and the dissemination of this knowledge through diverse programs. Their unique organization is made up of scientist, artist, architects, students and people of all ages, backgrounds, ect and together are “exploring the larger framework of ecology design”. Some of they’re interested include energy, transportation, buildings, waste treatment, food, water and culture. One particular area of focus for the organization is NYC and its environmental future.

My first stop on the web page was under projects, in particular Natures Home, an inspiring section dedicated to Living Homes. Natures Home is agreement with ecology as the guiding principal; the home is designed to be entirely edible. Why, to provide food to some organism at each stage of its life. It seems they are talking about people and animals primarily, and that the structure be made of breathing products not recomposed or processed material. Personally I find this all very interesting, although being a city dweller myself I have a hard time wrapping my head around animals coming over and taking a bite out of my house. I did enjoy their thoughts on slow farming trees for housing structure as opposed to the industrial manufacturing of felled timber.
A lot of thought has gone into some of these concepts, the writer even states influences from writers such as Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman and Alcot. The Summary gives credit to these authors for defining sensibility in America, or an “early mode of intention that was profoundly ecocentric.” This is said in reference to a self made home by Thoreau and Alcot for Emerson in a cornfield back in 1878.
Personally I enjoyed the writer’s references to Thomas Jefferson’s ideologies concerning natural rights and the pursuit of happiness. The writer mainly calls upon Jefferson’s life long devotion to the division of land for agriculture and education and how it was vital to a person’s livelihood. Ending with the thoughts that Jefferson could never have imagined that today we ignore the right to freedom from toxicity, carcinogens and ozone depleting substances.
This goes on to talk about the lack of Symbiosis (the living together of two dissmiliar organisms) or mutualism in modern design. Then goes on to talk about the differences in “Green design” and “Sustainability” that are being applied internationally and how there are still many missing pieces to this. Key parts to this are embracing the ecosystem and how sustainable technologies for homes can also benefit from biological, natural systems.

Good Stuff!! I have to say although I didn’t get what most of this all means, I really enjoyed where the writer or writers are going with all of this. I recommend checking out this site and reading up.

Once I started checking out the designs, I was very impressed.
The first one is the FAB TREE HOUSE.

This dwelling is composed of 100% living nutrients and is a concept intended to replace the outdated design solutions at Habitat for Humanity; A method to grow homes from native trees. The living structure is grafted into shape with prefabricated Computer Numeric Control (CNC) reusable scaffolds. They are enabling these dwellings to be fully integrated into an ecological community.
Oh and the (CNC) is a computer "controller" that reads G-code and M-code commands and drives a machine tool, a powered mechanical device typically used to fabricate components by the selective removal of material. CNC numerically interpolates the points along a cutting tool's toolpath and directs the servomechanisms that translate the data into movement. The operating parameters of the CNC can be altered via the Master Control Unit (MCU) of the machine.
Just so you know, of what I just wrote means nothing to me, how about you?

One other design is the MATSCAPE: Material Mosaic Triplex 50% living House and Contiguous Landscape.

The three dimensional form results from landscape and climatic vectors. The grid is encoded as an interpretation of the climatic inputs – solar path, wind forces, rainfall and ambient temperatures – in reference to human desired services – comfort, light, air, water, and electricity.
This one in particular is one I am dying to hear more about. The concept rocks and looks how cool it is, who wouldn’t want to live in this. :) Personally I think I am a hippie at heart, because green design and what I’ve been writing about in this review, this inspired design, are very appealing to me. I am going to post some more of the concepts in the near future. So keep your eyes open.