University of Westminster BAIA students at Parsons The New School for Parallel Cities 1

Parallel Cities 1 explored the process of craft techniques combining digital and analogue media with film and physical models to uncover relationships between bodies, networks, and spaces in New York City.

The workshop brought together 8 graduate and undergraduate students from Parsons’ Temporary Environments course and 8 second year students from the University of Westminster’s BA (Hons) Interior Architecture Course. The students received training in Rhino and Grasshopper, in addition to digital fabrication processes focused on networked workflows. Individually, they developed their own site study of a portion of Long Island City, while contributing to the overall workshop goals of the design and fabrication of a larger group installation.

more information here.

'Furnitecture' by Anna Yudina

"Furnitecture is a sourcebook exploring the furnishings, interior environments, and solutions for small spaces at the meeting point between design and architecture. The book features the work of a rising generation of designers across the globe who are starting to think about furniture in an architectural way, resulting in pieces that brilliantly transform interior spaces."

seen at artwords bookshop.

Fab Fest 2016 Registration Open

Fab Fest is a new International Fabrication Festival hosted this summer by the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment and the Fabrication Laboratory at the University of Westminster. It will feature 50 or more innovative cardboard pavilions designed and built by students from Westminster as well as by guest teams from across the UK and around the world.

Feb Fest will run from June 28th - July 2nd.

You can find more information about the brief and how to register here.

New book: 'This is Temporary: how transient projects are redefining architecture' by Cate St Hill

"Temporary architecture is flourishing in our urban public spaces. Branded ‘pop-ups’ and follies to provide a moment of light entertainment they are in fact borne of a long history of more holistic architecture that is subtly suggesting how we could live, work and play more harmoniously together."

more here.

Aerocene metallic orbs by Tomás Saraceno in Paris' Grand Palais

"By releasing hot air from inside the Aerocene globes, pressure can be regulated and the altitude of the orbs can be controlled. They could also float along natural jet streams, using these as a way of changing direction."

from dezeen.

The Byzantine Fresco Chapel by François de Menil

"The Byzantine Fresco Chapel is a part of the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas designed by architect François de Menil. The suspended-glass "walls" are not replicas of the chapel that the frescoes were removed from, but created a new context for displaying the icons. In order not to simply replicate the original chapel, de Menil designed "a mediating external building with an embedded steel structure – a 'reliquary box' – which forms a neutral enclosure for a freestanding chapel," according to Christine Slessor in The Architectural Review."

'Air Structures' and 'Deployable Structures' Book Launch: 9th November

Deployable Structures by Esther Rivas Adrover.

Deployable structures can expand and/or contract due to their geometrical, material and mechanical properties - offering the potential to create truly transforming environments. This book looks at the cutting edge of the subject, examining the different types of deployable structures and numerous design approaches. Filled with photographs, models, drawings and diagrams, Deployable Structures is packed with inspirational ideas for architecture students and practitioners.

Esther Rivas Adrover has experience as an architectural practitioner and educator. After teaching Advanced Descriptive Geometry to architecture students in Spain she studied architecture at Oxford Brookes University where she later taught at degree and postgraduate level. Her interest in complex geometries led her to work for practices including Zaha Hadid Architects, where she worked on various projects in the UK and around the world. She has also exhibited her own work several times at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Air Structures by Will McLean and Pete Silver.

Air can be used in a variety of ways to make lightweight, flexible structures. Filled with photographs, models, drawings and diagrams, this book looks at every facet of the subject, examining air-beam structures, air-cell structures, buoyant structures, inflatable structures and many more. It also looks at the construction methods that use air, such as air-inflated steel and aerated concrete.

Will McLean and Pete Silver teach at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of Westminster and are the co-authors of Fabrication: The Designers Guide (2006),Introduction to Architectural Technology (2013), and Structural Engineering for Architects (2014). They both trained in the Architectural Association under John Frazer, where Pete later taught. They also established pioneering courses on real-time environmentally-responsive systems at the Bartlett (University College London).

Monday 9th November 6pm, Room M416

University of Westminster

Department of Architecture

35 Marylebone Road

London NW1 5LS

Room: M416

Nearest Station: Baker Street

Featherweight fibre-reinforced Pavilion by Suttgart University researchers

"The latest in a series of research pavilions in Stuttgart has now been realised. Taking its approach and design from the field of bionics, the 2014/2015 version is inspired by the way in which the diving bell water spider constructs a reinforced air bubble to survive under water....In this year’s case an initially flexible pneumatic formwork was gradually stiffened by reinforcing it with carbon fibres from the inside.

A film on the project and further information can be accessed here."

from DETAIL.

'Potential Architecture' Exhibition at Ambika P3, 11 March- 19 April

Potential Architecture fuses art and architecture in four site-specific commissions for Ambika P3 by international artists/architects Alexander Brodsky, Sean Griffiths, Joar Nango and Apolonija Šušterŝič. Utilising recycling, craft, and low-tech processes as well as performance, video, sculpture and installation, the works explore the social and material aspects of living environments during the unprecedented large-scale transformation of cities and towns globally.

Private View
Tuesday 10 March 18:30 – 20:30

Visitor information:
Ambika P3, University of Westminster,
35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS
Baker Street Station
Daily except Mondays
Tue – Fri, 11am – 7pm
Sat – Sun, 12pm – 6pm
Admission: Free

Hunter fashion show catwalk

"Cascades of water tumbled from scaffolding-supported troughs into a pool at the centre of the catwalk for British outerwear brand Hunter's London Fashion Week show"

from dezeen.

Prada Window Installations by Martino Gamper

"Italian designer Martino Gamper has created a 'homage to the humble corner' in the shop windows of fashion house Prada. The installations, named Corners, used panels of wood veneer to form enclosed angled spaces in which the mannequins are placed..."

from dezeen.

Uppe Folly for King's College London by Mobile Studio

Uppe Folly for King's College London
Arts & Humanities Festival 2014 | #AHFest

Dates: 15th - 24th Oct 2014 (9am-8pm)
Free, open to all during campus opening hours. Booking not required.
Add: King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS (map)

Mobile Studio Architects designed a pop-up modular folly for KCL Arts & Humanities Festival 2014 (#AHFest). Uppe Folly is located in The Strand Quadrangle, a long and relatively narrow space confined by the tall façades of KCL and Somerset House. In response to the 'Underground' theme, Uppe Folly encourages visitors to simply stop and look up - something we often forget to do in a dense and busy city such as London.

ReMIX outlines house renovation plans with UV installation

"Beijing architecture firm reMIX Studio has literally outlined its plans for the renovation of an ancient hutong residence by marking proposed structures with illuminated white strings

ReMIX is in the process of overhauling the interior of an old building in the Dashilar hutong, where a lot of regeneration work is being undertaken.

However, the architects knew early on the project would not be completed to show visitors to the area during the city's annual design week, so came up with an alternative presentation.

"We came up with a way to visualise our plans instead," reMIX cofounder Federico Ruberto told Dezeen."

more at Dezeen,

The xx's Temporary Performance Space in the Park Avenue Armory

London-based band xx is doing a series of shows in a temporary installation in New York's Park Avenue Armory.  This video describes the design as well as past installations in the building.  It also describes the building itself, parts of which recently were renovated by Herzog and deMeuron.

David Rockwell's temporary bespoke theater for TED 2014

"TED, the nonprofit enthusiastic to ‘ideas worth spreading’, has invited the rockwell group to build the stage for the 30th anniversary of the conference, in vancouver. set in the vancouver convention centre, the portable and temporary theater is constructed with 600 pieces and assembled onsite for the five day festival. the intimacy of the space is realized by instilling a sense of community while having singularity in form. the individual and the collective are showcased in unison as the arena becomes a manifestation of the organization’s core principles. in addition to david rockwell’s observations, from being an attendee over the years, further inspiration for the theater was gathered from historic organizational spaces such as campfires and other non permanent commons. comprised mostly from locally harvested douglas fir wood sourced from the pacific northwest, the seating ‘bowl’ also includes a walkway along the perimeter with lattice-like platforms and handrails. 16 different seating options are present, and vary from lounge groupings, rows of benches, and beanbags. a standing room area in the back allows viewers to access personal electronic devices, without disturbing the rest of the audience. aided by an electronic cutting machine, the event construction company, nussli, fashioned the structure (along with the custom furniture and steelcase fabrication) to be easily disassembled back into 8’ x 10’ x 12’ boxes, and possibly reused for upcoming events."

from designboom

Models by Naomi Kasahara

Naomi Kasahara is a set designer based in Long Beach, California.  Her excellent models, especially when photographed well as they are above, show materiality, equipment, structure, lights, and people (including actors and audience).

Arata Isozaki and Yoko Ono at Snow Show

"The Snow Show is an ephemeral construction festival intending to create a bridge between the world of contemporary art and architecture. 17 works have been constructed since 2000, when the Art Show was originally conceived by curator Lance Fung.

In 2004, a partnership was established by Yoko Ono and Arata Isozaki, and a work was conceived and built using ephemeral materials such as snow and ice.

Their pavillion used harvested ice from a frozen lake in the Sestriere. The blocks came from a lower layer of the lake, where the ice is blueish or turquoise depending on the minerals contained in the water. Once cut with a chainsaw, each block, measuring 1 metre in length by 0.6 metres in height by 0.6 metres in width was lifted by a logging crane and transported to the site.

The blocks were then positioned in order to fit together. Once each block was put into place, water was poured to fuse the ice together. Finally the material was finished using setaline torch and smoothing the surfaces, giving a translucent tone to the construction."

From SOCKS.

Westminster Interior Architecture at FreeRange 2013

Serpentine Pavilion 2013 at Kensington Gardens (until 20 October)

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 is designed by multi award-winning Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.

Occupying some 350 square-metres of lawn in front of the Serpentine Gallery, Sou Fujimoto's delicate, latticed structure of 20mm steel poles will have a lightweight and semi-transparent appearance that will allow it to blend, cloud-like, into the landscape and against the classical backdrop of the Gallery's colonnaded East wing. Designed as a flexible, multi-purpose social space - with a café sited inside - visitors will be encouraged to enter and interact with the Pavilion in different ways throughout its four-month tenure in London's Kensington Gardens.

Until 20 October 2013, Open to the public, free admission.

Wick Session #12: Informal & In-situ

This talk will be about recent work done with students in a former industrial / warehouse part of Johannesberg which has over a number of years been occupied and turned into living accommodation via 'informal processes'. For those interested in informal urbanism and the kinds if issues and difficulties it raises for architectural agency and education, the talk will be extremely interesting. 

more info at http://wicksessions.net/