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Just need to post this for a while to get my Technorati links working.
08.08.08 in random-debris
Home Delivery
MOMA in New York has a prefab exhibition on at the moment (July 20th to October 20th) that includes five specially erected houses in a vacant lot nearby. This website shows them off, and has a timeline of prefabs as well as installation videos.
07.08.08 in museums
Architects seeth over East Darling Harbour
Things are not going well for the architects (Philip Thalis, Paul Berkemeier and Jane Irwin) who won the East Darling Harbour / Barangaroo competition 3 years ago, beating a hundred and something other entries . They complain of being sidelined as the government has sought to increase office space on the site by a third (it has already been increased once), and allow a single developer to take control. Philip Thalis:
06.08.08 in urban-planning
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Street view
I think I have found a way to waste a lot of time… Google Streetview hits Melbourne and distracts all from their business. Shown is the front of a curved block of flats in Toorak by Roy Grounds.
05.08.08 in random-debris
The Pink Peril
Sound like The Vault all over? Bellemo and Cat’s Sidle playground shelter is made from old plastic playground slides (makes sense). It was entered in this year’s Institute awards, but is now under threat of removal by the City of Manningham. Locals are “divided” about it, when they’re not sliding on it, and the council would like to move the sculture to someplace where people can, “appreciate the artistic merit of the work”. I think there’s a spot just across from the Casino that might be vacant.
29.07.08 in urban-design
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Comment [1]
It's up!
I finally dared to switch the new site on. It doesn’t look a whole lot different, but I promise it is. It is nowhere near finished so you’ll find a link through to the old site on the lower left, should anyone need it.
28.07.08 in random-debris
Cantilever of JCBA #2
These guys seem to be off on a propped out tangent all of their own with their cantilevered homes. This one is at Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula, and the article is at Arch Daily. Pic by John Gollings.
27.07.08 in architects
Denton's review
John Denton is interviewed after retiring as Victoria’s State Government architect. He doesn’t exactly give the current Labour Government a ringing endorsement. In particular he criticises its penchant for Public Private Partnerships, which tend to open the public land up to an unnecessary level of commercial development and shut the government out of the process.
26.07.08 in architects
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Cantilever of the week
I stumbled across this JCBA house at Wallpaper.com, down at Separation Creek. A tree-like series of green boxes, with the first floor cantilevering off in all directions. Being where it is, I wonder how it would all work in a wild fire?
13.07.08 in architects
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Charles and Ray Eames get franked
A United States stamp set has just been issued (June 08) profiling the work of the Eames. Buy at USPS.
13.07.08 in random-debris
Klein Bottle House
McBride Charles Ryan’s twisted Klein Bottle House in Rye won the top 2008 Residential Award at the RAIA state awards.
10.07.08 in buildings
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New Government Architect
Victoria has a new government architect, Geoffrey London. Unknown in Melbourne, London has spent his academic career in Western Australia, where he was also Government Architect. Expect a change of flavour form outgoing Govarchitect, John Denton.
06.07.08 in architects
Open Home
What’s to distinguish one bland apartment building from another? How to coax the punter into believing that yours is the one for them when they have become immune to the thrills of european kitchens and views of gold courses. In West Australia, Mirvac have inserted a little drama into their display apartments to give them some edge they don’t otherwise possess. Not only do buyers get to inspect the apartment, they can now watch a real life(?) drama unfold inside.
05.07.08 in weird-wonderful
Big Guys
Building Design UK has uploaded its Largest Practice survey to their website, where it can be read as a book. Interesting to note the doubling in size of Woods Bagot (Australia) to over 500 staff. They now make #13 on the list. Other surprises are Herzog and de Meuron, now 51st with 188 staff, and OMA, which has more than doubled to 225 staff (#40).
20.04.08 in architects
Schaufelberg, Rees and Gummer
The renowned and quite deceased New Zealand architect William Gummer, as a young architect, participated in the competition for the planning of Canberra. The plan on this linked page can be viewed at a much larger scale if saved first then opened. The full text of the entry is included, and includes this little statement that suggests that competitions were the same mad dash then as they are now.
01.04.08 in planning
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Waitangi Visitors' Centre
A proposal for a Visitors’ Centre near the Waitangi Treaty House has the NZ Historic Places Trust up in arms. The Northern General Manager for the Trust says, “This is one of the most important, intact and sensitive heritage landscapes in the country – it’s certainly no place for a dominant structure like this.” The proposal, which includes 8000 cubic metres of earthworks, is led by Connell Wagner, with HB Architecture and Ignite Architects on board.
31.03.08 in heritage
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