Rainforest

By: Patrick Nadeau

For: Boffi

Boffi is an Italian design company who this installation was made for. The installation is a compilation of hangin domes covered in living plants. I am guessing he is creating what is an abstract view of the rainforest canopy. Its pretty and whimsical.

Shadow Surface

By: Atelier Mob

This caught my eye, because presently I am working on a project that relates to a filtration and were also using punctured shapes into a conrete surface. Atelier Mob is a portugese firm, so this pavillion is in Sacavem, Lisbon. The structure is a cafeteria space and shelter with circular holes cut into the concrete roof. Depending on where the sun is during the day, creates a different shadow pattern. I also did a similar thing with a walkway and letters creating that make up L A C E. It was also focusing on the shadows that the letters cast in different times during the day.

Condesa DF Hotel

By: Javier Sanchez (architect) and India Mahdavi (interior designer)
Where: Mexico City, Mexico
The hotel was converted from a Neo-classical building to this contemporary version. The inner courtyard is the most important, because it is where people are seen. As you can see in the picture the inner courtyard is also known by the many shutters that guests can use for privacy or publicity. I love the repetitiveness of the shutters and what they express. A barrier but also a filter.

Airport Sleep Pods

By: Arch Group
Dimensions: 2M x 1.4M x 2.3M
For those awkward moments when you just need to sleep, but your in a public space. The pod has ventilation, sound alerts, a built in LCD TV, wireless internet, power sockets, and a luggage space. The beds are 2 x .6M and have an automated system to change linens. They are made out of soft flexible strip of polymer tissue. The pay system would also be flexible, depending on how long one spends in the pod. What a great idea! I would love to use those. My only concern is keeping them clean. Some people are germ bugs and dont like being in the same space as previous people even if the bed linens are cleaned, but I guess if your desperate enough.

Comcast Center

Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Directly above Suburban Station

This

space

has been given the award for the tallest LEED certified building in the United States. Why this needs an award, I do not know. It earned a Gold Certification for LEED-CS (core and shell). The Comcast building uses high performance glass and sun screening. It also uses louvers in the atrium to optimize daylight. High performance windows block 60% of the sun's heat and lets in 70% of the suns daylight. Also, the building uses 40% less water than normal office buildings. Lastly, it uses a shaded plaza to minimize the urban heat island effect by 70%. The urban heat island is caused by the many buildings and roads that are built in cities, but cover up tons of fresh vegetation needed to keep the earth healthy, so this causes a bubble of higher temperatures around cities. This building is very glossy and high tech looking, hopefully it does what it got its award for. This building is also good because it brings newness to Philadelphia, which definitely needs it.

Buildings Made From Trees

By: Whole Tree Architecture

Supporting houses out of whole trees was first the philosophy of Roald Gunderson. He made this theory sixteen years ago, which
was pretty revolutionary for the time.

According to Forest Products Lab a whole unmilled tree can support 50% more than the largest piece of timber from the same tree. Whole Tree Architecture only build with weed trees, which I am assuming to mean that these are the trees that will never produce good timber. Going off of the Gunderson theory, they only use tree 10 inches or less in diamter and are usually taken from the clients site. They also use large trees that are downed by disease and/or wind. I love the artistry of the trees they use and I always love being green. It would be difficult to use these trees in any commercial product though for fear of being too literal about nature. Also, I wonder if they swell and contract like normal wood or if they treat it in some way that allows it to stay in a constant state.

Carbon 451 Lamp

By: Marcus Tremonto (American)
Galler owner, Patrick Billet, asked Marcus to design a light out of carbon fiber. Macus used carbons qualities of strenth and lightness. I really like this piece because of the way the light was placed to run throughout the piece. Its not just a carbon fiber with a light in or around it. The carbon fiber and light are seemingly one in the same ribbon.

Use Canopy Upcycled

By: BIOS Design Collective

Where: Stable Cafe

For: Architecture and the City

The creators of this canopy went off of the moto "the problem is the solution." Thier problem was the wasted cups from the OustideLands concert in San Fransisco, California. The solution they cam up with was recycled canopy. They created a grid of string lines taught enough to allow the cups to simply sit in between the strings. I liked how they used the red and clear cups for a difference in light. Clear allows more light in.

Mapungubwe Interpretation Center

By: Peter Rich Architects

Where: South Africa

I honestly could not truly find the use of the this structure. I think it is an abstract museum of how the indiginous people of this area lived. It is a poverty relief project using ecological methods and materials. The complex landscape of South Africa was the inspiration for the structure and provided most of the materials. All the masonry used to make this structure like in the domes are all local rubble stone. This is built on a Mesa and on the next Mesa there is a Ceremonial Center, with a similar idea as this. The domes you see in this picture are shading a zig zagging path underneath them. The level change when walking through the center resembles the movement of the ancestors, up and down the hills of South Africa.