Why do architects wear black

I just couldn’t resist. More of our fashion bullshit here.

(via: Pitnday)

Video | Zaha Hadid – The Opus

Although I appreciate Zaha’s work, I can’t really say she isn’t lazily copy/pasting her old stuff a lot of the time, kind of suffering from the Gehry syndrome, if you will. But this time, I’ve gotta hand it to her, she’s definitely realized where her strengths lie and has shifted away from generic organic shapes on the outside to make better use of them in the core of the building. In one word, her new buildding in Dubai, The Opus, looks awesome, and the trailer below is nothing shy of hypnotic due to clever use of atmospheric music, smooth voice-over and good renders.  More info here.

Links: Zaha Hadid | The Opus | more Opus

(via: architectural videos*)

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Architecture | Construction Awards

I can’t tell if some of the images are photoshopped or not, but it’s still LOL funny:)

More here.

(via: Breda)

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The future of designing buildings and other man-made structures

Oh its at least a couple of years away (mildly put) from becoming mainstream, but  the video after the jump gives a surprisingly detailed and thought-out idea of an efficient (again, mildly put) work environment and indisputably shows how technology can be an architect’s best friend. And an engineer’s, designers, you name it!

Hod do I know this? I just do…for I have been to the mountaintop:

On a lighter side, let’s look at it from a different, albeit still important perspective. A mirror of the not-so-distant future, if you willl…

Do you wanna be the I-have-a-serious-long-term-relationship-with-my-desktop-computer,-my-mouse-is-bigger-than-my-erect-penis-and-my-idea-of-exercise-is-opening-a-new-jar-of-mayonnaise bald fat fuck:

Or do you want to be the I’m-actually-psycho-but-still-take-care-of-myself-because-I-predominantly-do-my-work-standing-or-at-least-move-my-arms-and-upper-body-a-whole-lot wholesome, good looking guy like Tom Cruise:

I crossed the line with ‘wholesome’, but the question was rhetorical…or was it?

Further information on building Information modeling (BIM), especially the last paragraph of ‘BIM in the USA’.

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It seems I’ve come across my first obstacle…

It was merely a week ago that I vigorously promoted Cradle to Cradle, and with it its founding father William McDonough (a household name in this blog), whom I’ve admired and respected since the first time I saw his inspirational TED Talk…it was him who convinced me that the Next Industrial Revolution is just around the corner, it was him who showed me that a great idea has answers and solutions to more than just one question or problem (an incredible and rare feat in every respect), and it was him who truly made me realize that a mindset like his is far more potent and productive than most dare dream of.

On a side-note, it was him who singlehandedly made me strive for the same causes…

That is why it saddens me deeply to have read the following article yesterday.

Arrogance, deception, hubris, voracity …need I go on?!

As it turns out (if the article stands on firm ground, that is), Mr. McDonough is his own worst enemy, meaning that his own actions have – on more than one occasion-  cost him business deals, potentially impressive credentials/references/networking and worst of all, have set him back from his goal to ‘cradelise’ the world for the better.

I leave you with the lengthy article, which you can find here (Diigoed), I am still slightly shaken-up and have a hard time coping with the conception that the man I look up to (notice the present tense) just might have some very serious problems of his own. There’s a saying you should never meet your heroes (for these very reasons, I suppose) and I’ve always considered it healthy advice. So how should this man therefore be worth my attention and respect? Well, because I still want to pursue a life where sustainability is obtained, controlled and in the end sustained, to the point of hopefully eradicating bad design and replacing it with good intent. Bill McDonough gave birth to that pursuit of mine.

(via: TreeHugger)

Let the games begin…

As I’ve mentioned, I’m shifting my focus into graduating (asap, prefferably;)), and I’ll be posting the material I gather as I go along. I haven’t fully fleshed out my project yet, but here’s my inspiration and hopefully my guidelines:

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle | 22:00

Waste=Food | 49:00

Links: William Mcdonough | Cradle to cradle