with an idea of roughness as a metaphor. The wall finished with a special mosaic expression tile – Tri-tonal Tile® to give different visual expressions in different weather conditions and viewing angles.
When Patrick Blanc was a boy, he suspended plants from his bedroom wall and ran their roots into a fish tank. The greenery received nourishment from the diluted—ahem—fertilizer and purified the water in return. Forty-five years on, the French botanist's gardens have grown massive in scale. One inside a Portuguese shopping mall is larger than four tennis courts, and there's one in Kuwait that's almost as big. But Blanc's recently completed facade for the Athenaeum hotel in London (shown) could be his most high-profile project yet. Looming over Green Park, it's an eight-story antigravity forest composed of 12,000 plants.
Blanc uses a kind of techno-trellis as the underlying structure: A plastic-coated aluminum frame is fastened to the wall and covered with synthetic felt into which plant roots can burrow. A custom irrigation system keeps the felt moist with a fertilizer solution modeled after the rainwater that trickles through forest canopies.
urbansurgeon said...^i'm using this stuff in response to the requests for graffiti proof surfaces - this was just about the only candidate
sneaky i love the idea of felt mats for rooting on unusual surfaces. i'm going to try it out; there's some rocks i've been coating with a blended mixture of moss and buttermilk. success has been mixed, mostly on the smoother spots. this is worth a try.
US practice Howeler & Yoon has proposed plans to fill a stalled construction block with a series of eco-pods capable of being moved by robotic arms in its home town of Boston.
A number of sites across the city have been put on hold because of the recession and city paper the Boston Globe asked architects to come up with new projects that would use the stalled half-built structures.
Howeler & Yoon’s idea is to fill the Filene development, a 32-storey mixed-used scheme in downtown Boston, with eco pods full of biofuel producing algae.
Micro-algae, which can be grown vertically and on non-arable land, is a biofuel crop and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
Most buildings that we design today for large earthquakes are designed such that when there is a large earthquake, the building, in a sense, sacrifices itself to save the occupants...
there are a lot of houses built here from scrap. that's very evocative of the general look. i like the way wood streaks and greys as it weathers. i've a newly refloored deck. i used yellow cedar and am not going to treat it. it will turn a lovely grey. right now it's bright yellow and a painfully bright experience when the sun is shining on it.
worst of the piecework houses are what i call the "diagonal disasters" that's what you make when you don't have any long boards.
"urbanism" this is:
This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep. It is a fine example of the architectural excellence prevalent in the past.
roughly poured concrete, reminds me of many buildings from around the med. build it quick, and who cares about anything else i really quite like this, i think.
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http://www.oma.nl/
:awkward:
it's at Hoover Dam in the US, nicko.
my daughter's involved with the materials testing (she interns at the dam).
watching the bridge slowly go up with very little fanfare has been interesting. they overcame a number of enormous challenges.
the caption is so restrained.
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concept for the new MOMA Tower.
more at archiCentral
grape poppies, white nicotiana, and snakes-head penstemon.
Drive-In Automobile Museum
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a house made of doors:
and a building facade that is all doors:
lookie: (classy, yes?)
its awsum? y/n? (nice sofa)
The Mystery of Jake’s Big Bright Pink Totally Exotic Dancing Club
click fer slideshow
U-House via contemporist
i'd not mind living in this house in Portugal:
back
front (the bit with a door)
Eco-pods for stalled construction sites?
US practice Howeler & Yoon has proposed plans to fill a stalled construction block with a series of eco-pods capable of being moved by robotic arms in its home town of Boston.A number of sites across the city have been put on hold because of the recession and city paper the Boston Globe asked architects to come up with new projects that would use the stalled half-built structures.
Howeler & Yoon’s idea is to fill the Filene development, a 32-storey mixed-used scheme in downtown Boston, with eco pods full of biofuel producing algae.
Micro-algae, which can be grown vertically and on non-arable land, is a biofuel crop and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
Read more: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3149310&origin=BDdaily#ixzz0RvFXkQRB
i can see that in a Boston winter... there'll be rope ladders and bridges.
this is actually interestingly designed.
another angle, innit.
though, i think the main point about it in this current state is that it's pinstriped.
worst of the piecework houses are what i call the "diagonal disasters" that's what you make when you don't have any long boards.
"urbanism" this is:
roughly poured concrete, reminds me of many buildings from around the med. build it quick, and who cares about anything else
Loja Volume B - São Paulo, Gustavo Moreira and Leo Ferreira.