Originally uploaded by scisar.
The exhibition which was seen before at the CCA in San Francisco now arrived in Boston. Last Friday evening the show was kicked off at the arrival hall of Terminal E at the Boston Logan Airport.
Previous post, via and some further
info; Images.
Koolhaas (...) claimed that a combination of private sector-dominated redevelopment, risk-averse culture and a crackdown on anti-social behaviour were conspiring to create soulless cities.
Koolhaas used Las Vegas as an example of how private sector-dominated regeneration and risk-averse development can "drain a city of its lifeblood", saying: "All the wildness and unpredictability of the city has not so much been tamed as been completely removed. We have surrendered vast sections of our privacy to protect the public realm."
Via.
Koolhaas (...) claimed that a combination of private sector-dominated redevelopment, risk-averse culture and a crackdown on anti-social behaviour were conspiring to create soulless cities.
Koolhaas used Las Vegas as an example of how private sector-dominated regeneration and risk-averse development can "drain a city of its lifeblood", saying: "All the wildness and unpredictability of the city has not so much been tamed as been completely removed. We have surrendered vast sections of our privacy to protect the public realm."
Happy new Year!
Originally uploaded by scisar.
Seasoned greetings from some sandy hot beach. Best wishes for 2006.
Feliz ano novo.
-s
Tomorrow morning, we'd be all up fairly early in SpaHa, where the Swiss curve lot will be, as seen on the site of the Swiss Consulate in New York. 5th Ave and 119th, about four miles up the end of the marathon.
See you there.
well it's been a bit quite around me the last ten days. well we had a couple of deadlines, you know, the usual.
expect a revamp tomorrow with some pics and so on.
-s
The four architecture schools of Switzerland partnered in an exhibition and a lecture series that is currently shown and held at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco. The event "showcases" Swiss architectural teaching and conteporary Swiss architecture.
The Exhibit is mounted on a long wawy platform, that represents a geological cut through Switzerland, from Mendrisio to Zurich to Lausanne and Geneva.
The schools represented are the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), the Academy of Architecture at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana and the Institute of Architecture at the University of Geneva.
The Exhibit started October 3rd and lasts until October 27th. The first lecture took place last week with Marc Angelil from the ETH (my former professor) and is available as video and podcast over architecture radio.
Last Friday I was listening to the lecture while working but I was missing the slides, so be sure to see the video too.
-s
(to be updated)
why does it always rain on me?
Originally uploaded by scisar.
Rain batters Northeast for eighth straight day, says CNN. Such weather pisses me off. ;-)
Oh yeah, for those who haven't noticed, I'm back in the city (of New York, of course).
-s
updated
Over Apple's iPod site:
Yes the new iPod arrived, and it does video, with a realtime decodeing of MPEG4 and H.264 with 260'000 colors. Prices like usual, the 60GB version for $399. iTunes 6 got released too, looks very sleek to me and you can choose to download from 2000 video clips and even some TV shows, for now only Disney and ABC (Lost, Desperate Housewifes). I didn't download a show yet, but $1.99 seems fair to me, comes down to what a DVD-Set would cost. Oh yeah, a new iMac is out too, with a pretty cool show (-off to your friends) function that lets you control (remotely) the iApps, nice! And iSight is built right in.
Yesterday I went to see the concert of JamieCullum. First I was suprised to see that much people waiting to enter, but apparently he's got even some listeners here in the States and as I have experienced later during the concert, that must have been die-hard fans. The adience was cheering frentically!
Well the concert was great, he's really an entertainer: From the first song on the audience was doing as told, singing along, clapping. Obviously his band is great too, but he could theoretically take over any instrument, as he showed us, especially during the intermezzos, in between the songs. Yesterday his new album came out and so we heard some new stuff, which is awsome btw, but he didn't dissapointed our expectations of hearing some older songs.
Pictures here!
update
What to do tonight:
Tonight at the AIA Chapter New York the exhibition of the designawards 2005 will be opened with a reception.
Our firm won an Honor Award in Architecture.
The event starts at 6pm. -s
Design Awards Committee
"Description: Exhibition of award winning projects demonstrating excellence in contemporary architectural design around the world. Awards granted in three categories -- Architecture, Projects, and Interior Architecture -- chosen from hundreds of international, national, and local submissions. Competition and exhibition organized by the AIA New York Chapter Design Awards Committee."
update:
Check out some images of the event.
DSCN9949.JPG
Originally uploaded by scisar.
Last Thursday I had to go to Berne and since I was already there I went to see the new Zentrum Paul Klee, which has a 4000 piece strong collection of paintings, aquarelles, drawings and biographic material on Paul Klee. The center combined public (from the Art Museum of Berne) and private collections to the most important on Klee. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and was inaugurated this summer. The building emerges from the glacial shaped hills of the "espace mittelland" sourrounding Berne and form a structural skeleton of beams that resemble a wave or a moraine.
The detailing is as usual, or at least like at the Fondation Beyeler, which was also designed by Piano, very precise executed and stunning in it's features. He multiplied the highway and added a string of public walkway outside and one inside the building. The latter forms the "Museums Weg" (street), which is a public connection/corridor between the three main buildings. This corridor disembogues in each building into a public foyer, which host the ticketing and café area, the museum-shop, an exhibit on the building's architecture and the entrances to the exhibits and additional program, such as auditorium, archives and a research library.
The column-free space, that the skeleton creates hosts in the middle building the main exhibit, inside it's belly. The paintings and drawings are hung on cardboard walls, approximately 2.5 meters high, that orginse and break the large hall down into more intimate spaces. Cotton-fabrics hung down from above enhance the intimacy. The gaps between the beams mostly host windows, shich again are covered by fabrics to dim and disperse the light, since the Klee's work is very light sensitive and therefore need controlled lighting.
You could argue that for the latter fact it was usefull hiding the building below ground, at least parts of it, but the potentially very lighty lit exhibit space needs additionally darkening if you like. But since the exhibited works could be rearanged and the walls removed completely, the curator got an additional multifunctional room, which surely helps the museum's flexibility. The public space with the free areas have the only real façade of the building, facing towards west, and they feel generous layed out and spaced, although I got a slight feeling of a typical european trainstation because of how the façade looks like from the inside (the huge glassfront in a shape of a half-ellipse).
Overall surely a very nice addition to the museum-landscape of the city of Berne and Switzerland. Architecturally certainly interesting, although I don't agree on certain issues (the form forced certain compromises in my opinion but that's a whole other discussion).
If the buidling is worth it's 110 Mio sFr.? I suppose, otherwise it most probably wouldn't have been built. But let's not forget the collection which it hosts, is remarkable and absolutely worth a trip to Berne.
-s
hello all,
as some may have heard, I am back in Switzerland, only for three weeks though. So I hope to catch up with as much of my friends here as possible. I'm still going through my pictures to sort them a bit, unfortunately, the camera didn't provide always a correct date, so I have to guesstimate. However, I arrived safely last Saturday and already had since two quite successfull Jass matches.
Tomorrow I have to go to the embassy and by the way, it's Berne eitherway, I'll go see the Paul Klee Zentrum. Yes, it's Renzo Piano (please forgive me P.), but hey I liked the Fondation Beyeler building, so I'm all agog with curiosity.
Switzerland hasn't changed a bit since I left in March, apart of those floodings of course and it's almost mind-boggling, after six months in such a busy and noisy borough like Manhattan, that here in my old room, it's so silent, quiet. Unbelivable, actually not, I'm just not used to it anymore.
-s
oh man, I saw coldplay last wednesday in concert, the opening act was rather crappy, ok maybe it was just somewhat too loud to be appreciated, but then at 9.15pm the clocks stopped ticking and coldplay entered the stage: the madison square garden freaked out and people started cheering frenetically and we all were satisfied not only with x&y but the best of parachutes and a cold rush to the head. they rocked the arena! I had a great seat, but noone was sitting, the moment they entered everyone just jumped up of their seats and was standing the next two hours cheering, clapping, dancing and singing along, even p.diddy who was sitting, I mean standing 8 meters from me and gwyneth who was behind me. we had a great time. so if yiu get to buy a ticket for a show this fall/winter, just get it.
well, well, well, labour-day weekend is up and ahead and I am going on a small road trip up to Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts to some houses and other architecture around there. So far from me, greetings,
-s
