MFJoe » Architecture

Incremental Housing Strategy

mfjoe — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:38:23 +0000

So, one of the things I’m currently working on is a book with my pops. The book focuses on several aspects (social, technological, economic) of everyday life beginning in 1975 and projecting out 20 years into the future. Tentative topic areas include energy, jobs, news, tv, books, movies, healthcare, education…you get the picture. One of the more interesting areas to me has to do with housing, especially amidst increasing urbanization. Current estimates indicate that more than a billion people live in urban slums, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. This fact, of course, leads to the expression of pressing concerns. For instance, what does it mean to have the majority of people on Earth living in urban areas, and the majority of these folks in slums. How will these individuals be represented in the political realm in the years to come? As some have pointed out, most specifically in my own readings, Slavoj Zizek, the slum-dwellings may well form a massive, impromptu voting bloc, almost appearing as a post-modern proletariat, or perhaps a post-modern lumpen proletariat (e.g., the force behind the empowerment of a group of South American leaders, such as Hugo Chavez).

Another important concern revolves around the structural living conditions of those individuals, and how it might be possible to create more inhabitable dwellings amidst these incredibly haphazard preexisting shanty towns. This is where movements such as the Incremental Housing Strategy in India can play a great part. Designed by Filipe Balestra and Sara Göransson, with a pilot being launched in Pune, India, the project aims to turn urban slums into more sustainable dwellings through an incremental construction procedure. The architects have designed three skeletal frames which can be built-upon and placed within existing zones without displacing the communities living in them.

(Thanks, Dezeen)

Posted in Architecture, Technology Tagged: Architecture, Filipe Balestra, Incremental Housing Strategy, Pune India, Sara Goransson, Slavoj Zizek, Slums

Pipe Light

mfjoe — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:07:09 +0000

Architects Triptyque created the art installation Pipe Light on an abandoned house in Sao Paolo. Using metal tubes and lamps, they completely wrapped the inside and the outside of the building. Really cool design using minimal materials.

(Deseen)

Posted in Architecture Tagged: Architecture, Deseen, Exterior Lighting, Pipe Light, Sao Paolo, Triptyque

The Contemporary Fix X Mastermind Japan Store

mfjoe — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:09:27 +0000

Crazy Mastermind Japan store created by Yuichi Yoshii, who tore down his restaurant to the foundation, and created this metal and cement monster. Nasty Zakus, as well.

Mastermind Japan

(Hypebeast)

London 2090

mfjoe — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:46:01 +0000

Flooded London was created by the incredible media production group Squint/Opera and visualizes the English city several decades in the future when sea levels have risen substantially. The series is set years after initial chaos took place, and has a fairly Utopian perspective. Good luck on that, but pretty nonetheless; I like the style of the pieces. The absence of Kevin Coster-esque mermen is enough for me. The images are at Medcalf Gallery in Clerkenwell, London for the London Festival of Architecture.

(Dezeen)

Romantizism Boutique

mfjoe — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:22:49 +0000

While gratuity and decadence are the name of the game at this Romantizism shop in Hangzhou, it is an impressive sight nevertheless…Designed by Keiichiro Sako. Perty…

(Thanks to the LV D)

Live in a Self-Sufficient Helmet

mfjoe — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:18:49 +0000

I would totally live in this! Concept house designed by Victor Vetterlein incorporates wind turbines, paint made of solar cells, and rainwater collection…in theory, due to the whole “concept” thing, of course. Tons more info at Dezeen.

Whadya Get for 500MM Euros?

mfjoe — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:53:37 +0000

Well, apparently you get this ridiculously nice opera house in Oslo, Norway. The Building was created by Norwegian architecture firm Snohetta, and is the country’s largest project of this kind since the 1300s (no shit). Just a staggering building, if i do say so myself…and I do.

(Lots more info at 2modern)

My Next Living Room

mfjoe — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:07:52 +0000

Crazy concept room by Magma Architecture from Berlin.

(FYI Mag)

Beautiful House in Nakano, Tokyo

mfjoe — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:39:04 +0000

This house, titled 63.02° in reference to the angle of the facade of the house, was built by Schemata Architecture, and is pretty and ultra-modern. Though the house looks a little too cement for me (I like wood and glass more), the Cherry Blossoms certainly soften the image.

(Thanks Dezeen)

Villanueva Public Library

mfjoe — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:55:45 +0000

A group of four young architects, all of whom are under 30, have just completed the Villanueva Public Library in Casanare, Colombia. Miguel Torres, German Ramirez, Alejandro Piñol and Carlos Meza, from Javeriana University, won a nationwide competition. The library makes extensive use of local materials, as well as help from local workers in its construction. Looks great, and is just a cool thing to see a bunch of kids spending their time building a library.

(From Deseen; Photos by Nicolas Cabrera)

…by the way, I beat Kanye to the new Guggenheim Hermitage by like 3 days…sleeping homie.)