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Gerson Castelo Branco: The Impressive Works of a Self-taught Architect – ArchDaily - August 12, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

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Gerson Castelo Branco is a self-taught architect from the state of Piau in Brazil. His architecture is a collection of references and experiences that he describes as "an expression of freedom," the Paraqueira.

We architects, always so formal, often use the term international to describe what in reality is just another renowned way of building. The architecture of Gerson Castelo Branco is not: it is original and fits anywhere on the planet without losing its essence, which reveals a pure, untouched and, therefore, one-of-a-kind, unique Brazilian country. - Olga Krell, architect and journalist.

This statement demonstrates the unique way in which Gerson Castelo Branco conceives his works: far from academic canons and languages. His architecture is inspired by nature, respecting it, and focusing on the users' well-being. His work has been compared to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright in a publication by the Architectural Digest in September 1995. Following a conversation with the architect, we gathered part of his trajectory which, despite being published in several countries, still does not have the proper recognition.

Gerson Castelo Branco was born in 1948 in the city of Parnaba in the state of Piau, northeast Brazil. Early in his childhood, he discovered his connection with the field of arts, and very early on he realized that "every system was inverted, the intention was to manipulate, [at school] when we were more daring with any kind of innovation, there was some scrutiny. My eyes were not on girls, they were on boys, this created an extremely uncomfortable situation in such a backward city." When he was 18, he left his family home and arrived in Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia. When he came across the Bay of All Saints, the "fantastic colors" of the steep slopes and local population, he found himself introduced to a Brazil he didn't know, "an intense Brazil." He took a university entrance exam for architecture but was accepted in his second option, Fine Arts. "It was incredible to be there, Novos Baianos, Carnaval of Bahia, everything was very intriguing, new customs, new culture, however, it was very difficult to have the resources to stay in the city."

It was the brother of a friend, who was living with Gerson, that commissioned his first architectural work proposal: a renovation in the city of Teresina, Piau. The project was successful and soon came another request from the same client to design a project from scratch, according to his desires. During that time, Gerson was interested in subjects such as astrology and extraterrestrial phenomena and started to be influenced by the architecture he saw in Salvador, which featured elements such as gardens that invaded the spaces and pools very close tothe houses, that impressed himand ledhis way in the field of projects.

After three and a half years, without graduating from Fine Arts, Gerson returns to Fortaleza, the state capital of Cear, northeast Brazil, where he meets his brother Cabeto, in his family home.

We were very modern in our behavior, I don't know if this is the right word, but we were the reference ofdifferent people in that conservative city of Fortaleza, I looked at all that, and I could not live there anymore.

So he decides to go on a trip to the Andean countries, in which he acknowledges that, despite his Christian upbringing, he was having his values put to the test. This experience carried him into a new phase in his life and work.

When returningfrom his trip, he decided that he could not live in Teresina, where he had works of his own being built, nor could he return to Fortaleza. For this reason, he chose to go down the coast of Piau and settled in a fishing village 30 km away from Parnaba, his hometown. There, Gerson recognized a kind of behavioral freedom between the fishermen and the women, who carried out the handicraft work. It was a behavior that could not be found in urban centers. He came across a sexual fluidity and non-judgemental approach that provided "thepossibility of being creative regardless of the rules of the system."

The community was protected by a few sand dunes and small lagoons. Gerson settled in a fisherman's hut, made of Taipa (rammed earth), and with low ceiling height. Inspired by:

My grandmother's recipe for high ceilings, with half walls and ventilation circulating in all rooms.

He did a renovation in several stages, knocking down a wall and lifting a roof to make room for a mezzanine.

Carnaba - a material that was being discarded in the demolition of warehouses in Parnaba and therefore very cheap - was picked for structural purposes and also for panels and revolving doors, in order to create integrated spaces and to dialogue with other local textures such as the cattailand monkey vine mats, also used to make walls that provide natural light.

The staircase was inspired by Lina Bo Bardi's iconic stairs at Solar do Unho, and this design becomes an element that he will incorporate in most of his future projects, as well as the permeability between the interior space and the surroundings. This hut, in particular, had abathroom witha large window facing a pathwayfor the fishermen, who interacted with Gerson while he was taking a bath.

On a trip to Fortaleza, he was introduced to Olga Krell, who at the time was developing Claudia magazine and was interested in publishing the photographs of this renovation. Since then, his name started to get national recognition from several different publications, aiming to promote an architecture beyond those from So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

And so was created what would become the first Paraqueira - the name he calls his architectural works. The inspiration for this title comes from the nickname he received in his teenage years, Paraca, because they say he "looked like a parachute, always opening up to life." "Since I was the Paraca, feeling good about life, these architectures could be theParaqueiras, that's where this expression came from," he explains.

In the early 1970s, Gerson was asked to design a house to be built on Praia do Futuro, in Fortaleza, where "there was nothing but flying objectsat that time." The project consisted of a regular brick house in the shape of a sail. However, the city government did not allow the construction, which he considers a boycott of his work at the time. Fortunately, around the same period, one of his neighbors requested a project which allowed him to adapt the design for a new plot of land.

Finally, the house was built on another beach and was included, amongst forty projects selected by Oscar Niemeyer, in the book Art in Brazil, organized by Pietro Maria Bardi.

From this moment on, Gerson's career was divided into two types of work: more urban projects carried out in Teresina - where no architect was working at the time, allowing him to pursue several lines of projects in the city such as bank agencies, factories, landscape designs, and plazas - and another type of architecture that he considers "totally carefree regarding concepts and rules established by architecture schools." Always accompanied by an engineer who was responsible for the structures and construction.

Gerson tells us: "Because I traveled a lot, on the roads I noticed something that ended up opening my head to timber resources, many trucks were carrying them, I looked at that and thought 'is no one using this?'" He cites names such as Severiano Porto, Zanine Caldas, and Cludio Bernardes, but insists that there was hardly a sense of alternative architecture.By combining the local peculiarities of Piau, with his memories of his grandmother's house, the experiences on the beach and the climate, Gerson begins to adopt a style in which the roofs are shaped like tall sails and, due to the possible influence of Burle Marx's work in Braslia, always includes water in his environments, resulting in a natural dialogue between the houses and their surroundings, a way of sheltering part of nature in architecture.

When asked about his creative process, Gerson states: "I am absolutely sure that it is nature. For me, creating is a stone, it is a tree, it is the very definition of terrain, which can change, bringing whatever reference, literally a process of transmission of nature through thought, imagination, from the electric field to the magnetic."

The architect goes on to say that he likes to ask the energy fields for permission before making a project for a specific location. About his project in Loiba, Spain, he says that it was "very full of crosses everywhere, a land where people were protecting themselves from witches, I have to ask them for permission, I believe they exist, and they do exist! So I ask for permission to arrive." As for the work process, he indicates that most parts of his projects are carried out on the drawing board.

As an example of creation, he cites his own house, in Viosa do Cear:

"I had already made many hang glider roofs on the coast of Teresina. So, this time, I decided to make a roof with enough space to fit three floors: the ground floor, the second floor as a living area, and the third floor where the bedrooms are. The first thing I did was the sleeping cabins, which I call Camarinhas, composed of two wooden beams attached to the sides, divided by babassu stems that sustain awnings and curtains from one side to the other. I welcomed many friends, groups of couples, and I used to say 'look, let's get settled, but don't move around too much and don't have sex. If you're going to have sex, arrange it!', everyone laughed, enjoying a unique energy field."

These spaces are literally integrated, open, with no concern for anything established by the concepts of morality and behavior. There was no promiscuity, but the human being living in freedom with nature itself. For me that was the fundamental point.

Gerson says that duringhis career he felt very confident about doing his work despite the differences from what had been proposed. In the 1970s and 1980s it was easier to let people be carried away and even today some clients are extremely open and ask for concepts, ideas, and shapes. However, he faces today more difficulties in this sense due to the "decoration trade fairs, the saturated market, a huge number of professionals being trained together with suppliers who are payingthem commissions, prostitution in the business. It is no longer the client who pays the architect, but the supplier, who also sustains this great catwalk of architecture, fads, finishings, and determines what should be and what shouldn't."

When giving lectures in several Brazilian universities, I felt bothered by the old-fashioned nature of architecture schools, by the constraints they impose on the minds of young people in Brazil. A lack of self-direction, a subordination to the market, to materials.

In general, one can say that Gerson expresses his dissatisfaction with the current scenario of architecture, just as he was unable to see himself inside the city, "getting along normally, I have spent my whole life hiding, looking for shelter on the beach, in the countryside."Finally, the lack of academic background, the non-subordination to the ruling market, the societal castrations opposed tothe freedom and proximity to nature he experienced, together with the way he appropriates the climates, are some of the main factors that helped to shape his character and way of thinking the spaces. Without a doubt, it is a unique way of approaching architecture and has a lot to teach us.

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Gerson Castelo Branco: The Impressive Works of a Self-taught Architect - ArchDaily

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We are going to make this happen: Developer gives more details on next-gen office tower for West Palm – Palm Beach Post - August 12, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

Developer, architect, lay out design for Class A-plus office tower at entrance to West Palm Beachs downtown tent site.

WEST PALM BEACH -- Developer Charles Cohen on Monday gained conceptual approval for what he promised would be a world-class office tower at the entrance to West Palm Beachs downtown, one he said would enhance its surroundings and draw top tenants.

And it will get done, he said -- something that has eluded the citys efforts to build on the property nicknamed the tent site for 24 years.

"We are going to make this happen. Weve never undertaken, as a company or me, myself, any project that we havent completed within the time frame that we made our commitment to accomplish."

City commissioners, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, voted 4-0 for the West Palm Point project to rise on the 2.4-acre property at the corner of Okeechobee Boulevard and South Dixie Highway. Commissioner Cory Neering was absent.

Cohen Brothers Realty now is to spend several months refining plans for the 338-foot glass tower, conducting traffic studies and seeking city approvals for project details before construction begins.

Cohen and chief architect Kristin Hawkins of world-renowned Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects presented the board with their concept for the project. It will include an elliptical tower with 23 floors of offices, rising beside a 10-story garage adorned with art and topped with a sky terrace with a reflective pool and landscaped seating areas.

The tower and garage will separated by a walkway called a paseo, 45 feet across at its widest, with tables and chairs, "a very active space, kind of a destination space," as Hawkins called it. Shops will line the garages ground level, along Dixie and elsewhere.

Mayor Keith James asked Cohen whether the project could attract tenants in a COVID-19 world that has thrown into question how strong office demand will be.

The developer responded with a reference to the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams.

"If we build it and do the job right, which we have every intention of doing, they will come," Cohen said. "We have time," he said, adding that development is a long process and this project has the advantage of an environment of available financing with low interest rates.

The company has yet to address one of the biggest concerns facing downtown -- traffic. Cohens attorney for the project, Brian Seymour, said traffic studies could not be done until the conceptual design was completed but that now they would be.

The developer recognizes the building will not exist in a vacuum, Seymour said.

"We know traffic on Okeechobee is an issue for the community. I cant tell you how were going to deal with all of it, because were not at that stage yet but we are going to deal with that," he said.

The developer will look for ways to integrate trolley service, scooter-share and bike-share facilities with the design, he said, forms of transportation the city has encouraged to reduce dependence on cars.

Hawkins, with Pelli since 1985, was design team leader for Cohens Red Building, the 800,000-square-foot final building of the award-winning Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. She is leading the design team for a natural history museum in China.

"Its deeply ingrained in our process that our buildings become good citizens," she told commissioners. "We design them to fit into their context, not necessarily to be the same as, but to fit in so that they complement the existing context and become positive additions to the fabric thats already there."

The architects approached the project as almost a campus master plan, with components that relate to each other "without talking over each other," she said. At West Palm Point, the main components are the tower, the garage and the paseo.

Early on, they considered having the garage as part of the tower but decided that would look too massive, she said. Instead the two will be linked only by the ground floor paseo and a small garage-top bridge.

The tower, with its main drive-up entry on Quadrille Boulevard, will be of lightly tinted glass, she said. Its designed to look transparent, airy and open, so you can see through the lobby to the paseo, she said.

The tower will taper slightly toward its top, with subtle "fins" on the sides, to accent its verticality.

The garage is designed not to be disguised, as in some buildings, but to be as "soft" and attractive a structure as possible, with colorful art by Felice Varini wrapping around its sides, around its corners and into its interior, with fragmented geometric shapes that look different from different angles.

"What makes the building important in today's world is that It has all the latest technological advances," Cohen said, touting its quality level as Class A-plus.

"Were in a different world now and we will use that to educate ourselves, to make a building that will be not only world class in its planning and construction," the developer said, "but in the building systems and how it will be a healthy environment that is all focused on wellness and allowing people to feel safe and secure in an office environment."

tdoris@pbpost.com

@TonyDorisPBP

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Lahofer Winer by Chybik + Kristof Architects & Urban Designers follows the rhythm of the viticultural landscape – Domus - August 12, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

Chybik + Kristof Architects & Urban Designers, Lahofer Winery, Dobice, Czech Republic, 2020

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Lahofer Winer by Chybik + Kristof Architects & Urban Designers follows the rhythm of the viticultural landscape - Domus

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Architecture and nature: 25 years of Emilio Ambasz’s ACROS centre in Fukuoka – Floornature.com - August 12, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

Argentinian architect Emilio Ambasz is considered a pioneer of green architecture, has taught at the School of Architecture at Princeton University, and served as curator of the MoMA from 1969 to 1976. He has been the recipient of major international awards, such as the Honorary Fellowship at the American Institute of Architects and the Honorary International Fellowship at the Royal Institute of British Architects. One of his important works, the ACROS centre, which stands for Asian CrossRoad Over the Sea, designed in Fukuoka in Japan, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. The project is the result of a line of research that the Argentinian architect had embarked upon fifteen years prior, based on the idea of giving back to nature the land taken from it with the construction of a building, neatly summarised by the saying green over grey. Indeed, the need for new government offices in Fukuoka was nearly irreconcilable with the fact that the only available site was a two-hectare public park in the city centre. The idea of using this last green area for a new construction, albeit for public purposes, was met with strong opposition and protests from citizens. The design proffered by architect Emilio Ambasz had the merit of reconciling the two opposing positions, allowing for the same span of green land to be preserved whilst still constructing the new offices, with the added benefit of obtaining an iconic building representative of the entire city.

The Argentinian architects idea, based on a system of garden terraces, allowed for the expansion of the buildings faade, all whilst compensating for the portion of green land taken up by the construction. The structure features 14 large terraced gardens, each alternating with pools and water courses. Finally, on the roof, there is a belvedere that offers panoramic views over the port and the areas surrounding the city. All this is accessible and open to the public, along with the land in front. Talking about his project, the architect Emilio Ambasz said: The building is at the heart of a city that previously had a two-hectare square and which still has a two-hectare square. Inside, a surface of over 97,000m2 is home to: multipurpose spaces with an exhibition hall, a museum, a 2000-seat theatre, conference rooms, government and private offices, an information centre for tourists, commercial spaces and four underground levels.Emilio Ambaszs green pyramid has had a profound influence on subsequent projects which sought - and still seek - to establish a relationship of coexistence between architecture and nature. The ACROS centre has won major international awards, such as the American Institute of Architects Business Week/Architectural Record Award and the first prize from the Japanese Institute of Architecture. Twenty-five years after its construction, there are two solid tests proving that the Argentinian architects intuitions remain valid to this day. The building has shown significant natural development: whereas at its opening, the green pyramid was home to 76 plant varieties and 37,000 plants, today it boasts 120 varieties and 50,000 plants. In addition, a thermal environment measurement survey conducted by Takenaka Corporation, Kyushu University and the Nippon Institute of Technology has certified that the ACROS centre makes a significant contribution to reducing the heat island around it and to reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, making for a 15C difference between the exterior and interior of the building in the hotter seasons.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Architects: Emilio AmbaszLocation: Fukuoka, Japan

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Architecture and nature: 25 years of Emilio Ambasz's ACROS centre in Fukuoka - Floornature.com

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kubo tsushima architects renovates and extends ‘edoyu’ spa in tokyo – Designboom - July 4, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

kubo tsushima architects has renovated and extended edoyu, a spa and bathhouse facility in tokyos kamezawa district. as the site is located in close proximity to the sumida hokusai museum an institution dedicated to katsushika hokusai the design of the spa is inspired by the work of the famous artist. while staying true to hokusais world, in our design, we also tried to emphasize the concept of the word yu in edo-yu, which means freely wandering and enjoying, explains the design team.

all images by koji fujii / nacasa and partners

externally, kubo tsushima architects added a faade to the building that is reminiscent of bathhouse curtains blowing in the wind. this entrance to edoyu is made up of four tall aluminum panels that hide the junction between the existing building and a new annex that doubles the spas floor space. the panels have been punctured with a seigaiha pattern that gradually disappears as the elevation ascends. passing through the curtain-like faade symbolizes the transition from the city to the spa retreat.

thanks to its reinforced concrete structure, the annex has no columns or beams. this gave the architects more freedom in determining the interior layout. we designed small spaces through the use of bathtubs, furniture, finishing materials, ceilings and differences in lighting environments all so that they would form a continuous sequence, says the design team. although the spa can accommodate up to 400 visitors, the architects designed the spaces so that all guests can find their own private areas.

the womens bathing area has been designed to evoke the feeling of floating in the clouds. the tubs are set at different heights, while apertures cut into the ceiling take the form of clouds. other areas of the scheme, including a co-working space and a restaurant, are contained within the previously existing building. while our inspiration derives from hokusais world, our goal was to construct the edo world from a modern, or perhaps even near future, perspective, say the architects. read our interview with hideaki kubo and yumi tsushima here.

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kubo tsushima architects renovates and extends 'edoyu' spa in tokyo - Designboom

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The new Pier District owes its style to New York and Tampa Bay architectural teams – Tampa Bay Times - July 4, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

ST. PETERSBURG The citys Pier District, its 26-acres parceled into walkable segments, with features such as a solar-shaded marketplace and an occulus with water views through a man-made sloping lawn, owes its design to the collaborative efforts of architects from St. Petersburg, Tampa and New York.

The main teams original concepts survived an opinionated public concerned about what would replace the iconic inverted pyramid Pier of 1973. Four massive caissons from the pyramid survived to form the base of the new Piers fishing deck. Historic Pier pilings also were incorporated into the architects design, leaving them exposed in front of Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Centers wet classroom, an amphitheater-style seating area leading down to the bay.

It was five years ago that a committee selected the team of Rogers Partners Architects and Urban Designers and lead landscape designer Ken Smith Workshop from New York, along with Tampas ASD/SKY Architects, to design the main section of the project. They produced the five-level Pier head building that includes a fourth-floor restaurant, roof-top bar and a bay-level fishing deck.

The team also created such elements as the coastal thicket, an over-the-water deck through a landscape of native trees, shrubs and grasses.

Rob Rogers, founding partner of Rogers Partners, is pleased with the options the new $92 million Pier offers.

I think our goal would be that there is such a diversity of experiences and opportunity that you are going to want to go back over and over. And if youre a resident, you are going to go to the beach, the environmental center. You might fish out at the end, he said.

Vince Lee, an associate partner at Rogers Partners, and project director, said there are a number of ways to experience the Pier head building. It is kind of a microcosm of the whole Pier, in that there are multiple ways to use it and move through it, providing different experiences and views along the way.

Rogers Partners teamed up with ASD/SKY, which was responsible for renovations at Al Lang Stadium and is working at Sparkmans Wharf in Tampa.

As a team here locally, we were able to patiently manage all the public input and address many of the voices we heard, said ASD/SKYs John Curran, principal in charge and project director.

Our role as design partner was not only as a partner from a design standpoint, but taking our Florida experience in Florida construction and putting this into planning a building over water. We were there every day. ... I am pleased that my hand prints are all over it. And my kids are terribly excited.

Wannemacher Jensen Architects in St. Petersburg was the other local firm that had a part in creating the new district. The firm collaborated with W Architecture and Landscape Architecture of Brooklyn to design the area that links the Pier to downtown.

We complement each other, said Jason Jensen, Wannemacher Jensens president, noting that W Architectures focus is on parks and the environment.

Barbara Wilks, founder of the New York firm, said she was honored to work with the dedicated and passionate community of St Pete to re-imagine the new district. I am proud that we made a place that everyone can enjoy, while surrounded by native plants and animals of the Tampa Bay.

Jensen said his firm assisted with the master planning of the Pier approach, specifically the marketplace and Doc Fords Rum Bar and Grille. A goal was to create a space to appeal to a cross-section of the community, with a variety of experiences throughout the park, he said.

He said his firm believed that the marketplace should be a shaded structure and close to downtown and that it would be a fantastic way to initially present our city to visitors.

That the playground and family park did not exist in the original downtown master plan, he said, but he believed they were important elements to include to be a truly inclusive, family friendly district. The $1 million playground is shaded. We integrated it into the trees, Jensen said.

The installation of artist Nathan Mabrys 10-foot, origami-style metal pelican at the Piers entrance was purposeful. We worked with the artist and W (Architecture) to focus on that location as an entry plaza and to basically welcome visitors to the Pier with the market directly behind that feature, Jensen said. He predicts that it will become a premiere meeting point.

Their design also evolved to incorporate the Piers signature public art, Janet Echelmans aerial net sculpture that floats above the family park.

The placement of everything is unfolding a Pier experience for the community, Jensen said. Youre not revealing it all at one time. Sprinkle in the shade of the market, the trees of the playground, the plaza and you are coming across activities at walking-friendly intervals.

Public projects can be the hardest ones, but also the most satisfying, Rogers said.

I am proud of the fact that we maintained the design concept from the beginning, Curran said. The concept has always been strong enough to stay true, the idea of shade, cover and comfort, making sure we had a number of activities throughout the entire Pier, so that it was many experiences and not just a road to the end.

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The new Pier District owes its style to New York and Tampa Bay architectural teams - Tampa Bay Times

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How Will Digitalization and Remote Construction Change our Habits as Architects? – ArchDaily - July 4, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

How Will Digitalization and Remote Construction Change our Habits as Architects?

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Architects dont make buildings. Architects make drawings of buildings. But of course, someone has to make the building. The construction industry is one of the largest economic sectors and we all interact with the built environment on a daily basis, but the actual work of getting a building from drawing to structure has barely evolved over the decades. While the rest of the world has moved into Industry 4.0, the construction sector has not kept pace. Architecture has begun to embrace some digitalization. After all, not many of us work with mylar on drafting tables anymore. So with the architecture industrys everlasting link to the construction industry, will the latter pick up some new technological tricks by association? And when it does, how will that change the role of the architect?

Large construction projects can often take 20 percent more time than scheduled and when they are finished, as many as 80 percent end up over-budget. Construction is one of the lowest profit-margin industries in todays economy. In the past 75 years, productivity has increased by up to 1,500 percent in the manufacturing, retail, and agriculture fields. Over that same time period, productivity in construction remained almost the same. The emerging field of Construction Technology, or ConTech, aims to change that and bring construction into the 21st century.

Remote work began in technology industries, but even before the current global pandemic, the use of remote working had grown by 400 percent over the years. Today, we all have even more incentive to work as digitally as we can. One of the most well-known technological advancements in the architecture and building world is BIM, Building Information Modeling. The remote collaboration capabilities of BIM are a great start toward doing less work on-site, but BIM goes far beyond a collaborative Revit model. BIM can help project managers make better decisions at every stage of construction, even increasing health and safety on the job site.

By using BIM to access and analyze all the relevant data for a project, including documents, regulatory information, and building manuals, the project team can identify critical health and safety hazards on a construction site ahead of time. Although construction work comprises only 10 percent of the workforce, its responsible for up to 40 percent of workplace deaths, even in industrialized countries.

Using techniques like visualization, simulation, and virtual prototyping, BIM allows architects to preview a series of potential scenarios before the process of building even starts, with the aim or foreseeing any potential dangers for crews before they are even on site. Further BIM tools like compliance checking, scenario planning, pre-fabrication tools, and clash detection minimize the day-to-day construction site risks. BIM can also be used for emergency preparedness and planning, as well as accident analysis in the event that one does take place. In one study about the use of BIM technology in construction, 37 percent of owners and contractors reported more than a 5 percent reduction in reportable incidents.

Beyond BIM, and in tandem with BIM, other technologies not specifically developed for the building industry can also be applied to construction, such as AR, VR, AI and even blockchain, to make remote construction a reality. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) can eliminate the need for architects and owners to make frequent site visits, as well as streamlining the construction process itself. Both AR and VR can help in conducting virtual site visits, saving time and money.

WhenAR capabilities combine with an on-site 3D camera, off-site members of the project team can stream 360 degree video and work through issues in real time, perhaps evenincluding aerial footage with the use of drones. Workers on-site can use AR to send enhanced field notes, videos, and other data to remote colleagues, promoting rapid digital collaboration. The high-quality data and information from the site that can be produced via these technologies can decrease in-person visits, save time and money, and improve knowledge transfer among the team.

Computer-performed analysis of a job site can even identify potential safety risk factors, which has the added benefit of minimizing any delays from dealing with hazards. AR/VR combined with BIM can then allow inspectors to more efficiently identify any remaining worksite danger. AR could also be utilized in the field for job training, for example an overlay that teaches how to use a particular piece of machinery. It could even allow contractors to see through walls as theyre working, streamlining coordination between multiple different trades.

Blockchain, which at first glance has little to do with the construction industry, could in fact eliminate paperwork and increase security throughout a projects completion. The simple definition of blockchain is that it is an incorruptible and decentralized public ledger to store digital information, which could help bring the construction sector into Industry 4.0. The process of bringing a project from concept to building involves a lot of paperwork and documents - bids, contracts, and forms of all types. Project managers could integrate BIM with blockchain technologies to automate and optimize many of these processes, while simultaneously cutting back on paper usage for a sustainable bonus. For example, smart contracts could allow a transparent exchange between parties without the need for a lawyer or a notary, simplifying and shortening the process.

To increase job site security, blockchain technology could be used to track all the workers on site each day through an ID card scan, automatically integrating with their payroll system and creating a secure log of who was on site and when. Sustainability measures such as lifecycle analysis of building materials could also be automated, creating a type of passport for each material to track information like ethical sourcing and embodied carbon. Each of these possibilities for utilizing blockchain technologies serves to streamline architects and project managers tasks and remove busy-work, allowing the team to focus on the bigger picture instead.

Even Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been suggested as a possible way to increase efficiency in the architecture and construction fields. Especially in creative fields like architecture, theres often debate about the real capabilities of AI and whether it could (or should) truly replace human work. In this case, the goal would be to simply automate some of the parts of architecture that dont require a creative touch. AI could compile building site information for example, such as temperature and weather data, or could automatically keep track of material ratings. Even systems such as smart lighting or smart stormwater management could be integrated from the beginning of design, significantly simplifying coordination efforts.

AI could also perform analyses that architects wouldnt otherwise have the time or inclination to consider. When integrated with BIM data, AI could analyze trends and inefficiencies from project to project, allowing architects to gain more insight from each building than theyd typically be able to and increasing the life-span and quality of future buildings. In terms of built structures maintenance, AI could also be utilized to track any facilities issues and monitor for problems and performance. Perhaps eventually AI could use data from how people interact with spaces to extrapolate entire smart city designs.

In most cases, were quite a distance from achieving that, but the technology exists to make it possible. From the beginning of a project, using VR to walk clients through a space, to the end where an AI system performs building commissioning and analysis, the ConTech possibilities are numerous. And whether or not we live to see robot bricklayers become mainstream, certainly there are opportunities to streamline, simplify, and enhance the construction process via digitalization. Architects can save time and money by performing virtual site visits, while the workers on-site can initiate a more productive and efficient discussion about issues via high-quality information capture.

Overall, ConTech advancements would decrease the amount of people on a construction site to the minimum needed to complete the physical work each day, yet not at the expense of seamless collaboration. In fact, technology-enhanced remote communication could improve real-time coordination efforts while embracing the time- and money-savings of remaining digital. Project safety and security would improve, eliminating those worries from the owners, architects, and construction managers. Monotonous, tedious tasks and paperwork could become automated and simplified, taking that off the architect's list of responsibilities as well. In an imagined "remote construction" future, the practice of architecture may be distilled to those tasks at the very heart of the profession, design and collaboration.

Read more about these topics on the dormakaba's blog.

Continued here:
How Will Digitalization and Remote Construction Change our Habits as Architects? - ArchDaily

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Architect Paul Williams archive acquired by Getty and USC – Los Angeles Times - July 4, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

In 1992, when Los Angeles went up in flames in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, one of the buildings claimed by fire was a bank at the intersection of South Broadway and 45th Street, located on the border of Historic South Central and South Park.

The Broadway Federal Savings & Loan had once been a Woolworths building, but in 1955 it was transformed into a bank by Paul R. Williams the prominent and prolific Los Angeles architect who designed private homes for numerous celebrities (among them, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Stanwyck, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz), as well as churches, hotels, commercial buildings and even the font for the famous Beverly Hills Hotel logo.

Indeed, after the banks completion, Williams deposited his important papers there for safe-keeping.

So when the building went up in flames during the 92 uprising, so did much of the archival legacy of an architect who helped define the aesthetics of Southern California design though much of the 20th century. Not to mention the legacy of one of the countrys most notable Black architects with a rack of firsts to his name: the first licensed architect in California, the first African American to become a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the first to receive the AIA Gold Medal.

Or at least thats how the story went.

It turns out that the blaze that destroyed the Broadway Federal Savings & Loan didnt, as has long been reported, erase Williams legacy. While some of his business records were indeed lost in that fire, most of the architects thousands of original drawings were safe at another location.

Which means that there is a Paul R. Williams archive and it contains approximately 35,000 architectural plans, 10,000 original drawings, in addition to blueprints, hand-colored renderings, vintage photographs and correspondence. And, on Tuesday morning, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) and USCs School of Architecture are expected to announce a joint acquisition from Williams granddaughter Karen Elyse Hudson, who has long served as the principal steward of Williams work.

The Beverly Hills hotel in 1950, featuring a 1949-1950 addition by architect Paul R. Williams. He also designed the hotels distinctive signage.

(Julius Shulman / Getty Research Institute)

USC architecture dean Milton Curry, who was instrumental in facilitating the acquisition, says the archive helps fill the gaps of Los Angeles Modernism in the 20th century. It will also help illuminate Williams thinking and process.

This is one of the few Black architects operating at the scale and capacity that many of his white peers operated at, says Curry, who added, he accomplished a legacy that very few architects accomplished in their lifetime.

It also helps bring Williams work full circle: A native-born Angeleno, he studied architectural engineering at USC, graduating in 1919.

For the Getty Research Institute, the acquisition adds another important resource to an already prestigious archive that includes many of the key players of Southern California architecture in the 20th and 21st century, including Welton Becket (designer of the Music Center), Pierre Koenig (of the hill-hugging Stahl House), John Lautner (the spaceship-esque Chemosphere) and Frank Gehry (the ebullient Disney Hall).

This will really shed an incredible light on understanding architecture better in Los Angeles that it wasnt just individual architects, but a network of professionals, says Maristella Casciato, the GRIs senior curator of architecture. She notes that though Williams worked independently as the principal of his own studio, he also collaborated with many of the big Los Angeles firms of the era on major projects, including LAX.

A view of the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz House in Palm Springs, designed by architect Paul Williams and completed in 1954-55.

(Julius Shulman / Getty Research Institute)

His archive also serves as a chronicle of almost a century of architecture in the region.

Williams was born in 1894 and died in 1980 and his career as a designer spans the graceful, undulating forms of Spanish Revival architecture to the more rectilinear shapes of Modernism at mid-century. (Think: the series of intersecting boxes that comprise his firms Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building at W. Adams Boulevard and S. Western Avenue, completed in 1949.)

It captures the beginning of the jet age with the design of LAX, says Casciato. It captures this big change in the profession. It is a richness that I cannot even describe.

On the technical level, the level of detail, the crispness of the drawings ... it could have been drawn yesterday, adds Curry. He had a command.

Williams archive will also function as a cornerstone of the Gettys 2-year-old African American History Initiative. That program, led by curator LeRonn P. Brooks, has already acquired critical documents in other areas, including the archive of Los Angeles artist Betye Saar, a key player in the Black Arts Movement, and the photographic archive of the Johnson Publishing Company, the publishers of Ebony and Jet magazines. (That latter archive was acquired in collaboration with three other philanthropic foundations and is shared by the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture and the GRI.)

A view of the dramatic circular patio at the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, designed by Paul R. Williams in the early 1950s.

(Julius Shulman / Getty Research Institute)

The acquisition couldnt come at a more critical moment as the nation reckons with centuries of structural racism.

Williams, Curry notes, bore the battle scars of racism.

The architect, quite famously, learned how to draw upside down so that he could sketch out ideas for white clients who may not have wanted to sit alongside him. And he often walked around construction sites with his hands clasped behind his back since he was unsure how a handshake from a Black man would be received.

The circumstance around which we find ourselves now give us additional impetus to reflect on the lack of diversity in our discipline, says Curry. At USC, we talk about the citizen architect. We have been pushing the notion that architecture has to be more inclusive. But this is an accelerant for us. The acquisition of Paul Williams archives is the moment to double down on creating diversity in our school.

We shouldnt, he adds, have to wait another 100 years.

From the Archives

Further reading on architect Paul R. Williams

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Architect Paul Williams archive acquired by Getty and USC - Los Angeles Times

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Ontario Association of Architects Launches New Logo and Website – Canadian Architect - July 4, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) unveiled its new Leo Burnett Canada designed logo and new website during a special online launch.

The logo shows the Ontario Association of Architects as a place to bridge communities. The central circle, which doubles as an O for Ontario, is representative of the community and inclusivity of the membership, the outer pieces framing this circle are representative of the architects space, and create two Asa nod to Association and the two member types: architects and architectural technologists (Lic.Tech.OAA).

The predominant brand colours are black and white for their contrast and clarity of information, along with an array of greys. Accessibility was key for the primary typeface, Akkurata grotesque sans-serif typeface created by Swiss designer Laurenz Brunner and released through the Lineto type foundry.

We are thrilled to have worked in partnership with the OAA to develop a timeless new identityan identity that ultimately distilled down to fundamental shapes representing space and community, says Lisa Greenberg, CCO of Leo Burnett Canada. Its an identity that can last a lifetime, just like structures and buildings.

The OAA also released a new website and design experience in collaboration with Enginess.io and Sputnik Design Partners. The organization re-envisioned its decade-old site to meet accessibility standards, provide clear information for both members and the public, improve transparency, and offer responsive design for tablets and phones.

We know our website is our digital headquarters. Its a space that is used by members to access an important body of knowledge as well as to build community, and its a place for the public to find information or gain a better understanding of this profession, its role, and the uniquely trained and skilled individuals who are part of it, says OAA President and architect, Kathleen Kurtin.

It has been an incredible journey and an extremely rewarding experience working together with the OAA in the creation of their new website, says Sputniks owner, David Sacha. Sputniks mission was to create an online presence that would better reflect the current vision and offerings of the OAA, while still delivering all the tools needed to support and engage the architectural community in Ontario. The result is one of collaboration and ingenuity that saw several creative disciplines working together to craft and engineer an artistic, engaging, and forward-thinking website.

Enginess Director of Digital Strategy, Simone Abel, calls the new website an impressive showpiece of a content- and user-first approach to digital experience design.

The new website comprises two separate, but connected, domains for public and member audiences. The OAAs mission of protecting and serving the public interest is made explicitly clear, allowing users to quickly learn about the architecture profession and the OAAs regulatory role, or gain more information about illegal practice, complaints and discipline processes, or registrar investigations.

Members of the public can find out how to become an Architect or Licensed Technologist OAA, with the website showing the paths to licensure for students and interns within Ontario, as well as for those currently studying or practising outside the province. The website also includes a directory that allows the public to search through the membership and those who hold status with the OAA.

The OAA Website offers access to the Practice Advisory Knowledge Basea digital library of resources, articles, tools, documents, and publications, searchable through key words, filters, and tags.

The site also includes updated information related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with portals for resources related to carbon stability and sustainable design, as well as a database of the OAAs government relations outreach.

Link:
Ontario Association of Architects Launches New Logo and Website - Canadian Architect

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This architect explains why racist statues are no longer relevant and describes how to replace them – The European Sting - July 4, 2020 by Mr HomeBuilder

(Credit: Unsplash)

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration ofThe European Stingwith theWorld Economic Forum.

Author: Gayle Markovitz, Editor, World Economic Forum

Racist statues are falling. In the past weeks since the killing of an unarmed African American man by a Minnesota police officer, the global rage at racial injustice and inequality has been visceral.

A number of statues and monuments to past heroes have been defaced, beheaded, drowned and dismembered. These are important acts. They highlight the relationship between symbols and ideas and epitomize the human need for ritual and meaning through memory, recollection and fantasy.

They also expose the uncomfortable fact that history is constructed and traditionally, there were winners and losers. These acts of revulsion signify a rejection of this binary understanding of the past. People are tired of myths and singular heroes and seek complex truths in new symbols that dont ignore the losers or the forgotten underbelly of history.

This is why cities, towns, museums and those responsible for designing infrastructure and public space need to rethink how we memorialize the past and develop new approaches to past mistakes that give current and future generations the means to move forward.

Here, David Adjaye lead designer of the Smithsonian Museums National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington DC and architect of Londons forthcoming Holocaust Memorial explains why monuments need not be permanent and why we need to be ruthless with the truth to enable fractured communities to heal.

There is something very hopeful about the fact that this generation is saying, wait a minute. Thats not what we thought history was about. Its time to move on.

David Adjaye, Architect

Whats the significance of symbols, statues or memorials?

Adjaye: Theres a direct relationship between symbols and systems. We ignore the power of symbols and disregard the power of past symbols at our peril. Symbols construct our sense of ourselves and our beliefs. And what were now seeing is a disgust with the construction of monuments and narratives that glorified people and things that we thought were about a great history, only to find out that the underbelly of that history is steeped in horror, violence and blood.

Its also healthy for the system and for the city to continue to reconstruct and rethink these things. Monuments are not forever. They take us through transitions. The statues that are falling reference a mythical sense of time, which exists only in fantasy. The danger is that when these myths are made physical, they can project permanently into future generations, but the truth inevitably emerges into plain sight. And thats what were seeing now: you cant hide these things.

Does the rejection of racist statues in cities across the world mean that there is progress?

Adjaye: The rituals of cities and the rituals of spaces give meaning to our lives this is why monuments are so important. They capture memory and recollection, and they tell stories. But there is now a disregard for the power of singular monuments and an embrace of multiple stories including those that may have been lost. Were entering an age where there is a distinct departure from the god complex.

The spatial experience of being in the world is so rich that as designers, artists and architects, we have to make the city relevant and offer people a collective understanding of complex issues and challenges. These singular statues have become irrelevant because they tell only one story: stories that are often part of a fiction. This is deeply problematic for contemporary life in terms of trying to steer a course towards the world that we all want to live in. The projects that Ive been doing work against this kind of memory of the image as opposed to memory of the act.

Memory can also change. The idea of signs and monuments that are fragments within an unfolding story is interesting. These are important touchstones to teach people about values and morals. Theres nothing better than a society admitting mistakes. Nobodys perfect.

We need to establish new ways of being in cities and communities within a very complex and interdependent global world this is one of the struggles that as architects were trying to work through.

How do you design a contemporary memorial?

Adjaye: Its critical that the responsibility of the monument is not done with a sense of a fantasy. For me, its a cold analysis of past events and I use that information to show what went wrong. Theres no emotion.

In building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, it inadvertently also became a monument. The story had simply been held back for so long that just making a building didnt seem enough. It was about delivering a narrative and a formal message of the building as a device to talk about our moral compass.

It is now used as the backdrop for many of the anti-racist protests. So immediate histories are unfolding as the building evolves to convey new stories as well as old. For me, this is the ultimate success of a monument. It should enable a community to move forward by creating a historical marker, a social reference point and a generational moral compass.

What about systemic racism inherent in the design of cities?

Adjaye: The construction of racism in the construction of cities is seen all the time Johannesburg is probably the epitome. We know about Johannesburg because of the Apartheid story, but the architecture of segregation can be found in any society where theres been a dislocation between those who have and those who have not (either through marginalization, through skin colour or any other difference).

Infrastructure which seems apparently benign and of benefit to everyone has been used as a tool of separation to create communities of dependency and communities that are just on the edge of collapse.

So racism is not just a human hate issue. Its been deployed through every mechanism of how we construct and make our physical environments. Statues are just one of these mechanisms.

There were inherent mistakes made by generations, which fundamentally blocked the access and the opportunity of many people. Its incumbent on architects now to find fresh ways to bridge or create new relationships.

Whats the World Economic Forum doing about diversity, equity and inclusion?

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle racial injustice and inequality. In response, the Forums Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society has established a high-level community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers. The community will develop a vision, strategies and tools to proactively embed equity into the post-pandemic recovery and shape long-term inclusive change in our economies and societies.

As businesses emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, they have a unique opportunity to ensure that equity, inclusion and justice define the new normal and tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity. It is increasingly clear that new workplace technologies and practices can be leveraged to significantly improve diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes.

The World Economic Forum has developed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Toolkit, to outline the practical opportunities that this new technology represents for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, while describing the challenges that come with it.

The toolkit explores how technology can help reduce bias from recruitment processes, diversify talent pools and benchmark diversity and inclusion across organisations. The toolkit also cites research that suggests well-managed diverse teams significantly outperform homogenous ones over time, across profitability, innovation, decision-making and employee engagement.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Toolkit is available here.

The past few months have seen an extraordinary shift in context and mood. The consequences of our actions are more questioned and the interconnectedness of everything is more apparent. With the internet were able to see the cataclysmic effects of all these things upon each other. So we suddenly share a collective consciousness through the medium.

Its forcing a global awareness in a way thats never happened before in the history of civilization. It will impact the way in which we make cities, how we legislate, how we make things, how we use materials, how we use resources. Something that was meant to be about separation, can suddenly become a tool of continuity within this changed context. Cities are always changing and symbols and signs are being re-appropriated.

There is something very hopeful about the fact that this generation is saying, wait a minute. Thats not what we thought history was about. Its time to move on.

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This architect explains why racist statues are no longer relevant and describes how to replace them - The European Sting

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