Fieldtrip to KB Homes at Whittier

Great fieldtrip to the KB-Homes construction site in Whitter on April 14th. While the design of the homes is questionable to say the least, it gave us good insight into the SoCal housing market and into contemporary details of timber constructions. Note the use of strong-panels and the offset lateral force resisting system.

CK-Architecture Website Now Fully Updated

CK-Architecture

National Library of the Czech Republic Competition: 2006

OPEN HOUSE

Open House, "Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living" opens tonight at the Art Center College of Design, South Campus at 7:00 PM
Tuesday-Friday: Noon to 9 pm
Saturday: Noon to 6 pm

Art Center College of Design
South Campus
The Wind Tunnel
950 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105



Thinking Ahead by Rojkind Architectos

Los Angeles River Movie

This 27-minute documentary film about the LA River by Sarah Lorenzen and David Hartwell is definitely worth watching.

link

World's Tallest Log Cabin in Arkhangelsk

read

New Solar Powered Parking Garage for Santa Monica

The six-story, 882 space parking garage is designed by Moore , Ruble , Yudell and features photovoltaic Roof panels, a storm water tratment system, recycled construction materials and an energy efficient mechanical system according to Jorge Casuso at the LookOut news.

read article

Wood Window Manufacturer Presentation

Window Manufacturer's Presentation

Goldbrecht Window Manufacturer have made a presentation of custom wood and aluminum window products today.
To read more follow this link

Building Green Announces 2006 Top-10 Green Building Products

2006-BuildingGreen Inc. announced the 2006 top-10 Green Building Products.
read more

This is a picture of underwater standing timber salvage by Triton Underwater Logging

New Report on PVC Published

The USGBC PVC report has concluded that PVC is one of the worst commonly used building materials from an environmental and health perspective.

read report and draw your own conclusion.

Morphosis versus Green Design

In today's Los Angeles Times, Christopher Hawthorne discusses the new 18-story federal building designed by Morphosis. The article plays with the thought that great design and sustainability are issues that are not always easy to combine and gets a bit confusing towards the end. In my opinion, great architecture must be sustainable, otherwise it is not great architecture.

read more:

Check Out Ban Lab by Keio University SFC

link

211 Field Trip To The De Young Museum This Weekend

This weekend our second field trip will lead us to the De Young Museum by Herzog and De Meuron at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
There is be a sketching/detailing exercise on the blackboard for extra credit. Look at Course Documents/Fieldtrips.

Australia Will Phase Out Incandescent Lightbulbs

read here

London's Climate Change Action PLan

London wants to become greenest city
read here

Shigeru Ban Video About His New Pavilion For Artek

Watch

The Institute for Sound and Vision

The Institute for Sound and Vision by Neutelings Riedijk has opened its doors to the public

Link

Richard Branson Offers $25M For Method of Removing CO2 From Atmosphere. Any Ideas?

The prize will be open for 5 years and the winner will have to come up wiht a way of removing one billion metric tons of carbon gases a year from the atmosphere for ten years.

read

More pictures from Saturday's field trip to the LACMA construction site:

The stone's connection to the wall:
Detail, showing the narrow space between the stone and the structural wall:
Perimeter trench where a french drain system will be installed:
HVAC and electric systems snaking around the ceiling:
Slots for the fasteners on the interior walls:
Exposed pipes where the much-discussed glass elevator will be:
Rebar grids around the outside of the parking structure:
Then down and down and down and deeper into the chasmal-looking underground parking structure:

Field Trip To LACMA Addition by Renzo Piano