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Welcome to the new look arkhitekton! After 2 years it was time to wash out the old warm grey tones and welcome in some clean sparkling white. As well as enabling big, crisp images, arkhitekton will be still aiming to deliver some well-researched, original material packed with those hard-to-find links. Have another look around and let me know what you think - Matt
Critical Visions, 2008 RAIA National Conference
With typical Dutch frankness and charm, Francine Houben delivered an interesting keynote surveying a series of Mecanoo projects. Citing her influences as Charles Eames and her background in the Dutch Delta, Houben said she stays connected to the site by “keeping her feet in the clay”. She aims for innovative, human scaled, sustainable projects integrated with the landscape.
Each of the projects presented demonstrated a similar design approach of a folded ground plane or space “carved” from a solid block.
Library light tower, Delft University of Technology (photo by muchachuco)
With the start of another year a distant memory, you’re probably either embroiled in work (for those lucky enough not to have lost their jobs in the recent industry downturn) or perhaps you’re back at university. Either way, there’s always time to think about reading a few quality books.
Three major publishers come to mind when thinking about quality architecture or landscape books; Birkhauser, Phaidon and Thames & Hudson. Birkhauser are usually overpriced (depending on exchange rates) and occasionally include some very average quality images in their books (example) and while Thames & Hudson has published the odd classic, it doesn’t have much of interest coming up anytime soon.
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Surely this is a must have (free) tool for any architect, graphic designer or landscape architect? Feel serene and always in proportion by using the Fibonacci series everyday.
[Postscript: Yes, yes, I know. You can just use an ordinary calculator but doesn't everyone like collecting little useless widgets like me?]
