Infinity is way up there...

If there's something like the ultimate infinity pool, I'm pretty sure it's located at the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore. The hotel in itself is already quite bizarre: it's the most expensive hotel in the world at about 5,2 billion pounds (which is about double of the former record-breaking hotel, the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi).



The Marina Bay Sands has 2,560 rooms, costing from $500 a night upwards. That's quite impressive. Then, it has a casino, a museum, a theatre, a convention centre and indoor canals. Even more so impressive.
But the most impressive part of the hotel is, in my eyes, the so-called skypool, spanning the top of the three towers of the hotel, at the 55th floor. The pool itself is about three times as long as an olympic size pool, and seems to end in the air. That's because the water flows over the edge into a catchment, situated a bit lower. It's pretty spectacular to be able to swim on the 55th floor, with the skyline of Singapore in the back, and not to have a (visible) edge between you and the surrounding.

The complex is designed by Moshe Safdie, and I found it via the Daily Mail website.

Architecture books

Books where the theme of yesterdays' post, and books are the theme of todays' post. This time, an online book store. Even though nothing beats spending hours and hours browsing through a bookstore, finding more and more amazing books. It's even more lovely to look through a really specialized bookstore and find really specific, hard to find books.

But not everybody has such a great bookstore close to where they are located, and not everybody has the time to visit those stores during opening hours. So that's why it's great that there are specialized online bookstores. As much as I like amazon.com, nothing beats specialists. In this case: specialists in architecture books. It's easier to find what you want, it's more useful to find more in-depth items and it has more power to surprise. That's what makes architecturebooks.eu such a nice webstore.

The only thing that is lacking from an online architecture bookstore is, ironically enough, good architecture. Like one of the nicest examples I've seen thus far: Academia Bookstore in Helsinki, by Alvar Aalto, on the image above.

Reading list

I thought it might be interesting to finally start to keep track of all the books I've read, since I'm a book omnivore, and devour pretty much everything. Surely, it makes no sense to try to reach back and figure out all the titles of all books that passed through my hands in the past. So I'm going to start with the books I've read this week. I'm neither going to give a summary, nor any conchise criticism - there are better places for that. It's just a way to keep track of things.

I'm going to keep the list alphabetically, mention the language of the book, and note the dates I've read the books. I'm deliberating mentioning categories, but that might turn out to be tricky. So not only the list is a work in progress, but also the style of the the post.
Also, to make this list interesting for someone else, I'm going to add links to the book.

Banham, Reyner - A Concrete Atlantis (architecture, English). read in Oktober 2010.

Barthes, Roland - What is sport? (philosophy, English) read in March 2011.

Blaser, Werner - Mies van der Rohe Lehre und Schule / Principles and School (architecture, German/English). read in February 2011.

Boon, Vasco van der & Marel, Gerben van der - De Vastgoedfraude (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in February 2011.

Bouwman, Ole (ed.) - Op het breukvlak van twee millennia, gedachten over architectuur (architecture, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Browne, David - Goodbye 20th Century: a Biography of Sonic Youth (music, English). read in May 2011.

Bruinsma, Max - Deep Sites (design, English). read in April 2011.

Brusselmans, Herman - Ex-schrijver (novel, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Brusselmans, Herman - Ex-minnaar (novel, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Brusselmans, Herman - Ex-drummer (novel, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Bryson, Bill - Notes from a small island (socio-cultural, English). read in December 2010.

Crimson Architectural Historians - Re-Urb (architecture, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Draaisma, Douwe - Waarom het leven sneller gaat als je ouder wordt (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in April 2011.

Duve, Karen - Anständig Essen (socio-cultural, German). read in March 2011.

Eco, Umberto - De Begraafplaats van Praag (novel, Dutch). read in April 2011.

Eschbach, Andreas - Ausgebrannt (novel, German). read in April 2011.

Eisenstein, Bernice - Ich war das Kind von Holocaustüberlebenden (novel, German). read in July 2010.

Folkers, Antoni - Moderne architectuur in Afrika (architecture, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Fest, Joachim - Speer, the final verdict (history, English). read in September 2010.

Giphart, Ronald - De Voorzitter (novel, Dutch). read in September 2010.

Giphart, Ronald - Ik omhels je met duizend armen (novel, Dutch). read in January 2011.

Golluch, Norbert - Alles über das Ruhrgebiet (socio-cultural, German). read in January 2011.

Grunberg, Arnon - De joodse messias (novel, Dutch). read in December 2010.

Heck, Jean Paul - Fuck you very much (music, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Heijne, Bas - Grote vragen (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Ibelings, Hans & Hannema, Kirsten (ed.) - New European Architecture 08 09 (architecture, English). read in December 2010.

Ingels, Bjarke (ed.) - Yes is More (architecture, English). read in September 2010.

Istendael, Geert van - Mijn Duitsland (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in Oktober 2010.

Jaud, Tommy - Hummeldumm (novel, German). read in August 2010.

Jaud, Tommy - Millionär (novel, German). read in May 2011.

Kleijer, Evert - Instrumenten van de architectuur (architecture, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Koch, Herman - Het Diner (novel, Dutch). read in September 2010.

Kotkin, Joel - The City: a global history (architecture, English). read in January 2011.

Kureishi, Hanif - The buddha of suburbia (novel, English). read in January 2011.

Lee, Uje - SeARCH C3 Architect Series (Architecture, English). read in April 2011.

Luyendijk, Joris - Een goede man slaat soms zijn vrouw (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in August 2010.

Mak, Geert - De goede stad (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Marten, Florian - Kaputtgeplant: Das Elend der Raum- und Stadtplanung (architecture, German). read in May 2011.

Naegels, Tom - Los (novel, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Prakash, Gyan (ed.) - Noir Urbanisms: dystopic images of the modern city (architecture, English). read in January 2011.

Prossliner, Johann - Nietzsches Zarathustra (philosophy, German). read in July 2010.

Rödiger-Diruf, Erika (ed.) - Gründerzeit - Adolf Loos (Architecture, German). read in April 2011.

Sachau, Matthias - Kaltduscher (novel, German). read in July 2010.

Sack, Manfred - Götter und Schafe (architecture, German). read in December 2010.

Shepheard, Paul - The Cultivated Wilderness, or, what is landscape? (architecture, English). read in September 2010.

Sinker, David (ed) - We owe you nothing: Punk Planet, the collected interviews (music, English). read in February 2011.

Slavid, Ruth - Extreme Architecture: building for challenging environments (architecture, English). read in February 2011.

Sloterdijk, Peter - Zorn und Zeit (philosophy, German). read in November 2010.

Stefanidis, Alexandros - Beim Griechen (novel, German). read in Oktober 2010.

Straten, Henk van - Ik ben de Regen (novel, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Tafuri, Manfredo - Architecture and Utopia (architecture, English). read in July 2010.

Taleb, Nassim N. - The Black Swan (socio-cultural, English). read in November 2010.

Thackara, John - Plan B (architecture, Dutch). read in March 2011.

Torday, Paul - Vissen op zalm in Jemen (novel, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Twickel, Christoph - Gentrifidingsbums oder eine Stadt für alle (architecture, German). read in Oktober 2010.

Ulinich, Anya - Petropolis (novel, English). read in August 2010.

Verdonschot, Leon - Hart tegen hart (music, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Verhulst, Dimitri - De helaasheid der dingen (novel, Dutch). read in February 2011.

Vos, Emmie (ed.) - Europan 10 (architecture, Dutch). read in July 2010.

Vuijsje, Robert - Alleen maar nette mensen (novel, Dutch). read in October 2010.

Wallraff, Günther - Der Aufmacher - der Mann, der bei Bild Hans Esser war (socio-cultural, German). read in September 2010.

Westerman, Max - In alle staten (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in January 2011.

Whiteley, Nigel - Reyner Banham: historian of the immediate future (architecture, English). read in February 2011.

Wieringa, Tommy - Alles over Tristan (novel, Dutch). read in Oktober 2010.

Wieringa, Tommy - Amok (novel, Dutch). read in December 2010.

Wieringa, Tommy - Joe Speedboot (novel, Dutch). read in November 2010.

Wijnberg, Rob - En mijn tafelheer is Plato (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in december 2010.

Woud, Auke van der - Sterrenstof (architecture, Dutch). read in September 2010.

Zwagerman, Joost - Chaos en Rumoer (novel, Dutch). read in February 2011.

Zwagerman, Joost - Landschap met klein vuil (socio-cultural, Dutch). read in December 2010.

Zwecker, Loel - Was bisher geschah (history, German). read in November 2010.

Solids

The question of flexible spaces has always been a difficult one. Mainly, flexibility was defined by constraints. An architect, developer, city planner of someone else defined either a function, the size or the partitioning.
There have been quite some developments around the theme of flexibility, but none of them have been as radical as the concept of solids in Amsterdam.

Solids are about complete freedom, and complete flexibility. Tennants are free to decide the amount of square meters they want to rent - with a minimum of 90 m2. So far, nothing radical. However, tennants can also freely decide what they want to do with those square metres. If they'd like to use it to live in, it's just as good an option to start an office in the building. Pretty much everything goes, as long it doesn't cause disturbance for the neighbors (be it noise, pollution or whatnot).

That's what makes the concept of Solids so interesting: the building gives way to a mixture of functions, even if it isn't completely planned in advance. The buildings live, change and are adaptable to whatever the users would like. This also means that the spaces are completely empty and free of any interior obstacles. There's a front door, a wall and a facade and electrics, gas and water. All the interior walls, bathrooms, and furnishing can be decided by the tennant, and changed at will.
This way, the chance that the building becomes obsolete within some years of construction is pretty small. If there's a bigger market for dwellings, more of the casco spaces will be used as appartments.

A lot can be said about the currently planned Solids - about their facades, about their location in the city and what that means for the possible programming, the connection with the urban tissue, etcetera: but that's not quite the most fascinating part of this concept. The thing is: the appearance of the facade is literally only skin-deep. What makes the concept fascinating is it's flexibility in all senses. Even the rental price is to be decided by the tennants (within some reasonable ranges, of course)!

The concept of Solids is developed by Stadsgenoot, by the way.

Inspired by the Past

The Hwangryongsa temple, a 9-story pagoda, was built in 645 AD by Silla (one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea), but was demolished in 1238 during the Mongol invasion of Korea.

That building itself would already be worth a post on this blog, but what if you'd want to pay architectural tribute to this building? What if you'd like to make a contemporary statement out of it? Of course, the sheer reconstruction of it would make no sense. It's faking the past, and not doing something that is also connected to the present.


So, the Gyeongyu Tower makes complete sense, doesn't it? The contours of the Hwangryongsa temple pagoda have been carved out of a solid shape, in order to create this building. It shows the historic form in a contemporary way. Mission achieved, I would say. The building is great in it's weirdness, it's so kitchy that I'm really loving it for it's boldness. It's all that's good and evil at the same time, architectonically speaking.

Temporary materiality

The materialization of temporary structures mainly has a certain genericness. For instance, for the construction of a temporary restaurant (called Studio East Dining) on the top of a construction site overlooking the construction of the 2012 Olympic Park in London the office Carmody Groarke used materials that could be considered pretty standard for a temporary structure. They used scaffolding and boards, borrowed from the construction site, and covered the lot with recyclable plastic.

Using pretty mundane materials doesn't make this a standard or boring building. And that's not just because of the spectacular views over the construction of the Olympic Park. No, it's also because the temporary building itself is rather elegant. A pavillion with no front or back, with a slick and playful form, gives space to a delicate interior. Too bad the restaurant only remains in place until the 4th of July...


I found this project via dezeen.com

Without the hot air

There's no denying it: sustainability is a hot topic. And, as most sane people would agree, rightfully so. But there is little agreement on what the right measures would be to deal with our current climate crisis (which would be more aply be labelled as a "energy crisis", in my opinion, but that's a whole different subject).

The current trend in sustainability seems to be based on the adagium "every little bit helps", combined with "fake it until you make it". Every little bit is made to sound large, by using numbers that to many a laymen sound vast, blurring the discussion with fake facts and unclear figures.

That's where David MacKay, professor at Cambridge University's department of physics steps in. His main argument is that there should be a clear measure for energy consumption. His basic concept is very clear, as could be seen in this quote "We need to understand how much energy our modern lifestyles use; we need to decide how much energy we would like to use in the future; and we need to choose where we will get that energy from."
Ok, it sounds simple, but how? For him, the starting point is starting to measure everything in a single unit. In the case of energy, of course, Kilowatt-hour: a measure that most people know from daily use.

To give some examples: One kilowatt-hour (1 kWh) is the electrical energy used by leaving a 40 watt bulb on for 24 hours. Or driving an average European car 50km uses 40kWh of fuel. In total, the british lifestyle allegedly uses approximately 125 kWh a day.

Good. Once the basic units and a reference point are established, it's time to see how actual measures add up.
The first example is simple: switching off phone chargers when not in use. It's included in lists of "things to do to go green" all around the world, and sounds like a sensible idea. The truth is that leaving a phone charger switched on uses about 0.01kWh per day – 100th of the power consumed by a lightbulb. Or better yet: switching off a phone charger for an entire day is the equivalent of driving a car for about 1 second!
This being said, it's not that switching off phone chargers is a bad idea. Just note that it's only a tiny bit of improvement. So in this case a tiny bit only helps a tiny bit...

Another example: think about vehicles. Most people consider hydrogen cars one of the sane solutions - they certainly have a "green" feel to them. The odd thing is, that if you really measure it, most prototype hydrogen-powered vehicles use more energy than the fossil-fuel vehicles they replace. The average fossil car in Britain uses 80 kWh per 100 km, the BMW Hydrogen 7 uses 254 kWh per 100 km.
Electric cars, is a different story alltogether: Even if the electricity for electric vehicles comes from traditional fossil-fuel power stations, electric cars are still more efficient than petrol cars; and if in the future we switch over the nation's electricity production from fossil fuels to greener sources, then electric vehicles will win by a mile.

And now the big question: how can we use more (preferably only) renewable energy sources? "As a thought experiment, let's imagine that technology switches and lifestyle changes manage to halve British energy consumption to 60kWh per day per person. How big would the wind, nuclear, and solar facilities need to be to supply this halved consumption? Here is the scale that is required if (for simplicity) we wanted to get one-third from each of these sources: we would have to build wind farms with an area equal to the area of Wales; we would have to build 50 Sizewells of nuclear power; and we would need solar power stations in deserts covering an area twice the size of Greater London."

The interesting thing about the argument David MacKay brings across isn't about solutions, it's about measuring. About carefully looking at actual effects, and cutting away all the hot air surrounding sustainable arguments.
This is uncomfortable for anybody who's making money spreading half-truths about green issues (or green-washing unecological ideas).

He put forth his ideas in a book, aptly called "without the hot air". The cool thing is that the entire book is available as a PDF from (t)his website. It's worth your time, because he delivers a refreshing take on sustainability and energy consumption, and gives an insight that is mostly left out of the equation. There's no politics in this book, only arthmatics. And that's definitely wise for such a widely used and misused theme.

A slightly different view

Honestly, I don't know that much about Mexico City. I know it's large, it's crowded and it has issues with smog and pollution. That's about it. Looking at pictures gives some kind of impression, but mostly a very incomplete (and potentially enscanated) one.

That's what I like about the photographs by the helicopter pilot Oscar Ruiz. Granted, not every picture has a strong composition, but the images can give you a different feel for the city.
They just give you just that little bit of extra perspective of the life in Mexico City. Like the image above. It does look a bit like a rendering, but it's an actual picture of a part of the low income housing complex in Ixtapaluca, which has a whopping total of more than 10,000 houses.
Or the image below, showing Cerro Chiquihuite, where a wall was built halfway up the hill in order to stop people from continuing to build uphill.
Or, all the way at the bottom, the market at Barrio Tepito. The area is allegedly very criminal and (therefore) dangerous, but the market should be awesome.

All in all, sometimes having a little bit of an overview can give you a better sight of the city than eye-level images.

Airspace rebooted

Airspace Rebooted from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

In April of this year, much of Europe's airspace has been closed for several days, due to the volcanic ash after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in iceland. itoworld.com, with support from ideasintransit.org, made a visualization of the airspace traffic of Europe slowly coming back to life again.

The flight data is courtesy of flightradar24.com and covers a large fraction of Europe. There are a few gaps (most noticeably France) and no coverage over the Atlantic, but the picture is still clear.

Other than slowing the "reboot" of the flight lines, it also shows the density of airtraffic in on certain lines and airports. It also makes one wonder whether the amount of flight that we, in general, use nowadays will continue to exist - or better yet: how it could be made sustainable to maintain this density of flight...

Maison Eco-rce

The architect Cyril-Emmanuel Issanchou challenges all the preconceived ideas of what a timber house means. Wood isn't necessarily a material to make archetypical houses, but it can also be a material to make contemporary buildings. Like in this case, a house that looks like no other.
You could say that this project is a means of showing france that timber isn't necessarily less sturdy than stone, for houses. Or as a way of showing how a house can connect to the surroundings. Or a attempt to merge a seemingly random pattern to the functional division of the house. Anyway: a nice image doesn't necessarily need a extensive description and explanation...