Comments for ArchiTakes http://www.architakes.com on architecture in New York and beyond Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:03:21 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on 5 Folding Bikes for the City by FoldingBikeLife http://www.architakes.com/?p=3869&cpage=1#comment-1029 FoldingBikeLife Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:13:31 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=3869#comment-1029 Excellent piece on folding bikes in the city. After years of putting off getting a bike in NYC, I finally bit the bullet a month ago and picked up a folder. I couldn't be happier with the decision and for once actually look forward to my daily commutes! I've actually had the recent opportunity to test ride several different folders and have been reviewing them on my site and a few others. Not all folders are created equal :) Excellent piece on folding bikes in the city. After years of putting off getting a bike in NYC, I finally bit the bullet a month ago and picked up a folder. I couldn’t be happier with the decision and for once actually look forward to my daily commutes!

I’ve actually had the recent opportunity to test ride several different folders and have been reviewing them on my site and a few others. Not all folders are created equal :)

]]> Comment on The Seminary Block of West 20th Street by Chanel Letender http://www.architakes.com/?p=2988&cpage=1#comment-894 Chanel Letender Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:01:50 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=2988#comment-894 Pretty awesome blog. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to point out that I've truly enjoyed browsing your site articles. I'll be subscribing to your rss and I hope you publish another post again soon! Pretty awesome blog. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to point out that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your site articles. I’ll be subscribing to your rss and I hope you publish another post again soon!

]]> Comment on House Rule 4 – Pursue a One-Room Ideal by poster http://www.architakes.com/?p=6681&cpage=1#comment-825 poster Sun, 16 May 2010 02:59:59 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=6681#comment-825 It is important to note that the idea of the singular space in Mies's buildings is that what he called the universal space is intended to be entirely flexible. The idea that a column free space can accommodate any future changes of use is in reality largely symbolic, expressive of a longing to be free of constraints. Even his core designs seem to be impermanent, often mostly free of the ceiling. The single space idea has limitations even Mies recognized. The Farnsworth House was designed as a weekend nature retreat for a single woman and worked well for that. Mies experimented with a similar universal space for a family house in his 50 ft x 50 ft unbuilt concept house, but abandoned the idea. In his larger buildings, he always had a substantial amount of area, above or below, configured as traditional enclosed rooms, while the universal space remained primarily as a symbol representing the idea of freedom, a space suggesting the opportunity for the "free unfolding of life". It served the same spiritual purpose as the central rotunda of classical buildings, but its modern space was opened to the exterior through glass walls. Johnson's Glass House is integrally paired with an adjacent brick house, where a private study, luxurious bath and cozy bedroom are located, as well as HVAC equipment for both it and the Glass House. It is important to note that the idea of the singular space in Mies’s buildings is that what he called the universal space is intended to be entirely flexible. The idea that a column free space can accommodate any future changes of use is in reality largely symbolic, expressive of a longing to be free of constraints. Even his core designs seem to be impermanent, often mostly free of the ceiling.

The single space idea has limitations even Mies recognized. The Farnsworth House was designed as a weekend nature retreat for a single woman and worked well for that. Mies experimented with a similar universal space for a family house in his 50 ft x 50 ft unbuilt concept house, but abandoned the idea.

In his larger buildings, he always had a substantial amount of area, above or below, configured as traditional enclosed rooms, while the universal space remained primarily as a symbol representing the idea of freedom, a space suggesting the opportunity for the “free unfolding of life”. It served the same spiritual purpose as the central rotunda of classical buildings, but its modern space was opened to the exterior through glass walls.

Johnson’s Glass House is integrally paired with an adjacent brick house, where a private study, luxurious bath and cozy bedroom are located, as well as HVAC equipment for both it and the Glass House.

]]> Comment on House Rule 2 – Combine Living Spaces by Tobias Wolf http://www.architakes.com/?p=6523&cpage=1#comment-754 Tobias Wolf Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:35:31 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=6523#comment-754 Wright found some beautifully nuanced ways to combine spaces. The Hickox House plan combines three rooms but the space is "punctuated" by partial walls that allow each room to retain its identity, allowing for a double reading in which the space is both one room and three rooms. In the Robie House, Living and Dining are part of one great space, but are separated by a solid "core" containing stairs. At the Martin House, rooms are distinct but spill into one another. At the Willits House, two rooms are joined at a corner, providing diagonal sight lines and a small area, where the rooms overlap, that belongs to both. Wright never built a simple box and designated zones within it for different uses; he always retained some vestige of the "original" spaces that he combined. Plans for these houses can be found at http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Frank_Lloyd_Wright.html Wright found some beautifully nuanced ways to combine spaces. The Hickox House plan combines three rooms but the space is “punctuated” by partial walls that allow each room to retain its identity, allowing for a double reading in which the space is both one room and three rooms.

In the Robie House, Living and Dining are part of one great space, but are separated by a solid “core” containing stairs. At the Martin House, rooms are distinct but spill into one another. At the Willits House, two rooms are joined at a corner, providing diagonal sight lines and a small area, where the rooms overlap, that belongs to both. Wright never built a simple box and designated zones within it for different uses; he always retained some vestige of the “original” spaces that he combined.

Plans for these houses can be found at http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Frank_Lloyd_Wright.html

]]> Comment on House Rules – Introduction by NM http://www.architakes.com/?p=5801&cpage=1#comment-655 NM Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:07:22 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=5801#comment-655 Great Introduction. It is interesting that each example, from Thoreau to ZenKaya is sited on a seemingly infinite virgin site, devoid of bothersome fellow humans...a true American dream. Johnson's "expensive wallpaper" in his glass house is worth every penny in the right context: a natural world worth experiencing. Prefab's true test will not be its utility, beauty, or economy, but its aptitude for agglomeration. The last 60 years of house building in this country have demonstrated quite painfully what happens when everyone has her own acre, much less his own infinite natural playground. Wright's Usonian house is conspicuously absent as an alternate prototype. This is a much better read than Architectural Record, so keep it coming. Great Introduction.

It is interesting that each example, from Thoreau to ZenKaya is sited on a seemingly infinite virgin site, devoid of bothersome fellow humans…a true American dream. Johnson’s “expensive wallpaper” in his glass house is worth every penny in the right context: a natural world worth experiencing.

Prefab’s true test will not be its utility, beauty, or economy, but its aptitude for agglomeration. The last 60 years of house building in this country have demonstrated quite painfully what happens when everyone has her own acre, much less his own infinite natural playground.

Wright’s Usonian house is conspicuously absent as an alternate prototype.

This is a much better read than Architectural Record, so keep it coming.

]]> Comment on Windowflage, part 4 by BK http://www.architakes.com/?p=5488&cpage=1#comment-622 BK Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:42:55 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=5488#comment-622 I loved your feature on windowflage. It may be a matter of taste, but I don't think the windows of either One Ten 3rd or the Standard Hotel have achieved much beyond a resemblance to this building: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boweryboogie/3313083972/ I loved your feature on windowflage.

It may be a matter of taste, but I don’t think the windows of either One Ten 3rd or the Standard Hotel have achieved much beyond a resemblance to this building:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boweryboogie/3313083972/

]]> Comment on The Iron Triangle, part 2 / from Kowloon Walled City to Singapore by Roger Cumming http://www.architakes.com/?p=4559&cpage=1#comment-489 Roger Cumming Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:56:51 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=4559#comment-489 I know nothing of how the new plan for Willets Point came about, but it seems wrong-headed in the extreme. Who would choose to live directly under an approach path for airliners to Laguardia airport, next to a baseball stadium, a convention center, a hotel and many acres of parking lots? Not many, I imagine. Perhaps a few die hard Mets fans who like to come to the ballpark early. On the other hand, this location has been incubating small businesses related to the automobile for almost 100 years. All that it lacks is the proper infrastructure for its use and sufficient elevation above the adjacent bay. The City could have augmented this productive phenomenon in its redevelopment plan by establishing a new above-ground infrastructure that would provide the basis for shelter, for organizing the movement of vehicles and people through the site, and the services such as food shops required by the the many people who work there. The ground would still have to be raised, and the needed utilities and streets added. But a structure that would accommodate the businesses in an ecologically responsible manner, at relatively low cost, subsidized if necessary, would encourage other kinds of start-up businesses as well. The way old market structures work, providing a semblance of shelter to many independent vendors, could be a functional model for the infrastructure, but for automobiles. Besides being an economic stimulus it would be appropriate for its location. I am certain that a competition for such a structure would yield far more convincing renderings than the tired old depictions of women with strollers heading for the convention center. I know nothing of how the new plan for Willets Point came about, but it seems wrong-headed in the extreme. Who would choose to live directly under an approach path for airliners to Laguardia airport, next to a baseball stadium, a convention center, a hotel and many acres of parking lots? Not many, I imagine. Perhaps a few die hard Mets fans who like to come to the ballpark early. On the other hand, this location has been incubating small businesses related to the automobile for almost 100 years. All that it lacks is the proper infrastructure for its use and sufficient elevation above the adjacent bay. The City could have augmented this productive phenomenon in its redevelopment plan by establishing a new above-ground infrastructure that would provide the basis for shelter, for organizing the movement of vehicles and people through the site, and the services such as food shops required by the the many people who work there. The ground would still have to be raised, and the needed utilities and streets added. But a structure that would accommodate the businesses in an ecologically responsible manner, at relatively low cost, subsidized if necessary, would encourage other kinds of start-up businesses as well. The way old market structures work, providing a semblance of shelter to many independent vendors, could be a functional model for the infrastructure, but for automobiles. Besides being an economic stimulus it would be appropriate for its location. I am certain that a competition for such a structure would yield far more convincing renderings than the tired old depictions of women with strollers heading for the convention center.

]]> Comment on Architecture Meets Science Fiction at 41 Cooper Square by S http://www.architakes.com/?p=4140&cpage=1#comment-406 S Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:14:13 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=4140#comment-406 Archigram's contribution was more than merely provocative. The graphic work attempted to embrace and magnify the temporary relationship, posed by modernism, between public and private, civil infrastructure and individual edifice. As developer building lifespans are now as brief as 40 years, your contrast with Penn Station is well chosen. Although the modern provided a genuine architectural shift in both structural and urban resolution, in contrast, the formal gymnastics of this generation of self-proclaimed post-structuralists cannot be brushed off as style chasing. The twisted, popsicle stick supported volumes of Bilbao and perhaps even 41 cooper may ultimately propose a challenge to the future of this profession, to liberate architecture from the column and reinforced concrete structure of the modern. Catia and other industrial/aeronautical design tools are now being employed in visualizing these buildings. As the methods and cost of fabrication techniques improve, perhaps the column free fuselage structures these buildings portend may actually be realized. As Bruce Mao beautifully put it..."If automotive design were advancing at the rate of architecture, our cars would still be made of wood..." Archigram’s contribution was more than merely provocative. The graphic work attempted to embrace and magnify the temporary relationship, posed by modernism, between public and private, civil infrastructure and individual edifice. As developer building lifespans are now as brief as 40 years, your contrast with Penn Station is well chosen. Although the modern provided a genuine architectural shift in both structural and urban resolution, in contrast, the formal gymnastics of this generation of self-proclaimed post-structuralists cannot be brushed off as style chasing. The twisted, popsicle stick supported volumes of Bilbao and perhaps even 41 cooper may ultimately propose a challenge to the future of this profession, to liberate architecture from the column and reinforced concrete structure of the modern. Catia and other industrial/aeronautical design tools are now being employed in visualizing these buildings. As the methods and cost of fabrication techniques improve, perhaps the column free fuselage structures these buildings portend may actually be realized. As Bruce Mao beautifully put it…”If automotive design were advancing at the rate of architecture, our cars would still be made of wood…”

]]> Comment on Robert A.M. Stern, part 1 by Richard http://www.architakes.com/?p=1625&cpage=1#comment-377 Richard Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:42:55 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=1625#comment-377 Robert Stern has always been a second rate architect who relied on the language of Post-Modernism to cleverly conceal the weakness of his very mediocre designs. Now that PM has fallen to the wayside, his work is revealed to be what it truly is: very unremarkable and very unimaginative. However, he is very adept at playing the game of rubbing elbows with the shakers and movers of this world, and serving as the dean of the Yale School of Architecture has helped him in much the same way being associated with MOMA helped his mentor, Philip Johnson, another very ordinary architect. Perhaps it is fitting that Stern is the architect of the George W. Bush library, for both of them have relied far too much on their connections rather than their ability. And regardless of what one thinks of Bush's politics, it's a shame that an opportunity to create a magnificent piece of architecture has been lost and wasted. Robert Stern has always been a second rate architect who relied on the language of Post-Modernism to cleverly conceal the weakness of his very mediocre designs. Now that PM has fallen to the wayside, his work is revealed to be what it truly is: very unremarkable and very unimaginative. However, he is very adept at playing the game of rubbing elbows with the shakers and movers of this world, and serving as the dean of the Yale School of Architecture has helped him in much the same way being associated with MOMA helped his mentor, Philip Johnson, another very ordinary architect. Perhaps it is fitting that Stern is the architect of the George W. Bush library, for both of them have relied far too much on their connections rather than their ability. And regardless of what one thinks of Bush’s politics, it’s a shame that an opportunity to create a magnificent piece of architecture has been lost and wasted.

]]> Comment on Architecture Meets Science Fiction at 41 Cooper Square by der flaneur http://www.architakes.com/?p=4140&cpage=1#comment-376 der flaneur Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:16:35 +0000 http://www.architakes.com/?p=4140#comment-376 "Archigram was never an intellectual force in architecture" ??? you're preaching ignorance pal. “Archigram was never an intellectual force in architecture” ???
you’re preaching ignorance pal.

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