music Theme Liesma

The project is designed by Boston based PRAUD Studio as a competition proposal for the music-themed hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The main idea was to take a more aggressive stand and focus on creating a unique experience of a “music park”. Creating an urban landscape, equivalent to the hotel’s natural surroundings resulted in an architecturally strong statement. An elevated structure  facilitating the new hotel was introduced to the site, achieving widely open public space on the ground level, and a better view of the Baltic Sea from the hotel rooms. Every room in the new mass has direct view towards the sea and has access to the balcony on the roof.

The structure is supported by multiple cones that contain public programs such as music café, restaurants, etc. By freeing up the ground level, and having hotel rooms separated from the public programs, the architects transformed the patio into a versatile, polyvalent public space, with a strong social connection to the city. The music park thus becomes a new venue for concerts, festivals, public performances in general. Because of its somewhat segregated treatment of different content, the hotel can run on different operational levels, depending on the season and activating specific parts of the new structure

libri, Libro, books...

Νέα - Ειδήσεις
Διεθνής έκθεση του βιβλίου "Umbria libri 2011" (10-13/11/2011)
Ξεχωριστή θέση θα έχουν φέτος τα ελληνικά γράμματα, στην ετήσια έκθεση του βιβλίου "Umbria libri 2011", η οποία θα διεξαχεί στην Περούτζια της Ιταλίας ( 10 με 13 Νοεμβρίου) καθώς θα εκπροσωπηθούν με το βιβλίο "Η Γυναίκα των Δελφών" της συγγραφέας κ Ελένη Στασινού, που εξέδωσε ο οίκος "Ωκεανός".
Βραβείο Αναγνωστών 2011
Για 7η χρονιά οι αναγνώστες παίρνουν τον λόγο και ψηφίζουν το αγαπημένο τους μυθιστόρημα. Ο νικητής θα ανακοινωθεί στις 7 Δεκεμβρίου.
Αφιέρωμα στη δημιουργική γραφή (12/11/2011)
Το Σάββατο 12 Νοεμβρίου 2011 και ώρα 18:00, θα γίνει το αφιέρωμα στη δημιουργική γραφή. Ο Ανδρέας Καρακίτσιος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής στο Τμήμα Επιστημών Προσχολικής Αγωγής & Εκπαίδευσης στο Α.Π.Θ., θα μυήσει τους παρισταμένους στα μυστικά της δημιουργικής γραφής, της συγγραφής άρθρων κ.ά. Η εκδήλωση θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην Αίθουσα Εκδηλώσεων της Κεντρικής Δημοτικής Βιβλιοθήκης Θεσσαλονίκης (Εθνικής Αμύνης 27 & Αλεξ. Σβώλου), στο πλαίσιο των εκδηλώσεων "Ημέρες Βιβλιοθηκών". Η είσοδος είναι ελεύθερη.

Αφιέρωμα στον ποιητή Γιώργο Μαρκόπουλο (12/11/2011)
Ο κύκλος "Ημέρες ποίησης-Ημέρες γνωριμίας με την πρόσφατη δημιουργία παλαιότερων και νεότερων ποιητών" συνεχίζεται στο Πολύεδρο (Κανακάρη 147, Πάτρα), το Σάββατο 12 Νοεμβρίου (ώρα 13.00.), με αφιέρωμα στον ποιητή Γιώργο Μαρκόπουλο.
Αφιέρωμα στον ποιητή Dylan Thomas (14/11/2011)
Τα σεμινάρια ποίησης στον χώρο του Πολύεδρου (Κανακάρη 147, Πάτρα) συνεχίζονται αυτή τη Δευτέρα 14 Νοεμβρίου (ώρα 8:30 μ.μ.) με αφιέρωμα στον ποιητή Dylan Thomas και ομιλήτρια τη Λύντια Στεφάνου, ποιήτρια και μεταφράστρια.

Εκδήλωση: "Οι συγγραφείς και οι μεταφραστές τους" (16/11/2011)
Το ΕΚΕΜΕΛ προσκαλεί γνωστούς λογοτέχνες και μεταφραστές να παρουσιάσουν έναν συγγραφέα το έργο του οποίου απέδωσαν στα ελληνικά, καθώς και την ιδιαίτερη σχέση που διαμόρφωσαν μαζί του μεταφράζοντάς τον. Πρώτη προσκεκλημένη, η Κλ. Σωτηριάδου θα μιλήσει την Τετάρτη 16 Νοεμβρίου 2011 (6-8 μ.μ.) για τον Γκ. Γκ. Μάρκες.

Έκθεση Αρχειακού Υλικού από το Αρχείο του Μ. Τριανταφυλλίδη και του Ινστιτούτου Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (11-27/11/2011)
Το Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) του Αριστοτελείου Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλονίκης, η Ελληνική Εταιρεία Ορολογίας και το Ίδρυμα Ευγενίδου διοργανώνουν Έκθεση Αρχειακού Υλικού από το Αρχείο του Μ. Τριανταφυλλίδη και του Ινστιτούτου, η οποία θα πραγματοποιηθεί με την ευκαιρία του 8ου Συνεδρίου (10-12 Νοεμβρίου 2011) της ΕΛΕΤΟ, που είναι αφιερωμένο στον Μ. Τριανταφυλλίδη. Η Έκθεση θα πραγματοποιηθεί στη Βιβλιοθήκη του Ιδρύματος Ευγενίδου (Λεωφόρος Συγγρού 387, 175 64, Παλαιό Φάληρο) από τις 11 έως τις 27 Νοεμβρίου 2011 και θα είναι ανοιχτή τις ώρες λειτουργίας της Βιβλιοθήκης (Δευτέρα έως Πέμπτη 8.30-20.00, Παρασκευή 8.30-15.00, Σάββατο 8.30-14.00).

to Hang a Hotel. Such a Fun!

Commissioned by FOCUS Gallery Cape Town, the project reevaluates our perception of immediate spatial contexts by heightening the experience of being in a natural environment. According to the architect, Margot Krasojevic, the reinforced glass pods offer resting areas for climbers, but also prevent and contain anomalous perceptual experiences during mountain climbing. The spaces within the hotel can either enhance the perception of the surrounding area or block it to aid recovery and overexposure, depending on the desired effect. It is a hanging hotel with viewing platform, providing structural security for climbers and a rest stop to enjoy the view.

The glass spaces protect the climber form glare reflecting light in an uniform direction, creating an illusion that the sun at in a lower position than it is. The high tech prism louver system alters the views, controlling and editing mirages and illusions by using the prismatic optical elements which divide color with changing viewing points. The glass also filters the number and types of wavelengths entering the spaces, reducing the harmful UVB rays.

The main shell structures are made from carbon fiber reinforced polymer which is flexible yet strong. The whole structure is attached to the granite cliffs by the walkway, columns and horizontal foundations. The majority of the load is carried by columns, which sit into the rock and strengthen under load. Timber cross beams have triangular wedges attached to edge so when they are driven into trapezoidal holes in the cliff the wedges are pushed into the timber beams creating a very tight fit into the rock itself. The main body of the structure is partly supported by existing rock, it’s centre of gravity is positioned on the ledge allowing the structure to lean back into the granite cliff face making it easier to clip into the horizontal foundations.
 

a Chernobyl Frame

The proposed design is intended to become a framework for development of Chernobyl’s exclusion zone through the introduction of modular infrastructural facilities. The idea uses several datascapes, all revealing an increase in plant and animal activity in the area around the nuclear power plant. Paradoxically, the absence of human activity created favorable conditions for several animal and plant species. The proposal focuses on the Ukranian part of the exclusion zone and attempts to reactivate the territory by developing safe infrastructure systems. The structures are intended to straighten scientific activity in the area, along with environment protection and tourism.

The stations are made of modular, interchangeable units. Entering the station, trains are washed and dried in the decontamination zone. The space between platforms accommodates vertical communications and interactive touch-boxes for booking guided tours. Emergency shower cabins are situated on the first level, along with the decontamination zone. The third level facilitates entertainment and catering services, leaving the fourth level free for housing offices.

Along with the stations, the area is populated with several scattered housing units. Hexagonal modules are assembled in numbers of five, equipped with a kitchen and bathroom. The fifth cell is usually organized as a common area. The hall is used as a decontamination zone.

The project aims to draw attention to the Chernobyl exclusion zone by transforming it into a tourist destination.

opposite Geometries

The project was designed and produced by Matt Miller, Dale Fenton, Emau Vega, Aubrie Damron, and Adrian Cortez, all students at the Texas A&M University. Developing the idea of two opposite spatial and symbolic conditions, the team decided to emphasize the difference between them, instead of trying to blend them together. The resulting structure was marked by two polar personalities that defined exteriority and interiority. The Bi-Polar Project comprises three systems: the tessellated parametric logic performative exterior, the free-flowing sensual interior, and the in-between bladder system acting as a mediator between the two extremes.

“Bi-Polar is a project like many others emerging from the discussion of performance and sensation through an architectural skin. While there are projects addressing similar discussions, Bi-Polar embraces an emphasis on the distinction between two competing directions. Just like bipolar disorder this prototype is argued in two different moods, different personalities, you can psychotically switch from one to the other. One personality, the exterior side, is about performance whose surface logic is resolved parametrically, as a rain water collecting instrument that takes the water into bladders integrated between the two skins. These bladders also serve as heating and cooling devices producing light and temperature affects. The other personality, the interior surface, is emotionally designed and more interested in matters of sensation whose surface logic is created by a sensual pleated skin, silk and/or leather, producing nuances and affordances that become ornament, pattern and furniture.”

 

in MoMa's ART

In the late 1920s, three progressive and influential patrons of the arts, Miss Lillie P. Bliss, Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan, and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., perceived a need to challenge the conservative policies of traditional museums and to establish an institution devoted exclusively to modern art. When The Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1929, its founding Director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., intended the Museum to be dedicated to helping people understand and enjoy the visual arts of our time, and that it might provide New York with "the greatest museum of modern art in the world."

The public's response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and over the course of the next ten years, the Museum moved three times into progressively larger temporary quarters, and in 1939 finally opened the doors of the building it still occupies in midtown Manhattan. Upon his appointment as the first Director, Barr submitted a plan for the conception and organization of the Museum that would result in the Museum's multi-departmental structure with departments devoted for the first time to Architecture and Design, Film and Video, and Photography, in addition to Painting and Sculpture, Drawings, and Prints and Illustrated Books. Subsequent expansions took place during the 1950s and 1960s planned by the architect Philip Johnson, who also designed The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden. In 1984, a major renovation designed by Cesar Pelli doubled the Museum's gallery space and enhanced visitor facilities.

The rich and varied collection of The Museum of Modern Art constitutes one of the most comprehensive and panoramic views into modern art. From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, The Museum of Modern Art's collection has grown to include over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. MoMA also owns approximately 22,000 films and four million film stills, and MoMA's Library and Archives, the premier research facilities of their kind in the world, hold over 300,000 books, artist books, and periodicals, and extensive individual files on more than 70,000 artists. The Museum Archives contains primary source material related to the history of MoMA and modern and contemporary art.

The Museum maintains an active schedule of modern and contemporary art exhibitions addressing a wide range of subject matter, mediums, and time periods, highlighting significant recent developments in the visual arts and new interpretations of major artists and art historical movements. Works of art from its collection are displayed in rotating installations so that the public may regularly expect to find new works on display. Ongoing programs of classic and contemporary films range from retrospectives and historical surveys to introductions of the work of independent and experimental film- and videomakers. Visitors also enjoy access to a bookstore offering an assortment of publications and reproductions, and a design store offering objects related to modern and contemporary art and design.

The Museum is dedicated to its role as an educational institution and provides a complete program of activities intended to assist both the general public and special segments of the community in approaching and understanding the world of modern and contemporary art. In addition to gallery talks, lectures, and symposia, the Museum offers special activities for parents, teachers, families, students, preschoolers, bilingual visitors, and people with special needs. The Museum's Library and Archives contain the leading concentration of research material on modern art in the world, and each of the curatorial departments maintains a study center available to students, scholars and researchers. In addition, the Museum has one of the most active publishing programs of any art museum and has published more than 1,200 editions appearing in twenty languages.

In January 2000, the Museum and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center exercised a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing their affiliation. The final arrangement results in an affiliation in which the Museum becomes the sole corporate member of P.S.1 and P.S.1 maintains its artistic and corporate independence. This innovative partnership expands outreach for both institutions, and offers a broad range of collaborative opportunities in collections, exhibitions, educational programs, and administration.

MoMA has just completed the largest and most ambitious building project in its history. This project nearly doubled the space for MoMA's exhibitions and programs. Designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, the new MoMA features 630,000 square feet of new and redesigned space. The Peggy and David Rockefeller Building on the western portion of the site houses the main exhibition galleries, and The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building—the Museum's first building devoted solely to these activities—on the eastern portion of the site provides over five times more space for classrooms, auditoriums, teacher training workshops, and the Museum's expanded Library and Archives. These two buildings frame the enlarged Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. The new Museum opened to the public on November 20, 2004, and the Cullman Building opened in November 2006.

To make way for its renovation and rebuilding, MoMA closed on Fifty-third Street in Manhattan on May 21, 2002, and opened MoMA QNS in Long Island City, Queens, on June 29, 2002. MoMA QNS served as the base of the Museum's exhibition program and operations through September 27, 2004, when the facility was closed in preparation for The Museum of Modern Art's reopening in Manhattan. This building now provides state-of-the-art storage spaces for the Museum.

Today, the Museum and P.S.1 welcome thousands of visitors every year. A still larger public is served by the Museum's national and international programs of circulating exhibitions, loan programs, circulating film and video library, publications, Library and Archives holdings, Web site, educational activities, special events, and retail sales.

on La Dame...

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman Who Goes Astray. It was originally entitled Violetta, after the main character.

Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer and librettist's original wishes were carried out and "realistic" productions were staged

The first performance of the opera was on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. The performance was jeered at times by the audience, who directed some of their scorn at the casting of soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli in the lead role of Violetta. Salvini-Donatelli, though an acclaimed singer, was considered too old (at 38) and overweight by the audience to credibly play a young woman dying of consumption. (Verdi had previously attempted to convince the manager of La Fenice to re-cast the role with a younger woman, but with no success.) Nevertheless, the first act was met with applause and cheering at the end; but in the second act, the audience began to turn against the performance, especially after the singing of the baritone (Felice Varesi) and the tenor (Lodovico Graziani). The day after, Verdi wrote to his friend Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter: "La Traviata last night a failure. My fault or the singers'? Time will tell."

After some revisions between 1853 and May 1854, mostly affecting acts 2 and 3, the opera was presented again in Venice, this time at the Teatro San Benedetto. This performance was a critical success, largely due to Maria Spezia-Aldighieri's portrayal of Violetta.

On 24 May 1856 the revised version was presented at Her Majesty's Theatre in London followed on 3 December of that year by its premiere in New York.

Today, the opera has become immensely popular and it is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire. It is second on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide, behind only The Magic Flute.
 

strip Morphologies

As a continuation of the Strip Morphologies workshop held in June 2010, Strip Morphologies II is a two-day intensive design, prototyping, and fabrication workshop to be held in New York City during the weekend of November 12-13, 2011. In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, this workshop will investigate the morphology of the ’strip’ by cross-linking developable surfaces and joining strategies. We will identify and exploit the constraints inherent in sheet material and CNC laser-cutting technology to explore and construct highly articulated material assemblies. Furthermore, the workshop will provide participants with instruction in digital fabrication techniques and direct access to CNC equipment.
This workshop will consist of a series of instructional lectures, open work sessions, and guided exercises, beginning with an introduction to Computational Geometry and Grid-Based Modeling. The workshop is structured to allow each participant time to iteratively develop design prototypes, moving quickly from digital design environments to material artifacts and back again throughout the weekend.

The workshop will progress through the following subtopics:
Computational Geometry :: Introduction to Curves, Surfaces, Meshes in Rhinoceros
Grid-Based Modeling + Implicit History :: Introduction to Paneling Tools
Articulation + Influencers :: Proximity, Image Mapping, Curvature Strategies
Detailing + Fabrication :: Prototyping Workflows with an 80W CNC Laser

As part of a larger online infrastructure, modeLab, this workshop provides participants with continued support and knowledge to draw upon for future learning. Attendance will be limited to provide each participant maximum dedicated time with instructors.
 

nach Berlin

The Bjarke Ingels Group has had an extraordinary year in which they claimed multiple competitions with what seemed progressively more radical design schemes. Their losing proposal for the German Freedom and Unity Memorial though is decidedly utilitarian and minimalist in scope with a symbolic gesture that is purposely understated.

The memorial site at the Schloßplatz on the Museum Island in Berlin Germany is to commemorate the falling of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the reuniting of East and West Germany. The peaceful transition of Germany after the cold war was most powerfully felt in the city of Berlin where neighborhoods and families were literally separated for a generation. BIG’s proposal using a circle to act a bridge and sculpture is a deliberate attempt to commemorate the event as not just the reunion of a nation by crossing the water channel but as a personal experience of individuals. The act of a bridge is a gesture of the reuniting the cleaved nation. The symbol of a circle is the gentle outcome of the event, a traditional sign of wholeness and strength.

While the symbolic value of the design is clear the effect is also personal as the plaza becomes a united pedestrian mall in the process, further enhanced by the amphitheater on one end. By allowing the public to utilize the space more freely rather than ogle at an object or pile into a pavilion the gesture of the design becomes one of a normalized existence.
 

a Reconfigurable Museum

Filippo Innocenti, co-founder of the UK-based architecture firm Spin+ and an associate architect at Zaha Hadid Architects, was selected by Adobe for the design of an entirely digital museum. Adobe wanted more than a website designer; they were looking for a way to make the space feel “physical’. While Innocenti designed the Museum as a real architectural project, the website design was left to the London-based digital production company Unit9.

The Adobe Museum of Digital Media was designed without concerns such as technical constrains, budget, or natural forces. Innocenti collaborated closely with award-winning designer Piero Frescobaldi, who served as the “building contractor” for construction of the virtual space. Initial design ideas, revolving around spaces devoid of gravity, were too far from the real feel of a building. However, the final design is far from conventional. In real life, the Museum would span over 620, 000 square feet. The visitor first encounters a podium structure resembling a nest of swirled ribbons, which holds the main exhibition spaces and an auditorium for web meetings. The open atrium is home to the exhibitions, which will include works that examine broadcast communications and product development in addition to art. A fluidly shaped set of towers house the archives rise from the base. The entire museum is reconfigurable, so galleries can be adapted to each artist’s vision, and the archives can grow.