Absolutely Pre-fabulous

This week, Michelle Kaufmann Designs unveiled their newest modular, sustainable, and modern home design - the MK Solaire.



Pretty nice, eh? In a previous post, I mentioned that Michelle first introduced this slick new design in her speech at the Dwell on Design Conference, but I unfortunately didn't have any pictures. Well, images are now available online and I have to say that I think it's by far MKD's most beautiful (and most expensive, i'm sure) yet. The Solaire is decidedly less prefab-looking than the Glidehouse and the Sunset Breezehouse because it's been strategically designed for a much different purpose - "to offer healthy living in the city." Traditionally, the drawback to an urban lot is its limited accessibility to light and air. Through clever planning, MKD have overcome this dogmatically accepted urban condtion to "sculpt light and air into the center of the home."

As I previously mentioned, the mk Solaire is developer-friendly. Built around an organizational strategy that maximizes flexibility for multiple units or duplex developments, it really is, as the website says, "a perfect fit for a modern, eco-friendly community."



Some stats:

The Solaire is constructed in Michelle Kaufmann Designs wholly owned factory

It can completed within 14 months from the first design meeting

A typical house will cost between $200 and $250 per square foot

Optional roof access level and roof garden

Every mkSolaire home is solar-ready. The home can be fitted with solar panels upon delivery

Other options include a geothermal system, a wind generator system, or hybrid systems.

Interested? Check out MKD's website for more information.

Still not sure? Well, just check out how easy it is to build one of these:

MKD

previously: Dwell on Design: Sustainability

Reviewing the Review: SANAA Glass Pavilion

In yesterday's New York Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff ponders the effects of iconic architecture on the fabric of some of America's lesser Metropolis...es. Metropoli? You know, places "where the death rattle of the middle class is still comparatively faint."

It filled me with a strange, unfamiliar sensation - I think some people call it "pride" - to see my hometown, Toledo, Ohio, get incredibly positive national exposure for producing something other than Jamie Farr. However, I would like to clarify a few points. Exerpts from Ouroussoff's article follows, with a few notations from myself [in bold].

If there is a project that revives one's faith in the ability of architecture -- in its purest form -- to have lasting impact on how we experience our cities, it is the recently completed Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art. [An amazing building, or so my mom tells me. I'm not sure this is clear in the article, but "Glass Pavilion" does not only describe the dominant building material of the new structure, but also what's contained within it. The TMA has one of the nations largest (and finest) collections of glass art. ] A century ago, this was a major industrial city, mostly known for its production of high-quality glass. [true] But industry fled long ago, [true] and the city's core is largely abandoned and derelict. [Not entirely true. In the eight years I've been away, A beautiful new minor league baseball stadium has sparked a revitalization of downtown. Brick buildings that once housed dive bars and strip clubs now house...um, nicer bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, it does still seem to be a problem to get people to actually live downtown.] Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the Japanese firm Sanaa, the pavilion is set within a small garden opposite the brooding, [ Less "brooding" than "majestic"] columned facade of the Beaux-Arts museum, a monument to the cultural aspirations of a once-thriving city. [Jesus. It's not a damn post-industrial wasteland, Nicolai!]

The pavilion is proof that a single architectural moment, created out of the deepest sense of humility, [doubtful] can have an impact more resonant than a major planning campaign. It reminds us that there are greater urban values than an endless cycle of consumption. And it begins to create a sense of place within the larger fabric of the city, [Well, I'd say there's actually already an established "sense of place." The museum doesn't sit far from "The old West End" - the largest neighborhood of late Victorian, Edwardian, and Arts & Crafts homes east of the Mississippi.] something that to an architectural tourist may be more important than where you can buy a handbag. [Wait...what? is this a New York joke or something?]

[The Toledo Museum of Art]

If You Build it, Will They Come? [NYT]

Midleading Headline of the Day

My interest was perked today when I saw this headline from Google alerts:

What is this? Is Rem planning ahead for when the jetsetting and 24 hour cocktail parties start to take their tole? Is he dealing with his addictions like Michael Graves is dealing with disability?

Nah. Nothing that exciting. It's actually the rehabilitation of a building - or complex or buildings, i'm not sure - in New Jersey. But seriously...where does this guy find the time?

Loft Project in Jersey City Attracts a Big Name [NYT with a much better Headline]

Comments re-enabled

Damn. I accidentally turned comments off a couple weeks ago and just realized it. (and I thought no one was reading!) Commenting is now re-enabled. Apologies to all who posted.

Metropolis 2007 Next Generation Design Competition

Metropolis Magazine is launching their 2007 Next Generation Design Competition, focusing on ENERGY - its uses, reduction, consumption, efficiencies, and alternatives.

Now in its fourth year, the Next Generation design competition recognizes design innovation on all scales--from the efficient desk lamp to the innovative city neighborhood plan, and everything in between. The competition is open to young designers in practice 10 years or less; including CAD monkeys in large offices, design students, independent firms or individuals. On your own or in teams we invite you to submit work on urban plans, buildings, interiors, products, landscapes or communications design. The winner will receive $10,000 seed money to realize his or her idea, and will be featured in Metropolis magazine. Runners up will also receive full coverage to empower the next generation of design.

Autumn Artifacts

Coroflot have launched their 2006 Design Salary Survey. New to this year's survey, Architecture has been added as an area of concentration. Go forth and share your measly pittance with the world!

Automaker Scion opens a new competition today to design "the next generation SCION showroom." The submission process will take place entirely online. Check out the official website for more information.

Happy Autumn. Enjoy tomorrow's pefectly divided hours of daylight and darkness.

The Simple House, Portugal:

By Architects Manuel Aires Mateus e Francisco Aires Mateus

What's up with the lack of comments lately?

More PARK(ing)

Flying a kite on 2nd St.


"Is it ok if we USE this park? Do we have to pay?"


2 PARK(ing) spaces: a garden & a park (complete with ukele players)


PARK(ing) in transit down Market St. (that's a tree being towed by a bike)

UPDATE: more photos are now posted on my Flickr page.

PARK(ing) Day [Rebar]

previously: PARK(ing) Day: A Call to Action

Happy PARK(ing) Day!

[click the image for an interactive map]

PARK(s) are springing up all over San Francisco!

PARK(ing) Day [Rebar]

previously: PARK(ing) Day: A Call to Action

Lebbeus Woods + 12 Monkeys

This is old news (circa 1995), but I think it's pretty interesting. During his lecture last week, Lebbeus Woods mentioned that he had filed a lawsuit against architect-beloved film director, Terry Gilliam. Someone in the production crew for 12 Monkeys decided to base one of their sets on Woods' illustration Neomechanical Tower (upper) chamber.



Damn. Down to the last detail, it's almost exactly the same. Woods however, said that he was more upset about Gilliam's interpretation of the image than the appropriation of it. In the film, the chair was used an a torture device and although it does look somewhat insidious, Woods actually intended the room to be ambiguous in nature. Is it a seat of punishment or a seat of authority? Why couldn't this be where The Philosopher sits as he ponders the world with his mechanized globe?

The court ruled that the film must remove the footage but Woods allowed it to remain, happy with the financial settlement. And from what I hear, he should be.

I'm reminded of the "What Dreams May Come," a film with sets based on Etienne-Boullee designs. And then there's the Jedi Archives in Episode II - an exact replica of the The Old Library of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. What other film sets have been inspired by real-world works of architecture?

DWELL ON DESIGN: Sustainability

[To make things a little more manageable, I decided to break up the Dwell Day2 post.]

The 2nd day of the Dwell conference focused on Sustainability. Although Bill Browning, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute's Green Deveopment Services, spoke first, it was Michelle Kaufmann who bridged the discussions between prefab and sustainability.



Her firm, Michelle Kaufmann Designs (MKD) designs only modular, sustainable, modern structures. If for some reason, a client requests a house with only 2 of those qualities, Kaufmann will reject the commission. Her passionate belief in these principles was conveyed though her speech, and at times she almost reminded me of a born-again Christian. I suppose the analogy is appropriate, because Kaufmann is herself a convert - a convert to sustainability. Her research and experience while building her own house convinced her that sustainable, modular design is the only real option we have.

Kaufmann is best known for her Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse (pictured), but MKD will soon be introducing a new "product" designed more urban contexts. It's not on their website yet, but I believe Michelle referred to it as the "MK Solare." The Solare not only responds to conditions where light and ventilation are only accessible in the front and back of a buildings lot, but it's also developer friendly, with an organizational strategy that encourages duplex-like building arrangements. Oh yeah, and it looks good. really good.

Michelle believes that green architecture is successful when the people who occupy it don't have to change their lives. Although she challenges herself to consider the human scale and to build only what she believes to be necessary, the products of MKD don't impose upon their owner a strict new lifestyle or dispensable extravagance. By building smaller and smarter, we use less material, fewer resources, and create less waste. Not "bigger is better," but "better is better."

[MKD]

Koolhaas at Cornell

Today, Rem Koolhaas will unveil his design for the new College of Architecture, Art and Planning at his alma matter (of sorts), Cornell:



Waitaminute....Is that the Farnsworth House? Apparently, having exhausted their own catalog of design, OMA will now be mercilessly plundering the history of modernism - and with a rendering budget that just isn't what it used to be. "The box is always an isolated thing," he's quoted as saying in the New York Times. "But here, we use the box as a connector. You could say it's a postmodern use of the box." Post Modern, indeed. Or maybe post-modern Modern? Or some interpretation of post post-modern...

Anyway, check out the New York Times article for other choice Rem quotes like "apparent warfare between blob and box," and "trying to short-circuit that dialectic." Oh Rem...I never know if I love to hate you or hate to love you.

A World-Famous Architect Goes Home [NYT]

Chutes and (Corporate) Ladders

Red Bull's London Headquarters is more fun than your office. It was designed by Jump Studios, whose goal was to create "a building that would stimulate its employees and visitors alike and that would manifest the adrenalin and dynamic excitement associated with the brand and its activities."

So, you know, they put in a slide.
Because stairs just don't manifest adrenalin.

via Gizmodo

Jump Studios

DWELL ON DESIGN: PreFab

With the last remnants of the morning's fog slicing through the city and my newly repaired scooter purring like a kitten strapped to a 4-stroke engine, I made my way to the Friday morning opening of the Dwell on Design Conference. The first panel of the day focused on PreFab and was moderated by Michael Sylvester, founder and editor of fabprefab.com. Sylvester's opening presentation gave a general overview and brief history of prefabricated architecture, while stressing the importance of consumer accessibility and the idea of "architecture as a product." He ended with a quote from Henry Ford, setting an appropriate mood for the rest of the weekend and inspiring us to create something truly new: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would've said a faster horse."

The speakers for the day included architects Christopher C. Deam, Alan Koch & Linda Taalman, Rocio Romero, Joseph Tanney of Resolution 4 Architecture, Joel Turkell of Empyrean Homes, MIT prof Larry Sass, and writer/historian Colin Davies. The speakers presented a wide spectrum of architecture-designed prefab typologies and techniques – modular, kit-of-parts, panel based, and digital fabrication.

In a somewhat awkward, performance-like reading, Taalman Koch Architects presented their "iT House" in third-person. Constructd from an erector-set like steel frame, the iT House snaps together with "only a level and a socket wrench." Its walls are made from tempered glass, with privacy provided by a series of graphic decals. With all utilities in the slab, the assembled house just needs to be "plugged in" and installation is complete. In a nice personal touch, the couple used Linda's pregnancy to illustrate the timeline for the project - it took her first trimester to secure the land, the second trimester to get the building permit and the couple now expect the house to be ready for baby by the end of the third trimester.

Rocio Romero, spoke about her flat pack prefab systems: the LV and Camp Series. Her modern designs utilize traditional residential construction systems, but rely on original details to maintain a modern aesthetic. Expeditious construction was again highlighted as a key benefit to Architect-designed prefab. In 2 days, 2 people can install her camp series with only a power-screwdriver and a dream. Ease of assembly was often mentioned as a benefit of architect-designed prefab. In many cases, customers have even acted as their own General Contractor to help bring costs down. Currently, architecture and homebuilding have a symbiotic relationship with the auction-based construction market. PreFab architecture has the potential to drastically alter this relationship, making many common business plans obsolete. Unfortunately, this is just another obstacle to the wide-spread success of the modern prefab house.

Architect and product designer Christopher Deam gave an excellent presentation that blurred the boundaries between his two fields. He believes that regardless of what's being created, designers need to target the low-end of the consumer bell curve, and by doing this, we can expand or shift that bell curve, resulting in a product that is accessible to a much broader audience; a product that can potentially transform an entire market. To illustrate his point, Deam presented his signature edition Trailer designed for Airstream. Airstream definitely has some retro-chic cred, but it's not exactly, well...hip. The average "airstreamer" is 75 years old, the average first time buyer is 58 years old. The first International CCD trailer was sold to a 28 year old. His trailers have brought an entirely new customer base to Airstream and now account for 40% of the company's sales.

Early on, Joe Tanney described the "Holy Grail of Architecture" as an affordable, modular, prefab house that's readily available to the public. Availability and affordability: the Achilles heel of modern prefab. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more discussion about cost. Anytime the issue came up, I felt like there was a sort of awkward tension among the panelists, although I suppose that could've also been caused by the 10 cups of coffee I drank that day. They blamed government bureaucracy and regulations, but never gave any sort of satisfying response to just why their structures are so damn expensive. It would've been great to see a cost breakdown; something to show the specific areas where designs should be focusing their efforts. As far as availability was concerned, these projects all were predominantly located within the blue state parentheses of America. Panelists suggested that this had to do with income levels, more liberal attitudes, and a higher awareness of architecture. Unfortunately, there were no suggestions on how to shift this particular bell curve. If we're ever to find the holy grail of affordability - something that has the power to truly change how we think about residential housing in this country, were going to have to design something more than a faster horse.

Dwell put together a fantastic conference - inspiring, educational, entertaining; everything I hoped for and more (like the world's most comfortable bean bags). There's still so much I have to digest, and a lot more to mention. All this week I'll be posting more panel recaps, photos, and some information on a few new products.

LECTURE REVIEW: LEBBEUS WOODS

There aren't really many architects whom I admire, but last Thursday I attended a lecture given by a man whose work has profoundly affected my understanding of architecture - architect and theorist Lebbeus Woods. After a brief introduction in which he was described as "visionary," Woods started the event - part of CCA's Graduate Studies Lecture Series - by telling us he despised that term. Not only because some archaic definitions of the word imply a foolish impracticality, but also because he believes that by labeling him a “visionary” the architectural profession has marginalized his work and the revolutionary ideas that drive them. Why would they want to do this? Maybe because he's proposing nothing less than a completely new definition of what it means to be an architect...

Structured around a timeline of his work, it was apparent right from the start, that this was going to be a phenomenal lecture. Engulfed by the darkness of the small lecture hall, we were immediately thrust into the high contrast black-and-white piranesian world of his early work. These painstakingly elaborate explorations of fantastical, industrial-baroque cities paved the way for more real world investigations.

In his vision of a reactionary, Cold War era Berlin, inhabitants of both the eastern and western halves have constructed a new city - an underground city hidden below the U-Bahn. A place inhabited by poets and criminals, where reunification can truly begin. In a later, 1991 Project, the Berlin Free Zone, Woods showed us drawings of his "FreeSpaces," functionally ambiguous structures built within existing buildings. Literally, a city within a city. It's almost Shakespearan. The loosely defined, unconventionally configured spaces are void of any purpose or meaning. They force their inhabitants to completely reinvent their mode of living - there's no place to put that damn Eames lounge! Although its taken a completely unexpected form, this is quite the modernist idea. Until this lecture, I never thought of Woods as a modernist, but he most definitely is; and quite proudly wears the title! He believes that architecture truly has the power to change our lives and transform our way of living...but for some reason, many of today's architects have forgotten that. Woods is a firm believer that if we only design what people already have or what they want, nothing new will ever emerges. Architecture should be judged not only by the problems it solves, but by the problems it creates; the dogmatic ideas it challenges.



In proposals for disaster stricken cities - Zagreb, Sarajevo, Havana, New York - Woods' work adopts a medical metaphor. Radical forms of salvaged material act as "scabs," over the "wounds" of a building damaged by war and disaster. As time passes and the buildings are rebuilt, a "scar" remains - a visual reminder, an aesthetic embodiment of history. These crisis projects produced what I find to be some of Woods' most compelling work.



Finally, Woods spoke about his rod-and-cable based constructions in Vienna and Paris. These projects both relate in some way to the ideas of energy transformations and the collapse of system organization. He conceived these ideas and designed their components, but their implementation was left up entirely up to local artists and installers. By setting up a system of rules and guidelines, but not explicitly dictating the construction of the piece, Wood's is recruiting co-conspirators in his plot to undermine the traditional understanding of architecture. The architect doesn't dictate every aspect of the design. There's something left up to chance and interpretation. Lebbeus Woods believes that this is the future of architecture.



I was hoping that with his experience in crisis-design, Woods was going to speak about New Orleans. Unfortunately, he would reveal only the fact that he is indeed working on something. When I spoke with him afterwards, he told me that he is developing projects at multiple scales , and surprisingly, that he has never visited New Orleans. With its rich history, its diverse cultures, and its preposterous location, it seems like the perfect laboratory for his ideas. I can't wait to see the innovative proposals this "visionary" (sorry!) architect creates.

Rarely have I ever been so enthralled for the entire length of a lecture. The avuncular Woods speaks in a manner that compels you you truly listen to what he's saying. And of course, his astounding illustrations only serve to enhance what are already incredibly powerful ideas. He makes you believe in the worlds he's creating. He makes you believe that architecture has the power to transform our physical and spiritual worlds. Lebbeus Woods makes you believe in Modernism.

[most of these projects are featured in Lebbeus Woods: Experimental Architecture.]

DWELL ON DESIGN

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Dwell on Design conference + exhibition. I'll be attending most of the weekend's festivities, so check back often for plenty of photos, gossip, and panel summaries.

Seeya there!

Dwell on Design [Dwell.com]

ScrapHouse: The Movie

I just got back from the premiere screening of ScrapHouse, shown as part of San Francisco's Architecture and the City film festival. ScrapHouse was a proto-type single family home that made its much-laboured debut in 2005 as part of World Environment Day. Entirely made from salvaged material, ScrapHouse not only offers the comforts of home, but is also completely code compliant. And big. Very big. I remember seeing magazine (and blog) photographs last year, but tI just didn't understand the scale of this project until I saw theis movie. The film also does a great job of explaining basic ideas of construction and exploring just how the design evolved and what materials were used. And of course, what architecture documentary would be complete without a little drama. With a start to finish construction schedule of 10 days, there were plenty of architect-contractor conflicts (and crack smoking accusations) to help drive the plot.

Sadly, ScrapHouse existed for an all-too-ephemeral 4 days. Although there were certain parties interested in purchasing the project, the cost of moving it was just too high. Appropriately...neigh, poetically, ScrapHouse was torn down and returned from whence it came: the dump. So what's next for the ScrapHouse team? Nothin...for now, anyway. When / if the idea is revisited, the team mentioned they'd like to take the next natural step - a permanent ScrapHouse.

Oh, and I was amazed to learn that The San Francisco Recycling & Disposal Center (re: the dump) offers an Artist in Residence program!

ScrapHouse premieres on the National Geographic Channel September 18 at 7:00 and 10:00 pm PT. Don't miss it!

Scraphouse website

COMMONspace

San Francisco's urban-environment-artists/activists, Rebar (whose PARK(ing) Day is soon approaching) have started a new series of public art projects collectively referred to as COMMONspace. The projects are based on and in 14 urban spaces created as a result of a 1985 San francisco plan requiring that all high density developments include spaces that are "open to the public." These privately-owned public open space, or "POPOS," are under constant surveillance, challenging their classification as truly public spaces. In collaboration with performance art group Snap Out of It, Rebar will be challenging the social codes inherent in these spaces while engaging public participation. For example, Paraformance 001 determined that at 235 2nd: "although it is pants-only (unposted rule), it is tolerant of improper lunchtime touching (ILT)." Clearly, this is priceless information that would have otherwise gone undiscovered.

Documentation of the COMMONspace "paraformances" will be published online and installed as an evolving exhibition in San Francisco's Southern Exposure gallery. More information, plus a map of the POPOS can be found here.

COMMONspace [rebar]

previously: PARK(ing) DAY: A Call to Action!

Future By Design

Check out the preview for Future by Design, a new documentary on the life and works of future-city designer Jacque Fresco.


From the film's website:

Peer to Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, Jacque is a self-taught futurist who describes himself most often as a "generalist" or multi-disciplinarian -- a student of many inter-related fields. He is a prolific inventor, having spent his entire life (he is now 90 years old) conceiving of and devising inventions on various scales which entail the use of innovative technology.

[Future by Design]

ReNew Orleans: GREEN.O.LA

This week, Global Green announced the winner of their sutainable design competition for New Orleans. "GREEN.O.LA," designed by New York firm worshop/apd, will be built in the Holy Cross Neighborhood of the 9th Ward. Construction is slated to begin later this year on the first GREEN.O.LA buildings, with the ambitious goal of completing 15 homes within the next year - at least, that's what co-sponsor Brad Pitt said on the news. And by news I mean the today show.



[pictures taken from worshop/apd's entry boards. The full boards can be seen here.] Among other green elements, the winning design features a green screen wall, sod roof, and solar-heated water distribution. The Holy Cross development will include a 12 unit multi-family housing building, six single family homes and a community center.

On a personal note, seeing my old professors talking to Brad Pitt on national television was a quick reminder of just how much has changed during this past year.

[Global Green]

[workshop/apd]

Snakes on a (Wall)plane

Spent the weekend in Napa Valley, where I was disappointed to learn that this is as close as I could get the Herzog & deMueron's Dominus Winery: