organicsabre

Sorry to burst everyones bubble but this has just been released to teh media this week.. A British practice is set to amaze the international architectural community by unveiling plans for the world's tallest building, the AJ can exclusively reveal. London-based Eric Kuhne & Associates is in secret highlevel talks with senior Kuwaiti government officials about plans for a tower over 1km high in the Middle Eastern country. The next highest building in the pipeline is the Burj Dubai, SOM's tower, which is currently under construction. Its height is a closely guarded secret, but it is thought it will be between 700m and 800m when completed in 2008. According to Kuhne, his 1,001m-tall tower will form the centrepiece of the new Madinat al Hareer, which translates as 'City of Silk', forming a 'surrogate capital for the Middle East' to house 700,000 people. The architect claims constructing the city

On the subject of public restroom design, one design of urinals was going to be installed at NY JFK airport. The article as follows..... Even though they allow for high-volume servicing and back-in-a-flash trips to the john, the point-and-shoot-a-stinky-deodoriser-cake oddity known as the men's restroom urinal has been, for women, a constant enigma. But nothing will prepare you for the men's room in the newly-designed Virgin Airways Clubhouse in New York's John F Kennedy airport, Terminal 4: urinals shaped like a woman's mouth, dolled up with red lipstick, wide open and ready for business. In anything that we do there has to be a smile, and that's the smile in this Clubhouse, said John Riordan, Vice President of Customer Services for Virgin Airways. The urinals, called Kisses , were designed by Netherlands based company Bathroom Mania. However ..... NEW YORK (Reuters) - Virgin Atlantic Airways scrapped plans to install bright-red urinals shaped like women's open lips at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, saying it had received complaints they were offensive. The National Organization of Women (NOW) scored a stunning triumph against Virgin Atlantic. The saga began when Virgin Atlantic announced it would be installing fun and sexy urinals in the male toilets of its clubhouse at JFK airport. Virgin Atlantic was very sorry to hear of people's concerns about the design of the 'Kisses' urinals to be fitted into our clubhouse at JFK Airport. We can assure everyone who complained to us that no offense was ever intended. The urinals were intended to be one of the more fun and quirky features of the new JFK Clubhouse, a project overseen by Virgin's in-house design team led by two female designers. The urinals themselves were the idea of a female designer, and we were therefore surprised by the reaction. Riordan said the British company received several dozen complaints from people and groups including the National Organization for Women after its plans for the urinals had been made public. NOW had posted a message on its Web site urging members to complain to Virgin chief Richard Branson. I don't know many men who think it's cool to pee in a woman's mouth, even a porcelain one, said NOW President Kim Gandy on the group's Web site. The urinal, designed by a Dutch company, was the idea of a female designer. Riordan said Virgin was surprised by the negative reaction to the plan, part of designs for the lounge, built to pamper first-class customers. Sorry its slightly course but as this topic was, well different I'd thought I'd add some true story about design to it.

The problem with Dense suburban areas is the amount of people crammed into such a small space. This brings up its own problems of crime, heavy traffic (because no mount of idea of good public transport systems, people just like their cars and in America this is even more so)denser development means more problems in case of fires, Tokyo is known to be one of teh mopst dense cities of the world, the amount of fire engines per sq mile is the largest in the world, and it has to be as the risks are so high with the amount of people in each block, so close together. Also theres the fact that more concrete jungles as High denisty would inivertably be, less greenery is left and whether you like this or not, this does impact on our environment, so to put it into perspective, Higher density = more crime, Higher risk of life loss due to fire, environmental impact and not to mention what about health care, more hospitals have to be built, then you have to provide jobs for the people, the surburban sprawls of less dense devlopment, iron this problems down, so they are easier to manage, that is why large dense zones are not looked upon that much. I kn ow in some asian countries i.e. Shanghai theya re building these dense concrete jungles for the farm workers, but they are having problems with high crime levels, larger imortatlity rate for these zones and the amount of traffic in the city. Being an architect I have looked at high density zones and as proved in the Uk the problems that came with these zones, msot new development is low rise rather than dense hi rise.

Another star architect who uses alot of CAd modeling in his work is Sir Norman Foster of Foster & partners in London here are a few of his buildings and compute renderings. Berlin university library building High rise in London Zenith opera house City of London Council offices behjing airport he has done hundreds more different buildings including the Swiss Re thats on the stex somehwere.

Date: 10/5/2005 1:25:05 PM Author: louisville327 For those involved in this thread who are European, though you may pay very high gas prices, I wonder what your monthly income is compared to your expenses, and how often and how far you actually drive in a month's time. Though several people have cited outrageously high prices for gas in their country, they haven't said 'I can't afford to eat now.' In the United States, the poverty rate continues to increase every year by millions of people, and income growth has been generally stagnant for a long time. The use of credit (especially high interest rate credit cards) to pay for daily necessities (like gasoline and food) is increasingly popular. Because so few viable transportation options exist in most American cities (the very biggest cities excluded), many Americans are suffering under gas prices of $3 per gallon. If the price ever hit $7 a gallon like in Amsterdam, many Americans would be in serious financial trouble. Do high fuel costs really create financial hardship for Europeans, or are there enough options (and income) available to lessen the impact?quote> I'll gove you my example. I spend about

great to see you back, look forward to more updates and congrats on the new arrival.

Date: 10/5/2005 8:07:20 AM Author: Snowdog In march it costed

I thought I'd add the UK rip off of fuel we pay. I have a 1.25Zetec Ford fiesta with a 35 litre tank (9.2 US gallons) The current fuel rate at the moment where I live is

A new transport network for London is being considered by using a monorail. Heres the artical and a rendered image. Ambitious plans for an extensive monorail system which would hang trains above the streets of London were unveiled today. The

Date: 9/20/2005 10:24:36 PM Author: Yellowlab I am pretty sure he means things like French, Italian, and Spanish Revivalism, Neoclassicism, etc. Liek when people try to make new things look old. I agree. New Orleans today is the best opportunity for urban design we've ever had. I sure hope we don't waste it.quote> I agree with this, the history of America (comming from a british person!!) was that many nations collonised the US bringing with them their own style of architecture with French colonial, spanish catalan architecture, British Victorian etc. From the sounds of it they wish to preserve the original styles seen in New orleans rather than mass production simple modern buildings which basically make up bland continuous urban sprawl. On the issue of Rebuilding New Orleans, I did notice that alot of the buildings there were timber buildings which could not withstand the force of winds and flood waters. In the Uk 98% of all residential accomodation is brick built and more durable, during the tornado in Birmingham roofs were lifted, but the main structures although some damaged were still standing and able to be repaired, likewise the flooding just damaged property and had to be dried out, though most buildings were able to be repaired easily and re-enhabited. a brick structure is more durable at standing the elements than a timber one. The question is the old style architecture and construction techniques in New Orleans i.e. the timber framed building, in this climate is it suitable to rebuild using the traditional technics or go for more robust design and construction detailing to take into account the change of climate etc. It could still be recreated but with a masonry backing and just timber facing materials in the relevant styles.

Date: 9/15/2005 5:34:13 AM Author: supaphil Ok guys, I know there are some extremely talented BATers out there so here's a challenge for you all:- I come from Lincoln, England and the only thing Lincoln is really known for is its cathedral, it is quite a magnificent building and I have a great plan for using it in one of my cities, so please, please, please can someone make it for me. For more images and details please visit http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.fairweather/docs/Lincoln_cathedral.htm Thanks!!!!! quote> I too would like to see Lincoln cathederal modded as I work in the bailgate area of Lincoln where the cathederal is and see it from my office window everyday. You can see this landmark from miles around as is on top of Steep hill. The castle too would be a great addition as the castle wall is just 50m from me!!!

Wow, i love the new modern stations. Is the GLR one on the tex, it looks very artistic and Fostery (i.e. designed by sir Norman Foster famous uk architect). Also I like the zebra crossing complete with approach lines etc. is this another one to be released? Keep up the good work!!!

Date: 9/14/2005 1:01:28 AM Author: 1ajs sad to see such beatifull buildings get trashed like that in your city DetroitINC knows nuthing about detroit. organicsabre plzz do come and invest in my city we need new plp to come and invest in winnipeg you can get houses here for under 35k cdn to 300k cdn in the core is the cheapest area lots of things to do here quote> Wish I had the money, its so expensive in the Uk the housing market that the only houses I can afford are in run down areas, the problem with that is their is a high crime rate ad not very good to live in. Thounsands of inner city houses in the uk are run down and bad areas to go, developers are turned off these potential areas due to the crime rates, it means that they can't ask for he high prices (ok high proffit) that they want, anything that ain't going to make them rich, their not interested with. I think developers should be forced b y the government to develop these areas as aprt of their work i.e. a certain percentage should be starter homes and homes for the lower income people. Its feasible to do, but no one wants to put the money into it, so we get near slums in certain cities and high crime hotspots. If anyone can give me a million i'll be right over and start drawing up a scheme!!!!

Great as always, keep it up. Can you point me in the right direction regarding the Bus station in your latest post, is this already on the stex or a future release?

The main argument on the urban decay especially with warehouses and office buildings is whether they are capable of doing their designed function for the modern would, in offices this is usually whether the offices can be upgraded to house airconditioning units, large IT systems etc. (depends on the ceiling levels and floor thickness's and construction) In the Uk we hve o prove whether a building has come to the end of its useful life before being allowed to demolish. In nottingham (city where I studied at unviersity) the old Lace factories in the Lace market area of nottingham have been converted into luxory appartments for city living, alot of work had to be done on them but it has payed off for the developers as they are making

Date: 9/3/2005 4:02:37 AM Author: 1ajs you whant urban decay heres some for ya of winnipeg these are taken bye me union bank tower first sckyscraper in westen canada sits empty empty old warehouse for sale city valued it at 250k owner whants 110k for it just one of the many like it scheam of the downtown biz to get plp downtown with are new socalled saviour of the downtown cost 200mil what we lost first etons department store in canada quote> I am surprised these are left empty is it because of the area? In the uk these would ahve been snapped up and converted into flats or small business units. As for the warehouse at a cheap cost of

To add to this debate. The victorians were the best architects, they were able to produce asthetically pleasing buildings which were very practical and were (and still are)well built. For example Victorian houses are a good size and are still sought after int he uk as they are easy to convert (i have done many conversions in my time)Victorian terraces are the same. If you look at any city int he UK you fins that the buildings that are prominant are victorian, all the housing and warhouses (alot of which are being redeveloped into flats). No other building period is more prominant. buildings between 1950-1970 are the worst buildings, they are difficult to convert to modern day standards and are ugly modernist buildings. also the architects of teh day concentrated more on How it looked than the fuinctionality of the building. The argument is really the definition of Architecture and a Building. and to be entirely honest no one has been able to define this properly. The easy way out is to say architecture looks good, but may not be practical, where as a building is plain and nothing visually special but basically does what its been designed to do You can't just define modernism against practicality as modernism is a form of architecture, so you have to look at the whole picture and try to determine the difference between architecture and a building. sorry to leave you all with this philosophical stance but this is what the question really is.

Date: 7/31/2005 7:03:11 PM Author: frndofyaweh Well, I do like debates, but more of the general philosopher type. Don't want to do any arguing at ST though. I mentioned All Philosophy because, it is small young website and lets you say anything, I mean real freedom of speech. I took two years of Drafting, before computers were used much. This conversation is above me a bit. Frank Lloyd Wright (did I spell that right?) Love his work. that is about the most knowledge I have of architecture. His personal study; i wish I had one exactly like that! Simply: I like things to look smooth and clean, plain functional and convenience, but not always. I am not sure if, I am on either side of this issue. Thi is my design. the function here was; put the fam on that side and me in the opposite wing. LOL! Still want my input? quote> Looks like you have designed some basted valleys there (when 2 roof edges are not he same angle, is a pain to build on site and requires more precise leadwork.

Date: 9/7/2005 10:05:39 PM Author: jbridgman Date: 9/7/2005 8:17:49 AM Author: ILL Tonkso My fave Light Rail project is the Portsmouth England one, and not just cus i live there. It will require the construction of a tunnel under the (now deeper) Portsmouth Harbour that will take around 3 minutes to pass through. Now thats a cool tram journey quote> I'm suprised...wouldn't that up the cost? It seems it'd be cheaper to build a bridge over the bay (is the bay wide? I had an impression the place it crossed was a narrow part...kind of the exit of the bay...and that there was already a bridge for cars over it....Sorry if I'm mistaken.) quote> It could be that a bridge is not practical because portsmouth has the navy there and the bridge would have to have a high deck, also this could be classed as a blot on the landscape by planners etc., so the tunnel would bypass all this hassel in the planning stages. As Ill Tonkso said, its still in the planning stages so whether the fulls chem will go ahead or not is yet to be seen, but it will certainly help the traffic situation clogging most cities like portsmouth.

Another example of futuristic architecture is a local architect called Sam scorer in Lincoln, our company had the please of designing the Damons restaurant in liverpool before sams death 3 years ago. we are now the architects for Damons in the Uk with 2 more restaunrants under our belt. Sams thing was experimental roofs and this Little chef restaurant (formally a petrol station) has his parabolic (can never spell it!!) concrete wing roof designed and built in the 1950's.

The difference between a viaduct and a bridge is the following. A viaduct is a flat bridge that cross a body i.e. river, valley etc. These normally have a number of arches (which can have different spans and be made out of many materials, i.e. brick, concrete, steel)biut the deck is always 100% flat. A bridge has a hump i.e. the deck is not straight but has a curve no matter how severe or slight. Thats a general simple description between the two. Other bridges can be cable stayed, suspension, etc. and you may noitice that these are not 100% flat, they both have slight curves as it crosses from one side to another. A viaduct is always 100% flat. Hope this helps.

Date: 7/17/2005 6:29:47 PM Author: Chartsengrafs Date: 7/17/2005 3:30:10 PM Author: DuskTrooper ^^ Exactly. And once again, everything done by those architects seem the same. Take Gehry's Bilbao Museao, the Walt Disney music hall, as welkl as part of the Chicago Millenium Park. All of them use the same curved metal elements, which was great at first, but, is now becoming cliched. Then, he is hired by other firms, just because he is Gehry, and then, you know the results. Now Libeskind's design habits involve the usage of crystalline forms, and many angles, which is becoming overused (especially in the WTC plans, where several of the buildings are nearly the same; the only main difference is the heights of the structures). Also, I agree that Libeskind, and the people whp are in charge of the new WTC project are making the project a symbol of greed, and super-egotism.quote> I take it that you're agreeing with the others on Gehry and Libeskind then!? The thing that has to be kept in mind is that every architect has their style - a sort of signature, so certain themes or forms will likely recur in their designs. I feel I should stress that Libeskind is an innocent party in the watering-down of the WTC plans. The guy is determined not to be pushed out of the project, but creative control over the design was wrestled from him by Larry Silverstein and his people. Unfortunately, it's the usual story, and nothing has been done to rectify the situation, probably because no-one is bothered enough. quote> Another thing you have to realise there are not that many super architects to coin a phrase who are able to get this large high profile jobs. Most architects who work int he industry have client with not much money, want mundane buildings. Out of the last 50 projects I have been involved in only 1 have our practice been able to really let our hair down and design something unconventional, the rest which consists mainly of housing, industrial units and school extensions are the main jist of our work. For people going into the industry or wanting to become an architect, don't think that you'll be able to design all these large buildings or buildings that really stand out, because in real life unless you are in a very large practice that type of work will only be a maximum of 10% of what commisions the practice will be taking on. also in the UK you only need one old G@T in the planning office to not think to the future who only wants crap looking traditional buildings. and at the end of the day it is the planners that will descide whether it is built or not and in real life their is so much back stabbing and corruptness (in the Uk planning athority anyway) you just need to open your eyes to what the work you will be doing will entire and I can assure you it isn't always nice one off arty buildings. For example, in Lincoln where I work int he UK, we designed a hotel extension onto a 17th century pub (formally 4 cottages), a building behind was demolished by others and a new block of flats built behind which raises 4 stories above the pub. Our design was to blend the traditional building with traditional materials, with a modern glass entrance foyer and posh stairwell, which worked well. The only thing the planners failed us on was we were 1 storey above the original building and it apparently spoilt the view of a church from the road, they didn't take into account the 4 storey higher new building (which had been approved and had just started construction behind our building this definately blocks the view!!) appologies for my rant but if you are going into the industry, please go into it with your eyes open as its not what you think alot of the time. I still recomend the job and the study time is worth it in the end, so i wish those people wishing to pursue the career luck. If you have any questions please ask and I will try and help. Heres a pic of this project before full photo render (this is created in archicad) the big grey mass behind is the towering new building by others I was talkign about). Hope this is of use to you.