Manchester United and Architecture

These are two things I am really passionate about: Manchester United and Architecture (In order of preference). So when I came across this article, I was really delighted. Gary Neville, has never been among my favorite united players, since he is no Cantona or Giggs. But knowing that he has applied to build a flower-shaped eco-friendly house in Greater Manchester, brought him a bit closer to those legendary figures.

Make Architects have worked in this projects for 3 years and just recently submitted the planning application. The project, if granted permission, will be built underground in the shape of flower petals within the landscape. In the heart of this underground "bunker" is the kitchen, with wings for working, sleeping and entertainment.

There are not many images of the project available, since it have just been released in the press I guess. But this is one house I'll be keeping an eye for.

In Detail

A door in Mecca

I stumbled upon this very nice picture of this door detail on flickr. My fascination with door details in Islamic architecture started when I bought a diary few years ago, which had a similar detail of a door on its cover taken from The Mosque of Sultan Hasan in Cairo. The intricate complexity of the decorating patterns haunts me whenever I find myself standing in front of door with such delicate beauty.


The door in Sultan Hasan Mosque in Cairo

Nationalism

As I returned to Bahrain for a quick holiday, I noticed that there was a re-branding wave across the country which caught up with BTV and Batelco logos, perhaps commemorating the 10 years passed since our King came to the throne.

Amidst all the advertising boards on the highways, I was captivated by Batelco’s add near Seef Mall, which had the above picture; two hands, one red and the other white, coming together forming the flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The way in which the hands interlock with each other is very forceful, whenever I try it, I do have to force the knuckles through until there are no gaps. Yet the resulting bind is equally unbreakable. I almost sense that I need more force to take my hands away from each other than bring them together. Is there a political statement behind this gesture? Well Arabs generally like to bring politics in everything, so I might be reading way too far into it if I said so.

Nevertheless, the image is strikingly beautiful, whenever I pass the billboard on the highway it stays in my head throughout the journey. The brightness of the colors and the texture of the human hand’s skin made it a beautiful abstract piece of art. This is the first time that I actually saw the beauty of our national flag.

Inverted skyscrapers/Inverted pyramids

Iberia Quarries, Portugal.


Vermont Marble Quarries, Vermont.


Rock of ages, Vermont.

As I was looking through a beautiful book of photographs called "Earth", I came across this wonderful set by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whom I posted about long time ago.

The set is entitled "Quarries", and the concept emerged from the idea of the landscape as architecture. According to the artist, when looking at buildings made of stone, what comes to mind is an inverted cubed architecture on the side of a hill, an interesting landscape where stones would be taken out of the quarry one block at a time. As the artist puts it, "Openpit mines, funneling down, were to me like inverted pyramids... the idea of inverted skyscrapers."

Billboard Living

Billboard Living is a project by Dolf Robertus displayed at the Graduation Show of the Design Academy in Eindhoven. The concept of the project is to turn advertised corporate logos into housing, animating the adverts by inhabitants. So a Mac's logo would be animated by people using Mac laptops or ipods. Dove logos will be animated by people taking showers. And my favorite, a "Playboy" logo will be animated by nudity.

What attracted me about this is the drawings, or presentation sketches. I am a huge fan of caricatures, specially architecturally related caricatures. And the technique used here is very elegant. The sketches are simple, with the appropriate detailing required, without loosing the fantasy or the humor aspect of the project.

For more info about it, look here.

Trees and Architecture ii

Project: Tree of Knowledge Memorial
Architect: m3architecture
Location: Barcaldine, Australia

Here is another project involving a tree. Perhaps not as exciting as the previous one. Nevertheless an interesting one. This is a pavilion design by Australian architects commemorating the site where the Australian Labour party is said to have been founded in 1891. The pavilion frames the remaining part of a dead tree that is considered a historical landmark, which was poisoned in 2006. The dead tree is surrounded by "18 metre-high cube-like structure of hanging timber batons, intended to mimic the shape of the tree’s canopy in 1891.

More info can be found here.

Trees and Architecture i

Project: Yellow Treehouse Restaurant
Architect: Pacific Environment Architects
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Completion Date: December 2008

If this isn't the best advertisement in all time I don't know what is. The idea of this treehouse project started as an advertisement for Yellow Pages. Now this is a company that print out billions of phonebook directories around the world annually, with each book containing hundreds of pages, despite the fact that more and more people are starting to use online phone directories. You wouldn't really call it eco-friendly, would you? So I guess that is the reason behind this advertisement, to enhance their image in a modern society that is obsessed with the sustainability trend.

The idea behind this "reality" TV advert, as you can see from the youtube video link and their website, is to prove that whatever you want to do, you can do it relying solely on yellow! To make it challenging, the chosen project was: "A restaurant. 10 metres up a redwood tree."

All products and services were sourced through Yellow Pages listings (the book, online and mobile) to build this treehouse restaurant on an enormous Redwood Tree which is over 40m high and 1.7 diameter at the base.

The tree-house concept is reminiscent of childhood dreams and playtime, fairy stories of enchantment and imagination . It’s inspired through many forms found in nature -the chrysalis/cocoon protecting the emerging butterfly/moth, perhaps an onion/garlic clove form hung out to dry. It is also seen as a lantern, a beacon at night that simply glows yet during the day it might be a semi camouflaged growth, or a tree fort that provides an outlook and that offers refuge.The plan form also has loose similarities to a sea shell with the open ends spiralling to the centre.

The selected site and tree had to meet a myriad of functional requirements -18 seated people and waiting staff in relative comfort complete with a bar; gaining correct camera angles with associated light qualities for filming the adverts, web cam and stills, have unobstructed views into the valley and entrance to the site and structural soundness . The final selected tree is one of the larger trees on the site and sits above a steep part of the site which accentuates the tree’s height. Kitchen/catering facilities and toilets are at ground level.

The Architectural component embodies a simple oval form wrapped ‘organically’ around the trunk and structurally tied at top and bottom, with a circular plan that is split apart on the axis with the rear floor portion raised. This allows the approach from the rear via a playful tree-top walkway experience, slipping inside the exposed face of the pod and being enchanted by the juxtaposition of being in an enclosed space that is also quite ‘open’ and permeable to the treetop views. There is also a ‘Juliet’ deck opposite the entrance that looks down the valley.

The construction of this amazing project took 66 days only! The restaurant is located on a private land, so the consent granted for this project was to permit diners onto the site only. Unfortunate for the sightseers who were just fancying a glimpse of this wonder. So for those who are interested in visiting this building, you will have to book in advance to dine there for an unforgettable experience.

More info and pics can be found here