Istanbul Technical University Faculty Of Architecture Connected Tower, 24-30 March 2012

The second edition of AA Istanbul Visiting School 2012, “Connected Tower”, in collaboration with Istanbul Technical University (ITU), will act as a continuation and augmentation of its first version, “Crafted Tower”. The school will amplify the concept of verticality in a city which is continuously being populated by towers, altering its skyline and urban fabric.

“Connected Tower” will tackle the challenge of radically decomposing the tower in order to liberate it from its current fixed typology dominated by the repetition and segmentation. Istanbul presents itself as a crucial model in this challenge, due to the increasing high-rise construction during recent years in specific parts of the city. Therefore, taking the existing architectural characteristics of the high-rise buildings and their urban implications in Istanbul, “Connected Tower” aims to set the tower free from its existing binary axioms – building and city, circulation and habitation, structure and skin.  The tower here becomes an extreme testing ground where it can evolve from being a solitary type to a novel vertical system described with the qualities of adaptation, integration, and fluidity. The design process highlights learning from the integrated nature of biological systems in order to infuse vertical systems with adaptive, multi-functional qualities. The generation of differentiated verticality is carried out by algorithmic design processes in various computation platforms. The creations in the digital world are tested and realized with digital fabrication processes involving various CNC methods, leading to the production of physical prototypes of various scales. In relation with the agenda, a series of lectures by leading academics and professionals will be organized as part of the public events of the School.

Chilean architect Sebastian Irarrazaval recently completed the new building for the Universidad Catolica School of Design in Santiago, Chile.

The new 4-stories tall building is organized around two patios with different spatial qualities, that create new intimate spaces in the campus. The building is cladded in corten steel, a material chosen to age with the building, contrasting with the combination of concrete and light wood to give a more intimate character to the interior spaces, patios and circulations.

Thanks to this video by architectural photographer Cristobal Palma we are able to see dynamic aspects of the building in use, such as the the windows, which play a key role bringing indirect light to the classrooms and allowing for cross ventilation through the patios.

More videos by Cristobal Palma at ArchDaily:

During the 2009 AIA Convention in San Francisco, I had the chance to see a very interesting group of architects, Emerging Voices. That group, in my opinion, represented the new generation of US architects who are advancing the profession with new ideas and innovative projects. Several of those architects have already been interviewed and featured on ArchDaily, but it took me a while to finally meet one of them: Philip G. Freelon. We met during the 2011 AIA Convention in New Orleans, where I had the opportunity to interview him. I really liked this interview, where Philip shares valuable insights on running a firm and his views on the role of the architect.

Ashoka is the world’s largest community of social entrepreneurs, and has supported thousands of groundbreaking social innovators over the last 30 years (read more at McKinsey).

For the last 12 years, the MoMA and the P.S.1 have invited a group of emerging architects to compete for the opportunity to design and construct a summer installation within MoMA PS1’s courtyard as part of their Young Architects Program (you can check the 2012 short list here).

Architectural photographer Cristobal Palma shared with us his latest video: The Nicanor Parra Library by Chilean architect Mathias Klotz. This new building will serve as the main library for the Diego Portales University, designed as a state of the art green facility awarded with the Green Good Design 2010 award.

We recently had the opportunity to interview gmp architekten founding partner, Meinhard von Gerkan. Born in 1935 in Riga/Latvia, Gerkan completed his architectural studies in 1964 at the Carolo Wilhelmina Technical University in Braunschweig. In 1965 he co-founded with Volkwin Marg, von Gerkan, Marg and partners. They have completed together over 260 buildings, among them the Berlin-Tegel Airport (competition, 1st place 1965, built in 1970-75), the Berlin Central Station, Villa Guna, Christ Pavilion, and the Lingang New City, been recognized nationally and internationally for their designs and competition proposals.

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Yesterday, the Barbican Gallery in London hosted an interesting event with OMA.

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Jenn Kennedy, author of Success by Design and AD collaborator, shared with us this interesting video in which she asked an influential group of architects about their business direction. These testimonials by Dan Meis, Art Gensler, Lauren Rottet and Steven Ehrlich give us valuable insights on running a successful firm.

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Today Lord Norman Foster issued a tribute to Steve Jobs (1955-2011), who passed away yesterday at the age of 56. Foster + Partners is working on the new Apple Campus in Cupertino, scheduled to be completed in 2015.

A few months ago I had the chance to meet Steven Holl, whose work I admire. I think that he has been able to innovate and challenge programs as we used to know them, and experiment with materials and structures, while sticking to what really matters in architecture: space, context and light.

A few hours ago one of the most influential figures in computing, product design, and in a way architecture, passed away.

Back in the 70s and 80s Steve Jobs played a key role in personal computing as the founder of Apple, bringing technology to the masses. I won’t go into details here, as I think that this ad featured on the Wall Street Journal back in 1981 pretty much explains it: “Putting real computer power in the hands of the individual is already improving the way people work, think, learn and communicate and spend their leisure hours”. I knew about his death via a notification on my iPhone, and I’m writing this on my iPad. None of these devices are what we define as “computers”, none of them are wired to what we call a “local network”.

As for product design, the “i” factor is pretty well known, and has been recognized by design masters such as Dieter Rams. In this field, his legacy will last forever.

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” — Steve Jobs

But back to our field, Steve Jobs was a patron of architecture. Jobs worked with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, one of the most renowned US architecture firms, to develop state of the art retail stores across the world. In these iconic projects they took glass, one of the most essential materials in architecture, to the next level.

A preview of the interview we did with Steven Holl. In this part he describes the recently opened Museum of Ocean and Surf in Biarritz, France.

Dear readers,

Yesterday we showed you a preview, and here it is the full interview with one of the most influential contemporary architects.

Architect, educator, and theorist, internationally recognized Peter Eisenman was a part of an important generation of architects and popularized amongst the general public when he was exhibited at the MoMA in 1969 as one of the New York Five. Eisenman, along with Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Richard Meier (Eisenman’s second cousin) made up the ‘group of architects whose work, represented a return to the formalism of early modern rationalist architecture’.

Eisenman earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University, a Master of Science in Architecture degree from Columbia University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cambridge University (U.K). He founded an international think tank for architecture, the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS), serving as director until 1982 and simultaneously established his own architecture firm.

As an educator, Eisenman has taught at some of the most prestigious architecture programs including the Yale School of Architecture, Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, and Ohio State universities.

Peter Eisenman’s work ranges from large-scale housing and urban design to educational institutions and private houses. Often labeled as a deconstructivist Eisenman is also known for his intricate drawings. He has been recognized for his design abilities receiving the Medal of Honor from the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2001, the Smithsonian Institution’s 2001 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture, and he was also awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale.

In 2006 Eisenman’s design for the University of Phoenix Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals earned him the label as one of the top five innovators of 2006 according to Popular Science.

Eisenman’s most recent book Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000 revisits some of the most important buildings of the past century with a critical view, a must read for every architect.

Projects by Eisenman previously featured at ArchDaily:

• The City of Culture
• House VI