Technology & the Built Environment

Étienne-Louis Boullée (February 12, 1728 – February 4, 1799) was a visionary French neoclassical architect whose work greatly influenced contemporary architects. Born in Paris, he studied under Jacques-François Blondel, Germain Boffrand and Jean-Laurent Le Geay, from whom he learned the mainstream French Classical architecture in the 17th and 18th century and the Neoclassicism that evolved after the mid century. He was elected to the Académie Royale d'Architecture in 1762 and became chief architect to Frederick II of Prussia, a largely honorary title. He designed a number of private houses from 1762 to 1778, though most of these no longer exist.

A cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere.

Cenotaph for Newton (1784) is a design by French architect Étienne-Louis Boullée, celebrating the sphere. Boullée promoted the idea of making architecture expressive of its purpose, a doctrine that his detractors termed architecture parlante ("talking architecture"), which was an essential element in Beaux-Arts architectural training in the later 19th century. His style was most notably exemplified in his proposal for a cenotaph for the English scientist Isaac Newton, which would have taken the form of a sphere 150 m (500 ft) high embedded in a circular base topped with cypress trees. Though the structure was never built, its design was engraved and circulated widely in professional circles.

Zaha Hadid (born 31 October 1950) is a noticeable British Iraqi deconstructivist architect. She was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. After graduating she worked with her former teachers, Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, becoming a partner in 1977. It was with Koolhaas that she met the engineer Peter Rice who gave her support and encouragement early on, at a time when her work seemed difficult to build. In 1980 she established her own London-based practice.

Situated on the Bergisel Mountain overlooking downtown Innsbruck, the ski jump will be a major landmark. It is part of a larger refurbishment project for the Olympic Arena and has replaced the old ski jump, which no longer met with international standards.  t a length of about 90 meters and a height of almost 50 meters the building is a combination of a tower and a bridge. Structurally it is divided into the vertical concrete tower and a spatial green structure, which integrates the ramp and the cafŽ.

 

The Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion is organized around 4 main objects, or “pods” that perform both as structural elements and as spatial enclosures. The Bridge Pavilion design stems from the detailed examination and research into the potential of a diamond shaped section – which offers both structural and programming properties. As in the case of space-frame structures, a diamond section represents a rational way if distributing forces along a surface. Underneath the floor plate, a resulting triangular pocket space can be used to run utilities.

The design is Zaha's response to a brief set by Maggie's, which challenged her to create a relaxed and aesthetically uplifting environment. It is located on the edge of a hollow adjacent to the hospital. The hollow has a dramatic topography, which in combination with the natural foliage and trees creates a very distinctive protected environment in stark contrast to the other facilities of Victoria Hospital. The centre has been designed as a transition between the two different types of spaces - the natural landscape and the hospital. Externally the form of the Centre derives from a folding surface and a connecting ground slab. The folding surface articulates a directional emphasis of moving the visitor into a different space from the rest of the hospital grounds. By cladding the visible roof and two opposing walls with the same material and making the remaining elevations a mix of translucent and clear glass, the directional nature of this form is reinforced.

 

 

Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is an internationally recognized and award- winning Valencian Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zürich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he has offices in Zürich, Paris and Valencia. He studied in architecture and civil engineering in Valencia (Spain) and then at the the Federal Technological Institute (ETH) Zurich (Switzerland). In 1990, he moves his office to Paris.

The Quadracci Pavilion is Calatrava’s first building in the US. Its objective was not simply to increase space for the Milwaukee Art Museum, but to create a new image for the museum, and by extension for the city of Milwaukee. Calatrava proposed to add to the lakefront. It forms a link between the city of Milwaukee and Michigan Lake and extends Wisconsin Avenue almost into the lake. The Quadracci Pavilion complements Saarinen’s heavy – and rather grim – building both in form and in material. Where Saarinen’s building is landlocked, introvert, heavy and built in grayish stone, Calatrava’s extension is light and open and reaches out to the lake. The low and transparent connecting hallway almost denies that a relationship between these two buildings exists.

 

The auditorium is located on the waterfront in the Los Llanos are of Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife. Situated between the Marine Park and the edge of the port, the auditorium connects the city to the ocean and creates a significant urban landmark. The all-concrete building is characterized by the dramatic sweep of its roof. Rising off the base like a crashing wave, the roof soars to a height of 58 meters over the main auditorium before curving downward and narrowing to a point.

Calatrava's expressive railway station hall is built astride an existing TGV (high-speed train) track adjacent to Lyon airport. It provides a TGV station for the airport, but also a connection point for both TGV and airplanes into the regional road and rail system. The building's most striking profile, based on two converging steel arches 120 meters long and 40 meters high. The building is most obviously expressive of a bird, symbolizing flight with even more dynamism than Saarinen's TWA terminal in New York, the two main arches coming together at the bird's beak. Calatrava insists this was not its origin: "I never thought of a bird, but more of the research that I am sometimes pretentious enough to call sculpture" - which is inspired more by the shape of the human eye. 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works. Wright promoted organic architecture (exemplified by Fallingwater), was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture (exemplified by the Robie Houseand the Westcott House), and developed the concept of the Usonian home (exemplified by the Rosenbaum House). His work includes original and innovative examples of many different building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. Wright also often designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. He authored 20 books and many articles, and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe. His colorful personal life often made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio. Already well-known during his lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time".

 

The Unitarian Meeting House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was commissioned by the First Unitarian Society in 1946. Construction began in 1949 and was completed in 1951. It is recognized as one of the world's most innovative examples of church architecture. In 1960 the American Institute of Architects designated it one of seventeen buildings to be retained as an example of Wright's contribution to American culture. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In August 2004 it was officially declared a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. Although now engulfed by the city, when erected, Wright's "country church" was sited on a knoll overlooking university farmland and Lake Mendota. Two later additions were designed by Taliesin Associated Architects: the Religious Education Wing, 1964, and the Lower Meeting House, 1990.

Frank Lloyd Wright architected this building, now designated the youngest New York City landmark. As you walk the spiral walkway toward the dome above, you will view works from artists of the 19th and 20th century including: Brancusi, Braque, Calder, Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Klee, Leger, Miro, Picasso, and Van Gogh. The museum is shaped roughly like a teacup or an upside down terraced hill. It is not unusual to see adults with their children here, going up and down the spiralling ramp.

Fallingwater opened a new chapter in American architecture, and is perhaps rightly considered Wright's greatest work, for he was first and foremost an architect of houses. In its careful yet startling integration of stone walls anchored to the bedrock and modern reinforced concrete terraces hovering in space, Connors states that Fallingwater may be understood as 'one of the great critiques of the modern movement in architecture, and simultaneously one of its masterpieces'. Yet we cannot help feeling that there is more to this design than even that; this is an architecture that seizes our imagination, letting us see space and habitation in ways that seem new, but which we simultaneously feel to be ancient, somehow fundamental to our human nature.

 

www.guntherstephan.blogspot.com

www.zahahadidblog.com

www.arcspace.com

www.dezeen.com

www.worlarchitecturenews.com

www.galinsky.com

www.greatbuildings.com

 

 

By : Tan Hong Zi