yet_anOtherArchitect'sblog

anOtherArchitect is an internationally operating architecture and urban design studio based in Berlin. We are focusing on sustainable design solutions with a strong emphasis on human centered design and digital fabrication methods. visit our website at: www.anOtherArchitect.com Toy City 1.0 A conceptual urban ... By Petr Kudryavtsev ... Book Preview

[anotherarchitect]

Our hero : pajechali (at anOtherArchitect Studio Berlin)

[anotherarchitect]

anOtherArchitect : Daniel Dendra is one of the characters featured in the documentary film VOICES AND FACES OF THE ADHAN: CAIRO. This short video features Daniel, the Cairo Table, and the factory where the magic happened, CAT, in Cairo.

please visit: tinyurl.com/OLFfilm and support our project!!!

[anotherarchitect]

anOther new team member:

Our bearlin team member with the big heart for Pereslavl got a new friend called Magnik. He came all the way down from the ural and is already an integral part of our team studying hard architectural literature ;)

[transsolar]

[anotherarchitect]

Last year I had the pleasure to moderate a workshop together with Wolfgang Kessling in Tashkent for the Goethe Institute on the topic of Climate Change. After our fruitful collaboration I recommended him for the TEDxBerlin event and in April this year he repeated his talk in Doha at the TEDxSummit. Now being featured at the main TED platform Wolfgang became a sustainability superstar ;)

CONGRATULATIONS!

In April this year Wolfgang Kessling of Transsolar was talking at the TEDx Summit in Doha about outdoor comfort showing our projects for the FIFA football world championship bit in Qatar and Masdar city plaza. 

Today the talk got featured at the main TED page and already hit 100.000 views!

view the talk here http://bit.ly/MbUPIl

[anotherarchitect]

COPY & PASTE (a whole village)

Some time ago I was talking about the power of copy and remix http://anotherarchitect.tumblr.com/post/18037409677/remix-is-everywhere-there-are-this-days-when.

Of course it´s hard for architects to imagine that we CAN copy and by remixing it make it better. But again : WE SHOULD MAKE IT BETTER!

A developer in China mis-understood something in this line of thoughts and just copied a picturesque Austrian village in China. The funny thing about the story is that the village was copied secretly! I can imagine how the village was occupied by Chinese tourists with measure tapes and taking 360 degree views everywhere ;)

It´s sad to see that a country that is actually building most of the latest technology for the whole world and could with it´s economic power try to re-invent ways we do construction falls into the trap of copying the picturesque. This copycat probably did not hear about global warming and that we actually need to re-think the way we built today.

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE ...

[anotherarchitect]

WELCOME

We got a new team member from Russia in our bearlin studio helping us out on the toy city project 

[anotherarchitect]

CROWD SOURCING A BOOK ...

for the FutureCityLab exhibition in Berlin every participant was supposed to hand in a book as an introduction to a future dialogue. My book is talking on how the "inter"net moment will have changed the city in 2050. The book is an extended version of an article I was writing for the Italian "L´Arca" magazine. I identify  4 trends: SHARING, CROWD SOURCING, CROWD FUNDING and GAMING. 

The answers on how this trends might affect our future are crowd sourced into a 120 page compendium ... come and visit the FutureCityLab in Berlin until the 5th of July in order to see this and other books.

Thanks to all the participants!!!!

[anotherarchitect]

OUR NEW BOOK IS OUT: ORDER NOW.

‘TOY CITY - a conceptual urban study for the future of Pereslavl-Zalessky’ is an attempt to grasp the character, opportunities and threads, which a Russian city is facing in XXI century. The case study, Pereslavl-Zalessky, is situated at the famous Golden Ring of Russia, 140km form Moscow. Pereslavl represents most of the problems of a typical Russian city, as well has many unique qualities, like its location at the lake and Natural Park. 

Within the “toy city” concept the city would become the sandbox for new creative ideas and developments. Applied within the city the success could be measured with new technologies applied and analyzed by the university and a newly formed BOTIK URBAN ANALYSIS CENTER. 

Toy City 1.0 by Petr Kudryavtsev (TDI Moscow) & anOtherArchitect : Daniel Dendra | Make Your Own Book

[anotherarchitect]

Berlin is booming at the moment and it´s getting harder for newcomers but also start-ups to find cheap and good spaces. It seems like the developers re-discovered Berlin and a big investment cloud is landing temporary in the city. Constructions sites and cranes are popping up almost everywhere after years of absence.

Nevertheless there is still a lot of possibilities for developing innovative ideas. A great tool for all the urban innovators and pioneers is the LEERSTANDSMELDER (vacancy alarm):

http://www.leerstandsmelder.de/berlin

So if you want to start your next Baugruppe or you just want to occupy a space I am sure you find the right spot

[anotherarchitect]

[anotherarchitect]

FLYING ROBOT CONSTRUCTION

Yesterday I had the pleasure to see the LIVE STREAM of the TED conference in Long Beach and I must admit there were some really amazing talks all heading and proving ideas that we develop with FutureCityLab. So it´s great to see we are not alone out there ;)

The next days I will write some more posts about the impressions of the talks. Also TED was really fast in publishing some talks only. The first videos are available on youtube already today. So I would like to start with one of the talks that made it online already: Vijay Kumar: Robots that fly ... and cooperate 

Vijay and his team at MIT are developing little quadro-copters that act autonomously. They can remember and detect obstacles. The little robots can fly swarm formations and play music ;)

Amazingly they can also autonomously construct structures which reminds me of the Gramazio & Kohler installation "Flight Assembled Architecture".

Watching both the videos I leave it up to your imagination how our buildings and difficult structures will be assembled in future. Probably construction will become faster and cheaper. Maybe even taller?

photo (c) François Lauginie | Gramazio & Kohler

It´s striking how this simultaneously appearing of similar ideas proves the "REMIX EVERYTHING" theory by Kirby Ferguson.

In his third part of his video manifesto he explains that ideas happen at the same time in different places and that they are inavitable and part of a common intelligence. Maybe we could even call it a swarm intelligence that we have as a society. Of course nowadays this links become just much more obvious and we can trace it much better.

Another amazing project of Vijay Kumar´s project is the outdoor version of the flying robots. Equipped with a laser scanner and a Microsoft Kinect the quadrocopter can scan and memorize unknown buildings and environments! Imagine GOOGLE buying some of this robots in future and scanning all public buildings worldwide ;)

[transsolar]

[anotherarchitect]

SAVE THE DATE : LECTURE IN BERLIN : 5.3.2012

Next Monday Matthias Rudolph (Transsolar) and Daniel Dendra (anOtherArchitect) will give a two lectures in Berlin at the German Architecture Centre DAZ following an invitation of Martin Haas (Behnisch Architekten). Since Martin´s students of UPenn university will come to the lecture the places are limited (There will be free beer after the lecture ;). So please let us know on Facebook ASAP if you would like to join! RSVP HERE

Martin Haas (Benisch Architects)

Welcome and short introduction to UPenn Studio Berlin: Airport Tegel - What´s next?

Matthias Rudolph (Transsolar) | Climate Informed Design 

 Matthias will present the role of climate engineering in the building process by exhibiting real world examples of the built environment, demonstrating how the recognition of outdoor as well as indoor climates can effectively inform design decisions. Understanding the interdependence of the built and natural environment, the impact of design decisions on qualities such as daylight, natural ventilation, air quality, thermal comfort as well as on environmental impact is essential.

Daniel Dendra (anOtherArchitect) | OccupyBerlin : When will cities we know be transformed by the net moment?

Daniel Dendra is discussing in a public lecture how social media and other technologies will change the face of our cities and will allow for more sustainable and social environments.

Monday, 5. Februar 2012, 19.00h DAZ, Köpenickerstr. 48, Berlin

via transsolar

[futurecitylab]

[anotherarchitect]

EAT MORE CARROTS!

Are you interested in urban farming and worried about the future food supply? Then you should definitely listen to this 6min interview with Prof. Dr. Mark Gorgolewski. Mark is not only concerned about how in future we will be able to meet demands in food of a 9Billion population in 2050 but he is also interested in giving somepossible answers in his “Carrot City” initiative.

We are happy that Mark is a supporting member of the FutureCityLab family and is willing to share his knowledge with all of you.  

If you liked his short introduction please let us also know what is your vision for a sustainable future vision. Think the un-thinkable. Think 2050.

via futurecitylab

[anotherarchitect]

hey tumblr! you got it the wrong way round.

[anotherarchitect]

DESIGN THINKING is not a rocket science

Without any doubt design thinking is one of the most hyped phenomena in the past years. It spread through the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) of Design (d.school) at Stanford out into the world. In 2007 the d.school was also founded at the HPI in Potsdam and now attracting around 120 students every year.

Yesterday we had the pleasure to be invited to a one-day workshop at the d.school leaded by Ulrich Weinberg and I must admit that for an architect or designer many of the principles and theories seem very familiar. Intuitively we already practiced some parts of the methodology but it is great to see it in a more structured environment. So the the workshop was rather and eye opener and led to an a-HA moment.

The most important parts that I take with me into my ideas bottle and will start implementing in my own work are the following:

1. Center your work more on the user

2. Be more specific with your case study

3. Not not judge anything in the brainstorming phase

4. Always watch the time: be strict with your time planning. Put yourself under pressure. Use a stop watch

5. Prototype more even with silly materials. Architects have to forget more about the beauty aspect of working models

6. Be more visual and use your walls more effective

Of course the above points do not cover the whole theory of design thinking. This is just a list on the main aspects that need more focus in my own work. Share your resources on design thinking or any other inspiring methodology - there is a lot we can change in our everyday design practice as architects ;)

(all images by Ole Tillmann)

Do you know any good lectures on the topic?

[anotherarchitect]

EXPLAIN IT WITH A VIDEO

At the beginning of the year I was writing about my experience as a guest critic at the UDK in Berlin. Students had the task to develop an intractable video for creating the human rights logo. 

Read more here: http://anotherarchitect.net/guest-critic-udk/

I just found another video of the final student work. Above you see Anne-Kristin Müller´s video on how to exactly construct the logo with several circles and lines. The almost overcomplicated instructions contrasts very well with the use of household materials as templates for drawing. Great work! 

Also for architects it is becoming more and more important to explain complex projects and work with the help of video. It´s a medium that is spread viral and quickly on the net but not many architects and designer know how to use it. In this sense it is great if such courses find their ways into design schools now.

What is your favorite instructable?

[anotherarchitect]

Calling all graphic designers, illustrators, artists, writers, singers, cooks, actors, musicians, mathematicians, thinkers, painters etc. Join us for a new collaboration on the next beta of imaginary spaces.

“Imaginary Spaces” is an ongoing series of interpretations of aA´s non realized architectural projects by other artists or creatives.

Architecture is made to serve people and allow them to express themselves and/ or be re-interpreted by the user in a non conventional way. Thus if a building is not realized an important part is missing. “Imaginary Spaces” is asking for people to express their understanding of an architectural tectonic in their own way.Imaginary Space Beta 1.0 is an experimental collaboration between an architect, ballet dancer and filmmaker. The starting point was a 2008 architectural project called XX(L)andScapeMuseum by anOtherArchitect : Daniel Dendra.

Sarah Grether is ”morphing into this building as a feminine creature and creating movements according to its geometry as well as its emotional physicality. Using very minimal but slow and precise movements to execute the heavy, grounded feeling this building has and at the same time highlighting the spider like lightness that its esthetics reinforce as it spreads its web over a vast area and penetrates the soil of our earth.” 

This first project in the series of imaginary spaces was realized for the ArchMoscow 2011 NEXT exhibition of anOtherArchitect. The exhibition won the prize for the best international exhibition at ArchMoscow.

see also anotherarchitect.net/portfolio/xxlandscape-museum/

UPDATE: Imaginary Spaces Beta 1.0 is now part of the ASAP archive in New York

read more http://anotherarchitect.net/asap_archive/