Coffee Break

ACHTUNG SOCIETY

Fiction: An Intern Architect's Creative Sundays

By Orhan Ayyüce

 

[You need to read this first..]

" i live in a no window cold basement apartment in manhattan. we share the kitchen counter and the hot plate for cooking and of course the bathroom. it is expensive, around 1100$ per month, but being close to office in tribeca , a twenty minute walk, surely helps. i wake up around five in the morning just to turn the electric heater on and go back to warm bed for another fifteen minutes until the room gets little warmer. during this time i usually turn the tv on and watch the local news. once i am up, i turn the hot plate to boil some water for my instant coffee and go online to check e bay to see if i am still the highest bidder on those boots or something before the winter settles in. i love buying used clothes, my only indulgence in life.

once i have my coffee my cat wakes up and i clean her litter and put kibble in her bowl and fresh water for the next 12-14 hours while i am gone working in architect's office where i make half of the rent in addition to what my family sends me to shop.

we work on sundays because my boss feels creative that day and we are there to make it happen for him. he typically comes to his desk and creatively solve one or two window details before he goes down to play his grand piano. sometimes we even clap him after he finishes a boring but meticulous rendering of some piano music. usually i put my headphones and listen i-pad music and only clap when i see other interns doing it.

sometimes our boss gets generous and sends couple of us to get 5 dollar domino's pizzas for lunch. why dominos? because there is one down the street and it is one less decision for our boss to make. he says he is allergic to cheese and asks the interns to pick his olive oil spaghetti from giofranco's on the way.

all day we make computer drawings of our boss' ideas and each time he resolves a detail we hear new concerto from his piano. this goes back and forth for few times until he feels he created enough for this sunday and heads back to his small 3000 sq. ft. condo down the street. he lives in this gorgeous place his wife interior decorated and was published in new york times recently. 

after he is gone, the work considerably slows down in the studio and people start to disappear one by one. i decide to go when i realize that i have been here for 10 hours already. i stop by hot dog place and pick up those 2 for 1.99 deals albanian guy sells and go home and repeat what i have done in reverse order of the morning. 

sometimes i call my parents who want to know if i made my student loan payment this month. they don't know any of this as i tell them project i am working on just won the competition in china. they think my boss is really lucky to have me and i should ask for retirement plan after china project success."

Further read: via BEZOAR

First Beverly Hills Gas Station

Archinect - Neutra VDL - Cal Poly Pomona

Urban Operations: Wilshire Star Maps

"No other place in the world has such a fantastic collection of underecognized and underappreciated vertical architecture as in Los Angeles. In a city of mostly low-density avenues and sprawling suburban tracts, no other street in L.A. contains as many of these Modernicus Erectus as Wilshire Boulevard." — Urban Operations

Since 2006, the annual pamphlet on skyscrapers is published as an ongoing research project by the office of Los Angeles architect John Southern, Urban Operations. This year's issue, "Wilshire Star Maps" is a limited edition of 100 prints and a digital edition you are about to enjoy. It also features an essay by Orhan Ayyüce, "Wilshire Boulevard: A Drive-By Family".

Digital copies of Urban Operations' previous pamphlets, Slopscraper, Sumoscraper and Skyscrapers of the Dead are also available at their website.

Wilshire Star Maps by Urban Operations

SpareTop 9/2011. OA

SPACE OF POLITICS

Summer Journal

With all the people traveling and taking pictures of beautiful places they are vacationing, I feel like the people in old city, in front of the social club, a coffee house or the tailor shop, freshly hosed down, you and your friends consider once a year visit to central park of the city a trip to countryside, never leaving the neighborhood, the street, the smell of the buildings, sounds of children playing on the sidewalk, vendors selling their goods, occasionally a rat chased by few people, noise of cars from the boulevard beeping on impulse, friends stopping and chatting about the family, gossiping about the neighbors, regulars playing cards inside the club and the man with a trilby hat talking like a mob boss, every page of the newspaper on the card table is read and creased, this is the city life in the summer, this is New York, Los Angeles, this is Istanbul, this is Cairo, this is Rome, half empty, this is where the old oscillating fans blow and you hear someone washing dishes from upstairs apartment.. This is a travel to everyday life in metropolis.

PLASTIC DUMMY CAMERA

"NEVER TRUST A CAMERA IF IT IS DUM AND PLASTIC"

IF YOU have to SIGN a RELEASE FORM, it's PROBABLY WORTH DOING.

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Genius Production in Architecture Schools

Many times a typical architecture student is made to believe he or she is a special breed, a special talent the world needs, a genius worthy of $15,000 education per semester in private avant garde schools, taught in cutting edge theories and design, by the people who are experts beyond criticism.
But, during the summer when the schools have shed their clothing and no one is around, the reality is a naked truth.
A student needs to see this.
This is the reality, and, this is a snapshot of this condition.
More time for a new school and social research is needed?
If so, drop out now!
Otherwise, you will graduate from your desk, another tuition will be deposited and the new student will start all over again.
It is like being beaux arts f'd every semester. Draw, make, script, present.., whatever and what do you know?

Tourism in Los Angeles Series, #1: Down and Out on Wilshire Boulevard

Photo by Orhan Ayyuce 6/29/2011

Decay News: SUPERIOR COURT, Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles

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If It Was Me #2, Dutch Colonialism

The other day I made this diagnosis to a problem about a house, whose style ID was in question. The new owner was asking if this house was Queen Anne style in a public forum.
I replied,
"Dutch Colonial is harassed by QA's little brother..;.)" 
And, went on to post a photoshoped image of what I would do with it, by saying,
"do it like this as if you were in a west coast design magazine..." 
Here is the said house with my design suggestion overlay.

Review Season 2011

L-R; Thom Mayne, Karen Lohrmann, .., Albert Pope, Orhan Ayyuce, Frances Anderton, Christophe Cornubert, Jeffrey Inaba, Alan Berger.

I have been in many year end reviews in in few architecture schools in California and Arizona. Besides my own studio's presentations at Cal Poly Pomona, this year's highlight was the suprastudio jury in UCLA. I have been following this research studio directed by Thom Mayne and Karen Lohrmann and the work was really good in terms vaiable solutions and research results trying to incubate a change via culture in selected American cities with population one million or less. In addition to studio instructors, the jury consisted of Nicola Twilley, Orhan Ayyuce, Albert Pope, John Enright Francis Anderton, Christophe Cornubert, Jeffrey Inaba, Alan Berger and others. There were few partial appearences by all interesting but heavily resisted persona of Jeffrey Kipnis. This was the most focused group of students working on the possibility of city scale change. The proposals and solutions were presented but it was not clear architecture's role was redefined. I stressed my commentary on the limitations of physical aspects of architecture and its ability to change the city without the economical conditions of just income distribution is achieved first. In short, summarizing the urgency of capitalist evolution first, which Zizek calls the new and improved communism. Otherwise the building style fashion and all the luxurious public architecture remains as a self serving ode to the dying profession of architecture as we know of. As of now architecture represents a conservatism of holding its nineteenth century curriculum and manual. In a sense, solving the citiy's problem with geometry does seem old school.

AI WEIWEI's WICKED PROBLEM, proposed New Cultural Complex in Shenzhen, China

AI WEIWEI's WICKED PROBLEM, proposed Samaranch Memorial Museum in Tianjin, China

SMALL, BIG, FOG and LEONG LEONG

“Three Glen Small related projects unknowingly and independently conceived by others 25-30 years later” was going to be the title of my short prose but these days I am trying to write less and let the images and statements do the talking.

During the composition of this I thought of these:
Being highly innovative is a relative term.
I enjoyed the uncanniness of the similarities and valued the differences.
It was entertaining

My friend Glen Small is a brilliant architect

At the end, there are countless number of 'alike' things but each fingerprint is unique, would you say so?

Project One

Turf Town
Designed by Glen Small, 1983
Unbuilt
Statement:
“WHEN I WAS DESIGNING IN 1969 AND 1970 FOR DEVELOPERS, I WOULD FIGURE OUT THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF VOLUME AND UNITS THAT I COULD GET ONTO THE PROPERTY AND HOW THE BEDROOMS COULD BE BROKEN AWAY TO MAKE MORE UNITS.. THE LAND WAS EXPENSIVE AND THE DEVELOPER WANTED ALL HE COULD GET. I FELT THE UNITS WERE INTERESTING AND CONTROLLED BY TYPE FIVE WOOD CONSTRUCTION THAT WAS LIMITED TO TWO STORIES. I WAS TOLD THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT KEPT A MODEL OF WHAT MY TWO STORY CONSISTED OF. IN REALITY IT WAS FIVE STORIES HIGH, THE LAW ALLOWED TO BUILD UP GRADE ON THE SIDE YARDS, TO BURY THE PARKING ON GRADE AND HAVE MEZZANINE LEVELS THAT WERE 1/3 THE FLOOR AREA OF THE ROOM THAT THEY WERE OPEN TO AND ACCESS TO A SPLIT LEVEL ROOF. I COULD JUST AS WELL HAVE BEEN DESIGNING WITHIN A SET OF CRITERIA THAT PRODUCED ROOF GARDENS, RECYCLING OF WATER AND GARBAGE, SOLAR ENVELOPS, FOLIAGE GREEN WALLS ETC.
THE SITE, THE OLYMPIC PARK AREA WAS AN AREA OF LOS ANGELES THAT WAS A TYPICAL GRID IRON STREET PATTERN THAT IS FOUND THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. IT WAS SELECTED FOR ITS LACK OF CHARACTER AND UNIMPORTANT CONTEXTUAL BUILDINGS ON THE SITE. ALSO IT OFFERED A CHANCE TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE CITY AND OTHER CITIES.
I HAD A GROUP OF EIGHT STUDENTS TO WORK WITH. I BANGED OUT THE CONCEPT INSTANTLY I PICKED THE FUNCTIONS AND THE PATTERNS OF VISUAL GAME FOR EACH BLOCK. THE STUDENTS WERE INVOLVED AS DEVELOPERS WORKING WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE ZONING THAT I SET UP. THE SITE WAS FOUR BLOCKS , THAT CREATED ONE LARGE RECTANGLE GROUPING.
MY CONCEPT WAS TO CREATE A SOLAR ZONING ENVELOPE FOR HIGH DENSITY DEVELOPMENT THAT INCLUDED ECOLOGICAL AND MOVEMENT SYSTEMS. ALL HERE AND NOW STUFF THAT COULD BE BUILT. RALPH KNOWLES A PROFESSOR AT USC HAD DONE ELABORATE STUDIES OF SOLAR ENVELOPES THAT THE SOUTHWEST INDIANS HAD INCORPORATED INTO THEY’RE BUILDING GROUPINGS. HE USED THIS AS INSPIRATION TO DEVELOP PRESENT DAY COMPLEX SOLAR ENVELOPE PROPOSALS. I IN CONTRAST WANTED A SIMPLE SOLAR ZONING CODE THAT DEVELOPERS AND PLAN CHECKERS COULD UNDERSTAND AND WORK

WITH.”

Mountain Dwellings
Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) 2006   
Built
Statement/Quote from a Dezeen article by Marcus Fairs :
“How do you combine the splendours of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density? The Mountain Dwellings are the 2nd generation of the VM Houses – same client, same size and same street. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing – like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? Rather than doing two separate buildings next to each other – a parking and a housing block – we decided to merge the two functions into a symbiotic relationship. The parking area needs to be connected to the street, and the homes require sunlight, fresh air and views, thus all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, amazing views and parking on the 10th floor. The Mountain Dwellings appear as a suburban neighbourhood of garden homes flowing over a 10-storey building – suburban living with urban density.
The roof gardens consist of a terrace and a garden with plants changing character according to the changing seasons. The building has a huge watering system which maintains the roof gardens. The only thing that separates the apartment and the garden is a glass façade with sliding doors to provide light and fresh air.”

Project Two

Copy Cat Skyscrapers (see. a+u 09:86 featuring Glen Small for more student work, p.53-60)
Studio Glen Small, 4 th. year, Sci Arc student project by Uri Sally, Fall 1985
Unbuilt
Statement from Glen Small on “Copy Cat Skyscrapers” studio:
“THE COPY CAT SKYSCAREPERS EMERGED QUITE UNEXPECTEDLY FROM A SEMESTER OF TRADITIONAL SKYSCRAPER DESIGN. THE STUDENTS RESEARCHED HIGHRISES IN NATURE, HISTORICAL, PRIMITIVE AND CONTEMPORARY HIGHRISES, AND THE COMPONENTS OF HIGHRISERS. THE CLASS VISITED HIGHRISES UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECTURAL OFFFICES THAT SPECIALIZE IN HIGHRISE.
THE CLASS WAS UNEVENTFUL, DOWNRIGHT BORING, UNTIL BY CHANCE I SHOWED THEM A XEROX SYSTEM I WAS EXPERIMENTING WITH TO PRODUCE “FIERO TOWER,” A HIGHRISE OF XEROXED CARS. THAT DID IT. THE CLASS CAME ALIVE WITH IDEAS. WITHIN FIVE WEEKS, THEY PRODUCED UNIQUE IMAGERY OF HIGHRISES. THE MORE THEY USED THE XEROX SYSTEM THE BETTER THEIR IMAGES BECAME. THE XEROX WAS THE DESIGN TOOL FOR THE PLANS, ELEVATIONS AND SECTIONS. AVERAGE STUDENTS BECAME EXCELLENT STUDENTS BECAUSE THEY NO LONGER HAD TO RELY ON DRAFTING SKILLS. STUDENTS LOOKED AT OBJECTS IN PERIODICALS FOR INSPIRATION. THEIR EYES OPENED, AND THEY CAUGHT THE SPARK THAT PROPELLED THEM BEYOND FASHION AND HISTORISM INTO SIGNIFICANT EXPLORATION.”

Beekman Tower
Designed by Frank O. Gehry
Built, 2011
An excerpt from New York Times article by Nicoloi Ouroussoff titled,
“Downtown Skyscraper for the Digital Age”
“The power of the design only deepens when it is looked at in relation to Gilbert’s Woolworth building. A steel frame building clad in neo-Gothic terra-cotta panels, Gilbert’s masterpiece is a triumphant marriage between the technological innovations that gave rise to the skyscraper and the handcrafted ethos of an earlier era.
Mr. Gehry’s design is about bringing that same sensibility — the focus on refined textures, the cultivation of a sense that something has been shaped by a human hand — to the digital age. The building’s exterior is made up of 10,500 individual steel panels, almost all of them different shapes, so that as you move around it, its shape is constantly changing. And by using the same kind of computer modeling that he used for his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, more than a decade ago, he was able to achieve this quality at a close to negligible increase in cost.
But Mr. Gehry is also making a statement. The building’s endlessly shifting surfaces are an attack against the kind of corporate standardization so evident in the buildings to the south and the conformity that it embodied. He aims, as he has throughout his career, to replace the anonymity of the assembly line with an architecture that can convey the infinite variety of urban life. The computer, in his mind, is just a tool for reasserting that variety.”

Project Three

JungleTheater, 1984
Designed by Glen Small, 1984
Statement from Glen Small,
“IN THE SPRING OF 1984 AN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION WAS ANNOUNCED FOR TIMES SQUARE THEATRICAL AREA. PHILIP JOHNSON (THE LATE PROMINENT EVER CHANGING COMMERCIAL ARCHITECT AND ARCHITECTURAL BROKER) HAD UPSET NEW YORK WITH A LARGE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR THE WORLD FAMOUS TIMES SQUARE AREA. THUS, A COMPETITION WAS PUT TOGETHER TO SHOW ALTERNATIVES TO DEVELOPING THE AREA. THE PROGRAM STATED THAT PROPOSALS WOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR THE AREA IN GENERAL, THAT THE TIMES SQUARE BUILDING COULD BE TORN DOWN, AND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS WERE BEING SOUGHT. FOR ME THESE WORDS WERE FRESH MEAT IN FRONT OF A TIGER. I PUT TOGETHER MY SCI-ARC SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AND WE KNOCKED OUT A PRESENTATION IN THREE DAYS. A REAL SHAME, BECAUSE THE CONCEPTUAL IDEAS DESERVED MORE.
THE BIG OVERRIDING IDEA WAS TO CONNECT OLD AND NEW BUILDINGS TOGETHER UNDER A TENSION STRUCTURE ROOF, CREATING A GIGANTIC GREEN HOUSE. GREEN HOUSES HAVE ALWAYS HAD A SPECIAL APPEAL TO ME. THE IDEA OF FEELING LIKE YOU ARE OUTSIDE, BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT AND AIRINESS, BUT ALSO PROTECTED FROM THE ELEMENTS IS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. THE CRYSTAL PALACE WAS THE ULTIMATE BUILDING FOR MY TASTE. IT HAD THE COMBINATION OF NATURAL LIGHT, AIR, PLANTS AND PEOPLE. THE NATURALLY LIGHT INTERIORS OF THE AVERAGE SHOPPING CENTER HAS VALIDATED THIS APPEAL. TO MY AMAZEMENT, BECAUSE I AM NAIVE ENOUGH TO THINK THAT OTHER PEOPLE WILL LIKE THE SAME THINGS I DO, SOME PEOPLE ARE OPPOSED TO THE BIG GREENHOUSE INTERIOR SPACE THAT REPLACES THE STREET. IF YOU LIKE TO HUDDLE IN WINTER CLOTHING SIPPING COFFEE IN FREEZING WEATHER YOU DEFINITELY WOULD BE OPPOSED. OR BECAUSE WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD OPEN STREETS THAT ARE EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS IS REASON ENOUGH TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. EVEN IN CALIFORNIA, WHERE ALL SORTS OF VARIED WEATHER OCCURS, TO ENCLOSE SPACE IS QUESTIONED BY MANY. DO YOU FIND PEOPLE DRIVING AROUND IN WINTER WITH THEIR CONVERTIBLE TOPS DOWN? RARELY AT NIGHT, WHEN IT IS RAINING, COLD OR WINDY? ”

Below a poem written by Glen Small on the project, Jungle Theater

THE COLD WIND CHILLS OUR BONES AND THE ICY PAVEMENT IS TREACHEROUS.
WE GINGERLY DART DOWN THE SUBWAY STEPS, AND ENTER THE GRAFFITI DRAGONS.
AS WE JOLT TO A STOP AT TIMES SQUARE, WE THAW IN A TROPIC HEAT.
THE ROAR OF WATERFALLS IS HEARD OVERHEAD AS WE ASCEND UP CASCADING STAIRS TO A MINIATURE ELECTRONIC YOSEMITE VALLEY.
CARS SURROUND US, BUT WE CLIMB TO THE ELEVATED PEDESTRIAN WALK.
SLOWLY WE HIKE UP THE PATH ON THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING, STOPPING TO GAZE AT THEATERS AND SHOPS, OR VIEW THE MULTIPLE ACTIVITIES WHICH SURROUND US.
ALWAYS COGNIZANT OF THE EXTERIOR WEATHER PROJECTED ON THE BIG SCREEN,
WE ARE SUSPENDED IN TIME AND SPACE IN A KINETIC MOVEMENT WITHIN THIS GIANT CENTER STAGE.

the Audi Urban Future: Project New York
Designed by LEONG LEONG, 2011
Statement from architects:
“Our proposal for the Audi Urban Future: Project New York exhibition on the future of urban mobility, on based on Standard Architecture's previous proposal for a metropolis "reclaimed by nature," imagines a city with new and unpredictable relationships with nature. While mobility is an essential part of contemporary life for human beings, it is also a basic necessity for maintaining bio-diverse ecologies in urban settings like Manhattan. As weather patterns become increasingly unpredictable and environmental conditions more dire, increasing biodiversity will maximize the resilience of the city while minimizing disaster risk and aid recovery efforts. In order to capitalize on biodiversity, Manhattan will have to relinquish a certain degree of control. By introducing a new zoning and organizational system that mobilizes ecologies and animal species, the city will benefit from a nature that is not artificial, controlled, or well-behaved. This new development will offer a resilient form of growth for the future of the city by prioritizing the mobility of ecologies as much as human beings.”

Celebrate Two Hearths Filled with.., Cash! $39.99

The joy of true love touched our hearts all around the world with the engagement announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Now a lovely portrait of the beaming couple is available for the first time in a heart-shaped Gallery Editions limited-edition canvas print nestled in a heart-shaped frame. This Bradford Exchange exclusive commemorates the historic Prince William and Kate Middleton engagement and celebrates two hearts filled with love!

The canvas print features a full-color image of the couple standing before a red satin backdrop on the day of their engagement announcement, with Kate's infamous heirloom sapphire and diamond engagement ring proudly displayed front and center. It arrives ready to hang in its custom heart-shaped frame enriched with a deep mahogany finish and golden trim. Strong demand is expected in anticipation of the Prince William and Kate Middleton royal wedding, so don't delay. Order now!

Editor's note:

Please observe the suggested display composition in a living room situation.

Ouch!!!

WHINING ARCHITECTS ARE EVERYWHERE...

Before - After - Neutra, or, Ready - Set - Neutra.

Before

                                                                After

Here we had Lieb House moved. Now it is Neutra's turn. Maxwell House good to the last drop. Tadaa. Here it is in Angelino Hts..

"The Army of One"

OA, Los Angeles 3/16/2011

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That 70's Architecture Studies

In the seventies, Southern California architecture schools were busy with transformational action. UCLA, Cal Poly Pomona and its offspring Sci Arc were often publicized for their student works in LA Times Home Magazine. Enjoy the past dreams and the descriptive text in enlargeable photographs.

flickr slideshow

Homeboy

Homeboy
Photographs, Michael Rotondi
Story, Orhan Ayyüce

If It Was Me: (UAE Parliament in Abu Dhabi, Like a Revolution Style)

I started yet another series today in my blog. It is called "If It Was Me" which aims to take other architects' important projects of world class design and interferes like an uninvited guest.
As the first one in the series, I took Ehrlich Architects winning design for UAE Parliament in Abu Dhabi and added a public pier in front of it.
I thought a building of importance such as this should not terminate at a median strip of palm trees but open into the sea and provide access and recreational space to people who might also use it in peaceful political debates.

Before

After

Later I thought what if revolution comes to Abu Dhabi. People were everywhere..

And, Like a Revolution Style

It all started here in Archinect News:
http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=104319_0_24_0_C

Freeway Series: ARISTOCRAT MOTEL

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