The most surprising aspect one discovers when road-tripping across South California is the omnipresence of its urban reality. Driving through its network of interstate highways is like travelling through the blood vessels of living, wide-awake tissue. Spread across ten to twelve lanes, the traffic flow is continuous and fast, night and day. Southern California, or…
read moreIn our last post, we delved into the relationship between individuals and architecture, analyzing how the height of a space determines our experience in it. Today we will turn to another factor to take into account when considering our relationship to architecture: the environment. Research has found that a building’s views affect its occupants’ ability…
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We have recently discovered a new term which is trying to name a common trend in today’s worldwide architecture. It is the “greenwashing” of new constructed buildings and as the name suggests it consists on emphasizing those “green” elements or systems in the building to offer a sustainable appearance by hiding the real design which is often conventionally made. In many cases energy efficiency systems do not work or they have just been introduced in the design to comply with green construction regulations. But any mean is allowed if it helps to elaborate -a posteriori- colorful climatic operational schemes which will illustrate the pages of the last “green buildings” publication -of course printed on non recycled paper from non sustainably certified forests.
read moreAmong the San Andreu and Sagrera districts, near the Meridiana Avenue, is the former Meridiana dog track (which is called Canódromo Meridiana), an emblematic rationalist building of the sixties, designed by the architect Antonio Bonet Castellana, one of the most influential architects in the rationalist architecture of our country.
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It took a scientific study from Monash University in Australia to prove that the rain water that the inhabitants of the city of Adelaide were collecting from their decks was suitable for human consumption despite not having any treatment before being consumed. Adelaide, the fifth most populated city in Australia is consuming the water from river Torrens faster than it is capable of generate it and the continuous droughts are prompting the survival instincts of its people, who have begun to recover the human tradition of collecting and storing water during rainy months.
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Every architect should build for people, understand the needs of the client and adapt the project to his way of life. Entering someone’s house conveys us an impression similar to that received when we first meet him and lets us discover his most personal habits. But when entering to a renowned architect’s house we also receive part of the architect’s personality, how the rooms are connected and what hierarchy is given to each space, gives us information on the experience of the one who has though it.
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By the middle of last century, the American builder Joseph Eichler hired some of the most important American architects of the time to design a series of housing developments made to suit the middle class stratum budgets.
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