Wednesday 26 August 2009

Liverpool Cathedral.



Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd, and was consecrated in 1967.

Wednesday 22 July 2009

You know you are an architecture student when..

....you know the janitors by name

....your roommates say "good morning," and you reply "good night."

....you carry a toothbrush in your backpack.

....someone asks you for your phone number and you give them the studios.

....you start paying rent for your desk space in studio.

....You total up 3 meals of the day to your breakfast."

....'Red Bull' is you favorite drink.

....all of the Christmas gifts you give are wrapped in trace.

.....you ask Santa Clause for architecture supplies.

....you ask Santa Clause for a sleeping bag.

....after all of your expenses, you can't afford to pay attention.

....you have 3 or more cups of double shot coffee espressos in one night.

...you hear the same song on the radio 3 or more times in one night.

.... You know the different taste between UHU and Pritt glue

.... You can stay alive without sunlight, communicate with people nor having foods but you would commit suicide if the plotter doesn't plot your work out.

....construction workers are already working.

....You've lost your house key and you realized a week later.

....you sleep more than 16 hrs at weekends.

....you dance madly at 3 am though u aren't drunk.

.... You are an expert and Photoshop, 3DS Max, illustrator and auto cad but you don't know how to use MS excel

....you spend more time in studio than in your own bed.

....your parents are complaining that you're not having enough fun.

....you only leave studio to buy supplies.

....you haven't taken a shower in a week.

....you see showering as a waste of time.

....you've even dreamt about your models.

....upon hearing 'supermodel', you think of a nicely crafted-foam core model.

....your parents have more of a social life than you.

....your 14-year-old brother has more of a social life than you.

....you consider using broccoli for your models.

....you enjoy hanging out at 'Home and Garden Fair'.

....you know all the 24-hour food places in the area.

....your friends get more sleep in one night than you do in one week.

....the streetlights turn off.

...You consider 3AM an early night.

....when you are out at 3AM, and people knows where you're at.

....everything you eat comes in single serving baggies.

...smoking sounds appealing.

....you're out on Friday nights in studio.

....the only building on campus with its lights on is your studios'.

....you say "It's only midnight- I have plenty of time to finish."

....you confuse sunrise with sunset. ....you ask what time it is, then ask "AM or PM?"

....you strangle your roommate because she said she stayed up late studying.

....your Friday night is 68 hours long.

....you know how much a cubic foot of concrete weighs (150lbs).

....you slice your finger, and the first thing you think of is if you'll be able to finish your model.

....you understand why architects have glasses and white hair.

....You call some great architects as if they are you friends. err... Frank... Tadao. .... Corb

....you know all of these are true, no exaggerations.

....you can listen to all your CD's in one night.

....certain songs remind you of studio.

....Sister's favorite brand names are Prada DNKY etc... But yours are Mastex, Staedtler, pentel, rotring.

....you dare not to have a gf/bf because no-one can accept you for what you are.

....you can conceptually compose the food on your plate.

....you think the 'Weekender' happens every weekend.

....upon hearing 'Weekends' you think of sleep.

....the 'Shop Cafe' closes when you arrive, and reopens before you leave studio.

....you have to wait for breakfast shops to open.

....you go to the food shop, and order the "usual", and they understand.

....you use architecture tools to eat.

....you only buy groceries once a month.

....you wake up to go to school and you're already there.

....you start wearing all black.

....you have no life, and admit it.

....you start to critique a radio selection's selection of songs.

....you bring your friends to studio to keep you company.

....you refer to outside studio as the "Real World."

...."going out to eat" is at the 'Shop Cafe'.

....going on a vacation involves going to 'Flax' or 'Pearl'.

....you confuse today and tomorrow.

....you tell time by when other people leave studio.

....you can write a 6-page term paper by procrastinating.

....you hear "Didn't you wear that yesterday?' followed by "and the day before that?"

....your roommate files a Missing Person Report.

....you count the number of days (not hours) you've been awake.

....you think days are 48 hours long.

....you go to the store to buy a six-pack of 'Red Bull'

...."Homecoming" happens once a term.

....on Halloween, you dress like your instructors.

....on Halloween you trick-or-treat in studio to get arch supplies or 'Red Bull.'

...."respect", "coolness', and "hatred" are all based on how much sleep you get, or lack of.

....you see your own picture on a milk carton.

....you start using words your instructor uses.

....your bed has collected a layer of dust on it.

....concept of time is not forward, but a countdown from the time a project is due

....you contemplate dropping your major 3 times a day.

....you have a tent pitched in studio, but still don't go to sleep.

....doing models all night long excites you.

....you know the people in the studio better then your roommates.

....X-acto knives can be dangerous

... as we all know or will find out.

....Beer pyramids AND Red Bull pyramids are some of our late-night late projects.

....Elmer's glue doesn't dry quick -- not even close.

....They know the phrase "Always done, never done" all too well and wish the professors would stop saying it

....They can always have more construction lines.

....They know the number and price of their favorite item in the snack machine downstairs, as well as every other item and all the drinks in the other two machines

....And if you have been drunk while in the studio working on a project, join the club.

....they believe they should be paid just for having the major

....you drink more in studio than you do when you're out

....you have sent messages on aim to another jackass architecture student in the same room as you are

....you think "X-Acto Blade Throwing" is a sport.

....you have 3 or more 'Mountain Dews' in one night

....you spend more time in studio than with your wife.

...."scoring" involves an X-Acto blade

....you don't find out who wins the Presidential Election until Thanksgiving Break, if you get one at all.

....a break consists of moving your car.

....you've memorized your favorite vending machine combination item

....you use your T-square or straight edge as a baseball bat.

.....the day has 2 sunrises.

.....you test which glue will cause your model to burn faster.

....you can't draw without listening to music!

.... when people tell you that they like walking around with you because you see things know one else does.

.... when you don't understand how someone doesn't strategize their way through traffic

....when someone says "icon" and you think of Louis I. Kahn

.... When you're not sure what day of the week it is

.... When you have slept straight through a day and into the next day after a final review

.... When lack of sleep makes you feel and act as if you are high

.... When any flat surface is seen as a place to take a nap

.... When the books that you read consist primarily of photographs and not so much of words

.... When you go to studio and spend more time socializing than doing work

.... When you have big enough balls to tell a critique that they are wrong

.... When everyone in studio hates you because you are the one who plays their music too loudly

.... When after playing your music too loudly the same people who hated you start to take interest in your music

.... When you have developed an addiction to buying new albums, because you have gotten sick of all your old ones

.... When trying to decide what album to play you find an album you haven't listened to a while and it ends up being the perfect choice.

.... When professors for courses outside of the architecture school are lenient once they are aware you are an architecture student.

.... When you tell someone in another school that you are architecture major and they automatically assume you have no social life

.... When you have a non architect friend who wants to tag along to architecture parties because they know that architects have the best parties

.... When you are the only sober person standing outside of the hot truck on a Friday/ Saturday night

.... When you have a sign taped to your back that says do not disturb unless you are ordering food

.... You have given a final presentation with your fly open

.... You try to do things to make your friend laugh while he is presenting

***
In all honesty I've experienced 95% of these

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Timber



I went to the Architecture degree show of the London South Bank University yesterday, I went to see the bartlett show few days back and having experienced my show too - I was not really impressed by what I saw, there was the odd brilliant one though mostly in the Part II side of the show.

I quite liked the building that the exhibition was held in. The above picture is an angle of the building that I particularly liked.

Sunday 21 June 2009

The best designed cricket grounds in the world

To celebrate the Twenty20 World Cup, the Architects’ Journal judges the best in cricket architecture

6. DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai, India





Completed last year, this splendid ground was designed by prominent Indian architects Hafeez Contractor. The pavilion end has a stand either side of the scoreboard, plus a cantilevered gull wing roof to give it a dramatic flourish - and to ensure no spectator has a restricted view. The stadium saw Adam Gilchrist hit a century in 42 balls in the Indian Premier League.


5. MCG, Melbourne, Australia




The Melbourne Cricket Ground is a classic in stadium design. Host to the first ever Test match, and now home to a capacity 100,000 crowd. Voted one of the Seven Sporting Wonders of the World in a recent poll of British sports fans, the stadium had to move to its current site in 1853 when the tracks for Australia’s first steam train cut through the old Melbourne Cricket Club ground.


4 Kensington Oval, Barbados



Another top international venue, ARUP Associates’ Kensington Oval has all the ingredients of the modern hi-tech cricket ground: long cantilever roofs, louvres, gills and diffuse lighting devices. Largely rebuilt to host the 2007 World Cup Final, its striking Worrell, Weeks and Walcott Stand provides column-free views of the action in a structure designed to withstand hurricane winds, heavy rainfall and tropical temperatures.

3. Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa




With nearby Devils Peak and Table Mountain for neighbours, it’s unsurprising that Newlands’ dramatic setting has earned it the title of most beautiful cricket ground in the world. Unfortunately the low-rise stadium recently gave way to modernity and had sections of its grass embankment replaced by pavilions, bumping up its seating capacity to 25,000.

2. Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan



Designed by Pakistani Architect Murat Khan and completed in 1959, the Gaddafi Stadium’s distinctive red brickwork and arches were modelled on the Mughal dynasties’ school of construction. And, yes, it is that Gaddafi: the ground was renamed in 1974 after a rousing speech by Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi advocating Pakistan’s right to develop a nuclear weapon program.

Gadaffi has seen three international hat-tricks: by Peter Petherick of New Zealand in 1976, Wasim Akram of Pakistan in 1999 and Mohammad Sami of Pakistan in 2002. In March this year six members of the Sri Lankan cricket team were injured on their way to the ground by gunmen who killed six policemen and two civilians.

1. Lord’s, London, England





As well as Victorian architect Thomas Verity’s Pavilion, which still stands, completed in 1890, the architects who have made additions to ‘The Home of Cricket’ is a who’s who of the significant hi-tech architects of the late twentieth century. Most famous is the Lord’s Media Centre, which won Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete’s Future Systems the Stirling Prize in 1999.


The bulbous form is supported above the ground by two lift shafts and its glazed facade give journalists and commentators an uninterrupted view of the ground. The curved structure was fabricated using boat-building technology and was the first all aluminium, semi-monocoque building in the world.

Adjacent to this is Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners Grandstand, completed in 1996. The stand is a three tier post-tensioned structure with capacity for 6,200 spectators.



Completing the high-tech group, Hopkins and Partners designed Lord’s Mound Stand, an intervention that retained the original Victorian arcade on the ground’s exterior while building a new steel superstructure topped off with an exuberant fabric canopy of PVC-coated polyester fabric.


Less public, but an important project nevertheless, is David Morley Architects’ Indoor Cricket School on the same site. It was the first indoor facility to utilise natural light for the playing area.

Thursday 11 June 2009

My Final Design Project - Images

Earlier this month I finished my Final year and put an end to quite a few weeks of sleep deprived long hours working. When your at it you hate it, but looking back I am happy at the amount of work I put in.

My final project was about designing a museum to house the Lindisfarne Gospels. It was a very theoratical and conceptual project where a lot of history and Christianity related to the project had to be studied in relation to the design decisions that had to be made and that had to be contextually derived.

My scheme had one wing that was a museum for the Gospels and another wing which was retreat for monks who were to live according to strict Benedictine principals.

We were given the option of building anywhere we wanted in Holy Island, Lindisfarne. Choosing a site too was tricky, but eventually I decided to build abutting an existing lime kiln, thereby juxtaposing the old with the new.

The Design is very much contextually derived and is not a museum that is designed to match the sophistication of a modern city based museum. This is more of a very spiritual scheme where simplicity has been held in high esteem, and the ambience is best made when an austere interior has been created.

The following are some images which I rendered to communcate my scheme - would appreciate comments and constructive criticism.

The images below can be clicked for a larger view.



Site before Design.



Exterior Perspective of the Building in Context.


Refectory Space where the monks eat and congregate.


Main exhibitions space.

Tuesday 26 May 2009

My Site models

Some Site models that i made for my current design project. I have already posted photos of the site at Lindisfarne in my photoblog.Just a few more, my work this time.



Monday 25 May 2009

Mecca to be re-designed..



I personally thought the design was well thought out and fits the context and the needs of the inhabitants.

A video revealing Atkins’ plans for the redevelopment of the Masjid al-Haram, the holiest site in Islam, has been leaked on the internet

A number of British architects, including Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid have been approached to draw up plans to increase the capacity of the mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The efforts to regenerate Mecca come as the government struggles to accommodate ever increasing numbers of religious tourists who visit on the Hajj and Umra each year. Official figures state some four million pilgrims visited Mecca in 2007 to perform the Hajj.

The government is looking to increase the number of international visas issued to pilgrims, which will place even greater pressure on the city.