Architects: dooa arquitecturas - Asunción Díaz García, Vicente Pascual Fuentes, Miguel Pérez de Sarrió Fraile
Location: Alicante, Spain
Constructor: Akra Rehabilitación
Project area: 72 sqm
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Pepe Pascual We all have a secret passion, and hers…

Welcome to this first semi-annual Aloha Giveaway contest, an opportunity to win a box of local Hawaii made goodies! Entry is open to all Cyburbians. The award will go to whomever demonstrates the most Aloha during the month of May this year. Aloha points are earned by going out of your way to improve your community, the lives of those around you whether they be loved ones or strangers, and by making the world a more rockin place to live! Leave your story on this thread. What did you do this month to generate love, compassion, understanding, sustainability, or general awesomeness? Goodie box prizes may include fresh roasted Hawaiian coffee beans, macadamia nuts, tote bags, cookies, dried fruits, and a dashboard hula dancer, or other goodies as supplies are available. Good luck to all and much Aloha!

The house is sited on an agrarian hillside, along a 250 year old existing stone wall so as to cultivate rather than consume the field. Its sliding axis is eastward, down the hillside to the lake. In the historic…

Richard Meier & Partners is pleased to announce the anticipated reopening of the Richard Meier Model Museum in Long Island City on Friday, May 13, 2011. Offering a rare glimpse into the process behind his distinguished 40-year career as…

Created By WellHome Energy Audits and Insulation Take a looksy at this cute little chart, if only to see how little progress there's been in fuel efficiency over the last 100 years. As you can see, we figured out how to produce cars that get 40 or so mpg some 60 years ago. And only in the last few years have we really started improving on that....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Carl Pope, the chairman of the Sierra Club, has a column over at Common Dreams taking aim at the myriad climate skeptic politicians who fail to see the link between extreme weather events like the Texas wildfires and more severe storms and global warming.Pope points out that these climate-related disasters are already hugely costly, and will only get more expensive -- yet leaders continue to deny global warming exists, then ask for federal assistance when the extreme weather events it makes more likely to occur rock their states. It's a good example of Read the full story on TreeHugger

Allentown Morning Call

Earth Harp turns architecture into music Allentown Morning Call Frank Lloyd Wright called his architecture frozen music. Every element associated with a building was considered a note in the composition. To him, stairways were rising chords, towering arches resounding ...

Students present county campus plans to board Niles Daily Star Martin Smith, professor of architecture at Andrews University, presented two preliminary layouts of the site at the county board meeting. Smith and architecture students at Andrews University are putting together a master plan for the proposed 48-acre ... Berrien Commissioners Talk New County ComplexWSJM County may ask for more moneySouth Bend Tribune Berrien officials look at drawings for Benton Twp. campusHerald Palladium (subscription) all 4 news articles »

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If I decide to attend a Master program in City Planning this fall, there are some graduate diplomas to choose from too. I was wondering which one of these graduate diplomas would best accompany my degree when entering the field. I can chose from Finance: Financial and Managerial Accounting International Economics Financial Concepts Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management Multinational Finance and Trade OR Project Management: Program and Project Management Project Leadership and Communications Project Risk and Cost Management Program Management and Planning Which one would be more helpful in landing a good job.

Hey all! I've been on the forums for a few months, but am finally finding the time to participate more actively, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I am about to graduate with a Masters in Urban Planning here in Boston, MA, with a focus on Tourism and Economic Development, particularly the way in which place branding for tourism relates to the built environment. I also am curious about workforce housing as it relates to lower-wage tourism jobs, and value recapture for large developments aimed at tourists. Right now I'm getting ready to finish up with school and am looking for contacts in the field and any suggestions for career leads. If anyone has any thoughts for someone with my interests, I'd love to hear them! I'm excited to get started taking part in the great discussions going on on Cyburbia! Cheers, "Reo"

Project: Kooyong House Architect: Matt Gibson Architecture Location: Melbourne, Australia Photography: SMG The existing site contained a grand Victorian double front dwelling badly in need of repair. Upon persuasive encouragement and expert advice the client agreed to retain the front elements of the building. Following the removal of a previous addition, the extensive brief requested an upper level [...]

New York Daily News

With Budget Unveiling, Bloomberg Draws the Battle Lines WNYC "We are forced to do the best we can with what we've got. The state has shifted the burden from them to us." Following the unveiling of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's final budget, the battle lines are now drawn between the mayor and City ... Bloomberg to cut more than 6000 NYC teaching positionsCNN International Bloomberg's $65.7 Billion New York City Budget Proposes 6000 Teacher CutsBloomberg NYC Mayor's Budget Would Cut 1 Out Of 12 TeachersNPR Brooklyn Daily Eagle -Patch.com -The Associated Press all 331 news articles »

[Image: Photo by m.joedicke, via Border Town].

From Border Town, an independent research and design workshop to be held in Toronto this summer, from 16 June-18 August, now seeking applications:

Your farm is completely surrounded by a foreign country because the king lost it in a game of cards. You live in Cooch Behar.

You are eating at a café when you are informed that it must close. If you’ll just shift to a table in the other country, service is still available. This café is in Baarle/Hertog.

You work in the mayor’s office. Down the hall is a parallel mayor’s office with a whole mirror set of city officials to govern the other half of your city. You work in Texarkana.

We believe that a great deal can be learned by investigating the strange edge cases of the world. Border towns are the extreme edge of where geography and politics collide. They throw the abstractions of governance into sharp physical relief. They are a fertile site for investigation into questions of security, freedom, architecture, immigration, trade, smuggling, sovereignty, and identity.

Border Town is a 10-week, multi-participant collaborative design studio that will investigate the conditions that surround life in cities situated on borders, divided by borders, or located in conflict zones. By investigating these strange specimens of political geography, we can being to think and design about the interaction of legal and physical architecture and how these forces shape the built environment and the lives of the people living in it.

The workshop is organized by Tim Maly and Emily Horne, and applications are due by 2 June.

By way of my own hypothetical reading list for such a course, I might suggest checking out a few of the following books: The City & The City by China Miéville, Divided Cities: Belfast, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar, and Nicosia by Jon Calame and Esther Charlesworth, Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation by Eyal Weizman, City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo by Teresa P. R. Caldeira, Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson, A Wall in Palestine by René Backmann, and any number of other books, films, essays, and chapters elsewhere on the subjects of smuggling, demilitarized zones, police jurisdiction, international espionage, the Berlin Wall, the Jewish ghetto, quarantine, border survey teams (and the equipment they utilize), segregation and apartheid, political gerrymandering, micronations, and much more.

In any case, Border Town promises to be an interesting experience for all involved—and I should add that it's great to see people putting together this kind of independent educational workshop outside of the university system. If you end up being one of the participants, I'd love to hear how it goes.

In search of the origins of architecture, Laugier presented a primitive hut using the three basic elements of architecture – the post, the lintel and the gable. Semper’s pursuit of the origin resulted in a primitive dwelling that was…

As one of the country’s most sought after architectural accolades, the Houses Awards celebrate Australia’s best residential projects in seven categories, which will culminate in the announcement of the 2011 Australian House of the Year. The Australian House of…

Two typical 1940’s semis in a north London suburb have been restructured to create a 7,500 sqf house for an extended family of eleven people. The practice of combining dwellings in this fashion is commonplace in some communities in…

Hangzhou urban planning bureau has announced MVRDV winner of the international design competition for the China Comic and Animation Museum (CCAM) in Hangzhou, China. MVRDV won with a design referring to the speech balloon: a series of eight balloon…

Five projects from 2009, including the winner of the 2009 Building of the Year, Public Facilities category, for our seventh round up. Check them all after the break. National Tourist Route Trollstigen / Reiulf Ramstad Architects
The project will…

Photo credit: tsuda via Flickr/Creative Commons Yesterday I watched the U.S. House of Representatives shill for Big Oil again by passing a bill allowing more drilling in our waters with less oversight and accountability. At the same time, House leadership blocked a vote to end billions of dollars in government tax breaks for the industry. Meanwhile, the oil industry just posted billions in profits in their first quarter reports, with Exxon reporting $10.7 billion in profit, Shell raking in $6.9 billion, Ch...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Crystian Cruz, Flickr, CC The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has release its list of the most pedestrian-friendly cities in the US, with 11 getting rankings from Platinum to Bronze and 8 more getting 'honorable mentions'. Only one city received the highest honor. Find out which one below......Read the full story on TreeHugger

Burns & McDonnell plans to spend $20 million on its upcoming campus expansion at its Ward Parkway headquarters including building a 450-seat employee auditorium.

What's So Great About Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater? Wall Street Journal That's mainly because by the late 1930s, just as the Kaufmanns' house was being completed, the moment had come in architecture when the "industrial" strain of modernism would finally conquer the handmade. That's why there are a thousand cheap copies of ... A Turnaround StockCabot Wealth Advisory all 2 news articles »

NY1

East Boston architecture to be topic of speaker series Boston Globe Architectural historian Emily Wolf will discuss East Boston's distinctive architecture at East Boston High School on May 11. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent May is National Preservation Month, and to mark the occasion, the Eagle Hill Civic ... Historic preservation began at a young ageWarrick Publishing Historic Preservation Commission Announces 2011 Award WinnersClarke Daily News all 6 news articles »

Here is a mesmerizing looking two-room apartment featuring charming contemporary arrangements that pay tribute to the lovely Scandinavian Style. The crib has two rooms plus kitchen ans stretches over an area of 74 square meters. According to Alvhem, the open plan living room is the social core of the apartment and features high ceilings, immaculate walls painted in…

Ready for more amazing design ideas? Check below !

Diverse Three Room Apartment Inspiring a Pleasant Atmosphere in Stockholm	Modern Interior Design- Apartment in Stockholm	Amazing Penthouse Apartment for Sale in Stockholm, Sweden	Refinement and Inspiration from the Heart of New York
Delightful Penthouse in Stockholm Combining Function and Aesthetics	Contemporary Design in Central Goteborg

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The Bronks Youth Theatre in Brussels consists of two halls, two holes in-between of which a central circulation shaft is situated. The staircase has the shape of a double helix with swing doors (coated with mirrors) placed on every…

Architects: Colomès + Nomdedeu Architectes
Location: Troyes, France
Project area: 1,600 sqm
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Guilhem-Ducléon, JM HoyetThe project is located in the historical center of the city of troyes (champagne cork). The program for students…

Storefront for Art and Architecture, the New Museum, and New York City’s Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), are pleased to announce that a team of emerging New York City-based designers from the studios Family and PlayLab have been selected as…

Back in August, we featured Henning Larsen Architects’ winning proposal in an invited competition to design the Batumi Aquarium in Georgia. Today, we are happy to announce that the Danish architects received the “Architecture of the Year” award by…

Pàmpols Arquitecte designed this residential building in the historic center of Lleida, Spain. This brought with it the challenges of doing something new in an area with rich history. Dealing with social housing construction in a old town, grouped…

Architects: rare
Location: London, England
Project area: 7,500 sqm
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of rare Completed in November 2010, Town Hall Hotel is a new 98-room luxury hotel, restaurant and bar housed in the old Bethnal…

A cluster of organic shapes that look almost biological in nature, these bold white volumes will soon be the home of a new Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou, China. Dutch design firm MVRDV won a competition to design the museum with this unusual approach, featuring a spiraling interior that highlights decades of cartoon history. [...]

Image Credit: Emma Alter I headed off to the farmers' market hoping for some asparagus, but not yet, perhaps next week. But what I did find where some wild leeks, otherwise known as ramps. This was exciting because for me, this is the real sign of spring. There have been recent articles about over-harvesting of this wonderful earthy plant. I was talking about it with Seth from Forbes Wild Foods, who is my leek supplier. We were talking about the increase in popularity of wild leeks over th...Read the full story on TreeHugger

photo: Andres Rueda/Creative Commons Love the idea, not sure it will succeed: Lawsuits have been filed in several states by climate activists, attempting to declare the atmosphere a public trust and force the US to meaningfully act on climate change. Previously such an approach has been used to clean up polluted waterways, but success here will likely depend on a judge will to break new ground....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Much of the focus on US government budget cuts and the environment have been on the EPA and NOAA. Now the Energy Information Agency has announced how much less they'll be able to do after having their funding cut 14% compared to last year. None of it bodes well for having accurate information on US energy reserves and the state of US energy usage more broadly. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

A new seven-member study group has been tasked by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to investigate the environmental impact of fracking. As the New York Times reports, the panel has 90 days to come up with recommendations to improve the safety of fracking, and within six months come up with advice for state and federal regulators on health ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo by NOAA via Flickr CC In the last few years, there has been an unexplained spike in the number of whales washing ashore. While the National Marine Fisheries Service has declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, it's more than just oil spills that are causing increased strandings worldwide. And experts are worried. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Pike Research Blog has an interesting post that poses the question of whether or not tech-savvy people also have a thing for cleantech. Pike Research conducted a survey looking into the question, and found interesting info about what draws consumers in to clean technologies. The conclusion: "Early adopters of technology represent a goldmine of opportunity for consumer-focused cleantech companies." Read their post for why. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Men in northern India lift the cover to a water source that now pipes clean water to their village. Photo: Rachel Cernansky I'm going to go out on a limb and assume most people will agree that Earth Day is a real let-down—for lots of reasons, including the hollow "Celebrate Earth Day every day" email blasts, Tweets, bumper stickers, etc. But as much as I hate the expression, we do have to recognize and reduce our impact on the earth more often than one day a year, and that's important to emphasize now that Earth Day is over and the talk has faded. What's the point of doing anything, besides going to the dentis...Read the full story on TreeHugger

This week on Inhabitat, we were really excited to take a private tour inside a building that was New York's first LEED Gold skyscraper ever - Hearst Tower! Even though it may seem like the city is rife with green projects today, back in 2006, NY didn't even have one LEED Gold skyscraper - that is, until Hearst Tower changed all of that. Today, the eye-catching blue lattice tower is one of...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo credit: Señor Codo via Fotopedia/CC BY-SA 3.0 Who needs that dumb ol' EPA anyways? All it ever did was enforce the Clean Air Act, drastically reduce air and water pollution, save tens of thousands of lives annually, prevent an untold number of cases of respiratory illnesses, and generally make the United States a more pleasant, healthier, and cleaner place to live. So naturally, some senators have decided that we don't need it anymore, and are pushing ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo credit: US Navy Hey-o! Look who decided to wake up and make a little noise on the energy front. After getting pushed around by the pro-drilling crowd for the last couple years, Obama at least made the effort today to note that drilling for oil won't solve our energy woes. After all, domestic production peaked in the 70s, and the proven reserves we have yet to tap aren...Read the full story on TreeHugger

This pane of glass supported by wood, metal and marble sticks is a sculptural radiator designed by 5.5 Designers of Paris for French company Saazs. (more…)

Competition: we’ve teamed up with Wiel Arets Architects to give away five copies of their new book STILLS: A Timeline of Ideas,  Articles and Interviews 1982-2010. (more…)

Dezeen Screen: in this fourth movie filmed by Dezeen in 2009 at the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Architecture Biennale, designers Joseph Grima and Jeffrey Johnson explain their urban farm project Landgrab City. Watch the movie »

These conceptual images by Spanish studio Espai MGR show impossible Lego structures filling vacant neighbourhood plots in Valencia. (more…)

Real Estate Weekly

Architecture and design bookstore opens on 22nd Street Real Estate Weekly According to Kazi, the idea to open the store came over a year ago after the city's last bookshop specializing in architecture, Urban Center Books, closed. But that store, she explained, had problems beyond the recession or rent woes or even the usual ...

(May 3, 2011, New York, NY) —Designers & Books (www.designersandbooks.com) a newly launched website that celebrates the special and robust relationship between designers and books, is growing steadily, with contributions, to date, by 70 of the most important names in the world of architecture and design. Featuring lists of books that inspire the world’s esteemed designers, the unique site offers a highly personal look at the books that have shaped their values, their worldview, and also their ideas about design.

New designers and book lists are added every Tuesday, giving visitors an important reason to check back often. Contributors include luminaries from every discipline—architecture, interiors, product, graphic, fashion, and urban design—among them Shigeru Ban, Michael Bierut, Tim Brown, Norman Foster, Milton Glaser, Jessica Helfand, Steven Holl, George Lois, Stefan Sagmeister, John Maeda, Isaac Mizrahi, Massimo Vignelli, Eva Zeisel, and more. The site also features a commentators section with essays and book lists by well-known curators and critics – from architecture critic Witold Rybczynski to fashion curator Valerie Steele.

“Designers read books, write them, design them, collect them, learn from them and are inspired by them,” said Designers & Books founder and Editor-in-Chief, Steve Kroeter, “and this creates a special relationship that deserves attention. Designers & Books is an opportunity to explore and reflect upon the books that have been personally meaningful, important and formative to esteemed designers from an array of disciplines.” In doing so, the site offers an addictive, fascinating look into creativity, innovation, and the process of thinking and making.

The site’s latest addition, an essay entitled "Books Every Architect Should Read: Seeing Things as You Have Never Seen Them Before"by noted New Yorker Architecture Critic Paul Goldberger, is both a beautiful meditation on the books that have inspired one of today’s leading voices on architecture and, together with his book list, is a master class for architects and aficionados alike.

“If architectural guidebooks as a genre can bring you closer to the reality of architecture than most other kinds of books, they nonetheless make only the barest beginning of a basic reading list,” states Goldberger. “Architecture, after all, is about everything—it is a product of culture and money and politics as well as aesthetics, and sometimes there is more insight about architecture to be found in books that are ostensibly about something else.”

This statement rings true throughout the site -- with books ranging from classic texts such as Complexity & Contradiction in Architecture (the book cited on the most lists) by Robert Venturi (whose own list appears on the site as well) and Paul Rand’s Thoughts on Design to literary works such as Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace and Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, about which Goldberger asks, “Can any work of architectural history provoke you to think about the relationship between the physical form of the city and the social life that goes on within it as powerfully?”

Inspirational, educational, and useful, the site allows visitors to make their own digital book lists, and includes a list of booksellers with a particular expertise or interest in design books. A valuable resource and an important addition to today’s design dialogue, Designers & Books also says as much about reading as it does about design.

In a specially commissioned essay by Maryanne Wolf, a professor at the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, entitled “You Are What You Read,” Wolf observes that “our continuously increasing knowledge in the cognitive neurosciences teaches us that we are the sum of what and how and why we read,” telling us that the dynamics of the human brain enable books to have an impact on us far beyond what we might imagine.

Upcoming lists will soon post by graphic designers Pierre Bernard, Erik Spiekermann, Wim Crouwel, Joshua Darden, and Chip Kidd; architects Cesar Pelli, Enrique Norten, Moshe Safdie, Sou Fujimoto, and Deborah Berke; landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh and Deborah Nevins; car designer Chris Bangle; fashion designer Stephen Burrows; interior designers Rose Tarlow and Penny Drue Baird; and in the commentators section, curators Barry Bergdoll, Ellen Lupton, and Zoe Ryan, Alberto Alessi, Anita de la Rosa de Berrizbeitia, and Sheila Danko.

Designers & Books was designed by Lisa Strausfeld at Pentagram.

www.designersandbooks.com
Press Contact: Sarah Natkins @ Culture & Commerce, inc.
+1 212 842 1509 / snatkins@culturecommerce.com

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Title Sr. Planner/Current Planning Development Mgr Date Posted Monday, May 2, 2011 Description Western VA’s fastest growing community known for its scenic beauty, nestled between Philpott & Smith Mountain Lakes along the Blue Ridge Mountains, located approximately 10 miles south of Roanoke, VA, is currently accepting applications. Responsibilities include directing & managing the current planning & code compliance operations of the Planning Dept. Serves as professional staff support to the County BOS, BZA, Planning Commission, etc. BS Degree in Planning or related field req w/min of 3 years exp in planning, zoning, subdivision/plan review, erosion & sediment control, & code enforcement. Supervisory exp., Master’s degree, and AICP certification preferred. Salary, DOQ/E –Min$44,623 + Exc. Benefits. Location Franklin County VA Contact Info Application and job description available in HR at the Franklin County Government Center, 1255 Franklin Street, Suite #111, Rocky Mount, VA 24151 or apply online at www.franklincountyva.gov. Application review will begin Monday, May 23, 2011. Open until filled. AA/EOE

Title Senior Planner Date Posted Thursday, May 5, 2011 Description The Sumter, SC City-County Planning Department seeks a motivated and professional planner to work in a senior position in an evolving and unique joint City/County Planning Department. The planner will manage, under the guidance of the Planning Director, all aspects of the long range planning program, including Transportation Planning, Comprehensive Planning, Neighborhood Planning, and Special Projects. The planner supports all City and County Councils, Boards and Commissions. The planner will be responsible for coordinating all transportation planning activities for the City, County, and MPO (Sumter Area Transportation Study-SUATS). This position requires an ability to write; to think creatively; to analyze and; to offer alternative viewpoints and opinions. The Senior Planner position is expected to work independently with little oversight. A Bachelors Degree in Planning, Transportation Planning, Engineering, Public Administration, or related field and 5 years experience is required. A Master’s Degree in one of the above fields and at least 5 years of experience in a local planning department is preferred. Development and participation in a relevant Comprehensive/Transportation Planning process and advanced GIS competency and experience are also preferred. Demonstrated success in dealing with State DOTs and FHWA is critical. Salary is dependent upon qualifications. Location Sumter, SC Contact Info Interested applicants should submit a City of Sumter application from www.sumtersc.gov, cover letter and resume to gmcgregor@sumter-sc-com or to: City of Sumter, Attn: George McGregor, PO Box 1449, Sumter, SC 29151