a very nice restoration job

The Third & The Seventh, an architectural video

Is still find this hard to believe but apparently this amazing video was done 100% with computer graphics. CGI has come a long way since I was in school.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

.Fullscreen it, please.

A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects
are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.

Credits:

CG

|Modelling - Texturing - Illumination - Rendering| Alex Roman

POST

|Postproduction & Editing| Alex Roman

MUSIC

Sequenced, Orchestrated & Mixed by Alex Roman (Sonar & EWQLSO Gold Pro XP)

Sound Design by Alex Roman

Based on original scores by:

.Michael Laurence Edward Nyman. (The Departure)
.Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns. (Le Carnaval des animaux)

Directed by Alex Roman

Done with 3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere.

EDIT: Original MP4 torrent if you're interested. Thanks to Brennan ;)

http://www.temporarygate.com/TheThird&TheSeventh.mp4.torrent


http://www.thirdseventh.com/

third.seventh@gmail.com

rural architecture repurposed

There's just something great about the repurposing of something you see everyday, in this case the ubiquitous 1940's grain silo, into something with a completely different purpose. In this case a B&B. Yours for only $175 to $210 a night.

Via the Tiny House Blog

...essentially a one bedroom loft apartment built into a 1940’s grain silo.

...

Gruene Homestead Inn purchased and moved the silo in 2007 and have since remodeled both the interior and exterior in our own inimitable style.

This unit has a very upscale feel and is quite a unique lodging experience.

The silo has a queen bed, full sofa-bed, stand up shower, two sinks, wet bar, microwave, refrigerator, private porch and can be rented for $175/$210. You can visit the Gruene Homestead Inn’s website and learn more about their unique lodging.

more photos on the Tiny House Blog

The coming "great age of redevelopment"

From Recycling the Suburbs, time.com

The American suburb as we know it is dying. The implosion began with the housing bust, which started in and has hit hardest the once vibrant neighborhoods outside the urban core. Shopping malls and big-box retail stores, the commercial anchors of the suburbs, are going dark — an estimated 148,000 stores closed last year, the most since 2001. But the shift is deeper than the economic downturn. Thanks to changing demographics, including a steady decline in the percentage of households with kids and a growing preference for urban amenities among Americans young and old, the suburban dream of the big house with the big lawn is vanishing. The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech predicts that by 2025 there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (on one-sixth of an acre [675 sq m] or more) in the U.S.

[...]

...a transformation is under way in regions that were known for some of the worst sprawl in the U.S. Communities as diverse as Lakewood, Colo., and Long Beach, Calif., have repurposed boarded-up malls as mixed-use developments with retail stores, offices and apartments. In auto-dependent suburbs that were built without a traditional center, shopping malls offer the chance to create downtowns without destroying existing infrastructure, by recycling what's known as underperforming asphalt. "All of these projects are developer-driven, because the market wants them," says Ellen Dunham-Jones, a co-author of the new book Retrofitting Suburbia.

Not every suburb will make it. The fringes of a suburb like Riverside in Southern California, where housing prices have fallen more than 20% since the bust began, could be too diffuse to thrive in a future where density is no longer taboo. It'll be the older inner suburbs like Tysons Corner, Va., that will have the mass transit, public space and economic gravity to thrive postrecession. Though creative cities will grow more attractive for empty-nest -retirees and young graduates alike, we won't all be moving to New York. Many Americans will still prefer the space of the suburbs — including the parking spaces. "People want to balance the privacy of the suburbs with more public and social areas," says Dunham-Jones. But the result will be a U.S. that is more sustainable — environmentally and economically.

While the Times is prone to exaggerating for effect (i.e. "the suburbs are dying") the basic data is true. Major malls, big box and retail developments have been closing for years. This is very similar to what was seen in urban centers. This is causing suburban blight which is devaluing the suburbs as it once did the urban centers.

The hope is that we as a nation will deal with it directly this time, via redevelopment, instead of simply fleeing it for greener pastures.

What's more the basic theory is sound. I think Americans are starting to see that we can no longer just keep sprawling. We have to take the time to redevelop and build upon the old, to try and deal with some of its problems instead of simply making a new suburb in another cornfield.

It's the layering on of new development over historical development over many, many generations that solves the problems of urban planning and teaches us lessons while creating the character and history sought after to sustain long term growth.

This layering is how European cities... and indeed all cities eventually developed. We've largely ignored this development in the U.S. simply because it's cheaper and easier to literally move to a greener pasture. Eventually though we must grapple with the issues of redeveloping areas, both urban and suburban.

We're moving into an era which might well become known as "the great redevelopment".

The rise and fall of great American cities, the rise of the suburbs, what's next?

There's no where else to flee, the entire mass population can't go back to the land. This age of redevelopment is barely at it's infancy... barely on the horizon. It's been going on in some small degree for years, but at this point it still barely started and I doubt we can expect it to be as radical as the flight to the suburbs.

I think when we look back we'll see it's symbolic start in the redevelopment of major league sports complexes in urban centers that we've been seeing for the last ten to twenty years. It's a sign of what is wanted, even it it's not yet known how to accomplish it.

Redevelopment of urban centers is a common concept, but few even recognize the decline and need for redevelopment in the suburbs as well.

To use a metaphor comparing investing in real estate to investing in the markets, I'd liken investing in new suburban real estate both commercial and residential to be like day trading and penny stocks. It's an easy quick good buck so long as you get out before the bubble collapses... but guess what, everyone eventually gets caught holding.

Alternatively I'd liken redevelopment to Warren Buffets "value investing". It may be very early in the game but there's value to be had in those blighted urban centers, small towns and even in those blighted suburban centers. The key is investing in finding the right markets and backing the right re-developers. They are the next growth market.

This real estate bubble collapse is a clear reflection of a market that's focused to much on the short term... bankers and buyers alike.

The complete streets initative

Transportation should focus on all Americans, not just people who drive cars. —Rep. Matsui

Also...

Our outdated transportation system fosters reliance on cars... we talk about an epidemic of obesity, and the way we design our communities is partly to blame.

Complete streets can re-invigorate corridors that are currently dominated by cars. We should transform these areas that are really nothing more than highways superimposed on surface streets.

The days of irresponsible transportation investment are over. We cannot afford them any longer. We cannot afford more asthma, more congestion, and more climate change.

I just did a trip along the Allegheny Passage from DC to Pittsburgh and I had to completely avoid the Pittsburgh area because the only East to West roads through downtown were unsafe for bikes. In order to ride through Pittsburgh I would have to have a guide with extensive knowledge over the course of many years of neighborhoods and streets throughout the greater Pittsburgh area.

I call this problem the culdesac problem.

Modern subdivisions are designed intentionally without through streets forcing all traffic out onto these "highways superimposed on surface streets" that Representative Doris Matsui of California speaks of. This design makes whole areas of cities and suburbs completely unnavigable by anything other then cars.

Despite increased awareness in core circles this is become more and more common do lack of planning in modern cities and suburbs which often completely leave out pedestrians and alternative forms of transportation. These Conservative political and raw market forces see putting anything besides a gravel shoulder on a road (sidewalks often ignored too) as a a liberal use of money... yet not doing providing for rich pedestrian and alternative transport is actually strip mining / clear cutting communities of future potentials.

Many is the time I've witnessed suburban areas where you can't even walk from your house a block or two away to the nearest grocery store without getting in a car because there are simply no sidewalks and no cross walks on these seven to nine lane super streets with their 16+ lane intersections separating quarter mile and even half mile culdesac subdivisions.

The thing is the enlightened and educated who are understand these problems are a tiny minority, as always 90% of their work is purely in helping people realize the potentials.

We have literally painted the pedestrian into a corner isolating our youth, anyone who doesn't have access to a car, and discouraging all alternative means of transportation and recreation.

I'm fond of saying of places like Phoenix and Los Vegas that they are truly democratic cityscape affording anyone from any section of town the same opportunities... so long as you own a car.

Is it any wonder why isolation and obesity have become such a high profile part of the modern American condition. Is it any wonder why children grow up without strong sense of identity and community and old people die alone. We're indoctrinating the young before they are even old enough to drive and hence partake in a larger society. And once they escape the nest they don't have that safety net to fall back on.

"Complete streets" legislation sounds like a superb idea to me, but the devil is in the details... I will believe it when I see it passed... AND working.

More info: BikePortland.org, With Complete Streets, Matsui says roads will be for everyone

Virtual architecture in Second Life

Someone recreated the famous all glass house by Mies van Der Rohe in Second Life. I being both an architecture geek and second life wannabe geek (not to mention being grade A vlog geek) of course am overjoyed to see the virtual tour on video. I can't believe I've never gotten down there to see this thing after spending 11 years in Chicago. Maybe I'll at least get a chance to go check it out in second life now. I wonder if this recreation of architectural wonders in second life is becoming quite the trend? I must admit my favorite video game ever was grand theft auto and it wasn't hurt to much by it's fairly amazingly accurate recreation of famous European cityscapes.



from: YouTube - Archiblog visiting Farnsworth House, Second Life (via mefeedia)