Autodesk’s 2013 Product Launch and AEC Portfolio

"It is that time of the year that Autodesk typically launches its next release of products, and this year was no exception—Autodesk has just released its 2013 product portfolio. This includes new releases of applications across all the three main industries it serves, including AEC (which includes buildings as well as infrastructure), manufacturing, and M&E (media and entertainment). This AECbytes newsletter provides an overview of the overall 2013 release and then takes a deeper dive into the more AEC industry-specific details that were shared.
Needless to say, with the commanding lead that Autodesk has over competing products, at least in the AEC industry, interest in every new release is always very high, and Autodesk users are eager to know what to expect. Let’s see if the 2013 release holds any surprises, or is comprised more of routine enhancements rather than dramatic changes." to find out more...
Passage via http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2012/issue_56.html
Related links:
http://aecbytes.com/blog/2012/04/11/autodesk-2013-product-launch-and-aec-portfolio/

How Green Building Studio Works

"Autodesk Green Building Studio is a web-based service that provides building energy and carbon analysis results of your project. Green Building Studio interoperates with Revit® Architecture and Revit® MEP software, as well as other compatible energy-analysis software via add-ins that are available for download from the Green Building Studio downloads page. The computationally intensive hourly simulations are carried out on remote servers, and the results are provided to you in a web browser.
The Green Building Studio web-based service analysis process collects data from three sources:

1. Your Revit® software model. All the building geometry comes from your model, including the number of rooms, the connections between rooms, and their relationship to the exterior, exposure, and aspect to the sun; and the shape and total area of built surfaces or openings. If you are using Revit MEP you can also specify space types, interior loads, constructions, and HVAC equipment.
2. Your responses to a few basic questions. In order to explain the building’s use or context, you specify a building type and enter the project geographical location. You can also select a weather station for the project.
3. Regionalized databases. Based on the above information, Green Building Studio extracts additional information about local weather conditions, construction, and materials. The service automatically adds any information you have not provided in order to adapt to your requirements as your design evolves.

Green Building Studio relies on an extensive and continually updated database of building constructions, schedules and equipment to supply the assumptions needed to perform whole building energy analysis. You can view these assumptions in the Building Assumptions and Details section of the Energy and Carbon Results for a given simulation. You can modify the assumptions in the Design Alternatives or Project Defaults page." to find out more...

Passage via http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Green_Building_Studio/enu/2012/Help/0000-Welcome0/0001-How_Gree1

Related links:
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Green_Building_Studio/enu/2012/Help/0003-Getting_3/0004-Using_Gr4#GUID-AE6EF2CC-D09B-4017-981D-DA1EF0CE347A
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Green_Building_Studio/enu/2012/Help/0013-Projects13/0016-Creating16/0017-Creating17

Production Thinking Architecture

"Prefabrication is said to be the oldest new idea in construction. But it is no wonder that it continues to pervade as an ideal. The construction industry is fraught with litigation, inefficiency and waste. The design and construction of buildings are separate acts that are delineated contractually and legally identified and observed. Arguably, the divide between design and production has resulted in increased schedule delays and cost, and a diminished building quality and sustainability because the conception (architecture), optimization (engineering) and production (construction) are not integrated. In response to this inefficiency, prefabrication and modularization emerge and remerge as ideal methods of efficient production." to find out more...
Image and Passage via by Ryan E. Smith / July 19, 2011, via http://www.architects.org/news/production-thinking-architecture

The Red Sun Pavillion

"By opening my eyes... where am I?
In England.  In London.  In Hyde Park.  English parks are a characteristic of English towns and cities.  Expanses of lawn for all to enjoy.  Meadows, really, of neatly-mown grass.  Mostly flat, with trees and shrubs randomly dotted as though they had always been there, not something anyone really thought of.  You can feel the city all around, as though it too had always been there.  Most of the trees are deciduous; the seasons clearly proclaimed.  From time to time a construction appears in this vast urban calm, a road or a path, occasionally a pond or a stream...
One wonders why such simple urban parks, these immense vacuities, are so rarely seen in other countries.  Such a semblance of nothing is no small feat... leaving this huge, empty space open for all.  One imagines the energy it must have taken to protect it.  The constant care that must go into its maintenance, to keep the grass at just the right height, the trees in perfect health, so that everyone might stroll through this peaceful space and feel they are at home, in their city, in their park, the most natural thing in the world.  So that whatever my mood, my desire for exteriority, alone, as a couple, with family or friends, whatever my age, the idea of spending a few minutes or a few hours in Hyde Park remains a peaceful temptation." to find out more..

Image via http://adrianharveyphotography.com/2011/09/02/red-sun-pavillion-hyde-park-london-2010/
Passage via http://www.jeannouvel.com/english/preloader.html

Nanjing SiFang Art Museum

"The new museum is sited at the gateway to the Contemporary International Practical Exhibition of Architecture in the lush green landscape of the Pearl Spring near Nanjing, China. The museum explores the shifting viewpoints, layers of space, expanses of mist and water, which characterize the deep alternating spatial mysteries of the composition of Chinese painting. The museum is formed by a "field" of parallel perspective spaces and garden walls in black bamboo-formed concrete over which a light "figure" hovers. The straight passages on the ground level gradually turn into the winding passage of the figure above. The upper gallery, suspended high in the air, unwraps in a clockwise turning sequence and culminates at "in-position" viewing of the city of Nanjing in the distance. This visual axis creates a linkage back to the great Ming Dynasty capital city." to find out more...
Passage and Image via http://www.stevenholl.com/project-detail.php?type=&id=56&page=0

Civil Justice Center

Image featuring Manchester Civil Justice Centre by Denton Corker Marshall from http://www.dentoncorkermarshall.com/projects.aspx?p=0&projectID=844&catID=undefined&f1=all

Unit Fusion by Y Design Office

"Under rapid housing developments in the past years, Hong Kong has benefited much in terms of economy. However, important values such as value in sense of community and individual identity were lost. This thesis hereby critically reviews current and past housing projects in Hong Kong and stating the notion of verticality as the only solution. The ambition is a new alternative high-rise residential typology, in which its inhabitants are given unique units and allocations in accordance to specific zoning strategy within a tower structure, thus creating a phenomenal living experience through bonding and acquiring needs by each and every single individual. It is a re-interpretation of the balance between genericity and specificity aiming at formulating an extraordinary democratic living concept." to find out more...
Passage and Image via http://ynotwhy.com/?p=587

DesignIntelligence

"DesignIntelligence is the Design Futures Council’s bi-monthly report on the future, delivering original research, insightful commentary, and instructive best practices. Design leaders rely on DesignIntelligence to deliver insight about emerging trends and management practices, allowing them to make their organization a better managed, more financially successful enterprise." to find out more...
Passage via http://www.di.net/about/

Canberra Accord on Architectural Education Ratifie

"Accreditation and validation agencies from Australia, Canada, China, Korea, Mexico, the United States, and the Commonwealth Association of Architects announce the ratification of an Accord declaring substantial equivalency of professional degrees in architecture covered by their accreditation/validation systems." to find out more... 
Passage via http://www.comarchitect.org/news.asp

Vertical Cities Asia

"The exhibition of “Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition: Everyone Needs Fresh Air” will be held at The URA Centre from 2 February to 2 March, 2012." to find out more...
Passage and Image via http://www.verticalcitiesasia.com/
Related links:
http://newshub.nus.edu.sg/headlines/0711/wff2_12Jul11.php
http://www.worldcities.com.sg/ 

fabprefab

"Fabprefab is an information resource dedicated to investigating the market for affordable modernist factory-built residential architecture. The subject matter is limited in scope to single family dwellings. No homes are marketed or sold at fabprefab.com. Each listed project provides links to the relevant architect or vendor for enquiries regarding product availability and pricing." to find out more...
Passage via http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/home.htm
Image via http://www.trailerwrap.net/

Stuart Tanner Architects

Interesting projects by Stuart Tanner Architects. to find out more...

Image featuring Pirates Bay House via http://www.stuarttannerarchitects.com.au/

Crossbox by CG Architects

Interesting Crossbox by CG Architects. to find out more...
related link:
http://www.busyboo.com/2011/08/16/container-home-crossbox/
Image via http://www.cgarchitectes.fr/#/projets/categories/3/4

Tiny Houses

Small Spaces are attractive to its' efficiency and effective organisation of things and fundamental components that built ones' living style.
Prefabrications, modulations, flexibility to different characters and spatial needs are sustainable.
'The bare neccessity of live'.
Some related links here:-
http://www.archdaily.com/160892/the-pros-and-cons-of-cargo-container-architecture/
http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/shipping-containers-a-design-primer/
http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/26/cargo-container-homes-and-offices/ 
http://www.busyboo.com/tag/shipping-container-homes/
http://tinyhouseblog.com/ 
http://www.fabprefab.com/ 
http://www.prefabfan.com/
http://www.jetsongreen.com/design/container-design/page/5Simple spatial planning tool available online for free here:
http://urbanbarn.icovia.com/icovia.aspx

Peter barber Architects

"West Cromwell Square is a new high density,medium rise urban quarter laid out around tree-lined streets, a beautiful new public square and featuring a 14 storey landmark tower the prominent intersection of West Cromwell Road and Warwick Road." to find out more...
Image and Passage via http://www.peterbarberarchitects.com/60_WCR.html