In all of the current hoohaa surrounding Prince Charles’s latest intervention in the UK architectural scene, we can at least acknowledge his contribution to the field with his (in)famous descriptor “monstrous carbuncle”, with which he originally described the proposed Sainsbury Wing extension to London’s National Gallery (Prince Charles’s opposition led to the dropping of the original modernist proposal in favour, and subsequent realisation of the very postmodernist Venturi/Scott-Brown building). Read the rest of this entry »

I really wanted to embed this video by Diana Wesser but it is disabled for embedding so you’ll just have to follow the link to youtube. Called Dancing Around Architect 1: inside the frame, it is part of a series with 2: office and 3: graffiti, but I think one is best.

Wesser is a media-performance-artist-choreographer working out of Leipzig. She has recently completed Movements of Lindenau / Ausschnitte a study of urban spaces through dance.

With a tip of the Hat to the inimitable BLDGBLOG, we’re delighted to inform you of an international competition to design service kiosks for the 2012 Olympics in London’s east end. Stratford, to be precise, at the end of the Jubilee Line. Yes, its a long way from here in New Zealand – but hey, why not try it? Take on the word and be up there on stage along with buildings by Zaha et al…

So: go to the Architecture Foundation’s website and download all the info that you need (the Arch Foundation is just like the Arch Centre, except about a billion times more better funded, and run by really famous people, and employs their own staff, and has their own building etc. See, just like us, but without the people, the staff, the building, or the money).

Best of luck – oh, and if you win, tell them we sent you…

As a child growing up in Dunedin, the curious behemoth of layered concrete known as the Dunedin Public Library (designed by the City Council’s Architectural Division) always had a seemingly omnipresent feel as a ‘civic surveyor’ of the Octagon city-scape.

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We’ve recently been given a copy of the SuperLink proposal by Transport 2000, which was a well thought-out proposal for Light Rail transport in Wellington. All rights are reserved to the original authors : Daryl Cockburn, Brent Efford, & Kerry Wood for Transport 2000, and the Inter-Professional Group. We are very grateful for the chance to publish this scheme again, and get some more publicity for the Light Rail concept.

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July 29 at the School of Architecture – Several perspectives on resilience, panellists to present examples in their field with a roundtable discussion to follow. 5.30 drinks and 6.00pm talk