China has come a long way. A culture steeped in history and rich in natural beauty, but as a leading Asian nation surging to the front of the pack of late, its landscape is a curious and awkward juxtaposition of old and new. The roads often segregate the city in the most bizarre manner - red clay roofs on the left, shiny shimmering glass on the right; dilapidated slums on the left, burgeoning city centres on the right. The roads even divide the Chinese population - the young and ambitious flood into the city, and the old and frail… well, they will soon be forgotten, just like the great nature, taken over by the insatiable desire to expand, develop and gentrify. Yes, this is progress.

Photographs by Shen Wei.

I have always had an interest surrounding social interaction and architectural space, though throughout the past few years I have been articulating the compositional elements within my work and highlighting the dynamism of spaces in my work through exposing my process. I explore a variation of paint application, expressive mark making, bright under-painting and optical mixing. The bright under paintings act as unifying devices that localizes colour and provide the viewer with entrance and exit points throughout the painting. The layering of colour and forms and the combination of existing, familiar forms with imagined components acts as a visual dialect that expresses my interpretation of the urban dynamic. I want my work to allow for the viewer’s engagement on multiple levels. It is my intention that the artificial constructions I create will generate contemplation of the ongoing development of the social spaces in which we live. The spatial relationships that exist between humanity and architectural spaces are integral to an understanding of our visual world, as we make deliberate choices to define our surrounding spaces we are ultimately defined and affected by the spaces that surround us.

Images by Canadian artist James Olley. Additional text sourced from Artist’s Statement.

I once considered a career in architecture. I took classes in analysing our relationship with space. While I no longer pursue this profession, those classes left a profound impact in my understanding of space. Sometimes, I even turn the lights off and fumble deliberately in darkness, just to feel the walls that shelter me. When I turn the lights back on, the colours and texture on the walls mean so much more then - they form the environment, the atmosphere and the very soul of the space. They are the ground I stand on and the air I breathe. This is also the feeling I experience when I look at Timofeev’s’s work.

Check out more of Timofeev’s work at his his website.

Shulman began his career in 1936 when he photographed a Richard Neutra house with a vest-pocket camera. He quickly moved on to shoot the work of many prominent architects who later became friends: Rudolf Schindler, Raphael Soriano, Gregory Ain, to name just a few. Shulman remains enthusiastic about architecture (Leo Marmol and Steve Ehrlich are just two of his contemporary favorites), but he’s a little perplexed by the current mania for all things sustainable. “We’ve always had green—those of us who are concerned with the environment,” he says. “So why should we suddenly discover that green is good?” When asked why Koenig never talked about his architecture as sustainable, Shulman says, “In the fifties and sixties it was done automatically. The term green meant you related to the environment. That’s all green means: you are the environment.”

“The reason why this architecture photographs so beautifully is the environmental consideration exercised by the architects,” Shulman says. “It was the sense that here we have beautiful canyons, hillsides, views of the ocean. Everyone loves these photographs because the houses are environmentally involved, and this was before the emphasis on what everyone is calling green.” (from Metropolis)

Schulman was 89 years old. There is a documentary of his work, called Visual Acoustics that is being screened at select cities currently. Do check it out.

All this is, of course, not an issue if you have upwards of 2 million euros to spend on a luxurious Daniel Libeskind masterpiece - a villa:

“Like a crystal growing from rock, a dramatic structure emerges from the ground. The Villa, Daniel Libeskind’s first signature series home, creates a new dialogue between contemporary living and a completely new experience of space. Built from premium materials, this German-made, sculptural living space meets the highest standards in design, craftsmanship and sustainability. It is unique at every turn, offering maximum insulation and durability, cutting-edge technologies and compliance with some of the toughest energy-saving standards across the world.” (Signature Series press release)

“Too often we celebrate great civic institutions… but actually architecture is how people live and how well they live. [This project is really] a total work of art… It’s not just designing a shell or something, or a shape that is iconic, but really creating an environment at every level.”

The villa design features the jagged edges and off-kilter shapes often found in his work. The idea was to “get away from the typical cubic forms, which result from a sort of tradeoff between architecture and production.” (New York Times)

Prefab may still be much more expensive than your regular cookie-cutter home, but offers you an architect’s vision, at a cost significantly less than directly employing the services of a starchitect like Daniel Libeskind - for your very own cookie cutter prefab home.

Sweden recently unveiled its design of the pavilion to be built for the Expo. The building is designed by Johnannes Tull of SWECO, consists of four connected traditional urban-style buildings. In lieu of the Expo’s theme of “Better city – Better life”, the pavilion “reflects the harmonious interaction between city life and nature.” (Xinhua) The essential creative concept is “sustainability”, with proper use of materials for energy conservancy and incorporating advanced energy efficiency and recycling programs.

“The Swedish pavilion at Expo 2010 is a temporary building that will contain the Swedish exhibition, VIP areas and other facilities such as offices. The 3,000 square metre building will be constructed on a section approximately the same size, and will be located in the European section alongside the other Nordic countries.” (Expo 2010)

“Nature is close to the heart of every Swede and this makes it a natural starting point for innovation. Nature is a source of inspiration and creativity. What makes a city attractive is the networks which are created between people. An open, inviting and enriched urban room provides a good base for life energy and innovation. The pavilion will reflect the meeting between city and nature and the optimism and strength that can be created where they come together.” (Expo 2010)

“The large public exhibition in the pavilion will reflect Sweden and Swedish capability, and will be visited by thousands of people each day. After they’ve been through the exhibition, visitors will be offered Swedish coffee and can buy typical Swedish presents and souvenirs in the gift shop. The Swedish exhibition should be an “aha” experience; read more about the concept in the exhibition section.” (Expo 2010)

Pictures sourced from Vitra.

“Working from the ‘inside out’, Gehry begins the design process with the building program, which is a list of the functional requirements of a building. He and his team use block models to form massing models, multiple configurations that establish relationships between a building’s functions – such as gallery, lobby, hosting and conservation areas. Detailed context models are also completed at this stage to ensure that the building massing is respectful to the neighbourhood it inhabits. Once program needs are met from a massing perspective, the architectural and sculptural phase begins.” (AGO)

I think Gehry’s additions to AGO works particularly well because he integrated the unique sculptural qualities of his work into the functional needs of a gallery instead of overwhelming it. The result is a building that certainly attracts attention but does not detract from the art within the gallery. Bravo!

All pictures sourced from Daily Dose of Imagery.

It is a thing of beauty set against our breathtaking Vancouver backdrop. “Built over land and water, with floor-to-ceiling glass throughout that treats guests to phenomenal harbour and mountain views, [the] new West Building is a masterpiece of design, inspiration and sustainability. [The] commitment to green technology can be found in every corner: the ‘living roof,’ seawater heating and cooling, on-site water treatment and even fish habitat built into the foundation.”

“With [the] expansion complete, [Vancouver Convention Centre has] tripled [in] size to cover 1.1 million square feet (or four city blocks) for a combined total of 473,523 square feet of pre-function, meeting, exhibition, and ballroom space. The Vancouver Convention Centre now offers the ability to hold multiple simultaneous events, each with their own separate access and function spaces.”

This is an exciting time in Vancouver. I am proud to be a Vancouverite and I cannot wait till 2010!

Today, I learnt that Peter Zumthor was awarded the 2009 Pritzker Architecture Prize. It is truly well-deserved, particularly for his views and ideas on architecture:

“To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence that I associate with attributes such as composure, self-evidence, durability, presence, and integrity, and with warmth and sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being a building, not representing anything, just being.”

“Thinking about daylight and artificial light I have to admit that daylight, the light on things, is so moving to me that I feel almost a spiritual quality. When the sun comes up in the morning - which I always find so marvellous, absolutely fantastic the way it comes back every morning - and casts its light on things, it doesn’t feel as if it quite belongs in this world.”

“The idea of things that have nothing to do with me as an architect taking their place in a building, their rightful place - it’s a thought that gives me an insight into the future of my buildings: a future that happens without me. That does me a lot of good. It’s a great help to me to imagine the future of rooms in a house I am building, to imagine them actually in use.”

Photographs are of Bruder Klaus Chapel, from Danda.