Volume #14: UnSolicited Architecture
“Ir más allá de la Arquitectura” - la exploración de nuevos dominios y terrenos - a sido el lema de Volume desde sus inicios el 2005. Es hora del siguiente paso: ¿como llevar a la práctica este “ir más alla”? ¿Como materializar ese discurso, cuando parece ir contra todas las lógicas económicas e industriales? Volume presente la práctica NO SOLICITADA - poderosos generadores de ideas, planes de negocio sólidos y metodologías de diseño idealistas. Estas son las herramientas esenciales que permiten a los arquitectos reclamar su autonomía profesional.
Con este párrafo se introduce a una de las mejores ediciones de la revista Volume, que aborda el tema de la arquitectora no solicitada o auto encargo. El editor en jefe de la revista Volume, Arjen Oosterman, abre con su artículo “Una profesión aparte”, donde reflexiona sobre los cambios en el rol del arquitecto, partiendo con la post guerra y el movimiento moderno, quienes cambiaron al arquitecto artista por las utopías de la industrialización. Si bien durante la primera parte del siglo pasado esto permitió a los arquitectos abordar complejos temas de la sociedad de ese entonces desde la arquitectura, se volvió incapaz de responder a cambios en el cliente (estado-privado), el mercado, la producción, la construcción e incluso en el retorno económico, estancándose. Si bien siempre se necesitará quien diseñe dentro de una cierta estética, el rol del arquitecto va más allá que eso. Según palabras de Oosterman, que los arquitectos […] re definan su rol, pasando de ejecutores de encargos extremadamente competentes a emprendedores y productores. Y cierra con la siguiente frase: Arquitectura No Solicitada: ¿quién se atreve?
Continúe leyendo en Plataforma Arquitectura
Libro “Situaciones Urbanas” del arq. Santiago Cirugeda
De la página web Recetas Urbanas:
Santiago Cirugeda es un arquitecto atípico que desde el inicio de su carrera ha puesto en práctica sus ideas directamente sobre el terreno. A lo largo de los últimos diez años, ha desarrollado un método de trabajo basado en la observación y análisis de la ciudad, al objeto de afrontar las carencias urbanísticas que en ella detecta. Su arquitectura, inmediata y portátil, es un despliegue de ingenio y creatividad que busca proponer nuevos modelos ajustados a presupuestos limitados. Entendiendo la arquitectura como una disciplina que debe velar por la mejora de las condiciones sociales, plantea un modelo de ciudad autogestionada donde los ciudadanos puedan decidir sobre su entorno inmediato.
Este libro presenta catorce situaciones concretas en las que Santiago Cirugeda explica cómo ha sido capaz de tergiversar el statu quo de la ciudad mercantilizada para proponer una ciudad más habitable. En él se detallan las estrategias que le han permitido reinventar tanto la vivienda, como los museos, la universidad, los centros sociales o el espacio público.
Via Recetas Urbanas
Descarga la versión en pdf (2 capítulos)
Editorial Tenov
Spain’s Stunning Teatro del Agua Solar Desalination Plant
by Mike Chino
From: www.inhabitat.com
Published June 18, 2008
As the planet heats up and our resources stretch to accommodate a skyrocketing population, it has become clear that water will be a hotly contested commodity in the coming years - some are even calling it the “new oil”. Charles Paton has endeavored to meet this challenge with his Seawater Greenhouse which takes a low-cost, low-energy, carbon-neutral approach to desalination. Recently he’s been working with Eden Project and Grimshaw Architects to create a gorgeous sweeping Teatro Del Agua. The design will incorporate Paton’s remarkable desalination method with a publicly accessible venue for the performing arts, once again focusing our societies around the common element that sustains them.
The Teatro del Agua works by coupling “a series of evaporators and condensers such that the airborne moisture from the evaporators is then collected from the condensers, which are cooled by deep seawater.” The sweeping structure will incorporate solar panels to provide heat for the evaporators and will operate almost entirely on renewable energy.
The Teatro del Agua is planned to be but in Spain’s Canary Islands. We’ve covered culturally focused desalination plants in the past, and we’d love to see more innovative ideas such as these begin to precipitate around the world.
+ Seawater Greenhouse
+ Grimshaw Architects
Via Inhabitat, cleantechnica.com
Largest City Solar Initiative gets greenlight in San Francisco
by Ali Kriscenski
From: www.inhabitat.com
Published: June 16, 2008
San Francisco has made solar energy a top priority with the passage of the Solar Energy Initiative Program - the largest solar energy subsidy program of any city in the United States. An annual budget of $3 million dollars will help create incentives for individuals and businesses to install solar photovoltaics systems with a $3,000 to $6,000 rebate available to individuals and a $10,000 rebate for businesses. On par with statewide programs, San Francisco’s Solar Energy Initiative Program is poised to make solar installations permanent fixtures in the city’s more sustainable skyline.
The program was approved last week by the San Francisco board of supervisors and only needs approval from Mayor Newsom, a strong proponent of the subsidy initiative. With funding in place, the city expects the program to be in progress within weeks resulting in the generation of 1.5MW of solar energy for San Francisco homes and businesses.
The initial approval is for a 10 year program with an annual budget of $3 million. A pilot program that will provide solar incentives to low-income residents and non-profit organizations is also ready to begin with $1.5 million in funding. Collectively, the subsidies set in place by San Francisco will provide means to drastically reduce the cost of solar on residential and commercial properties.
“Today, San Francisco has taken a big first step towards addressing climate change and becoming more energy independent,” said solar legislation co-sponsor, and San Fran Assessor-Recorder, Phil Ting. The ambitious, and now feasible, goal of San Francisco’s solar plan is to increase solar installations in the city from 660 to 10,000 over the next 10 years.
Via Inhabitat, Earth2Tech
Broadstar’s AeroCam Breaks the Wind-Watt Barrier
by Mike Chino
From: www.inhabitat.com
Published June 19, 2008
Amid veritable fields of wind turbine options the Broadstar AeroCam stands out with an innovative design that packs a powerful turbine into a compact form factor. Constructed to spin on a horizontal axis, the micro-turbine’s multiple aerodynamic blades cut a profile similar to a water wheel and allow it to intuitively track the path of the wind as it rotates. The turbine is the industry’s first to shatter the $1/watt cost barrier, and Broadstar aims to make its AeroCam turbines a go-to option for rural, urban, and wind farm in-fill applications.
Since solar panels are finally starting to see an influx of small-scale and residential applications, we couldn’t be happier with the growing crop of micro-turbines that aim to make wind power an option in areas less inclined to sunshine.
Broadstar’s turbines aim to provide more power and choice of location than conventional turbines as well as “a lower total cost of acquisition and ownership and a faster payback period. The AeroCam has the potential to equip almost every local community, business and government building with its own renewable energy power station and it can supplement existing turbines.”
The AeroCam’s unique design allows Broadstar to manufacture, transport, and install, and maintain it at lower costs than conventional turbines. A 250kW system will retail for $250,000, making it the world’s first turbine to break the $1/watt cost barrier. The AeroCam is designed to operate smoothly in wind-speeds from 4-80 mph, and these low rotational speeds mean that it produces a negligible amount of noise.
Since Broadstar turbines are optimized to function at lower wind speeds, they are perfect for small-scale residential and commercial applications, and they also would be excellent at filling the niches between towering propellers in wind fields. Broadstar Wind Systems have produced a working prototype and are currently in negotiations to place the product with two Fortune 100 companies.
Via Inhabitat, treehugger.com
