Being An Artist in Trying Times

(via Brain Pickings)

Self-Healing Concrete

These scientists have developed a method that makes self-healing concrete by mixing limestone generating bacteria into the initial concrete mixture. This bacteria has a lifespan of nearly 200 years and can fix cracks in as short as 3 weeks. Along with that they've developed a spray version of the solution to utilize on older buildings. Truly amazing!

4D Printing

Exciting use cases...this will be revolutionary to design in a few years.

Via the 2017 Pritzker Award Jury

"In this day and age, there is an important question that people all over the world are asking, and it is not just about architecture; it is about law, politics, and government as well. We live in a globalized world where we must rely on international influences, trade, discussion, transactions, etc. But more and more people fear that, because of this international influence, we will lose our local values, our local art, and our local customs. They are concerned and sometimes frightened. Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta tell us that it may be possible to have both. They help us to see, in a most beautiful and poetic way, that the answer to the question is not ‘either/or’ and that we can, at least in architecture, aspire to have both; our roots firmly in place and our arms outstretched to the rest of the world. And that is such a wonderfully reassuring answer, particularly if it applies in other areas of modern human life as well."

Francis Kere - Serpentine Pavillion

Being both an African and an aspiring architect people such as David Adjaye, Kunle Adeyemi, and the man featured here Francis Kere have always served as inspirations and also idols that I've looked up to. Seeing Kere being chosen for such an amazing honor which designing a pavilion for the Serpentine Pavillion is, is truly captivating.

Coming off a year that saw David Adjaye and associates unveil not only the African American museum in D.C. but also begin work on a newly revitalized shipyard in San Francisco, it's an exciting time to be an African architecture student.

In typical fashion, Kere not only mimics and nods to nature but actually incorporates it in his design as well. His tree inspired design features a rainwater collector waterfall which reminded me of a cool water collector design by Italian architect Arturo Vittori I saw late last year on Dezeen's YouTube channel. The architecture features an open courtyard and the ceiling lets in natural light through slits in the wooden roofing. All in all, another great work from my idol Kere...I'd expect nothing less.

Virgil Abloah: Columbia Spring 2017 GSAPP Lecture

As usual Virgil Abloh drops some gems as he goes through an imaginative, though somewhat unorganized, lecture for the Columbia GSAPP. Anyone who appreciates fashion, architecture, or engineering and doesn't know who Virgil Abloh is is doing themselves a disservice! Ranging from buildings he's designed, working with Kanye, shoe game, the recent FW17 Off White fashion show, and his ideas on art, culture, and design, Abloh brings us along on a tour de force on art and culture that is both exhilarating and enthralling.

Wooden Skyscrapers in Our Future?

The Construction Specifier talking about the process and current planning going into the development of a predominantly wooden skyscraper going up in Seattle. Needless to say this is super interesting. All photos are via the original article and I do not claim ownership, just trying to promote amazing engineering.

Procrastination Via Documentaries...

Watched all these in late October while procrastinating writing papers... Foster harps on simplicity while Zumthor has an interesting take on silence and how his environment influences his design. Alejandro Aravena though is my personal favorite of the bunch focusing his Ted Talk on the very participatory design principle that won him his Pritzker and launched his firm Elemental Architecture to prominence.

Alejandro Aravena

Norman Foster

Peter Zumthor

La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre

La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre

Credit where its due, this photo came from my Fotopedia app and it was taken by the photographer Andres Garcia. I really like how La Basilique du Sacré Cœur  (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart) rises above the buildings surrounding it, really emphasizing its significance.

The Basilica is definitely an architectural masterpiece, and one of my favorite buildings in Paris. I look forward to seeing this in person when I finally visit France.

(Original post c. 2014...Unfortunately didn't get to visit during my trip to Paris summer 2015.)

C.K. Ukaga