# SEA /// Architectural wrecks

Following is an extract of a beautiful series of pictures of Shipwreck.I really like the timeless aspect of those ships waitng their slow destruction by outside elements.They looks like ruins in a desert, with no real scale ... just amazing!

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// Ice as a building material

The pretty cold weather in Paris made me think about igloo building! (sadly it's not possible there...)Building an igloo is a very interesting concept of using one material, the ice, and building a close space without any transformation of the material, any nails or glue, just ice!This free material had already inspired some architects that desiged some cool pavillion for the Snow Show. I supposed that they were not part of the building team (if that ever happened) !

Tadao Ando @ the snow showZaha Hadid @the Snow show

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// Tungkwan

Another example of self-construction in Bernard Rudofsky's Architecture without Architects.

Dwellings below, fields upstairs

One of the most radical solutions in the field of shelter is represented by the underground towns and villages in the Chinese loess belt. Loess is silt, transported and deposited by the wind. Because of its great softness and high porosity (45 per cent), it can be easily carved. In places, roads have been cut as much as 40 feet deep into the original level by the action of wheels. The photographs show settlements of the most rigorous, not to say abstract, design near Tungkwan (Honnan). The dark squares in the flat landscape are pits an eighth of an acre in an area, or about the size of a tennis court. Their vertical sides are 25 to 30 feet high. L-shaped staircases lead to the apartmments below whose rooms are about 30 feet deep and 15 feet wide, and measure about 15 feet to the top of the vaulted ceiling. They are lighted and aired by openings that give onto the courtyard. "One may see smoke curling up from the fields" writes George B. Cressey in his Land of the 500 million: A geography of China, even though there is no house in sight; "such land does double duty, with dwellings below and fields upstairs." The dwellings are clean and free of vermin, warm in winter and cool in summer. Not only habitations but factories, schools, hotels and goverment offices are built entirely underground.

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// I.A.A.C. 2nd Advanced Architecture Contest

Last Issue of the I.A.A.C. Institue of (Advanced Architecture of Catalunya) architecture 2007-2008 competition was about "self fab sustainable housing", following you'll will see the 3 prizes that have been decerned to international students/architects.

Awarded projects:

1st Prize: F1C243 Ming Tang Dihua Yang CHINAThis proposal uses a traditional local material, implementing geometry elements in a pertinent way creating structures able to transform and re-inform themselves . The jury values its landscape integration and the possibility of being constructed as prototype.

2nd Prize: 5923BC Luis Aguirre Manso SPAINThe jury values the hybridisation of light construction systems that rise from the ground, and the functional scheme surrounding the chimney, that follows principles of traditional architecture.

3rd Prize: C2BD4E Shinya OKUDA Kung Yick Ho Alvin Lam Yan Yu Ian HONG KONGThe jury values the use of advanced technologies in the manipulation of biodegradable materials to create a system that can be assembled as a sustainable construction.

1st prize:2nd prize:you can see better picture of the second prize wich is for me the most interesting : here3rd prize:

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// Robert Neuwirth's shadow cities

One of self-construction's motivation comes from the fact that it is difficult for the authority to control and thus, sometimes its illegal existence for a more or less important time. That is one of the topics tackled by Robert Neuwirth in his book, Shadow cities. A billion squatters, a new urban world. In fact, for his research, this author lived for a while in one of Rio's favelas and other illegal district in Nairobi (Kenya), Mumbai (India) and Istanbul (Turkey). For each city, he is interested in observing how these districts' inhabitants manage to negociate with their environment's illegal existence thanks to a bypass or an interpretation of the law, which allow their juridical eviction to be more difficult. That is how we learn that, a Turkish law affirms that an illegal building in construction can be destroyed immediately whereas, an achieved building could only be demolished after judiciary proceedings. Therefore a lot of buildings are built very quickly during the night, to limitate as possible the vulnerability period. It is then interesting to observe how the bypass of law influence architecture and become a collective tacit knowledge which rules the district organisation.

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// Straw as a building material

Following you will find few pictures of self constructed houses builded with straw, most of time those buildings got a very poor architecturale quality...But I think this building technics wich is, about sustainibility, thermic and cost specially , one of the most interesting, and it's just at the beguinning of its reality as a real construction material, I hope that in the coming months/years we will see more experimetation with that material.More over its really easy to find individuals sites following this kind of self construction initiatives.By now the major probleme of that technic (straw bale+clay) is that needs a lot of handwork to apply the clay on the straw walls, so if your interested in building one in yourbackyard, you had better to have lot of enthousiastic friends or a big familly!If you saw a cool straw building let us now we are interesting to publish it on Boiteàoutils !this one have been designed by HOK ,(found on inhabitat.com more here)

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// The air-conditionners of Hyperabad Sind

In Architecture without Architects, Bernard Rudofsky presents this example of a Pakistan city, Hyperabad Sind where a bunch of unique air-conditionners:

These unusual roofscapes are a prominent feature of the lower Sind district in West Pakistan. From April to June, temperatures range above 120°F, lowered vy an atternoon breeze to a pleasant 95°. To channel the wind into every building, "bad-gir", windscoops are installed on the roofs, one to each room. Since the wind always blowns from the same direction, the position of the windscoops is permanently fixed. In multistoried houses they reach all the way down, doubling as intramural telephones. Although the origin of this contraption is unknown, it has been in use for at least five hundred years.

# SELF-CONSTRUCTION /// Introduction

This month's thematic would be about self-construction.Self-construction always takes place in an interesting debate for the reason it questions the role of the architect. Moreover, it often succeed to achieve an amazing architecture and urbanism in the pureness of a necessary function, to inhabit. Does that mean that the architect could be considered as a luxury supplier, more or less hidden behind a pseudo artistic or intellectual discourse ? It must not be that simple, but beyond the flagellating exercice of the architect of being amazed by architecture without architects, this same architecture ask some real questions about where to stand as an architect.We will thus try to see a bit clearer during this month.

# SMALL /// Technocraft's Low tech balloon system

Here is one emergency architecture designed by Technocraft you can find in the book Design like you give a damn (see also a previous post about Concrete massonry units by Sistema Arde).

The idea is to take used hemp sacks, in this case animal feedbags, and sew them together to form a dome-shaped structure. The construction is separated into prefabricated elements that can be assembled off-site or a local cottage industry "build-up process" at the site. Separating the production process allows for faster production and eliminates the need for electricity.At the site the sewn hemp "skin" are connected by plastic ties and attached to "Life Elements" (doors, windows and faciilities for cooking, sanitation and storage) with a maximum of eight per structure. Workers stuff the hemp strucutre with inflated airbags or balloons, tighten the plastic ties to increase the air pressure, and dampen the entire structure. They then spray or apply mortar over the dome to create a thin concrete shell, much like a papier-maché model. Inner pressure from the airbags supports the structure during the mortar application, making additional construction devices such as an air-compressor or wooden supports unnecessary.Once the mortar has dried, teams cut out excess hemp from the openings of the doors, windows, and other elements and deflate the airbags, which can be reused. Then workers mortar and plaster the interior walls, creating a waterproof, thermal-insulated shell. Individual units can be easily combined to create larger living spaces.

# Underworld: what's happening under your feet...

That's Tokyo sewers, it's just incredible!(it's a old series of photo already publish on a lot of blogs and websites)IMAGES COPYRIGHT 2005 EDOGAWA RIVER OFFICE, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.Those following pictures represent the Montsouris underground water tank in Pais 14th district. its the french version of the undergound cathedral.

Those pictures (and more) of the "reservoir Montsouris" are from this very nice site called Exurbis: here

# Tadashi Kawamata in Versailles

After this post about Tadashi Kawamata's workshop in Versailles' school of architecture, here is his own installation in La Maréchalerie. Like the students' work, Kawamata uses crates and little plastic joints. In the inside, in order to create a new volume, crates are linked to a net hung by cables to Maréchalerie's wooden beams.Exhibition is open until december 13rd but the outdoor installation will be took apart on october 6th.