The centerpiece of this summer's Olympics has been unveiled to the press yesterday as reported by Reuters via Yahoo.com. This project was developed by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron with the help of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. With a bit more than 100 days till the opening ceremony, finishing touches are being completed on the $450 million stadium.

Icarus Films will release in the coming weeks the documentary BIRD'S NEST - HERZOG AND DE MEURON IN CHINA. The film chronicles the development of the Olympic stadium project, exposing complex and often difficult negotiations and communications between two cultures, two architectural traditions and two political systems.

Labels: architecture, Beijing, china, olympics, stadium

The current "Green Issue" of Vanity Fair magazine profiles two architects and their endeavors to build eco-friendly sustainable buildings and change the way design interacts with the environment.

In the article "Industrial Revolution, Take Two", American architect William McDonough explains his "Cradle to Cradle" philosophy and the concept of "Waste=Food" leading to the idea of a new industrial revolution.

"Natural Phenomenon" explores the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the greenest museum ever built and one of the latest projects by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano.

The films WASTE=FOOD and RENZO PIANO are the ideal companions to these articles.

Through interviews of William McDonough and German ecological chemist Michael Braungart, WASTE=FOOD explores the concept and ideas behind the ecologically inspired new industrial revolution, while as a revealing personal and professional portrait, RENZO PIANO follows three projects at different stages of progress and offers the architect's views on his craft.

Labels: architecture, ecology, environment, sustainability

Labels: architecture, articles, brad pitt, hurricane katrina, new orleans, shigeru ban, sustainability

Michael Kimmelman reports recently on the work of architect Shigeru Ban, calling him an "accidental environmentalist," as Ban's use of recycled, easily available and inexpensive building materials has been part of his repertoire since long before it was cool to be "green." From temporary housing for refugees in Rwanda and later for victims of the 1995 Kobe earthquake and later in Turkey, to multi -million dollar corporate buildings such as a new Swatch office building in Ginza and a new design that will sit on New York City's West Side highway next to Frank Gehry's recent contribution, Ban maintains his commitment to thrift.

SHIGERU BAN, a film by Michel Quinejure, goes in depth with Ban through interviews and tours of his most significant structures to reveal that an emphasis on issues of conservation, economy, and accessibility does not necessarily involve a sacrifice in architectural beauty.

Labels: architecture, articles, Japan, shigeru ban, urban studies

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose life and work are the subject of the award-winning REGULAR OR SUPER, is one of the world's most influential architects. One of his early and perhaps best known creations, the Tugendhat House in the Czech Republic, which has been designated a World Heritage site, remains at the center of a dispute between the former owners, a Jewish family forced to abandon their home in 1938 and the current owner, the city of Brno, over who will serve as custodian and see the house through costly but necessary renovation. A recent New York Times article outlines the arguments on both sides, though all agree that the precious monument to the modernist architectural tradition, which continues to deteriorate, is of the utmost importance.

Labels: architecture, Mies van der Rohe