London Festival of Architecture 2014/ Bartlett School Summer Show 2014

Hello everybody, so I decided to write a short blog post about the festival of architecture. The idea behind this blog post is that - I was thinking about some architecture competitions I could participate in and accidently I found the article about London Festival of Architecture 2014. 

London Festival of Architecture 2014, includes many of exhibitions, open studios, student shows, and tours. So I marked the events in my calendar I want to go to and there were about 6 exhibitions all together, but I had the opportunity to visit only one of the events. It was Bartlett School of Architecture: Bartlett Summer Show 2014. 

So, a bit more informtion about London Festival of Architecture 2014: 

"The London Festival of Architecture features debates, exhibitions, film screenings, walks, cycle rides, open studios and family events which focus on the importance of architecure and design in London today. An active pragramme of architectural installations and interventions provoke questions about the future life of the city and promotes positive change to the city's public realm."

 - http://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/index.php/about

Bartlett School of Architecture: The Bartlett Summer Show 2014

             

The reason why I picked this exhibition or I should call it 'show' is, because I heard about this school before and now I got an opportunity to visit an exhibition with student works from that school. 

People around the globe, travelling to London to Bartlett School Summer Show just to look at the student works. It didn't really make sense for me until I went there. Those all models, designs, drawings, sketches and multimedia instalations were just 'wow'. 

The exhibition showcases the works of over 500 students with a really high quality of skills and creativity, it shows a really high quality of teachers, staff and tutors teaching skills, knowledge, research and work methods.

The Bartlett School's annual Summer Show attracts over 5000 visitors in eight days and over 10 000 visitors all together and forms a key event in the UK architectural calendar.

After the visit at the Bartlett School Summer Show, every single thing that I saw in there, answered my question: "Why people around the world travelling long distances just to look at the student works?".  Because it's worth it to see how students, young students can create a design with really high quality of skills.

             

             

             

Whilst I was at Bartlett School Summer Show, I got scared. I got scared because all the things I saw made me realize how skillful, creative and accurate you have to be in architecture. Let it be a reminder that I just need to work on those things.

So that would be all on this blog post, to find out more about Bartlett School of Architecture go to - http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture

What do I have in my Reading List?

Everyday I find so many different posts, articles, pictures, designs and ideas of architecture and I would like to thank to that person who created a Reading List. It's amazing oppurtunity, because if your eyes saw something interesting while surfing the net and you want to find out more about it, but the only problem is that you don't have enough time for that, so you can do it later. 

So today, I'm going to share the architecture websites I visiting the most, the other websites about architecture I have saved as my bookmarks, what do I have in my Reading List and what Tumblrs do I follow. 

                                                                

                                         

So I'm going to start with my Reading List. I had to take two pictures to include all the things I have on my reading list.

1. The oldest post I have in my reading list is called - House in Kashiwa/Yamazaki Kentaro Design Workshop. The reason why I put this in my reading list was: I liked the design of this house and I liked the way it was called: House/Container. I used the photographs of this house in my previous blog post - Squares and Cubes: http://mataskunce.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/squares-and-cubes.html
2. Denver Union Station / SOM. I chose this post to put in my reading list because, I liked the details and shapes of this amazing station. Also I liked the place where this Denver Union Station was located so I wanted to find out more about this amazing structured building.
3. Patio House/ AR Arquitetos. The thing that I liked about this project was use of a natural light and quite much use of a white colour. Also it has one more thing which cathes my eyes - a few concrete shaped deatails.
4. Tuneful House/FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects. When I opened that article and when I saw that the house in the picture is located in Japan, I already knew that I'm going to like it. I did not like it only because of the fact that it's located in Japan, I chose that project to put in my reading list because it has concrete shaped structure and not usual form as a house.
5. You can see that there are four posts about architecture school. I tried to find something proffesional I could do with architecture as my occupation for free. But all I found was architecture schools for college aged year students and where you need to pay. So I just left it for the future. If someone are interested in that, you can visit these websites: bartlet.ucl.ac.uk ; the-lsa.org ; thecass.com ; summerschool.aaschool.ac.uk
6. ABC Cooking Studio / Prism Design. For this article I have no reason why I saved it in my reading list. Sounds funny, but I think I was looking for something new to read even if I had full reading list with articles.
7. Casa Na Mata / NITSCHE ARQUITETOS. I liked this project because of it's form and the fact that it looks like a shelter in the middle of the woods with modern furniture inside it. Another thing I liked about this house/shelter was that it has a really strong connection with the world outside the windows. It's because instead of walls it has windows.
8. Finally the last one and the latest one is - Extension Railway Service Facility / EM2N. I picked this project to my reading list only because of it's exterior. It looks modern and really appropriate design for a railways.

    

The picture above shows Denver Union Station.

So now move on and talk about architecture websites where I visiting the most (when I say the most I mean everyday) and it's only a few of them.

• So the first architecture website, where I'm visiting the most is - ArchDaily (http://www.archdaily.com ). ArchDaily is the place where you can find out more about architecture news, events, projects and interviews. This website provides me with inspirational projects and amazing architecture every day. As you noticed, nearly every post I have on my reading list are from ArchDaily. I Reccomend to have a look!
  
• The second architecture website/blog I'm visiting the most is - Life of an Architect (http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com ). Life of an Architect is a website more like a blog, created by Bob Borson, architect from Texas. The reason why I'm reading his blog is because he shares very helpful and interesting advices and posts. If you are looking for inspiration, then you should have a look at his blog.



• Archilovers (http://www.archilovers.com ). I followed Archilovers on +Google, and they always shares really inspirational pictures of architecture. Reccomend to follow!

The last one, but not the worse - Sketching Architecture ( http://sketchingarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk ). I found this blog nearly a few weeks ago and it's starting to be my favourite blog. This is because, I really like sketching and it's a good oppurtunity to get a really good advices by reading this blog. Really reccomend this blog, even if you are not interested in architecture, just have a look at amazing sketches.

The next part is for the Tumblrs I follow. The Tumblr program is good because you can get an inspiration from other people works. 

The list of Tumblrs I follow:

• architizer
• archatlas
• christian-paul-kusch
• contemporaryartdaily
• gasoline-station
• interiordesignmagazine
• lensbr-network
• johny-escobar
• juliocesar26
• noahkalina
• subtilitas
• thelifestyleeditor
• thliii (want to mark out this Tumblr because the creator of this Tumblr shares incredible photographs)
• spookyhome 

Other architecture websites I have as my bookmarks:

    

So that would be all on this blog post. Really reccomend to visit all those architecture websites, it's worth it! 

Got Inspiration, Let's go to update a blog!

Yesterday, new post from Life of an Architect was very inspirational for me so one idea 'pop up' in my head - this term I'm going widely look at the topic of sketches. That means that I am going to share really interesting and helpful posts about sketches, or how to improve your sketching? or how to sketch like an architect? 
The post about How to think like an Architect? was like the start of this topic about how to sketch like an architect < that's really good idea for calling this topic like that!
So today I want to share that post with you! I hope it will inspire you!

Link to the full post: http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/architectural-sketching-or-how-to-sketch-like-bob-borson/

So I am going to look at 5 tips and techniques that should improve your sketching.

TIP #01: “The Hit-Go-Hit”

The ‘Hit-Go-Hit’ tip is a way for you to pick up and set your pen back down on the page as you’re drawing in a purposeful manner. Why would you need to do something like that you ask? Well, tip #02 will elaborate a bit more (come to think of it, Tip #02 should really be the first tip in terms of importance but I’m not going to remake the graphic) but whenever you are drawing a straight line, you’ll frequently find that you need to reposition your arm, or the paper, to continue drawing. Make that reset look intentional and add some graphic flair with this technique.

TIP #02: “Don’t Move your Pen/Pencil by Bending Your Wrist or Elbow”

I should also point out that you shouldn’t “push” your pen across the page, you should always “pull” it. Lock your wrist and elbow into a comfortable angle and only move your entire arm when sketching. As you get more skilled, this tip can be relaxed and you can first bend your elbow and ultimately your wrist. In the beginning, by limiting your movement to the entire arm, you’ll end up with straighter lines. And since you can only move your arm so far, that’s when the hit-go-hit technique comes in.

TIP #03: “Incorporate the Use of Pen Weight”

This technique is a biggie … you have to use line weight to help convey depth to your sketch. More gifted sketchers and take care of depth using hatches and shading techniques so eventually that’s something you can take on. In the meantime, use two pens and get some profile lines into your sketches.

Another benefit to using a heavy pen is that it can help show you what you should be looking at – what the point of the sketch might be. Multiple pen weights help the viewer understand the order of things within the drawing, and through proper technique, they can also show to the viewer what’s not important in the sketch.

TIP #04: “Intersect Your Lines at the Corners”

This is pure style and allows the inexact nature of a sketch to come across as what it is – a delineated representation of a thought or concept.The inexact nature of the sketch – when attempted to be exact – looks sloppy and, well … inexact. By allowing your lines to cross at the corners, you can still convey the thought (or shape) you are going after, without having to focus on making the shape perfect. There is a “in-the-moment” that sketches imply and if you look at the two rectangles illustrated above, I think the one on the left looks far better despite the fact that it is far less precise or exact than the rectangle on the right.

TIP #05: “Trace Paper isn’t Precious … Draw in Layers” 

Design is an additive process so why shouldn’t your sketch be as well? Since most of my sketches happen on trace paper and not in a sketch book, I am able to lay sketch upon sketch on top of one another to build up and refine my sketches. I may start with a clean piece of trace paper for every sketch, but it’s only that first sketch that doesn’t have the benefit of something prior to work from.

That's it. Here are the 5 ways or techniques (sounds better), that should make your sketches look better and you will put more discipline in your sketches.

I recommend you to read the full post if you want to be inspired! 

How to think like an Architect?

All the time I set the problem to myself, which is - I can not really think like an architect. This is because when I look at the pictures of architectural sketches, I can't 'read' them. I am trying to look at shapes, details and landscapes and the things like that. But I recently discovered a person in YouTube, who is explaining how to think like an architect! Actually he answered in all my questions after I watched those videos.

Picture from Barry Berkus videos compilation  - How To Think Like An Architect.

So let's start from - Architectural Drawing. What should you pay attention at 'reading' sketches.

• Architectural drawings are used for a number of purposes: to develop a design idea into coherent proposal, to communicate ideas and concepts, to enable a building contractor - construct it and to make a record of a building that already exist.
• Linking to sketches and diagrams. Sketch is a freehand drawing, a quick way to record and develop an ideas and one of the most important thing about sketch is that - it's not intended as a finished work. A diagram may be drawn freehand but deals with symbols, to develop a logic of a design. Both may be worked up in more presentable form and used to communicate the principles of a design.

So I found out what do you have to think about when you 'reading' the architectural sketches. First I think, is find out more about that sketch. If it's your friends sketch, then as them what did they think about when they drew that sketch, where did they get an idea, what inspired them and the things like that. Then use your imagination to create how that architectural sketch would look like in real world. Think about shapes and details.

Come back to architect - Barry Berkus. His videos on Youtube are very informative and it has good examples. Also before you watching those videos try to ask some questions yourself about thinking like an Architect. I hope he will answer to your questions! 

Link to the videos:

http://m.youtube.com/user/BarryBerkus