2013-05-09 12:52:19 // John Coop
// The Idealog Blog
Corporate art gets a bit of a bad rap. Yet this is changing. A significant refurbishment and addition to the ANZ foyer in central Auckland designed by Warren and Mahoney has positioned art within the architecture in a way that will change perceptions of what corporate art and architecture can be.
2013-04-11 15:51:57 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland’s streetscapes, play spaces and parks dominated at the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architecture Awards this week, picking up around half of the 53 awards presented.
2013-04-10 16:34:46 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
One for the young and young at heart: Legoland Hotel opened in California this month, part of the first Legoland theme park in North America, where all guests receive a Lego brick to build with during their stay.
2013-04-04 11:04:56 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
| 6 comments
Restored, traditional or contemporary? Which way will the Christ Church Cathedral rebuild go?
2013-03-28 11:32:21 // Idealog
The New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) has appointed Teena Hale-Pennington, formerly Wellington City Council’s director of strategy, planning and urban design, as its new chief executive.
2013-03-11 13:48:52 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
Great architecture is all about working with the surroundings, not against them. Shadowboxx beautifully captures the ever-changing natural conditions outdoors and a house that blends into the landscape.
2013-01-25 09:27:27 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
3D printing offers all sorts of possibilities for creating things, from body parts to guns and even houses. And according to a 3D printing news site, Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars (39) from Universe Architecture in has come up with a one-piece building to be constructed using a 3D printer.
2013-01-14 09:37:18 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #41: features
| 1 comment
From subterranean offices in Dunedin, two architects are designing the headquarters of a Chinese fashion house. The result: a spectacular sculpture that people can work in.
2012-12-18 12:12:25 // Idealog
Urban redevelopment, seismicity (now there's an awkward word), sustainability and productivity will be the key themes of the 2013 Green Property Summit showcasing the latest in green building practices from international and national industry leaders.
2012-12-11 16:09:22 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
It started with four architectural students and an undergraduate design project in 2009, progressed to an international design competition, and now, a range of quick-build design-minded, energy-efficient houses any Kiwi would be proud of.
2012-11-19 15:07:58 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
A residential home known as the dogbox, a military museum and the witty re-imagining of an underground lavatory shared the top honours at the 2012 AAA Unbuilt Architecture Awards in Auckland last week
2012-11-09 22:26:52 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
Five buildings were honoured at this year's Gisborne / Hawkes Bay Architecture Awards last week, with the best architectural projects to be found on the North Island's east coast receiving prizes at a ceremony in Napier.
2012-11-08 13:44:34 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
A dozen projects ranging from houses to offices and a school to an army workshop have been acknowledged in the 2012 Western Architecture Awards, the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ official awards programme for the Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu and Horowhenua regions.
2012-11-01 11:21:11 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
This year's Wellington Architecture Awards boasted a strong showing in community-focused educational building, as well as traditional residential architecture.
2012-11-01 10:53:27 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
Two of New Zealand’s most significant heritage sites, Rotorua Museum and Turangawaewae Marae featured in the 2012 Waikato-Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards, along with gems such as a small transportable Coromandel bach (also recognised at the Timber Design Awards) and a handful of commercial and educational reimaginings.
2012-11-01 09:38:28 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
It's the current national hub of construction, so it's no surprise the adaptation and re-use of existing structures featured strongly in the latest Canterbury Architecture Awards.
2012-10-25 14:43:28 // Design Daily team
// The Idealog Blog
Architecture aficionados will be pleased to hear that top French architects and scientists are currently on tour around New Zealand to share their experiences of sustainable construction through a series of seminars.
2012-10-17 14:56:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Architecturally Exposed Structural Steelwork (AESS) may have experienced a rise in global popularity globally in recent years, but local uptake has been slower off the mark.
2012-10-11 14:27:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Twenty-eight projects figured in the 2012 Auckland Architecture Awards last night, with two heritage buildings reworked for hospitality purposes picking up honours, two Federal St restaurants receiving interior awards, and an enduring architecture prize given to a 25-year-old university building.
2012-10-05 13:19:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Thirteen projects got the nod at last night's 2012 Nelson/Marlborough Architecture Awards, announced at Stoke’s new Saxton Pavilion, itself one of the award-winning buildings.
2012-09-17 13:22:22 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
The spotlight is firmly on sustainable design this week, thanks to World Green Building Week, spearheaded locally by the New Zealand Green Building Council and 90 Green Building Councils.
2012-09-14 14:24:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Napier, the home of art deco, is hosting the annual conference of the NSW division of the Australian Institute of Architects next month.
2012-08-23 15:41:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
National architecture firm Warren and Mahoney has appointed Daryl Maguire – the designer behind Christchurch’s new temporary AMI Stadium, which was built in just 100 days – as a senior architect and principal at its Christchurch studio.
2012-08-04 11:43:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Architectural designer Mark McLeay enjoyed a dream run at this year's Auckland/Northland regional ADNZ/Resene Design Awards, taking a whopping four wins in various categories.
2012-07-31 15:45:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Olympic Games have a rich history, one that's increasingly moving to focus on reusable and adaptable structures.
This ArchDaily graphic pays tribute to iconic Olympic buildings throughout time.
2012-07-23 16:08:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
Wellington architecture students will soon be turning their creative talents toward developing plans to strengthen Cuba Street’s historic buildings.
2012-06-21 16:04:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Ambitious towers in Australia and Italy have made it onto the list of the best tall buildings in the world for the first time.
2012-05-31 16:13:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Budget considerations and sustainable practices are firmly positioning themselves as the core drivers in the building and renovating process
2012-05-28 12:32:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, has nudged out Knoll Ridge Café on Mt Ruapehu, a house at Piha and Remarkables Primary School to claim the top prize in New Zealand architecture.
2012-05-23 15:11:49
// The Idealog Blog
The contributions of many women (and men) to architecture too often remain anonymous, says Architectural Record editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan
2012-05-15 11:43:06 // Design Daily Team
Plans to build a new theatre at Wynyard Quarter got a boost today in the form of a $5 million ASB Community Trust pledge.
2012-05-11 13:31:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Here's an ambitious take on the skyscraper, incorporating multiple towers interlocking both vertically and horizontally.
2012-05-03 16:57:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland apartment developers could do with taking a leaf out of Bailo + Rull's portfolio.
2012-04-11 12:41:11 // Abby Burns
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Cantabrians on the search for new styles of housing design will have a new place to check out their options from April 21-22 at PrefabNZ’s Home Innovation Village, known as Hive.
2012-03-14 15:14:12 // Siobhan Leathley
// Idealog #38: now
Former mining town Denniston - home to just six people - could find itself a leading light in design.
2012-03-13 14:49:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Mountainous skyscrapers! City landfills! Floating metropolises! All of the above were submissions to the 2012 eVolo Skyscraper competition, which is always full of cutting-edge, sometimes wacky ideas on the use of new technologies, materials, aesthetics, and spatial organisations.
2012-03-09 12:01:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
An architecturally-designed Grey Lynn house has sold for nearly a million buckaroos over its valuation – demonstrating the worth of good design, according to Richard Naish.
2012-03-02 16:10:57 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Christchurch's iconic Cathedral has been deemed beyond repair and will be taken down to a level of 2-3 metres.
2012-03-02 12:26:21 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
The Auckland Theatre Company is out to address Auckland's dearth of performing arts venues, spearheading a campaign to build a new theatre in the Wynyard Quarter.
2012-02-29 09:58:27 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Wang Shu has been named as the recipient of the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the industry's highest honour.
2012-02-15 16:07:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Christchurch's architecture may have taken a hit in the past year or so, but the latest addition to NZ On Screen's library includes the Christchurch episode of classic NZ architecture series, The Elegant Shed (to go with the Wellington episode already online).
2012-02-10 11:58:43 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Architectural firm LAVA has come up with a twist on the typical class for Australia's rural schools, which call for rooms adaptable to changing terrains and temperatures.
2012-02-09 12:50:29 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #37: workshop
Auckland architecture firm Sills van Bohemen is sneaking some green back into Takapuna with the Hurstmere Green. Principal Christina van Bohemen is leading the charge.
2012-02-03 13:30:17 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Jason Whiteley has an enviable background, having worked with architects Herzog & de Meurons after five years in Switzerland and New York City.
2012-02-02 13:50:39 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Imagine a totally digitised house, creating a parallel home on the web. Everything in the house can be used to communicate; the interface is ubiquitous, controlling physical appliances and apps alike.
2012-01-27 13:30:38
// Idealog #37: features
| 2 comments
Stage one of Wynyard Quarter's redevelopment barely scratches the surface of Waterfront Auckland's extensive vision
2012-01-24 14:32:04 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A team of designers are on a quest to tackle the eco-housing prejudices of potential homeowners.
2012-01-20 09:55:04 // Design Daily Team
| 1 comment
Changes are afoot in the building industry and the Department of Building and Housing has launched a two-year campaign, Build It Right, to keep regular Joes in the loop.
2012-01-12 14:57:29 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Construction is underway in Seattle on a futuristic zero-waste apartment building, intended to host a range of green initiatives including the recycling of waste water.
2012-01-10 11:27:52 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Fairytales have entertained and comforted us throughout our childhoods, and now a bunch of architects have applied themselves to designing some of the houses from our favourite stories.
2012-01-09 17:20:19 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
New ways to rebuild Christchurch will be floated at an international workshop next month.
2012-01-06 14:18:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A house between four large boulders, tucked away in the mountains of Portugal, is proving a major tourist drawcard.
2011-12-16 10:52:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Recently home to Tartuffe and currently hosting Auckland Theatre’s version of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, Queen’s Street’s new Q Theatre has well and truly established itself on the Auckland arts scene.
2011-12-14 15:19:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Following the regional Holcim Awards for sustainable construction projects for Latin America, Europe, Africa Middle East, and North America, the winners of the Asia Pacific Awards have been revealed, bringing the regional phase of the competition to a close.
2011-12-12 08:55:25 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A couple of century-old theatres scarred by fire and left untouched for 50 years have been transformed into fashionable restaurants in the heart of Auckland.
2011-12-06 17:22:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
A new mall is literally popping up in Shoreditch, South London in a world-first for mall construction.
2011-12-06 15:54:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Victoria University student Roger Wilson has emerged victorious in the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards, a design competition contested by the top four final year students from each of New Zealand’s three architecture schools at the University of Auckland, Unitec, and Victoria.
2011-11-30 16:40:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Chris Jack walks us through a day in his world and tells us what his Superman night gig would be.
2011-11-25 13:05:51 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Architecture contests are never short of ambitious projects, and the modern masterpiece proposed by Japanese practice Sou Fujimoto Architects in collaboration with Taiwanese firm Fei & Cheng Associates that took first place in the Taiwan Tower International competition for Taichung city is no exception.
2011-11-23 17:07:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
What happens to New Zealand’s women architects after they graduate? That's the question behind Architecture + Women.
2011-11-23 13:42:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Seventeen projects, ranging in scale from Forsyth Barr Stadium to a weekend retreat at Taieri Mouth, have been recognised in the Southern Architecture Awards, the programme that celebrates the year’s best buildings in Otago and Southland.
2011-11-22 16:36:16 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
100 ‘rooms of solitude’, a plan to create a new East River walkway in New York featuring a disused aircraft carrier and the integration of the earthquake-ravaged ruins of a Lyttelton convent into a new structure were the three diverse winners at this year’s AAA Cavalier Bremworth Unbuilt Architecture Awards.
2011-11-15 11:44:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The pool of winners from the 2011 Gisborne/Hawkes Bay Architecture Awards may be on the smaller side — a regular theme in this year’s NZIA regional awards — but they’re well worth a look. Seven projects took out an award, which were announced at an event in the Hawke’s Bay Opera House.
2011-11-09 12:28:15 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Round six of the local architecture awards has wrapped up, with Palmerston North entries proving big winners on the night. A total of five Palmerston North projects took home an award in the 2011 Western Architecture Awards, with 12 awards dished out in total.
2011-11-07 11:32:08 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This year's entry numbers for the Wellington Architecture Awards may have been down, but the architecture which was "reassuringly high". All up 16 projects were bestowed with an award, among them the 1950s-designed Lower Hutt Civic Precinct and the already award-laden Wellington Airport international passenger terminal.
2011-10-21 12:33:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
To say Christchurch has had a rough time of it lately is certainly putting it mildly. But that didn’t stop some of the best architecture in the region being recognised at last night’s Canterbury Architecture Awards. All up 12 projects walked home with an award, and among the winning firms were Sheppard & Rout Architects, Warren and Mahoney and Opus Architecture.
2011-10-17 12:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The New Zealand Registered Architects Board has welcomed a new member by way of retired high court judge Sir Hugh Williams. Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson made the announcement, saying Hugh has a “long standing interest in architecture” and is keen to contribute his legal skills to the public.
2011-10-17 09:44:20 // Esther Goh
National tax reform is what's needed to effectively assist building owners with seismic strengthening, the head of the Property Council says – not just a Canterbury-specific tax policy.
2011-10-14 13:05:21 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
There were 42 awards handed out at the recent Auckland Architecture Awards, four of which were dedicated exclusively to sustainable architecture. Feast your eyes on the winners.
2011-10-13 13:15:45 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland’s Art Gallery was the star of the show in more ways than one at last night’s Auckland Architecture Awards. As well as playing host to the packed crowd that attended the awards, the redeveloped gallery took home two awards — one for heritage and another for public architecture. But it of course was only one of many winners in an awards ceremony that saw a record number of awards dished out.
2011-10-07 13:56:22 // Sustain Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Nelson Marlborough Architecture Awards, the first in a series of regional architectural excellence awards, this week recognised three properties for their sustainability credentials.
2011-10-05 14:50:51 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #35: workshop
| 9 comments
The New Zealand architecture industry is suffering from a lack of confidence, says Andrew Patterson.
2011-09-22 12:57:59 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Last year it was a coffee cup concoction from Daniel Marshall Architects that took home the top award at the AAA (Auckland Architecture Association) Cavalier Bremworth Unbuilt Architecture Awards. With entries for the 2011 round of awards open, organisers have announced that for the first time in the history of the awards, entries can now be received online.
2011-09-21 13:49:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In under one week the biggest event on the Auckland architectural calendar kicks off. From Saturday 24 September to Saturday 1 October, Architecture Week Auckland will bring together a variety of activities in a number of locations, including exhibitions, a sculpture park visit, the launch of the Women in Architecture project and a talk by international guest speaker Sean Godsell. Local architectural firms Fearon Hay and Peddle Thorp Architects will also deliver a joint presentation on their co-win of Waterfront Auckland’s design competition for a 300-room hotel in the Wynyard Quarter.
2011-09-15 11:55:42 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
To celebrate the centenary of New Zealand’s suffrage in June 1993 an exhibition titled ‘Constructive Agenda – 60 Years of Women in Architecture in New Zealand’ sparked widespread interest in Kiwi women working in architecture. But what’s happened to women in architecture since then? When you consider close to half of all all new architecture students are women and yet only 10 percent get registered after graduating, it does pose an interesting question. In a bid to answer this question and once again open up the dialogue, a website will be launched on September 26 to coincide with the opening of Auckland Architecture Week. Called Architecture + Women, the project is the brainchild of a small team of Auckland based female architects.
2011-07-15 17:13:00 // Vanessa Ellingham
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A new Wellington housing development will use an innovative foundation design employing polysterene waste to ensure the houses can withstand seismic activity better than homes built on traditional concrete slabs.
2011-07-07 09:20:42 // Design Daily Team
| 2 comments
Being allocated only 48 hours in which to redesign a part of Christchurch’s central city may not seem like enough time, but it was enough to earn NZ Wood the title of supreme winner for the 48 Hour Design Challenge.The competition, run by the Christchurch City Council and held at Lincoln University, provided an opportunity for Council to gain inspiration from the design and architecture industry, while testing the draft Central City Plan currently being developed.
2011-04-04 15:37:40 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
PechaKucha presentations in Enzed are always inspiring, but the upcoming Global PechaKucha Day has an even more unique role for us with PechaKucha Night Christchurch being designated as the launch city for the global event. Called ‘Inspire Christchurch’ the event will kick-start the global event themed around ‘Inspire Japan’, with many of the 400 PechaKucha cities taking part across the world.
2011-04-04 11:40:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
The New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development, The Centre for Advanced Engineering and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have teamed up to create a proposal for the New Zealand Government. They're asking for the establishment of a Christchurch Reconstruction and Recovery Agency, which would feature a governance body comprised of proven experts from architecture, urban planning, project management, communications, procurement, logistics, and construction. According to Alan McMahon, chair of the RICS New Zealand, other nations that have been impacted by natural disasters who have dedicated agencies have "achieved better outcomes".
2011-04-01 10:14:35 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
With the skeletal frame of the First Light house complete, in their latest blog the team start to delve into the more technological side of things. There’s also a couple of very cool timelapse videos to give you more of a visual taster of the progress taking place.
2011-03-25 09:56:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Marco Bernardini’s Age House isn’t the most obvious form of architecture, quite literally. Bernardini explains its unusual, yet very natural and seamless form.
2011-03-18 10:37:18 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #32: features
| 2 comments
Christchurch’s chocolate-box facade has
cracked. The city will never be the same—
but what will it choose to become? Kris
Herbert meets the Cantabrians who are
reinventing their city
2011-03-18 09:55:07 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
The First Light house is well and truly starting to take shape with the team describing the initial stages of construction in their latest blog. There’s also an awesome time lapse video that brings the process to life.
2011-03-09 17:17:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
How to best design for retail is the hot topic up for discussion at the upcoming Designers Speak Series 2011. The DINZ event will feature insights from speakers in retail, design, branding and architecture.
2011-03-08 14:30:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The depth of Kiwi design talent in the running to win an award at the upcoming 2011 Dulux Colour Awards spreads far and wide as the newly announced 2011 shortlist reveals. The awards celebrate the use of colour in architecture and design and this year’s shortlist features an impressive 23 Kiwi projects, with Auckland and Christchurch taking centre-stage.
2011-03-07 14:10:11 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Never has a woman been so successful across such a broad range of careers. Having dabbled in employment as a doctor, dentist and even a racecar driver, Barbie’s official 2011 career might come as either a compliment or perhaps insult to some. Are you ready for architect Barbie?
2011-03-04 14:58:34 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
Why use wool when building? Well, it's a renewable resource, it’s healthy, low in conductivity, non-allergic, fire resistant, environmentally friendly, safe to handle, absorbs gases and fumes, and is low in embodied energy. And that's just for starters. In their latest blog, the First Light team explain why they think wool is pretty much the best ever insulation to use when building a house.
2011-03-03 13:21:16 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Time will be the biggest challenge in rebuilding Christchurch. That’s according to Peter Marshall, managing director at Warren and Mahoney. But regardless of the time it takes, he says it’s imperative to incorporate local input into the rebuilding process, though he acknowledges government and nation-wide input is also critical as part of a wider framework of initiatives.
2011-02-18 10:37:26 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Small things can be quite complex. Like, for example, getting a delicate miniature model of an architecture project safely to the US for display. The First Light team explain.
2011-02-17 10:51:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The New Zealand Registered Architects Board (NZRAB) has launched a new service to help members of the public search for an architect that best suits their project, and the board quick to point out the new service does not endorse a particular architect over another.
2011-02-14 10:20:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Brand new Auckland school Ormiston Senior College has opened its doors with a notable point of difference. As well as its unique appearance, it’s also the first school in New Zealand to be awarded the 5 Green Star Education rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council.
2011-02-10 14:21:21 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Whe Len Brown became the first Mayor of the new Auckland Super City, he immediately pledged an ambitious goal to make Auckland “the most liveable city in the world”. The New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID) says the government could learn a lesson or two from a recent study trip undertaken by its chief executive Stephen Selwood and Paul Buetow, infrastructure partner at law firm Kensington Swan.
2011-02-09 10:19:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
An exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery starting next week is giving Cantabs the chance to speak up about the future design direction of Christchurch post-earthquake.
2011-02-07 10:44:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
First Light, the Victoria University team of students competing in this year’s US Solar Decathlon competition (the first Kiwi team to ever do so), have been doing an awesome job at keeping us updated as they get set to compete in Washington D.C. later this year. And now, after reading about their progress and seeing it in pictures via their regular blogs, First Light have gone one better by giving us this fantastic fly-through 3D animation of their solar bach concept.
2011-01-26 06:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
This hotel is almost too cool for words. Located in the Swedish village of Harads, from some angles it appears to be almost invisible.
2011-01-21 11:33:15 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
After a bulldozer yesterday began to tear down the cottage located at number 10 Turua street—one of the three Art Deco houses in St Heliers facing demolition—came news 15 minutes later that the Environment Court has granted an injunction on the demolition of the properties.
2011-01-17 14:28:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
No, it's not a giant slinky, though the comparison seems inevitable. Russian architect Alexander Remizov has released his design for what he calls ‘The Ark’, a building he says attempts to answer the “challenges of our time”, like extreme environmental conditions and climate change.
2011-01-17 09:52:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
David Engwicht is one of the world’s most innovative thinkers on creating vibrant public spaces, and now the founder of Creative Communities International is heading our way in March to hold workshops across the country. Here are the details.
2011-01-10 17:11:01 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
In their first blog entry of 2011, and in the year they’ll be competing in the US Solar Decathlon competition (the first Kiwi team to ever do so), Victoria University’s First Light team explain why they’re so excited about the development and use of solar technologies in building, and why its benefits extend far beyond simply environmental.
2011-01-10 14:59:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While it certainly wouldn’t appeal (nor would it be practical) to everyone, 45-year-old Jay Shafer opted to reinvent his life and started the reinvention by drastically downsizing the clutter in his life, beginning with his house. With no construction experience, Shafer designed and built an 89-sq-ft house for himself and, upon receiving positive feedback, has turned his inspiration into a business, designing small houses for others. Check out the tiny living in action.
2011-01-10 12:38:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Those of you curious about environmentally sustainable design might like to head along to the upcoming ‘Living roofs for sustainable communities’ event in Auckland, featuring Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Brad Bass. Better yet, it's free.
2010-12-16 12:15:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Having dabbled in more than a few extraordinary career ventures (Olympic snowboarder, clothing label creator to a Master of Architecture), Pamela Bell now has her sights firmly set on prefabricated building in New Zealand. But why exactly does she think it’s the Holy Grail for the design and construction industry?
2010-12-14 09:10:00 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
What stimulates your memory, or your understanding of what memory is? How does the motivation to create and contain memory co-exist within the expression of your design work, your architecture, your photography or art?
Wellington was the place to be to get deep and meaningful about this growing agenda of questions last week, when the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa joined with New York’s Syracuse University and Massey University in hosting the Contained Memory Conference – Pupuri Pohewa.
2010-12-10 09:57:05 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
In their latest blog entry, the First Light team tell us why they’re assembling their solar bach on Wellington’s waterfront in the lead-up to the US Solar Decathlon competition. And just exactly how much Wellington wind will the bach be able to withstand?
2010-12-09 12:28:23 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
To call Mary Gordon’s professional career thus far eclectic is somewhat of an understatement. In previous incarnations, Gordon has donned a number of hats including AMP business manager, chief executive of architectural firm ASA Crone (which she rebranded to ‘Ignite’), managing director of Hay Group NZ. She’s even worked in corporate treasury in Melbourne and on business consulting projects that include architectural designs for five-star hotels in Sydney and Dubai. Plus there’s the high-end residential and commercial fitouts in Auckland. Oh, and did we mention she also designs her own clothing? Last year Gordon assumed the role of ShoreCare chief executive and less than two years into the job, she's transformed traditional clinic design with the new ShoreCare Accident and Medical Clinic on Auckland’s North Shore. She explains why, when it comes to medical clinics, functionality as well as good design don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
2010-12-06 15:16:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A design that incorporates a slaughterhouse, a meat preparation area and restaurant—all housed under one roof—has won the 2010 New Zealand Institute of Architects Graphisoft Student Design Award, pocketing a handy $5,000.00 prize.
2010-12-06 12:40:15 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
For the Auckland region, it’s $4.29 billion by 2040, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers study commissioned by public agency Sea+City Projects and released by Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce. And what of its projected social and environmental benefits?
2010-12-03 10:17:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Two “friendly rivals” in the bespoke architecturally designed end of the sustainable home market have teamed up to create a range of sustainably orientated self-build modular homes.
2010-12-02 12:26:26 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
With close to 20 years experience in sustainable design and construction, Jasmax sustainability manager Jerome Partington reckons buildings in New Zealand are often designed to meet standards that are 20 years out of date. He tells us why architects—as trained visionaries—have a critical role to play in creating a strategic approach to sustainable building. And what exactly is the difference between green building and sustainable building?
2010-11-30 10:26:21 // Design Daily Team
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| 1 comment
Canterbury's NZi3 Innovation building, luxury Auckland apartments and Rob Fyfe are among winners celebrated at the recent 2010 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards in Wellington, attended by more than 360 guests. But the winner of the Supreme Award for Engineering Excellence was a snowier affair.
2010-11-29 17:38:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In this TED presentation, Canadian John Hardy takes you on a tour of the ‘Green School’, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). He discusses its unique architectural features and explains why the principles of the green school can be applied to communities around the world—just follow these rules: be local, let the environment lead and think about how your grandchildren might build.
2010-11-25 12:26:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 8 comments
Taking you on architectural journey far and wide—from Poland to Portugal, Iran to Australia—the book 'HOUSE' makes global architecture a witty, fun, accessible and educational experience for children—and as we discovered when the book was in our office—adults too. But as much as it pains us to have to part with our copies of the book, we know that sharing is good. To get HOUSE into your house, simply share a link with us (and we'll post the picture) to the most unusual form of architecture you’ve come across. Easy.
2010-11-25 10:02:07 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
What exactly is a house? A simple dwelling with a roof and four walls? Sure, if you’re ordinary. But did you know a house can also be a nut, a suitcase, a UFO and even a giant balloon you blow up? In the new book HOUSE, authors Aleksandra Machowiak and Daniel Mizieliński seek to expand perceptions of what a house is, by introducing children to 35 of the more unusual, distinctive and quirky houses found across the globe, detailing the inspiration behind each. Take the ‘Suitcase House’ in China for example, which features rooms that only appear as you need them, or the ‘Nut House’, resembling a hazelnut and sitting suspended in the Canadian forest.
2010-11-24 15:10:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Here’s a thrifty way to fit out an office. But thrifty as it may be, it’s also rather funky. Using wooden pallets, Dutch architectural firm Most Architecture have created this novel temporary office space for an Amsterdam advertising company.
2010-11-24 10:16:41
// The Idealog Blog
Design enthusiasts will be muscling it out and testing their skills against each other next month as part of the Panorama 2010 Asia-Pacific Design Challenge at Kuala Lumpur. The event brings designers, architects, engineers and digital artists together, who will compete under a “change the world" theme. And thrown in the mix of competitors is a Kiwi team from Massey University’s Institute of Communication Design.
2010-11-23 11:34:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
From an opera house to a bus shelter, and even public loos—the winners from the recent NZIA 2010 Southern Architecture Awards are a diverse bunch. And sustainability gets a decent look-in too. And now, starting off with the grandest of winners...
2010-11-22 12:57:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the best of built architecture is being celebrated around the country with the NZIA local architecture awards, it was the turn of unbuilt architecture to strut its stuff at the recent 2010 AAA (Auckland Architecture Association) Cavalier Bremworth Design awards. And strut it did.
2010-11-22 12:01:12 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In a bid to engage in a public discussion about architecture, Wellington-based architects KebbellDaish has produced an exhibition ‘Great Figure!’ which features models and pin-ups of three houses in Wellington, on Great Barrier Island and Mornington Peninsula (near Melbourne). Each house exhibited in the show features a key space—a ‘figure’ as KebbellDaish refers to them. But you only have Monday and Tuesday this week to check it out. Details here.
2010-11-22 10:52:53 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
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From the beach right through to mountains—taking visitors on a journey through Kiwi landscapes is central to the ambitions of Victoria University’s First Light—the first ever team from the Southern Hemisphere to make it to the finals of the US Solar Decathlon competition, held in Washington DC next year. As they explain in their latest blog, designing a unique Kiwi landscape to go with their soalr bach concept is one thing, but how do you go about sourcing native New Zealand plants in Washington DC?
2010-11-18 14:10:57 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Architects, architectural students, graduates, engineers, planners, landscape architects and designers are gathering in Auckland’s St Pauls Street Gallery tonight for the 2010 AAA (Auckland Architecture Association) Cavalier Bremworth Design awards. Recognising the best in unbuilt architecture, the awards feature an impressive line-up of judges, and of course, we'll be bringing you all the winning results.
2010-11-17 12:09:58 // Celsias Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
It’s no secret that New Zealand homes aren’t renowned for their warmth and insulation properties. In a bid to address the issue, in 2008 the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development (NZGBCSD) released a report on how to improve the performance of Kiwi homes. The report—resulting from a two-year $300,000 research project—found one million of the country’s 1.6 million homes were inadequately insulated and 45 percent were mouldy. It indicated 26 percent of homes (410,000) could be making their occupants ill. But now, a new rating system has been launched which allows homeowners to assess their home’s performance in comfort, health and energy-efficiency.But while it’s a good start, what are the pitfalls?
2010-11-16 10:42:18 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Where might you expect to find Guastavino arches and skylights, coloured glass tile work, and brass chandeliers? It might not sound like a description befitting of an underground New York subway station, but that description about sums up New York City’s famous City Hall Station. But to get there, you need to be in the know.
2010-11-15 16:44:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Much like the recent NZIA Western Architecture Awards, Friday night’s 2010 Gisborne Hawkes Bay Architecture Awards demonstrated how good design need not come equipped with a hefty price tag. And the winners are...
2010-11-12 16:46:27 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Build an Olympic village of course. Not just any Olympic village mind you. How about the world’s first ever sustainable Olympic village? That’s the precise task Canterbury University graduate Roger Bayely was assigned with when his firm Merrick Architecture won the project brief. On a recent visit to New Zealand, Bayley elaborated on the mammoth and rather complex task of building the Southeast False Creek Olympic Village in Vancouver.
2010-11-11 14:17:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Enzed’s structural design prowess looks to be standing strong with Kiwi companies taking out two of the eleven categories at the recent Institution of Structural Engineers Awards held in London. Wellington’s Supreme Court was crowned winner in the ‘Heritage Award for Building or Infrastructure Projects’ category, while the NZi3 Innovation Institute Building in Canterbury came out tops in the ‘Award for Education or Healthcare Structures’ category.
2010-11-11 11:21:59 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Telecom's new superstore in Auckland’s CBD, is a dramatic departure from the norm. The new superstore marries high-tech features with convivial approachability—in a space that oozes colour, variety and character.
2010-11-10 15:54:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Reckon you’ve got a few creative and intelligent ideas floating around about how to best design more resilient communities? As part of a new competition, the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering is on the lookout for proposals that will increase the resilience of cities and communities affected by earthquakes and tsunamis, with a focus on aiding recovery and social regeneration to affected areas.
2010-11-10 11:10:46 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
From council dunnies to residential refurbs and libraries, architect Brendan Rawson insists on a very personal approach to each and every project that comes his way.
2010-11-09 15:30:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Following a recent Cabinet meeting, Nick Smith and Rodney Hide have shared their thoughts on Auckland’s spatial plan and how central government will work with the Auckland Council to develop the first spatial plan. And both agree, not surprisingly, that the plan will enable Auckland to play a critical role as a key link to the global economy.
2010-11-09 14:40:31 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
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| 1 comment
In their latest blog, the Washington-bound First Light team give us the low-down on the passive solar design principles they’ll be utilising in the construction of their bach—a bach they say will use less than a third of the energy of a typical New Zealand home.
2010-11-09 10:48:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A limited budget need not limit the quality of design, as some of the winning entries from Friday evening’s 2010 Western Architecture Awards have proved.
2010-11-08 12:28:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Take the creative juices of a design industry veteran and add a splash of modern rock, and what do you get? ‘MAKE SOMETHING’—a creative, genre-defining mash-up, which creeps beyond regular commercial boundaries.
2010-11-08 10:59:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
When rugby madness descends upon our shores next year, Queens Wharf is braced to be the largest of Auckland’s four Rugby World Cup 2011 Fanzones, featuring open areas and a multi-purpose temporary facility named ‘The Cloud’. And in a bid to get the area up to scratch, John Key has unveiled plans for a $9.8 million redevelopment of Queens Wharf.
2010-11-05 14:50:11 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
The Sleepbox is an architectural concept by A Goryainov and M Krymov. It’s kind of like a little apartment, except more mobile, or an alternative to sleazy rent-by-the-hour motels. Equipped with built in LCD TV, ventilation, wi-fi, electric sockets and a bed which changes its own linen, the idea is for users to rest and recharge without expending excess time and money hunting for a hotel.
2010-11-05 14:38:52 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In what proved to be an exceptionally popular competition (over 90 entries), unashamedly "grungy" streetwise apartments, the City Gallery, the Zoo Hospital and the new Supreme Court are among designs celebrated at last night's 2010 Wellington Architecture Awards.
2010-11-05 11:39:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Today marks the launch of Auckland’s Art Week (5-14 November), giving you the chance to pick and choose from 80 events and exhibitions taking place across three inner-city neighbourhoods. Better yet, many of the events are free. You can even get in amongst a spot of speed dating...
2010-11-04 06:55:02 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
No big, fat Japanese wrestlers but Oh No Sumo push the boundaries. Taking home silver and gold awards at this year's Best Design Awards for their Paper Sky project and the Cupcake Pavilion, they unleash their unconventional creative thinking and tell us why they'd like to splash themselves in paint.
2010-11-01 12:04:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
An eco classroom and the already heavily-awarded Waikato Cave Visitors Centre are among two of the winners at Friday's 2010 Waikato Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards. Having received a total of 42 submissions, nothing was off limits at the event, with everything from budget to top-end designs honoured.
2010-10-29 14:39:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This new retail space doest require any cooling devices to retain its icy and all-round cool appearance. The Richard Chai store is a temporary installation courtesy of Snarkitecture—a collaborative practice between an artist and an architect—in conjunction with designer Richard Chai, as part of the Building Fashion series.
2010-10-29 09:36:49 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
A seminal book full of “prototypes for a Maori sustainable future” has been launched this week in Wellington.
Tāone Tupu Ora, meaning an urban environment where nature and culture are not separated, is the third joint publication venture between the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities and publisher Steele Roberts.
2010-10-29 09:20:43 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
When the Sandringham Plunket and Playgroup facility burned down as a result of arson one Guy Fawkes night, the community got together to write a brief for a redesign that would be innovative, flexible, contemporary, cost-effective and energy efficient. Strachan Group Architects responded with a building for the Parakete Ora Sandringham Plunket that had the NZIA awards judges in awe.
2010-10-27 17:05:07 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
No, it’s not a pair of giant pumpkins or even a piece of anatomy belonging to the nether regions—as some earlier murmurings might have suggested. This is Wellington Airport's new $60 million international terminal, officially opened by Prime Minister John Key today. Dubbed ‘The Rock’, it looks set to turn critics on their heads. Architect Nick Barratt-Boyes discusses criticism, collaboration and the project’s unique design features.
2010-10-27 09:14:06 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
With one of the 10 competitions in the Solar Decathlon 2011 being centered around communications, the First Light team tell us how strategic design company Designworks has produced the foundation for the positioning of the First LightNZ brand, as well as ongoing strategic advice leading up to the Washington event.
2010-10-26 10:19:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It might have had to take a momentary step aside in light of the Christchurch earthquake, but the good news is Christchurch’s PechaKucha night is all good to go. So good to go in fact, it’s happening tomorrow night. Here's the lineup for tomorrow's creative feast.
2010-10-22 10:07:12 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
A commitment to protecting heritage has led to the resurrection of the Grosvenor—Timaru's iconic 19th century building. Also known as the Grand Old Lady of the South, the Grosvenor is entwined in Timaru's history with ornate styling dating back to when it was built in 1885.
2010-10-21 22:01:40 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What do a stadium and shed have in common? Clearly it’s not size, but an eye for clever design and construction detailing saw both take out awards at tonight’s Canterbury Architecture Awards. It was clean, clear palettes and no-fuss designs that found favour with the judges at this year’s ceremony.
2010-10-21 13:31:50 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This weekend sees the opening of exhibition project 'Designs for Living' at Adam Art Gallery in Wellington. Design for Living is a suite of four exhibitions that revisit twentieth-century modernism as it took shape in New Zealand. It draws on visual and archival material and New Zealand’s built heritage, to document certain features of this important artistic, architectural, social, technological and material legacy.
2010-10-20 10:40:08 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Marrying form and function, Marcus Halliday of Halliday & Baillie pursues a timewarp of classic perfection for his architectural hardware designs in New Zealand.
2010-10-19 13:51:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In a previous life, this Shanghai warehouse was used to store fabric. Now, having received a makeover courtesy of Archi-Union Architects, the building retains its fabric-like contours and waves, only this time, that flow has been applied to the exterior of the building, created by angling hollow bricks in different ways.
2010-10-18 16:31:56 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Normally bland and impersonal, gynaecologist’s offices don’t often make the cut for design awards. But this warm, playful and seductively curvaceous solution in Auckland, by Tim Dorrington of Dorrington Architects, breaks the mould to make potentially anxious clients feel more relaxed. It gained highly commended for an interior fitout in the New Zealand Timber Design Awards 2010 as well as a bronze for ‘Spatial Design—Rooms’, in the Best Design Awards.
2010-10-18 13:49:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the regional architecture awards have been taking the spotlight as of late, Friday saw another set of awards dished out, this time by way of the ADNZ (Architectural Designers New Zealand)/Resene National Design Awards, which showcase the work of New Zealand’s growing number of architectural designers.
2010-10-15 13:06:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A James Bond style heliport, a house with fins and the Waitangi Toilet Block were among the winners at last nights Auckland Architecture Awards, which received a healthy 120 submissions.
2010-10-14 11:59:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The competition was—for lack of a better word—stiff at this years NZ Wood Timber Design Awards, with winners including Wellington’s Supreme Court and the Waitomo Cave Visitor’s Centre. The awards even ventured as far as the sandy depths of the UAE. Take a look at the winning projects...
2010-10-13 16:03:58 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
Having worked in some intriguing locations—including Mongolia— Irish-born Julie Hannon shares her Supercity hopes and discuses the global trend of sustainable building design.
2010-10-13 10:02:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
You might remember not long after the Christchurch earthquake, a group of young architectural graduates launched the ‘Ideas for Christchurch’ initiative as a means of encouraging as many groups or individuals as possible to submit ideas they had for the architecture of the city and hence "share architectural ideas for discussion". Over one month on and loads of submissions later, you can see the diverse submissions for yourself. Here are few to get you started...
2010-10-12 16:17:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
It's regional architecture awards season—a time when the discerning eyes of judges scan the Enzed landscape for examples of architectural excellence. And if the results of the recent Nelson Marlborough Architecture Awards are anything to go by, we're off to a bumper season of design.
2010-10-11 15:36:59 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
The First LightNZ team started with a design created by Victoria of University architecture students Anna Farrow, Ben Jagersma, Nick Officer and Eli Nuttall. They were put together by their lecturer based on shared interests, and over the past year they’ve become a tight unit and good friends. But, as time has gone by, the team explains why four no longer cuts it.
2010-10-08 16:13:48 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Every client has their dream. But as many of us discover when building a home, dreams often don’t align perfectly with what is realistically affordable. That doesn’t have to be the end of the dream. David Ponting (Ponting Fitzgerald) discusses a journey he recently took, in which he navigated a pathway through limitations to arrive at a final design even better than the original.
2010-10-08 13:27:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Telecom employees, currently scattered across five locations in Auckland, are set to unite in a greener space, with its new building—Telecom Place—being awarded a Five Star Green Rating by the Green Building Council, in partnership with building partners, Manson Group. Its greener building features include...
2010-10-07 11:27:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
At a time when rebuilding Christchurch is at the forefront of many people’s attention, the city is set to receive some fresh perspectives on architecture with a visit from architect Kevin Low, whose company ‘small projects’ concerns itself with relevant design, architectural economy and spatial technology.
2010-10-06 11:22:27 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
From unique baches to community centres, Logan Reilly muses over creating exceptional spaces that each become dream commissions.
2010-10-05 15:08:11 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
Nga Aho, the culturally connected network formed to support Maori design professionals, has been enriched this year by the inclusion of Auckland-based German designers Luka Hinse and Oliver Kraft as Kaupapa Whanau members. As new New Zealanders, Hinse and Kraft have both been making their mark on the design world in Aotearoa in varied ways. Hinse is well known for bringing to life the ever popular Pecha Kucha Nights here, while Kraft was a founder with Amanda Hookham of the ground-breaking furniture design label Purple South.
2010-10-04 15:27:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Celebrating the best in architecture across the country, the 2010 local architecture awards—organised by the NZIA—are getting set to take place over the next two months, beginning with the Nelson Marlborough awards this Wednesday...
2010-10-04 11:08:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The New Zealand Institute of Architects has agreed with the Christchurch City Council to provide the earthquake-hit region with an Architectural Ambassador. Architect Ian Athfield will take on the ambassador role, which will involve providing design advice and coordination during the rebuild and restoration process. Warren and Mahoney back the move and offer six of their own principles it believes should underpin future decision making on the rebuild.
2010-10-01 14:27:17 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a real house. Well it is, sort of. The only difference is that this house is a fraction of the size of what a real house is. This is just one of the homes on offer from New York-based Brinca Dada, makers of sophisticated, modern and intelligent dollhouses. The benefits? Well for one, your living room floor will look a lot tidier.
2010-10-01 11:58:17 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Architectural names come and go as firms are established then are assimilated into larger operations, or just cease to exist. But one name has been constant since the very beginning of the profession in this country. Mason and Wales is New Zealand’s oldest practice.
2010-09-30 15:19:04 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
In downtown Auckland last night a host of Auckland business and local government leaders converged to listen as an expert panel shared their ideas on what the Auckland Spatial Plan could look like, how policymakers and ratepayers could contribute and interact with it, and how the plan could benefit the rest of New Zealand.
2010-09-29 10:41:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s an iconic space that has seen its fare share of big name events, including a number of FA Cup finals, the 1948 Summer Olympics and even Live Aid. In 2000, the old Wembley stadium was demolished to make way for the new stadium which wasn’t completed until 2007. Three years on and the stadium is gearing up for the next stage in its development by unveiling a new brand identity.
2010-09-28 15:54:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
What do you call an office with no receptionist, no phones and a carpet of glossy black pebbles replacing carpet tiles? The Research Agency, of course. The new fit-out at Auckland's High Street by architect Jose Gutierrez comes from questioning what makes an office typical.
2010-09-28 13:03:19 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Having worked on the design of two of the world’s most iconic sky towers, architect Les Dykstra goes aquatic to focus on the relationship between building and water.
2010-09-28 12:18:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
High profile architect/urban designers Christina Van Bohemen, Barry Copeland and James Lunday will each be delivering a show and tell of their urban design ideas for the Supercity, as part of a panel discussion this coming Thursday. The event is part of Cycle Action Auckland Inc AGM, which will kick off with Ludo Campbell-Reid's 'Urban design for a Super City' presentation.
2010-09-28 10:50:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
It’s a plant that can be used to make paper, clothing and even car body panels. But its properties can also be used to build the environmentally-friendly homes of the future, according to researchers at the University of Bath. A consortium based at the University has constructed a small building on the Claverton campus out of hemp-lime to test its properties as a building material. It's hoped the project will provide enough potent data to persuade the mainstream building industry to use this building material more widely.
2010-09-27 14:04:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Creating public spaces which make people feel at home is the guiding philosophy that defines ‘placemaking’—an urban design and community development model that focuses on creating amazing public spaces. And next month, Placemaking New Zealand (PMNZ) will be holding it’s second annual forum, which is open to anyone working in urban design, infrastructure & community development throughout the country.
2010-09-27 11:38:47 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
Welcome to the second installment from First Light, the Kiwi team from Wellington’s Victoria University competing on the world stage in the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon competition. The challenge has literally heated up for the team as they’re tasked with marrying passive solar features with strict competition rules.
2010-09-21 16:51:31 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Get your 3D glasses out (it's amazing what you can find in an office when you look hard enough) and if you don’t have any, watch anyway. Augmented (hyper)Reality: Augmented City, is an impressive film produced by Keiichi Matsud as part of a larger project that addresses the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality. Watch it here.
2010-09-20 11:42:43 // Kip Brook
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As a former UK-Europe Bureau Chief NZPA media correspondent, Kip Brook is no stranger to putting his thoughts into words following a crisis. Now settled in Christchurch, Brook gives his take on the city's architecture and heritage, a fortnight after the quake.
2010-09-20 10:35:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Emerging and experienced researchers and practitioners will be exchanging views, knowledge and experiences about the relationship of interior and exterior spaces at a symposium entitled Interstices - Under Construction: Unsettled Containers at The University of Auckland, October 8-10. And you can join in too.
2010-09-16 15:07:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Good ‘ole Kiwi wood is being shown the love with some stellar entries in this years NZ Wood Timber Design Awards. Entries include the interior fitout of the new Supreme Court building, wind turbines designed with high-performance wooden blades and “folding whares” for use as emergency shelters following a disaster.
2010-09-16 10:26:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Auckland’s Britomart Precinct is a constantly evolving project. Its $350 million transformation by Cooper and Company into a retail, lifestyle, commercial and residential space, includes the renovation of 17 heritage buildings and the construction of six new buildings. Watch the changes for yourself with this newly released video, which takes you on a ride through the development, allowing you to appreciate it from literally every angle
2010-09-15 12:19:17 // Sam Kebbell
// The Idealog Blog
Architect Sam Kebbell of KebbellDaish Architects finds a silver lining in the recession and the Canterbury earthquake as he ponders the positive effects of encouraging experimentation in our built environment.
2010-09-14 16:27:34 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
One of New Zealand’s great men of architecture lives on in Ian Seddon who was inspired by his mentor, the flamboyant Paris Magdalinos during the quarter of a century they worked together.
2010-09-14 09:51:23 // Ideas for Christchurch
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A group of young architectural graduates is calling for your ideas to stimulate interest and establish discussion to achieve the best for Christchurch. The scale is open: form a strategic vision for the entire city; reconsider a hard hit suburb; preserve a local dairy. Salvage heritage and character, design temporary infills, sustainable developments, urban parks/reserves, inner-city living, a new typology of housing, a city of skyscrapers, a city of pickles… whatever you find interesting. They want to see your ideas providing a framework to give shape to what could, should, or might be.
2010-09-13 11:50:15 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
Welcome to first blog entry by First Light, the Kiwi team competing on the world stage against some of the world’s brightest student minds in the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon competition. The team won a place in the competition with a unique, solar-powered concept inspired by the “Kiwi Bach”, making them the only team from the Southern Hemisphere to have ever reached the finals of the competition. In this entry, they explain how they’re planning on overcoming the challenge of shipping a whole house halfway round the world.
2010-09-13 11:18:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the organisers of Christchurch's Pecha Kucha night had all the good intentions to progress with the event as planned, the decision has been made to postpone this Thursday's event.
2010-09-13 10:38:28 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Walking down Rhubarb Lane, the vibrant urban village planned for the Victoria Quarter of Auckland, visitors will face the unusual façade of ‘Tattoo’, the latest release within the Rhubarb Lane development due for completion in 2012.
2010-09-10 12:55:37 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
We’ve been speaking with the folk behind Christchurch’s PechaKucha night and the good news is the event is going ahead as planned, this coming Thursday, September 16. So if you’re in Christchurch, make sure you head along and support the creative community.
2010-09-09 12:34:56 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
With a string of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs as clients, David Ponting, founding director of Ponting Fitzgerald, finds plenty of opportunity to distil the creative spirit into exceptional architecture.
2010-09-07 12:38:04 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If there’s a niche space to keep an eye on in our urban landscapes and landscape architecture it seems we don’t need to look much further than the nearest wall or roof. The sustainable benefits of green walls and roofs are causing businesses around the world to look up, with the green roof industry in North America alone growing by an amazing 16 percent last year and still accelerating. And in Europe the French are particularly renowned for green walling entire buildings, most notably the entire exterior of the Paris Museum.
2010-09-03 16:27:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
You won’t find many squares in Zaha Hadid Architect’s fluid urban design concept for a new Beethoven Festival Hall in Bonn, Germany. In designing the building, the aim is to link the city of Bonn to the Rhine River promenade and in the process, create a dynamic riverside environment for the public to enjoy.
2010-09-02 17:07:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The state of urban planning in New Zealand has been a contentious issue for sometime now, and in a recent speech to the New Zealand Planning Institute at their Auckland Spatial Plan conference, Nick Smith revealed the Government’s plans to make urban and infrastructure planning a more effective process, both nationally and in the context of Auckland’s Super City.
2010-09-01 16:19:52 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
It’s a striking, colourful home with unusual, sometimes awkward angles in an assortment of materials that looms large over a prominent corner near Narrowneck beach. Opened up to the neighbours for a fundraising tour, the provocative home of David Mitchell and Julie Stout stirred quite a reaction.
2010-09-01 11:33:23 // Cliff Kuang
// The Idealog Blog
Can designing for a dictator actually be virtuous? That’s the question posed by editor of Co.Design Cliff Kuang when he speaks to contemporary architect Bjarke Ingels of architect firm BIG. The firm is famous for a number of international projects, but the recent commission by the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev – who runs an infamously dictatorial and corrupt government — to build the Astana National Library, is undoubtedly the most controversial yet.
2010-08-31 14:04:21 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Buoyed by fleeting objects of desire, nomadic child turned architect JAMES WARREN toys with the idea of producing enduring designs that have lifetime guarantees. We chat to the man who has found his feet designing for the built environment.
2010-08-31 10:27:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Ever wondered what a city operating entirely on artificial intelligence would look like? Richard Hardy, a Bartlett School of Architecture graduate, created this stunning Transcendant City movie as a reaction to a society that is currently not responding effectively to environmental dangers. “Transcendence” in this case refers to a point when artificial intelligence has reached or surpassed that of the human.
2010-08-30 15:06:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Dina Krunic is from “everywhere and nowhere.” The Belgrade-born architect is ordinarily based in Los Angeles, but has recently been enjoying a brief stay in Auckland as a guest lecturer at Unitec. Her internationally oriented lifestyle seems to parallel her research interests in the field of architecture and digital technologies. Network culture, global world, temporality and impermanence are some of the descriptors used to explain her unorthodox approach to architecture.
2010-08-27 10:45:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
While many car park building designs in Chicago have a tradition of disguising themselves as office buildings with false façades, a U.S-based architectural and engineering design firm has attempted to break from that model and deliver an entirely new aesthetic, by way of an 11-story energy-efficient parking garage in Chicago — the first of its kind for the city — featuring wind turbines, a rain water collection system and electric car plug-in stations.
2010-08-26 09:11:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
National and international groups are getting behind a group of four Victoria University students aiming to build a solar powered Kiwi bach in the United States. The team will be designing and building the house in Washington D.C. next year as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition, where they’ll be competing against 19 other teams. What makes their entry even more notable is the that they are the only team from the Southern Hemisphere to have ever reached the finals. Better yet, readers of Design Daily can follow the teams progress with regular blogs on the Design Daily site from the team.
2010-08-25 15:22:14 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
A competition designed to showcase the very best residential architecture in the country gave accolades to just a handful of great designs. Among the finalists in this year’s Annual Home NZ Home of the Year Awards were two homes by architect Daniel Marshall.
2010-08-24 12:28:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
US Company Zebra Imaging has brought architecture planning to life with their innovative holographic pop-up buildings. In this video, chief technology officer and co-founder Michael Klug, gives us a hands-on demonstration of the technology at work.
2010-08-24 11:10:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
When Massey University opened the doors to its new library at its Auckland campus, “non-traditional” was the key word. Rather than being solely a sanctuary of silence, the library encourages interaction and incorporates entertainment and social spaces, in addition to the conventional requirement for book and quiet spaces to read and study.
2010-08-23 12:42:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
There have been a few movements in the Kiwi architecture world, with news that the New Zealand Registered Architects’ Board is set to receive three new members. Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson has announced the appointment of Warwock Bell, Anthony Van Raat and Christina Van Bohemen onto the board.
2010-08-17 15:14:03 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
In this week’s Tuesday Chew, we catch Nelson architect Min Hall in a reflective mood as she takes time to step out of the ratrace - in Auckland of all places.
2010-08-17 10:25:13 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Ordinarily, seeing a plane buried deep in the jungle would signal a disaster of sorts, but not in this case. Costa Rica-based Hotel Costa Verde has revealed its latest lodgings, the Boeing 727 Fuselage Suite.
2010-08-16 14:50:14 // Fraser Gardyne
// The Idealog Blog
Designer Fraser Gardyne, of gardyneHOLT design partners, poses the question: How many buildings constructed over the last fifty years in Auckland do you remember, let alone wish to protect into the future? Only a few spring to mind, and that, he says, is a real problem for this country. In his opinion piece, Gardyne argues that considering the longevity of our design decisions is integral to the successful brand of Auckland.
2010-08-16 11:08:39 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Urban designers are being propelled into the development limelight with the release of new report, Urban Design Panels - A National Stocktake. The report is authored by urban designer Sarah Duffell on behalf of the Ministry for the Environment, and recommends that more weight be given to the expertise of urban design panels as a key tool in the decision making process followed by councils around New Zealand. Duffell says that urban design panels that are operating effectively can save time and money, for both applicants and councils, because consents can be decided on “better-resolved designs”.
2010-08-16 09:11:12 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Several years ago, a young Vietnamese graduate with a Masters Degree in Urban Design came knocking on Kevin Brewer’s door. “He could hardly speak any English, but he could draw well,” explains Kevin, who is a principal of Auckland architectural firm Brewer Davidson. Little did he know it, but Kevin had opened the door to one of the biggest commissions his practice had ever had the good fortune to be involved with.
2010-08-13 09:35:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Rotorua is set to go a little creatively crazy next week when it hosts its fifth annual artsMAD (art, media, architecture and design) event. The free event is put on by the Rotorua District Council (RDC) and brings artists, architects and designers together to share their inspirations with the community.
2010-08-11 15:50:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Arthouse Architecture is calling for artists to submit designs for installations in their office building as part of a new project. The installation space is available to two artists annually, with prize money of $4,000 each.
2010-08-11 09:40:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Wellington’s new Supreme Court building is on a role. Along with its nomination in the 2010 World Architecture Festival Awards mentioned in last week’s Design Daily story, the Warren and Mahoney designed building has also been shortlisted for the prestigious IStructE Structural Awards.
2010-08-10 12:11:54 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Circular buildings are an unusual site and the Danish Pavilion by architect group Bjarke Ingels Grouparchtec (BIG), as part of the Shanghai Expo 2010, is no exception. The architects created the pavilion as a means of fostering interaction between visitors and some of Copenhagen’s most famed attraction
2010-08-06 13:00:14 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A quick scan at the latest building by Slovakian artist Matej Kren will leave you in print-inspired awe. His latest installation, called Scanner, is his largest book installation yet and is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna.
2010-08-06 09:48:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you want a sneak peak of New Zealand’s up and coming design talent, you might want to start with the Design and Arts College of New Zealand’s graduating exhibition, from the interior design department.
2010-08-05 12:53:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Architectus was formed in 2001 based on a collaborative design partnership between Patrick Clifford in Auckland and Lindsay and Kerry Clare in Sydney. Fast forward to 2010 and Architectus now blend the experience of more than 200 leading architects, designers and planners with offices in Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. To celebrate their work, the firm has put together this monograph, filled with photographs, plans, sections and details of some 25 buildings.
2010-08-05 11:07:22 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Paying tribute to the beautiful natural landscape helped Warren and Mahoney Architects win a nationwide competition to design a multi-million dollar museum and performing arts centre for Te Awamutu. Shannon Joe, a principal of Warren and Mahoney who led the design team which put forward the submission, says the location next to a park and surrounding streams inspired the concept as did historical aspects of the area’s Maori and Pakeha past.
2010-08-04 16:43:29 // Paul Leuschke
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
The winner of the Resene Total Colour Master – Nightingale Award, Paul Leuschke, likes to use a lot of colour in his corporate projects. It’s a way to make client interiors more memorable, says Paul, from Leuschke Kahn Architects, who was awarded top honours in the inaugural competition with a design for accountants Grant Thornton in Fanshawe Street, Auckland. Although he favours quite a bit of colour in public spaces, Paul tells Design Daily he wouldn’t want to live with vibrant hues everywhere.
2010-08-04 10:22:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
In the interest of fairness, and in light of our recent article featuring the best building designs from eVolo Magazine’s 2010 Skyscraper Competition, we thought we’d better divulge the frontrunners for the antitheses of good building design. Building Design magazine has announced six finalists for its 2010 Carbuncle Cup, which celebrates buildings at the epitome of ugly.
2010-08-03 14:16:17 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Architect Ron Seeto (Murray Cockburn Partnership) ruminates on his experiences, the sights, the sounds, the tastes and smells that left him reinvigorated after a brief sojourn with wife Sharon at Valbonne in the south of France recently.
2010-08-03 10:57:08 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
In this segment of 'Auckland’s urban beat from our man on the street', Simon Todd tells us you’d have to have a go go gadget neck or be excpetionally tall in order to notice NZI Centre’s green roof in Auckland’s CBD. But this stand out practice will hopefully soon be sprouting forth at a more accessible, eye-catching level near you.
2010-08-03 08:48:59 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
They’re tall, looming and sometimes they're a blight on the landscape. But that’s not the case with the winners of eVolo Magazine’s 2010 Skyscraper Competition.
2010-08-02 16:10:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
World-renowned architect, engineer and artist, Santiago Calatrava has unveiled his preliminary design for Denver International Airport's (DIA) South Terminal Redevelopment Program, and it’s impressive.
2010-08-02 15:41:22 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
It’s fair to say that motorway underpasses aren’t always the most beautiful of sites to behold. With that in mind, Sydney artist Warren Langley has decided to shed some light beneath the Western Distributor freeway in Sydney, literally.
2010-08-02 15:15:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Going to hospital never looked so appealing or at least, so curious. Frank Gehry’s (the man behind the Experience Music Project, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the Art Gallery of Ontario) latest steely project, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, recently opened in Las Vegas. World of Architecture news explores further into the hospital’s recesses.
2010-08-02 13:50:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Who said accountants were dull? A striking accountant’s office has been awarded top honours in the Resene Total Colour Awards announced in Auckland On Thursday evening, quashing the myth that accountancy offices are dull and boring.
2010-07-29 12:22:19 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
At the leading edge of change, Dan Heyworth, the founder of a modular system for building architect-designed, energy-efficient houses, says the whole building industry is “extremely fraught, messy and complex” – and has been for many years. He believes a huge shake-up is due to create different ways of designing for the average person with an average budget.
2010-07-29 12:09:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
On March 22 this year, Adventure Ecology founder and environmentalist David de Rosthschild, along with his crew, set sail from San Francisco on the Plastiki, a unique 60-foot catamaran engineered from approximately 12, 500 reclaimed plastic bottles .
2010-07-27 13:57:12 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Wellington architect Sam Kebbell of KebbellDaish Architect’s is well practiced at his craft, having worked in architecture and interior architecture in Boston, New York, and Amsterdam. He shares with us his black list of architecture and tells us why crafting for Leonard Cohen is his ultimate dream.
2010-07-27 13:08:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If you visit New York, you won’t find many people swimming in the Hudson River, but soon enough, you may just be able to find water enthusiasts splashing about in a custom built pool that floats in the river itself. + Pool is an initiative by a group of architects and designers to build a floating pool in the rivers of New York City.
2010-07-27 12:25:42 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Driving upside down along the second floor roof-top of the Mini Garage, a bright red Mini is turning heads in the heart of Ponsonby. The car appears to defy the forces of gravity. But it’s really just a 160kg fibreglass shell that the BMW designers in Germany have created to draw attention to this fun, lifestyle brand.
2010-07-26 16:15:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a novel approach to parking your car when space is at a premium. Cardok is an automated parking solution that doubles your parking space and provides more security than a locked garage.
2010-07-23 14:28:21 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning has announced Momoyo Kaijima - one half of the Tokyo-based architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow - will be holding a public lecture in Christchurch. Kaijima is visiting New Zealand as the University of Auckland International Architect in Residence.
2010-07-21 16:26:54 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Home is where the cave is, if the pictures in this story are anything to go by. Curt and Deborah Sleeper have opted for a more unusual home setting, nestling their home inside of a 15,000-square foot sandstone cave in Missouri, USA.
2010-07-21 09:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Waikato University’s Student Centre is boasting some serious green architecture and design dexterity after becoming only the second educational building in New Zealand to receive a ‘5 Green Star’ rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council
2010-07-19 15:45:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Come along and hear what top designers, architects and artists have to say about their inspirational travel adventures across the globe.
2010-07-19 09:55:53 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
At a time when many designers have felt the weight of the Recession, Paul Izzard has been busier than ever. His visionary and often fun approach to retail has seen him become very much in demand recently...
2010-07-16 15:42:51 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With the debate over how best to use Auckland’s Queen’s Wharf still raging (see Ken Crosson's take here), the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and the Government has today announced an agreement on how the area will be developed, at last.
2010-07-16 12:36:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you fancy yourself or your company as a dab-hand in urban design, make sure you enter the WAN AWARDS 2010 for the Urban Design Sector.
2010-07-15 12:15:04 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
What do you do with 200 unusable Speedo swimming suits? Use them to construct a pavilion of course.
2010-07-15 09:53:51 // Ken Crosson
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
It’s essential that we create an overall strategic plan for the whole wharf area including Queen’s Wharf, Queen Street and Quay Street. We don’t want the Government rushing in and saying they’re going to buy Queen’s Wharf on the basis that they’re going to build an overseas terminal there.
2010-07-14 11:54:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
As if Ferrari’s aren’t swanky enough, this Ferrari Factory Store in Italy takes swanky to a new level.
2010-07-13 17:10:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The 220,000 square meter pedestrian-oriented Linked Hybrid complex in Beijing was designed as a means of countering the numerous privatised urban developments in China, and at the same time, encouraging interactive relationships in public spaces.
2010-07-13 09:58:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
When architect firm MAD asked themselves, “is it possible to build high-density, economically viable housing which is also architecturally innovative?” ‘Fake Hills’ housing development was the answer.
2010-07-12 14:45:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Everyone makes mistakes once in a while but it’s hard to imagine how the following mistakes could have ever been made. The Huffington Post takes us on a pictorial journey through 14 of the most comical construction/architecture/design ‘fails’ of all time.
2010-07-12 12:02:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
The final whistle may have blown on the FIFA 2010 World Cup, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back at one of the architectural highlights of the competition – the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, which played host to the Spain versus Germany semi-final. Architecture News takes an in-depth look at the design and concept behind this iconic stadium.
2010-07-09 16:22:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Here’s one that’s not for the faint of heart, or should that be the faint of heights? With Diana Ross in tow, the world’s most expensive hotel (NZ$8.5 billion), the Marina Bay Sands development in Singapore, has opened for business.
What are some of the resorts standout features? Well for starters, there’s the infinity pool located 55 storeys high – just don’t look down.
Lucy Ballinger from MailOnline explores further.
2010-07-09 14:36:22 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Earlier this week we featured a story on the Geyser building in Parnell - New Zealand's first 6 Green Star certified office building. Vickie Holder chats with the architect behind the project, Andrew Patterson, and finds out how working on the project has propelled him to the international stage of excellence.
2010-07-08 14:08:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Review: 'Eco House Book' explores numerous practical and creative ways to make your home more sustainable, but not at the expense of style.
2010-07-08 12:23:10 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Like a huge hairy pod of light covered in a soft wrapper, the UK Pavilion was for architect Andrew Patterson a definite highlight of the Shanghai World Trade Show.
2010-07-08 10:24:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
It seems Auckland is set to hold onto its historic and much loved sheds at Queens Wharf after the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) voted to try and save the sheds.
2010-07-07 17:45:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
In New York stalled construction sites lay strewn across the city thanks to the hard bite of the recession. So what’s a cash-strapped construction company to do? Architecture firm Woods Bagot propose a novel solution with their temporary, inflatable buildings called ‘Icebergs’. Fast Company’s Cliff Kuang explores further….
2010-07-06 16:28:55 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
He's the design director of Strachan Group Architects. He has a Master of Architecture Degree in Sustainable Design, and he's Adjunct Professor at Unitec School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture...phew. Vicki Holder managed to snatch a moment of David Strachan's time to ask the architecture craftsman some crafty questions.
2010-07-06 13:05:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
When the architecture firm behind the London Eye were challenged by a brief that asked them to design ‘the most incredible living experience in the world,’ they came up with the kinetic Villa Hush Hush.
2010-07-05 15:32:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If we asked you what the five most important works of architecture created since 1980 are, what would you say? Vanity Fair posed this question to 52 experts. What were their pics?
2010-07-05 15:21:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
New Zealand’s first 6 Green Star – Office Design building, the Geyser, is set to be completed next year. But you don't have to wait until 2011 for a sneak peak.
2010-07-05 08:49:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
It seems like pop-up stores have been, well, popping-up all over the place recently. Iconeye pointed us to this great example of a foldaway bookstore constructed for the London Festival of Architecture.
The concept uses cardboard as shelving for the books, and can be broken down and easily recycled at the end of the festival.
2010-07-02 13:00:21 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Residents of the city of Guangzhou, in south-east China are enjoying contemporary apartment designs from the drawing board of Ignite Architects in New Zealand.
2010-06-29 12:26:59 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Designers Institute of New Zealand is holding the next of its Designers Speak series on July 7 at Ironbank, bringing in top names to discuss commercial design.
2010-06-28 11:59:30 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Fans of architecture and books from 18 countries are locked in a fierce battle as they compete to crack a code that relates a “shape” to the storyline of Charles Bancroft’s London based thriller, The Architect.
2010-06-25 16:35:36 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Here’s a little bit of architecture retro for your Friday afternoon. Nothing like a good ‘ole black and white news broadcast from 1949 to shed some perspective.
2010-06-23 17:24:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
PechaKucha Night, devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public, is running new events in coming months. Make sure you head along to one of the Kiwi Kucha nights.
2010-06-23 16:30:35 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Mark Gascoigne trumped this year’s 2010 RED (Retail Design) Awards winning 8 of the 18 categories. How has he cornered this neck of the design woods so neatly?
2010-06-23 16:18:15 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
A group of young architects from Victoria University is set to compete on the world stage against some of the world’s brightest student minds in the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon.
2010-06-23 16:15:21 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Testimony to the success of a great building - Daniel Marshall’s design for his Church Bay house has scored a Best Architecture Award in the prestigious 2010 Asia Pacific Property Awards for a house
2010-06-23 13:43:55 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
The University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning is giving you a reprise from cold winter evenings by offering up 16 free toasty lectures from July to October.
2010-06-22 22:23:13 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #28: now
| 5 comments
Warren and Mahoney's magnificent new Supreme Court in Wellington brings people to justice
2010-06-21 16:25:04 // The Editors
// The Idealog Blog
Just hours before New Zealanders were about to erupt in unprecedented soccer-esque jubilation, the creative minds behind the NZI Centre found their own reasons to celebrate after taking home the most coveted award at last night's annual Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards.
2010-06-21 16:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A hefty 750 people celebrated the country’s best commercial buildings last night in Auckland at the annual Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards, and three properties in particular set new standards for mixing design with sustainability.
2010-03-23 12:00:49 // Tony Laloli
// Idealog #26: workshop
| 2 comments
The World Expo should showcase Kiwi ideas—but Shanghai 2010 is a missed opportunity.
2010-01-28 08:47:00 // Graham Reid
// Idealog #25: features
The Beatles may have brought Liverpool fame, but the city was stuck in the Mersey Beat for decades. Now ambitious new architecture is reigniting interest in Liverpool and the city suddenly is celebrating its past and setting itself up for the future. Envious Aucklander Graham Reid reckons the formula could work in New Zealand’s timid cities, too
2009-08-17 08:50:01 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
| 1 comment
Pentagram’s Harry Pearce discusses his passion for mixing his creative work with human rights project Witness. Then there’s the conversation he had with Te Radar involving Spike Milligan and gravestones.
2009-05-05 10:38:35 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
I'm really enjoying the daily updates from Urban Logic, an online magazine (some would call it a blog) about creative ideas in “the built environment”—architecture, urban design and planning, landscapes, public art and so on. If you like the awesome BLDGBLOG, definitely take a look at Urban Logic. It’s searching out some of the most interesting building trends around the planet—such as the green areas being created in Singapore rooftops—and it’s all being done from Auckland, New Zealand. Perhaps it’ll help inspire some of our local developers and planners.
2008-10-10 14:52:43 // Graham Reid
// Idealog #17: features
South Koreans are reinventing Seoul, inspired by the world’s most liveable cities, and even the US Army is getting out of their way. Graham Reid asks why Koreans can unite to build the ‘lifestyle capital of the East’ when New Zealanders struggle to build a football stadium
2008-06-20 12:16:09 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #15: features
They came to ART Venture to speed up their design, sculpture, dance, music, festival, symposium, architecture, TV and waka projects. And they all did one thing: slow down. Gena Tuffery learns why good things take time—and great things take up to 18 months
2008-05-23 12:00:54 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #15: now
| 5 comments
Wellington Airport’s planned terminal building has its critics. Here’s why we love it (and what’s wrong with other airports)
