A quirky waste incineration plant

Wouldn't it be great to have something like this in place of Payatas or Smokey Mountain? This is the Maishima Incineration Plant in Osaka Japan. It burns garbage. It was designed by the late Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and is modelled after a similar plant in Austria. Doesn't it feel like a giant art installation made from recycled garbage? I got the pictures from a classmate who went to Japan. Read more about it here.

***
The tangible and material uninhabitability of slums is preferable to the moral uninhabitability of utilitarian, functional architecture. In the so-called slums only the human body can be oppressed, but in our modern functional architecture, allegedly constructed for the human being, man’s soul is perishing, oppressed. We should instead adopt as the starting point for improvement the slum principle, that is, wildly luxuriantly growing architecture, not functional architecture.

-- Mould Manifesto Against Rationalism in Architecture, Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Deans Duet: Yolly Reyes and Honny Fernandez

This is an old article I found wherein the deans at the time of both the UP and UST architecture schools were interviewed together. The article is interesting in that it focuses on the rivalry between the two schools. It can also be quite the sentimental piece for graduates of the UP College of Architecture as it gives us a glimpse of the much beloved late Honny Fernandez's thoughts once more if only for a brief moment.

Interview by Julie Cabatit-Alegre
from the Modern Living Section of the Philippine Star


Rivalry is common among schools. We see it wildly demonstrated during sports competitions or fiercely exhibited during intercollegiate debates. At times, it can revert into something dark and nasty, extending its tentacles beyond the campus and deep into the lives of the graduates as professionals.

But that is not the kind we’d like to dwell on here. There is competition of the enlightened kind. It challenges. It nurtures. It pushes forward, but it never pulls down. Some might even call it healthy. This is the kind that could bring two deans, of the two top schools of architecture in the country, together. After a recent CHED evaluation, the College of Architecture of the University of Santo Tomas and the University of the Philippines were recognized as centers of excellence. Their deans sat together for this duet interview, to bounce their thoughts, to and fro, to see where they intersect, to watch where they differ. The final score is simply the sum total of their separate passions for one and the same holy grail.

(for the rest of the article, click here. The link will look like a blank page but it really isn't. Just make sure to scroll down until you see the text.)

How to get your design portfolio online, Part 1

This series will tackle the different ways that you can put your porfolio of design projects online.

One way is through arkispecs.com. This site makes it easy for Filipino architects without any technical knowledge of building a website to post information about themselves and upload pictures of their projects.I think it's also a free service. Once you register and put in the information they ask for, you will then be given a simple URL, www.yourname.arkispecs.com. This will lead to your own personal page, with links to sub-pages outlining your contact information, qualifications, affiliations, services, and projects. It also has a statistics page where you can check how many people have visited your page.

The disadvantage of this is you can't customize the page. It follows a set format. You can't personalize it or employ fancy effects such as flash animation. But one advantage of getting an arkispecs site is that a link to your page will be posted on the "cyber community" page. So visitors to arkispecs will be able to see a link to your site.
For a sample, you can visit webmaster Jericho Adriano's page.

I haven't actually tried this myself. If you have, feel free to give some feedback :)

Next up:
Using Online Photo Albums
Creating Your Own Website

Real Living publishes book

Real Home Ideas, a book from the creators of Real Living magazine, is now out on the newsstands. It's a compilation of some of the best houses featured in Real Living from 2003 to 2005. The houses are divided into four styles: modern, pinoy, tropical/asian, and flamboyant. This would be a good source book for those who have interior design projects. It comes in a handy 6 3/4" by 8 3/4" size and has 152 pages. With 21 homes in full-color photographs, I think it's a pretty good deal for P195 :)

Filipino Architect in Taliesin

Powerbooks would like to invite everyone to “FRANKLY SPEAKING:IT’S THE WRIGHT WAY: LOOKING OUTSIDE INSIDE AT FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S ARCHITECTURE”, a talk and signing session by Ms. Lira Luis, the first Filipino Architect of Frank Lloyd Wright ‘s Taliesin since 1937.Registration is FREE.

When: April 8,2006 4PM
Where: Powerbooks Greenbelt

Whether you are architects, parents, business people,environmentalists, college students, builders, computer renderers, and people in government, a group of community volunteers, a parent, or an entrepreneur, you will hear all about the lessons architect Lira Luis learned while living in the desert in a tent and shelter at influential architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin for three years and competing on international design competitions like Metropolis Magazine's NEXT Generation, as well as collaborating with the Pritzker-prize winning architect Frank Gehry's protege, Gordon Kipping. Lira talks about lessons that focus on Organic Architecture, sustainability, the built and natural environment,creativity in both the natural and digital world, interpersonal skills,pursuing dreams for yourself or your child, dealing with a global market/audience, plus much more.

About Architect Lira Luis

“…Particularly remarkable were her highly developed skills in computer aided drafting and rendering, which she quickly shared with her peers and teachers. Throughout the program, her independent design assignments were always presented digitally, utilizing the latest software programs she had learned. She studied all that was happening in contemporary architecture, and investigated the newest technologies and materials…” (excerpt from her Foreword in the audio book “FRANKly Speaking:It’s the WRIGHT Way)

- Susan Jacobs Lockhart, daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright clients and artist at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

“Architects like Lira Luis are reshaping our thinking about architecture and its role in the 21st century. Their TECHNICAL SOPHISTICATION, ecological and social awareness, and their ability to embrace fruitful collaborations give one great hope for the future.”(excerpt from her testimonial letter to Luis’ winning entry, Portable Transient Shelter Pods)

- Susan S. Szenasy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine, USA

“If Frank Lloyd Wright is still alive, I believe he will be designing great buildings using the computer”, says architect Lira Luis, the first Filipino architect of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin since 1937. Lira graduated from the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture, Cum Laude. Her dream and love for architecture brought her to Taliesin West---the winter home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, where she received her Master of Architecture degree. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most influential architects, known for designing landmark buildings like the Guggenheim in New York, Fallingwater in Pensylvannia, Johnson Wax Building in Wisconsin, etc.


When she left for the USA in 1997 to enter the program at the legendary architect’s Taliesin, she brought with her a unique set of skills among them sophisticated knowledge of computer software like Autocad. Over the years she had developed skills in other software programs like Form-Z, 3D Studio Max, ArchiCAD and Revit. In her winning entry for Metropolis Magazine’s NEXT Generation design competition, the Portable Transient Shelter Pods, she utilized parametric modeling, which is an approach to CAD that leaves the traditional 2-dimensional approach. It represents a 3-dimensional approach to CAD. Her parametric modeling skills were honed when she worked as a project manager at the architecture firm Orcutt Winslow Partnership in Arizona. This firm is in the mainstream of the parametric modeling world, having been awarded the 2005 Building Information Model Awards by the American Institute of Architects. Lira is one of the few architects who is proficient in using 2 competing softwares---Autodesk’s Autocad (including Architectural Desktop and Revit), and Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD.

Lira has nearly thirteen years of architectural experience that included hands-on-learning and construction while living in tents and shelters in the Sonoran deserts of Arizona in Taliesin West. These shelters have no light, electricity, water or phones. They are built by the apprentices to be used as learning tools about the natural and built environment.

In her proactive professional life, which had already moved her from being the Director of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA)Associates Committee, to collaborating with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry’s protégé, Gordon Kipping when she won a place in the Mentoring Beyond IDP competition by the Emerging New York Architects in 2005. She is also a public speaker, having been invited to speak at the AIA-Arizona, University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and most recently, at the Center for Architecture in Manhattan. She manages to juggle all these activities while running an architectural firm called Atelier Lira Luis,LLC---with 3 offices located in Phoenix, New York, and Manila, as well as extend help to the homeless and disaster victims via the non-profit organization, Progressive Habitats Foundation. Lira, along with other friends from Taliesin, is currently being tapped to be engaged at the forefront in the rebuilding efforts for the flood-devasted Mississippi, USA, that includes housing, master planning, and mixed-use development.

Her work has been featured in leading publications in the USA like Architectural Record Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix Magazine, as well as exhibited at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Arizona, AIA-AZ Gallery, the Center for Architecture Gallery in New York, and the South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art. She appeared in shows like National Public Radio (NPR), AZfamily (Channel 3), and Discovery Channel’s Travel Daily.


James J. Abuan
Marketing Assistant
Powerbooks

Cost Effectiveness of Green Buildings

By Amado de Jesus
Inquirer

ONE MAJOR reason green buildings are not easily accepted by many people is the widespread misconception that they cost more to build than conventional construction. On the contrary, new data indicate that up-front costs for green buildings may be more than offset by long-term savings. Given a specific project budget cost, front-loaded design will maximize the benefits of green planning and design, to ensure that green issues are addressed in the initial stages of a project.

Green buildings can be cost-effective when ecologically-sound principles are applied. The basic principle in green buildings that directly affects the cost of construction is the restraint in the use of all types of resources like labor, materials and energy use.

Economic benefits

A green building may cost more up front, but it saves through lower operating costs over the life of the building. Through a process called the life cycle cost analysis, the appropriate up-front costs are determined. A basic concern of this system that directly relates to green buildings is the concept that the longer a product or material lasts before replacement, the better it is in environmental and economic terms. Other concerns are the use of renewable materials and the recycling and reuse of materials.

These cost savings can be realized only when the concept is adopted at the initial stage of a project and with the assistance and cooperation of all the players involved. The whole construction team should approach the project as one integrated system rather than a series of separate systems.

Even with tight budgets, many green building features can be incorporated with minimal up-front costs to yield considerable future savings.

• Site selection. Starting with the site, keeping the cost of the land down is not only environmentally sound but is also an economic imperative. This is in keeping with the basic rule of green design, which is to reduce the amount of land needed to build a house. Another basic rule is by building houses in clusters or closer together to preserve more open spaces. These measures reduce the impact of the buildings on the environment. They are also an economic necessity.

• Design requirements. The next important step is to finalize the design requirements of a house. At this stage, it is not only the budget that is clearly defined, but also the most essential parts of the house-the parts that are definitely needed, not merely optional requirements. Other non-essential or unnecessary features have to be left out. It is also important at this stage to develop a budget that includes green features.

• Interior space planning. Cost reductions can also be done through the effective use of space within a house. For example, stairwells can be integrated into the living room instead of allocating an area specifically for the stairwell. The foyer or entrance halls can be greatly reduced or eliminated altogether and integrated with other common areas of the house. An open-type kitchen can be designed with a breakfast nook and a counter opening up to the living-room area that is also characterized by open planning, thus eliminating the need for expensive partitions, doors, jambs, painting, etc.

• Renovations and additions. By anticipating future additions and renovations, it will be helpful to identify opportunities for future remodeling to save the owners expensive renovations to reconfigure spaces. Technical provisions can also be made to accommodate structural, electrical and plumbing needs in the future.

For example, adding concrete columns to carry an upper floor inside an existing house can be a very stressful especially if the workers are not as careful and sensitive to the homeowners' needs for cleanliness and privacy.

If possible changes are not planned or anticipated, the house could end up with awkward roof configurations that eventually leak; old bathrooms that are "trapped" inside living rooms with no direct ventilation to the exterior; a kitchen with no direct exhaust, thereby causing dangerous smoke and possible LPG gas buildup inside the house; adding a room above the septic tank especially if it is going to be an enclosed room, which is a big health risk due to possible leakage of toxic gas. There are many renovation horror stories that we are familiar with. Fortunately, many of these can be avoided with some advance planning.

Simple design

Green buildings that are cost-effective are characterized by such traits as simplicity of design, green construction practices and good materials specifications. These buildings and homes are designed for durability and easy maintenance.

The layout of the exterior walls of a house has a direct influence on the total cost of the project. For example, an L-shaped house is more expensive to build than a square-shaped house because it will require 25 percent more exterior wall area. At today's cost of building materials, that would be a notable difference, in terms of concrete hollow blocks, steel bars, plastering, roof, ceiling, painting, etc.

With a simple and compact design, there is also ease in construction, that results in less mistakes and less wastage of materials caused by a complicated design.

Other strategies

The other strategies that have to do with operations and maintenance of the house are also important to consider.

Features like maximizing the use of daylighting and natural ventilation, the use of natural materials, rainwater collection system, recycling of water for flushing and irrigation, and composting of waste all have a positive effect on the economic as well as physical well-being of the homeowner.

Education is the key

The whole project team starting with the owners, the professionals and others should be made aware of green issues for sustainable building. This means they need to have a clear vision of what a green building is.

This will entail well-informed thoughtful choices about design, material specs and construction practices. We all have to invest in educating ourselves about the issues.

For comments or inquiries, e-mail amadodejesus@gmail.com.

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