Trying to find out the name of this little sea creature was one of the most vexing internet searches I’ve ever performed, each likely search term taking me into some scary world of decorative objects involving seashells. Take my word. Never. Ever. Put the word “decorative” into a search engine. Even “spiral stone pattern on seashell” threw up images of crochet, […]
For architects, 1945 is eight years after FW’s Fallingwater and four before either Philip Johnson’s Glass House or the Eames’ House. The year 1945 doesn’t link to much architecturally but was it really such a slow year? WW2 was over but surely there must have been a bit more architectural interest in what kind of world it […]
So what’s left then to ‘learn’ from Nature? We’re still very quick to want to do it but what have we ‘learned’ so far? It’s time for a quick roundup. In the not-so-dark ages before Architecture was invented, people managed to work out how to build buildings that suited how they wanted to live, using […]
Nader Khalili (1936–2008) Nader Khalili is a good example of an architecture misfit. He really only had one idea. Put whatever sandy stuff is available, into bags, clad it and bingo you have a structure. In 1984 NASA was suitably impressed. In 1984, Lunar and Space habitation became an integral part of his work. He […]
This post is about how aircraft maker Sukhoi treats every aircraft it makes as a prototype for the better performance of the next one. Go here if you want information on arms and armament control systems. That’s another story. This story is about ROCKET SCIENCE. Sukhoi SU-27 It begins with the Sukhoi SU-27 of 1985. […]
The story of the modern suitcase is the story of modern travel and thus the story of technology applied to changing circumstances. Nowadays, we think of travel as a leisure activity and not as the exploration or emigration it once was. Early travellers travelled by steamer. [See here for more about S.S. Campania.] These first […]
Architecture Without Architects is the title of a book by Bernard Rudofsky, published to accompany an exhibition of the same name at the Museum of Modern Art from November 1964 to February 1965. I first learned of this book when I was a student and in love with the idea of architecture. I thought the […]
Much of the housing in Europe in the early 20th century was rather nasty. Here’s a 1930 project for municipal housing by Josef Polášek that aimed to improve things. The plans below show that a typical floor has six apartments off of a landing, and that the landing is much larger. All of the intermediate floors […]
Solarplaza tells us that the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV), part of the American National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has published an impressive chart that shows all solar cell record efficiencies since 1975. Over on Wiki-P is an excellent timeline for the history of PV cells. It begins in 1839 when Alexandre Edmond Becquerel observed the photovoltaic effect via an electrode in […]
Meet Diébédo Francis Kéré. Here’s the quick bio from Wikipedia below and a 2005 Washington Post article here. Diébédo Francis Kéré was born in 1965 in the village of Gando. He was the first child in the village to be sent to school as his father, the village chief, wanted his eldest son to learn how to […]
Here’s some outdoor space. Judging by the colour of the brick, the teapot, and the underused barbeque in the corner, it looks like we’re in England. The peripheral plants are doing their evapotranspiration thing but those benefits won’t be needed much when the average summer temperature is 22°C (71.6 °F). This outdoor space is enclosed […]
In January, Peugeot announced it had developed a car that ran on air. It officially launched the Hybrid Air vehicle at the Geneva motor show, saying it would be in production by 2016. The car did not run on air only – their new development assisted a petrol engine. However Peugeot believes their hybrid system […]
Space station to get $18 million balloon-like room That’s it – the blue thing at the upper left. It seems like a good idea, although I’m not sure what the basis for comparison in the following images are. Weight? Total $ per cubic metre? What we do know is: Pressurized volume of a single 20 ton […]
This post is to spread the word about the the French company Venturi who are doing good work in giving electric vehicles higher performance. I first found out above them two weeks ago in connection with Princess Elisabeth Antarctica – the zero-emissions antarctic station. Some of the energy produced by its wind turbines is used to charge […]
