Building Green

The Library has set up a trial for the BuildingGreen suite, an online resource providing current, authoritative information on sustainable design and construction.

The suite is composed of 3 integrated databases:

- 200 case studies of high performance buildings, including energy data and project details

- all content from Environmental Building News, the premier journal on sustainable building practices and products, published since 1992

- a complete directory of environmentally preferable building products

The trial will run until mid-November.  Please give it a try and send any questions or feedback to Michele Laing, the Architecture Librarian here at Musagetes.

Be like Mies

...and build your very own Farnsworth House!

LEGO is paying tribute to it's second iconic architect with a new addition to the LEGO Architecture collection.  Own your very own piece of modernist history, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

This latest edition follows models of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum, as well as a number of other architectural landmarks.

ghost13 | ideas in things

June 14, 2011 -  June 17, 2011
Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia 
*Participation is limited to 200 registrants


The Conference theme,‘Ideas in Things’, addresses the unity of the discipline of architecture, offering an optimistic critique of the current separation of the academy and practice, or the mind and the hand. A book and film will document the conference.


The conference will feature a number of renowned speakers, including: Kenneth Frampton, Juhani Pallasmaa, Brian MacKay-Lyons, Patricia & John Patkau, Brigitte Shim & Howard Sutcliffe, Francis Kèré and many more.

The meaning of community

Pine Point is a beautiful and sad interactive film that explores the history and people of a planned mining community in Northern Canada.

The film visits the site where the town once stood, and many of the people who used to live there, asking many questions. What are the lasting effects of a town that was built from nothing and returned to nothing? What truth is there in our memories? Are we defined by the places we grew up? What are communities really made of?

And...

While you're on the NFB site, check out some other great interactive material, including Out My Window - a 360* documentary by the Highrise Project that explores social fabric in the urban environment.

Knit CamBRIDGE - the finished product

Knitting was contributed by staff, students and faculty here at the School of Architecture, as well as some nervous-looking parents during admission week! Thanks to everyone who took some time to add a few stitches to the knitting in our basket.

Congratulations to Cambridge Artist-in-residence Sue Sturdy for bringing the community together to pull off such a large scale project. See our earlier post for more information about the project.

We have a great view of the bridge from our reading corner in the library... drop in and check it out!

Drawing the line

Drawing the Line runs during the summer months here at the School of Architecture. The course's aim is to shine a light on "the importance of sketching in the study of architecture."

Under the direction of Hugh Thompson, students work to further their drawing skills with a focus on sites of historical significance.

While this year's students are busy putting pen to paper, the works produced by last year's class of 18 graduate students are now on display at Musagetes. Many sketches outline the architectural forms and details of buildings within walking distance of the school. Drop by the library and see if you can recognize any!
You can find more photos of the display over at our Flickr photostream.

Why Architecture Matters

Because this guy says so.

Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic for The New Yorker, will be part of the Critical Mass speakers series on May 3rd in Toronto (tickets at hotdocs.ca). The conversation will also include Sasha Frere-Jones, Robin Givhan, Eric Friesen, Michael Enright and Jeanne Beker.

If you can't make it to the lecture you can watch his interview on The Colbert Report, in which Paul and Stephen argue about whether or not American architecture still has "big tits".

You can also check out his latest book, Why Architecture Matters, and many others on display in the library.

...together at last!

Two of my favourite blog topics - Bjarke Ingels and parkour - join forces in the new documentary My Playground.

MY PLAYGROUND - PREVIEW from KASPARWORKS on Vimeo.

The film explores the changing perceptions of urban space and interactive architecture by speaking with freerunners, architects, planners, politicians and philosophers across Europe and Asia. It also follows Denmark's Team JiYo through the process of creating the world's first and largest dedicated parkour park in Copenhagen.

A YouTube search for JiYo Park will bring up plenty o' videos showing the park in use.

Worth watching...

The Third and The Seventh is a "full CG-animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal." Always beautiful.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

More than meets the eye

We live in a world where we Google the closest cafe, get directions from our phone, send tweets while standing in line and blog about the whole experience over coffee.

Reality is becoming so much more than just what we see in front of us. It is being created by companies and individuals at the global scale and in the palm of our hand. Want to change the world? There's an app for that...

Check out these two examples of the potential that exists to augment our perceived reality of buildings and space:

SARA brought to you by the Netherlands Architecture Institute is "the worlds first mobile architecture application featuring augmented reality with 3D models."



And Microsoft demonstrated the astonishing capabilities for augmenting reality in Bing Maps at this year's TED conference... and you thought Google Earth was cool.

The Cat's Pyjamas

Congratulations to our very own GALTstudio, winners of the Nuit Blanche People's Choice Award for their twofold project!

If you didn't get a chance to see it in person, you can virtually maneuver the intersections of time and space right here:



This win comes right on the heels of North House placing 4th in the U.S. DOE's Solar Decathlon, the City of Cambridge working with students to develop guidelines for core area revitalization, and the completion of the Grand House housing initiative.

One of our current students was just published in an anthology stacked with big-name Canadian writers, and a former student was chosen to design the medals for the 2010 Olympic Games.

UW Architecture is always making its mark on the world and we're so proud of our students for everything they've accomplished this year!

Not just another pretty face...

Bjarke Ingels, from Denmark's hottest architecture firm, talks about some BIG ideas in this inspiring and humourous lecture from TED:



Like what you see? Check out BIG's book Yes is More: An archicomic on architectural evolution in our collection!

Fresh and crisp

New books to get the season off to an invigorating start:

How to Build an Igloo and Other Snow Shelters

Norbert E. Yankielun

TH 4890 .Y36 2007

In this instructive, whimsical manual, U.S. Army engineer and seasoned cold-regions explorer Norbert Yankielun takes readers through the process of constructing and inhabiting a range of useful snow structures step-by-step. Whether you want the know-how to protect yourself from adverse weather conditions while back-country skiing or want to try your hand at building a backyard igloo just for fun, this book can show you how.

Extreme Architecture: Building for Challenging Environments

Ruth Slavid

NA 2543.35 .S624x 2009

Architects face some of their m

ost difficult challenges designing for extreme environments. Divided into sections titled Hot, Cold, High, Wet and Space, Extreme Architecture showcases 45 recent buildings designed for these challenging environments, giving valuable insights into the extremes of architectural thinking. Projects range from the fantastic – a lunar hotel – to those already built, including a school in Burkina Faso, a floating sauna in Sweden and an underground seed vault in Norway.

Smart Surfaces and Their Application in Architecture and Design

Thorsten Klooster

TA 418.7 .K56x 2009

Luminescent wallpaper, curtains which generate electricity, self-cleaning windows: new developments in the field of surface technologies will continue to influence the

ways in which materials can be used in architecture and design. Smart surfaces expand the range of design options available to architects, leading to new concepts which can meet the changing requirements of buildings and design. Smart Surfaces provides background and technical information for the categories of surfaces, nano, energy, light climate and information, with samples of amazing and often mind-boggling projects from around the world.

Albert Speer & Partner: A Manifesto for Sustainable Cities: Think Local, Act Global

Jeremy Gains & Stefan Jäger

HT 166. G24x 2009

For more than forty years, Albert Speer & Partner have been designing ecologically sensitive communities throughout the globe. As one of the world’s most forward-thinking architectural and urban planning practices, many of their trailblazing projects are discussed and analyzed for their success in satisfying the array of social, economic and environmental demands of the twenty-first century. Focusing on projects in cities such as Shanghai, Baku, Cairo, Changchun and Abuja, this book explores themes like the redeveloping of aging cities, resource conservation, urban density, zoning and new technology.

The Dutch, Denmark and Deutschland, oh my!

Check out these new books on architecture abroad...

Nordic Architects
David Sokol
NA 1208 .S65x 2008

Nordic Architects surveys some of the most dynamic architects in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, celebrating the recent works of established as well as up-and-coming talents. In their own voices, architects discuss the opportunities and challenges of working within a renowned design heritage – and rebelling against it.

FollyDOC EXPO
NA 846 .F65x 2008

In 2005, the Dutch artist Lowieke Duran announced an international contest to design an architectural folly - a visually provocative, poetic structure without a specific function - for a once flourishing, now down-and-out industrial dockland area of Rotterdam where there has recently been some promising new development. This catalog documents the second FollyDOC held at the same venue in 2007. The structures range from the silly [Hairy Monster] to the sublime [Free Standing Dome]. Check out the catalogue from the earlier exhibition too [NA8460 .I58x 2006]. It’s on Reserve for the term.

Updating Germany: 100 Projects for a Better Future
Friedrich von Borries + Mattias Bottger (eds.).
NA 1068.6 .U64x 2008

Solutions have to be found for the great global inequalities – social, economic, and ecological. Architecture can and does make a contribution to this process. The ninety-nine realized and experimental projects depicted here were originally presented at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition held in Venice in November 2008. This book aims to provoke action, encourage new ideas, and to help nurture the conviction that all of us can make contributions to a better future.

Back to the City: Strategies for Informal Urban Interventions
Steffen Lehmann (ed.).
N 72 .A75 B33x 2009

The quality and potential of disused sites, vacant buildings, and abandoned spaces is frequently hidden in the urban fabric, but once revitalized, these spaces can be an important urban resource. Back to the City documents a series of innovative site-specific installations and temporary interventions in public spaces, in Germany and Australia, by interdisciplinary teams of architects, artists, urban planners, and landscape architects. These informal interventions add to the meaningful discourse of contemporary urban culture, challenging our architectural stereotypes in a sustainable way.

Livin' la vida local

This season, the library staff are challenging ourselves to eat only (or mostly) local foods. Largely inspired by the 100-Mile Diet, we each have our own goals, rules and reasons for doing this.

We will be promoting local eating throughout the summer in various ways. Drop in to the library now to check out our display of student theses, library books and DVDs, and Eat Fresh Eat Local maps you can take home. We are also compiling a binder full of maps, articles, farms, CSAs, stores, restaurants and recipes. We are perfectly situated here to make the most of what's grown and raised in Ontario...and don't forget the school's own Community Garden, where you can adopt your own plot to get growing!

Try challenging yourself to eat locally this summer. It doesn't have to be 100%, start with one meal, check out the farmer's markets, sign up with a CSA. There are countless reasons to eat locally: the health of our environment, our own health, the consequences of peak oil and just getting to know your food - who makes it and where it comes from.

Keep an eye on our Eat Local blog for tips, tricks, events, ideas, sources and more!

They let us eat cake...

This month, 2B students in Vince Hui's Industrial and Graphic Design class certainly had their plate full. Their first task...get cooking.

The assignment? Build a structure at least 8 inches high. The clients? Musagetes Library. The building material? Cake. And this was one class that really rose to the challenge.

The five groups had less than a week to design, plan, bake and build their pastry projects. All were smart enough to interview library staff to determine our preferences, which served them well when the majority served us chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

The hardest part was judging the decadent designs, which ranged from the literal to the symbolical in design, and from scrumptious to suspicious in flavour.

In the end, though, we all escaped with our good health and had a sweet spot for seeing what Musagetes Library means to the students...and they made it look like a piece of cake.

Take a hike!

This weekend (May 2 & 3, 2009) is the annual Jane's Walk. In celebration of the legacy of urban theorist and activist Jane Jacobs, the event is designed to help people explore and learn about the community around them.

There are well over a hundred walks planned in over 20 cities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Waterloo, Kitchener, Vancouver, Guelph and more. One of the two walks happening here in Cambridge is even being led by one of our Architecture students!

If you have your own idea for leading a walk in your community it's not too late to register.

The weather should be perfect for walking this weekend, so what better way to get in touch with your neighbourhood and your neighbours! As Jane said it herself, "No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You've got to get out and walk."

Hot off the presses

Portraits from Above, the latest tome from our very own Rufina Wu, is now available on the New Book shelf...check it out!

Our grass roots are far reaching

The UW School of Architecture is making its mark internationally!

The Grand House Student Co-op, brain child of our very own Chantal Cornu, is featured in this month's Architectural Record. Check it out on the magazine rack and online!

Not just a pretty facade...

Zerofootprint has just announced the Z-prize. The "Zerofootprint Skin Renewal Award" will be launched at the Discovery '09 Conference this May in Toronto.

More than just an anti-aging cosmetic approach, this award will challenge designers from across the wold to come up with new solutions to an old problem...old buildings. The largest greenhouse gas emissions in cities come from buildings. Rebuilding cities is not an option and retrofitting can be inadequate. Re-skinning, however, has many advantages:
· It can be used to hide a cheap retrofit
· It is potentially non-invasive
· It can make a ho-hum building into a handsome green role model
· It can be used to engineer an energy reduction of as much as 70%
· Re-skinning can be smart — solar, thermal, media, vegetation etc.

More information, and tonnes of inspiration, can be found at the new Zerofootprint resource area for a limited time in the library.

You can also find more books about designing like you give a damn now on display in the library.