Only hours to go before eVolo’s Kickstarter campaign for the book [ours] Hyper Localization of Sustainable Architecture comes to an end. Discover your inner parametric architect. At the $44 and $88 reward level we are offering the playful and mindful handcrafted zenblock, a building block that requires a special touch to be stacked or balanced. Custom made for this Kickstarter campaign the blocks are made with birch and non-VOC painted on a single facet with eVolo Magazine colors and finished with a non toxic oil finish. The wood is reclaimed from a window manufacturer and each unique piece is handcrafted.

They can be stacked, they can be balanced. They can be left alone and gazed upon, or they can handled. Whatever you do, they will look great.

From a child to an adult, it is the balance game that anyone can enjoy. Since it is a simple form, you may enjoy it as an art object. Place them on your desk or table, and observe.

Other rewards include eVolo Magazine #04, signed copies of the book, the chapter [Japan Condenses], exclusive transcripts of interviews with extraordinary architects, and even a presentation on what hyper-localization mean in the world and your community.

-> [ours] Hyper Localization of Sustainable Architecture on Kickstarter

eVolo’s Kickstarter campaign for the book [ours] Hyper Localization of Sustainable Architecture ends at noon on August 31. As the 21st century unfolds new paradigms in architecture are evolving where environmental awareness merges with a new sense of place. [ours] uncovers the best in environmentally astute building design so don’t miss your chance to help support the investigation of the new architectural archetype in three distinct regions and to receive some unique rewards.

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The most exciting architecture today is not only environmentally astute but re-imagines a sense of place. The book [ours] by Andrew Michler is a collaboration between eVolo and the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University on contemporary architecture trends of sustainable design in selected locations around the world. We have put together a Kickstarter campaign to help support the ground breaking research behind the book.

[ours] disseminates how the best architecture comes together to create regional identity in the 21st century. Site specific design is a core reality in developing robust, thriving communities and informing the shared nature of the built and natural world through environmentally attuned development.

Regions are already responding to the challenge through inventive and provocative architecture. [Japan Condenses], [Spain Wraps], and [Australia Unfolds] explores how design practices inform a sense of place and provide solutions to complex issues in the built environment. These three divergent areas exemplify the quality of redefined design vernacular that addresses deep sustainable objectives.

Other regions from around the world will be explored as well including [Denmark Plays], [Germany Maintains], [Mexico Buries], [Cascadia Grows], South Africa and Central America.

The germ of the idea is to explore sustainable design by putting these buildings into context. We see the re-imagining of the built environment as one of the most important goals in thriving in an altered planet in the 21st century. By pushing the envelope these buildings create new architectural archetypes, integrating function and form to improve performance. We will explore how architects have learned from their failures and from taking risks. Read the rest of this entry »

Orange stained Finnish hardwoods wrap an egg shaped pavilion dubbed “My Green World” designed by 2D3D. The project took only 6 months from concept to completion using roboticly precut wood members with a resulting woven exterior reminiscent of a seed. The building was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation for the Floriade 2012 Expo in Venlo, the Netherlands.

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Design group N55 teamed with architect Anne Romme to create a lightweight, easy to assemble greenhouse based on un-repeating cellular structures. The SPACEPLATES Greenhouse, South Bristol Skills Academy at City of Bristol College, is a part of a series of structures that use low tech materials to create modular greenhouses without substructure supports. Read the rest of this entry »

Fashioned by a simple circle Andrew Maynard Architect’s Mt. Macedon House is currently under construction near the town that the home derives its name in Victoria, Australia. Incorporated into the wooded landscape the home’s geometry grows out of the hillside keeping it from being walled off from its environment. The landscape adds variety to the circular form as well which provides elevated views throughout the main living floor. The home’s open expanse to a central courtyard, divided by a lap pool in the center, articulates a recreational and social presence as each space can see and been seen from the rest of the home. The interior floor plan, with bedrooms to one side, kitchen and living in the middle and office and garage on the opposite end is egressed by an inner path lining the courtyard. The total effect is one of relaxation.  Read the rest of this entry »

Under construction in Natchitoches, tucked in the north west of the state, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum maybe more about the natural water-bourn terrestrial topography of the region than about the collection of sports artifacts the museum will hold. Trahan Architect’s vision is based on the landscape the museum overlooks which is  formed by the Cane River Lake, a tributary of the Red River, cutting into the soft earth and becoming a crisscross of channels through the landscape.

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The 10th anniversary of the Museumsquartier Vienna was celebrated with a commission of a mapping façade projection by Urbanscreen. The 8 minute piece MQ10 | Architectural Staging, projected on two full sides of the Leopold Museum’s austere walls, is based on the architectural elements of the building itself. The non-narrative video mapping immediately ‘folds’ the walls into parametric forms and rebuilds the building in continually abstract ways. Read the rest of this entry »

As a part of the 2012 New Museum Triennial The Ungovernables currently on exhibit is artist Danh Võ’s deconstruction of the Statue of Liberty. WE THE PEOPLE is a gesture of installation using architecture and sculpture as an underpinning for a more unsettled experience. Copper sheets were assembled in an exact replica of the originals weight and scale, placed in sections on the floor in an undetermined state. The panels are hammered using the same technique as the original statue to the same tolerances. Taken from a larger collection of more recognizable pieces the series of parametric copper plates read as though they are part of a contemporary façade or pavilion. The pieces allude formally to modernist sculpture such as the work of Richard Serra, where form and materiality is the subject . Read the rest of this entry »

The venerable 200 year old Städel Museum has just reopened after a major 3 year remodeling which, from the exterior, is a no more than a modest if not unique pokadotted lawn. Frankfurt’s hometown architecture firm schneider+schumacher used a subterranean program to provide 3,000 square meters of space for post war and contemporary art. Like massive portals the 195 circular skylights connect the underground space directly with sky creating a tension between landscape, form and light. Read the rest of this entry »