The site englishrussia.com has published a detailed photo reportage about the "youngest metro in the world" - Almaty. Construction began during the Soviet era, but the first stage was opened only at the end of 2011. It consists of 7 stations on one line with a total length of 8.5 km; its budget was $ 1 billion. The architectural solution of the stations, obviously, should make an impression: a new type of transport for Almaty also performs an important "representative" function.
But large-scale projects are not the exclusive prerogative of government agencies. The famous English artist Damien Hirst, who had not previously been noticed with a special interest in architecture, decided to build an eco-village of 800 houses and apartments in Devon. It will combine small cottages, larger buildings and buildings with residential and commercial space, as well as infrastructure facilities. The project has not yet been presented to the public, but it has already been reported that elements of traditional architecture will be used there: gable roofs, bay windows, small terraces, etc.
Green projects, however, are not always unambiguously useful and safe. The Architect's Newspaper reports a series of incidents in the US in which sunlight and heat reflective glazing in cottages and large buildings “redirected” concentrated beams to cars, plastic siding and swimming pools, resulting in property damage and even sunburn for citizens. Now civil society organizations have started to research how energy efficient windows are safe for the environment - and those around them.
Only imaginary projects can be truly harmless; among similar ones, constantly published on the Architizer social network, stands out the "house-billboard" bureau Apostrophy's from Bangkok. This structure is a narrow and wide modular dwelling that is easy to transport and install along motorways. On its wide facades advertisements are placed, and inside there are apartments with a network of stairs and green “terraces”.
In the United States, a documentary film, Romanza, was released, dedicated to the works of F. L. Wright in California. It would have become just one of many films about the great architect, if not for the "discovery" made by its authors: in the 1950s, he designed a kennel for a boy's dog, who asked him about it in a letter, for free. The house he lived in was designed by Wright, and young Jim Berger decided that a kennel should fit his style.
The complex project of the booth was implemented, but the black Labrador, for which the architect worked, refused to live in it. The filmmakers tracked down a long-matured customer, who kept all the drawings, and he, who has since received the profession of a carpenter, rebuilt the booth. She was captured on film, but it is not known whether there is a lodger for her: like many of Wright's other buildings, it leaks.
Significantly higher than in California, the rainfall in the Amazon did not bother the British architects Marks Barfield Architects, the authors of the London Eye project. They designed a treetop "bridge" for free for a new jungle center in the Brazilian province of Roraima on the Venezuelan border. The structure will be over 6 miles long; the architects and their client, the Amazon Charitable Trust, hope it will attract eco-tourists to the forest and provide jobs for local residents, along with its main - scientific - function.
But working with greenery at a height is also possible in Europe, for example, in Rotterdam. 2012 Architecten was commissioned to "artistically" disguise the closed town hall building. They fixed potted plants on its facade so that they form the silhouettes of trees; rainwater is used to water them. In addition, two basketball courts and city furniture were installed next to the town hall. These improvements should show the townspeople that after the renovation is completed, they will expect a variety of changes for the better.
According to Domus magazine, another project for public entertainment was created by BIG architects for St. Valentine in New York. The temporary sculpture “BIG love NYC” in Times Square is a “cube” made of transparent tubes - LEDs, colored red in the center: as a result, it looks like a transparent block with a beating scarlet heart inside. When the hands of passers-by touch the pipes, the heart begins to burn brighter and beat faster. The outer, transparent tubes reflect the lights of the plaza's famous neon signs.
But architects are exercising their wit, not only by working for the public: the Modern Architecture Game board game is intended for the professional community. It was developed by the Dutch NEXT architects, winners of the 1st Moscow Architecture Biennale. Participants rearrange chips in the form of famous buildings across the field; the one who has had a chance to “walk” puts on round glasses with black frames “a la Le Corbusier”, rolls the dice and tries to answer a difficult question from the attached list.
Another invention “for insiders” is the Archleaks website (by analogy with Wikileaks): there employees and interns of various bureaus (first of all, popular and large ones, for example, Norman Foster or Zaha Hadid) describe the negative aspects of working for “stars”. As a result, those wishing to work with David Chipperfield or "Dealer Scofidio + Renfro" will be able to find out in advance about the most unpleasant moments that await them, and, possibly, will choose another workshop for their internship or work.
