the INCREMENTAL house

A new typology in the Lower East Side Same densities as surrounding high rises Interior streets Personalization Garden shed Courtyard No transition zone Victorian front garden space …”the passion for improvisation, which demands that space and opportunity be at any price preserved. Buildings are used as a popular stage. They are all divided into innumerable, simultaneously animated theatres. Balcony, courtyard, window, gateway, staircase, roof are at the same time stages and boxes.” Walter Benjamin, ‘One Way Street.’ 1924. One project that was attempting to do that and has a lot of potential future housing in London is the Donnybrook Quarter Project by Peter Barber Architects. Set in Hackney of the Lower East End , this project was set to replace a tower of approximately 40 units of old Council housing. Barber’s scheme infuses 35 units into a dense fabric, but does it in a way that respectfully adheres t...

Phase 2 Retrofit Retrofit Phase 3 Container as building blocks Elevator Shaft There has been no shortage of fascination of architects with using shipping containers to create spaces. Could the use of such containers provide a realistic alternative to larger scale affordable housing? Container City at Trinity Buoy Wharf utilized utilized recycling of old shipping containers to create multi-unit live work spaces. Designed by Nicolas Lacey and brought to life by Urban Space Management, these once mobile containers of commercial cargo now offer a new commercial product: a hip, modern, flexible, and a formally exciting building. This project offers one of the most extensive use of such an idea. Because the units high very tight tolerances, they fit together easily without much additional structure. This allows the construction costs to be considerably less (I think in this case they 20-30% less expensive than a similar conventional building). Each of the discarded container...

Mad Construction Urban Infill Community Garden Murray Grove Modular Housing St. Paul's Billboard Claim Council housing re-envisioned after privatization Surveillance City Changing Spaces London was one of those places, much like Paris that kind of put your head into a tailspin. So much to see in such little time. Especially for architecture. Not only is the history of the built environment deep and long, but the recent additions offer a lot of exciting. In a way, I hardly made it to the more historically significant buildings in the city. The city was abuzz with new building projects. The arts scene is deeply established and offered many wonderful opportunities to explore the connection between space, creativity, and perception. In so many ways, it was most about the old and the new, in terms of housing. Many of the failures of the older council housing is being reinterpreted by new projects, many of which are rising over the city, especially along the waterfr...

Reflections on my way out of town: Subways old and new. Tiled stations. Renovations, new framework on top of old tile. Firedancing in front fo the Eiffel tower. Tourists. Tourists. Tour boat shining its massive lights on everything it goes by. River only serving needs of tourists. Who is living in those other boats? Do they move? New museum, green chaotic, sensous weaving form on the outside. I see possible housing growth. Cool weather. Spanish fans in the fountains. Spain 1- Germany -0. flower tower. Not really impressed. Its all about the façade. Is paris a museum or a really great city? What really constitutes a great city? Metro stop within three blocks of anywhwere I want to go. New archtiectrue and old architecture everywhere. Train stations. Roofs, massive spaces, can you say industrial revolution? Whew. Amazing metal work, rivets, everything. Deep, history. But, is it now a museum? Plenty of transformations. Public housing ...

In a similar development to 17e, the architects were having a field day with this new development by the new National Library. Pretty exciting and innovative forms. All with the hand of the architect…Carefully controlled and orchestrated.

This project by Edouard Francois, dubbed the ‘ Flower Tower ’ has generated quite a lot of press. It is a cool idea and serves many functions from heating and cooling to softening the forms of the surrounding buildings From the pictures, it is striking. From in person, well, it left something to be desired. It seems to be the perfect building for pictures and selling as an image. The architect described it as an extension of the park. But, there is not much more to a whole bunch of homogenous plants on the side of a very average building. Wouldn’t it have been much more attractive it people were actually able to grow their own thing? Think of the visual image of that! Plus, it makes the balcony space very small and obscures most people’s views. To me, it takes away that one exterior zone in which so many Parisians have control over. Additionally, something was crazy with the concrete. I hope it wasn’t intentional, but it looked horrible. I don’t remember se...