Today's dose of entropy fetishism

Feral Houses

I've seen "feral" used to describe dogs, cats, even goats. But I have wondered if it couldn't also be used to describe certain houses in Detroit. Abandoned houses are really no big deal here. Some estimate that there are as many as 10,000 abandoned structures at any given time, and that seems conservative. But for a few beautiful months during the summer, some of these houses become "feral" in every sense: they disappear behind ivy or the untended shrubs and trees planted generations ago to decorate their yards. The wood that framed the rooms gets crushed by trees rooted still in the earth. The burnt lime, sand, gravel, and plaster slowly erode into dust, encouraged by ivy spreading tentacles in its endless search for more sunlight.

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NOAH

NOAH: Mammoth Pyramidal Arcology Designed for New Orleans

Now, a real-life a group of ambitious designers has taken their looming pyramidal arcology and placed it smack dab on the Mississippi River as a proposal for the rebuild of New Orleans which is currently in progress. This 30 million square foot beast-building with an array of green features is aptly named NOAH (Get it? Noah and the Arcology?), and is meant to house 40,000 mostly human residents.

I first encountered the idea of arcologies in none other than Richard Hoagland's "The Monuments of Mars," in which he speculates that the pyramidal features in the vicinity of the iconic "Face" served as vast encapsulated habitats for the "Martians" -- whoever they might have been.





Perhaps the most intriguing such candidate Martian arcology is the "D&M Pyramid," a symmetrical, faceted formation that looks like it could be a heavily eroded artificial structure. Could an extraterrestrial species have constructed the D&M as a refuge from a disintegrating environment?

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"We do the work, you do the pleasure."

Yeah, I realize that Makoto Tanijiri's Nature Factory is supposed to look arboreal. So why can't I shake the image of the rampant ductwork in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil"?

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But where's Gort?

This conceptual dwelling speaks to my sense of futurity. While there are plenty of capsule-like micro-houses out there, I have yet to see one with MercuryHouseOne's deliciously retro, tongue-like "boarding ramp."

(Alas, this might qualify as an exception.)

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Have cube, will travel

This immediately reminded me of the cardboard squatter community depicted in William Gibson's "Idoru." (Evidently Gibson thought so too.) Bruce Sterling calls this sort of thing "design fiction" -- and certainly conceptualism can rival the best science fiction short-stories in terms of implied narrative.

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Leisurespace

This proposal for a car showroom/leisure center by Manuelle Gautrand Architecture seems lifted from the luminously decadent universe of Second Life, where structures seem to exist on the margins of the possible. Perhaps the future of the psychedelic "trip" hinges on the transcendent potential of architecture, both real and virtual.

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The fallout shelter of the 21st century?

Extra Room from Bernd Hopfengaertner on Vimeo.

Learn more here.

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Moore-phology

GrowShelter: Living, Growing Shelter for Plants, Animals and People

Consisting of three spherical shells embedded with seeds, the habitat is designed to evolve with the seasons - starting the cycle in spring, the spheres are embedded in a mixture of earth/mud/seed, and as summer approaches, the plants will be in bloom and the embedded food in the mud will create a mini haven for local animals and birds. The earth should weather away by fall and winter, leaving the permanent shells ready to be packed again for spring.

I anticipate a future world where cities and countrysides alike teem with amalgamations of gourd-like bio-engineered homes. Pitted with entrances, perhaps they'll recall the biomorphic sculptural forms of Henry Moore: vast inhabitable artworks that change over time in a choreography of adaptation and whimsy.

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Living in a shell

The Nautilus - Giant Snail-Shaped Home Fit for a Family Gallery

The glittering shell-like paint frames the tongue shaped furniture protrusions that grow from the surrounding walls. Each element has been carefully chosen to coincide with the organic theme of the building, and as Senosiain describes, "This home's social life flows inside The Nautilus without any division, a harmonic area in three dimensions where you can notice the continuous dynamic of the fourth dimension when moving in spiral over the stairs with a feeling of floating over the vegetation."

Also see: Real Life Hobbit House.

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"There Will Come Soft Rains"

When the ruins begin to sing (BLDGBLOG)

Malfunctioning fire alarms going off inside foreclosed homes have become a major distraction for fire departments in suburban Arizona, according to ABC15 News.

Fire fighters, however, cannot legally enter a property unless they see smoke or have obtained the owner's permission. But in an era of bank ownership and rampant foreclosure, even finding the owners can take weeks.

The result is that "neighbors have to listen to the alarm until the battery dies, which can take days."

First we were surrounded by ruins, and then those ruins began to sing.

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If walls could talk

Trigger Point Mouldings by Touchy-Feely (Dezeen)

Architects Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis of Berlin practice Touchy-Feely have designed heated protrusions from a wall to assist in muscle-tension relief.

"Muscle-tension relief." Yeah, sure.

"The mouldings encourage heightened, physical interactions between bodies and architectural surfaces," say the designers.

Enough said.

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A mecca for paranoids?

Build it and they will come.

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It has landed.

lights on from thesystemis on Vimeo.

The designers of this whimsical facade simply had to have had the climax from "Close Encounters" in mind when they coded the sequences of multicolored lights . . . or am I doomed find UFO pop culture references where none actually exist?

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Empty swimming pools

No diving, please.

More . . .

Fab!

3D printing buildings: interview with Enrico Dini of D_Shape

Traditional building methods tend to reel in dreamers outlandish dreams though. Building with concrete and brick require scaffolding and a lot of manpower. This creates constraints. These constraints limit the way in which buildings can be constructed and limit the shapes and forms that architects can use. Rather than accept these constraints as a given Enrico set out to completely remove them. In 2004 he invented and patented a full scale 3D printing method that used epoxy to bind sand. Enrico could now 3D print buildings.

(Via Beyond the Beyond.)

My pad or yours?

10 fantastic green cities of the future

Scouring the Web, we found the 10 best examples of green future cities from design visionaries, each one encompassing innovative and sustainable construction techniques, green energy technology, and creativity from your wildest dreams.

Plus one more you might have missed.

Irrationally, part of me still prefers the black, rainy streets of "Blade Runner."

Recreating Stonehenge

(Thanks to Paranormal Musings.)

Welcome.

Won't you stay a while?

Just a hint of "Blade Runner"

Geotectura's AIRchitecture: Flying Buildings!

The campus building concepts combines a static learning center for libraries, offices, lecture halls, and an auditorium, with flying workspaces and off-site "zeppelins" to allow for more dynamic collaboration and exchange. This concept might sound crazy, but it is certainly a great example of a minimal footprint.

Cover the "zeppelins" with heavy-handed neon advertisements for the off-world colonies and we're getting somewhere . . .

Vegatopolis

10 Incredible Living Walls

The idea of a living wall conjures up all sorts of images, but in reality it is nothing more than a wall completely covered in vegetation. In order to create a living wall pre-vegetated or fabric panels containing plastic containers, or geotextiles, as well as irrigation systems and vegetation are attached to the wall or supporting structure. This form of urban gardening is often designed as an art form to decorate buildings in cities and has been hailed as one way to make cities more enjoyable, healthier and ultimately greener places.

(Via Reality Carnival.)