London Olympics 2012 - Architecture at the Summer Olympics part IV

 Hello and welcome to part IV of my London Olympics series! I've decided to make another post based on the Olympics because the Olympics often showcases modern Olympics as well as having cultural masterpieces. Today we are going to review a very exquisite and interesting piece of architecture present in the London Olympics: the Royal Artillery Barracks which hosted the shooting and archery competitions. This was particularly interesting because obviously each "splat" represented the impact of a bullet after it hits a wall - it is actually very reminiscent of paintball projectiles after landing on something. This became the design keyword here as this was presented as a very quirky and fun style designed to not only represent the venue's sport but also to reflect the lightheartedness that is London Olympics with it's red and blue and white which is another bow to the colors of the United Kingdom. I like this concept as it really stands out amongst the other drab buildings nearby and I think that this is one of the more interesting concepts out there.

                         

London Olympics 2012 - Architecture at the Summer Olympics part III

Welcome to today's post! I'm going to be covering the second most important facility of the London Olympics; the National Aquatics Center located across the Olympic Water polo stadium as well as the main Olympic stadium. This is a intriguing piece of architecture which is aimed at imitating the curves that made futuristic architecture so synonymous with curves. The upside down gentle arch which is the highlight of the stadium clearly shows the extra seating up to 17,500 that the stadium will accommodate during the Summer Games while the center piece houses some 2,500 spectators for regular event viewing as well as a possible 1,500 additional seating for more important events in the post Olympics. The tragedy that befalls many Olympic facilities post Olympics often has to do with the state of disrepair that many have fallen under, especially evident after the 2004 and 2008 games where many facilities were torn down because of the funds required to operate them. The National Aquatics Center makes this less of a problem because the "wings" of this building will be taken down to reduce operational costs and have fewer empty seats. I believe that is another smart move by London, who hosted this Olympics with a budget much more modest than those of Beijing's four years ago. Aside from that, the nice driveway to the facility offers a nice addition and integration with the rest of the surroundings. But the concept of the "wings" is of course a homage to the butterfly stroke which comprises the major forms of swimming strokes used in the modern Olympics. Other than that, this design has a simple statement and a high level of functionality and eco-friendliness.

London Olympics 2012 - Architecture at the Summer Olympics part II

Hello and welcome to my second post in my Architecture at the London Games series. Today, I will review the Opening ceremony of the London Games. While the opening ceremony is more of a general art than architecture, I believe it is an integral component when covering the Olympic games. Therefore I picked some of my favorite pictures from the Games and analyze them.

This post is going to focus on what I call the highlights of the opening ceremony - I have excluded some aspects of the opening ceremony.

This is the glimpse of the Olympic hill which hosted the flags as well as serve as the stage for a celebration of Britain's pastoral culture which kicked off the opening ceremony as well as a brilliant transformation of the pastoral England to a more industrialized England which was represented by smokestacks and the joining of the Olympic rings which is depicted in pictures below. 

This would be the Olympic Stadium area which is well illuminated by fireworks and lights - which was a great thing because London is known for not being very bright and this allows London to shine as a city - it is a wonderful sight as the red and blue make an great contrast.

 More fireworks inside make this one of the most spectacular and creative forms of fireworks to date - most fireworks are launched upwards rather than into the center, but this allows the entire arena to be illuminate by the brilliant lights of the fireworks.Again the red and blue are in direct reference to the colors of the British flag.

 More of the same fireworks here as the Opening ceremony really kicks off with brilliant fireworks.

 This was the industrial era scene in the Olympics which demonstrated Britain's pride for being the first industrialized country in history, but the opening ceremony is very distinctively British, celebrating rock music which Paul McCartney of the Beatles fame, children's literature as well as the nation's benevolent healthcare system and of course, Mr. Atkinson below who plays Mr. Bean in the famous British comedy. I love his act because he attempted to play the same note over and over but got bored from it - doing things like checking his cell phone and using an umbrella to play the piano when he needed to get a tissue paper. But perhaps most hilarious was when he dreamed of winning a race in the Olympics by cheating his way only to realize his still playing the same note when the orchestra has stopped.

 The Olympic cauldron was one of the highlights of the opening ceremony, celebrating it with a very unique pedals that line up to produce the Olympic flame. These flames were ignited by seven young athletes who lighted seven of these flames which each pedal represents each of the 204 nations participating in the Olympics - however this particular configuration has made taking shots of the cauldron impossible from the outside, leaving many spectators and visitors upset. This particular concept is also very reminiscent of the Seed Cathedral of which the British have created for the 2010 Shanghai expo.

In retrospect, the London opening ceremony was successful and uniquely British that I believe again, that the British have done their best to put their best aspects to the world in a very dramatic yet chaotic sequence which I believe merits a strong consideration as among the most original ceremonies in the modern era.

London Olympics 2012 - Architecture at the Summer Olympics part I

Yesterday was perhaps know best for the day of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Today, I'm going to review the most iconic piece in the London Olympics: the centerpiece know as the National Stadium in London which has undergo an interesting transformation from it's conceptual work to the actual design.

Original concept:

This is the original concept which at first appears to be a very plain looking stadium, but the sheer size and the scale of the rotating animation of the running man is an excellent homage to the ancient Olympic games which I think is a great piece of engineering, but otherwise the original concept is largely devoid of substance save for the nice bridges that border a river that leads to the stadium.

Final Concept:

This is the final stadium which is under construction in this picture - the major additions are the pointed triangles which were added to this design which I believe along with the jagged edges of the entrance nicely sums up a staple of British culture: the royalty - the stadium is representative of the crown of England, which has been one of the few surviving monarchies left in the world and perhaps the most famous of royalties. I believe this is a great and simple tribute to British culture - the triangles also host giant television screens which is another reference to the crown as the sparkling screens emulate the "jewels" on the crown - much akin to the "Jewel on the Crown" - India. Otherwise, the rotating image of the sprinter is removed but is retained during the opening ceremony which a man appears in the crowd to run across the stadium inside. This is a simple yet effective building and I think that the British could not do better than this after the spectacle after the Beijing games in 2008.

Minecraft architecture II: Multiplayer House Interior

Earlier, I showed you a glimpse of my Minecraft house from the exterior, which I believe is one of the best work I've done in the game Minecraft and I hope to create more buildings in Minecraft in the days to come. This is my special on the interior of the building; my minecraft building is based upon an underground living space because it allows me to make a great living space regardless of size by building it under the ground.

A look into the building from the balcony:

     This is a look at the first floor of our house; essentially all the basic stuff is located here; the furnaces in which to cook and smelt stuff are here as well as a chest to store all the immediately accessible items and also a crafting table by which to create new tools and blocks. Overall, This space can be topped by glass because it isn't the shelter layer of the house which means that in the real life instance that the glass breaks, someone sleeping would not be affected by the rain. But this also serves a more practical purpose; which is to provide natural sunlight in an effort to save some in-game torches which are usually used to illuminate an given area.

Here's a different perspectives on the same area - shows the dimension and size of the area. There are also natural lighting from the glass windows as well as providing cross shaped windows which is purely for aesthetic reasons.

                                    

 going down the stairs, this is what you see - again glass is a recurring motif in this house.

 first look at the hallway in which residences are located.

 lava underneath for lighting and cool effects - glass isn't affected by lava in Minecraft - otherwise fire would do some damage to traditional glass!

This is the same thing on the other end, just signs to indicate whose room it belongs to - this is the entrance to my friend Kevin's room, same entrance for consistency.There is a wood veneer behind glass to provide a nice stylistic contrast here.

 This is my friend's room which he wanted to be very spartan - the glowing pumpkins and overhead light gives this a nice ambiance.

 Entrance to my room - more of that lava motif as well as staircase like glass gives it a nice style and edge - wood blocks in the back to provide a warm and room like environment. Below is the storage room in my room which is connected by a tunnel to ensure privacy.

 The bedroom which is surrounded by wooden blocks to be consistant with the rest of my room.

Overall, I really enjoyed my building as it allows me to build whatever I pleased to - I am proud of my improvisation because it provides me with a plenty of creativity and freedom and that's what I like best about Minecraft - stay tuned for more Minecraft related posts in the future!

Talley Student Renovations part III: Final Overview

        Hello, after reviewing the Talley Student Union in parts I and II, I'm going to review the merits of this new Student Union building. Overall, this building is a masterpiece of contrast because there are many dimensions to the functionality of this structure; the inclined plane on which the building is constructed as well as the curved shell like outline of the building provides a the great foil in which this piece of architecture has so much of. the distinct shape and the space for recreation also served as the finer points of the new Talley which allows people on the courtyard to admire the new building, much like the new library in Centennial Campus. The bold integration of the original brick filled area of the entire campus as well as glass also served as good pointers about the new Talley student union. Overall, much like the Hunt Library before it, it is a brilliant piece of architecture which highlights NC State's modernist campus.

Minecraft architecture I: Multiplayer House Exterior

        This is my Minecraft architecture world in the game known as Minecraft. I've created my own building in Minecraft to sort of express my theories on architecture. My creation in Minecraft isn't going to be the most functionally equivalent to an actual house, but it does its job as a shelter very well. Here I'm going to give you a screenshot by screenshot walkthrough of my creation:

Exterior:

 This is my front facade; there's not much going on here except some torches to illuminate the front side of the house and some glass around the door to provide an insight of what's inside the house. Aside from that My front facade has a sort of uneven plane in which to look at; the central tower is lower than that balcony to the left of it providing an interesting perspective.

Here's the same front facade the only thing is that this in isometric perspective which allows us to see the nice trees that border the house at the right. the windows on the right side of the house allows us to have some natural interactions with the build itself. The windows are of different shapes to give it more character when looking at the building from the right side.

                                     

 Here we get a better look at the left side of the house which is dominated by the windows on the balcony which we will cover soon in the subsequent paragraphs. personally the balcony is one of the favorite features on my creation as it allows relaxation as well as some other nice touches.

 I love how my house is bordered by desert by one side and the other side is characterized by grasses and trees. The cactus is a continuation of that natural surroundings though the extra ones on the left side are primarily for protection purposes from hostile creatures such as zombies!

 Another look at the front side.

The Balcony:

 This is perhaps one of my favorite parts of my creation as it is bordered by the glorious sky on the top as well as have very nice glass floors in the shape of an imperfect cross, which does nicely to the aesthetics and to prevent it from being too drab and boring.

 A look at the outside of the side windows which allows us to sample the landscape. Not very much going on here

 Here's the alternate balcony here where there are additional glass underneath it to be able to see what's underneath it. I love this feature because it doesn't distract from the purpose of shelter; the bedrooms are all beneath the structure, not above it so it all integrates nicely.

Minecraft!

Minecraft is the pre-dominate building blocks game for the Windows/Mac OSX/Linux platforms. This game brings the essence of architecture to a very fundamental and fun level, allowing you to utilize many different blocks much like Legos to create architectural diverse buildings - from real life landmarks to ones from the pure imagination. Minecraft isn't just for building blocks though - it offers a precise blend of engineering as it incorporates different "blocks" such as pistons to make mechanically complex pieces. Such is the power of Minecraft, that it is possible to construct virtual pianos and cannons. I just feel like introducing this to you - I will post pictures of my minecraft creation as well as other cool minecraft creations in a special minecraft section!

 ©Minecraft attributed to Mojang AB

Change!

Hey, so I"m going to make a couple changes here. First of all, I"m going to change this blog title to the Beauty of Architecture and Design because Architecture is a subset of the design principle so I felt it very appropriate. The focus of this blog is still primarily going to be about Architecture though I will also update it with things related to design in general. I'm also going to change this to a daily update model so that more content can be accessed from this blog. Thank you very much!

Talley Student Center Renovations I: Overview

Recently, there has been a very interesting development at NC State University; there is an intriguing architectural project to renovate the old student union center. Since the old student union center's conception, the building wasn't sufficient to accommodate the vast volume of students at NC State. Not only does this project bring more facilities and amenities to the service of students, but it also provides a amazing example of modernist architecture at NC State. 

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

Overview of Design:

True to its peers, the new Talley Student Center utilizes a plenty of red brick in its design. However, the design of the new student center differentiates itself in its striking shape and the plentiful use of glass. Also interesting about the design is the use of greenery on the rooftops as well as the harmony between curved arches and jagged edges:

Figure 1.3

The overall balance between the two areas (Figure 1.3) of the two distinct areas of the building as well as the difference in elevation (Figure 1.2) are some of the most distinct features of the design in this building. Like the James B Hunt Library project, this architecture has its distinct features from different perspectives. Looking at this project, this new student union center presents itself in a very distinct, yet traditional manner in the sense of the relationship between the radical shape with the brick motif of the University.