energy island -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5119585.ece

A man-made island housing a hydroelectric plant and generating enough electricity to supply two million Dutch homes is planned for the North Sea by 2020 [click the title of this post for the full article].

Jetson Green: Nzinga Modern Modular -

Preston, green ninja master over at Jetson Green, writes:

Check out these modern green town homes being developed by Yolande Nicholson called Nzinga Town Homes.  Designed by Garrison Architects (the same firm that brought you the Tread Lightly House), each Nzinga Town Home residence consists of 2900 total square feet with 2000 sf of living space and 900 sf for a separate apartment space.  The homes are open, airy, and abundant with natural light, but if youre looking for a little privacy, the vertical trellis work seems just right for a green wall and some natural shading.

Garrison Architects designed the town homes with a few green features in mind: Energy Star appliances, green walls, solar generated ventilation plus an option for solar generated heating and cooling, high efficiency mechanical system, and a building integrated graywater system.

Click here to read read the rest of this article [this is just an excerpt] over at Jetson Green.

::article written by Preston, founder + editor of Jetson Green - original article entitled Nzinga Modern Modular Town Homes. These articles from Jetson Green on MNP?s Green Tuesdays are part of a feature you can find here every week - just click any Tuesday in the calender and enjoy! And for more ?green? news + info, head on over to Green.MNP::

Ninjas on ?Net -

So, Im obviously running pretty late today, and just in general lately. Basically, Im on a tight deadline at the day job, and will be for another week or so - then things should return to normal around here. But until then, here are some links for this weeks installment of Ninjas on the Net - just some things Ive been checking out recently.

- First off - what the $*# is this thing? I was linked to this today by a co-worker, and DAMN. Thats all I have to say. Damn.

- I kind of want one of these t-shirts&although Im definitely not tough / cool enough to rock the lavender one.

- The Guardian has some designers sketch-up some ideas for Obamas Oval Office - nothing too surprising tho, unfortunately.

- Speaking of sketching, SketchUp 7 is out. Exciting? Not at all. I mean, I heard there would be NURBS! Come on Google, you gave cell-phone users Android for free - now I want Maya lite in SU form.

- Speaking of Google - you can now visit Ancient Rome in 3d in Google Earth. Kind of cool, if youd like a digital trip to 320AD.

- Slate has part 2 of its feature Renzo Pianos California Adventure.

- The Economist discusses the benefits and drawbacks of urbanization.

- The Chicago Tribune takes time to rub-in the fact that architects are getting screwed by the economy - and salaries arent rising for the first time in a minute. Thanks.

- Apparently copper-fittings can fight super-bugs? Weird, but interesting.

- While I cant find it to embed, I watched Build It Biggers episodes on Greensburg, Kansas, the other day - definitely recomended. For those that dont know, the town was devastated by a tornado of epic proportions - and is now rebuilding green, which is pretty incredible. This dude Danny is a clown - but thats half of why the show is amusing. Check it out on Discovery or the Science Channel.

- last but most definitely not least - don?t forget about the rest of the MNP [My Ninja Please!] crew: the parent site, MyNinjaPlease; MusicMNP; GreenMNP; PolitricksMNP; and RobotNinja.

- and that?s it for this week?s Ninjas on the ?Net - don?t forget, you should also be clicking those sidebar links + buttons and checking out all of our blogging ninjas out there.

Tom Kundig: Prototypes and Moving Parts -

Nothing like a video of some crazy Tom Kundig projects - with rotating walls, sliding ceilings, and all round awesomeness - to make up for my lack of time to post today&enjoy.

::Thanks to Adam from SGLA for the link::

Bourbon Barrel Furniture -

Pretty ill-looking, right?

Brooklyn-based Uhuru Design has taken used Bourbon Barrels - which normally find second lives as planters or fire wood - and up-cycled them into furniture. Now, if taking whats essentially been considered trash in the past and repurposing it into high-end, expensive furniture isnt the work of a true ninja, I just dont know what is.

Dubbed The Küpe line, after the middle Dutch word KUPE - the origin of the word ?cooper,? which is the profession of making staved wooden vessels including barrels - the series currently includes chairs, benches, side table, coffee table, ad mirrors. Not bad.

More on the work, from Uhuru:

The Küpe line is crafted from used bourbon barrels from Bardstown, Kentucky, the Bourbon Capital of the world. The barrels are constructed from new white oak and charred on the inside to produce the unique flavor and color of the bourbon. These barrels are only used one time to age bourbon, after which some are sold and shipped to Scotland to make scotch. The remaining barrels are discarded by the distillery and often sold for firewood or planters.

While many people have repurposed barrels for other uses, our intent is to work with the material in striking new ways. We begin by dismantling the barrels into to individual pieces, the staves, metal bands, and circular heads. We explore how these parts can work together to create a simple functional design while retaining the individual characteristics and natural colors of the aged wood from the original barrels, thus creating a new vernacular. We even hoped to impart some sense of the added quality of working with the barrel parts In our Red Hook shop where the sweet scent of bourbon permeates the process.

The furniture in this line clearly demonstrates using reclaimed material to its fullest potential. These pieces represent six simple solutions to repurposing aged-oak bourbon barrels into unique contemporary functional furniture. They demonstrate beautiful applications for the material far beyond firewood or planters.

So, is it acceptable to call it Bourbon furniture if its made in Redhook? Should the title revert back to just regular whiskey furniture when it isnt assembled in Kentucky?

Shopflick: Visit this store | Get your own Store!

Head on over to Uhuru Designs website to see more of their furniture - all of which is made from reclaimed, recycled, and repurposed materials.

.:Images, info and video - > via Uhuru Design

protect the earth -

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/7-executive-orders-for-obama-center-for-progressive-reform.php

The 7 things Obama should do immediately to protect the environment, via Treehugger [click the title of this post to follow the link].

A Missile Base Called Home -

Studio 360 takes us on a tour of missile a silo turned happy home:

The underground nuclear missile bases and silos are still out there in Kansas. Many of them are now empty ? but not for long. Studio 360?s Eric Molinsky visits a peace activist who is turning decommissioned nuclear missile bases and silos into family homes.

Thats some pretty serious adaptive reuse right there&

You can download the show from Studio 360 here, or subscribe to the Studio 360 Podcast through iTunes [or by copying this URL into your iTunes: http://www.studio360.org/index.xml]

.: Studio360.org->

::Thanks to the Studio 360 Intern who hit us with a link::

Jetson Green: The Union -

Preston, green ninja master over at Jetson Green, writes:

This is The Union by architect and developer Jonathan Segal Architect.  The project gets its name from its prior life as the union hall for San Diego?s textile manufacturing business.  When the textile union moved away, the building fell into disrepair, and rather than demolish it, Jonathan Segal decided to adaptively reuse the structure to create sustainable live/work units and his own architectural office.  The Union now includes additional buildings that, in total, comprise 13 residential loft units, of which some are market-rate and some are affordable.  Also, the rooftop solar panels provide ~50% of the units? energy needs.

Click here to read read the rest of this article [this is just an excerpt] over at Jetson Green.

::article written by Preston, founder + editor of Jetson Green - original article entitled Schwimmhaus Modern Green Houseboat. These articles from Jetson Green on MNP?s Green Tuesdays are part of a feature you can find here every week - just click any Tuesday in the calender and enjoy! And for more ?green? news + info, head on over to Green.MNP::

Ninjas on the ?Net -

[Image: Map of World Happiness, via]

I dont know about you readers out there - but when the election was finally said and done, I took the rest of the week off [well, kind of] in terms of my online reading. It was a nice break. That, and I was at Revit training Wed, Thurs, and Fri this past week - which kept me off the net for the most part during the day.

Revit, by the way, is pretty interesting. It was strange to see software that would essentially let anyone, regardless of what they know about design/construction, put together a set of CDs [or at least pretty developed DDs]. That, and the fact that the software eliminates the need for a large team to produce drawing sets, as it eliminates the need for a person to do so many little, time consuming tasks. Awesome, but a little scary too. So heres a question - does this eliminate jobs for interns, or middle management? Or maybe nobody at all? What does everyone think?

Anyways, my week of BIM training aside, here are AMNPs selected links. As always, if you have something you?d like to add, drop a link in the comments section - or toss us an email [architecture AT myninjaplease DOT com] and I?ll make sure it gets in next weeks post.

- The New York Times has an Op-Ed from Al Gore, a look at Maya Lins current work, and the NYT Magazine looks at a new home for Chinese Art

- BD Online asks if new shopping centers can rejuvenate cities [Im guessing no], and cover the opening of HdMs Tenerife Arts Space

- The LA Times looks at LAs new Elections Operations Center

- Metropolis POV discusses the Re-imagining Cities symposium

- Gabion covers Rafael Viñolys first British building

- Filip Dujardins work is showcased over at BLDGBLOG

- Archinects school blog covers Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil, and some student work puts Utopia back to work

- Archidose looks at undulating brick walls in its 9th installment of its architectural element series, and reviews Project Zagreb: Transition as Conditions, Strategy, Practice

- last but most definitely not least - don?t forget about the rest of the MNP [My Ninja Please!] crew: the parent site, MyNinjaPlease; MusicMNP; GreenMNP; PolitricksMNP; and RobotNinja.

- and that?s it for this week?s Ninjas on the ?Net - don?t forget, you should also be clicking those sidebar links + buttons and checking out all of our blogging ninjas out there.

VS: Success and Failure of Societies -

You ninjas have no idea how close you were to a Stewart Brand video and a post about how this dude is a parasite and I hate him&see, I still managed to get it in there [I blame Where, and their post on Can buildings learn].

Anyways - instead I found this interesting talk on the collapse of societies, by Jared Diamond.

Heres the description from his page on TED [where I first watched him talk - then I found this longer video]:

Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how  if we see it in time  we can prevent it.

:Video Sundays, or VS, is a weekly feature here on AMNP. For more architecture-related videos, click on any Sunday in the sidebar calendar - or on the ?videos? category in the ?archjutsu? section. Additional videos that have been featured on any of the MNP sites can be found here on our YouTube page. And don?t hesitate to submit suggestions for video features to architecture[at]myninjaplease[dot]com::

architectural Olympiad -

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5046432.ece

Britains TimesOnline lists the countries with the best modern architecture, based on Phaidons Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture. Heres a shocker: Japan won gold! [click the title of this post to read the article].

Dutch Architecture?s 5 Euro Coin -

Check out the winner of a competition to design a new 5 Euro commemorative coin, meant to celebrate the theme Netherlands and Architecture.

The winning coin, designed by Stani Michiels [using entirely open-source software], depicts an image of the Queen on the front [as is standard in the Netherlands], but her face i made up of the names of famous Dutch architects.

There are obviously just so many influential Dutch designers - how did he choose who fit on the coin? Check it out:

The tension between what is readable and what not, is also a metaphor how time shapes history. Some big names of the past, might be smaller names in the future and vice versa. To reflect this idea, I chose to order the architects not alphabetically or chronologically but in a new way: I used the internet as a seismograph and ordered the architects by the number of hits on the internet.

Of course this order changes over time and as such this is another time stamp on the coin besides the number 20082. Only the first 109 architects fitted on the coin, so that was immediately the selection.

The back side of the coin depicts a collection of influential architecture books by Dutch architects / about Dutch architecture - all pointing inward on the coin to create a central void. This is both meant as an absraction of the a city skyline, and also to form a rough profile of the Netherlands. Pretty ill.

On the back side of the coin I treated the edge of the coin as a book shelve. The books rise as buildings towards the center. Through their careful placement they combine to outline the Netherlands, while birds? silhouettes suggest the capitals of all the provinces.

From what I understand, 350,000 coins will be produced an entered into circulation - and there will be addition coins minted for collectors [larger silver and gold editions, I believe], and available at higher [than 5 Euros] prices.

Check out more info on the design process - from concept to the software used - over at the designers blog.

.: via SPE IDE - Stanis Python Editor ->

[bracket] Magazine -

Archinect and InfraNet Lab have teamed up to create [bracket], an annual publication documenting issues overlooked yet central to our cultural milieu that have evolved out of the new disciplinary territory at the intersection of architecture, landscape, urbanism and, now, the internet. It is no coincidence that the professional term architect can also now refer to information architects, and that the word community can also now refer to an online community. [bracket] is a publishing platform for ideas charting the complex overlap of the sphere of architecture and online social spheres.

Sounds interesting, right? Well - maybe you should submit something for the first issue! The topic/theme is farming:

The first edition of [bracket] is centered around the theme of farming. Once merely understood in terms of agriculture, today information, energy, labour, and landscape, among others, can be farmed. Farming harnesses the efficiency of collectivity and community. Whether cultivating land, harvesting resources, extracting energy or delegating labor, farming reveals the interdependencies of our globalized world. Simultaneously, farming represents the local gesture, the productive landscape, and the alternative economy. The processes of farming are mutable, parametric, and efficient. From terraforming to foodsheds to crowdsourcing, farming often involves the management of the natural mediated by the technologic. Farming, beyond its most common agricultural understanding is the modification of infrastructure, urbanisms, architectures, and landscapes toward a privileging of production.

.:Head on over to [bracket] to learn more->

Eye Candy: Urban Farming -

I just found this image - entitled Duality: When Worlds Collide - over at Archinect, and thought it was pretty ill. If only we could get our shit together and do something cool like actually get behind urban farming.

Click the image to see a larger version.

no more ?wow? -

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088sid=a.W8Az4o0p0Erefer=muse

In an interview with Farah Nayeri, David Chipperfield says Wow Factor Buildings Endangered by Crisis [click the title of this post to read the article].

?Yes, We Did? -

&or at least Yes, We Will.

Since the announcement that Mr. Obama won the presidency, Ive found myself somewhat at a loss for words. Despite the polls, and the confidence of the campaign, I was genuinely [and happily] surprised last night. That, and I was proven wrong about many judgments and assumptions I had made and expressed about this country - and Ive never been so happy to have to admit a mistake. Thank you Mr. President Elect.

What I can say for sure is that it feels wonderful [if not strange, frankly] to feel as if I am actually represented by a President - I can hardly wrap my mind around it, like some kind of state of slight shock. Ive never been so proud to be a citizen of the United States.

And hey - did you guys watch his speech? Did he maybe take a cue from Bill McDonough [to mix in the smallest amount of basically irrelevant architecture here], with his talk of looking to future generations? If my daughter is fortunate enough to live into the next century, what kind of progress will she have witnessed? That is not the kind of question a typical politician asks in this country [these days, anyways] - or the type of challenge a President Elect lays down during an acceptance speech.

Incredible.

Back to architecture tomorrow. Peace + love, my ninjas.

GO VOTE!!! -

Look, I would never be the guy telling you some BS about democracy being great or youre vote being an important right, blah blah blah - Im just saying, we all need to be on the right side of history here. I know some of you are Republicans, and I can feel you - but McCain has turned against the man we thought he was, and anyone who likes Palin [as more than a joke] is NOT a ninja.

Would Barack be perfect? Obviously not - he might be downright boring, actually, if the tightness/efficiency/seriousness of his campaign is any indication. But that would be better than exciting because hes bombing the shit out of people. I mean, McCain is flaunting the Cuban Missile Crisis as experience. Did someone explain to him that if he had been deployed and carried out his orders, then Russia wouldve nuked the living shit out of us? But hey - nuclear holocaust is better than looking like pussies, right?Do the right thing - actually go vote, and end this ignorant Neo-Con rule over our country [maybe freeing us AND the Republican party from their bullshit - although thats probably just wishful thinking].

Just hope, however, that McCain reveals his secret plan for finding Bin Laden is he doesnt win - he may just keep it to himself, tell us to f#%k off.

Jetson Green: Modern Green Houseboat -

Preston, green ninja master over at Jetson Green, writes:

Ive seen houseboats  boats designed or modified to be used primarily as permanent dwellings  in Portland, Oregon and always wondered what itd be like to live in one.  I could certainly live in something like this, what with the green roof and modern aesthetic.  Its called the Schwimmhaus and was designed by confused-direction in Germany.  Dont be fooled by the images, though, because this is just a model.  The real version should be finished in Spring 2009.  At a size of 14 m long, 4 m tall, and 3 m wide, Schwimmhaus will feature a spacious living room, kitchen, bathroom, and loft bedroom.   Itll also be eco-friendly, too, with features such as the living roof and wood reclaimed from an old farm barn.

Click here to read read the rest of this article [this is just an excerpt] over at Jetson Green.

::article written by Preston, founder + editor of Jetson Green - original article entitled Schwimmhaus Modern Green Houseboat. These articles from Jetson Green on MNP?s Green Tuesdays are part of a feature you can find here every week - just click any Tuesday in the calender and enjoy! And for more ?green? news + info, head on over to Green.MNP::

Studio 360: Detroit Institute of Arts -

The Detroit Institute of Arts wanted visitors to feel more connected to what they were seeing behind the glass cases. So they decided to renovate, redesign, and re-think how people experience art museums. A year ago, it re-opened its doors, so we sent Zak Rosen to discover how the D.I.A. remade itself for the 21st century.

.:view the slideshow -> here

Ninjas on the ?Net -

[Note: Sorry for the late posting - I fell asleep before putting this up last night, and then had to wait until I got out of work.]

Well people, its finally upon us - the 2008 presidential election. Party politricks aside - I cant wait for it to be over! It seems like Bush had hardly been re-elected before we started talking about the 2008 candidates, and Im glad for the impending break from this BS [although, there is already talk of Palins future - which I hope is politically short and uneventful].

Anyways, you get no rant from me this week - well just keep it moving with some linkage. For you listening pleasure, partially motivated by my political attitude [or hopes, anyways] lately, I give you Pharoah Sanders The Creator Has A Master Plan. I know I hooked you with some jazz a couple weeks ago too - I think that Ill have to upload something before Sunday night next week, as this seems to be the kind of thing Im listening to at this point in the week. Hope you enjoy. And as always, if you have something you?d like to add, drop a link in the comments section - or toss us an email [architecture AT myninjaplease DOT com] and I?ll make sure it gets in next weeks post.

- The New York Times talks loft living

- The NYT Moment blog puts us on to Taschen?s ?Arts  Architecture, 1945-54: The Complete Reprint, a Parisian Rebirth, and a 21st century Bucky Fuller

- Metropolis votes at the mall, and talks with Brian Bell

- the Architects Newspaper drops news of Will Alsop and Coney Island

- Arch Record shows off Kazakhstan?s new bling

- Archinects Op-Ed warns of changes in our schools course offerings

- Architecture Week talks Young Architect of the Year Award

- Wallpaper* had a Q+A with Archilab Director Marie-Ange Brayer

- Tropolism drops a newsletter, and hips us to a new social network called Bureau of Architects [which is like myarchn, but different]

- Slate features Pianos California Adventure in a slideshow

- The Pritzker Prize gets a face-lift [online anyways]

- BLDGBLOG discusses the outsourcing of audacity

- Archidose list some upcoming lectures in NYC, and features the Hotel Lone by 3LHD

- the Where Blog asks Can Buildings Learn? We hope not - they may fight back.

- last but most definitely not least - don?t forget about the rest of the MNP [My Ninja Please!] crew: the parent site, MyNinjaPlease; MusicMNP; GreenMNP; PolitricksMNP; and RobotNinja.

- and thats it for this week?s Ninjas on the ?Net - don?t forget, you should also be clicking those sidebar links + buttons and checking out all of our blogging ninjas out there.

VS: Shigeru Ban @ the Architecture League -

[Shigeru Ban from Architectural League of New York on Vimeo.]

You know, every time I see Shigeru Bans name somewhere a voice in my head says it like something out of some anime movie. Shi-Ge-Ru BAN! [wow, how ignorant is that&]

Moving along - heres the description of the lecture Ban gave earlier this year for the Architecture League:

The Franzen Lecture on Architecture and the Environment is an annual invited lecture by an international figure whose work has significant implications for understanding and reconceiving the relationship between architecture and the environment, created in honor of long-time League trustee Ulrich Franzen. The 2007-08 Franzen Lecture was given by Shigeru Ban on January 22, 2008 at the Great Hall of Cooper Union in New York City. Click above to view the entire lecture, with introduction by League President Calvin Tsao.

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban?s innovative work tests the limits of structure and form. Often based on elements derived from traditional Japanese architecture, his firm?s designs are ecologically sensitive and flexibly programmed, from quickly constructed temporary paper structures to modular, reconfigurable galleries and pavilions to permanent urban structures. Recent and current work includes the Nomadic Museum; the Seikei Library; Papertainer Museum, Seoul; Nicolas G. Hayek Center, Tokyo; the Metal Shutter Houses; and the Pompidou Center ? Metz.

The Franzen Lecture on Archiecture and the Environment is made possible by contributions from the Riggio Foundation, Juliana Curran Terian, and Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown.[via]

Enjoy.

::Video Sundays, or VS, is a weekly feature here on AMNP. For more architecture-related videos, click on any Sunday in the sidebar calendar - or on the ?videos? category in the ?archjutsu? section. Additional videos that have been featured on any of the MNP sites can be found here on our YouTube page. And don?t hesitate to submit suggestions for video features to architecture[at]myninjaplease[dot]com::

happy halloween -

http://death.ofthiswearesure.com/

Archinect put us on to this list of architects and how they met their end&just click the title of this post to follow th link.

The Green City: Jumeirah Gardens -

[Image: Master-plan aerial]

Say what you want about the construction boom in Dubai, but one thing is for certain: this place is the future, but now. Seriously - expect sci-fi movies to be filming there, and for the rest of the world to be playing catch-up for decades. May or may not be a good thing - but its the truth, my ninjas.

Despite the fact that these towers and individual structures are interesting themselves, Im personally much more interested in the master-plans / urban design coming out of the emirate, as they offer an opportunity to investigate what the 21st century urban fabric truly is / should be [whereas in most other places designers arent afforded so many liberties, and basically zero context]. These projects also have the funding/space/political backing to be feckin HUGE, really creating whole new cities [or in this case, cities within cities] in a rather short amount of time - in contrast to urban design in the US, for instance, which must account more for the existing fabric and history, etc [neither is better or worse necessarily, and AMNP isnt advocating for one or the other - just making a point.].

While the architectural palimpsest of Europe, the US, and parts of China emphasizes the dichotomy that exists between old and new, classic and contemporary, etc., these new large scale projects in Dubai and the U.A.E. [and some in China] leave that conversation behind and look towards the future. I cant say that I believe thats better than building an urban area over a longer period of time - hundreds of years, whatever - but it will definitely propel design, planning, and construction [along with all technologies involved] into the 21st century in a serious way. Im interested in seeing how the international involvement in these projects [in terms of architects/designers anyways] starts to influence the building in other countries, namely the countries of Europe and the U.S.

Moving along, here are images from the proposal for the Jumeirah Gardens master-plan by SOM Chicago and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, with 3 major new towers [each of which youll see all over the net and in all the design rags, Im sure] by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill.

[Image: 1 Dubai]

Proposed by Meraas Development, the development will be a mixed-use project ranging from low density all the way to super-high Dubai density [yes, thats a technical term] zones for housing, businesses, retail, leisure, recreation, parks, and anything else they can squeeze into the 95 Billion dollar project.

The centerpiece of the masterplan is a tri-part tower called simply 1 Dubai, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill. The project is three towers that share a connected base, and are further connected to one another at various heights through sky-bridges. Not to be taken lightly, 1 Dubai will be one of the tallest buildings in the world at over 2,000 feet - and will house two world-class hotels, office and retail space and some of the world?s highest condominiums and luxury facilities, for a total area of 13 million sq ft.

I mean, just look at how big the sky-bridges are themselves [below]. Ridiculous.

From Smith + Gill:

The development?s unique form is also highly functional: soaring clusters of cables and occupied sky-bridges connect the towers together as they ascend. The towers are designed to the highest environmental and performance standards and will serve as a strong symbol of Dubai?s commitment to sustainability.

A true city center, the complex is accessible directly by both land and sea. At the base of the buildings, grand arched entrances allow boats to travel underneath the building and into a central atrium space, an oasis in the center of the development. The atria oasis, open from water to sky, is framed by the three towers and the sky-bridges above. The space has the potential to transform into a premier entertainment venue [via].

[Image:1 Dubai, suspended bridges]

The other individual project of note being proposed for the Gardens is called Park Gate [Im skipping over the 1 Park Avenue project, as it looks like a fairly typical phallic and curvy tower], and consists of 6 towers that are connected in pairs by large hanging canopies of greenery [images below].

From Smith + Gill:

[The six towers are] arranged to form a grand garden space and create a shaded microclimate unlike any other place in Dubai. The six towers are positioned into pairs linked together by soaring vaulted canopy structures that umbrella the landscape below. The space beneath the canopies is transformed into a verdant grotto. Vegetation is enmeshed with the canopies and exterior balconies of the towers, creating a highly sustainable 360 degree garden. The space acts as an outdoor ?great hall?, providing an unparalleled retreat.

Each of the six towers is 30-40 stories. The development includes residential, commercial, retail, hospitality and entertainment spaces [via].

[Image: Park Gate]

A common thread through all the project, and the  master-plan itself, is sustainability - another aspect of architecture that these project in the UAE are all over. The developer has stated that green buildings and construction, resource conservation and overall sustainability will inform every aspect of this new district, with tools such as intelligent infrastructure technology and cutting-edge eco design serving to reduce the district?s collective ecological footprint.?

[Image: Park Gate]

So, book some kind of cruise tickets now for 2020 [the project is underway - but there wont be any cheap airlines left by then, sorry people]. The only thing these ninjas need is some cars that fold into suitcases, and Dubai will be like wherever it was that the Jetsons lived&

.: originally seen over at WAN ->

Ninja Arithmetic XLV -

[Solution: Zahas new shoe design for Brazilian band Melissa]

This week?s ninja math submitted by AMNP reader Fakhrur. Check out Fakhurs previous submission here.

So, does anyone else think these things look a a little like hooker shoes?
::Ninja Arithmetic is an AMNP original feature that you can find here every Wednesday. To submit an idea for some ninja math, email us at ARCHITECTURE[at]MYNINJAPLEASE[dot]COM. For past entries, click on any Wednesday in the calendar - or click on the ?Ninja Arithmetic? category under ?archjutsu?::

Sun+Water=Fuel -

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21536/?a=f

With catalysts created by an MIT chemist, sunlight can turn water into hydrogen. If the process can scale up, it could make solar power a dominant source of energy [click the title of this post for the full article, over at Technology Review].

Jetson Green: Google?s LEED for Later -

Preston, green ninja master over at Jetson Green, writes:

Well over a year ago, I heard William McDonough was working with Google on some green design plans near the Googleplex (all hush hush-type stuff covered by an NDA).  Since that time, I havent really noticed much information on those plans, that is, until I caught this article in Mountain View Voice talking about Googles extraordinary building plans.  It appears that SHoP Architects coordinated the work of several architectural firms to get these preliminary plans going.  But, for the time being, Google has decided to put the green office structure on hold.

This 310,000 sf building was planned for a location just east of the Googleplex (see site plan below), but its only a small cog in the big machine that Google calls the McDonough Masterplan.  The office is phase one, and theres a lot more planned for the future including a hotel, mixed-use urban center, and transit node.

Google submitted their informal building plans to the Mountain View Planning Department recently.  Their intention with the structure was to go beyond LEED Platinum and design something that would create a benchmark for sustainability and help define new standards for construction.

Click here to read read the rest of this article [this is just an excerpt] over at Jetson Green.

::article written by Preston, founder + editor of Jetson Green - original article entitled Google Puts Plans for Beyond LEED Platinum Offices On Hold. These articles from Jetson Green on MNP?s Green Tuesdays are part of a feature you can find here every week - just click any Tuesday in the calender and enjoy! And for more ?green? news + info, head on over to Green.MNP::

temple of bottles -

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/10/27/temple-of-a-million-bottles/

The Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew temple has found a way to bottle-up Nirvana, literally. The temple, which sits in Thaisland?s Sisaket province, roughly 370 miles northeast of Bangkok is made of more than a million recycled glass bottles. True to its nickname, ?Wat Lan Kuad? or ?Temple of Million Bottles? features glass bottles throughout the premises of the temple, including the crematorium, surrounding shelters, and yes ? even the toilets [find out more, over at Inhabitat by clicking the title of this post].

broken pyramid -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/us/27land.html

The Pyramid in Memphis opened in 1991 as an arena for sports and concerts but, because money fell short, never became the attraction it was intended to be. It stands vacant now, 150,000 square feet of unused space that the city is trying to find a use for [click the title of this post for the full article and slideshow, via the NY Times].

ground zero ghost -

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/10/27/nyregion/20081027_TUNNEL_SLIDESHOW_index.html

Check out The Last Trace of the Old Hudson Terminal, a photo slideshow over at the NY Times [click the title of this post to see the slideshow].

Quote of the Day -

[Image: Brian MacKay-Lyons property in Nova Scotia]

Architecture is a social art. If the practice of architecture is the art of what you can make happen, then I believe that you are only as good as your bullpen?the builders, the engineers, the artisans, the colleagues, the staff?who collaborate with you; those who become possessed by the same urge to build, by the same belief that we are working on something exceptional together.

~Brian MacKay-Lyons

Ninjas on the ?Net -

[Image: Cartogram showing countries military spending, via]

Just a little something to be proud of - especially since our schools are a mess, our health care system sucks, you have to literally sell yourself to a bank to get money for college, people cant afford homes anymore, etc etc etc. But hey, we have shown the world that our penis-enlargement pills have been working and that were not giving up US hegemony. Good stuff.
Sorry, but politricks have taken a serious hold on my life as of late - my hopes are that itll lighten up after the election, one way or another. That, and I downloaded some Noam Chomsky books&increasing my general beligerence about 10-fold. As Im sure you can tell from my rant, Im a super McCain/Palin supporter&

Moving along to what I assume youre here for, architecture - AMNP has started a Twitter page/thread/thing. I have no real idea what peoples deal is with Twitter, and had no experience with the phenomenon until this past week - but it seemed like a reasonable way to share links and info that would normally be reserved to these Ninjas on the Net posts and the middle sidebar links. So if youre already on Twitter, follow AMNP! And if not, sign up to get daily link updates, both to our new posts and to other sites that AMNP is checking out at the moment [I promise to keep it mostly architecture-related - check out MNPs Twitter page for everything else the ninjas are getting into].

As for some blog-reading tunes [which we decided to start up last week with some Sun Ra], Im suggesting readers check out the [excellent] podcasts offered by Blogariddims [which Trizlam, over at MusicMNP, put me on to], an eclectic mix that definitely has something for everyone. They recently released their 50th and final podcast, and I suggest you download them all before theyre not available anymore. And as always, if you have something you?d like to add, drop a link in the comments section - or toss us an email [architecture AT myninjaplease DOT com] and I?ll make sure it gets in next weeks post. Enjoy!

[This turned into a wicked long setup to this weeks links&damn]

- first off, register for GreenBuild and come to Boston!

- The NY Times has a number of interesting architecture-related articles this past week: danced-powered nightclub, Foster designing a major renovation to the NYC public library, high concept prefab, and Zaha in Central Park

- New York Magazine has Zahas new shoe design for Lacoste

- female designers in Turkey break through barriers and help build a mosque, covered by NPRs All Things Considered

- Newsweek doubts the future of Dubais development?

- the Huffington Post looks into the Eco-Sins [and Virtues] of Barack Obama

- Metropolis questions whether good design will save the mall in the 21st century

- AAgrotecture 1, 2, and 3, over at Pruned

- Joseph Grima talks with Arch Record

- a 45 year old island just for scientists, over at the CS Monitor

- Yatzer has some great photos of Clingstone

- an interesting post on micro-territoriality at BLDGBLOG

- sun+water=fuel over at technology review

- Archidose reviews Exit-Architecture: Design Between War and Peace

- the Japanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, over at We Make Money Not Art

- and the new Where is dropping great new content, check it out

- last but most definitely not least - don?t forget about the rest of the MNP [My Ninja Please!] crew: the parent site, MyNinjaPlease; MusicMNP; GreenMNP; PolitricksMNP; and RobotNinja.

- and that about wraps up this week?s Ninjas on the ?Net - but don?t forget, you should also be clicking those sidebar links + buttons and checking out all of our blogging ninjas out there.

Architecture is a Special Effects Machine -

Liz Diller speaks at TED:

In this engrossing EG talk, architect Liz Diller shares her firm Diller Scofidio + Renfros more unusual work, including the Blur Building, whose walls are made of fog, and the revamped Alice Tully Hall, which is wrapped in glowing wooden skin.

Also, if you havent seen it be sure to check out Diller Scofidio + Renfros new website - pretty cool.

::Video Sundays, or VS, is a weekly feature here on AMNP. For more architecture-related videos, click on any Sunday in the sidebar calendar - or on the ?videos? category in the ?archjutsu? section. Additional videos that have been featured on any of the MNP sites can be found here on our YouTube page. And don?t hesitate to submit suggestions for video features to architecture[at]myninjaplease[dot]com::

Guest House in Girona -

I quite honestly know absolutely nothing about this project - other than its a guest-house [I think], and the fact that I thought it looked pretty siiick.  Im really feeling the juxtaposition of the contemporary structure [it looks like corten steel, but I think its iron clad?] with the existing, traditional main house. In addition to the contrast between the two structures in terms of form and material, theres also this excavated space between the two - the function/intention of which, unfortunately, remains a mystery to me.

Heres the description from Hidalgo Hartmann Arquitectura, the designer:

Nueva cabaña y accesos de masia.
La Garrotxa. Girona
2000-2004

La intervención tiene como punto de partida el análisis de los diferentes elementos a con-servar, sus conexiones y la reordenación de los accesos para adecuarlo a un uso residen-cial.

La intervención consiste en el desplaza-miento del volumen anexo que consta de planta baja y un piso para crear un vacío entre éste y la casa principal. Este vacío en planta semisótano, actúa como acceso y dis-tribuidor entre las partes que conforman el conjunto de la masia. Se comunica con el exterior por sus dos extremos, uno a cota planta baja y otro a través de un suave talud que permite la entrada de luz de mañana a tarde con la posibilidad de atravesarlo como si de un camino se tratara. La nueva cabaña se concibe como un volumen arquetípico de chapa de hierro, como los cobertizos o caba-ñas que los payeses construyen para almace-nar leña o utensilios del campo, que revisten con las chapas de los bidones de gasóleo previamente rectificadas para convertirse en una plancha lisa.

So, does a Spanish-speaking/reading ninja out there feel like translating and leaving something in the comments section? I tried to use Babelfish, but that site isnt really reliable for whole paragraphs, etc [or for anything, really].

.:more information [in Spanish] -> via Hidalgo Hartmann Arquitectura

Ed. Note: If nothing else, messing with this architecture blog thing for the past 2 years has taught me that I should learn Spanish if I want to be reading about awesome architecture [other than work from Japan, which seems to be translated into English more often].

Ninjas on Twitter -

Im not really sure what - if anything - this means for the site, but AMNP can now be found on Twitter: @ArchitectureMNP. Links to all posts will be&tweeted&twoot..twittered&whatever, along with links to anything else we here at AMNP are getting into online at the moment.

In terms of integrating this somehow, it will probably only affect the sidenotes [those mini-posts in the center column] and ninjas on the net - both of which will becoming redundant for those of you following AMNP on Twitter.
Also, the main site - MyNinjaPlease.com - has also created an account, @MyNinjaPlease.com, which will feature links to new post around the network, along with anything else we deem ninja-worthy. So check us out, and follow us for updates.

Shetland Museum and Archives -

Designed by BDP, the Shetland Museum and Archives serves as a cultural hub for the Shetland Islands in Scotland - both housing the archives of the islands and telling its history with a maritime theme and contemporary feel.

The new building, coming in at 3,500 square meters, integrated existing boat sheds into the design - and serves as the centerpiece to the restoration of the entire historic dock. In addition to the archives and exhibits, the museum includes a restaurant with seating for 90, and a 120 seat auditorium space.

The main buildings form is derived from the historical context - traditional Shetland building, called Lodberries, which had gabled ends rising from the sea, constructed with traditional materials [harled masonry walls, timber windows and slate pitched roofs].

But the Boat Hall is really the center of the project. In order to create an icon for the project, and the area, BDP created a taller, timber-clad structure made up of four inclined polygonal walls, separated by strips of vertical glazing. Once again taking cues from the areas history, the form is based on the sails of Herring Drifters, boats which were built at the very dock where the museum is located.

The three storey tall structure is home to five historic boats - suspended at various heights within the space, viewed from two platforms within the space - recounting the history of the Shetland boat from its Viking roots to more contemporary designs.

The building was recently named winner of the Gold Award in this year?s Wood Awards.

.:images via BDP->

Eye Candy: No Escape -

No Escape Parking at Old Memorial Stadium
Baltimore, Maryland

Alex S. MacLean

MacLeans aerial photography is stunning, and definitely not to be missed.

Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape.  Trained as an architect, he has portrayed the history and evolution of the land from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes.  His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed environments.  MacLean?s photographs have been exhibited widely in the United Sates, Canada, Europe and Asia and are found in private, public and university collections.

.:see more -> via www.alexmaclean.com

::Eye Candy is a weekly post on exactly what it sounds like - something cool to look at, whether because the project is ill or simply because it warrants a ?my ninjas, please?. If you come across something in these here internets that you think should be featured here as ?Eye Candy?, hit us up! architecture AT myninjaplease dot com::

Human-Powered Water Pump -

Yup - a human-powered water pump! Because unlike coal, people are a renewable resource [we just keep having babies!]. Hows that for a Modest Proposal?

In all seriousness - is this not really siiick looking? Unfortunately, the design shown really doesnt have anything to do with anything [not that that makes the aesthetic any less impressive] - the really amazing idea here is that this setup will convert kinetic energy from human foot traffic into usable energy to power underground pumps, which will pump fresh drinking water up to the surface in areas where there are drinking water shortages.

Incredible.

The project - designed by Gunwook Nam of Seoul, South Korea - was one of three winners of the Re:construct competition sponsored by San Fransisco?s Urban Re:Vision. Heres the designers description:

Human Pump - one step one drop

This structure is adaptable to everywhere, having trouble with water shortage and supply system. All over the world, many countries have trouble with water supply. Almost of countries is worsening desertification and water shortage. Already many cities were covered by sand and these cities will be at a crisis to be vanished. And also we can adapt this structure to contaminated land after flooding disaster because people cannot find clean water. At the country having trouble with water supply, people usually spend their all day finding water or pumping with hands. For these reasons, many children can not go to school. I will suggest Human Pump. If we install this structure on roads that many people usually pass, people will walk through this wood deck structure, children will run and play on this wood playground. And then springs of floor collects shock energy from steps. This energy will be collected and then used by pumping underground water and lifting up deck floor to roof and spraying water out. After school, children just contain water and go to home. Citizens will use this water by farming and drinking. This new invention structure doesnt need any artificial electronic energy. Only people walks on the structure. It is new self-sufficient invention for future.

.: Check out more images of the proposal here ->

.: The Human Water Pump Harvests Kinetic Energy -> via Inhabitat

e2 Design II: Green Design Podcasts -

Greening the Federal Government

Weve talked about the 3rd season of the PBS series e2 here on AMNP before - but so that you dont forget about the show [which is great], I thought Id throw some of the podcasts up on the site. Yes, this news is a couple months old - but you should be able to find the episodes if youve missed them [and we definitely recommend that you do].

The Druk White Lotus School ? Ladakh

green guru? -

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/the-mortal-messiah.html

Maybe not. Fast Company takes Bill McDonough to task - and while this seems cynical, he is more celebrity than green activist at this point, isnt he? Still think Cradle to Cradle is classic though&read the article by clicking the title of this post.

slowing green energy -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/business/21energy.html?_r=1hporef=slogin

For all the support that the presidential candidates are expressing for renewable energy, alternative energies like wind and solar are facing big new challenges because of the credit freeze and the plunge in oil and natural gas prices [read the full article over at the NY Times by clicking the title of this post].

Jetson Green: Aria Denver -

Preston, green ninja master over at Jetson Green, writes:

Every now and then, Michelle Kaufmann gives us a rendering or a glimpse of a development shes working on in Colorado.  Part of the development involves the design of new housing for the Sisters of St. Francis.  The other part is a private, multifamily townhouse development adjacent to the Sisters housing.  The townhouse community called Aria Denver promises to bring clean, green, and pure living to northwest Denver starting in 2009.

The community will feature shared parks, communal organic gardens, geo-thermal energy, high-performance energy systems, and sustainable materials and strategies (catch updates here).  If youre interested, theres an open house Thursday, October 23, 2008.

Aria Denver is being designed by mkDesigns and OZ Architecture.  The development team includes Urban Ventures and Perry Rose.  Visit Aria Denver.

Click here to read read the rest of this article [this is just an excerpt] over at Jetson Green.

::article written by Preston, founder + editor of Jetson Green - original article entitled Aria Denver Plans Clean Green Living. These articles from Jetson Green on MNP?s Green Tuesdays are part of a feature you can find here every week - just click any Tuesday in the calender and enjoy! And for more ?green? news + info, head on over to Green.MNP::

prince wants green -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/08/eacharles108.xml

Prince Charles has set his sights on architects - claiming that the green movement in building consists mainly of mere gestures. This, from a grown as man whos a PRINCE of a democratic nation - talk about gestures. Read the article over at the Telegraph by clicking the title of this post.

Masdar Animation -

Quote of the Day -

People can inhabit anything. And they can be miserable in anything and ecstatic in anything. More and more I think that architecture has nothing to do with it. Of course, thats both liberating and alarming. But the generic city, the general urban condition, is happening everywhere, and just the fact that it occurs in such enormous quantities must mean that its habitable.

Architecture cant do anything that the culture doesnt. We all complain that we are confronted by urban environments that are completely similar. We say we want to create beauty, identity, quality, singularity. And yet, maybe in truth these cities that we have are desired. Maybe their very characterlessness provides the best context for living.

~ Rem Koolhaas in an interview with WIRED, 1996

Ninjas on the ?Net -

[Image: Underground railroad map, via]

I dont know about all you ninjas, but Ive been pretty obsessed with these here politricks lately - and will be until the election. Its like crack. I mean - McCain playing grab-ass? Palin in the Oval Office? Racist Republicans? Barrack doing stand up? Colin Powell endorsing Obama? Songs about Palin? Damn.

Also, speaking politricks - only about 91 days left for Bush in the White House!

Moving along - I dont know how often Ill do this, but I was thinking it could be cool to hook readers with something to listen to while perusing the links provided every Monday for Ninjas on the Net [maybe well tie this in with the music page somehow]. That said, check out Sun Ras Sleeping Beauty while you surf these here interwebs this week. And as always, if you have something you?d like to add, drop a link in the comments section - or toss us an email [architecture AT myninjaplease DOT com] and I?ll make sure it gets in next weeks post. Enjoy!

- the New York Times has urban renewal in Chechnya, flawed American Dreams, and the new TKTS Booth

- archidose features the reopening of the TKTS Booth and its new design, along with some lectures in NYC this month and a review of DBOOK: Density, Data, Diagrams, Dwellings

- BLDGBLOG rides a zip-line

- Archinect is Live from 52nd IFHP World Congress in San Juan, Puerto Rico

- CNN investigates the uncovering of a city of the dead in Rome

- Arch Record explains that architects are being hit hard by the financial crisis&in case you didnt already know

- bdonline and the guardian both talk about the split of Future Systems

- Young Architect of the Year Award 2008 shortlist announced, over at Bustler

- the Architects Newspaper reports that LA has pledged $5 Billion for affordable housing

- the Architects Journal explains why London is a Frankenstein city

- Architect magazine hips us to the end of the road for some US highways

- check out the new Where - our ninja Brendan has really reinvented his entire site

- last but most definitely not least - don?t forget about the rest of the MNP [My Ninja Please!] crew: the parent site, MyNinjaPlease; MusicMNP; GreenMNP; PolitricksMNP; and RobotNinja.

- and that about wraps up this week?s Ninjas on the ?Net - but don?t forget, you should also be clicking those sidebar links + buttons and checking out all of our blogging ninjas out there.

New Trajectories: Contemporary Architecture in Croatia and Slovenia -

New Trajectories: Contemporary Architecture in Croatia and Slovenia

[The following text is quoted from the GSDs lecture series website]
Presentations and panel discussion with Petra Ceferin, Sasa Randic, Bostjan Vuga, and moderators Mariana Ibanez and Eve Blau

Sasa Randic is a principal of Randic-Turanto, located in Rijeka, Croatia. Bostjan Vuga is a principal of Sadar Vuga Arhitekti in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Petra Ceferin is an architect and researcher; she writes and lectures on the construction of architectural imagery, the influence of media on architecture and the possibilities of an autonomous architecture. She lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Over the last ten years, the economies of Croatia and Slovenia  in transition from communist Yugoslavia to capitalist countries  allowed for a flourishing design community to emerge without the pressures of a demanding market. Well-organized systems of public competitions gave young practices access to complex commissions  testing innovative ideas at multiple scales and seeing them realized. As a result, new generations of Croatian and Slovenian architects have developed exceptional work that is both innovative and charged with the legacy of their own architectural heritage. Regardless of the differences between the two countries and the design practices, the production techniques and strategies implemented by these architects can be situated at the core of contemporary architectural production.

As Slovenia has joined the European Union, soon to be followed by Croatia, these nations will be open to foreign investments and foreign architects. Larger corporate interests and the seduction of the instant icon will present an interesting challenge to local designers. As they have ably demonstrated, however, the architects of Croatia and Slovenia will certainly enter this new stage, while expanding into global territories, with a confidence stemming from their established identity.

.: Heres a write-up on the exhibition -> via the Boston Globe

.: More lectures -> courtesy of the GSD
::Video Sundays, or VS, is a weekly feature here on AMNP. For more architecture-related videos, click on any Sunday in the sidebar calendar - or on the ?videos? category in the ?archjutsu? section. Additional videos that have been featured on any of the MNP sites can be found here on our YouTube page. And don?t hesitate to submit suggestions for video features to architecture[at]myninjaplease[dot]com::

mosques on main street -

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,583903,00.html

There are plans to build several hundred new and often magnificent mosques throughout Europe  particularly in Germany. Architecture has become the field of a fierce ideological battle about the visibility of Europes 16 million Muslims [read the full article at Spiegel Online by clicking the title of this post].

desert plants? -

http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=80435_0_23_0_C

&leading us to newer and better green building. A group of young architects in Tucson is studying desert plants and the positioning of primitive dwellings to create new techniques in environmental architecture for hot climates [more at Archinect  - just click the title of this post].

Work on 1 km Tall Towers! -

Woods Bagot, designers of the proposed 1km tall Nakheel Tower in Dubai are opening a US office!

Woods Bagot, a global architecture and consulting firm employing more than 1,000 professionals worldwide, announced today that it opened its first North American office to service the growing interests of the firm?s international clients.

The San Francisco office expands Woods Bagot?s network of 14 offices currently serving Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The move advances the firm?s ?one global studio? strategy, which uses proprietary technology to deliver its international expertise to clients around the world.

?Competing in the global economy requires a different approach, one that is agile and innovative and driven by the best talent worldwide,? said Ross Donaldson, Group Managing Director of Woods Bagot. ?The new North American office adds an important link to our knowledge network, tapping into the remarkable design and technological expertise that resides here. We foresee exciting collaborations that will continue to elevate our worldwide presence as an architectural innovator and better serve our clients? interests in the region.?

Thank the architecture gods - maybe now well get something like this ridiculousness built in the US! Because size matters, my ninjas, and good design does not&

Seriously though - why doesnt someone just build FLWs mile-high skyscraper? That thing was nice-looking, anyways. This thing here just looks like some kind of torturous vibrator.

I wasnt sure if I was going to take it here, but this was too amusing not to post - a co-worker of mine had this to say of the announcement:

Employment opportunity : Woods Bagot Design

We are looking for those who have high ego and pretentiousness that can only be matched by the size of the towers that we are specialized in.

Qualification : Men. Small genital, less than 1/43 from the base to its tip (preferably uncircumcised).

Hilarious. All those interested [meeting these criteria], leave a hater-ish reply in the comments.
.: Woods Bagot ->

ILoveSketch -

ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

Not perfect/that ill - but its a start. Heres the description:

A 3D curve sketching system that captures some of the affordances of pen and paper for professional designers, allowing them to iterate directly on concept 3D curve models. The system coherently integrates existing techniques of sketch-based interaction with a number of novel and enhanced features. Novel contributions of the system include automatic view rotation to improve curve sketchability, an axis widget for sketch surface selection, and implicitly inferred changes between sketching techniques. We also improve on a number of existing ideas such as a virtual sketchbook, simplified 2D and 3D view navigation, multi-stroke NURBS curve creation, and a cohesive gesture vocabulary.

.:more here -> ILoveSketch