WHO IM ?

well hi im wail a student of architecture at the Universidad Politécnica of Valencia.

welcome to my blog, this is the space where i share things about architect

why did you choose this place ?

because being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.

what makes you comfortable :

we are creatures that basically love to experience the good things in life and this place really hit in a different way because of the different elements that compose it it makes you feel a way of relief and comfort not to forget the positive energy that comes from people there

There is some disruptive element?

the only disruptive element i could think of is the weather cause this place perferably to go there when there is a warm good weather .

Do you think you’d feel the same way in another space right now?

until now i dont think so because this place really take off all my negative emotion and reduces all my anxiety and sttress if there is any also it helps me be more open and creative .

Do you think that the conditions of this space influence its occupants? How?

the conditions of this space are the reason why occupants can never get tired of the sensation the place gives .because at some point you come to realise that the conditions are what creates the comfort zone in the first place and one change can lead to a big impact .

PETER ZUMTHERS TEXT ABOUT ATHMOSPHERES :

What ‘really constitutes an architectural atmosphere’, Peter Zumthor says, is ‘this singular density and mood, this feeling of presence, well-being, harmony, beauty …under whose spell I experience what I otherwise would not experience in precisely this way’. Zumthor’s passion is the creation of buildings that produce this kind of effect, but how can one actually set out to achieve it? In nine short, illustrated chapters framed as a process of self-observation, Peter Zumthor describes what he has on his mind as he sets about creating the atmosphere of his houses. Images of spaces and buildings that affect him are every bit as important as particular pieces of music or books that inspire him. From the composition and ‘presence’ of the materials to the handling of proportions and the effect of light, this poetics of architecture enables the reader to recapitulate what really matters in the process of house design

«PA2-Opinions»

Norman Foster was born in Manchester in 1935. After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture.

He is the founder and chairman of Foster and Partners. Founded in London in 1967, it is now a worldwide practice, with project offices in more than twenty countries. Over the past four decades the company has been responsible for a strikingly wide range of work, from urban master plans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design.

Foster has established an international reputation with projects as diverse as the New German Parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin, Chek Lap Kok International Airport and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, Willis Faber & Dumas Head Office in Ipswich, and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich. Since its inception, the practice has received more than 400 awards and citations for excellence and has won numerous international and national competitions.

He became the 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1999. He has been awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1994), the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983), and the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture (1991). In 1990 he was granted a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and in 1999 was honored with a Life Peerage, becoming The Lord Foster of Thames Bank.

Foster has lectured throughout the world and has taught architecture in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has been Vice-President of the Architectural Association in London, Council Member of the Royal College of Art and was a founding trustee of the Architecture Foundation of London …

QUOTE :

“As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past for a future which is essentially unknown”
― Norman Foster

In a workplace where things are changing faster than we can keep up, adaptability has become the most sought after asset not only within people, but also throughout concepts of design and structure.

Many professionals report that there’s nothing worse than spending weeks on a project to find out it’s completely irrelevant by the time it’s completed, but this happens in the workplace every day. But how is one to know the heights technology will reach, or more importantly, how society will perceive these changes?

Moreover, Norman Foster’s groundbreaking work in the architectural field can certainly teach us a lesson in innovation. He explains how important it is to look at the big picture. It’s not just about what you predict will happen tomorrow, two months from now or 30 years in the future. Considering the past is ultimately the key to planning for the future and more importantly, succeeding in the present.

If our goal is to make the workplace a more flexible and adaptive community, innovators must shake off the strict concepts of time and see beyond a single lens. What worked in the past, what is working now and what might make life easier in ten years?

The Gherkin: Foster’s Monumental Building In The Heart Of London

When you are travelling into London, one of the first buildings to strike your eye will be the Gherkin no matter which direction you are getting in from. Officially referred to as 30 St. Mary Axe, it stands at a whooping 180 metres tall and it’s the second tallest building in London. The Gherkin has changed the general public’s perception of tall buildings as the City Planning Officer, Peter Wyne Rees testifies:

Before the City had its “Gherkin” tall buildings were very unpopular with the general public.

It’s easy to see why a building like this one would make people have different thoughts on high-standing buildings around the city. The design is one that makes you want to check other tall buildings for some similar or better inspiration or just for the next big thing. When Swiss Re was looking for a company to design the sort of housing that can shape their company as one of the most popular insurance companies in the world, Forster + Partners stood and scooped up the chance, relishing to go on and make a beauty in Britain‘s capital.

It’s not  just an ambitious building and massive structure, the sustainability mechanisms employed in its design have ensured that the building uses only half the energy consumed by conventionally unsustainable and air-conditioned buildings of such magnitude. The Gherkin is located in the heart of London’s financial centre. Designed to have a gradually diminishing form and with a host of eco-friendly glazed skin covering it, it’s visited by around 30 people every 10 minutes who walk inside the building for a maximum of 20 minutes before another group goes in.

To say that it has created a “Bilbao effect” of its own would be an overstatement because unlike the Bilbao Museum, this building has not changed the face of London to tourists on a very large scale. However, the Gherkin on its own is a subject of top-notch implementation of the architect’s idea which has brought great admiration to buildings of its size. In designing London’s first ecological tall building, Foster + Partners used a technically radical approach to provide for the brief which required approximately 47,000 square metres net of office space coupled with a group of shops and cafes in an arcade that would be accessed from a new piazza.

The building’s concept was generated from its circular plan which embodied radial geometry inspiring the architects to widen the building’s profile as you move up and slowly lessen it as you approach the top most lens. Since the building is very slim towards the bottom, it helps to maximise the public’s domain space of activity at the street level. The form responds to the challenges of the site since it appears very slender as compared to rectangular blocks of the same mass.

The Gherkin’s tapering form allows it to reduce wind deflections hence offering very minimal wind resistance, an aspect of it that helps it to minimise on wind loads as well as creating a comfortable environment for people on the ground. The external pressure differentials created by the deflected winds help the building to drive its unique system of natural ventilation.

Foster + Partners provided a column-free floor space due to the use of a diagonally braced structure designed by the internationally renowned structural engineering company, Arup. With the diagrid and an all-round fully glazed façade, the building provides its users and visitors with adequate lighting and awe-inspiring views.

The skin of the Gherkin is double glazed and the space created between the glazing is part of the ventilation strategy to enhance natural cooling and maintain thermal comfort inside the building. The tower has six shafts that form into a series of break-out spaces spiraling up the building. The shafts pull warm air out of the building during the summer and warm the building in the winter using passive solar heating.

The building has a record 24,000 square metres of glass arranged as diamond-shaped panes. To put that figure into perspective, it’s the equivalent of five football fields.  An interesting fact to note is that despite the circular nature of the Gherkin, the glass panes aren’t circular except for the one covering the summit which was designed as a sharply intricate dome-like figure.

There are 792 mechanized windows that can open in the light-wells for ventilation and fresh flow of air.

The curved form of the building is a result of the shift of 5 degrees of one floor from the one below it continuously to the top most level. The summit which I earlier referred to as the ‘lens’ hosts a club room that would apparently cost you roughly £290 to enter on New Year’s eve.

The 360-degree panoramic view across the capital while at that top-most floor would obviously make up for the price nonetheless.

35 km worth of steel was used in the construction of this tower. The Gherkin has received more than 10 awards since its completion in 2003 and commencement of use in 2004. Among the awards is the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architecture’s Stirling Prize which is usually awarded to the building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past twelve months.