engineering – DesignApplause

Google's new london hq: big hit or big flop?

Jan 1, 2012

Right on the heels of Apple’s announcement of its new office building in Cupertino, CA is Google’s new London HQ, designed by Penson. Is it just me, or does it look more like a really fancy dorm done up in futuristic 60s mod/pod style? I know Google treats their employees well (or so says my friend in San Francisco who gets a gym membership along with the job), but why is there so much lounge space in this office? If you scroll through the images you’ll see a room with padded, reclining benches and what I can only assume is an update on the bean bag chair – a dorm room staple. This is one of the offices many “informal meeting spots,” but whether it will facilitate a relaxing work environment or just a place to relax remains to be seen.

One of the many features is the ability to ‘draw on the walls,’ which sounds cool in theory, but how many designers sketch out their ideas on a white board in the hallway? I give it two weeks until those boards are covered with dirty jokes and amateur drawings of penises – just like a dorm.

Futhermore, I know there’s no accounting for taste, but how long are those all-white rooms (with smatterings of bright mod colors) going to stay so pristine looking? Scroll through some more pictures. What’s up the club scene decor? Royal blue walls with neon tubing for the meeting rooms? That might have worked in Tron (which they actually homage – see the last pic), but not every adult wants to feel like they’re working on the set of bad movie or in the 80s’ idea of what a space module of the future looks like.

design: Penson

about perrin drumm

Burj khalifa. World's tallest skyscraper.

Jan 9, 2010

formerly burj dubai. renamed burj khalifa in honor of sheikh khalifa bin zayed bin sultan al nahyan, president of the united arab emirates (UAE). the building officially opened january 4, 2010.

above: from the spire, mid 2008

above: The tower is being constructed by a South Korean company, Samsung Engineering & Construction [16] which built the Petronas Twin Towers and the Taipei 101. The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who also designed the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Freedom Tower in New York City, among numerous other famous high-rises. The building resembles the bundled tube form of the Sears Tower, but is not a tube structure.

The design of Burj Dubai is ostensibly derived from the patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture, with the triple-lobed footprint of the building based on an abstracted version of the desert flower hymenocallis native to the region. The tower is composed of three elements arranged around a central core. As the tower rises from the flat desert base, setbacks occur at each element in an upward spiralling pattern, decreasing the cross section of the tower as it reaches toward the sky. At the top, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a finishing spire. A Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of the Persian Gulf. Viewed from above or from the base, the form also evokes the onion domes of Islamic architecture.

The renamed Burj Khalifa marks the first time since the Middle Ages, when Europe’s Gothic cathedrals rose taller than the Great Pyramid of Egypt, that the world’s tallest building has been located in the Middle East.

Designer: adrian smith ( note: the architects are the chicago office of SOM. smith left in 2006 to open his own firm: adrian smith + gordon gill

Current records:
* Tallest skyscraper to top of spire: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 509.2 m (1,671 ft))
* Tallest structure ever built: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously Warsaw radio mast – 646.38 m (2,121 ft))
* Tallest extant structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m (2,063 ft))
* Tallest freestanding structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m (1,815 ft))
* Building with most floors: 160 (previously Willis Tower – 108)
* World’s highest elevator installation
* World’s fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) or 18 m/s (59 ft/s) (previously Taipei 101 – 16.83 m/s)
* Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 449.2 m (1,474 ft))
* Highest vertical concrete pumping (for any construction): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previously Riva del Garda Hydroelectric Power Plant – 532 m (1,745 ft))
* The first world’s tallest structure in history to include residential space
* Highest outdoor observation deck in the world (124th floor)
* World’s highest mosque (located on the 154th floor)
* World’s highest installation of an aluminium and glass façade, at a height of 512 m (1,680 ft)
* World’s highest swimming pool (76th floor)

Resources:
dubai architecture
eikongraphia
wikipedia
skyscraperpage.com
blair kamin – 1
blair kamin – 2

High voltage design.

Apr 2, 2009

Architect Dietmar Koering of Arphenotype has designed these electricity pylons for a competition to envisage a new power transmission network in Iceland.

Each pylon to be between 17 and 32 meters tall, with the shape of each varying according to its
longitude and latitude.

Project Overview:
Adaptability is an distinction of evolution, but today’s instant variations in [virtual] extended phenotypes call for something stronger: adaptability of nature! In nature material is used with optimum efficiency. Cells continually adapt to precisely fulfill their function.

Through researching organic forms and their production methods the intelligence of the material itself should support the design language, the lightness and stiffness. Fibrous systems and computation is the answer for this new task. Fibrous system in biology: inspiration! Like in the evolution through phenotypes, the production is based on a clear code; where the evolution part and the random variation is bounded to the specific landscape and site.

Architectural form and its relationship to nature, environment and society has rich antecedents to the human body. The idea is that the power net is building one main spine of nowadays society which enables living on a high standard in an age of communication; therefore the spines of the power net reflects an organic language.

The organic structure is covered with a high reflective “lotus-effect” color. It will be cleaned through natural weather conditions and will reflect the nature itself, which strengthens the idea of a graphical integration to the landscape. The final tower will blend into its environment physical and virtual. It creates a feedback loop in the observed system.

Each transmission tower is shaped in height between 17m and 32m by computer-driven equipment according to its site / longitude and latitude. This approach permits the structures to be modeled and easily fabricated translating into a reasonable cost.

Construction::
For maximum strength and stability the construction method is based on the idea of a Tripod. Once the parameters are set, it is just the location of tower by latitude and longitude, which will result in unique towers.

Material:
The main material used for the towers is an aramid-fibre-matrix bounded with eco resin through thermosetting, which gives the material stability to degration, UV, weathering and wind. The main structure will be built through filament winding and resin transfer molding. This material allows also in computer aided manufacturing an organic design language without much more costs. The thickness of the material will change through the whole system, calculated by software to adapt the stiffness to site + location and natural forces like wind.

The towers will be prefabricated and mounted on site on concrete foundation, which will support the idea of natural material on site.

Today’s pursuit to build lightweight for economic, material engineering and environmental reasons is the logical response to today’s changing society where flexibility is the prime survival quality.

Future:
Once the system is set up it will be a leading manufacturing site for fibrous systems. The high tech environment makes it hard to copy the design language and production method, which leads to a unique company.

The competition’s organizers Landsnet the Association of Icelandic Architects.

Douglas Bowman. Goodbye google.

Mar 22, 2009

A classically trained graphic designer says goodbye.
“When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better.”

[full story]