Create Photorealistic 3d Models by Taking Pictures

I've first seen it at Ted Conference. They were just demonstrating it at that time. Now it's open to public for free. You can both create your own Photosynths and play around with the ones created by others.

Photosynth was born of a collaboration between Microsoft Research and the University of Washington, based on the research of Steve Seitz (UW), Noah Snavely (UW) and Richard Szeliski (MR)

Photosynth is an entirely new Visual Medium. The system analyzes each photograph for similarities in textures, and builds a model based on where the photos were taken. The program then models the environment and uses that as a canvas on which to display the photos.

This modeling behavior is what makes it superior to photo stitching which is widely used in the architecture practice.

First of all you don't have to be as precise while taking photos as you do for photo stitching.
Only this property by itself opens up a lot of new opportunities.
For example you can model places by collecting photos from the internet even without laying a foot on the site. A group/class of people can share their photos to build a model of the site..

After all raster modeling based on the point of shoot is a smart new idea and we'll be seeing a lot of smart ways to use this new medium.

Try it at Photosynth.net

Associative Design

There will be no input values but parameters in the near future.
Watch the video. It features the very interesting work of Architect Mazlin Ghazali from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The way the video has been put together is also amazing. It's like an AI computer giving you a full report on a process in another planet.

Here's Mr. Ghazali's blog.

Amazing Fallingwater Animation

Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Blogger banned in Turkey

I came back from vacation and found out that they've banned
Blogger.com this time.

Taskisla.com has very little traffic generated by Serious Architecture
& Design OTAKUs.

We can't reach our control panel from Turkey so technically WE ARE
BANNED.

Writing any entry to this main streamly boring web site would be in a
sense bending or breaking the law?
No one knows...

Bad bad architectural THINKING...

An Architect Unshackled by Limits of the Real World

“Berlin Free-Zone 3-2,” a 1990 proposal by Lebbeus Woods for an abandoned government building in reunified Berlin. The structure, more theoretical than practical, has no assigned purpose.

From The New York Times' article about the architect. Lebbeus Woods.

Not so long ago many of the world’s greatest architectural talents behaved as though the actual construction of buildings was beneath them. During the 1960s firms like Superstudio in Florence, Italy, and Archigram in London were designing urban visions intended to shake up the status quo. These projects — walking, mechanized cities and mirrored megastructures that extended over mountain ranges and across deserts — were stinging attacks on a professional mainstream that avant-garde architects believed lacked imaginative energy.

.....

Mr. Woods, a large, burly man who still likes an occasional cigarette, doesn’t try to hide his disdain for this new reality. “Big corporations today want to present themselves as benefactors of the human race,” he told me recently, summing up the current state of affairs. “ExxonMobil runs ads about the ecology now. And architecture is part of this. It’s a business.”

It’s hard to disagree with the main thrust of his argument: that architecture has always needed a place that is wholly free of self-censorship, and that this place does not exist in the often-contentious exchange between architect and client. Most of us remember, for example, what happened to Mr. Koolhaas in the 1997 competition for a major expansion to the Museum of Modern Art. Choosing to ignore the museum’s internal politics, he indiscreetly highlighted the museum’s corporate agenda in his design. An enraged MoMA board instantly dropped him.

The pressure to smooth over anything in a design that might be perceived as threatening has only increased in recent years, as a lot of architecture has begun to look like a sophisticated form of marketing. Architects who once defined themselves as rebels are now designing luxury residential towers for the super-rich.

The greatest influence of this trend, however, may be on a younger generation of architects. Reared in an era when there seems to be an irresistible supply of work, these architects often seem eager to build at any cost. And their facility with computer software can make it easy to churn out seductive designs without digging deeply into hard social truths.

As Mr. Woods put it: “With the triumph of liberal democracy and laissez-faire capitalism, the conversation came to an end. Everyone wanted to build, which left less room for certain kinds of architecture.”

.....

Here's The New York Times' full article about the architect. Lebbeus Woods.

Letting Dead People Do Your Work for You

Letting Dead People Do Your Work for You..
This definition of "Scientific Approach" by Robert Lang is the far smartest I've heard of..

Robert Lang is a pioneer of the newest kind of origami -- using math and engineering principles to fold mind-blowingly intricate designs that are beautiful and, sometimes, very useful.

A Skeptic's Guide to being Religious

Reed Kroloff on Modern and Romantic Architecture


I'll write soon..

Shop Architects

I'll be writing less

I'll be writing less from now on..
We are moving to our new home and I'll be completing my military obligation..

Thanks for your understanding..

Pritzker Prize Buddies

A discussion with Pritzker Prize Winners Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Renzo Piano.

Space Navigator

Space Navigator from 3dconnexion changes the way you navigate in 3d programs.

Imagine the sensation of reaching into your display and grasping your 3D model. Or flying through three dimensional scenes. Whether you're creating dazzling 3D models or exploring virtual worlds, a 3D mouse enhances your digital life and sets your imagination free.

Enhances sh*t I say: (Review added 29 Aug. 2008)

You'll see many (paid) reviews saying it's a steal for $50. Let me tell you my story of getting this device.

Bullsh*t #1: I've checked their website and contacted their dealers in Turkey. The people I've talked in both firms didn't even know they had such a device. In the second firm they hopefully found someone that remembered that they were a distributor.

Bullsh*t #2: I've found out that these firms were in fact solidworks retailers. They had no intention in selling Space Navigator. When a client asks for a discount they give one as a gift instead. But they didn't hold themselves from charging me $100 + %18 = $118. (I'm still getting spam from the program that comes with the navigator to upgrade my $50 licence to $100 licence. Suckers! I've paid $118 so give me the licence and refund my $18. Or stop bugging me!)

Bullsh*t #3: To be fair I've waited more than a month to write a review. It's NOT faster NOR more accurate than the middle mouse click and ALT, CTRL or SHIFT (what ever the program uses). PERIOD. It's only more fluent in the movement. So only possible reason a Power User needs a Space Navigator would be for a presentation purpose only. You know.. You can navigate as fast as you want but a spectator will have a sea sickness watching the same screen. I like this gadget. But I'm some sort a geek and like most of the gadgets anyway.

Bullsh*t #4: Biggest bullsh*t of them all! Do you know why 3dconnexion sells this device for $50?

You expect from a company who markets a CAD device for such a low price, to work hard on bringing better drivers and supporting the wishes of their users. Can you believe that the only generic driver for this gadget is written by a USER and you can only find it somewhere in their forum? And ofcourse 3dconnexion doesn't support this driver. Well they have another strategy in their minds.They have other models with the exact same parts of the Space Navigator and some additional buttons or a screen for $300 and $400. For selling these highly overpriced devices they want the CAD software companies and Microsoft to recognize them! They want their own standart, category.. what so ever!

For this reason they're flooding the market with the $50 toy and the advertisements of how this thing "enhances your digital life and sets your imagination free". And whenever a user asks for something they're redirecting them to the CAD companies telling them there's nothing they can do. (Remember a user in their forum can, but they can't.)

Their toy sure did set their imagination free!

Space Navigator used in Sketch Up:

Quote of the Day

I'm at the center of the universe.
I'm a point.
Every direction is a way for me..

Mustafa Alpay YILDIZ
06.16.2008

Nasreddin Hodja had a similar saying.
One of my best buddies upgraded that unintentionally in a daily chat..

Near Death Experience Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright, Hilla Rebay, Solomon Guggenheim
at the unveiling of the model for the Guggenheim Museum, August, 1945
www.westporthistory.org

Ol' Frankie (Frank Lloyd Wright) once said:
"Space. The continual becoming: invisible fountain from which all rhythms flow and to which they must pass. Beyond time or infinity"
"The space within becomes the reality of the building"
"Space is the breath of art"

He was an exaggerator, a provocateur and an arrogant.
He's the most hated one by his colleagues. Architects try to silently underestimate Ol' Frankie when ever they can. But thank god none has the pingpongs to do so boldly!

To tell the truth I'm not a die heart fan of most of his works either. But I know to appreciate him, as The Architect. His courage, his self esteem, his vision..

There was this hatred going on around him when he was alive too. He had to run away from cops once just because he fell in love.
The architects declared their hate for him late his career and our Ol' Frankie Shut 'em Down with his Guggenheim N.Y.

Now that building to me is The Ninth Symphony Presto composed in concrete.
(You kick a fallen man with the rest just for the fun of it. And that fallen guy changes your chemistry by his creation. He's infact a giant leap for mankind.)

This is why haters today should endure in silence. Because he can kick bottoms no matter if he's dead or alive.

Weapons of Mass Deception won't suffice for such a Statement!

Today we have this mediocre, this magazine architecture.
Starchitect wanna be's are after creating buildings that can give one or two good photos. This became the way of drawing attention.
Not the quality of space. Infact no one talks about the space anymore.

Can you imagine any architect today, who's just been asked for a house by a waterfall, persuading the client to a deeper understanding of human and nature?

Space:
When I was in high school they used to teach us Space as the ultimate emptiness that surrounds all the planets and stars.
Today Physicists say that with all the strings wiggling and the spacetime woven in it's fabric, Space is far from emptiness. Infact there's more going on in the space than what's happening in the stars and planets!

Sounds like Ol' Frankie? Wright?

A good architecture is drawing a movie. A movie that defines a living within.
You put all the ingredient into the project to kick start life.
Good architecture seeks this mystery. Not a beautiful corpse that looks good in magazines.

Both scientifically and architecturally, Space is the habitat of life.
Easy to say. Hard to swallow.
Some are aware of it, some become after a near death experience, some just can't..

Stairs over The King's Pathway

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King's pathway) is a walkway or via ferrata, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to El Camino del Rey.

15 minutes of Architectural Fame

Read the original article on Eikongraphia here first!

With all the nonsenses such as Starchitecture-fame-celebrity,
the idea of pop hit the architecture scene.

As it's some sort of a challange for masses to acquire a taste for architecture, the professionals choose their 15 minutes of fame rather than good architecture.

Is there a need for an architect to suggest/think of/design Binoculars in front of a building, Death Star in Dubai or a Putter shaped golf course?

New Age Land Art - Biggest Drawing in the World

With the help of a GPS device and DHL, artist Erik Nordenankar have drawn a self-portrait on the planet.
The idea is simple:
He put a GPS device in a briefcase and mailed it via DHL with precise travel instructions over the course of a 55 day period.
After the journey, the GPS data formed a virtual self-portrait of the artist that spread over 6 continents and 62 countries covering nearly 70,000 miles.

For more info on this project visit artist's website

Happy birthday Walter Gropius

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (May 18, 1883 – July 5, 1969) was a German architect and founder of Bauhaus.
Along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, he is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of "modern" architecture.

It's really fascinating that the same geography gave birth to the two opposite, yet both powerful ways of thinking, Nazism and Bauhaus, almost simultaneously.

--text added--
This reminds me what Kofi Annan (United Nations Secretary General), said in 2006 about religion:
"If there is a problem, it is not with the faith, but the faithful. It is not the text, it is the way we interpret it."
(As a Secretary General you don't expect him to say "Dogma of anykind kills you guys!", do you?)

Faith at that era, roughly speaking, was the perfect machine. The radically simplified forms, the rationality and functionality, and the miracle of mass production.

Both faithfuls Nazis and Bauhaus believed in the same thing.
Nazis seeking perfection in racism, and mass production in creating mindless citizens through propagandizing.
Bauhaus on the other hand, working on reconciling art/ individuality with mass production and seeking perfection in the relationship of usefulness and beauty.

Same faith, different faithful huh?
The rest is history. We've desperately tried to figure out what to do with the perfect machine till we nuked each other.
(I bet the guy who invented toothbrush, poked his buddy's eye out with it first!)

Anyway..
Happy birthday Walt! We love you!
Wish you could see us downloading individual ringtones to our mass produced cell phones, manufactured by the perfect machine we call chinese cheap labor!

C.A.D. Computer Aided Delusion

Just watch the video above! This is an unbuilt Theather Project proposed by Mies Van Der Rohe.

When did you see an architect thinking about the core of something last time?
Rethinking what we belive to be the only way?
Does our newly found tool, C.A.D., make us tools?
Did we start beliving, what we need is a super-cost-efficient machine and what we want is an eye-candy, a visual masturbation for brain?

Just asking myself.....

Tool:
One who lacks the mental capacity to know he is being used.
Someone who can't think for themselves.
Someone who tries too hard. A poser.
A fool. A cretin. Characterized by low intelligence and/or self-steem.

Delusion:
A fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.

Skateboarding to Architecture

At last I've found another SKATEBOARDER ARCHITECT!
You must listen to the Dr. Iain Borden's podcast "Skateboarding to Architecture" to revise your idea of urbanism.



And if you're dedicated to Architectural Thinking, put your Blockbuster Card to good use once and get "Dogtown and Z-Boys" documentary.
This will make you look at the questions like:
What is culture?
What is a living design?
What does life in Urban Environment mean?
What is the influence of an architect on people's lifes?
in a different and wider perspective!

"two hundred years of
american technology
has unwittingly created
a massive cement
playground of
unlimited potential.
but it was the minds of
11 year olds that could see
that potential."
craig stecyk 1975

"skaters by their very
nature are urban guerillas:
they make everyday use of the
useless artifacts of the
technological burden, and
employ the handiwork of the
government / corporate
structure in a thousand ways
that the original architects
could never dream of"
craig stecyk 1976

Dr. Iain Borden is Director of the School of Architecture, Director of Architectural History and Theory and Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Educated at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UCL, University of London and UCLA, Iain is an architectural historian and urban commentator.
His wide-ranging historical and theoretical interests have lead to publications on, among other subjects, critical theory and architectural historical methodology, the history of skateboarding as an urban practice, boundaries and surveillance, Henri Lefebvre and Georg Simmel, Renaissance urban space, architectural modernism and modernity, contemporary architectural practice and theory, film and architecture, gender and architecture, body spaces and the experience of space.
His photographs have been widely published both in his own publications and those by other historians and architects.
Iain is a frequent contributor to conferences and exhibitions and has lectured widely around the world.

Want to find out more about Biomimicry?

I've been using and promoting to my colleagues Norbert Hoeller's weblog Clippings ever since I've discovered it.

Clippings is a great blog sponsored by Biomimicry Institude, full of news and information.
Norbert Hoeller is open to contributions and very kind on giving credits!

http://biomimicry.typepad.com/

You can also reach my original post here.

Remperor builds Deathstar!!!

Well well! If your city planning is a JOKE, if you think Disneyland is a good planning example, then people propose you such Projects!

Rem Koolhaas from OMA and his Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Center ladies and gentlemen!

Dead Star designs Death Star!
Remperor designs Death Star!

I haven't seen any architectural review on this project! Everybody just makes fun of it!
So I'll be the first one writing a proper review! Here's a design flaw I've found:

"An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the Convention and Exhibition Center.
But the approach will not be easy!
You are required to maneuver straight down the trench and skim the surface to the point.
The target area is only two meters wide.
It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port.
The shaft leads directly to the reactor system.
A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station.
Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction.
The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."

Getting G33K with Autodesk

Autodesk Flip Flops

I would want some from The Autodesk Shop if only the Product Quality was a little bit higher.

I hope more comes out soon! Do you also feel the urge? That's called the inner G33K.

Autodesk Dog Biscuit

C'mon Autodesk don't try to be Google. Work on the integration and the refinement of the softwares you've bought if you have spare time and energy!

Architects remembering what Architects do

We were thinking we progressed alot. We needed specialization.
We loved dividing any job ahead into branches, giving every brach a COOL name.
Today we are starting to realize that it doesn't work out that way.
Every job needs a Leader.

It was the same in the Architecture scene. We have Interior Designers, City Planners, Landscape Designers and many others to do the same job. The job Architects did.
Well this is not a bad thing at all. Indeed it's a crucial partition for the era of speed we are living in.

The problem is that Architects forgot that the whole job belongs to them, and started to delegate their responsibility to the Cool Names. They forgot that they should be the Natural Leader of the process not an other Cool Name in the Headless Chicken Run.

The news I get lately show that people in the Architecture scene are getting that it doesn't work out that way too.
Natural Leader is not just a phrase AIA loves to call Architects but it's essential to do Architecture.

The Harvard Dean Mohsen Mostafavi calls it Architecture & Urbanism.
He explains Urbanism to The Boston Globe as:
"Urbanism is really dealing with the city in its broadest sense. It really deals with the variety of issues that are connected with the urban condition. It's the way in which our cities are changing in response to global changes, in response to various conditions of production, manufacturing, agriculture. But urbanism is also, these days, something that in its broadest sense also includes appreciation of landscapes of the urban, of the role of open spaces, and not restricting the study of the city to the study of the objects that occupy the city."

Oh my god! Isn't that City Planners' Job? Well not entirely!
Architects remembering their city planning duties. Their Social Duties!
Architects are the ones that are responsible to the COMMUNITY for every branch of what Architects do!

Here is another example: "Green For All" by Design E2's
Brad Pitt narrates this podcast which focuses on the inspirational architect Sergio Palleroni, who works with poor and underdeveloped communities around the world.

Best Place to Learn and Improve Revit

Bim is the new big thing. Autodesk Revit seems to be the Industry Standart.
If you want to step in to the revit world and/or want to improve your knowledge and skills.
The first site you should visit is www.revitzone.com

Ian, the creator of revitzone, has a very unique-straight way of explaining the concepts that lies behind Revit. And he's totally a cool guy, working really hard to bring out great articles.

QR Code

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994.
The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.
QR Codes are common in Japan where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional code.

UVW BOX ONE by ONE

When ever I format my PC, I always forget to back up these maxscripts. Then it takes some precious time to figure out how I wrote it. These three maxscripts are the life savers for "draw in Autocad, render in 3ds Max" kind of people.

Here I'll share them with the rest of the world. (And no more rewriting!)

macroScript UVW_BOX
category:"www.taskisla.com"
toolTip:"UVW BOX"

(
polat = selection as array
for d = 1 to polat.count do
(
select polat[d]
modPanel.addModToSelection (Uvwmap ()) ui:on
polat[d].modifiers[#UVW_Mapping].maptype = 4
)
)

Select by Colour

When ever I format my PC, I always forget to back up these maxscripts. Then it takes some precious time to figure out how I wrote it. These three maxscripts are the life savers for "draw in Autocad, render in 3ds Max" kind of people.

Here I'll share them with the rest of the world. (And no more rewriting!)

macroScript S_By_Colour
category:"www.taskisla.com"
toolTip:"Select By Colour"
(
max select by color
)

Boxmode Toggle

When ever I format my PC, I always forget to back up these maxscripts. Then it takes some precious time to figure out how I wrote it. These three maxscripts are the life savers for "draw in Autocad, render in 3ds Max" kind of people.

Here I'll share them with the rest of the world. (And no more rewriting!)

macroScript Box_Toggle
category:"www.taskisla.com"
toolTip:"Boxmode Toggle"
(
polat = selection as array
for d = 1 to polat.count do
(

if polat[d].boxmode == true then
(
polat[d].boxmode = false
print polat[d].boxmode
)
Else
(
polat[d].boxmode = true
print polat[d].boxmode
)
)
)

Hearst Tower

A glimpse of the Sir Norman Foster designed eco-friendly Hearst Tower in NYC.

National Stadium Beijing by Herzog & de Muron

National Stadium designed by Architects Herzog & de Muron to be completed for the 2008 Olympics.

National Aquatics Center Beijing

The Water Cube. The new National Aquatics Center in Beijing by PTW Architects.

A White Rose For Mrs. Disney

A short documentary by Irit Krygier on Frank Gehry's Disney Hall.

Nature’s R&D: Biomimicry Basics for Architects

Growing awareness about climate change has made designers, corporate leaders, and others increasingly open to creative approaches to old challenges.
Kira Gould, Assoc. AIA, explores the concepts and applications of biomimicry a method for seeking sustainable solutions by emulating nature's patterns and strategies with Dayna Baumeister and Rose Tocke of The Biomimicry Guild.

Press Play to listen to the Podcast:




Related Links:
Norbert Hoeller Blog: Clippings
Biomimicry Institude
Biomimicry Guild
Bionis
Green Chemistry Institude
Center for Green Chemistry
Biomimicry

Thank You Blog of The Day Crew!!

I would like to thank BLOG OF THE DAY AWARDS members for checking and awarding www.taskisla.com.

Taskisla Links

Here I'll add the links related to TAŞKIŞLA.
You can push CTRL and F keys together to search the list.
If there is a website that you think should be in the list please leave a comment.
Please comment any wrong/broken link.

Taskisla Websites:
taskisla.com
now you are here
taşkışla iletişim (TURKISH)
former taskisla.net I guess..
taskisla.org (TURKISH)
Taşkışla Eğitim ve Kültür Derneği

Taskisla Blogs:
uykusuz taşkışla (TURKISH)
A nice blog..

Taskisla Groups:
Last.fm Group
deviantART Group

Architecture Websites

Here I'll add the links related to architecture.
You can push CTRL and F keys together to search the list.
If there is a website that you think should be in the list please leave a comment (web address and the category).
Please comment any wrong/broken link.

Architect Websites:
Aalto, Alvar
Foundation Website
Calatrava, Santiago
Official Website
Le Corbusier (Charles Édouard Jeanneret Gris)
Foundation Website
Foster, Norman
Official Website
Gehry, Frank
Official Website
Hadid, Zaha
Official Website
Libeskind, Daniel
Official Website
Nouvel, Jean
Official Website
Pei, Ieoh Ming
Official Website
Pelli, César
Official Website
Piano, Renzo
Official Website
Wright, Frank Lloyd
Foundation Website

Architecture Blogs & Websites:
Archinect
Architecture Website

BIM Websites:
Revit City
AutoDesk Revit related Website
Revit Zone
The Best AutoDesk Revit related Website

Chambers & Institutes:
AIA
The American Institute of Architects
Aga Khan
Award for Architecture
CAT
The Chamber of Architects of Turkey
RIBA
Royal Institute of British Architects

Databases:
Archi Atlas
Catalog of World Architecture
ArchINFORM
International Architecture Database
Architectour
International Contemporary Architecture Database
Architecture Museum
Museum of Architecture
Great Buildings Online
Building Database

Education:
I.T.U.
İstanbul Technical University

Forums:
Are Forum
Architecture Forum
[pushpullbar]2
Architecture Forum

FUN Stuff:
Notes on Becoming a Famous Architect
Humor can be educational :)
The Cool Hunter / Architecture
Cool chasers from U.K.

Graphics File Share: (Mind copyrights!)
BD Share
Graphics Forum
Docs De Arquitectura Online!
Architecture Books

News & Magazines:
Architect Online
Architecture Magazine
Architectural Record Magazine
Architecture Magazine
Architecture Week
Architecture Magazine
Death by Architecture
Competition News
Detail Magazine
Architecture Magazine
Dwell Magazine
Architecture Magazine
Metropolis Magazine
Architecture Magazine
World Architecture News
Architecture News

Studios:
3XN
Architecture Studio from DENMARK
49 GROUP
Architecture Studio from THAILAND
A 2 RC
Architecture Studio from BELGIUM
Anderson Brulé Architects
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
AC MARTIN PARTNERS
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
ADD INC.
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Architects Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
AGC Design
Architecture Studio from HONG KONG
Aleks Istanbullu Architects
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Anthony J. Lumsden & Associates
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Allies and Morrison
Architecture Studio from U.K.
Allmann Sattler Wappner Architekten (GERMAN)
Architecture Studio from GERMANY
Altiplan Architects
Architecture Studio from BELGIUM
Ancher Mortlock Wolley
Architecture Studio from AUSTRALIA
Anderson & Anderson
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Anshen + Allen
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Architecture Project
Architecture Studio from U.K.
APA Wojciechowski
Architecture Studio from POLAND
Appleton & Associates
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Architect Kamin Associates
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.
Archi-Tectonics
Architecture Studio from U.S.A.

Johnny Lee: Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote

Johnny Lee demos his amazing Wii Remote hacks, which transform the $40 game piece into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer.

Blue Man Group on Global Warming

Blue Man Group (Blue Man, BMG) is a creative organization founded by Phil Stanton, Chris Wink, and Matt Goldman; it is centered on a trio of mute performers, called Blue Men, who present themselves in blue grease paint and wear latex bald caps and black clothing.
Blue Man Group's theatrical acts incorporate rock music (with an emphasis on percussion), odd props, audience participation, sophisticated lighting, and large amounts of paper.
It is also noted for having a "poncho section" of the audience; in the front rows, audience members are provided with plastic ponchos in order to protect them from various food, substances, paints, and so on, which are thrown, ejected, or sprayed from the stage.
The shows are family-oriented, humorous, energetic and often employ thought-provoking satire on modern life.
Some of the humor breaks the fourth wall, for example, interrupting the show to ridicule latecomers in the audience.

Autodesk AutoCAD 2009 meets End-Users

Yes you've read the news months ago. But in these days it's getting into the End-Users Program Files Folders.

Cad Managers love it as usual. I wonder what power-users gonna say..

"This is the WAY" Art Movement

I was watching "The Pink Floyd Story: Which one is Pink?" documentary broadcasted by BBC1.

The documentary features extensive archive footage, some of it rarely or never seen, alongside original interviews with the four surviving members of Pink Floyd: David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
It "traces the journey of a band that has only ever had five members, three of whom have lead the band at different stages of its evolution".

It was nice to watch experimentations that made the band hit the mainstream, and the evolution of the band by the atmosphere of the changing times.

This documentary made me think about the mainstream today.
No one experiments. No one is encouraged to do so..
Contrary to the speed things are changing in our age, there's nothing new in the mainstream art scene!
No one that has something to say can make it to the mainstream.
There's no your way to do so. There is only the way!
"This is the way" is also strongly propagandized!
All you have to be is a pretty white boy/girl. Or lets say a black boy/girl with a sense of rhythm. Or an architect drawing some amorphous sketches!
No special skills that make you different from the rest of the %90.
You earn millions! and millions love you! You just party and enjoy the heaven on earth.
You're mentally and probably physically the slave of the producer and/or who choose you to be in the mainstream. But it's just a minor detail never need to be mentioned!

Of course Pink Floyd had a similar relationship with EMI. But it was more like a mutual symbiosis.
When you produce ordinary, you can keep it on a thighter leash!

Off the top of my head, I see two reasons why:
1) Media Empire doesn't want an individual or a collective work that has a personality, that may grow on people and gain political power.
Political Power held by a non super rich always meant trouble for them in history.
2) SLUMBER. People love to protest anything that has no significance in their daily lifes.
But when it comes to their major problems, they choose a deep sleep.

Don't get me wrong. For the present time I'm no different from the rest of the herd.
As an architect I'd love to see the super rich as clients! And also I admire their intelligence and their hard work on finding innovative ways to control herds!
It's just that I'm aware! As an Architect I recognize a plan when I see one!

It's hard to name a period when you're living in it. We usually leave this task to the future historians.
Here is my humble attempt:
Welcome to the era of "This is the WAY" Art Movement!

Tell your grandsons and granddaughters the good ol' days when you had no significance and had nothing that belongs to you in your mind!

Norman Foster: Building on The Green Agenda

Architect Norman Foster discusses his own work to show how computers can help architects design buildings that are green, beautiful and "basically pollution-free." He shares projects from throughout his career, from the pioneering roof-gardened Willis Building (1975) to the London Gherkin (2004). He also comments on two upcoming megaprojects: a pipe to bring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, and the new Beijing airport.

"Gender of Angels" Byzantine Argument Part II

I'm not sure if it really happened. It's an often referenced story that "The elite of Byzantine were still arguing about the gender of angels, while Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror was imposing a siege upon their Capital."

After 555 years later we have the second episode of the Byzantine Argument! Same place, different topic. And this time it's pretty real!

What's the Major Problem of Higher Education in Turkey? Clothing? Secularity?

As I'm the namesake of The Great Conqueror Mehmet, I'll try to be scientific as he was, to bring a different perspective..

Here are some world maps scaled by statics:
(Click on to see larger image)

Absolute Wealth 2002

This wealth map shows which territories have the greatest wealth when Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is compared using currency exchange rates. This indicates international purchasing power.
Turkey isn't as poor as it's assumed to be.

Research and Development Employees

Is Turkey smaller than African countries? Still not bad..


Royalty Fees Received

Royalty fees are the payments received from someone who wants to use an idea, invention or artistic creation that legally belongs to you.
Everyone talks the talk on the importance of producing knowledge and science, but doesn't walk the walk as clearly seen on the map!

Commenting on anything about this "gender of angels battle" makes me a side which I have no time and absolutely no desire for.

I just wanted to remind that when you analyze your problems scientifically you get self explanatory results.

Autodesk can't decide what to do with Impression

Autodesk Impression is a brilliant application for generating presentation ready raster images directly from *.dwg and *.dwf files.

What differentiates Impression from the competitors is its easy to use interface.
It imports cad files preserving the layer structure so you can easily assign styles to layers.
It also recognizes blocks. For instance if you have same tree block all around the drawing in different scales, you can manipulate all of them by assigning a raster for the particular block.

Cons: It has major bug problems resulting in crashes. Especially occurs when you assign styles to individual objects. Also needs some optimization as it slows to a halt when working on 3d cad files and/or big size files.

How will this promising software commercially available?
Autodesk Impression free 40-hour runtime trial is available for most countries.

First it was said to be retailed around $400-500. It would be an affordable tool, most people would like to have in their arsenals.
But now Autodesk says it would be a free download for the Subscribed Users.
Free sounds good at first, but it also means "Demo Forever".
Autodesk Subscription, as all know, is an other story..

Seems like Autodesk doesn't want to market anything that isn't priced in grands..