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July 31, 2005
note from narciso
Do you think that thirty or forty years from now, when the rapture of
dancing in the street is a sweet and lovely memory of the two of you,
you will feel your chest swelling and bursting with tenderness for her
to the point that you will be willing, at your old age, to sacrifice
anything to see her smile? This, I think, is the final bliss of two
becoming one as the road approaches the end.
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July 29, 2005
DOM+CSS drag list
Drag & Drop Sortable Lists with JavaScript and CSS
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July 28, 2005
geometry is badass
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July 27, 2005
sweets building
McGraw-Hill Construction Sweets - Construction Product and Building Material Information
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July 25, 2005
arch blog javiar
postpostfuture - Powered By Bloglines
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google + hot or not
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graf blog
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design blog
v-2 studies observations | beauty. utility. balance.
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art blog
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arch weblog
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boston band
. The Self Righteous Brothers .
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Free web based defect and issue management software tool, tracking bug & project
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July 19, 2005
grid system part 1
Five simple steps to designing grid systems - Part 1 : Journal : Mark Boulton | Information design
Five simple steps to designing grid systems - Part 1
The first part of this Five Simple Steps series is taking some of the points discussed in the preface and putting it to practice.
Ratios are at the core of any well designed grid system. Sometimes those ratios are rational, such as 1:2 or 2:3, others are irrational such as the 1:1.414 (the proportion of A4). This first part is about how to combine those ratios to create simple, balanced grids which in turn will help you create harmonious compositions.
Starting with a blank canvas
It's always easier in these kinds of tutorials to put the example in context, in some kind of real world scenario. So, this is it. You've got to design a programme for a gallery exhibition. You know you want the size to be A4. You also know that there are going to be photographs and text, and the photographs will be of varying size. There you have it - your blank canvas.
Subdividing ratios
The grid system we are going to design is a simple symmetrical grid based on a continuous division of the paper size in the ratio 1:1414. Using the paper size as a guide we can retain the proportion throughout the grid, this will give our elements within the design a relationship to one another, the grid and the paper size.
This is one of the easiest ways to create a balanced grid. By using the size of the paper as a guide we can divide using that ratio to begin creating the grid. You can see this through diagrams 1 - 6 that we begin by simply layering division upon division to slowly build up the grid.
{title}
{title}
Getting creative
Many have said grid systems can stifle creativity, but I disagree. Grid systems can facilitate creativity by providing a framework and already answer some designers questions such as 'where should the folios go', 'how wide should the measure be?' etc. A well designed grid system will go some way to answer these questions and more.
So, we have our grid. We can now begin to experiment with type areas, shapes and composition. We can explore how type and image will work together on the various types of pages our publication will have.
{title}
Diagram 7 shows the text area with the first elements of the access structure - running heads and folios. Diagrams 8 and 9 show how adaptable the grid is to various design options.
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LARE board MD
The Board - State Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects
State Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects
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July 13, 2005
Medium Format Contax 645
Product ID: CTX190010 Category: Medium Format Cameras
Contax 645 AF SLR Proffesional Unit
Description: Includes CONTAX 645 Body, Planar 80 /2.0 Lens, MFB-1 Back & MFBL -A Insert, AE Finder, Strap, Body Caps, 3 Year Limited USA Warranty, and 2CR5 Lithium Battery. CONTAX 645 Proffesional Unit Includes CONTAX 645 Body, Planar 80 /2.0 Lens, MFB-1 Back & MFBL -A Insert, AE Finder, Strap, Body Caps, 3 Year Limited USA Warranty, and 2CR5 Lithium Battery
Price: $3,999.00
For our SPECIAL PRICE, click on the Add To Cart
and then the View Cart Button.
$3740
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DSC-F828
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medium format camera reviews II
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rapid prototype
Archinect : Discussion Forum : View All : online prototyping shop
Pixelwhore
Total Entries: 25
Total Comments: 551
07/12/05 9:48
I know this has come up before here, but I did a forum search and couldn't come up with anything. Does anyone recommend any online rapid prototyping shops? A friend of mine is looking for some stereolithography work to be done, pieces are about the size of an apple. Any help would be appreciated.
caste
Total Entries: 4
Total Comments: 32
07/12/05 9:59
you can try spectrum3d.com, though they are a bit expensive because they are resin only, but they have a badass interface. A better (and by better I mean cheaper) bet is globaldesignworks.com. They have a starch printer which is much less expensive. If your friend wants to make the most of it he should prob. try to find other people that need to print and go in as a group, otherwise the per cubic inch is pretty steep.
jpalmer
Total Entries: 1
Total Comments: 15
07/12/05 10:31
www.eMachineshop.com
I don't know about stereolithography, but thy seem to do a lot.
good luck
brown666
Total Entries: 6
Total Comments: 23
07/13/05 0:46
globaldesignwors is the best bet, ask for a student or group discount
JG
Total Entries: 11
Total Comments: 239
07/13/05 4:01
for high quality 3D thermojet prints (superior to SLA) try stratasys they may build your part for you or suggest vendor who can.
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July 12, 2005
art bots the robot talent show
ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show
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July 08, 2005
Better BW photo conversion
slower.net log: B&W Conversion
B&W Conversion
Experimenting with black and white conversion methods in Photoshop. I tried the channel mixer and a couple of third-party plugins, but I like the results from the method here, which is apparently due to a gentleman named Rob Carr. I'll summarize the steps, since I found the presentation on that site a little confusing.
* Convert to Lab Color (Image > Mode > Lab Color)
* Select the "Lightness" channel (Channels palette > "Lightness" channel)
* Convert to Grayscale (Image > Mode > Grayscale)
* Make the new channel the selection (Control-click the thumbnail in the new "Gray" channel)
* Invert selection (Select > Inverse) (Leave this selection active for the next steps)
* Fill the selection with black (Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color... > Select color #000000)
* Tweak the opacity of the fill layer (Layers palette > select "Color Fill 1" > set opacity to ~50%)
* Create a new Levels (or Curves if you prefer) adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels)
* Tweak the levels in the adjustment layer as you like
In addition, I incorporated a tip I found elsewhere which gives a haloed edges effect I think can be effective for B&W, if used sparingly. Continuing from above:
* Select "Background" Layer (Layers palette > select "Background")
* Duplicate layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer...)
* Run the "High Pass" Filter (Filter > Other > High Pass... > Radius 10)
* Convert the filtered layer's blending mode to "Hard Light" (Layers palette > Select "Background copy" > set blending to "Hard Light")
* Reduce the opacity of the "Background copy" layer to a good point (I start at 25%
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medium format camera reviews
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photoblogs
Photoblogs.org - The Photoblog Resource
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Making Room
MakingRoom is a magazine about the process, intention and results of image-making. Please join our mailing list or use our news feed to stay up-to-date. Please get in touch if you have questions, comments or suggestions
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July 07, 2005
Factor27 process
Discover
We start each new media project with a discovery analysis to find out what the client has invisioned and what the goals of the project are within the defined budget, as well as, the history and position of the client within their market. Define
After going through a discovery session we Define key areas of success and needs within the project scope. This allows us to set targets, limitations, and possibilities for success within the design of the project at hand. Design
Once we have set clear goals, audiences, and needs we comp a series of high level comps. Through the iteration of comping to more specific tertiary and component pages we have a solid floor plan on which to build our project Develop
Based on the chosen design, we construct the final release with key knowledge of structure and needs set in place. Deploy
We release the build for a temporary review and then launch to the final audience. This can include cd burning and printing to simply uploading of static html to server via ftp.
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sweet 3d
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basic 3d max tutorials
Hi,
take a look at Colin Barnette tutorials at 3D total (http://www.3dtotal.com).
I gess it wil help.
Busta Capp
01-22-2002, 01:35 PM
On my way right now! Cheers!
policarpo
01-22-2002, 09:22 PM
try hitting F1..it's all there to get you started.
:^)
Daxx
01-23-2002, 11:32 PM
http://www.max3d.com
http://www.3dspline.com
http://www.3dcafe.com
http://www.the3dstudio.com
http://www.3dluvr.com/
ENJOY :)
Sandblaster
01-25-2002, 03:39 PM
you forgot one ;)
http://www.animators-online.com
Maxhelp
01-27-2002, 12:37 AM
And don't forget:
http://www.3dbuzz.com
They have an index of just about every tutorial on the web, very nicely organized.
We have some at Maxhelp.com but 3dbuzz.com points to almost all of them.
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bartlett arch
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phd titles from princeton
Miwon Kwon, (University of California, Los Angeles), Site Specificity and the Problematics of Public Art: Recent Transformations at the Intersection of Art and Architecture (1998)
Alick Mclean, (Syracuse University), Sacred Space and Public Policy: The Establishment, Decline and Revival of Prato's Piazza Della Pieve (1993)
Alexandra Midal, 1968-1972: Cells, Capsules and Units: Furniture as Architecture
Tamar Zinguer, Architecture in Play: An Exploration of the Interchange Between Architecture and Toys
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NY times article "bUild me a bargain"
SIDING: The exterior is clad in plywood and cement fiberboard panels stained green to blend with the surrounding foliage. The deck is untreated cedar.
CATWALK: A home for 2,000 books - a handful written by Ms. Upcher - was constructed with industrial steel brackets and construction-grade cedar planks.
BUDGET GOURMET: In the kitchen, a butcher block countertop and aluminum frame cabinets with particleboard shelves, also used in the guest bedroom, helped keep a lid on costs.
ECONOMY CLASS: Caroline Upcher wanted a simple house in the Hamptons. For $190 a square foot, her architects devised a two-story cube clad in tinted fiberboard and rough plywood. No need for a garage: Ms. Upcher prefers to bike.
Walls are made of sheets of oukume plywood and cedar floorboards split down the middle and upended. The floors are made of the same fiberboard used for outdoor signs.
HEAT: A bluestone mantel hangs over a prefab fireplace on the same brackets used for the bookshelves. The floor is fiberboard, the kind typically used for outdoor signs.
LIGHTS: Inexpensive industrial fixtures were hung from hollow steel columns and brackets with wiring hidden inside.
no-frills industrial shelving system using planks of construction-grade cedar and steel brackets bolted into predrilled holes in vertical columns, a system used in big-box stores like Home Depot. Versions of the sturdy steel brackets were used throughout the house to support a narrow catwalk off the upstairs study, a bluestone fireplace mantel, kitchen cabinets and light fixtures.
In fact, the shelf system holds up the roof, and the entire second floor. Although the system is inexpensive - the entire structure cost $7,000 - it is sturdier than any wooden post and beam construction,
For about the same cost as ordinary wallboard, Mr. Masi covered the walls of the living-dining area in sheets of oukume plywood finished in a clear oil-base sealant. "It has a lot more character than drywall, and it softens the industrial aesthetic," he said.
The floors throughout the house are made of $40 sheets (4 feet by 8 feet) of fiberboard made with waterproof glue, a material typically used to make outdoor signs. "We laid it down in a day," said Mr. Masi. "It gets abused because it's not a real floor material." With its scratches and stains, the floor is the one disappointment, Ms. Upcher said. "But I wasn't going to change it," she said. "I just look up."
Some of the biggest savings came in the kitchen, where Mr. Masi selected stainless steel cabinets, some with frosted glass fronts. He used the same steel cabinets as bathroom vanities and even turned a steel pantry unit into an armoire in Ms. Upcher's guest bedroom.
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other phd thought
compare contrast china's infrastructure movement with the US's and china's probably course correction (as ours is/has been going through)
Planning History and Theory
Urban Spatial Theory
Economic Development
Physical Planning
Transportation
Housing
Community Development
Comparative Planning
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| Comments (0)phd thought
what about developing countries who are skipping large infrastructure projects in favor of individual applications (cell phones instead of land lines, personal water filtration instead of city water, etc) and its effect on built environment patterns
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July 06, 2005
Car inspection company
SGS - What You Need To Be Sure
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good to know the opposition
Health Care Without Harm - How to Shut Down an Incinerator, a Toolkit
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July 04, 2005
ID/Data Theft By M.P. DUNLEAVEY
That said, Mr. Mierzwinski endorsed the preventive measures offered by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (www.privacyrights.org), a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, and by the Identity Theft Resource Center (www.idtheftcenter.org), also a nonprofit. Besides the standard advice to shred personal documents, following are some tips I found useful:
¶Avoid letting your cards out of your sight. Do not let store clerks take your card away on the pretext that there's a "problem."
¶Restrict the access to your personal data by signing up for the National Do Not Call Registry (www.donotcall.gov); remove your name and address from the phone book and reverse directories - and, most important, from the marketing lists of the credit bureaus to reduce credit card solicitations. The site www.optoutprescreen.com can help.
¶Consider freezing your credit report, an option available in a growing number of states. Freezing prevents anyone from opening up a new credit file in your name (a password lets you gain access to it), and it doesn't otherwise affect your credit rating.
¶Protect your home computer with a firewall, especially if you have a high-speed connection.
¶Rein in your Social Security number. Remove it from your checks, insurance cards and driver's license. Ask your bank not to use it as your identification number. Refuse to give your Social Security number to merchants, and be careful even with medical providers. The only time you are required by law to give your number, Mr. Mierzwinski said, is when a company needs it for government purposes, like tax matters, Social Security and Medicare.
¶Curtail electronic access to your bank accounts. Pay bills through snail mail. Avoid linking your checking to savings. Use a credit card for purchases rather than a debit card. Although I was able to get all $1,772.26 reimbursed, I was lucky. While individual liability for fraudulent credit card purchases is only $50, it can be higher for debit cards: up to $500 or even all the money in your account in some cases.
These and other preventive steps may help, but people really can't safeguard their money and their data on their own. Robert Douglas, the chief executive of PrivacyToday.com, a privacy advocate, believes that this is not an issue of consumer responsibility but of corporate negligence. "These companies are trying to tell people it's their fault, but the largest breaches have been within the financial services industry itself," Mr. Douglas said.
Mr. Douglas and Mr. Mierzwinski say that shredding documents is fine, but calling your state and local representatives is better. "Companies have refused to give consumers control over their financial DNA and they've refused to take responsibility for their actions," Mr. Mierzwinski said. "What will stop identity theft are stronger notification laws and stronger penalties, which we don't have now."
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How to Become an Artist -- Donny Miller
HOW TO BECOME AN ARTIST!
I'VE MADE THIS FOOL PROOF FOR ANYONE WITH NO ARTISTIC ABILITY WHATSOEVER.
YOU DON'T EVEN NEED A PERSONALITY. (MOST ARTISTS ARE TOTALLY DULL. TRUST ME.)
I have even supplied an art wizard. Follow these easy steps. READ THIS FIRST!
1. Get a picture. Your own or a found one. Better go with a found one. You probably can't take a picture, wait a minute, crappy photos are pretty hip. Okay, take a picture of a dog drinking out of the toilet. Either/Or.
2. Put a white square somewhere on that picture. Usually the middle seems to be the most artistic place for some reason. If it's over a face or point of interest, don't worry, that's what you intended. IMPORTANT! Never second guess your work. If someone doesn't like something, say to them, "I believe you are missing my point." Then get away quick, remember you have no idea what you're doing.
3. Get someone to start talking about you and always talk about things you have going on, even if you don't have anything going on. When the phone rings, tell them you're busy doing heavy duty art and that you need to call them back when things aren't so heavy duty.
4. Make friends with other artists. Just to get shows with them.
5. Get a show somewhere.
6. Do something weird. Doesn't have to be totally outrageous. Dress a little on the eccentric side. One glove, a scarf...do you see what I'm getting at? Take a picture of your genitals and draw a mustache on it. Click here for an example.
7. Get some people to buy your art. Selling something to someone famous helps.
8. Get in a magazine with your art and get an interview. Get completely drunk and say crazy shit.
9. Have a big show.
10. Date a model and dump her. If you're a woman, date another artist and break his heart and watch him make all this crazy art about you. Then make sure it gets out that all his art is about you. People will want to see what you're all about.
11. Get a book deal.
12. Now all the while do more crazy shit, like "borrow" a car and bring it back and say, "Oops, I thought this was my car. Sorry." Then leave a pair of women's underwear in the passenger's seat. It will get around, trust me.
13. Get back together with the model, dump her again. Go out with one of her friends.
14. Cash in ASAP. There isn't a lot of longevity in art. Let's face it, people get tired of shit real quick. Even great things. Look at Hootie and the Blowfish.
Do all this and then we'll talk about your come back. I have a million ideas for you.
But first make some art! You can't get lazy yet! Click on the white square below next to the picture.
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| Comments (0)Working with Alternatie Style Sheets from A List Apart
Alternative Style: Working With Alternate Style Sheets
by Paul Sowden
So you've got a web page. You’ve marked it up with structural XHTML. You’ve also been a good little web developer and used style sheets to control what your document looks like. You’ve even gone the extra mile and created several alternative style sheets to show how hardcore you are.
Great. But now you need a cross-browser way to dynamically switch between the style sheets.
Styling your site
Style sheets can be associated with documents using a list of link elements in the head. There are three different relationships external style sheets can have with the document: persistent, preferred, and alternate.
Persistent
These style sheets are always enabled (they are always “on”) and are combined with the active style sheet. They can be used for shared rules common to every style sheet. To make a style sheet persistent, the rel attribute is set to “stylesheet” and no title attribute is set.
To make the style sheet paul.css persistent, the following link element would be included in the head:
type="text/css" href="paul.css" />
Preferred
These style sheets are enabled by default (they are “on” when the page is loaded). They can then be disabled if the user selects an alternate style sheet.
To make a style sheet preferred, the rel attribute is set to “stylesheet” and the style sheet is named with the title attribute.
Several preferred style sheets can be grouped together by giving them identical title attributes. These grouped style sheets are then all enabled and disabled together. If more than one group of preferred style sheets are declared, the first group takes precedence.
To make paul.css preferred, a title attribute is added, giving the default style a name.
type="text/css" href="paul.css"
title="bog standard" />
Alternate
These style sheets can be selected by the visitor as alternatives to the preferred style sheet. This allows the visitor to personalize a site and choose his or her favorite scheme. They can also be used for accessibility.
To specify an alternate style sheet, the rel attribute is set to “alternate stylesheet” and the style sheet is named with a title attribute. As with preferred sheets, these style sheets can also be grouped together by giving them identical title attributes.
Using the previous example again; to make paul.css into an alternate style sheet, the keyword “alternate” is added to the rel attribute.
type="text/css" href="paul.css"
title="wacky" />
Note that these relationships only apply to external style sheets which are included using the link element.
Swappin’ Styles
When a document is initially loaded, the persistent and preferred style sheets are applied to the document. The alternate style sheets can then be selected by the user. The W3C tells us that the browser should give us a choice of the style sheet we want to use, and suggests that perhaps a drop–down menu or tool bar will be provided.
So far, so good. We have several style sheets and the visitor can choose their favorite from a menu. But then we encounter a problem. A major one. Mozilla provides a menu to select the style sheet we want to use under the view menu item. But Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) provides no such menu. So we have several style sheets, and no way to access them in MSIE.
Here’s where a little bit of JavaScript can be used along with the DOM to provide a way for MSIE and Mozilla users to select the style sheet they want to use. Their preference can also be stored in a cookie. And because we are using the link tags as the W3C tells us to, the JavaScript doesn’t interfere with the menu in Mozilla, and it degrades very gracefully.
The Script
First we need the script to be able to differentiate between the three different types of style sheet. This is relatively easy to do, as we only need to check two of the attributes of each link element.
Is it a link to a style sheet?
HTMLLinkElement.getAttribute("rel").indexOf("style") != -1
Is there a title attribute?
HTMLListElement.getAttribute("title")
Does the rel attribute contain the keyword "alternate"?
HTMLLinkElement.getAttribute("rel").indexOf("alt") != -1
Note that we check for the string “alt” because some browsers accept the keyword “alternative” in place of “alternate.”
Using these three checks we can write a function to switch style sheets. This involves looping through every link element in the document, disabling all preferred and alternate style sheets that we don’t want active, and enabling all preferred and alternate style sheets that we do want active.
Note that only preferred and alternate style sheet link elements will have a title attribute.
The change function looks like this:
function setActiveStyleSheet(title) {
var i, a, main;
for(i=0; (a = document.getElementsByTagName("link")[i]); i++) {
if(a.getAttribute("rel").indexOf("style") != -1
&& a.getAttribute("title")) {
a.disabled = true;
if(a.getAttribute("title") == title) a.disabled = false;
}
}
}
Cookies
Now we can change the style sheet. Cool. We have a more personalized page. Excellent. But we don’t have a personalized site. The preference is only applied to the current page; when we leave the current page the preference leaves with us. This situation, however, can be rectified with a cookie.
To store a cookie we need another function to return the current style sheet. We also need two functions to store and read the cookie.
To return the current style sheet we look for an active preferred or alternate style sheet and check its title.
First we loop through all the link elements in the document again. We then check whether the link is a style sheet. If it is, we check whether the style sheet has a title. This tells us that the style sheet is either preferred or alternative.
The last check is to see whether or not the style sheet is active. If all three checks return true, we have the current style sheet and we can return the title.
The function ends up looking like this:
function getActiveStyleSheet() {
var i, a;
for(i=0; (a = document.getElementsByTagName("link")[i]); i++) {
if(a.getAttribute("rel").indexOf("style") != -1
&& a.getAttribute("title")
&& !a.disabled) return a.getAttribute("title");
}
return null;
}
As this is an article on style, and cookies are a completely different topic, I won’t explain the cookie functions here, but I will include them for your convenience (these functions are written by ALA author Peter-Paul Koch).
function createCookie(name,value,days) {
if (days) {
var date = new Date();
date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));
var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString();
}
else expires = "";
document.cookie = name+"="+value+expires+"; path=/";
}
function readCookie(name) {
var nameEQ = name + "=";
var ca = document.cookie.split(';');
for(var i=0;i < ca.length;i++) {
var c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0)==' ') c = c.substring(1,c.length);
if (c.indexOf(nameEQ) == 0) return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);
}
return null;
}
To use these cookie functions, we need to add onload and onunload event listeners to the window.
onLoad
There is a w3c specified DOM Level 2 attribute, “disabled,” that is set to false when a style sheet is applied to the document. This attribute is correctly implemented in Mozilla, but unfortunately not in MSIE.
MSIE does have a proprietary HTML attribute, also called “disabled,” that applies to link elements. This attribute is initially set to false for all link elements.
To set the MSIE disabled attribute to match the DOM Level 2 disabled attribute, we can call the setActiveStyleSheet() function with the name of the preferred style sheet.
To find out which style sheet is the preferred style sheet, we need another function. Because this function is so similar to the getActiveStyleSheet() function I’m not going to explain how it works, but here is what it may look like:
function getPreferredStyleSheet() {
var i, a;
for(i=0; (a = document.getElementsByTagName("link")[i]); i++) {
if(a.getAttribute("rel").indexOf("style") != -1
&& a.getAttribute("rel").indexOf("alt") == -1
&& a.getAttribute("title")
) return a.getAttribute("title");
}
return null;
}
In the onload function, we first set a title variable. This either holds the value of the previous style sheet that is stored in the cookie, or if there isn’t one, the title of our preferred style sheet. To keep things logical, let’s call the cookie “style.”
Next we call up the setActiveStyleSheet() function passing the title variable as the title. Our onload function looks something like this:
window.onload = function(e) {
var cookie = readCookie("style");
var title = cookie ? cookie : getPreferredStyleSheet();
setActiveStyleSheet(title);
}
Note that it may be desirable to call this function before the onload event as well, causing the document to “paint” with our style sheet preference.
If you choose to do this, make sure the function is called after the functions and the link elements have been defined.
onUnload
To save the cookie in the onunload event is simpler. All we have to do is use the getActiveStyleSheet() function to return the active style sheet, and save this in a cookie. Using the function to store a cookie we will end up with something like this:
window.onunload = function(e) {
var title = getActiveStyleSheet();
createCookie("style", title, 365);
}
Puttin’ it all together
To use these functions to make your website more sexy, you need to include them in your document. To make it easy, I have put them all together in a javascript file, ready for you to download and add to your site.
Download styleswitcher.js
To include the javascript file, you add a script element to the head of your document, making sure that it is put below all the style sheet link elements you have. The HTML would look like this:
src="/scripts/styleswitcher.js">
To allow the visitor to change the active style sheet, you could use javascript onClick events. For example, to have the option to switch between two themes with titles “default” and “paul,” you could use the following HTML:
onclick="setActiveStyleSheet('default');
return false;">change style to default
onclick="setActiveStyleSheet('paul');
return false;">change style to paul
Once the visitor has selected a theme, it will be stored in a cookie. To use the same theme throughout your website, the same style sheet and javascript link elements should be included in the head of every page of the site.
That’s all, folks!
There you have it, a customizable website that uses link elements to link to style sheets as the W3C has told us we should. Enjoy!
Paul Sowden is a teenager from London, England. He believes the web would be a better place if everyone used standards–compliant design techniques.
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| Comments (0)Freelancing vs incorporation from Archinect
Total Entries: 41
Total Comments: 148
05/01/05 12:16
I'm leaving my 9-5 and going solo. Do any of you have good advice on whether it's best to work as a freelancer or to incorporate as a firm in this situation (i've heard that "S Corp" is what you should do if you're an individual operating as a business.) Mostly wondering about things like taxation/accounting & that sort of responsibility. I thought it might be better/be taken more seriously, etc. to present myself as the principal of a firm rather than a freelancer, or at least to have the option of doing either depending on the situation. Most of the information I've found about incorporation is written in terms of benefits/disadvantages of each type of incorporation to shareholders, which isn't an issue.
TED
Total Entries: 54
Total Comments: 997
05/01/05 12:45
SS, is it architecture or design? in ILL you set up a business as sole proprietor or partnership[individuals taxed], s-corp, c-corp[big generally like HOK], LLc for example. most small arch practice are S in chicago although newly formed companies are going for the LLC/LLP which gives you the taxation benifit of sole prop/part and the liability benifets of a corp. in ill, i think there is a $500 filing fee anually for llc.
in ill, if you are a S-corp arch practice, 2/3rd of the shareholders must be licensed architects/engineers. so you should look into the licensing requirement if you are going to practice architecture as a firm. i think as a LLc, all shareholders must be licensed. the name you use also is an issue. if you use something else 'susan surface architects' and working as a sole proprietor [such as SS Arch] you have to register that name with the local licensing board [assumed name]
as a new practice, as long at the end of the year you dispearse money out of your business bank account, you wont pay corp income tax. now as a sole propieter, you can do 401k plans etc.
as obvious as it sounds you should find an accountant who works in with the professional group and set out a business plan for their recommendation. how many employees [if any]. even if you start small as a sole proprietor, say 2 years, you can switch when the money really starts to flow. if you are going to work out of your appartment/house there are certainly tax advantages there that i am not certain you get when you go corp. perhaps you do.
just make certain you run seperate bank accounts / credit cards for both-
there are great inexpensive programs out there like quickbooks which can do your payroll taxes, quarterly reports etc. for a monthly fee in addtion to billing, etc.
R.A. Rudolph
Total Entries: 12
Total Comments: 341
05/01/05 13:20
We started out with a general partnership and now have both a general partnership and a corporation, mostly for insurance purposes (the corporation is a construction company), as well as liability for debts.
I have done a lot of reading about this and asked our accountant tons of questions and I still don't fully understand the benefits and differences but it partly depends on what state you are in and what your business will be doing. My understanding for small companies that don't have a huge cashflow(like maybe $500,000/yr) is that there is not much tax benefit to incorporating, and in fact it may be a liability (because, for example, in california S corporations must pay a minimum of $800/yr, even though the profits flow through to the shareholders and are taxed like a partnership). There is a slight benefit in that you can pay yourself a salary and take the rest as a bonus on which you don't have to pay social security - but whether it's worth it would depend on how much money you expect to be making and I would talk to an accountant who works with small businesses about it.
The benefits to incorporation or forming an LLC, as opposed to a partnership or sole proprietorship, relate to liability for debts. If you are planning to practice architecture with a license, in california you cannot form an LLC, and a corporation will protect you from debts to vendors (such as things you would have bought on a credit card), but it will not protect you from professional negligence (if you are sued for something relating to professional practice).
If you are not practicing architecture though, incorporating may also protect you from being sued for the work you do - but this is unclear even to my many lawyer friends (you'll need to talk to someone who specializes in exactly what you do it you're concerned about that). However, I've also learned from dealing with unhappy clients and discussing it with said lawyer friends, that the chance of getting sued over small jobs, especially if you have good contracts, is extremely slim.
Incorporating involves some cash (maybe $1,000), possibly a minimum tax payment per year and more paperwork (so more accounting $). Unless you will be purchasing lots of supplies with credit cards and/or loans that you would not be able to pay off if your company failed, and/or you are doing something that is highly risky (working with very litigious clients for high fees, for example), than I would probably say just go for a sole proprietorship for now. It's much easier (if you use your name you don't even need to file for a ficticious business name or a taxpayer ID) and will cost you less in the long run, and I think you'll still get the same tax benefits for the most part. But as Ted said, definitely open a separate bank account and keep very good records of your expenses so that you can deduct the maximum, and find an accountant - it's well worht the $$.
Also, just a tip - I use quickbooks but find it very complicated, so if you're going to use accounting software unless you're really willing to take a plunge I would recommend quicken or something with a few less features that costs less.
Good luck!
Susan Surface
Total Entries: 41
Total Comments: 148
05/01/05 15:47
I'm a graphic designer & illustrator.. have some exhibition design & retail display clients also, but nothing that requires licensing.
e
Total Entries: 27
Total Comments: 1040
05/01/05 16:28
ss, i left frog 4 years ago. i do mainly print, digital, illustration, and branding. i would recommend doing a sole proprietor. this was also the recommendation of my accountant. there isn't a hell of a lot of liability in what you do and it just keeps taxes and everything a hell of a lot simplier. if you take it seriously, your clients will do the same. i don't believe they care what you are as long as you deliver quality on time.
Susan Surface
Total Entries: 41
Total Comments: 148
05/02/05 0:09
Is there a problem with changing the name you choose as a sole proprietorship if the structure changes - i.e. addition of collaborators or employees. Sometimes it is OK to put an individual's name on something, but in some situations anonymity, collectivity, or ambiguity can be advantageous. My current firm's prospective clients who just find the site see the website think the firm is much bigger than 5 people because of the well known brands in the portfolio. And then they hire us anyway because after seeing the portfolio it occurs to them that they don't *need* a large company to do their project after all.
Another reason I am hesitant to incorporate my name is that it can be annoying or cheesy. People think I am associated with *Surface magazine or have given myself a pretentious faux name, but it's my real birth name. Fie.
Is there any legal problem with titling & marketing yourself with a firm name but the clients still have to write checks to an individual? Or is it just an issue of some other business being able to register the firm name first?
trace
Total Entries: 8
Total Comments: 539
05/02/05 6:05
Go with the LLC. It's easy and cheap.
Advantage: Transparent taxation. The moneys 'flow' through from the client to the individual, thereby bypassing any taxation at the company level. It's also about as simple as it can be, no board of directors, share holders, etc., etc. It gives you protection without complications.
It's the latest and greatest. It was made for small businesses and it works. Also, you don't have to put the ugle 'LLC' after your name, it's not required.
S Corps require shareholder meetings, documention of the meetings, shares, etc., etc. You aren't taxed twice, but it's a pain in the butt if it's just a few people.
Corps are taxed twice, once at the corporate level, once at the individual level.
General Partnerships seem damn scary to me. No protection and both parties are liable for everything.
I paid $750 to have a lawyer set up our first LLC, with 2 more to follow.
trace
Total Entries: 8
Total Comments: 539
05/02/05 6:08
e - not sure if my lawyer would agree that there isn't a lot of liability (or a potentially huge hassle, at least). His example was that if a client needed a rendering for a huge presenation and it wasn't delivered, and he lost tons of money because of it, he could sue me. I know graphics cannot directly cause any kind of injury, etc., but non performance can be reason to sue.
But then again, he's a lawyer.
R.A. Rudolph
Total Entries: 12
Total Comments: 341
05/02/05 9:28
trace - i agree that the general partnership is scary - only alternative here is to incorporate, which is a pain, and if you don't maintain scrupulous records you're setting yourself up if you are sued anyway because they can "pierce the corporate veil".
all in all though, i don't think you will be sued unless VERY large amounts of money are involved, because it is tens of thousands of dollars to even get to court, let alone try a case, and potentially everyone loses.
susan - you can be a sole proprietor with a company name, you file for a ficticious business name (with your local city, county, depends on area). i don't think you need a taxpayer ID regardless - but if you go to the bank and find out what you need to open a separate account for the business they will let you know. that way you can have people write checks to the business rather than yourself. i personally think people feel we are more professional if they write checks to the company. we have also had no problem getting credit cards in the company name, which has helped tremendously with cash flow and with record keeping - it also establishes credit for the company which you may want further down the road.
If you want to add extra owners further down the road, you would need to change the structure, but it's much easier to go from sole proprietor to something more complicated than to start with a one shareholder corporation and add new shareholders... and if you add employees or colaborate with people who are not part owners, it doesn't make a difference what kind of company you have set up (except in terms of liability - if you have more than a few employees i would probbaly incorporate)
trace
Total Entries: 8
Total Comments: 539
05/02/05 10:47
RAR - the LLC was not an option for you? I am curious about the limitations, as our lawyer and a colleague recommended the LLC for our archtiecture practice as well.
R.A. Rudolph
Total Entries: 12
Total Comments: 341
05/02/05 11:58
nope, in california you cannot have an LLC if you are a licensed professional - doctor, lawyer, architect & accountant, i think... oh, contractor as well actually. they have set up the LLP for the professionals, which protects you from your partners' work (& maybe debts, not sure about that), but you are still personally liable for professional practice - only insurance will protect you.
...
| Comments (0)Web Development Process - from other
Creating a website is no easy task. The sites which rest in portfolios of sites like 2advanced, Group94 and Neubix are the amalgamation of what I like to call the five stepping stones of web development; Planning, Design, Implementation, Analysis and Improvement. In the following five articles I’ll be taking a closer look at each of these factors in a practical situation, thus resulting in a functional, dynamic site and hopefully unearthing a few useful techniques for lessening workload along the way.
First up, planning. Perhaps the most often overlooked factor of development, but undoubtedly the most important and challenging, failing to plan is planning to fail. But before we can even begin to plan our site we need to know exactly what the end result must be, for this we need a brief. When working for a client it is essential that you extract as much information from the brief as you can, because if even the tiniest aspect of a site is overlooked time will inevitably be incurred during the improvement cycle which will ultimately conclude in heightened cost to both you and your client. From our brief we can create a list of quantitative objectives, or “goals”, which are absolutely necessary for the success of the project. Without any goals we have no destination and the site cannot fulfill its purpose.
For the purpose of this set of articles I’ll be using one of my personal projects, indieanthems.com, a site dedicated to the best genre of music, to test these methods and illustrate how they might be applied to both personal and commercial projects. The sites brief reads:
• General Design - Must be tasteful and inoffensive. Minimal colors must be used as not to alienate users. Must be usable and accessible. Must be space for subtle advertising.
• Backend - Must be user friendly and capable of controlling most aspects of the front-end. Must be fast and output lean and accessible code.
• Homepage - Must have a main content box for articles. Must have a sidebar for links to other sites and relevant articles.
• Store - Based on Amazon Web Services. Must be easy to add items to, preferably integrated into the main Content Management System.
• Forum - Must be fully integrated into the sites design and not generate horrible outdated code. Must also be easily maintainable and moderated.
This may be a very nondescript list of goals, but it is enough to begin mentally planning how I would like the site to look, what 3rd party software I would like to use (or maybe how I would build the backend system myself) and quite possibly who I would commission to create aspects of the site such as artwork or maybe even background music. I can also use these goals to decide which technologies I can afford and know how to use. My resulting plan may look like this:
Technology
XHTML, CSS and JavaScript - Future proof programming languages which both degrade elegantly and will function correctly in all modern browsers.
PHP - Free and opensource server side programming language which is easily learnt and very powerful. There is also a large community of programmers who offer free support and advice.
SQL - Free and opensource database platform which is widely supported and interfaces well with PHP.
SOAP - An XML based protocol for exchange of data. Also integrates well with PHP.
3rd party software
Wordpress (CMS) - Outputs very nice code and is also very usable. Capable of handling most aspects of the site with little customization.
BBpress (Forum) - Easily integratable forum software. Outputs clean code and is also very manageable.
Self Built Software
Store - A simple PHP, SQL and SOAP based system which is updated via the main wordpress user area.
Presentation
Colors - Soft and inoffensive browns and tans.
Drop shadows - Help separate the main content box from the expansive background area. Currently very fashionable.
Bevels - Give the design a sense of depth along with drop shadows.
Minimum Resolution Support - 800 x 600. Quickly becoming obsolete as it is, no-one with internet access uses a resolution below this, other than portable browsers who receive an unstyled version of the site.
From this list I am able to begin formulating designs in my mind, however in the next article I will be committing these designs to paper and then preparing them for implementation in Photoshop as part of the stepping stone known as design.
...
Web Standards in proposals
In order to anticipate future browser compatibility we require conformance to the following W3C standards:
HTML
Validate to either the W3C's XHTML 1.0 transitional or strict doctype
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/
CSS
Validate to the W3C's CSS 2.1 or 1.0
http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/
http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1
Javascript
Javascript will never use browser detect but instead object detection to test for browser support of properties, arrays and methods
...
notes on photographing smoke
Firstly I should point out that the smoke is everyday grey. I have found joss sticks to be the best source of smoke. The smoke is side or back lit and photographed against a black background.
If I want the final picture to have a white background then the whole image is inverted, black becoms white, white becomes black, and grey's stay much the same. The colouring is done in Photoshop by selecting parts of the image with a highly feathered selection and adjusting the colour with hue/saturation or one of the other colour adjustment tools.
...
CMS information from Archinect member
>How are you building your CMS ? Are you building a database system with PHP/SQL ?
>
>Ive done a number of striaight html sites but am interested in learning how to set up a simple, useable CMS.
>
>Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
>
>-andrew
>
>
Oh, and as a recommendation for a simple solution, Mambo
(www.mamboserver.com) is relatively easy to set-up and manage, and you
can integrate some of the templating functions into Dreamweaver.
What kind of site do you want? Is it a blog, a marketing site? Do you
need image galleries? User authentication? All of these questions will
help you select a CMS.
Rodrigo
andrew,
this is in response to the archinect thread, right?
I am using typo3 (http://www.typo3.org/). It's an open osurce PHP-based
cms. Very powerful and extensible, but with a rather steep learning
curve. It does ,however, have a very helpful and active community, and a
number of tutorials on templating and other topics. The newsgroups are
very active anf friendly as well.
There are easier to use systems, but in my opinion, they aren't as
configurable and don't have very good control over users.
I used it for a rather large site, belonging to one of the largest IT
firms in Chile (where I live), and they were convinced it is a robust,
scalable system. You can check out the site here: http://www.sonda.com/.
(I only did the programming / development, not the graphic design, which
I'm not too fond of).
You should take a look at http://www.opensourcecms.com/, which lets you
try out a large of number of CMS solutoins without having to install
them first, and has good forums, etc.
Let me know if you need any help or suggestions, and show me your work!
Cheers,
rodrigo
{signal}
>How are you building your CMS ? Are you building a database system with PHP/SQL ?
>
>Ive done a number of striaight html sites but am interested in learning how to set up a simple, useable CMS.
>
>Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
>
>-andrew
>
>
...
Sustainable landscape -- TOPOS
The growing numbers of blighted residential districts all over the world call for cost-effective ideas to upgrade public space.
The key to future directions in landscape architecture is to broaden our ideas of landscape practice. Future practice must encompass all types of landscapes and all landscape problems. Landscape issues must become an intrinsic part of all developments; therefore, landscape practice must become “affordable”.
Exploring the concept of “affordability”, we can see that definition variations give useful direction in thinking about how landscape architecture can be conceptualized. The primary use of “affordability” is “to be able to bear the cost of” but it is also used in the sense “to provide naturally or inevitably”. This suggests a way of shifting the landscape paradigm, from questions of whether the cost of landscape works “can be borne” to the concept of their “natural inevitability”. To date the technocrats have been victors, in that engineering works are afforded the status of necessities, and landscape work is generally perceived as a luxury and therefore often unnecessary. We need to shift the balance of this equation to an approach where solutions that combine traditional engineering, bio-engineering and landscape design are equal parts of the formula.
This also requires a change in how landscape architects conceptualize their discipline, so that all landscape issues are on the agenda, rather than just the privileged landscapes of parks and gardens that have traditionally been the province of the profession. This means landscape architects must offer viable solutions to the problems of industrial, infra-structural, agricultural, ecological and de-valued landscapes of developed countries, become conversant with the problems of emerging economies in developing countries; and increase their sensitivity to disenfranchised people throughout the world. The discipline’s current re-engagement with the issues of urbanism and urbanization through landscape urbanism suggests a new willingness to tackle this broader range of issues.
Landscapes from nothing. Thinking about “affordable landscapes” in their most obvious sense, we are dealing with three models: landscapes of capital investment that anyone can afford, landscape solutions to common design and construction problems that are cheaper and more sustainable than conventional approaches; and recycled landscapes built on a temporary basis.
Based on the experience of the 20th century it seems reasonable to acknowledge that permanent forms of settlement in many communities throughout the world will be impoverished neighborhoods, refugee camps, or shanty-towns, for many reasons and potentially for a number of generations. As a significant proportion of the world’s population continues to live in these conditions it is timely to consider them as an emerging, if not prevailing, global land use. As economic inequity grows in the developed world, the problems of many low income or blighted neighborhoods increasingly parallel those of shanty-towns and refugee camps in developing countries. While specifics may vary between an urban slum in Detroit, Boston or London and a shanty-town in Mexico City, Delhi or Rio de Janeiro, conceptual similarities exist in how each is addressed. As landscape architects operating in a global environment, we must acknowledge these similarities and be prepared and willing to transfer problem-solving approaches from one situation to others.
Landscape-based solutions to the issues of clean water, waste management, shade and shelter, mass transit, and food production all offer tremendous promise to these communities. Solutions can be as simple as street tree planting and composting systems or as complex as integrated networks of indigenous plantings, earthworks and wetlands created to manage runoff and treat sewage. These solutions also offer possibilities in terms of reinforcing cultural identity, adding community amenities, enhancing regional character and civic pride, encouraging economic activity, and increasing recreation opportunities. These goals are just as significant, necessary and relevant to the poor and disenfranchised as they are to the middle class and privileged, and yet they are often ignored in less affluent communities because they are not perceived as essential to sustain human life. This is environmental racism in its most insidious form.
In the last decade there have been a number of significant projects built in impoverished landscapes. For instance, under the leadership of former mayor Jaime Lerner, the city of Curritiba in Brazil developed an ambitious city-wide strategy for an infrastructure of mass transit and water management through open spaces, providing a model for low-cost sustainable infrastructure in an urban environment.
Other examples include an extensive program of development by the City of Rio de Janeiro in its favelas, attempting to deal with issues of environmental hazards, land tenure, providing basic services, and public safety. Several of these projects by Jorge Mario Jauregui Architects use the basic infrastructure of roads and public spaces as vehicles for civic transformation. There are also a number of analogous projects in the Johannesburg townships in South Africa such as the Kliptown Renewal Project in Soweto by studioMAS Architecture and Urban Design. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s experiments in disaster relief architecture in Japan, Turkey and Rwanda offer a model for well-designed, low-cost solutions using cheap and locally available materials. These are all solutions where lateral thinking and creativity are substituted for unaffordable technology and materials.
Another aspect of affordable landscapes is the need for landscapes that are affordable enough to be temporary, mobile or seasonal. These are landscapes that can be easily and inexpensively assembled to meet the needs of those currently not served by the mainstream profession. Temporary landscapes also offer amenity and community in situations where neither is currently available. These solutions, applicable in both developed communities as well as emerging cultures, could encompass low-cost developments for the lost and neglected landscapes of urban blight, public housing, and public schools. In Paris for example, Paris Plage is built each year in July and August when a section of Georges Pompidou expressway that runs along the Seine is closed to traffic. At relatively low cost, a sand beach, lawns, palm trees, beach furniture, areas for dancing, concerts, children’s play, volleyball and rock climbing are all installed to create a temporary urban beach enjoyed by millions. Many city farms and urban gardens make low-cost, temporary use of vacant land through community gardens, creating productive landscapes that engage urban dwellers in recreational, educational, and economic activities. Related to this is the current interest in temporary and mobile architecture in the work of Jennifer Siegal of the Office of Mobile Design and others.
A context of affordability or minimal capital investment also suggests the relevance of incremental or process-driven landscapes, such as those proposed by Field Operations in the Downsview Park in Toronto and Staten Island’s Fresh Kills Competitions. The idea of using natural processes of deposition, drainage, ecological succession and plant colonization to create landscapes through interventions that direct and shape ultimate outcomes, has immediate appeal and enormous potential because of its inherent simplicity. This approach works with existing ecological processes to generate solutions that are appropriate, sustainable and ecologically effective.
Landscape infrastructure. As suburbanization becomes the global norm, the issue of how to reconcile this phenomenon with the goal of sustainability becomes increasingly problematic. Even European cities, which for so long have provided the most influential urban models of density, public space, mass transit, and mixed use, exhibit evidence of sprawl, the loss of coherent centers, strip developments, featureless suburbs, and other characteristics of urban disintegration. Globally we are dealing with a new urban “scape” that behaves more like a landscape than it replicates traditional architectural models of urbanism. Many commentators posit landscape as the solution to the many problems generated by the ever-expanding sprawl. Landscape architecture, described by Kenneth Frampton in this context as the “remedial art par excellence” is proposed by many as offering the only solutions capable of operating in the chaos of the megalopolis.
So if landscape architecture offers solutions, how does the profession leverage this potential into reality? I believe this happens at a number of different levels through an infrastructure of landscape as well as through infrastructure becoming landscape. At the broader urban scale, I think we have to look to natural systems for urban structure: connected open space systems should reflect the hydrological systems and make new water management systems, microclimates should influence siting and orientation of settlements and urban development. We should also make infrastructure networks for transit and power systems and these should also become landscape networks of planting, drainage and ecological habitats. So whether generated by existing landscape elements or created to serve other needs, new systems should combine infrastructure and landscape in hybrids of construction, planting and water.
At the scale of cities and neighborhoods, intelligent site planning, the use of plantings, and creative design interventions, all offer potential energy savings and cost reductions in management and maintenance. These more nebulous strategies often offer longer-term benefits to the public rather than immediate profits to specific individuals. To be implemented, these strategies will require committed advocacy from the landscape architectural community to make future cases for their adoption more compelling than previous attempts that have had limited success.
These same attitudes can also inform designs of individual urban elements, through concentration on the mundane infrastructure of streets, parking lots, and freeways. The broad-scale application of bio-engineering and environmental technologies offers low-cost, low-maintenance solutions to development and construction problems. Soft engineering solutions to the prosaic issues of water and waste management promise significant savings over the use of conventionally engineered hard solutions, both in initial construction and also in on-going operation. Landscape architects have both the creative vision to see the possibilities and the synthetic and technical skills to make them work.
Landscape practice. How should the practice of landscape architecture change to make these things happen? Most recently the profession has addressed issues of defining professional responsibilities and integrating digital technology into mainstream practice. This has meant a focus on business models, marketing, production and project management, instinctively resulting in the mindset that commercial viability and design imagination are antithetical to one another.
Currently there seems to be a wave of experimentation and innovation in the engagement of ecology, technology, design, and urbanism. We are also seeing exciting projects coming from organizations and individuals engaged in a combination of research and practice. For these developments to have substantial impacts on the profession as a whole, they need to be absorbed into both education and practice, effectively making the two more closely related. The combination of design innovation and technical expertise is key to the realization of innovative work; this marriage will suggest technologically advanced and more fluid forms of practice, spanning disciplines, geographical boundaries, and cultures.
...
| Comments (0)PHP MYSQL Book
PHP + MYSQL Web Development
By Luke Welling & Laura Thompson
$49.95
amazon link
...
| Comments (0)the bear gets it
...
July 03, 2005
reading list from archinect
for columbia, studio:
Empire , Multitude, Negri & Hardt
1000 Plateaus, Deleuze + Guattari
WIRED magazine Scenarios issue [online archive] and on scenario planning: GBN.org
"Urban Economies and Fading Distances", Saskia Sassen
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Shockwave Rider, John Brunner
Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis
The Invisibles, Grant Morrison
Watchmen, Alan Moore
The Dormant Beast, Enki Bilal
"Possible Urban Worlds", David Harvey
The Geopolitical Aesthetic , Jameson
'Inorganic Life', ZONE 6 + excerpts from 1000 years..., Manuel DeLanda
Critical Art Ensemble, “The Electronic Disturbance”
excerpts from SI journals and monographs: www.nothingness.org
Neuromancer, Gibson
Smart Mobs, Rheingold
Cryptome and Cartome, Natsios and Young
required seminar:
appadurai, "modernity at large"
hardt and negri, "empire"
martin, "critical of what?.."
simmel, "the stranger"
kracauer, "the mass ornament"
benjamin, "paris, capital of the nineteenth century"
giedion, "the need for a new monumentality"
smithson, "team ten primer"
tafuri and dal co, "modern architecture 2"
deleuze, "cinema 2"
buckminster fuller, "an operating manual.."
super studio, "12 cautionary tales.."
banham, "megastructure.."
debord, "theory of the derive", "situationist theses on traffic", others
chtcheglov, "formulary for a new urbanism"
lefebvre, "the right city"
levin, "geopolitics of hibernation.."
niewenhuys, "the principle of disorientation"
banham, "los angeles"
colomina, "1949"
gottman, "megalopolis"
venturi brown and izenour, "learning from los vegas"
rowe, "five architects"
stern, "five on five"
scott, "architecture or techno-utopia"
rozzi, "the architecture of the city"
rowe and koetter, "collage city"
bressi, "planning the american dream"
congress for the new urbanism, "charter of the new urbanism"
corbusier, "when the cathedrals were white"
koolhaas, "i_ny: delirious no more"
sassen, "global city"
koolhaas, "singapore songlines"
(partial list)
limited elective seminar:
hardt and negri, "empire" (trend?:)
slavoj, "welcome to the desert of the real"
de certeau, "the practice of everyday life"
maccanell, "the tourist"
debord, "the society of the spectacle"
agamben, "marginal notes on... spectacle", "the camp as nomos.."
barber, "jihad vs mcworld"
harvey, "comtemporary globalization"
bauman, "tourists and vagabonds"
ranciere, "democracy corrected"
deleuze and guattari, "treatise on nomadology"
franke, segal and weizman, "territories.."
wharton, "building the cold war"
ajami, "the summoning"
huntington, "the clash of civilizations?"
easterling, "parrado's paradox", "organization space"
castells, "the rise of network society"
ohmae, "the rise of the region state"
auge, "new worlds"
lash and urry, "the end of organized capitalism"
bourdieu, "symbolic capital"
klare, "oil wars in the south china sea"
de landa, "the nonlinear development of cities"
appadurai, "modernity at large.."
graham and marvin, "splintering urbanism"
kelly, "new rules for the new economy"
klare, "resource wars"
kaplan, "the coming anarchy"
diawara, "toward a regional imaginary in africa"
bauman, "to each waste its dumping site"
(partial list)
YALE'S READING LIST (organized by category) (the orginal mailing was ripe with typographical errors, so i've corrected them for the benefit of archinect readers):
[primary sources]
vitruvius ... 10 books on architecture
LB Alberti .... 10 boos of architecture
ruskin ... 7 lamps of architecture
adolf loos ... spoken into the void (collected essays)
le corbusier .... vers une architecture
reyner banham .... theory and design in the first machine age
aldo rossi .... the architecture of the city
robert venturi .... complexity and contradisction
RVDSB .... learning from las vegas
[historical surveys]
peter murray .... architecure of the italian renaissance
rudolf wittkower ... gothic and classical
ridolf wittkower .... architectural principles in the age of humanism
henry russell-hitchcock .... architecture: 19th and 20th century
william j.r. curtis ... modern architecture since 1900
spiro kostof .... a history of architecture: settings, rituals
[theory]
colin rowe ... mathermatics of the ideal villa
gaston bachelard ... the poetics of space
ulrich conrads .... programs and manifestoeson 20th century architecture
manfredo tafuri ... architecture and utopia
robin evans ... the projective cast
kenny frampton ... modern architecture: a critical history
vinny scully .... american architecture and urbanism
vinny scully .... modern architecture and other essays
rosalind krauss .... originiality and the avant-garde and othe modernist myths
hal foster .... the anti-aesthetic: essays on post-modern culture
ignacio de sola-morales .... differences: topographies of contempoary architectue
[history/theory anthologies]
simon during .... the cultural studies reader
k. michael hays .... architecture theory since 1968
kate nesbitt, ed .... theorizing a new agenda for architecutre: an anthology of architectural theory (1965-1995)
joan ockman ... architecture culture
Here is a portion of the Princeton reading list:
Modern Architecture - Alan Colquhoun
Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays - Robin Evans
The City in History - Lewis Mumford
Words and Buildings: A vocabulary of Modern Architecture - Adrian Forty
Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture - Mario Salvadori
Architecture Theory since 1968 - K. Michael Hays
Architectural Culture 1943 – 1968 - Joan Ockman, Edward Eigen
Air Guitar - Dave Hickey
Theory and Design in the First Machine Age - Reyner Banham
Recovering Landscape - James Corner
Studies in Tectonic Culture - Kenneth Frampton
Space, Time and Architecture - Siegfried Giedeon
The New Science of Strong Materials - J.E. Gordon
A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time - J. B. Jackson
The Culture of Time and Space - Stephen Kern
Towards a New Architecture - Le Corbusier
Good City Form - Kevin Lynch
Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays - Colin Rowe
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture - Robert Venturi
Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism - Rudolf Wittkower
i had a meeting with peter lynch a month or so ago. during the conversation, i asked him to suggest a reading list. a lot of these are basics in the world of architecture but most were ones that i had never read. he recommended i 'become familiar with them' before my journey..
Aldo van Eyck, Works by Vincent Ligtelijn
The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch
The Architecture of the City (Oppositions Books) by Aldo Rossi
A Scientific Autobiography by Aldo Rossi
History of Modern Architecture, Vol. 1 by Leonardo Benevolo
History of Modern Architecture - Vol. 2, The Modern Movement by Leonardo Benevolo
On Growth and Form by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
City : Its Growth, Its Decay, Its Future by Eliel Saarinen
Architectonic Space : Fifteen Lessons on the Disposition of the Human Habitat by H. Van Der Laan
Team 10 primer, by Alison Margaret Smithson
Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings by Robert Smithson
Studies in tectonic culture by Kenneth Frampton
UCLA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN
RECCOMENDED READING LIST
LOS ANGELES:
Banham, Reyner. Los Angeles: The Four Ecologies. Berkeley: UC Press, 2001.
Cuff, Dana. The Provisional City: Los Angeles Stories of Architecture and
Urbanism. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000.
Davis, Mike. City of Quartz. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.
Gebhard and Winter, Guidebook to Los Angeles Architecture. Salt Lake City:
Gibbs Smith, 1994.
McCoy, Esther. Five California Architects. Los Angeles: Hennessey + Ingalls,
1987 (orig. 1960).
Smith, Elizabeth. Case Study Houses. Cologne, New York: Taschen, 2002.
CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES:
Allen, Stan. Points + Lines. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999.
Balmond, Cecil. Informal. Munich: Prestel, 2002.
Corner, James. Taking Measures across the American Landscape. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1996.
Diller + Scofidio. Scanning. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2003.
Eisenman, Peter (Bob Somol, ed.). Diagram Diaries. New York: Universe
Publishing, 1999.
FOA, Phylogenesis. Barcelona: Actar, 2004.
Kipnis, Jeffrey. Perfect Acts of Architecture. New York: H.N. Abrams, 2001.
Lerup, Lars. After the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.
The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Archtitecture. Gausa, Manuel, et al.
Barcelona: Actar, 2003.
MVRDV. FARMAX. Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 1998.
OMA. S M L XL. New York: Monacelli Press, 1995.
Van Berkel and Bos (UNStudio). Move. Goose Press, 1999.
HISTORY, THEORY, AND TECHNOLOGY:
Cache, Bernard. Earth Moves. Cambridge : The MIT Press, 1995.
Castells, Manuel. Rise of the Network Society. Malden : Blackwell Publishers,
2000.
Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. New York : Zone Books, 1994.
DeLanda, Manuel. A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History. New York : Zone
Books, 1997.
Deleuze, Gilles. Thousand Plateaus. London : Athlone Press, 1988.
Engel, Heino. Structure Systems. New York : Distributed Art Publishers, 1997
Foster, Hal. The Anti-aesthetic : Essays on Postmodern Culture. Port Townsend :
Bay Press, 1983.
Hays, K. Michael. Architectural Theory since 1968. Cambridge : The MIT Press,
1998.
Kelly, Kevin. Out of Control. Cambridge : Perseus Books, 1994.
Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York : A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan.
New York : Monacelli Press, 1994.
Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture : Settings and Rituals. New York : Oxford
University Press, 1995.
Kwinter, Sanford. Architectures of Time : Toward a Theory of the Event in
Modernist Culture. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2001.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding media : the Extensions of Man. Cambridge :
MIT Press, 1994.
Venturi, Robert. Learning from Las Vegas. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1977.
Vidler, Anthony. Warped space : Art, Architecture, and Anxiety in Modern
Culture. Cambridge : MIT Press, 2000.
APPENDIX: BOOKS BY OR ABOUT AUD FACULTY
Cuff, Dana. Architecture: The Story of Practice. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.
- The Provisional City. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000.
Denari, Neil. Gyroscopic Horizons. New York: Princeton Architectural Press,
1999.
Favro, Diane. Urban Image of Augustan Rome. Cambridge University Press, 1996
- Ed. Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space, University of California
Press, 1994
Hines, Thomas. Irving Gill and the Architecture of Reform.
- Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture
Forster, Kurt Walter. Hodgetts + Fung: Scenarios and Spaces. New York:
Rizzoli, 1997.
Hodgetts + Fung : scenarios and spaces New York : Rizzoli, 1997.
Lavin, Sylvia. Quatremere de Quincy and the Invention of a Modern Language of
Architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992.
Lynn, Greg. Animate Form. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999.
- Folds, Bodies and Blobs. Brussels: La Lettre Volee, 1998.
Mark Mack : a California architect (Diane Ghirardo ed.) Tübingen: Wasmuth,
1994.
Mack, Mark. Stremmel House: Mark Mack New York: Monacelli Press, 1998.
Mayne, Thom, et al. (with UCLA students). L.A. Now: Volume One & L.A. Now:
Volume Two. Berkeley: UC Press, 2002.
Morphosis/Diamond Ranch High School: Source Books in Architecture (Thom
Mayne, ed., et al.) New York: Monacelli, 2001.
Morphosis (Pablo Bransburg ed.) Madrid : ASPPAN, 2000.
Barton Myers, selected and current work (Stephen Dobney ed.) Mulgrave,
Victoria, Australia: Images Publishing Group, 1994.
Richter, Dagmar XYZ : the architecture of Dagmar Richter New York, NY :
Princeton Architectural Press, 2001.
Somol, Bob, ed. Autonomy and Ideology: Positioning an Avant-garde in America.
New York: Monacelli, 1997.
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Center. “Skin” Exhibition Catalog.
Jeffrey Kipnis and Annetta Massie eds. “Mood River” exhibition Catalog. New
York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2002.
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