Filed under: Uncategorized
In a nice little twist of serendipity, a comment on this post led me to this site, where I found this:
“the main reason SGG (Saint Gobain Glass) is now in Second Life is to share ideas and invent their next generation of products with a great focus on sustainable development…. The idea for SGG’s experts is to share about their products and technology, and to collect comments or ideas on how the next generation products should be”
This is another great example of how virtual worlds like Second Life can engage the end-users of their goods - in this case architectural products, throughout ideation and pre-production cycles.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: orientation, pam broviak, public works, second life
I’ve known Pam Broviak, a city engineer/director of public works in real life, and founder of the Public Works group in Second Life for quite a while now, and never cease to be amazed by the amount of energy and creative ideas she brings to Second Life. If you don’t subscribe to her blog, HERE is the site. It is well worth subscribing to! If you’re new to Second Life, check out this upcoming event:
http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/archives/84
‘With the upcoming Sustainability Now virtual conference, the Public Works Group is offering an Orientation Day on Public Works Island in Second Life on Saturday, June 28, 2008. Seasoned Second Life residents will be on hand to greet you as you enter Second Life.”
“If you have never been in Second Life, this is a great opportunity to try it out knowing that there will be people there to meet you and help show you the ropes. Because most people have not been exposed to this type of interface, entering Second Life alone with little guidance at the beginning can be challenging. We are hoping to make that transition a little easier by being there to answer questions, give away free stuff you might need for your virtual world, and point you to some interesting places in Second Life that are tasteful and engaging.”
Eikongraphia recently published MoPo 2008 , listing The Arch as number 14 on the list!
We’re in good company too!
1. BLDGBLOG
2. City of Sound
3. Archidose
4. Pruned
5. Interactive Architecture
6. Architecture.mnp
7. Subtopia
8. Life Without Buildings
9. Tropolism
10. Mirage Studio 7
11. Strange Harvest
12. Architechnophilia
13. The Where Blog
14. The Arch
15. Super Colossal
16. Sit down man, you’re a bloody tragedy
17. Brand Avenue
18. Architecture Chicago Plus
19. Hugh Pearman
20. Varnelis
21. Lebbeus Woods
22. Part IV
23. Eye Candy
24. Architectural Videos
25. Kosmograd
Filed under: Uncategorized
Thursday, March 20th at 5pm SLT (PDT) at Life 2.0 (registration is free HERE)
We will be discussing municipal public works applications in use or being developed within Second Life, followed by a lively discussion about the possible uses of Second Life for city and urban planning, conceptual design, and community drop in meetings.
PANEL DESCRIPTION: Moderating is Kim Smith, (Rissa Maidstone-SL) - Operations and Sales Director - UBM ThinkServices Metaverse (19 years working with municipalities and federal agencies) is joined by Pam Broviak (Pam Renoir-SL) - LaSalle Public Works Director and founder of Public Works Island; Jon Brouchoud (Keystone Bouchard-SL) - Co-Founder, Studio Wikitecture and Architect; Professor Terry Beaubois (Tab Scott-SL) - Director, Creative Research Lab-MSU, James Matney (TEEX Clary-SL) - Texas Engineering Extension Service provides training, technical assistance and emergency response in Fire Services, Homeland Security, Public Works, Public Safety and Security, Professional Regulator Training, and Economic Development; (Eolus McMillan-SL) responsible for Eolus One which is exploring how virtual worlds can be used for facilities management, building automation, smart building design and virtual operations; and Kirsten Kiser (KK Jewell-SL) - Architect and founder of arcspace.com to discuss municipal public works applications in use or being developed within Second Life, followed by a lively discussion about the possible uses of Second Life for city and urban planning, conceptual design, and community drop in meetings.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hi everyone! I’m looking for a little help. As you know, there has been a lot of great projects happening in SL related to architecture that I just haven’t had time to cover on this blog.
I’m wondering if there is someone out there who would be interested in writing an occasional post covering some of the current architecture-related events and builds in SL. If interested, please send me an IM in-world (Keystone Bouchard).
I’m also looking for tips on anything you’ve heard of or discovered that is worth publishing here as well.
Let me know! =)
Filed under: Uncategorized
Where else can you experience work by architectural masters such as Terragni, Fuksas, Nervi, and Libera all together in a single composition? Experience Italy (EX.IT) is a massive Second Life build that is NOT to be missed! (slideshow HERE)
The 9-sim campus is modeled after the 1942 ‘E42′ exhibition area for a Universal exhibit in Rome which was unfortunately stopped by the war. Some of the best Italian architects worked on the project, which includes a Sport palace, Palazzo of the Civilta Italiana, Congress Hall and Congress Center as well as many other builds. This faithful recreation of the design was built by Fondazione Valore Italia for the Permanent Exhibition of ‘Made in Italy’ and ‘Italian Design’.
During a recent tour by Lucam Oh , organizer and builder, Lucam said that he hoped the build will become ‘alive’, and hoped the architectural community of Second Life will utilize it as a place to meet, organize meetings, and host exhibitions and architectural research.
I find the architectural approach to the project quite inspiring and unique. While many virtual architects see the pure recreation of real life designs a waste of time (in a world free of gravity, why build things that look as if they depend on it?), this build is one of the unique circumstances where the build cannot be fully experienced in real life - or any other way. This virtual creation enables visitors to experience a place that they would not otherwise be able to visit. Beyond that, EX.IT also takes an interesting albeit modern or honest approach to the actual process of real-life replication by embracing its synthetic nature. Trees aren’t photoreal, but are modern artistic interpretations - and featuring a ‘moire’ effect. The hovering graphic quotes challenge the notion that this is mere replication, and blurs the distinction between graphic arts and architecture, which I consider to be a defining characteristic in the new language of virtual architecture.
This project is clearly of interest both architecturally and historically, but is also compelling from a graphic design perspective as well. The architecture is punctuated by very clear and iconic way finding graphics, as well as large alpha-texture quotes suspended in the sky. The quotes are placed in locations that create interesting juxtapositions and frame the architecture very nicely. Even the map is a graphic design masterpiece IMHO, reflecting the modern flavor of the architecture and exercising a great deal of restraint and simplicity.
The graphic design finesse doesn’t stop at the virtual build. A website augments the build, which I imagine will be highly effective in inviting ‘outsiders’ into Second Life. Seen HERE, the website stays true to the graphic language, and the ghosted 3D background image subtly encourages viewers to dive deeper into the experience.
This machinima was taken inside one of the EX.IT Holodecks:
Lucam Oh will be presenting the build to the Italian Institute of Architecture on November 26th at 8PM Rome time. The meeting will be open to the public and all are welcome to attend.
Visit Experience Italy HERE (SLurl).
Filed under: wikitecture
A new technology, a new intereface, and a new methodology for collaborative design in Second Life.
Theory Shaw (Ryan Schultz) and Keystone Bouchard (Jon Brouchoud). Technology developed in collaboration with i3Dnow. Music by DJ BLUE, via ccMixter.
Filed under: Uncategorized
If anyone had trouble copying the Reflexive Architecture scripts out of the wordpress post, please accept my apologies, and try these instead:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddqzdng9_32dwrgxj
Apparently WordPress has a different quotation system, or makes things bold - or some such trouble. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Filed under: Uncategorized
On June 30th, my avatar will turn 1 year old! What a year it has been! Within a few months of my first log-in, Second Life moved me from Wisconsin to Berkeley, drove me to leave a career in real-life architecture behind in pursuit of a virtual alternative, and remains the focus of the lion’s share of my daily activity on a professional level at Clear Ink. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Honestly, not a day goes by that I don’t recognize the fact that I have one of the coolest jobs on the planet, and I really do owe it all to Second Life.
When I started, there were a little over 400,000 registered users. Today there are over 7 million. So much has changed! If time permits, I hope to publish some memoires of my first year in Second Life later this week. Stay tuned!
