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Housing is a process that evolves parallel to the changes in the social, economic and cultural conditions, whereas housing policies take long periods to be realised. What is more, the key players of the housing sector show great variety with respect to their points of view and approaches to housing. Housing consumers (users), housing producers (construction firms, engineers, architects), policy makers (central or local governments) each have different interests. A better understanding of the long run effects of housing policies and the influence of different interest groups in the implementation of these policies is necessary. The issue dealt in this paper concerns the underlying conditions that directed the housing policies which were implemented in Turkey after 1950's, the time when fast urbanisation started in the country. The paper analyses the policies that were developed in different periods and evaluates the housing systems that supplied different solutions of shelter.
Fulin BOLEN
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture Istanbul TURKEY
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As if finally discovering the central nervous system of a workspace, architects are busy making over a once-neglected office element: stairs.
No longer dank, utilitarian up-and-down passageways, stairs are moving to the center of attention as companies adapt their office environments to encourage chance meetings - and brainstorming - among employees.
Much like cafeterias and water coolers, "stairs have become an important communal space," said architect David Rockwell, of Rockwell Group, New York. "The stairs are a place for casual meetings, an extension of the door stoop. There is something aspirational about going up."
Also spurring the trend is a campaign among health officials to promote stair-climbing as a small, but meaningful way to increase physical activity. With obesity now the second-largest cause of death after smoking, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pushing people to climb more.
At the same time, the American Institute of Architects has begun to encourage its members to design stairs that invite regular use.
The result, increasingly, is stunning, point-of-focus staircases, many that seem to float in mid-air and are bathed in natural light. But unlike ceremonial stairs, meant more for admiring than traversing, these steps - fashioned from sturdy metal, glass and concrete - are designed for more practical use.
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The number of Spanish manufacturers that offer products that are of special interest to the architectural sector is increasing and the range of products is expanding rapidly - especially porcelain tile for use with façade systems.
Four Spanish companies exhibiting in the Tile of Spain booth at the AIA National Convention and Expo, June 10-12th, at McCormick Place in Chicago, were top manufacturers of porcelain tile for use with façade systems.
Since ancient times, ceramic tile has been used extensively on building façades either as a cladding material or as an architectural feature.
Today, thanks to new technologies stemming from Spain, ceramic tile features prominently as a high-tech cladding that provides exceptional performance and great aesthetic appeal - especially in lighted and ventilated façade systems. 'The benefits of ventilated facades are of many reasons, according to Bryn M. Cernuda, Director for Architectural Marketing at Division 9.
The system is called 'ventilated' because, when you look through it, 'you see that it creates a chamber between the surface and the tile', says Cernuda. According to Cernuda, one of the keys for success of ventilated façades in the USA, specially in the Chicago area, is the energy savings.'Sustainab le design is a huge thing in the US and these systems save as much as 35 percent of energy', he says.
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Bamboo is fast becoming a tree's new best friend.
Harder than oak and more stable than maple, bamboo is popping up everywhere in the home design world, in crushed bamboo furniture, throwaway plates and flooring. It has the added cachet of being environmentally friendly. A 60-foot-tall bamboo cut for market takes 59 days to replace while a 60-foot tree takes 60 years, according to the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan.
While bamboo has always been popular in urban Houston gardens to mitigate noise and add privacy, it's now being harvested for use by local artists and residents looking for a different decorative material.
Houstonian Jill Ross, who hauled off an impressive load from interior designer Kelly Gale Amen's garden, is planning to cut the canes lengthwise in half and use them to "paper" one wall of her half bath.
Read the full story;
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Paris 2012, the organisation leading Paris' bid to host the XXX Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012, launches a €29,000 international architecture competition on June 1st.
The competition is a joint initiative between Paris 2012 and the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, Paris's information, documentation and exhibition centre for urban design and architecture.
All architects from around the world are invited to submit designs for an Olympic landmark to be erected in Les Batignolles, the future site of the city centre Olympic Village should Paris win the race to host the 2012 Games.
Les Batignolles is currently a blighted 50-hectare area of the 17th arrondissement of North West Paris, largely untouched by planners and developers since the 1950s. Located between the two competition clusters and with accommodation for athletes from around the world, the Paris Olympic Village will feature a 10 hectare landscaped park. It will leave the French capital with a brand new district.
The Olympic landmark aims to mark the site and to symbolize its destiny. It is the emblem of the place and should have the meaning of an event. It should give the city a contemporary value. This belvedere is a place that creates views as well as viewpoints, a place to anticipate, imagine and create the future.
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