The best tall building of 2009

Here in Glasgow we're all becoming attuned to any mention of Steven Holl Architects following the practice's award of first prize (together with Scottish firm JM Architects) to design a new building for the Glasgow School of Art. Holl's 'Linked Hybrid' skyscraper in Beijing has been named by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as the 'Best Tall Building Overall' for 2009, and the story is covered online by the Chicago Tribune's architecture critic, Blair Kamin.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yeulcwm

Access: Free

Neighbourhood statistics

I've had a few enquiries recently about how to find population and other demographic statistics for very specific geographic areas of the UK. For Scotland, the 'Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics' website provides, for free, a wide range of small area statistics including information on health, education, poverty, unemployment, housing, population and population density, crime and social/community issues. A similar service, 'Neighbourhood Statistics', is offered via the website of the Official for National Statistics and covers the whole of the UK.
Link: http://www.sns.gov.uk/
Access: Free

Berlin Wall anniversary at the Goethe

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is being marked by a series of exhibitions and film showings at the Goethe Institut in Glasgow. These include an exhibition of photographs of buildings, streets and squares in East Germany taken in 1990 and again in 2000 from the same viewpoints. The anniversary itself on 9th November features all-day film screenings and special displays. It's also a good time to remind GSA students that they are automatically members of the Library at the Goethe!

Link: http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/gla/ges/mau/enindex.htm

Access: Free

Who'd want to be an architecture student?

Journalist and former architecture student Tom Dyckhoff reports from Freshers' Week at the Bartlett School of Architecture in this article from the 'Times Online'. His piece is followed by some interesting feedback from readers...

Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygzcqs3

Access: Free

Interview with David Chipperfield

To mark the opening of the exhibition 'David Chipperfield: form matters' at the Design Museum, BBC Radio 4's arts programme 'Front Row' has an interview with the architect about his background and work, the double-edged role of computer representations of buildings, and his reaction to being feted abroad more than at home in Britain.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n7nr2#synopsis

Access: Free

Homes for our old age

CABE has recently published 10 case studies of housing schemes for older people, each of which offers inventive design and management solutions linking home and social care. The publication, 'Homes for our old age', also provides useful contextual information about age, poverty, dementia and isolation, and highlights the key issues facing commissioners and designers. Glasgow's Croftspar scheme, with its seven supported houses for people with dementia, is one of the featured case studies.

Link: http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/homes-for-our-old-age.pdf
Access: Free

New mapping tool for Digimap

A new mapping tool, called Roam (Rapid Online Access to Maps) has been announced for Digimap's Ordnance Surey Collection. It is currently available as a beta facility, and while offering a similar range of datasets as Digimap's Classic facility, provides improved map locating tools, a wider variety of printed outputs, and enhanced performance. The intention is to run it alongside Classic until January 2010, when Classic will be withdrawn.

Link: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap

Access: Athens password required

Tenements explained

Consumer Focus Scotland has just published 'Common repair, common sense: a short guide to the management of tenements in Scotland', and made it freely available online. It's an interesting booklet setting out the latest legal position on owners' rights and responsibilities, particularly with regard to common elements of the property such as roofs and closes. As such, it provides some useful background to this very distinctive Scottish building type.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yd28wyn

Access: Free

Rogers on cities and buildings

Richard Rogers' 2008 Royal Society of Arts Bossom Lecture, 'Thoughts on the design of cities and buildings', can now be viewed in full (50 minutes in length) or downloaded from the web.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaxwyy3

Access: Free

The benefits of low carbon buildings

Post-occupancy building studies can be difficult to find, so new research from the Carbon Trust which focuses on three Scottish buildings is particularly welcome. It explores the impact of low carbon buildings on occupying organisations, using the examples of the corporate office of Scottish Natural Heritage in Inverness; Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority headquarters in Balloch; and the Central Scotland headquarters of building services engineers N G Bailey in Bellshill.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8peg4s

Access: Free

Online workshops from the RIBA

The RIBA and the Victoria & Albert Museum have joined forces to create six online workshops based on images and other material drawn from both institutions. Themes explored include 'Design in process: creating architecture from first sketch to publication'; 'Urban adventures: forming and reforming the city'; and 'Education in a modern world: British Modernism & school design 1930 - 1970'. Each workshop can be freely downloaded and is heavily illustrated.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/y876uqz

Access: Free

Viewing Scotland's historical landscapes

The National Library of Scotland has made the Ordnance Survey's collection of aerial photograph mosaics from 1945-1951 freely available online. These images provide a unique snapshot of postwar urban Scotland at a scale of six inches to the mile. All have been geo-referenced and are available with Google, Virtual Earth and OpenStreetMap backdrops.

Link: http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/air-photos/index.html

Access: Free

HSE books online

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) has begun making the full content of many of its priced publications freely available online via a new HSE Books website. Some of the content relates to the construction sector and the CDM regulations, notably the key document 'Managing heath and safety in construction'. All documents can be downloaded as pdfs.

Link: http://books.hse.gov.uk/hse/public/home.jsf

Access: Free

The Lighthouse - renewed?

The Lighthouse, Scotland's Glasgow-based Centre for Architecture and Design, has this week gone into administration, although it remains open as usual. A blog (no official connection to the Lighthouse) entitled 'The Lighthouse - renewed' has been set up, and is inviting constructive suggestions for its future.

Link: http://lighthouserenewed.ning.com/

Access: Free

Glasgow Doors Open Day 2009

This year's Doors Open 'Day', organised by the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, has become a five-day festival from 16-20 September celebrating the city's buildings, streets, parks and people. The festival's website is now up and running, and includes thematic listings of all the buildings, events and walks that make up the event. This year, more than 135 buildings are being freely opened up to visitors.

Link: http://www.glasgowdoorsopenday.com/

Access: Free, but advance booking required for some events and venues

Matt Frei on Berlin

Matt Frei, the former Southern Europe correspondent for the BBC, has penned an interesting article on Berlin's past and present architecture in his online 'Washington Diary'. In it, he reflects on the architectural legacy of the Nazis, the impact of Cold War competition on the built form of the city, and its post-Unification rebirth. Frei also mentions that he has been filming a documentary series on Berlin, which will be worth looking out for.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/qkfbwr

Access: Free

Progress on Glasgow's Riverside Museum

I popped down to Glasgow's Kelvinside yesterday evening to take a look at progress on the Zaha Hadid-designed Riverside Museum, which is due to open in 2011 and will display the city's Transport and Technology collections. The photographs below, taken in rather poor light, show that the striking structure with its pleated and curved aluminium sheeted roof, is steadily taking shape:

Enhancements to ICE Virtual Library

For the past two years, GSA staff and students have had access to selected e-journals published by the Institution of Civil Engineers, some of which date back to the 1830s. This fully searchable content has now been further expanded and relaunched, and includes the Institution's journals covering buildings, urban design and planning, bridges, sustainability, construction materials, and engineering history and heritage. Links to this content can also be found via the GSA Library catalogue.

Link: http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/

Access: Free, but available on GSA campus only

British Periodicals Online

GSA Library now has access to a new and rich resource which comprises the full text of more than 500 British periodicals from the 1680s to the 1930s. A wide range of different types of periodical is represented, including architectural classics such as 'Academy Architecture', 'British Architect', and the very early 'Architectural Magazine'. Links to the most useful titles in the arts have been created from the GSA library catalogue.

Link: http://britishperiodicals.chadwyck.co.uk/home.do

Access: Free, but only available on GSA campus

RIBA Library summer closure

A quick reminder to those doing architectural research during the summer that the British Architectural Library in London will be closed to personal visitors from mid-August until early September, although its Information Centre will continue to respond to phone, fax and email enquiries as normal. Full details of the various closures can be found at the web address below.

Link: http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Visit.aspx

The Green House

Architects Gaunt Francis have designed a fully sustainable home with the potential for mass production, and their 'Green House' has now been constructed on BRE's Innovation Park at Watford. Read more about the project and the technology that has been used in the short online publication 'Green House' by the National Centre for Excellence in Housing.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/kuujcm

Access: Free

Mapping Liverpool in film

'The City in Film' is an AHRC-funded project led by the University of Liverpool's Schools of Architecture and Politics & Communication Studies. It uses the example of Liverpool to map the relationship between filmic representations of urban space and the social, material and lived spaces within which they are embedded. It will use GIS technology to develop an interactive digital map of Liverpool in film, including newsreels, documentaries, and amateur and independent productions.

Link: http://www.liv.ac.uk/lsa/cityinfilm/intro.html

Access: Free

2009 Mackintosh School of Architecture dissertations

This year's undergraduate architectural dissertations have now been added to stock and are available for consultation. The Library holds copies of these dissertations back to the early 1970s, and the collection represents a tremendous resource covering an enormous range of subjects. Full details are on the library's online catalogue.

Link: http://library.gsa.ac.uk:6080/TalisPrism/doSearch.do

Access: Free

Digitised early printed books

The University Library of Heidelberg has become the latest institution to digitise some of its early printed architecture and landscape books, making them freely available online. Its international collection includes impressive engraving series and pattern books about landscape architecture and horticulture from the Renaissance till the early 19th century, together with rare architectural books from London-based publishers.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/nefvoe

Access: Free

Biomass heating guide

The Carbon Trust has recently produced technical guidance aimed at businesses and public sector organisations interested in implementing a biomass heating project. There is increasing recognition of the potential of small scale biomass using fuels such as woodchip, wood pellets or willow. The guide, which is available online, covers key issues such as sustainability and fuel supply, as well as going on to provide a detailed introduction to the technicalities of fuel and plant operation.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/ldv5cn
Access: Free, but initial registration required