Azerbaijan's Amazing Transformation

WATCH ME!!! Azerbaijan's Amazing Transformation Video
Look at how these two buildings are constructed with old and new materials.  The buildings are situated in Baku which is the capital, largest city, and largest port of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, that projects into the Caspian Sea.

The two buidlings showed in this video are a building representing a flame and the other building with a concert hall next to the library.  Just watch the video to much info to write down, amazing finishes! 

The Flame towers - computer rendering

The Flame tower - in construction

Heydar Aliyev Centre- in construction

Heydar Aliyev Centre - in construction

Also look at the following website for photos:  http://www.zaha-hadid.com/cultural/heydar-aliyev-cultural-centre

Food for thought

The early bird might get the worm but the second gets the cheese...

Studio work progress

Exam is around the corner and it feels like my whole life is falling apart.  Where am i going get the time to complete the document, drawings and model.  I think I should employ an assistant...

Well here are some of my drawings.  You can comment anything, I can take it. 

Concrete cloth...

Concrete cloth is a flexible cement impregnated fabric that hardens on hydration.  It is used to make the building in bag or know as concrete canvas shelters.  This structure is inflated, then hydrated to harden the structure to form the building.  The structure is fire and weather proof.  THe best thing about the structure is that you can inflate it, wet down and solidified within 24 hours.

A pretty good invention to construct temporary shelters in disaster area, site offices or even a military base.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBHVKFCoYFc&feature=player_embedded

De-stress techniques...

Most you know that I belong to the Afrikaans Youth organization known as Die Voortrekkers.  Well today we went to the shooting range.  I was a bit sceptic about shooting but it was so much fun! 

We had a police officer assisting us with the pistol, R5 semi-automatic gun and a shot gun.  The pistol is the easiest as well as the shot gun but only with rubber bullets.  The other shot gun bullets have painfull recoil.  With pistol I had a grouping of a A4 page but I don't think came close to the target with the semi-automatic weapon.

Chatting with friends

Me with the R5 semi-automatic gun

Me with the shot gun loaded with rubber bullets

Me with the shot gun loeded with birdshot bullets, my shoulder stinged a lot...

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public...

Eco graffiti!

This is the work of Anna Garforth.  It is a totally organic way of putting your stamp on the wall.  Here is a recipe for it.  Seems like a lot of fun.

RECIPE
*Several clumps of moss
*1 pot of natural yoghurt or 12oz buttermilk (experiment to see which works best)
*1/2 teaspoon of sugar
*blender
*Plastic pot (with a lid)
*Paint brush
*Spray-mister

And then there is reverse graffiti, making picture by cleaing.  Graphic images are 'cleaned' onto the walls with steel brushes or a sand blaster.  An old technic for a new use.   

Green building technics

These days everyone is very conscious about how building material and buildings effect the enviroment and how we can lower our carbin footprint on earth.  There are several systems availible such as generating our own energy for our homes, recycling waste materials, re-using old fittings or building materials evolve to be more sustainable.

Most of the systems and construction materials we know of are newly developed or inproved.  Some of our oldest systems are forgetten as cob building.  Cob building was used in the 11th - 14th century and in 1994 cob building imerged agaain.  This building method is very primitive and traditional.

Cob consist of sand, clay, straw and water.  The sand and clay acts as the adhesive of the material and the straw is added for its tensile strenght.  It is relativily load bearing in small structures but you can increase the load bearing capacity by adding struts or columns.  This building materail is fireproof, inexspensive but very labor intensive.  This material can be used to create artistic forms such as curved walls, pizza ovens and sculptures. 

On our trip tp Knysna, a few weeks back, we visisted a house built with cob.  I can not remember the owners name but I will refer to her as Nina.  She reminds me of Nina from 'Fiela se kind'. Nina's house is built from natural materials.  Stone wall for the foundations, cob for the internal, external walls and floors and timber frame construction where the house is suspended.

The house is located in the George forest, close to Wilderness.

 Photo's of hte visist...






Pansgrouw cheking something...












 The ceiling is woven banana leave. 

'Nina' is next to the bakkie..

Front door

Front door from the foyer

Foyer leading to main bedroom, bathroom

In the lounge area

Behind: is the kitchen

North side of house

Under the deck - the solar geyser is located here as well as wood for fires

The view from the deck - the mountain in the background is the Jonkersberg in Goerge.

Service courtyard

The recycle bins fit the style of the house