February 2010 Archives

To all those who are planning to take the next scheduled Philippine Architecture Board Exam or the Licensure Examination for Architects (LEA) given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Professional Regulatory Board of Architecture (PRBoA), here are some review materials I've managed to consolidate.   Some of which I used when I was also reviewing for the same exam and some I've gathered from others who are also reviewing at this time.

Hope this helps out with your preparation.

Without further adieu, to all future Architects of the Philippines, here are the review materials.

If you would also like to share some of your reviewers and review materials, you can contact me through this site, or you could just drop a comment to this post.

Update (31 August 2010) - Visit ArkiQuest!  It is an Architectural Review Site offering questions and review materials to aid you in your studies.  Check it out now!

Update (31 March 2010) - Architecture Board Exam Reviewers Download Part 2

Architectural Visualization 3ds Max Tutorials #20: Modeling a Modern Furniture

Artist: Neoscape Studio

Posted in: Skymedias

When creating interior scenes, it is very important to have good, convincing furniture models. The way we look at the furniture and identify it as a believable piece is very subjective and has a lot to do with the relation of details such as stitches, rounded corners, piping, and a correct interpretation of how the different objects are put together. The objects can't simply go through each other. We have to think about issues such as whether they are welded, bolted, nailed, stitched, glued, etc. This will change the way we model and the amount of detail we will add. You will also find that the shape of the surfaces will give you visual tips of the material, not only the texture. The amount of curve to the fabric surface on an upholstered sofa tells us the amount of stiffness or softness. In this tutorial I'll cover some tips and techniques when modeling an organic, upholstered piece of furniture.

Architectural Visualization 3ds Max Tutorials #19: Homage to Sidonio Porto

Here's a very nice article of a 3d rendering done using Autocad for modeling and 3ds Max and Vray for the rendering part.  Marcelo Eder did a great job.

Artist: Marcelo Eder

Posted in: CGSociety

The idea behind the realization of this image has followed me since my college days, when I saw for the first time the work of the amazing Sidonio Porto, a renowned Brazilian architect. Unfortunately, it remained a mere dream...

click here to read more...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The world's tallest skyscraper has unexpectedly closed to the public a month after its lavish opening, disappointing tourists headed for the observation deck and casting doubt over plans to welcome its first permanent occupants in the coming weeks.

Electrical problems are at least partly to blame for the closure of the Burj Khalifa's viewing platform -- the only part of the half-mile high tower open yet. But a lack of information from the spire's owner left it unclear whether the rest of the largely empty building -- including dozens of elevators meant to whisk visitors to the tower's more than 160 floors -- was affected by the shutdown.

The indefinite closure, which began Sunday, comes as Dubai struggles to revive its international image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.

The Persian Gulf city-state had hoped the 2,717-foot (828-meter) Burj Khalifa would be a major tourist draw. Dubai has promoted itself by wowing visitors with over-the-top attractions such as the Burj, which juts like a silvery needle out of the desert and can be seen from miles around.

In recent weeks, thousands of tourists have lined up for the chance to buy tickets for viewing times often days in advance that cost more than $27 apiece. Now many of those would-be visitors, such as Wayne Boyes, a tourist from near Manchester, England, must get back in line for refunds.

"It's just very disappointing," said Boyes, 40, who showed up at the Burj's entrance Monday with a ticket for an afternoon time slot only to be told the viewing platform was closed. "The tower was one of my main reasons for coming here," he said.

The precise cause of the $1.5 billion Dubai skyscraper's temporary shutdown remained unclear.

This is a revised lyrics of the song "I Will Survive" rewritten to describe some of the funny moments an architect faces in his career that was shared to me by my good friend "small mike" in Facebook.  If you're an architect, you will definitely relate to the lyrics of this song.  If someone out there knows the author of the lyrics to this song, please do tell us so we can properly credit him for this.

Now, to the tune of "I Will Survive", let's all sing The Architect's Song!


This of course only shows the tip of the iceberg in the kinds of troubles an architect faces in his career, but this does show, in a very funny way, that architects are real survivors in their own right.

If you can't see the image above, see the text below for the lyrics.

The true to life image of the panther above is the incredible work of New Orleans artist, Craig Tracy.  Called "Butterfly", this painting is no ordinary painting.  If you'll look a little closer, you'll notice a shapely backside figure of a woman painted to blend in with the whole portrait of the panther.  An amazing body painting job done by Craig Tracy.

Using the human skin as his canvas, Craig Tracy creates works of art in his desire to somehow affect people's lives in a positive way.

Below you'll see some of his best works:

Mildred's Temple Kitchen, a restaurant in Canada, are inviting their customers to have sex in their bathroom this Valentine's Day. 

The Janus Chairs, one sculptural piece when seen together designed by Ryder Architecture, is installed in Kielder Water & Forest Park in Northumberland in North East England.

This video by Bonsajo on vimeo reminds me of me being an architect and how the title "vanishing point" relates to what I do in my profession.  Architects create perspectives or rendered images that represent his or her ideas and clearly show and relate them to other people through these images.  In the process of making these perspectives, manual perspectives for that matter, the "vanishing points" are mostly used to accurately plot the images to scale and proportion.

This video has nothing to do with the "vanishing point" being used for any architectural purpose but it is quite interesting to watch.

Vanishing Point from Bonsajo on Vimeo.

Softwares used on this video were Cinema 4d and After Effects

Architectural Visualization 3ds Max Tutorials #18: Creating Low-Poly Foliage

Artist: Osman Tsjardiwal

Posted in: 3dtotal

1. We are going to create this orchid thingy. So take a good look at it, because we need to store its form and colors into our brain.