The technological innovation of 3D printing started with making desktop objects like a small bust of Abraham Lincoln or an architectural model. Today, 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, offers entire homes, even a neighborhood. How did all this start and where does it go?
In the good ol’ days of architecture, walls were straight, flat, and perpendicular. With the introduction of drafting triangles, we were excited to draw walls that were angled. But drawing a curve was tricky. Those French curve templates had limits. With today’s drafting and 3D technology, we can throw a curve ball at the past and explore simple bends, compound curves, organic forms of all shapes and sizes
In 2016, I authored an article, The Myth of the Prefab House, debunking the media hype of pre-fabricated houses. Today, I stand corrected and updated. With advancements in technology, manufacturing, and in particular, modular construction, my story continues. Poon Design’s latest endeavor—a modular, factory-built, 400-square-foot home designed for developer ReMo Homes—was recognized this past June at the Innovative Housing Showcase exhibition in Washington, D.C, in association with the National Association of Home Builders and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
I usually write about buildings, sometimes design, music, or life. But why not parks, as in the famed national parks of America? In a sense, parks are architectural, comprising journeys through space and time. Whether a house, school, temple, or even a park, visitors respond to their surroundings—a composition of light, proportions, materials, patterns, and textures. Here are thoughts on some national park visits, where the architect is not man or woman, but rather Mother Nature.
It makes me uneasy when architects replace physical models with computer renderings, replacing a centuries-old craft with software-driven images that pander more to marketing and promotion than exploration and abstract thinking.
Having wrapped up client meetings in New York City, I had some time to myself. With nothing on the agenda, no one to meet, not much in particular to do, I put on walking shoes to wander this island of Manhattan. In a day and a half, I visited 20 architectural works, walking 44,631 steps. Doing the math, that is nearly 20 miles.
