Hasta La Ideas

Oscar Niemeyer will be 104 this December, but he’s still apparently going plenty strong, with none of those back and forth trips to the hospital that so plagued him last year. Following his recent appearance in the soon-to-be-released Urbanized documentary, the opening of his new foundation, and hopefully still working on his new interest in songwriting, the AP reports that the legendary architect has just released a new book, launched this week in his home city of Rio de Janeiro. Details on who is publishing and if and when it will be released here in the US aren’t known, but the title is The Churches of Oscar Niemeyer and, as the title would suggest, it contains “photos and sketches of the churches and chapels he has designed over his long career.” While his 1943 Church of St. Francis in Pampulha, Brazil is arguably his most famous, you can see a number of images of his additional impressive, thoroughly modern work on churches over at ArcSpace. Whoever winds up publishing, we just hope it doesn’t cost $650 like his last did through Assouline. Though fortunately, they also put out a regular, $25 version as well.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If Simon Garfield‘s book Just My Type isn’t already on pre-order or included somewhere on your wish list, then it’s likely that you just hadn’t heard about it. The book, which tells the story of typefaces, typographers, fonts, and everywhere in between, was a fairly substantial hit in the UK (how many books about type can say that?), and as of September 1st, will be ported over into a US version, with a new forward by Chip Kidd. Our pals at Pentagram just released a book trailer for the US edition, directed by Naresh Ramchandani and Michael Bierut (the latter of whom also blurbed the book):

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Competition: we’ve teamed up with structural engineers Fluid Structures to offer Dezeen readers the chance to win one of ten copies of their book, entitled Adventures in Engineering.

Written by the company’s founder David Crookes, the 248-page book presents their experimental structures that range from staircases and bookshelves to houses, exhibitions and bridges in glass, steel, stone, aluminium and timber.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Fluid Structures” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers.

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Competition closes 13 September 2011. Ten winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

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Here are some more details from Fluid Structures:

This new book has been very well received by both the architectural and engineering communities. It deals with the position to be taken by a design engineer in the creative process and sets out the issues that will inform his/her contribution. The book examines various materials in terms of their creative potential.

Over 240 pages about designing in aluminum, glass, masonry, steel and timber. The book is also filled with technical information and details but is very suitable for use by architects and designers as it is more focused on buildability and details rather than analysis or complicated engineering.

“One of the new breed of design engineering companies that have emerged on the scene in the past few years, in the 12 years since its foundation in 1999 it is perhaps Fluid Structures that has made the biggest impression. Working with many of the UK’s leading architects and under the guiding hand of its founder David Crookes, the company has produced an impressive sequence of innovative structural solutions, characterised by a bold use of materials often used in new ways. Working from first principles and with an extensive knowledge of new systems and techniques, Fluid Structures has created structures in aluminum, glass, masonry, steel and timber, many of which are explored and explained here for the first time, each accompanied by a wry commentary on their genesis and production.”

In his introduction to ‘Adventures in Engineering’ Ken Shuttleworth (Founding partner of MAKE) writes;

“Fluid don’t see themselves as innovators but rather use a process of exploration and experimentation to generate ideas through the materials themselves. They believe this is the way forward, rather than offering off-the-wall suggestions without research. They are process-driven rather than solution-focused; they are fascinated by the journey rather than jumping straight to the end. They make the impossible seem easy, the difficult look refined and the finite seem infinite. This book is a testament to exploration and an inspiration to adventurers everywhere.”

In his review of ‘Adventures in Engineering’ for the Institution of Structural Engineers, Bob Wilson writes;

“You won’t find out about giant power-station jobs or similar constructions but you will find out about the skill, attention and patience needed to engineer bijoux projects. You may discover a most appealing sphere of structural engineering quite different from the rougher perception of regular work: one that could lure you into its lifestyle? Do read this book and keep it for further reference!”

The book addresses many contemporary forms encountered by architects and designers including staircases in steel, glass or aluminum, structural glass bookcases, innovative extensions, interventions in masonry, curved timber exhibition spaces and steel bridges.

It brings together the worlds of Architecture, Engineering and Design, highlighting a design process which is a synthesis of the different disciplines.

About the Author

David Crookes graduated as a structural engineer in 1984 and set up Fluid Structures in 1999. After graduating, he was employed in a variety of engineering offices in the UK and worked abroad in Europe and Africa for both architects and engineers. Between 1997 and 2007 he was involved in teaching at the University of Westminster, both at Degree and Diploma level in Architecture and he is currently a visiting fellow in Engineering at South Bank University. He also continues to teach in various schools of architecture. David has considerable experience in the design of contemporary structures and has worked with many of today’s cutting-edge designers and architects. He has pioneered the practice’s research and development agenda and has been instrumental in developing Fluid Structure’s in-house expertise regarding glass structures and lightweight forms.

Product details
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Watermark Publications (UK) Ltd; First edition (1 May 2011)
ISBN-10: 1873200722
ISBN-13: 978-1873200728
Product Dimensions: 23 x 21 x 2.2 cm

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The Truth About Sex (Die Wahreheit Über Sex), 2008, created for Neon Magazine

Berlin-based illustrator Sarah Illenberger‘s work invariably incorporate food, wool, vegetables, car tyres, and other everyday objects. In fact, it would seem that there’s no materials Illenberger won’t use in her work. However, looking through CR’s review copy of publisher Gestalten‘s new book of her work, it is her visualisation of various statistics, created for editorial and advertising commissions, that we wanted to share the most…

Above left: How often do you masturbate per month? Above right: How Would you describe your sexual orientation? Both of these illustrations were also created for Neon’s The Truth About Sex feature, 2008, as were the following sex-themed illustrations:

The above spread and below page show stats illustrated for Neon magazine’s Big Eco-Survey (Die Grosse Öko-Umfrage), 2007

Above: Bread Lines (Hartes Brot In Zeiten Von Harz IV), 2010 for Hinz & Kunzt magazine

Above: Ads from a campaign for PSC (Socialist’s Party of Catalonia), 2010

The above and below spreads show illustrated stats originally created for Neon magazine’s How Are We Doing – The Big Survey (Wie Geht Es Uns Denn So – Die Grosse Umfrage), 2005

Sarah Illenberger (Gestalten, £17.50) is a hardback, 128 page book dedicated to showcasing Illenberger’s work – it will be available to buy next month from shop.gestalten.com. Gestalten is also hosting a solo show of Illenberger’s artwork at it’s Berlin offices at Sphienstrasse 21 until September 11. For full details and opening times, visit gestalten.com/space

To see more of Illenberger’s work, check out her site at sarahillenberger.com

Visually harnessing the power of digital information in Manuel Lima’s new book

In our multimedia-saturated times, the way we experience information constantly shifts. Using Google to instantly settle a debate or Facebook-stalking exes are just a couple common examples of the type of purely contemporary phenomena resulting from the ways digital formats have replaced traditional platforms. Another natural offshoot, the wash of infographics and meme-driven charts, also reflects growing obsessions with these vast quantities of facts and figures, and the tremendous potential for shaping how we understand our world. Manuel Lima‘s new book, Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information, explores the history of visually representing information and how imagery can interpret data.

Born from his MFA thesis work at Parsons on mapping internal structures and transmission of links across the blogosphere, Lima returned to his passion for visually mapping networks and information during weekend downtime after graduating. Lima started the site Visual Complexity in the Summer of 2005, bringing his academic research back into play. What started with 80 projects, the curated collection (an attempt to increase understanding of network visualization) has grown to over 700. Some studies, from fields ranging from economics to neuroscience to political analysis, serve a dynamic purpose for portraying information, while others are passion projects for the curious seeking to explore the visual beauty of data sets.

The book, a platform for preserving these projects, offers a historical perspective on the evolution of our natural human instinct to visually organize information. These systems, setting up hierarchies of spirit, heritage and society (like the ancient ontologies the Tree of Life or Kaballah’s HaShem) have deep roots as methods for finding meaning while also incorporating our connections to one another.

Beyond the historical context, the book’s fantastic imagery of visualized information and data sets spans a range of subjects—from the interconnectedness of one person’s email network to a map of five million links across millions of IP addresses circa 2003. Each project dissects information in unique and at times extraordinarily intricate ways. Simple line connections explain a political campaign, while projects like intricate protein maps make bridges linking a dataset clear, giving a better understanding of complex relationships. Resulting images and ideas fascinatingly condense large amounts of information into manageable formats, suggesting great potential uses in economics, science and social research.

Lima goes into great detail to classify the different manifestations of how to map these networks. Addressing several theories on methodology and practices gives insight on how you personally can start to look at and process information with visual maps. These webs of knowledge at times enable readers to clearly understand vast quantities of information in aesthetically pleasing ways, though some simply astound, creating visual representations of unimaginably enormous amounts of data.

The author’s efforts extend beyond mere interpretations, crossing into artistic analysis. The transformation of data into graphics has a profound affect on the senses. Shapes, colors and patterns lend enchanting insight into individual curiosity and our inherent connectedness. Perusing the pages makes patterns become increasingly clear, exposing the purpose of this methodology—to find meaningful connections within complex networks of data. This goal goes back to this methodology’s origins, early in human history.

The Tree of Life appears in many forms throughout almost every culture and religion on the planet. As a metaphor, the tree, with its roots in the Earth and branches reaching to the heavens, was one of the original symbols for visually conveying interconnected information and meaning. Transforming into systems for mapping genealogy, social hierarchy and spiritual stages, at its core the discipline affirms our connected nature as humans to one another as well as to the planet. Original charts, like those in the book, combine data with intricate details to create something that engages on both intellectual and fundamentally imaginative levels.

Browsing the book, I became easily become immersed in what promises to be an integral part of our technological experience in the future. As these kind of data sets become increasingly important for tracking and understanding information—whether it’s Microsoft tracking search histories, cell phone carriers monitoring data usage or as artistic expressions of the structure of online social interaction—the ability to create and access comprehensive visualizations presents a novel method for digesting data. The historical section alone makes the book worth purchasing, while the exploration of the concepts and visually impressive layout will keep you engaged throughout. If you are the type who obsesses on Google Analytics or just feel the need to nerd out for a bit, pick up a copy on Amazon or from Princeton Architectural Press.