.blog

TEASERS

John Becker — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:23:40 +0000

For roughly the past year or so I have been working on a number of projects. Most of which are finished, nearing completion, or relatively far along. Just thought I would give a quick teaser of things to come as well as a few links to some recent projects by friends worth taking a look at.

These teasers may leave a lot to the imagination, but are just samples of images to come. New project posts are not far off.

As promised, a few friend's recent work worth checking out:

SubSeries Created by Nico Weiss and Elizabeth Lasater with contributions by countless others.

53 Questions, 265 Answers By Luca Farinelli

- Stan Allen

- Robert A. M. Stern

Co Adaptive Bobby Johnston and Ruth Mandl

Not to be confused with:

CO Architecture + Design Naomi Ocko and Christina Ciardullo

FRAC COMPLETED

John Becker — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:21:56 +0000

The project that I devoted most of my energy towards while at TheVeryMany, taking from beginning to end of the design phase has completed construction. The results speak for themselves and the project is beautiful. Congratulations Mark and the Team at TheVeryMany as well as Brad Brinton at Plastik Banana for all the fabrication work.

As few of the stats provided by Mark:

.Dimensions: 30'X18'X15'

.Surface Area: 269,991 square inches (1,875 square feet)
.Stripes: 6,367 (CNC cut)
.White Aluminum Rivets: 75,000
.4'X8' Sheets of Aluminum: 145 (2/2.5 hours machining each)
.Modules Pre-assembled: 40
.Weeks Pre-assembly: 4

For more Details see the full rundown at theverymany.com

FRAC & POMPIDOU

John Becker — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:34:15 +0000

Recently two of the projects in the office while I was at theverymany have taken some big leaps forward. The Pompidou project has been constructed and is now open to visitors, and the Frac is presently being milled. The Pompidou looks great and I can't wait to see the Frac realized. Below are some updates of both projects, for more head over to theverymany.

.FRAC 01

.FRAC 02

.POMPIDOU 01

.POMPIDOU 02

.POMPIDOU 03

Hypothetical Gallery

John Becker — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:15:43 +0000

This week the Hypothetical Development Organization opened their exhibit in New Orleans at the Du Mois Gallery. The Exhibit will be up from April 7th till May 7th, if you are in the area head on over and check it out. There have been some great comments posted on a number of design blogs so I will leave the comprehensive discussion to those who do it best. If you can't see the exhibit in person head over to the hypothetical development website or one of the below listed websites for an outside perspective.

BLDGBLOG

Wooster Collective

Core77

Hypothetical Development

John Becker — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:41:01 +0000

The Hypothetical Development Organization, founded in 2010, is dedicated to the recognition and extension of a new form of urban storytelling." Set in New Orleans the project takes existing derelict sites, and allows designers, artists, architects and the like to envision a new future for these spaces. The projects will be presented as 'development' billboards posted on the sites. It could be a great opportunity to inspire a new vision for neighborhoods looking for a fresh start.

Taking a playful approach, I envisioned an abandoned aquatic center as a deployable 'snooze' tower. The building is intended as sanctuary of sleep, where nothing is more important than a well rested customer. With an esthetic caught between that of 60's futurists and the remains of a traveling carnival; the snooze tower is not about practicality or necessity but rather intended to expose a whole spectrum of new building types ready to inspire a new way of living.

Wonder over to hypotheticaldevelopement.com to see more, and make sure to check back often as more projects will continue to be uploaded. The project is overseen by Rob Walker, Ellen Susan, and G.K. Darby.

New in Retail

John Becker — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:31:17 +0000

A quick update on a pop-up store in progress, and discussion of display ideas. This pop-up store planned for New York City (opening date TBD) uses the clothing racks as a way to introduce dynamic lighting. As clothing is shuffled about on the racks the hangers change the lighting of the space. Below is a concept sketch of the wall display and counter. Also here are a few images of the hangers, which are being presently being reworked a bit. More updates to come soon, this project is moving along quickly and a site has already been selected.

Concept Elevation

Pants Hanger

Previous post on hangers:

Pop-Up Store

Hanger 2

Death of a Sukkah

John Becker — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:48:29 +0000

As many of you may know theverymany's entry into Sukkah City never made it (in one piece) to union square. The Sukkah was loaded on the back of a flat bed truck fully completed with the exception of a top piece which would later be added on site. We knew we were taking a risk constructing it off site and transporting it to union square, however we would not have had the required time necessary to build it on site. While crossing the Manhattan Bridge the structure gave way, collapsing on itself due to both wind, and the manor in which it was strapped down. When we arrived on site and surveyed the damage and attempted to resurrect it with no success. After coming to the conclusion it could not be saved it was removed around 3 am on sunday. Marc Fornes has also posted a record of the event. The materials was a 3 ply veneer roughly 1/16th an inch thick, held together with aluminum rivets. We knew that we were taking a few risks with the material, new script and open transportation however moved forward considering all the risks involved in the spirit of innovation.

For more on the project visit:

http://theverymany.com/

The Sukkah during construction.

Sukkah minus the top in the Gowanus Studio space.

The last time the Sukkah was seen in one piece.

Images by: Marc Fornes of theverymany LLC

I am presently putting together a collection of as many images of the project as possible.

Sukkah City Constructed

John Becker — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:32:14 +0000

If you have not had the chance to get to Union Square to see 'Sukkah City' you should make your way there tonight. All the projects turned out great and congratulations to all the teams. It is hard to remember an open competition that received so much press. I look forward to seeing the who the city elects as the winner. As soon as I can gather the images I will post images of theverymany's piece for Sukkah City as it never made it to installation. A full story will accompany the forth-coming photos.

Sukkah City website

http://www.sukkahcity.com/

Other Coverage of the Competition

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/arts/design/17sukkah.html

http://www.core77.com/blog/events/sukkah_city_arrives_in_union_square_17377.asp

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/2010/09/100915sukkah_city.asp

http://www.dwell.com/articles/sukkah-city.html

http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20100920/a-sunday-in-sukkah-city

XNOT and FORNES (Sukkah City 3.0)

John Becker — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:12:48 +0000

Today I returned home from a long day of constructing the Sukkah for theverymany's winning entry for the Sukkah City competition to find that the competition's website posted all the entry's and all remaining unseen projects. To my surprise I also noticed that BLDGBlOG also posted an entry about the competition, including XNOT's entry. As soon as I have a free moment I will post the entire entry, as well as photos of all the completed Sukkah structures.

Below is a link to BLDGBLOG & the Sukkah City website (XNOT entry)

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/sukkah-city-approaches.html

http://www.sukkahcity.com/sukkah/sukknot.php

Sukkah City Update

John Becker — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:27:11 +0000

The list has been out for a few weeks and I would just like to say congratulations to all the winners of Sukkah City. For those of you that haven't seen the list of winner yet:

Dale Suttle, So Sugita, and Ginna Nguyen - New York, NY
Gathering

Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan - Long Island City, NY
Fractured Bubble

Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello - Oakland, CA
Sukkah of the Signs

Kyle May and Scott Abrahams - New York, NY
LOG

Peter Sagar - United Kingdom
Time/Timeless

tinder, tinker - Sagle, ID
Shim Sukkah

Matthias Karch - Berlin, Germany
Repetition meets Difference | Stability meets Volatileness

Matter Practice - Brooklyn, NY
Single Thread

Volkan Alkanoglu - Los Angeles, CA
Star Cocoon

Bittertang - Brooklyn, NY
Bio Puff

SO-IL - Brooklyn, NY
In Tension

THEVERYMANY - Brooklyn, NY
P.YGROS.C / passive hygroscopic curls

I look forward to seeing all the winning entries, and was both surprised and excited to see so many local firms make the final cut. Although I was not involved in the concept design and have only done a minimal amount of work on the entry by Marc Fornes of THEVERYMANY I came on board just in time to gear up for its construction. Things are in their final stage now, and I think that the end result will be well received. To my knowledge only two projects have been unveiled so far, the first...

Gathering, by Dale Suttle, So Sugita, and Ginna Nguyen - New York, NY

The Second being Marc's entry pictured below...

Marc Fornes of THEVERYMANY LLC New York, NY

(If anyone is interested in helping construct the project for THEVERYMANY we are looking for extra hands, please contact me for me info)

.XNOT

XNOT was a collaboration between Morgan Reynolds, Ravi Raj and myself with the of exploring both the historical, conceptual, and physical constructs of the Sukkah as a temporary for of architecture. We will be retouching a few of the drawings before I post them, but until then here is a sample image.

XNOT by Ravi Raj, Morgan Reynolds & John Becker

Full write-up and images on their way.