#experimental architecture

[matthewschiavello]

Melb, #13. July 2023. . Polaroid Microwaved as developing. Then soaked in Alcohol and gouache.

[almstrangis]

Chatarra arquitectònica 2025

A.L.Moure Strangis

[arc-hus]

House of Concrete Experiments, Alibag, India - Samira Rathod Design Atelier

https://www.srda.co/

[not-available-for-comment]

Kirsten Dirksen’s YouTube channel is a bit difficult for me to introduce. She travels around the world with her family producing mini-documentaries on individuals and communities that are working on living simply or sustainably. There’s tiny house videos, #vanlife videos, experimental community videos, I just checked her channel today and there’s a video on a guy who’s watering his garden with robotics apparently.

She has a very nonjudgmental style of interviewing and profiling her subjects. On the one hand this means her channel is a truly fascinating and valuable document of people who have chosen, or fallen into, or both, a way of life that falls into the margins of society, whether they’re a former couch surfer with a modded van or an architecture student with a very elegant container house. On the other hand, it leads to a very uncritical approach to the various lifestyles and sustainability approaches on display, some of which are not scalable, not long-term sustainable, not inclusive, etc. Her videos are not a good sole source of information on these topics, but they are often a fascinating introduction.

Two of my favorite videos of hers involve visits to experimental architecture communities. Earthships, which some of you may have heard of, are a style of sustainable architecture made from recycled materials and rammed earth, and incorporating a greenhouse along one wall for passive solar heat and greywater purification. They tend to work best in desert environments, which is unsurprising as they were developed by a small community of experimental academics in Arizona. (I swear it was Arizona but I see the community itself is in New Mexico.) Kirsten visits someone who has helped build and refine them and lives in the original community in the New Mexico desert. I love the sense of play that comes through in experimenting with recycled materials, and also getting to see what a lived-in earthship really looks like. (40 minutes)

In a different experimental direction, Paolo Soleri is an architecture professor who developed a specific way of casting concrete. He started Arcosanti, an experimental community dedicated to a walkable, human-oriented, community-oriented urban design. It’s not a completely successful experiment—the city is slowly being built by volunteers but is usually not fully populated. I’m not sure if the food forest is still operating. The city design may be walkable but if you have a wheelchair you’re shit out of luck, and crutches would probably only be marginally better. Soleri has passed on, and been accused of being abusive by his daughter. I sometimes get slightly cult-y vibes from Arcosanti as opposed to the earthship community with it’s more egalitarian sense of experimentation. I think the community is at a turning point and may not last much longer.

So why am I showing you this video? It’s a goddamn beautiful little city design. He thought about so much and made so many really nice decisions, and I love the look of the raw concrete slabs made by Soleri’s casting methods. It’s a beautiful thought experiment, even if it may not end up panning out. I’d love to see it used as a starting point for solarpunk city design. (31 minutes)

Starting a thread of mini documentaries with talking, as a companion to the ambient sounds one.

Here, the Getty Museum profiles the Gobelins Manufactory, a very old tapestry weaving studio. 9 minutes.

[londonadayatatime]

Mostly Old But Some New? April 2024

[dirkomrade]

gift for a friend.. visual experimentation, oh how i love blurring my art.. more people should add a slight blur to their art, i feel. its a fun tool of experimentation thats often overlooked.. i wanted to make moyta (the dog) fit into his environment, and i love soviet architecture. so you know i had to take that chance

i have 10 tumblr followers i am officially a niche internet celebrity wow when is the beware gonna drop

[phoebewilkinson]

Phoebe Wilkinson, Panes, 2024

[rafamonzo]

R. Tanaka - From the series "From Nowhere"

http://rafamonzo.tumblr.com   / http://tanaka-clan.tumblr

[ivo3d]

'hairycotta' a.k.a. architecture as a music instrument (deleted scene)

[less-ismore]

William Raban, Sundial (film still), 1993.

[almstrangis]

Torres màquina y puente 2025

A.L.Moure Strangis

[arc-hus]

Solo House, Cretas, Spain - Pezo von Ellrichshausen

[docileeffects]

[ai-arts-gallery]

We fly further into the future…

[londonadayatatime]

Painter, Decorator, Contractor, II, April 2024

[friedrichstumpfiworld]

"Sunken Castle Rohhypnolo"