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From Dave Budge's vimeo entry:
"The roof of the Vancouver BC Convention Centre is covered with over 2.5 hectares (6 acres) of native grassland. Usually closed to the public, we were able to get a tour and interview with the landscape architect of the project, Bruce Hemstock.
This is part 1 of the "Growing Cities" documentary series shot while traveling in the USA and Canada - June 2009. 2 person crew. Canon 5DmkII and Zoom H4n. Music is "Andvari" by Sigur Rós"
Recent Posts
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Livable Communities Resource Guide
:: Photo credit:PA Wallace Roberts & ToddThe ASLA has added a new entry to its on-going resource guide series. The new guide is on livable communities and is made up of lists of organizations, research, concepts and projects related to livable communities.
The guide is divided into six sections covering:
- Sustainable Land Use
- Place making
- Green Schools
- Sustainable Housing
- Sustainable Employment Growth
- Health, Safety, and Security
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Urban islands 2009
I have been following Urban Islands over on BLDGBLOG over the past few weeks. The author of BLDGBLOG, Geoff Manaugh, was a studio leader this year and he has been updating his blog throughout. This year's studio centered around Cockatoo Island in Sydney: In under one week, students had to come up with design ideas that would explore the "spatial possibilities of Cockatoo's abandoned landscapes".
Recently, Geoff has started detailing some of the work that resulted from his studio and I am incredibly impressed with what his students have produced. It has squarely pointed out how desperately unimaginative and uncreative I have been when presenting my own personal projects.
Two projects in particular caught my attention; the first one by Tristan Davison plays on the “missing” buildings of Cockatoo. As Geoff puts: "One of the most conspicuous features of the island is that most of its historic buildings are missing but for a grid of iron nails on the ground framing their interior." During the week long studio Tristan Davison produced an entire board game which had players re-assemble the missing buildings of Cockatoo: "Players progress by strategically accumulating Action Cards and Building Cards, with the game concluding atop the island's central sandstone plateau".
I am really impressed by the ingenuity and talent on show in the production of this game. I have already seen games being created and used during public consultation for example, but none of them come close to the quality of this one.
The second project is one by Mitchell Bonus. As Geoff describes: "Tongue firmly in cheek, Mitchell has called for Sydney's apparently much-needed second airport to be built out on Cockatoo in the form of a solar-powered zeppelin field".
The project was presented by creating a series of laminated trading cards that were inserted into packets of crisps, cigarettes and breakfast cereal: "Viewers of his presentation were handed a bag, some cigarettes, or a cereal box and, as they opened up their personal booty, they found not just an edible lunchtime snack but a well-produced act of architectural speculation".
The idea was that "if you want to see a new building or project take shape, then you have to stop relying on design competitions, architecture blogs, or industry publications to get the word out – that is, you need to find another way to convince the public that your design should exist, making its material realization seem more like an afterthought".
I have been amazed by the delivery of these two projects and coincidentally, after having read BLDGBLOG, I attended a lecture by the industrial designer Anthony Lloyd from Studioplus in Brisbane. The subject of his lecture was branding and one of the key principles he outlined for creating, launching or relaunching a brand was to get people talking about it, to "create conversations". Both these projects would have been excellent examples in how to successfully launch a brand or in this case an architectural project. Hats off.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Bees Knees
::Image via OmletI have a thing for bees. I have a sort of romantic vision about beekeeping, perhaps because there were always beehives in the forests near where I grew up and we could buy huge pots of honey from the local bakery.
Anyways, the decline of bee populations in general is a real tragedy. The European Food Safety Authority reports that in Italy alone, up to half of the bee population may have died in 2007. Bees are a vital part of many healthy ecosystems, as they are key pollinators of plants including many of our crops and vegetables.
It is crucial that in developing urban farming, we do not forget this vital contribution from bees and other insects. A new urban beehive called Beehaus could provide a great way of introducing bees into the urban context. By putting Beehaus on their roofs, city dwellers could collect up to 20kg of honey each year according to Natural England.
Last year I thought of including beehives in a park design I was working on, but it was discouraged because of the risk of people and children getting stung. Having these beehives on private roofs may be an answer to introducing bees into the urban context and helping maintain healthy bee populations.
Anyways, the decline of bee populations in general is a real tragedy. The European Food Safety Authority reports that in Italy alone, up to half of the bee population may have died in 2007. Bees are a vital part of many healthy ecosystems, as they are key pollinators of plants including many of our crops and vegetables.
It is crucial that in developing urban farming, we do not forget this vital contribution from bees and other insects. A new urban beehive called Beehaus could provide a great way of introducing bees into the urban context. By putting Beehaus on their roofs, city dwellers could collect up to 20kg of honey each year according to Natural England.
Last year I thought of including beehives in a park design I was working on, but it was discouraged because of the risk of people and children getting stung. Having these beehives on private roofs may be an answer to introducing bees into the urban context and helping maintain healthy bee populations.
Reburbia
The finalists of the Reburbia competition jointly held by Inhabitat and Dwell magazine were announced last week. The competition aimed at finding innovative ways of retrofitting suburbia and transforming the legacy of sprawl in a sustainable way. I have made a short list of some entries that particularly caught my attention:
Lots of entries looked at converting vacant big box stores into urban farming centers combining farming, retail and dining such as in this entry by Forrest Fulton:
Here, the cheap, flat, modular space networked into national and state highway systems that disused big box stores offer is used for the production of biofuels. Biofuel production would be produced by algae to the tune of over 100,000 gallons a year for the average big box store.
The entry currently winning the popular vote is an Urban Sprawl Repair Kit by Galina Tahchieva that consists of a series of simple infill techniques for retrofitting the 5 building prototypes that define Suburbia.
Pure by Craig England looks at transforming swimming pools into water treatment plants and integrates wastewater treatment, food production, power generation, and community infrastructure all-in-one! Utilizing the principles of constructed wetlands, Pure is able to service up to five homes per unit, puRE intakes all household wastewater and outputs clean, potable water for all to enjoy.
Unfortunately this proposal leaves no opportunity for using the swimming pool for bathing, however I am very intrigued about the possibility of combining the two.
The last project I wished to mention was the Regenerative Suburban Median by Brian Alessi. This entry ties in with something I heard during a recent lecture by the Brisbane landscape architect John Mongard. He pointed out that in many suburban areas, the only space available to be reclaimed for community use was asphalt. In the Regenerative Suburban Median, part of the street is reclaimed to create a median that treats gray water and sewage, produces agriculture, provides a platform for small scale commercial activity and slows down automobile traffic to promote increased pedestrian activity and social interaction within the neighborhood.