May – 2009 – mammoth // building nothing out of something

Monthly Archives: May 2009

May 31, 2009 – 2:21 pm

on finance

I found this project by Andrea Brennen, which Rob highlighted here, incredibly refreshing.  Considering the vital role money plays in Getting Stuff Built, discussion of financing and its repercussions is absurdly rare in critical discourse on architecture and urbanism.  This is problematic – it’s not as if designs are hatched in a capital vacuum, funding […]

By Stephen | Posted in architecture, finance, infrastructure, the-expanded-field, urbanism | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (11) | Permalink
May 29, 2009 – 12:34 pm

below the phreatic level

Pruned asks: “Has there ever been an ideas competition of any kind for Mexico City and its water crisis?”, in response to this post at the Guardian outlining that crisis.  While I’m not aware of a competition, the unrealized project that immediately comes to mind is Kalach and de Leon’s The City and the Lakes, […]

By rholmes | Posted in infrastructure, landscape-architecture, urbanism | Tagged , , , | Comments (4) | Permalink
May 28, 2009 – 9:41 pm

bonus freeway interchange info

More on freeway interchanges from James Fallows. [I accidentally deleted this post last night, losing robs comment and potentially any links to it folks might have saved – sorry.  I don’t suppose anyone knows how to recover posts foolishly deleted on the wordpress platform?]

By Stephen | Posted in asides, infrastructure, landscapes-in-search-of-an-architect, urbanism | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on bonus freeway interchange info | Permalink
May 27, 2009 – 9:30 am

field guides to highway interchanges

From the beginning of last week, A Field Guide to Freeway Interchanges (part one // part two) on Infrastructurist. Below, one of my favorite interchanges, the interbreeding of I-95, I-295, and I-395 over the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River in Baltimore.

By rholmes | Posted in asides, landscape, landscapes-in-search-of-an-architect, urbanism | Tagged , , | Comments (1) | Permalink
May 21, 2009 – 9:26 am

the ambiguity of seamelt and landrise

One of the trends which most observers of global warming warn us could have particularly dire consequences is the rise of sea levels. And not without reason. The recent evacuation of the Cateret islands, chronicled by Dan Box as the tale of the world’s first climate refugees (though perhaps most recent would be more appropriate, […]

By rholmes | Posted in geography, landscape | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2) | Permalink
May 20, 2009 – 1:18 pm

puns, endorsable and not

Everything about this project highlighted on Infranet Lab is great, except for the title (“Arctic-tecture”).  Enough with the “archi-” and “-tecture” titles.  On the other hand, both of the research projects that Arctic-tecture’s author, Andrea Brennan, was/is involved in at MIT pair good work with equally good names (both projects were published in Volume, in […]

By rholmes | Posted in asides, the-expanded-field | Tagged , | Comments (3) | Permalink
May 19, 2009 – 6:06 am

chart of the day

Total energy use in the United States traced from source, through use, to total waste vs utilization. via https://eed.llnl.gov/flow/02flow.php

By Stephen | Posted in asides | Tagged | Comments Off on chart of the day | Permalink
May 15, 2009 – 9:55 am

carless again

Another addendum: a dialogue at the New York Times asks various urbanists and authors, including Rybczynski and Hayden, “Is [going carless] a realistic goal in a culture like ours?”, as an extension of the article Stephen mentioned.

By rholmes | Posted in asides | Tagged , | Comments Off on carless again | Permalink
May 15, 2009 – 7:45 am

more on criticism and blogs

Additional responses to Abraham’s Blueprint screed: 1. Owen Hatherley at sit down man, you’re a bloody tragedy (who was named in said screed). 2. Infinite Thought gets at the heart of what is potentially the most valuable contribution of blogging (as a medium) to discourse: “Abrahams criticises Owen and Fantastic Journal for discussing Ford, as […]

By rholmes | Posted in meta | Tagged , | Comments (1) | Permalink
May 12, 2009 – 6:51 pm

a carfree suburbia

Carfree suburban living in Germany, as described in the New York Times.

By Stephen | Posted in asides | Tagged , , | Comments (1) | Permalink
May 12, 2009 – 4:02 pm

criticism and blogs

Tim Abrahams of Blueprint Magazine has popped off his twelve-gauge on architecture blogs, charging them with failing the project of architectural criticism through ‘nostalgia’ (that nasty bogeyman of progressivism), ‘consensus’, and disconnection from the ‘real world’.  Oddly, the first name he names is that of Things Magazine.  This is odd both (a) because Things is […]

By rholmes | Posted in meta | Tagged , | Comments (3) | Permalink
May 10, 2009 – 9:04 pm

49 utopias

I agree with all this. Big Bang Urbanism – what a great term.  Those ground up utopian visions are the lifted trucks of the architecture world – often technically proficient, yet generally ridiculous, public displays of ‘boldness’ or ‘vision’.  (Sadly, this isn’t a problem only suffered by select urban schemata, coughcalatravacough.) A couple of weeks ago, I […]

By Stephen | Posted in the-city-we-have, urbanism | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2) | Permalink
May 8, 2009 – 2:53 pm

insert and instigate

A couple exceptionally fresh projects slipped into the ASLA awards this year (which were just released yesterday), both by CMG Landscape Architecture of San Francisco: “Panhandle Bandshell”, a temporary structure, composed entirely of recycled materials, erected in cooperation with the design collective Rebar. “The Crack Garden”, which Pruned has an excellent post on, under construction. […]

By rholmes | Posted in landscape-architecture | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on insert and instigate | Permalink
May 7, 2009 – 11:54 am

zoned nimbus

Recent research ” demonstrates that local and regional patterns of land use change substantially altered cloud patterns” — “patches of trees behave as ‘green oceans’ while cleared pastures act like ‘continents’, creating regional (mesoscale) patterns in shallow (lower) cloud cover layers”. Cue BLDGBLOG to suggest a city built with the aim of controlling the cloud […]

By rholmes | Posted in asides | Tagged | Comments (4) | Permalink
May 7, 2009 – 11:36 am

light-based regional product

Shouldn’t Florida just say: “I ranked the world’s cities based on how bright they are from space”?

By rholmes | Posted in asides | Tagged | Comments Off on light-based regional product | Permalink
May 5, 2009 – 11:16 am

the city we have

In a recent feature on Archinect, Will Galloway of Front Office (they have a blog here) discusses the predilection of architects for the wholesale urban renovation (which, despite the prominence of theoretical frameworks that intend to offer alternatives, remains the dominant tendency of designers, even those working within frameworks — such as landscape urbanism — […]

By rholmes | Posted in infrastructure, the-city-we-have, urbanism | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6) | Permalink
May 2, 2009 – 8:35 am

fool me once…

Brutal takedown of the Berlin iteration in Libeskind’s Jewish Museum franchise.  A pressing concern of many young architects fresh from school looking for their first job is getting pigeon-holed into doing work they dislike like for the rest of their career due to early choices.  But, perhaps even more tragic is the architect who gets to do […]

By Stephen | Posted in asides | Tagged , , | Comments (2) | Permalink