public-space – mammoth // building nothing out of something

Tag Archives: public-space

the maracanã as public space

Nate Berg has a nice article in the New York Times on how Brazil’s Maracanã — the massive stadium built for the 1950 World Cup, where some two hundred thousand spectators watched the final between Brazil and Uruguay — has traditionally served as an important public space (“a rare type of space in Rio where […]

winter hiatus (polar night)

[Fantastic Norway‘s 2005 installation “Polar Night”, built in the Arctic town of Bodø.  A total of 40 daylight lamps — bulbs of the sort which are designed to simulate natural sunlight and used in therapy — were attached to fiberglass panels, lighting a public square during the polar night, and producing an event which attracted […]

glass house conversations

This week’s Glass House Conversation may be of particular interest to mammoth readers.  Deborah Marton, of the Design Trust for Public Space, asks: Everyone agrees that public space is important, but why? We know that quality public space is the bellwether of a healthy society. Strong communities supported by well-conceived public spaces are better positioned […]

absent rivers, ephemeral parks

[American Falls de-watered, via Flickr user rbglasson] For six months in the summer and fall of 1969, Niagara’s American Falls were “de-watered”, as the Army Corps of Engineers conducted a geological survey of the falls’ rock face, concerned that it was becoming destabilized by erosion.  During the interim study period, the dried riverbed and shale […]