Tidbits

Below are some things that landed in my inbox during my two-week break from this blog.


IAAC's 4th Advanced Architecture Contest, CITY-SENSE: Shaping our environment with real-time data.


Actuated Matter Workshop on Responsive Materials, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with with Loop Design.


Two weeks are left in the Institute for Urban Design's By the City/For the City competition.


"Musical impresario Pharrell Williams and architectural visionary Chad Oppenheim present contemporary treehouse concept to inspire future generations through architecture." More from the press release can be found at Arch Daily.


Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build by Peter Goodfellow


The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its America's 11 Most Endangered Places list, which includes the Greater Chaco Landscape (above; image source: left and right). One of my first posts on this blog, way back in 2004, was on Chaco Canyon.


If you'll be attending UIA2011 the 24th World Congress of Architecture in Tokyo, Japan in September, be sure to check out these Japan Architecture Tours.


The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts announced its 2011 Grants to Individuals, with over half-a-million bucks awarded to 69 grantees. Some familiar names can be found here.


Trimo Urban Crash winner: Wojciech Nowak and Martynika Bielawska from Poland.


Living in the Endless City launched at LSE in early June. The book is published by Phaidon and a review on this site is forthcoming.

Greatest Grid

An interesting competition I am ruminating on proposing for, The Greatest Grid - from the Architectural League of New York along with the Museum of the City of New York - seeks ideas related to the grid and to reflect on the role of the grid, now 200 years old, impacts and shapes New York, and how it has and will continue to shape the city.  Some background (and more on the site):  

"On the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan for New York, the foundational document that established the Manhattan street plan from Houston Street to 155th Street, the Architectural League invites architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and other design professionals to use the Manhattan street grid as a catalyst for thinking about the present and future of New York. For two centuries, the Manhattan street grid has demonstrated an astonishing flexibility to accommodate the architectural gestures and urban planning theories of successive generations of architects, urban designers, private developers, and city officials. Given its capacity for reinvention, how might the Manhattan grid continue to adapt and respond to the challenges and opportunities–both large and small–that New York faces now and into the future?"

Sort of open-ended, but the grid is such a powerful and contentious concept in both urban form (such as these studies on Planetizen here and here) and indeed the pattern of settlement for the western US.  While New York was not the first city to be 'gridded' it seems a fitting context for exploration of an idea - one that offers some interesting avenues for exploration beyond the Big Apple.  Coupled with some recent reading on Sanderson's work on Mannahatta Project - there could be some exciting potential overlaps/influences of the grid and nascent ecology of the island.

 :: image via Skyscraper Page

One of links on the competition site leads to the Wall Street Journal story on the birthday of the grid, with some collected maps worth checking out - my favorite is the sliced island by designer Nicholas Felton using the program Geocontext.

:: image via WSJ

Neoclassical Paneling

Rounding out the collection of rooms at the Getty is the Neoclassical style (possibly my favorite). Together, these styles make up the collection of decorative arts at the museum.

The highlight of the Neoclassical collections is a paneled room designed by the famous Parisian architect Claude-Nicholas Ledoux. Designed for the house of a wealthy plantation owner from Santo Domingo as a Parisian base, the paneling entered American hands after demolition of the Ledoux designed complex in the late 19th century.

You can clearly see the emphasis on ancient Greek and Roman design of the Neoclassical movement, born out of the rediscovery of ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum. This was a direct and contrary response to the fluidity of the previously popular Rococo style (again, you see this following the political climate of a populace fighting against their ancient aristocracy during the age of enlightenment).

The details in this room are simply amazing and I love all of the mirrored surfaces. Hopefully now you can see why I love the Getty so much, and not just for the gorgeous Richard Meier designed campus!

Today's archidose #506

Some catching up with the archidose flickr pool after my vacation.


[Glasgow Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Scotland by Zaha Hadid Architects, 2011 | Photograph by abbozzo]


[The Poetry Foundation in Chicago, Illinois by John Ronan Architects, 2011 | Photograph by g. hoffman]


[Pebble's Lounge of the Hyatt Regency in Duesseldorf, Germany by JSK Architects, 2010 | Photograph by Ken Lee 2010]


[Steinskulpturenmuseum in Bad Münster am Stein, Germany by Tadao Ando, 2010 | Photograph by Ken Lee 2010]


[Life Tunnel installation in Psycho Buildings exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, England by Atelier Bow-Wow, 2008 | Photograph by mr prudence]


[Bodega Antion in Elciego, Spain by J. Marino Pascual & Asociados, 2008 | Photograph by Wojtek Gurak]


[Marqués de Riscal Winery in Elciego, Spain by Gehry Partners, 2006 | Photograph by Wojtek Gurak]


[Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California by Daly Genik Architects, 2005 | Photograph by Arch/Land]


[Casa Poli in Coliumo, Chile by Pezo van Ellrichshausen Architects, 2005 | Photograph by D. Cork]


[Bodegas Ysios in Laguardia, Spain by Santiago Calatrava, 2004 | Photograph by Wojtek Gurak]

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

Baroque Interiors

Before the Rococo, there was the excessive and sometimes heavy baroque style, popular in the late 17th century and in France, associated with Louis XIV (whose bust appears in the overmantel above). The room seen here is another period room found at the Getty Museum.

Meant to impress, the style is excessively styled with every surface taken into consideration for ornament. Unlike the rococo which was meant to be fun by focussing on light and elegance, the baroque was meant to impress (much like Louis's political regime).

The inlaid ebony writing table above was actually in the inventory of Versailles in the king's mistresses' small palace, the Trianon de Porcelaine (Madame de Montespan). I'm in love with that Japaned box and gilded stand in the window!

Notice the parquet de Versailles flooring in the room, also alluding to the regime. This begs the question, if it isn't baroque, should one fix it? (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Early Rococo

You may remember the Rococo room I showed you from the Getty museum last week; also included in the museum's collections is a Regence room.

Called Regence (after the Regency of Louis XV, 1715-1723, as he was too young to immediately take the throne after the death of Louis XIV), the style moves away from the heavy baroque formalism which Louis XIV dictated at Versailles and into the less formal style found in upper class Parisian townhouses.

This was the birth of the French boiserie as we celebrate it today and you can see it here painted white with the crown and overmantel picked out in gilding. I love seeing the baby steps between formal design styles such as this and that they coincide with major political events fascinates my inner geek!

Home from home

During the interregnum following the manchester school of architecture's departure from its former home (an event forever to be known to history as 'The Defenestration of Chatham'), and before our temporary relocation to the John Dalton Shed MA A+U will be meeting in the new RIBA Hub on Portland Street Manchester. Come along and see what we are up to on 30 June, and the following Thursdays in July.

URBAN REALITY: Landscape Urbanism 3 Day Design Challenge

[note: the previous post for LU 72 HR Urban Action has evolved into the following, thus the update at the behest of the organizers]

URBAN REALITY: Landscape Urbanism 3 Day Design Challenge invites teams to design and construct a site in response to a brief in just three days. The challenge aims to bring together creative minds both nationally and internationally to compete in an action packed, hands on, game plan competition that responds to this years state of design festival theme design that moves. Melbourne's docklands will become the workshop, the camp, the dining room and the party venue for the teams for three entire days with winning teams being awarded with prize money and the pleasure of having a realised project in Melbourne's public realm.

There are a number of public events available throughout the duration of the 5 days.  A symposium will be held at BMW Edge on Tuesday 26 July. The opening ceremony will take place on Wednesday 27 July at the Docklands. The announcement of the winners will take place at the Docklands on Saturday 30 July.

Various commentary and guides will be occurring throughout the event.  More info @ www.urbanreality.org and via email @ urbanreality@outr.org

New Blogs

As I mentioned, there is a virtual explosion of blogs covering topics of landscape and urbanism... meaning my reading list at one point topped 150 sites.  As I steadily pared this down (right now I consistently read only 3 feeds along with some targeted google alerts), I found much more time to actual read books, articles, and other media - and better yet, found some room to reflect and respond to these texts in a meaningful way.  The digital realm can become an overwhelming torrent of information, which is a full-time job to stay on top of sifting through and staying current - and there are some great sites out there doing just that.

I plan on cleaning up my sidebar links in coming weeks (and give my picks for the top ten blogs you should subscribe to), but wanted to mention a couple of new (to me at least!) ones that I heard about in the last week that you should check out.  Any others out there please let me know...

::  Resilient Urbanisms
::  Praxis in Landscape Architecture 
::  Birbaum Blogs (the always great Charles Birnbaum blogs on the TCLF website)


Coming this summer as well is the launch of landscape urbanism (dot) com - which aims to be "a space for interactive dialogue about landscape urbanism and what it means to design landscapes and urban spaces today. The creation of this site stems from a diverse team of designers, academics, professionals and thinkers around the globe."  In the spirit of dialogue and understanding, this critical forum will be very welcome in providing a multi-faceted perspective on what has become a hot topic of late.

Introducing Landscape+Urbanism V2.0

Some significant life and professional changes in the past year has moved me away from the day to day updates to blog.  The outlet for me has always been personal, the breadth of content has been somewhat vast, owing to my generalist tendencies.  This suited me well and I spent a good amount of time reading other blogs and reflecting on what was out there.  At the time, the landscape architecture blogs were few and far between - and was a surprising joy to find others who enjoyed my schizophrenic ramblings (often in the late hours of the night!).  So i went back to the beginning and found this quote:

"My interest in landscape urbanism as a specific topic has been relatively recent, but upon discussion and further investigation, i realized that many ideas that i have been interested in over the years have threads in common with landscape urbanist theory, and really struck me as a vital theoretical outlet. My interests in general are diverse, so my guess is that the content will wander, but a concept like landscape urbanism seems to have enough breadth to accomodate a perpetual generalist."  (L+U, 11/26/07)

Sounds about right, but it definitely reminded me of the origins of the blog - which has always been to link practice to theory.  In subsequent years, I started my own firm, TERRA.fluxus, which has been a great experience.  I've also begun my Ph.D. program at Portland State University in Urban Studies, so it has all come full circle as my two major paths are the professional and the theoretical.  The amount of work in both these endeavors is immense, but also incredibly rewarding and continues to be every day.

So with the original idea in mind, I thought it time to rethink the focus of this blog... certain parts of me thought it had run its course but another side of me didn't want to see it die.  So I chose for it to evolve, much in the vein of my path, with more of a focus on the connections of landscape and urbanism, but with more of a original take on the subject that furthers my exploration in work and school.  The content will be less ephemeral but hopefully more thought provoking - and infinitely more interesting to me to share.  So, we shall see how it goes.

A new coat of paint, and a renewed (albeit somewhat different) approach to the blog - and I look forward to hearing comments.  And more changes to come.

Cabinet of Curiosities

I hope everyone enjoys their first weekend of summer! Nothing says summer more to me than seashells from the beach. Why not display them in a gorgeous antique cabinet, such as this one from the Getty Museum in LA; what could be better?!

The charming Chateau Marmont

While in LA, friends stayed in a bungalow at the famous Chateau Marmont and we spent a lazy afternoon lounging at the pool. I just had to share it with you!

Nestled into the Hollywood Hills above Sunset Boulevard, the hotel offers extreme privacy and actually feels more 'east coast' then Hollywood.

Right under the disturbing billboard James Franco put up in honor of Brad Renfro (seen above) is the pool where we had bottles of rose and fresh cherries delivered while dangling our feet into the near bathwater temperature water; heaven.

Built in 1929, the hotel feels like a relic stuck in time, in the best way possible. I loved this patio furniture.

The bungalows are behind the pool along a series of heavily planted pathways with charming surprises around each corner like this little water feature.

The doors have arched sidelights and beautiful stained glass which look to be inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. The front door leads directly into a casually furnished living room .

The design throughout speaks of the arts and crafts movement and every little detail could be original to the hotel's building.Each bungalow has a small kitchen that I imagine myself spending most of my time.

Love the high painted wood wainscoting and wallpaper.

No dishwasher here - we're back in time afterall! I'm not sure I'd want to cook a full meal on this vintage stove, but it's a charming place to warm up water for tea or leftovers. My grandparents had a similar stove and refrigerator in their basement that were original to their house and I always just loved the look of them.If you ever find yourself in LA, I highly recommend a stay at the Chateau! For more pictures and information -visit the post by HabituallyChic from last year HERE.

Calling All Agents

Here are some opportunities for writers, designers, and filmmakers, in case you're looking for ways to challenge yourself over the summer.

[Image: "Angels" (2006) by Ruairi Glynn, one of the co-organizers of Stories of Change].

1) Arup Foresight and the Bartlett School of Architecture have teamed up to gather what they call "responses to some of the world’s most pressing issues as featured in the publication, Drivers of Change. We would like you to tell us your Stories of Change." Original films, texts, and architectural designs are all eligible and welcome; the texts could even "be a poem, a letter, a blog-post, even a currated collection of tweets." Which is good news, but the deadline is approaching quickly: Friday, 24 June 2011. See the Stories of Change website for more.

2) For its new call for papers, the Bauhaus-Universität's Horizonte journal begins by quoting architect Raimund Abraham: "From earliest times," Abraham writes, "architecture has complied with that order of logical forms which is contained in the nature of each material. That is to say: each material can only be used within the limits imposed by its organic and technical possibilities." This fourth issue of the consistently well-designed journal explores the materiality of building: the issue thus "challenges the constraints and possibilities of architectural production, in order to reflect on the material and constructive methodologies of the present day." I imagine essays and even speculative fiction covering everything from genetically engineered building materials to 3D printers—to new types of brick to artisanal craftwork—would be of interest. Your deadline is 8 July 2011.

3) The Architectural League wants to give New York the Greatest Grid:

On the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan for New York, the foundational document that established the Manhattan street plan from Houston Street to 155th Street, the Architectural League invites architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and other design professionals to use the Manhattan street grid as a catalyst for thinking about the present and future of New York. For two centuries, the Manhattan street grid has demonstrated an astonishing flexibility to accommodate the architectural gestures and urban planning theories of successive generations of architects, urban designers, private developers, and city officials. Given its capacity for reinvention, how might the Manhattan grid continue to adapt and respond to the challenges and opportunities—both large and small—that New York faces now and into the future?

Your deadline is 26 September 2011; see the competition website for much more information.

4) A new Advanced Architecture Contest has been announced, sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Architecture and Hewlett Packard. The theme this year is "CITY-SENSE: Shaping our environment with real-time data." Aim to submit "a proposal capable of responding to emerging challenges in areas such as ecology, information technology, architecture, and urban planning, with the purpose of balancing the impact real-time data collection might have on sensor-driven cities." Read more at the Advanced Architecture Contest website; the deadline is 26 September 2011.

5) The California Architectural Foundation, in partnership with the Arid Lands Institute and the Academy for Emerging Professionals, has launched what it calls "an open ideas competition for retrofitting the American West." The Drylands Competition seeks new ways of "anticipating, mitigating, and adapting to projected impacts of climate change" and other "critical challenges" facing the region. These challenges include water scarcity, obsolete infrastructure, and even the growing gap between scientific knowledge and public policy. "Design teams are invited to generate progressive proposals that suggest to policy makers and the public creative alternatives for the American west, ideas that may be replicated throughout the world." Register by 15 November 2011; see their website for much more info.

6) Meanwhile, across the pond, the Architects Journal is seeking essays of up to 1,500 words, by writers under the age of 35, for their £1,000 AJ Writing Prize (the money will be split amongst all winners). The jury consists of Christine Murray, Alan Berman, Joseph Rykwert, and Mary Banham; you only have until 30 June 2011 to participate, so get cracking.

7) Finally, this one doesn't open till September 2011, but it sounds fascinating. Sponsored by Architecture for Humanity, [un]restricted access is "a design competition that will re-envision the future of decommissioned military space. This is an open invite to the global design and construction community to identify retired military installations in their own backyard, to collaborate with local stakeholders, and to reclaim these spaces for social, economic, and environmental good." As I say, thought, it doesn't launch until September, but keep your eyes on the [un]restricted access website for emerging info.