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NEWS - WEBSITE 3.0 IS COMING - 14JUN2010 |
source: Yahoo
Nicholas Fox Weber just came out with a new book on the pioneers of the Bauhaus Movement. The book studies the lives of 6 influential artist and architects including Kandinsky, Mies van de Rohe, and Walter Gropius. I am interested to see how he threads together their individual lives and the movement itself.
via: Core77
I love this in so many ways. Reminds me of Matta-Clark’s work in a more subtle and refined Swiss manifestation. Be sure to check out the Core77 article about how the illusion was created and a short background on Felice Varini’s work.
by Philip Bloom via laughingsquid
via: laughingsquid
via: Architectural Film Festival Rotterdam Blog
Looks like there is a new documentary out chronicling current developments in Jacobs’s cities of both New York City and Toronto called Urban Goddess. I did find a video linked to the project here but am wondering if anyone has seen a trailer or a website for this film?
Perhaps, the Willet’s Redevlopment Plan should take into consideration a better use for the sea of asphalt that surrounds the baseball stadium. Last I checked, land in the city wasn’t cheap, being “green” was cool, and the technology exist to place real estate above parking.
An interesting article on NPR on the future of Phoenix; a city who’s long been the poster-child of rampant unsustainable (economically and environmentally) sprawling developments that made the rust-belt look on in envy. Now that the masses of population, giddy to get in on the housing explosion and the manifest destiny of a single detached home (though here without a white picket fence but cactus landscapes) have moved to this arid desert land, and the lust riddled housing bubble has splattered across the globe. What does the future hold? Logically, a densifying of this rural/suburban fabric into a semblance of urban dynamism will take over.
This may not be the case. After reading this article, a very disturbing sense rang through in the last few paragraphs.
Lee McPheters, a research economist at Arizona State University, says he sees another growth phase starting in three to five years.
“Will that growth look a whole lot different from what we’ve seen before? I really don’t think so,” he says.
Even Gammage, the real estate developer, agrees.
“I don’t think anyone in Phoenix, even those of us who would like to see a more diversified economy — even those of us who have lived off real estate and don’t have a lot to do at the moment — think that the Phoenix phenomenon is done,” he says.
To compare Phoenix to a person, it’s a college freshmen recovering from a weekend of binge drinking. And it’s likely to head out again next weekend.
I can’t believe this sentiment still holds true and that people still believe or could want development like this to continue. It is like running with a pack of lemmings. But it begs the question, are we further allocating millions of people into unsustainable lands which can’t environmentally sustain them? Is it much different than New Orleans? Let’s build back in the flood plane versus building in the desert with Hoover Dam growing useless day-by-day because the Colorado River is running dry?
We are missing the opportunity that the economic crisis has brought in this groggy era of environmental awakening.
source: ArchNewspaper
The LATimes reported last week that the MTA voted to approve the Long Range Transportation Plan. The mayor hopes to start work on a Westside Extension and a Light Rail downtown. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been trying to put the plan on fast-track and hopes to have the Westside subway completed in the next 10 years.
The vastly successful and inspiring landscape architect, Lawrence Halprin passed away yesterday at the age of 93. A nice little piece written by SF Chronicle’s John King about his breadth of work can be read here.
Ghirardelli Square, SF
Market Street, SF
Sproul Plaza, Berkeley
