She explains "Our role then, in Shenzhen, wasn’t to play cultural ambassador or artistic exposition-ers, but to effectively perform the moods of Los Angeles from a distance, through whatever interpretative media each individual deemed to be most fit"...
Amelia published What is the Los Angeles Biennale of Architecture / Urbanism? She explains "Our role then, in Shenzhen, wasn’t to play cultural ambassador or artistic exposition-ers, but to effectively perform the moods of Los Angeles from a distance, through whatever interpretative media each... View full entry
Many U.S. cities are seeing an increase in bicycle commuters, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. Nationwide, the number of people who traveled to work by bike increased roughly 60 percent over the last decade, from about 488,000 in 2000 to about 786,000 during the 2008-2012 period. This is the largest percentage increase of all commuting modes tracked by the 2000 Census and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey. — census.gov
If you're feeling wonky, you can read the full U.S. Census Bureau report here. It's the Census Bureau's first report to focus entirely on biking and walking to work, with statistics since 1990.You can also explore commuting statistics for every U.S. neighborhood in the Bureau's Census Explorer, an... View full entry
As a profit making company, albeit with a sense of stewardship, our research
on resilience is commercially motivated. Our approach helps us to create
portfolios of real estate assets which are resilient and operate in emerging
markets fully cognisant of the risks.
— Grosvenor
To quote Bruce Sterling "*British real estate firm tries to figure out where the investors’ money will be safe. Results are not encouraging". View full entry
A special construction material keeps concrete whiter than white. — CNN
The first application was on Richard Meier's Jubilee Church in Rome. View full entry
The latest edition of Showcase features the Fall House on Big Sur’s south coast, designed by Fougeron Architecture. SeriousQuestion felt it was a "Spectacular project-- there's obviously a lot more glass here, but there are nice nods at Lautner and Sea Ranch. Makes me miss California. I... View full entry
Among the most pressing issues facing New York’s new mayor is how his administration will pick up the mantle of the ambitious agenda established by Michael Bloomberg. How will the de Blasio administration address climate change and increase the resilience of those areas of the city most severely impacted by Superstorm Sandy? [...] The Rockaway peninsula, in particular, has been a veritable laboratory for designers exploring the implications of “resilience.” — urbanomnibus.net
That's because, as the economists Richard Koo and Masaya Sasaki show in a report, 15 years after being built the average house is worth nothing. [...] "It's not environmentally sustainable but also not financially sustainable. People work very hard to pay off a mortgage that's ultimately worth zero."
[...] It has also produced a huge number of architects, who are kept busy by buyers wanting a new house that reflects their lifestyle.
— theguardian.com
The Fox River has shown little respect for Mies' brilliant juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made. In the past 18 years, the river has inundated the [Farnsworth] house three times. [...]
Confronted with the prospect of more flooding, the house's owner is carefully weighing how to preserve and protect the house, two goals that potentially conflict... Such are the choices in an era when disastrous "100-year floods" seem to occur every few years.
— The Chicago Tribune
A treasure trove of Coast Miwok life dating back 4,500 years - older than King Tut's tomb - was discovered in Marin County and then destroyed to make way for multimillion-dollar homes, archaeologists told The Chronicle this week.
The American Indian burial ground and village site, so rich in history that it was dubbed the "grandfather midden," was examined and categorized under a shroud of secrecy before construction began this month on the $55 million Rose Lane development in Larkspur.
— sfgate.com
From pedestrian bridges to city centre waterslides, sculpture parks to public pianos, here are some of the smartest and wackiest crowdfunded projects for urban improvement — theguardian.com
It’s initiatives such as this that have, in recent years, given the water engineers of Holland their almost mythical status amongst flood defenders the world over. After Hurricane Sandy hit New York, in 2012, the $20 billion protection plan that was subsequently instituted built upon principles that were pioneered by the Dutch. Officials from as far away as China, Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh are currently consulting Dutch experts. — telegraph.co.uk
“At the end of the day, we’re going to be in a better spot...You just stepped the entire gentrification of Ortley Beach forward five years because everything had to be rebuilt" - Eric J. Birchler, the owner of Birchler Realtors — NYT
Ronda Kaysen examines how Hurricane Sandy hit the reset button on the Jersey Shore. Post - Sandy redevelopment is booming. Though some worry about loosing the "blue-collar flavor in the area" and others caution that buyers "are taking some real risk" by not worrying about long-term effects of... View full entry
With billions in federal, charity and insurance dollars flowing in after [Hurricane Katrina], there were suddenly resources for change.
“The city essentially got the opportunity to do a do-over,” said Carol Bebelle, a lifelong New Orleanian and executive director of Ashé Cultural Arts Center. [...]
In many ways, it was a top-to-bottom re-imagining of the cityscape.
So, is the city in a better place than it was nearly nine years ago? It depends on how closely you look.
— equalvoiceforfamilies.org
Forty-seven miles of the 400-mile California Aqueduct could have their flow reversed this summer to bring water to dry Central California districts with dangerously low supplies, reports KQED. As this megadrought's persisted and worsened, it's come to light that many water districts, especially the smaller ones, haven't had the chance (read: the money) to stockpile water as we do here in SoCal. — la.curbed.com
Have an idea for how to address the drought with design? Submit your ideas to the Dry Futures competition! View full entry
Since it's Earth Day, here are the 18th annual Top Ten Green Projects just announced by the AIA and their Committee on the Environment (COTE). The awards program is the best known in the field for recognizing excellence in sustainable architecture and ecological design. Additionally, AIA and COTE awarded one project as the Top Ten Plus Project, which honors a past Top Ten Green Project that demonstrates through quantifiable metrics the impact of sustainable design and technology. — bustler.net
The winners will be honored at the AIA 2014 National Convention and Design Exposition in Chicago this June.Have a look at this year's winning projects below.Pictured above: Arizona State University Student Health Services; Tempe, Arizonaby Lake|Flato Architects + Orcutt|Winslow Bud Clark Commons... View full entry