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Architect Francis Kéré has completed work on Xylem, a new pavilion at the Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana that is fashioned from a collection of tree trunks. The 2,100-square-foot pavilion, described as "a quiet place to contemplate nature" by the organizers, draws inspiration... View full entry
There is enough room in the world’s existing parks, forests, and abandoned land to plant 1.2 trillion additional trees, which would have the CO2 storage capacity to cancel out a decade of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new analysis by ecologist Thomas Crowther and colleagues at ETH Zurich, a Swiss university. — Yale Environment 360
Following new research, Thomas Crowther and colleagues at ETH Zurich estimate that there are 3 trillion trees on Earth, more than seven times the number previously estimated. Crowther argues that given this new knowledge, it is possible that new and existing forests could become more... View full entry
Under a plan announced last week by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, thickets of trees will soon appear in what today are pockets of concrete next to landmark locations, including the Hôtel de Ville, Paris’s city hall; the Opera Garnier, Paris’s main opera house; the Gare de Lyon; and along the Seine quayside. — citylab.com
"Islands of freshness" are on the way to Paris, according to a recently-unveiled plan by mayor Anne Hidalgo. The environmentally-aggressive mayor is aiming to have 50 percent of the city's land area taken up by permeable surfaces and planted areas, Citylab reports, and so, she is turning spaces... View full entry
Deborah brings extensive experience to Van Alen in successfully mobilizing professionals across various sectors —architecture, urban design, ecology, public health--—to take an interdisciplinary approach that effects positive change, particularly among underserved communities. — Van Allen Institute
Deborah Marton has been selected to lead the New York City-based Van Alen Institute as the group's new executive director. Marton will replace David van der Leer, who announced plans to step down in October 2018. Marton is currently the executive director of the New York Restoration Project... View full entry
The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts was designed by architect Harry Weese, with the surrounding landscape by Dan Kiley, and was completed in 1969. [...]
In December 2018, the Center announced an overhaul of the cultural venue, the culmination of a months-long strategic planning process. However, the proposal drew backlash for its insensitve treatment of the Dan Kiley-designed landscape.
— Docomomo US
At the center of the historic designation discussion is the planned replacement of the 36 horse chestnut trees in front of the Marcus Center with a lawn bordered by 18 honey locust trees. "Preservationists said removing the trees would harm the legacy of grove designer Dan Kiley, whose other... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
To train the model, he identified known locations of tree canopy using lidar data and NAIP imagery over California. Using that as ground truth, the model was trained to classify which pixels contain trees in the corresponding satellite images. The result is a machine-learning model that has learned to identify trees just using four-band high-resolution (~1 meter) satellite or aerial imagery—no lidar required! — Medium
Former New York Times cartographer Tim Wallace describes how his current firm, Santa Fe-based Descartes Labs, has built a machine learning model to identify tree canopy from satellite imagery thus making accurate mapping of trees and urban forests far more accessible to cities worldwide. San... View full entry
After pothole gardeners and pavement crack fillers, the Guerilla Grafters are the next urban hacking collective that wants to make streets a better places for everyone. The collective sees grafting branches of fruit trees onto trees in the streets as an opportunity to provide free access to food to urbanites. The process of adding a small branch to an existing city tree is considered vandalism. However, that doesn’t stop the Guerilla Grafters [...]. — Pop-Up City
"The Guerrilla Grafters are not welcomed by everyone," writes Doris Tielemans for Pop-Up City about this branch (no pun intended) of Fruit Activism. "Most trees in cities don’t grow fruit for a reason." View full entry
Megacities—those urban centers crammed with more than 10 million people—would be well served to double down on their arboreal assets, according to a new paper in the upcoming issue of the journal Ecological Modeling.
A team of researchers led by Theodore Endreny of SUNY’s College of Environmental Studies and Forestry sought to quantify how leafy infrastructure pays dividends in 10 chock-full cities—and the extent to which those benefits could compound if those urban areas planted more trees.
— Citylab
You can check out the research paper here, as well as this 2015 report about the health benefits of more greenspace in urban centers. View full entry
Snøhetta's "7th Room" is an addition to the previously existing Treehotel in Northern Sweden. The tree-canopy-level, snow-blanketed room features a pretty cool assortment of sleek furnishings and views, whether you're standing on the ground looking up, or lounging on the fur-lined chairs looking... View full entry
According to the Los Angeles Times, the sunny city of Phoenix, Arizona might become a little cooler, as the city develops a plan to give 25% of the city a tree canopy by 2030. Currently, the city has about half as much shade.The city plans to use a mix of steel 'trees', native plants like... View full entry
CALIFORNIA WON’T BE throwing much shade this summer. It would need trees to do that. Last year almost 30 million trees died in the Golden State—and that number is expected to double or triple by the end of 2016. The high mortality rates come at a time when the state needs healthy forests most, with climate change looming always and a La Niña—El Niño’s dry hermana—on the way. — Wired
"The likely outcome? California’s landscape will radically transform, starting with a surge of wildfires that will trigger mudslides, diminished water quality, and the rise of new vegetation."For more news from the dried out Golden State, check out these links:California eases some... View full entry
"We don't have a single 'style,'" Steven Holl explained in reference to his firm's new four level, 35,000 square foot Visual Arts Building commissioned for the Franklin & Marshall College. "We always try to shape a unique experience, and our approach is the same with this project. We look... View full entry
We all want our cities to be greener, but it is often quite hard to grow trees in a concrete environment. So, why not turn to waterfronts or lakes to place trees? Rotterdam will get its first ‘bobbing forest’ in 2016: a collection of twenty trees that are floating in the Rijnhaven, a downtown harbor basin. [...]
After experimenting with a sample tree last year, an entire floating forest of twenty trees is scheduled to be ‘planted’ on March 16, 2016.
— popupcity.net
Related Archinect news:It's official: trees are good for your healthRotterdam considers paving its roads with recycled plasticFollow the yellow wooden road into Rotterdam's new Luchtsingel pedestrian park View full entry
Completed in March of 2014, Kusukusu [...] is a marvelous feat of architecture, engineering and technology. Working with Hiroshi Nakamura of NAP Architects, the team came in and 3D-scanned hundreds of points on the tree. Based on that 3D data they then created a steel trellis that threaded through the tree, interlocking perfectly [...]. What’s amazing is that the treehouse in its entirety, never touches the tree. It’s completely self-standing so as to not harm the tree. — spoon-tamago.com
Here are a few more images of the stunner of a treehouse in Atami, Japan designed by master treehouse builder Takashi Kobayashi in collaboration with NAP Architects.To learn more and see the complete set of photos, head over to Spoon & Tamago.Photos by Koji Fujii/Nacasa & Partners... View full entry
