Chilean Facades: Consorcio + Concepción

A stunning new example of VIA (i think?) via Urban Greenery presents the The Consorcio Building in Santiago - with an amazing green wall system on significant portions of the facade - which recalls Ken Yeang's Bioclimatic structures in this tropical climate.




:: images via Urban Greenery

Located in Santiago, Chile - the green walls act as a vital environmental mitigation strategy: "The Consorcio Building in Santiago is one of the most sustainable office buildings, with up to 48% less energy usage thanks to its green wall, which turns red in autumn." An illustration of the shading microclimatic functions.




:: images via Urban Greenery

This interesting photo of the interstitial space between the facade and the outer vegetated screen - providing a cooling gap that allows for sun to be reflected, as well as for warm air to escape through the vertical channels instead of heating up the building.


:: image via Urban Greenery

Platforma Arquitectura offers some more imagery of the project - including the views from inside looking out (and follow the link for many more).






:: image via Platforma Arquitectura

I'm actually not sure what this image is trying to tell us for sure... i get the solar diagram, but the figure pushing on the facade is somewhat of a mystery.


:: image via Platforma Arquitectura

And there must be something good going on in Chile , as this project by Enrique Browne Arquitectos, which has been around for a while, has recently re-emerged on both Arch Daily and Inhabitat: "The office itself is composed of three elements. A vertical green wall constructed from locally-sourced wood shields the structure from the sun to the North, East, and west, and acts as a “double green skin” that insulates the interior. The structure’s south wall features a high-performance facade constructed from locally-sourced corrugated metal that helps to insulate the interior and render it highly energy efficient."


:: image via Inhabitat

We used this image a few years ago as a precendent image for a project in Seattle (when I was at my former employer) and it's good to see it again - as it is a stunning example of using a double facade system for cooling in hot climates. Some more pics and an illustration give a little more info to the story, including a glimpse at the plant list, which includes bougainvillea, jasmine, and plumbago.






:: image via Inhabitat

Veg.itecture: VIVA la Revolution

As promised, the counterpoint to the recent posts related to Veg.itecture in Action (VIA) are the more conceptual illustrative examples in the Veg.itecture in Visual Assessment (VIVA) posts - which offer a more sparsely informative overview of the visions of vegetated architecture and the many graphic forms that it takes. The dichotomy between vision and action will provide some interesting fodder for discussion - giving a more well-rounded overview of the phenomenon.

A project that has made all the rounds of the architecture blogs is the photoshop-genic projects that gets people talking - this project from Kjellgren Kaminsky for a large apartment project in New Heden. The projects iconic flowing hills are "...Envisioned as a “green lung” for Gothenburg, Sweden, the development will introduce a beautiful expanse of fresh green space to an area currently consumed by parking lots and football fields."






:: images via Inhabitat

Just as dynamic (or at least derived from dynamic processed), the envisioned Volcano Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico by Jean-Marie Massaud seems to rise from the earth. Superbowl anyone?


:: image via SpaceInvading

A sinuous green parking lot, via Urban Greenery, of the such as the Green Corridor Indian Road Green Space in Windsor, Canada.


:: image via Urban Greenery

And the Community Enhancements and Green Facades... making roads and parking just a bit more pleasurable.


:: image via Urban Greenery

Staying on the topic of roadways for a bit - this intriguing project from Israel called Highway Habitat - which features multi-layered habitat for people and perhaps other things...?






:: images via World Architecture Community

A bit smaller scale, one of the Ordos 100 houses by RSVP has sinuous forms that wrap from ground to rooftop... as well as pockets of interior vegetation.






:: images via WAN

Another by SPRB arquitectos for the Bicentennial of the Independence Plaza, Mexico City, Mexico - comes via WAN. The inclusion of a rectangular green wall that will surround the and create: "...a great ritual space around the Concepción Chapel, symbolically dedicated to the Mexican Independence and Revolution, rectangular and long, isolated from the chaotic movement of the city by a “green wall”.






:: images via WAN

And finally, the silliness, via Jetson Green for an innovative new house that reminds me somewhat of a coconut with a parasol: "This conceptual proposal for a residence with combination solar panel and wind turbine offers the best of both worlds, with a dose of stage-like performance. Shaped to look like a rock, the dwelling stores water in its outer shell as an insulator to conserve energy. Furthermore, the transforming device embodies a playful spirit with its daisy-like shape that seems more like a toy rather than a high tech piece of equipment." Renderings and such from: Andreas Angelidakis.






:: images via Jetson Green

Greening the Rails

Portland is well-known for having one of the best light-rail systems in the country. Through an efficient combination of train and streetcar - served by a great bus system, makes getting around the region sans car relatively pain free. A recent post from Inhabitat definitely struck home a point regarding a retrofit that could make this green transportation system even literally more green. As opposed to a car, rail only makes contact at two thin points along the track alignment. By looking at these corridors on which the trains run - which have interstitial areas that are typically paved with a variety of surfaces, there is an opportunity to create less impervious surfaces through the incorporation of greenery.

Could Portland's rails evolve from this...


:: image via IgoUgo

...to something more like this?

It's not a surprise that this is a common practice in Europe, which is covered extensively in the Inhabitat post from around the continent. The images are self-explanatory and seem quite simple, and are summed up in the post: "...these swaths of green provide a host of benefits to any urban area, like reducing urban heat island effect, providing a permeable surface for storm water to infiltrate, and reducing pollution. And did we mention that it looks so much prettier than concrete or asphalt?" Agreed.

:: images via Inhabitat

There are obviously some maintenance issues with this type of installation - but with proper specification of plantings, the cost-benefit would seem to make a lot of sense to me. Plus, as we evolve to a more green-job centered economy, the additional dollars can be funneled towards maintenance of this and other green infrastructure facilities. And really, there's a natural entropic evolution of rail beds to deteriorate into a more verdant state, although perhaps not the type of vegetation one desires. By being purposeful in lower-maintenance planting in these spaces, there are miles of opportunity for greening the rails.

:: image via Space Invading

Daily Double + A Flurry of Darts

I'm typically not one to focus on my own doings terribly often on the blog - but I had to laugh at the fortune of this press double-play today from my home city of Portland. First, from writer Sam Bennett from the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce - investigating the potential of the Sustainable Sites Initiative for landscape architecture. The article "SSI works toward certification of landscape architecture: Sustainable Sites Initiative seeks to address issues not completely covered by LEED", provides a good overview of the system and it's potential for the field in elevating the discussion of sustainability to the outdoors.

Check out the full text of Bennett's article here on the GreenWorks blog.




:: The Headwaters at Tryon Creek in Winter - image via DJC

And second, a shout out, or more correctly a "Prémio lawn Dardos" from Tim duRoche, blogger for the newish and much needed local magazine Portland Spaces... in his blog post "King of all he Surveys" (oh I like that... :) - duRoche was kind enough to give some nice words to the Landscape+Urbanism blog "... a thoughtful melding of observation, local-to-global context and rigorous praxis."

As well as the most concise statement I think I've ever encountered regarding the Sustainable Sites Initiative: "Goals? To levate the value of landscape (through a LEED-like set of benchmarks) by outlining the economic, environmental and
 human well-being benefits, to connect place/space/landscape to buildings more resolutely, provide certification/recognition for high performance, and to high-five innovation around the regeneration of natural resources and ecosystem health."




:: Prize Darts - image via Portland Spaces

So on to the darts... 15 is both of lot, and not enough people to recognize... so I will focus on the landscape oriented, in no particular order... just because I'm happy there's 15 blogs to mention. Anyone left out - my apologies:

1. Urban Greenery
2. Topophilia
3. City Farmer News
4. Land8Lounge
5. Vulgare
6. World Landscape Architect
7. Urbanarbolismo
8. Pruned
9. The Dirt
10. outofdoors (a new one to me)

And I can't forget the locals:
11. Green Infrastructure Wiki
12. Portland Architecture
13. Dialogue (Oregon DJC)
14. Building Green (Seattle DJC)
15. ... And last but not least... Portland Spaces... thanks Tim.

Flower: Gaming Urban Flight

A link from the ASLA blog The Dirt offered word of a landscape-oriented game from Playstation 3 entitled 'Flower'. The gist: "Sony will soon release a new game “Flower,” which explores the path of an urban flower that seeks to escape to the countryside. Sony’s designer says the game is an interactive poem, which uses abstract landscapes, and the ”flower is the gamer’s dream.” According to Wired, “flower lets the player explore the dreams of city blooms trapped in urban decay, longing to caress the soft grasses of the countryside.”




:: Flower screenshots - images via IGN

More from The Dirt: "Sony designed the game to be “attractive and meaningful” for adults, and wanted to make it simple and accessible. Players can control the path of the flower, and its pollination of the landscapes."

That all sounds laudable, and perhaps it does acheive the aim to provide some ecological ideaology to the gaming masses - an antidote to mindless gratuitous violence, maybe? To me, there's an underlying message that I couldn't seem to shake from the minute I read the first line of the description. The idea of escape from 'urban decay' to the 'soft grasses of the countryside' sounds a lot like the same reasoning given for white flight or urban flight to the suburbs, exurbs, or and whatever-burbs that seem to be indicative of our destructive, sprawling legacy. Our desire for the simple life in the country and space to spread our wings is a major tenet of development in the past century or longer.

To draw some parallels with the idea of urbanism is maybe a bit of a stretch, but the root of the idea that I keep coming back to is the idea that urban is bad, decaying, unhealthy, and the countryside is good, nourishing, and desirable. Agree or disagree - the metaphor is pretty overt, and undermines much of the work to blur the line between city and nature (see EcoMetropolitanism, et.al.) - giving rise to a new crop of people who see the polarity or urban/rural as bad/good.

As mentioned, "...The game explores the relationship between cities and nature, the complexities of ecology." I'd say yes, and 'explores' being the operative word, but perhaps not in the way that was envisioned by the creators. Will this reflect in a new generation of urban flight and backsliding regarding our interpretation and interaction with urban nature? Probably not - but it's an interesting interpretation and simplification of both social and ecological principles - not unexpected from the media.

For some more info, here's a video clip from the original Wired post. As one how doesn't spend much time gaming, I will have to allow others to see if the game is an interactive poem, or an analog for sprawl. Decide for yourself, and let me know if you get a chance to check it out.

Reading List: Drosscape

Early in the life of this (still youthful) blog, I had a short throwaway post about Modes of Representation - and echoed a term I had heard regarding 'visual masturbation' - the analogue of the pointless drivel associated with verbal masturbation. While there are still countless examples of both in the design and planning spheres - a 2008 article in the NY Times, and my reading of more of his work solicits the following reaction. I will officially recant my words specifically a quote referencing Alan Berger, and posit that 'Drosscape: Wasting Land In Urban America' (2007) is a vital addition to the library of any landscape urbanist, landscape architect and planner.


:: image via Frieze

As I've sat with this half-written post in my drafts folder for going on six months, I thought it time to delve into some discussion on the book. It is long overdue, but perhaps gave me some to reflect further on the power of the image tied to the idea. Upon further review (i.e. reading versus looking at images) the book has some heady and important ideas that need to be not just digested, but discussed. The idea of Dross (waste) landscapes are important from a number of perspectives including the 'how', 'where' and 'why' of their creation, and also the 'what' and 'when' of their potential redevelopment.





The references of drosscape have some powerful precedents - most notably tied to Lars Lerup's ideas of Stim and Dross, which are very engaging ways of thinking of space not just as a physical entity, but as catalytic actors in urban fabrics. What they cause and create is perhaps more important that what they actually are. Stim (a shortened version of stimulus) countered with Dross (the idea of waste landscape), in tandem create tension and opportunity, where most of us see blight. And the reality is that they are difficult if not downright impossible to eradicate - but will continually emerge and re-invent themselves as an inevitability of growth.


While it is evident that dross is ubiquitous in the world - the particular mechanisms that cause the phenonmenon, specifically in the United States, is quite complex. This is where the visual acuity of the book is pretty impressive - not obfuscation, but the synthesis of many layers of complex data into graphics that are both artful and full of information as well. To discuss representation for a bit, the middle part of the book contains mostly visual case studies analyzing Drosscapes and their emergence along a number of specific and time-critical paths. These are evident in case studies of a range of US metropolitan areas, allowing for similar comparison of ideas to give the proper context of urban form and development.



A major facet to the book, which should intrigue those with a penchant for Landscape Urbanism, is the representation of time in a variety of forms. Temporality is difficult if not impossible to capture in two-dimensional imagery, and Berger does a bang-up job of overlaying typical plan graphics of cities, such as Chicago above, along with complex data showing outward expansion over time. This is coupled with more traditional data streams (line charts, bar graphs, etc.) that are juxtaposed artfully over space - becoming not just another level of information, but part of the data stream and context. The subseqent addition of aerial photographs showing areas of focus allow one to connect the complex mapping and data analysis to real place.



Another diagramming exercies that worked well in driving home the mechanism of sprawl is the bar charts overlaid upon the metropolitan urban form. These spindle charts show a temporal shift in manufacturing jobs - in the case above from Chicago - concentrated in the beginning within dense urban cores, and slowly migrating further and further away from this center - creating the iterative and expanding framework in which dross will inevitably creep. There are also more overt images - such as those below of entropic indicators, as well as urban cores to sites of pollution concentration - showing straight causality between urbanism and blight or sprawl landscape.

Sometimes the imagery is utilized for storytelling - again with a temporal bent. In the example below, the juxtaposition of urbanized area desnity to total population - showing that from 1950 to 2000, density (in overall persons per square mile) has decreased by 50 percent. And the photo within the graphic frame shows some of the results - much more powerful than what's standard on your excel spreadsheets... :)



Precursors of this are Berger's visually stunning 'Reclaiming the American West' (2002) and the more pithy related 'Taking Measures Across the American Landscape' (2000) by Corner & MacLean - both of which rely on oblique aerial photography to understand the patterns of development in our landscape. Drosscape was chosen one of the top 10 planning books of 2007 by Planetizen, and it's well deserved: "Drosscape is a fascinating visual examination of the modern built environment. Chock-full of photographs, maps and charts, the book exposes readers to the 'wastelands' of ten different American cities -– from older industrial areas in the urban core to modern complexes on the metropolitan fringe. While the book takes a mostly negative view of sprawl, it serves not as a condemnation per se, but as fertilizer for the germination of ideas regarding the productive reuse of these underutilized and spoiled landscapes."

The challenge of new modes of representation (and language and thought) is one that continues to challenge our assumptions about appropriate content for design, illustration, and graphics. While some (including myself) are resistant to these new forms - they become necessary to illuminate complex forms of thought. Landscape urbanist theory regarding the appropriate representation of process - including four-dimensional aspects in a two-dimensional media, are sometimes difficult to grasp - but are necessary if we are to truly understand the complexities of our urban areas. Dig in, it's worth the time.

Stan Allen at the AALU

Stan Allen: Before and After Landscape Urbanism
01/27/09 - Architectural Association Lecture




:: Taipai Waterfront - images via Stan Allen

View the lecture via live streaming available from 5.45pm at http://stream.aaschool.ac.uk/

The emergence of landscape urbanism, along with the development of the protocols of digital design, must be counted one of the most significant developments in the field in the past decades. In the past ten years, a fully fledged sub-discipline has appeared. A catalogue of practitioners and projects exists, academic programmes have been developed, and an extensive theoretical literature is now available. To move forward from this strategic juncture, it is worthwhile to take stock of both the accomplishments and the limitations of the landscape urbanism approach, and to propose alternatives that complement and extend its potentials.

Stan Allen is an architect practising in New York and dean of the School of Architecture Princeton University. His projects have been published in Points and Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City (Princeton Architectural Press) and his essays in Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (revised second edition now available from Routledge).

Note: I'm guessing the 5.45pm time is from London - so I'm shooting for 9:45 am PST USA to check it out... hope I'm right.

Questioning EcoMetropolitanism

Perhaps I missed the memo regarding a new found integration of 'wildness' into our cities as the 2009 topic to watch. Maybe it started with Fritz Haeg's Animal Estates - jumping to Tomorrow's Thoughts Today and the idea of City Zoo, shifting to the more expansive concept from _urb about Post Humanist Rewilded Eco Ethical Urbanism (PHREE) - and now sitting firmly in the realm of EcoMetropolitanism (or EcoMet) - from UBC Architecture profs Mari Fujita and Matthew Soules.

I got a heads up to EcoMet via the newly retooled and great-looking urbanism.org site - which often aggregates a number of interesting posts - but now does it in a way that is pleasurable to view. The site links to an article in The Tyee (from BC) 'Is Your City Boring? Make It Wild' - which outlines the concept in some detail along with commentary from Soules. Alas, I question whether it is something really groundbreaking, or another of those not new ideas that is getting the innovation treatment (or maybe both).

The idea of EcoMet involves seven key points outlined in the article. So some context (all images from The Tyee, and I've included their captions for clarity).

1. "Make EcoMAX: Measure not just simple human density but also plant and animal life and diversity."



2. "Invert the View Cone: EcoMet proposes Urban Habitat Cones, Urban Agriculture Cones, Density Release Cones, and Mixer Cones to view our newly exciting city."



3. "Intensity Use: Fujita and Soules re-imagine Vancouver's downtown tower-on-podium template to serve much richer and more varied purposes: wildlife corridors slice through the commercial space at ground level; bridges and platforms host bird habitats and micro-agriculture."



4. "Exploit Co-Existence: Don't just make a "green roof" that no one can see or feed from; design it as a source of animal food and human entertainment."



5. "Broaden Structure: EcoMet augments structure and infrastructure's extant function of supporting humans by capitalizing on their potential to service the city's expanded population."



6. "Maximize Envelope: Take the dull, predictable condo tower envelope and fold it, warp it, substract and protrude until you come up with a visually exciting and highly interactive architecture: all those new ledges and crevicess will allow plant and animal integration."



7. "Ecologize the Interior: Soules and Fujita suggest mainstreaming Vancouver's time-tested "interior agriculture" (a.k.a. grow-ops) into new crops--say, hydroponically-grown tomatoes-- that not only provide a source of fresh local food but could also generate a colourful "living wallaper" and other aesthetic qualities for the inhabitants."



All of these things sound great... and I'm 100% on board. I'm just asking the question: Is something amazingly inventive, or just a new name for many of the same things that designers, planners, and the like have been working with and integrating over many years, neatly packaged in (a weak, perhaps due to the eco-) new name, to provide a competing viewpoint to Vancouver's existing dialogue on EcoDensity - which has been devoid of many of these tenets? If so, that's great, and necessary. But there's little reference to some of the precendents that are drawn on HEAVILY in constructing this manifesto - and there's nary a word about some of the origins - many of which have been around for a while, and also similarly genericizes the concepts in manifesto form.

Some more info from the article: "EcoMet espouses a more interconnected, animated, multi-use and motley-crittered urban landscape. Specifically, it proposes a re-think of the modern city as a true ecological system, its human inhabitants balanced with plant and animal populations in a kind of sustainable symbiosis."

So the ideas of urban habitat, redefinition of public/private space delineation, proximity to urban nature, urban agriculture in public spaces and indoors for subsistence - and many other tenets they discuss are . Is the success in the integration and packaging? More from the article: "But what the Soules/Fujita team has done is conflate all these discrete sectors -- urban agriculture, animal habitat, vibrant entertainment -- into one unified field theory, literally shaped and effected by this broad new architectural paradigm. Architecture -- often the window-dressing final step in so many urban schemes -- is in this case the first step, what makes everything else possible."

There are also some major issues to address (which are brought up in the article) - the first being integration of urban habitat - particularly what is the line we as society will draw in cohabitation with urban wildlife - specifically in human/animal conflicts that have increased exponentially as we've destroyed habitat through sprawl and displacement of existing habitat. While nature in the city is laudable, we're not talking about significant habitat areas for large mammal species - and many potential issues with pest species. This is just one of the myriad challenges that would need to be addressed in the future phases. Again, a snippet from the article: "A fantastical scheme like EcoMetropolis will require not only an ace team of architects and planners, but also the experts in botany, wildlife, economics and pretty much every other professional domain you can think of."

So there's some very good ideas combined into a manifesto and visuals - that indeed need a lot of fleshing out and expertise to realize. Sounds like a litany of many other utopias or visionary proposals - many of which sputter, but all of which enlight our imagination and give us a glimpse of a better future. Again, it's our fascination with the next new things that keeps us interested - even if it's sprucing up the old and giving it a shiny new name. Not that it's a bad thing... and the repeated reinforcement of the vision is the point. "For now, such churlish reality-checks aren't the point. The issue is to paradigm-shift our collective attitudes away from the glass-tower-on-plinth-surrounded-by-green formula. ... "There's a very limited imagination of what architecture can be in the city," says Fujita. "But we live on the west coast, man! Nature is urban. Nature is eco-metropolitan. And it's our job to cultivate vibrant communities."

Welcome to Portlandia

Is Portland European, or is Europe Portlandian? Hmmmm....

Introducing TerraScreen

We're developing a couple of projects that will utilize green wall systems - and am always on the lookout for possible systems and technologies. In this regard, I was happy to receive a recent email from Shane Pliska, the brains behind a new living wall system called TerraScreen. Spun out of the work of Planterra, a company focusing on interior landscaping - making it a natural extension of some of their existing services.


:: image via TerraScreen

The product and the site are relatively new - so there's not a lot of info - but a few images of the system in action.












:: image via TerraScreen

And Shane was kind enough to email me the technical manual - which I've snipped a few images from. Right now, the system is being developed on a per-project custom basis, so look for more of their work in the future. It is currently being manufactured and sold to the trade by Tournesol Siteworks in the mean time.


:: image via TerraScreen

Thanks Shane for the info - and looking forward to checking out more.


:: Shane with his creation - image via TerraScreen

Veg.itecture: VIA I'm Lost in Paris

Arch Daily offered some juicy pics of the project by R&Sie(n) in Paris, France entitled 'I'm Lost in Paris' - which sported some vertical hydroponics, rainwater harvesting, and blown glass features in this private laboratory. Interesting system of mesh and plant containers - utilizing hydroponic principles.




:: images via Arch Daily

Some info about the project: "According to the wiki, Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro water and ponos labour) is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool." Check out more images below, and more expansive, as usual, coverage on Arch Daily.






:: images via Arch Daily

Like Looking in a Mirror

A new blog (as of December '08) was one of those surreal moments where you start looking through the collected posts and realize that like seeing a reflection of where your personal interests lie. Urban Greenery is aptly and simply named, and offers snapshots of... you guessed it - urban greenery. A lot of the content has been seen previously - and linked from this site - but I did find some new interesting images that were worth throwing out there. If you're interested in the visual feast on an almost daily - or multiple times daily - of urban greenery - definitely worth adding this one to your RSS feeder. (all images via Urban Greenery)


:: The Hanging Gardens of Paddington (world's largest hanging basket)


:: Iglesia Verde


:: Roof Garden in Shanghai, China


:: Health club rooftop garden - San Francisco, California


:: Culver House, Chicago

I often wonder if this may not be the way to go blog-wise... just a quick link and a photo or two - without getting into any pesky commentary or deliberation about what it means. I'd say there's a good number of regular 'readers' of this blog that scan through the eye-candy and not much more - so I thank you loyal readers whom actually read to blog. Either way, as a visual media - there will be more to come from this site for sure... inspiring, and it's definitely a blog after my own heart content wise.

Seiwooo = Graphic Bliss

An email from Mannisi Alban alerted me to some of the fine graphic work that is present on the Seiwooo site - a portfolio of work spanning the past ten years. It's rare to find a wide range of different graphic techniques in one spot, so these are definitely worthy of a look - if merely to get some thoughts on that project you're working on. A visit to the opening screen shows a landscape scene, along with a chronological menu of projects to pick and choose - or if you're linear - move forward or reverse in history.


:: image via Seiwooo

Not at all inclusive, I've chosen to feature a few projects that spoke to me in certain ways - purely from a visual standpoint - not necessarily in design or content. Starting off, the Beach Road Competition from Singapore (2007) was a collaboration with EDAW Singapore & SAA Architect - and features a range of style - spanning from sketchup 3-D like overall form and a variety of photoshop collage perspective sketches offer colorful examples of landscape spaces.






:: images via Seiwooo

A different mood is evoked in the more dark and moody 'Cause and becomming of the particular situations of Transit Zones' from Ile de France, France - 2004 - which features some designs for Charles de Gaulle Airport as an international gateway.






:: images via Seiwooo

The signature of Mass Studies is seen in the colloaborative effort with Seiwooo for the S Trenue Tower in Seoul, Korea from 2006 - showing some of the evolution of the form - along with the final product.

:: images via Seiwooo

Another veg.itectural example from Seiwooo again combines the landscape with architecture from Mass Studies - the Jukjeon Hildersheim Housing in South Korea - offers some scale jumping from the molecular to the site planning size...

:: images via Seiwooo

Definitely check out the site for some visual inspiration. You definitely won't be disappointed, and the inventiveness is worthy of praise. Not all of these images fit the model of glossy artificial photoshopped worlds - but rather range from what amounts to digital 'concept' sketches - showing an iterative process that layers simple forms onto materials, and ends up with a compelling visual. It's also interesting to see the evolution of the portfolio over time - and the used of a variety of media - showing how technology and expanded accessible graphic options have changed the way we visually communicate. I will post some further exploration of the Seiwooo site and the explorations of veg.itecture - which is one of the topics of the upcoming VIVA series. Something to learn from indeed.

Veg.itecture: VIA Olive 8, Joost, Mission, + Busan et.al.

VIA: Vegitecture in Action: As promised, the inevitable death of posts related to Veg.itecture has spun, in this auspicious 50th post, into a new series that will investigate the dual sides of the concept - the VIA and the VIVA, if you will (explained here in detail). For this inaugural installment of Veg.itecture in Action (VIA) - a look at four distinctly different, yet equally real, projects along with a few ephemeral touches sprinkled on as endnotes.

Olive 8
The Seattle DJC blog had some installation photos of Olive 8, a condominium in Seattle that features a couple of green roofs - one a tray-based system of sedums. From the DJC: "The roof is actually two green roofs so the developer, R.C. Hedreen, can test out which system it likes best. Above the chillers there is a sod-based green roof. On the actual fourth floor ground level, there is a tray-based sedum system. There is a lasting argument between which one of these techniques is better, which I will discuss in a later post at greater detail. For more on this project, or to learn about R.C. Hedreen’s conversion to being a green developer, read the story in the DJC here."




:: Tray System - images via DJC


:: Sod-based System - images via DJC

Joost Greenhouse
City of Sound featured this interesting project from Melbourne Australia - a temporary structure with some inventive rooftop planters and a unique living wall: "The Greenhouse, by Joost and others, is an opportunistic temporary insertion into a gap in Federation Square, Melbourne. It’s built entirely from recycled and recyclable materials. The exterior is dis-assembled shipping containers and packing crates, filled with straw bale and covered with plants. When I was there, the walls were embedded with strawberry plants and potatoes were planted on top (and used in the potato salad served below), amongst other things."






:: images via City of Sound

More info about the agricultural aspects: "Particularly interesting to me - as a keen if limited urban gardener - is the building as platform and showcase for urban agriculture. A little more could be done to explain the system at work here - which plants make it into the food; how the waste is turned into compost etc. - and the opportunity for increasingly greening all urban spaces with productive planting."




:: images via City of Sound

Pacific Garden Mission
This project, found on Jetson Green, offers some images of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago - which had some rooftop interventions. The ratty-looking tray system and rooftop? greenhouses shown below show some of the examples.




:: images via Jetson Green

But they definitely could use a little extra rooftop greening perhaps - looks comfy...


:: image via Jetson Green

Busan Green Room
This brief post from Vulgare highlights the unique 'Green Room' - a utility on the outside, green on the inside temporary pavillion installation from Gruppo A12 - for the Busan Biennale 2006.




:: images via Vulgare


:: image via Gruppo A12

et.al.
Getting ephemeral, there's a few little projects of veg.itectural work that caught the eye in the past few weeks. Both aim at some normal functionality, but fall perhaps a bit short in action. Starting with the ridiculous - Carpark in Taipai - from 3RW Arkitekter - comes courtesy of Vulgare - and gives new meaning to the term parkway:


:: image via Vulgare

And the sublime, a post from Inhabitat of some soft moss used as a bathmat: "This Moss Carpet by Nguyen La Chanh brings the outside indoors in an unconventionally natural way by placing it underfoot. The lush green lawn thrives in humid environments, which makes your bathroom a perfect place to grow."


:: image via Inhabitat

To the just plain wrong - another billboard greening - this time hawking the wares of Adidas. Thanks to Bill Badrick for pointing this one out - and linking to Toxel.


:: image via Toxel

And for an end to the ephemera, check out this interview with High Line Horticulturalist Melissa Fisher, as she describes the nitty gritty of planting the High Line, the Mod Eco-Deep Haus with green roof, courtesy of Jetson Green, and another simple and silly introduction to green roofs from Portland. Enjoy.

Picturing Smart Growth

A recent email from Kaid Benfield, fellow blogger and Director of Smart Growth for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) alerted me to an interesting visual tool they had recently unveiled, called Picturing Smart Growth" A short overview: "With generous assistance from our friends at Urban Advantage, NRDC has created a map of the United States featuring 70 locations across the country that are ripe for transformative change. Open the map, zoom in on a location (one of two Tempe, AZ, sites shown below) and, without leaving our web site, you will be shown a Google Maps satellite view of the existing site, given some context about the metro area, and be treated to a brief slide show demonstrating how each can be converted, step-by-step, from sprawl, vacant property or disinvestment into a lively, beautiful neighborhood"

Check out the photo array of site to completed neighborhood (these are developed as overlaid flash movies on the PSG site). all images via Switchboard - Kaid Benfield


:: Existing conditions / Proposed light rail line and neighborhood park


:: New walkable street / Residential development


:: Additional multi-family residential development convenient to light rail,

There are over 70 locations from around the country as well as a searchable database, so definitely check out the ones in your neck of the woods and report back to see if they are compelling examples... to give a little more expansive example, I did some screen shots of the version of visioning for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina called Variety Beats Uniformity - to give a little more idea of the process and product... there's around a dozen frames, each expanding from the previous - of which I've included a few (images via NRDC):













It's quite a dramatic transformation. An interesting addition for this visual is an alternative view of the area seen as a residential area instead of the final mixed use version above.



The idea of the iterative visuals (instead of the typical before/after that we often do) are incredibly powerful, showing the aggregation of changes and improvements - not a snapshot of a distant future - and also allow for alternative scenarios. I'm thinking of the rudimentary 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books where you could establish a range of visions, then give some points of decision for clients or others to pick - which would allow the story to unfold along multiple pathways.

I also checked out the closest example in Eugene, Oregon, and it looked pretty great - (with the exception of the slip road, but that may be my own personal transportation bias)... It'd be interesting to see if there's a mechanism for sharing these videos aside from the embedded flash videos... (aside from my above screen shots) they would be an amazing resource for meetings and presentations.

SITE Videos

A Daily Dose of Architecture continued my retro kickback weekend - with some amazing videos related to the 1970s and 1980s big box stores designed by James Wines and his firm SITE. Some of the most known of these are retail stores for the now defunct BEST Stores which I guess wanted an exterior to match their slightly odd interior business model. Check out all five of the videos via YouTube links at Archidose... here's one for a sneak peek.


And a post is definitely in order for the work of Wines and SITE... which were the provocateurs of the time for sure and definitely dabbled into the veg.itectural as well. In the meantime, some pics of the more erosive and the mired...

:: BEST Store - image via Joannemcneil


:: BEST Store - image via Flickr- Tom Spaulding


:: Ghost Parking - image via West North

Playgrounds in the Sky

The great retro-blog Modern Mechanix is a great visit down memory lane. As a kid that poured through issues of Popular Mechanics and the like dreaming of inventions and innovations, the content is pretty compelling - predominantely to connect some of the 'visonary' new ideas with their historical precedents. A recent interesting post 'Playgrounds in the Sky' takes a visual tour of some Mechanix Illustrated from the April 1957 issue. Some imagery from the magazine:




:: images via Modern Mechanix

According the Mechanic Illustrated text, these somewhat utopian designs are planned for keeping kids off the streets and give them viable places for play that keeps them literally off the streets and out of trouble. It is an interesting social experiment, and there definitely have been some versions we've featured here at L+U... perhaps in certain circumstances, the need for recreation would make these viable.

This was the idea, even back in 1957. From the text: "No miracles of engineering are needed. Technically, with the know-how we possess right now, no insurmountable problem exists. Declares Henry Kohler, a prominent New York architect who is editor of the Bulletin of the Brooklyn chapter of the American Institute of Architects: “Certainly it can be done. Even though roofs are of different heights, even though some buildings are narrower than others, there is no limit to the size of the playground which can be built. You can build a gym up there or you can construct a center big enough for a baseball field, grandstand included!"

:: images via Modern Mechanix

The use of the street is something of a cultural touchstone for urban and suburban play. Even in the relatively small community I grew up in, the street was heavily used for a number of uses by neighborhood kids - with the periodic moving for traffic or digging in a storm drain for an errant ball. While not replacing the street, perhaps the roofs could augment and expand recreation - perhaps getting that kid to put down the X-box and pick up a ball. Need a bit more greenery though - even for a playground.

No Shortage of Site Furnishing Options

The eternal quest for more innovative furnishings always leaves mean amazed by the constant and never-ending iterations of a flat or semi-flat slab, 15-18 inches high, and able to last in outdoor situations and be cleverly placed or comfortable enough to place ones ass on for a spell. Different materials, configurations, and just plain oddities are the sum of this post - all with the same goal - take a seat.

The first is an interesting use of 'found' objects to create seating - perhaps in that next parade or police action - when the need to sit comes - you have got to take advantage of what's in close proximity. Contemporist shows this project by Jeffrey Gerlach and Andrew Stanley, Industrial and Interaction Design students at Syracuse University, DPW ADK - an adirondack version with an upcycled flair.






:: images via Contemporist

There a trend toward very interactive and sometimes acrobatic furniture, and a couple of projects touch on this idea. First is the 'Swingers' chair, via The Design Blog - the point of which I have not a clue.


:: image via The Design Blog

And the second, a more flexible option - art piece, kinetic sculpture, and multi-function bench - The Turn is a warped tank-tread design that looks equally appropriate in the gallery, some playtime, for some snoozing time in the park.






:: images via The Design Blog

Not necessarily 'site' furnishings, I couldn't resist these grassy wall panels from Design Miami 08 from the HSBC Private Bank lounge designed by Humberto and Fernando Campana - which via Dezeen take the: "...form of an “Oca” – a traditional communal dwelling from the Amazonian forest."




:: images via Dezeen

Some more contemporary examples as well, including one of my favorites - The Stones stool - designed by Marco Maran - although I've yet to get these on a project, ah recessions... via Contemporist.


:: image via Contemporist

Another modular example is The Campus Bench with its continuous forms that allow for infinite iterations and configurations. Simple and effective.

:: image via The Design Blog

And a significantly more shiny example of curvilinear modular seating via Contemporist - the Italian manufacturer Altreforme provided the simple and sexy Liquirizia modular seating.

:: images via Contemporist

And in closing, my absolute favorite. Leave it to the Scandinavians to dress up 'rustic' park furniture with a modern touch... via Vulgare. Kinda beats the National Forest versions... Nice.

:: image via Vulgare

Five Things...

Another indication of the trend of 2009... a post by The Architects Journal offers five things to do for January 12th... the first of which is to Veg out:


:: image via Archispass

"Ken Yeang seems to be the current king Vegitect. It's true that Michael Sorkin first used the word 'vegitecture' in a 1979 article about a theoretical style called architecture minceur. Yes – it is confusing, but here is one line straight into the heart of the issue."

Sunday Crossword

As an obsessive crossword addict that spends a portion of Sundays on the couch working on the NY Times puzzle of the week, (and time-permitting some of the weeks puzzles as well) I couldn't resist this interesting installation that arcady over at gardenhistorygirl dropped on her site last week. Call it at-grade green roofing meets land art meets typeface design - this 2007 installation by studio msk7 temporary crossword puzzle installation at the Berliner Gendarmenmarkt.


:: image via gardenhistorygirl

From msk7: "From 5th May to 17th June 2007 the artists’ group msk7 is transforming Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt into a walk-in crossword puzzle. Special vegetation mats form words, citing the Berliners’ penchant for absorbing French words and sounds into their everyday speech. ...“The history of the language of the urban populace is also part of the history of the city … Huguenots, French émigrés fleeing the Revolution, on numerous occasions occupying forces. They all left traces that linger, which, sometimes well-concealed, surface again in common turns of speech and in typical snappy Berlin sayings and are also always time capsules recording echoes of their era.” (Ewald Harndt, "Französisch im Berliner Jargon")"


:: images via msk7

And some of the installation photos, as the 'solution' to the puzzle was discovered and filled in. I think it's a fascinating idea of an interactive and ephemeral landscape installation that involves connection with the community in a literal and physical way. As many installation reference community, this one really engages - through public space and language, the idea of community interaction.

:: images via msk7

Some additional photos of the final installation:

:: images via gardenhistorygirl

Our Crumbling Infrastructure [aka Call Before You Dig]

[UPDATE: 01.10.09 - As mentioned, I recieved this as an email forward - one of those ubiquitous things that get pitched around in our digital age - thus had no context in which to verify the story. Thus, it turns out that the pics are from a corrosion-related rupture of the high pressure gas line along the Williams/Transco line north of the City of Appomattox, which occurred on September 14th of 2008. Apologies for the misinformation - but as I mentioned, one of those things that makes you wonder about our crumbling infrastructure, and you should still call and locate prior to doing any digging. Read more about it here. Also the pics are from a flickr photo stream from mattandashley - for proper attribution ...

...thanks to Dick for the comment pointing out the error - and thanks for the 7000+ visits for my stats - much appreciated - and not bad for a mistake!]

Call Before You Dig! - Original Post from 01.09.09
A colleague at work shot out the recent email with the caption above - showing the negative impacts of failing to locate subsurface utilities prior to digging.

The email, from an engineering firm, had the following text: "Take a look and see if “call before you dig” is a waste of time. These pictures are a result of mechanical post hole digging without calling for “locater service”. The employee hit an underground high pressure cross country gas pipe. Notice the point of contact was in the “middle of nowhere” of which some of your contractors may have used this very phrase."


:: point of impact - check out the scale on the 'crater'

The pics say it all...









Thanks Tim for the forward... yikes!

Veg.itecture #49: VIVA + VIA

As promised, a slight modification of the Veg.itecture posts - due both to the enormous amounts of projects out there, but also based on a need for some different needs for both built and design projects. So, as promised - in the upcoming 50th post on the series on Vegetated Architecture, an evolution of sorts that provides some of the flexibility to address a broader spectrum of these literally 'green' projects.

VIVA = Veg.itecture In Visual Assessment
This is designation is provided to capture the widespread conceptual adoption of the use of greening facades, rooftops, and interiors - but do not provide a whole lot of information - sort of the who, what, and where - but not necessarily the why nor the how. Part representational critique, part speculative narrative, these posts will explore the potential of the movement.




:: ORDOS 100 residence, by Architects: R&Sie(n) - images via Arch Daily

VIA = Veg.itecture in Action
This designation is aimed at a more rigorous analysis of both vegetated architecture projects and principles - using built projects (or those unbuilt projects with significant information and details available). More detailed and critical, the aim of these posts will be to learn and expand the potential of what is possible in the craft. The reality of these projects can be deconstructed - although there still is some potential information gaps - like determining whether the below project is real turf or synthetic... i honestly can't tell, but I'm guessing the latter.




:: Royal T Project by wHY Architecture - images via Arch Daily

As always, there will be additional posts looking at more specific ideas, technologies, and projects in greater detail - but look forward to the continuing series of posts periodically in both VIVA and VIA categories - marking a continual refinement of Landscape+Urbanism and the coverage of this sub-genre of architecture, landscape and urbanis, a phenomenon that is sure to continue in 2009.

Garden Ratings Made Easy

There has been a number of posts from landscape blogs in the past two days regarding the NY Times article related to the Sustainable Sites Initiative, the initiative to broaden the scope of site issues related to green building and design. It's great that the initiative is getting ink, and definitely take the time to offer comments to make the system better. That said, the article threw me off from the beginning with the title 'How Green is Your Garden? A New Rating System May Tell You', skewing the scope and breadth of landscape architecture and distilling it into the concept of gardening.


:: images via NY Times

That is not to say there isn't a bit of info regarding the true breadth of the topic... "The 179-page report, produced after three years of research by a diverse group of architects, landscape architects, ecologists and engineers, includes proposed guidelines for creating sustainable landscapes, as well as diverse examples of successful restoration projects, from Point Fraser, in Perth, Australia, where a toxic wetland full of heavy metals now supports native plants and wildlife, to the Queens Botanical Garden, in Flushing, N.Y., where harvested rainwater feeds into ornamental water gardens, and gray water from sinks, dishwaters and showers is cleansed by plants and used to flush toilets.

The report also includes a point system for rating a landscape, much like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, which rates the sustainability of buildings. The LEED system, created by the United States Green Building Council, a private group of architects, engineers, builders, manufacturers and others, has been around since 1993. But its ratings — even platinum, the highest one, so sought-after by green builders — focus much more on buildings than on the land around them."

It also expands on some of the detail missed in LEED - which I think is the biggest benefit of the new system. Read some interesting dialogue about this on Land8Lounge here. "The initiative, on the other hand, goes into detail, specifying the kinds of plants, for example, that can be used to cleanse a disturbed wetland; how trees can be used to shade a building, protect it from wind, prevent erosion and clean the air; and what kind of plantings enhance mental health, draw people outside the building and even engage them in tending the landscape."

The point that is missing is that it involves more than gardening, which the article dives back into with abandon - taking a tour of the United States Botanical Garden, which is interesting, but missing the greater discussion of sustainability and the landscape. Addressing the vital yet on-sided aspect of native plants, no irrigation, permeable walkways, and no pesticide use - all very appropriate for a garden landscape - but how about an urban plaza or waterfront.


:: image via US Botanic Garden

There's a bit of mashing about with the energy efficiency of greenhouses and such, but the article is really a puff piece about the garden - not a true story of what the SSI can do. Oh well, I'm sure the conversation will continue, and some great photos of plant closeups are included as well.


:: images via NY Times

I'm being coy of course, and there is a good amount of solid information in the article, and the old adage there's no such thing as bad press does work here - but we really need to elevate the conversation beyond these simple fundamentals and picturesque garden archetypes - to establishing credibility as a way of conducting design, implementation, and maintenance of landscape beyond the garden and into the city. Sustainable Sites is not a small and home/garden topic and implementation - it's green infrastructure, urban design, sustainable communities, public space design, parks, water resources, carbon sequestration and energy efficiency... much like landscape architecture, it's complex and expansive, and it can't be simplified to mere gardening.

Blackburn Gateway

A quick email from Jem at Eaton Waygood Associates in the UK offered a couple of pics of a current project for a gateway for Blackburn. As I'm a sucker for anyone named Jem, I thought I'd drop a few photos into a post. From the email: "The work has a masonry side, (drystone wall, local stone) and a green side (ivy growing in coir troughs at various levels) The work is a gateway both for the town of Blackburn and for the Pennine landscape."




:: images via Eaton Waygood

A little digging came up with some addition information on the project, including a link to a longer narrative and plan graphic... some additional info: "The scheme will be celebrated by a welcoming piece of artwork as the main gateway feature to the Roundabout opposite the Red Lion Public House. North West based artists, Eaton Waygood Associates have been commissioned to create a piece of work that is reflective of the local area. The work takes the form of a dry stone wall orientated along the axis of the road leading to the town centre. The ‘wall’ rises from the edges of the roundabout to a height of some 6 metres above road level and is cleft in two at its midpoint to form a cutting. Hanging above this cutting and supported from each face of the wall is a sphere constructed from intersecting steel plates. The reverse side of the “wall” is clad in ivy forming a green surface, again with the cutting and the sphere dominating the centre of the work. Lighting forms a major part of the work with both the sphere and wall illuminated to dramatic effect."


:: image via CB Partners

And from some of the news articles the project, much like all art - has recieved mixed results.


:: image via Lancashire Telegraph

About Eaton Waygood: "Eaton Waygood Associates are environmental artists and designers concerned with the fusion of art and public space in urban regeneration. The practice is firmly rooted in the application of artistic principles to urban design, working to create places rich in meaning, dramatic in appearance, and individual in character. This design approach crosses the boundaries of art, urban design, public space, landscape architecture and product design. EWA are members of the Urban Design Group, Art & Architecture and Public Art Forum."

China's Mixed Signals

The explosive growth of China has offered a dichotomy - on one hand the speed and voraciousness of development has created unprecedented impacts from natural resource consumption and pollution; on the other, the country has created a number of evocative potential eco-city planning examples that have excited and intrigued - giving hope that amidst the chaos, some innovation was possible as well. The Olympics were hailed as an environmental and architectural success, while Bill McDonough's Huangbaiyu project went bust due to cultural misinformation. The dichotomy of China continue to amaze - and offer perhaps a pulse on the global state of green urbanism. A further look at some of this planning duality in action comes from a couple of recent articles.

The first, from the Christian Science Monitor, investigates the demise of the much lauded eco-city of Dongtan (covered in brief here on L+U). Sold as the model eco-city, Arup mentioned a number of the green features back in 2005: "Dongtan will produce its own energy from wind, solar, bio-fuel and recycled city waste. Clean technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells will power public transport. A network of cycle and footpaths will help the city achieve close to zero vehicle emissions. Farmland within the Dongtan site will use organic farming methods to grow food."

:: image via Christian Science Monitor

So what happenend? Was it unattainable utopia coming back, or more base human failure? Maybe a bit of both - sprinkled with simple economics. CSM starts: "In a country overloaded with environmental challenges, Dongtan is a symbol of political overreach that straddles nearby Shanghai and Britain, the home base of Arup, the firm that dreamed up Dongtan. Its failings show the limits to getting bold ideas off the drawing board, even in China’s top-down political culture, where outsized schemes get traction."

When the mayor of Shanghai was arrested for property fraud in 2006, it put the brakes on a the development, although Arup is not giving up hope for the project and developers. "That hasn’t stopped Arup from promoting Dongtan as a vision of a green future, says Paul French, a director of AccessAsia, a consultancy in Shanghai, and a project critic. “They’re still getting mileage out of it, even though it’s dead in the water,” he says. Other countries have their own eco-dreams: Abu Dhabi plans to build an elevated, carbon-neutral city by 2016 at a price tag of $22 billion. Like Dongtan, it aims to attract clean-energy companies and research institutes. While ecocities offer a bold leap forward, China is making tangible progress in other green design issues, such as building codes to promote efficient use of water, soil, and energy. Some developers are applying international standards to construct and retrofit buildings, though these are voluntary, and such buildings are few. Many cities have their own codes."

In the grand scheme of things - there's a tough road to making any city - particularly from scratch, much less one that is trying to do as much as some of these model eco-cities. Are they viable in good economies? Maybe. In bad ones - where their benefits could be greatest - they seem to be a non-starter. Time will tell what the fate of Dongtan, Abu Dhabi, and other eco-cities will be.

The second article from Environmental News Network (ENN) gives some context to the connections between slow(er) growth and smarter growth. 'Now China is growing slower, can it grow cleaner?' offers some good news in the case of reductions of pollution - although the reasons are typically given to less building rather than better, cleaner building.

In the wave of economic distress - it will be interesting to see how some of the visionary projects will fare - even if they promise long-term environmental and economic gains. While a slow-down in development pace gives perhaps a moment to ponder, it is more likely that it's a straight cause and effect - less development equals less pollution - period. When the economy recovers, it's likely that there will be more examples of boutique eco-city development - but the sum total of what is built will perhaps be greener, but not necessarily green. The reason is that we have not been able to re-imagine a revised accounting system that accomodates ecosystem services and benefits of nature into the equation.

Or as mentioned in the article, we will be driven by one thing, and one thing only - growth. From ENN: "Safeguarding economic growth is the absolute No.1 priority of the authorities," said Wei Weixian, an energy professor at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics. ...The government might have to turn a blind eye to the rebound of some polluting heavy industries." For the moment, Beijing can afford to make some systemic changes that will nicely serve both needs."

Veg.itecture #48

With the first Veg.itecture post of 2009, we start to integrate some of the ideas that budded in late 2008. These included more technical interpretation of projects, more discussion of plants, and potential maintenance concerns related to these projects - to add a level of rigor to the visuals. Obviously, as mentioned, this comes with some limitations due to availability of information, but I think the pushing for more information will be vital to a more thorough understanding of projects. Also, a more broad-scaled overview of resources will be included - tapping into the greater intellectual world of vegetated architecture that is growing exponentially. This is not to say there won't be a visual interpretation - as I feel these are important studies to see what's out there being visualized, designed, built, and maintained. More to come, but for now, some projects.

Starting with some of the eye-candy turning into reality, these images of the Khan Shatyry Entertainment Centre in Astana, the capital city of Kazhakstan by Foster+Partners - is starting to take shape (via Contemporist). First some images of the design:






:: images via Contemporist

And some current construction pics - which I have no technical commentary except to say, that with enough capital, and a big enough crane, anything is possible.




:: images via Contemporist

Next is a bit more practical LEED-Platinum building in downtown St. Louis for the William Kerr foundation, via Jetson Green. The project is located at a former bathhouse, and you can read more from ED+C, which published a case study on the project in May of last year. The project has a modular green roof, which counts for multiple LEED credits, as well as bioswales for additional stormwater management and rain barrels for water efficiency improvements.


:: image via Jetson Green

From the images, it looks like a combination of tray system and green roof bag systems - most likely provided by Green Roof Blocks, a Missouri-based company that provides both components. Their tray system is called Green Roof Blocks, and is a system consisting of 2'x2' metal trays, prefilled with growing media and preplanted prior to installation on the roof. The bag system is a product called GreenPaks, which are 20x32" soil-filled knit polyethylene bags that are sliced open and planted after being located on the roof.


:: image via Jetson Green

I still have concerns over the preponderance of tray and bag systems - as I'm not a fan of unnecessary materials on the roof - if you don't need it. There are some particular conditions that require tray systems, such as a lot of rooftop equipment or the need to move trays - and I think for longevity, the metal trays would be more sturdy over time than many of the plastic versions offered by other companies. I'm really mystified by the GreenPaks, as it seems like in situ soils make more sense, as it would be virtually impossible to move these after they've been sliced open and planted - as the polyethylene will break down over time. Mostly I think it's unnecessary stuff - as it'd be an interesting study to look at embodied energy in product of all that 'stuff' on the roof. But alas, people, particularly architects, owners and general contractors, just love 'products' that can be specified, bought, and installed rather than custom systems - even if they cost up to 3x as much. Images of Green Roof Blocks and Green Paks below:




:: images via Green Roof Blocks

An interesting retail store Tanishq from Arch Daily is by the NY firm Pompei A.D., with some pics of their store in Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, N.J. New Jersey Mall greening - yummy.


:: image via Arch Daily

The garland of greenery, which looks like Pothos, a common houseplant, comes with the following descriptive text - opening up that age-old conceptual link of the jewelry-nature continuum: "The concept for the Tanishq store developed out of a study of the relationship between the customer and the jewelry, along with the role that nature plays in binding them together. Jewelry is created by taking elements from nature and refining them. Human beings are similar in that we are products of nature but have spent our lives refining ourselves. The design of the store brings these two together in a “garden”, an oasis where the customer is free to relax while her senses are enlivened by the depth of the experience."




:: images via Arch Daily

How would one go about designing interior greening? Well there is one more option - tipped from vulgare in a post 'Patrick Blanc for everybody!' - featuring yet another company selling another product - in this case the evocatively named FytoWall - by an Australian company FytoGreen - offering a number of systems and products based around manufacture of urea melamine formaldehyde resin. Naturally, it's a good material for vertical applications.






:: images via FytoWall

One interesting application is the use of varieties of grasses - particulary this application in the Frankston Private Hospital: "The design comprised a turf base with flowing lines of highlight species such as Erigeron, Festuca, Black Mondo."


:: image via FytoWall

Another interesting aspect is the FytoWall Research +Development Wall, which allows the company to test out product installation. It is located in Somerville, Victoria.

:: R+D Wall - image via FytoWall

A quick review of details and technical specifications shows that it bears some similarities to the G-Sky product - with an obviously different panel and mounting system. This site is worthy of a single more encompassing post, so look for it as well.

:: Selection of 3-D Schematic - image via FytoWall

And another resource for all those interested in learning more up-to-the-minute information on green roofs and walls is Sky Gardens - the complementary blog to the comprehensive Greenroofs.com website by Linda Velasquez - who has been rounding up info, articles, and case studies on vegetated architecture for years. The blog is essentially a more accessible portal for the regular columns on the site, with commentary from a range of professionals in the green roof industry (emphasis, particularly, on the word - 'industry').

:: London reflections on green roofs - image via Sky Gardens

Some interesting posts in the past 6 months outline a number of happenings in the green roof world, including coverage of the 2008 World Green Roof Congress in London, England, and highlights from the recent Green Roof Safari - which was covered here on L+U last year. Check out the blog - you won't be disappointed.

:: Seen on the safari - image via Sky Gardens

To Infinity and Beyond

A concept of landscape architecture and site design involves the acknowledgement of desire paths, those etched remnants of the accumulation of thousands of footsteps over a particular planted area. While often this idea is used to determine the future location of pathways - there are millions of urban 'desire paths' that are created by the innate need to follow the path of least resistance.

:: desire path betondorp - via Keeshu (Flickr)

An installation 'Infinity' by Mai Yamashita + Naoto Kobayashi takes the concept to the extreme to create a distinct tracery for the exhibition RE-IMAGINING ASIA: "For eight days, the artist duet will be trampling the symbol of infinity (figure eight lying outstretched), in the grass until its trace is visible in the ground well after grass has grown over it again. Little by little, we become aware of the enduring impression that daily rituals can make on us."

:: image via vulgare

:: image via HKW

:: image via vulgare

:: image via Yamashita+Kobayashi

The idea is much more impressive in video, such as the one on their site, or this YouTube version here. Looks like a good workout as well.



Thanks Thomas from VULGARE for pointing this one out...

Best Careers 2009

I'm having one of those deja vu moments from last year, as a recent post from ASLA's Blog The Dirt linked to a US News & World Report article that named Landscape Architecture one of the Best Careers of 2009. And lo and behold, it's a snappy cut and past job (mostly from last years kudos...). More interesting is a stream of comments from LAs around the country - giving a voice to the fact that the economy hurts even some of the best fields. Not to minimize the fact that people are being laid off, but the point being it's a career - implying time, ups, downs, and needing flexibility, of which landscape architects possess - those wide-ranging and adaptable skillset to make it through life's recessions. Stick with it.

"Overview. Yes, you might end up creating palatial backyards for rich people, but you might also help design restored wetlands, mountain resorts, urban plazas, and zoos. A landscape architect must have talent for both the aesthetic and the functional, the art and the science—you're creating an ecosystem that must thrive over time. Indeed, sustainability has increasingly become a high priority among many landscape designers and clients. One of the latest innovations includes green roofs, which are plants set in a layer of compost over a moisture-proof barrier.


:: Got compost? - image via Jetson Green

Since it costs little to open up shop, 20 percent of landscape architects are self-employed. Those who are less entrepreneurial work for firms or for the government. One thorn: Landscape architecture projects are subject to an ever growing thicket of government regulations. To be content in this career, it helps if you're an avid environmentalist and can tolerate the often labyrinthine approvals process. And if the stress builds, you can always seek a moment of peace in one of your landscape projects."

I'll spare you the rest as it's virtually a carbon-copy of '08, but it is interesting the focus this year which includes Ecosystem Restoration as a 'smart speciality' and mentions China as a hot place for practice, along with a link to an ASLA interview with Chinese landscape architect Jie-Hu, designers of the Beijing Olympic Forest Park.


:: image via ASLA

2009: A Year in Preview

It's funny reading the breakdowns of 2008, and the masses of predictions for 2009, (and a great one for 2010) specifically as the economy still reels due to wide-spread mismanagement, and there seems to be a non-stop (yet perhaps slower) parade of amazing, crazy, and just plain wrong projects - as witnessed in 2008. What will be the next big thing? It won't last, of course, but will be etched in our history - at least as a sidenote - with importance determined by font size, as in this diagram from "Modern Movements in Architecture” by Charles Jencks (1973).


:: image via In The Belly of an Architect

So, in lieu of predictions, I will offer a manifesto and guiding principles which will direct Landscape+Urbanism for the upcoming year, sort of. I'm still planning on more of the same, as I don't particularly care what others think of my blog, because I'm not writing it for anyone except me. Solipsism is good. This in mind, as always content is subject to the whims of culture, of course, and my personal schizophrenic nature when it comes to focus - but at least some form of predictions - which will of course, like new years resolutions - be forgotten by Groundhogs Day. So for now, here's some random musings, and an excuse to drop a bunch of links.

Veg.itecture will die of its own excesss and will be replaced with a world where every building image will be draped in shrubbery - with the exception of Modern architecture - which still views landscape as a blank field in which to drop the objet'd'art. This will mark the subsequent death of some other words in the lexicon - as evidenced by this 'dead-words' post from Lebbeus Woods. Designers will be able to design any building, and then apply the Vegitecture filter in Photoshop to make them look green.


:: image via Archispass

Metaphorical monumentality will be replaced with true monumentality - on a scale not seen since the construction of the pyramids, we wil mobilize, through economic-induced 'slave' labor - to construct monuments to our excess that are physical, rather than merely being paper - to show our true colors. See this post from Life Without Buildings for more.


:: The Colossus of Rhodes (Dali) - image via Life Without Buildings

Green will be replaced with blue as the color of choice for sustainability - due to climate change, air quality issues, water scarcity, and water quality issues. Green will be seen as a blight - and will be summarily eradicated from discussion, work, and our general pysche. It will be easier.


:: Waterflux - image via Arch Daily

Anyone using the words 'LEEDing the way' or its many variations will be killed... nuff said.

:: image via WebUrbanist

Relaxation will be the new 'work'. Think about it... how much time is spent working on crap, or crap we don't like, whereas a relaxed spirit and mind allows us to tap into our untapped creativity - making even crap somewhat lovely. And, if it's true our construction moratorium is good for sustainability, then non-building is good building. Let's all take a nap.

:: Oliver Bishop-Young’s SkipWaste project - image via Dezeen

Streets will be cool again: Forget Green Streets, as we've killed sustainability and the use of the word green - so these linear transportation networks will merely be known as streets... stormwater, pedestrian safety, multi-modes, sustainable, safe, and other benefits included - it's called green infrastructure. They will be transformed on a monumental scale. We will dance on the graves of old streets.

:: image via Treehugger

Infrastructure will be replaced with megastructure. Megastructure is based on bottom-up design that is flexible, adaptable, and self-organizing... like cities. See more here and here.

:: Archigram's Plug-In City, prototypical Megastructure - image via urb

We are reaching an apex of sorts. The trip down is going to be exciting, but the bottom is gonna be really, really bad. Or good, I'm feeling optimistic. Oh right, this isn't a bell curve, it's linear...

:: image via Treehugger