Architectural Sub-Genre?

My daily email of clipping from Arch News Now made me do a double take when I scanned the word Vegitecture in the title of a post by Dan Stewart on Building blogs 'Drawn State' entitled 'Vegitecture - whose idea was it, anyway?'


:: EDITT Tower, Ken Yeang - image via Drawn State

From Drawn State: "I was at a Movers’n’Shakers breakfast this morning and happened to bump into someone from Llewellyn Davies Yeang. I had just seen this image of Daniel Libeskind’s latest tower in New York, and said I thought it bore a remarkable resemblance to Ken Yeang’s various “vegitecture” buildings. Vegitecture is essentially the use of organic materials as an element of construction. It has mainly manifested itself over here as sedum walls, but the idea goes further – looking at how rainwater can be harvested and air purified using natural means. Yeang, who has been lecturing on the concept for years, has even suggested the concept of a “vertical farm” where tenants grow their own fruit and vegetables on the walls and roofs. Back to the Libeskind similarity. It turns out some at LDY have thought exactly the same thing as me, with e-mails flying back and forth remarking on the resemblance. However my source assured me the practice was flattered at the resemblance, rather than concerned about plagiarism. Vegitecture has now become an architectural sub-genre - US superarchitect Perkins + Will have also jumped on the veggie bandwagon. Who is to say, now that Libeskind has joined suit, that some of his fellow starchitects might not do the same thing?"

:

: Madison Square Park Tower, Daniel Libeskind - image via Drawn State

I do like the reference to architectural sub-genre of veg.itecture... and as far as a chronology of true Vegitecture, obviously Yeang is an early pioneer - not just as an aesthetic endeavor but in truly combining landscape and architecture for improving and substituting building systems. It's heartening to see the crowd following and learning and mimicking these (and improving on them) - and these pages at L+U suggest that the sub-genre is alive and well. Lo and behold, another reference on Web Urbanist with a snippet of Vegitecture Sustainable Community Design - featuring mostly the the work of Ken Yeang.

Via WebUrbanist: "What if architects thought of ‘green’ as a building material, an integral material to be thought of throughout the design process or even as the basis for it? This visionary community design wraps green into every layer, aspect and dimension of the design to the point where sustainability runs through the final project like an endless mobius strip, completely interwoven with the rest of the architecture on the site."

:: images via WebUrbanist

A quick google search shows that the term is starting to creep into the subconscious of the architectural lexicon and become the domain of architects and landscape architects... Which to me, is amazing. Remember, unless you happen to be Michael Sorkin, you know where you heard it first. Guess it's time for that trademarking :)

The Roots of Vegitecture

As I made reference to previously, Steve at The Sesqui.pedali.st presented me with a digital copy of the article 'Vegitecture' by Michael Sorkin, published in the 1979 issue of WET Magazine. After a quick read (it's 3 pages illustrated) and a warning from Steve that it had NOTHING to do with Vegetated Architecture, here's my thoughts.

:: image via the Sesqui.pedali.st

Page one left me feeling confused, as much by the text as the illustrations of 'building costumes'. It turns out Vegitecture in this context is a fictional interview with Malcolm Wattle, whom is a purveyor of a new style known as architecture minceur (which a quick translation defined as 'slimness'). The most clear referent is the idea of cuisine minceur, which was a spa-based food fad in France which spawned the modern equivalent of Lean Cuisine. What it boils down to (haha) is a parable of food-based architecture - akin to perhaps an early idea of building integrated urban agriculture :)

"We do like to use fresh, natural materials whenever we can but they've gotten so terribly hard to find. Really, do you know any builder nowadays who uses really fresh tomatoes? ... Everybody in the profession says today's tomatoes don't taste anything like they used to, but that if you're planning more than three or four stories you need a really firm veg. and we are going to wind up having to make certain sacrifices in the flavor department."

Using cutesy project examples such as Maison Almondine and the Garlic House, and using the food analogy as a parable for design critique? "But word is getting out. Every week students come to look at the Maison Pastrami and we have begun to hear quite a few favorable remarks. Knock-offs of the beefsteak baluster are beginning to show up in other people's work. You know, the originals were grown right across the river in New Jersery."

:: image via the Sesqui.pedali.st

Continuing on, the second page was rife with more metaphor - this time in terms of ornament... using the idea of clothing as the vehicle instead of vegetables: "What we said was that buildings should have larger wardrobes. Honestly, why should buildings dress the same all the time? ... Heaven knows they can afford it."

Alas the imagery on the first page starts to make sense draped in the clothing metaphor (hehe) - and the idea of static architecture is challenged through the idea of daily change. "It's absolutely ludicrous to see so many buildings standing around on weekends wearing exactly the same boring checks and pinstripes they've been sporting the whole week long. The weekend is the time for fun!"

And this continues to seasonal change - with some reference to vegetation (vegitecture?) "As for spring, the coming of la primavera should be a major event in the life on any well-clad ediface. Trees and shrubs are a lovely touch, an homage to nature's miracle of rebirth."

The metaphorical romp continues, with reference to buildings showing 'duct'. "We do like a building to be naughty, but that doesn't mean expose everything. Everyone knows it isn't sexy if nothing is left to the imagination." and of the need to only address the building's lobby... "Everywhere there should be gleaming stainless and potted plants; more than likely a ficus benjaminus, perhaps perched upon a piece of fuzzy camel-colored carpet with a little knot of Barcelona charis clustered nearby -- never sit on these chairs, they're only there for show!"

:: image via the Sesqui.pedali.st

The final page was mercifully short on text and long on disturbing illustrations... making for a climatic ending of quick and random question and answer. An example: "How should a building act?"... "We do like a building to be friendly but also like a building to be rude. So let's see some saucy false noses! Why not goose the building next door! If a building is really going to be good, somebody's view has got to be blocked."

Ok, so I get the architectural critique and thinly veiled dissing down the jabs as firms doing blah design "...As to color, flesh tones are very, very big. As a matter of fact, there are some thrilling offices here in town (I think you know who we mean!) buying prismacolor in just that one fabulous hue." That's the kind of stuff you say to colleages over a beer and never in print. So kudos to Mr. Sorkin.

Furthermore, I'm not sure if the random typos, reprints, and misspellings are just a funky part of the magazine or just bad editing - but it's more zine-like than fine writing - which makes the message even more powerful - coming from the underbelly - not the establishment. And how many articles can get away with gemslike this? "There's only one shape for skyscrapers and we think you know what it is? Give you a hint: It's naughty! So learn from what almost half of us have in our pockets, learn from the Chrysler, learn from the Empire State, learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger!" and... "An iron lung is a machine for living. A house is a place to have a good time." Classic!

And finally, the term Vegitecture seems safe to redefine in the modern world as a serious term... with apologies to the ideas of Sorkin. This portmanteau, if you will, of Vegetation and Architecture, while alas not wholly original - at least can be somewhat new.

Urban Ag: Mass Planting

A February post on Urban Agriculture prompted some great comments and unlocked a few resources previously unknown to me. One included the Urban Farm mapping project Dott07. As posted by David Barrie, the project is "...a map of an 'edible' town in the North of England."


:: image via David Barrie

Via David Barrie: "The map proposes a landscape plan for Middlesbrough that integrates productive, urban agricultural landscape in to the future strategic planning of the town. The spatial vision is built on where local people grew food as part of an urban agriculture project that I led there."

This reminds me of a former project of mine and still thriving phenomenon of green maps which have a strong urban agriculture component. There are some localized techniques, as well as new business models - which have significant ramifications on urban form, ala Farmadelphia.

In a true example of Synchronicity, this post and my own urban ag post happening almost simultaneously - each picking up some loose edges the other missed. Together, it's a good survey of the urban ag terrain. One idea that was presented was more resources on roof-farming, via BLDGBLOG. Whoa!

:: images via BLDGBLOG

Via BLDGBLOG, "Swiss Cheese City... proposes that "vacancy in cities" is really "a starting point for a new urban form." Accordingly, the project hopes to "generate new possibilities from holes in the built fabric," such as "Special Cultivation Zones (SCZs)."Special Cultivation Zones are an urban land-bank, defined by "temporary boundaries within which land can’t be bought or sold, and emerging skills, social networks and locally-grown produce are cultivated in the ‘vacant’ city fabric."

Another, much more elegant designs (than the Sin-City or Portland versions) of high-rise agriculture from London with a similar name: 'The Vertical Farm Project' offers some sleek building forms that are reminiscent of the Knafo Kilmor building.




:: images via The Vertical Farm Project

In this journey, I also stumbled on Pruned's former use of the term 'Arbortecture' via Flickr regarding 'plants growing out of buildings'. This is a powerful precedent, albeit focussed more on the somewhat accidental - to my own vocabulary addition of Vegitecture... very, very cool - and I will post some Arbortecture favs soon.


:: Arbortecture - via Flickr, Keaggy

Also a recent occurence, I did find one additional reference to Vegitecture, in an essay by Michael Sorkin from 1979, in an issue of WET, the Magazine of 'Gourmet Bathing'. ? Anyone have a clue where to get a copy of that? This makes sense, as Michael Sorkin Studio and spin-off Terreform have strong, er, roots - in Vegetated Architecture.

Finis.

How appropriate to finish on a post from Frederick Law Olmsted - a man who constantly re-invented himself while 'inventing' the profession of landscape architecture.  So in that spirit of re-invention - my time and focus has shifted to my growing business, my studies, and other pursuits both professional and personal.

Blogging has also changed - and the profession(s) have benefit from this for the most part... there's a whole new generation of folks out there talking, discussing, and elevating the profession of landscape architecture, the pursuit of vegitecture, and the quest for enlightened urbanism.  I hope to do the same still, but in a different format - so i figure it is time to hang up the blog - 835 posts and 4.5 years later - for good this time.  Consider it my Independence Day.  I'm going to keep it visible, but not update anymore - as there's some good reading in there.

I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as i have.  Keep in touch!

Jason
07/02/12

Reading the Landscape

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN ON‐LINE READING GROUP SEEKING
MEMBERS. LETTERS OF INTEREST DEADLINE FEBRUARY 1ST.

READING THE LANDSCAPE is an on‐line reading group dedicated to fostering engaging dialogue about the shaping of our built environment. The inaugural group will begin reading The Landscape Urbanism Reader edit by Charles Waldheim the week of February 21st. The group will include a total of 15 people. Depending on the material selected, the format for the reading group will involve reading a chapter, essay, or article each week with asynchronous on‐line discussion regarding it during the following week. The format is intended to make it easier for busy professionals to participate.
After each week, one person will summarize the discussion as a blog post for public discussion.

Due to the limited size of the group and the desire to ensure dynamic and multiple perspectives through the inclusion of professionals of diverse backgrounds, the organizers are requesting Letters of Interest from those who would want to participate.

Letters are due February 1st, 2011 and should be sent to Jason King via email at jasonking.landscape@gmail.com. Notification to participants will be sent on February 9th. Content of the letter should include a brief biography and the reasons you want to participate.

READING THE LANDSCAPE is a collaboration between Damian Holmes founder of the
webzine World Landscape Architecture and news website Land Reader, Jason King,
editor of Vegitecture and Landscape + Urbanism, and Brian Phelps, co‐founder of
sitephocus.com. All are also avid practicing professionals in landscape architecture and
urban design.

###

For more information contact: Brian Phelps at bzorch@me.com , Jason King at
jasonking.landscape@gmail.com , or damian@worldlandscapearchitect.com

Urban Crossings - Los Angeles

Picking up on the threads of the Vegitecture post on 'Crossings', a post on The Dirt made mention of the plans to cap a number of freeways throughout Southern California. "According to The Architect’s Newspaper, there are four separate projects being considered across L.A.: one in Hollywood, one in downtown LA, and two in Santa Monica. “Hollywood Central Park would be built atop the 101 Freeway on a proposed 44-acre site between Santa Monica Boulevard and Bronson Avenue. Park 101 would be built atop the ‘Big Trench’ over the 101 Freeway downtown. Santa Monica is hoping to cap portions of the 10 Freeway between Ocean Avenue and 4th Street, and between 14th and 17th streets, creating five- and seven-acre parks.”


:: image via Architect's Newspaper

One project in this mix with some real traction is the Hollywood Freeway Central Park - which in 2008 developed a initial feasibility study with AECOM as the consultant. The report goes through a mix of analysis and exploration, along with a public involvement process. The idea of knitting the fabric of two severed neighborhoods with elevated park space drives the significant cost for capping projects - aiming to fix some of the damage done in the initial freeway routing.


:: image via AECOM

A range of graphics include some typical analysis - as I'm always interested in seeing the old chestnuts like figure-ground analysis in urban design studies. I'm a fan of the figure ground as a tool, and this case in point reinforces the power of this tool to 'detach' from a system and make key connections.

:: image via AECOM

In this case, most of these retain some of the key crossings... but take advantage of the ability to reorient circulation to create interesting spaces and maximize connectivity.


:: image via AECOM

A range of precedent studies included notable capping projects like Millennium Park (Chicago), Big Dig Park (Boston), Olympic Sculpture Park (Seattle), and others showing examples of spanning roadways to connect disparate portions of the urban fabric.


:: image via AECOM

Another graphic that seems to be in vogue (drawing from some of the scalar diagrams of the book Large Parks) - giving a sense of size and proportion to other established large urban park spaces.


:: image via AECOM

The final concept creates somewhat of a linear park corridor, which is really a series of medium sized park periodically bisected with crossroads. The programs run the gamut from passive spaces to sports fields, sculpture gardens to plazas offering a range of uses - connected by pathways and crossings. There seems to be a range of possible options to use this new space that have been explored in many project proposals - from agriculture to mixed use infill - meaning a park is merely one option.

:: image via AECOM

The simple photo-montage graphics show some dramatic before and after shots of the reclaimed space atop what was essentially a dead zone below.



:: images via AECOM

Obviously time and economics will tell if this is a viable strategy to implement in our cities. The experience with the costly and issue-prone Big Dig has soured some on the idea, although the spaces that are emerging atop the depressed roadway is starting to pay dividends for a new public realm. Burying is one thing - spanning and capping is another, taking advantage of the existing configuration of roadway 'canyons' to reconnect spaces. My thought is that it is not the silver bullet, (more like a really expensive band-aid) but necessary (in lieu of freeway removal altogether) to strategically reconnect areas of the urban fabric that have been severed to a degree where health and livability are forever degraded. The expense means a surgical analysis is necessary to determine where to locate these for maximum impact, as well as how to program the spaces appropriately to make use of the space. There has been much renewed talk about this, so I imagine we will see more of these in the not-so-distant-future. And I think that's a good sign.

Download the entire report here for the full story.

Veg.itecture: VIA Walls

As I recently mentioned, there is a steady parade of visuals promoting the veg.itectural - which make sense. The distance from idea to implementation is a common theme, and requires an amazingly large amount of coordination, client will, and ingenuity. We are constantly underwhelmed by the result - but more often amazed by what is actually available when the all of the stars align. A pair of posts, starting here, looks at the updated walls and roofs in the Vegitecture series.

WALLS
Walls... living, green, vegetated? Where to start. Jetson Green goes retro in an advert/post for Green Screen the old standby trellis system used on many a project. Urban Greenery drops a few old projects from Patrick Blanc in both Thailand and France. And for some newer content, first, via Inhabitat, is from Mexico City's El Japonez Restaurant, by Serrano Cherrem Architects‘ project with an inventive solid wall of vegetation. The wall, aside from being stunning, has purpose: "More than decorative in nature, the wall helps keep the thermostat steady throughout the year while infusing the interior spaces with fresh air." See some images and details below.

:: images via Inhabitat

Following up, a more more intricate (and less real fo sho) project by bluarch Architecture that for The Greenhouse Nightclub provides alternating discs of vinyl 'vegetation', LED lights, and wood - which oddly enough are supposed to "...convey the dynamic richness of nature as a living system." Read and see much more at Contemporist.

:: images via Contemporist

So you decide. Is the 'living system' or the artificial 'dynamic richness of nature' more successful? I guess they are both relevant, but real vs. metaphorical nature is one of those easy ones to get polarized about... Another hybrid is the Mossenger, spotted via VULGARE in the post Mossenger. The project entitled 'Sporeborn' by Anna Garforth uses moss as ink for wall-mounted writing.

:: images via VULGARE

Finally, I mentioned an interior living wall to go along with the Flowerbox building, and here's a pic - design by pulltab, image via Contemporist.

:: image via Contemporist

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.

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."