Downtown L.A. from Walt Disney Concert Hall. By Frank Gehry
An entrance from the plaza level.
That´s my architect husband
Sunday, December 25, 2011
My last pictures from Walt Disney Concert Hall. Los Angeles, California
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Lotte, Korea's First Supertower
Lotte World Tower, once called Lotte Jamsil Super Tower, is the fifth-tallest building under way in the world, says the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Chaebols, other than Lotte, have built the world's tallest towers. Yet the tallest building in Korea is the 308-m North East Asia Trade Tower at the Songdo International Business District.
The Lotte tower is just coming out of the ground. If finished by October 2015 as currently scheduled, the 123-story tower would rank as the seventh tallest of the world's eight supertowers over 500 m. The tallest is the 828-m Burj Khalifa in the Arab emirate of Dubai.
Since 1989, Lotte's founder and general chairman, Shin Kyuk-Ho, weighed 10 designs by three other architects before selecting the current design by New York City-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC. KPF's.
The construction of the mega columns
The temporary platform
REFERENCE:
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Kauffman Center designed by Moshe Safdie. Kansas
JE Dunn Construction's Kyle McQuiston takes us on a hardhat tour of the Moshe Safdie-designed Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Urban camouflage
Urban environments are crowded with all kinds of sights that are so common they often just seem to fade into the background. Signs, buildings, cars, the odd package waiting on a doorstep – they are all so ubiquitous that our minds somewhat block them out. Artist Ceyetano Ferrer takes the things that our minds gloss over and makes them almost disappear with clever urban camouflage.
Using photo stickers, Ferrer shows passers-by exactly what urban objects obscure. The sign on the street, the box in the corner, the billboard downtown: they all cover up another layer of the city. Ferrer’s clever method of peeling back the layers actually involves building up another layer that is ultimately akin to an invisibility cloak.
Reference:
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Analyzing disaster after Japan´s tsunami
Over the course of two hard-driving weeks in April, seven engineers and researchers comprising the ASCE/Structural Engineering Institute Tohuku Tsunami Reconnaissance Team, in collaboration members of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, examined nearly all the towns and cities with significant damage from the March 11, 2011 tsunami.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Artists to intervene City Planning
Rirkrit Tiravanija's "Bike Share," part of the "Civic Action" exhibition at the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park.
¨when all else fails, the visionary thinking of artists has become public policy. Ten years ago an artist turned mayor painted dilapidated buildings with bright primary colors in Tirana, Albania, performing a kind of art therapy on a depressed city. And in Bogotá, Colombia, traffic police were replaced with mimes in the hope of supplanting corruption and violence with playful street theater.
The situation in Long Island City isn’t as dire as in those localities. But that section of Queens has been threatened in recent decades by unchecked development, the loss of affordable housing and the chemical hangover of industrialization. And so the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park asked four artists to take a crack at city planning.
Long Island City has a history of artist involvement. In 1961 Isamu Noguchi, the celebrated Asian-American sculptor, moved there to be near stone suppliers and metal fabricators, into a building that would later became his museum. In the early ’80s Mark di Suvero, whose 11 behemoth sculptures occupied Governors Island this past summer — and who became obliquely affiliated with Occupy Wall Street, since his red steel sculpture looms over Zuccotti Park — turned a landfill across the street from Noguchi’s building into an outdoor studio, which eventually became Socrates Sculpture Park.
when all else fails, the visionary thinking of artists has become public policy. Ten years ago an artist turned mayor painted dilapidated buildings with bright primary colors in Tirana, Albania, performing a kind of art therapy on a depressed city. And in Bogotá, Colombia, traffic police were replaced with mimes in the hope of supplanting corruption and violence with playful street theater.
The future solutions in the exhibition “Civic Action: A Vision for Long Island City” at the Noguchi Museum range from site specific to silly.¨
¨If only the city could speak¨ intallation by Mary Miss
“Civic Action: A Vision for Long Island City” is on view through April 22 at the Noguchi Museum, 32-37 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens; (718) 204-7088, noguchi.org.
Read Martha Schwendener´s note in full:
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Plaga (?) de palomas en Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo. Yo también he tenido una foto de niña, junto a las palomas....
Foto de itaka.es
Como ya he contado en este blog, hace más de diez años ya, estuve haciendo peritajes en las escuelas de la capital de Buenos Aires. Y recuerdo un día, entrando a un aula, le pregunté a la maestra, aparte de las patologías constructivas que notaba a simple vista, si había algún problema que quisiera reportar. Y me respondió ¨las palomas, vea, cómo se acercan a la ventana, los chicos se encariñan, pero dejan todo lleno de heces y por supuesto traen psitacosis-¨
Esta cuestión más el hallazgo de dos escorpiones en el aula, fueron además parte de mi reporte sobre los inconvenientes constructivos del edificio. Ahora, luego de tantos años veo que la inquietud de esta maestra era bien fundada, baste mirar las cornisas de los edificios antiguos de Buenos Aires, muchos llenos de alambres para evitar que se posen estos lindos animalitos, de los cuales aún no se declara que sean plaga.
En el Sur de California, el mismo problema podría haberse suscitado con los cuervos, que cada día son más. He leído en Los Angeles Times que la mayor causa es la basura que los alimenta. Sin embargo, los residuos se dejan en contenedores de plástico bien duros, con tapa, que no pueden ser siquiera mordidos por roedores. A diferencia, en Buenos Aires aún se ve la basura dentro de las bolsas de consorcio.
De la nota de Laura Rocha para La Nación:
Palomas en Plaza de Mayo; atrás a la derecha, el Cabildo. Foto de turismoyargentina.com
Las palomas no son una plaga en la ciudad de Buenos Aires. Por lo menos, en los papeles. Y, aunque no son una especie invasora, aún no han sido declaradas oficialmente una amenaza, tal como sucede con las ratas o las cucarachas, especialistas en aves, funcionarios y vecinos se quejan de un aumento en la población de estas aves.
Una de las razones de la proliferación de estas aves es que no tienen un predador, por no ser especie nativa. Otra, también se apunta, es la cantidad de comida disponible que tienen que sólo fomenta su desarrollo.
En la Capital, muchos edificios, sus balcones, los equipos de aire acondicionados, los monumentos, bancos de las plazas, parques y varias iglesias son las más afectadas por las palomas, tanto por sus nidos como por sus heces.
En el parque Rivadavia, por ejemplo, se levanta un monumento al libertador Simón Bolívar, que muestra los vestigios del paso de estas aves. Ese monumento podría demarcar la línea divisoria entre los que piden que se controle su población y entre quienes la alientan. (...) Claudia Nardini, investigadora de la ONG Aves Argentinas, explicó: "En la ciudad de Buenos Aires habitan cinco especies silvestres: torcaza, torcacita , picazuró, ala manchada, yerutí y, por supuesto, la paloma doméstica. Se cree que tanto los gorriones como las palomas llegaron a nuestro país de la mano de los inmigrantes provenientes de Europa y Asia, donde era común que estas especies formaran parte de la dieta. La famosa «polenta con pajaritos» no es un cuento y como no sabían qué irían a encontrar en estas tierras, era lógico traer las provisiones necesarias. Aunque también algunas personas las criaban como palomas mensajeras".
Cabe recordar que la ley nacional 12.913 prohíbe la matanza de las palomas mensajeras. Y, para aplicar políticas de control de población, es necesario atravesar la instancia parlamentaria.
"Hoy en la Capital hay una población en aumento de la paloma doméstica, problema que se repite en muchas ciudades del país y del mundo. Esta paloma que habitaba originalmente en acantilados del Viejo Mundo, encontró en las cornisas de los edificios de las ciudades una suerte de sucedáneo de aquellos lugares de nidificación. Además encontraron alimento y muy pocos predadores, hasta ahora. Desde hace unos años, se observa un número interesante de especies de aves rapaces, como el chimango o el halcón peregrino, que llegan a la ciudad para buscar ese alimento", indicó Nardini. En las grandes ciudades, el problema principal se centraliza en el daño que las heces de estos animales producen en los edificios antiguos. Asimismo, la ornitosis (anteriormente conocida como psitacosis) es una de las enfermedades que pueden transmitir a través de la materia fecal, que resulta riesgosa para la salud.
Según indicaron en el gobierno porteño, las plazas del Congreso y la Plaza de Mayo son dos de las más afectadas por la proliferación de las palomas. Incluso, en esta última, ya son parte de la postal turística.
Pedro Acevedo es barrendero en la zona desde hace seis años. "Se ve que hay más palomas. La gente muchas veces le da de comer al borde de la vereda y los pájaros mueren aplastados por los autos", contó. Acevedo también apuntó que desde hace un tiempo nota la presencia de más aves rapaces: "En Sarmiento y Maipú, se ven dos o tres halcones sobrevolar para buscar su alimento".
Recoleta y Belgrano son otros de los barrios afectados por las palomas. Las paredes del cementerio, las terrazas, los pulmones de manzana y las columnas son el lugar propicio para los nidos. En la parroquia de la Inmaculada Concepción, también conocida como La Redonda, en Juramento y Vuelta de Obligado, por ejemplo, un grupo de cotorras y palomas se disputan los capiteles de las columnas para armar su nido. Las cotorras han logrado quedarse con la columna principal del edificio, mientras que las palomas habitan aquellas que lo rodean.
Eloísa Avellaneda, que vive en Uruguay, entre Juncal y Arenales, está cansada de luchar contra estas aves. "Estamos indefensos, ya no sé qué hacer. Probé todos los métodos y nada funciona. Estoy encerrada en mi propia casa: no puedo abrir las ventanas porque me invaden y entran en mi casa", contó.
Muchos consorcios y vecinos recurren a los exterminadores de plagas, que tienen varias soluciones disponibles. Sin embargo, no las eliminan, sólo las ahuyentan.
Más palomas en Plaza de Mayo. Foto de andryjko. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23619355
Palomas de Buenos Aires. Foto de http://www.flickr.com/photos/ignaciogobato/5735473943/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Palomas comiendo de las bolsas de basura. De http://www.revistaelabasto.com.ar/defendamos_BA_amparo_recolecion_residuos.htm
(....) CUÁNDO SE LA PUEDE DECLARAR UNA PLAGA
Para la Organización Mundial de la Salud una especie es una plaga cuando su aparición masiva puede dañar a poblaciones animales, vegetales y humanas. En la ciudad de Buenos Aires la declaración de una plaga es emanada desde el Ministerio de Salud o vía una ley de la Legislatura. En el Congreso Nacional hay un proyecto que declara plaga la superpoblación de palomas, al tiempo que el Ministerio de Agricultura de la Nación estudia un plan de manejo. "Si bien todas las aves transmiten enfermedades, nosotros no hemos tenido aún denuncias sobre las palomas", indicó Oscar Lencinas, director del Instituto Pasteur.
Lea la nota completa:
Friday, December 9, 2011
The sublimity of landscape
J. M. W. Turner. The decline of the Carthaginian empire. 1817. Google images
¨The interest of a landscape consists wholly in its relation either to figures present—or to figures past—or to human powers conceived. The most splendid drawing of the chain of the Alps, irrespective of their relation to humanity, is no more a true landscape than a painting of this bit of stone. For, as natural philosophers, there is no bigness or littleness to you. This stone is just as interesting to you, or ought to be—as if it was a million times as big. There is no more sublimity —per se—in ground sloped at an angle of forty-five, than in ground level; nor in a perpendicular fracture of a rock, than in a horizontal one. The only thing that makes the one more interesting to you in a landscape than the other, is that you could tumble over the perpendicular fracture—and couldn't tumble over the other. A cloud, looked at as a cloud only, is no more a subject for painting than so much feculence in dirty water. It is merely dirty air, or at best a chemical solution ill made. That it is worthy of being painted at all depends upon its being the means of nourishment and chastisement to men, or the dwelling place of imaginary gods. There's a bit of blue sky and cloud by Turner—one of the loveliest ever painted by human hand. But, as a mere pattern of blue and white, he had better have painted a jay's wing: this was only painted by him—and is, in reality, only pleasant to you—because it signifies the coming of a gleam of sweet sunshine in windy weather; and the wind is worth thinking of only because it fills the sails of ships, and the sun because it warms the sailors. (....) Only natural phenomena in their direct relation to humanity—these are to be your subjects in landscape. Rocks and water and air may no more be painted for their own sakes, than the armor carved without the warrior.¨
J.M.W. Turner. Modern Rome. Campo Vaccino. Google images
John Ruskin. Lectures on Landscape.
These Lectures on Landscape were given at Oxford on January 20, February 9, and February 23, 1871
Thursday, December 8, 2011
New bridge design for Los Angeles rail
Image courtesy of Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension
I'm not sure I like it, because the 3D render is not helping, it looks more like an illustration. But, anyway, I'm anxious to see the development of this original design for a freeway's bridge.
From Greg Aragon's post:
Traditional art and modern-day seismic technology will join in an iconic structure to be built as part of the first phase of the $735-million, 11.5-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension in Los Angeles County. Last month, the Foothill Extension Construction Authority unveiled the winning design for an $18.6-million bridge over the 210 freeway in Arcadia that will also sport "smart column" seismic-assessment wiring.
Dubbed the "Gateway to the San Gabriel Valley," the 584-ft-long bridge is scheduled to be completed next summer. It is the first phase of the overall Gold Line's Pasadena-to-Azusa light-rail extension, which broke ground in August 2010 and is scheduled to finish in 2015.
"We started the design process with an artist's concept paying homage to the region's historic Native American basket-weaving tradition," says Habib F. Balian, CEO of the Foothill Extension Construction Authority, the entity in charge of building the line from downtown Los Angeles to the eastern county line, along the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley.
The unique design was created by award-winning public artist Andrew Leicester, who was selected through an international competition seeking a signature bridge facade that would best embody the San Gabriel Valley. His winning idea features two prominent "basket" columns as well as the superstructure's serpentine-like underbelly.
Leicester says he researched the area and discovered an ancient trade route used by Native Americans that paralleled the 210 Freeway.
"The Tongva [tribe] were the earliest dwellers in this area, and they are famous to this day for their skill in basket making," says Leicester, who was born in England and has created public art projects throughout the U.S., U.K. and Australia. "I thought this was a good opportunity to wrap the columns in an ornamental sheathing and basket textile patterns as an attractive way to disguise the columns."
Image from thesource.metro.net
Rebar for one of the columns rises from the ground. Picture by Walt Mancini. http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_19033343
Keep on reading:
Monday, December 5, 2011
New York. Through Kafka´s imagination
New York City, 1937. From nyc-architecture.com
NYC 1900. From timefreezephotos.com
¨To a certain degree, by creating his own conception of America, Kafka takes the role of master and creator, producing for himself a feeling of power and superiority over the supposed land of freedom. This sense of superiority enables Kafka to criticize the capitalist and industrialized America through his description of the streets of New York. He writes, from morning to evening and far into the dreaming night that street was the channel for a constant stream of traffic which, seen from above, looked like an inextricable confusion, for ever newly improvised, of foreshortened human figures and the roofs of all kinds of vehicles, sending into the upper air another confusion, more riotous and complicated, of 4 noises, dust and smells, all of it enveloped and penetrated by a flood of light which the multitudinous objects in the street scattered, carried off and again busily brought back, with an effect as palpable to the dazzled eye as if a glass roof stretched over the street
were being violently smashed into fragments at every moment (Kafka 39).
The “confusion” that Kafka explicitly mentions is further revealed implicitly through his heavy incorporation of sensual imagery, ranging from the cacophony of human and car noises to the visual scattering of sunlight to the clash of smells, all of which introduce a bustling and industrious atmosphere into Kafka’s world.
The complex syntax of this lengthy sentence, with its prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses, engenders a sense of confusion in the reader’s mind that parallels the confusion that Karl experiences when staring down at the city from his uncle’s house. Austin Warren points out that “Kafka’s imagined America is not a land of broad cornfields shining in the sun but a chiefly metropolitan affair, already stratified, weary, and hopeless ¨a land of hotels and slums” (Warren 123). Any sense of individualism, of the individual achieving the American dream, becomes lost in the midst of this fast-paced America.¨
Excerpt from: Franz Kafka’s Amerika: The Amerikan Dream. Edmond Lau. April 30, 2001
NYC. A structural steel worker in the old times. From solarnavigator.net
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Remembering ¨Into White¨ by Cat Stevens
Barley House. Digital art by Myriam B. Mahiques
I built my house from barley rice
Green pepper walls and water ice
Tables of paper wood, windows of light
And everything emptying into white.
A simple garden, with acres of sky
A Brown-haired dogmouse
If one dropped by
Yellow Delanie would sleep well at night
With everything emptying into white.
A sad Blue eyed drummer rehearses outside
A Black spider dancing on top of his eye
Red legged chicken stands ready to strike
And everything emptying into white.
I built my house from barley rice
Green pepper walls and water ice
And everything emptying into white
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