Arch. Myriam B. Mahiques Curriculum Vitae

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Art pictures through Google Street View

Harbor View Elementary School. Digital intervention by Myriam B. Mahiques

I´m one of those who are tempted to use Google Earth, Google street view, Google maps, for my publications on urban morphology, and sometimes for digital art and exercises of urban forms and colors.
It seems that the tools in Google Street View has also generated a new type of photographers, and I´m not saying ¨American,¨ because I´ve read that similar techniques are used in Canada, for example.

Let´s see the work of Doug Rickard, pictures and text from the article by John Foster:

New Orleans by Doug Rickard, 2008/9
Detroit by Doug Rickard, 2009/10

¨Rickard, an artist as a child (his teachers would exclaim to his parents that he would surely “do something special” with his artistic talent), discovered photography in adulthood — a discovery that would become an obsession. He began to codify this obsession in early 2008, when he created the now highly popular websites American Suburb X and These Americans. These sites, largely extensions of his personal journey, obsessions and self-education, are now highly regarded by photography aficionados, educators and historians for their high quality of writing and massive visual archives. ASX receives approximately 80,000 unique visitors a month and is “Liked” by 38,000 Facebook “fans.” 
These Americans is known in part for being a view into Rickard’s personal found-image archive. With such a strong interest in history, Rickard was used to looking at the past. But for these new web projects he turned his attention to the present, exploring the statistics, demographics and socio-economics of contemporary America’s neglected communities. While doing this he began to experiment with ordinary and static images resulting from keyword searches on Google. 
But by the next year — in mid-2009 — he discovered Google Street View. In a telephone interview that lasted well over an hour, the 43-year-old-old Rickard told me that the idea for his recent photographic work emerged as a sort of “epiphany” within 24 hours of using Street View. The project was, he explained, the result of a sort of “perfect storm,” in that it combined his love of photography and its history with his background in American history and sociology. Also, practicality was a component in the form of his inability to travel America, a restriction of the scenarios in real life — a demanding day job and a young family. According to Rickard, this epiphany fused immediately into a crystal-clear idea: He would use Street View as his camera and, working from a room in his home, travel the roads of neglected American cities and neighborhoods in a 21st-century “road trip.” This single idea would utterly consume his life for close to two years, resulting in the important body of work “A New American Picture,” a selection of which hangs today in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.¨

Saturday, December 29, 2012

El debate sobre el zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

El templo hindú de los elefantes. Foto de Martín Lucesole

Reproduciré hoy fragmentos del artículo de Virginia Mejía para La Nación Revista acerca del debate sobre el futuro del zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, y dejaré el link para su lectura completa.
Mientras lo leía, recordaba películas de ciencia ficción e incluso el comic Futurama, donde algunos personajes ya no existen, sino sus imágenes holográficas; de hecho ya hay conciertos de música que explotan el tema de los cantantes fallecidos. Y pensaba si algún día el zoológico no contará más con animales reales, sino sus holografías y si, a fuerza de costumbre, será una experiencia más entre tantos avances tecnológicos.
Ir al zoológico de Palermo era uno de mis paseos favoritos y no lo visito desde el año ´95 o ´96. En el año 2004 conocí el zoológico de la ciudad de Los Angeles y ahí me dí cuenta de la diferencia, es como si de pronto se hubiera caído el velo que tenía ante mis ojos: los animales viven en la montaña, en un medio agreste, los recorridos de montaña son distintos, no ví ningún pabellón victoriano, hombres y animales comparten la naturaleza. Y por supuesto, no hay basura ni descuidos.
Vamos al artículo:

Islote de columnas bizantinas. Foto de Martín Lucesole


"No hay nada más lindo que estar en casa", dicen los que saben sobre derecho animal: leones, panteras, jirafas, cocodrilos, hipopótamos, anacondas y demás especies que pululan desde hace años tras las antiguas rejas deberían, según esta máxima, regresar cuanto antes a la selva. En cambio, para los defensores del zoo victoriano tradicional, lo mejor es que estas excéntricas especies no abandonen sus jaulas: ellas son las responsables de atraer a la gran masa de público que, con el pago de su entrada, solventa los proyectos científicos de conservación y los innumerables programas de ayuda social que ofrece el predio. En tanto, los activistas moderados piden que cese la reproducción de nuevas crías, pero que los animales ancianos continúen habitando en sus actuales moradas para evitarles el estrés producido por los traslados.
Por otro lado, los 52 monumentos históricos diseminados en las 18 hectáreas de los antiguos jardines de Juan Manuel de Rosas tampoco escapan a la controversia: algunos exigen una auditoría que revele su auténtico valor patrimonial y bregan por la eliminación total de los carteles comerciales. Incluso hay quienes añoran que se convierta en un paseo gratuito con espacio de conservación al estilo del Central Park de Nueva York. (....)
Daniel Bonarda abre la puerta de la incubadora y saca con extremo cuidado un gigantesco huevo negro similar a una palta silvestre y madura. Con el brazo extendido a lo alto lo mira atentamente y me lo acerca para que lo observe. "Es de águila. ¡Ojalá nazca bien!", desea, satisfecho, y lo vuelve a guardar. El cuidador es parte de la casa: hace 25 años que trabaja en el lugar. Sus expertas manos ya acariciaron cientos de huevos, lomos de feroces bestias y demás alimañas que la naturaleza creó. Hijo de trabajadores del Zoo, está orgulloso de ser veterinario en la legendaria institución. "Lamentablemente la gente acá viene con el prejuicio de que cuidamos mal a los animales", dice mientras me conduce al hospital donde una gigantesca camilla de metal apta para fieras se impone en la inmaculada habitación.Después visitamos el Departamento de Investigaciones Bio-reproductivas, donde almacenan recursos genéticos, y los Centros de Conservación de Animales Autóctonos en Extinción. Áreas que dan cuenta de que además de la típica postal de la jirafa con kilométrico cuello por sobre las rejas en este zoológico se trabaja también en programas científicos. "Nos gustaría poder seguir con todos estos programas. Yo mismo liberé 6 cóndores en Río Negro", explica, aludiendo a uno de los proyectos más exitosos, el del Cóndor Andino, la imponente ave cordillerana en extinción que sólo cría un pichón cada tres años.
El aviario. Foto de Martín Lucesole
La entrada del zoológico. Foto de wikipedia.org
"Para los niños el mayor encanto de este jardín radica en que les permite ver a los animales en vivo y en directo", asegura Claudio Bertonatti, el director de la anterior y la actual concesión, dispuesto a resistir los embates de las organizaciones que están en contra del cautiverio. "Por eso queremos mostrar las especies bandera:..¨(...)
El libro ZooCheck, de Bill Travers (1992), describe algunos de los más frecuentes síntomas que muestran los animales que padecen esta enfermedad llamada zoocosis: caminan de arriba abajo, siguiendo el mismo recorrido sin cesar (típico en los felinos), dan vueltas en círculos, lamen repetitivamente las paredes, los barrotes o las puertas de la jaula, giran el cuello de forma antinatural y se mecen hacia delante y atrás de forma obsesiva (característico en los monos).
En realidad, los cuestionamientos a los zoológicos tradicionales o victorianos nacieron en los años 60. Por ese entonces, varias instituciones del mundo acusadas de funcionar como cárceles de animales comenzaron a reemplazar las viejas jaulas por recintos más espaciosos, con ambientaciones que asemejaban el hábitat natural de los animales. Años más tarde, la Estrategia Mundial en la Conservación de los Zoológicos (The World Zoo Conservation Strategy, de 1993) sugirió no ingresar fauna exótica y focalizarse en la recreación, educación, investigación y conservación. Según la organización internacional Elephant Voices, un elefante en cautiverio vive 40 años menos que uno en libertad.
Si bien no hay estadísticas oficiales se estima que hoy habitan en el Zoológico de Buenos Aires unos 2500 ejemplares: los de cautiverio, los de libre circulación y los que pertenecen al acuario, donde se realizan shows para los visitantes y cuyo funcionamiento también se cuestiona, ya que una ley de la ciudad de Buenos Aires prohíbe la exhibición y el circo con animales. (...)
¨las consecuencias del cierre de zoológicos en Europa en 2003 luego de los cuestionamientos al cautiverio no tuvieron buenos resultados. "Hubo mucha crueldad, los animales terminaron subastados y en cotos de caza, donde se los mataba para fabricar zapatos o sillones de cuero." Además, al bajar los ingresos económicos esto repercutió de inmediato en la calidad nutricional de la fauna. Con respecto a los traslados, aclara que "es una utopía pensar que alguien va a solventar semejante gasto. Un millón de dólares costó llevar un elefante de Alaska a Estados Unidos", asegura. ¿Y si se los aparta del público? Esta tampoco sería una solución. "Uno como activista pierde el control de los animales y se los aparta para ponerlos en pasillos oscuros, sin luz natural como si estuvieran en Alcatraz." (...)
Un área de servicios, la obviedad de la decadencia. Foto de Martín Lucesole
El arco de triunfo. De wikipedia.org
Los vecinos y visitantes tienen criterios muy disímiles sobre el futuro de la institución. Pedro Kesselman vive en los pisos 12 y 13 de un edificio que está justo enfrente del tradicional paseo. Parados en la orilla del lago Darwin, este abogado de 76 años señala a lo alto el balcón de su departamento de Plaza Italia. Asegura que desde que se mudó ahí, en 1984, mira todas las mañanas hacia el parque y observa el paulatino deterioro de las especies y el patrimonio. Para el letrado, el estado actual del predio deja mucho que desear. Junto a un grupo de vecinos disconformes de la Comuna 14 presentó una acción de amparo: "Pedimos que instalen más carteles educativos, que se eliminen los comerciales y los de venta de pochoclos", cuenta. Todo esto, es decir, las confiterías, quioscos y demás negocios, distorsionan el sentido educativo y científico original del lugar. "Es un cambalache del subdesarrollo. Incluso, hay que limpiar los lagos para que en verano no haya un olor desagradable que impregna todo el barrio", remarca. (....)
También cuentan que las alicaídas columnas bizantinas que descansan sobre un islote del lago Darwin fueron traídas de Trieste en 1912 y que son originales del período ostrogodo en Ravena. El conjunto parece a punto de colapsar a pesar de los intentos por sostenerlo con una estructura metálica negra y oxidada. Si bien los historiadores coinciden en que se trata de la pieza arqueológica más antigua de la ciudad, todavía es un misterio al que alude la exhortación en latín de la parte superior: ¡Cives pentapolis in turrem ascendite, algo así como "Ciudadanos de la Quinta Ciudad, ascended a las torres!"
Lo cierto es que cada una de las 52 piezas arquitectónicas del parque en cuestión encierra en sí misma una historia. Fueron construidas a partir de 1888 durante la gestión del célebre naturista Eduardo Holmberg con un estilo acorde según el país del cual provenían las bestias. Algunos ejemplos son el Templo Hindú (1903) para los elefantes, el Monario Azul y el Árabe (1899) para los simios, y el Templo Indostánico de Bombay (1901) para las vacas. Los chicos se paseaban arriba de un pony, de un camello o de un elefante. También había un tranvía que recorría los 18 kilómetros del predio que en sus orígenes formaban parte de los jardines de la estancia del caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas. (....)
En 1994, el Parque 3 de Febrero -que abarca al Zoo- fue declarado Área de Protección Histórica y tres años más tarde, se lo consideró Monumento Histórico Nacional. A pesar de las leyes, el actual conjunto arquitectónico consiste en una serie de valiosas piezas descascaradas. Las innumerables pero precarias restauraciones efectuadas durante los años estuvieron a cargo de las concesiones privadas de turno, sin continuidad en los criterios de conservación.
"La concepción victoriana de que debe ser un lugar de exhibición de animales con una escenografía de monumento no puede convivir con la lógica moderna", explica Mónica Capano, ex secretaria de la Comisión para la Preservación del Patrimonio Histórico Cultural de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, en referencia al primer zoo tomado como modelo, el de Londres de 1847, que albergaba exóticas fieras enviadas de todas partes del mundo como tributo a la reina Victoria.
Para la especialista urge hacer un inventario y una auditoría de corte para determinar exactamente cuál es el patrimonio histórico arquitectónico del lugar y luego proceder a la restauración no sólo de los monumentos, sino también de las estatuas que parecen esconderse detrás de los arbustos o al final de los pasillos. Entre ellas se destaca una réplica de la Venus de Milo, pintada con varias capas de un color que dista años luz del original. Unos metros más lejos, refugiada tras una planta, está Diana y la Cabra. La diosa griega de la caza tiene un pie mutilado por vándalos.
"Pero lo más espantoso fue lo que sucedió con la réplica en escala del Arco de Tito, que durante años fue la entrada principal frente a plaza Italia, una típica postal de Buenos Aires", revela María Carmen Arias Usandivaras, presidenta de la ONG Basta de Demoler. Allí se utilizó gran parte del terreno de la entrada para construir una gigantesca boletería. Así fue como el imponente arco del Foro Romano quedó relegado a un costado para dar lugar a la cartelería comercial. "Preservar es restaurar, no modificar", destaca la especialista.
Como si esto fuera poco, la que fue una importante biblioteca sobre ciencias naturales, con 12.000 volúmenes, hoy está clausurada tras la misteriosa desaparición de varios incunables, como la colección privada de Estanislao Zeballos, fotografías de la Sociedad Zoológica de Londres de 1827 y la primera edición del Cosmos de Alexander von Humboldt.
Foto de Martín Lucesole

RECUPERAR EL PAISAJE CREADO POR CARLOS THAYS

El arquitecto Rodolfo Livingston, amante del Buenos Aires antiguo, confiesa que cuando pasa con los nietos en auto por la avenida del Libertador y Sarmiento se entristece al ver el Zoológico invadido por carteles y por "unos enormes cubos o depósitos espantosos que nada tienen que ver con ese lugar increíble que era parte de la fantasía de la gente". Autor de decenas de libros, Livingston propone crear un área pública gratuita, un espacio de conservación como existe en el Central Park de Nueva York. "A nadie se le ocurre poner allí carteles. Se respeta su historia. Lo mismo en el Coliseo Romano", compara.
Para el profesor se debe volver al concepto de que el Zoológico es un paseo público no exclusivo, un lugar emblemático, donde las generaciones puedan reconocerse. En ese sentido demanda que se respeten los jardines y lagos diseñados por el célebre Carlos Thays. "Era un genio -califica al paisajista-, pensó adónde iban cada uno de los árboles, de los lagos, los arbustos. Uno va caminando y los senderos se van torciendo", asegura aludiendo a Borges. (...)
Lea sobre la muerte del oso polar en el zoo de Buenos Aires:

Friday, December 28, 2012

Dinocrates and the creation of Alexandria

LANDSCAPE BY FATHER KIRCHER.
In the seventeenth century, Father Kircher conceived the idea of taking up Dinocrates' plan upon a small scale, and composed the landscape shown in Fig. 1. The drawing remained engraved for a long time upon a marble tablet set into the wall of Cardinal Montalte's garden at Rome.
Read more:http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/scientific-american/sup4/Dinocrates-Project.html#.UNz_hW9X1WI#ixzz2GJD0GkoS

1. Dinocrates, an architect who was full of confidence in his own ideas and skill, set out from Macedonia, in the reign of Alexander, to go to the army, being eager to win the approbation of the king. He took with him from his country letters from relatives and friends to the principal military men and officers of the court, in order to gain access to them more readily. Being politely received by them, he asked to be presented to Alexander as soon as possible. They promised, but were rather slow, waiting for a suitable opportunity. So Dinocrates, thinking that they were playing with him, had recourse to his own efforts. He was of very lofty stature and pleasing countenance, finely formed, and extremely dignified. Trusting, therefore, to these natural gifts, he undressed himself in his inn, anointed his body with oil, set a chaplet of poplar leaves on his head, draped his left shoulder with a lion's skin, and holding a club in his right hand stalked forth to a place in front of the tribunal where the king was administering justice. 
 2. His strange appearance made the people turn round, and this led Alexander to look at him. In astonishment he gave orders to make way for him to draw near, and asked who he was. "Dinocrates," quoth he, "a Macedonian architect, who brings thee ideas and designs worthy of thy renown. I have made a design for the shaping of Mount Athos into the statue of a man, in whose left hand I have represented a very spacious fortified city, and in his right a bowl to receive the water of all the streams which are in that mountain, so that it may pour from the bowl into the sea." 
 3. Alexander, delighted with the idea of his design, immediately inquired whether there were any fields in the neighbourhood that could maintain the city in corn. On finding that this was impossible without transport from beyond the sea, "Dinocrates," quoth he, "I appreciate your design as excellent in composition, and I am delighted with it, but I apprehend that anybody who should found a city in that spot would be censured for bad judgement. For as a newborn babe cannot be nourished without the nurse's milk, nor conducted to the approaches that lead to growth in life, so a city cannot thrive without fields and the fruits thereof pouring into its walls, nor have a large population without plenty of food, nor maintain its population without a supply of it. Therefore, while thinking that your design is commendable, I consider the site as not commendable; but I would have you stay with me, because I mean to make use of your services." 
 4. From that time, Dinocrates did not leave the king, but followed him into Egypt. There Alexander, observing a harbour rendered safe by nature, an excellent centre for trade, cornfields throughout all Egypt, and the great usefulness of the mighty river Nile, ordered him to build the city of Alexandria, named after the king. This was how Dinocrates, recommended only by his good looks and dignified carriage, came to be so famous. But as for me, Emperor, nature has not given me stature, age has marred my face, and my strength is impaired by ill health. Therefore, since these advantages fail me, I shall win your approval, as I hope, by the help of my knowledge and my writings.

REFERENCE.
Introduction of the second book of Vitruvius

Thursday, December 27, 2012

NYC´s subways: different maps through the years

 1939

1958

1972

1979

2010

What´s right and wrong about the graphic design for those maps?

¨The most iconic edition remains the most controversial.  Designer Massimo Vignelli’s clean modern lines and bold colors changed the branding of the subway in 1972 and elevated the map to the level of modern art. It also distorts geography. His map lasted just seven years before confused passengers convinced the MTA to replace it. Vignelli still staunchly defends his design, and in doing so, has offered some choice observations about other versions.¨
Keep on reading:

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Holidays´ lights in the cities II


Seasonal illuminations around Christmas time have become a popular attraction in cities across Japan and none is more beautiful than the Kobe Luminarie. After the Kobe earthquake of 1995, Italy donated thousands of hand-painted bulbs to the city and these were transformed into an intricate, gothic-style luminarie designed by Valerio Festi and Hirokazu Imaoka. The tradition continues, and every year from Dec. 1-12, around four million locals and tourists alike come to celebrate Japan's enduring resilience near Higashi-Yuenchi Park. Photo by Yuko Yasumi. Chicago Tribune.


Christmas in Medellin, Colombia, is a time of families coming together to celebrate and enjoy the simple pleasure of looking at amazing decorations. In December, the city's thoroughfares, roads and parks are covered in thousands of fairy lights, with the most impressive displays found in Avenue la Playa and the Medellin River. Photo by Raul Arboleda. Chicago Tribune.


With a name like the City of Lights you'd expect Paris to shine at Christmas and it certainly doesn't disappoint. During the day you'll come across the usual bustle of tourists at the iconic sites, but night time is when the magic really happens. With the sparkling Eiffel Tower, glitzy Champs-Elysees and starry streets, the city feels like a real-life fairy tale after dark. Photo by Rancois Durand. Chicago Tribune


Christmas in Rome. From larrymuffin.blogspot.com

See more pictures at:

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Salton Sea: the beauty of ruins


 My eldest daughter has gone to Salton Sea and took these pictures. Both her and me are moved by the beauty of the ruins. "It's like a ghost town, " she explained to me. I was curious and so I read about the town's history in Wikipedia.org. The link is below to complete the reading.
All pictures by Vera Makianich, please do not reproduce without permission.




 The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial and Coachella Valleys. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death Valley, it is below sea level. Currently, its surface is 226 ft (69 m) below sea level. The deepest point of the sea is 5 ft (1.5 m) higher than the lowest point of Death Valley. The sea is fed by the New, Whitewater, and Alamo rivers, as well as agricultural runoff drainage systems and creeks. The Sea was created by a flood in 1905, in which water from the Colorado River flowed into the area. While it varies in dimensions and area with fluctuations in agricultural runoff and rainfall, the Salton Sea averages 15 mi (24 km) by 35 mi (56 km). With an average area of roughly 525 sq mi (1,360 km2), the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. Average annual inflow is 1,360,000 acre·ft (1.68 km3), which is enough to maintain a maximum depth of 52 ft (16 m) and a total volume of about 7,500,000 acre·ft (9.3 km3). The lake's salinity, about 44 g/L, is greater than that of the waters of the Pacific Ocean (35 g/L), but less than that of the Great Salt Lake (which ranges from 50 to 270 g/L). The concentration increases by about 1 percent annually. (...) 

Accidental creation of the current Salton Sea

 In 1900, the California Development Company began construction of irrigation canals to divert water from the Colorado River into the Salton Sink, a dry lake bed. After construction of these irrigation canals, the Salton Sink became fertile for a time, allowing farmers to plant crops. Within two years, the Imperial Canal became filled with silt from the Colorado River. Engineers tried to alleviate the blockages to no avail. In 1905, heavy rainfall and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to swell, overrunning a set of headgates for the Alamo Canal. The resulting flood poured down the canal and breached an Imperial Valley dike, eroding two watercourses, the New River in the west, and the Alamo River in the east, each about 60 miles (97 km) long.
Over a period of approximately two years these two newly created rivers sporadically carried the entire volume of the Colorado River into the Salton Sink. The Southern Pacific Railroad attempted to stop the flooding by dumping earth into the canal's headgates area, but the effort was not fast enough, and as the river eroded deeper and deeper into the dry desert sand of the Imperial Valley, a massive waterfall was created that started to cut rapidly upstream along the path of the Alamo Canal that now was occupied by the Colorado. This waterfall was initially 15 feet (4.6 m) high but grew to a height of 80 feet (24 m) before the flow through the breach was finally stopped. It was originally feared that the waterfall would recede upstream to the true main path of the Colorado, attaining a height of up to 100 to 300 feet (30 to 91 m), from where it would be practically impossible to fix the problem. As the basin filled, the town of Salton, a Southern Pacific Railroad siding, and Torres-Martinez Native American land were submerged. The sudden influx of water and the lack of any drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea.
The continuing intermittent flooding of the Imperial Valley from the Colorado River led to the idea of the need for a dam on the Colorado River for flood control. Eventually, the federal government sponsored survey parties in 1922 that explored the Colorado River for a dam site, ultimately leading to the construction of Hoover Dam in Black Canyon, which was constructed beginning in 1929 and completed in 1935. The dam effectively put an end to the flooding episodes in the Imperial Valley.(...)


Environmental decline

The lack of an outflow means that the Salton Sea is a system of accelerated change. Variations in agricultural runoff cause fluctuations in water level (and flooding of surrounding communities in the 1950s and 1960s), and the relatively high salinity of the inflow feeding the Sea has resulted in ever increasing salinity. By the 1960s it was apparent that the salinity of the Salton Sea was rising, jeopardizing some of the species in it. The Salton Sea has a salinity exceeding 4.0% w/v (saltier than seawater) and many species of fish can no longer survive. It is believed that once the salinity surpasses 4.4% w/v, only the tilapia will survive. Fertilizer runoffs combined with the increasing salinity have resulted in large algal blooms and elevated bacteria levels.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Selection of architecture posters







 The architecture posters above are my selection from google images. I didn´t add any reference but anybody can send me an email to include the authorship.
The following three are shared from typography served.

¨This collection of three large format posters was created for a hypothetical lecture series discussing the architectural periods of ancient fortresses and castles. The type structures were all created entirely by hand and leveraged materials which showcased various elements of castle construction.¨





Monday, December 17, 2012

What to do with a building that brings us sad memories?


This blog has a label of ¨collective memories.¨ I´ve always been affected by the subject in relationship with buildings. A public building, a house, a temple, etc, can be converted into a memorial, like ¨The wall of sorrows¨ in East Cleveland.
Last December 4th, 2012, I´ve attended to a conference at the Getty Center, ¨Global, Regional, and Local Efforts in Conserving Modern Architecture.¨ And professor Johannes Widodo, one of the panelists, said that there´s a branch of preservationists that proposes demolition when a building keeps memories that hurt the inhabitants. And his example was ¨Totalitarism.¨
A few days after, I´ve never imagined another example, in Connecticut. ¨Shooting.¨
I´ve just come across with this article by Thomas Peipert and Dan Elliott, which I´m sharing in full, from yahoo news:


AURORA, Colo. (AP) — As Newtown, Conn., grieves the deadly mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, victims' families and residents will eventually have to decide what to do with the building and how to memorialize the fallen. Will they decide to demolish the school where authorities say Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults before killing himself? Or just the parts where he opened fire? Will there be a memorial on school grounds, or in town? Or both? Whatever they choose, it will give them a measure of control over a situation in which they have had very little, said Dr. Louis Kraus, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "To be able to have some control and say in that process I think is going to be very important" to the healing process, he said. Here's a look at what communities that have faced deadly mass shootings have done: 

— After a white supremacist opened fire in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., in August, killing six people and injuring four, temple officials held a purifying ceremony and removed bloodstained carpeting, repaired shattered windows and painted over gunfire-scarred walls. But they left one reminder of the violence — a dime-size bullet hole in the door jamb leading to the prayer room. The hole is now marked with a small gold plate engraved with "We Are One. 8-5-12." "It frames the wound," Pardeep Kaleka, son of former temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka, who died in the massacre, said recently. "The wound of our community, the wound of our family, the wound of our society." 
— After a gunman killed 12 people at a midnight showing of the Batman movie in Aurora, Colo., more than 70 percent of the 6,300 people who responded to an online survey wanted the theater reopened. A memorial that sprang up near the theater is gone but a new sign offers sympathy to those suffering from the nation's latest mass shooting —"Newtown, CT We feel your pain." —
 In Norway, extensive remodeling is planned on the small island of Utoya, where 69 people, more than half of them teenagers attending summer camp, were killed by a far-right gunman in 2011. Utoya's main building, a cafeteria where 13 of the victims were shot to death, will be torn down and replaced by a cluster of new buildings surrounding a square, creating the feel of a "small village," project manager Joergen Frydnes said. The idea is to bring back the positive atmosphere that characterized Utoya before the tragedy, he said. There was no summer camp this year and it's unclear when the left-wing youth group will be back at Utoya for what used to be its annual highlight. Frydnes said it will happen, eventually.
 — At Virginia Tech, the scene of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a classroom building where a student gunman killed 30 people in April 2007 is now home to the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention. A dormitory where the two other students were killed has been turned into a residential college. The gunman killed himself. As at many other scenes of mass shootings, a memorial was created on the campus' main lawn recreating the 32 stones — one for each person killed — placed there in the hours after tragedy. 
— In Pennsylvania, an Amish community quickly decided that removing a schoolhouse where five girls were killed and five others were wounded in October 2006 by a gunman would be the best way to help bring resolution, mainly out of sensitivity to their children. Ten days after the shooting, heavy machinery moved in before dawn to demolish the West Nickel Mines Amish School, making the site indistinguishable from the surrounding pasture. New Hope Amish School, its replacement with added security features, was built a few hundred yards away and opened April 2, 2007 — six months to the day after the massacre. 
— After a man killed 16 children and a teacher at a primary school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland, before turning the gun on himself, authorities demolished the gym. The site of the gym is now a small garden that includes a plaque with the names of all the victims, most of whom were aged 5. A new gym was built on the school grounds. Two miles from the school, on the outskirts of the town, is a community center built after a vote on how to spend the money donated from well-wishers around the world. 
On the night of the Newtown shooting, some people came to the center and lit candles, said Stewart Prodger, a trustee of the charity that runs the center. — After two students went on a deadly rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in April 1999, students finished the year at another school. Columbine reopened in time for the following school year after extensive repairs. "The intent of the school district is to put this back as a high school," Jack Swanzy, lead architect on the refurbishing project, said at the time. "We don't want to make it a shrine to the tragedy." School district officials originally considered remodeling and reopening the second-floor library, where most of the students were killed, but parents objected and asked that it be demolished and replaced. The district eventually agreed and the old library, which sat above the school cafeteria, was removed and the space converted into an atrium. A memorial to those killed — 12 students and a teacher — opened years later on a hill above the school. The broad oval sunken into the rolling terrain still attracts people. 

On Friday, after the Newtown shooting, Amber Essman, 24, made her first visit. She was in grade school at the time of the shooting and had been hesitant to visit before because of the emotions it would bring up. She wanted to pay belated respects to those killed at Columbine and provide some comfort to their families. "They need comfort and peace today in addition to the families in Connecticut that have been affected," she said.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Holiday lights in the cities


Brussels, Belgium Photograph by Thierry Roge, Reuters/Corbis During Plaisirs d’Hiver, dramatically lit buildings and piped-in music lift spirits in the historic Grand Place. At the Christmas market, 240 chalets serve Belgian waffles and conical cuberdon candies. November 25-January 11.


Vienna, Austria Photograph by Sandra Raccanello, SIME Advent brings out Vienna’s romantic side: Garlands of bulbs glisten over thoroughfares and shops are decorated with pine branches and silk ribbons (November 26-December 31). Giant chandeliers lead to St. Stephen's Cathedral, and daily Advent concerts take place at Schönbrunn Palace.



Gothenburg, Sweden Photograph by Roberto Rinaldi, SIME The aroma of toasted almonds and glogg heralds the arrival of Saint Lucia to this charming river town illuminated all season long. Five million lights glitter on the buildings and on the 700 Christmas trees at Liseberg Amusement Park’s Christmas Market (Scandinavia’s largest, open November 18). Choirs sing and sweethearts smooch along a three-kilometer Lane of Light leading to the harbor beginning December 9.



Hong Kong, China Photograph by Francisco Martinez, Alamy It’s an over-the-top Christmas in Hong Kong, where lights twinkle along Main Street in Disneyland, the city’s malls try to outdo each other in awesomeness (Roppongi Hills Galleria created a ground-level Milky Way galaxy of lights one year), and the downtown skyline dances with colorful lights and piped-in music. The city center, crowned by a giant Swarovski crystal tree, bustles with carolers, and Victoria Harbour is fantastically illuminated. Stick around for Chinese New Year festivities—China’s traditional family holiday—for more fireworks and action. November 25–January 1.

REFERENCE:
These are the pictures I liked most from the Holiday lights at National Geographic.com. See them all:

Saturday, December 15, 2012

School shootings and modular classrooms


Needless to say how bad I feel about the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. 
Yesterday, we picked up our youngest girl from the High school and she told us her version of the shooting, which was explained by professors as soon as they learnt about it.
My daughter made a point about security; her school has approximately 3000 students. How to control them all? I remember the old times in our Faculty, the last months of the Junta Militar, when the police opened our bags, one by one, at the entrance. Only one entrance was open. 
Of course, this is a different case.
And sometimes the shooting is provoked by somebody who has direct access to the school, it could be anybody. It usually doesn´t happen in a compact building, the schools I´ve attended at the city of Buenos Aires, are designed with cloisters and there´s one main entrance, that´s it. A worker called ¨portero¨ is in charge to open the door, and a stranger, a parent, relative, friend, can never walk farther than the hall. Until the portero finds out if somebody is waiting for him/her. 

In extended cities in USA we have this layout of open schools. See the picture above that I´ve downloaded from The Wall Street Journal.

The kinder is isolated and, without ever being there, I can tell you that this building has multiple doors.
The next picture is from Harbor View Elementary School, in Huntington Beach. I know it very well, my daughter has attended this school.
And for one or two years, she was at the side construction, the one you see at the right. You can access these ¨modular rooms¨ from the street, from the avenue, from the park. I´ve done it myself, many times.


Teachers and student inside free standing modular rooms on campus are isolated.
I was asking my daughter about metal detectors at school and she answered, how do you think they can add them with so many doors?
I understand, a metal detector is not a final solution, shootings could happen even at the street. And we are not under military control.
Today, I´m scared and I´m wondering what the authorities will do to protect our children. Please keep in mind that it is too easy to acquire a gun in USA and something has to be done about it and -even worst- the illegal purchases of guns and similar weapons.
My condolences for the loss of so many, it´s so sad...

One of the earliest urbanization: Provadia-Solnitsata (5500-4200 BC)

In a Bulgarian mound, archaeologists have found perhaps Europe's earliest massive fortifications. Photograph by V. Nikolov, Bulgarian National Institute of Archaeology/EPA


Researchers announced last week (beginning of November 2012)  they'd discovered 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall), 6-foot-thick (1.8-meter-thick) stone walls around the settlement. The find is among the evidence for Solnitsata's oldest-town status—and further proof of an advanced Copper Age Balkan trade network, according to dig leader Vasil Nikolov, a Bulgarian archaeologist.
Long before the first wheel rolled through Europe, precious goods were likely crisscrossing the Balkans on pack animals and possibly in carts with sledlike bottoms. Salt, essential for preserving meats, joined gold and copper among the most prized cargo. And with its rare and coveted brine springs, Solnitsata, near present-day Provadiya, was a key producer, boiling off the salt and baking it into ready-to-trade blocks to supply its region with the essential mineral.
Salt wealth might explain those heavy-duty walls, which archaeologist David Anthony called "quite unusual."
"You can find evidence of fortification at many sites of this period, but they tend to be timber palisade walls. [Solnitsata] had a much more substantial, permanent, and unburnable stone wall," said Anthony, of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, who did not participate in the excavation.
Trees would have been plentiful in the region at the time, so the decision by Solnitsata's inhabitants to build a wall using stone is revealing, Anthony added.
"It tells you something about the level of hostilities of communities at the time," he said—and about Solnitsata's wealth.
Europe's Oldest Town?
Pottery remains at Solnitsata have been dated to 4,700 to 4,200 B.C., about a thousand years before the beginning of the Greek civilization. The site's age, its prehistoric population of about 350, and its Copper Age status as an agricultural, military, and ideological center help make Solnitsata the oldest known town in Europe, says Nikolov, whose conclusions appear in a recentpaper released by Bulgaria's National Institute of Archaeology (PDF).
But archaeologist John Chapman thinks Solnitsata housed only about 150 people. The idea that it was a town—let alone Europe's oldest town—is, in Chapman's words, "hyperbole."
Solnitsata "isn't really that different from hundreds of other Bulgarian tells [archaeological mounds created by building new structures atop older ones] that I know quite well," said Chapman, of Durham University in the U.K.
"These are not town-sized using any sort of objective criteria at all," added Chapman, who was not involved in Nikolov's study.
Anthony, of Hartwick College, also thinks the oldest-town claim is an exaggeration.
"Heck, when I was a graduate student, I worked on a ... site in what is now Serbia that covered a larger area" and was dated to an earlier time, Anthony said.
For his part, dig leader Nikolov—who could not be reached for comment—seemed to downplay his own claim last week, telling the AFP news service, "We are not talking about a town like the Greek city-states, ancient Rome, or medieval settlements but about what archaeologists agree constituted a town in the fifth millennium B.C."
EXCERPT FROM
Read the paper´s abstract by Vassil Nikolov:

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Huntington Harbor by Vera Makianich



These pictures were taken by my daughter, Vera Makianich, at Huntington Beach Harbor.
The houses are decorated with Christmas lights, also the ships. Every year there´s a contest for the best Christmas decor. This is part of our city, Huntington Beach, in Southern CA.
Please do not reproduce without her permission.


Creative Commons License
Huntington Harbor by Vera Makianich by Vera Makianich is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

BONUS:
Derricks extract petroleum from wells drilled out under the sea on Huntington Beach in California, January 1945.


PHOTOGRAPH BY B. ANTHONY STEWART, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
http://natgeofound.tumblr.com/?source=hp_125_found_tumblr_20130806

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Future homesites: landscape art or the image of a decaying economy?

Future Homesites of “The Falls” at Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada (2011). [Photo by Michael Light]

Photographer Michael Light has spent the past decade exploring the development of the American West from the perspective of helicopters and light airplanes. On recent flights above half-built resort communities outside Las Vegas, he observed a more literal connection between mining and land development:
[This was] something I’d long suspected abstractly: that the extraction industries and the habitation industries are two sides of the same coin. Seeing entire mountains graded into building pads for gated luxury homes and ‘purpose-built communities,’ only to be left to slowly revert to sagebrush in bankruptcy, was the most naked and skeletal revelation of the speculative habitation machine I’d yet seen.
Indeed, in his photographs of these sites it is sometimes difficult to discern whether you are looking at an abandoned mining operation or an aborted housing development. Only the iconic shape of a cul-de-sac tips you off.


EXCERPT FROM 

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Some scenes from "House of Voices." The big bathroom


This weekend I've watched the French-Romanian 2004 movie "House of voices," (Saint Ange in Europe), and I loved its photography. It is pretty similar to "Orphanage"  but in my opinion, this one is better. I took some screen shots of the big bathroom because pipes are always intriguing for me. If you have lived in a multiple stories apartment, you well know that the neighbors' voices are heard through the pipes, and also yours, of course.


This one is nice, to see the scale of the big sink, compared to the boy or vice versa.


The last part was a little disappointing: the old mansion has a laboratory underground and it's absolutely different from the rest of the movie's environment. Though, very old, it looks like futuristic. 

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