Portable landscape in San Francisco´s streets

¨First there were parklets, clearings placed on top of parking spaces. Then there was the Powell Street Promenade, a set of eight aluminum eddies that widen San Francisco's busiest pedestrian thoroughfare.

Now say hello to "parkmobiles" - portable landscapes in red steel bins 6 feet wide and 16 feet long, intended as a shot of mobile nature offering passers-by visual relief from asphalt and concrete. There will be six such pieces arrayed on blocks around Yerba Buena Gardens, each with a different horticultural theme.

"We want each one to be showy and eye-catching, but also easy to maintain," said Calder Gillin of CMG Landscape Architecture, which conceived the bins for the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District.

This isn't simply the latest twist on the parklet theme, which in the past year has moved from the city's bohemian edge to its downtown core. The parkmobiles signal San Francisco's most ambitious effort yet to improve the large, urban landscape in small, fluid ways - an effort set, tellingly, in a district that symbolizes old-school urban renewal.¨

REFERENCE:

Picture and excerpt from John King´s article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/02/MN8G1KHUCE.DTL

The demolition of a life´s labor building

I can understand the owner of this property´s feeling, but, on the other side, I understand the City´s local regulations for Zoning and Building and Safety, I can say they are hard, but, considering the earthquakes and fire issues, it´s better for anybody to submit plans and be sure that everything is safe.

Now, if anybody has to pay permits, why the City would allow illegal properties? Why would anybody build a house skipping fees? When the City finds an illegal property, the process is simple. The owner will receive a letter from Code Enforcement, a professional has to be hired to provide the plans together with Title 24 Energy calculation and structural calculations. If it´s not done, the City has the right to demolish the illegal structures.

And nobody is taken by surprise. From Los Angeles Times:

¨A retired phone company technician who has been battling code enforcement over his ornate maze of structures dubbed "Phonehenge West" said he is not defeated -- even as workers began demolishing his three-decade project.

Alan Kimble Fahey, 59, of Acton had spent almost 30 years building his creation from discarded power company utility poles and other recycled materials. But he was convicted in June on a dozen building code violations because he did not obtain the proper permits.

Fahey has moved to a rental property in Tehachapi and has hired a company to start dismantling a 70-foot tower -- the highlight of his life's labor. Fahey said Friday morning the tower would probably come down within hours.

When asked if he would rebuild, Fahey said, "Even better. They haven't broken me."

I hope next time Mr Fahey submits all plans and calculations...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/phonehenge-west.html

Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam 2011

Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam 2011

6 - 9 Oct

LantarenVenster, Rotterdam

Fresh movies, cult hits, documentaries, animations and art-house gems: the AFFR screens about 100 very different films and with interviews, bike tours and debates it is by far the most ambitious program ever. The films have one thing in common. Architecture is always the protagonist. For its sixth edition, the AFFR has therefore opted for the most spectacular part of Rotterdam: the new LantarenVenster of architect Álvaro Siza at the Wilhelminapier.

Movie tickets cost € 8.50 (regular) / € 7.50 (on presentation of student card, CJP or 65 + pass holders). Day tickets € 25. The presale starts on September 26. Tickets are available at the box office of LantarenVenster (010-2772277).

http://www.affr.nl

An excerpt of ¨House Decoration¨. From Essays and Lectures by Oscar Wilde

Interior decor of Oscar Wilde´s house. From discoverireland.com

Oscar Wilde´s house

Aestheticism (or the Aesthetic Movement) was a 19th century European art movement that emphasized aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design. Generally, it represents the same tendencies that symbolism ordecadence represented in France, or decadentismo represented in Italy, and may be considered the British version of the same style. It was part of the anti-19th century reaction and had post-Romantic origins, and as such anticipates modernism. It was a feature of the late 19th century from about 1868 to about 1900. 

The Peacock room, designed by James Abbott Mc Neill Whistler. Wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticism
From House Decoration in From Essays and Lectures by Oscar Wilde:

¨IN my last lecture I gave you something of the history of Art in England. I sought to trace the influence of the French Revolution upon its development. I said something of the song of Keats and the school of the pre-Raphaelites. But I do not want to shelter the movement, which I have called the English Renaissance, under any palladium however noble, or any name however revered. The roots of it have, indeed, to be sought for in things that have long passed away, and not, as some suppose, in the fancy of a few young men - although I am not altogether sure that there is anything much better than the fancy of a few young men.

When I appeared before you on a previous occasion, I had seen nothing of American art save the Doric columns and Corinthian chimney-pots visible on your Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Since then, I have been through your country to some fifty or sixty different cities, I think. I find that what your people need is not so much high imaginative art but that which hallows the vessels of everyday use. I suppose that the poet will sing and the artist will paint regardless whether the world praises or blames. He has his own world and is independent of his fellow-men. But the handicraftsman is dependent on your pleasure and opinion. He needs your encouragement and he must have beautiful surroundings. Your people love art but do not sufficiently honour the handicraftsman. Of course, those millionaires who can pillage Europe for their pleasure need have no care to encourage such; but I speak for those whose desire for beautiful things is larger than their means. I find that one great trouble all over is that your workmen are not given to noble designs. You cannot be indifferent to this, because Art is not something which you can take or leave. It is a necessity of human life.

And what is the meaning of this beautiful decoration which we call art? In the first place, it means value to the workman and it means the pleasure which he must necessarily take in making a beautiful thing. The mark of all good art is not that the thing done is done exactly or finely, for machinery may do as much, but that it is worked out with the head and the workman's heart. I cannot impress the point too frequently that beautiful and rational designs are necessary in all work. I did not imagine, until I went into some of your simpler cities, that there was so much bad work done. I found, where I went, bad wall-papers horribly designed, and coloured carpets, and that old offender the horse-hair sofa, whose stolid look of indifference is always so depressing. I found meaningless chandeliers and machine-made furniture, generally of rosewood, which creaked dismally under the weight of the ubiquitous interviewer. I came across the small iron stove which they always persist in decorating with machine-made ornaments, and which is as great a bore as a wet day or any other particularly dreadful institution. When unusual extravagance was indulged in, it was garnished with two funeral urns.

It must always be remembered that what is well and carefully made by an honest workman, after a rational design, increases in beauty and value as the years go on. The old furniture brought over by the Pilgrims, two hundred years ago, which I saw in New England, is just as good and as beautiful to-day as it was when it first came here. Now, what you must do is to bring artists and handicraftsmen together. Handicraftsmen cannot live, certainly cannot thrive, without such companionship. Separate these two and you rob art of all spiritual motive.

Having done this, you must place your workman in the midst of beautiful surroundings. The artist is not dependent on the visible and the tangible. He has his visions and his dreams to feed on. But the workman must see lovely forms as he goes to his work in the morning and returns at eventide. And, in connection with this, I want to assure you that noble and beautiful designs are never the result of idle fancy or purposeless day-dreaming. They come only as the accumulation of habits of long and delightful observation. And yet such things may not be taught. Right ideas concerning them can certainly be obtained only by those who have been accustomed to rooms that are beautiful and colours that are satisfying.

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/774/pg774.html
(Phrases in bold per my selection)

The Hypothetical Development Organization (H.D.O.).

¨Begun in December 2010, H.D.O. was founded by writer Rob Walker, photographer Ellen Susan and New Orleans’ publisher/gadfly G.K. Darby. The trio commissions, prints and posts fantasy signage not only as a means of provoking interest in abandoned sites around New Orleans, but also as a way to generate an alternative narrative for the city. They draw on the active imaginations of architects, designers and artists, giving them free reign to rework the existing buildings on paper. "As a public service, H.D.O. invents a hypothetical future for each selected structure. Unlike a traditional, reality-based developer, however, our organization is not bound by rules relating to commercial potential, practical materials, or physics," reads the organization’s website. Funded by a Kickstarter crowd-sourced grant, posters will pop up around the Big Easy this winter and spring.¨

REFERENCE for picture and text:

http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the_interventionists_toolkit_posters_pamphlets_and_guides/25408/

¨The future of India lies in its villages¨

The following is an excerpt from the article ¨The future of India lies in its villages¨, by architect Dhiru Thadani. He is the recipient of the 2011 Seaside Prize, and has worked in North and Central America, Europe, and Asia. You´ll find it interesting to read it in full.

Gandhi's walks through the villages of rural India endeared him with a profound love of the land and respect for the people who toiled in it. He came to believe that it was impractical for India's cities to accommodate the burgeoning population in a dignified way. He romanticized village life as self-sufficient, simple, free, non-violent, and truthful. To Gandhi, the qualities of village and rural life far surpassed that of the city, but he recognized that the playing field had to be leveled with both landscapes providing opportunities for personal growth and lifelong learning.

In a letter to Nehru, Gandhi admits that his proposed ideal village only existed in his imagination. His description of the village and its lifestyle can be interpreted as an ideal and harmonious community, or as an autonomous neighborhood.

The four characteristics embodied in Gandhi's idealized village would be: 1) access to an ever-expanding scientific and technical base in two areas, individual healthcare and assistance in food production; 2) respect and codes of conduct in human actions and toward natural resources; 3) a democratic political institutional framework; and 4) physical and electronic linkages between the village and both rural and urban areas.

Other ideal village goals which Gandhi intimated were the inclusion and provision for the full population range in demographics, a desire to diminish the divide in access to educational as well as economic opportunity, and a job-led economy rather than a capital intensive one.

I would speculate that Gandhi was in fact describing a community or neighborhood, which was reinforced in a later statement that he made to "put the village back into the city." He seemed to lament the difficulty of instilling the dignity of village life into the anonymity of the city.

My research leads me to dispute the notion that Nehru and Gandhi had differing visions for the future of India. Their visions were not mutually exclusive but rather they each chose to emphasize the two parallel futures of India, the city and the agrarian landscape.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/50694

La Universidad de Buenos Aires cumple 190 años de su creación

La Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), la casa de altos estudios más importante del país y una de las más relevantes de América latina, celebrará desde el lunes el 190° aniversario de su creación con un calendario de festejos en facultades, colegios, hospitales y centros culturales que dependen del rectorado.

Del 26 al 28 de agosto se realizarán los festejos centrales, con una megamuestra y recorridos guiados en la Manzana de las Luces, donde comenzó la historia de la universidad porteña, el 12 de agosto de 1821.

Muestras, jornadas académicas y científicas, festivales culturales y espectáculos, concursos, talleres y charlas, son algunas de las actividades que las unidades académicas organizaron para el aniversario, según informó la agencia DyN. El Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, la Iglesia de San Ignacio, el Patio de la Procuraduría de las Misiones y la Sala de Representantes, entre otros espacios, abrirán sus puertas a estudiantes, docentes y visitantes.

Más de 500 actividades se realizarán en las aulas, galerías, salones y patios históricos de la Manzana de las Luces, donde diversas propuestas lúdicas, interactivas y tecnológicas permitirán recorrer la historia de la universidad. Habrá en exhibición objetos del patrimonio cultural de la UBA, tecnologías, documentos y muestras de todas las épocas.

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1393532-celebrara-la-uba-sus--190-anos-de-existencia?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

Somebody´s own dream castle

A beautiful sand castle. Picture downloaded from pictureschat.com

There´s a house like a kitsch castle in a corner of Sunset Beach, a few blocks from our apartment. Every time my husband and me see it, we smile and say ¨somebody´s own dream castle¨. It looks like taken from a kid´s tale, worst of all, it doesn´t have land around, it is compressed in a small lot in front of the beach.

I think all architects in the world have at least once, met a client who brought his own drawings with the family´s ideas on them. Some clients are nice and recognize their limitations and that the architect is a professional. Some of them not, and I also heard ¨I´m paying here, so, it´s my decision¨. Now, would anybody explain to the doctor how he has to be cured? Architecture, interior design, even construction are full of people pretending to show they know about the subject, and it´s pretty annoying. 

I´ve found this story from the book ¨Amazing Stories¨, and the first chapter made me laugh, it reminded me some experiences in our profession:

¨This little guy Stoddard was one of the toughest customers I'd ever done business with. To look at him you'd think he was typical of the mild pleasant little sort of suburban home owner who caught the eight-oh-two six days a week and watered the lawn on the seventh. Physically, his appearance was completely that of the inconspicuous average citizen. Baldish, fortiesh, bespectacled, with the usual behind-the-desk bay window that most office workers get at his age, he looked like nothing more than the amiable citizen you see in comic cartoons on suburban life.

Yet, what I'm getting at is that this Stoddard's appearance was distinctly deceptive. He was the sort of customer that we in the contracting business would label as a combination grouser and eccentric.

When he and his wife came to me with plans for the home they wanted built in Mayfair's second subdivision, they were already full of ideas on exactly what they wanted.

This Stoddard—his name was George B. Stoddard in full—had painstakingly outlined about two dozen sheets of drafting paper with some of the craziest ideas you have ever seen.

"These specifications aren't quite down to the exact inchage, Mr. Kermit," Stoddard had admitted, "for I don't pretend to be a first class architectural draftsman. But my wife and I have had ideas on what sort of a house we want for years, and these plans are the result of our years of decision."

I'd looked at the "plans" a little sickly. The house they'd decided on was a combination of every architectural nightmare known to man. It was the sort of thing a respectable contractor would envision if he ever happened to be dying of malaria fever.

I could feel them watching me as I went over their dream charts. Watching me for the first faint sign of disapproval or amusement or disgust on my face. Watching to snatch the "plans" away from me and walk out of my office if I showed any of those symptoms.

"Ummmhumm," I muttered noncommittally.

"What do you think of them, Kermit?" Stoddard demanded.

I had a hunch that they'd been to contractors other than me. Contractors who'd been tactless enough to offend them into taking their business elsewhere.

"You have something distinctly different in mind here, Mr. Stoddard," I answered evasively.

George B. Stoddard beamed at his wife, then back to me.

"Exactly, sir," he said. "It is our dream castle."

I shuddered at the expression. If you'd mix ice cream with pickles and beer and herring and lie down for a nap, it might result in a dream castle.

"It will be a difficult job, Mr. Stoddard," I said. "This is no ordinary job you've outlined here."

"I know that," said Stoddard proudly. "And I am prepared to pay for the extra special work it will probably require."

That was different. I perked up a little.

"I'll have to turn over these plans to my own draftsman," I told him, "before I can give you an estimate on the construction."

George B. Stoddard turned to his wife.

"I told you, Laura," he said, "that sooner or later we'd find a contractor with brains and imagination."

From Rats in the Belfry. By JOHN YORK CABOT. In Amazing Stories January 1943.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32900/32900-h/32900-h.htm