YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE. Symposia spring 2011

“Middle Ground / Middle East: Religious Sites in Urban Context”

Friday and Saturday, 21 & 22 January 2011

Hastings Hall, Basement Level

Paul Rudolph Hall, 180 York Street

In a part of the word where the intersection of religious traditions has always been at the heart of both cultural identity and conflict, the importance of religious sites for shaping social life – especially in urban contexts – is critical. Religious sites are the outcome of human experiences realized within a particularly dynamic social context, embracing both cultural heritage and modernization. Their tangible and material aspects are among the most fundamental sources of solidarity, practices, beliefs, worldviews and aspirations – what might be called a “hidden cultural synthesis.” Moreover, these spaces are often an important element of the urban matrix within which change is facilitated – one thinks of recent work in such places as Samara, Beirut, Riyadh, Cairo and Jerusalem.

This symposium, co-sponsored by the Yale School of Architecture, the Yale Divinity School, the Yale Center for Middle East Studies, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, will focus on the role of religious sites representing the three Abrahamic traditions in shaping the urban environments in the Middle East. Recognizing that sacred building – mosques, churches, synagogues, and other holy sites – has often been regarded as representative of patterns of social and cultural division, the symposium seeks to address the centrality of religious traditions, inter-faith relationships, and long practices of learning and tolerance. Leading architects and scholars from a variety of fields and religious backgrounds will examine through a plurality of perspectives the recent paradigm shifts regarding the relationship between architecture and religion and the ways in which religious sites currently engage urban regeneration, economic growth, cultural identity, memory, and the limits of multiculturalism.

Learn more:

http://www.architecture.yale.edu/drupal/events/symposia

Permaculture Floating Tower in Amsterdam

¨A student from Thailand, Panit Limpiti has proposed design for a skyscraper to be located in Omval, Amsterdam, that will cater to the region’s worst case scenario situation, a flood.
It’s called Permaculture Floating Tower. With the ability to withstand high water levels, and through the design of a floating landscape, this building will stand strong, no matter the weather forecast.¨
Shared by Nicholas Roberts.(Permaculture coop.)
Keep on reading:
http://www.architecture-view.com/2010/12/08/permaculture-floating-tower-in-amsterdam/

Fotorreportaje: la vida a la vera del Riachuelo

¨El Riachuelo no es solo un río de ochenta kilómetros de largo. También es un símbolo de Buenos Aires. Atraviesa geográficamente la ciudad, y también atraviesa su historia. Es centro y borde al mismo tiempo. Toda la mitología de la identidad porteña clásica pasa por el Riachuelo: la niebla, el barco que llega cargado de inmigrantes o que muere herrumbrado. El puerto como lugar para empezar una nueva vida, como escenario para recordar el pasado, para escribir tangos. La Boca se llama así porque es la boca del Riachuelo: es el lugar por donde el río habla. O por donde escupe. En realidad, antes escupía: ahora las cosas pasan por su lecho como por la garganta de un muerto. En casi todo su recorrido, el Riachuelo tiene 0% de oxígeno en el agua. Está ahogado en sí mismo; en gran parte, debido a las 4100 industrias que arrojan sus desechos sobre el cauce del río.

Este fotorreportaje indaga en las diferentes historias de personas que conviven cotidianamente con el Riachuelo.¨

REFERENCIAS:

Fotos de SUB. Cooperativa de Fotógrafos.

Publicado el día de hoy en La Nación Revista. Vea todo el fotorreportaje:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1332848&origen=NLRevis&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=suples&utm_campaign=NLRevis

Haptic architecture: the eyes versus hearing

Eye. Digital painting by Myriam B. Mahiques

¨In Lucien Febvre´s view: ¨The sixteenth century did not see first: it heard and smelled, it sniffed the air and caught sounds. It was only later that it seriously and actively became engaged in geometry, focusing attention on the world of forms with Kepler (1571-1630) and Desargues of Lyon (1593-1662). It was then than the vision was unleashed in the world of science as it was in the world of physical sensations, and teh world of beauty as well. ´42 Robert Mandrou makes a parallel argument: The hierarchy (of the senses) was not the same (as in the twentieth century) becase teh eye, which rules today, found itself in third place, behind hearing and touch, and fra after them. The eye that organises, classifies and orders was not the favoured organ of the time that preferred hearing.¨

The gradually growing hegemony of the eye seems  to be paralell with the development of Western ego-consciousness...¨

From The Eyes of the Skin. By Juhani Pallasmaa. Page 25.Great Britain, 2005

The city of the dead

Yesterday I´ve seen some tombs @ the Asian cemetery of Westminster (California) surrounded by Christmas trees and holiday's decoration. Interesting, the trees were 3' high, related to the height of the monument. After all, a cemetery is the city of the dead.

Lighting patterns

Europe at night. From europemapofeurope.net

¨Pelorat said thoughtfully, ¨Human beings are diurnal in nature, after all. It seems to me that among the very first tasks of a developing technology would be the conversion of night to day. In fact, if a world lacked technology and developed one, you ought to be able to follow the progress of technological development by the increase in light upon the darkened surface. How long would it take, do you suppose, to go from uniform darkness to uniform light?¨

Trevize laughed. ¨You have odd thoughts, but I suppose that comes from being a mythologist. I don´t think a world would ever achive a uniform glow. Night light would follow the pattern of population density, so that the continents would spark in knots and strings. Even Trantor at its height, when it was one huge structure, let light escape that structure only at scattered points.¨

From Foundation´s Edge. By Isaac Asimov. Page 176.USA. 1982

The world´s most dynamic cities

Istanbul. Turkey. Rated No 1. Despite getting walloped by the recession, Istanbul has enjoyed the highest employment growth of any major city in the world in the last two years. Although the city has grown at a breakneck pace through the end of 2009 and 2010, economists point out that the export-dependent trading center experiences both high highs and low lows.

¨Grading each metropolis by the growth of its income and employment, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program found that the world's fastest recovering cities are overwhelmingly in three key areas: China and India, Southeast Asian islands, and Latin America. Only three cities from what economists consider the developed world appeared on the list: Montreal, Austin and Melbourne. There are no European cities in the top 30. There are no African cities outside Egypt in the top 50.

"We were especially interested in the emergence of Latin American capitals, so we took a close look at Lima, Peru [number 5]," said Alan Berube, research director at the Metropolitan Policy Program, who wrote the report with LSE Cities. "It has a big commodities sector that not only sustained it through the recession but also propelled its growth thanks to huge demand out of China and India. Like a lot of other Latin American capital cities, it was also a safe haven for capital during the global economic crisis. That fueled investment and income during the crisis and continues to do so now."

When you look closer at the report, more trends emerge. Port cities with large trade sectors dominate, due to their ability to put products in the hands of the world's healthier economies. China, India and Brazil -- three members of the so-called BRIC group (R is for Russia, which had no cities in the top 30) -- account for 13 out of the 30 cities, and fully half of the list if you count Taipei and Hong Kong.¨

From The Atlantic. By Derek Thompson. Keep on reading:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/12/30-most-dynamic-cities-in-the-world/67234/

I´m happy to know that Buenos Aires, the beautiful city were I was born is rated No 19!

Buenos Aires, Argentina. Downloaded from the cited article.

¨Healthy demand for the city's manufacturing and agricultural products have helped Argentina's capital thrive while the developed world flirts with Argentina's erstwhile foe: debt default. It helps to have Brazil, one of the fastest growing large countries in the world, as a neighbor and key trading partner.¨

Fiesta urbana en Buenos Aires: pasodoble, tango y candombe

Danzas españolas en Av. de Mayo. Foto de Rodrigo Néspolo

Candombe en San Telmo. Foto de La Nación

¨Pasodoble, tango y candombe. Ayer, en varios puntos la ciudad de Buenos Aires, hubo música y baile para todos los gustos y se contaron de a centenares los vecinos y turistas que se deleitaron con las diversas opciones.

Desde el mediodía, la Avenida de Mayo, entre Bolívar y Chacabuco, vivió una jornada ibérica donde el acento español se entremezclaba con el sonido de las castañuelas y las gaitas, y el aroma de las comidas típicas de las diferentes regiones de España.

Se desarrollaba así la segunda edición del Buenos Aires Celebra y, en este caso, España fue el país elegido por el gobierno porteño para ser homenajeado.

Zarzuelas y jotas sonaron desde las 15, cuando comenzaron a desfilar los representantes de numerosas regiones que llegaban hasta el pie del escenario montado sobre la avenida, casi en el cruce con Perú.

Hubo puestos de comidas y bebidas típicas, además de recitales, presentaciones de conjuntos de danzas y un encuentro coral.

El cierre, cuando comenzaba a atardecer, fue un baile de pasodoble del que participó el público.

A pocas cuadras de allí, el sonido que retumbó por la calle Defensa, desde la avenida Independencia hasta el parque Lezama, fue el de los tambores, debido a la celebración de la quinta edición de la Llamada de Candombe en San Telmo, de la que participaron más de 1200 artistas de ambos lados del Río de la Plata.

Fueron una veintena las comparsas de candombe que, a lo largo de ocho cuadras, tocaron sus tambores, bailaron y deleitaron a los vecinos y turistas del tradicional barrio porteño. El cierre del desfile y baile fue a las 21 en el anfiteatro del parque Lezama.

De la mano del cantante Raúl Lavié, entre las 18 y las 20.30, se realizó ayer la penúltima jornada de la Milonga en Caminito, que durante los fines de semana de noviembre hasta hoy inclusive lleva a la calle el ritmo que más identifica a los porteños.

El lugar elegido cada fin de semana fue el cruce de Vuelta de Rocha y Caminito, donde al ritmo del dos por cuatro hubo una clase abierta con Vilma Vega y Fernando Galera.

Fueron decenas las parejas que se animaron a probar unos pasos del típico baile local, mientras disfrutaban de la interpretación de clásicos tangos y milongas.

El ciclo se cerrará hoy con una presentación, entre las 18 y las 20.30. Los encargados de animar la última gala serán el grupo El Arranque y los ganadores de la última edición del Mundial de Tango, en la categoría salón: Cristina Sosa y Daniel Nacuccio.

"Estamos muy satisfechos con la repercusión de hoy [por ayer]. Logramos recuperar el espacio público con cultura participativa", dijo a La Nacion Hernán Lombardi, ministro de Cultura de la ciudad de Buenos Aires.¨

Reproducción del artículo de Información General en el diario La Nación.