Courtesy of Architectural Record, a select guide to gifts designed by celebrity architects:
The list spans a wide range of budgets, ranging from an $18 Alvar Aalto votive to a $1000 Richard Meier menorah.
The Gehry teakettle is pretty cool.
And the Zaha Hadid sneaker makes me wonder if she knows what a sneaker is used for…
It looks like a hollowed-out shoe tree.
Pretty interesting set of lectures from Krier et al. The youtube versions are just samples, but still worth watching to see where one school of current thinking is headed.
Also of interest is the Beyond Poundbury series, here at : http://www.rudi.net/node/21871 and available on DVD at http://www.princes-foundation.org/index.php?id=754
The DVDs cover a number of topics in community design, and include structuring settlements, roadways, transit-oriented development, sustainable planning/ building, mixed uses, and architectural detail.
Pretty interesting and more than a little amusing:
http://greensource.construction.com/news/2010/101022Class-Action_Suit.asp
Apparently, the issue is that LEED claims to provide “independent, third-party verification that a building project meets the highest building and performance measures” which isn’t actually done in practice. As it stands, LEED certification is based on unaudited projections and no has no actual performance over time measurement to confirm that projections correlate with reality.
It seems doubtful this will actually go to trial, but two things are very interesting about this case:
1. This will likely lead to some sort of quality assurance program for LEED submissions, which will make the system more robust. Hopefully it will also lead to monitoring of actual performance of LEED-certified buildings.
2. It apparently takes a lawsuit to get the USGBC to actually follow through (if they even elect to follow through) and provide what they promise in their advertising claims. Of course, they may just elect to drop the verification claim.
If you read the article, make sure you read the comments – a few are more interesting and informed than the article itself.
Pretty amusing piece on malls by the Onion, I’d be very interested to hear Andres Duany’s response to this:
This is a nice interview with Leon Krier which summarizes his views on New Urbanism and the future of development:
http://luciensteil.tripod.com/katarxis02-1/id23.html
After all the modernism bashing that occurs in Krier’s community design book, I was very suprised to see this quote:
“A town design code could easily limit itself to Le Corbusier’s 1920s or 1950s grammar and produce a meaningful townscape; the same could be done with Frank Lloyd Wright — or even Zaha Hahid or Oscar Niemeyer idioms. New Urbanists are at any rate not limited to traditional architecture, and yet a lot of people spend sleepless nights and are torn between old and new allegiances. But I would say that this is not a transcendental or moral issue, and in the end every one should do in this area what he or she feels is right; and if one is not sure, experiment around a little if the client is prepared to take the risk and then make a lucid choice.”
Just before that is a great punchline:
“Andres Duany and I have discussed for a while designing a modernist town simply to show them how it is done.”
Architectural hubris was brought up a while back, seems we’re getting dangerously close here.
Sangria:
1 bottle of Borsao red table wine
8 oz Pampero anejo rum
3 oz Mandarin Napoleon liqueur
1 lime, sliced thin
1 lemon, sliced thin
1 orange (mandarin preferably), sliced thin
3 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
handful of frozen blueberries
Mix in a 1.5l of larger pitcher, let sit for a couple hours and chill. Remove citrus after 4-5 hours to avoid bitterness.
Pretty good, lacks bottom end but this wine is fantastic in Sangria.
Piet Oudolf is a landscape designer & plant nurseryman from the Netherlands. I ran across his work while looking at prairie plantings and blends of native vegetation in naturalistic-but-aesthetic combinations.
Here is an example of one of his projects, an urban meadow.
Also, he did the planting design for the High Line park in Manhattan.
Check out his Flickr photostream for more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10470961@N03/
During more of my wanderings looking at Miami architecture, I found this interesting interview and tour with Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Campo Sano is an urban infill development in Coral Gables (cited by Duany as an example of a well-designed 20th century town), with some interesting and typical site challenges. Most importantly, the site is across the street from a hospital service entrance, which provides less than optimal views. Also worth noting is the architectural style, which is very traditional. This is generally in keeping with Coral Gables, but not the larger city of Miami.
Check out this article on Peculiar Places:
This is a very interesting example of adaptive use of what would otherwise be a poorly designed and sited parking lot that both takes advantage of and enhances a popular pedestrian walkway.
Full post from the exhibition is here: http://peculiarplaces.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/an-edible-fix_final.jpg
This is a compelling example of utilizing under-used parking space, enhancing the pedestrian experience, and providing a business incubator for fledgling or intentionally small foodservice providers – so much richer than a hedge to screen views of the parking lot.
This is an interesting video – a driving tour of Poundbury. Something about this seems funny compared with say… a walking tour. Either way, it’s a great way to see Krier’s vision in a dynamic way. Also quite long at 22 minutes, so you can definitely get a thorough look at the community.
Overall, it seems a little vacant, but then it’s new. Seeing it this way really drives home the small town model that Krier supports. I expected more of it to be 3-4 story vertical mixed use, but it seems to mostly be 2 stories with 3 stories in some of the central areas. I wonder if this development template has the density to support everyday commerce needs at the 1/4-mile walk neighborhood size.
Sketchbook & Journal 
