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July 29, 2005
Tunnel Garage
So long overdue, the second installment of Renovate Me. More on the way...
Holland Tunnel, the "world's first long underwater mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel", is named after its chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland. Construction began in 1920, and was completed seven years later, with some 51,694 vehicles passing through on opening day. Vehicles of course meaning horse drawn carts and motorized transport.
This little sweetheart, Tunnel Garage, was built five years before the first vehicle even passed through the Holland, in the grand tradition of New York real estate speculation. Surely one of the first parking garages in Manhattan, which at the time was polluted more by horse shit than the equally noxious automobile. A short but fascinating history of parking, from a 2001 issue of Architecture Week, can be found here.
But unlike today's boom, they built a speculative beauty. Scarred by contemporary signage, this gem is awaiting a good scrubbing and preservationist rehab, along with a new and fantastic use. Considering Transfer's biggest congestion style proposal is to tax the shit out of parking lots, thereby making it extremely costly to drive into Manhattan, this Garage would to good to apply for a different use permit. Thats of course after a detailed and accurate restoration of the existing facade. The cache this little building could kick, with its artful font, lead pane windows, small detailed touches, and rounded corner frontage.
Bring this beauty back from the brink. Certificate of Occupancy and Photos below.
520 Broome St
Completed 1922
Posted by jmarston at 05:14 PM
Rock Me
Rock like concrete pile on Barrow & 7th Ave... Can we have more Ecological Interventions, even if they're manmade...
Posted by jmarston at 05:02 PM | Comments (1)
Substandard Sickness in SoHo
Only difference between this & these, is they covered up the Fedder AC units - with grills... some sucker shelled out $1000/sqft to live in this crap.
Posted by jmarston at 04:51 PM
Distant Stares
Posted by jmarston at 04:41 PM | Comments (1)
The Anti-Sit: Gilded Threesome
Posted by jmarston at 02:36 PM
The Anti-Sit: Levitate
Posted by jmarston at 02:26 PM
The Anti-Sit: Fields of Spike
Posted by jmarston at 01:06 PM | Comments (7)
July 28, 2005
Landschaft & Energy
Dear London, The Victorians brought you sewers and undergrounds. The Milleniums will bring you great architecture and urban design. Celebrate.
These are Lovely... urban interventions.
John R. Stilgoe, one of the great torch bearers to John Brinckerhoff Jackson's luminosity (in addition to being a great writer of landscape himself) published a book in the early 80's by the name of Common Landscape of America, 1580-1845, and I qoute, "Christianity destroyed the ancient oneness of man and nature. Whatever the Old Religion was, and it is known now almost entirely in descriptions composed by its enemies, its tenets derived from that oneness...along with agriculture and artifice, wrenched man from his niche and made him sometime master of the earth...made him ever less familiar with the wild, until he was no longer at home in it, until he recognized it as wild, as a place other than his own." How prescient to todays religious situation, which regretfully informs the next bit of linkage...
The energy bill (all 1725 pgs.) - which passed thru the house today, and is expected to pass the senate tomorrow - has $3 billion in taxbreaks and kickbacks directly rolled out to oil companies. Thats it? Oh, and another 500m to Tom Delay's hometown drilling company for deepwater speculation. Fleecing the last grafts off the charred remains of the American public to resuscitate Rove's piggish pinkish skin. Fuckers.
Fiber Optics Bring the Sun Indoors... brilliant application[pdf] of GPS, amongst a handful of other technologies, to direct light catching dishs that channel the sun's rays into fiber optic cables, and into hard to reach interiors. At $8000, this, and some ancient windscoops, would render my shaft facing rent controlled studio apartment into a luxury accomodation. Thanks Erik, for the tip.
America's megapolitan areas, in the July issue of Land Lines. Forgotten NY on the death of New York City's Fulton Fish Market. Cityscape on the existing & proposed expansion of regional rail services in the Bay Area. GlobeSt reporting one the approval process of Uptown, the mixed-use superblock planned for 125-126th St between 2nd-3rd Ave in Harlem. Hey, Yo, you superultragiddy twits over at Avalon Communities ought to apply for New York Construction Magazine's Top Design Survey here [pdf], the only design criteria is Revenue - so surely Avalon Chrystie Place will push thru as another champion of shit design & and easy money.
Posted by jmarston at 03:17 PM
The Anti-Sit: Windsor Punishment
Celebrating the second Anti-Sit submission here at Transfer, sent in by my dear friend Benji Alberg. This particular beast hails from the kingly pastures of Windsor England. Thanks Ben!
Posted by jmarston at 12:43 PM | Comments (2)
Flails & Fails
Glass Eyes and Varicose Veins!
Hidddeoussssss...
Posted by jmarston at 10:59 AM
The Anti-Sit: Hipster
Posted by jmarston at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)
July 27, 2005
Regulated Sharing
Great new book from MIT Press, In the Bubble, Designing in a Complex World by John Thackara. Excellent musings with important ideas for architects, planners, and flaneurs alike. He's got some good Situationist strains running thru his thought. You can hear him here and also here and check out his blog here.
Loving Londinium rows...
Posted by jmarston at 12:30 PM
July 25, 2005
Hatin': London Stylee
No city is safe from a healthy dose of Hatin', crap attacks, first in St James, then in the City.
Posted by jmarston at 12:25 PM | Comments (1)
July 22, 2005
The Anti-Sit: New Urbanist Edition
Posted by jmarston at 12:11 PM
David Adjaye
Some photos of the hottest new residential architecture in London, built by buzzing British architect David Adjaye, in the LESesque industrial neighborhood of Shoreditch. Hot! Hot? Well, Kind of, in that sleek black box kind of way. Really do like the floating roof though.
Enforcing surfacing alert.
Posted by jmarston at 10:23 AM
July 21, 2005
Casts & Such
City of Sound put together an excellent post on radio and its intersection with podcasting...well worth the read -- So, speaking of radio & podcasting, there are some newish goodies available on Architecture Radio, and this small write up on Architecture Radio by the Architectural Record (mouth full)... KCRW's design & architecture program, D n'A, is available in podcast format, and Public Radio's Smart City is podcasting itself into your earbuds as well. If you've got a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd GEN ipod, get on the Apple Ipod settlement. My 3rd generation 40gb ipod battery lasts 3.5 hours, tops - nope - i donna think so Apple. Oh, and that little South London favorite, ResonanceFm, will be archiving shows in podcast format beginning Aug 1.
This is fucking Hilarious, New York Construction Magazine (a subsid of McGraw-Hill) named Larry Silverstein Owner of the Year. Hahahah. Let's just let that one simmer for a bit... Hahahaha. Oh, you owned Larry, you sure did, you gaseous bag of unadultered greed, you owned David Childs, your patsy bitch.
Amazing, the pace with which London (and its metro area) are harnessing themselves into an even greater worldclass center. With this news via Globe St: P&O will build the "UK’s largest container port after the government gave the go-ahead for the $2.62-billion development. The 1,500 acre scheme will also see the development of a logistics and business park on the former Shell Haven oil refinery site on the Thames Estuary." in Thurrock. And of course the plans London has for hosting the 2012 Olympics, the shortlist includes, a stadium by FOA, an aquatic center by Zaha Hadid.
Wonderful cover story on MN based, self-trained architect David Salmela. A scandanavian hero of the upper midwest, hats off.
In somewhat related news I'm happy to report that Bochum Welt's latest LP 'Elan' is still due, just a little later than expected - 09/05/2005...details. Phunny moments from philistines transcribed by Gravestmor...and the Malls of America blog, todays postcard depicting an infant shot of the godzilla that helped destroy Philadelphia.
Architectural Record: House of the Month.
An extended applause for the brilliance of Jean Nouvel's, 1987(!) Arab World Institute, on Paris's Left Bank, which I finally had the pleasure of seeing recently. The real triumph is pictured below, yes, those are controlled by the climate system letting in adjustable amounts of light --- not too mention the perspective from the penthouse cafe, pictured above.
Posted by jmarston at 04:43 PM
London Sunrise
Firecrackers won't set it down.
Posted by jmarston at 12:49 PM
Parisian Faces
Posted by jmarston at 12:42 PM
July 20, 2005
Feeders
MemeFirst on Dubai, Mike Davis on Dubai, you see it's only a matter of time before we see a Koolhaas book on Dubai, the center of some extremely interesting (distressing) building projects/environments... nice little post on Urban Cartography about grids, meandering, and the such. Its funny, sometimes, just how fucking nauseating the grid can be - especially after returning from a city like London where everyone - even lifers - carry around an A to Zed, because even the most geographically aware person doesn't know of certain Yards. What a tarnish to our much vaulted sense of achievement, to carry a map in New York, even taxis are afraid to pull out maps lest they give the impression of not knowing. How many centuries before we realize efficiency does not always produce the desired effect. Traffic engineers, as UC mentions, invented the feeder tubes of the suburbs, creating the what are you doing here mentality that exists alongside the deafening sense of isolation.
Posted by jmarston at 04:27 PM
Flatbush's Tarnished Diamonds
Awhile back I opined about Flatbush Ave Brooklyn, in reference to a new building going up within the bounds of my specific chunk of interest: Atlantic Aves bisection and on up to the lovely - but utterly vehicle choked and virtually inaccesible - Grand Army Plaza.
I find it a slow incline (95 vertical ft according to the USGS) of joy - as varied topography always gets me. But more importantly, its how streets bisect the Ave diagnolly, creating a delighful variety of types, lots, styles, and vistas. Four small triangular parks, graced with gas lamps...
Two immensely graceful street clocks,
and a diversity of urban typologies are represented. Breifly freeing the mind of the real estate speculators infinitely divisible box. Relief from the oppressive New York grid. Meandering is a rare pleasure when you're on a circuit board, suffice to say that right angles tend to dull the mind in NYC. Avenues that greet varied grid schemes create a welcome respite. I also enjoy the way the Ave meets a certain social and racial cross section of BK, because as much as NYers loathe to admit, parts of residential NYC can be fairly segregated. There are lots of Ave's with astounding amounts of notable architectural variety - Washington Ave (btw Atlantic & Myrtle) in Clinton Hill is perhaps one of my all time favorites - but most don't serve as a commerical cooridors as well as the fact that many weren't originally built with middle incomes in mind. Which is not the case for Flatbush. Flatbush is also an artery of distinction, from the Manhattan Bridge, thru downtown, crossing Atlantic Ave and on up to Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Central Library, and the headwaters of Eastern Parkway. At the moment the commercial mix is compelling, as our unhealthy obsession with zoning still plagues huge swaths of American cities, something about this little incline bucks a bit of that. So, on with a selection of some of the notables that grace this cut of Flatbush Ave. Buildings like The Providence, Montauk, Lenox, and Prospect View.
Posted by jmarston at 12:55 PM
July 14, 2005
Paris's Only Anti-Shimmy
Not an Anti-Sit in site, just this little measure for the ledge.
Posted by jmarston at 11:54 PM | Comments (1)
London's Only Anti-Jump
No Anti-Sits in Londra, no, just this little wee-bugger of an Anti-Jump
Posted by jmarston at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
The Anti-Sit: Fences
Posted by jmarston at 11:28 PM
The Anti-Sit: Miliary Affairs
Posted by jmarston at 11:24 PM
July 13, 2005
NaMing ScHemes and Other Infidels, Namely, Traffic
NYTimes licks more developer ass with last Sunday's Real Estate cover story, Greetings from SoFi. Back in March Transfer covered the massive amount of lux hi-rise construction in this area, and Jokingly dubbed it I-SeS (In the Shadow of the Empire State). Here we are, mid-July, and the Times can't seem to engage in any critical journalism about this, other than polishing some CT based speculators beam & christening another obnoxious neighborhood name. Oh joy, SoFinished.
Richard Rogers, who has not only one, but a list of dream jobs: head of his own hi-profile firm, director of the UK's urban task force, and council to Barcelona's own urban strategy council. He's also been quite active lately in commenting and speaking on the general state of urban policy... Which is why it makes perfect sense that he wrote this piece in the Guardian about London's Olympic victory and, you guessed it, the similarities it has to Barcelona's thrust forward by hosting the '88 Games.
The EU, what bunch of backwerd twits, they think that by enforcing an EU charter that demanded "states to draw maps that track the level of noise from cars, planes, machinery and other sources in areas inhabited by more than 100,000 people. Busy intersections or traffic networks are also targeted." (and who are now in trouble for not acting upon that data) that they might make city life more enjoyable? Honk on Hummers, America Rulez!
Joe Scanlan wrote an interesting opinion in the summer edition of Art Forum entitled 'Social Space and Relational Aesthetics'. A talking point not so much for its art world critique, although interesting, but for the main piece of evidence he marshalls. A roundabout / rotary intersection in Holland designed by traffic engineer Hans Monderman. Scanlan uses it to illustrate the function of public shaming / humiliation / pressure in enforcing order on our streets and intersections. With incidentally has much better results for this particular traffic rotary then signs, curbs, signals, lanes -- all of which are nonexistent in Monderman's design... Gotta love those Dutch.
Got me wondering about how something even as remotely innovative as this would work in a city like New York, whose biggest crime is its homicidal motorized traffic. Partly due to context, and partly due to culture, I have no doubt something even close to this would be a tremendous failure. It might work in parts of the city where pedestrians, cyclists, and cars/trucks are more or less equivalent in number, e.g. LES. But most of the city is segmented by broad Avenues that serve as numbing speedways, where vehicles set an Indy pace to make the next light - or Bob's business meeting. Most cross streets are choked with delivery trucks, cabs, and maintenance vans. Have you ever seen a car pulled over, much less a truck, for anything other than a bomb check? How about a traffic violation? Its hardly humiliating to mow over a pedestrian or run a red light here, there is Business to be Conducted Folks! Surely the narrowing of streets and the lowering of curbs, both part and parcel to this approach, would be helpful in certain areas, but that’s about the extent to which New York could implement or innovate with this type of approach... We could start by putting CCTV cameras at stoplights. Perhaps by enforcing, ahem, speed limits? Use proven traffic calming measures. Get rid of Bloombergs horrible crosstown turn lane scheme in Midtown. How about decreasing at least a lane or two on one of the Aves. Perhaps, just perhaps we could put some bikes lanes in, enforce them. Enforce the bus lanes as well, and most importantly of all, follow the lead of London's Mayor Ken Livingstone and put in our own congestion charge; which John Massengale details quite nicely here. The congestion charge has been a massive success in London and in my recent experience there a brilliant success, politically and experentially. Aaron Naparstek has a nice piece on biking in this metropolis. In many ways I can't think of a more shameless Western city than New York at the moment, when it comes to circulation and transportation. Its ridiculous how quickly you can get 'around town' here, which has in turn made whole swaths of the city 'flyover country', and others, oversaturated novelty destinations. Its time to see the effects traffic is having on the city culture, as well as our health.
Posted by jmarston at 03:19 PM
July 12, 2005
High Quality Exports
because music and architecture are close companions, I'm verging into PR blob land with this little piece of passion... but honesty is the new irony, right, Rove? back to the usual goods, in generous quantities, very soon.
Gang Gang Dance
God's Money
Social Registry 019
No doubt in my mind this is the best musical export New York has produced in the last few years... which is to say a lot considering the past two years has produced work from luminescent locals like William Basinski and Animal Collective. This is GGD's finest work to date and absolutely oozes with prescient geopsycho ramblings. Jung would be proud.
Posted by jmarston at 04:04 PM
July 09, 2005
Back in the New York Groove
Holidazzles have left the site to linger, as all sites should during the summa time, but its time to get Back, Back in the New York Groove.
My heart goes out to London, who will be featured quite regularly in the coming weeks. I managed to jumbo jet out 12 hours before a band of sick fucks thought it politically (or religiously) sound to kill people going about their precious lives, in all places, on London's glorious mass transit...at least the IRA had the secondary education to choose targets and give warning, these cowardly dolts leave their knapsacks on the bus. Scotland Yard has dealt far too long with bombings and will surely track these vacuous souls down. Paul Virilo was right about microwarfare but he didn't account for the type of retarded intellects who would carry it out, and the carnage it would reek on the innocent. London, surely we know you carry on with all of your gracious pride. Rude Pundit put it quite nicely, here.
Posted by jmarston at 10:01 AM