Transfer

June 19, 2008

Transfer Misses New York City

All Hell Breaks Loose.
Check with P:ortage.

Posted by jmarston at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2006

Outclicks

Going in the Links of Note Category. The Gardens of London on The Morning News, ultra small homes make Time Magazine, Utopian Modernism in London, a great article on Archinect. Some of the most compelling NYC street photography I've ever seen, on Matt Weber's Urban Photos site. Visit the Shaker City of Peace in MA & the last 4 Shakers on Earth in ME. New (Trad)Urbanism manifest in this photo tour of the New Town development in MO. The Situationists interpreted by Brian Massumi on Space and Culture, hangin monastary on gravestmor.

Posted by jmarston at 08:58 PM

July 15, 2006

Sneaks

New York Construction July cover story focuses on the art of reconstruction in the NY-NJ area. Back in early June I pointed to the proposed Pauper Lunatic Asylum project by Becker + Becker on Roosevelt Island, which NY Construction news focuses on the progress and dimensions of the project. "The most noteworthy aspect of the old building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a central "flying" circular staircase that Charles Dickens wrote about it in his travelogue, American Notes." StreetsBlog has great post on NYC noise, and just how bad its grates on New Yorkers. John Massengale has a wonderful post on the auto slum design of the Williamsburg Bridge off ramps. A new book, and photo exposition on Staten Islands maritime history, focusing on the Caddell Drydock in West Brighton SI. The Urban Center is hosting an opening reception on July 18th from 6-8pm. ForgottenNY has a nice post on the lost theatres of 42nd St.

W. Rybczynski analyzes the failure of 'experimental architecture' in Denver, taking serious shots at buildlngs by the likes of Libeskind and Graves. London's mayor, Red Ken, asks the question radical alt-weeklys seem to ask every couple of years, why the hell isn't London (New York) its own city state? A fine new collection of perspectives on the contemporary American landscape of use and reuse, from the Princeton Architectural Press, Drosscape. PAP also has an interesting new book, Building with Earth: Design and Technique. I missed this LA Times review of the new Guthrie in Minneapolis by Nouvel, gushing, "And in the end there's something refreshing about Nouvel's insistence that architecture is, in some fundamental way, a poetic exercise". Arcspace provides a phenomenal tour of the site and building, with blueprint to boot. Go Guthrie. You may think its tough in New York to build a modern town house in a historic district, well you've never been to Santa Fe, where a couple found graffiti scrawled on their new home, but, "The spray-painter was not a juvenile delinquent, the couple quickly realized, but someone who objected to the design of the building, comparing it to Nazi architecture." Is California ready for a bullet train, between say LA & SF? SF Cityscape asks the question the Northeastern Megalopolis should be asking as well. GSD Magazine on the state of Dutch Architecture. Thailand's winning Tsunami Memorial design from the Spanish firm, Disc-O Architecture. My London fave, Diamond Geezer, visits the Barbican. SHoP's latest project. Architecture Week on sustainable housing prototypes.

Posted by jmarston at 01:23 PM

July 13, 2006

Out on the Tendrils

StreetsBlog covers the exit of DOT Bike Program head Andrew Vesselinovitch, which as you may imagine, was due to the tremendously unresponsive environment DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall has created for any form of transport that doesn't run on petrol. BikeBlog covers the rampant harassment and intimidation of Critical Mass riders by NYPD. Its simply amazing that City Hall will spend this much time & money on ticketing and harassing bikers, while Hit & Run fatalities continue to climb. Blog like you give a damn has a nice photo post on a earth buidling project of Slum Dwellers International. Pruned draws attention to the lovely photographs of John Brinton Hogan. Environmentally sound real estate porn at Green Homes for Sale. The suburban agenda, what about the urban agenda? Not in a suburban House of Reps. Neat windows in this cool photo at City Specific. An interesting 8 hour photo of 57th street. Explore the 33 permenant sculptures of Nordland, in Northern Norway.

Posted by jmarston at 12:32 PM

June 22, 2006

Lacks

Borough President of Manhattan Topographic Bureau

Watch short videos of different historic sites in Queens, from the Thirteen show, A Walk Through Queens with David Bartman and Barry Lewis. Includes the Riker Home (1654), the Quaker Meetinghouse (1694), and others. Map of Manhattan in 1767, complete with Kep's Bay. Greenhome NYC, helping New York City buildings go green. Preservationist fight over Crow House in Rockland County. Troll around on New York's Great Estates real estate service, comprehensive listings of some palatial, if not worn down, mansions. Miss Rep's smacking some down.

Narrow Larry's selected Folk Art sites in the United States. Visit the wonderful and extensive world of Bridgemeister, where "mostly suspension bridges" find their place in history. Photos, dates, and figures on all the suspension bridges of the world. ASU's New American City: Artists Looking Forward, opening in September. Arborsmith Studios documents the fine art of sculpting trees over time. The Yellow Chair stories; future scenarios. London's lowrise advocate Deyan Sudjic fights to save the Commonwealth Institute, in an regards to capital A-rchitecture, "The modernism with which Quinlan Terry has had to battle is, like the Taliban, a puritanical religion". Not to forget John McPhee's new book, Uncommon Carriers out on FSG.

From the History of Brooklyn (1857).

"Other and larger houses were now erected, and after the establishment of a brick-yard at New Amsterdam, by DeGraff and Hogeboom, in the year 1660, brick houses became the fashion with all who could afford the additional expense. Still, the best edifices of that day would be deemed extremely cheap, as compared with those of a more recent period, rarely exceeding $800, while those of an ordinary character were rated at from $200 to $500 of our present currency. Rents ranged from $25 to $100; and as barter was then, by reason of the want of a wellestablished system of currency, commonly provided for in all agreements, payments were frequently made partly in trade and partly in beaver-skins, which, in wholes or halves, then passed as a current medium of exchange, as regularly as bank-bills of the present day."

Posted by jmarston at 09:47 AM

June 20, 2006

Around the Circle

neat little number on 20th St, Brooklyn.

Much like Saturdays post, we found this buried in a Washington Post article on New York's quality of life campaigns under Bloomberg: "Manhattan has 25 percent more banks and 80 percent more national pizza chains than it had five years ago." The little known plans to build a superhighway parallel to I-35, a massive 4 football field wide ubermover connecting the NAFTA countries. New York's Scandinavia House is hosting a summer long exhibition on the building possibilites of wood, originally organized for the Venice Biennale. Interesting tour from the Independent of London's Southwark borough. New York's Center for an Urban Future releases a report urging Mayor Bloomberg to get behind plans to develop two government warehouses in Sunset Park, bringing 2 million sq ft of commerical space back online. Taskforce for Megacities release newsletter number 5. Toronto based Pugly Awards release the voting results on this years set of new buildings. The Cultural Landscape Foundations draws attention to a hithero unknown upstate New York site, Russel Wrights Manitoga in Garrison New York, where he designed and edited the natural landscape with great care over the course of many years. Robert J Shiller, of Yale, claims the current housing market is not only the biggest boom on record, but the only other true precedent is the 1890's. A consumer group goes pit bull on the real estate industry, citing a number of points that demonstrate how this 'cartel' manages to screw consumers. The teardown wars sweep across the States. ForgottenNY covers the Norwegian Day Parade in Brooklyn New York. Yes, us Scandanavians have some history in Sweet Brooklyn. The Scandanavian East Coast Museum in Brooklyn New York.

Posted by jmarston at 10:16 AM

June 17, 2006

Below

Sometimes, buried in a glossy loft tour in the Times Real Estate section, you get nuggets of truth. This, about a couple who moved onto 29th St btw 6/7th back in the 1970's:

"She and her husband are somewhat less enthusiastic about the march of time in their neighborhood. The 27th Street flea market is gone, and a change in zoning laws about 10 years ago brought in its wake a raft of tall buildings and chain stores.

"It makes things feel very corporate," Ms. Fillin-Yeh said. "There are 17 drugstores and 53 banks. I don't love it."

Posted by jmarston at 05:53 PM

June 16, 2006

In the Fold

The National Trust reprinted a 2003 story that a developer planned to restore the Pauper Lunatic Asylum on Roosevelt Island, employing the CT firm Becker & Becker, as part of its 120 million development. The Asylum architect also designed lower Manhattan's landmarked Customs House. The Brooklyn Historical Society's 'Design Your Hood' opened June 10, showcasing high schoolers' take on Fulton Mall. Landmarks Conservancy's quarter page Times op-ad condemning the plan to move Madison Square Garden to the Farley Post Office. The 125th annual Architectural League meeting, June 26th. Christopher Gray's OMA story on the Dow Jones houses on the west side. New LPC designation on Staten Island, as reported by the Real Estate Observer. If New York could even apply a quarter of the energy Chicago has been towards its transporation and environmental policy, we might not be drowning in hostile motor vehicle traffic. Chicago is planning a 500-mile network of bike paths to be completed by 2015, thru the massive encouragement and support of Mayor Daley. What is New York's strategic 20 year plan for transportation policy, yea, burying the BQE.

A short interview with MVRDV, who ask: "“How can you beat them?”...“We have to compete with quite heavy opponents,” he continues. “New Urbanism in the US is highly politicised and very successful, and there’s the retro architecture in Europe which is like an oil spill going over the European landscape.” Reinventing the small apartment house in Toronto, one beautiful block at a time. From Foreign Policy, a short list of the biggest problems some of the worlds megacities face, and the likelyhood that these could be surmounted. ArchVoices wrap up of last weekends AIA convention in LA. Explore the beautiful medieval Medinas of Morocco. Archinect interview with Wes Janz, of One Small Project. A year long pilot study in London to air condition the steaming Tube stations.

Posted by jmarston at 12:33 PM

June 13, 2006

PP&F

Al-Suhaymi House, Cario Egypt, 1648 - from ArchNet

Some new links of note round here, linked themselves by their sectional perspectives on the city. Exploring Wilshire Blvd., LA-CA, great way to create perspective on the megalopolis. Excellent history of Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC. Beach Bungalow preservation in Far Rockaway, Queens, NYC. Bond St Manhattan, then & now. Pedestrian danger zones in Ft Greene, Brooklyn, NYC. Check out the ITE.

Speaking of pedestrian danger zones, more exciting work from our NYC based pedestrian advocates. Aaron Naparstek, who played host to some hot tempers after the parking picnic in Park Slope. All I've experienced over there years is that New York City drivers have got to be the most entitled mother fuckers in the whole of the 5 Boros. Yea, the city's yours, you misanthropic apes. There isn't a bigger single health issue facing this City than Motor Vehicle chaos. Wasn't it just last week the Daily News reported on the links between test scores and motor vehicle pollution in this City? A complete lack of traffic violation enforcement by our Police Dept (read: City Hall) and a reckless disregard for respectable speed limits have left us with Monday morning papers declaring the previous weekends Car murder. Take a peak at yesterdays Post if you find that hard to believe. In addition to Aaron's great spokesmanship on the veritable Suicide that is Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, and Jan's redesign, Starts and Fits has been doing some nice posts on the explosive impatience many of us Pedestrian users of the city are feeling, as well as the formation of the New York Streets Renaissance Campaign, not too mention the always attentive, Transportation Alternatives. Bring back the Death o' Meter.

Since the retirement of London's double decker bus (but the View?!), the BendyBus/AccordianBus, has made its Ye Olde Debut, functionally interrogated with humour on Diamond Geezer. On deserted streets and the romance of running wild thru an empty London, from the Morning News. The London Architecture Biennale begins on June 16th. Experiment and Utopia in Architecture 1956-2006 begins June 15th at the Barbican in Londra. Finally, a hilarious and misguided screed from a fellow I normally find many things in common. The shoutdown, against the reclamation of roadspace by pedestrians and cars, spews this statist rant, "Like Leicester Square and Covent Garden, these mass confrontations between Leicester Square and bloated Tourists pickpockets, circus failures, and vunerable tourists plague what were quiet, nice, and respectable areas before all cars were banished, and the roads closed off. Now they are hell holes of litter and vulgarity in the day, and no-go drug haunts after midnight. Road closures like this are a big mistake, and have ruined many beauty spots."

Urban Forest Project coming soon, sponsered by Times Sq Alliance and the AIA New York Chapter. I'm all for Maples in Midtown?!?! Hilarious sketch of possible uses for the Brooklyn Detention Center, from Low Culture. So appropriate. Why can't we get ATM locations on every corner like Manhattan?! Why can't every new condo have a drug store and Chase outlet, like Manhattan?! We can, With Marty & Ratner!

Lifestyles of the Rich and Ugly in Palm Beach. Trendy modernist living, and filling in the arches of London. Historic preservation and revitalization in the American South. The Northeast still has the 'dumbest drivers'. Obviously, considering the Northeast issues the least amount of traffic violations in the country. Mayor Bloomberg's lovely little imagination at work again, SeaPlane! SeaPlane! A Brookings Institue study I missed on the old childhood friend, Mind the Gap: Disparities & Competitiveness in the Twin Cities. WQ review of the new book, Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War. Daily Dose tour of some sleek new rowhouses in Denver CO. Tropolism points to an exhibition on one my favorite architects, Alvaro Siza at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Paris plans new skyscrapers, barracks are built, lines drawn. City Journal provides Larry Silverstein with oral sex for his building of 7 World Trade. Admittedly, it is a pleasant buiding, but I can't but help question the author's navel gazing when it comes to Larry jacking the process by inserting Child. More WTC memorial goodness from Miss Rep. My newest and most consuming passion, Adobe Rowhouses, from which the image below relates, originally found on the Vernacular Architecture Forum. Now, don't forget, Free Ferries to Governors Island All Summer, GovIsland! A fantastic PhotoTour of Baltimore City USA.

Posted by jmarston at 01:45 PM | Comments (1)

June 11, 2006

Frisco File

Paris of the West, New Mexico of the North, Dear Old Sweet Natured San Francisco.

Nob Hill, taken by MisterSF

First, no visit is complete without a one on one with Mister SF himself! This gallery of San Francisco's hills, a little topo lesson of beautiful snapshots. The Church of Satan, Anton Levey's house, photographed before demolition. On over to the great urbanist site SF Cityscape, lots of interesting transit plans, maps, and docs.

Some fantastic panoramas, click to enlarge San Franciscco! These two images come from SF area photographer Ron Gilbert, his photos of Forestiere Underground. You know Forestiere in Fresno CA!

Highly rec'd read on the darker aspects of the Bay, Imperial San Francisco, by Gray Brechin.

Sudden plans for some 1000 ft skyscrapers in Downtown San Fran. UPDATE: Renzo Piano on board for first 'scraper in line, toping at 850ft, about the height of the Transamerica building. Lets see how he incorporates earthquake safety.

The most darling historical photos of sparkling ole San Fran, from the Potrero Hill Archives Project.

An circa 1900 Adobe home near 20th and De Haro present day San Francisco.

Posted by jmarston at 06:00 PM

June 05, 2006

Tycoon Living!

Martijn de Waal's wonderfully fractured photos of real estate adverts in China.

Posted by jmarston at 04:19 PM

Fantastical Urbanism

Fantastical imaginations of our cities are so often littered with outmoded science fiction fantasies, dystopian nightmares, or technocratic asylums. Rarely, it seems, are we are much concerned with a magical realist portrait of our imagined cities. Take the city Galvez, by Oscar Guzman, and his small smattering of images. There is something in the texture, mood, and lighting of these CADs that tells a different story than most Futures.

Posted by jmarston at 02:52 PM

May 30, 2006

NOAA's Ark

The historical map & chart project on NOAA's website has some 21,000 maps, with a few very old gems in the mix. Most are decommissioned 20th century charts, which have some interesting data in and of themselves, but there are some fantastic golden oldies as well.

Here is a wonderful nautical chart of New York harbor from 1777. Note the town of Utrecht, in Brookland.

On the East River, Wallabout Bay, charted here in 1887 before the mud flats were dredged to make room for the 20th century Navy Yard. Much like how it appeared during the Revolutionary War when the British used the U-Shaped channel to anchor the prison ships.

A survey of the Mississippi basin from 1843, focusing on the Minneapolis/St Paul area, 15 years before Minnesota gained statehood. The St. Croix river sits vertically in the center.

Here is a contemporary map of the San Diego harbor which delineates the explosives dumping areas, as well as nuclear submarine routes; where one must navigate at ones own risk.

A contemporary map of the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of Maine & New Hampshire, a well traveled set of islands long before the settlement of mainland US. John Smith, the first to map the coasts of New England, made a mint fishing the deep Atlantic waters off the islands. More importantly, the Isle includes Smutty Nose Island, the namesake of one my favorite American beers, Shoals Pale Ale.

Posted by jmarston at 11:29 AM | Comments (2)

May 29, 2006

Nice Temples

The largest stone Hindu Mandir in the US - Chicago. Beguiling and Wonderful.

"The Mandir opened to devotees, well-wishers, and visitors after the Pran Pratishtha ceremony performed by the hands of His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj on August 8, 2004. "

and the main Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi.

Akshardham
"The complex was inaugurated on 6 November, 2005."

Posted by jmarston at 08:50 PM | Comments (1)

April 06, 2006

Steppes

King St, Manhattan

Exciting to see a new Marshall Berman book out, see it reviewed. Berman lecture from 97, same title as the book. Interesting read from the conservatives at City Journal. Yea its funny, they supported the stadium, which would have decimated an already declining - but real - manufacturing district in Hell's Kitchen, but this article is full of credited cautions against overdependence on financial services jobs. A real threat that gets couched by the final sentence: "New York always must remember: its top earners and its top firms are here only for as long as New York continues to be a profitable and pleasant environment for them." Not anything more, but suck more public funds into corporate welfare.

In other news, Harvard Design Review, 1956-2006. Bill McKibben speaking at the Tishman, NYC April 17. Parking space real estate love over at Starts and Fits. New report (pdf) over at the Center for an Urban Future on Working Families in NYC. Energy Solutions Conference, NYC April 27-29. Among many others, Kunstler, and maybe some conspirators From the Wilderness. Developing Green: Sustainability Entering the Mainstream, SEATTLE April 10-11. Questions for Susan Popkin, Hope Grant researcher. More archtours over at arbitat. Kevin Walsh gives his farewell to the Tunnel Garage. Blog for Rural America from Center for Rural Affairs. New Norman Foster skyscraper for Moscow. New Martha's Vineyard architecture from ARO.

Posted by jmarston at 07:52 PM | Comments (2)

December 02, 2005

More Legal Woes

The Keno fallout has been steady, and here comes another round, from the other end. Not a good year for the community. This one, greedy Property Owners winning NY State Supreme court cases against cities & towns, forcing a reimbursment for "Loss" (said owner wasn't allowed to build two strip malls) - incurred from rezonings. The implications of such a victory are vomit inducing from any one of a number of perspectives. I'm sure the LI town of Brookhaven has the capital, ha. Read on with this New York Times piece... and with this Newsday piece... A Pace Law essay on related moves in terms of land use - by the State, and thru the courts. Loss, I'll give you evidence of loss, and sue your ass right back, and let me tell you, the figures on backpayment for community loss are bigger than your accrued rent from Island Tan and Blockbuster.

Posted by jmarston at 09:13 AM | Comments (2)

December 01, 2005

Mild Smatterings

MTA shows off some new its new subway cars. Do we really need more integrated stip maps and lousy ad-vids when, well, you get the point.

MIT's arch-journal, Perspecta, interrogates the star-architecture phenomenon. How timely of them.

Some great backstory and juicy jabs from Slatin Report on the Urban Glass House. Black rimmed glasses don't make the vision.

Watch Richard Meier & Company get the Getty built at this weekend's MOMA showing of the "Concert of Wills: Making of the Getty Center".

Two links that come a little late on the uptake: Architect's Newspaper lays the land on architecture critics. Short interviews with the New York Centric crowd. Tell me again how Goldberger got his NYTimes post at 23? Michael Bierut from Design Observer on designing the signage for New Urbanist doo-doo, Celebration, FL.

Bedroom voyeurs, Shanghai Living, at the Pruned blogspot. China's cities & the environment, nice post over at NewSuburbanism blogspot.

Again, sorry to anyone whose posted comments recently, my spam battle has caused some friendly fire, I apologize to those I've hit.

Posted by jmarston at 09:32 PM | Comments (1)

November 29, 2005

Lex! Berlin! Oh My!

Looks like the Anti-Sit phenom has hit the crusty crip gallery scene. Concept obvious, execution pretty weak, but its nice to see the Anti-Sit in'terror'gated elsewhere. Text below from a 2001 Times article...

''Weary travelers no longer need to stand for hours on end,'' a sign says. ''Use your government-issued photo ID card to download a free seating license.''... "Dr. Mann fights technology with technology, wearing computers on his body and cameras in his glasses so he can ''shoot back'' by recording everything he sees. The billboards and advertisements posted on every public surface are a form of ''attention theft,'' he says, so he has invented technology that replaces these messages with whatever he would like to see. When he is wearing his ''eyetap'' glasses, which project an image onto the retina of his eye, a condom ad in a bathroom becomes a picture of a waterfall."

Routledge - my old taskmaster - has published an interesting new book, Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City, by UIC grad Richard Lloyd. An excellent read of Chicago's Wicker Park and forces that brought it to bear. A great editor & friend from Routledge sent this PDF scan of a Chicago Reader article on the book. [ed. upload issues, email if you want the scan, its a good read]

Carter H., over at the City Review, has a nice piece on Norman Foster's new hi-rise plans for Lexington Ave (53rd). Using the air rights from the Mies' Seagram Building on Park, Sir Norman plans to build a 709-foot-high mixed use structure. I qoute, "Roberta Brandes Gratz, a member of the commission [Landmarks Preservation Commission], remarked during the hearing that the new project was "quite exciting" given “the horror of images of how wrong this could be," adding that the design "almost feels natural." Although just under Pelli's Lex Ave Bloomberg pad, Foster has a variance in the works to put them on almost equal footing. Thats a go.

ForgottenNY heads to the outershores of Rockaway, exploring the beach front adandon of Edgemere.

A+U's new issue deals entirely in SE Asian architecture & space...

Architecture Week, last week, dealing out the goop on the National Trust for Historic Preservation conference from this past September... which is the cue for today's hi-Theory nugget, from The Harvard Design Magazine Fall/Winter issue --

An interesting read of Berlin - everybody's new favorite hip & n' arty bohemian outpost - the author uses it as The example, criticizing starchitects and former IBA leader Kleihues 'Critical Reconstruction' of Berlin: "the stealth conservatism that frequently lies behind the thick layers of celebrated, avant-garde-approved redesign, revealing a recuperative agenda strikingly similar to the ideological transparency of historic preservation. As it turns out, the exact reconstruction of Warsaw and the more experimental operations in Berlin have more in common than their formal differences might suggest: both reflect politically charged searches for national or societal identities in transitional times. More generally, the worldwide emergence of dialectic redesign may be viewed as a form of resistance to the perceived homogenizing forces of rampant globalization. Dialectic redesign allows a “global city” to participate in the vanity fair of avant-garde architecture to attract transnational capital, while simultaneously protecting — or recreating — a familiar physical framework in which regional differences and local idiosyncrasies can crystallize." ... "While the aesthetic shortcomings of Berlin’s recipe for dialectic redesign are evident, it may be more difficult to evaluate its political efficacy — does the recreation of spatial familiarity indeed promote societal stability or national unity?"

I'll post a response later...

Posted by jmarston at 04:19 PM

November 04, 2005

Beltway Pops

2 stories from the Beltway today. The first, House bill counters eminent domain ruling, "The bill, passed 376-38, would withhold federal money from state and local governments that use powers of eminent domain to force businesses and homeowners to give up their property for commercial uses."

The second, Court Rules Against District Commuter Tax. Oh imagine that, Chevy Chase insiders won't pay to keep up DC. Leeches.

Posted by jmarston at 04:25 PM | Comments (1)

October 31, 2005

Them Are Fightin' Words

The above photo, of the new Herzog & de Meuron de Young Museum in San Francisco, is by Ben Lepley - posted at Archinect. Lovely.

Mike Davis is sure picking some fights, he recently penned a piece on the rebuilding effort in NO and MS. I quote, "Into this fraught and sinister situation now blunders the circus-like spectacle of the Congress of New Urbanism (CNU): the architectural cult founded by Miami designers Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk ... Duany, who never misses an opportunity to push his panaceas to those in power, has foolishly made himself an accomplice to the Republicans' evil social experiment on the Gulf Coast." Whoa. Davis is whipping up some serious barbs here. Inside the Charrette, some excellent coverage from John Massengale at Veritas et Venustas.

A few weeks back I featured the work of Edward Burtynsky, in particular his photographs of the Three Gorges Project. Today he's featured in the Washington Post (which includes a lovely audio slide show) in lead up to a retrospective of his work on view at the Brooklyn Museum until Jan 2006. Another hat tip to the work of Edward Burtynsky.

NYT on housing development in the Lower Hudson River Valley, just north of New York City.

The shrinking pedestrian space of New York City, an excellent juxtaposition at Starts & Fits.

A walk around the 2012 London Olympic sites, before anything is built. A flickr photo set from a fine London blogger, Diamond Geezer.

From SquatterCity an interesting & little know legal concept concerning property and the investment in it by those other than the owner... This could have some interesting implications down south.

Posted by jmarston at 02:37 PM

1.2 Million Dollar Shack

"Corchuelo’s home is one block off Las Vegas Boulevard and across the street from the future home of the Allure, a 41-story luxury complex under construction"

What was it that Mark Twain said, something to that effect that 'buy land, they're not making it anymore'. No Veg/Ass weather is in the midst - surely as its always been - of a stupendous boom in land values. The above photo was taken from this article on MSNBC, from which I quote, "The cost of a vacant acre in the Las Vegas area has hit $601,600 — an 88 percent increase over last year ... At last count, there were 93 luxury condominium projects, totaling 175 towers, proposed, planned or under construction in the Las Vegas valley in the second quarter of this year, according to a report released in September by Applied Analysis."

Posted by jmarston at 11:25 AM

October 28, 2005

Dubaious Hype, Dog-shit Planning & Mad Landscape Love

We Need Answers People!!! The City Smells Like Maple Syrup and The People Are Talking About It!!! GET ME SOME ANSWERS!!!

Apologies to anyone who posted comments recently and had them deleted. In my endless battle against xanaxed, over-mortgaged, car loaning, penis power pills, I accidentally lost some comments. I'm sorry about that. Onward!

Paul Goldberger on Calatrava as king of the "latest architectural fashion: bespoke luxury-apartment towers." Although the praise is caked a bit thick, this most excellent point is made: "What is clear is that Calatrava—along with Richard Meier, whose glass towers in the far West Village went up in 2002—has helped create a more ambitious climate for apartment design in New York."

On the WTC site: "dog-shit planning," where each architect lays his piece, and the space left over is considered public space. --Danish urbanist and architect Jan Gehl.

This is a fantastic read of Berlin and New York, as cities, as routes towards being. Excellent illuminations and nuggets of observation. A small conversation she had with Rem Koolhaas about the Palast.

He said something like, "Let's turn this around. How did you feel when you first walked into the building?"

I faltered. I knew how it made me feel. The building made me want to cry.

"I never felt so...overcome by a building before," I said into my cell phone. I felt stupid as the words spilled out of my mouth, but I couldn't stop them from spilling. "The minute I walked in, I felt...I never felt a building's power like that before. I never felt so affected by a building before."

"Yes," he said. "That's exactly it. That's how architecture should make you feel."

I hereby refuse to speak any further about the furor in the desert, Dubai. This will be Transfer's 4th and final entry, marked by Fox News' jump into the fray that is Dubaious Hype. Using their trademark hard nose journalism, penning the Hippest City, it’s worth a click to their photo essay, which has some actual pictures of Dubai, and then some... Yet it makes perfect sense that Dubai has got to be Fox's favorite city, their hippest city, a totalitarian - seemingly moral government - building a fantastically unsustainable mirage of banality for the delight of the global elite on the backs of an international caste of guest workers and undocumented disposables. Oh yea, they keep their women in check too. Perfect! Fuck Dubai and Fuck Fox News.

"It is vital to remember that this American suspicion of state power goes back to the Revolution itself, which was anti-statist and libertarian in many important ways. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights both reflect deep anxieties about the potential tyranny of state power.

The conservative reaction against environmentalism in 1980s arguably flowed from this source. It represented not a failure to love the land, but a fear that the environmental laws and regulations of the 1970s at least potentially represented a new form of state tyranny.

The collapse of bipartisan support for environmentalism (which to my mind is among the greatest losses to our national politics in the past quarter century) was primarily a reaction not against nature, not against the environment, not against the American land, but against centralized government power and its feared abuse."

--- William Cronon. "Saving the Land We Love: Land Conservation and American Values" Keynote Address for the Land Trust Alliance Rally Madison , Wisconsin , October 17, 2005

Bloomberg, you've got to be fucking kidding me? I don't remember the last "ticket blitz" you delivered to the fat asses I see parked in the bus lanes on 42nd St - every single day. I don't remember the last speed trap I've seen on Hwy 9th Ave, shit, I can't remember the last car I've seen pulled over for blowing thru a red light. You threaten to ticket heavily for Blocked Boxes with your big white signs and crisscrossed paint jobs. Yet, Never, Ever, since I've lived in this city have I seen someone ticketed for blocking the box. No, you gave 'em thru streets instead. Yet, here you are, on a ticketing blitz against Bicycles? Sure, obnoxious law breaking bikers are just as that. And say what you will about critical mass, but you've intimidated, harassed, and unlawfully bullied that into the ground already anyway. Please, for fucks sake Bloomy, take a course at Transportation Alternatives. They've got a great short film about how much New Yorkers love some peace on the streets. They've also got a short film about how pissed off people are in the Bronx about traffic murder. Maybe Ferrer is polling so well up there because he even knows about it? Here is a nice neat colorful guide on how to make streets safer for pedestrians. Pass it onto your unresponsive DOT. You don't like TA? Well, how about this easy little audit you can do from the comforts of your new hirise. I'm looking for some coloring books it that’s a more efficient way to communicate these ideas.

Constructing Frank Lloyd Wright from five pencil drawings. A new building... An engineering mammoth, bringing Long Island trains into Grand Central Terminal.

Posted by jmarston at 10:31 AM

October 21, 2005

By 2007, 3.2 billion people— more than the entire global population in 1967—will live in cities

While in Paris this summer, I snapped the above shot, it was wonderful to note how frequently the bollard was executed for the safety of the pedestrian. So please read Aaron Naparstek's excellent post on Bollards. A must read. Bravo Aaron.

Outstanding long read on today's Mega Cities, each of those you might expect in the list, are analyzed individually. Dhaka, Bangladesh: "had only 3.5 million people in 1951; now it has more than 13 million. The city has been gaining population at a rate of nearly seven percent a year since 1975, and it will be the world’s second-largest city (after Tokyo) by 2015". Fantastic broadview. In related news, Shadow Cities author Robert Neuwirth asks the right questions in a recent Fortune article, "70 million people a year are migrating to cities. That’s 130 people arriving every minute, and two every second. Where will all those people live?"

The journal Space & Culture published an interesting article on Brooklyn's Prospect Heights' neighborhood this month... "This article uses photography and ethnography to understand and represent residents’ emotional-phenomenological experiences of walks through their neighborhood."

Forbes slide show of the ten most expensive homes in the US. Spatial Alienation comes at a premium.

A history of the Northland Shopping Mall outside St. Louis MO, and a documentation of its slow destruction. A template for so many urban areas, it is the great American snafu.

New York Times excellent coverage of China's building Boom... has a great slide show.

Musings from 3 Quarks Daily on the airport architecture of Kennedy Airport.

From UK paper Building Design, London Mayor Ken Livingston is trying to wrest control of housing & planning from the local authorities, "Livingstone argued that many of London’s councils lacked the experience to deal with property developers. He said: “We need five planning authorities rather than 33 boroughs. You can’t take people that are dealing with backyard extensions five years out of six and then expect them to get on top of some of the most rapacious bastards on the planet.”

Unsettling b&w photos documenting the human toll of Katrina... and a fantastic photoblog, Operation Eden, from a resident with a filmic eye for post-Katrina New Orleans.

Posted by jmarston at 11:34 AM | Comments (1)

October 19, 2005

Damming the Third Largest River

The above photographs are by Edward Burtynsky, who has a fantastic collection of photos of China, and in particular the Three Gorges Project, documenting the massive demolition of cities and villages by this colossal piece of engineering.

The Yangtze River is the world’s third-largest river. China is damming it, in an 18 year project that will submerge 104 cities, forcibly resettle 750,000 people, and flood an estimated 62,000 acres of the farmland. Here are some of the environmental impacts of hydropower, and the Three Gorges project in general.

Here are some of the probing criticisms of Yangtze Dam project...

"The Yangtze River Valley, encompassing an area roughly one-fifth that of Canada’s, is China’s agricultural and industrial heartland. Supporting roughly 400 million people, one-third of China’s population, the valley produces 40 percent of the nation’s grain, 70 percent of its rice, and 40 percent of China’s total industrial output."

PBS has an interesting documentary, Great Wall Across the Yangtze. Also, an interview with Medha Patkar who knows first hand the social, environmental, and economic repercussions of such dam development projects.

Steven Benson has many fantastic photos of the Three Gorges Dam and the Yangtze River Valley, documenting the project in eloquent B&W photographs. Here are some more documentary photographs of the Three Gorges Reservoir before it was filled.

Posted by jmarston at 09:48 AM

October 13, 2005

Longest 2ndz

New York wouldn't be my lover if it weren't for her Bridges, her many beautiful bridges. Much bridge love today. In expression of this love, Transfer is bringing some cool bridge pictures for your Thursday the 13th. Storebæltsbroen, The Great Belt Bridge, is the second longest suspension bridge in the world. Located in Denmark, it stretches 1,624 metres. The most lovely Verrazano Bridge is 1,298 metres, the Manhattan Bridge is 448 metres, and the Williamsburg Bridge is 488 metres. Photos are by Shaggy Court, on Flickr.

Posted by jmarston at 10:12 AM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2005

Dubai X3

Transfer has been tracing Dubai's refraction as it explodes forth from the desert, as well as watching the western media scraping slowly behind, first Mike Davis' excellent read, as well as some interesting architectural reads. Now the New Yorker has jumped in with a print only article by Ian Parker and a stellar slide show of Robert Polidori's photographs, from which the two pix above were taken. In related resources, Emporis has a fairly large collection of hi-rise construction pix from Dubai UAE. Brian McMorrow has an engaging 36 pages of photographs of Dubai's megaprojects on his PBase site, offering a personalized view of this realized mirage. Below are two photos he took of the Palms.

Posted by jmarston at 02:34 PM

October 11, 2005

Park Slope Plane Crash

...Of 1960. Fantastic article on the 7th Ave / Sterling Place crash of Brooklyn yore. In addition, an interview with a women who lived around the corner and was one of the first on the scene. Fascinating piece of Brooklyn History from the Park Slope Reader.

Posted by jmarston at 01:41 PM

Two Photo Shows

The Whitney has an interesting show for archiurban types, The New City: Sub/Urbia in Recent Photography, works by artists Walead Beshty, Gregory Crewdson, Tim Davis, Corin Hewitt, Zoe Leonard, Karin Apollonia Müller, Catherine Opie, Michael Vahrenwald, and Amir Zaki are featured. A review from Art Forum of Southern Calironian artist Amir Zaki's photography... The above image is an Amir photo.

At the Museum of the City of New York, starting Nov 1st, The Mythic City: Photographs of New York by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1925-1940. Some fantasitc historic photos tha helped to create the national imagination of New York City - from which, the below images originate.

Posted by jmarston at 10:31 AM | Comments (1)

Metro

Beautiful subway stations from around the world, gathered in one resource. The above image, from the Metro Bits site, is of a station in Munich. Metro Bits also gathers a nice list of metro lines with a view, and photographs of various cities lines, as well as maps, logos, and other Subway/Metro fanalia.

Posted by jmarston at 10:17 AM

October 07, 2005

More Keno Fallout

Monday we pointed to a an outlandish abuse of Eminent Domain in Florida, which blogger Urban Cartography dug a little deeper into... It appears the dominoes have started to fall with real velocity. DC will be (ab)using Eminent Domain to gain control of 21-acres for the siting of a new 535 million dollar Washington Nationals ballpark.

Posted by jmarston at 02:36 PM

Virilio Moment

MVRDV's Hannover building, constructed for the World Expo 2000, has been reduced to a rotting body in just 5 years. Like all World's Fair/Expo architecture, the Germans have left this dazzling one shot to the elements, and in a truly Virilian compression of time, the architecture is undergoing decomposition. Look at the before and after photos - and a plea to save the structure.

Posted by jmarston at 11:39 AM

October 06, 2005

Architectural Preservation in Dntwn Brooklyn

Brownstoner points to a fantastic report from the Municipal Arts Society on buildings of architectural significance in Downtown Brooklyn. Long overdue survey of Brooklyn's gems. Especially appropriate considering much of the areas gaudy signage... Bravo MAS. Forgotten New York has a great tour of Fulton Mall's architecture and history.

Posted by jmarston at 11:29 AM

October 05, 2005

A Time to Love Rising Sea Levels

Floating Houses! Speed Boat Commutes! The technocrats have delivered us from environmental constraint. Who said House Boat? Leave it up to the Dutch, who have carefully considered the challenges of places like New Orleans, as a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and "climatologists predict that precipitation in The Netherlands could increase as much as 25 percent." No worries folks. The answer floats in a bottle of architectural ingenuity. Read Der Spiegel here...

Posted by jmarston at 11:34 AM

October 03, 2005

Slips, Slides, Slaps, and Slopes

Alphonso R. Jackson, secretary of housing and urban development, was disgustingly frank in regards to post-Katrina New Orleans, in a bold revealing of what most expect from this administration, he stated "New Orleans would not reach its pre-Katrina population of "500,000 people for a long time," and "it's not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again." To think people didn't expect NO to become a whitewashed amusement park...

The Guardian reviews the "stunning" new Danish Museum by Zaha Hadid. The Danish Museum website also has some great construction photos here as well.

This summer The Guardian interviewed folks who work in some of the United Kingdom's finest examples of contemporary architecture... and it seems folks who actually use the buildings love them, deflating the arm chair pundits who thrash on star architecture in their name. Yes, even the much maligned Scottish Parliament.

Interesting new building technique, employing some fairly clear, common sense. Enertia® Building System. "An air flow and access channel, or Envelope, runs around the building, just inside the walls - creating a miniature biosphere. Here solar heated air circulates, pumping and boosting geothermal energy from beneath the house, storing it in the massive wood walls. Thermal inertia causes the house to "float" between the cycles of night and day, and even between the seasons."

Posted by jmarston at 02:25 PM

Keno Fallout

While many people didn't bemoan the June 23rd Supreme Court ruling on Kelo as critically as they should have, because arguably it does make Eminent Domain a state's rights issue, Yes, in John Roberts subterfuge, this is true. But more importantly, it solidified the confidence of developers and city officials flush with kickbacks in using eminent domain, demonstrating that the government will refuse to grant protections against it's abuse. Which is of course especially true in states governed by the likes of Jeb Bush. And here comes the first major exploitation since the decision. "Florida's Riviera Beach is a poor, predominantly black, coastal community that intends to revitalize its economy by using eminent domain, if necessary, to displace about 6,000 local residents and build a billion-dollar waterfront yachting and housing complex" ... "Mr. Brown and others said this could be one of the biggest eminent-domain actions ever. A report in the Palm Beach Post said it is the biggest since 1954, when 5,000 residents of Washington were displaced for eventual development of the Southwest D.C. waterfront, L'Enfant Plaza, and the less-than-successful Waterside Mall."

Posted by jmarston at 12:47 PM

September 30, 2005

Now & Then

Brilliant juxtapositions that detail the sad destruction of Pittsburgh's east central neighborhood, The Hill. You can pick out the one or two existing structures, the rest, decimated. Taken by herodotus, well known in the world of urban BBSing. His photo collection of American rowhouse architecture can be found here.

Posted by jmarston at 12:48 PM

September 20, 2005

Nibbles & Bits & Bits

Appears London is suffering from the same white/middle class flight that has scourged American cities for some time, with "the white population of London falling by nearly 400,000 in the 1990s...[Richard] Rogers said that the mayor’s programme to create or improve 100 public spaces, the third phase of which was announced this week, would encourage white middle class Londoners to stay." But not without valid criticism, "Elsie Owusu, of the Society of Black Architects, said: “People of all races should be encouraged in the making of public spaces.” Read more at Building Design.

On that note, check a dismal but engaging slide show of London's Council Estates - read - Public Housing Projects. California sprawl shots from Matt Jalbert. Photographs of the building of an adobe - in Gobi - from Earth Architecture. And finally, photographs of Los Angeles' vast concrete river beds...

In related news, Richard Rogers' Welsh Assembly is complete, The Guardian takes stock, of what appears to an environmental triumph - with an array of fantastic green strategies. And in related related news, blog Land+Living points us to a great new reference guide, Green Building Products.

Architecture Week features the work of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, worth the look see... And Steve Holl's new winning Belgian commission...

New York's infrastructure report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Data chunks outlining the challenge of our aging outfit...

-38% of New York's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
-New York's drinking water infrastructure needs $13.15 billion over the next 20 years.
-New York recycles 17.1% of the state's solid waste.
-Congestion in the NYC metropolitan area costs commuters $893 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

Blogger Starts and Fits details the ways New York's bridge infrastructure has changed - for the worse - over time. Why does Flushing Queens need a boost? Revealing Q&A with planner Wellington Chen. Trump continues to unleash his locusts on the banks of the Hudson River.

The third annual Open House New York is set to take place Oct 8th & 9th, and in order to build some excitement - for an already wonderfully exciting event - my favorite London blogger, Diamond Geezer, has some photos and three entries musing on last weekend's London Open House. If you haven't, I highly recommend taking Diamond Geezer's trip down the River Fleet. Fantastic.

East Village rezoning that might stop the communities facilities height bonus that brought you the fabled "Dorm", that piss ass building on Third st. Speaking of which, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) keeps the recent West Village zoning meeting hot & heavy - the planning commission votes Sept 28.

Most of the news emanating from China speaks of enormous environmental catastrophe. Here, a dust particle of good news in the stream of bad. Seems William McDonough is in the trenches, "He's co-chair—together with Deng Xiaoping's daughter, Deng Nan—of the China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development." Promising.

More Katrina fall out, with Baton Rouge's population doubled - 400.000 to 800.000 - big questions face planners and architects in the region.

A cool new blog, Pruned: on landscape architecture and related fields... and another blog, new to me, but not the web - Exuberance.

And... For any family reading this, from the Bldg Blog, all about Icelands Soil Bombing Campaign... and some lovely antique maps of Iceland.

Posted by jmarston at 10:16 AM

September 16, 2005

Click Clack

All of the above photographs - Tokyo, Baotou, Hong Kong, Shanghai - are the work of Sze Tsung Leong, recently on display at Lehman College in the Bronx. Beautiful, sublime, and devastating.

Great man of letters and landscape, and FSG's finest meal ticket; John McPhee, writing on the flooding of New Orleans and the mighty Mississippi, back in 1987.

Loving this, what Hatin' chins up to, documenting the very worst buildings; a compendium of 10 of Britain’s most detestable - compiled by the BBC.

Noah Sheldon photographs Oral Roberts University, which doubles as Oklahoma's own variation on Brasilia modernism.

A short read taken from Wallace Stegner's The Sense of Place. Quoting Carl Jung, a placeless human, "lives a life of his own, sunk in a subjective mania of his own devising, which he believes to be the newly discovered truth.”

Get to know the built environs of Pittsburgh with this fantastic collection of photographs of the CBD and variety of residential row house architecture in this little known, but very urban, Burgh.

Martha's Vineyard, while a playground for the NE's bluest of blue bloods, is also an island with some of the strongest land trust institutions in the nation... and some of the best preserved costal habitats on the NE seaboard. Nearly 20% of the island is under conservation easement, preserved in perpituity. Massachusetts land trust reach... One of the varied ways - albeit a strategy of the wealthy - of protecting the landscape from sprawled insanity.

Posted by jmarston at 02:55 PM

September 15, 2005

Mister Mister

I absconded from commenting on the Katrina horror, perhaps because the images and realities were saying a whole lot more than Rove could muster any spin on. It was enraging, completely & horrifyly detestable, on every level. This was never a question of Federal capacity or logistical gymnastics as the acrobats on pay from this administration would have some believe. But in terms of Architectural questions, the interrogation has just begun. Jack Shafer penned an honest picture on the social conditions of much of New Orleans, especially the areas most dramatically effected. Its a divisive piece, but a necessary contribution to the debate. More recently, Joel Garreau took a similar position, highlighting the most important (and disgusting) development that has become more apparent with todays announcement that the French Quarter and CBD would be opened by next Monday. There is more and more evidence that New Orleans will become a caricture of its former self. Minus the undesirables, the soul, the heart, of what made that city everything it was. The Big Easy will become the Big Eracesure. Here is to hoping at least some of the architectural heritage of the Bywater will be saved.

Nice Times piece on the the rise and fall of cities past.

The RIAS, Best Building in Scotland Award for Architecture, was recently awarded. See the top 5 entries, in photograph, that vied for the prize. Of the 5, comes Scotland's most controversial building - 'at risk' of being demolished by reality tv vote. Here is a fairly extensive collection of photographs of the new New Scottish Parliament Complex.

Village Voice interview with the great urbanist thinker, Mike Davis. Who, I might add, should head back to his roots. A book on Dubai already. I digress.

Transfer covered the Kelo vs New London case quite closely, until the victory of the city. A somewhat dated article in the Fairfield County Weekly that claims " the homeowners are being offered buyouts based on the market rate as it was in 2000." Yea, fucking classy isn't it? Read it here.

Fantastic new competition - Urban Voids - sponsered by Van Alen Institute and Land Visions, whose goal it is: "Philadelphia needs a compelling long-term vision for developing its vacant lots, a strategy that envisions how vacancy in Philadelphia can be changed from an obstacle (vacancy as absence) to an asset (vacancy as possibility)." Yes Yes - It is my hope this will raise the bar on Infill housing. Which, at least here in New York, has been all but shit.

Land+Living blog draws attention to one of the most fantasic hwy overpasses... Stellar. Wow.

Posted by jmarston at 10:12 AM | Comments (3)

August 19, 2005

Fibrous

Hudson River's Bannerman Castle, photos courtesy of Shaun O'Boyle

The City Review on the "New York Moving Forward" exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, specifically TEN Arquitectos, whose Harlem Park, Brooklyn Public Library for the Performing Arts, and 1 York Street are all on display. "What is perhaps most striking about the project is that Norten's design studies for the project are superb. Ideally they should all be built." Quite an endorsement from Carter.

Architecture Week on waste recovery from disassembled buildings - distinct from demolition, which produces 150 million tons of waste a year. The article showcases Germany, "where they require "extended producer responsibility" in manufacturing. Industrial producers are made responsible for the eventual disassembly and recovery of materials from the products they produce". Part of the "cradle to cradle" perspective advanced by William McDonough etc.

Understated elegance, that is, the 'billboard building' of Toyko.

Yes, even more ink on the London hi-rise boom, this time, from the Times Uk. A fan of the Gherkin, which proved skyscrapers "could be dishy, friendly, quite clever, almost respectful of the streets below", the article gets it right on many angles. This isn't the wanton 60's destruction of low-rise London, but "today’s rush to build big doesn’t mirror the Sixties. These towers are better. We have tougher conservation laws." Yet, he expresses some worry, "What happens if councils who don’t have an eye for quality (like [Mayor] Livingstone and [Planning Director] Rees) let anything through so long as it makes a headline and a fast buck for the greedy and unscrupulous?" What do you mean, like New York's current building Boom? The Slatin Report gets in the London fray, pointing out the commerical basis for such hi-rise dreams.

Fascinating new book, reviewed here by Archinect, entitled Landscrapers: Building with Land.

Major feature in New York Construction News on Trump's Obnoxious Riverside South project, which at 7.9 million sq ft when all is said and done, is quite a monstrosity for the West Side. What was that about design review boards? Ahh, thanks Trump.

Interesting story at LostLandmarks.org on the Jesse Baltimore House, a 1920s era Sears Roebuck "Modern Home".

Robert Smithson's "Floating Island" will take shape for 9 days next month - Sept 17 to the 25th, some 35 years after its initial conception. "the flat-deck barge will hold earth, shrubs, rocks and seven specimens of trees native to the region that will rise 30 to 35 feet". Booze Cruise anyone?

The abondoned 86th St station of the MetroNorth Harlem line.

San Francisco's mayor Gavin Newsom embarks on heady building boom, projecting some 15,000 new units - 5,400 of them going to low- and moderate-income households. Significant for a city of only 750,000... Fiberous Friday indeed.

Posted by jmarston at 02:01 AM | Comments (4)

August 17, 2005

Mexico City

The second largest city in the world, from above. These photos were taken by helicopter pilot Oscar Ruiz, who monitors interstate traffic for a local news station. He has an amazing set of pictures, see his site here.

Posted by jmarston at 11:16 AM | Comments (2)

August 16, 2005

Pluto

photo courtesy of american memory project

Imagine that, a city agency concerned with design, how dare they meddle with the Free Market of Trump & Company. New York City purchaes development rights to the Catskill watershed, adjust land values accordingly. Advanced Architecture Contest for self-sufficient and ecologically oriented dwelling. What San Francisco can learn from Vancouver's high density building, and more importantly, what shouldn't be gleaned from it. The fantastic force of a conservation easement in today's subdivided landscape. Steven Holl, who Miss Representation called a local sentinmental favorite, so being, The new University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, by Holl, under construction. If you haven't, check out the Steven Holl house in Essex NY, on Lake Champlain. Definitely speaks to Transfer's sentiment. If in London, take note of the London Architecture Diary, for events and exhibitions. Tadao Ando, in photographs. The NYTimes on ExUrban communities - nothing entirely new to note, but of interest. Explore the streetwalls of Paris, and their history.

Posted by jmarston at 11:29 AM

August 10, 2005

Cerebral Venus

Extraordinarily harsh words for London's hi-rise strive: "The chief sponsor of this so-called “f***-you” planning is Livingstone himself. High buildings policy is one of the few powers he has vested in him. Early in his reign he visited New York and returned with a bad case of “Manhattan syndrome”, a belief that skyscrapers are the key to a mayor’s virility. With his office in what he himself calls “the testicle” he craved erect phalluses all round him. Developers with fad architects in tow promptly beat a path to his door."

Joining the international City Building Boom, Calcutta builds to the sky, to varied reactions: "This year, nearly 20 million sq. ft of floor space, both residential and commercial, is being built in the city, up from under five million sq. ft five years ago" -- "CMDA (Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority) CEO P.R. Baviskar says that the population of the Calcutta metropolitan area — made up of three corporations, 38 municipalities and 22 Panchayat Samitys — is expected to balloon from 14.69 million to 21 million in two decades."

A new reality show where: "a panel of "experts", will be able to tell the rest of us which buildings you would like to see demolished. From October, Channel 4 will be running a four-part Demolition TV show" - but there is danger in demolishing hated building, hated in response to the vagaries of fashion.

The City Center of Havana - Cienfuegos - now a World Heritage Site, the first 19th Century City to be added to the list.

A tour of the new Moshe Safdie Holocaust History Museum...

Posted by jmarston at 10:25 AM

August 08, 2005

Retrograde

More Dubai coverage, more on London's hi-rise plans - with an argument from the FT - transcribed at Veritas et Venustas. Via Archinect, some local discussion of Calatrava's proposed Fordam Tower on Chicago Public Radio WBEZ - ram link here. Suburban dwellers suffering from Ignoramus Gigantis building their Mcfuckinghuge boathouses lakeside, covered and captured in the Times. Black market Scaffoldtising in New York (via Gothamist). Fantastic series of posts on the Navy Yard's Admiral Row - rumored to be slated for demo. What a mistake that would be.

Excellent article on foresting the city. With some fascinating statistics to boot:

"40-foot elm in McPherson Square Park [Washington D.C.] removes 199 grams of ozone that its thin, green leaves filter from the air -- and saves the city $2.46 annually in air-equality improvement costs...the tree canopy covering 28.6 percent of the District saves $2.6 million annually in utility costs in buildings and that it removes 540 tons of air pollution particles each year...The 28.6 percent of the District covered by trees is relatively high compared with 11 percent in Brooklyn, N.Y."

"shade tree near a home can save a consumer $80 annually on the cost of household electricity."

Yes! More Trees Please! Green Me!

Posted by jmarston at 05:18 PM

August 04, 2005

Eight-4 Good Buddy

New and interesting wind projects blowing around, this here, and this proposal to power the Manchester City Football Club - and some 2000 houses surrounding it. Sexy sell of wind power I'd say. Imagine American football fans drunkenly praising the windmill adjacent the stadium. Freedom in the Air!

Speaking of freedom, in this case, to build 8000 sqft McMansions! Seems some folks in the San Fernando valley have sucessfully passed legislation to limit the size of homes according to the size of the lot they're built on. "The measure will limit homes built on lots of 8,000 sq. ft. or less to 2,400 sq. ft. - or 40 percent of the lot size, whichever is greater." Another great moment in Nimby history. Seriously, who fucking needs more than 3000 sft?

Miss Representation gives us the juice on the freight tunnel, which seemed like a dead mole oh-so-recently. Quite an exciting development, and all the more incentive to tax the shit out of the Verrazano, coming into Brooklyn. Which is currently where all the heavy truck traffic from NJ is found, winding thru residential Brooklyn, and onto the East River bridges, thereby avoiding the NJ tunnel tolls.

The Grey Lady finally spills some ink on the housing construction boom taking place in NYC. Although they forgo a discussion of the Type and Design of much of the work being built. Or the fact that the type of shit they're throwing up around the 5 boros fixes a spotlight on our horrible relationship with the process, whereby the developer designs his crap, and since it passes for new housing, it gets cleared by the DDC. Quality is not a trademark of todays boom. But Cheap Speed is. On that note, even the big investment houses are now worried that Greenspan has lost his marbles in his refusal to see the housing bubble for what it is. A massive risk to the economic health of the country. Naw, Freedom Bitch!

Excellent photo exhibit up at the Museum of the City of New York documenting Lower Manhattan just before a good 60 acres were razed under New York's urban renewal plan. Not only exteriors mind you, back in 1966, the photographer Danny Lyon, got keys to the universal lock they used to lock up the condemned gems. He states: "This is nothing, what they did down here: The 60 acres is nothing. We're destroying 6 billion acres of America, and we're doing it right now. We're doing it because you can get a mortgage for 5 percent." And 8,000 sq feet on a cul-de-sac. Oh, check this NYTimes Image.. and article.

Oh, remember those neat space photos of the collapse of Antarctic ice shelf? Yea, biggest in 10,000 years. On a more positive note, the worlds first hybrid cab driver. Global Warming? Nahhh. Freedom Bitch!

Hurray, another one on the congestion charge wagon... Transfer once again reiterates the plan to Triple Parking Lot Rates in Manhattan. Lets start there. Yes.

Finalists in the Urban Habitats design competition, which was a partnership between Habitat for Humanity and the Charlottesville Community Design Center, for trailer park redo. An excellent sign of Habitats commitment to design and community - in my experience working for them, they are fantasic organization, religious or not.

Posted by jmarston at 10:48 AM

August 03, 2005

Dubai & London

Here was the first inkling of the Ink Dubai will be getting as it embarks on a Massive Simulacra; simulating nothing but The Massiveness of its own self. The hot new middle eastern a&e magazine, Bidoun, sounds off with an excellent array of Dream Dubai projects...stolen rendering below.

work.ac & concept beind the image.

In addition to this little dream project derive, there is a nice theory slash background article by George Katodrytis. Situating Dubai as the closest possible total illumination of the 21st century urban form - "prosthetic and nomadic oases presented as isolated cities that extend out over the land and the sea." Or as Koolhaas has said, The Airport -- appropriately enough G Kat does good to include a number of Koolhaas musings, peppering the piece into a small but Energizing hunk of criticism. Add it to the Dubai Pile.

Back to Tranfer's most recent lover, London, and her New Foray into Hi-Rise Office building, well detailed here -- but also looking to the extreme anxiety its producing, recently expressed in this Guardian Observer article. I'm a fan of swatting these flies out as public discourse, and there hasn't been quite enough ink on this $195bn building boom. Which, on aside, reminds me of this fantastic little site, London Destroyed. But this position, in the Guardian piece, is Somewhat Classic, coming from someone who rechristened the Gherkin: "Norman Foster's howitzer-shell Swiss Re subsequently redefined the limits of the aesthetically acceptable". Pretty much gives up his slant straight-away. Yes, London is a low-rise city to be sure, and one that should keep herself that way -- embracing speculative organic growth that create small Patches and Nooks. The infamous Yards. But London shouldn't repress the urge to create new higher density pockets, as it has historically with it's council estates and the less than sexy mini La Défense, Canary Wharf. And they've got it going right by enlisting Real Architects, not Developer Cronies, as crucial players in this huge building boom. Whatever you think of Ken Livingstone and his days with the GLC, as Mayor of London he's proven to be an aficionado of architecture & a believer in long term planning analysis as a tool to drive good city policy. Not too mention his ambitious Housing Capacity research. In addition, his politically risky congestion charge has turned out to be a great success - increasing bus ridership, cutting the number of pedestrian fatalaties, and just generally making for a more pleasant central London. He's been credited with bringing the 2012 Olympics to London as well. Although my opinion of Olympic bids and Tourist Focused mayors (which he's also proven to be) are a bit jaded. Some photos of projects being pushed thru London recently...

original images found here

Posted by jmarston at 01:21 PM

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

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

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

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

June 17, 2005

Friday Photo Holiday

Amazing photos of Sao Paulo Brazil, more here.

NY photoblogger Lightningfield does Shanghai China, more here.

Pbase member Veruschka, more here.

Posted by jmarston at 10:19 AM

June 06, 2005

Ruins, Stadiums, Bubbles and Things

image credit: Museum of the City of New York

Fantastic report [.pdf] from Center for an Urban Future "to provide a detailed analysis of the broad range of other economic development initiatives undertaken by the Bloomberg administration..." besides the Jets stadium.

Brooklyn Papers on the expanded Forest Ratner plan for the Atlantic Yards... including a "620-foot tower at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues" & "jumping over Flatbush Avenue to include plots now occupied by Modell’s and PC Richard & Son".

Over at the New York Observer, Michael Calderone is calling bullshit, and rechristening it, An Iron Bubble: Housing Market Isn’t Deflating... some choice cuts here: "last year, 25,208 new residential units were approved for construction granted—the most in over 30 years."... and this one jumps right out: "There is no bubble! What has happened is, the incredible price escalation is a result of property being tremendously u