Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
earthworks, cleansing art
I stumbled upon Lorna Jordan’s work in a January 1997 issue of Landscape Architecture, where her Waterworks Gardens in Renton, Washington was given applause for embracing both aesthetics and ecology in creating public space — in the midst of a gritty sewage-treatment plant. Self-labeled an ‘environmental artist,’ Jordan created eight acres of new open space, [...]
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Tags: design, landscape, nature, thesis
I picked up this book at Rotch a few weeks ago while on my shift, and my first move — as with every book I shelve, so it takes me about thrice as long as any other shelver — was to cursorily flip through to see if I was captivated by any of the images. [...]
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rain gardens
by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden
Occupying some place between a textbook, a manual, and a friendly neighbor giving advice, this book is a very enjoyable read.
Their mantra: simple techniques can make a real difference in the way that water is managed in designed landscapes. Through rain gardens, rainfall can be captured from buildings and sealed [...]
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more thesis prep
pavement to parks
Last Friday was all abuzz with Park(ing) Day, a ‘holiday’ created to celebrate public space. (Sad that it lasts only one day a year!)
In the spirit of reclaiming the streets, Allison Arieff discusses an offshoot of this — land banking. The strategic acquisition of land in advance of expanding urban development, land-banking in [...]
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Tags: green, san francisco, thesis, urbanism
Allan Jacobs, professor of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley, laments the current (well, as of 3 years ago) state of city planning and city planning education in large American cities.
He champions that urban planning’s first priority is about the physical environment of places — ‘what should go where, why, how to get it [...]
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Tags: education, planning, thesis, urbanism
Fred Kent, founder of the Project for Public Spaces, shares his thoughts on place-making initiatives and iconic architecture.
Citing the well-known and well-documented Bilbao effect, Kent argues that iconic architecture precludes the creation of good public spaces, by only promoting a design-centric philosophy where all that matters is the artistic statement conceived by an internationally recognized [...]
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Tags: public spaces, starchitecture, thesis, urbanism
uneasy spaces
Elizabeth Felicella, a NYC-based architectural photographer, did this series from 1997-1998 to explore the ‘landscape of security.’ It was a mode of inquiry into how public places are divided and marked to be shared or protected, along with emotions of territoriality or fear that comes with urban environments.
A set of 140 large-format photographs, Felicella approached [...]
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Tags: new york, photography, public space, thesis, urbanism
new city, new city
i left copenhagen about a month ago. in the interim, ive spent some time with the home clan in new jersey, with the school clan at MIT, weekending at dartmouth, a little bit in new york city, and now i am settled in the bay area for the summer.
like i wrote in my Dear [...]
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Tags: copenhagen, dwell, new york, san francisco, travel, urbanism
my eyeballs are still reeling
going to the Salone Internazionale de Mobile this year has been one of the most mind-boggling experiences of my entire life.
little did i know what was in store after capriciously buying my $80 EasyJet roundtrip ticket to Milan back in early February. our first impression after exiting the unbreathably-sardiney metro at Rho: billowingly snakey, glass-net [...]
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Tags: cities, design, furniture, future craft, interiors, travel
last sunday, these three animals embarked on a journey to the irish countryside. yearning to bust out of dublin, we lapped up a delicious irish breakfast [complete with black pudding] and were quickly on our way towards the glacial valley of Glendalough.
andrew, roger, and i had an unfair share of obstacles earlier in the weekend [...]
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Tags: branding, cities, copenhagen, nature, travel
longer, lighter, later
the days are so much longer now — after studio ends at 17:00, i have nearly 3 whole hours to sit and read at a park, before i have to hop from sunspot to sunspot to escape the creeping evening shadows.
another reason (and probably most importantly) why i adore copenhagen 1 googolplex times more now [...]
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Tags: biking, copenhagen, happiness, sun
mosque
i had never been in a mosque before this week. at sunset on tuesday, after tea + hookah with the turkish students, we explored this hilly area in beyoğlu, on the european side of istanbul, north of the golden horn harbor. in our typical itinerant style, roger and i stumbled around for a bit…and ended [...]
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Tags: architecture, cities, religion, travel
russell and i stood atop that regal iceberg in Stortorget, and delivered jewels of information about stockholm’s old city to our faithful student subjects down below. it was a mildly intense feeling, giving a presentation about a place that we had modeled in detail and labored over for a week in studio – and now [...]
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Tags: cities, scandinavia, studio, urbanism
or like a herd of spindly elk wandering across the bering strait during migration…
or like a bunch of eager beaver architecture students on the quest for alvar aalto’s experimental summer house…
we trekked across a frozen lake in central finland last week.
we each soon figured out our individually preferred method of snow travel:
1. the sszwee! of [...]
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Tags: aalto, architecture, nature, travel
my family came to copenhagen this weekend, and in typical chu family craving fashion, we wanted to eat asian food in a non-asian environment. so we went to wagamama, the newest restaurant addition on the Tivoli grounds. [started in london, this chain has made its way around europe and into harvard square as well]
what impressed [...]
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Tags: branding, copenhagen, food, restaurants
a question indirectly posed to me by sam kronick one late lasercuttery night, and one that i am starting to rethink this semester:
is studio really the best-designed environment for design?
what makes doing your design work in studio better than, say, in your nicely-decorated dorm room? or the buzzy woodshop? or one big round table with [...]
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Tags: archfamily, architecture, denmark, design, interiors, studio
spain escape
friday = best flight ever day.
lamb + goat cheese sandwiches, red wine, and chocolate creme cookies. thank you KLM.
we emerged from the danky depths of the metro (‘renfre’) and slowly rose to the level of Passeig de Gracia. a breathtaking [and slightly wobbly, due to airplane wine] vision of wide, tree-lined avenue warmth! [...]
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Tags: architecture, cities, travel
copenhagen café culture
never have i been more excited to do 200 pages of reading for class than when each homework assignment equals trying out a new danish cafe.
on my daily journey home from school, i pass at least ten cafes, and they’re not just any euro-ish starbucks or panera-esque chain appendage — but all so charming and [...]
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Tags: cafes, copenhagen, denmark, happiness
a conversation snippet about design with a non-design person:
John: design people always add some part that doesnt make senseand put a question mark next to itlike…curves -> planesplanes -> objectsobjects -> 4D??
strikingly insightful…
when i see concept boards for the beginning of some design project’s life cycle, they are littered with grand [and often completely disparate] [...]
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Tags: architecture, design, education, interiors, studio, urbanism
jutland jaunts
last weekend, the architecture + design program went on a study tour to western denmark – including the cities of arhus, aalborg, and kolding. they all reside on the jutland peninsula, which forms the mainland of denmark and ‘juts’ like a finger into the north/baltic seas:
the cities in western denmark are just like smaller, quieter, [...]
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Tags: architecture, cities, copenhagen, denmark, design, travel
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name: tiffany chu
location: cambridge, ma (or san francisco / copenhagen / bridgewater, nj)
industry: architecture + media studies
role: bright, bushy MIT student.
