Author: Jason King
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Malcolm Wells: Infra Structures
Subtitled “Life support for the nation’s circulatory system”, the 1994 book Infra Structures by Malcolm Wells offers a chance to revisit the integration of our architecture and infrastructural systems – appropriate for our new found interest in the workings of our society and urbanity. The the juxtaposed pipe/greenery on the cover, the thrust of this…
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Stats, Kind Words + Aggregation
I’ve been somewhat busy, and haven’t had a chance to see who has actually been reading the blog and commenting on it elsewhere – so a change for some interesting highlights I discovered in a recent search. Our recent review of the fantastic ‘The Infrastructural City’ caught the attention of the folks at Varnelis.net and…
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Veg.itecture: VIA Roofs
As the dialogue around green roofs shows that we’ve come a long way in vision and implementation. There seems a veritable cornucopia of projects and thinking on the subject. Read this interview with green roof plant expert Ed Snodgrass via Skygardens, and some more reinforcement of habitat potential for rooftops via Treehugger for some applied…
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Veg.itecture: VIA Walls
As I recently mentioned, there is a steady parade of visuals promoting the veg.itectural – which make sense. The distance from idea to implementation is a common theme, and requires an amazingly large amount of coordination, client will, and ingenuity. We are constantly underwhelmed by the result – but more often amazed by what is…
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Meadowlicious: National Wildflower Centre
Buildings that are used to celebrate botanical phenomena seem the most appopriate to become melded into the landscape in more meaningful ways. Aside from abstracted metaphor, there is a direct link between the building and the content and context in which it is meant to reference. A recent competition and subsequent announcement of winners for…
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Host Analog
The insertion of ecological artworks into the urban patterns offers opportunities to confront our relationship in nature in new ways. Additionally, the location in proximity to density and multi-modal traffic (versus, something tucked away in a far-off location) also gives artists a significantly larger audience to express concepts to. One very central piece in Portland…
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Reading List: The Infrastructural City
The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Angelesedited by Kazys Varnelis (Actar – 2008) :: image via NetLab If not for the impeccable timing of the release of this book, and the fact that the content within has inevitably been in progress for some time – I would say that ‘The Infrastructural City’ was a…
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Veg.itecture: VIVA Conceptual 3
Veg.itecture in Visual Assessment (VIVA) continues with some amazing examples (and not to mince word, there are shitloads of them on the web). Perhaps a trend, perhaps overexposed, or perhaps we’ve finally reached the point where we’ve transcended the original and just become purveyors of the mundane. A quick snippet of the amount of blog…
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Of Uncertainty in Urban Planning
I’ve been carrying around this pamphlet since a lecture by Thomas Sieverts at the University of Oregon last fall. Last night after dumping my bag of it’s acquired detritus, I had a chance to re-read this short essay entitled ‘Of Uncertainty in Urban Planning’, which furthers the dialogue in Sieverts work related to: “…the Zwischenstadt,…
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Desert Oasis
While we think of the politically charged border-wall and crossing as a confrontational experience, why can’t these international transition spaces be celebrated as points of interest and beauty. The competition for border crossing for pedestrians between Mexico and the United States in 2005 was won by the Belgian firm OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen,…