Category: history
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Veg.itecture #17
There seems to be a significant backlog of Vegetated Architecture examples I will catch up on in the upcoming week. For this version, we will focus on a typology that we featured previously, some abstracted and representational vegetation forms in buildings and artwork. These span incorporation into building structure and form – as well as…
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Reading List: (AD) Landscape Architecture: Site/Non-Site
This fusion of magazine sized pamphlet/paperback book from Architecutural Design is entitled ‘Landscape Architecture: Site/Non-Site’ (Wiley, May 2007), and is a really quality investigation into some of the very themes in which I hold dear. I loaned this out and had not had an opportunity to delve into it until now and I was pleased…
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History: Learn, Plan + Re-plan
Ecological planning is not new. In fact elements of the ideaology we often speak about with such fresh energy has been part of the dialogue for some time – but it seems to be constantly reinventied in new and old ways around the world. This post is on the heels of recent projects by OMA…
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Landscape Architecture without LAs
A recent reference on Treehugger pointed me to Bernard Rudolfsky’s 1964 book Architecture without Architects led me to direct this line of inquiry to the landscape profession. Rudolfsky reconnected building with the stability of traditional, ‘non-pedigreed’, design (quoted via Treehugger): “…vernacular architecture does not go through fashion cycles. It is nearly immutable, indeed, unimprovable, since…
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The High Road, Pt. II – NYCs High Line
A previous post revealed a significant precedent to elevated linear green spaces, and the growing number of projects that are underway around the globe. Looking at these remnants of abandoned infrastructure – not to deconstruct and start over, but as a way to retain some cultural history while modernizing to current needs – is an…
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Past Forward: Mannahatta
I may have mentioned my love of historic urban maps. If not, then I will plead guilty here, and offer up Strange Maps as a vital modern contribution to our historical heritage, and let slip fact that I’ve read most of the written works of Mark Monmonier. As objects, maps are fascinating artifacts. Even more…
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Take the High Road: Paris
Recently, I have run into a couple of references to a project in Paris that seems the predecessor of The High Line project in New York City. ‘La Coulee Verte’ (aka The Flowing Green) is a partially elevated railroad route through that was abandonded in 1969, and given to the City of Paris. Also called…
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Public Squares: Past, Present, Future
The Walrus Magazine recently published an overview of six international public squares. Read the full article for information, but the graphics alone are fabulous. Here’s a couple of examples of the significant spaces – Kiev’s Independence Square (top) and Salt Lake City’s Temple Square (bottom): :: images via The Walrus Locally, this reminds me of…
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Pioneers of Planning
The historical roots of ecological planning and sustainability are varied. Metropolis magazine may not acknowledge the role of landscape architects in sustainability, perhaps this is because no one has specifically outlined a definitive history of ecological landscape architecture and planning. I began some time back to trace some of this lineage, which i will include…