Category: materials
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Details: Illuminated Paving
I’ve seen some examples of in-pavement lighting – and interesting idea for plazas and more subtle… from working on a competition, and doing a few streetscape projects at work, these alternative pavings (and recent post about new(er) forms of adaptated lighting) are some great tools in the designers arsenal. First, last year when in Seattle,…
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Details: Light up the Streets
I am working on a couple of streetscape/Main Street redevelopment projects and it’s definitely focused my attention on the ways in which trends of street furnishings get adopted and perpetuated through environments. I think we all know about the unfortunate ‘cobra head’ and the ubiquitous ‘acorn’ light fixture – meant to span the utilitarian and…
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People who live in Grass Houses…
This one via Arch Daily is quite odd… I’m strangely fond of the form of the Amalia House by GRID Architects in it’s very modern form, as well as the verdant color of the building skin. I was also mesmerized by the glowing green facade – and wondering, maybe, if it was something vegetal.:: image…
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Materiality: Textured Panels
As I mentioned back in March – the application of art, architecture and other detailing can have a significant influence on how we express landscape and urban interventions. While many materials are somewhat specific to architecture, or are artistically used in ways that aren’t typically functional – there are some great examples that have real…
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Living Walls: Systems Approach
We’ve all seen them in action (sort of), so now it is time to check them out on a new level and get at least a cursory look at the different off-the-shelf options out there for living walls. A few select companies are offering systems that are available to North American buyers and beyond. Here’s…
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High Density Growth
A fusion of vertical greening and urban agriculture, this interesting ‘product’ was spotted from Treehugger. A company by the name of Valcent Products developed this system for high-density gardening by, you guessed it, going upwards. Some images from the company’s El Paso facility: :: images via Valcent Products Via Valcent: “The HDVG system grows plants…
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The Power of Wind
Not particularly focused on landscape per se, but the idea of building integrated wind is fascinating, and there are a bunch of interesting examples I thought I would compile here, with some minimal explanation. Much like urban ag, wind is a hot topic, specifically small(er)-scale turbines technology. Check these out. A Portland project for a…
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More Pop-Up Park
A few more images of the recently opened Pop-up Park courtesy of Susannah Drake from dlandstudio. It’s obviously a popular spot – and it’s probably not just to see the Waterfalls. :: images via Susannah Drake, dlandstudio Susannah said people are particularly excited by the haybale plantings – and I imagine they will be more…
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Stupid Furniture Tricks
Catchy title, no? OK, there’s some fun things out there that make you do a double take, aside from the inventive planter or two… A few recent ones: The first, via Designboom is a flexible bench by Giulio Iacchetti: “Flexible bench is a special seat for urban furnishings. through the rotation of the seat/seat back…
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Spotted: Pay Phone Planter
We’ve all seen them, although less and less with the popularity of cell phones – the ubitquitous phone booth. Recently on a site visit, I was walking by an adjacent property and spied some great makeshift plastic planters. I’d been looking at prefab products to use for rooftop agriculture, so did a double-take on these.…