A Tour with Michael Van Valkenburgh

A massive revamping of Brooklyn's formerly industrial waterfront, Brooklyn Bridge Park will eventually encompass 85 acres. Designer Michael Van Valkenburgh shows us the project and explains how it fits into the fabric of the city.

It shouldn’t be any surprise that many very thoughtful people are already working on ideas for how to rebuild amidst the destruction in Haiti. In fact, it’s an urgent need, as so many people are homeless.

Photograph by Eduardo Fernandez

Duany Plater-Zyberk’s prototype for factory-built panelized housing in Haiti.

This video documents one of what I think is the more interesting approaches being proposed – by Andres Duany of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. There’s obviously much I like about the approach he is suggesting, not the least of which is the careful use of design to solve social, urban design and architectural problems. Too many people approach situations such as these and don’t consider how design can solve many of the pre-existing issues, or certainly how it’s critical to look at urban design in addition to simply building design.

A few random thoughts as I watched the video:

- “high-tech” materials such as this always make me a bit nervous, since they’ve rarely been applied in such a large quantity. I’m interested to see the results on the ground, but also wonder about the opportunity for more traditional building materials.

-I love the “gridded” plan that he proposes for the settlement. It shows again (pet issue of mine) how a seemingly simplistic approach to urban design can in fact have many excellent nuances for daily life

-The scale of this particular problem is staggering. I hope that casual observers can get a feel for how this effort is still just a very small first step. So much needs to be done.

Enjoy the video-

Rebuilding Haiti from Marvin Joseph on Vimeo.

Globalisation includes the increasing spatial division of labour and economies of scale in the

international economy, overriding any increase in transportation costs (which often, in any case,

are highly subsidised). Large scale, single use developments outside the main urban areas are

contributing to urban sprawl. The transport of goods and mobility of people continues to grow

steadily every year adding to the pollution of the global environment, the depletion of fossil fuels

and pollution and congestion at the local level. The development of transport infrastructure, and

particularly roads, responds to the economic pressures and in turn increases mobility and

accessibility, opening up rural areas to new urban development, with the demand for easing the

long distance and international flow of goods over-riding local sustainability needs.

The growth of mobility, of the transport infrastructure and other infrastructures, especially in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) is also resulting in the emergence of

new, more polycentric patterns of urban development, with a greater specialisation of functions

between centres (as well as increased competition) and the growing importance of networks of

cities. The challenge for urban design is to respond to these emerging patterns in a proactive way

that overcomes negative effects such as excessive car-based mobility and urban sprawl.

Growing prosperity and wealth and increasing demands for an improved quality of life are

reflected in the increasing consumption of land and space, demand for privacy and better living

conditions and access to green space. Demographic trends, including an ageing population and

the growth of smaller and single person households, are adding to the demands for new housing

and to the pressures for suburbanisation in rural areas (as well as for improvements to the quality of the environment and everyday life in inner city areas). Valuable agricultural land, amenity space and natural reserves of biodiversity are being lost. At the same, increasing land values and property prices in cities make housing in locations that are accessible to livelihood opportunities and services increasingly unaffordable for many sections of the population.

The relationship between the housing market and public land and housing policies and urban design is critical. Urban design can provide the framework for achieving a good quality of life when the attempt to meet these challenges may require higher densities and better mixes of development.

The overall aim of sustainable urban development is to achieve a healthy and high quality of life

for all people in this and subsequent generations, with equitable and geographically balanced and

socially cohesive economic development, which reduces the impact on the global and local

environments.

For architects working on projects in historic districts or in an area with a concentration of period buildings, solving problems can suffer reduced emphasis over adhering to the predetermined style. Kavellaris Urban Design(KUD) in Australia were challenged to design a house on a vacant lot in between a row of Victorian terrace houses and an Edwardian weatherboard house. The firm saw an opportunity to critique the surrounding historic buildings, many of which underwent predictable interior renovations to make them more ‘modern’. The architects concluded that the demand for the historic houses was based more on people’s romanticized nostalgia for the structures rather than their good design. To KUD, the ornamental facades dictated a ‘neighborhood character’ instead of responding to it.

KUD studied the terrace house, sampled the good parts and rewrote the rest. Top on their list was to address the lack of environmental sustainability in the old houses. One of the big areas for improvement over the old structures was to get more natural light into the building thus reducing energy consumption and allowing for natural ventilation. The north facing terrace redefines the “aussie” backyard reinforced by the childlike mural reminiscing on a past era and making commentary on the changing demography of the family unit and ultimately the inner city house typology. The perforated house incorporates north facing glass bi-folds doors and louvers for cross ventilation as the primary means of cooling.

In designing the exterior facade, KUD saw an opportunity to represent the past and also create something that was dynamic and engaged the community. The glass facade is opaque by day and has the traditional terrace detailing screened on to it. At night, interior light filters through the wall and transfoms the house into a glowing box. The entire front wall of the second floor can be opened up making the second floor a huge terrace.

Inside, traditional planing elements were borrowed but many of the walls can be moved and altered to make spaces either public or private. This flexibility allows the occupants to tune the interior experience and function to whatever the demands of their lifestyle require.

Want to see the house in 3d? KUD have uploaded a model to the Google Sketchup Warehouse. Preview it here.

source: Designtoinspire

Project: High Line Public Park project
The High Line design is led by James Corner Field Operations, with diller scofidio + renfro
Location: New York – USA
Photos by: Iwan Baan
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Project Description:

“The high line, in collaboration with field operations, is a new 1.5-mile long public park built on an abandoned elevated railroad stretching from the meatpacking district to the hudson rail yards in manhattan.
Inspired by the melancholic, unruly beauty of this postindustrial ruin, where nature has reclaimed a once vital piece of urban infrastructure, the new park interprets its inheritance. It translates the biodiversity that took root after it fell into ruin in a string of site-specific urban microclimates along the stretch of railway that include sunny, shady, wet, dry, windy, and sheltered spaces.
Through a strategy of agri-tecture, part agriculture, part architecture- the high line surface is digitized into discrete units of paving and panting which are assembled along the 1.5 miles into a variety of gradients from 100% paving to 100% soft, richly vegetated biotopes. the paving system consists of individual pre-cast concrete planks with open joints to encourage emergent growth like wild grass through cracks in the sidewalk. the long paving units have tapered ends that comb into planting beds creating a textured, ‘pathless’ landscape where the public can meander in unscripted ways. the park accommodates the wild, the cultivated, the intimates, and the social. Access points are durational experiences designed to prolong the transition from the frenetic pace of city streets to the slow otherworldly landscape above. ”

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Beautiful piece of architecture by SANAA. The building merges with its surroundings, the London Kensington gardens, with elegance and intelligence.

In 2008, MAD organized and invited 11 young international architects to carry out an urban experiment: to design the Huaxi city centre of Guiyang, in South Western China. The architects invited by MAD included: Atelier Manferdini (USA), BIG (DENMARK), Dieguez Fridman (ARGENTINA), EMERGENT/Tom Wiscombe (USA), HouLiang Architecture (CHINA), JDS (DENMARK/BELGIUM), MAD (CHINA), Mass Studies (KOREA), Rojkind Arquitectos (MEXICO), Serie (UK/INDIA), Sou Fujimoto Architects (JAPAN). The masterplan was developed by Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute, Studio 6, together with MAD.

Words: i-mad.com

In the past 15 years, around 10 billion sqm of built space has been created in the urban areas of China. In 20 years time, another 200 to 400 new cities will be built. Until now, the results of this overwhelming urbanization have been defined by high-density, high-speed and low-quality duplication: the urban space is meaningless, crowded and soulless. Are we going to continue copying the skyline of Western cities created over a hundred years of industrial civilisation? Will Manhattan and Chicago continue to be our model city, even after 15 years of urban construction in China?

Perhaps an alternative future for our cities can be found within the current social condition, where new technologies are leaving the machine age behind, and where the city increasingly invades the natural space. Based on a Chinese understanding of nature, this joint urban experiment aims to explore whether we can use new technologies and global ideas to reconnect the natural and man-made world.

The site of Huaxi is famous for its dramatic and beautiful landscape, as well as a diverse mix of minority cultural inhabitants during its history. Its future is defined by the local government’s urban planning as a new urban centre for finance, cultural activities and tourism. MAD brought the young architects together here in the summer of 2008, for a 3-day workshop to create an experimental urban vision for Huaxi.

Each proposal provided a unique design for a single part of the masterplan, based on their own understanding and interpretation of the local natural and cultural elements. The result is a series of organic individual buildings, growing from the natural environment, and working together to produce a compound of diverse urban activities.

In this high density urban environment, the limits of urbanization are controlled and set by nature; the buildings take on the dynamic topography of the site, touching the landscape in a more interactive way. Generic verticality is replaced by a complex taxonomy of urban activities, defined by a multiplicity of connections, detours and short cuts. The natural and the artificial are fused together, revealing an image of a future architecture.

The ecological method here is not just focused on saving energy; rather, the goal is to create a new, balanced urban atmosphere which can evoke the feeling of exploring the natural environment. The city is no longer determined by the leftover logic of the industrial revolution (speed, profit, efficiency) but instead follows the ‘fragile rules’ of nature. This collaborative experiment thus provides an alternative, responsive model for the development of the urban centre: a man-made symbiosis, in harmony with nature, in which people are free to develop their own independent urban experience.

China has become the global laboratory for urbanization, where the logical endpoint of current architectural trends can be seen, and the effects of leaving private developers to create cities can be most keenly felt. This urban experiment is not intended as an idealized urban reality, but as an attempt to push these trends to their purest forms, with all of the benefits and problems that this brings. MAD is aware of, and actively encouraging, the failings and successes of this project.

The perfect gift for the person who has everything! No one's ever disappointed by real estate, or isn't it?

There are smaller private artifical islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands. Each island will range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet in size, with 50 to 100 metres of water between each island. Price: between $6 to $36 million ...



The World is an exclusive development in Dubai made up of 300 islands that together form a map of the planet, an archipelago built 4 km (2.5 miles) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Dredging for the project began in 2004. By May 2007, 45% of the islands had been sold, 20 of which were bought in the first four months of 2007. As of early October 2007, land reclamation was "nearly complete" and was expected to be finished in 2008.

There have been many unconfirmed reports of celebrities who have purchased, or intend to purchase, an island. E.g. on November 2007 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were reported to have purchased the island "Ethiopia" - (how fitting!).

See more about The World Dubai by watching the video:

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C, United States

Smithsonian selects architects for historical landmark near Washington Monument
The Smithsonian, an established institution for the dissemination of knowledge in America, has announced the six teams who will compete in a two-month design competition for the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum is scheduled to be constructed on a five-acre plot of land on Constitution Avenue between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The location of the new museum, courtesy of The Smithsonian

The shortlist was reduced from 22 that responded to a Request for Qualifications issued last summer. The request asked for key personnel in a variety of areas such as architecture, structural engineering, landscape architecture and life safety engineering; the ability to accomplish the design of the building within the three-year time frame; establish an office within 30 miles of the museum site; and demonstrate an appreciation of African American history and culture.

In addition, the architectural firm will be expected to design an energy-efficient structure so that it can become the Smithsonian’s first museum to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the first officially green building on the National Mall.

The design competition teams (in alphabetical order) are:

Devrouax & Purnell Architects/Planners, P.C, and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, LLP

Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with KlingStubbins

Foster + Partners and URS

Freelon Adjaye Bond in association with SmithGroup

Moody Nolan Inc. in association with Antoine Predock Architect PC

Moshe Safdie and Associates Inc. in association with Sultan Campbell Britt & Associates

All six teams will send representatives to the Smithsonian Jan. 30 to participate in a design competition all-day orientation session during which the project will be described in more detail, and participants will receive information about the programmatic needs of the museum. Two months later, they will submit design concepts that may include models, schematics, renderings or other representations of the architects’ vision for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The design submissions will be on public display in the Smithsonian Castle later in the spring.

Costs for the design, construction and exhibition installations for the Museum will be shared equally between Congress and the Smithsonian. Construction of the building, which will be about the same size as the National Museum of the American Indian, is expected to begin in 2012 and open to the public in 2015.