Projects to watch

Curbed has named 10 Megadevelopments to keep an eye on. With one in Boston, one in DC, one in Philly and two in NYC, it will be easy for our students to watch them as they happen.

James Turrell at the Philly Art Museum?

Is a James Turrell art piece more wonderful than the Philadephia Art Museum lawn is historic? The City of Brotherly Love is embroiled in debate.

The changing face of libraries

The campus library is undergoing a dramatic change as physical books are taking a back seat to digital indices and search resources. So what happens at the campus library? It the new design for Temple's main library, Snøhetta wants to make it "a new social and academic heart for the campus." It will be interesting to watch as they transform the neighborhood (below) with the reality of this new vision. But it is interesting to see that their renderings include a winter scene, which represents a substantial portion of the academic year in North Philadelphia.

Assistant/Associate Research Professor

There is an assistant/associate research professor position posted down at Drexel University. It is close enough to our area that some of our regular readers might find it worth sharing or applying.

The Center for Spatial Analytics and Geocomputation at Drexel University is seeking outstanding candidates for openings as Assistant/Associate Research Professor. Preferred applicants will have a Ph.D. in Geographic Information Science, Computer Science, Remote Sensing, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, or related engineering disciplines.

The College of Computing & Informatics (CCI) is highly interdisciplinary, focusing on basic and applied research spanning information technologies, intelligent systems, visualization, simulation and data analytics. We are seeking candidates with research, development and/or programmatic experience in spatial analytics, geocomputation, remote sensing, spatial decision support systems, open-source geocomputation, high performance and cloud computing. 

Very, very small green roofs

The DIRT shows how Philly is trying out very small green roofs. And Philly has a website to sow off more too.

Spring Break Idea: NY/NJ

So the other ideas were too far away?

If you aren't leaving New Jersey, then try out some nearby sites. You could try this short list of notable NJ landscapes which includes Pier A, Grounds for Sculpture, Van Vorst Park and the Appalachian Trail. Or you could try out our new Rutgers/NJASLA NJ LA Sites Database to explore some landscape sites - it includes NJASLA design award winners like the Smithville Floating Walkway and the Turtleback Zoo.

You could head into Philly and explore Fairmount Park and the Patrick Dougherty sculptures at Morris Arboretum or you could take a train to New York and see his masterpiece at Prospect Park.

Then again, you could just pick up a book.

Barnes

Time is running out to visit one of America's coolest, secret museums: The Barnes Foundation. While I am admittedly more interested in the old space, Slate's Witold Rybczynski peeks at the plans to move this home-based collection to a new building on Philly's Museum row.

The Treehouses are making a return

Last summer, the Tyler Arbortetum in Media, PA hosted a fun summer-long exhibition of treehouses. This summer they are back, with Totally Terrific Treehouses, Nature's Play. Last summer's show included a few that were serious constructions by professional designers, and some that were more artistic or whimsical, but all set in the beautiful arboretum landscapes.
One was so large you would have thought it required a building permit.


Another large one didn't go so high into the trees, but required exploration.

Not so much of a treehouse, one was a recreation of Thoreau's cabin from Walden Pond.
Others went in vastly different directions.








Although none went as far as the Tree Cube in this month's LAM, even of them were stimulating to warrant the trip from NJ. It was an especially nice treat for those with kids, but the sort of place that many landscape architects could really enjoy on a nice afternoon near Philly. (h/t puk)

Philadelphia's answer to the Piazza Novona

The Schmidt's Brewery in Philadelphia is being replaced by an urban development that claims to be modeling its central space after the Piazza Novona. The Philadelphia Inquirer has posted a slide show that may intrigue or upset you.

Louis Kahn's drawing

Yet another good slideshow from Witold Rybczynski, this one called Back to the Drawing Board. This time he looks at some beautiful hand drawings by Louis Kahn. You can see them youself at the Arthur Ross Gallery at UPenn which has a small exhibit called Louis I. Kahn:
The Making of a Room, that continues until March 29th. I'm not sure what the exhibit is like, but Rybczynski does a ince job of emphasizing the way that Kahn uses his sketching as real tools of modernist exploration and communication.

What's interesting is that Kahn's drawing doesn't look anything like a conventional architectural rendering; it's more like a sketch of an actual place.

Since Spring Break is coming soon, it might be a nice time to slip down to Philly, see some design art, and then get some good food in University City.

3 Landscapes: John Hasse

Central Park
Fairmount Park
Parc Guell


For background, go here: http://hahawall.rutgers.edu/tulloch/Candidates.html

Too much, too late

In the last year I have gained a greater appreciation for Philadelphia. In particular, our field trip to ASLA included some great walks and provided a different perspective on the city. So, I was primed for the photo archives from Philly History. This is an award-winning collaborative effort that has posted over 60,000 historic photos and 5,000 maps capturing the old Philadelphia. Oh, did I mention that they are all geotagged?

• This one from Quarry street has some ne'er-do-well hanging out.
• This photo of the Broad Street Station under construction helped me realize how much the city has changed in just several decades.
• And here's a great photo taken from the top of City Hall showing some areas near where the conference was held.

Workshop on Evaluating Trees for Hazards

Evaluating Trees for Hazards
at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania
Wednesday, November 19; 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Jason Lubar, Associate Director of Urban Forestry, Morris Arboretum

Robert Wells, Arborist Consultant, Morris Arboretum

Are your trees a beautiful hazard? Tree defects can be examined and risks assessed if you are trained to detect and rate them. Decay, cavities, cracks, root rots, and poor limb connections are but a few of the defects that plague trees. Learn how to examine and measure defects,
and determine when a tree should be removed. An indoor lecture and discussion will be followed by an outdoor practical examination of a defective tree. A calculator is helpful for some aspects of this class.
Fee: $110 (including lunch)
To register online: http://www.businessservices.upenn.edu/arboretum/eventsprofessional.html
Or call the Morris Arboretum at 215-247-5777, ext. 125 or 156
9414 Meadowbrook Avenue
Phila., PA 19118
phone: 215-247-5777 x189
fax: 215-248-4439
lubar@upenn.edu

Fall Field Trip to Philly

We took out students to the former capital of the US. This first picture is a view out Laurie Olin's office window. Not bad.

Rafael Viñoly's Kimmel Center gave us a nice break.
The Schuylkill River gave Dr. Hoefer a chance to talk about public infrastructure.
The greenway along the river was a good example of modern green infrastructure.
Even something simple, like railings, was of great interest.

Lawrence Halprin: The Choreography of Gardens

Penn Architectural Archives presents a first-ever retrospective, "Lawrence Halprin: The Choreography of Gardens."

Event Date: November 16, 2007 February 29, 2008

Hours: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Description: Internationally known for a remarkable series of public spaces in San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC, the American environmental designer, Lawrence Halprin (b.1916) has designed nearly 400 private gardens over his 60 years of practice. From modest designs for postwar tract houses to the grand estates of his most active patrons, the Haas family (founders of Levi Strauss & Co.), this body of work provided a perfect laboratory to explore and develop themes central to his larger public work. To celebrate this legacy, the Architectural Archives presents a first-ever retrospective, "Lawrence Halprin: The Choreography of Gardens." Drawn from the Archives' extensive collection of Halprin's work, the exhibition features over 60 objects, including sketches, photographs, and period publications to vividly demonstrate Halprin's influence on the postwar landscape. With his wife, Anna Halprin-a seminal figure in the world of dance, Halprin explored the "scoring" of bodily movement and sensory stimulation through his designs, perfecting the process within the relatively uncomplicated conditions of the
private residence. To Halprin, the garden serves as "a framework for movement activities," where sequence and transition, paths, views, textures and materials, spatial definition and changes in level all determined the type, rhythm and speed of movement. In effect, as Halprin wrote in 1949, the garden would take on "the fine sense of a dance."

Location:
Architectural Archives/Kroiz Gallery
220 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104