Rehabbing the National Mall

There is lots of talk lately about rehabbing the America's front yard. Congress took a look. NPR took a look. ASLA is forming a Blue Ribbon Panel on the National Mall.

AC Solar Roof

Atlantic City is about to celebrate the completion of the "largest single-roof solar-panel array" in the US. AC has built this large solar array on the roof of their convention center and it is getting national attention. I would even anticipate a few AC/DC jokes in the local media later this week.

Foreclosure maps

Maps of economic disaster seem to be a new growth market for GIS.

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.

Data models

Oakland's Hydrography Data model
ESRI's Federal Lands Model
ESRI's Address Data Model

Trains are awesome

Now the NY Times agrees:

At least for now, train travel remains in what the former flight attendant I met called an “age of innocence,” by which she meant that you can keep your shoes on to board. It is a relapse into a simpler time.

With some cash, Amtrak could add modern amenities like Wi-Fi and still preserve that slower pace that makes train travel a salve for our modern psyche, the perpetual motion lulling the rider to stillness, like a rocking cradle, and that hushing sound: choo-k-choo-k-choo-k-choo-k-choo-k.

Trains are fun if you have the time.

The Green Energy Education Act

ASLA has posted an interesting legislative action item:

Congressman Mike McCaul (TX) has re-introduced legislation aimed at preparing the next wave of design and construction professionals to improve the energy efficiency and productivity of our nation's buildings.

H.R. 957, The Green Energy Education Act, would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to partner with the National Science Foundation to award grants to university programs related to the design and construction of high performance buildings. The legislation specifically states that in awarding grants, DOE should give priority to university programs in design, architecture, landscape architecture, and city, regional, or urban planning. The legislation would improve the ability of engineers, architects, landscape architects, and planners to cooperate on the incorporation of advanced energy technologies during the design and construction of buildings.

During the last Congress, ASLA worked with Congressman McCaul to include "landscape architecture" in a similar bill that unanimously passed the House of Representatives. After learning how landscape architectural techniques, including sustainable site planning and development, contribute to the high performance of buildings, Congressman McCaul offered an amendment to include landscape architecture in the bill. Fortunately, the version recently introduced by Congressman McCaul does include language regarding landscape architects.

The legislation has been referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology.

I'll even try to add a widget for tracking this.

They're taking over!

From The Big Picture.

Burnham's plan turns 100

Daniel Burnham's Plan for Chicago is turning 100. The New Yorker explores what is means. Some people want to celebrate with a memorial, some don't like the current proposal. Others want a new plan. I'm sure there'll be more in the coming weeks and months.

Post-sprawl Las Vegas?

An interesting look at what is next for Las Vegas. To help figure it out, Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani is pushing for an inventory of the exurban ghettos. In reality there is no plan, just confusion.

The apartment vacancy rate is 16 percent, while for homes it is 4.7 percent, according to a recent Forbes report. Schwer thinks the Forbes’ apartment data is overstated, but still, with population flat or declining, it’s clear the construction industry will lie dormant for years.

But there’s a hopeful upside, as noted by Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, the Las Vegas Democrat: Without the constant banging of hammer on nail, Southern Nevada can use the silence to think about what it wants to be. “Because of the downturn, the foreclosures, yes it’s a crisis, but it’s created an opportunity for us to rethink what our city is and what it can be for everyone.”

Corridor, Core and More

The Chattooga River Conservation Plan includes a look at Core, Corridor and Restoration Area Principles. The squeeze in some 'edge effects' too. It is a good place to begin when you are looking for an example of an application of these ecological issues.

Digital Madison

Here is a little more on the Sketch-Up/Google Earth modeling of Madison, NJ.

Common Lecture: Simulate, then Make

This upcoming Wednesday 3/4 we will be honored to welcome
Richard Garber, Department of Architecture NJIT & GRO Architects NYC
Simulate, then Make

The lecture Simulate, Then Make will examine the trajectory and impact of digital tools on the architectural design process and suggest a paradigm shift from conventional design practices has occurred. Four recent projects by GRO Architects, including the re:Construction installation project and a prototype for high-performance urban infill housing will be presented to support this hypothesis.

Richard Garber is an Assistant Professor at the New Jersey School of Architecture, where he teaches design studios and directs the school's FABLAB. His work involves the use of computer simulation and computer numerically controlled (CNC) hardware in the generation of innovative design, construction and assembly solutions. In 2007 his practice, GRO Architects, won the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's re:Construction competition. The resulting work, Best Pedestrian Route, was fabricated at NJSOA's FABLAB and stood as a temporary structure at the corner of Broadway and John Street in Lower Manhattan through 2008. In February 2008, he won an AIA Merit Award for these efforts; and in May 2008 he received a NY Designs Award from the Architectural League of New York. He was also the Emerging Architect Visiting Assistant Professor at Barnard College in 2007 with Nicole Robertson. May 2009 will see the US the release of his book (Architectural Design) "Closing the Gap: Information Models in Contemporary Design Practice" published by John Wiley & Sons. Prior to coming to NJIT he was a project manager at SHoP Architects in New York, where he worked on the firm's 2000 winning PS1 entry, Dunescape; and Han Gil Sa Publishing Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. He was also a project designer at Greg Lynn FORM in Venice, CA, where he worked on the Presbyterian Church of New York. His writing and design work has been published in the New York Times, the Star Ledger, The Architect's Newspaper, Azure, Art News, Metropolis, and Architectural Record. He holds architecture degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University.

www.groarc.com

Time: 4:00-5:15 PM
Location: <http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?1079> Cook Douglass Lecture Hall 110.

March Madness

It is that time of year. The college basketball season is reaching the point where it infects people who are usually immune to sports.

To celebrate, the NY Times' A. O. Scott made a video review of Hoosiers, the greatest basketball movie ever. And that led me to read Janet Maslin's original review when it came out. It is a pretty fun way to mark the changes of the seasons, and Places and Spaces will also help host a NCAA bracket tourney, so keep your eyes open.

Ecological Urbanism

Harvard is hosting a meeting on Ecological Urbanism and it sounds fascinating. The conference is being headlined by Homi Bhabha and Rem Koolhaas. The program seems long on designers and planners and short on environmental scientists ecologists, but there are notable exceptions like Richard T. T. Forman. Solutions are going to be integrative, so they require a diverse group:

The conference will bring together design practitioners and theorists, economists, engineers, environmental scientists, politicians and public health specialists, with the goal of reaching a more robust understanding of ecological urbanism and what it might be in the future.

Like so much of the new sustainability and green design, the science has to be sound. Presumably that means finding a way to increase the scientific dialogue without losing the richness of the design solutions.

3d Sketch-up version

According to CNN you can now become an Eagle scout by using Sketch-up. More specifically, one guy in nearby Madison, NJ is training other folks so they can collectively make a digital model of their entire town to drop into Google Earth.

First exam for EnvPlan postponed

In light of the complicated and unpredictable weather coming tomorrow, I have decided to go ahead and postpone the first exam for 11:372:231 Fundamentals of Environmental Planning from Monday to Thursday (March 5). One station says nearly a foot is expected, so you should anticipate bus delays, nasty driving conditions, and good sledding.

Please note: I will NOT cancel Monday's class unless Rutgers officially closes. Check here for official campus status. We will go ahead with Lecture 4/Chapter 4, which will be on the Second Exam.

Here is what the NWS says to expect:

Get ready.

Hydrographs

Since our book didn't go into much of a discussion of flash floding, I went into it a little more in class. One of the resources I used was a hydrograph. If you didn't get it the first time, you might check out this link from the BBC.

Desert View Tri-Villages area

A peek at a landscape (described in The Living Landscape, Chapter 3) that'll look different than ours.


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Seminar: Machinic ecologies: rethinking urban nature

The Geography Colloquium Series is pleased to present:
"Machinic ecologies: rethinking urban nature."

Bruce Braun
Department of Geography
Institute for Global Studies
University of Minnesota

Friday March 6
2:00 pm
B267 Lucy Stone Hall

Refreshments will be served and reception will follow.