2 down, 2 to go

Rutgers 38
Kansas State 10

Kentucky 28
Clemson 20

Wisconsin plays on Jan 1

LSU plays on Jan 3rd

I am quite optimistics.

Urban Trends

PlaNetizen links to a Brookings Top Ten List of urban trends, but they kindly pull out the three they think are most relevent to their readers. Of those, one stands out to me as a very telling fact:

#3: "More than one-third of the nation's loss of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 occurred in seven Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin."

Think: Detroit, Scranton, Akron, Gary.
We still don't have any real strategy for reclaiming cities like these. We do have some interesting approaches to sites within these, like MASS MoCA.

Houses in floodplains

Today's Star-Ledger reports one of those stories that isn't really breaking news, some homes are built in places where they never should have been built. Wayne Township is looking to buy 41 houses in Hoffman Grove so it can raze them. One of the homeowners, interviewed for the article, is actually welcoming it since owning a house in a floodplain is harder than they expected. Getting an offer that covers the mortgage is tough, but fighting this thing could turn out to be harder. Any response now is difficult and costly, with property rights, the environment, public safety and public finances all in play.

In the end, efforts like this cost a lot of money. It clearly demonstrates a major financial benefit to the community for restrictive building practices and careful site analysis, even if generous homebuilders do want to build "habitat for humans." unfortunately, weak planning boards and strong market pressures are creating a lot of problems in New Jersey that our children are going to have to pay for.

Aluna Tidal-powered Clock

Talk about a great idea. The proposed Aluna Tidal-powered Clock uses LEDs to indicate the moon phase and runs on tides. What a great way to get in touch with the cycles around you. Great images.

Washington's Crossing

Well, they did it again. Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware yesterday and the NJ.com has pictures to prove it. Hopefully we'll make it one of these years, but it is hard to imagine much better weather for it than yesterday.

Merry Christmas!

With people busily debating live versus cut versus fake trees, it might be nice to sit back and review the history of the Christmas tree. Wikipedia includes a nice summary of the many histories. You can learn a little more about the potential trees by checking out the list of the best species of trees from the National Christmas Tree Association or the Christmas Tree Identification Guide from the good folks at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.


So which tree is the best?

FEMA's competition for funds

There is an interesting twist in the move towards rebuilding the Gulf Coast. FEMA held a competitive grants process that has rewarded some of the states with some funding for building new homes. The NYTimes' version of the story includes some architectural renderings of the proposed homes and an explanation of what stood out about the winners' proposals. What is interesting is that Mississippi got $280 million while Louisiana only got $75 million. In addition, Texas got a little but FLorida got skunked.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune offers up excuses for why New Orleans was robbed of this great opportunity.

"We got shorted one more time, got cheated out of opportunities one more time," Blanco said on the steps of the Governor's Mansion after completing a call with Louisiana's members of Congress.

"It's a cruel Republican agenda that punishes Louisiana," Blanco said. "I find it detestable to find so many hard-working families left out in the cold by rotten party politics."

Unfortunately, what this really seems to show is both how complicated the situation is in NOLA, but also how much the locals (whether it is the City, or State, or other local entities) are expecting gifts more than they are trying to create creative solutions that are both quick and sustainable. Maybe more news will come out in the coming days to support the evidence of the anti-Louisiana bias, but the newspapers sure make it sound like these awards were based on merit. I just hope that there is still Federal funding left when New Orleans finaly comes up with a comprehensive and inclusive plan.

Solar trees popping up everwhere

Wired details Google's new parking lot with solar trees. This is a growing trend. I think that J&J in New Brunswick even has something like this on top of one of their parking structures. But this article includes an aerial photo of the property. What you can see is that virtually every inch of the property that is impervious is also covered with solar cells.

Is this really a trend of the future? It could be really interesting if we saw more direct linkages between I.S. and Solar? Would it limit the pressure on a developer to reduce I.S. if it meant losing solar potential too?

Atlantic Yards advances

Well, it looks like the Atlantic Yards project has made a major leap forward. The NY State Public Authorities Control Board has approved the major development over the old train yard that would be home to the Nets and thousands of residents. Bruce Ratner is working with Frank Gehry to make the development, which would already be unforgettable for its size alone, into an iconic element in the heart of Brooklyn.

Knowing that this was coming, we visited this spring on the Brooklyn RUOC hike. You could see why the locals were upset. This is will change a reasonably nice, largely unknown, neighborhood into a major attraction for the region. The controversy includes all of the fun elements: eminent domain, a neighorhood with character, tall highrises that change the skyline, sports arenas, starchitecture, traffic problems, and lots of new jobs.

Calatrava at WTC

After taking the PATH through the World Trade Center this weekend, I looked up the latest images and videos of the new transportation center. Designed by Calatrava, this is going to a great capper to the experience of that area. Or least the videos make it seem that way.

Situation Room

The White House has unveiled its new Situation Room. As the NYTimes points out, it still isn't as impressive as the ones on TV. I love the cheap folding chair in their photo. And it feels absolutely claustrophobic. But they've gone mostly with LCDs, which is probably a good idea since a lot of what they will be doing is like video games and could cause ghosting on the displays.

PLANT in Morristown

Toronto's edgy landscape architects, PLANT, have started a pretty nice looking project in Morristown. Foote's Pond Wood looks like it is already worth a visit this spring and could be worth additional visits as the work continues.

I stumbled onto them because they are currently finalists in the competition to design Toronto's main square, http://www.toronto.ca/npsquarecompetition/

I am just happy that Toronto is going to finally address that giant void in the heart of their city. On our last visit, that was one of the few disappointments.

Land Ethics

SEVENTH ANNUAL LAND ETHICS SYMPOSIUM:
CREATIVE APPROACHES FOR ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPING

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve presents its Seventh Annual Land Ethics Symposium: Creative Approaches for Ecological Landscaping on Thursday, February 15, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel, Langhorne, Pennsylvania, convenient to I-95 and the Pennsylvania turnpike. This stimulating and informative Symposium for professionals will focus on ways to create low-maintenance, economical, and ecologically balanced landscapes using native plants and restoration techniques. The Symposium is geared toward landscape architects, designers, contractors and other members of the landscape/nursery industry, environmental consultants, land planners, managers and developers, state/municipal officials and students.

CEU’s applied for from the NJ Landscape Architect Evaluation & Examination Committee

Fee: $95; fulltime students-$65. Pre-registration required by Monday, February 5. For more information and to request a brochure, contact Hildy Ellis (215) 862-2924, ellis@bhwp.org. Brochures will be mailed in early January and available at www.bhwp.org in mid-December. Symposium is sponsored by Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope, Pennsylvania and co-sponsored by County of Bucks, Office of the Commissioners; others co-sponsors pending.

Featured Speakers:
* Dr. Jeffrey Featherstone, Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities, Temple University Ambler, “Stormwater Management from a Watershed Perspective”
* Keith Bowers, RLA, Founder/President of Biohabitats, “Conservation Design, Best Development Practices”
* Edgar David, MLA, RLA; Principal of S. Edgar David and Assoc., “Integrating Nature, Culture and Art”
* Edmund Snodgrass, President of Emory Knoll Farms Inc. and Green Roof Plants, “Green Roofs as Living Machines”
* Dr. Roger Latham, Ecologist, Conservation Biologist and Environmental Planner, “Native Grasslands and Meadows in Pennsylvania: Their History and Current Condition”

New York's Future

The Economist writes about Mayor Bloomberg's new 25-year vision for New York City. With a vision for better transportation and quality life where "every New Yorker will live within ten minutes' walk of a public park," Bloomberg's efforts are clearly directed at real citizens as well as the the larger image of the citizen. One very promising sign is the Sustainability Advisory Board that he is assembling to get serious and sincere input from scientists, environemtnalists and other sorts of experts. The city's sustainability is a serious concern on many fronts, but a few key changes they'll grapple with include anticipated growth by another 1 million people, seniors outnumbering tots, and the potential collapse of an already overwhelmed degrading infrastructre.

Ultimatley, this vision is going to need to be very strong to succeed, since it will have to be implemented by other mayors. But a greener vision for the challenges facing this great city should be something that many New Yorkers can get excited about. And probably something we'll talk about in class plenty.

It also raises an interesting question about personal perspective. Think about New York compared with other cities? Is it a city on the rise? Or is it a city in decline? Is it like some European cities which are just reliving their past greatness or is it still about what it is becoming? How you view the city says a lot about how you might treat decisions about its future.

Map Contest

The American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) and the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) are pleased to announce its 34th annual map design competition.

The purpose of the competition is to promote interest in map design and to recognize significant design advances in cartography. The competition is open to all map-makers in the United States and Canada.

Students are particularly encouraged to apply for the awards sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Avenza-MAPublisher. The competition is open to all college-level student mapmakers who have completed and/or published the submitted map during 2006. Each student award consists of a cash prize ($500), a National Geographic atlas, a student license of MAPublisher (worth $249), and a certificate of award. Runners-up receive a beautiful National Geographic map or atlas.

The deadline for this year's competition is January 15, 2007.

The categories for the competition include the following.

In the Professional Category:
Best of Show
Best of Category:
Reference
Thematic
Book/Atlas
Recreation/Travel
Interactive Digital
Other
In the Student Category, the National Geographic Society/Avenza-MAPublisher Awards are:
Arthur Robinson Award for the Best Printed Map
David Woodward Award for then Best Electronic Map

Details about the categories and the entry requirements can be found on the CaGIS website at www.cartogis.org <http://www.cartogis.org/> , or contact Ilse Genovese at CaGIS headquarters (240) 632-9716 ext.109.

Good luck with the competition!

Triennial

The Cooper-Hewitt has opened its 2006 Triennial: Design for Life. While it looks at all kinds of design, it features 5 landscape architects including Tom Leader and the Cao|Perrot Studio.

It is a free museum that is just a train ride away. You can even wander through The Park afterward. What's holding you up?

Playgrounds for pensioners

I have heard Jason Grabosky compare toddlers and seniors because they are both quite susceptible to tripping on sidewalk cracks. But i nGermany they are going to try to treat retirees like kids by building parks just for them. Nuremburg is building a prototype park for the elderly that creates special opportunities for them to be engaged in physical activities that promote betterhealth and fitness.

Look, the baby boomers are retiring, and many are doing it young. Are we ready for that time after they spend a few years travelling around in RVs when they'll pick a place to really settle down? Some are eyeing places like Brooklyn where you can really get to know the neighbors and walk to all of your needs. But for much of the country the boomers are going to demand special consideration and facilities, and a decent chunk of them will have the income and/or clout to back up those demands. Where will they go? What will these places be like? Aside from an increased awareness of environmental issues, this could be the single largest factor in changing the American landscape over the next 2 decades and there still seems to be very little going on to prepare in advance.

We have a winner!

According to today's Star-Ledger, President McCormick has chosen a winner in the campus design competition. The winning team is TEN Arquitectos – Enrique Norten - Wallace Roberts & Todd. Enrique Norten has become a world famous architect, with most of the built work by TEN Arquitectos either in Mexico or the NY/NJ area. Probably the closest notable building he has done was the award-winning Princeton Garage Parking Structure. WRT is already active in the area as the designer for the Main Street project in Highland Park.

The winning concept proposed a cylindric glass tower at the North end of campus which has been compared, by some, to either the classic NJ fuel tank or a frat party beer can. The campus plan featured a "red" cross axis that connected College Ave with the river and a much greener College Ave (with grass block as the surface) for the bus rapid transit that they envision.

As surprising as anything is that the winning proposal was not the plain and boring from Beyer Blinder Belle -- Ateliers Jean Nouvel -- Oehme, van Sweden & Associates. Really, I suspect that their solution would have been proven to be elegant and I really enjoy the work of both Nouvel and Oehme van Sweden, but their entry wasn't the bold sort of gamble that a design competition deserves.

UPDATE: Some of the alums and boosters that post regularly on an online sports bulletin board seem to have a different view of the winning plan. With comments like,

This is a joke gone bad.......

this group seemed to think this was one of the worst entries in the competition, disliking both the architecture and the intent behind it.

Top 10 Coaches under 40

I had freshman English with little John Pelphrey and Sean Sutton who are both on this impressive coaching list. I must have missed a few of the lectures that they went to, because I don't think I can make the list even if do get a coaching job.

LAF Scholarships

The Landscape Architecture Foundation is an important spin-off of ASLA and one way that they remind us of that are their annual scholarships. While our students are only eligible for a few of them, it is still worth a try for those with a high GPA.

The Landscape Architecture Foundation announces our annual call for submissions for the LAF 2007 Leadership in Landscape Scholarship Program. The deadline for the Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship is January 15, 2007. The deadline for all other scholarships is February 15, 2007.

An estimated $100,000 in awards will be available in 2007. Help us get the word out to all qualified students by displaying the following online poster prominently on campus or forwarding this email to fellow faculty members or students who may be interested in applying.

Simply go to http://www.lafoundation.org/Poster/Scholarship_Poster.pdf and print one or more 81/2" by 11" posters. (The poster download takes approximately one minute so please be patient).

All scholarship details and application requirements are available at www.lafoundation.org/scholarships.htm

LAF plans to add several new scholarships for 2007. As these scholarships become available, they will be listed on the above referenced LAF website. So stay current by having all interested parties regularly visit the site from now until February.