honoring the past to inspire the future

I'll admit. I love old buildings. Whenever I see an older building that has been neglected, I dream of what could be. But even I didn't expect to gasp out loud when looking at images of this cultural center in a former bank in South Side Chicago. It's that good.

The Stony Island Arts Bank is the latest project of Rebuild Foundation, an organization dedicated to to rebuilding the cultural foundations of underinvested neighborhoods and inciting movements of community revitalization that are culture based, artist led, and neighborhood driven. With that goal in mind, the way the Arts Bank's design does not merely restore the bank to its former glory, but uses the decay to create a new design that honors the original design, the more recent past of neglect, and the current mission, all in order to inspire the future of those who enter.

[Images originally found on Slate.]

read more: richard rogers on an architect's duty

"In my generation the idea was you'd build for the future... The idea is that we have a responsibility to society. That gives us a role as architects not just to the client but also to the passer-by and society as a whole."
- From Denzeen

read more: resilient architecture

"To build resilient communities and avoid the devastation of the next Hurricane Sandy, designers should look southward. If architects valued prevention instead of permanence, buildings could guide cities and reduce vulnerability rather than increasing risks. Such a values reorientation could radically improve our cities and our lives. The fundamental thing the global south teaches us is that a revaluation of architecture is not only imperative but also already happening far away from the epicenter of wealth."
- Michael Murphy, GOOD

zaha hadid bratislava city center

Let me say, I love Zaha Hadid. I would love to own one of her working sketches. I love the forms she creates and the way she pushes the boundaries of architecture. Most of all, I love her attitude. (Her quote, "Would they still call me a diva if I was a guy?" speaks volumes about architecture, a profession made up of divas. Almost all of them men.)

What I'm not sure I'm in love with is her work for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Sure, it is captivating to admire, particularly in rendered form. But there is nothing human scale about it and the materiality reads as quite harsh to me, despite the ample green space. I think it is great as a museum space, and possibly as a working space, it just doesn't feel like the heart of a city to me. Scheduled to be completed in 2013, I hope the reality of the people living and working in those circular towers brings life to the amorphous space.

Images via Designboom. From Zaha Hadid Architects.   

read more: pop-up populism

The pop-up "approach favors low-cost projects, incremental steps, and high levels of community engagement. Its implementation is widespread, ranging from pop-up marketplaces and pavilions to seemingly cosmetic but effective city planning reforms. Small budgets meet less resistance and allow for faster execution, which means the effects of these interventions can be felt more immediately. As a result, the schemes can be adapted as needed, responding quickly to the successes or failures of their forms. Moreover, these projects are often initiated by locals, diverse groups of individuals who can see the demands and aspirations of their respective communities firsthand. The results often become a more direct and intimate response to their sites." [from Kelly Chan for Artinfo.com]

This past weekend in Brooklyn I stumbled across the DeKalb market and had been been meaning to google more about the space. This morning I found an article "Pop-Up Populism: How the Temporary Architecture Craze is Changing Our Relationship to the Built Environment" and wanted to share this quote. Check out the whole article for more interesting thoughts on how cities are evolving. 

measuring sustainability, point by point

[Image from Energy Points website]

I recently posted my 3 Keys to Big Picture Sustainability, a wholly qualitative set of evaluations. Energy Points is an attempt at the opposite- a methodically quantitative set of measurements that accounts for a wide variety of sustainability issues. According to their website, Energy Points' "platform translates all resources into primary energy for direct, one to one comparison of domains such as electricity, water, and fuel." 

A huge problem in understanding sustainability progress, as founder Ory Zik points out to Fast Company's Co.Exist blog, is that the metrics don't line up. Comparing savings in water, electricity, and other resources overlaid with information about the location can be incredibly powerful information for building managers, homeowners and more. When investing money in improvements, these individuals want to be able to make informed decisions and tools like Energy Points give them the ability to do so.

Is this a good thing? On the surface, yes. For buildings managers? Definitely. For designers?  Not always.

Designers need to be able to do the difficult balancing of sustainability themselves. The tradeoffs are about more than energy used. For architects and interior designers, a building's function cannot be measured only in its use of resources but in performance for its users. Energy Points is a useful tool, but for designers cannot be the only measure of sustainability. 

dilapidated delights

Every since I was young, I have loved rundown buildings. I used to dream of spending a summer riding a motorcycle through the backwood highways of North Carolina and Virginia, taking photos of old barns to be published in giant tome. For the same reason, these images from Matteo Massagrande immediately spoke to me. They are (far far far more wonderful) cousins to images I have saved from site visits to old interiors projects. Something ties me to old things that have seen better days. I want to let them shine again, but not by cleaning them but by letting their stories show, just as Matteo has done.

Originally found via The Fox is Black. More on Matteo Massagrande here. 

architectural history and preservation

I just read on The Fox is Black that one of architect Richard Nuetra's buildings is currently empty and possibly to be demolished. I spent a semester analyzing every aspect of Nuetra's VDL House, even exchanging emails with Nuetra's son and architect in his own right, Dion, but hadn't learned of the Cyclorama. In fact, this style of building is one I missed completely despite History of the Interior and the many lessons on architecture I had in school. According to the Alex from The Fox is Black, "Built to display 360-degree paintings, Cycloramas were popular in the 19th century when hundreds of looped paintings traveled through dozens of cycloramas across the States."

Because the building is adjacent to Gettysburg, and even blocks the view of the battlefield, its fate is uncertain. The park service would like the Cyclorama removed to restore the view, architecture lovers want to preserve Nuetra's work. I lean toward preserving the building, either by allowing it to stand where it is or by moving it, if necessary. I am a architecture lover, but also a history lover and I think Alex put it well when he wrote:

Cycloramas do not carry the same historical weight as the Civil War, nor does any single architect. But we aren’t going to forget the Civil War anytime soon. Cycloramas and legacies of modern architects are much more fragile; when they intertwine with such a historical behemoth, it’s strange to think that agencies interested in historical preservation would fight for their erasure. History might be inconveniently located, but it’s history nonetheless.

Perhaps by keeping the building where it was intended will serve the original purpose of a building built to hold a 365 painting of Gettysburg- to teach history lovers a little something about architecture, and to remind architecture lovers that our history is what allows us to create today.

Images from The Fox is Black.

via verde grows sustainable architecture's reach

[Image from The New York Times]

 Via Verde looks more like luxury condo building than a subsidized apartment complex. It has the amenities of a luxury building too- fitness room with a view, lush gardens, tons of natural light.

But it started where community design should- by asking the neighborhood what they wanted. The answer: a healthy place to live.

By increasing building costs only 5%, Via Verde has green design as its core of the 71 co-ops and 151 rental apartments along with commercial space that includes a medical clinic. The building is designed to get residents into the outdoors and to promote growing the healthy foods the neighborhood lacks. Via Verde now has over six times the applicants that it has space for, a testament to the need for this type of development.

From NY Times:
"The greenest and most economical architecture is ultimately the architecture that is preserved because it’s cherished. Bad designs, demolished after 20 years, as so many ill-conceived housing projects have been, are the costliest propositions in the end. 

Of course a building consists of more than its skin and the claims of its makers. Its aesthetics remain inseparable from its function. It has to work, for the people who use it and live with it, not just see it. The real test for Via Verde — watch this space — will be once its residents have settled in, to see how green and healthy and gracious they actually find it."

Originally found on The New York Times.

maasberg juvenile detention living center

I've always been intrigued by the philosophy of Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR)'s boycott of prison design, but have wondered if refusal to be part of the design is the best way to make change. Of course, there is little flexibility in most prison contracts so in most cases the only choice the designer has is whether to participate.




This juvenile detention center, located in the Netherlands, shows another option. It certainly is an improvement on US prison facilities, though I wish it had more details about how the facility functions, both spacial and as detention center. Designed as "an expression of temporality - like the stay of the offenders themselves - the design assumes a respectful relationship with the detainees, the visitors and its environment. A dialogue between containment and freedom, expressed in the porous boundaries between indoors and out, aims to prepare the youth for their transition back into society, while also communicating a sense of trust."

Design is only a small part of the changes that need to be made, but to me these images show what a difference purposeful design can make.






Images and quote from Designboom. ADPSR website.

the vacancy project

Yesterday was an action packed day with Catwalk for Kids, shopping at Halcyon's rummage sale, and drinks with a good friend at The Belvidere at Broad, my friend and I ventured over to The Vacancy Project at the abandoned Central National Bank. "The project hopes to creatively address and affect issues of building vacancy in Richmond by observing the history of the Central National Bank and its current state of decay and disuse. Lighting design in the space is compo...sed with respect to the building's architectural features, history, and deterioration. The project's sound design is composed of natural audio recorded at the Bank in 2011, and of local popular music recorded in Richmond in 1929. "














The project reminded me of wandering around an empty former bank in Philadelphia as part of my senior project. I can't spend time in old buildings without thinking about how they could be used today- clearly an objective of the project. There were slightly creepy aspects of the installation with the darkness and music, but overall the project presented an opportunity of resurrection for an incredible old building in an area of town that has been neglected but is central to the city's revitalization. The question is how can we do that responsibly.

a long hiatus ends

After weeks of not posting due to work travel and moving to a new place, I am back! Work took me to an incredible city for an architecture/art junkie like me. An incredible city to stroll and due to the location of the training and where I stayed, I also got to visit some less tourist-traveled areas of the city.

[Chicago metro map]

[Closeup of the car park/ apartment tower]

[Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion bandshell in Millennium Park]

[Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, also known locally as 'The Bean"]

[Navy Pier]

I also got to spend a bit of time in the massive (and confusing maze of the) Chicago Art Institute.

[An early Jackson Pollack, The Key]

[Edward Hopper's Nighthawks is one of the popular pieces in the museum.]

[Toy by John Chamberlain]

[detail of Cireassian Calvary Awaiting their Commanding Officer by Alberto Pisini]

[detail of Albino by Marlene Dumas]

puerto rico: architecture pt 2: hospitality

[San Juan hotel 1]

[San Juan hotel 2]