Wow, New Acropolis Museum and Urban Farming
I love this. It encompasses a total grasp of classical concepts, with a conversion to modern architecture. Beautiful wraps of glass, stunning horizontal and vertical planes, and interesting angles. Looks like I found another reason to get myself to the Acropolis.
Architects: Bernard Tschumi Architects
Location: Athens, Greece
Associate Architect: ARSY
Bernard Tschumi Architects Team: Bernard Tschumi; Architect and Lead Designer Joel Rutten; Project Architect, Adam Dayem, Aristotelis Dimitrakopoulos, Jane Kim, Eva Sopeoglou, Kim Starr, Anne Save de Beaurecueil, Jonathan Chace, Robert Holton, Valentin Bontjes van Beek, Liz Kim, Daniel Holguin, Kriti Siderakis, Michaela Metcalfe, Justin Moore, Joel Aviles, Georgia Papadavid, Allis Chee, Thomas Goodwill, Véronique Descharrières, Christina Devizzi
ARSY Team: Michael Photiadis; Principal, George Kriparakos, Nikos Balkalbassis, Philippos Photiadis, Jaimie Peel, Niki Plevri, Maria Sarafidou, Makis Grivas, Elena Voutsina, Manoulis Economou, Anastassia Gianou, Miltiadis Lazaridis, Dimitris Kosmas
Structure: ADK and ARUP
Mechanical and Electrical: MMB Study Group S.A. and ARUP
Civil: Michanniki Geostatiki and ARUP
Acoustics: Theodore Timagenis
Lighting: ARUP, London
General Contractor: Aktor
Project Area: 21,000 sqm
Project Year: 2003–2009
Photographs: Courtesy of Bernard Tschumi Architects
via Archdaily.
URBAN FARMING: GOOD
I think GOOD is becoming one of my favorite information sources for all things I love. They have a really interesting article, written by Peter Smith on future farming. Urban farming was a topic I studied for an environmental science class while in school. It is an idea that I see totally viable for reclaiming vacant or unoccupied land in cities all over the globe. If you are interested and have a couple of minutes I suggest checking out the article. This idea could do a lot to decrease our dependence on oil and bring local jobs. Forward thinking my friends! I need to work on my green thumb.
Seedbombs and Walking in L.A.
Designed by L.A.’s Common Studio, the Seedbomb project has made it’s first installation in San Francisco. They use old gum ball machines, fill them with clay balls full of seeds to assist in spreading the gorilla guerilla gardening movement. This project helps to turn otherwise dead, grey, and vacant locations into colorful, life filled spaces.
This project needs support and you can help. For a minimum $1.00 pledge you can help fund this. Go here and help out. Find out more about this over at Inhabitat.
“Nobody walks in L.A.”, at least that’s what Missing Persons sang about. Over at GOOD, Ryan Bradley has started a series discussing walking in Los Angeles, and how to open the city to pedestrian friendly transportation. Narrow roads that are friendly to on-foot transportation are a staple for European cities. It brings neighbors closer together — which strengthens the bond of their inhabitants. It builds micro-economic markets and enriches culture. Both of which could use some help in my neighborhood.
I am a strong advocate for pedestrian friendly cities. It’s part of the reasons my friends have to put up with my biased love for Northwest Portland — my favorite and former neighborhood. I now live right on Cesar E Chavez Blvd; which is horrific for foot travel and keeps me from enjoying my neighborhood. I just don’t see the bond between people the way I did living in a close, walk friendly part of town. I’m glad someone is starting to ask these questions in Los Angeles. It could go a long way towards our continued efforts to build smarter transportation systems through better urban planning. It could also help small local based businesses open doors and thrive.
Time to Share
I went to the open house yesterday for the house I had been working on earlier this year. Of course I forgot my camera. It looked great with furniture though, I swear. I am still busy looking for work, but I wanted to take a break and share some things that I’d come across over the weekend.
This first video is some proper reuse/adaptation to the foreclosures and economic dumps of these crazy times. This may be a little controversial depending on how you look at it. I grew up skateboarding, and see no harm done. What do you think? If you are watching at work, be careful. The language is NSFW.
Cannonball from California is a place. on Vimeo.
This next item is a fantastic combination of modern architecture and near perfect integration into the house’s surrounding landscape. I call this success. Beautiful textures, stunning lines, and so many interesting focal points. I would love to be a part of a project like this someday. This gets me going.
Los Molles House / Oltmann Ahlers W. + Oltmann Ahlers G. + dRN Arquitectos — Source: Arch Daily
What’s Next?
I finished up work on the house restoration project I was working on. Everyone did a fantastic job, and it shows. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can. It was a tremendous learning experience, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Except for painting ceilings.
Walking is awesome! Now that I am carless/liberated I have come to enjoy Portland more than ever. There are so many great spots and neighborhoods that by car you will never see. I walk everywhere now, occasionally taking the bus for trips greater than 3–4 miles. Before, when I had a car the idea of walking more than 1/4 mile seeming daunting and inefficient. But really, I can walk 3 miles in less than an hour. So pretty much anything I need is within that scope. And I’ve lost 10lbs. I’ve been without wheels for 4 months now and I don’t miss it at all. Traffic is loud, really loud! We need to find a way to leave the automobile behind. I’m encouraged now it can be done.
I made a short video of the woods that are behind my childhood home. I spent whole summers in these acres and there are so many great memories of adventures had. It is the first video I’ve edited and the camera work is not up to par. But I think the sound does a good job of capturing what I remember about the years I spent in what we called “The Field”.
This is an aerial shot of the location of “The Field”. Now renamed Springwater. “A” is my old house.
Monday workday
Well Thanksgiving is over, my stomach needs a break from all the food. We got our Christmas tree set up yesterday, the guys I live with love this time a year, so the spirit is a little contagious. I think we need a few more ornaments for the tree though.
I start work tomorrow with CDS, which should take about a week to complete the project. After that I will be focusing all my attention on finding more design work, hopefully landing a full time position before the end of the year. At least that’s how my goals are written out.
Instructables.com has posted plans for converting burnt out light bulbs into terrariums. I have been intrigued by terrariums lately because of their scale, they give back a little bit of the outdoors where ever you put one. If I have time this week I want to make one of these. There are two burnt out bulbs in the garage just asking for a renewed lease on life. The link for the instructions are here.
It’s small things like this that can really make a difference in our connection with the outside. Kind of makes me want to crawl inside and explore.
I have more work to do on the site today. Portfolio should be up and finalized by the end of today. I will also be playing with a few other functions of the site to clean up some formatting that is bugging me. I also need to find a better linking system to connect me better with other sites I use. So we’ll see how it turns out.
