you are the city | Petra Kempf

I am currently waiting for the arrival of Petra Kempf's book You Are the City, which is not actually a book but a series of transparent sheets which allows the reader to perceive the urban phenomena by isolating and superimposing individual components in order to have a personal interpretation of what the city is.








I chose this excerpt from an interview with archdaily.com as I thought Kempf's answer was not only refreshing but reaffirmed why I originally connected with the concept of her publication.

Ethel Baraona:
There are lots of technical and digital ways to represent cities and mapping new urban plans, but you used a simple traditional way to reproduce the city just with 22 sheets of clear acetate and this is enough to represent all the concepts you want to show in the book. So, what do you think about all these new digital technologies to make data visualizations and what do you think about the future of mapping techniques?

Petra Kempf:
I agree, there are many ways to represent cities and each of the mapping technologies available certainly have their value and importance. However the technologies that are currently available, are mostly based on numbers and facts, not personal experiences. But to really experience a city one must be part of it. This is an analog process, by which we engage with a city’s intricate fabric. To re-create that analog process, in this project, I needed to use a tool that helped me simulate that experience. The limitations and computational restrictions of a computer program did not allow me that opportunity.

I appreciate that you used the word ‘simple’ to describe the method of drawing. Albert Einstein wrote once that if one is not able to describe complex things in a simple way, one has failed the purpose of communicating altogether. I believe he is right about this. These simple analog drawings are intertwined with a complex body of text; of language, of ideas. The mind, the body, and the human experience reside in the drawings through the text. I mean to suggest, through the text and the drawings, an engaged human experience. Do the drawings stand alone? Yes, but perhaps there is also a certain kind of silence, of contemplative thought required by the participant to see them or read them. Nevertheless, the drawings are intertwined with my thoughts, my text on the city.

images via kosmograd +
interview via archdaily.com

take off eh - spanning Canadian water part 3

An update from last months post...."bridges eh - spanning canadian waters part 2"
The CMLC (Calgary Municipal Land Corporation) with public consultation
has selected 3 of the 37 original proposals to move into next stage of development.

out of the 37 submissions 2 of my top 5 made the CMLC's shortlist of 3.
and the bridges are....

my pick to win
submission #29
RFR (Paris, France) and Halsall (Calgary)
This design appears to grow from the banks of the river, skipping across the surface effortlessly from shore to shore.

Submission #15
my second choice
ARUP with Falco Schmitt Architects (London, UK)

Submission #17
Buckland and Taylor LTD. (Vancouver) and Kitchell Architecture and Design (Victoria BC)

Congratulations to Victoria's
kitchell - architecture + design for making the top 3

last months post here

exploring the changing urban landscape - the urilift

Most major cities with an entertainment district face the issue of public urination. It is a problem brought on by the lack of public toilets and club goers relieving themselves in inappropriate places.

Here in Victoria BC local retailers are suffering the consequences (odour) that public urination produces.

The public toilet is an unsightly blemish on the urban landscape.
They are generally disliked by local residents and retailers, require an attendant during peak hours,
and are a target for vandals.

Are more public toilets the answer ? Where do we put them ?

The solution to urban public toilet design...........

"The Urilift is placed where it is needed: at hot spots in entertainment districts, for instance. Three people can use the urinals in the attractively styled stainless steel cylinder at the same time without seeing or being bothered by each other. The Urilift is only above ground when it is needed. For the rest of the time, it is completely hidden underground." via uralift.com

BENEFITS
respects the street landscape
Semi-permanent structure that can be moved if the public area is to be redesigned
Usable at the right time and the right place
Easy to operate by any attendant
These covers are designed to withstand traffic class 45 and come in 200 colours
If desired the existing paving can be used to achieve a fully integrated result - via uralift.com

Retailers and local residents hardly ever object to the Urilift, because it is only above ground during the busiest times. That makes the choice of location much less complicated. A fast-track construction procedure is possible. The Urilift can be installed quickly without causing any significant nuisance to local residents. - via urlift.com

There has been plenty media attention surrounding the Urilifts arrival to Victoria,
but when will its presence grace our downtown core and relieve the pressure being put on our local residents and retailers doorways?

MFO Park Zurich, Switzerland

I first came across this project when my former classmate and good friend Eva Bruhin, of Eva Bruhin :: Gärten und Landschaften, chose the site for her Landscape Appraisal Project. I have been following the parks evolution ever since. A recent nostalgia filled conversation with Eva was the catalyst for today's posting.

block 1 images via www.raderschall.ch

A letter from artist Jürg Altherr to the joint planners of the MFO Park, Burckhardt+Partner/Raderschall:

What used to be the “Forbidden City”, an industrial district that only those working there were allowed to enter: A public hall as big as the biggest industrial halls; a park as a walk-on sculpture; the green opera!

A work that redeems the secret of the Forbidden City. A huge structure towering high above the ground – and still lightly touching the earth with tiny feet – and leaving me the freedom to enter and to leave wherever it pleases me – accompanied by my sweetheart, my wife, my children; strolling through different worlds: from street curbstone to the roofed walk, the large hall to the front stalls.

The beauty of the shell, the feeling of bliss that the building is allowed to remain in its most open and beautiful phase!

Walking over wide stairs to the dress circle: letting the balconies tremble – not necessarily by sermons; by my sheer presence.

In the upper circle: objection or greeting? The space is new to me, the light comes from the other end, the stage is on the left and the masses of the upper and lower voids have been reversed.

The rigging loft: Into the roof bench. After the big void the materialistic infinity; with each step a new enormous sum of perspectives, vertical, horizontal sequences of sections, St. Andrew’s crosses condensed into textile patterns, captivating your eye as a two-dimensional picture, then letting it get lost at the next step in a multitude of spatial sequences.

The stairs into the blue of the sky – this outlook! The construction now reaches no higher than above my ankles, the support structure underneath my feet is so light, the ground so far – I am almost weightless – how else could I be here? How else could I stand this?

But here I am – in Zürich! On a creation of classless beauty, not where the flesh will soon drop off the bones, but where flourishing, scented, vital vegetation will make the filigree skeleton grow into an organic body over time. Here, you can joyfully and lightly take Zwingli’s sentence seriously: “For God’s sake, do something brave”!

My best thanks and congratulations to the inventors, the builders, the originators of this work!

block 2 images via Burckhardt+Partner AG

Project courtesy of

Landscape Architects
Raderschall Partner AG
+

Architects
Burckhardt+Partner AG

Vertical Farming

While preparing my vegetable plot for the growing season ahead I began to realize I was running out of space. After a quick sketch and a materials list I was creating vertical structures to house my strawberries. It seemed logical....why go out when you can go up. I could quadruple my harvest using far less space. My idea of farming vertically is not new. The images below represent the vertical farming projects that have been conceptualized in recent years. Stay tuned for my strawberry tower concept drawing.

"Aberrant Agriculture" by Scott Johnson

Gordon Graff's Sky Farm proposed for downtown Toronto's theatre district.

Advantages to Farming Vertically

*Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres) 

*No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests 

*All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers 

*VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water 

*VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services 

*VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers 

*VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)

"The living skyscraper: Farming the Urban Skyline" by Blake Kurasek









"VF-Type O" by Oliver Foster







Mithuns Architects' Vertical Farm Project for Seattle

What are your thoughts on cultivating our food in these types of environments?

For more information please visit The Vertical Farm Project

Unjust Acts to Urban Vegetation

Warning - Some of these images may be unsuitable for avid horticulturalists.

Urban trees and vegetation are faced with many obstacles during their lifetime. We put them in less than agreeable situations and expect them to thrive. They tirelessly and without appreciation clean our air, reduce the urban air temperature and offer us improved emotional and psychological health.
This post is dedicated to the persistent nature of plant material in the urban habitat.