Macro Intervention: A Play Street in Amsterdam

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Potgieterstraat is situated in inner Amsterdam, in a context of 19th century buildings dating back to the first big enlargement of Amsterdam.  Amsterdam is world renowned for its walkability but this street in particular was heavily dominated with vehicle traffic.  In addition, new bike lanes had infortunately infringed upon the sidewalk rather than the vehicluar lanes.(1)

Carve Landscape Architects' response was to create a "Play Street" where the entire street was closed to all but bicycle and pedestrian traffic. 

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

Photo courtesy of landezine.com

(1) http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2012/06/potgieterstraat-by-carve-landscape-architecture/

Andropogon Announces New Director of Integrative Research

Photo courtesy of Andropogon

 (a)biotic's own, Emily McCoy has just been promoted to Direct of Integrative Research at Andropogon. This is a great step forward for Emily, Andropogon, and the profession...if you know her say congrats!

 Read more about it here:
 http://androblogon.tumblr.com/post/25091533357/integrative-research-at-andropogon

Brunce Munro Light Exhibition at Longwood Gardens

Photo courtesy of thisiscolossal.com

 Artist Bruce Munro (previously) just opened a new exhibition at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania including a number of impressive translucent silos constructed from bottles. The exhibition will be up through September 11. Images above via Corriette Schoenaerts and Linden Gledhill. (1)

Photo courtesy of thisiscolossal.com

Photo courtesy of thisiscolossal.com

Photo courtesy of thisiscolossal.com

Photo courtesy of thisiscolossal.com

(1) www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/06/new-brunce-munro-light-exhibition-at-longwood-gardens/

Cypress Guitar

In General LeValle, Argentina seventy year-old Pedro Martin Ureta delivers a creative twist on the fact that a guitar is made of trees with a tragic love story as it's heart.  This particular guitar is unique in that it is made of 7,000 trees, can never be played, and can be seen from space.  Ureta embedded the design into his farm many years ago, and maintains it to this day, as a tribute to his late wife, Graciela Yraizoz, who died in 1977 at the age of 25.

Pedro Martin Ureta's late wife, Graciela Yraizoz,
who died in 1977 at 25. Photo courtesy of WSJ

One day while traveling in a plane over the pampa, Ms. Yraizoz noticed a farm that, through a fluke of topography, looked a bit like a milking pail from the air, her children say. That's when she started musing about going one better and designing the family's own farm in the form of a guitar, an instrument she loved. (1)

As with many ambitious young men, Mr. Ureta was too busy to tend to his wife's project and later, after her passing, decided to complete the work as a tribute to her.  Today, Mr. Ureta says his wife's passing turned his life in a more philosophical direction. ¨I stepped back for a time,¨ he says. He read about Buddhism. Mr. Ureta says a line by an Argentine folk guitarist and writer, Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo, stuck in his head: "I galloped a lot, but I arrived late all the same." (1)

His giant guitar is an unusual example of what's known as land art, in which forms are built into the natural environment, said Nancy Somerville, chief executive officer of the American Society of Landscape Architects. (1)


You can see it here in Google Maps:

View Cypress Guitar, Argentina in a larger map

Dirty Car Artist

Photo courtesy of inhabitat.com

Scott Wade has been called the "da Vinci of Dust," the "Michelangelo of Mud," but he prefers the "Dirty Car Artist." After years of experimentation, he's perfected the techniques he now uses to transform filthy cars into mobile art galleries. Check out his work at www.dirtycarart.com.  Not quite as refined as Goldsworthy, but pretty cool stuff none-the-less.

Photo courtesy of inhabitat.com

Photo courtesy of inhabitat.com

Photo courtesy of inhabitat.com

Photo courtesy of inhabitat.com

Moss Milk Shake

Photo courtesy of greenupgrader.com

1. Get a big-old handful of moss from a friend, an enemy, or steel it from a big box garden center. Having more than one variety will increase your chances of success, in case one or more types don’t like the conditions....so go back often and steel a bunch.  An alternative would be to do your research and know what you are growing...but hey, either way.

2. Toss the moss into a blender with two cups of yogurt, buttermilk, or beer, and enough water to keep the mix spreadable. If you insist on using beer please use that cinnamon beer in the back of your refrigerator left over from the "Christmas" 12 pack your brother brought over. A dash of compost can be added will help but it isn't necessary...althoughit might make that beer taste better.  Avoid human compost.

3. Clear some rocks and a patch of ground of debris like twigs and leaves and such.  Using a paintbrush, your fingers, or the top of your head, spread the shake across any other surface where moss is desired. Keep in mind that moss prefers shade.  If you didn't know this already, moss milkshakes are way too complicated for you.  Go ahead and drink that cinnamon beer.

4. Keep it moist by misting daily.  You will also want to carefully tend the area, keeping it free of leaves and debris and your pain in the neck dogs. Oh, and have patience: Moss can take as long as two growing seasons to establish itself...and someday your brother will stop leaving you terrible beer.

Thanks for the inspiration: http://www.gardendesign.com

Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollination

Great video, check it out:

http://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_the_hidden_beauty_of_pollination.html?source=facebook#.T2HgYF4yG3N.facebook

Highland Brewery: Low Impact Beer

In 1994 the Highland Brewery began brewing beer in downtown Asheville, North Carolina with some refurbished dairy equipment.  I was lucky enough to take a "tour" back in 2001 which consisted mainly of standing in place and drinking.  My pint was joyfully snatched from my hand and refilled every time it was 1/4 of the way below the rim: the proverbial never emptying glass.  Needless to say the rest of the workday was shot, but the beer was well worth it.


Fast forward 11 years and I find myself living in Philadelphia, inspired by the writings of Paul Hawken, and Amory Lovins (among many, many others) looking for companies, leaders, and designers that are trying to move towards a capitalism that is more complete.  I was additionally inspired by a John Todd who lectured at the Academy of Science and spoke about how, during his tenure with UVM, he worked with the Magic Hat brewery in Burlington, VT to develop a closed loop brewing process.


This was of particular interest to me for two reasons:  UVM and Magic Hat were just across the lake when I was growing up, and...I love beer!  So I decided to look close to Philadelphia and wrote a little something about Dogfish Head Brewery. 


I then set upon a mission to track down all my favorite beers and see if and how they fit in to my other interest of what Hawken calls, Natural Capitalism.  The first on the list is Highland Brewery, a favorite beer brewer of mine and one of the biggest things I miss about living in North Carolina, and Asheville in particular.  All of their beers are amazing and full bodied...the Kashmir IPA and the Oatmeal Porter are my personal favorites.  Highland's claim to fame is their malty yet well bodied Gaelic Ale.  It's a crowd pleasing beer


With regards to a green initiative they hit the trifecta of building reuse, sustainable manufacturing, and community stewardship.  You can click HERE for the particulars, but these guys try and do it all.

In terms of community outreach, Highland has partnered with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, Adopt-a-Stream, and Manna Food Bank, and offer support to other organizations in their tasting room.  And that room is amazing see below:

Tasting Room!

I toured again last May with a raucous group, had a blast, and could not recommend the facility more.  Part of that tour lead us to the French Broad River Brewery, but that is a blog for another day.... Cheers!

 

Paint With Grass

Photo courtesy of Ackroyd & Harvey; Park Ave + Resident (2011)

 British artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey use grass to make pictures—"living" photographs. Wielding the traditional tools of the artist and the gardener to harness a plant's natural photosynthesis, their process is a nice synthesis of art and science. Harvey describes their natural medium, saying, "The grass has a certain importance because of the simplicity of the blade. By nature it slightly grows towards the light." Adapting this principle, the artists cultivate grass that reacts to the light by growing in different shades, from green to yellow, depending on the amount of light it receives from a custom negative.  (1)

Photo courtesy of Ackroyd & Harvey; Park Ave + Resident (2011)

Photo courtesy of Ackroyd & Harvey; Park Ave + Resident (2011)

Photo courtesy of Ackroyd & Harvey; Park Ave + Resident (2011)

For the full story, click HERE

(1) www.gardendesign.com

ParkScore: How Good are Your City's Parks?

ParkScore is a project developed by The Trust for Public Land, one of the nation’s largest national nonprofit organization working to create and improve neighborhood parks.  There are  many other similar neighborhood/park accessability ranking systesms (WalkScore and BikeScore) and ParkScore is the newest of those systems.

Covering 40 major cities in the U.S., ParkScore enables any park lover to create customized maps for each city, evaluate park access by neighborhood, and determine where parks are still most needed, writes Peter Harnik, ASLA, Director, Center for City Park Excellence at TPL. The goal of the project is to help communities lobby for more parks and better parks. “We hope that city leaders, park providers and park advocates will use the information at ParkScore as a valuable tool to help plan park improvements. Over the long run, a rising ParkScore will mean healthier people, higher property values, and more vibrant and livable communities.” (1)

The new tool is not as comprehensive as the others in that it  ranks the park systems of the 40 most populous U.S. cities on a scale of 0-100, with an easy rating system of 0-5 park benches. The top 10 cities:(1)

1. San Francisco (74.0)
2. Sacramento (73.5)
3. New York (72.5)
3. Boston (72.5)
5. Washington, D.C. (71.5)
6. Portland (69.0)
7. Virginia Beach (68.5)
8. San Diego (67.5)
9. Seattle (66.5)
10. Philadelphia (66)

And the five cities at the bottom of the list:
35. San Antonio (35)
36. Indianapolis (31.0)
36. Mesa (31.0)
38. Louisville (29)
39. Charolotte (28.5)
40. Fresno (21.5)

For the methodology related to ParkScore, click HERE and make up your own mind about it's usefulness.

(1) http://dirt.asla.org/2012/05/31/how-do-the-parks-in-your-city-rank/