Discovered this wonderful video from Benjamin Boréon thisiscollasal.com. Benjamin created a "liquid brick" installation as part of a collaboration at Raum à La Box in France. Meant to “question the harshness of the city” the idea is really quite simple, to embed a water-filled pouch beneath the city streets, and the effect is pretty charming, especially for the kids clamoring all over the thing. 1
VIDEO:
1 All text, images and videos courtesy of http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/06/liquid-bricks/
Day & Night is a Pixar animated short film, directed by Teddy Newton and produced by Kevin Reher(1) that heretofore has escaped my acquaintance. It demonstrates quite simply, succinctly, and (depending on your feeling towards cartoon animation) entertainingly, the notion of time in a landscape as the fourth dimension of experience.
Day & Night follows two characters, Day and Night. Inside Day is a day scene with a sun in the center, and inside Night is a night scene with a moon in the center. Whatever goes on inside of Day or Night expresses normal events that typically occur within a day or night, respectively, and these events often correspond with actions or emotions that the characters Day or Night express. For example, when Day is happy he will have a rainbow inside him, and when Night is happy he will have fireworks inside him. (1)
It captures quite well in all of its five and a half minutes the idea that we experience space, man-made or otherwise, in all of its dimensions, including time. Our feelings and impressions of that space are highly affected by a seemingly infinite amount of factors to create what we like to call experience. This tapestry of experience weaves all of the physics that only physicists understand with the collective human experience and individual memory and emotions carried autonomously by whoever occupies that space--the latter I dare say no one understands. Least of all this author. But what is truly interesting is that through the combination of 2D and 3D cartoon anthropomorphism and maybe a little silliness, we begin to grasp more valiantly at those concepts simultaneously.
Brilliant or silly is of course a value judgement. The throwback 2D character style merged with the new-ish 3D animation is creative and fun. Whether or not you 6 year-old will ponder the enormity of the universe and our human experience, well, only time will tell. Enjoy:
In 2010 GHD Pty Ltd designed this recently constructed and elegant raingarden for Melbourne Water in collaboration with City of Yarra at the Edinburgh Gardens: St Georges Road- Fitzroy North in Melbourne, Australia. It was constructed on on the site of the demolished Ladies Bowling Club within the southern section of the park and it is intended to improve the health of Merri Creek and the Yarra River by filtering pollutants from captured stormwater. 1 Some of the facts and figures brought to us by our friends at Landezine are below, but we were impressed on first glance by the overall composition and diagram. A thoughtful design apparently well executed. Although, we would probably have to contact the City of Yarra to find out how it is truly performing. In the meantime, enjoy the some of the initial info and the eye candy!
Nice Diagram! Image courtesy of Landezine
"The raingarden is to provide a sustainable source of treated stormwater for the parks mature trees and sporting fields in a way that added to the existing landscape character of the park and added interest for users. Melbourne has experienced drought conditions for a number of years now and this project was to replace the existing need for potable water being used to irrigate our parks and gardens. This raingarden is designed to remove 16,000 kg of annual total suspended solids per year of operation. It will also remove a further 160 kg of nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen, through vegetation growth. This litter and pollutants would otherwise end up in Melbourne’s waterways. Filtered water is then collected into a 200KL underground storage tank, and used to irrigate existing trees within the Edinburgh Gardens; providing around 60% of their irrigation needs in a normal year.
In a normal year, the raingarden is expected to reduce potable water use for irrigation by 4 ML per annum. The project involved sourcing stormwater from the North Fitzroy Main Drain and diverting it to a newly designed terraced raingarden within the Edinburgh Gardens, with the treated water being harvested for storage and irrigation of the trees within the park and local precinct.
Image courtesy of Landezine
The main components of the project were:
Diversion pipe from North Fitzroy Main Drain with gross pollutant trap
Surcharge pit into 700 sq.m rain garden.
Terraced raingarden with appropriate planting and filter media to treat stormwater.
Overflow pit with underground pipe connected to 200 kilo-litre underground storage facility with pump to irrigation distribution.
As described above the majority of the works undertaken to achieve this were underground with the large raingarden providing the visual element. The main design features of the raingarden are:
Native plant species planting
Filter media and appropriate plants that help to treat the stormwater through uptake of excessive nutrients and filtering fine sediments.
Four large terraces that respond to the sites natural grade, therefore minimising the requirement for taller retaining walls and balustrade, allowing informal public interaction,
Terrace walls that extend out into the landscape to create lawn ‘room’ areas for passive recreation. These areas will create elevated views over the raingarden and provide different spatial experience in this area of the park which is currently characterised by large unbroken lawn areas.
The strong lines of the extended terrace walls is repeated in the bands of planting in response to the recent history of the site as the location for the Inner Circle Railway Line.
A ‘zig zagging’ feature steel low flow channel, connected to the surcharge pit, that delivers water to all four terraces in rain events.
New tree planting to provide shade and enclosure for new small lawn areas
Continuously curved edge to reinforce line of new shared path and existing avenue planting."2
Packed house last weekend at the Tree Tenders Course
Yeah! Emily and I recently became Tree Tenders. I know what you, the plant-snob reader, is thinking, but the Philadelphia Horticulture Society has done a really good job developing this program and it not is your grandmother's tree care seminar....but at the same time it unabashedly is just that. With instructors from Penn State Extension, Bartlett Tree Experts, Temple Department of Horticulture, and the Audubon Society, there was a lot of really great information for people of all skill levels. These were talks by people who love trees, what is there that can't be learned from people who are passionate and well read on their topic?
PHS promoting the Flower Show. This year's theme is Great Britain.
The PHS Tree Tenders program offers hands-on tree care training in the five-county Philadelphia region. The training covers tree biology, identification, planting, proper care and working within your community. Established in 1993, PHS Tree Tenders has trained thousands of volunteers who plant and care for trees throughout the region.
If you live in Philadelphia or the ou can find a Tree Tender group near you and volunteer to help plant street trees in the Spring and Fall on this Interactive Map:
There is a wealth of information for tree planting on this website. As with any source you should shop around a little and gather best practices from many places...not everyone agrees on everything when it comes to planting trees (or planting anything for that matter). And that is what Emily and I were doing: continued research, and the Tree Tender program was well worth it. We were amazed by the shear number of attendees, and it was exciting to see the interest in trees and what they can do for the health of our cities.
You can ask anyone who lives in an extreme weather region and they will all invariably attest that it is advisable to embrace the condition and make the most of it. One way the tiny town of Saranac Lake has been doing this since 1898 is through its Winter Carnival.
The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival began as an integral part of Saranac Lake’s history as a renowned health resort. Back in the late 1800s, the village was a thriving logging community nestled deep in the Adirondack wilderness. Its pristine setting provided healing and rejuvenation for hundreds of sufferers of tuberculosis from all over North America. In the course of “taking the cure” here, many patients experienced a renewed passion for life, and took every opportunity – in every season – to explore the natural beauty that surrounded them. The long, cold Adirondack winters with snow-covered mountains and ice-encrusted lakes provided the opportunity to enjoy outdoor recreational activities such as skiing, sledding, and skating. In order to break winter’s chill and to promote “outdoor sports and games”, the Pontiac Club was formed in 1896, and a year later, they sponsored the first “Mid-Winter Carnival”. This first Winter Carnival was a two-day affair that featured skating races, a parade and an “ice tower” – features that have been, in one form or another, part of every Carnival since.1
Photo courtesy of facebook.com/downtownsaranaclake
One of the more interesting and most notable aspects of the Carnival is the Ice Palace. The original was known as an “ice tower” that then evolved into an “Ice Palace.” The Ice Palace was an outgrowth of the village’s ice industry, which, in the days before electric refrigerators, harvested ice from local lakes for use in ice boxes across the country and around the world. Despite some refinements in machinery, the Ice Palace is still constructed in much the same manner as it was in 1898, the first year it was built.
About six weeks before the Carnival, an ice field is marked off on Lake Flower’s Pontiac Bay. Once the ice reaches a suitable thickness, the ice is partially cut using a saw that was designed and built locally in the 1940’s for the harvesting of refrigeration ice. It is essentially a huge circular saw blade mounted on a sled and driven by a gasoline engine. The saw can cut to a depth of approximately eleven inches. Since the ice often reaches depths in excess of 20 inches, the cutting process must be completed with large hand saws that are relics of the traditional ice harvesting process. The blocks taken from the lake are two feet wide and four feet long, are anywhere from one to two feet thick, and accordingly will weigh between four and eight hundred pounds.1
Photo courtesy of facebook.com/downtownsaranaclake
The blocks are moved onshore via a conveyor belt, and are maneuvered into place with “peaveys” – metal-tipped poles with hinged metal hooks – and ice tongs. The 2’ by 4’ blocks are hoisted onto the structure by cranes and “log loaders” and then cemented to one another with a “mortar” made of slush. As the slush freezes, the block walls become rigid. While designs vary from year to year and reflect the theme chosen, a small palace requires about 1,000 blocks while a large one requires 3,000 or more. Within each palace is an array of colored lights that transform the Palace into a vivid sculpture of ice and light every evening! Be sure to look at the ice blocks carefully because they sometimes have water plants, fish or other items captured within them! The Palace is generally adorned with brightly colored flags and ice carvings reflecting the carnival theme. Fireworks over the palace take place at the opening ceremony and again at the closing of the carnival.1
While early palaces were constructed by private contractors, currently they are built by community volunteers. As many as 75 people may provide sufficient volunteer hours to achieve a one-year membership in the Ice Palace Workers (IPW) Local #101. The volunteers often work for extended periods in sub-zero cold. Numb fingers and cold feet are warmed by the camaraderie of the workers and the support of those providing hot drinks, sandwiches and good-natured banter. As the palace rises, the workers are encouraged by the growing crowds of admirers happily snapping pictures to send to friends and relatives around the country.1
Once completed, the Ice Palace stands as both centerpiece and symbol for the Winter Carnival: for what distinguishes Saranac Lake’s mid-winter festival is that it is brought about by the efforts of its citizens, volunteering their time, energy, enthusiasm and resources so their children, neighbors and guests can enjoy a Winter Carnival.1
The Chicago Tribune reports a A 5-11 alarm fire engulfed a warehouse building in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood late Tuesday night. The result of the battle then waged with spraying water produced an amazing ice spectacle. We do not in anyway want to in anyway minimize the potential loss the owner of the building may have suffered and most importantly, no one was injured in the blaze. What we are left with from Photographers Robert R. Gigliotti, David Schalliol, and Darek Szupina are some stunning pictures of the aftermath to share.
David Schalliol
Robert R Gigliotti
Robert R Gigliotti
David Schalliol
David Schalliol
Darek Szupina
Special thanks, as usual, to http://www.thisiscolossal.com/
Ravaged box elder at Huntington Botanical Gardens shows damage from a voracious new beetle. Photo/Maxx Echt
"No one is certain how it got here, but the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB) is a new pest in Southern California. This boring beetle, from the group of beetles known as ambrosia beetles, drills into trees and brings with it a fungus that is lethal to some species of trees."
Female polyphagous shot hole borer. Photo by Gevork Arakelian, LA County Agricultural Commissioner
Description "The beetle is dark brown to black and tiny, with females between 0.07 and 0.1 inches long, and males even smaller, usually about 0.05 inches long. Pregnant females bore through the tree’s bark, creating galleries under the bark. They plant the fungus in these galleries, where it grows and spreads throughout a susceptible tree. The female then lays her eggs in these galleries and when the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the fungus. The larvae develop into adults in about a month. Many more of the larvae develop into females than males, and the females mate with the males (their brothers) while still in the gallery. The pregnant females then pick up some of the fungus in their mouths, and leave through the entry holes created by their mothers to start the process again." What Is Known "The PSHB seems to have originated in South East Asia or Africa. At first, researchers identified it as the Tea Shot Hole Borer (Euwallaecea fornicatus), which it very closely resembles, but DNA evidence points to it being a new, as yet unnamed species in the same genus. The symbiotic fungus may also be a new unnamed species, in the genus Fusarium, which is commonly associated with ambrosia beetles." History in the USA "The best guess as to how they arrived is that it stowed away on a Southeast Asian shipping crate. The first local sighting appears to have been in 2003 at Whittier Narrows. By 2010, it was suspected of killing box elders in Long Beach. The first local sighting appears to have been in 2003 at Whittier Narrows. By 2010, it was suspected of killing box elders in Long Beach.
Now, scientists are warning that a new species of beetle, tinier than a sesame seed but devastating as poison, has gained a foothold in Southern California, threatening scores of tree species, including the native California sycamore and the iconic coast live oak.
“This has been like something out of a science fiction novel,” says Tim Thibault, the Huntington’s curator of woody collections. Thibault says the bug initially was assumed to be an exotic pest called the “tea shot hole borer” that afflicts tea plants in Asia. But when it turned up on more than 100 species, killing some in less than two years, DNA tests revealed that both it and a lethal fungus it carries were new to science."
Its Spread
"So far, scientists say, the new beetle has been found throughout Los Angeles and northern Orange Counties, as far south as Laguna Beach, as far north as Azusa, as far east as Pomona and as far west as Los Angeles International Airport, where it has infested a stand of coral trees.
Whether it has spread to wildlands such as the Santa Monica Mountains is as yet uncertain, but researchers are hoping a January 12 symposium at the Huntington for arborists, gardeners and homeowners will help track the infestation."
Management "Protect your trees and local habitat from a variety of pest species by avoiding moving infected wood around – use firewood locally. PSHB has been found to attack healthy trees, but as always a good defense against disease is to keep trees in optimal health. Healthy trees are also more likely to recover more quickly from an attack. Choose trees that are appropriate for the site and don’t require a lot of additional water. Provide appropriate soils and access for roots to grow and expand. Avoid excessive pruning, over- or under-watering, and planting inappropriate companion plants within the drip-line. If trees are infected, systemic insecticides generally are poor for treating ambrosia beetles. Prophylactic spraying of the bark could be used to protect uninfected trees in some situations. Sterilize pruning tools between uses to avoid spreading the fungus. Chipping and solarizing/tarping infested wood may help to limit the spread of the beetle/fungus complex.
If you think PSHB is affecting your trees, please contact your local Agricultural Commissioner's office. In Los Angeles County,click here." Positive Take-Away "Some trees are less vulnerable than others; the main concern is for the 20 or so species of trees in which the beetles prefer to reproduce. Eskalen says the fungus, carried in the beetle’s mouth, is what kills the trees, and it spreads as the beetle burrows to lay eggs in the heartwood, attacking the plant’s vascular tissue and blocking the flow of water and nutrients." Sources: 1.) R. Stouthamer, P. Rugman-Jones, A. Eskalen, A. Gonzalez, G. Arakelian, D. Hodel, S. DrillDepartment of Entomology & Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, University of California,Riverside 2.) Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures UCCE-Los Angeles County
Leave it to the Dutch to bravely explore and implement new ideas. “A futuristic highway that can save energy and improve
road safety is set to be installed in the Netherlands by mid-2013 that features photo-luminescent paint which are charged during the day and light up
during the night; temperature-responsive paint which indicates slippery roads; interactive lights along the highway
that light up as cars approach; as well as "wind lights".
Let's acknowledge and accept first that the notion of a highway and everything it entails is not a "sustainable" archetype. Beyond that, it is really interesting to see new ideas that are attempting to improve on an old concept. Check out the video below to hear more about the features mentioned above:
Russian photographer Andrew Osokin captures some wonderful ice formations at a truly nano scale. The awe inspiring combination of fractal geometry and the curious interchange of symmetry and asymmetry. Its a chicken or the egg causality dilemma that leaves one humbled by the capacity of the universe to dictate that ficklest of all perception peccadilloes: Beauty. And if you needed more evidence that we are all infinitely tiny, check out even more big images of tiny things, check out Osokin's LensArt profile. (via the curious brain).
Australian inventor and architect Sally Dominguez's invention, the HOG system makes use of otherwise overlooked spaces for use as rainwater harvesting. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reports that the inspiration for Dominguez’s rainwater harvesting system came to her while working on residential infill projects in inner-city Sydney. As a city on the edge of literally running out of water, it is no surprise that such innovations are spun from Australia. Discouraged by the lack of small-scale solutions for stromwater storage, Dominguez wanted to look beyond the existing large-scale solutions the city has been exploring in recent years, (1)
Photo courtesy of aia.org
The HGO is a water storage system that makes use of spaces that are largely overlooked: underneath floors, inside walls, and along narrow alleys. She solved the problem of how to make flat-walled steel tanks fit in those spaces without bulging with the weight of their water by placing a hole in the middle of the container. In this way, the hole’s circular walls act as an inside-out brace (see below).It helped that Dominguez had some prior product development experience, and knew that the manufacturing method known as “rotomolding” (rotational molding) worked well for creating hollow plastics — and might apply equally as well to creating modules that could stand on any of their sides and join conveniently to the next one. Using this method, she created a highly scalable water storage system that can easily link one module to the next while allowing water to flow through them without impediment. (1) The first Rainwater HOG tank debuted in Australia back in 2005, at a time when rainwater was still considered gray water (i.e., used household water). Thus the name: H2O Grey, or H2OG, or HOG. Now a version of the tank manufactured in the U.S. is available to the U.S. market, where the system has gained widespread popularity among green builders and architects in recent years. (1) We thought this was interesting in its potential application in places like Philadelphia and other large cites on the East Coast that are struggling to meet the EPA requirements for combined water/sewer outflows (CSO). Obviously there would need to be a way to completely drain and bypass these during the winter months, but it is nothing that a little engineering can't handle. Like many complicated urban problems, these tanks are far from a complete solution, but represent a step in the right direction.
