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| Olmsted or Freud? |
See some action photos of Mayor Nutter in action:
4.26.2012
Philadelphia Celebrates ASLA Day
See some action photos of Mayor Nutter in action:
4.24.2012
Urban Prairie
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| Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com |
The Canadian Museum of Civilization, designed by Canadian architect
Douglas Cardinal and inaugurated in 1989, is comprised of two pavilions,
their architecture a startling embodiment of the country’s
distinguishing geographical features. The public display wing replicates
the dramatic effect of the glaciers; the contours of the curatorial
wing symbolize the majestic Canadian Shield; and the open Plaza
simulates the vast Great Plains. The layout and sheer size of the Plaza
were planned in such a way as to visually incorporate the Museum
buildings and the Parliament Buildings perched across the Ottawa River.
However, the Plaza’s lack of appeal had left it empty of visitors for
much of the year. To remedy the situation, we extended the Museum’s
original conceptual metaphor, bringing to life what had long remained
latent: the swaying grasses of the Prairies. (1)
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| Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com |
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| Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com |
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| Photo Courtesy of www.worldlandscapearchitect.com |
On first glance we thought it looked similar the Native American Museum in DC...
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| Photo Courtesy of www.whereisdarrennow.com |
4.23.2012
Johns Hopkins Hospital Healing Gardens
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| Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post |
Four years ago, the Johns Hopkins Hospital began one of the nation's largest hospital construction projects: the Sheikh Zayed Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center. The 1.6 million-square-foot facility includes 560 private patient rooms, 33 operating rooms and new adult and pediatric emergency departments. (1) More than 1,000 people were on hand to take part in the dedication on April 12, 2012 with speakers that included United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. (2)
The Sheikh Zayed Tower is named after the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who was the founder and first president of the United Arab Emirates. Johns Hopkins Medicine and the UAE are in a partnership in which Johns Hopkins provides operational management of three UAE hospitals. The tower houses the Johns Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute, advanced neurological and neurosurgical services, transplant surgery, trauma care, orthopedics, general surgery and labor and delivery. (1)
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center, located in a separate tower, is named in honor of the late mother of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Marjorie Tiven. The center includes a 45-bed neonatal intensive care unit, a 40-bed pediatric ICU, a playroom and kitchen and laundry facilities for parents. Mayor Bloomberg, a 1964 graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, is the largest donor of the Johns Hopkins Institutions, having donated more than $800 million since 1965, according to the release. (1)
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center, located in a separate tower, is named in honor of the late mother of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Marjorie Tiven. The center includes a 45-bed neonatal intensive care unit, a 40-bed pediatric ICU, a playroom and kitchen and laundry facilities for parents. Mayor Bloomberg, a 1964 graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, is the largest donor of the Johns Hopkins Institutions, having donated more than $800 million since 1965, according to the release. (1)
A key design feature of the building, created in collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist Spencer Finch, is a shimmering glass curtain wall that covers much of the building's exterior. Perkins+Will worked closely with Finch and the project partnership over many months to integrate the architecture with the artist's concept. The result is a multi-colored two-layered fritted glass façade that incorporates Finch's unique approach to color. Its effect moderates the Baltimore light by day and transforms the building into a glowing composition of color and light by night. (3)
Art is a fully integrated into the building and surrounding landscape so that the entire site becomes a healing museum. Through OLIN, Ben performed design and construction observation and worked with Robert Israel to conceive and develop a paving scheme that eliminated the need to create a railing around the Cubed Rhino at the Hospital Entry.
The gardens, including the Entry Court Gardens, the Western Courtyard Gardens, the Phipps Courtyard and the Little Prince Garden, along with the soaring lobbies, a handpicked art collection and cheerful-light filled patient rooms are designed to provide a welcome and caring environment to advance the healing process.
“This is an extraordinary project,” said OLIN Partner Susan Weiler. Johns Hopkins is creating a new standard of excellence for patient care and hospital design. The gardens have been designed as places of orientation, respite, rejuvenation and calm, with a visual simplicity that accentuates the aesthetic pleasures of the gardens. The newly conceived circulation pattern allowed us to keep one-third of the enormous football-field-sized site for the courtyard gardens. (4)
The gardens’ visual strength was inspired by the Finch glass patterns, designed to dissipate light. “We extracted the modulation in the color patterns into the plants,” Weiler says. “We used the greens, pinks, purples, yellows, blues and violets wherever we could.”
A paving palette of bluestone, brick, quartzite and granite provides visual continuity to both vehicular and garden spaces. (4)
“There’s a visual calmness, a serenity but a stimulus, from the aerial view,” she says. “To see the gardens from above gives off an ameliorating effect on people’s well-being – you could call it all a healing garden.” (4)
The gardens’ visual strength was inspired by the Finch glass patterns, designed to dissipate light. “We extracted the modulation in the color patterns into the plants,” Weiler says. “We used the greens, pinks, purples, yellows, blues and violets wherever we could.”
A paving palette of bluestone, brick, quartzite and granite provides visual continuity to both vehicular and garden spaces. (4)
“There’s a visual calmness, a serenity but a stimulus, from the aerial view,” she says. “To see the gardens from above gives off an ameliorating effect on people’s well-being – you could call it all a healing garden.” (4)
(1) http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/strategic-planning/johns-hopkins-hospital-unveils-11b-new-facility.html
(2) http://gazette.jhu.edu/2012/04/16/new-jhh-facility-ushers-in-next-era-of-health-care/
(4) http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2012/04/the-healing-gardens-at-johns-hopkins/
4.20.2012
Snow Drawing
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| Photo courtesy of Cedar Beauregard |
Sonja Hinrichsen at Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado and 5 volunteers walked hundreds and hundreds of steps to get this wonderful snow drawing to spring to life. Quiet an amazing effort, nothing but a little sweat and a lot of footsteps for this art piece.
If you like this, also check out the beach drawings of Jim Denevan. The photos above are by Cedar Beauregard and you can see many more here (via reddit). Also, if you are interested in more snow art, check out this dude: Simon Beck.
4.19.2012
Burton Street Peace Garden
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| Photo courtesy of inhabitat.com |
http://inhabitat.com/burton-street-peace-gardens-learning-pavilion-was-built-from-recycled-materials-for-3900/burton-street-community-asheville-design-center-1/
Text adaptation and photos courtesy of inhabitat.com
4.18.2012
Shipping Container House
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With sweeping mountain views this off-grid shipping container house in Nederland, Colorado, represents modern structure that in its detailing and attitude, blends with its natural surroundings. Architects Studio: HT, conceived and constructed with two shipping containers straddling a taller common area.
The container "wings" house the bedrooms, bathroom, and office, while the common area houses the kitchen, living room, and loft. The loft deck allows for an open-air snooze surrounded by nature as a bed can easily roll between the interior and exterior areas.
Other low-impact features incorporated into the house include solar orientation, solar photovoltaics, passive cooling, pellet stove heating, and a green roof. For non-urban greenfield development, this is nearly as good as it gets.
The container "wings" house the bedrooms, bathroom, and office, while the common area houses the kitchen, living room, and loft. The loft deck allows for an open-air snooze surrounded by nature as a bed can easily roll between the interior and exterior areas.
Other low-impact features incorporated into the house include solar orientation, solar photovoltaics, passive cooling, pellet stove heating, and a green roof. For non-urban greenfield development, this is nearly as good as it gets.
Text adaptation and photos courtesy of www.apartmenttherapy.com
4.17.2012
National Mall Entries
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| Constitution Garden Partial Section - OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi |
In not quite a house divided, Ben has worked diligently these past few months on the OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi entry for the Trust for the National Mall's Constitution Garden and the Washington Monument Grounds at Sylvan Theater design competitions while Emily's studio, Andropogon worked on the Constitution Garden entry.
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| Constitution Garden Perspective - Andropogon |
All of the entries are a testament to the breadth and depth of Landscape Architecture as we welcome the field of Architecture's growing interest in park design. Check out all of the National Mall entries here:
http://www.nationalmall.org/design-competition/ideas
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| Constitution Garden Full Section - OLIN & WEISS/MANFREDI |
2.02.2012
Flat Rocks and Jack Pine
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| Photo courtesy of Dr. David Franzi, Center for Earth and Environmental Science, Plattsburgh State University |
The Flat Rocks State Forest, known to the locals as "Flat Rocks", is a 371 acre New York State Department of Conservation State Forest located in Northeastern New York in the town of Altona. Like many ecologically sensitive areas, its abioitc and biotic exist in a delicate balance. Because of the nearness of these elements within "Flat Rocks" it is defined both in the general abiotic sense as a sandstone pavement barren and in a more specific biotic sense as a jack pine barren. Regardless of its broad or narrow definition, it is considered a globally rare phenomenon.
SANDSTONE PAVEMENT BARREN
In Northeastern New York, the sandstone pavement pine barrens are "island ecosystems amidst the larger matrix of northern hardwood and mixed hardwood-conifer forests in the Champlain Lowland" (1). Sandstone pavement barrens are described "as open-canopy woodlands on very shallow soils over nearly level sandstone bedrock"(1).
In Northeastern New York, the sandstone pavement pine barrens are "island ecosystems amidst the larger matrix of northern hardwood and mixed hardwood-conifer forests in the Champlain Lowland" (1). Sandstone pavement barrens are described "as open-canopy woodlands on very shallow soils over nearly level sandstone bedrock"(1).
As a marginal ecosystem, this area lives in a precarious balance with the climate an hydrology and is quite vulnerable to externalities either natural or man-made (1).
"Flat Rocks" was created from the erosion caused by the melting glaciers over 10,000 years ago. Massive flooding scoured the earth and stacked immense boulders in this area leaving behind a nutrient poor area. Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) thrives in just those conditions, and subsequently "Flat Rocks" is considered one of the largest jack pine barrens in the Northeast.
JACK PINE BARREN
"Flat Rocks" represents nearly the lowest point south that jack pine can be found in its natural habitat. "Jack pine is a relatively short-lived (<150 years), shade-intolerant, boreal species that maintains communities on the sandstone pavements because of its adaptations to fire and ability to survive in an area with thin (or absent), nutrient-poor soils and low seasonal water availability" (1).
The barrens are defined by low density stands of jack pine with very little understory consisting primarily of:
Low blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)
Black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata)
Black chokeberry (Pyrus melanocarpa)
Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina), and sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia). Three species of lichen comprise most of the ground cover (Cladonia uncialis, Cladina rangiferina, and Cladina mitis). Other ground cover plants include haircap moss (Polytrichum commune), bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), and Sphagnum spp.
Black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata)
Black chokeberry (Pyrus melanocarpa)
Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina), and sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia). Three species of lichen comprise most of the ground cover (Cladonia uncialis, Cladina rangiferina, and Cladina mitis). Other ground cover plants include haircap moss (Polytrichum commune), bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), and Sphagnum spp.
CONSERVATION
As you can imagine, like much of the northeast, this place is most spectacular when viewed in the fall.
As you can imagine, like much of the northeast, this place is most spectacular when viewed in the fall.
MANAGEMENT PLAN
The NYS DEC is conducting an effort to Prepare a Management Plan for State Lands in Clinton County. Unfortunately the public presentation is over, but any interested individual or organization wanting to be included on a mailing list for information about the development of the unit management plan or wishing to submit comments is encouraged by the DEC to contact: Forester Dan Levy by mail at NYSDEC, PO Box 296, Ray Brook, New York 12977-0296; by phone at 518-897-1291 or by e-mailing the region.
Works Cited:
2. NYNHP Conservation Guide - Sandstone Pavement Barren http://www.acris.nynhp.org/report.php?id=9959
3. Krill, Allison; Newell, Collete; O'Neil, Maggie; Phommala, Orathai; Adams, Kenneth (Faculty); 2004. Plant Community Succession Following Disturbances in a Pine Barren and Adjacent Hardwood Forest, Plattsburgh State University of New York. http://research.plattsburgh.edu/ejournal/ejournal/Volume1/krilletalvol1p1to16.pdf2.01.2012
Japanese Lantern Slides
These amazing lantern slides come to us courtesy of E. Raymond Wilson who was awarded Japanese Brotherhood Scholarship for study and the building of friendships in 1926. From 1926 to 1927 he toured Japan writing letters and taking these amazing images.
Lantern slides are fascinating and inspiring. It makes me want to jump onto Photoshop and give it a try...the ultimate and original Hipstamatic Images! You can earn more about the history of lantern slides here: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/landscape/lanternhistory.html
See more images here:
http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm4/lantern.php
1.26.2012
New USDA Climate Zone Maps
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| Photo courtesy of National Gardening Association |
To paraphrase Dylan in the worst possible way: the times they are a changin'. And so has the USDA's Climate Zone map. The last map was issued in 1990 and the new map uses 30 years of data from 1976 to 2005 to offer a more accurate map. In addition with the advent of digital GIS information, the USDA has data available for this analysis that did not exist or had yet to be digitally compiled previously.
These maps list average minimum temperatures for different latitudinal zones. Each zone is based on 10 degrees Fahrenheit with Zone 1 as the coldest (-60 to -50) and Zone 13 is hottest (60 to 70) (found only on Hawaii and Puerto Rico). Two new zones were added in hotter climates this year for a total of 13 zones.
So does this mean that climate change is real? Is the jury really still out on this one?
Watch the video here:
To find out your zone check out this site:
Citation:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/story/2012-01-26/USDA-climate-zone-map/52787142/1
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