Re:Vision Dallas
This is a great example of how community design competitions can bring new ideas to the table for improved local identity and innovation. It is also one of the reason’s I created the CCC.
Via: Inhabitat
“The latest from design competition leaders Urban Re:Vision, Re:Vision Dallas is a newly-launched design competition that’s not just an ideas contest, but a real urban project. The City of Dallas is asking for designers, architects, students, engineers and planners to look particularly at one city block in Dallas right across the street from the City Hall, envision the most sustainable city block ever, and draw up the plans. Winners will receive a cash prize and a chance to sell the idea to the developer, Central Dallas CDC, to eventually be built. Read the rest of Re:Vision Competition for Sustainable City Block.”
The House that Never Was
Not too long ago, I went looking through my father’s attic for my children’s books. My son is of an age now to appreciate them and I thought that it would be such a treasure for him to read some of my books from when I was his age. To my amazement, I found another treasure, a piece of family history.
There was a box full of my dad’s concert posters and rock posters from the ‘60s, ranging from The Beatles to Jefferson Airplane. Within that same box was a slightly tattered, yellowed set of blueprints.
“These are THE house plans,” my dad said. “When your grandparents got married, they had an associate of theirs draw up some plans for a piece of land they bought in Boyle Heights, right by where Cal State L.A. is now located.”
My grandparents were a progressive young couple. The war had just ended, my grandfather got out of the army, got a transport to Los Angeles and chucked his heavy jacket in a waste bin at Union Station and never looked back. He was into acting and comedy and tried his talent in a few playhouses and befriended a few people in the business. Somewhere along the way he got connected to a young designer named Theo. Van Fossen. “Ted” had spent some time with Frank Lloyd Wright out in Arizona. This guy was a true bohemian. He was from the school of thought that believed becoming a licensed “Architect” would detract from his design. This was just the kind of guy my grandparents would have commissioned for the design of their home.
He would come to their house and spend all day with them, seeing how they lived. They would chat and have cocktails. There was probably a lot of smoking involved. But this was all part of the process. Ted would take clues from how they lived and leave them with the idea that Nature and dwelling are integrated and the organic geometries of Nature are the highest form of architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright spelled Nature with a capital “N”.
The design incorporates every Usonian ideal that Frank Lloyd Wright taught. Work with the contours of the land, orient the building for solar access, use earthen materials, and design for the people, not the cars. It was a small house and minimally decorated with a pattern of brick and concrete block that I can only describe as elegant as a chalk stripe suit. The building would have had significant thermal mass and easily accommodate radiant flooring.
Not until recently had there been such a housing boom. The City of Los Angeles practically grew overnight and many great designs and poor designs came along with it, but the concepts that Mr. Van Fossen and my grandparents had were not meant to be. My grandparents were newlyweds living from paycheck to paycheck. They would have to get a building loan for their project. Even a bank that was known for catering to immigrants and small businesses was not willing to finance their home. The loan officers said it was “Too modern.” My grandmother would curse those words for the next five decades until her death.
Mr. Van Fossen left L.A. soon after and ended up developing a village just outside of Columbus, Ohio, integrating the same design ideas he shared with my grandparents. The neighborhood went by under the radar until 2003, when it was awarded a National Historic Landmark status.
Surprisingly, Mr. Van Fossen is still alive, in his nineties, and working in Pennsylvania. He returns to his project in Ohio at least once a year to do a little consulting work. His alma mater, the New Bauhaus, now part of the Illinois Institute of Technology, keeps an archive of his work.
My dad let me keep the copy of the house plans. I guess I’m of an age now to appreciate them. I’ve written a letter to Mr. Van Fossen to thank him for being a part of my family history and forwarded a copy of the Merker Residence to be placed in the Van Fossen archives.
Power House
“Power House, the $100 House featured on ABC’s 20/20, is the vision of two Detroit artists intended to be a model of affordable living in current economic conditions as well as a social art project.” Via Notcot
Camera Obscura
Sacramento to Eliminate Design Commission.
“At the Planning Commission meeting on February 12, members of the Development Oversight Commission presented their proposal to eliminate the city of Sacramento’s Design Commission by integrating it into the Planning Commission. This action would take most planning decisions out of the Commission’s hands, assigning them to city staff, with fewer public hearings. This effort was met by surprise and disapproval by the Planning Commission, and also by the 20 or so members of the public who spoke against the effort at the meeting.
Development Oversight Commission member Brian Holloway assured people that this was only the beginning of a large-scale outreach program, that they had not yet formulated specific recommendations, and it would be many months before any action would be taken, but the letter they had sent to the Mayor regarding this action included very specific recommendations. Now, less than two weeks later, the city council is being asked to draw up a new ordinance to put these changes in place permanently. The massive outreach effort will consist of one meeting with the Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group, a monthly gathering of central city neighborhood associations and advocates, the day before the City Council meeting.
In brief, this change means that many projects that currently go before the Design Review Commission or Planning Commission will be approved by staff, with no board review. If people want to appeal a design decision, they have to pay a $500 fee to air their concerns before the Planning Commission. But even then, the Planning Commission will be smaller and have less power. $500 is chump change to a developer working on a multi-million dollar project, but to neighbors and small neighborhood associations, it is significant enough to give many groups pause. The change in threshold also means that many of the projects that most directly affect existing neighborhoods, like small infill projects, are the ones least likely to be heard.
The Development Oversight Commission is a think-tank of developers and contractors, paid by the city to suggest changes to the city’s planning process. One member of the public at the February 12 meeting, a former Planning Commission member, suggested that eliminating the Development Oversight Commission might be a simpler cost-saving measure.
Here is the letter sent by Planning Commissioner Panama Bartholomy regarding this issue:
—————————
Dear neighborhood association, or neighborhood, leader:
At the February 12 Planning Commission meeting the Development Oversight Commission (DOC) members and City staff committed to an extensive public outreach effort to collect input from the community on their proposal to eliminate the Design Review Commission and “move most planning decisions to the staff level” :
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF.
Now the City Council has on its February 24 agenda an item (#8) to direct the Council’s Law and Legislative Committee to begin work on an ordinance to implement the recommendations:
http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74&meta_id=171047.
The DOC and City staff have not provided any analysis to show the problems in the current process that the recommendations would address, nor the benefits expected from the implementation of the recommendations. In fact last year a Sacramento Business Journal survey of developers found that the City ranked first in the region for permitting process: http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/03/31/focus1.html. If this is the case is there the need for such a hurried process? Could there be enough time for community members and neighborhood groups to engage with the DOC and City on the most efficient and effective way to oversee development in the city?
The consent calendar is reserved for items with no controversy or questions of content. At this point without any clarity on the intent, nor benefits of such a significant change to our City’s development oversight process and lacking any input from groups besides the development community this direction from Council does not meet that criteria.
Please contact your council member to ask that the direction to the Law and Legislation Committee to begin work on this item be withdrawn until our community can work with the City to craft recommendations that ensure transparency and efficiency while preserving citizen participation. Council member contact information can be found here: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/council/index.html.
The DOC will make their first presentation to a community group next Monday, February 23, at the regularly scheduled Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting at the Hart Senior Center (27th & J streets). The meeting starts at 6:15, I am told the DOC presentation will begin soon after 7:30.
Here is what is known about a schedule for this issue:
February 23: DOC presentation to Area 1 NAG, Hart Senior Center (27th & J streets). The meeting starts at 6:15, I am told the DOC presentation will begin soon after 7:30.
February 24: City Council to consider providing direction to Law and Legislation Committee to begin work on ordinance on March 17, New City Hall, 2:00: http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74&meta_id=171047.
March 2: DOC monthly meeting: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/development-oversight/2009/, location TBD
March 17: City Council Law and Legislation Committee, Committee potentially begin work on ordinance, City Hall, 12:30 pm.
Thank you all for your efforts to ensure that Sacramento continues to provide efficient services to all parts of our community.”
Via: Sacramentopress.com
godoylab: service areas for ruta peregrino
Via: Designboom
A new concept for a multi-purpose service platform for the deserts of Mexico.
godoylab: service areas for ruta peregrino
large water pavillion, part of ruta peregrino pilgrim route by godoylab
image courtesy godoylab
design firm godoylab has created service areas for the ruta peregrino pilgrim route
in jalisco, mexico. the issues they prioritized were: water, waste, shade, restrooms
and wayfinding.
due to the length of the route, the varying climates from one point to the next and the
variations within the terrain they proposed to design a series of independent elements
that may be modified and adapted to different contexts and needs throughout the route.
the pre fabricated structures that when erected involve a lower impact on the local
environment. the on-site activities would only include module assembly, digging pits
for the restrooms and anchoring the structures to the site.
the projects specifies sanitation and water management technologies that are
independent from municipal grids (electrical, water, sewerage, etc.), due to
the infrastructural inaccessibility of some ot the service area intervention points.
large water pavillion,
image courtesy godoylab
large water pavillion,
image courtesy godoylab
resting area
image courtesy godoylab
various rest areas
image courtesy godoylab
how the water tank works during pilgrimage
how the water tank works during rainy season
various functions of water tank
pilgrim path service areas
US Green Building Council – 2009 Natural Talent Design Competition.
Ian Merker a young architect with MFDB Architects here in Sacramento was kind enough to share with us this annual event for young architects for the Natural Talent Design Competition for the U.S. Green Building Council. Open to students and young professionals within 5 years of graduation. You can see last years winners here.
“USGBC’s Natural Talent Design Competition provides applied learning experience in the principles of integrated design, sustainability, and innovation, all of which are components of the LEED® Green Building Rating System™. Participants compete in local competitions, and the top winner of each moves on to compete for a national award at USGBC’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo. Awards include green building scholarships, as well as travel and registration to Greenbuild, where finalists’ entries are displayed and final judging occurs. Now in its sixth year, the next Design Competition will take place November 11-13, 2009, at Greenbuild in Phoenix.”
Pecka Kucha Night 7 – Slides
I was honored to be asked to present at Pecha Kucha 07 and I wanted to share with you the slides from my presentation at Level Up Lounge. I will post more photos of the events and possibly some more slides in there near future. If you’re not familiar with this event, check it out. It’s a wonderful mix of art, architecture and design.
