Thursday, August 02, 2007

New |re|Design Cleveland Charrette



reDesign Cleveland has another charrette up and running. Personally I am a little disappointed that not many people seem to be so interested in the whole idea of a bunch of little charrettes where you could design something pertinent, sensitive or absolutely absurd.

In an effort to help the project along TOIstudio (and by extension, I) will attempt to combine some powers with reDesign Cleveland and offer the emerging gallery space of TOIstudio for a reDesign Cleveland show and perhaps some sort of discussion.

This will be based upon interest shown and submissions generated, otherwise it will be just a bunch of my junk hanging on my walls and I doubt seriously that that many people would be interested in seeing something of that nature.

This could work nicely with the
Discourse at Prosperity scheduled for August 8th to see how much interest (if any) local designers have towards doing anything -alarming, annoying, arduous, bitch, burdensome, damaging, dangerous, demanding, difficult, disquieting, hairy, harassing, hard, heavy, importunate, inconvenient, infestive, intractable, irksome, irritating, laborious, mean, messy, murder, oppressive, painful, pesky, pestiferous, pestilential, problematic, refractory, repressive, rough, taxing, tiresome, tough, tricky, troublous, trying, ugly, ungovernable, unruly, uphill, upsetting, vexatious, vexing, wearisome, wicked, worrisome, worrying, absorbing, affecting, alluring, amusing, arresting, attractive, beautiful, captivating, charismatic, compelling, curious, delightful, elegant, enchanting, engaging, engrossing, entertaining, enthralling, entrancing, exceptional, exotic, fascinating, fine, gracious, gripping, impressive, intriguing, inviting, lovely, magnetic, pleasing, pleasurable, prepossessing, provocative, readable, refreshing, riveting, stimulating, stirring, striking, suspicious, thought-provoking, turn-on, unusual, winning with their fair city.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

NAC Strawbale Workshop


George Jones Farm and Nature Preserve in Oberlin
Saturday, August 4th, 2007
Sunday, August 5th, 2007
8.30am - 5.30pm (Broken up into 4 hour shifts)

What: Learn the basics of strawbale construction at the George Jones Farm in Oberlin, meet fun people, and help grow a local food system!

What to Bring: Bring dirty clothing (or at least clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty), a lunch or lunch money to patronize some of Oberlin’s great dining establishments that support local farms, and a wilingness to roll up your sleeves, work, learn and have fun.

Fee: The workshop is offered in exchange for your volunteer labor. We encourage participants to offer a suggested $20 tax-deductible donation that will support education and outreach efforts of the New Agrarian Center, organizer of the Jones Farm and City Fresh programs.

What you will learn: You will learn the basics about how to construct a strawbale building, including strawbale wall systems, earth plasters, foundations, framing, and finish plasters. You can also learn about how strawbale construction is being utilized to create a highly efficient cold-storage space for Jones Farm and City Fresh produce. The cooler will be cooled using a modified window air conditioner.

Saturday Gathering: Stick around on Saturday evening for a campfire and music after the event, starting at 7pm.

To register: E-mail
events@gotthenac.org and specify a morning and/or afternoon time slot that you would like to come to.

Questions? Contact Brad at 440-935-3106 or
brad@gotthenac.org

More Links:
Strawbale testing reports
Strawbale passes fire wall test

Akron - Lime Spider set to close

I don't know how to write a proper obit, so I won't.

Akron's
Lime Spider bar/music venue is all set to close up.

That saddens me. It was a good place, I saw some good bands play there and they really seemed to want to help/be involved with the local scene. It is probably too late to do anything about it and that is the biggest shame.

Word on the street is that they may stay open as a bar/restuartant type thing, if they could stop getting robbed. Literally robbed.


Maybe Mike Polensik should write some letters and clean up that neighborhood.

Crud.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Architectural League - New York Design Lecture Series - online

I suppose the title of the post gives away any smidgen of humorous intent I could twist and divulge here. So, let me recap...

the Architectural League's New York Design Lecture Series is online.

Tom Hanrahan, hanrahan Meyers
Juliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion
Thomas Hanrahan and Victoria Meyers founded hanrahan
Meyers in 1987. The firm’s recently completed Juliana Curran
Terian Pratt Pavilion for Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute connects
two existing buildings, Steuben Hall and Pratt Studios, into
a unified Design Center for the campus.

Markus Dochantschi, studioMDA
“The Twist”
studioMDA, founded by Markus Dochantschi in 2002, recently
completed the project “The Twist.” The goal was to turn a
landmarked West Village townhouse into a modern, flexible
home, while acknowledging the building’s historical container
and context.

Yolande Daniels, Studio SUMO
Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts
Sunil Bald and Yolande Daniels founded Studio SUMO in 1996.
Their project for the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan
Arts consists of gallery, reception, store, and office space in the
BAM cultural district.

Lynn Gaffney, Lynn Gaffney Architect
Tank – Quandt Heyer Roof Project
Lynn Gaffney is the principal of Lynn Gaffney Architect, founded
in 1997. New York’s iconic roof water tanks provide the inspiration
for the Tank – Quandt Heyer Roof Project, a residential roof deck.

Sandra Wheeler and Alfred Zollinger, Matter Architecture Practice
Ecotopiaries
Ecotopiaries, by Matter Architecture Practice, the firm co-founded
by Sandra Wheeler and Alfred Zollinger in 2002, is an installation
created to house the International Center of Photography exhibition
Ecotopia: the Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video.

I hope you take some time and enjoy some lectures about a fine blend of ideas. I was listening to something on NPR today and someone made a comment about how the best part of the lecture was the public 'Q&A' at the end which I thought was very silly. In my experience as soon as the general public starts talking any semblance of rationality or pertinence goes right out the window. Of course this may be my bitter take on the greater problem of not having enough fine lectures to be exposed too. I know that there is development with some of the current design/educational powerhouses to bring some more fun lectures to the town of Cleveland (hopefully they will even advertise about some of them - I will be sure to share any here that I find out about) but perhaps I want to be greedy. Perhaps I want more. More. More. More.

Until then I will have to be happy with what the 'democratic and participatory internet' have to offer.