Science and Art come together to brand a city

Once in a while I come across a story or idea that surprises me with its simplicity and potential that I not only grin, but become a little ashamed when I realize what an impact a simple idea could have.

A gentleman in Seattle (I hope I don't embarrass him by calling him a gentleman) is instituting The First International Solar Sculpture Challenge 2008. There are rules stipulated in the challenge:
1 There shall be no batteries in the structure. All the solar should be direct use.
2. I think the sculpture should be bigger than a breadbox
3. The art installation should remain in one place. (I can envision it moving around but I think it should not be a vehicle or that moves more than 10 feet from a basic spot)
4. The sculpture must include either photovoltaic cells, solar flat panels, solar thermal evacuated tubes, or wind mechanics or all of the the above mentioned to qualify for entry.
5. The structure sculpture must be placed in the city of Seattle by the Summer Solstice 2008 (June 20th 23:59pm 2008)= June 21 2008

I suppose the reasons why this is a great idea are actually rather evident. First it creates the opportunity for educational and research institutions to create programs that would showcase their student and faculties talents. It would allow for more public installations that would raise awareness as well as create areas that could be activated or reactive as destinations. It could also put the city hosting it on the map as a concentrated nexus of art and technology. I suppose my favorite part of the whole challenge is that it is incredibly attainable and should be relatively easy to gather all the support needed (from local government, schools, businesses, artists and professional organizations) to pull this off.

So, who in Cleveland is going to put one together for here?

Finally, an acceptable use for beets...

As you travel the roads this holiday season, perhaps you may be so lucky as to wander upon the remains of one of childhood's most distasteful threats, the beet. During the extraction process of removing sugar from sugar beets it was noticed that the left over material had a very low freezing point.

Someone thought that this would make a handy de-icing material for roadways and so viola, beet juice road de-icing mixture which has already been tested in Akron may find its way onto more Ohio roads.

Supporters say that the beet mixture is less harmful on cars than straight Calcium Chloride (road salt) which is corrosive to metals (ie. bridges and cars)and deadly to vegetation (ie. roadside lawns and farm fields). All sugar has been removed from the solution before it can be used for roads, otherwise it may attract animals (or small children).

Questions remain. Will the roads appear purplish? Will liver and onions find an acceptable use as housing insulation? Will Dwight Schrute's beet farm reap the rewards it has deserved lo these many years?

Selfish altruism - buying things locally is really just spending money on yourself...

..if one figures that supporting local businesses means supporting local infrastructure (through taxes), and, um, supporting local government's descision making processes (which are at times questionable).

Anyway, there are only a couple of days left until the big Tuesday morning gift exchange. I wonder if one could hear the simultaneous sounds of millions of packages being unwrapped from space? I took a strange route this year. I didn't do the internet thing so much, instead I tried to wander around some smaller neighborhoods and window shopped. I have so far successfully avoided all 'Big Box' stores as well and instead concentrated on the many community downtowns that surround places that I enjoy visiting anyway such as Waterloo, Tremont, Cleveland Heights/Coventry and of course Lakewood. I could probably list off what I purchased from where since I doubt anyone in my family gives my internet voice any attention but I won't, just in case.

Anyway, for those of you in the time crunch, looking for ideas or places to window shop I would like to remind everyone of the many local gift guides available on the Internet.

Cool Cleveland's Local Gift Guide
COSE ibuyneo Website
Green City Blue Lake Gift Guide
Cleveland.com (Plain Dealer's) Local Guide.
Cleveland Free Times Local Guide

Of course a real treat to those receiving and those doing the shopping is to take a walk along the many commercial downtown streets of the neighborhoods you enjoy and window shop. Make sure to check out for any specials in the chocolate shops (or free samples), stop for some coffee or hot chocolate in a local cafe, grab a decadent bite and enjoy having the freedom to spend the time really picking out something special instead of madly dashing about in a frenzy. I know there is a rush, but you should take the time to enjoy all of the holiday and what it really means.

Happy holidays everyone.

PS. In case anyone is wondering, for the holidays I would really enjoy it if more people got involved in their local communities, whether it be mentoring a child, cleaning up a street or even just taking part in a community planning discussion. That would be a really nice gift for me. Oh, and chocolate.

Newgrange Winter Solstice shared online for all to enjoy

Newgrange Tomb
Ireland
Friday, December 21, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
8.30am local time

Heritage Ireland will share an online broadcast of the illumination of the Newgrange passage occuring on the winter solstice. The Newgrange burial site was designed and built with a special opening that would allow sunlight to penetrate the main chamber on the shortest days of the year, around December 21st. As the sun rises higher the beam widens to illuminate the whole room. The entire event lasts for only 17 minutes.

Newgrange is documented as having been constructed over 5000 years ago, before Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids.

Weather predications for tomorrow say that the skies will be clear.

Resources:
Newgrange.com

Does Kent State have the stomach to compete as an architecture school?

Yesterday the New York Times reported that Robert Stern has been appointed to his third term at Yale. Named as Dean of Yale School of Architecture in 1998 Mr. Stern has since overcome the reputation of a traditional "comfort" architect to a Dean with a acceptance to varied, multiple styles and as an educator that "encourages risk and experimentation at Yale..."

While still a practicing architect Robert Stern is best known for his traditional style buildings where the concentration is on client needs, expectations and fine detail instead of the current (starchitecture) emphasis for iconic avant garde form. Stern comes from an educational background which was rooted in the importance of understanding history and architectural precedence of multiple cultures, not just the traditional Eurocentric views concentrated on by many current educational institutions.

Currently Kent State University shall begin another search for the Dean of Kent's College of Architecture and Environmental Design as Steven Fong, the most recent dean, has left the school. This leaves the college in quite the predicament. For the second time in as many years the college falls back under the control of an interim dean while precious resources are allocated to finding a new figurehead to shape and mold the curriculum of Kent's architecture department while still attempting to create a pathos for the current flock of students to follow. The question haunts the city closest to the institution. Will Kent be able to discover a strong willed and bold figure willing to guide Kent's program to face the challenges of the new millennia, or will the school flounder in indecision and what may be described as complacency?

As a Kent graduate and someone with close ties to the city my concern is that the program may not be up to the task of cultivating the intent and thought necessary to capitulate a design culture in this shrinking city, where creative and bold ideas are more than necessary to turn Cleveland's path around, where it is all too easy to give up and leave for the greener pastures of other cities saturated with design talent and the will to brandish it.

I would hope Kent takes this opportunity to re-examine the CAED's intent and whether they have the tools and the will to achieve their goals. If they find the tools lacking, I suggest they do all they can to rebuild their educational foundations (design theory and history), if they lack the will, I ask that they (the school) concentrate on what they have a passion for instead of over saturating the profession with contemporaries who have never been exposed to a desire to explore design. There are plenty of fine technical schools out there where one can learn to draft a window detail, a Master's degree seems a touch overkill.

Green Architecture is apparent, sometimes obvious, this time wonderful thanks to Mass Studies

Despite all the 'green washing' that one gets to experience this holiday season and the resultant 'funk' I find myself in regarding environmental architecture I was extremely happy to stumble across the Ann Demeulemeester Shop by Mass Studies on the Designboom website. While one could easily argue that the application of "green" building technology is pure applique, I would like to counter with a "Yes, it could only be an applique, but it is a rather sensational one."

Unlike the addition of a wind turbine or solar array the wrapping of the entire skin of the structure seems so integrated, so intentional and so rigorous that I find myself grinning at how the soft skin substance (in this case plantings) so perfectly compliments the soft forms of the building. While I don't know Ann Demeulmeester's work that well, I will probably give her styles a second look if there is a depth of thought akin to her shop in her clothing.

Regardless, I would like to complement the design of the store. Not only is the skin extremely interesting I am so highly intrigued into how the interior spaces are laid out, how movement through is shaped and accomplished by the street to stair to bridge level and then the simple street entrance which I assume wraps you up to the bridge or down from the bridge or someway to get through this building via a series of level changes and thresholds and wonderful interior to exterior or interior(?)/exterior(?) spaces.

If you found that as confusing as I did writing it you should probably just check out the pictures and save yourself some trouble. It will all become crystal clear when you do.

Resources:
Mass Studies Website*

*seems to be down currently.

Senate energy bill plans to raise CAFE standards

Yesterday the US Senate voted to pass an energy bill which will raise CAFE standards for vehicles sold in the United States from 27.5 mpg to 35 mpg for light cars and 22.2 mpg for minivans, SUVS and other light trucks.

The energy bill also plans a massive increase in 'greener fuel sources' such as ethanol (up to 36 billion gallons by 2022).

The passing of the energy bill happened with the caveat that planned taxes against the oil industry to support renewable electricity projects such as solar and wind. Meanwhile the price of oil continues to rise resulting in price increases in all manners of transportation related industry and infrastructure.

I grow curious of what the magic cost would be to break America from our dependence on the automobile. Will $6 a gallon create enough of an incentive for people to move closer where they work? Will a larger and more captive ridership allow GCRTA to grow into a full time and more intuitive service (I love the GCRTA, I just wish I could figure out on the fly how to get places)? Could an easier and quicker public transportation system allow more downtown development and a reduction of parking structure/lots for actual speculative structures?

I hope so.

resources:
BBC

Music Saves/Musica Gift Exchange

Friday, December 14th
Music Saves, Cleveland
Sooper Awesome Gift Xchange

Saturday, December 15th
Musica, Akron
Sooper Awesome Gift Xchange part DO!

What else can I say. If you like music, if you like fun, if you like awesome people like me (and more awesome people like Mel and Kev) then you should probably get your butt up to Music Saves for the Gift Exchange (you can go right after the Tremont Art Walk (Friday) if you are all clever about it).

Music Saves
Musica

Ohio makes alternative energy headlines

Timken partners with Chinese company to build wind turbine components expected to generate over $100 million in US exports.

EBO of Medina County to reap plug-in hybrid windfall by concentrating on creating viable power pack systems necessary for creating successful vehicles.

Two separate tracks for two (semi)local companies hoping to capitalize on emerging energy based technology markets. One almost hopes that the region finds a way to cultivate a local culture for these types of businesses.

December Tremont Art Hop

Tremont Art Walk/Hop
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Tremont Neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio

Just in time for the gift exchange season, the last Tremont Art Walk of 2007 is this weekend. The perfect chance to browse for some local and handmade quality gifts for friends and loved ones. The winter may be a touch chilly but that should just give the perfect excuse for ducking into a local restaurant or pub for a warmer.

I had a card for this Art Walk that I picked up at Lucky's but have misplaced it. It caught my eye because the artwork done for the current hotcard looked like it was done by Derek Hess, so after a quick check on the webbernet, lo and behold, check out what I found on his website:

Friday December 14th - Kelly Randall Gallery, Cleveland
"Every Day's A Holiday - Derek Hess Holiday Show"
*ONE NIGHT ONLY*
Hess prints, posters, calendars, and originals
more info at - 216-771-7724

Marvelous!

Rapid deployment - our search for efficiency may make us lose our focus

For the past half year or so I have been involved with heading the Revit portion of a BIM pilot program. For those of you not quite in with the whole BIM (Building Information Modeling) movement let me create a quick synapses.

BIM software (from the architectural side at least) allows the designer or whomever is piloting the computer to attach parametric values such as identification notes, weights, colors, etc, to building components. What the BIM software excels at is allowing one to track and schedule what components are being used in the project. This also allows one to track construction phases and cost estimates since the building model can be used to create the project with quantifiable amounts of materials.

What BIM software does not do is automatically illustrate how a building actually goes together.

I am not trying to romanticize the era when drawings were done by hand on vellum or mylar. I don't think the ammonia reproducer (or blueprint machine) was a particularly pleasant thing to be around. I do believe that when things were being drawn by hand there was a certain amount of care and attention paid to particular details which resulted in those responsible for details having to learn how a particular portion of the building (see window sill, or door head, etc) should be put together to function properly. There is also the necessity of learning what the components of a building (flashing, moisture barrier, vapor barrier, etc) are there to do, what order they are to be combined to work effectively, what there characteristics are and how, when combined, they are supposed to appear.

At some point during the mass transition to CAD (computer aided drafting) I think the intimacy of knowledge garnered from hand drawing started to fall by the wayside. CAD software allowed for the quick repetition of symbols and the shortsighted creation of details as existing simply as a series of connected (sometimes) lines.

Now parametric modeling rears on the horizon as becoming mainstream and again the question of proper building techniques becomes compounded. Without going into the reams of proper architectural BIM usage (I am not by any means an expert) there are certain assumptions that one has to make similar to utilizing CAD software, which is fine. My main concern is how the BIM software is perceived.

Already I have heard rumors of architectural schools training their students at an early time during their undergraduate years in BIM software to be used as a design and presentation platform and honestly this scares me. First because the software is rather advanced for early undergraduate usage by students who are still creating a foundation of presentation design. Secondly, the software itself is rather orthogonal (The most common platform Revit, is extremely orthogonal, almost annoyingly so. It takes a bit of practice to create intentional 3d shapes) so as to lending itself to being used for quick design one would argue that software such as Sketchup or even Rhino (again with a large learning curve) would be more apt. However I would like to argue that more basic design study, through physical modeling and drawing (and eventually photoshop), would be better used at the early years to teach fundamentals.

I suppose that by most regards I could be way off base, seen as a proponent of "the old guard" who still carries at least one sketchbook around at all times and finds the pencil still the most useful tool of my "arsenal". Well, maybe I am. However, I can sketch quickly on the train or bus, at the bar or a restaurant during lunch or even during a conversation with a colleague or client and that makes me the most versatile of all.

Sure CAD is a basic skill, no doubt necessary, that all students should grasp in order to make the pragmatic diagrams asked for during the design reviews, but is parametric modeling something to be instilled during the years of learning intellectual design and rigor or would that be best left for the classes in which construction techniques are taught and moved as far from the design studio as possible, to keep the minds agile, sharp and free?

Are we soon to be at the point where we can view a building and recognize the software platform it was designed in? Is architecture still about design or is it to become a commodity, to be quantified and calculated and added to a parametric spreadsheet?

2007 AIA-Cleveland Design Awards Slideshow

Thanks to some of the clever and devilishly handsome hardworking people over at the ClevelandDesignCity you can now see the very same slide show that was shown at the 2007 AIA-Cleveland Design Awards, but now at home in front of your computer. Or at work. Maybe on your phone if you are hi-tech enough.

Anyway...

2007 AIA Cleveland Design Awards Slideshow

Beautiful.

Resources:
2007 AIA Cleveland Design Award Winners (.doc)

On the heels of ideals

*had an image that could have been used to help out the argument but apparently can't show it. That's fine and I understand ownership of imagery and everything. It is just a shame that others cannot view the work quickly without going to through the other websites. Notice how the argument loses a lot of its import. Quite the shame. (Before you all yell at me too, I did give credit and link to the archivist's site where the image orginated from (which was being used on the architect's website instead of just copying and pasting the image haphazardly).

The current owner of the 1963 Graham House designed by Arthur Erickson in West Vancouver is currently awaiting a demolition permit to raze the structure.

Rumors on the street-erweb are stating that the current owners purchased the house in 1988 and have not maintained in as strategy to remove opposition to the demolition.

The Graham house is an amazing structure in that it was built on an 'unbuildable' site (the sort of site every design student equally dreads and dreams about) of a rock cliff with the main body of the house 40 feet below the arrival level. The building then descends in a series of staggered rooms and platforms to create a multidimensional environment offering amazing views to the Sea. Due to the steepness of the adjacent cliff exterior space had to be created and controlled and therefore was integrated into the design of the building.

Client: Mr. and Mrs. Graham - 1965

The site for the house was a rock cliff dropping forty feet from the arrival level down a sheer cliff to a rock bench over the sea. The solution to this difficult site was the
creation of a multi-storey house descending the slope in levels.

The formal idea of the piling up of hovering beams was the basis of the composition. These enclose the major living areas, which step down the embankment for four storeys from the carport to the bluff over the sea below. Each area opens onto a roof
terrace over the living quarters below, so that there is maximum access to
sunlight and view. Because of the ruggedness of the site, the outside living
areas are confined almost entirely to the roof areas of the house itself.

A texture difference is achieved between the walls and box beams by using flat
siding on the beams and a deep board and batten on the walls. The house is
treated with a simple oil finish and the only other materials used in
conjunction with the wood are used brick and a Welsh quarry tile.

From the web site

There is supposition that the demolition is being planned in order to create the property for a more speculative (see generic) development. On the heels of the Ameritrust Tower debacle I found the following articles rather interesting. Most importantly how preservation and environmentalism work in conjunction with saving our infamous architectural heritage.

I am curious with how this will play out. Will the local design community come to the aid of the structure? Will a new buyer step up? With Canada's preservation laws save this building? Will the threatening of this particular structure have a more disastrous ending than the Brueur Tower?

With the arguments circling around personal property rights versus preservationists right this one could set the standard for future of Canada's architectural heritage.

Resources (Imagine you and your laptop in front of a warm fire this cold evening reading over all these fun sources):

Globeandmail - Landmark Erickson House to Be Demolished
Treehugger.com - Another One Bites the Dust (gotta love those comments!)
North Shore News - WV rejects pleas to spare Erickson home
Arthur Erickson Website

1973: Sorry, Out of Gas - companion website

I know I had already mentioned the CCA Sorry, Out of Gas exhibit but recently the CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture) launched the companion website at sorryoutofgas.org.

Set up like a viewfinder slide show, the exhibit showcases the three major natural energy production techniques, solar, geothermal and wind power. As a 'bonus' feature examples of integrated system projects that set the stage for reorganizing social models and creating the basis for new lifestyle techniques with a foundation in energy-related awareness are also presented.

Well, not that I am agreeing to give you an excuse to not see the exhibit, but you could at the very least check out the exhibits website.