Pecha Kucha Night - Cleveland Vol. 1

Friday, July 25th, 2008
1240 Huron Road, Star Plaza, Ground Floor
8.20pm
Part of ingenuity so the cost is to get into the whole shebang.

Could you explain what you do in 20 seconds per 20 slides? Could you show your voice, your talent, your interest? Could you sell your purpose 6 minutes 40 seconds to a crowd armed with nothing but a quick powerpoint, a stopwatch and your wit?

I hope you can.

Come and enjoy the first of the Pecha Kucha series to take place in Cleveland. Pecha Kucha is an international presentation style with its roots in Japan that forces succinct presentation. In the time it takes to order one beer you could have missed a presenter. Join us for a night of wonder and guile.

Resources:
ingenuityfest 2008
Pecha Kucha - Cleveland
LAUNCHcleveland

The potential of a city street...

Lakewood Walk and Roll


What happens when you shut down a city street to motorized vehicles? Can you celebrate the walkability of your community? Lakewood, Ohio sure can. Offering a plethora of eating establishments, shopping and professional offices a community that celebrates its diversity and its density happens to be one of the most enjoyable places I have had the fortune to call home.

Taste of Tremont


Of course Tremont gets to celebrate a long history of eclectic and exciting eateries and finds no other way to share in its bounty than putting aside a festival based solely on eating and drinking! Not to shabby for one of Cleveland's oldest ethnic communities that manages to seem to reinvent itself every decade.

Two widely varied events in two of Cleveland's inner ring suburbs, both based upon the idea the the public street could be a public right of way and is, in essence, public space that is typically underutilized. While the argument that infrastructure drives development can be made it is also important to realize how integral PEOPLE on the street are to local businesses and neighborhoods. Granted, not every day can be a festival, but enough festivals/events and some decent street planning and layout may bring back the public interaction and activity that so many neighborhoods need.

Just imagine a city street with people. Window shopping would lead to better retail business, the area would be safer and cleaner as there would be more self policing, a sense of community and of ownership would create family legacies in neighborhoods just as we had before the advent of television forced us to scurry inside to pander to the gratification of the flickering screen.

So next time you are sick of flipping the channels and finding nothing to passively watch, how about grabbing a cool beverage and sitting on your porch, waving to your neighbors? Or take a stroll down the local retail strip and see what goods are to offer? How about stopping to chat to someone about the humidity, or the local sports team or even to ask directions to that new local restaurant you overheard a co-worker talking about? It doesn't take much but it can save an entire neighborhood and you may even find yourself having a good time and taking a sense of pride in where you live.

Special thanks to Lilly Handmade Chocolates for the chocolate eating contest. Luckily, what we couldn't finish we were able to take home! They also offer a beer (and soon wine) selection that is designed to compliment the chocolate!

Together, we can meet the challenge

On July 17th Al Gore issued a public challenge to the country to take the effort and make the necessary sacrifice to guarantee the future of the American way of life. While the short term sacrifice may seem harsh or difficult I am reminded that this country has faced the need for such sacrifice before; through World Wars, economic turmoil and political upheavals. These changes, these necessary tasks that must be undertaken to strengthen our countries independence requires a resolve and willingness to accept the change required and the fortitude to make those changes ourselves, before it becomes too late.

At worst our country will be poised to maneuver on the world stage from a position of strength based upon energy independence and technological prowess. At best we will take the lead and reshape our economy while ensuring a high standard of life for the rest of the planet.

I think one of my favorite quotes from the challenge was "we are borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroys the planet. Every bit of that has to change". Help make that change.

We can solve it.org

Cleveland's King of Speed Bike Race + King Of The Court Bike Polo

What: Cleveland's King of Speed Bike Race + King Of The Court Bike Polo
When: Friday, July 18th 5:00PM
Where: Starts @ Cyrus Waterfront Lounge & Patio
Cost $$: Its Free!!!
For More Info Email: dizi4444@yahoo.com

Pedal Republik of Cleveland hosts Bike Polo every Sunday, behind the West Side Market @ 11am/Noonish til whenever everyone is tired. Beginners Welcome! Its just about the most fun one can have re-appropriating space in Cleveland! Even if you don't play, come by and watch, its quite the spectacle to see!

ganked completely from Rockitecture who should tell me this stuff so it shows up on the Calendar

What's in a name?

I ride my bike past this development once in a while during my commute. I watched these townhouses go up and while I was happy that they don't have the typical Cleveland Townshack base geometry and crummy materials (well, at least they aren't already falling apart). I wonder how many were to be built to give the complex a completed face as well as tie it into the mainstreet (this area doesn't have much of a neighborhood feel due to train tracks and some warehouses delineating the east and north side).

I think they are called Chicle because that was the name of the adjacent large building that has been turned into lofts (as from what I can tell is a pretty decent retrofit). Regardless the point of this rant is how confused I am by the term "post industrial resort". I believe since the site was cleaned a more accurate term would be a "post post industrial resort" or, if one were to assume that the manufacturing prowress of the nation were to grow "post post pre industrail resort", which I actually can find some enjoyment in.

Regardless, I am much happier to see this sort of reclamation project taking place instead of the usual "Deer Field" (or whatever displaced flora/fauna) greenfield development and am mildly content to see people taking the risk to bring in "non typical" (for Cleveland's standards) albeit tentative designs.

LAUNCH Movie Night - Idiocracy

Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Bela Dubby, Lakewood, Oh
7.30pm until it is over

Have you tried the cake? You should try the cake. The cake is AMAZING!

Help Restore the Historic Coast Guard Station

I have mentioned the old Lifeboat Station #239 before. If you were at all intrigued you may like to know that the Wendy Park Foundation are holding a Painting and Cleaning Day for the Station.

Here is the notice!

The Wendy Park Foundation and U.S. Coast Guard Station Need Your Help!!!

Help Restore the Historic

Coast Guard Station!!!

Save the Date!!!

On Sunday, July 20, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. to Finish

Wendy Park will Sponsor a Painting and Cleaning Day for the Historic U.S. Coast Guard Station.

We Need YOU to Help Give a Face-Lift

To One of Cleveland’s Most Intriguing Pieces of Architecture!

Don’t Let this Historic Landmark Continue to Waste Away!!!

All Supplies Will Be Provided on Site.

Any Carpentry Skills Would Be Greatly Appreciated, But Not Necessary to Help.

Please Meet At Whiskey Island’s Sunset Grille Pavillion at 9:00 a.m. or join in later at the Coast Guard Station located at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.

Any Volunteers who would like to participate or further information please e-mail Director of Park Operations, Katie Winings at kwinings@wendyparkfoundation.org or call @ (216) 410-0101

Wendy Park is located at:

2800 Whiskey Island
Cleveland, OH 44102-2251

Off of the Edgewater Exit on Route 2.

Please visit www.wendyparkfoundation.org for further directions.

LAUNCH Social Tonight

LAUNCHies, plan for another evening of fun!

Old Angle Tavern
1848 W. 25th St. Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Meet around 6ish

A group of Cleveland based designers (mostly architecture types) who realize they don't live in a city with a very strong design culture and want to change that instead of just moving away. People can sit around and complain about it or get off their butts and change it.

We are taking the first steps towards getting off our butts. It is a difficult and tedious process, to shake loose the shackles of complacency that we all wear so comfortably.

Besides, there is beer and food. Yay!

Tremont Art Hop

Tremont Art Hop
Tremont Art Walk
Friday, July 11th, 2008
Tremont neighborhood, Cleveland, Ohio
6pm - 10ish pm for most galleries.

Another fine excuse to wander around Tremont looking at things and finding places to eat and drink.

Yay!

Burning River Garden discovered - urban gardening right on the river

While wandering around downtown Cleveland on the 4th I stumbled across the Burning River Garden, a little urban pocket garden where the Veteran's Memorial Bridge meets W. 10th on the East Side of the Cuyahoga River.

The corner is a rather nice spot that gets some good afternoon sun and marks the East entry of the Veteran's Memorial Bridge Tour. According to the BRG website the plots were designed with future expansion of more gardens and perhaps a community park in mind. While the community garden offers a great opportunity for the inhabitants of the nearby apartment/condo buildings to get their fingers and toes in the dirt, it also creates a fine respite spot for workers of nearby buildings and in creating the garden, marked a space that offers rather nice vistas of the Cuyahoga (our most valuable yet ignored resource).

Built in partnership with the Summer Sprout Program these folks have created a series of hubs for community place building and interaction and in doing so have made the city that much more livable. If you would like help the summer sprout program call Connie Booth for details (513) 221-0981.

Special thanks to Beth from BRG for taking some time from digging and weeding to explain the garden to me.

resources:
Burning River Garden made a music video of setting up the garden.

Hisaka's CSU Student Center Photo Update

I have been meaning to get out to the Cleveland State University campus and watch the painful demolition of Don Hisaka's 1974 student center. I was never one who was sold that the student center was a weak demarcation of the entrance to the campus, mostly because as a commuter school a proper entrance seemed unrealistic to expect. Now that CSU is moving to create more on site residence halls I can see the argument for necessitating a "proper entrance" however I fail to see why the student center needs to mark that entry or why, with such a strong entry face, it didn't mark it enough.

I also have to wonder why a school with a seemingly decent engineering division didn't retrofit the existing structure or choose a designer who dealt with structures that expressed engineering intellect. Granted some may not enjoy the Hisaka building and even call it brutalist due to the raw concrete and expressed structure and materiality but I would think that very foundation could create a proving ground for one of Cleveland State's hallmark divisions to undertake and exploit. These are the sort of lost opportunities that sadden me. These are the chances that institutions have to set themselves apart.

Regardless of the semantics of what new urbanism is required to "front the campus upon Euclid" or "organize a proper main street" the tentative kid gloved nature that has resulted in this demolition work, and the proposed befuddlement of style could be construed as misguided at best and insulting at worst. If Euclid is to be the new Cleveland "main street", then the front door of our institutions should do their best to intrigue as well as welcome. Otherwise, who is going to come knocking?

more resources:
Action shots by Improvising Schema
Puff pieces do nothing to increase the quality of work expected
Ramsey Architectural Group

Drinking beer in a Cleveland Park on a Friday evening was once legal?

It was a perfect dreary morning for starting to begin reading through the ridiculously large pile of books that has accumulated near the living room chair (Not to be confused with the gigantic pile of unread books in the office. These take precedent, they are from the library). I thought I would start out with the smallest of the bunch, a softcover book published by the American Planning Association and written by Project for Public Spaces entitled Managing Downtown Public Spaces.

More of a manual to running various urban planning exercises then a book on urban theory there were still plenty of case studies and interesting stories (and images) supplied including references to one of the few movies I remembered sitting through in college called The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces which, regardless of the quality of video and era in which it was shot, is still a surprisingly relevant and humanistic approach to looking at shared public/private space.

I am not posting to bemoan Managing Downtown Public Spaces, I'm not, it was a quick read and actually gave me something to ponder, I am posting because Cleveland (I can only assume Ohio) was used as a case study of successful urban spaces multiple times, most noticeably referring a regularly planned public event that actually made more money then it cost to put on. Yup, an actual income generating event that the city had hosted to bring people downtown.

I haven't been able to find any information online in regards to this event. Supposedly it was hosted by the Greater Cleveland Growth Association (who has recently merged with the Greater Cleveland Partnership and took place every Friday during the summer between the hours of 5pm and 8pm, each time in a different section of town, with the idea to keep people downtown after work and expose them to businesses or parts of the city they "normally wouldn't see".

It was called "Party in the Park" and was started in 1969 (or so I can surmise). It was self supporting and in 1979 grossed a profit of $6000 according to PPS which was distributed to the non-profit organizations that volunteered services.

I just was wondering what had happened to it. I almost remember hearing about the event and am sort of sad that it either a) went away or b) doesn't advertise enough for me to know about it.

Design Council - Finding and working with a designer, a step-by-step guide

Step -by-step guide

There are many reasons to hire a professional designer or design consultant to facilitate a project however there may be some difficulty in quantifying the value of hiring a person who has specifically been trained in the art of design. This is where the Design Council wants to helps out. This specific guide contains chapters on;
- how to find a designer
- how to choose a designer
- how to agree on budgets and costs
- writing a brief and getting the project started
- working with your designer
- completing the design project

The Design Council is an online resource for designers and how-to guides for those wondering if they should hire a designer or design consultant. The Design Council also has added resources for designers including podcasts, design related stories and issues and opportunities and is a fantastic resource whether one is in the United Kingdom or not.

1/3 Movie Night - Wet Hot American Summer

1/3 Movie Night
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bela Dubby
13321 Madison Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107
7.30pm to 10pm

Free and open to the public.

brought to you by LAUNCH cleveland