Arts Collinwood Open House

Arts Collinwood Open House & Volunteer Recognition Party
Saturday, October 4th
Arts Collinwood Community Arts Center
397 E. 156th Street
4-6pm

After five years of planning and hard, hard work, Arts Collinwood is opening its Community Art Center at 397 E156 St (at the back of the Arts Collinwood building).

On Saturday, October 4, Arts Collinwood is throwing a party for everyone we know and would like to know – the Grand Opening of our Community Art Center.

That party is free. It runs from 4 to 6 pm, and will feature food, music, the assemblage show and, of course, tours of the new space.
Bring the family, bring your friends. Come to watch artists demonstrating some of the classes they’ll be teaching, and sign up for the ones your kids like best. Help us celebrate this great addition to our community – and help us thank the volunteers who’ve made it all possible. We’ll hold our volunteer recognition party during the open house, with prizes and gifts for our amazing band of helpers.

1/3 Movie Night - Veep Debate (not a movie)

1/3 Movie Night - 2008 VP Debates
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Bela Dubby
13321 Madison Ave. Lakewood, Ohio

Debate starts at 9 pm.

Partially because Ted is working really hard and cannot decide on a movie, partially because our economy is going down the drain and it should be considered important that the political process is taken seriously, mostly because this debate is guaranteed to be one of the funniest "serious" things you will ever watch (undoubtedly fodder for SNL for the next 5 months) and will potentially shape the future of this country and all our puny existences within it we are offering up watching the debate instead of a movie for this 1/3 Movie Event.

So come on down and watch the slugfest as two politicos offer up their distorted worldviews for the whole world to enjoy.

The only thing they could agree upon is that you should definitely try the cake.

Brought to you by the bored folks at LAUNCHcleveland

Assemblage - the inaugural benefit

Saturday, September 27th, 2008
15605 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, Oh, 44110
7pm until the party ends

The Waterloo Arts District in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood will come alive for the night of September 27, 2008 as artists, art lovers, members of the Collinwood community and community-minded residents from all over Greater Cleveland will gather for a one-of-a-kind party and fund raiser to officially launch the neighborhood’s new arts center.

The theme of the party, Assemblage/Assemblage, appropriately plays off two meanings of the word. An assemblage is an art work created from, usually, found objects. An assemblage is a gathering – of people, things or ideas. Arts Collinwood, and particularly its new art center, embody both meanings.

The event’s proceeds go to equip and operate the Arts Collinwood Community Art Center, which will provide a home for children’s and grownups’ art classes, after-school programs, arts-related clubs and activities, music and dance performances, continuing artist education, community events … and more!

The party will occupy the Arts Collinwood gallery and art center, and the adjoining Café Marika, at the corner of East 156th and Waterloo Roads, easily accessible from Routes 2 and 90, a few steps west of the Beachland Tavern and Ballroom and an emerging gallery and shopping district.

Guests will be invited to work with Arts Collinwood artists to complete a massive mural assemblage to decorate the new community art center. Distinguished local artists are being invited to submit assemblage works for exhibit during and after the party; all works will be for sale. Kits of similar materials will be sold for guests to create individual assemblages, or to take home. Invited artists will also exhibit eminently buyable art for guests’ browsing pleasure.

Music will be provided by Moko Bovo, finger food by Kimberly’s Supper Club, Grovewood Tavern and Wine Bar, Muldoon’s Tavern,Scotti's, The Chocolate Garden, Chili Peppers and Polaris Vocational School’s pastry chef and his students. A generous donation of wine is being given by Bratenahl’s Chuck Bauernschmidt. Dress is urban chic (if in doubt, wear black).

Tickets are $75 and $125. VIP ticket holders will be invited to come an hour early for a champagne reception, performance by Ruth Pangrace of Women in History as Louise Nevelson, and a guided tour of the space.

More information from 216-692-9500.

Arts Collinwood

Fairfax InterGenerational Competition

Architectural Competition - Fall 2008
Fairfax Neighborhood, Cleveland, Ohio housing for families in which grandparents are the primary caregivers of their grandchildren.

Sponsored by Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation with support from the McGregor Foundation

Competition administration by Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative with organizational support from AIA Cleveland

Open to design teams including at least one Ohio-registered architect
DEADLINE - November 19, 2008
PRIZES - $10,000 (1st) - $5,000 (2nd) - $2,500 (3rd)

Fairfax Competition
Competition Overview

U.S. House Triples Funding for cleaning up Great Lakes

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2008 which reauthorized a federal program to clean up the rivers and harbors feeding into the Great Lakes by tripling its funding to $150 million annually.

A great American resource is finally getting some of the attention that is deserves which is also great news to the many post industrial cities that would definitely benefit from some special attention.

Healthy Lakes - US House Says Yay to Great Lakes Legacy Act
S. 2994: Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2008
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate S.1994 - .pdf

Cities are made for people - PARKing day 2008

So a few of us put the call out to celebrate National Parking Day in Cleveland. Partially because it was a beautiful day, mostly because I think that raising awareness of designing cities for people instead of cars can make cities so much more interesting and enjoyable.

During our entire stint there was only a slight case of harassment (Escalade, go figure) and only a slight close call of someone mowing us down without looking at where they were driving. Most of the time people were very supportive. Not at all uncomfortable at the fact that someone actually made a yard downtown to sit in.

I suppose it was that everyone can enjoy sitting outside on a nice patch of grass in glorious weather watching the world go by. If anything I am surprised that no one said "screw work, I'm going to sit here all day too!"

Well, we didn't sit there all day. We stayed until 1.30 when we ran out of meter change and packed it up to go. Be on the lookout for the plethora of cell phone photos that we taken and since so many people asked what we were doing and why I can only hope perhaps more people will be willing to take the time to enjoy a brief respite once in a while and maybe place more import on people in cities then the cars that get them there.

PARKing Day Cleveland brought to you by LAUNCHcleveland and the regular crowd.

1/3 Movie Night - Mystery Movie

Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Bela Dubby, Lakewood, OH
13321 Madison Ave. Lakewood

Due to the storm the movie this week will be a surprise. An awesome surprise to be sure but still a surprise.

ps. Cake.

LAUNCHcleveland Movie Night

More Sustainable Cities - Panelists Interview

Green Leaders: Interviews with For the Greener Good Panelists

Interview with Sten Nordin, Mayor of Stockholm, Sweden
Interview with Cassio Taniguichi, Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil
Interview with Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Representative of Oregon's 3rd District

As a struggling city such as Cleveland searches for ways to recruit from the international talent pool as well as ways to recruit businesses for said talent to find employ at, one discovers that the creation of "green" and "sustainable" urban enclaves find themselves very attractive to the next generation of job seekers.

What makes sustainable urban initiatives work? Where does the capital investment come from? How does one garner the federal or government funding? How does a governing body receive community support? What are the reasonable and easy "first steps" to implement larger plans and reach larger goals?

Cleveland is attempting to find the right track and undoubtedly has the backing of the population of Cleveland to invest in walkable, bike-able and public mass transit infrastructure. It is being implemented bit by bit (granted the Euclid Corridor Project is a rather large bit) and even the city fabric is beginning to reflect the reinvestment and anticipated rebirth of downtown.

I suppose one could argue for a bit of patience to see what develops however I would rather argue that the city should strike now while the iron is hot (or at least sort of warm) and develop downtown strategies for cyclists (move ahead with the cycle parking spaces and perhaps even allocate a cycle station similar to Chicago as well as more bike lanes and even training programs for cyclists and drivers to learn the rules of the road).

Even an added influx in public transportation monies (at least to cover rising fuel costs and to keep the system running normally) would do well to bide people over until the corridor project can be proven and/or enough citizens move to using public transit to remove all stigma and ingrain its usage into everyday life.

A third suggestion would be directly in line with the first two in designing streetscapes around pedestrian movement including proper orientation of commercial and residential entries, street scale and the reintroduction of neighborhood or community based development similar to the intents of the tenants of new urbanism but thoughtfully applied to the specific location in question.

Never build a building 'til your fifty, tell me what kind of life is that?

A recent Slate Magazine Article aptly entitled "The Oldest Profession" was an interesting perspective on the reasoning for many architects to practice late into their years.

Using Philip Johnson, I.M. Pei, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies, van der Rohe, Corbusier and Gehry as examples to explain the amount of learning and experience necessary to become proficient in such a detailed profession as architecture Slate makes the argument that once you get finally get good at something there is no reason to quit.

Probably an important read for impatient youngsters wondering when they are going to get the chance to make their mark on the world.

Hint, probably way in the future but it takes hard work to get there.

Post title taken from Pavement's "The Hexx" which contains the fantastic line:

"Architecture students are like virgins
with an itch they cannot scratch,
Never build a building till you're 50
what kind of life is that?"

Tremont Artwalk - September 12th

Tremont Art Walk
Friday, September 12th, 2008
6-10pm
Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio

Image supplied:

Chitower

On display at Studio 11 a collection of photographs captured by Andy Gabriel of Cleveland

Climate Change vs. Design - heat island effect

At the recent Califiornia Climate Change Conference

One of the interesting topics covered was the possibility of utilizing white roof technology in urban environments to offset heat island effect. The premise of the main argument is "Increasing World-wide Urban Albedos to Offest CO2". Roughly translated implementation of higher albedo surfaces (such as pavement and roofs) on a large scale in urban environments directly cool the globe by reflecting solar radiation (in a similar manner to polar ice). In this manner higher albedo surfaces can offset a specific CO2 emission (10 meters squared of white roof offsets 1 ton CO2) by directly cooling the planet's surface area independent of CO2 emissions.

Besides decreasing the operational costs of specific buildings and cooling urban environments increasing comfort the proposal to offset carbon emissions via high albedo requirements for urban environments on a grand scale could help alleviate the burden of greenhouse gases until technology can catch up with lower (or hopefully non) emission solutions.

Happily the cost of white roofing has dropped dramatically to be cost effective for new and replacement construction however it may fall to municipalities to create and enforce requirements for higher albedo pavement (parking and sidewalks).

Global Cooling: Increasing World-wide Urban Albedos to Offset CO2 .pdf

American Express Members Project down to 25 selections.

The goal is to narrow down the top 5 projects to move into the next phase of the awarding. You can see the placement of this project on the link above.

Architecture for Humanity Link

Previously mentioned here...

The air up there

While at the Burning River Fest a while back I had noticed a booth where the discussion was centered around airborne contaminants. I queried whether the county had real time tracking of particulate matter from specific locations as I am typically interested in real time results from the surrounding region. Part of it is due to my desire to quantify site specificity as a design precedence as well as my necessity to know what is going on everywhere.

Currently the county does not have real time mapping or data stream, at least according to the booth I inquired at (which may have been the Environmental Health Watch booth, I wrote it down but misplaced my notes).

I had read about an "installation" during last years CONFLUX festival whereas a person pushing a cart that monitored CO2 emissions walked a main path adjacent to a road way and demonstrated the amount of pollution being emitted, and consequently inhaled, by festival visitors. I found it an interesting way to connect directly, via real time measurements and results, to the general public in an educational manner that tied together how our everyday choices and interactions with our environment affect our health.

Whereas particulate matter in Cuyahoga County is directly connected to respiratory illnesses (or in case of our current time of year, allergies), I would think that wind data and pollution data would be interesting to study. Granted it may seem difficult to have such data constantly at our fingertips, but currently groups are working with that very goal in mind.

The Black Cloud Citizen Scientist League has developed "Pufftron" sensors to measure air quality, temperature and noise is specific Los Angeles and Bary Area areas.

Currently there are 5 sites under the scrutiny of the "Pufftron" data loggers which have data streams visible online. This real time data streaming allows anyone to instantly view and hopefully understand external events and their affect upon quality of life, a major concern of a good design professional. Recent growth in environmental awareness and passive design strategies should inherently justify the value of studies such as this which would hopefully result in techniques and technologies that either limit environmental pollutants or design strategies for dwellings and structures to combat, collect/deflect or avoid such contaminants if deemed desirable.

resources:
Scorecard: Pollution Report Card - Cuyahoga County

More on Bike commuting

Running with the alternative transportation trend for today I figured I would pass along a pretty comprehensive article on bicycle commuting.

Yesterday I was chatting with Ted of Rockitecture fame about the stigma of being a bike commuter in today's autocentric society. He had mentioned that since he had started cycling to his new job on the other side of Cleveland from where he worked he felt that driving had become a burden and felt out of sync with that whole realization. It was a thought I had shared with the MarJ a couple of weeks ago when I realized that the only time I really drove my car was to move it from one spot on the street to another to avoid getting a parking ticket. Driving had become a huge, unnecessary and expensive burden and the complete joke of the situation is that to continue automobile ownership one had to have some sort of copious funding.

"Isn't it amazing in our country how driving is just... i mean... how could you not like driving? The idea of someone just being like, you know, I really don't like driving... its inconceivable.

Sam sent me this really decent short article yesterday about sociologists just now realizing that there are (at least) two classes of bike commuters, those that do it by choice, and spend a ton of money on epq. and gear and those that bike b/c they don't have a choice, and the divide between the two. It briefly went into how in our society for the lower class the idea is get those people into cars rather then to teach them proper bike maintenance and car, along with the rules of the road while on a bike. Only once you have become an yuppie urbanite does it become socially acceptable to forsake the car. And even then...

it still continuously blows my mind how the simple act of riding a bike to work/around town can have this deep social meaning and be seen as this act that personally challenges notions of everyday life people would never consider otherwise. " ~Ted

Which is interesting, that a choice of conveyance could impart some sort of deeper social meeting when what it really boils down to is simply getting your butt from one location another in a relatively controlled manner. Of course some justify their purchase of hybrids by pointing out the social statement of strategically purchasing a more expensive auto if only to raise awareness, or as some put it, to justify the "smug" factor which I have heard applied to cyclists as well.

Personally I don't want to get into the argument of what driving what type of car defines what person as. My main concern is getting myself with what stuff I need from one location to another in a quick and easy manner that just happens to be good for me and incidentally, the city and the planet. So that may make me seem a little smug, but I suppose that what a smile on a passing face looks like when someone is stuck in traffic thinking about how much gas they are wasting.

resources:
how to commute by bike with tons of links and pointers (thanks to Grist)!