Dive into the archives.
- Terrestrial Discontinuities
[In 2007, an ill-conceived 6,000 mile network of energy corridors in the US West represents the collective ambition of Department of Energy, Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service. The project is called the West-wide Energy Corridor.]
Following a trail from our Dust Bowl post last week, we [...]
- Particulate Swarms
[Radar image of Sydney during the dust storm of September 2009 - its largest in 70 years.]
Editors Note: File under Glacier / Island / Storm, a studio run by BLDGBLOG at Columbia University GSAPP. Storm edition.
———–
“It is time / It is time for / It is time for stormy weather” – The Pixies
Storms deal in [...]
- Snow Drift
[First signs of the real stuff yesterday as truckloads of transfered snow still roll in to Cypress Mountain, Vancouver. Photo: Paul Chinn / Chronicle.]
[Ed note: Inspired by the mounting concern over a dry unprecipitated Winter Olympics, an earlier version of this sat in our post-box for several weeks, though finding the time to complete it [...]
- The Spectatorium, 1893
[Steele MacKaye's Spectatorium was intended to re-create the landing of Christopher Columbus, complete with mini-ocean, waves, and an island.]
With seating for 10,000, an eight foot deep concrete tank under the entire stage complete with wave machine and wind machines, railroad ties to aid in the shifting of three dimensional scenery behind a “light curtain,” the [...]
- Proto-Digital Jardin Baroque
[Juergen Bergbauer, untitled (parterre de pieces coupees I) 100 cm x 125 cm (40” x 50”) lambdaprint on aluminium / diasec face matt, 2004.]
Juergen Bergbauer’s series Jardin a la francaise oscillates between a masked-cropped photo and a model-space future nostalgia. Bergbauer speculates that this is how André Le Nôtre might represent designs for castle gardens [...]
- Vortex streets
[Alternating eddies of vortex street.]
[The Canary Islands as an eddy-creating obstacle via GSFC/NASA.]
Vortex streets emerge when the right wind and cloud formation encounters the right kind of obstacle. Theodore von Kármán, a fluid dynamicist, observed and documented this phenomenon. Swirling rings sequence along a street-like corridor trail beyond the obstacle. Each ring stems from an [...]
- Studio: Frozen Cities, Liquid Networks
[Frozen Cities, Liquid Networks, Advanced Studio, University of Waterloo, Fall 2009.]
Today we are having the final review of the “Frozen Cities, Liquid Networks” Studio at the University of Waterloo. We will be sharing some of the work here in the coming week or two, but in the meantime, here is the brief. Please email us [...]
- Reservoir Effect
[Great Lakes region: Lake effect snow operates in alternating bands of rising warm air and clear bands of falling cold air. Taken December 5, 2000 image using NASA's SeaWiFS satellite.]
In a recent drive back from Syracuse to Toronto, I was struck by the inevitable presence of snow in Buffalo. No snow before Buffalo, or [...]
- Wet Borders: Microslums and Meanders
[On Migingo Island, 300 fisherman and traders are served by 4 pubs, several brothels, and a pharmacy.]
Migingo Island, home to some 300 residents, sits precariously within Lake Victoria along the watery border of Uganda and Kenya. Its undetermined origins declare that either: a) two Kenyan fisherman settled there in 1991, or b) a Ugandan fisherman [...]
- On Ecology
[Theory Forum: Ecology Line-Up]
We are very excited to be taking part in the Theory Forum 09 at Sheffield University. This year’s theme involves unpacking the term ‘Ecology’. We will be running a 2 day workshop at the Theory Forum, examining Ecology in the Arctic.
The Theme of Forum is posited as the following by the organizers:
In [...]
