Dive into the archives.
- 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 [...]
- The Transparent Removal Chain
[Overflowing Trash Cans in Toronto, Summer 2009 via blogto]
While the garbage workers strike in Toronto this past year promoted less tourism and flourishing populations of fruit flies, it also made most Torontonians aware of the amount of garbage they produce in a short amount of time. Researchers at MIT's SENSEable City Lab are embarking on [...]
- Clean Urbanism / Dirty Realism
[Cover of issue #11 from Rotterdam-based MONU.]
The output of MONU (Magazine on Urbanism) continues to impress, and with issue #11, Bernd Upmeyer and company raise the bar. This issue is dedicated to clean urbanism and a range of responses, mostly antagonizing or shoring up sustainability and its discontents, come pouring in. An initial browse reminds [...]
- High Speed Rail in America
[A Siemens built Velaro high-speed train for service in Spain – anticipated to be the model for California’s fleet.]
By announcing $13 billion stimulus package aimed at the development of the groundwork for a high-speed rail (HSR) network, President Obama has catapulted intercity transportation to the front of infrastructural spending.
After peaking during the Second World War, [...]
- Strategies Against Desertification
[Installation view at the LWR Gallery, University of Toronto. Photo by John Howarth.]
Colleagues of ours, Aziza Chaouni and Liat Margolis, recently mounted a fantastic exhibition here at the Daniels Faulty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. The exhibition is titled Out of Water: Innovative Technologies in Arid Climates. It is a survey of technologies and proposals [...]
