fascinating yet disturbing?

via kottke.org

mcgill architecture exhibit

friendly fences

If making fences is a necessity, which I believe they are not, then there are ways to make them inviting.

Tejo Remy’s Playground Fence

the (un)intended consequences of building walls

Further to my original post, What happened to: no more wars, no more walls?

Bryan Finocki from Subtopia writes of the new wall of capitalist exclusion, in reference to the myriad of walls going up in our world, mostly between wealthy nation-states and their less fortunate neighbours. In our capitalist system, goods and capital are allowed to move freely, but migrants cannot. For the corporate elite and their companies, this is essential to distance themselves from the growing inequities between the rich and the poor.

We’re now beginning to realize that the current system of capitalism generates and distributes wealth in a highly unbalanced manner. But instead of addressing these issues, the champions of capitalism (most notably the States and its corporation-states) are blocking the problem out.There have been a number of unexpected consequences to the walls being constructed hastily around the globe.

the architect’s music video

Two amazing/hilarious music videos by japanese company groovisions done in the drawing conventions of the plan and axonometric!

don’t you know, by fantastic plastic machine

rodeo machine, by halfby

the stilt house and the pilotis.

Introduction to the Stilt House

Mies Van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in a flood, Preservation News

The stilt house is a home raised on piles. This form originated in aquatic areas over water or in areas of unstable soil such as marshlands or floodplains, but has since been adapted to land-based dwelling units as well. Stilt houses were common in the Alpine region during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, as well as in pre-Columbian South America.

South American Palafito Stilt House

As vernacular architecture, stilt houses still are common in parts of South East Asia, Papua New Guinea, and West Africa. Common stilt housing typologies found around the world include the Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia Kelong, Hong Kong Pang Uk, Papua New Guinea Stilt House, Thai Stilt House, Vietnamese Stilt House, and South American Palafito.

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye home

The modern movement adopted the idea of the stilt, or pilotis, and brought the concept into present-day building. Mies Van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House is raised with a frame five feet above ground to separate the home from the floodplains on which it is built. Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye is a poignant example in the use of pilotis to raise the house in a non-aquatic setting.

Toronto Sharp Centre for Design @ OCAD, Will Alsop Architect

Contemporary architects such as Will Alsop have adopted the stilt to open up public space at the ground level in buildings such as Toronto’s Ontario College of Art and Design. And finally, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans’ rebuilding effort, many homes are re-adopting stilts as a method of keeping away floodwaters.

Pang Uk homes in Tai O Fishing Village, Chau 2007

madame albright on ‘business and the poor’

What role, if any, do corporations have in addressing poverty?

Dr. Albright believes that businesses have the moral imperative to do more for the developing countries they are operating in. Today’s multinationals wield enormous powers, and with that comes responsibility. They must work to ensure their workers have adequate health care and labour protections, and most importantly, legal protections on land ownership. To achieve this, international bodies such as the U.N. and nation-states must include businesses in their aid development programs.

My question is this: by accepting that corporations must be involved with the process of eliminating poverty, we are affirming a capitalist system that has produced enormous discrepancies in wealth between rich and poor, and one that has exploited the working class in many 3rd world countries. We are further entrenching ourselves in a system that is flawed from in its conception - is this the right direction to head in?

open space in tokyo

Part 2 of density in Tokyo: where the city opens up to provide public space and amenities.

I would argue that it isn’t the quantity of public space but the quality that matters the most.

Painting landscapes in the midst of Shinjuku Gyoen Park

It is quite normal to see businessmen taking a nap on the subway platforms

density in tokyo

a photo essay on the density of the city at different scales.

Organic quality of the city fabric with its small lots and decentralized planning

Stores and restaurants are on all levels of the building: often up to the 7th-8th floors

North American-City Growth

What does this chart tell us?

- The northeast U.S. cities: New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit’s had their population peak from 1930-1960.

- Cities in the northeast U.S. are only now beginning to recover their populations as suburban dwellers move back into the inner cities

- U.S. cities in the west, as typified by Los Angeles, have had steady growth since 1850

- Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, have never had as great a mass exodus into the suburbs as did the American cities, and have grown steadily since 1850

- Montreal’s population peaked in the 1970