My trip to the automotive capital. Yes, it’s run down and there were a lot of abandoned buildings, but there was a lot of new activity too: the new compuware center in the heart of downtown, the newly renovated detroit institute for arts, the high-end malls in the suburbs. One day was definitely not enough time to see the city, and I could have easily spent a week there.
Michigan Central Station sits abandoned and awaiting future plans (photos: A Chau)
“Q: What must I do to be saved? A: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (photo: J Chau)
The Ford Rouge river factory sits on a sprawling campus in Dearborn. (photo: A Chau)
The Detroit Institute for Arts renovation by Michael Graves is tasteful, mixing a modern style with relics from the past. Each section of the galleries subtly reflects the work on display, through Gothic Arches, careful stonework, or monumental squared columns. The DIA has one of the most extensive collections in all of the states. (photos: A Chau)
I would argue that it was in Detroit where the international style found its place. here is Minoru Yamasaki’s building at Wayne State. Detroit is also home to Mies Van Der Rohe’s Lafayette residences, and Albert Kahn’s many buildings. (photo: J Chau)
The Guardian building in downtown Detroit was recently renovated and restored by SmithGroup. (photo: A Chau)
Anechoic means literally a room without echo. They are used in acoustics to test in free field conditions. These chambers produce some of the wackiest spaces… like this one where the man looks like he’s floating in space.
Robert Scoble posted his photos of the new Microsoft Research Center last week. There are a couple of really interesting spaces inside, including the anechoic chamber (below) with so much sound absorption you can literally hear your heart beat! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Who says Microsoft doesn’t innovate?
Anechoic chamber for research where complete silence is required. I wonder if designers could benefit from a room like this?
cross-posted to thesis matrix, as an ongoing development of my masters thesis research.
Greenpeace activists campaigning against nuclear power in Brasilia
In a city that has been all but abandoned by government and corporations, Detroit citizens have had to become self-reliant. Because of declining tax revenues, the city has had to cut down on many basic services. Fed up with the lack of security, mass transit, utilities, locals have banded together in community organizations to combat the city’s ills and negative image.
This is a follow up to my earlier post about the amenities that can be found in the Toronto Hydro corridor lands.
CBC News (2005). A transmission tower looms in front of the CN Tower.
Hydro corridors, or electricity lines, are necessary for city development. The Finch hydro corridor carries transmission lines ranging in voltage up to 500kV and varies in width from 30 to 180 meters. This is a swath of mostly green land that cuts east-west across the entire city, and is sandwiched between residential, industrial, and commercial developments. The corridor creates barriers in the surrounding neighbourhoods: North York’s downtown skyscrapers are cut abruptly at the transmission lines, and the York University - Jane Finch neighbourhoods are insulated from one another by this open land.
Chau, Andrew (2008). Finch hydro corridor (in red) and its connections with existing bicycle paths (in green).
While the corridor acts as a barrier in certain communities, there are areas where the green space is a positive influence and supports a range of activities. These include parkland, transportation infrastructure, and sports facilities. The issue surrounding the Finch hydro corridor, and hydro corridors in general, is how they can be changed from an element that separates neighbourhoods, to a positive and unifying amenity. This is an issue of creative reuse of existing infrastructure corridors.
An entire Manila studio apartment (left) could fit inside the space of these Toronto dining and living rooms (right)
In Toronto, it means to the typical downtown urbanite, enough room for two comfy couches plus a t.v., a rug, and maybe an extensive collection of books. In a smaller row house, such as one in Bloor West, the dining and living rooms may together make up 200 sq.ft.
In Manila (the Philippines), 200 sq.ft. is a luxury studio condominium. These Avida Towers are currently under construction in the capital city. There are many apartments in Manila where entire families plus relatives live in this same 200 sq.ft.
shopdropping1 to covertly place merchandise on display in a store. A form of culture jamming. s to reverse shoplift, droplift.
shop dropping is a (legal) way for artists, musicians, to hijack the mass distribution systems of companies to self-promote. because these new items dropped into the stores often do not have barcodes, customers and employees are often left confused. sometimes, they are sold anyways, and the consumer takes home a product they otherwise would not have exposure to!
