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Archive for February, 2010

The Wirtz Garden: “A Free-Spirited Landscape Experiment”

Posted in Gardens, Land Art, Landscape Architecture on 02/25/2010 | Leave a Comment »

The famed Wirtz Garden in Schoten, Belgium, was neglected for more than 30 years before landscape architect Jaques Wirtz took it over in 1969, writes Metropolis magazine. Since then, the garden has grown into one of the most beautiful in Europe and the subject of a recent (and expensive) coffee table book. While not open to the public, this [...]

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Attacking Invasive Plants from the Air

Posted in Environment, Technology on 02/25/2010 | Leave a Comment »

Wired’s Planet Earth reports that the Nature Conservancy’s Hawaii program has undertaken an ambitious conservation program in the Kauai watershed, a 144,000-acre “cloud forest” that varies in elevation by 3,000 feet. According to Wired, the area has been invaded by Australian tree ferns, an invasive species characterized as “water-sucking” and “plant-strangling.” Given the difficulty of accessing the area’s [...]

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New U.N. Report: World’s Top 3,000 Companies Created $2.2 Trillion in Environmental Damage

Posted in Climate Change, Environment, Policy and Regulation, Waste, Water Management on 02/24/2010 | Leave a Comment »

A new, unreleased report eight years in the making and funded by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will examine the business activities of world’s 3,000 biggest public companies and their impact on environments. According to The Guardian (UK), the report will argue these firms contributed $2.2 trillion in environmental damages in [...]

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Designing for Heavy Security: The New Capitol Visitor Center

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Public Spaces on 02/24/2010 | Leave a Comment »

The National Building Museum hosted a tour of the new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, a $600 million-plus, 580,000-square foot exhibition hall, learning center, and events space designed by architecture firm RTKL. The high costs were caused by the expanded scope of the project (there were more than 3,000 changes to the initial project) and heavy security requirements needed after 9/11 and [...]

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The New Face of Broadway: New York City to Make Pedestrian Plazas Permanent

Posted in Policy and Regulation, Public Spaces, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 02/23/2010 | 1 Comment »

Would you have ever pictured Times Square to be a place to sit and relax? Well, now you should. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday that the city’s eight month pilot project aimed to relieve traffic congestion by closing city streets will be made permanent. “It’s going to be innovative and sustainable and [...]

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Land Matters: Should Arid Regions Be Landscaped?

Posted in Landscape Architecture on 02/22/2010 | 1 Comment »

Kim Sorvig, this month’s Landscape Architecture magazine guest columnist, contemplates land versus landscape. If you need convincing that land does fundamentally matter, visit Earth’s arid regions. Better yet, live there awhile. You will be reminded how dependent human survival is upon the services land offers—or, in the desert, withholds. Perhaps more important is the reminder that [...]

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From Burnt-out Pier to Light Art Installation

Posted in Land Art, Public Spaces, Sustainable Materials on 02/18/2010 | Leave a Comment »

Fast Company writes that Creatmosphere, a British lighting design firm, has turned Brighton, England’s 1,000-foot long pier into a light art installation called “A Pier/Appears.” In 2003, the pier was burnt “to a crisp in a series of fires.” There have been numerous plans to rebuild the pier, but none have been realized due to the enormous [...]

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Portland Invests $613 Million in Bike Infrastructure

Posted in Smart Growth, Sustainable Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 02/18/2010 | Leave a Comment »

Portland’s City Council passed a measure to spend $613 million on bike infrastructure over 20 years, reports the Portland Business Journal. Portland’s Mayor, Sam Adams, recommended immediately using $20 million in savings from Bureau of Environmental Services programs to get the projects started. “Adams also said he can find savings in lower bids from contractors during the current [...]

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Field Operations Will Design Atlanta’s 22-mile Beltline

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Real Estate Development, Smart Growth, Sustainable Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 02/17/2010 | Leave a Comment »

James Corner Field Operations and Perkins+Will have been selected as the lead designers of the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile green beltway of park networks, multi-use trails and light rail, which will also reuse and revitalize old rail tracks and restore local ecosystems. According to the FreshKills Park Blog, the $2.8 billion green infrastructure project will connect [...]

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Harvard Design Magazine Focuses on Landscape Architecture

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 02/17/2010 | 3 Comments »

Harvard Design Magazine‘s Fall/Winter 2009-2010 edition is all about landscape architecture and its relationship with sustainability (and pleasure). A number of articles focus on urban design, agriculture, and green infrastructure. Just a few full articles are available online, but this volume can also be purchased. Michael Sorkin, Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Director of Graduate Program in Urban Design, [...]

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