http://dirt.asla.org/2010/03/18/rising-currents-projects-for-new-york-citys-waterfront/ Connecting the Built & Natural Environments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:37:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://dirt.asla.org/2010/03/18/rising-currents-projects-for-new-york-citys-waterfront/#comment-2360 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:27:47 +0000 http://dirt.asla.org/?p=4106#comment-2360 “Soft” also has important connotations of materiality, being absorptive and being responsive rather than hard and inflexible. Using the word soft seems gentle, subtle, and less imposing than the machine aesthetic of earlier technologically or infrastructurally-based urban schemes. (Of course, there is also the connotation with soft power.)

]]> http://dirt.asla.org/2010/03/18/rising-currents-projects-for-new-york-citys-waterfront/#comment-2354 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:34:07 +0000 http://dirt.asla.org/?p=4106#comment-2354 “Soft (or, really, green)…”
MoMA probably used the word ‘soft’ specifically to avoid the word ‘green’ and its negative connotations — its associations with artistically impotent green-washing projects, and its implication of allowing eco-friendliness to overrule everything else. Not recognizing or maintaining the distinction between soft and green can strengthen the stigma behind the word ‘green.’

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