Urban design and the changing economy
Its hard to get away from news about the economy, especially in the building industries. Unemployment rate at 11% for construction workers, several major Atlanta design firms instituting layoffs, the Architectural Billings Index at an all time low. These changes are expected to last into 2010 and to not directly follow the traditional V-shaped … Read more
Programming a vertical city.
From “Re-inventing the Skyscraper”, diagrams on vertical theory: Starting to think about the skyscraper in terms of ‘variable linkages’ instead of shelving is helping tremendously. Using Kevin Lynch’s traditional paths, edges, nodes, landmarks, and districts in terms of vertical inhabitation will be useful for the massing stage we’re now in. What works is the idea … Read more
parking as social space
Something that Julie Eizenburg said that happen to stick in my mind was that parking lots are important places of informal social interaction in today’s apartment complexes. That most everyone has a car, and therefore uses their parking space on a daily basis. Its a much more informal environment for meeting your neighbors than say, … Read more
possibly moving forward
While cute little diagrams like this will get you points on the ARE exam, it really doesn’t do all that much for helping you integrate building form and design intent. I’ve recently gotten stuck in converting my (text) concept into (shape) form. Or as our instructor put it, “everyone wants to save the world, but … Read more
