THE PLACES IN BETWEEN
Here we are in a New Year, with the questions about the world we live in on full display, to worry and to challenge. I continue to update my new YouTube Channel, slowly at first, as I learn. This is my way of making sense of the built environment, and the world as a whole— maybe you can glean something from what I have done here for yourself.
Please drop by periodically, and thanks for reading and contributing to the conversation!
CURRENT WRITING:
YouTube Series: BACKGROUND OR ICON?
I think that these producers of icons manage (often but not always) to somehow relate their work to their surroundings. In two ways:
First, As a precious gem, something that sets itself off from its surroundings— or—
Second, By accidentally providing the requisite qualities that contribute to the larger collective architecture of the outdoor room.
YouTube Series: A VISIT TO AMSTERDAM
Blending the inter-modal transportation systems can be messy. As the Dutch work on their cities, my observations tell me that they are making the effort to make things logical, safe, and attractive. Observing the newer infrastructure tells me that the City is concerned with making it quicker to ride a bike, and easier to park it, safer to walk, and more beautiful for everyone. Lessons are learned and corrected with each new project.
YouTube Series: LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT STREET
It's easy to overlook the importance of well-designed streets. We shouldn’t be doing that. A great street is the ultimate work of architecture.
SHARING IN THE CITY
Yet there remains a disappointing and exasperating clash between the creation of buildings, and with the processes that occurs in how we envision cities.
TWO SHIPS PASSING IN THE NIGHT
Often we designers think of a building, or collection of buildings, in pure isolation. Our creations are planned and composed in isolation within the boundaries of the land provided. We solve the specific aesthetic and functional issues within the envelope allowed by the municipal authorities.
THE CITY IN TIMES OF COVID
Turns this ‘necessity’ birthed some interesting ‘inventions’— the ‘hacks’ created by this necessity have been kind of cool. The necessity? Restaurants and Bars could no longer operate safely in their former mostly indoor environments. Performing arts practices and performances could no longer take place inside. Education could no longer take place in its traditional environments. Everything that could not be handled by a Zoom call needed an an alternative involving fresh air in order to resume.
THE CRAFTED CITY ARCHIVES: SELECT WRITING
