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Put down the hedge shears... the LA Times says it's OK"There is way too much thoughtless shearing done in Southern California landscapes." A little hedge planning 101 from various LA area landscape designers and gardeners, including the venerated Jay Griffith.
Mario Botta + Donald Judd + Corrugated Siding =Urs Peter Flueckiger - an architect who ended up in Lubbock Texas, by way of Lugano, Switzerland. Then builds a house for $51 a square foot. Are we talkin' 2006 dollars here?
Prince-Ramus to Koolhaas: "You're starting to design more as a virtuoso, not as a thinker."SNAP! OMA New York's Joshua Prince-Ramus lets it fly in an interview published in Business Week (BW is really into architecture these days). OMA NY's design process: "If someone says, 'This is how you solve that problem,' you give them the bird."
Free download - MetropolisArchive.org is offering Fritz Lang's Metropolis (an inspiration to most every design geek) for download - FREE. It's the original edited American release, not the 2002 restoration, but still... throw it on your iPod, it's good to go.
Interview: L. Hunter Lovins, part 1We featured a post last May about Hunter Lovins, entitled "What Can I Do?" after hearing her speak. Treehugger features a great interview with Hunter who founded Natural Capitalism and co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute. Check it.
A pavilion for every purposeAn 1859 weatherboard cottage in Australia is converted by architect Steve Domoney into a low-energy, sustainable structure. The house features solar cells, grey-water recycling, rainwater retention and a strong connection between house and garden.
Landscaped Beyond all RecognitionTMN Contributing Writer Jessica Francis Kane writes about the American suburban yard. "We bemoan the rise of the McMansion, the slash-and-burn path of the strip mall—but the real problem may be lurking in the shrubbery."
OMA's Museum Plaza in Louisville, KYOMA has some great 3D modelling and video editing folks working for them alongside their usual amazing design team.
2F Folding ChairDesigned by Finnish industrial designer Hannu Kähönen, this super-efficient chair is made from birch-plywood, folds completely flat, unfolds backward or forward, and generates virtually no waste wood during production.
RubbersidewalksAn interesting green solution to tree-root-damaged sidewalks, Rubbersidewalks makes a flexible paving system from 100% recycled tire rubber. Save trees, recycle tires... not bad.
Interview with Amanda LeveteAn informal chat with Amanda Levete who, together with Jan Kaplicky, heads up FutureSystems. They are behind the sinuous curves of Selfridges in Birmingham or the 'Futurama' form of the Lords Media Centre.
Wembley Stadium not ready for FA Cup finalAfter much debate and speculations, it was announced yesterday the new Wembley Stadium won't be ready for the FA Cup final in May. A clear example of when architectural factors of politics, expectations and reality don't meet.
Gehry lets his ideas just flowFrank on Las Vegas, "More than the individual buildings, I think I like it more as a texture, like Times Square. It is an excitement. It is over the top. It is not someplace I need to go to personally."
The world framed by a bagelLandscape architect Martha Schwartz and her "big art" profiled. "I suck ideas, I just love ideas." An entertaining read.
Virtually TorinoGoogle Earth and Google Local have added high resolution images of sites for the Torino Winter Olympic Games and a KMZ file including the locations and descriptions of all the events.
Building in the Aftermath Symposium - The Gulf Coast: Restoring the LandscapeThe National Building Museum in conjunction with the ASLA will be holding a session on rebuilding in the Gulf Coast regions Thursday, Feb. 23 in Washington, DC. Panelists include: Joe Brown; Paul Rookwood; Kevin Shanley.
After the buzz disappears, so do the crowdsJohn King slams the notion of 'iconic architecture as urban savior using' Zaha Hadid's Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio as a case in point.
Spain on the brainIn the vain (hehe...) of our post for MoMA's current On-Site exhibit featuring architecture in Spain, check out the "Metropol Parasol", a project by J. Mayer H. for Plaza de la Encarnacion in Seville.
Wembley StadiumLord Norman Foster discusses his design for the new Wembley Stadium with a brief slide show.
Snapshot - Alluvial FanA gorgeous landscape image from the USGS Landsat Project of a vast alluvial fan in China's XinJiang Province.
Boom town, Dubai - 'Mushroom City'"The fastest-growing city on earth is spending mind-boggling sums on construction and is about to swallow up P&O in its bid to be a global maritime power. Given the scale of its ambition, could it become the most important place on the planet?"
Symposium: Sustainability and Contemporary Art, March 30-31, 2006Int'l Symposium at CEU Budapest. "Sustainability has been at the top of the global environmental agenda for more than a decade, but an understanding of ecological responsibility is only now beginning to have a visible impact on society and culture."
Rain gardens 'cut city pollution'A study suggests that 'rain gardens,' shallow depression in a garden containing bark mulch and shrubs, can help control runoff in urban areas and remove up to 99% of toxins.
What is the point of design?A big long article about the design of useful objects and art, modernism vs. postmodernism, etc., revolving around issues at London's Design Museum... and asks, "is a design museum even necessary or desirable?"
Simpson - back to the drawing boardIan Simpson, based in Manchester, is becoming the 'Master' of skyscrapers, dotting them all over the UK. Does it always get it right? Perhaps not.
Landscape Architect Ken Smith under a microscopeFrom his childhood on a one-cow farm to New York City and the Orange County Great Park... the encapsulated Ken Smith.
Family battle over Constructivist iconThere appears to be a big legal mess surrounding the fate Moscow's 1927 Melnikov House by Soviet Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov. Siblings are squabbling and the lawyers are circling.
Roadside(memorial)america.comAlexander Trevi has an interesting piece about the proliferation of memorials which continually spring up along America's highways, adding a new dimension to the built landscape of the great American road.
Architect Niemeyer, 98, still full of surprisesNiemeyer is still kicking... talking about women and architecture, and building projects. 'Niemeyer says "it is ridiculous and irritating" to talk about "form following function" in architecture.'
Interview: Isabelle GreeneI've had the pleasure of meeting California landscape architect Isabelle Greene, but not the chance to interview her. Our good friends at The Dirt point us to an interview Garden Design.