‘Ultima’ 32-storey condo proposed for Edmonton. Very excited about the strong design elements, and lack of ‘discount-architecture’ that the city can’t seem to shake otherwise. More renderings can be found here.
Canada, like many countries who benefited from strong economic conditions and government investment during the 1960s and 70s, has a large selection of brutalist structures. Once hated, I’ve come to love many of them for the architectural history and period they represent, rather than their soulless design and lack of pedestrian consideration. The question we’ll be plagued with over the next number of years concerning these structures is the consideration of ‘reimaging’ them when it comes time for major structural repairs. If kept, repaired and preserved, do we retrofit them to repair their shortcomings (pedestrian connectivity, lack of contextual integration, etc.), or do we respect the original intent and design and put up with the technical flaws for the sake of architectural ‘art’?
Modular-construction efficiencies: A Chinese 30-story hotel built in 360 hours (15 days)
(Source: youtube.com)
“The grid was big government in action, a commercially minded boon to private development and, almost despite itself, a creative template… referring not just to the sociability it promotes, which Jane Jacobs identified, or to the density it allows, which Rem Koolhaas celebrates, or even to the ecological efficiency it sustains, which now makes New York, on a per-capita basis, a very green place.”
An interesting article about tapping into the collaborative benefits of intergenerational learning.
We’re operating in a weird planning context,” Clewes argues. “The province has mandated density and the city has amended its Official Plan, but this hasn’t trickled down to the planners. Planners are an obstacle; they see themselves as advocates of public opinion.
– Future looking up for tall buildings? Christopher Hume - Toronto StarULI & NAHB on ‘Urban Sprawl’ (1959) - Interesting thoughts on sprawl from 1959. The problems identified here by ULI and NAHB are monotonous spread of housing and disruption of idyllic country settings. The suggested solutions appear to be continued sprawl though both isolated and segregated land-uses, and the idea that surrounding everything in parkland and ‘natural settings’ makes the situation better.
We laugh now 50 years later and see the hypocracy in the solutions provided, but it begs the questions; “What will the feedback be on our ‘best practices’ and planning solutions 50 years from now?’.
(Source: youtube.com)
Ice Cube - hip-hop legend, and, as we learn, architectural critic - celebrates The Eames
(Source: youtube.com)
