Urban Neighbourhood

The New Library of Alexandria

The city of Alexandria in Egypt has long held a place in history as a center of learning, the Great Library of Alexandria was created around 295 B.C. when Demetrius of Phalerun convinced the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy to build a library that would house all the books in the world and become a center of culture and learning.

According to history Ptolemy developed such a passion for his library that any ship that came into harbor saw all of its books seized. The Pharaoh was good enough to make copies of the books but those were what were returned to the ship while the originals stayed in the library. The library was said to have amassed more then 700,000 scrolls before its eventual destruction by fire.

The New Library of Alexandria was created by Egypt, and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization with the goal of making it once again a focal point for research, and the advancement of knowledge and the open exchange of ideas. A number of countries contributed to its building, including the fallen government of Suddam Hussein, whose check for 21 million cleared the bank just days before the start of the Gulf War.

“In a world worried about the clash of civilizations, about war, about hatred and about killing, I think it’s significant that out of Egypt comes this new library, a place of understanding, learning, tolerance and brotherhood,”

Ismail Serageldin, the library’s director and a former World Bank vice president. s

The current incarnation of the library has about 250,000 books which is less then most college libraries contain in their collections. The library currently has space for about 5 million volumes, while the largest library in the world, the Library of Congress has nearly 20 million. While the book collection is not even close to being the largest in the world, the library is notable for being the one and only mirror site (backup) for the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive (IA) is a nonprofit organization that maintains a on-line library and archive of web and multimedia resources. One should also not that this is the only library in the world whose collection is mirrored, (at least publicly.)

The Library was designed by the Norwegian firm Snohetta in the shape of a disc tilted towards the Mediterranean to suggest the image of the Egyptian sun illuminating the world. The walls are built of grey Aswan granite and are carved with characters from one hundred and twenty different human scripts.

The exterior of the Library has a large reflecting pool and a public plaza which link the building to the sea and the city. The pools assist in cooling the building’s environs and naturally collect dust to improve air quality on the site.

NVS: Picture A City

This animation brings to life the masterplan designs for the city of Bradford in Yorkshire. The masterplans are by Alsop Architects and the film was commissioned by Bradford Centre Regeneration.

Strange Maps

While looking for information about Korea I discovered this website (which I then shamelessly ripped off). It’s called Strange Maps and I’ve wasted the better part of the morning clicking around.

The site has a million cool maps

The South will rise again! Looking at Korean Apartments

There are not many people who would argue that North Korea will make a comeback and outshine their Southern brethern, but once, this wasn’t the case. During the war, both Koreas were raped, pillaged and flattened by waves of Chinese soldiers or American bombers. The North had more reminents of Japanese industry, the South (except for Seoul) had been used by the Japanese as a rice-basket.

Quite easy to find Pyeongyang on the map

By the early 1960s South Korea was heading the same way as the US backed Banana republics of Central America, or the Banana Republic of Asia, the Philippines. There was little or no industry, life, as the historians like to quote (Mills, I think) “was savage, brutal, and short”. This goes well for the architecture as well.  The other night I was flipping through my old Lonely Planet guide for SK with a student, and my student was complaining that all the photos were 50 years old. They weren’t, but they only showed the most rural aspects of the country. If you were to browse the book in a shop, you would get an image of Thailand’s North, or Laos.

South Korean cities, until recently, were much like their Northern counterparts. Filled with awful public buildings and horrific Eastern European apartment blocks. The two countries couldn’t possibly be more different now. In the North there are virtually no cars on the street, and people have even forgotten how to look for traffic, cars are so rare in the countryside. In the South, this isn’t the case. With car ownership reaching North American levels (almost 82% of people, compared to 89% in the US). This causes problems, as Korea is 70% mountainous, there just cannot be enough tunnels or bridges to handle the masses of cars.

A new way of thinking, concrete and green

The beauty of average Korean cities, on either side of the DMZ leaves a lot to the imagination. Both countries were rushing to build nations, not to build quaint neighbourhoods for strolling around on a Sunday afternoon. The military-industrial complex that Kim Il Sung and Park Jung Hee developed in the 1960s helped create a ‘quantity over quality’ mindset in their respective people. Of course, today nobody in the North has anything, but in the South the ‘Quantity’ mindset is slowly being replaced by the ‘Quality’ one. The endless white towers of the 1990′s and first half of this decade aren’t being built as much. Newer, larger towers (that usually end up painted a shade of white) are springing up around the country. The architects are finally being allowed to build more interesting projects. Space is still at a premium, but the parking lots crowded out with cars are being buried beneath inlaid brick paths and small parks.

The newest generation of Korean apartments are spacious and well designed on the inside, and much more community oriented on the outside. The old ‘domino’ apartments had only space for cars, not for people, but the human is being thought about now, and children play in playgrounds, rather than in carparks in the new complexes.

A better way to wait

I came across an entry on a guerrilla art installation in London where Industrial Designer Bruno Taylor installed a Swing Set in a public bus shelter. Taylor believes that its time we reclaimed our streets and remembered our childhood. The Bus Stop Swing Set gives commuters the opportunity to get a little enjoyment out of the daily commute. Usually waiting at the bus stop is a dreary and relatively boring part of the morning commute that is hard to enjoy.

“71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?

This project is a study into different ways of bringing play back into public space. It focuses on ways of incorporating incidental play in the public realm by not so much as having separate play equipment that dictates the users but by using existing furniture and architectural elements that indicate playful behaviour for all.

It asks us to question the current framework for public space and whether it is sufficient while also giving permission for young people to play in public.

Play as you go…” Bruno Taylor.

Taylor has recently finished a Masters in Industrial Design and his thesis exhibition is currently going on at Central Saint Martin and has a number of suggestions about how we can get some enjoyment out of our public spaces. Not only does he have the swing there is also a bouncing bench. He also asks what happened to us. When we were children the majority of us played out on our streets and in public spaces (sometimes spooky private spaces too,)  However these days most children are confined to their yards and homes. Taylor would like to bring play back into public spaces a first step is getting adults to remember how much fun it is. I would love to see a couple of these here in Montreal. Waiting for the Metro would be so much more fun if I could have a swing while waiting for it to pull into the station.

There are however likely to be some health and safty issues with installing the swing in particular next to high traffic areas, most bus stops are a little too close to the road for the arc of a good swing. However that isn’t to say that widened pedestrain sidewalks couldn’t take a few of these, and the bouncy bench, well that could go anywhere.

The contact address attached to the video: bigbrudesign@gmail.com

NVS: Infrastructure Development Plan – Beijing

An airborne trip through Beijing detailing an infrastructure plan for the future of the city.

It is slightly frightening how much of a presence cars have in this video, I really hope that they don’t repeat mistakes make in the past with heavily car dependants networks.

It reminded me a lot of living in Asia as I watched the way the city is presented. In North American cities the giant public stadium is often seen as some what dubious. To often they are left lonely after the major event for which they were built has come and gone, but in in Asia they are often very busy. Not necessarily because some event is going on, that is when they are insanely packed, but just because it is the third Saturday in July. It puts this this video’s extended focus on the Birds Nest stadium at the beginning in a slightly different perspective.

The Urban 1%

I had this idea last year after the conservative government decided to drop the GST by an additional 1% in what was the biggest tax cut that no one noticed. Sure when they initially dropped the GST from 7% to 6% it was a big deal and everyone knew about it but when the government decided to improve things for the average Canadian (polish their image) by dropping the GST an additional percentage point to 5%, most people I talked to didn’t even notice. I thought that it was a bit of a shame since it didn’t really help stimulate the economy or do much of anything for those of us not making giant purchases. Even companies don’t really benefit much as they get an input tax credit on GST so they only pay the GST on the goods that they sell but get a credit on the GST they had to spend to buy in initially, only remitting the difference.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it didn’t help anyone. I mean sure, it helps a bit… but unless you are spending a lot of money it is not going to help that much. I tried to think of other ways that that 1% could have been re-purposed in such a way that would benefit the average citizen and the economy. That’s when the 1% for cities came to me. Instead of another percentage cut that no one would notice, why not direct the 1% to a jurisdiction in the country that needs the money, specifically the cities, towns, and municipalities that generate wealth and desperately need funding to maintain their capacity to drive the economy.

The Urban 1% proposal that I would like to put forward to our political leaders (and if any of them decide to hop on this proposal and make it their own they will have my vote in the bag) would be a direct return to the economic value each municipal area makes. It’s a simple formula really; for every purchase, for every goods and services sale, one percent of that value is returned to the community that generated it. There is no squabbling about how much money each area deserves to get. The area gets whatever it earns. Is it not fair and democratic that those areas whose infrastructure and services are strained by generating wealth maintain their ability to do so and share in the benefits?

(more…)

The neighbours have come to roost

Local and backyard farming is making a come back in a big way, most of the media on it so far has been of the fruit and vegetable variety but it appears that there is also a growing movement for small animals and poultry. TheStar.com had an article back in May about a set of chickens that have made their home in a North Toronto Neighbourhood. The only problem is that their residency is not exactly legal. While raising chickens in your back yard is legal in cities like New York, Portland, Chicago and Seattle, in Toronto it has been illegal since 1983 when the city outlawed the keeping of chickens due to concerns about public health and the possibility of disease. However a growing number of locavores; people who believe in eating locally for matters of food safety, environmental responsibility, and in some respects convenience.

A pair of websites are leading the charge; backyardchickens.com and TheCityChicken.com both of these sites offer practical tips and advice on how to raise poultry in your back yard. There is a learning center article on “Raising Chickens 101” in the back yard chickens site. Plus a number of pretty fancy chicken coops for you to house your little egg laying beauties in. Its actually making me think that if I had a yard of my own it might not be a bad idea. Of course I don’t have a dog because I don’t really want to be responsible for walking it all the time so having to feed and pull the eggs out from under a set of chickens every day might not be my bag either, but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have farm fresh eggs every morning!

A historic comparison of Korea and Ireland

Korea and Ireland, diverse countries on other ends of the continent from each other, an encyclopedic comparative timeline can be found here. There are ups and downs, but the strangest thing is that two of the most famous events in either nations history happened in the same year, against a similar enemy.

Glendalough, Wexford (an ancient church in a mountain valley)

Korea’s history has always been haunted by the Japanese, Ireland’s by the English. Both island neighbours have been the stronger for well over a millenium. Yet, both nations were built on the cultural architecture of their smaller brother. The Irish sent monks to convert and educate Europe, though their largest success was with the British. This took place during the 5th century. During the Three Kingdoms period in Korea, the south-west kingdom, Baekjae, was defeated by Shilla, but much of the Baekjae aristocracy and educated class fled to Japan. The Baekjae migration is hailed as the starting point for historic Japanese culture, and a Baekjae princess was married to the first emperor of Japan.

In the late 1500s both countries were writhing in war. In Korea, Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion had faltered into a bloody occupation where tens of thousands of Korean farmers were massacred and their ears were sent back to Osaka. The only shining light on the penninsula was Yi Sun Shin who almost single handedly defeated the Japanese at sea, again and again. His greatest battle saw him defeat a massive armada with only 12 ships. Yi died in his final battle (much like Nelson) he knew that he’d saved his country. His final victories and death were in 1598. That same year, on the other side of the world an Irish King, Hugh O’Niell was leading what was to be a doomed war against the English, but, like Yi, he was a master tactician, and won a major battle the same year.

Gumeunsa, an ancient temple in a mountain valley

The strange ways of history again meet. This time, for Korea, there was no saviour. The Japanese annexed the country in 1910 and began to colonize it. The reminents of the disbanded army formed together and staged a guerrilla war. Like most unsupported rebels, they suffered heavy defeats in 1916 to the better armed, better trained Japanese Imperial Army. Much like the Koreans, the Irish are known for their stubborness. Never relenting to English pressure, the Irish rose again, and during Easter, 1916, a poorly armed group were defeated in Dublin by the better trained, better armed British (Imperial) Army.

But, stubborn is as stubborn does, and one loss doesn’t end a war. The Irish rose again and from 1919 to 1921 they fought a war for independence, that though bloody, was ultimately successful. The Koreans, without the help of world media, and quiet American backing, were unable to win their war for independece, but in 1921, when the Irish were briefly celebrating, the Koreans too had a reason for celebration. The ‘righteous army’ had finally dealt the Japanese a serious defeat in Manchuria.

Both countries, with outside help, gain true independence and declare a republic. For Korea in 48 and Ireland, a year later, in 49. Ireland has seen a long, slow war fought in the North, where Korea had a short hot war, followed by a slow war fought with their own northern half.

Both countries started poorer than their northern brother, but later overtook them economically.

The similarities between the two nations is remarkable, but it has nothing to do with an Urban Neighbourhood.

Hanging on to the edge of a continent: A comparison of the Irish and the Koreans

Ireland's tallest building was officially unveiled last night, with the 17-storey Elysian now dominating the Cork city skyscape.

Living in Korea as a part-time Irishman, the comparison comes again and again, the Irish and the Koreans. Today, I’m going to do my best to look at the two cultures that are hanging on to the edges of the largest continent on Earth.

Coming soon will be a massive historical comparison, but first, a few introduction to why.

On the surface, both countries seem exceptionally different. Ireland, with a small population of 4.5 million, known for it’s green scenery and lovely country towns. Korea, a population of almost 50 million, is know for it’s remarkable industrial rise, it’s urban density and it’s people power. But both countries are known for a stubborn national identity, and overflowing of emotions, and a strong link to their descendants overseas. Both countries have chosen America as their second home. Both countries were colonized by their larger, richer island neighbours this century.

Looking towards Shinae in Ulsan, seen from Camera Mart near KBS park, the furtherest towers will be 55 stories when completed next year

The most intruiging peice of history I’ve found though is that Korea’s population in 1834 was 8.7 million people, and Ireland’s population in 1841 was 8.2 million. Yet today’s population of the Republic of Korea is 10 times that of the republic of Ireland, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Ireland’s Tallest building at a mere 17 stories is almost humourous compaired to the monsterous developments going on in Korea.

Growing Water: A Vision of Chicago in the Future

Proposed Eco Blvd

The Growing Water proposal was put together by UrbanLab for the City of the Future Competition hosted by the History Channel. The History Channel’s competition preamble lays out the historical context of epic engineering projects that are remembered through time.

“The civilizations covered in Engineering an Empire on The History Channel achieved the impossible—they were the first to design and engineer marvels that astonished the world and transcended time.

This competition, in the spirit of visionary thinkers and planners, world’s fairs and literature everywhere, challenges participants to imagine tomorrow’s buildings, transportation networks, and centers of commerce and begin to give them form by creating bold and visionary designs reflecting what their city might look like and how it would function 100 years from now.

The competition aims for clear architectural and engineering responses with the goal of using what we have learned from past civilizations in order to peer into the future. We want to see tomorrow’s cities foretold in three dimensions, not merely written about or described. We are looking for tomorrow’s architectural and engineering marvels, which like the engineering and architectural marvels of past civilizations, have the staying power to endure beyond their times.” s

The Growing Water Proposal for Chicago puts out a few basic underlying points about what it sees as the conditions facing the world in the upcoming century. It is projected that by the year 2106, the most precious commodity in the world will be water. The Chicago proposal suggests that the city become a fresh water factory in a sense. Reversing the hydrological design which has the city draining water from the great lakes and diverting it across the continental divide into the Mississippi watershed. Currently almost none of the water is returned to the Great Lakes water system.

The project installs a network of Eco-Boulevards designed to function like a giant living machine that will feed used water and storm run off back into the lake after filtering it through a series of engineered marshes. The proposal enhances the ‘Emerald Necklace’ of parks that Chicago is known for and expands them, converting them to a system that not only provides an urban oasis and parkway system but turns the City into a giant fresh water factory.

Fresh water is foreseen to be the Oil of the coming century and as such positions Chicago to enjoy the wealth of living next to one of the largest fresh water deposits in the world.

The proposal is inspiring when especially when you consider that this hydrological utopia is completely achievable with contemporary technology, all it takes is the collective will and a waterfront view is possible most Chicago urbanites the Growing Water Proposal creates a future where cities have a positive impact on the environment, please check it out. Click to see the History Channel Competition and the other winning proposals from LA and New York City.

Growing Water

NVS:Messages in Water

Found on You Tube, fountains that tell you things. A concept is similar to the digital water pavilion Video

福岡のキャナルシティで
あまりに感動した

メーカーサイト

What's the matter with Canada? – By Christopher Flavelle – Slate Magazine

There is an election coming on here in Canada and its been a while since I have come across any articles that really put into words what I have been feeling about the country lately.

What’s the matter with Canada? – By Christopher Flavelle – Slate Magazine.

It almost seems to me that politics are repeating a little here. The Progressive Conservatives were the long standing party that fell apart and brought about the Liberal Dynasty when the party deftly moved into the political center. Now the Liberals fall apart and the Conservatives are suggesting that they are much closer to the political center…

Canada isn't playing nice anymore

Retro Futurism

Klaus Burgles Vision of Subways in the Future. 1967

I enjoy conceptualizing what the future holds for cities, with ever increasing population and the need to house everyone, cities are no doubt key to our future. Its fun to look back and see what we thought the future would look like through the eyes of the past. Images came from the ‘In The Year 2000‘ Flikr Stream.

The Abandoned Hearth

Remains of a hearth after a building is removed on Sherbrooke St Montreal