The Community is an active vehicle for forging new ways of thinking about the ‘art of the possible’ at a crucial time when the need for planet-saving, world-enhancing solutions has never been greater. The trusted idea place for future design leaders aimed to inspire and motivate students, practitioners and clients alike; who believe that people make a city great.

Broadly speaking Urbanlogic Community is intended as a ‘research and learning centre’ and a window on the efforts being made to redesign the way we live.

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Ian J Vincent

“We are pleased to become part of the East Village community,” said John Ford, a lead engineer with Halsall Associates Limited in Calgary. “We wanted the structure to blend in with the aesthetics of the area yet embody functionality for the surrounding community.” Halsall has been designing innovative and complex structures across Canada for over 50 years and is excited to be part of such an important structure in the city’s civic architecture.

As part of an effort to develop the East Village into a dynamic community that integrates into the downtown core, CMLC commissioned the international contest in September 2009. From 33 initial submissions from major firms across the world, three finalists were chosen to participate in a public presentation and were subject to the opinions of not only the CMLC, but of interested Calgarians.

The pedestrian bridge is 170 meters in length and is split into three arches of 50, 30 and 90 meters in length. The bridge will connect St. Patrick’s Island to the East Village to the south and to the Bow River path system to the north. As the bridge meets St. Patrick’s Island, it becomes a true viewing spot where passers-by can take in the surrounding environment. The bridge may feature animated lighting triggered by motion, making it a truly interactive experience Calgarians can call their own.

The CMLC’s international contest judged both architectural and engineering components of each submission. The CMLC Board of Directors was impressed with the sensibility, aesthetics and thematic approach taken by RFR/Halsall. The arches were particularly remarkable to Calgarians as some saw them mimic a stone skipping across the river while others saw rolling hills or a Chinook arch in the bridge’s profile.

The designs where labeled as anonymous entrants (although if you have seen prior work of the entrants you can guess who’s design is who’s). The entrants included the following design firms:

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg
SWA Group
West 8
Williams, Asselin, Ackaoui & Associates

What is encouraging is that 5 firms developed differing designs and approaches to the space, often competitions can fall flat as the designs can mimic each other. This also shows that the competition brief was not too restrictive in its design constraints on entrants. The entries all offer different approaches but it is great to see entrants have given thought to the integration of storm water, heritage, planting, public art with some being more resolved and effective than others.

The design presentations are all of good quality and show that as landscape architects we can produce amazingly presented design work. However, some of the presentation graphics where more polished than others; this may have to do with the size of the firm or there international resources and will be seen if this made a difference when the design firms for each entry are revealed.

The design entries are interesting with many different approaches to spatial arrangement, program & function, circulation, aesthetics, seasons, public art, water, budgets. However, I feel that the all the designs have the same issues which is true of much of current landscape architecture. These issues are compartmentalization, under programming (lack of cross programming) and international design style.

Compartmentalization and under programming are interlinked in that when designing we draw a bubble around an area and state this shall be X and this is Y. Programming should be cross programmed and programs should be allowed to extend beyond the boundaries of an area to create a more dynamic design. Some of the greatest cities and designs in the world are when two uses and/or programs intermingle to create an interesting and energetic place.

International design style which has in recent years grown more pronounced as the globalisation of landscape architecture services takes place. In some ways international design can be beneficial as firms can offer a unique perspective on the area and use their experience of other cultures and designs. However, often the culture of the place can be lost or represented with the token piece of public art or a local sport placed in the design. The design entries presentations sometimes fell into this ‘international design style’ in which the design could have been anywhere in the world or northern hemisphere. How we improve on this is yet to be determined and will be one of the many issues that as landscape architects we face as we design landscapes across the globe.

Overall to decide on a winner will be hard and will require deliberation, resident feedback and evaluation of budgets. I hope that the winning design is implemented in its entirety over a well staged implementation. Congratulations to all the teams for producing amazing presentations that shows that landscape architects can produce high-quality world class designs.

Urbanarbolismo’s eco auditorium is a triangular building that features a leafy living facade facing the street and a sloping green roof up top. The sides are covered in glass to let light into the interior spaces. During the cooler months, sunlight enters the windows and heats the concrete thermal mass inside for passive heating throughout the day. In the warmer months, shades are drawn over the window to protect from the hot sun. A geothermal cooling system plus the green roof keep the interior spaces cool. Additionally, the auditorium is sunken below the street level, which reduces the cooling demand and also helps with the acoustics.

Native vegetation and low-maintenance plants cover the building, which is irrigated with rainwater collected on the roof and stored in reservoirs at the ends of the building. A small patio faces the street with tall trees that help indicate the scale of the building and also provide a more impressive entrance to the auditorium. The main objective of the auditorium “Ciutat d’Elx” is to improve the quality of public space at the neighborhood of Carrús

Himin Solar Energy, started by Huang Ming, the ‘Sun King’ of China, is already the main tenant of Solar Valley and their large office building is completely powered by the sun. He has very ambitious goals about making Solar Valley a reality, and has already attracted about 100 companies, and spawned factories as well as a research center. The hope is that this clean energy epicenter will help propel China’s development of renewable energy technology and installation.

Solar Valley is located just outside of Dezhou, which is making some progress towards in building its reputation as a clean energy city. The city already requires that all new buildings be equipped with solar water heaters of the type made by Huang’s company, and last year they spent $10 million to install solar lighting along miles of road. Chiel Boonstra, a Dutch architect who heads up the International Solar Cities Congress, says that Dezhou “will be a new center of gravity for renewable technologies.” It’s just a shame that rural farmers are being relocated into block apartments in the city to make way for the grand new development.

As plans stand now, the park would stretch from Grand all the way past Alameda and in certain areas it would extend a little on both sides of the 101. The highway would most likely need some upgrades — it would have to be dug a little deeper and an underground parking lot would be added, in hopes of getting people to leave their cars once they get downtown. The master plan also includes development to place some new signature buildings along the park as well as some additional mixed-use development, like retail and residential, to bring more than just business people to the downtown area.

Cost estimates right now are in the $800 million range and the design firm EDW Aecom is working on the rollout plan, which is expected to happen in stages as money becomes available. The first community meeting will be held on Thursday, May 13th from 4-6 pm at the CalTrans District & Building and all are welcome.

Basurama, from the word basura meaning trash, has been working with trash for over a decade throughout Latin America and describes themselves as “a forum for discussion and reflection on trash, waste and reuse in all its formats and possible meanings. Our aim is to study those phenomena inherent in the massive production of real and virtual trash in the consumer society, providing points of view on the subject that might generate new thoughts and attitudes. We find gaps in these processes of production and consume that not only raise questions about the way we manage our resources but also about the way we think, we work, we perceive reality.”

The bright and colorful park features recycled tires transformed into multi-person swinging contraptions and climbing structures along with lines of swings and a canopy line for kids to zip along from the unfinished structure through the color-wrapped concrete collumns.

‘NZILA Resene Pride of Place Landscape Architecture Awards 2010′ provided a record 127 entrants with tougher competition than ever before. Award-winners, who are chosen by the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects’ judges just once every two years, received Golds, Silvers and Bronzes, while a select few received a Gold or Silver plus additional titles of excellence.

Winner of the event’s most coveted title, the Supreme Award, was Boffa Miskell Ltd, for the design of St Patrick’s Square by St Patrick’s Cathedral of Wyndham Street, Auckland.

What the judges said

This superb project skillfully handled the dominating presence of the church by the creation of a paved base layer that grounded the church and connected it into the Square, giving the church breathing space and respect.

The water feature provided a unifying design element through all terraces. Whilst each part was unique their arrangement flowed through the design characterizing each space.
Material choice provided a strong relation with the church further strengthening its connection with the Square.

The spatial arrangement provided spatial variance for all users from retreating smokers to lunching workers to visiting mums.

The first water element was particularly child friendly whilst performing its monumental role. Circulation routes were clearly defined without dissecting the park into unusable spaces, but consideration had been given with alternative detours through the central water element and lower terrace to maintain interest for frequent users.

Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, the final design for the center includes some changes from past incarnation, most notably an awesome 5.4 acre green roof and public park that will have an amphitheater for music performances and movie screenings. Downtown SF is getting better and better, now let’s get that HSR line under construction!

Pelli Clarke Pelli presented the final design to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority Board (TJPA) in San Francisco last Thursday. To be located in downtown San Francisco, the new Transit Center will be constructed from steel and glass with a curvilinear exterior inspired the by the sway of tree trunks and their shady canopies. As the facade reaches the roof, it curves in, softening the shadow casted on the street below. Additionally a number of green building strategies were incorporated into the design, including passive solar shading, high performance glazing, geothermal cooling and even wind power.

The highlight of the new transit center, besides all the great public transportation housed under one roof, is the expansive public park on the roof. At 5.4 acres, this park is a great addition of open space to the SF downtown area. City Park will include an amphitheater, a children’s playground, cafes, restaurants, public artworks and a lily pond. Construction starts on the beautiful transit center this August and is expected to be completed in 2017. Come 2017, this may be the best seat in town for a summer concert.

The design reconciles two opposing concepts: 1. BUILDING vs. NATURE and 2. GOVERNMENT vs. CIVIC. By blurring the differences between the built environment and the landscape, people are invited inside and encouraged to inhabit spaces atop and around the structures. This overall design creates a new civic park for the province.

The complex, designed by H Associates and Haeahn Architecture, has recently been selected as a 2010 AIA New York Design Award winning project. Praised by jurors for successfully overcoming “traditional hierarchies that often govern these kind of projects”, the design solution received a Merit Award in the Un-built Work category of the awards program. One of the jury members, Karen Van Lengen, FAIA, also noted that “The jury admired the planning and design direction of the project that suggested a new set of relationships between the government and the people, and between building and site.”

Here’s a project description from H Associates:

BUILDING vs. NATURE – The building form is continuous and horizontal, reflecting the forms of the adjacent mountain landscape. A sinuous green roof connects several buildings and provides a unified outdoor space to accommodate a variety of programs and people. The existing topography of the site and the green axes inform the organic shapes of the buildings, and provide cues that create view corridors extending to the natural scenery surrounding the site.

GOVERNMENT vs. CIVIC – The government and civic spaces are designed to coexist in the same complex, and the building envelope modulates the degree of connectivity between these two systems. The façade is composed of a continuous layer of metal with variably sized perforations. The size of the perforations is directly related to the degree of privacy needed by the program within each space. The result is an additional level of richness in the design and a greater degree of continuity in the complex.