Latest Posts

Interesting Project: I Read Where I Am

I recently stumbled upon I Read Where I Am via twitter. I have just started reading it and found an interesting way of producing a written work that is free on the internet. The various essays about reading, writing, journalism, and the changes occurring in the digital age of media.

I Read Where I Am, 82 invited authors, artists, critics, and designers present a wide range of observations, inspirations, and critical notes about how we daily consume and produce our information. We intended to leave the justified nostalgia for what it is and asked the expert-amateurs to look further than the current hype around the iPads and Kindles. This publication does not only reflect the current state of affairs but also speculates about the significance and importance of new forms of image-text in the future. Let us together place them in the world and not wait for ready-made products from Silicon Valley. The reflections presented here are explicitly intended to be read as a guideline for the following generations of ‘reading machines’. All that remains is for us to design them – without losing our attention.

Read more at I Read Where I Am

Innovation through difference

Rapid innovation does not occur through persevering at one idea with the same people until you ‘crack’ the code.  You may get some innovation this way and many scientists, business people have gone this route however their progress is slow and I am sure they spoke to other people about their problems.

Creating difference in thinking and dialogue through bringing different people together will create innovation and solutions at a greater pace. Collaboration between people of different backgrounds, fields, age groups, nations can always create innovation.
EXAMPLE

Think of something basic – like building a wall or new type of house – if the architect tries to innovate by themselves it will not be as innovative as say in collaboration with an engineer, artist, builder or school children. The same thing could be said for something as complex as space exploration or the Large Hadron Collider where teams of engineers and scientists from different countries and fields came together to create innovative solutions to achieve one goal.

Innovation occurs when you have multiple influences that then create more stimulus for people to react to. Creating difference or indifference as the case maybe through can create new ideas and innovation through brainstorming, conversation, debate, analysis, whether working together in the same room or in different parts of the world connected through the internet. Now it could not be cheaper or easier to connect people around the world  in your company, university, profession, or areas of study.

Sustainable Landscape Architecture Part 1: Definition & Background

This is part 1 of 5 on Sustainable Landscape Design and my theories and ideas on the subject.

My ideas have been heavily influenced by my reading, studying, editing of World Landscape Architecture and working with James Brearley at BAU, Jim Sinatra of Sinatra Murphy, Bruce Echberg at Urban Initiatives, various projects at Aspect Studios but most of all my experiences in China and what I have seen over the last 6 years in China.

Sustainability is a troubling subject as most people refer to the UN definition from 1983

sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

In someways this definition is a good start but it lacks vision and is stuck in the present. How can we understand and know what will happen in the future? Do you know what people will need in the future? What technology will be available in the future and could future technology be able to reverse or reduce the impact we are having today. I am not saying that we go out and cut down trees with abandon and all drive luxury cars with powerful ICE motors. I just often feel that people get to stuck discussing the point or definition and forget that we are here for a finite time and you need to think of solutions now on the knowledge you have now and not poster to long about the future and what it could hold. Yes, this flies in the face of how I started this discussion about not know the future and asking questions, but it was to point out that you could ask questions and discuss definitions, approaches/methodologies and solutions for years and never move forward.

So, what is sustainability to me?
Creating the best solution with the resources and information that we have access to at that current moment in time.
This is the definition I will use during this series of posts.

How does sustainability apply to landscape architecture, urban design and architecture?
These fields of practice and study are purely about creating design solutions with the resources we have for the situation we are presented at that moment in time.
We are designers that take a city, place or site and think about the future possibilities based on the current moment in time and how we can best create a solution for the people living there. However, as designers especially in China and other developing countries you actually have no real idea of who is going to live there besides projections of population (this subject will be another blog post after this series).

So where to from here?
Sustainable Landscape Architecture is often lost in detail or in one idea and often ignores the macro-scale or larger ideas. Next part of the series is Does Green = Sustainable Landscape Design?

Accessible Community Facilities are key to making great cities

The National (local UAE newspaper) reported that the Urban Planning Council surveyed 10,882 households in Abu Dhabi and found that communities lacked community facilities and services such as parks, playgrounds, shopping and restaurants (See graph above). What this shows is an pro-active government surveying the population and determining what the residents need.

People who live in cities across the world have similar wants and needs – a place to work, live and relax(play). Often the work and live part is taken care of very well by planners but often the places to relax such as parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports grounds are planned and implemented later in the stage of developments. The regional planning masterplan may be formulated but often the implementation is left to developers which leave these elements of cities and new areas to the last possible stage of a development as the have large costs but a lower return on investment in comparison to housing. Retail developments do provide a moderate return on investment but they require far more planning, marketing and implementation time compared to residential or commercial office space.

The other element is creating ACCESSIBLE services, often developments (especially villa style) are planned for cars and residents to drive – this is to be expected in a region that has a climate where the daytime temperature consistently heads into the mid-30’s degrees celsius. However, better design and collaboration with other developers can

Read more about the “Style Your Life” survey conducted by Urban Planning Council surveyed 11,000 households in Abu Dhab