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Showing posts from October, 2010

Lifes of grass by Mathilde Roussel Giraudy

Figural sculptures composed of soil, wheat seeds, and recycled metal by Mathilde Roussel Giraudy were displayed at Farm City 2010.  This work - lifes of grass - shows that "the natural world, ingested as food becomes a component of human being."

Mercer Plaza: Make Way for NYU Green Initiatives

Image: Pre-construction, 251 Mercer Street, facing south ( source ) About four years ago, residents of the 250 Mercer Street co-op protested against NYU's underground heat and power plant renovation because approximately 18 mature trees would have to be removed.  An incomplete slum clearance/ urban renewal project in the 1950s resulted in superwide sidewalks on LaGuardia Place and Mercer Street between West 3rd and Houston Streets.  If any of the afore-mentioned trees were planted then, then they were at least 50 years old.  Opponents of the project argued that the trees could be saved if the university built its power plant underneath Gould Plaza instead of under the public right-of-way at 251 Mercer Street.The City eventually approved the university's plan and the trees were removed.  Interestingly, the power plant project was endorsed by the U.S. EPA.  The agency cited a 43,315 ton reduction in annual carbon emissions with a combined heat and power (co-generation

Reel time in city gardens and parks

Potrero Hill Community Garden, San Francisco If you, like me, are on a wait list for a plot in your local community garden, you could spend some reel time in a (New York City) garden with any one of the following documentaries via the New York Public Library (NYPL) film collection. Plant a Seed (1975) 40,000 Acres, with View (1984) Green Streets (1989) Los Angeles's South Central Farm was the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary titled The Garden in 2008.  The film series, Another world is plantable! , chronicles community gardens in three four cities -- Buenos Aires (2003), Cape Town and Johannesburg (2005), and Berlin (2006).  (See also City Farmer News coverage .) NYPL's collection also includes films about parks (A Park on Our Block (1969), A Community Park (1970)); public murals (The Mural On Our Street (1964)); urban renewal projects (The Heart of Losaida (1979), Bronx River Restoration (1980), 24th and Tomorrow (1965), A Sense of Pride: Hamilton Heights

Your Place-mat or Mine?

A bit of whimsy on this grey day morning in New York City.  British domestic architecture placemats by people will always need plates seen at Urban Neighborhood . Image: Screen capture of Your Placemat or Mine? Placemats B 1960s to 2000s ( source )

Grate seating

Photographed on West Broadway in Tribeca, this subway grate-seating-bike rack has a fourth use: to prevent stormwater runoff from entering the subway ventilation system.  Downtown Express journalist Julie Shapiro described the goal and design of the MTA's sidewalk furniture: To prevent the ventilation grates in Lower Manhattan from becoming storm sewers, New York City Transit is raising a handful of low-lying grates 6 inches. So people don’t trip over the grates, the agency is planning to put benches on either end and a bike rack on top. Both Streetsblog New York City and I (heart) Public Space have written about the subway grate design shown above.  Two of the concerns raised about the new subway grate are (1) they will reduce the sidewalk right-of-way and (2) there is limited space between sitters and cyclists (un)locking their bicycles.  What do you think? This grate is one of three new designs developed collaboratively by DOT, the Public Design Commission of the City o

Nature-made: Pennsylvania Street Gardens, San Francisco

On an overcast morning in March 2009, we met with Annie Shaw, founder and head gardener of the Pennsylvania Garden at Pennsylvania Avenue and 18th Street in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood.  The garden is located on Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) land adjacent to the Mariposa Street off-ramp.  Grey though the day was, the garden provided small splashes of local color. We were shown the loquats in the garden which were "original" to the site as well as the Princess Plant ( Tibouchina urvilleana ) which had been moved to several locations in the neighborhood before being planted in the garden by residents Jim and Carrie. The Princess Plant inspired Annie to further landscape the site. That was in 2008.  (Recent photographs of the Princess Plant can be viewed here .) Wanting the garden to receive official recognition, Annie contacted Caltrans for permission. She was given permission to landscape but edibles and trees were not pe

Unlimited Urban Woods

Image: Unlimited Urban Woods, photo by Pieter Kers, via Hedwig Heinsman of DUS If only urban aforestation was as straightforward as the Unlimited Urban Woods pavilion by DUS Architects Amsterdam !  The "never-ending forest in the middle of town" was created with one tree in a 4-meter high pavilion of mirrored interior walls.   The pavilion was displayed in front of the New Amsterdam Public Library from May 28 to June 28, 2010. Image: Unlimited Urban Woods, photo by Pieter Kers, via Hedwig Heinsman of DUS I can imagine urban woods pavilions in places that currently lack the infrastructure to support extensive tree cover.  While they might not fulfill ecosystem service goals, these "never ending forest[s]" could relieve "directed attention fatigue" and elicit wonderment. DUS describes itself as a young and ambitious architecture office that works according to the slogan: “design by doing”. DUS often builds scale 1:1 models in the public

DIY tree planting and planting table

Planting your own street tree is one of two permitted ways to have a tree planted in front of your home or business in New York City. The other way is to request a tree via the Parks Department's forestry service request system. The NYC Parks provides a 23-page Tree Planting Standards document to those who opt to plant a tree. I wish the City offered a video like the one offered by San Francisco's Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) which can be viewed here . If you already have a tree in front of your home or business and would like some greenspace in your home or garden, check out the Planting Table , a Scout Regalia Cutsheet Project 01 (hat tip: L.A. at Home blog). The table was designed for outdoors but I can imagine it an apartment by a north-facing window.  The firm is self-described as "dedicated to supporting local fabricators, and aspires to embody innovation, discipline, and inquisitiveness in all the work that is produced."

DUMBO Underwater

Artist, designer, programmer Eric Corriel has created a video installation of the East River submerging DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass). Corriel designed DUMBO Underwater in response to predictions of rising sea levels in New York City.  For example, the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research has projected a "five inch (5") further rise" in sea level in the city between 2000 and 2030. DUMBO Underwater from Eric Corriel on Vimeo . More of Corriel's work can be viewed at his website.

Managing stormwater with Greenstreets

Two weeks ago we first ran a story about Curbolution , Team Sang-ayuna's submission to the Minds in the Gutter search for stormwater capture technologies.  Today we follow-up with a profile of the City's Greenstreets Program. What: Greenstreets for stormwater capture Furmanville Ave, 80th St and Dry Harbor Rd, Queens Who: New York Parks and Recreation Department in partnership with the Department of Transportation.  DOT owns the roadways -- roadways are used because they offer greater storage capacity than sidewalks -- and Parks provides design services, designation, maintenance, and assumes liability. Inlet (Furmanville Ave) How: Greenstreets for runoff mitigation differ from the City's conventional greenstreets in their physical design and location.  While both types of Greenstreets are landscaped with trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials, the stormwater ones are located in flooding hotspots and in neighborhoods adjacent to areas with "trou