Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2012

Tools of the trade

Image: UC Berkeley Environmental Design Library current exhibit ( Source : ENVI website) Today I received a copy of the Library at the University of California Berkeley magazine which featured the Tools of the Trade exhibit at the Environmental Design Library.  The notice reminded me of a letter I wrote to the editor of Landscape Architecture Magazine about the writing and drawing tools used by landscape architect Thomas Balsley. Image: Landscape Architecture Magazine, April 2011 ( Source : Thomas Balsley Associates) Intrigued by the photographs of Thomas Balsley's hands -- which always held a pen -- in the April 2011 issue of Landscape Achitecture Magazine , I wrote the editor of LAM asking for information about the pens and markers that the landscape architect used in his practice.  Here is an edited version of the response I received: Balsley tells us he uses Berol 314 graphite pencils for drafting and Spectracolor DESIGN or Berol Prismacolor for colored pencils.  For f

Soils in the city

  The editors of CSA News Magazine used our photograph of a tree well in Washington Square Park to illustrate the feature article in the August issue of the journal. The article is about urban soils and here is an excerpt: Cities are often thought of as concrete jungles. Yet under all of the concrete exists a whole lot of soil—complex mixtures of minerals, water, air, and organic matter that perform many critical ecosystem functions. As our world becomes increasingly urbanized, the importance of studying these soils is coming to be recognized both from a purely scientific perspective and as a tool for sustainability in urban environments. SSSA is in the process of forming an Urban Soils Task Force, which will work to promote the study of urban soils within the Societies, provide education on soils for the range of constituents in urban areas, and integrate an understanding of soils into urban planning and infrastructure. An appropriate understanding of soils plays a criti

Public space hugs the curb

NYC Seasonal Curbside Seating, Sullivan Street Read about the Local's parking space to park project on Sullivan Street (pictured above). Learn more about the Chicago Dept. of Transportation's "Make Way for People" project via The Architect's Newspaper. The parklet in the University City District of Philadelphia was that city's first. Inspired by NYC, San Francisco's Pavement to Parks program now includes ten built projects including the Powell Street Promenade.  Landscape designer Walter Hood led a tour of the promenade when it opened in 2011; a section is shown above.