Claudia canales land8 articles

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Posted by LAN on Sep 9, 2014 in Landscape architecture Posts

Riverside Park South Celebrates New York’s Industrial Past Riverside Park South by Thomas Balsley Associates As one of the largest megacities on the planet, New York City is a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. New York emerges from an industrial past, where docks, warehouses, rail lines, and piers once represented modern city development. Over the last two centuries, the city has faced urbanization issues, giving way to transformations in its appearance.

During the 1960s and 1970s, authorities started a massive urban renovation program in which they envisioned a series of green areas to turn the industrial giant into a neighborhood-friendly city. Some of that program’s iconic legacies include Central Park, Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the subway system, elevated mass transit lines, and skyscrapers. But disagreements over the best way to achieve those urban design goals led to a fragmented cityscape.

Like many other design fields, urban design is moving forward, leaving behind the concept of automobile-centric cities. Nowadays, cities are beginning to be created by and for citizens, strengthening the concept of human-centered cities.

Embracing a New Riverside Park

In 1998, Thomas Balsley Associates took charge of the design of a 25-acre park that was part of a 65-acre redevelopment project in collaboration with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The ambitious project comprised seven building phases and required designers to work with local and state government agencies, community groups, and other stakeholders.

Celebrating New York’s Industrial Past

This rendering envisioned a big transformation of the waterfront. Unlike other waterfront parks in New York City, the Riverside Park South Waterfront connects directly to Manhattan´s grid through a recent urban development project. The master plan not only aimed to re-establish the community on the water’s edge, but to celebrate New York’s industrial past.

Riverside Park combines a series of architectural spaces and landscape design that distinguish the experimental features of the complex. Its outline is divided into three areas and is a great example of the integration between active and passive spaces.

The Promontory, a natural shoreline, fully blends into the view of Manhattan’s skyline. Restored gantries — gigantic structures that once transferred railcars onto rail barges — frame the horizon that defines North Gantry Plaza.

An Opportunity to Contemplate With its interpretative Garden, South Gantry is a special place. Reserved for contemplation, it gives visitors an opportunity to isolate and stare at beautiful ornamental grasses (Erianthus ravennae), such as spartina (Spartium junceum), little bluestem (Andropon gerardii), flame grass (Miscanthus), and willow trees (Salix). This artistic composition of different kinds of grass placed in layered geometries makes for a unique landscape proposal.

Balsley´s design of walking paths provides a sense of exploration and discovery for those who follow the stepping-stone path, protected by tall grasses leading to the water.

A Hub of Activity As a blissful public space, Riverside Park invites users to enjoy social gatherings and cultural initiatives.

During summer season, Pier 1 becomes the venue for open-air film projections, fireworks on the Fourth of July, and public art performances. Additionally, all kinds of activities are held on game courts and cafĂŠ terraces. Sports lovers, joggers, walkers, and bikers take advantage of the circulation system of esplanades, slopes, walkways, and bike paths.

Reconceptualizing Design Creating a dynamic space without considering its accessibility is senseless. Pedestrian paths play an important role in city navigation. They attract wanderers to discover urban realms. An example of this design principle is found on 68th Street, where a pedestrian path extends the axis from the upper park and opens up into a small public square at the river’s edge.

Remembering the Past Balsley Studio decided to work with the historic elements found in the area, and incorporated a combination of local materials such as wood, rock, gravel, and metal to highlight the pre-industrial era. Metal canopy shades were designed and placed along Riverside Park in order to protect the public during sunny days. During the night, a mixture of lights integrated into the railing system softly illuminates the walking areas.

A Parks with Benefits!

Reconceptualizing public space like Riverside Park demands an understanding of the environmental, ecological, and social aspects of the project being delivered to the community.

This initiative brings about a chain of positive outcomes to the city: ecologically sound restoration, which includes sustainable rain-fed gardens and vegetation planting; healthy living, encouraging fitness and well-being; energy efficiency, including savings in materials, time, and financial resources; proximity; and community integration.

It is important as designers to try new approaches: to experiment, explore creativity, and work toward community engagement. This site invigorates the relationship among New York City’s citizens and provides dwellers with the opportunity to experience their city from a different perspective, one where freshness and tradition coexist.

Recommended Reading: Anatomy of a Park: Essentials of Recreation Area Planning and Design by Bernard Dahl Public Parks: The Key to Livable Communitiesby Alexander Garvin Article written by Claudia Canales

Posted by LAN on Oct 24, 2014 in Landscape architecture Posts

The Skate Park That Thinks it Can Tell The Time!

Swiss skate park, by Zuk Club Zuk Club is a Moscow-based collective of artists working in mixed media who explore different artistic styles. Their interests have expanded and flowed into design, monumental, and contemporary art. They experiment through graffiti art and canvassing hard surfaces, such as walls, abandoned houses, old warehouses, and other urban structures. One of their remarkable projects is the intervention of a Swiss skate park.

A city that incorporates artwork into its street view is a city that establishes a dialogue between artists who have a passion for city life and the viewers who live there. Graffiti draws upon the urban landscape as a canvas to communicate with both citizens and the material structure of a city. Sadly, urban art is sometimes perceived as vandalism, a subculture synonymous with the destruction of private property.

Vandalism is public art that lacks identity and purpose.

Do you remember 5 Pointz Aerosol Arts Center, Inc. ?

Image and Credit: On September 11, 2013 in New York.5 Pointz, considered to be the world’s premiere “Graffiti Mecca” credit: BrooklynScribe / shutterstock.com

For artists, the essence of urban art is to deliver creativity, freshness, and engagement to the public realm and transform the cityscape. Contemporary art projects are complex criticisms that exist in the context of cities, art worlds, and urban visual culture.

Skate Park: Topography of Desire Skateboarding is a popular activity among young people who drift through the city, appropriating urban features to accomplish their risky maneuvers. Street skateboarding could be perceived as a subcultural resistance, because it usurps the urban environment. However, skate parks and skate plazas are a great example of the integration among sports, spatial creativity, and the politics of urban design.

The Design The concrete ramps of a skate park located in Lugano, Switzerland, combines two activities: graffiti and skateboarding. The bowl is a 1,000-square-meter renovated skate park; its topographic configuration has been intervened by the Zuk Club collective, transforming it with hand-painted modern murals. The murals explore vibrating colors — from red to blue, orange to green — with chaotic transitions of hue spectrums and complex patterns that cover the surface bowl.

In the composition, two sections are visible. On the first section, a rainbow of colors intersects with black and white diamond patterns. A checked complex of red and white overlaid by gray designs creates an optical illusion.

On the second section, organic drawings in red and turquoise contrast with black and white fractal and floral designs fitted into one of the pool’s gaps. In the middle of the pool, a conical extruded element is covered by a black and white diamond pattern. Novice and expert skaters are attracted by its singular features and dynamic composition.

From Skate Park of Lugano to Skate Park Sundial The skate spot is not only used for skate gliding, it also works as a sundial. The artwork plays directly with light, which casts shadows and marks the time of day.

The intention of the collective Zuk Club was to allow skaters enjoy their favorite activity without thinking about time or spending valuable minutes checking their mobile devices. In order to deduce the time, they need only look at the colored stripes painted on the surface. It is a great way of making a leisure activity even more amusing.

Urban Space as Galleries For skateboarders, the commercialization of their sport brings positive outcomes to their local scene. More investments in skate parks help them to promote their favorite sport, organize competitions, and spread the spirit of skateboarding to younger generations.

Lugano Skate Park is not only visited by skateboarders, but bikers, skaters, and scooters. Viewers also visit the skate park to admire the expertise of the skaters and to enjoy the art. Initiatives as Lugano’s skate park are an example of how art can transcend the confinement of galleries — and city walls — to allow urban art to develop in appropriate places and objects in and around the city, turning forgotten or rejected spaces into ephemeral pieces of art available to all citizens.

Recommended Reading: Dream Builders: The World’s Best Skatepark Creators by Justin Hocking Urban Street Design Guide by National Association of City Transportation Officials Article written by Claudia Canales

By LAN8: Landscape Architects Network on Sep 16, 2015 in Landscape architecture Posts

Plaza Victor J. Cuesta Reminds us of the Importance of Public Space Plaza Victor J. Cuesta by DURAN&HERMIDA arquitectos asociados.

Cuenca - Ecuador

What is the significance of public space? Many things can be said with regard to this particular question. In general, people perceive public space with a social connotation; others see it as an essential element in the sustainability of cities for political, economic, public health, and reasons of biodiversity. Public spaces include a variety of different places, from old historic city centers to suburban development sites. Residents of many countries have seen how local authorities are giving priority to open green spaces, urban renewal, and the revaluing of historical buildings. However, there is still a lot to be done. In South America, several countries face similar mobility problems and overpopulation. Local authorities have a tendency to prioritize the construction of expressways and bypasses to give more space to the millions of cars and informal public transportation that take our cities under siege, instead of developing the social side of urban intensification.

Plaza Victor J. Cuesta by DURAN&HERMIDA arquitectos asociados. Photo credit: Š Sebastiån Crespo

Plaza Victor J. Cuesta It is both inspiring and encouraging to find projects such as the Plaza Victor Cuesta, located in the historical center of the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, which seek to revalue open spaces and give society an interval in the daily vortex. The Plaza Victor Cuesta is a renewal project that was started in 2006 and completed in 2008. The project was designed and built by Durán & Hermida Associated Architects. A young studio formed by Javier Durán and María Augusta Hermida, both architects have extensive experience in housing and urban projects.

First Prize Winner In 2008, this project was awarded the First Prize in the category of Urban Design Projects in the XVI Architecture Biennale of Quito in Ecuador. The jury’s decision highlighted the challenge of building a medium-scale project with harmonious details, which prevailed on the value of its historical context.

Public Space and the Plaza’s Renewal In the beginning of the 19th century, the urban area of Cuenca was formed by “quintas”. The meaning varies from country to country, but generally stands for a suburban typology of low-density housing in which houses share a cul-de-sac or dead-end. They are often occupied by the working class. These “quintas” were located next to farmland. In 1920, Cuenca city officials decided to transform this area into a public space, but it remained empty and was not used for 20 years. The lack of a project transformed it into an urban blight and an insecure area for the community.

The Challenges of Public Space Unlike the traditional way of creating plazas and open spaces in South America, which vary depending on the taste of the local governors and are often closed with fences to protect the green areas from pedestrians, this project proposes a homogeneous surface that integrates circulation and the greenery.

The studio decided to divide the platform into seven strips in order to generate terraces and control topographic variations. The complex is perceived as an accessible platform from any corner, creating fluidity by the absence of physical barriers in its tissue.

Plaza Victor J. Cuesta by DURAN&HERMIDA arquitectos asociados. Photo credit: © Sebastián Crespo

A Good Public Space is Multi-Functional Space Spatially, the Plaza Victor Cuesta gathers a variety of uses that are integrated meticulously with its urban surroundings. The area where the stone prevails was thought out for social gathering, a meeting point, and pedestrian flow; it is also used as waiting space for public transportation. The green area located to one side of the square was conceived as a playscape for children, with a pergola built to give shade during the summer. The project included existing local trees found in the area and added five new ones, as well.

Choosing Materials The aesthetical care is also reflected in the combination of materials and the close relation with the landscape. The studio opted for materials such as wood, rust-colored steel, and stone. The material featured is rock stone used in the platform, which subtly disappears and gives way to grass carpets. Taking advantage of the retaining walls, the architects designed wooden benches that are supported by these structures, reducing the height difference among its terraces.

Lighting Design The lamps placed along the slopes and circulation ways are the focal point during the night and add a modern atmosphere to the project. The final touch is given by the strategic relocation of the monument of Victor Cuesta, which was installed in a higher podium so that it could be seen from any place on the square.

Respectful Design Durán & Hermida studio evidences the thoughtful and responsible way of the design. After analyzing the location and relevance of its past, the designers proposed a contemporary design with the understanding of its forms and the relation as an urban structure. The Plaza Victor Cuesta is a plan linked to the past that at the same time initiates opportunities for the future.

The Key to Making a Sustainable Public Space The form of public space, its uses, and maintenance raise important questions regarding urban planning, from the local to the metropolitan scale. Over the last three years, the Plaza Victor Cuesta has been facing degradation due to the inattention of authorities and occasional vandalism that has contributed to damage of this valuable project. It is of fundamental importance that authorities practice good public administration, to pursue the plaza’s preservation and establish a joint effort with civil society by generating cultural programs to show the importance of this space for them as a community.

Full Project Credits For Plaza Victor J. Cuesta Project: Plaza Victor J. Cuesta Architects: DURAN & HERMIDA arquitectos asociados / Javier Durán y María Augusta Hermida Location: Vargas Machuca, Cuenca, Ecuador Photo credits: Sebastián Crespo Completed: 2008 Contributors: Sonia Guzhñay, Edison Castillo, Fernanda Aguirre, Josue Vega, Cristian Sotomayor Construction: Illustrious Municipality of Cuenca Recommended Reading:

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By Land8: Landscape Architects Network on April 27, 2015

How Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School Mixes Play With Learning

Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School, Foshan, China, by Gravity Green. Is it possible to create an educational environment that integrates play and learning? Most people have been brought up in a traditional educational structure based on determination of rules, obedience, homogenization, collective thinking, and memorization of tedious knowledge. This is often accompanied by dull environments and rigid schedules. China’s state education system is often considered to be both rigorous and traditional, based on the philosophy of one-sidedly passing on knowledge from generation to generation. In reality, the quality of education China’s students receive varies greatly. Parents often invest a lot, depending on where they live and how ambitious their choice of school, making decent education a privilege.

Landscape masterplan of Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary Image credit: Gravity Green.

Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School But what is decent? We are beginning to witness advances in education, with innovative proposals related to integrative learning processes being implemented as an interesting option for a more effective and inspirational approach to education. Foshan, a city located in the province of Guangdong in China, is the location of the Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School, a 2009 campus enhancement project designed by Gravity Green Limited and Frank Yu and Claude Wong of Gravity Green Partnership architects. Gravity Green is a young studio with a clear vision of design called “Smart and Great”, which pursues comprehensive, sustainable, and responsive design solutions to highlight the uniqueness of each project.

The Learning Playscape The importance of play in learning and development from childhood to maturity is vital at each stage of life and in all its different forms, styles, and meanings. Children respond in a positive way when information is delivered in a cheerful space, in a non-academic environment or activity. In other words, learning should be an interactive, virtuous cycle in which children participate actively by integrating observation, exploration, intuition, and application of many other processes of human behavior stimulated by the natural environment.

Therefore, the scenery of Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School was designed and remodeled into a huge encyclopedia, allowing students to explore and to interact in this massive outdoor classroom. As a result, Gravity Green received the Merit Award of the HKILA Design Awards for the Yi Zhong De Sheng renovation project.

The 10th anniversary of the school was an excuse to enhance the old-style open space and change the appearance of the school as a whole. The building has a built area of 12,500 square meters and is home to 2,800 students. The complex comprises a display of blocks with open spaces in between, which suggested an opportunity to transform these voids into dynamic and stimulating learning spaces to rejuvenate the complex as a whole.

Themed Courtyards The courtyards were organized and selected to depict three academic subjects: physics, geography, and art. From these broad fields, complex topics were chosen, such as the Universal Law of Gravity, Law of Energy Conservation, Energy Generation, Kinetic Energy Mounds or Wind Farms, and the Law of Gravity and Demography. These laws and principles were then transformed cleverly into Isaac Newton’s Gravity Law Garden, the Geo-map Courtyard, and the Energy Generation Law Garden.

Using a Variety of Shapes and Colours The themed gardens and installations use a variety of shapes and elements (color cubes as benches, colorful 3d typography as signage, etc.) and all these elements are integrated harmoniously with natural elements and textures. The purpose of using these pieces is to capture the curiosity of students and provoke their desire to touch, interact, examine, and experience by their own will. Multi-functional Spaces These courtyards are not only used for educational purposes, they are also a hotspot for social interaction among students who spend their breaks and spare time relaxing in the grass, close to the trees, bushes, ornamental grasses, and flowers that beautifully embellish the school. A mixture of trees offers much-desired shade during hot summer days, creating a perfect atmosphere for contemplation and study. The design studio selected natural wooden materials to contrast with the concrete tiles placed in the courtyards to suggest different areas within the public space.

Opening up Possibilities A playful learning space opens up possibilities for individuals to become intrinsically motivated to define for themselves what to learn, how to deal with change, and to discover, moved by their own curiosity and desire. This enhancement project is an example of how this bottom line can be translated conceptually in the spheres of architecture and landscape, and shows the positive impact of integrated clever design.

Full Project Credits: Project name: Yi Zhong De Sheng Secondary School Location: Foshan, China Client: Deming Education Investment Company Limited Landscape Architect: Gravity Green Limited Architecture Firm: Gravity Partnership Limited Design date: 2009 Completion date: 2010 Site area: Approximately 12,500 square meters Awards: The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, Merit Award: Overseas Landscape Project 2012.

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By Land8: Landscape Architects Network on March 23, 2015

The Leisure Center at Madine: The $14.5 Million Investment in Ecology and Tourism

Finding a balance point for a project located in a natural place involves listening carefully to the environment in order to preserve its essence. The Madine Lake — or Lac de Madine — in The River Meuse, France, is located in the heart of the Regional Natural Park of Lorraine, which is home to a great variety of local flora and fauna. It is one of the largest lakes in the country, with an 11,000-hectare stretch of water, 250 hectares of forest, and 42 kilometers of banks and shores. This beautiful setting has always been an attraction for European tourists and sport lovers, laying the groundwork for a perfect opportunity to develop a project that responds to the exigencies for responsible tourism.

The Leisure Center at Madine by Urbicus

The reorganization integrates various criteria for tourism and environmental care. The redevelopment project is divided into two sectors, the first located in the northern area of Nonsard and the other located in the south, at Heudicourt. The construction takes into account a number of issues: The improvement of traffic routes, which aim to value and secure pedestrians and cyclists by isolating the flux of vehicles, setting them apart from the shoreline.

The hierarchy of areas: The main poles in Nonsard and Heudicourt will revolve around themed areas for sport and wellness, outdoor leisure activities, and a lakeside village.

The preservation of the site through taking into account environmental standards for development and construction.

The attractiveness and diversity of activities gathered in one place: sports, beach, accommodations, concerts, events, etc.

The construction of the complex was scheduled in two phases. The first phase, from 2013 until mid-2014, comprised the renovation of the equestrian center on Heudicourt and the construction of the House of the Promenade, where tourists are welcomed and given information about the leisure activities. The complex expects to welcome 350,000 holidaymakers in the coming seasons.

The port deepening will take into account the agreement signed by the partners to preserve local biodiversity. The protocol takes note of periods of low water flow and the reproductive needs of a number of fish species. The second phase includes the construction of accommodations and the rebuilding of the captaincy and enlargement of the port, as well as the development of private investments for local commerce.

Leisure Center at Madine Renovation: from Concept to Reality The complex designed by Urbicus Studio, headed by French architect Jean-Marc Gaulier, has created a unique architectural response that fuses with the landscape in a harmonious way. The studio was founded in 1996, and the team developed a term – Naturbanity — which refers to dealing with urban issues in terms of “architecture of the land area”. In other words, the team strives to design in such a way as to protect nature from urban and tourist pressure by leaving the landscape as natural as possible, re-establishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. An Ambition Shared by Everyone for the Leisure Center at Madine Having been a natural area for a long time, the park remains flexible, moving at the pace of the demands of tourism but with a responsible attitude. This is reflected in the selection of natural materials used in the project, such as wood, rusty steel, gravel, and fine sand that increase the sensation of being in a natural atmosphere, little intervened by man. The Leisure Centre at Madine is defined by subtle architectural strokes. A curvy complex inspired by water movement is the guideline that organizes the whole building program. The complex is perceived as a great unit; the wooden promenades elevate from the ground and become the roof of the main building — Maison de la Promenade — where pedestrians can walk above or below.

Later, it falls gradually, forming an undulating surface. Alongside the building, the terrace of the bar de la Plage faces the shoreline, giving a wonderful view of the venue. The architects left untouched the edge of the esplanade, in order to turn it into a relaxing and contemplative area during the last hours of the day. The blue of the sky and green of the vegetation are reflected in the building façade, which has different glass opacities.

Slow-growing grasses with very low water requirements, prairies, tall grasses, plants, and seasonal flowers are planted in strips and shrubs. Furthermore, aquatic plants placed in small banks are part of the greenery used in the landscape project. Denser trees give shade to the picnic area, offering a fresher spot in warm summers.

The lake has a wooden pier, fine sand beaches for sunbathing, and a setof showers near the esplanade.

The relevance of this project lies in the challenge of finding the integration of nature and social elements in the design of new environmental landscapes. Thus, the goal of the project is to preserve the evolution of an ecosystem that is a characteristic of a protected area’s natural region. Developers and designers have a great responsibility to create strategies for positive impact in the life of the community.

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