Friday link

Sometimes the goal of architecture is to blend into the landscape.

"The Woodman’s Treehouse is a luxurious two-story suite arranged between and beneath the canopy of aged oaks. Far from being a woodland folly it is the sleepover den every grown-up dreamed of as a child; a self-contained tree-top world of tricks and toys, part castle, part hovel, part lair."

from: http://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/the-woodmans-treehouse_o

Best Google Doodles Celebrating Architects and Architecture

"Since 1998, Google has been manipulating their iconic logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists, creating what they call Google Doodles. Since the very first doodle (used to indicate founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s attendance at Burning Man that year), Google has produced over 2000 fun, colorful drawings to inform their users about the important milestones that fell on that date. Of these doodles, numerous have featured the works or lives of some of history’s most prominent architects. Check out a sampling of some of our favorites."

from: http://www.archdaily.com/797885/27-of-the-best-google-doodles-celebrating-architects-and-architecture

"Sustainable Infrastructure for Better Growth, Better Climate and Better Lives"

"All countries - developed and developing countries alike - need to act now on climate change if we are to reduce emissions to relatively safe levels, of 2 degrees Celsius with an aspiration of 1.5 degrees Celsius."

from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-rijsberman/sustainable-infrastructur_b_12579906.html

Cool animation video!

"The vision for the Port Lands is the creation of an “urban island,” by rerouting the Don River."



Click here to see video animation:

https://twitter.com/TorontoStar/status/789186431239401472

more info: https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/10/20/port-lands-flood-protection-cost-rises-to-125-billion.html

Better street design

"It is better to design roads to have more frequent stimuli: trees, sidewalks with pedestrians, commercial development, [and] residential development," writes Levy. Another trick is to make lanes narrower. Drivers speed up in wider lanes, and they're also pedestrian-hostile, making it harder to cross streets safely. Narrowing them helps in both cases, and could create more space at the side of the road for bigger sidewalks or wider bike lanes."



from: https://www.fastcoexist.com/3064333/design-is-better-than-enforcement-to-make-cities-safer-for-everyone

I always loved a good map!

"Data lover and Geography PhD candidate Robbi Bishop-Taylor uses open-source GIS software to generate high-resolution maps of the world. In a recent project, Bishop-Taylor created a high-resolution map of Canada’s trails, roads, streets and highways; weighted and colored by size (from small unsealed trails and roads in blue to freeways in bright yellow)."



from: http://twistedsifter.com/2016/09/canada-mapped-by-trails-roads-streets-highways/

Tiny ways to make outsized transformations

"Sometimes the smallest things we can do for our neighborhoods can have the biggest impact. At Curbed, we know the power of a vegetable garden planted in a vacant lot or a library installed on a sidewalk. For Micro Week, we want to share 101 urban interventions and ideas that show how even the tiniest changes can make our cities better places."

from: http://www.curbed.com/2016/9/22/13019420/urban-design-community-building-placemaking

Hostile design

"Take a public bench: Though its primary purpose is to give people a place to sit, it can also be used for sleeping, skate tricks, or even romantic entanglements. If such uses are deemed inappropriate, unpleasant design elements can be added to deter them. For example, strategically placed armrests can make sleeping uncomfortable, skating dangerous, and love-making gymnastic, thereby forcing "proper" use of the bench."



Or "a low wall with metal anti-skate bars affixed along the edges."



"This kind of design becomes problematic when humans aren't aware of it," Savić says, "Or when it's done for the pure purpose of profit with little benefit to society in general. It's especially problematic when it targets certain groups, like young people or the homeless." While Savić believes that unpleasant design is often inevitable, even useful in some cases, she thinks the notion that objects can solve problems is flawed. By attacking one problem with unpleasant design, other problems are often created, she says. She gives the example of pigeon spikes, which deter pigeons from landing on eaves and other structures. Though the spikes work well, they tend to concentrate birds in locations without spikes. It doesn't solve the root of the problem, it just moves it."

from: http://www.popsci.com/unpleasant-design

Bike Vancouver!

"In 2012, Vancouver's city council set an ambitious goal to reach a bike mode split of 7% by 2020 which was achieved in 2015, 5 years ahead of the plan! And even more impressive: if you just look at just work commute mode splits, they've achieved 10% which certainly puts them in a rare category in North America."



"When you ride around the fantastic network of bike lanes throughout the city, it is no wonder Vancouver, BC is experiencing a leap in ridership. Most of the city feels safe to ride in and it's fun to see all sorts of people out on bikes. And the fact that they are constantly going back to re-engineer and tweak some parts of the lanes to make them even safer is a key plot point that we need to engage all cities to do more of."

"Here's just one fact from Dale Bracewell from the City of Vancouver who's our main storyteller: when the city had just painted bike lanes on Hornby Street, the share of women cycling was 28%. After the landscaped protected bike lanes were constructed and years of growth, the share of women cycling by 2015 has grown by 40% (now 39% of the total people cycling)."

Vancouver's Breathtaking Network of Safe, Protected Cycletracks from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

The cost of sprawl

"Sprawl Costs the Public More Than Twice as Much as Compact Development - How much more does it cost the public to build infrastructure and provide services for sprawling development compared to more compact neighborhoods? A lot more, according to this handy summary from the Canadian environmental think tank Sustainable Prosperity."

from: http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/03/05/sprawl-costs-the-public-more-than-twice-as-much-as-compact-development/

Bike lanes in Victoria

"Construction has started on the city's first two-way protected bike lane on Pandora Avenue in the city's downtown. While the lane itself is only a few blocks long, it's part of a larger plan dubbed Biketoria that aims to vastly improve cycling infrastructure in the Vancouver Island city. "The whole Biketoria network of corridors is transformational for the city of Victoria," said Brad Dellebuur with the city's engineering department. "It is going to fundamentally change how you move around in the city."



from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/victoria-breaks-ground-on-first-protected-bike-lane-1.3794968

Science!

"$22.7M to support research in building resilient, interdependent systems able to withstand disasters."

from: https://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=189956&org=NSF&from=news

Transit your way

Apple and Google Maps aren't perfect, "which leaves room for competitors to fill in the various gaps. One such competitor is the small team behind a popular public transit app called, a bit dryly, Transit App. In their bid to create a fully functional map that would include every transit mode in a city without sacrificing aesthetics, the Montreal-based company of just 17* developers, designers, and cartographers are taking the two tech giants head on. “Google Maps and Apple Maps have tried to do it, but we thought we could do better.”



from: http://www.citylab.com/design/2016/08/the-transit-app-trying-to-beat-google-and-apple-at-mobile-mapping/493421/

"A transit map is much more than a list of stations. It’s the underlying anatomy of your city. It shows how people move, how neighbourhoods are connected, and how your craziest city adventures begin."



from: https://medium.com/transit-app/transit-maps-apple-vs-google-vs-us-cb3d7cd2c362#.xa27pzg3u

Vancouver's new planner

"Vancouver, which is beset by high anxiety over homelessness, growth, development and the soaring price of housing, is in a prime position to reset itself, says the city’s new chief planner. “There’s a moment of ripeness to ask the big questions and make some big moves,” said Gil Kelley, who was recruited from San Francisco to head up the city’s beleaguered planning department. “It’s a time to look at where is the city heading in the long term.” He said Vancouver is suffering from a bewildering dilemma that has become common among attractive 21st-century cities: The better it becomes, the worse it is for some residents."



“Vancouver is iconic physically, but it has also been willing to strike out ahead and be a global model,” Mr. Kelley said, explaining that was one of the reasons he was willing to leave San Francisco and come to Vancouver. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to take this position when they first called, but I was seduced by the moment Vancouver’s in.” He praised the big shift the city made in the late 1980s and early 90s as planners helped create a new model of urban living downtown. But, he said, the city needs to have a collective conversation about where to go next – not a comprehensive rezoning and development plan, as some have suggested, but a vision for the future."

from: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouvers-new-chief-planner-says-city-is-ripe-for-change/article32254131/

Great Neighbourhoods

The APA has chosen its 15 communities in its 2016 list of Great Places in America.

"Characteristics of a Great Neighborhood include:

1. Has a variety of functional attributes that contribute to a resident's day-to-day living (i.e. residential, commercial, or mixed-uses).
2. Accommodates multi-modal transportation (i.e. pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers).
3. Has design and architectural features that are visually interesting.
4. Encourages human contact and social activities.
5. Promotes community involvement and maintains a secure environment. 
6. Promotes sustainability and responds to climatic demands.
7. Has a memorable character."

from: https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/characteristics.htm

Need to learn 3D modeling?

Need to learn 3D modeling?

"SketchUp is one the most popular and easy-to-learn 3D modeling programs available, and it's a great tool for planners and urban designers. This course provides an introduction to how planners and architects represent three-dimensional objects with step-by-step instructions for creating and using simple 3D models."



from: https://courses.planetizen.com/course/sketchup-2016-intro/1#