The branding of countries
Cidade dos Logos has collected dozens of country logos, most of which are for popular tourist destinations. I’m surprised at the number that have an almost hand-drawn feel to them.
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The greening of Toronto’s parking lots
Atlanta could learn something from a pilot project for creating more efficient and appealing parking lots within Toronto. Spacing Toronto writes:
the City of Toronto is piloting new design guidelines for “greening” surface parking lots. The proposals include measures to address many of the major environmental problems, and in the process, they address some of the aesthetic problems as well. Ideas include landscaping with trees and grasses, using permeable surfaces such as bricks, and creating separated pedestrian walkways.
Beautiful solutions
“When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”
(via Monoscope)
Loving the sidekick.
The Denver Museum of Contemporary Art is to the Denver Art Museum as Seattle’s Douglass-Truth branch is to the Seattle Public Library.
The well-designed sidekick gets some love: both the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art and the Douglass-Truth branch of the Seattle Public Library [map, official, flickr] have come into their own in cities where their better-known counterparts win the design awards.
Harvard Design Magazine: The Dutch 70s, by Wouter Vanstiphout
I was browsing the back issues of Harvard Design Magazine and found an article by Wouter Vanstisphout entitled “The Dutch 70s.” Though it’s about the legacy of 1970s design in The Netherlands, I found the introductory paragraph most interesting:
In Holland there are no architects, buildings, or even unrealized designs that have been unjustly neglected. In the last ten or fifteen years — before which only the golden age of the 17th century and the heroic period of modern architecture in the 1920s were of interest — almost everything has been colonized by historians: first the eclectic 19th century, then the neoclassic 18th century, then the styleless pragmatic 1930s, the protomodern teens, and most recently the ugly reconstruction architecture of the 1950s and 60s. . . Whole areas in Holland have been designated as “protected cityscape.” This does not mean that you can’t demolish important buildings — but they first must be documented, described, and categorized.
The beautiful design for the new Prague library is under attack by the Czech president and the mayor of Prague
Jan Kaplicky’s beautiful design for the new Prague library is under attack by both the Czech president and the mayor of Prague, reports Building Design Online.
But speaking to BD this week, Kaplicky — who last week took part in a head-to-head televised debate with the mayor — said that a forthcoming settlement between the warring parties would not see the design altered.
Hopes of realising the 50,000 sq m building, dubbed “the octopus” and set to hold 10 million books, were also boosted by a 3,000-name petition of support and by backing from competition jurors including architect Eva Jiricna.
More beautiful manhole covers
More beautiful manhole covers, this time from all over France.
The Uncoolhunter
Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh
Le Corbusier said of the city, “Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with places and buildings for all human activities by which the citizens can live a full and harmonious life. Here the radiance of nature and heart are within our reach.” In the middle of the last century, Le Corbusier’s lofty plans for urban design were (nearly) realized in Chandigarh, India [map, wiki, flickr, official].
Photograph by d ha rm e sh.
Busting superblocks.
The Built Environment Blog busts superblocks. The post does a good job of placing into historical context one controversy among many surrounding the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
Japanese manhole cover pool on Flickr
The Japanese manhole cover pool on Flickr is worth a quick browse. My favorites: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, & VII.
Footprint: A new journal from the Delft School of Design
The Delft School of Design has just released the inaugural issue of their new journal, Footprint; it’s focused on architecture and urbanism.
Designing children in Helsinki, Finland
This post is in Chinese; it seems to be describing a new district in Helsinki designed, in part, by Finnish schoolchildren. Does anybody have any additional information? If so, please leave a comment.
Countdown signals work
Newly installed countdown pedestrian signals have been given much of the credit for saving the lives of Toronto pedestrians this year. Stamping out the unnecessarily ambiguous is not only good design, it’s good urban policy.
Resisting design
It’s possible to sleep on a bench designed to prevent just that. There’s no best mousetrap; there’s no best sleep-proof bench.