Hippodamian Plan

I read today on Landscape + Urbanism blog by Jason King about the Hippodamian Plan. I learned about Hippodamian of Miletus in an Urban Landscape class when studying abroad in Italy. It was great to reference what I saw and learned in the classroom, and then be able to physically experience the Hippodamian grid in places like Venice, Barcelona, and other European grid oriented cities. Many of the downtown parts of major cities in the United States have employed this grid system and have made it a successful way for urban growth. Surprisingly, Sacramento is highly ranked in its efficiency, along with perennial urban design haven Portland, Oregon, while New York is off the charts. To be expected from New York.

Related links: Plantetizen Mobile

Sacramento K Street Mall Competition

Born and raise in Sacramento has had its moments for me, but when I read this article about K Street Mall, I was incredibly happy. Creating a modern public space for Sacramentans is something a long time coming. K Street Mall is currently a bland dead space with track for Regional Transit. Recent proposed ideas would turn the space into the center of the city and possibly one of the premier public spaces in the USA.

Read the article here by “Sac Bee” writer Ryan Lillis.

City Center Las Vegas

Well this time I will share something from Vegas. I was there for the first time this past weekend for a golf tournament and came across a particular project that I thought was intriguing. Did some research on the site and learned a lot and liked what I saw.

The project is called “City Center Las Vegas”. It’s a 67 acre site that was proposed by MGM Mirage designers and architects. The project is LEED Certified and uses many methods of sustainable design that you probably would not see in a city like Las Vegas. Sustainability and green design I believe is the farthest thing from the minds of big money businessmen, but there is a significant cash cow here. To be able to boast about having the first sustainable living community on the strip is something to help sell and market a great example of how its possible to attempt this in other locations. Just like the Taipei 101 wants to be called “The Tallest Green Building”, The City Center Las Vegas can be the first green community in Las Vegas.

It is quite incredible how a city filled with so many drunk people could possibly become one of the worlds mecca for innovative design, architecture, landscape architecture, and art based practices.

Related story from MSNBC on walkability in Vegas: Las Vegas and the 21st Century Strip

Click here for a direct link to the City Center Las Vegas website.

Click here for a video of the project.

Las Vegas

I will be away from the computer until November 9th, when I will resume posts.

Cornerstone Gardens: Eucalyptus Soliloquy

“The Sonoma landscape features Eucalyptus windbreaks that divide field and vineyard. Eucalyptus Soliloquy is a conversation between distant groves and a built landscape of borrowed trees, orphan leaves, branches and seeds.” – Walter Hood

This intimate project connects you with the landscape of Sonoma. It focuses your thoughts and directs them. I also enjoyed this one because of its views, use of textures, lines, and change between light.

www.cornerstoneplace.com

Cornerstone Gardens: Garden Play

The next batch of posts will cover the gardens that I explored in Sonoma, CA, at Cornerstone Winery and Gardens. There are over a dozen different gardens on site, some being seasonal gardens. When you visit you will find that the project sites are by some of the most prominent landscape architects around the world. It was very inspirational, and visiting aroused my mind on how to incorporate art better, and its connection to the landscape.

My personal favorite is the one pictured below by Topher Delaney titled “Garden Play”. Delaney  had this to say about her project, which goes for most of her work: “It is my intention in ‘Garden Play‘ to engage the spectator in the ritual of play within the formality of the garden.” She says this because her work is interactive, allowing people to create their own garden through introducing moving objects and particular aesthetics. Within this very intimate space, she allows people to move the rope covered balls as well as the bocce balls. Making public spaces more interactive allows people to use the space how they see fit and what makes them most comfortable. I always believe that a site that is over programmed is not conducive to as much public use as a space that is simplistic, unprogrammed. Although if the space is programmed for a particular purpose, there should be options that would not exclude people from using the space.

LEED Certified Buildings of Northern California

As I am trying to build a collection of projects to post in a map form, here is a great website that provides a list for all of the currently LEED Certified Buildings in Northern California.

Thanks to M. Landman.

Lawrence Halprin

Why has his passing gone seemingly unnoticed? He passed away on October 25, 2009. You can read here the report from the SF Chronicle. One of the great 20th century landscape architects, he shifted the urban world with wonderful designs. With numerous works in the Bay Area of California, Halprin’s imprint on the area will forever be made.

Inspiration as a Process

Inspiration can be found in the littlest things; from a simple gesture, random acts of kindness, art, innovative design, and speeches. As a young designer, I have found inspiration from the strangest places, people, and events. Most importantly it’s what I have done with these moments of inspiration that separates me from everyone else. This is true for you as well, because no two people are alike in thought and subconscious awareness, and that is what makes us all so unique.

When studying in Italy, Robert Irwin’s Process of Abstraction was a focus of the course work and everything that we saw. His paper on this process has helped me to break down what I see into the bare minimum and apply it to the pre-cognitive and cognitive phases of design. Pre-cognitive is the light, edge, and color. Cognitive is hue, value, rhythm, figure and ground, scale, and texture. Once having applied the pre-cognitive to something, using the cognitive mind-set allows you to be more open, artistic, and aware of the needs of the design and the surroundings.

On a recent trip to Monterey Bay, I stopped at Capitola to visit the beach and found piles of driftwood. Not only on the beach, but people saw the driftwood and had the inspiration to apply their ideas to what they saw. It may be archaic, but its design, it’s the process of abstraction, its inspiration as a process.

(I find inspiration in this because people are utilizing nature and building something that they created in their minds. The textures, lines, forms are also good ways of getting inspiration for designs.)

In some of the next posts I will share my process of abstraction applied to my project in Italy.

Chinese Garden at the Huntington

The Huntington Botanical Gardens are located in San Marino, CA, surrounded by Pasadena. I have been fortunate enough to go several times as a student working on projects and as a visitor, and each time I see and learn something new.

There are over six regional gardens at the Huntington, and they have their own research center, library, and archiving. My most recent visit back in June was for a Asian Gardens class and we visited the newly built Chinese Garden. Just about everything down to the last detail has been mimicked in traditional Chinese arts, plants, stones, architecture, etc. The Huntington went as far as to have lake bed rocks shipped all the way from China.

Below are some photos of the Chinese Garden.