randform

Berlin Potsdamer Platz

If it comes to 3D in google earth most cities are still more or less little grey bricks. Berlin however has lately provided a quite detailed view of itself. The software based on the LandXplorer technology was developped by the Potsdam Company 3D Geo GmBH together with the Hasso-Plattner Institute. It was produced by Berlin Partner GmBH and works with the newest version of google earth together with a link to www.3d-stadtmodell-berlin.de.

via Berliner Zeitung

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A suburb of Munich in the seventies

There is currently something like a “Plattenbaunostalghia” in Berlin, which manifests itself in Plattenbau-esthetics-designed clubs or things like this Plattenbauquartett available everywhere in Berlin-Mitte. Last not least there are still some eastgerman Plattenbaus even in Berlin Mitte.

While the east german Plattenbaubuildings built in the 70/80ties actually rather meant a social upgrade at that time, their west german analogs (in Berlin-West this is Gropiusstadt and the Maerkische Viertel) were intended to provide cheap living spaces.

If these kind of quarters are badly connected to public transport then either the explosive social mixture of the seventies is still prevalent or they become the victim of the shrinking cities phenomenom (see also ping mag). Likewise east german Plattenbaubuildings in rather remote locations experienced a social devaluation. Besides the bad connection to the inner city, one reason for the devaluation is of course that these buildings are badly built. You can hear almost every word of your neighbours and you better do not practise a music instrument.

Someone I know gave me the above old seventies view from her childhood appartment and chatted a bit about kid-gangs at that time. Luckily there was a public library which was her refuge. She said: This kind of environment is supposed to make you tough.

chairs at the back yard of TU Munich

heated ones are available at designboom.

via cuartoderecha

image from wikipedia

Sometimes sun light protection with simple and energy saving solutions like exterior window shutters or non electric mechanical window blinds (see above image) is not so easy feasible like in the case of big windows, like in business applications or in urgent cases, where a fast shield is necessary like e.g. in aviation.

An alternative to electro-mechanical (and thus energy costly) window blinds (in german also called Jalousie) are may be smart windows like e.g. the SPD light-control technology by research frontiers Inc. who seem to head for a big commercalization of their product see pressrelease from Feb 1.

->see also the information brochure by frontier research.

Important things need to be repeated. So this is the first repetition of the announcement of the 2010 initiative, an initiative for raising the awareness for the climate change in the architecture/engineering and design community. As of today the organizers say:

First, a big thank you to everyone who has registered – you are making this an amazing event! As you can see below, people, schools, firms, companies and organizations from all over the world will be tuning in on February 20! This is no small thing, since Noon to 3:30pm EST is very late or very early in many of these countries.

Unfortunately the european response has not been so overwhelming yet, in particular if I look under the letter’s F and G on the participants list then I see for France that the University of Nantes registered and a brave student from the University of Paris (super!) – that is at least something. I was also amazed to see Ghana and even New Zealand on the list! However, as one can see, the german contribution to the climate initiative has been sofar autotally unconvincing – in every respect!

An interview with Edward Mazria on BLDGBLOG about carbon neutral architecture as set out in the 2030 challenge as well as about the 2010 Imperative Imperative Global Emergency Teach-In on February 20th which is he is cohosting.

addressing global warming and climate change is an interactive web-cast broadcast live from New York, reaching more than 500,000 students, faculty, deans and practicing professionals in the architecture, planning and design communities in both North and South America.

see also the

OPEN LETTER TO THE
ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND BUILDING COMMUNITY of the 2030 challenge and from the interview with Mazria:

people are accepting that the (climate) debate is essentially over, and that we must move from debate to action. But scientists have given us a very, very small window of opportunity here. We have essentially ten years to begin to get this situation under control. Otherwise we’ll hit tipping points (see also clathrate randform post) beyond which there will be very little anyone can do to influence things. So there’s a new sense of urgency.

this image is creative commons.

Due to diminishing ressources recycling will get more and more important. Germany’s system of collecting waste, which includes the well-known “Gruener Punkt” is in principle a step in the right direction, however it could be improved if there would be an overall paradigm change in western waste societies to look at waste as something which could be creatively turned into something useful rather than leaving it as dead trash.

But to communicate this is not easy.

Art is – among others – used to make people to look at things in a different way. Besides e.g. Duchamps famous ready mades and other art museum works I think e.g. also some Folk art could be seen as an avantgarde of eco-art — and not just only because of its property of recycling “waste” materials. It is also its particular view onto the involved materials and subjects which is important.

Something like over 20 years ago there was a big story in the german magazine stern (I think it was stern, I can’t find the article right now) about Franz Gsellmanns Weltmaschine, which spured my interest in this art form and especially in what raw vision called visionary environments including the already mentioned Weltmaschine or e.g. Nek Chand – Figures from the Rock Garden, Chandigarh; the famous Palais Ideal or the Californian Watts Towers. (Raw Vision doesn’t list sofar Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village located in Simi Valley, California. May be because it got severely damaged in the last earth quake)

Anyways, California and especially Southern California has may be a special interest in recycling waste for geological reasons. May be it is because Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains are recycling themselves, or in other words the mountains “in their state of tectonic youth, are rising as rapidly as any range on earth… Shedding, spalling, self-destructing, they are disintegrating at a rate that is also among the fastest in the world.” according to John McPhee’s essay “Los Angeles Against the Mountains” in his book “The control of nature” . The architectural implications of that are indicated in this nice review on bldg blog.

I know it is exagerated to call California just by the above examples a hotspot for ecological and environmental influenced art. On the other hand: how many examples would one need so that it would become an arthistorical fact ? (see also hypothesis development)

So lets give one more (and more recent..:)) example of an (architectural) eco-art project in Southern California (which funnily wouldn’t be called art brut..:), namely: The recycling and demolition of the Wurms Building by Jason Middlebrook at Riverside Historic Downtown Main Street Mall.

From Jason Middlebrooks Statement:

“Over the course of a two week period I will gut the Wurms building of all it’s raw and reusable materials. Each day demolition and incisions will occur and material will be removed which will than be designed and built into furniture. During the two week process the furniture and objects will be displayed on the site. My goal is to save and reuse as much of the building as possible. I will approach the building in a radical matter, cutting, exposing and dividing. The name of the project, LIVE BUILDING will be cut in gigantic letters into the parking lot side. The end objective is to reduce the amount of debris that will eventually go into a land fill. The usable parts of the building create new objects that contribute to people’s lives.”

From Pat O’brians press enterprise report reflecting the opinion of authorities:

The notion of the Culver Center was to bring interesting, provocative, challenging arts, performance, theater, music to Riverside,” said Jonathan Green, director of UCR/CMP. “Rather than just bulldoze the building, we’re using this an opportunity to show that artists can be involved in a range of projects, not just hangings on the wall.

Yes – I have a weakness for oriental architecture (see also this old randform post) and I admit – our website design is depite the 70’s wallpaper hanging from above rather a pure adaptation of this gorgeous site about the topkapi palace! Although this topkapi palace main page is lowbandwidth/cellular-phone-unfriendly programmed in flash – the music on the site should sound enough inviting for everybody to take a trip to Istanbul into serious consideration.*

* (don’t forget to bring something to drink with you if you plan a long visit at the palace, there are various temperatures in Istanbul)

Oriental architecture is influenced by Islam (like e.g. the calligraphy at the Taj Mahal)- a religion which has been lately under fierce discussion in the western world. Those who do not know so much about the Islam may get a better access to it by looking at Islamic influenced art: Universes in Universe– Art from Islamic influenced countries and regions, a project in collaboration with the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Germany.