Archive for August, 2010

Palmer Park Charrette

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

While the City of Detroit begins to take steps to define its future, existing community assets remain as important as ever to our shared quality of life.  City parks, when well-maintained, have the potential to not only provide space for recreation, but also a venue for community engagement and interaction.  Now, as the city works to keep parks open in the face of extremely limited resources, several community groups and other volunteer organizations have begun to form partnerships to ensure some parks move beyond survival, and begin to thrive once more.

A group of neighborhood coalitions, non-profits, and the City of Detroit General Services Division, are planning a public participatory design charrette for Palmer Park on Saturday, September 25, from 9am to 12pm at the Detroit Unity Temple, 17505 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48203. (more…)

Posted in Detroit Urban Strategy, Events, Hit and Run | Comments Off

DUALITY

Friday, August 27th, 2010

It’s impossible to avoid the deterioration and vacancy abundant within any post-industrial City.  Optimistically, these voids and vacancies are also the City’s possibilities for the future.  In fact, our City and the Great Lakes industrial region have persisted in this state of duality for many years.  While many see the bad and the ugly, others see the good, the beauty, and most importantly, the potential.

Hope is found on multiple scales.  In the photo, we find it at a small scale, bursting forth from the most unexpected place…

Posted in Hit and Run | Comments Off

DICH(2)OTOMY {THE WATERS OF NEW ORLEANS}

Friday, August 27th, 2010

DesCours is a week-long, contemporary architecture and art event that looks towards the future in showcasing experimental, cutting-edge new media and interactive installations while embracing New Orleans rich cultural heritage.  During DesCours, internationally recognized architects, designers and artists transform unique, hidden spaces within the French Quarter and Central Business District into destination places for visitors and locals alike.

Following an international design competition, a total of 11 artists and architects (individuals and teams) will be selected through invitation and proposal process to participate by creating installations for French Quarter courtyards, downtown building lobbies, rooftops, walkways and other ‘hidden’ New Orleans spaces.   Overall, the AIA New Orleans is seeking installations that react and respond both to the historic nature of the sites, and to the public audience that views them. (more…)

Posted in Competitions, New Orleans, Urbanism | Comments Off

DINING BY DESIGN

Friday, August 20th, 2010


Last weekend, the greater Detroit design and culinary communities coalesced in a three day event to benefit the Michigan AIDS Coalition. The Dining by Design tour, which has been visiting six cities a year for the past 13 years, made its debut in Detroit at the Benson and Edith Ford Conference Center at the College for Creative Studies in the recently renovated Argonaut building.

Organized by Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), the event offers an opportunity for local designers to turn a 150-200 square foot dining area into a work of art. Each installation becomes a unique interpretation of the dining experience limited only by the design team’s creativity. Works ran the gamut from luxurious to theatrical to rustic. One could find a tranquil garden set adjacent to a vibrant typographic environment. One installation was built entirely from cardboard.

The event culminated Saturday night in a dinner for the designers, sponsors, and donors to enjoy a meal, completing the artistic visions. The other cities in this year’s line-up include: Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Columbus, Atlanta and Kansas City, where the event began.

Posted in Events, Hit and Run, Interior Design, Projects | Comments Off

HAA ANNOUNCES LECTURESHAA – EVENT 08

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

lecturesHAA is dedicated to creating a broader creative discourse through open and collaborative dialogue. The program includes lectures and discussions throughout the year that will consider important contemporary design issues associated with the urban environment.

The 2010 program for is titled, “Challenging Detroit: (Re)generating Urbanism.” This program provides an important platform for consideration of innovative, multidisciplinary strategies designed to help the city not only create reinvestment and redevelopment, but also begin to regenerate the social, economic and environmental attributes that define it. Now, more than ever, we need to come together to understand how we can effectively participate in the thoughtful, creative regeneration of Detroit.

The public is encouraged to attend these free events. Please visit our facebook page or return to rogueHAA for post lecture discussions, future topics, and dates. (more…)

Posted in Detroit Urban Strategy, Events, Lectures | Comments Off

NEW ORLEANS STOOP HOUSE PART II

Friday, August 6th, 2010


The United States Green Building Council 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition challenged young designers to envision a LEED platinum home in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans.  Due to recent stipulations which require new homes to be raised above flood levels, the brief asked that entries find creative ways of addressing this prerequisite, while also maintaining strong ties to the neighborhood context, and designing under a $100,000 construction budget.

HAA’s design approach focused on the stoop as a critical physical and social space. By emphasizing this literal and conceptual middle ground between the public street and private home, the design attempted to mitigate contextual issues brought on by lifting homes above Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters.  The resulting design directly opens traditionally public functions to the front of the home and the stoop, reinforcing the connection of the home to the community. (more…)

Posted in Architecture, Competitions, Landscape Architecture, New Orleans, Projects, Urbanism | Comments Off