Category: Urbanism

ROGUEHAA PUBLISHED IN MONU #15 – “CHOOSE YOUR OWN URBANISM”

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011


This new MONU issue on the topic of Post-Ideological Urbanism probably touches on one of the most fascinating and biggest issues of our time and in our culture, or what is left of it: the non-ideological – or better post-ideological – conditions of our society when it comes to cities. Today, ideology ap…pears to have become, and to have been reduced to, something merely aesthetic, something you can buy yourself into as Wouter Vanstiphout explains in an interview with us entitled “Acrobatic Narratives”. In that sense cities have become suspicious territories where hypocrisy and fakery prevail when it comes to urban ideologies…and a new sincerity is obviously needed in a world consisting of a multiplicity of choices and urban outcomes without a single consistent urban ideology as Melissa Dittmer, Jamie Witherspoon, and Noah Resnick point out in their piece “Choose Your Own Urbanism Presents: The Case of the Missing Ideal”.

The following text is an excerpt from an article entitled “CHOOSE YOUR OWN URBANISM PRESENTS: The Case of the Missing Ideal” that has been recently published in the latest MONU magazine:

It’s a hot, dry and dusty afternoon… But, then again, all the afternoons are hot, dry and dusty in Sin City.  You’re in your shoebox of an office with the top three buttons of your white cotton shirt undone, a damp towel on the back of your neck, and the sound of a rickety two-dollar fan blowing in your face.  The A.C. is on the fritz again, and you’re just about to phone up that good-for-nothing building super to complain, when you hear three soft taps on the glass pane of your office door – the one that reads: Calvin Lynch, Private Detective.

You ask her to have a seat in the worn leather armchair and offer her a cigarette and a glass of flat ginger ale.  She accepts neither and says she prefers to stand. 

“I’m searching for something,” she finally says, after standing in front of the window, staring out through the half-closed blinds. “They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but this thing didn’t stay.  Or, maybe it never existed to begin with. Either way, I need your help.”

(more…)

ANNOUNCING PANEL DISCUSSION 04 – INCENTIVES : FUNDING ADVOCACY

Friday, October 28th, 2011

 

rogueHAA is pleased to announce the next event in its 2011-2012 panel discussion series: Provocations: Challenging Detroit’s Design Discourse

PANEL DISCUSSION 04: “INCENTIVES – Funding Advocacy”
November 15, 2011 – Panel Discussion: 6pm-8pm, reception to follow
Cass City Cinema at The Burton Theatre
3420 Cass Avenue

Detroit’s deep history  of commercial innovation and industrial production has created innumerable stories of prosperity and devastation.  From this spectrum of aspiration and consequence has emerged a fertile environment that gives root to new creativity and opportunity, while establishing a remarkable legacy of philanthropic and institutional support. This environment has created a sophisticated network of resources, where large scale national foundations, anchor institutions, and influential local leaders work alongside small scale arts groups, community development coalitions, entrepreneurs, and development advocates to cultivate locally focused programs. 

In the space of this network, numerous projects are underway, and many more are yet to come.  Our discussion will catalogue these efforts, discuss their impact, and outline new and innovative strategies for grants, incentives and other programs in the future. 

Participants:
Melinda Anderson – Detroit Creative Corridor Center
Heather Carmona – Woodward Avenue Action Association
George Jacobsen – Kresge Foundation
Rishi Jaitly – Knight Foundation
Sue Mosey – Midtown Detroit Inc
Dan Kinkead – Event Moderator, HAA

Following the panel discussion we will post a video and written summary of the event.  We will also provide an open comment board for others to share their thoughts on the dialogue.  As always, this event is open and free to the public. (more…)

RETHINKING THE POST INDUSTRIAL CITY: DETROIT<>LONDON

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

 

RETHINKING THE POST INDUSTRIAL CITY: DETROIT<>LONDON.  On Wednesday, February 9th, HAA participated in a London conference regarding Detroit, and the Post-Industrial City.  The conference, sponsored by Buro Happold, and coordinated by the World Architecture News, convened over 20 urban designers, planners, governmental leaders and architects to discuss the status of Detroit, and how lessons learned in London’s recent redevelopment could provide some insight into how Detroit may navigate toward to a more sustainable, viable future.

HAA attended as a design representative from Detroit, along with Jess Zimbabwe of the Urban Land Institute, whose current work focuses on the redevelopment of the Livernois corridor, and Marja Winters, the Deputy Director of the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department.  John Gallagher, writer for the Detroit Free Press, and author of Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining the American City, also attended remotely, via videoconference.   

The event, entitled Rethinking the Post-Industrial City: Detroit<>London, was focused on four segments of analysis, dialogue and recommendation, including governance, ecology, development and society.  This structure provided a platform to develop a series of potential strategies and considerations that may inform future efforts to engage the post-industrial landscape, and performance of Detroit.  (more…)

MILANO<>DETROIT : DENSE<>RARIFIED

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

 

“Two cities and two themes: voids and density.  In one city, voids have been expressly created, in the other, the voids are the result of decline.  In one, voids are defined by the surrounding density, in the other, the empty spaces neither define nor are defined.  Milan and Detroit have very little in common.  Indeed they seem opposites, like positive and negative images of the same picture.”  -Maurizio Sabini

In the latest edition of the Italian design journal, THE PLAN, two editors compile an assortment of city specific urban design articles.  Milan’s essays illustrate the extreme densification of their Italian city and the deliberate insertion of strategically programmed voids.  While the Detroit contributors expand upon the current dynamic state of this city, urban creativity resulting from the many voids of Detroit, and the need to redefine the previously negative connotations of Detroit as void

Hamilton Anderson expands upon Detroit’s descriptive relativism.  As stated in their article, “MULTIPLICITY AS RESOURCE: A Combined Architectural Narrative”, Detroit provides a unique opportunity to study how the urban architect may engage the vast plurality of perceptions and beliefs that define a city, and how they can inform the future trajectory of its built environment.  As the infamous case study of our current international economic and social condition, it is fashionable to expound on what should be done with, what will become of, what happened to, Detroit.  As an object, Detroit is a land of multiple narratives, and in the vein of descriptive pluralism, all of these narratives are true.  (more…)

LEAPING OFF:NEW YORK CITY’S HIGHLINE

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

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DICH(2)OTOMY DESIGN SELECTED FOR DESCOURS

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

In July, HAA submitted a design proposal for the DesCours design competition.  The Dich (2) otomy design proposal was recently selected for installation in December.

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) have been selected through an 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 was seeking installations that react and respond both to the historic nature of the sites, and to the public audience that views them.

Congratulations to the design team: Melissa Dittmer, Carl Bolofer, Jamie Witherspoon, and to all of those who helped influence the design submission.  Over the next two months, rogueHAA will update the website with design developments, construction images, and final photos of the event.  For further explanation of the design proposal, refer to previous post by clicking here.


Park(ing) on Woodward Ave.

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

Last Friday, HAA joined hundreds from around the world to celebrate Park(ing) Day, a one day event that highlights the need for more livable and vibrant public spaces in our cities.  With some help from Unilock and Landscape Forms, pavers and sod where placed on a parking spot at the corner of Gratiot and Woodward.  Soon, there was a green patch of space, an unusual site especially when one is accustomed to see a car in its place instead.  Onlookers were curious. Drivers paused. Parking enforcement stopped, then questioned, and questioned some more, but finally drove off.  This was the idea—to get people to notice, ask questions, and interact. For those that stopped by, they got the message and left with a smile on their faces.

For more information on Parking Day: http://parkingday.org/

City Bird and Bureau of Urban Living Park(ing) Day

Park(ing) Day 2010

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

In 2005, ReBar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single 2 hour metered parking space in downtown San Francisco into a temporary public park.  The goal was to provoke an examination of the values that generate public urban space by briefly transforming territory typically reserved for vehicles. The intervention aimed to address a broader range of public needs by providing a public green space.

Today, Park(ing) Day has evolved into an annual worldwide event that empowers the community to enact urban change by creatively altering parking spots for the betterment of the public.  This year, Park(ing) Day will be on Friday, September 17th.  HAA will be participating in this unique project, and is in the process of selecting a location and designing the Park(ing) spot.  Please check back for updates.

If you would like to create your own Park(ing) space or would like more information, please click here: http://parkingday.org/

License to Participate: http://parkingday.org/src/NPD_license_2010.pdf

Park(ing) Day network: http://my.parkingday.org/

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…)

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…)