What is #2013 is to you? Resource for Design World. Perils of dismissive engagement.
Spreading ground.
What is #2013 is to you? Perkins+Will opens up the conversation to find out what the new year means for you.
Perkins+Will envisions a healthier and happier 2013, ranging from projects such as modular classrooms that are a modern, sustainable and non-toxic solution for students anywhere to designing a women and children’s wellness center in Kenya. Join the global dialogue at #2013is.
Resource for design world. The AIA and National Institute of Building Science (NIBS) have launched the Building Research Knowledgebase (BRIK), a site that allows design professionals both the ability to access and contribute their knowledge to a single online resource.
The Building Research Knowledgebase is available as a free tool and contains peer-reviewed research papers and case studies covering design from pre-design to post occupancy.
Perils of dismissive engagement. PlaceMakers blogs about how in the course of the public design process, practitioners are setting the stage for unfulfilled expectations by asking the question “what would you like to see here?”
Our participation is devalued when we don’t solicit the information that breeds meaningful discourse. “We need to do better. We need to more effectively play the role of psychoanalyst, drilling down to information that’s actually useful: What kinds of things would residents like to be able to do? What problems would they like mitigated? What potential byproducts of change are they afraid of? How can your city better serve you?
Via PlaceMakers
Spreading ground. Geoff Manaugh writes about Richard Mabey's "defense" of weeds, in particular the Oxford ragwort, a species native to the volcanic slopes of Sicily's Mount Etna.
Manaugh examines ragworts territorial expansion in forensic close-up which can be tracked on Google Maps.
“Within a few years the ragwort had escaped from the garden (which is sited opposite Magdalen College) and begun its westward progress along Oxford's ancient walls. Its downy seeds seemed to find an analogue of the volcanic rocks of its original home in the cracked stonework. It leap-frogged from Merton College to Corpus Christi and the august parapets of Christ Church, then wound its way through the narrow alleys of St. Aldate's.” – Richard Mabey
Via BLDGBLOG