SketchUp Plug-ins: Podium – rendering engine.
One of the biggest downfalls for sketch-up is the inability to produce presentable work because of its extremely cartoon-like graphics. About two years ago I was introduced to Podium, a rendering engine plug-in for sketch up that is extremely easy to use while also allowing for a great deal of customization.
Urban agriculture, Agri-burbia, and the Inevitable Need to go Vertical.
The realization of imminent changes to the way we obtain resources is a topic that many within the design realm continue to ignore as a whole. Focused attempts at recycling energy, water, and other resources are fantastic and should continue, however, these attempts do not curb the reality that the city, including the suburbs, still works like a parasite, not an ecosystem. A city will never work as such until the number one rule of an ecosystem is addressed: The food source must be a cycle from within.
An Honest Roof for a Rising Profession
Visited the ASLA greenroof on Friday. For all the pomp and circumstance that people have made about it, my visit was honestly quite an underwhelming experience. I missed my Metro stop because I was doing a crossword and ended up in Chinatown about a block away from ASLA. So I thought, “Hey, I should check out the greenroof, I’ve been meaning to do that.” The office is small and unassuming when I approached it and I was met by a seemingly perturbed receptionist who may or may not have thought it was ridiculous that I should bother her for a tour at 8:45 in the morning.
A Little Insight From St. John
Being privileged enough to have met great people in my life; I was recently put up in a flat on the rocky slopes of a Caribbean paradise called St. John, US Virgin Islands. Historically, I found it to be a mix of Jamaican and Puerto Rican cultures having been thieved from native tribes by Columbus and Dutch plantation owners, plundered by pirates, bought by a Rockefeller and donated for its current use: conservation land and rum fueled Jeep trails.
BIG Architects: Paving the Future
Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG, is a Danish architecture firm led by founding partner Bjarke Ingels. They have again peaked our interests since being featured in Landscape Invocation’s St Pete Pier Finalist post last month.
The Philosophy of Exotic Plants
Recently I was asked to discuss the concept of exotic and native species with a fourth grade class. Being a request from my mother, I shrugged and agreed. The talk should be simple enough right?…. but I’m having second thoughts.
Granted, exotic species can overtake our fragile natural ecosystems, reduce food and habitat for wildlife, and require millions of dollars to control. Native species often require less maintenance, fertilizer and reduce the sequestration of our natural resources while ensuring the pleasures of wildlife and a healthy, happy ecosystem.
Plant of the Week: Royal Palm
Roystonea spp.- When vacationers and visitors enter into tropical Florida, the Royal Palm is there to signify their arrival. Tall and graceful with a bright green crownshaft, the Royal Palm is hard to miss. Its statuesque nature and towering heights have made it a trademark of the South Florida environment. Several species exist in the Caribbean and Gulf and are all restricted to sub-tropical latitudes. Roystonea elata is the contested Florida native species and is said to be better adapted to swampy, everglades environments in the wild. Roystonea regia, native to Cuba, is the more common species found in the nursery and landscape.
Park Review: Soundscape, Miami Beach, FL
As reported online 9 months ago, West 8 opened their first U.S. landscape design in Miami Beach, Florida. The park plays counter part to Frank Gehry’s unclad and reposed Music School and complements both the architect, the city and the client brilliantly. The 2.5 acre (1 hectare) park serves as a gathering space for the city of Miami Beach and maintains an open and inviting entry to the New World Symphony and successfully parallels the tropical and contemporary art culture the city is renowned for.
Shanghai Houtan Park
Built on a brownfield of a former industrial site, Houtan Park is a regenerative living landscape on Shanghai’s Huangpu riverfront. The park’s constructed wetland, ecological flood control, reclaimed industrial structures and materials, and urban agriculture are integral components of an overall restorative design strategy to treat polluted river water and recover the degraded waterfront in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Park Review: The Yards Park, Washington D.C.
The site is adjacent to the operating Washington Navy Yard and was formerly part of the Navy Yard’s industrial operations, which ceased, for the most part, following WWII. The Yards Park is part of the larger 42 acre parcel of land known as “The Yards”, which boasts several historically protected and former industrial buildings. Some of those buildings are currently being redeveloped as residential and retail facilities. At full build-out, The Yards will include 2,800 new residential units, 400,000 square feet of retail space and 1.8 million square feet of new office space in addition to the world-class urban waterfront park.
