Eastern Landscape Architecture Tradition: Part II This is the second part of a two-part series about the varied landscape architectural traditions of the Middle East and the West and the impacts of their differing climates on design. The first part analyzed the relationship that Western landscape architecture had with wet and cold climates. This second part […]
Tag Archives: Architecture
The Divide Between Architecture and Landscape Architecture: Part I
The Western Tradition of Landscape Architecture: Recently, I came across Yale Professor and architect Joel Sander’s book, Ground Work. In it he discusses the divide between the architecture and landscape architecture. According to Sanders, “at least since the late nineteenth century, architecture and landscape architecture have been professionally segregated… more often than not, landscape architects are hired to […]
Paolo Soleri Dreamt of Green Architecture Before its Time
Urban innovator Paolo Soleri died at the age of 93 in Scottsdale Arizona, 70 miles south of Arcosanti, a city he started to build overlooking the River Agua Fria. His career was unorthodox, resting somewhere between Lebbeus Wood and Oscar Niemeyer, both of whom also passed away recently. Soleri preached community and conservation. Arcosanti was his experiment in that regard. He called the vision “arcology,” […]
Bosco Verticale: World’s Tallest Salad Platter
When I first looked at the renderings of Bosco Verticale, a residential building decked out with 900 trees including Oaks, and acres of shrubs, I was like “what! Are they serious?” And apparently they are: the buildings are under construction and soon to be completed. Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, is a twin tower residential development in […]
Lebbeus Woods (1940-2012)
Lebbeus Woods, a contemporary of Steven Holl and Daniel Libeskind, died last year in New York City. Shortly after Woods’ death, Austrian architect Wolf D. Pix said of him: “Lebbeus Woods was an architect’s architect: artistically uncompromising, unapologetically theoretical, and, in his own way, marvelously optimistic. Lebbeus’ death last month deeply saddened the architectural community.” Lebbeus Woods was a Professor of Architecture for […]
More on Grand Central…
For those of you who missed the on air version and need the videos to go with our Grand Central 100th Anniversary post, this news series from Channel 7 is pretty neat! Unfortunately, I can’t embed it, but it is a nice historical review and there is some cool video of the construction of the Long […]
Grand Central Terminal Celeberates its 100 Anniversary
Grand Central Terminal, New York The Grand Central Terminal is New York City’s grandest train station, located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in mid-town Manhattan.
The Dome of the Rock – Jerusalem: The First Piece of Monumental Architecture in Islam
The Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount was the first monumental piece of architecture in Islam. It is odd that it was not a mosque or mausoleum but a structure to shelter a rock. It stands at the site of the First Temple built by Solomon and covers a rock which, according to tradition was the […]
Louis Kahn to Taj Mahal
Last week I discussed Louis Kahn’s sophisticated manipulation of light in the Kimbell Art Museum in Dallas/Fortworth, Texas. That reminded me of how Mughal architects were conscious of the setting of their buildings and controlled the way the buildings would be viewed. Mughal rulers of India (1526-1857), descendants of Mongol and Turkish nomads grew into great patrons of art and especially architecture. They loved to build […]
The Kimbell Art Museum celeberates 40 year anniversary
I was in Dallas over the Christmas vacation and visited Kimbell Art Museum. Louis Kahn’s building just celebrated its 40th anniversary and is in the process of constructing an extension designed by Renzo Piano. The new addition is under construction and we would not know how it will measure up to Louis Kahn’s master piece. I had been to […]
