More Good Economic News for Landscape Architects
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Labels: construction cost, economy, landscape architecture
Labels: construction cost, economy, landscape architecture
Labels: pedestrian bridge
Labels: Barcelona, landscape architecture, paving, site furniture
"the park design came from the early cubist and very colourful pictures of Pablo Picasso, which the young artist painted in 1909 at La Horta de San Juan (in Catalonia). The triangle was chosen as the creative guiding theme of the park because it is the most flexible of the geometric forms. Triangular wooden structures resembling artificial palms are therefore also the symbols of the park. They stand – singly or in groups – at key locations, giving shade during the day and illuminating the park at night."I never knew it was Barcelona's second largest park. The award was sponsored by Eurohypo AG, a leading specialist bank for real estate and public finance. The project is sited on a steep sloping site adjacent to Barcelona's La Guineueta neighborhood (see map). My favorite features (photos above) are the old bridge (I am not sure it was originally a bridge or if it was another type of structure that was reused) and the large jet fountains. It offers a wide variety of spaces throughout the design and successfully integrates the park into the difficult topography.
(Source: Eurohypo AG Website)
Labels: Barcelona, landscape architecture, parking, public space
Labels: economy, landscape architecture
Cool Hunter recently posted a playground by CARVE in the
Labels: landscape architecture, playgound
Labels: chair, site furniture
Labels: Barcelona, Photography, Urban Design, Vancouver
When it comes to stormwater, I have seen sustainable approaches cost less or the same when compared to conventional methods. But it is not often that you can directly compare project strategies. Rain harvesting first cost is more than connecting to the municipal water system, but in places where water is expensive, you can see a payback over time or if harvest the condensate from the HVAC system you can often have water in times of drought while other conventional developments do not. Unfortunately, when making design decisions during a project, the first cost are often the focus primarily because of that is the way the system works. Over time hopefully this will change. Long-term building owners are more likely to value the longer term savings. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of the respondents in the BD+C survey felt that it was hard to justify these cost. Of course there are benefits that are hard to quantify and/or do not have a lot of research. Because of this, building a case for sustainability on this alone is difficult when dealing with short-term building owners or those that are not convinced of the benefits. More research in all benefits of sustainable buildings is an important part of making the case and reducing the barriers.
The encouraging news is that the market for green building is growing and firm’s are recruiting design professionals with green building experience in order to meet this need. Forty-three percent (43%) of respondents said acquiring sustainable building expertise has attracted new clients or projects. Though only ten percent (10%) said significantly more and forty-one percent (41%) said some new business. Still this is encouraging.
BEEK design in
Labels: bench, site furniture
Mixing two different garden elements together, in this case a bench and planter, make for refreshing design when done well. I have not seen this item in person which is always a bit dangerous, (I have been burnt before on poor quality furniture that looked great in the photos) but this looks like a fun garden bench. The planters seem a bit too small for boxwood's long term survival in the garden and depending on the location maybe through the winter, but I could easily see annuals or perennials working as well. As for the small table, I think the grass needs more soil to survive (The current photo is computer generated), but I like the idea. I always thought it would be fun to do something like this to create a vegetated pool table. I found these items at MadinDesign.
Labels: bench, site furniture