Thursday, February 26, 2009

Arounder - Panoramic City Tours


A contact on Facebook recently listed Arounder in one of their status updates and thought it might be useful. Developed more from a tourist viewpoint, Arounder:

gives travelers a vivid sense of what a city has to offer: historical cathedrals and works of art, museums featuring famous artists, local cafes and stores, breathtaking mountain-top views, quiet parks and gardens.

The panoramas feature mostly European sites and cities, with only Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah and Hawaii covered in the US. In addition to exterior spaces, they also provide a interior views of well-known structures.

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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Energy from Human/ Built processes....



Environmental Design + Construction highlighted a few products geared towards alternative energy development. In the article "Alternate Alternatives," the product that stood out was a revolving door that generates energy as users turn it, storing the energy to provide illumination within the door.

This product doesn't currently generate energy beyond the needs of the door, but has hit on something I've been thinking about lately in regards to energy. Are there other ways in which we can generate energy harnessing human activity or by recovering energy spent through building systems? For instance, in urban environments with subsurface parking, mechanical systems are required for ventilation and exhaust of fumes from the automobiles. No doubt you've felt the blast from one of these sidewalk vents, or the vents from subway systems as trains pass. An art installation at the Denver International Airport helps to illustrate the wind generated from movement of the underground circulator.

Kinetic Light Air Curtain by Antonette Rosato / William Maxwell

Would it be feasible to line these vent shafts with small scale wind turbines to capture the wind velocity and translate that to energy? What about geothermal coils that are circulated through the shafts and warmed/ cooled by the circulating air vs. drilled?

This concept reminds me of a project we photographed in Vancouver, the C.K. Choi Institute (top right on search results) at the University of British Columbia. One aspect of the project was the capturing of waste steam heat that heats the domestic hot water needs of the building. (I thought I had previously read that they had wrapped the drain lines from the showers to transfer the heat from the greywater, but couldn't find mention of it online). A USGBC pamphlet on the project is found here.

Maybe these processes wouldn't generate enough to transfer energy back to the grid, but could help to offset energy demands of a building. Maybe the cost-benefit doesn't provide a great enough economic return or cost offset to incorporate into projects.

Chris

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Sitephocus photos as a Planning resource....

Courtesy Metropolitan Nashville/ Davidson County Planning Commission (see link below for full resolution file)

Sitephocus images have recently been used for building massing, setbacks, and parking location studies by the Metropolitan Nashville/ Davidson County Planning Commission (Nashville, TN). The images were used as a part of the community visioning process to provide built examples as a point of reference for discussion with the public.

Building Height

Building Setback

Parking Location

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Monday, February 16, 2009

Profile on Land8lounge

I was recently profiled as a Featured Member on Land8lounge, a social networking site for Landscape Architects. Check out the blog post by Adam Arvidson of Treeline, a freelance writer and landscape architect from the Minneapolis area.

Starting up a new website is hard, especially when you’re trying to create a niche that wasn’t there before -- and are hoping to make a little money, too. Chris Whitis, along with partner Brian Phelps, has spent most of his free time over the past few years doing just that. Sitephocus.com is a searchable image database of the built environment. It has tens of thousands of high-resolution photos ready for download. It is, in a word, voluminous. Because sitephocus was specifically created for design professionals, the images are of things we actually want to see: streetscapes, rain gardens, bollards, paving patterns, etc. But the hordes haven’t exactly come running, and ASLA has seen the site as a potential advertiser, rather than a good resource created by its members for its members.
There's more info from the Q&A about www.sitephocus.com and what sparked the idea. If you're a landscape architect, designer, or interested in landscape architecture, be sure to check out Land8lounge.

Chris

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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Extreme Urban Photography

The Urbanophile had this post on a pretty extreme photographer, No Promise of Safety, capturing unique views of various cities. Sorry, but we're not that crazy or into playing Spiderman (free-climbing cranes/ breaking and entering), so we'll stick with the sidewalk or legal access. Wonder what kind of rap sheet follows this guy...He does have some fantastic images, though....

Link to post - No Promise of Safety

Chris

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

San Francisco I February Update

We've recently uploaded images from San Francisco for February's update to www.sitephocus.com. Link to the overall update is here. Sites include the Contemporary Jewish Museum with addition by Daniel Libeskind and plaza, Ghirardelli Square, Jefferson Street and the streetcar system there, The Cannery, Union Square, and many more. Sample photos are included below.

Contemporary Jewish Museum


Jefferson Street and Streetcars

Levi Strauss Plaza
The Cannery


Union Square





Next month will feature Part II from San Francisco.

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