Columbia St Bikeway Art Finally Complete!

Delayed satisfaction is a fact of life for most landscape architects. You may work on a project for years and then it takes years to get built. And the with the speed at which designers change firms, many people often do not get to see projects through to the end. But I was lucky during my six years at Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects to see many projects from design to completion.

But there were a few dangling projects at my departure that I have watched with anticipation. Columbia St. Bikeway was one of those projects. The bikeway itself, the first 1/4 mile of the Brooklyn Greenway, had been completed years ago. It was a standard bikeway in many respects but its adjacent streetscape was designed to emphasize the speed and rhythm of cycling with the addition of a salvaged cobble band  (uncovered during adjacent sewer reconstruction) patterned with bright pink granite. The brightness of the pink was hotly contested, but once it was installed and covered in a layer of grime, it would have had to have been neon pink to really stand out as intended. The trees were alternating groups with yellow flowers or yellow spring leaves to provide continuity as well as diversity. Care was taken to provide larger soil area in this harsh environment. Structural soil and continuous tree pits were used throughout.

newly installed salvaged cobbles and cut pink granite. the texture difference is more noticeable than the color.

But the dangling project in question was the Percent for Art component where 1% of the budget is put towards public art. The artist Nobuho Nagasawa was chosen by the community and I worked closely with her throughout the project to integrate her artwork into the larger streetscape. This included a lot of meetings and multiple presentations to the Design Commission. Nobuho had many interesting ideas for the streetscape but settled in the end on one of her first and clearest ideas; she wanted to trace the shadows of native New York trees that we would hand-pick for the streetscape and etch them in bluestone. So when the tree was large there would be a memory of when the tree was small. Nobohu got to know the community very well and carefully chose locations that were significant.

The design, now called TIMECAST, was finally approved by the Design Commission and won an award in 2007. But the installation timing was tricky. To be truly authentic, the traces were to be made in situ, so the streetscape and trees needed to be installed before the artwork could be created. So we had to add asphalt patches in the streetscape that could be easily removed once the artwork was complete. And of course there were mishaps. Con-Ed boxes and fire hydrants getting installed in art locations, etc. But I left to go to Harvard in 2009 and did not get to see the artwork installed. It was not until this past Spring 2012 that they were finally finished. I was here in Spain when I got the email from the artist telling me that it was complete!

I'm very happy to see that this white swamp oak is doing so well! It was a beautiful tree when we selected it at the nursery

One sad street tree died before its artwork could be installed so this one truly is a memorial.

I was really excited to see that other people are enjoying the artwork. Photographer Tom Rupolo did a very nice series of detailed photographs of the etchings. He kindly gave me permission to post.

 Many thanks to Joe Sopiak from DDC and Susan Chin, Victoria, and Xenia from DCA that made the long process and number of meetings bearable. I really had a great time working with all of them. And many thanks to Signe Nielsen and Nobohu Nagasawa for their unwavering dedication to the project throughout its 8 year duration!

For more information see the following links
http://www.brooklyngreenway.org/columbia-watefront-public-art-dedication-timecast-by-nobuho-nagasawa/
http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/39487
dedication video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6ta263i8I

Anillo Verde Ciclista Bike Loop, Madrid

The Anillo Verde Ciclista is a 65km (40 miles) bike loop completely circumnavigating Madrid, roughly following the M-40 expressway. It cost approximately 33.4 million Euros which also included bridge crossings and plantings along the bikeway. This is my summer journey to see it all!

 Here is an interactive map if you'd like to follow along.

This is the map of the entire route shown in orange. I started on the west side at a bike shop called Rio Bikes near the Principe Pio metro stop. They have an amazing rental deal; if you buy 10 hours of time in advance its only 3 Euros per hour (regular 4, and other shops are 5 Euros). I was also able to get a basket so I didnt have to carry my bag:)

This is just the summer challange I need! I am not strong enough to cycle the whole route right now but little by little I'll ride sections of it and eventually I'll do the whole route in one day! I've taken some short rides south along the Madrid Rio Park and south along the Manzanares River, so today I decided to try going north on the Ciclista. I entered through Casa de Campo. Near the lake I found an information center where I was able to get a good map of the entire route. The beginning part of the route was on paved roads shared with cars but once I got on the official route north of the park it was bikes only on a seperated route.  

On the left is the first section still within Casa de Campo. Its a beautiful ride lined with a London Plane allee.

I hadnt even gotten out of the park yet when I saw this amazing play structure. Of course, I had to stop and try it out! It was all really thick rope with rubber seats at intervals. The color and structure just blended right in with the trees. It didn't distract at all from the picturesque old pine grove.

As you leave the park you ride along the river heading north. It was lush and shaded (nice in this hot summer weather). The river is wild at this point and not controlled by dams like it is along the park. It was shallow and clear and I could see big fish just hanging out. I also saw some nice floodplain areas and even some Phragmites (hello old friend!). 


Then there were a few bridge crossings over highway. I am sure a lot of the budget went to these various structures. But this is what it takes to reconnect a city with a lot of highway infrastructure. In most cases the highways are not going to go away so there has to be a commitment to building bridges and tunnels to reconnect the urban fabric! 

There was this interesting older bridge that was integrated into the route. I assume it was an old car bridge but was made obsolete by larger highways and off ramps. It was cobbled and had these great statue gate keepers.

...and from there it got a lot less picturesque. The route got more narrow and directly paralelled the highway for awhile. Luckily the bikeway was a lot higher than the expressway so was separated by elevation and a fence covered with blooming honeysuckle. I think this distracted nicely from the car smell.

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This was a nice moment in this part of the route with an allee of poplars. I headed north toward El Pardo, a large natural area. But then the route became very stark, hot and dry. I kept hoping for some relief around the corner but there was nothing. I was also getting tired so I decided to turn around and leave El Pardo for another day when I have built up more stamina.

The route back seemed to fly by, I think because I was more familiar with it. Hopefully as I explore I will know the best places along the way so I know when to push through a less desirable section to get to something good around the bend!

My total today was about 16km!

My trusty steed (above)
But even though some parts aren't the most beautiful I think its amazing that they were able to piece this route tegether in an existing city fabric.  Also I got a sneak peak at the new city General Plan that will be released next month and it includes more cycling routes within the center city that will connect like spokes to the Anillo Verde Ciclista to create a more comprehensive network. Sounds like Madrid will just keep getting better!

Tactics - Chair Bombing +

Here is a small survey of some of the tactics listed in Tactical Urbanism that were new to me. 

I had heard of yarn bombing, but not chair bombing! I am so sad I am missing all this fun in NYC! So people are removing wood pallets from the waste stream and using them to build chairs to put in public areas.

Do Tank originated chair bombing but it has now been replicated in several cities, including Philadelphia, Dallas, and Mt. Reiner, MD. Chairbombing has been recognized in the New York Times as a method of Tactical Urbanism. They also hosted a BYO at the BQE post Park(ing) day celebration that looks amazing.

This also reminds me of what my friend Anne Trumble has been doing with her group, Emerging Terrain in Omaha. Their "trugs" are activating a local streetscape.

And the Stored Potential project is a tactic to change people's perceptions about the city and the particular neighborhood where the grain elevators are located.

Stored Potential

I mean this is all pretty obvious maybe, but for me, looking at all of these interventions together, it's such a positive thing. Ten years ago I never would have believed the things that are happening in NY now with bike lanes and Times Square. We have hit a critical mass of urban actions and with the Internet, a good idea can go viral overnight. I really admire all of the people out there making things happen in our cities:)

Sugar Beach Eye Candy

I just can't help but repost some photos from Claud Cormier's Sugar Beach in Toronto! It sounds silly, but the candy pink umbrellas just make it pop. And the rock candy stone is amazing. If anyone knows how they made this, please post. The landforms, the fountain lit pink... I always thought his work was too pop art before I saw him speak at the GSD. But hearing all the interesting thought behind the work really made me appreciate it!

Some Sugar Beach eye candy for you!
see full project at http://www.claudecormier.com/project/sugar-beach

Tactical Landscapes

I've been thinking so much about Madrid since I've been here and being obsessed with Vallecas and the periphery. The more I talk about what could be done, the more interesting directions I am pointed in. Thank you to everyone who has listened and pointed! I want to catalogue here the weapons in our landscape arsenal that we can use to change spaces temporarily, show that their value is not lost, and potentially bring about long term change.

I recently saw the term Tactical Urbanism used to descibe this kind of action. See this link below for a great catologue of urban interventions. No sense doing research more than once, so lets' catalogue the catalogues and see what we have to work with!
Please post additional info as comments!

http://issuu.com/streetplanscollaborative/docs/tactical_urbanism_vol_2_final

Starchitecture in the Periphery

I recently went on a tour guided by my friend and architect, Sandra Herrera accompanied by the head of the landscape architecture program at CEU, Cristina del Poza. Sandra was showing us all of the interesting architecture in the periphery of Madrid. Some by internationally well-known architects and others by smaller local Spanish architects. Many are also public housing.

The building on the left was designed by Dutch architects, MVRDV and was made to be a typical village plan turned vertically. The center open space is to be the plaza and frames the distant view of the mountains.

"The third largest city in Europe (Madrid) has, in fact experienced urban sprawl dominated by real estate speculation, devoid of any consistent plan and, even worse, with no concern at all for the architectural quality and livability of the districts involved. For this reason, in 2001 a number of Madrid architects were invited to develop, in collaboration with great international design studios, proposals for apartment buildings that would respond to the growing, and increasingly varied, demand for housing, but would at the same time become a kind of icon, a reference point for the whole city. "http://www.floornature.com/projects-housing/project-mirador-apartment-building-mvrdv-blanca-leo-madrid-2005-4606/

What I find disturbing in general was that an architecture competition was held to fix bad development. That by adding a few high quality designed buildings it would emeliorate the poor planning of the entire periphery? This is obviously well intentioned but completely ridiculous.

On the left is a building designed by Morphosis where they tried to integrate landscape and village typologies. I wish we could have gone inside to see the public spaces within the complex. It seems like an interesting idea and I would be curious to see how it feels.

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/morphosis/msh/msh.html

Despite the few interesting buildings the neighborhoods still have no pedestrian scale or character and lack high quality public space. It would have been more successful to integrate the architecture and landscape aspects not within one building like these examples, but throughout the neighborood. Use the architecture to punctuate important areas in an integrated landscape strategy. I think there is a lot of potential in this region of Madrid and with the stalled economy it is not too late to make alternative proposals!

And I have to say that it is admirable the the architects tried to incorporate the public space inside the building because it was obviously lacking in the urban fabric. They did not write the competition brief and could only respond with what was requested, a building. I would say the city of Madrid was short-sighted in their request. Of course, if I am wrong about any of the above please post a response!

See below some other interesting buildings from our trip.

Carabanchel, Madrid

Apartments by FOA. Facade in bamboo panels that are operable creating a constantly moving facade depending on each user. I'm a little unsure of how long bamboo will last as a facade but it is really a beautiful texture and maybe it is like cedar shake, you just have to replace it every few decades? But I especially liked what Sandra pointed out to me, that the building is on a slope and the designers added a green pedestal for the building that indexes the grade. very subtle.

They also used a pretty primative but affective green wall made of rebar, erosion control fabric and vines. Goes to show that greenwalls to not always have to be high maintenance and expensive.

http://www.farshidmoussavi.com/flash/index.html#/projects/509

greenwall detail

This building was a bit cold looking but had an interting overlapping L structure and some round perforations on the facade that added something playful (see picture below).

This tall black tower with connected low rise building was really powerful. From a distance the texture reminded me of the tough ripstop nylon on luggage or texture of a gun handle. Up close it was a black shingle of some kind. I also liked the way the windows spanned the corners. The irregular locations of the windows really made the facade seem to sparkle. I would love to see the floor plan to see the apartment typpologies that created the irregular pattern.

closer view of facade material

The bright yellow exterior was really happy. It was kind of a faux wood look.

There was a lot of experimentation with corrugated metal. In some cases it looked cold but most used really bright optimistic colors and super graphic numbers to warm it up. Since these are social housing projects the budgets were low so stretching the potential of less expensive materials was key.

I was surprised to find out that many people in Madrid prefer brick apartments because they have more of a sense of longevity, something that could be passed down to family. The more industrial corrugated metal gives them a feeling of impermanence. Although many of the brick buildings were much more unnatractive to me. It will take time to see how well these materials weather before people feel comfortable about their value.

Colorful prefab panels and pop-out windows really made this facade exciting. There is another building by the same architect in an even brighter green palette in a nearby neighborhood.

I really liked this apartment complex made to look like containers (much better effect than at Zanadu in the meadowlands!) They are staggered to create open spaces for each unit. They should do this in NYC. I would love a terrace there:)

In general I would say I admired the experiementation and optimism of these public housing complexes and applaud many of the architects for attempting to add the public spaces within the buildings where they were lacking in the neighborhood. But if this kind of creativity and experimentation were integrated with the public spaces it would truly be an amazing place to live.

And thank you to Sandra for an excellent tour and Cristina for wonderful company and driving skills:)

Abandoned Madrid: Part I

Abandoned Madrid: Part 1
Vallecas and the "Air Trees"

In the outskirts of Madrid many new areas were planned for development and were constructed in the past ten years. But when the crisis hit these areas stood still and remain as a constant reminder of the burst construction bubble fueled by speculation and a boom economy. Some of these areas are private apartments and others are pubic housing. Last week David Cohn took me on a tour of Vallecas. Specifically I wanted to see an installation by Ecosistema Urbano called the "Air Trees".

The red outlined areas in this map show the

planned development outside of the city.

They are a series of three cylindrical structures in the center of oversided traffic circles. The entire development is over sized and the structures needed to match the scale of the place. They are designed to perform multiple functions. They are "Social Dynamizers" creating a center meeting point for the partially full neighborhood. Also since the neighborhood is not 100% full or completed, and was not designed to be pedestrian, many of the social gathering spaces in Spain like cervecerias and cafes cannot be supported by the population. There is nowhere to go. And from what I saw the structures seemed to be doing their job as social hub. I was there around 7:30 in the evening and it was full of kids and parents enjoying the good weather. The center structure has swings and a soft rubberized playground surface with a mound for running and playing.

A profusion of vines and children

Besides its social value, the "Air Trees" as the name implies, are temporary proxies for mature trees. There are trees planted in the adjacent plazas but it will take decades for them to provide enough shade and habitat. So the structure is equipped with vines on each level and solar panels which run the irrigation and feed additional power into the grid. I noticed a lot of birds using the structure while I was there.

Kids really seem to enjoy rising their bikes around the colored paving circle.

The public housing is made from inexpensive materials used in innovative ways in eye popping optimistic colors

The southern structure had a stepped sunken middle which seemed to be well liked for soccer (the ball can't get away from you!). And featured a running LED display like a stock ticker only showing the local weather.

The northern structure was much different than the other two. It was designed to scoop wind into the silver cylinders covered in fabric where it is sprayed with a mist of water which cools the air and sinks to the bottom where the cooled air is pushed out of vents on the bottom. An outdoor air conditioning! But it did not seem to be on while we were there. But I will return on a hot summer day to see if it is working.

This structure appeared to have the lushest vines growth maybe due to the cooler temperatures inside.

The solar panels are supposed to create enough additional energy to pay for the upkeep of the structures. But it was unclear how much maintenance is being done. The play surfacing had big holes and there is graffiti everywhere. But it did not seem to lessen anyone's enjoyment of the space. And graffiti is a big problem in Madrid in general. It is mostly tagging, more artistic graffiti i wouldn't mind. Madrid Rio park actually spends a pretty large part of its budget on anti graffiti coatings and DAILY cleaning to discourage taggers. So I was very happy to finally see this project after months of drooling over it on Ecosistema Urbano's website. It lived up to my expectations:)

But this neighborhood is one of the most populated. There are many more that are more desolate and I will take you through many of those as well. They are large in area and so I will need a bike to make those trips more feasible. But I hope to pick it up soon so you can expect more Abandoned Madrid very soon!

Additional Links:

Ecosistema Urbano's portfolio here:

http://issuu.com/ecosistemaurbano/docs/eu_portfolio

Other articles about the project:

http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/air-trees/

http://green.myninjaplease.com/?p=1238

http://inhabitat.com/stunning-air-trees-only-byproducts-are-h2o-energy/

http://inhabitat.com/ar-awards-ecoboulevard-from-ecosistema-urbano/