February 17

Studenten Kamer Festival

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Today we’ve got good news for all the ones following us from the Netherlands. Next week (precisely on Wednesday 24) the Studenten Kamer Festival will take place in a bunch of Dutch cities, opening student rooms to small audiences to promote young and talented performers who want to show off their skills in music, dance, performance, stand-up comedy and so on. In case you live in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven or another of the many locations involved (or you’re just passing by), Stukafest can be a good chance for you to enjoy an unusual and cozy experience while at the same time touring the city and supporting young artists. It definitely looks like a win-win situation.
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January 12

Darsena Milano – Reclaiming public space in Milan’s former harbor

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#01. DARSENA_LA NUOVA MILANO
Viola Varotto, Maria Pina Usai, Massimo Pisati, Arianna Forcella, Margherita Fenati, Giuseppe Fanizza

Last week we talked to you about MilanoCittàAperta, a photography experiment to reclaim the city of Milan from a different point of view. Today we present you another project taking place in the Italian city.

DarsenaMilano is a series of workshops, aimed at finding new ways of making the best of a public space, the Darsena, which has been rather left on its own by the public administration in recent times.

For those of you who don’t know, the Darsena was built as Milan’s inner harbor, and it was once a busy commercial node before its function was limited to irrigation. The area, being the meeting point of the city’s canals, is also a vibrant and lively public space. As you can see from the videos, the area is now the victim of spontaneous vegetation and has not yet taken a new form. Read more

December 14

ØkoBici by Snark-space making in co-operation with Abici for CPH Bike-Share Competition

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(Video courtesy of snark – space making)

Copenhagen, acknowledged by the Danish as the 2008 best city for cycling, doesn’t rest on its laurels and looks ahead to become the world’s best city for bike-lovers. The city Municipality has announced that, by 2015,  the city aims not only to improve its sustainable bicycle policy – 350 kilometres of cycle tracks and 40 kilometres of green cycle routes – but to better the biker choice. The city council aims at:

- a minimum of 50% of Copenhageners cycling to their place of work or education

- a reduction of at least 50% in the number of cyclists seriously injured in Copenhagen traffic

- at least 80% of Copenhagen cyclists feeling safe in traffic

- a new bike-sharing system

For this latter goal the city of Copenhagen has launched an international competition, the CPH Bike-Share Competition. Architecture and design studios from the 5 continents have accepted the challenge and last week the winners were announced. The gold medals are Openbike by Lots Design, Koucky & Partners and Myloop by Thomas Coulbeaut.

After Denmark (45 entries) Italy has been the second country for number of entries (12 entries)… Not bad news, right? The bike must strike our notes. Here’s the brilliant project by snark – space making in co-operation with Alberto Mariotti and ABICI:

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December 7

Urban Screens @ Trouw, Amsterdam

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(Text by Nicola Bozzi, photos by Marta Colpani)

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As more and more cities in the world install huge digital billboards to get their share of the Times Square appeal, scholars and practitioners from both the new media and architecture fields are trying to make sense of these new elements of our public spaces. That’s the case of the Urban Screens Event, which just took place in Amsterdam at Trouw, under the INC (Institute of Network Cultures) banner. Along with a series of talks and presentations with speakers ranging from architects, designers and artists to scholars, the event included a couple of interactive installations by the students of MediaLab Amsterdam and the presentation of the Urban Screens Reader. The book features themed essays by international theorists, among which Saskia Sassen and Andreas Broeckmann. Read more

December 4

Gosh! I’ve been run over by a fuchsia snail!

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[Read the Italian version of this post]

(Text, images and video by Angelica Di Virgilio)

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Anyone wandering in the streets of Milan – more crowded and frenetic than ever because of the pre-christmas presents rush – could bump into 12 huge fuchsia snails. Don’t worry! You’re not subject to weariness hallucinations nor shopping stress, you’re surrounded by REgeneration, the new travelling installation by Cracking Art Group (Renzo Nucara, Marco Veronese, Alex Angi, Carlo Rizzetti, Kicco, William Sweetlove) supported by the Ministry for Arts and Culture, the Ministry of the Environment and by Milan Culture Council Department.

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The fuchsia snails are 2 metres high and 3 metres long, they’re made of recyclable plastic and invite the passer-by to slowness and careful listening.

“The snail stands for the reclamation of the slow quality of life, in contrast with the typically frenetic rhythm of the metropolis. The snail is a guide towards quality, it moves consciously towards an ethical and economical recovery”, the authors explain. The little creatures came out of Palazzo Marino on november 18 and now they’ve invaded Piazza della Scala, Piazza San Fedele and Piazzetta Reale, winning praise among tourists and the Milanese. You just have to get closer, touch them, and take a picture. Read more

October 16

LA CRAQUELURE by mag.MA architetture

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2- View from the main road serving the valley

View from the main road serving the valley

1- View from the houses

View from the houses

The renovation of Matteotti Square in Badalucco we post today was designed by studio mag.MA architetture. What we particularly appreciated of this intervention, together with the low budget, is the contemporaneity of the sober irruption in the suburbs, along with the successful contrast between the chosen materials and the historical Ligurian context. Read more

September 30

Medellín Botanic Garden and Café del Bosque
by Ana Elvira Velez V. & Lorenzo Castro J.

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[Read the Italian version of this post]

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[Read the Spanish version of this post]

(Text and photos by Ana Elvira Velez V. & Lorenzo Castro J.)

Cafe_14

By converting its high border walls in a perimetral park, where the visitor can enjoy the Botanical Garden without entering it, we reclaimed the urban area surrounding it.
For this purpose the walls have been replaced by a carefully-designed skin-fencing allowing a 100% visibility inside the park and also, thanks to the geometry of the module that adapts to the different topological conditions. This new fencing thus contributes to the configuration and projection of the Garden’s image towards the city. Read more

August 24

Piazza Municipio in Povegliano (TV) by Microscape

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[Read the Italian version of this post]

(Text by MICROSCAPE, photos © Francesco Castagna © MICROSCAPE)

01 Povegliano___foto FCastagna

01_Povegliano_ foto microscape

In Povegliano, the administration’s choice to pursue the definition of a genuine “civic center” through design is even more courageous if you think that here the “res publica” or the society’s best values are placed as a guide for planned urban expansion instead of being a result of it. Read more

August 18

The 12xMilano series
Public spaces, homeopathy and test cases on wheels by ExternalReference Architects

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[Read the Italian version of this post, with an interview to Massimo Tepedino]

(Here’s the ninth video from 12xMilano, the exhibition currently on show at Milan’s Urban Center. Today we’re presenting you the project Public spaces, homeopathy and test cases on wheels by ExternalReference Architects)

BUTTERFLY VERSUS ELEPHANT

Butterflies are lightweight insects with powerful large wings, if compared to the size of their bodies. Their sense organs range over a wide number of items, including eyes for vision and antennae for smell. Butterflies are prompt in responding to the stimuli coming from the environment and have a short lifecycle. On the contrary, elephants last for decades but are not lightweight. If their environment changes, it takes some time for them to change as well.
Our proposal is to work on butterfly buildings, light and movable pavilions which may activate temporary public space within the city of Milan. Read more

June 12

Opening of the High Line in New York

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[Read the Italian version of this post]

June 10th: First distance of the High Line opening. The bank tube converted in a linear park designed by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in New York City makes its début
 (Text by Angela Ferrari)

The High Line railroads and fixtures were left deserted since 1980. Their 30-feet-high position (more than 9 meters from the ground), running parallelly for a long way from South to North of the Hudson river, makes this spot a real peculiarity.
The High Line was built in the 1930s and was mainly used to transit goods to the Meatpacking district. Between the 1950s and 1960s the line was outclassed for rubber transport and definetely left hanging in 1980.
In 1999 J. David and R. Hammond establish the Friends of the High Line group to save the city facility whose south way had already been partly demolished.
Friends of the High Line in co-operation with the mayoral administration of Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Council start an international design competition in 2004. Landcape architects James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro win and the project grows, availing itself of multidisciplinary experts from many different fields: from security to maintenance and public art. Read more

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