Dear Summer

With summer coming to an end, here are a few photos recapping a study abroad course in Italy that I attended. The course focused on gardens and landscapes of the Tuscany and Piedmont regions, but of course I also experienced many other aspects of Italian art, architecture, and culture. Europe's rich history and aged landscape offered an insightful contrast to the US landscape I was accustomed to. I'll add more photos and a few sketches within the week to accompany this batch.

Boboli Gardens, Florence

Boboli Gardens, Florence

Etruscan Ruins, Fiesole


















Fontana di Trevi, Rome

Pantheon, Rome

the Duomo, Siena

















View from Piazza Michelangelo

















Lotus under a waterfall in Villa de Petraia

Ramadan Kareem

Today marks the first day of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month. During this time Muslims fast from sunrise till sunset and pay extra attention to religious rituals. The fasting is meant to teach to followers patience and appreciation. The concept of fasting, which is found in many religions, works as a spiritual cleansing and has a meditative quality to it. I have always enjoyed this time as a way to reflect and contemplate over my own wants, needs, and actions and also, I have always found it as a great way to lose weight. The fasting usually isn't difficult, but at times that last half hour gets rough. Ramadan Kareem is the Arabic expression which translates to Happy Ramadan. If anyone has any questions about Ramadan and or Islam feel free to ask. Ramadan Kareem.

DesignPhiladelphia

With the fall semester approaching its time for some pregraming. For those interested in stretching their design muscles, DesignPhiladelphia is hosting a bike rack competition and winners could receive up to $200 cash. Click below for more details.
http://www.designphiladelphia.org/pdfs/DP09_Bike_Rack.pdf

Designing Atlantis

Waterstudio, a firm in the Netherlands, is specializing “in architecture and city planning related to living, working and recreation on water.” One of their first floating projects, “The Citadel”, designed by Koen Olthuis is expected to start construction by 2010. The Dutch landscape has been dealing with issues of rising tides and these new designs are tackling water management and sustainability in new ways. The lesson that appears to have been learned now, according to their Innovations and Concepts statement page is, “The Netherlands must search for more dynamic instead of static solutions, which means that we have to learn to live with the water.”

The methods used and the research developed for tackling dynamic tide issues that affect places below sea level, would probably be helpful to be familiar with for the fall studio project.

Touchdowns and Master Plans

With football season approaching, check out this video of Eddie George talking about Landscape Architecture. George is a 1995 Heisman Trophy winner, former NFL player, and a principal of The Edge Group. Is it just me or does the firm’s website have this Madden NFL feel to it?

YouTube'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6VAIuVVL3k">YouTube - Eddie George on Careers in Landscape Architecture

Sea Level Rise

This upcoming fall semester, my intermediate studio class will be researching and exploring design interventions and implications of sea level rise and global warming in Cape May County, New Jersey. Our professor for the class Dr. David Tulloch has already posted some preliminary information for us on his world famous blog,Places and Spaces .
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission hosted an international design competition for ideas responding to sea level rise in San Francisco Bay . They have already posted the results of the competition which ended in a 6-way tie and each with very different methods. One of my favorites wasn’t even a winner, but they received honorable mention - http://www.risingtidescompetition.com/risingtides/Honorable_Mention_files/PWSF_RT_final_06-29-09_lr.pdf - I feel as if this design a) had great graphics and b) questions how much should we continue to interfere with nature. It’s our negligence and interference that has got us to this point to start with. The delicate ecosystem that surrounds us must be understood before we disturb it. In the story of Noah’s Ark it was the sinners who perished as the world flooded, maybe it was an important lesson we should take into account.

Dirty Green Developement

Almost two weeks ago a different type of green building was found to be occurring in New Jersey when 44 people were arrested on charges of corruption and money laundering, many with ties to building and zoning departments. More than a dozen of those arrested were found to be connected to the downtown Jersey City development boom, which transformed former polluted industrial rail yards and warehouses into an almost mirror image of the Manhattan skyline. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/fbi_corruption_probe_sheds_neg.html Although this news has been circulating through the media for two weeks now, as a former Jersey City resident, I felt obliged to post this news and keep it alive. Especially when today another developer, Morton Salkind, was found guilty of tax fraud. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1250208919169740.xml&coll=1
With all these recent scandels it is important for us to remember those elected to lead and those with power must not be overlooked. In fact it is those with power that should be watched the closest.

Press Play

Getting started and into a routine may be considered the most difficult part of beginning something new. The blog has already been made, friends have already been notified of its coming, and now this first post presents itself as the turning point.

This page is my design and as it is entitled, “Reflections”, the purpose of this blog is to reflect upon ideas, events, and other news. Topics will range between a wide spectrum of fields, but will mostly center around Landscape Architectural design. My blog will serve as my canvas to post my thoughts, but I encourage others to comment and leave their own marks as well.

And the journey starts…