Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sheldon Levy on The Agenda
"... As we build the university, we have a responsibility to our neighbourhood."
Ryerson University President, Sheldon Levy shares his energetic plans and discusses the University's relationship to the City and its surrounding community.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Best in Shoe* Nike Air Max 90s
Introduced in 1990, this model in the Air Max series were designed with a large visible Air unit and greater stability and cushioning than the previous models. Almost 20 years and hundreds of colourways later, the Nike Air Max is not only still highly sought-after, but a great way to get around your city with comfort.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, Its Prospects
Reading this bit by bit.
From Amazon.com
Lewis Mumford's massive historical study brings together a wide array of evidence--from the earliest group habitats to medieval towns to the modern centers of commerce (as well as dozens of black-and-white illustrations)--to show how the urban form has changed throughout human civilization. His tone is ultimately somewhat pessimistic: Mumford was deeply concerned with what he viewed as the dehumanizing aspects of the metropolitan trend, which he deemed "a world of professional illusionists and their credulous victims." (In another typically unrestrained criticism, he dubbed the Pentagon a Bronze Age monument to humanity's basest impulses, as well as an "effete and worthless baroque conceit.") Mumford hoped for a rediscovery of urban principles that emphasized humanity's organic relationship to its environment. The City in History remains a powerfully influential work, one that has shaped the agendas of urban planners, sociologists, and social critics since its publication in the 1960s.
The success of this book spawned 6 documentaries based on material from the book and prepared by Mumford himself. The various parts include: The City: Heaven and Hell, The City: Cars Or People, The City And Its Region, The Heart of the city, The City As Man’s Home and The City and the Future.
The Toll Debate continues...
"...this is Toronto, don't forget, and ideas like road tolls can mean only one thing – a 'war on the car.'"
As the congestion problem persists in the GTA, attention towards tolling Toronto roads has been addressed again. This solution has been seen as a success in other cities but will it work for Toronto streets?
The Star's Christopher Hume discusses...
Friday, October 23, 2009
PublicART: Watertable
Saw this in the Globe and Mail yesterday but didn't get around to posting it.
Photo: Ryan Enn Hughes for The Globe and Mail
Watertable is a new media sculpture that uses the architecture of the Gardiner Expressway to echo the natural condition of the site when it marked the water’s edge in the early days of the city’s history.
Winners of the 2005 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak developed Watertable as part of an International open competition held in 2007.
Watertable is a lighting and audio installation that will create the look and sound of moving water: undulating LED lights accompanied by the sound of lake waves will respond to current wind conditions at the site. This will be the first new media artwork in the City of Toronto’s permanent Public Art Collection.
Watertable was unvieled on October 21st, 2009 and not only creates a landmark underneath the cold ruins of the Gardiner, but also connects the city with the waterfront. It isn't in a very human-scale (see above photo) but for a space like this, if it wasn't larger than life, then the space would lose its atmospheric essence for even those in cars passing by.
For a site which has had the reputation to be relatively grey and dominated by the automobile, this is a step in the right direction for all the underutilized public space found beneath the Gardiner. Let's hope this trend continues.
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