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Post by jdredd on Apr 27, 2015 20:50:54 GMT -5
Perhaps this thread may be a mistake destined to sink to the bottom of the thread barrel, but I won't know unless I give it a shot. So what could be more indicative of the status quo than what buildings get built? When the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs they demolished Tenochtitlan (from the drawings I've seen I believe it may have been the most beautiful city ever built), filled in the canals and built cathedrals etc, it was an obvious manifestation of the change of status quo in Mexico. Fast forward to 2015. Every building that goes up (or comes down on purpose) is an indication of the nature of the existing powers-that-be. Who is being served by what is being built? Who is providing the financing? If there is any planning at all who is doing it? Here in San Diego we have some issues pertaining to building: What is up with those proposals for a frackin' Ferris Wheel on our bayfront? As I've said before, the one they built in London on the Thames is an architectural nightmare IMO. Or the One Paseo development in Del Mar, with it's artificial "Main Street"? Who does that serve, as if we didn't know? $$$$$$$$$$. Is it Houston where there is no zoning and is thus beloved by the Free Market fanatics? Now there is an indication of the Texas status quo. And what is being built in China is an epic story all by itself. What's up with the so-called Chinese "Ghost Towns" I've heard mentioned? Lots to think about.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 28, 2015 12:19:39 GMT -5
Further contemplating this subject, if the Japanese Navy had defeated the US Navy at Midway and America decided it was sick of war (not likely), and given Japan Hawaii as the price of peace (not possible, of course, but it might have saved us later problems in Korea and Vietnam, and there probably would not be a North Korea!), how would the architecture of Hawaii been different? Or would it have been just the same? And if the Japanese had not lost the war, how would the architecture of Tokyo itself been different? Or Shanghai?
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Post by Turk on Apr 29, 2015 11:37:24 GMT -5
Further contemplating this subject, if the Japanese Navy had defeated the US Navy at Midway and America decided it was sick of war (not likely), and given Japan Hawaii as the price of peace (not possible, of course, but it might have saved us later problems in Korea and Vietnam, and there probably would not be a North Korea!), how would the architecture of Hawaii been different? Or would it have been just the same? And if the Japanese had not lost the war, how would the architecture of Tokyo itself been different? Or Shanghai? More sushi bars a square watermelons.
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Post by jdredd on May 12, 2015 4:21:57 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/12/public-unrest-sends-urban-designers-back-to-drawing-board.html"A few days before Baltimore erupted in sometimes-violent protests over the death of a 25-year-old black man in police custody, about 250 architects, planners, students, community advocates and designers gathered for a three-hour session of soul searching over the role of urban design and social equity. Co-sponsored by the African American Student Union of Harvard University’s renowned Graduate School of Design, where the event took place, the panel discussion and brainstorming revealed angst and worry that, too often, the professionals in charge of building America’s cities are more interested in actual structures than the people who live in them." "The younger generation of architects wants to combine excellence in design with social responsibility. “Star” architects are still valued but, at the same time, “we see a greater tendency toward people in the younger generation to actually want to participate in projects that have more significant impact,” he said. There is little disagreement that spaces with good housing, parks, clean streets, public transportation and good schools can lift neighborhoods out of squalor."
Here's what I see a hundred years from now: The suburbs bulldozed and there is only dense urban living or farmland. OK, chances are slim, and there is the problem of the "free market" and property rights having to lose priority. Not likely.
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Post by jdredd on May 31, 2015 21:12:46 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/5/design-desperately-needs-social-justice.html"For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an architect. I believe that design can create spaces of inspiration and beauty for all people, regardless of race or class. While I know that design alone cannot rectify inequities, I do believe it can ameliorate them. Many fellow designers do not share this view. Largely taught to create objects of beauty, designers often neglect the social, political and economic implications of their work. This is apparent in the legacy of cruciform, brick public-housing towers that have formed the backdrop of America’s low-income communities. Inspired by modernist principles, architects used these forms because they were inexpensive and quick to construct. But while traditionally urban environments are enriched by varying building heights, materials, color, texture, use and occupants, the typical model of affordable housing is monolithic, sterile and repetitive — an oppressive environment that serves a singular class of residents. Similarly, in this era of the “poor door” (with class-segregated entrances built into the floor plan), architects serving low-income residents commonly design spaces of lesser material quality that feature fewer amenities. In these ways, designers inadvertently perpetuate the disenfranchisement of particular populations by offering subservient design." "Hopefully, InFORMing Justice and similar efforts will encourage designers to be sensitive and proactive and to engage with the people their work ultimately affects. Designers cannot design in a vacuum. We have a tremendous amount of agency to support a landscape of equitable communities, which our education and practice should reflect." Of course, I have heard right wing blowhards (Yeah, you, Glenn) say that "social justice" means commies.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 4, 2015 3:04:35 GMT -5
www.wsj.com/articles/park-avenue-office-towers-mount-a-comeback-1433282652"New York’s Park Avenue is on track to see something it hasn’t seen in three decades: a major new office tower. Developer L&L Holding Co. and its partners on Tuesday secured $556 million from MassMutual Financial Group to fund development of the 897-foot office tower at 425 Park Ave. Taken with other funding from Japanese investor Tokyu Land Corp., the deal gives the developer the cash it needs to push ahead with the 670,000-square foot-tower in a display of the gradually improving appetite for office construction around the U.S." 897 feet? That's pretty tall, about half as tall as the "Freedom Tower" or whatever they call the replacement for the World Trade Towers. $556 Million? That's cheap when a new stadium here in SD would cost $1.1 billion, I believe. Of course, the Pentagon spends $500 million every six hours.
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Post by jdredd on Jan 5, 2016 4:09:17 GMT -5
www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-relocation-20160105-story.html"In an aggressive move Monday to end the NFL's two-decade absence from Los Angeles, three franchises — the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams — submitted relocation applications to the league on the first day they were eligible to do so. The development was unprecedented since the Raiders and Rams left the country's second-largest market after the 1994 season. Dozens of stadium proposals and renderings have come and gone, but this is the first time any teams have formally requested to fill the L.A. vacancy. "We are sad to have reached this point," the Chargers said in a statement." This story could have gone in other threads, but it is interesting to me to see the money being spent to build high-tech super sports stadiums. And I suspect the architectural footprint of a mega-stadium in downtown San Diego is immense,which may be one of the reasons the city would prefer it in the semi-suburbs of Mission Valley at the existing outdated stadium site. And both the Inglewood and Carson sites are in the 'burbs, I believe. LA doesn't want one downtown either, I guess.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2016 23:06:42 GMT -5
www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-relocation-20160105-story.html"In an aggressive move Monday to end the NFL's two-decade absence from Los Angeles, three franchises — the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams — submitted relocation applications to the league on the first day they were eligible to do so. The development was unprecedented since the Raiders and Rams left the country's second-largest market after the 1994 season. Dozens of stadium proposals and renderings have come and gone, but this is the first time any teams have formally requested to fill the L.A. vacancy. "We are sad to have reached this point," the Chargers said in a statement." This story could have gone in other threads, but it is interesting to me to see the money being spent to build high-tech super sports stadiums. And I suspect the architectural footprint of a mega-stadium in downtown San Diego is immense,which may be one of the reasons the city would prefer it in the semi-suburbs of Mission Valley at the existing outdated stadium site. And both the Inglewood and Carson sites are in the 'burbs, I believe. LA doesn't want one downtown either, I guess. Like Who Cares! Why Tax payers should foot the bill on new stadium?? Let the NFL,MLB,NBA & NHL owners pay for it, and let the overpriced players take a pay cut to build the stadium! I don't like sports it's FIXED, The sports fans are morons they riot just because their team loses on championship playoffs and they cost taxpayers big money when morons sports fans destroyed city property and private property, The moronic sports fans saying Wrestling is Fake! I burst their bubbles their pea sized mind I tell the Idiots Sports is fixed its all staged! I like watching Wrestling I know it was staged and scripted, Lets say Women got their soap opera and guys got their Wrestling, and some of the wrestling moves are real and rest are like Hollywood stunt trained moves, 1 miscalculation you risk very serious Injuries maybe death! That goes same for Colleges/Universities Let them pay for their own stadium, They got the money due to overcharging students.
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Post by jdredd on Jan 6, 2016 5:21:31 GMT -5
www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-relocation-20160105-story.html"In an aggressive move Monday to end the NFL's two-decade absence from Los Angeles, three franchises — the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams — submitted relocation applications to the league on the first day they were eligible to do so. The development was unprecedented since the Raiders and Rams left the country's second-largest market after the 1994 season. Dozens of stadium proposals and renderings have come and gone, but this is the first time any teams have formally requested to fill the L.A. vacancy. "We are sad to have reached this point," the Chargers said in a statement." This story could have gone in other threads, but it is interesting to me to see the money being spent to build high-tech super sports stadiums. And I suspect the architectural footprint of a mega-stadium in downtown San Diego is immense,which may be one of the reasons the city would prefer it in the semi-suburbs of Mission Valley at the existing outdated stadium site. And both the Inglewood and Carson sites are in the 'burbs, I believe. LA doesn't want one downtown either, I guess. Like Who Cares! Why Tax payers should foot the bill on new stadium?? Let the NFL,MLB,NBA & NHL owners pay for it, and let the overpriced players take a pay cut to build the stadium! I don't like sports it's FIXED, The sports fans are morons they riot just because their team loses on championship playoffs and they cost taxpayers big money when morons sports fans destroyed city property and private property, The moronic sports fans saying Wrestling is Fake! I burst their bubbles their pea sized mind I tell the Idiots Sports is fixed its all staged! I like watching Wrestling I know it was staged and scripted, Lets say Women got their soap opera and guys got their Wrestling, and some of the wrestling moves are real and rest are like Hollywood stunt trained moves, 1 miscalculation you risk very serious Injuries maybe death! That goes same for Colleges/Universities Let them pay for their own stadium, They got the money due to overcharging students. Well, I'm sure slamming sports makes you a very popular guy. Not that I haven't done it, but if sports are what some people like, so be it. But as I said, I'm entertained following the money going into these high-tech mega stadiums, and how that illuminates the state of our society in the second decade of the 21st Century.
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Post by jdredd on Jan 16, 2016 15:06:12 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/15/walmart-to-shutter-hundreds-of-stores.html"Walmart, the world's largest retailer, announced Friday that it is closing 269 stores, including 154 in the United States. The other big nk is in its challenging Brazilian market. The stores being shuttered account for a fraction of the company's 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its global revenue. Walmart Stores Inc. said the store closures would affect 16,000 workers, 10,000 of them in the U.S. Its global workforce is 2.2 million, 1.4 million in the U.S. alone." "Walmart said that it's still sticking to its plan announced last year to open 50 to 60 supercenters, 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets and 7 to 10 Sam's Clubs in the U.S. during the fiscal year that begins Feb. 1. Outside the U.S., Walmart plans to open 200 to 240 stores." While I still have a gripe against Walmart about the way they opened stores in small towns which closed down hundreds of thousands of Mom and Pop stores, that is water under the bridge now. They do employ thousands of people. What is interesting to me now is which Walmart locations they will shutter while at the same time they are opening about as many in other places. Either way, neighborhoods are disrupted.
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Post by jdredd on Feb 18, 2016 17:00:27 GMT -5
artery.wbur.org/2016/02/17/henry-petroski-road-takenWith “The Road Taken: The History and Future of America’s Infrastructure,” Petroski turns his keen eye to our nation’s roads, bridges, water systems and public transit — and transforms what could be dry-as-gravel content into an engrossing, thought-provoking narrative. He understands the critical role infrastructure plays in a society, in how — as he notes — it enables “a civilization to function in a civilized way." There could hardly be a better time for a considered view of our nation’s infrastructure — with the unfolding water contamination horror in Flint, Michigan, and ongoing reports from cities across the country of dangerously weakened roads and bridges." Here is a book chronicling America's deteriorating infrastructure, which is of course architecture, and what is not getting built or maintained. Yet we still have billions to throw away on killing Muslims we don't like. It's a choice (unless you don't believe we really have choices) we make, and it's place where our choice could affect the status quo in coming years.
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Post by jdredd on Mar 11, 2016 3:02:25 GMT -5
The "convadium" is gaining momentum, which also means another new high-rise hotel on the water's edge where the convention center expansion was originally going to go. But why are we putting a new stadium on 15 acres downtown instead of 166 acres in Mission Valley? I suspect because the people doing the deciding have vested interests in a downtown stadium, which is where the Republican status quo in this burg comes to the foreground. What John Moores wants, he gets. First it was Petco Park (what a dumb name), and next it will be a football stadium that completes the demise of a cohesive "East Village". And have you seen the depictions of the stadium proposed so far? God, it is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Looks like a see-through breadbox dropped from a couple of stories up. And we really need another view-blocking high rise hotel on the bayfront, don't we?
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Post by jdredd on Jun 13, 2016 3:41:21 GMT -5
So proposals have now been released on the "redevelopment" of "quaint" Seaport Village. The land is simply too valuable to remain as it is, it now needs some Theme-park style mega-development on the land. (Can I spew now, or should I wait until later?) Even superstar architect Renzo Piano has a proposal. Yippee. (What, no Frank Gehry?) Does this kind of merde really appeal to the Millennials? Of course, all that wood of the present Seaport Village is SO 1970's.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 15, 2016 16:17:17 GMT -5
Maybe I'm obsessed, but I'm fascinated by the potential monstrosities being contemplated for downtown San Diego. First, it's that Temple of Worship of Football being proposed for the "East Village", a huge stadium on a tiny piece of land with horrendous traffic and parking problems. But Spanos and Moores will laugh all the way to the bank. And then it's the Seaport Village "redevelopment", which seems to involve replacing the wooden one-story buildings (and of course cutting down all the mature trees, but we already know San Diego hates trees) with some steel-and-glass billion-dollar eyesore which will attract the right kind of people (read affluent foreign shoppers). Every town is a Dubai-wanna-be in this century, I guess...
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Post by jdredd on Jun 26, 2016 15:31:58 GMT -5
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jun/26/seaport-village-could-house-new-san-diego-arena/"When live-entertainment powerhouse AEG opened the 19,000-capacity Staples Center in 1999 as the largest indoor concert venue and sports arena in Los Angeles, it became a catalyst in the revitalization of the city’s downtown. Now, AEG hopes to build a similar state-of-the-art sports and entertainment arena at the site of what is now Seaport Village in downtown San Diego. Like the $375 million Staples Center, the new 18,000-seat arena here could be privately financed. “We consider San Diego one of the most unique opportunities available in the world today,” said AEG Facilities President Bob Newman. “This presents the opportunity to think about what the next generation for an arena in San Diego might be.” Why anyone would think a big sports arena would be an improvement over the existing Seaport Village is beyond me, but there is "no accounting for taste". Also, with Nordie's leaving Horton Plaza, it has been mentioned that it might be torn down and replaced with something new too. Should I care? Probably not.
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