Garden Bridges by Christine Guèrard and Almuth Bennet. Parkdesign2012. The project aims to bridge the stairs with its immediate surrounding, confronting and activating also these spaces. As a set of instruments for access, stay and observation, a number of scaffolding structures extend the functionality of the staircase. The scaffolding interventions (re)bridge the staircases on both sides of the canal. The dimensions of the interventions vary and adapt to the situation: the largest structure leads into the ruderal field behind the stairs next to Metro station Delacroix, creating the possibility of a lofty walk on a thin scaffolding platform. A ladder-like structure leading to the staircase‘s raised planting bed at Quai Fernan.
Desmets is possibly more a suggestion of access, than an opportunity to be taken by every visitor. A scaffolding balcony at the Southeastern stairs marks the garden interventions in a long vista from Rue Ropsy Chaudron, sharpening the view for the cohesive context of the sites around the bridge.
londoner Steve Wheen brings greenery and miniature scenes to the streets of east london in his ‘the pot hole gardener’ project.
the idea, which was conceptualized based on guerrilla gardening, is simple: ‘my neighbourhood has a distinct lack of green space,’ wheen reflects; ‘[and] I’m a gardener with no garden.’ wheen fills potholes in roads and sidewalks with soil and living plants, decorating the spaces with miniature props to create tiny worlds. The work thus eliminates the danger of potholes as it adds an enchanting bit of art and greenery into the days of passersby, simultaneously drawing attention to the problem.
A Public Attic for Helsinki facing the Parliament of Finland. Attic is the memory of a house. In attic time is different. Attic is not routine, attic don’t have stress. All the objects are tied to stories. Attic is a narrative space. Also a city can have an attic. A public attic to reflect the collective subconscious. This became a small spontaneous community centre of improvised architecture during the Helsinki Festival 2004.
All the building material was recycled from various construction sites from around Helsinki. http://www.clab.fi/
As part of LIFT11, a festival of urban installations in the public spaces of Tallin (Estonia), Tetsuo Kondo Architects have presented a spiralling path among the trees of Kadriorg Park, visible until 22nd October.
How to make a pop-up park. The list of transient urban delights—pop-up shops, restaurants and galleries—just got a little longer: at an event dubbed Art Through Gardening, Joe Baldwin helmed the creation of a pop-up park. The founder of the arts advocate org Noisivelvet (noisivelvet.com)—in conjunction with the Altgeld Sawyer Corner Farm—turned nearly an entire Logan Square street block into a grassy public play area for four hours. On the website of Time Out Chicago, Baldwin explains which preparations had to be made to get the job done. The funny thing is that his intervention was totally legal thanks to a Block Party Permit.
Excellent magazine from Cities on Farming in the City, a project currently being exhibited at Arcam in Amsterdam! You can get more info on the project in their introductory video here. I checked it out when I was there…well worth the visit! They have some great infographics and case studies!
The magazine features a cross section of community led, policy led and design led urban agriculture projects.
Fruit City is a growing map and network of all the fruit trees in public spaces in London. The project is all about taking advantage of a shared community resource, fruit! There is a growing map and network of all the fruit trees in public spaces in London created by the FruitCity team. Who knew you could pick your own mulberries, figs, apples, pears and more! Fruit City is not just a map of trees but an initiative to wake people up to the nature on their doorstep. To re-engage folks with the wild and goodness around them and to get local community orchards planted.
O’ Mighty Green. Rotterdam studio STAR Strategies + Architecture have photoshopped green walls over images of iconic buildings to poke fun at the way architects believe cladding a building in plants makes it sustainable.
Roppongi Nouen farm by On Design is an urban farm right in the middle of Roppongi which is the center part of Tokyo.People who visit this place can see the process how vegetables grow and also eat the vegetables at the restaurant right next to this farm. This is a place where agriculture and people become close. Glass houses with inorganic iron frame and glass are arranged sterically on a wooden deck just like the surrounding city scape. A farm transported from the country side into the units. Roppongi Nouen FARM is a farm show case consisted of 8 glass containers. The container is leased to farm producer as a place to send out information by growing vegetables. The project is to activate community through agriculture in an urban city.
The Garden Furniture project came about through an interest in making sculpture that uses both permanent and ephemeral materials, altering a static piece of furniture by covering it in living, growing grass, the work therefore changed over time, altering itself, a process that became beyond my control. Created by: Kevin Hunt
(via The Garden Furniture)
In 2009 the group Nomadisch Grün rented a 6000 mq free area in Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin (Germany) and transformed it into Prinzessinnengarten, a little ecological and social urban farm. It is a productive place of foodstuff, cultural projects and new friendships, where people gather, work and enjoy.
Ever wondered what Paris would look like in 2100?
In this reinvented Paris, the Seine becomes a place to live life, the roofs are made accessible, housing is adapted, Parisians re-appropriate the streets once monopolized by cars, bikes are used in fast lanes, metro stations become places of open sky, farms are set up in the city…so many alternatives transform the City.
“+2º: Paris s’invente!” (part of the City’s Week of Sustainable Development (April 1-7), is the fruit of a simple idea by Yannick Gourvil and Cécile Leroux of the architecture firm Collectif et alors ; the acceptance of the fact that earth is getting warmer and that Paris needs to take measures to adjust to it.
Right now, this might be a fairy tale city, but undoubtedly efforts made today can help Paris transform into this magnificent city that its future generations may be proud of.
Jellyfish theatre. The Marlborough Playground, 11 – 25 Union Street, London 2010.
Focussing on energy-efficiency, co-operation and human-scale construction, the public have been encouraged to volunteer and bring their own materials to add to the temporary structure, which is made entirely from recycled and reclaimed materials.
Berlin-based architects Kobberling and Kaltwasser have overseen the project, which is situated on a Southwark playground. Junked theatre sets, reclaimed timber from building sites, Covent Garden market pallets and old kitchen units are some of the materials that have been brought along to the site.
