Model Photos

I uploaded some photos of my model, start to finish, onto my Picasa web album. Check it out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AustinMoore6/GraduateStudio3SiteModel#

I also posted a video documentation in a previous blog.

Video Documentary: Making a Terrain Model Using a CNC Router

For our final project in Graduate Studio 3, our assignment was to create a model to help illustrate our proposed master plan for an infill development site in Starkville, MS. The site I selected is commonly known as Stateside. The site is located along University Drive adjacent to MSU's campus.

For creating the base terrain model for my site, I decided to try and use a CNC router and a piece of 2" high density urethane (HDU) material to route the terrain. The outcome was a success! (Thanks to Chris Ray of Budget Signs for his assistance and access to the CNC.) Here is a video documentary of the process I used to create this model. Enjoy! (Note: Background music begins at step 4 so turn on your speakers.. it makes it slightly more interesting!)

Also available at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etzDgV20IeA

Old school buses converted into bus stops

This guy takes sections of school buses and creates bus stops out of them. I thought Taze might like this. There is a short video of the guy fabricating one in the link below.

http://www.thedesignblog.org/entry/decomposed-school-buses-resurrected-for-bus-shelter/

Backyard cottages OK'd in Seattle

The City of Seattle recently passed an ordiance which would allow the development of detached cottages in the rear of single-family neighborhoods. The building regulations of the cottages are 22' maximum height and 800 square foot maximum floor plan. Their intent is to strengthen the neighborhoods by providing family units and affordable rental units.

Sounds like a great way to achieve higher density without consuming additional land resources. I wonder what impact this will have on the existing infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, etc)?

Full article available here: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/411769_cottages02.html?source=rss

A new "sustainable" sprawling neighborhood

A proposed development in Highlands Ranch, Colorado known as Sterling Ranch calls for water-conservation techniques to help mitigate the drought problems in this rapidly-growing area. The developers are proposing water-efficient plumbing, below grade lawns to retain water, underground cisterns for reuse in irrigation, and PVs which will be used as "parasols" to block water from evaporating from their pond.

One county spokeswoman says "the county is viewed as one of the least sustainable counties in the U.S." She hopes that developments like these can help shed this image "if future sprawl is built sustainably."

Did I read that correctly?

Full article in The Wall Street Journal.

Brownfields 2009 Conference in New Orleans

There is a Brownfields Conference being held in New Orleans on November 16-18. It may be a great opportunity to see/hear some really neat stuff about community revitalization. Registration is free! More info available in the link below. I say we make Taze take us on a field trip...?

http://www.brownfieldsconference.org/en/Page.Overview.2009.aspx

Tour of Portland's stormwater system goes by bike, of course

A recent conference in Portland, Sustainable Stormwater Symposium, conducted a field trip which toured Portland's stormwater systems (LEED buildings, green streets, bioswales, eco-roofs). The tour wasn't taken by a vehicle caravan, not even by bus, but instead by bike! Bikes were loaned by a local bike shop, and the tour ended Portland-style at a brewpub. For those that missed the tour, you can get a brochure and do a self-guided tour. Here's the full story in The Oregonian.

Toby, you must have just missed this!

Retrofitting Suburban Neighborhoods into Walkable Communities

This is a great article from The Wall Street Journal about the retrofit of existing suburban neighborhoods into walkable, mixed-use development. Here is my summary:

Many individuals who moved to the suburbs in search of privacy, elbow room, and/or affordability have since aged. Now elderly, these individuals are beginning to realize that these suburbs are a tough place to grow old with the burden of maintaining yards and driving everywhere for anything. Many are now realizing that this privacy has now become isolation. According to studies however, the majority of these older adults don’t want to leave; they want to age in place. Many suburban cities are pursuing to fix these problems by retrofitting existing suburban neighborhoods into more livable, “lifelong communities.” The idea is to retrofit the single-family neighborhoods with more housing options (such as row houses, condominiums, and town homes) and more walking destinations such as shopping, restaurants, services, and other amenities. It is essentially the spawn of New Urbanism. In order to accomplish these retrofits, a host of various planning and design disciplines is required to address things such as zoning codes and transportation networks.

One example of a suburban retrofit is in Lakewood, CO which converted a collapsing shopping mall into a mixed-use neighborhood where people could live, work, and play. Other cities such as Fayetteville, GA, a suburb of Atlanta, are currently looking at opportunities for retrofitting their suburban neighborhoods. In fact, Atlanta’s suburbs are leading this idea of suburban retrofits with the help of planning and architectural firm Duany Plater-Zyberk. Their design of the Fayetteville retrofit includes greenway paths, a shuttle bus to shopping and health services, and improved links among neighborhoods. According to an Atlanta developer, the challenge is getting all of the many stakeholders involved to collaborate and work together. Financing is another major concern. However, according to Duany, the recession has actually forced planners, builders, and developers to consider alternatives to conventional suburban developments.

This article reminds me of my grandparents, now 88 and 78, who live on 3 acres in a suburban neighborhood. They previously owned 5 acres but sold the lot next door because my grandfather could no longer maintain it. He is no longer able to drive and my grandmother is beginning to slow down as well.

Highlands Plantation "features exterior design similar to the look of the Cotton District"

I selected Highlands Plantation as one of my community studies for our second project. I'm sure most of you are familiar with this conventional, clustered, cookie-cutter neighborhood. While doing my research, I stumbled across Garden Homes of Highlands Plantation website. According to their site, the garden homes in Highlands are "built motivated by traditional core values of quality, featuring exterior design similar to the look of the 'Cotton District', a historical downtown area of Starkville." I'm not so sure about that, but I could be biased since I am a resident of the Cotton District - a mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented, historic neighborhood.

Highlands Plantation













VERSUS

The Cotton District

Consumers could see a 40% price increase on energy-related bills

According to a recent article in MyBusiness, a new legislative plan could hike energy prices by up to 40 percent to individuals and businesses. This new energy policy plan would place hidden taxes on energy-related utility costs. Congress’ proposal, a cap and trade system, would require businesses which emit greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) to purchase governmental credits to offset their emissions. Under this system, businesses who stay below their specified level can sell their remaining credits to other businesses, thus allowing them to pollute more. (Sounds like a great plan to me.. sarcasm). Even businesses which emit minimal levels of greenhouse gases would experience price increases through their utility bills; since utility providers emit a significant amount of greenhouse gases, the price increase would be passed along to businesses and consumers. The government sees it as a win-win situation: environmentalists get regulation of emissions and politicians get tax money. (Notice they say "regulation" and not "reduction." Someone needs to get their priorities straight).

So where does the additional tax money go? Congress wants to use the additional revenues to fund the new government-provided healthcare program. President Obama is obviously in favor of the plan admitting that “under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” How much, an estimated $1300 average annual increase to families’ energy-related bills.

One small business owner, Douglass Henry, suggests a better solution would be for the government to offer credits and grants to businesses for installing energy-efficient equipment. He thinks small businesses could greatly benefit from it, and it would promote conservation of our natural resources. (Sounds more logical to me).

According to a figure in the article, Mississippi ranks as “medium” in its level of vulnerability to an energy tax.

Congress for New Urbanism Video

I found a video on CNU's website that is promoting new urbanism. It kind of reminds me of Taze's "ticky tacky" video. Pretty cool video. May be a good "introduction to new urbanism" video for a class lecture to the undergrads.

Sprint's Misleading Advertisement

I stumbled across a full one page ad for Sprint (see right and click to enlarge) on the back of August 2009 Builder magazine that I thought was somewhat misleading. Their punch line: "You're linking cities, people, and life - and keeping order in a precarious world of beams, cables, concrete, and steel." Linking cities (sprawl), I can see that. Linking people (auto-dependency), I see that too. Linking life....? Maybe its just me, but the fish and the bear (assuming both are forms of life) aren't exactly being linked. In fact, they are leaving the picture.. literally. Did Sprint miss the whole "green", "ecological", "environmentally-friendly" movement occuring in the world?

Needless to say, the world of beams, cables, concrete, and steel is so precarious. Oh, and Nextel's got you covered "even if you're atop a crane and your crew is across the river." I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure your crew member across the river is "push-to-talking" you atop the bridge tower. I'm not sure why you'd be atop a crane anyways! OSHA!

Maybe I'm being too critical. Sorry Sprint!

The sense of smell

An article in the Boston Globe covered an exhibition held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design titled "Ecological Urbanism" (I stumbled across this while doing research for Taze's project). One seemingly popular exhibit, known as "Talking Nose", included a display of 200 samples of air from 200 neighborhoods in Mexico City. Each bottle was labeled with responses from individuals who smelled the samples and reported their findings. The artist, Sissel Tolaas, conducted the experiment to point out how the sense of smell is traditionally disregarded from our "sensory experience" in life. When it is regarded, its typically a negative sensory of something "smelling bad." Responses to the bottled smells included: "Rusty, sweet and old" and "pleasant, aromatic, light, perfume, flowers, vanilla." When's the last time you experienced a place with simply your nose? I can't recall.




Image Source: The Boston Globe

Two Lakes or Not Two Lakes

A recent article in the Clarion-Ledger covers the story of the decade old "Two Lakes" project being proposed for Jackson, MS. The project is being proposed to prevent a devastating flood like that of the Easter Flood of 1979 from flooding Jackson residences and businesses again. There are basically three parties involved: the Corps of Engineers (who control the land and have the final say), the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District (the project board or "mediator"), and private developers (pushing an economic lake development).

The Corps and the developers have different views. The Corps is proposing a levee-only system, while the private developers are envisioning new commercial/residential development, parks, puplic space, and lake development (see below). The plan sounds great, but can Jackson support this type of development? Its downtown area is by no means thriving with is current vacant, run-down buildings.

Source: twolakesms.com



Alternatively, the Corps has concluded that a levee-only plan is the most feasible solution (an engineered solution to say the least), but states that any type of lake development would create adverse impacts to the environment (yes, building in the flood plain would do that).

I don't know whose side to take, but the questions I raise are: If the ultimate goal with the project is flood control, what will be the base water level in the lake? Will the lake have capacity to withstand flood waters? Will the development look like a mud flat half of the year?

Living in a shipping container

My dad told me about an article on treehugger.com (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/shipping-container-houses.php) about people converting large shipping containers into housing units. The idea seemed crazy at first, but after reading a few articles online these things are actually really cool. The best part about them is they are sustainable - reusing old steel shipping containers! One source (http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2009/02/want-to-live-in-a-shipping-crate/) estimated that an old container (40'x8'x8') costs between $1500 and $3000! Talk about a cheap 320 s.f. structure.. not to mention they are designed to be stacked! People across the globe (maybe more so outside of the U.S. at this point) are converting these things into farmer's markets, schools, get-away homes, and even communities! One group in London, Container City, has actually created an entire community of these things. Check out their YouTube video:







Talk about an affordable lake house! If you look closely, this one's even got a green roof!

Image source: http://www.containercity.com

Would you live in one? I would...

New blogger

I'm new at this whole blogging thing. So let's keep this first post short and simple and test my blogging skills.