Subnature: Architecture’s Other Environments

Certain natural elements - such as trees, sun and wind - are commonly associated with the contemporary built environment. These, however, represent a small fraction - the most passive and socially accepted - of the nature's wonders. David Glissen explores the filthy, uncontrollable, and fearsome side of nature in Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments. Author: David Glissen (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009) Reviewed by Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine Nature is ever present in our daily lives. Yet when we think and speak of "nature" it is often in reference to its most attractive aspects - sun, trees, wind, and the like.  This is particularly true in the architecture and urban design professions within which most thought is put into maximizing these "positive" attributes of nature. Its most clear expression is seen the standard renderings that depict buildings and streetscapes bathed in sunlight with puffy cumulus clouds decorating the perfect baby blue sky. But what of the "negative" aspects of nature? Those consciously forgotten elements such as smoke, dust, weeds, debris and mud - idyllic nature's alter-ego - that are equally present in shaping the modern city but remain undiscussed. It is this important topic to which David Glissen turns his eye in the book Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments. Created from secondary information gathered by over the course of his PhD dissertation on nature and architecture, Glissen defines "subnature" as " forms of nature...that are envisioned as threatening to inhabitants or to the material formations and ideas that constitute architecture...those deemed primitive...filthy...fearsome...or uncontrollable." Within this context, Glissen breaks the silence about these alternative forms of nature and explores the social and architectural issues surrounding the subnatural. A thoroughly engaging read, the book is broken into three broad parts - Atmosphere, Matter, and Life - within which short essays describe related subnatural elements. More specifically, Atmosphere speaks to Dankness, Smoke, Gas and Exhaust. Matter, on the other hand, focuses on Dust Puddles Mud and Debris, while the final Part - Life - looks at Weeds, Insects, Pigeons and Crowds. The book ends with a concise Epilogue that straightforwardly addresses the authors intentions behind describing the subnatural and architectures role in addressing the issue. Each succinct essay follows a similar chronological format - starting with a historical look at the subject in question and leading to contemporary architectural proposals and projects that identify the subnatural element discussed and integrates it into their design in some way - ranging from more passive art installations that to architecture that uses the elements to develop their forms. Images and dwgs supplement the written content. Each part ends with a great bibliography of references. The simple format and descriptive writing ultimately gives readers an excellent introduction to the difficult subject of these "uncontrollable, filthy and fearsome" elements. Although it is more a scholarly text than a layperson-targeted read it maintains a pretty good balance between being overly academic and widely accessible. In terms of content, Subnature does a great job of demonstrating that our perception and appreciation our environment is as much a social construct as it is a part of ecological processes.  In doing so, brings to light a number of interesting issues - from our culture's differentiation between weed and non-weed species simply being a matter of socially determined undesirability to how social and political relationships have been strongly associated with insect metaphors. In each case, Glissen underlines the deeper understanding of nature that arises when architecture meaningfully engages these issues. Glissen clearly acknowledges that fully embracing subnatural elements within all facets of popular society demands a strong assessment of the benefits and dangers of doing so. As such, he admits that ethics play an important role in evaluating the how far these ideas are taken. Furthermore, he explicitly states that addressing the subnatural is not about making a "more pleasant and peaceful" architecture. Instead, the significance Subnature and its subject lies in initiating a more inclusive and meaningful discussion of nature and architecture's mediating role. As such, it is definitely worthwhile read for architects and urbanists looking to engage an alternative view of the natural and man-made world around us, or as Glissen says "...the natures we produce through our most radical architectural concepts." *** Erick Villagomez is one of the founding editors at re:place. He is also an educator, independent researcher and designer with academic and professional interests in the human settlements at all scales. His private practice - Metis Design|Build - is an innovative practice dedicated to a collaborative and ecologically responsible approach to the design and construction of places.

Two Billion Cars: Driving Towards Sustainability

The 1939 novel Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright was a remarkable feat of writing. Wright authored a 260-page story without using the letter 'e'. Two Billion Cars almost outdoes Gadsby. In a book subtitled 'Driving Towards Sustainability', the authors almost manage to omit all other forms of transportation besides the car. Authors: Daniel Sperling & Deborah Gordon (Oxford University Press, 2009) Reviewed by John Calimente, re:place magazine Two Billion Cars is another book I've read recently that does a good job of presenting the problems we are facing in auto-dependent North America. Where it goes off the rails - ahem - is in presenting cleaner cars as the only solution. But honestly, I didn't have very high hopes for a book with a foreword written by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The reader gets a sense of the authors' views from the opening page: "Cars offer unprecedented freedom, flexibility, convenience, and comfort, unmatched by bicycles or today's mass transit." I'll bet there are many bicycle owners that would take issue with that line. And this defense comes right after the authors have described the billions of hours wasted in traffic, the terrible pollution, and congestion that automobiles cause. So the 'flexibility' of cars makes up for all these problems? The authors go on to note that it's not cars that are the problem, it's simply the way we fuel them. If only we make cars more fuel-efficient and use lower carbon fuels, all will be right in the world. The book does hit a few good points about our automobile culture. The design of our engines has hardly changed in the 125 years that they have been around. Incredibly, gasoline engines still waste more that two-thirds of the fuel they burn and emit 9 kilograms of CO2 for every gallon of fuel burned. Fuel economy in the U.S. has stagnated at about 22 miles per gallon for the last 20 years even as vehicle efficiency has increased. The reason, of course, is that vehicles have become heavier and more powerful. The authors also mention the heavy cost of owning and operating a vehicle in the U.S. Since many households own two vehicles, that works out to $15,000 per year. So what do we do? If you're in the suburbs, smart paratransit, otherwise known as jitneys, are waiting to whisk you to wherever you want to go. Carsharing services will allow people to use a car part-time without having to own one. Golf cart-like vehicles you can hope in to get around your neighbourhood, because god knows you don't want anyone to see you walking. And transit? Well,  the authors think that rail transit is "far too expensive for most cities" and only "a few rich cities are building Paris-style metro rail systems" Yes, rail transit is for those rich French people. Tell that to the citizens of Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, and other American cities that love their new rail systems. And if you're looking for Bus Rapid Transit , it gets a couple of paragraphs on pages 42 and 222. What annoyed me most about this book is that the authors should know better. Daniel Sperling is a professor of engineering and environmental science and policy at the University of California and serves on the California Air Resources Board. Deborah Gordon is a transportation policy analyst who has worked with the National Commission on Energy Policy. With such knowledge, you would think they could at least come up with some better arguments against mass transit, cycling, and walking if they are really so keen on the car. But they can hardly be bothered to even mention other forms of transportation and their innumerable benefits. It is precisely because of the advantages of other modes that they must studiously avoid that discussion. In their world, other forms of transportation are only used by those poor souls who don't own a car. John Calimente is the president of Rail Integrated Developments. He is a fan of great public transit + transit integrated communities + urban life lived without a car. Click here to follow TheTransitFan on Twitter.

Detail in Process

The proliferation of new materials and technologies now driving the design process requires architects and engineers to work together as equals and is rapidly expanding the areas of common ground between them. -Christine Killory, ed. Edited by Christine Killory and Rene Davids (Princeton Architectural Press - 2008) Review by Laura Kozak, re:place magazine Detail in Process, a follow-up to 2007’s Details in Contemporary Architecture, looks at how the changing relationship between architects and engineers is manifest in new work from 23 international firms. Asserting that changes to design media, construction technology and building materials have drastically changed the architectural workflow and our expectations for building performance, we are shown projects ranging in scale from a 900 square-foot Library for Manuscripts to the 740-foot 7 World Trade Centre tower. The commonality between these works is in the details: each displays innovations that result from collaboration between architects and engineers. The second volume in AsBuilt, Detail in Process provides luscious colour photographs of projects, supplemented with plans, sections and best of all, small-scale details.  AsBuilt is Princeton Architectural Press’s ongoing series of collections of new architectural works, which looks particularly at design, technology and materiality. The series – and this book – are truly aimed at the design community, using language and drawings likely outside the general public’s interest. The specificity of audience is much appreciated: precise metrics and technical information take this series outside the realm of coffee-table book and aim to provide a valuable resource to practicing designers and engineers. Consulting with project architects and engineers in the writing of the text, we are given both the technical and anecdotal story behind the building, rather than just a marketing pitch. San Francisco’s newly reconstructed de Young Museum is a featured project of Switzerland’s Herzog & de Meuron, San Francisco’s Fong & Chan Architects and A. Zahner, a Kansas-based engineering and fabrication firm. The three-level, 293 000 square foot museum in Golden Gate Park is encased in an iconic perforated copper façade, which will develop a turquoise patina as it’s exposed to air and salt water over the next decade. The façade design, by Herzog and de Meuron, uses a pattern of bumps and perforations to abstract the pattern of a canopy of trees. Detail in Process takes us through a complicated and innovative fabrication process for this facade, for which Zahner fabricated custom punches, made a 30 x 40’ full-scale sectional building mockup (with complete details and actual materials) for stress tests, and developed custom software to automate the manufacturing process. Extensive collaboration and insight into each other’s field of expertise between architects and engineers is fundamental to the direction of this project, and the 22 others featured in this book. Though seemingly a given, this type of integrated workflow is relatively new, and is made possible by rapid advances in design technology. Use of modeling software and rapid prototyping allows architects to understand structural information in the early, conceptual stages of a project, while engineers are making rapid strides in techniques, tools and materials to make the aesthetics of a building perform. Detail in Process and the AsBuilt series is a great resource for architects, fabricators, engineers and nerdy designers. Exposing us to some of the most recent and technologically advanced architectural projects around the globe, editors Christine Killory and Rene Davids  strike a great balance between the technical and the visual. ** Laura Kozak is a cartographic enthusiast, bibliophile and buddy of the Helen Pitt gallery. She has a BFA from Emily Carr, studied Environmental Design at UBC and maintains an independent design practice at studio CAMP.

A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Vancouver

“To observe the city’s architecture is to enter into the optimistic vision of its planners and designers and so to engage in the work-in-progress that is Vancouver. The city’s sense of becoming can at times be palpable – an unusual experience in the face of architecture’s qualities of stability and endurance.” - From the guidebook’s introduction Edited by Chris MacDonald in collaboration with Veronica Gillies (Douglas & McIntyre Publishers - 2010) Review by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine With the recent publication of two similar architecture guidebooks of Toronto and Montreal, A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Vancouver (D&M Publishers, 2010) completes the trilogy with a bang. Guided by Helen Malkin (who along with Nancy Dunton also assisted with the other two guidebooks), and with the support of the RAIC and Canada Council for the Arts, UBC Director of architecture Chris MacDonald and architect Veronica Gillies have assembled a smart and current collection of contemporary architecture from Vancouver and its region.  As bookends to the projects presented, two essays by local architecture critic Adele Weder and UBC professor and architect Matthew Soules round out the guidebook. In all, the 58 projects presented, as categorized by the 21 environs that give the book its structure, unequivocally represent Vancouver’s more recently celebrated architectural achievements, with each project having already received numerous accolades in the form of architectural awards and publications. The book aspires to be more than just a guidebook of local architecture’s ‘usual suspects’, but this, as it turns out, is quite a difficult thing to do, especially when given the small time period in which the book’s editors have chosen to frame its content – between Expo ’86 and the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.  Of the book's 58 projects, 35 are by Vancouver’s usual suspects - including Arthur Erickson (5), Peter Cardew (2), Peter Busby (7), Norm Hotson & Joost Bakker (2), James Cheng (2), Paul Merrick (2), Bing Thom (6), John and Pat Patkau (2), and Richard Henriquez (6). But perhaps more importantly, the next wave of Vancouver architects and designers are here also, including Battersby Howat, Martin Lewis, LWPAC, Acton Ostry, AA Robins, and Pechet & Robb. There is also an aspiration in the book to debunk the ‘starchitect’ myth by offering up collaborations side-by-side with the individual firms, such as those that brought about the realization of the former Expo lands, the stations along the Millenium Line, the new Canada Line, the buildings and urban spaces realized for the sites for the Olympics, as well as the reopening of Woodwards. Perhaps the book’s most revelatory offering is the collection of modest but important buildings that have recently been realized for the University of British Columbia at Point Grey. A new building each by both Henriquez Partners and the Patkaus can now count themselves among many of the other architectural gems that have appeared at Vancouver’s university over the years, including the late Arthur Erickson’s majestic Museum of Anthropology. As a ‘contemporary’ guidebook, the editor’s admit that the time period of the book regrettably omits the aforementioned museum by this Vancouver based master-builder, along with his Robson Square and Law Courts. Instead, we get his more recent projects realized in collaboration with Stantec and Nick Milkovich, perhaps as an exploration of what it means to be contemporary. Arguably, no book of Vancouver architecture would have ever been possible without Mr. Erickson’s early vision, and the book’s editors say as much as they dedicate the book to him, adding that “in his distinguished designs for Vancouver he has taught us all much about architecture, and much about what it might mean to be contemporary.” Also significant is the inclusion of Vancouver’s heritage architecture as its been upgraded for modern building code standards, such that the book features the Electra, Mole Hill, and of course Woodwards - it could’ve also included the Marine Building and Sinclair Centre. Also absent are the still existing Expo buildings themselves, as Canada Place and the new Trade and Convention Centre could've been featured in tandem, as well as the old Space & Science Centre alongside the Olympic Village. But without doubt the guidebook’s greatest merit is its honesty, as it unflinchingly portrays the downtown east side and the way architecture can perhaps have a role in the healing of ‘Canada’s poorest postal code’ (the UBC school of architecture itself has its downtown studio in the base of the old BC Electric Building). The book also devotes 45 pages to Vancouver’s satellite communities, featuring such projects as the Richmond Olympic Oval, Brentwood Skytrain Station, and Surrey Central City. As an added bonus, accompanying the 160 colour photographs in the book are 40 plans and sections provided by the architects themselves, offering a visually rich graphic counterpart to the photography of Vancouver’s urban scenography. As such the book succeeds in appealing to the Vancouver local, while an excellent guide for tourists in much the same spirit as Harold Kalman’s Exploring Vancouver (1974, 1978, & 1993). As interesting as the projects themselves, the geographical regions the projects occur in are well summarized, and introducing some never before categorized areas of Vancouver. I was happy to see Point Grey and Commercial Drive, places often omitted from more conventional architecture guidebooks. The editor’s candour is likewise refreshing, not pulling back from the controversies some of the buildings have created since their opening. As an example, for Library Square they point out how “the exterior elevations bereft of the two primary galleria entries remain dismal.” And the inclusion of infill projects in the downtown east side shows the inherent possibility of architecture to create positive change in what could be otherwise forgotten and abandoned city areas. And lastly, no book on Vancouver architecture would be complete without some mention of sustainability and environmental design. Many of the projects featured are, not surprisingly, LEED certified, while the book itself provides transit stops for tourists visiting each building or group of buildings. Overall, the guidebook does not disappoint either as a tourist’s guide to contemporary Vancouver architecture, or as a folio for the local Vancouverite, featuring some of its newest and brightest urban projects (including the new Informs interior and hip 'Salt' in Gastown, both by Busby). Along with some older post-Expo favourites, it makes for an indispensable reference for local architects and designers, historians and educators alike. Most importantly, with A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Vancouver completing the set on the nation’s three largest cities, these books contest to a continuing thriving industry of national architecture despite our current economic slowdown, and are a testament to the talent, new and old, that collectively defines our architectural culture. *** Sean Ruthen is an architect working, living, and writing in Vancouver.

-arium: Weather and Architecture

What possibilities exist within the interaction of architecture and weather? This is the topic of the recently published -arium that documents the research and architectural concepts proposed by a University of Toronto architecture students. Edited by Jürgen Mayer H. & Neeraj Bhatia (Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2009) Reviewed by Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine With its the everyday presence and seemingly predictable nature, weather often makes for an underwhelming topic of discussion.  As such, we take for granted the power of this natural system and its many influences on culture. In the architecture field, the development of reliable heating and air conditioning systems marked a significant point in history and quickly eroded the practice governing how built form could respond to the atmospheric conditions of the natural environment. In doing so, it broke a knowledge chain - centuries long - of how buildings and weather can affect one another. However, climate change - in conjunction with our increasingly sophisticated knowledge of weather phenomena - has brought weather back to the forefront off public discourse, renewing the age-old discussion of the how weather and architecture can affect one another. This relationship serves as the focus of the recently published book -arium: Weather and Architecture. -arium documents the research and design proposals done at the University of Toronto during the 2008 architecture studio held by Jurgen Mayer H. - the first European architect to hold Frank Gehry International Visiting Chair of Architectural Design position at the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Design. Richly illustrated, the book has a simple and straight-forward structure, consisting of three broad sections - Weather Report, Weather Forecast, and Weather Outlook - that are further subdivided into sub-sections. The many essays in the first section - Weather Report - looks at the intersection of culture and weather.  Each piece focuses on a single theme,  starting with a brief history of weather and it's evolution from a product of myth to science and moving into a series of essays that look at the relationship between weather and (physical) health, war, infrastructure, catastrophies, tourism, shopping, media, and materials. Weather Forecast focuses on eight architectural concepts proposed by the students of the class that were created in response to all the information they discovered through their research. Students were given the Victory Soya Mills Silos along Toronto's waterfront as their study site - having the option of interpreting and transforming the landmark, hermetic concrete buildings in response to weather and climate. As is the case in most contemporary architectural design studios, all the  proposals were highly conceptual and exploratory - offering a diversity of solutions to different issues. For example, a crystalline Algal Farm - "Algarium" - used algae as a living shading medium that harnesses solar energy and sequesters CO2 from the city while providing a product that can be harvested and converted to BioFuel. Another - Fogarium - proposes the use of fog of different densities and temperatures as a building skin for a number of "fog pods" that are barnacled onto the existing silos and enclose various public and private activities. Each proposal section begins with a short introduction - explaining the overall intent of the project - that is then followed by a handful of drawing-heavy pages that describe the scheme in more detail. The final section - Weather Outlook - is a compilation of nine short essays by various design professions and class critics speculating on the relationship between weather, atmosphere, and architecture. Contributors include the Frank Gehry Visiting Chair, himself - Jurgen Mayer H. - as well as Neeraj Bhatia and Mason White - founders of the well-known InfraNet Lab. Topics of each essay range from descriptions of specific projects that engage weather in interesting ways to more theoretical discussions of the potential role of weather in shaping the built environment. As a school-based book -arium is very impressive. Its beautiful design and high-quality production makes it stand out amongst other  school-based architecture publications - particularly within the Canadian context. Similar to other design school anthologies, however, the specificity of the topic and conceptual nature of its content caters to primarily to architecture students and professionals. That said, the research essays given in the Weather Report are very engaging and more broadly applicable given that they provide accessibly-written and succinct descriptions of the effect of weather on the the built landscape and other global systems. A collection of writings on such a rare subject make this a valuable read and reference for further investigation. Although the book may not be for those outside the field of architecture and the conceptual architectural projects proposed are not be readily buildable (or viable, for that matter), this doesn't take way from the relevant and important issue the studio sought to engage - and that the book highlights. That is, as the global society continues to search for solutions to increasingly complex ecological and societal pressures, we will necessarily have to meaningfully reconsider and harness the powerful forces of weather. As such, our knowledge of atmospheric behaviour will have to shape the way we think about and build our physical environment. Although this may seem outlandish, the very essense of the issue -arium brings forth is about re-engaging and updating the sensibilities that shaped the wonderful architecture and urbanism of cultures past. One need only recall the wind-scooped urbanism of Hyderabad, or even the courtyard homes of ancient Rome to appreciate the how architecture and weather can interact in a meaningful way...something we seem to have lost the ability and desire to do recently. With this in mind, -arium: Weather and Architecture is timely call to arms for the architecture community to courageously move ahead, building upon past practices by means of using the sophisticated techniques of the present....a bold and urgent statement. *** For more information on the book visit the Hatje Cantz Publishers website. ** Erick Villagomez is one of the founding editors at re:place. He is also an educator, independent researcher and designer with academic and professional interests in the human settlements at all scales. His private practice - Metis Design|Build - is an innovative practice dedicated to a collaborative and ecologically responsible approach to the design and construction of places.

Atlas of Novel Tectonics

Architects Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto tackle a breadth of architectural issues surrounding technology, history and their own design philosophy in this compact but dense book. Authors: Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2006) Reviewed by Elsa Snyder The Atlas of Novel Tectonics, by architect duo Reiser and Umemoto, is a compact book that delves into a highly theoretical approach to architectural technology. From the textural cover, to the carefully organized layout, to the "pasted-in" images, no portion of this book has been overlooked in terms of design. The book is arranged into five sections: Geometry, Matter, Operating, Common Errors to Avoid and The World. Each section is comprised of a series of short essays, ranging from a small paragraph to a few pages, most of which include relevant images and/or diagrams. Throughout the book, the authors reach a surprisingly apt synthesis of theoretical, historical, cultural and architectural practice, culminating in an enjoyable, thought-provoking and challenging read. Geometry In this section Reiser and Umemoto stress the concept of fineness, stating that it "defines the culmination of techniques described in this book" (39).  The chapter underlines the importance of material organizations creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its part through a critical analysis of material and structure across scales. Reiser and Umemoto approach the concept of "fineness" by addressing several problems of opposites such as coherence vs. incoherence, similarity and difference and variety vs. variation. Matter Focuses specifically on building science, material properties and how the architects deploy their own philosophies of architectural structural organization. One of the most interesting discussions in the section is a re-evaluation of Buckminster Fuller's famous geodesic dome. Reiser and Umemoto note that with the advent of modern technology, geodesics can be employed in much more flexible and varying forms than the domes previously imagined. Their proposal for a BMW Munich project showcases the architects' use of  space frames as the foundation for both programmatic and structural organization. Operating Reiser and Umemoto begin this section by asserting that architects have less control over their work than they would like, and ultimately the relationship between architecture and program (the functional requirements of a building) is fragile. They sum up this idea by noting that "people are capable of doing almost anything anywhere" (166). The rest of the section deals with a mixture of issues, from architectural evolution (and devolution) to optimizing the functional and formal qualities of a design. Common Errors to Avoid This section seems to be directed to students and novice architects and advises against the "abuse" of diagrams, data, logic and accidents. Resier and Umemoto are quick to point out the errors in placing too much emphasis on empirical data and replicating the same forms through all scales of design, such as a rhomboid seating unit in a rhomboid building. The World The authors clearly had the most fun with the last section of this book. With essays discussing the meaning of the movie Fight Club - a goofy diagram featuring Martha Stewart and a discussion on "Foamy Realities"-  Reiser and Umemoto discuss the migration and evolution of cultural production, architecture and popular culture through the past century. The book closes with an interesting piece on neo-regionalism, asserting that it is more of an embrace of globalization, adding cultural richness to the material and cultural capital of the world, rather than a force rebelling against it. This new global regionalism relies on the ever-present difference in the world in order to constitute a larger whole. The main issue I found with this book is that many of Reiser and Umemoto's concepts are relatively simple to comprehend, but the language used to go about describing them is overly complex and circuitous.  Although this style of writing is fairly commonplace in architectural theory, a redeeming factor is that Reiser and Umemoto's use of clever metaphors and analogies ease the reader through the linguistic maze more successfully than similar literature. Overall, the rigor that Reiser and Umemoto invest in their conceptual development and structural techniques could have been enhanced and complemented by a greater clarity in expression; complex thinking doesn't necessarily require complex writing. Overall, the Atlas of Novel Tectonics is a refreshing and stimulating textbook for architects, students and interested minds alike. The book delves beyond pure structural and technological issues to draw in current and historical contexts, as well as deals with architectural science in a way that resonates with both designers and engineers. Although the book is technically and linguistically dense, the thought process of Resier and Umemoto ultimately emerges as a cohesive set of discipline-bridging ideas. *** For more information on the book , visit the Princeton Architectural Press website. ** Elsa Snyder is a University of British Columbia graduate with a degree in Environmental Design. She has a great interest in all forms of design and enjoys spending time exploring urban environments through film and digital photography.

Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller

The end of cheap oil is upon us, predicts Canadian economist Jeff Rubin. And with it say goodbye to globalization. Author: Jeff Rubin (Random House, 2009) Reviewed by John Calimente, re:place magazine The book jacket may call Jeff Rubin a 'maverick', but Rubin would only appear that way to people who believe that cheap and plentiful energy will allow globalization to continue indefinitely. For those of us who see the combination of an oil production peak coupled with the increasing demand for energy resulting in skyrocketing fuel prices, he is merely making a educated guess as to what impact this will have. Rubin is a very good writer, and not just for an economist. Difficult concepts are explained with simple and direct language and good use of examples to illustrate his points. Rubin tackles the supply side of oil first and it's hard to argue with what he finds. Rubin notes that world economies are inextricably linked to oil as an input. This simple quote speaks volumes: "Right now, you need oil to make money and you need money to buy oil. As long as it takes a particular amount of oil to make a fixed amount of money or GDP, we are going to see economies choked by rising prices almost as soon as they get pack on their feet after each recession." Forget about delinquent subprime mortgages causing the current recession. The mortgages were a symptom, not the cause. Rubin explains persuasively that it was the record high oil prices of 2008 that sent the economy crashing to the ground. Not only did they cause this recession, they caused four of the last five recessions.The price increase was dramatic. Over 500% between 2002 and the peak in 2008, which is double the increase in either of the OPEC oil shocks. Eurozone countries and Japan were hit first, in early 2008, while the U.S. was hit later, since as an oil producer it received some of the benefits of higher prices. And don't think we've seen the end of high oil prices. Rubin predicts that fuel prices will top $1.90/litre in the next business cycle, 70% higher than at their peak in 2008. He writes "...the imbalance between demand and supply will probably take oil to $200 per barrel before another recession knocks back prices and demand."And the trend will continue. With each new business cycle, the price of oil will rise again, with "...the peak in one cycle's oil prices becoming the trough over the next cycle." The problem is that we just don't have enough oil to meet demand. Rubin notes that over the next five years, the world must find 20 million barrels per day of new production just to keep production steady. One would think that if there were extra supply, oil companies would have provided it in 2008 when prices were hitting new highs. Instead, with the world's oil wells declining by about 7% each year, supply has completely levelled off. We've become accustomed to cheap oil. We only pay half of what Europeans pay for gasoline. And while you'd think that advances in technology would end up reducing gas consumption in automobiles, it hasn't happened that way. Instead, automakers chose to find ways to get more power from the same tank of gas. Incredibly, "North American vehicles today are probably less efficient than a 1908 Ford Model T." Even so, energy expenditures have gone down. While energy totalled 20% of the average paycheck in 1980, it was only 5% by the year 2000. And although North America and Europe are very slowly reducing their demand for oil, developing nations are taking their place. While the OECD made up about 75% of world oil consumption only 25 years ago, it now only makes up half. Countries like China, India, and Saudi Arabia continue to use more and more oil.  In OPEC countries, where governments subsidize oil, consumption has increased 5% per year on average. Even China and India keep oil prices lower than world prices for their citizens. And what happens if oil prices continue to increase? It will actually raise consumption in OPEC countries, because "...as oil-exporting countries make more money, those export earnings go towards buying more domestic gasoline." Rubin predicts that the Middle East will lower oil exports by a million barrels per day over the next four years as more oil goes to meet domestic demand. The effect will be dramatic, especially on shipping. Container ship speeds have doubled in the last 15 years, which has also doubled fuel consumption per unit of freight. At $100 a barrel, fuel becomes half the cost of shipping an item. Cheap transportation costs meant greater access to cheap labour in developing nations. Because of that, the importance of manufacturing decreased in North America, with service industry jobs (now 70% of the North American economy) taking their place. Since distance will now become much more expensive, Rubin thinks that manufacturing jobs will begin returning to North America. We will no longer be able to afford to import so many goods from other countries. Airlines will be hit harder. Jets use an astounding amount of fuel. A return flight from New York to London burns about 425 litres of fuel per passenger, as much fuel as a mid-sized car burns in three months. With fuel costs at 30% of total expenses, Rubin notes that most airlines need to see oil prices below $80 just to break even. The news today that oil had reached $85 per barrel while Japan Airlines announced cuts of over 16,000 workers seems to bear this out. So as Rubin sees it, the task it to say goodbye to a world of abundant energy and prepare for a world of increasing energy scarcity. We're either going to have to create an economy that is less dependent on oil, or be left with one that relies on oil for every dollar of wealth we produce. No time like the present. ** John Calimente is the president of Rail Integrated Developments. He is a fan of great public transit + transit integrated communities + urban life lived without a car. Click here to follow TheTransitFan on Twitter.

Power Trip

The U.S. is heavily dependent on oil. Just how deep this dependence runs is revealed by Amanda Little in Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells - Our Ride to the Renewable Future. But will the possible solutions be enough in an age of higher oil prices? Author: Amanda Little (Harper Collins, 2009)        Reviewed by John Calimente Power Trip is divided into two parts. Part 1, titled 'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Oil', looks into the production and consumption of oil in the U.S. Part 2, 'Greener Pastures', surveys some possible alternatives to oil. The most fascinating section for me was the first chapter, on America's domestic oil industry, past and present. Little's visit to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is the highlight of the book, as it vividly demonstrates the lengths that oil producers have to go in order to satiate our need for oil. An incredible 3,700 production platforms in the Gulf produce 25% of all U.S. oil. While most rigs are in water less than 2,000 feet deep, newer rigs can drill in up to 10,000 feet of water. Each well drilled in deep water costs $100 million, with a full 3 out of 4 wells drilled coming up empty.  And the margin of error in drilling is very small - within a metre in any direction. And to get oil, you need to use oil. A whole whack of it. Just the engines used to power the thrusters that keep the rigs stable use an incredible 40,000 gallons of diesel per day, which Little notes is the amount that "13,300 Hummers consume in a typical day of driving." Nowadays it takes one barrel of oil to yield a return of 14 barrels, whereas in the 1930s the return was 100 barrels. But with the U.S. only producing a quarter of the oil it needs domestically, the drilling continues apace. From oil production, Little turns to oil consumption. Did you know that the Pentagon is the largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S., comprising 2% of total demand? It makes sense when you consider that a B-52 bomber uses 45,000 gallons of fuel in a single mission. Oil is also used in large quantities as an input for agriculture: 6.2 billion pounds of fossil-fuel-based fertilizers are used to produce 40% of U.S. crops, worth $110 billion. Fuel is not only used in fertilizer, of course, but also for operating farm machinery, processing crops into products, and transporting them to our local stores. If fuel prices soar, so will our food prices. We also hear the story of how president Eisenhower, impressed by German autobahns and dismayed by the "shocking condition" of U.S. roads, developed the 40,000 mile interstate system, an American version of the autobahn. The interstate system and the sprawling nature of American development has resulted in American drivers travelling 14,000 miles per year, as Little says "the distance around the equator every 1.8 years." So will renewable energy save us? Little interviews T. Boone Pickens, an oil entrepreneur who is now investing heavily in wind power, predicting it will become a big part of energy production. Wind power has some issues though: distribution is difficult, since windy places are usually far from major population centres. Storage of the energy that is produced is another problem. Since winds don't blow all the time or when most needed, the key is to develop better batteries and storage devices. The author also looks at the cost and conversion efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) cells, which are used in creating solar power. Lowering the cost and raising the efficiency of PV cells will be necessary to make solar power a bigger energy source. Geothermal power is more promising, as it is provides energy constantly, unlike solar or wind power. Fluid injected into deep wells absorbs the heat which is used on the surface to drive steam-generated power plants. Places like B.C., California, Nevada, and Alaska are all potential sources of geothermal power. Household geothermal systems can also reduce the need for oil, gas, or electric heating by keeping the interiors of homes at a constant temperature. As transportation makes up 61% of worldwide oil consumption, any significant reductions in oil consumption would have to involve this sector. Automobiles, trucks, planes, and freighters are modes that will be heavily impacted by increasing oil prices in the coming decades. Surprisingly, while Little talks about ways to reduce energy demand in homes and offices, potential fixes like expanded public transit and bicycle use merit only a few pages. Instead, Little takes the oft-used approach of looking at ways to make cars 'greener' such as running them on electricity, biofuels, or other technological solutions. Little also doesn't address the impending global shortage of rare earth metals. These metals are vital for all manner of renewable energy technologies like wind turbines, battery-powered cars, and even compact fluorescent bulbs. By examining mainly technological fixes that would allow us to maintain our current lifestyles, the author neglects the possibility that we may be entering a period of declining consumption, travel, and energy use. Little is at her best describing America's addiction to oil, but has less success in looking at a reduced carbon future. ** John Calimente is the president of Rail Integrated Developments. He is a fan of great public transit + transit integrated communities + urban life lived without a car.

Studio and Cube

How does architectural context inform the meaning of an artwork? Tracing the appearance of the studio as subject, Brian O’Doherty tells the story of the ‘relationship between where art is made and where art is displayed’ through the lens of art history of the 19th and 20th centuries. Brian O'Doherty (Buell Centre/Princeton Architectural Press - 2007) Reviewed by Laura Kozak, re:place magazine Elaborating on his 1999 text Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space (originally published in 1976 for Artforum), O’Doherty addresses the symbiotic relationship of the studio and gallery space, the work of art being the object that negotiates between these two environments. Detailed discussion of specific works and artists, from Vermeer to Duchamp to Warhol, identifies initial acknowledgements of the studio, highlights the studio’s role in the 20th century merging of art and life and elucidates some of the shifts in language associated with the studio through this history. The studio as an extension of the artist or artist’s body, a recurring theme, is traced back to pre-nineteenth century paintings such as Chardin’s ‘The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards Which Are Accorded to Them,’ in which the artist’s tools stand in his place, calling attention to his absence. Reappearing under 20th century conditions of art-making, this concept is manifest in Lucas Samaras’s 1964  ‘Room #1,’ in which the artist transplanted the entire contents of his New Jersey studio to Manhatten’s Green Gallery. The interest in art that talks about the artist or the making of work is seen as a closed loop – a self-referential dog-chasing-its-own-tail phenomenon. The mid-twentieth century compression of art and life brought about a crisis in the separation of studio and gallery, stimulating the production of all kinds of work the fluctuating meaning of display spaces. While Rauschenberg’s 'Bed' and Francis Bacon’s studio reconstruction brought the studio to the white cube, the outset of performance art made use of the gallery as a space for the simultaneous making and display of work. The latter is strikingly absent from the discussion in Studio and Cube. In speaking about important moments in the history of studio spaces, O’Doherty identifies some of the shifts in the language that refers to sites of cultural production, from Giraud’s atelier to Warhol’s Factory. Paralleling shifts in practices of art-making, the naming of studio spaces indicate the increasingly important role of the studio in contextualizing a work of art. In fact, many later works deliberately confuse the historic separateness of gallery and studio space, an overt example being Acconci’s 'Seedbed'. Studio and Cube is the first in Columbia University’s FORuM series, produced by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. The series, dedicated to ‘exploring relationships among form, politics and contemporary life,’ is an important opportunity for architects and designers to expand their understanding of spatial politics through the lenses of external disciplines. Highly academic, well-researched and with a fine-grain knowledge of the loaded history of both gallery and studio spaces, Studio and Cube is well worth-it for artists, historians and architects.

Learning From Japan: Single Story Urbanism

“SANAA’s work does not introduce order as do those mid-century architectures to which it is routinely compared; rather it imposes a fine disorder and instability, at times even an agitation, into the surround. The work of SANAA seeks to operate with the invisible potency of weather.” - From Sanford Kwinter’s essay ‘Koan’ Edited by Florian Idenburg (Lars Müller Publishers - 2010) Reviewed by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine With the recent announcement of SANAA as the recipients of the 2010 Pritzker Prize, Lars Müller Publishers, having previously released two other publications on this pair of Japanese architects and their work, has hit the nail on the head by delivering this timely snapshot of three Princeton design studios taught by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, otherwise known as SANAA, between 2006 and 2008. Wrapped in a no-nonsense utilitarian cover befitting an architecture treatise of this nature, this brief though dense publication is an amalgam of student’s projects from these design studios, interspersed with essays written about SANAA, including one by Stan Allen, current Dean of the Princeton school of architecture, and the always poignant architectural commentator Sanford Kwinter. Rounding out the text, Dutch photographer Iwan Baan provides the visual narrative for the book, punctuating the descriptions of the student projects and theoretical discourse with stark and realistic images of Japan and its urban scenography. Though the office is comprised of a pair of architects, it is undoubtedly Kazuyo who takes the role of mentor, having formed her own practice in 1987 after working with Toyo Ito, and going on to receive Japan’s ‘Young Architect of the Year’ Award in 1992. In 1994 she formed SANAA with her former employee Ryue, and began the collaboration as a multi-disciplinary office practicing on the world stage, receiving residential, institutional, and commercial commissions in New York, Lausanne, Valencia, and Tokyo. While without a doubt the Pritzker is the crowning achievement for the office’s work, they are no strangers to accolades, having received the ‘Golden Lion’ at the 2004 Venice Biennale. Kazuyo is also currently the Director of the Architecture Sector for the Venice Biennale, and is set to curate the 12th International Architecture Exhibition later this year. With the opening of the firm’s 2006 New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, SANAA found themselves catapulted overnight to the status of starchitects, much to the bewilderment of some, and was later confirmed by the commission to do the much coveted Serpentine Galley pavillion in London’s Hyde Park in 2009. As the Princeton-run, Tokyo-based studios featured in the book slightly pre-date Sejima and Nishizawa’s most current accolades, they thereby offer a glimpse into the office’s earlier genesis. As explored and debated in the essays throughout the book, theirs is an architecture most often misunderstood, as more traditional, Western architects, perhaps having naively believed they had encountered everything Japanese minimalism had to offer, from Ando to Taniguchi, are now baffled anew by SANAA’s style, or absence thereof. SANAA presents a whole new generation of architecture coming out of the land of the rising sun, along with the novelty and innovation that accompanies anything that runs contrary to modern architecture’s ‘business-as-usual’ methodology. As Kwinter describes them, theirs is a work of actualization realized through absence, comparing them in his essay 'Koan' - itself a tenet of Zen Buddhism not unlike the ancient Eleatic school of philosophy of Zeno and Parmenides - as purveyors of ‘the quiet in the land’, and betraying his Canadian origins by quoting Glenn Gould and his famous investigations of the Canadian North. More than a physical notion of space, both Gould and SANAA share a kinship for having sought out that emotional and mysterious place in which the human psyche resides. Similar to the silence of John Cage’s 4’33”, this notion is in keeping I think with that of architecture as an invisible artform. Much as Viktor Shklovsky wrote nearly a century ago that it is the role of art to rouse the human experience from its ontological slumber, so does the work of SANAA set out to rouse the world of architecture. Among the book's essays, it is one written by one of the studio's students that I believe provides the book's most timely polemic. Michael Wang, whose studio project focused on a community of hikikomori, reveals an alarming phenomenon of shut-ins occurring in Japan's urban centres, comprised of hundreds of thousands of Japanese youth. Besides the sociololgical ramifications, Wang imagines a housing project for a population of hikikomori much as we presently have housing for senior citizens. His essay, simply entitled ‘Shut In’, presents a critical addition to the interviews and essays in the book, and illuminates a societal dysfunction which will shortly impact itself upon Japan’s urban fabric as the population's aging baby-boomers retire. That this will undoubtedly manifest itself architecturally is truly visionary on the part of Wang, and therein provides one demonstration of the value of having the studios in Japan. But it is the title of the book which presents the greatest value of the studios and the lesson the West can learn from Japanese post-war urbanism - the notion that densification, and consequently a smaller carbon footprint, is achievable just as much by densely situating single-storey dwellings as it is by building residential tower after residential tower. The criticism of the suburbs in the West is arguably not so much a criticism of the single-family dwelling as it is of the yard around the same house, often mandated for zoning purposes such as right-of-ways and fire protection. But local zoning changes in history have not always been consistent with effective land-use, and great disparities have been allowed to occur. While an architecture student at UBC, one studio I was in looked at the ratio of lot size to houses around Brentwood Mall in Burnaby, and often found 1:10 and 1:12 to be the norm. Looking at the stunning photography of Tokyo taken by Iwan Baan, one is immediately struck by the overall absence of lawns and park space. Laneways and spaces between houses in effect become the parks and spaces of social interaction, while those parks that do occur are carefully designed urban artifacts. One photo by Baan of a Tokyo cemetery is startling in the fact that the gravestones are so close to each other that they look like they’re one atop the other. While to us in the West this may certainly seem like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, it teaches us that living in close proximity to each other without certain amenities like tennis courts and lawn bowling greens need not necessarily mean the end of the world. All of this would have obviously been very much in mind as Stan Allen asked Sejima and Nishizawa to head up the three full-year studios that form the basis of the book. As a preface to the book, Stan Allen explains that SANAA were the recipients in 2005 of the school’s Labatut Professorship, a three year appointment that Princeton gives to international architects to come teach at Princeton. As the direct result of this, SANAA initiated the Princeton Tokyo Studio program which the book gives significant insight into, and as fully intended by the nature of the Labatut Professorship, the design studios inevitably become a laboratory in which to exchange both Eastern and Western design methodologies, derived from their own unique contexts. As set out by Stan Allen, SANAA, and other Princeton faculty, the studio’s program objectives varied from year to year, with three sites in three different Japanese cities – Tokyo, Onishi, and Kanazawa - progressing from problems of urban housing in the first year, to town planning in the second, and finally to realizing a communal art gallery space in the third year studio. The common thread in each case could best be summed up by the title of Allen’s essay in the book – ‘Dirty Realism’. As a phrase first coined in literay circles in 1983, it was later adapted by film critics and poets, until Frederic Jameson brought it to architecture to describe the state of the modern post-war city in his writing in the early 1990s. As Allen writes it, Jameson "describes a new social space, a ‘post-civil society’ that is manifest in the interconnected ex-urban spaces of the United States, the depopulated industrial sectors of Europe, or the rapidly expanding cities of Asia.” In the end, the book stands as much as a monograph of the SANAA project and its design philosophy as a depiction of these three Tokyo-based design studios. Whether its Allen’s description of their work in the context of ‘dirty realism’, or Kwinter’s notion of the ‘contraction’, these two contributors among others in the book do their best to uncover the  SANAA phenomenon which has taken the architectural world by storm, at once giving their work the praise it deserves, while debunking the critics who have called their work overly simplistic and reductivist. While Japanese nihilism as personified by the hikikomori may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Sejima and Nishizawa arrive at a time when architectural posturing has no choice but to give way to action, where vanity and ego have nothing whatsoever to contribute to the gritty realities of homelessness, slums, and urban isolationism. SANAA are hence the breath of fresh air in a time of pungent architectural cronyism. *** Sean Ruthen is an architect living, working, and writing in Vancouver.

« Previous Page — Next Page »