I’d like to learn more about these mounds. Building into the ground may be a good way of reducing consumption of energy and other resources. There are some videos about Cahokia mounds (near Saint Louis) here and here.

[Originally posted to Where] Camillo Sitte thoughtfully explained the interior qualities of his favorite public spaces. Though generally open to the sky, they were surrounded by varied building types and furnished with stairways, arches, and sculptures. They were intimate and often irregular, with engaging views on all sides. He lamented the abandonment of plazas as daily life moved increasingly indoors.

Today life moves increasingly online, but the places we inhabit — whether physical or virtual — are no less important. Even looking out the window affects our state of mind. This is hard to measure, but it’s fairly clear when we feel comfortable, depressed, inspired, fearful, or healthy in response to our surroundings.

Sitte envisioned outdoor space that didn’t feel desolate. When we think of The Great Outdoors, we usually mean forests, mountains, rivers — not cities. But in many ways forests have more in common with cities than with prairies or deserts. They are full of proximate activity, and contain many unique places. I wonder how cities might eventually be considered part of The Great Outdoors.

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[Originally posted to Where] Does it matter how a city or neighborhood looks? Many would say it does, though much less than, say, health or safety. So if it matters to some extent, what makes a place visually attractive? Are there any common characteristics, or is it only in the eye of the beholder?

Maybe “looks” is the wrong word. How about the way a place feels? This would include all the senses — the different variables that make an area appealing. Of course, people have unique tastes and I don’t know if there are any qualities loved by everyone. However, there are places generally considered attractive. They are usually in wealthier districts, but should extend to poorer communities as well. If we work towards achieving this throughout our cities, without displacing low-income groups, we might look back some day and wonder how we ever lived in some of the neglected areas we know today.

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The Musée d’Orsay is an impressive example of adaptive reuse. Originally a train station built for the the World’s Fair of 1900, the building proved not quite large enough for newer trains and was eventually abandoned. However, it was listed as a historical monument shortly thereafter, and converted into a museum in 1986. The interior design was led by Gae Aulenti, whose diverse body of work I really admire.

Photo by The Flews

Quoted from the Musée d’Orsay website: The history of the museum, of its building is quite unusual. In the centre of Paris on the banks of the Seine, opposite the Tuileries Gardens, the museum was installed in the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. So the building itself could be seen as the first “work of art” in the Musee d’Orsay, which displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914.

Yemen offers amazing examples of earthen architecture in use today. Traditional buildings are made of adobe bricks, based on practices passed down for centuries. Up to nine stories high, these buildings are often referred to as the first skyscrapers. Their innovative construction and beautifully decorated walls have been marked for preservation as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. To provide a better feel for the singular nature of Yemeni architecture, here is a video of the old city of Sana’a.

Photo of Dar Al Hajjar, taken by Monica Fritz, appears on the KATARXIS website

Quoted form Internet Archaeology’s review of “The Architecture of Mud” and “Qudad” documentaries on Yemeni architecture: Expanding the existing knowledge of these earthen heritage properties, examining their behaviour in the local climate and the preservation of traditional craftsmanship as part of a sustainable conservation future are the other prominent concerns of this work.

The Downland Gridshell building is part of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, which features a collection of restored architecture dating back to the 13th Century. It was designed by Edward Cullinan Architects to hold the museum’s collections, building conservation workshop, and timber store. I find it particularly interesting that it was built deep into a hillside terrace in order to reduce ground cover and energy consumption.

Photo from the Edward Cullinan Architects website

Quoted from Weald and Downland Open Air Museum website: The storage basement for the collections is sunk into one of the terraces giving huge volume with minimal landscape impact.

An exhibit on the Potomac Gorge Project at the United States Botanic Garden will be on display from July 22 through November 19, 2006. The above photo is by Alan Eckert Photography, and appears on the Nature Conservancy Web site.

This World Resources Institute review of a report from the World Conservation Union (IUCN) shows how the intelligent preservation and management of ecosystems can ease the effects of natural disasters. The picture on the left depicts a fishing boat damaged by the 2004 tsunami in Koh Phra Thong, Thailand (IUCN Photo Library © IUCN/Jeff McNeely). The picture on the right is of mangrove trees in Bangladesh (IUCN Photo Library, © IUCN/Nicolas Van Ingen and Jean-François Hellio).