I have no idea what ‘Loop’ we are technically working on currently in this project. If I had to guess, I would say I’m in the loop where one swirls around in a confused stupor, much like a giant toilet bowl, before being deposited into a heap of disappointment and well, shit.
I’ve pretty much lost all motivation. Yes, that excitement seen in previous posts…gone. And it’s not just me. Pretty much everyone in this studio is finding it hard to care about the project….or anything at all. Which is strange because it’s not simply the semester weighing on our mental tolerances…it feels different this time. Most likely the visions of Italy have us all seduced into the prospects of a less intense semester experience. Italy-itis. It is literally so close…in fact, only two months from today my plane leaves Detroit for Paris… (go to article)
Advocates who want the Ohio Department of Transportation to include a bike lane on a new $450 million Inner Belt Bridge appear stymied after the latest round of public meetings on the design of the span.
So here’s a suggestion: If ODOT’s engineers and consultants won’t consider the idea, find an independent engineer to come up with drawings that would show how the lane could be added, what it would look like and how much it might cost.
Images of a bike lane on the bridge could galvanize public support and get the attention of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, whose support would be needed for any changes in ODOT’s plans… (go to article)
The grant comes from a federal program called New Markets Tax Credits, which typically go to community development entities that in turn use them to attract investment and create jobs in low and moderate income areas.
University Circle is considered one of the city’s jewels, but immediately surrounding areas are mired in poverty. Chris Ronayne, Executive Director of the nonprofit University Circle Inc., which secured the grant, says doing something that will help those communities is a primary goal.
Cleveland needs this… (go to article)
At the first Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit in August, citizens and local leaders generated ideas ranging from the practical to the somewhat dreamy. The thing is, Cleveland doesn’t have to re-invent this wheel. In his recent books Green Urbanism and Resilient Cities, Tim Beatley tells the stories of how city planners have greened their communities, such as Helsinki, where hot water from power plants is piped to nearby buildings to provide heat, or Freiburg, where there no cars downtown. Beatley is coming to town for an event with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs… (go to article)
What: d3 Natural Systems 2009 International Architecture Exhibition
Curated By: Gregory Marinic, Mary-Jo Schlacter & Marc Manack
When: Friday, November 13, 2009 7PM
Exhibit Open November 13 – December 23, 2009
Where: 1point618 Gallery
6421 Detroit Ave. Cleveland, OH 44102
About: Exploration of natural systems from the microscopic to the universal provides vast potential for overlaying cultural, ecological, and life cycle flows towards determining new architectonic strategies… (go to article)
Call for Student Participation in College Committees - The following CAED committees need student participants. Please contact Sarah Crombie (scrombie@kent.edu) in the Dean’s office if you would like to participate. Note: the college has several committees with student participants, however, students for the committees are nominated by the faculty.
Graduate Committee (two graduate students)
College Curriculum Committee (one interior design and one architecture student)
International Studies Committee (two students who have participated in the program)
Library Committee (two CAED students)
Lecture Committee (two to four CAED students)
Student Recruitment Committee (up to six CAED students)… (go to article)
This was originally written for a seminar taught by Lisa Hsieh at the Ohio State University (it’s been heavily edited since then), but it seems appropriate for this format as well. It’s a bit longer than usual, but I’ve been sitting on this piece for a while and want to just get it out there. I’ve been a bit afraid to publish it because at the moment it feels a bit like Walter Pichler is my own personal hero that no one else is talking about. I’m sure I’ll get over that. Here goes… (go to article)
A standing room only crowd of advocates for sustainable urbanism were witnesses at the Cleveland Planning Commissionmeeting last week with half of the people there in support of including bike and pedestrian accommodations on the rebuilt Innerbelt Bridge.
After a year of considering a bike lane on the new Innerbelt Bridge and laying out reasons for it, including attracting a younger generation to Cleveland, members of the planning commission appeared to be split on whether the issue was resolved. Commission chair Tony Coyne pointed out that the city and ODOT would like Abbey Avenue bridge—the connection between Tremont and Ohio City—widened and adding a 5 ft. bike lane on each side plus two 5 ft. sidewalks… (go to article)
Earlier this year, a common collaborator of mine, Ryan deBiase and I, partnered on a (satirical) project, Cleveland 3.1 by FABNEO, that was presented at Pecha Kucha Night Cleveland, Vol. 2, at the House of Blues.
A slideshow version of the project now exists on the web, for your viewing pleasure… (go to article)
Scott Wolstein, the chief executive officer of Developers Diversified Realty Corp., will step aside Jan. 1 to become the executive chairman of the company’s board of directors.
The shopping center company announced today that Daniel Hurwitz, the company’s president and chief operating officer, will succeed Wolstein as CEO and president. Hurwitz, 45, will be responsible for the company’s performance and will report directly to the board of directors… (go to article)
The most culturally revered street art is often wrapped in an element of intrigue: Banksy’s quasi-anonymity has garnered as much attention as his artwork. But what happens when that intrigue swells far beyond the bounds of mere mystery and consumes the very message of the art?
The biggest guerrilla art movement of our time is older than Banksy, more geographically promiscuous than JR, and has remained unsolved for nearly three decades. Known as the Toynbee Tiles, they are plaques embedded in asphalt, usually at major intersections and pedestrian crosswalks, each containing a variation of the inscription… (go to article)
Legendary investor Warren Buffett made a $26.3 billion bet on America’s future last week. He plunked it down to buy the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, acquiring all of the great Western freight railroad that his company didn’t already own.
Mr. Buffett is 79 but isn’t thinking short-term. He’s looking 10 and 20 years down the road. He’s betting that higher fuel costs will give railroads an ever greater advantage over trucks, and the American freight rail system is already the best in the world.
Our generally pitiful passenger rail service is its direct opposite… (go to article)
The Cleveland City Planning Commission considered proposals for two bridges on Friday, heaping praise on one and expressing frustration with the other.
Commission members approved with commendation a preferred concept for an innovative, $5 million pedestrian bridge at North Coast Harbor, designed by nationally recognized architect Miguel Rosales of Boston.
Then they spent more than 90 minutes criticizing aspects of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s proposal for a new I-90 bridge over the Cuyahoga River.
“I know cruelty isn’t part of the agenda,” said Councilman Joe Cimperman, a commission member. But he said that the smaller project, designed by Rosales in less than 10 months, was far more inspiring than the ODOT proposals, nearly 10 years in the making… (go to article)
Monday, Oct 12, at 6p.m. about fifty local residents converged on the Arts Collinwood Gallery at the corner of Waterloo Rd. and E. 156 St. Northeast Shores Development Corp (NSDC) had sent out a general invitation to attend a meeting to see and discuss the plan for the Tower to be built on the new grass space just outside the meeting site.
John Boksansky, the Development director of NSDC spoke briefly to open the meeting. He reminded the audience that this is a part of the Waterloo Road Project which NSDC initiated about five years ago and has been nurturing ever since… (go to article)
Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones said Thursday that the county must abandon plans to buy Public Auditorium for the medical mart and convention center project.
Jones said the change is need to keep the taxpayer-financed project within its $425 million budget and requires developers to drastically alter their plans. Renovating the historic building would cost tens of millions of dollars more than budgeted.
The unanticipated costs — coupled with stalled negotiations for additional downtown property for the medical mart — have forced the developers, Chicago-based MMPI, to reconfigure much of the project… (go to article)
Views from the planned Inner Belt Bridge will not be marred by a fence or high concrete barrier.
A fence is unnecessary and a shorter barrier and railing will suffice, said Ohio Department of Transportation officials, reversing what they earlier maintained were requirements for the new span.
By redefining those elements and trying mightily to satisfy a committee comprised of city, county, Tremont and Gateway representatives, ODOT has completed its recommendations that will be given to firms seeking to design and build the $450 million five-lane bridge… (go to article)
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority’s board of directors has called its third special meeting in a week to discuss a personnel issue.
But the subject of the meeting, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today at the port’s downtown Cleveland offices, is being kept a secret.
All nine of the board members either did not return phone messages or declined to talk about the topic of the meeting, despite a pledge three weeks ago by the board’s chairman, Steven Williams, to push for a new policy of openness with the media… (go to article)
When a young chef named Zachary Bruell opened Z Contemporary Cuisine in 1985 in the Tower East Building in Shaker Heights, he did more than launch a culinary renaissance in Greater Cleveland.
He ignited a local revolution in restaurant design.
The luminous, white interiors at Z — made of little more than drywall, paint, carpeting and indirect lighting — were as ruthlessly minimal as a chic art gallery in New York’s SoHo gallery district.
Architect William Blunden, a master of subtraction, described it was “one of the most pristine” spaces he had ever designed… (go to article)
It didn’t even take a day for the Pee Dee to setup the next pillage and plunder of Cleveland.
Listen to what the Pee Dee said editorially the day after the casino issue, strongly backed by the paper, had to say about the use of its tax revenue:
“So consider this idea, which is already germinating among downtown boosters (read: looters): Divert some of the new property taxes the casino will pay – from the city’s share, not the school district’s – to complete the Towpath Trail and Canal Basin Park, to redesign Public Square and to add pocket parks, waterfront access and other residential enhancements.”
Forget about Imperial Avenue. Forget about all the Cleveland Imperial Avenues.
Let’s spend a few more million on a bike path and redo Public Square. Again… (go to article)
After four failed tries, casino gambling is finally coming to Ohio and to downtown Cleveland in particular. The challenge now is to see that Dan Gilbert’s gaming mecca complements downtown’s other assets rather than cannibalizes them, as casinos have done in other cities.
A casino that drains life — and jobs — out of the Warehouse District or East Fourth Street, or that discourages downtown living, would be a disaster for the entire region. Greater Cleveland needs downtown to evolve as a place where people choose to work, play and live. Cities that are reversing decades of population loss almost all have lively cores that attract smart, creative people with lots of options… (go to article)
Architecture and the Urban Landscape- Advocates of a bike lane on the new Inner Belt Bridge should find their own engineer to draw up a proposal
- Cleveland City Planning Commission praises Miguel Rosales bridge design for North Coast Harbor
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