Friday, July 10. 2009First Hand on the HighlineThe New York Highline, a project by James Corner Field Operations with the collaboration of Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been open to the public for a few weeks (as we reported previously on AD) and as a New Yorker who has waited patiently for the project to finish, I was anxious to stroll along the latest addition in Manhattan. The visit was a completely new way to experience the city. Just the idea of observing Manhattan by walking above (and through) it, rather than being an actual part of it, made the Highline a project one must encounter to feel what the space can offer. More about some impressions after a visit to the Highline and more pictures after the break. Entering on Gansevoort Street, I was greeted by papers being thrust in my hand as protesters quickly explained that the wood on the Highline was taken from an endangered Amazon rain forest. The protestors were trying to prevent the remaining parts of the project from being made with this material and thus tried to raise awareness by handing out fliers and talking to those about to walk up the main stairs. It is interesting to note that the Highline’s official website refutes these attacks by explaining, “The Ipe wood used on the High Line was chosen for its longevity and durability, and taken from a managed forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which is recognized for creating and enforcing the world’s strongest standards for forest management. FSC membership requires conservation of biological diversity, water resources, soils, and fragile ecosystems and landscapes to maintain the integrity of the forest and discourage exploitative deforestation.” After passing through the protesters, the main entrance stands invitingly and allows light to channel down the stairway. As I walked up this great entrance, I couldn’t rid my mind of how unfair it is that a handicapped person would never be able to experience this space (much farther down the line, on 16th Street, a small glass elevator is haphazardly plopped on the side of the line). Once up the stairs, the chaotic streets seem to fade away as the overgrown landscape dominates the setting. The perfectly arranged grass and flowers, growing between and over the tracks, creates patterns of varying heights, colors and textures. The original tracks, complete with their old writing and graffiti work, show that the architects truly embraced the past and incorporated it into its present condition. The compositional quality of the landscape transforms the whole atmosphere making it entirely different from the portion just down a few stairs. The beginning parts of the Highline are beautifully designed. The overall aesthetic is very simple and yet, flexible as a variety of benches and seating are all different and yet all seem to belong. Handrails are engraved with the streets numbers, providing a map to those walking along. And, the walk provides perfect views of the Empire State Building, the Hudson River and Gehry’s IAC Headquarters. On the downside, there are also spectacular views into people’s apartments, galleries and conference rooms, as well as the exposed, and unappealing, meatpacking factories and rundown buildings. People walking along the line can come face to face with those changing their infant or interviewing their newest prospect. In addition, large billboards are angled directly toward those on the Highline. It would be a shame if the Highline became an advertising haven constantly annoyning those walking with the latest fashions or technologies. Approaching one bend in the Highline, there is an amphitheatre condition with broad stairs allowing people to sunbath, read, or be at their leisure. The amphitheatre is stepped down toward the street, so those sitting are confronted by a large glass panel that focuses on the taxis whizzing by and the people dining on the sidewalk. Although the idea to isolate a busy Manhattan street is very enticing, it is a lot like DS + R’s tactic for their Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Rather than isolating the water as in Boston, the architects have merely flopped the city for the water to copy the effect. It is true that some pieces of the Highline are still very much under construction. Some stair cases are far from being close to the elegant main entrance and the area under the residential tower needs some work, but all will come together in time. There is so much potential for the surrounding areas and within a few years, the area is going to be exponentially more popular than it already is. The Highline was bustling with life as people enjoyed sitting, lying, reading and walking in this new atmosphere. It is a successful project that highlights New York as much as the actual Highline. It is truly a great treat for anyone. ----- Via ArchDaily Related Links:Personal comment: The NYC Highline garden coming to life! Don't miss it on your next trip to the city: close to the rising "hip" neighbourhood of the Meetpacking District, it will surely become another "must go" place of NYC... Chamber Music Hall / Zaha Hadid ArchitectsWe just received Zaha Hadid Architects’ latest project for the Manchester International Festival. ZHA has created a chamber music hall for solo performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s chamber music masterpieces. The project’s form, a suspended ribbon of translucent lightweight synthetic fabric (150 g/m2) articulated by an internal steel structure, translates the intricate relationships of Bach’s harmonies into an architectural spatial condition. Festival Director Alex Poots exclaimed, “Zaha Hadid Architects consistently come up with challenging and innovative ideas. It has been wonderful to see the realisation of this project and experience such intimate performances from the leading concert musicians within it.” Further description about ZHA’s Music Hall and more images after the break. The design of the music hall ”enhances the multiplicity of Bach’s work through a coherent integration of formal and structural logic. A single continuous ribbon of fabric swirls around itself, creating layered spaces to cocoon the performers and audience with in an intimate fluid space,” explained Hadid. The ribbon wraps around the stage, the audience and itself, creating different layered conditions by “alternately compressing to the size of a handrail then stretching to enclose the full height of the room.” The undulating surface of the fabric shell in a “constant yet changing rhythm” creates a “soft billowing effect”. When the hall is not in use, programmed lighting and a series of dispersed musical recordings will activate the spaces between the ribbon. In addition to the strong architectural ideas, the music hall must provide clear acoustics for those viewing the concert. “The challenge of the project was to take a gallery space primarily designed for visual art and help Zaha Hadid Architects in their vision to convert it into a modern extraordinary new performance space for chamber music,” explained Mark Howarth, a partner of Sandy Brown Associates. “For optimum conditions for chamber music it is important to ensure that the reverberation time is not too long as this blurs individual notes so music can lose its intricacy. Equally it should not be too short as this provides a lack of response for the performer and causes the music to sound overly dry,” explained Howarth. If ZHA added too much additional sound absorptive material, the sound would loose a lot of its quality. Thus, a variety of materials were investigated, such as different fabrics, metals and plastics, to ensure that the architectural elements would not take away from the musical experience. ZHA and Sandy Brown Associates worked together to perfect the acoustics using CAD models that were imported into acoustic modelling software that tested the different finishes and shapes of the curving form. Through this collaboration, ZHA’s curving ribbon creates both a strong architectural statement and a great acoustic environment as the form helps scatter the sound reflections to eliminate flutter echoes and enhance the acoustic experience of the concert. Images courtesy of Tony Hogg Design and Base Structures, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Luke Hayes. All images are copyright. For further information on all performances and events the Manchester International Festival please visit www.mif.co.u PROGRAMME: Chamber Music Hall ARCHITECTS: Zaha Hadid Architects / DESIGN TEAM (Zaha Hadid Architects): Melodie Leung, Gerhild Orthacker ACOUSTIC CONSULTANT: Sandy Brown Associates / FABRICATOR: Base Structures / TENSILE STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Tony Hogg Design Ltd / SITE: Manchester Art Gallery, T1 Gallery / SITE AREA: 17m x 25m ----- Via ArchDaily Personal comment: On connait maintenant le travail de Zaha Hadid, ça reste très formel -sur des justifications génératives dont on peut légèrement douter de la véracité- et il n'y a plus de véritable surprise. Mais il faut reconnaître ici que l'objet est assez "beautiful" et que l'on s'y imagine facilement écouter du Bach! Des panneaux de pub animés accusés de «lavage de cerveau»L’association RAP (Résistance à l’agression publicitaire) a présenté, hier, une étude sur les panneaux publicitaires animés du métro parisien «coupables d’une quintuple pollution». En attendant l’analyse de la Cnil, l’association met en doute la légalité du dispositif, estimant que ces écrans sont techniquement capables de «déterminer le sexe des passants, leur âge, la couleur de leur peau, le type de vêtements portés», et d’analyser «l’expression faciale» et la «zone de l’image regardée». Cette étude met en avant une pollution à la fois «visuelle, énergétique, mentale, électromagnétique et des libertés publiques». Sans compter les «1 200 watts consommés sans arrêt par ces panneaux». RAP et quatre autres associations ont été déboutées en avril de leur demande d’expertise par la juge des référés du tribunal de grande instance de Paris au motif qu’elles étaient «irrecevables à agir». Quatre des écrans publicitaires incriminés, installés depuis décembre à la station Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, sont actuellement hors service, selon RAP. ----- Via Libération Personal comment: Dans la continuité de l'article ci-dessous sur la loi Hadopi, la surveillance marketing, cette fois questionnée pour sa "quintuple pollution". La capacité d'"analyse" du panneau d'affichage me semble surévaluée, reste qu'il est étonnant d'autoriser l'implantation de tels systèmes dans l'espace public (la RATP est bien un organisme public!?), sans autre... Assez inquiétant. Hadopi : Où s’arrêtera la surveillance ?Les agents assermentés de l’Hadopi pourront-ils accuser deux internautes pour avoir échangé, via mail, un fichier protégé par le droit d’auteur ? Et donc pourront-ils surveiller ce type d’échange ? La question est d’importance, et soulève les limites du contrôle et de la surveillance des communications sur Internet par la haute autorité administrative, ceci à la demande des ayants-droit. Lors de la publication du projet de loi relatif « à la protection pénale de la propriété littéraire et artistique sur Internet », on soulignait que l’article 3 prévoit de punir les infractions de contrefaçon commises « au moyen d’un service de communication au public en ligne ou de communications électroniques ». Or dans le Code des postes et communications électroniques, les « communications électroniques » sont décrites comme « les émissions, transmissions ou réceptions de signes, de signaux, d’écrits, d’images ou de sons, par voie électromagnétique ». En clair, cela peut concerner des échanges par mail, mais aussi par Skype ou MSN. Cette idée a déjà avancée par l’UMP Franck Riester dans le projet de loi Création et Internet. Mais, finalement Christine Albanel et Riester lui-même avaient donné un avis favorable aux amendements demandant sa suppression. Mais comme une mauvaise télénovela, la série Hadopi se répéte, l’idée est réapparue dans le nouveau texte adopté hier au Sénat. Et les sénateurs communistes de déposer un amendement, le 17, pour demander sa suppression, estimant que « cette disposition constitue une atteinte à la vie privée ». La sénatrice Brigitte Gonthier-Maurin (PC) a expliqué « que dans la mesure où les échanges de mails ont le statut de correspondance privée, comme la jurisprudence l’a établi, cet élargissement constitue une atteinte à la vie privée, atteinte interdite par l’article 9 du code civil français et l’article 12 de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme de 1948 ». Le sénateur UMP Michel Thiollière, faisant référence à la loi Davdsi, a répondu que « dans sa décision du 27 juillet 2006, le Conseil constitutionnel a considéré qu’il ne pouvait y avoir de rupture d’égalité injustifiée entre les auteurs d’atteintes à la propriété intellectuelle selon que ces atteintes seraient commises au moyen d’un logiciel de pair à pair ou un autre moyen de communication en ligne. ». En clair, que selon cette décision il serait contraire au principe d’égalité qu’un échange via les réseaux p2p soit sanctionné par une (simple) contravention, alors que les autres supports relèveraient eux du délit de contrefaçon. Le débat reprendra d’ici dix jours à l’Assemblée nationale. Ce matin, le député UMP Lionel Tardy a en effet annoncé qu’il déposera un amendement visant à son tour à faire supprimer l’expression de « communication électronique ». L’exposé des motifs de l’amendement, rapporté par PC Inpact, explique : « Ce texte vise les violations du droit d’auteur opérées par le biais des services de communications électroniques, c’est-à-dire par la messagerie. Cela implique, pour les détecter, d’ouvrir des correspondances privées, ce qui serait assurément inconstitutionnel. » Face à Lionel Tardy, ce matin, sur BFM, le rapporteur Franck Riester a répliqué que le téléchargement illégal ne se pratiquant pas uniquement par p2p : « on doit regarder sur Internet toutes ces techniques-là ». ----- Via Libération Personal comment: Dans le cadre du projet Globale Surveillance, intéressant de suivre le feuilleton de l'élaboration de la loi Hadopi en France. Evidemment, il est difficile de "surveiller" sans atteindre aux libertés individuelles...
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fabric | rblgThis blog is the survey website of fabric | ch - studio for architecture, interaction and research. We curate and reblog articles, researches, writings, exhibitions and projects that we notice and find interesting during our everyday practice and readings. Most articles concern the intertwined fields of architecture, territory, art, interaction design, thinking and science. From time to time, we also publish documentation about our own work and research, immersed among these related resources and inspirations. This website is used by fabric | ch as archive, references and resources. It is shared with all those interested in the same topics as we are, in the hope that they will also find valuable references and content in it.
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