climateadaptation:

How to produce more wealth with less resources? Some argue it’s through technology and newer regulations. The simple concepts in this video show how technology can (or at least should) be able to help cities become more sustainable. Stick with it. 

“Design Matters: Doing Better with Less” is a short but powerful animated story about using design to create sustainable wealth, and it provides essential insights into the future of business and innovation.

Re-reposting because awesome.

(via inside-moleskine)

Anonymous asked: hi Michael Cote,My names is Benjamin Hale. I am a post grad student of the UniversityManchester currently undertaking my masters in architecture. I am looking at Venice as a possible location for a project as I find it to be a fascinating city. Im conducting an urban analysis in order to better understand the typologies found in the city and to ascertain the reasons why it has evolved in the way that it has. Could you please point me in the direction of some decent visual and reading material?:)

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the note. How on earth did you know I studied/toured Venice??

Architectural histories of Venice are a dime a dozen. I’d try to get into the heads of actual Venetians. Also, there is a firm that is hired exclusively by the city to maintain the canals and piazzas. They mostly do stone-work-restoration and are experts at it. Sorry, but the name slips my mind, but you can google around. What’s interesting about their firm is that they document the processes very precisely and publish it on line with movie clips and very visual reports.

Some quick recommendations:

Across the Bridge of Sighs.

Italia Nostra’s study on Venice is good, but you’ll need translation.

Search the Venice very excellent but cumbersome university library system.

The Venice Ministry of Culture (can’t find the link, might be Rome MoC or Italy MoC).

SACAIM, for restoration (not the best site, but dig through it)

And of course UNESCO’s Venice Office has ultra-high quality reports.

Cheers and keep in touch!

Michael

Beach erosion partially due to sea-level rise in North Carolina. Officials are criticized for building and re-building projects in questionable places, costing tax payers millions with no accountability. This bridge, part of highway 12, was built to withstand up to a category 4 hurricane (that’s pretty strong!). But, the sand beneath the highway will wash away in a lesser storm.

Highway 12: Built on Shifting Sands NYTimes.

This is a real bridge spanning a canal in northern Netherlands. More pics, here.

thequirkyinventor:

The bridge of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. Looks like something from a Transformers movie. See the originals in Mark van Reesk’s Flickr.

(via arquitecturb)

Wow. Can’t imagine eminent domain working at large scales like this anymore. Everything is already built (sort of). Also, I’ve really been swooning over the LATimes.tumblr, lately…

July 31, 1958: Lomie Puckett stands guard to prevent bulldozers from leveling her Edendale house for the construction of the Golden State Freeway. Puckett wanted more money than offered for the house.

Read more about the incident on Framework.

Photo credit: John Malmin / Los Angeles Times

(via latimes)

'Right around the time when President Obama started talking about ways to revive the economy, nearly five million televisions across Southern California and Arizona went black. It was ironic that while the president lamented the state of American infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and schools, that the U.S. electric grid gave out, an equally aging piece of American infrastructure that analysts have said is also in need of a major upgrade.' ›

How to produce more wealth with less resources? Some argue it’s through technology and newer regulations. The simple concepts in this video show how technology can (or at least should) be able to help cities become more sustainable. Stick with it. 

“Design Matters: Doing Better with Less” is a short but powerful animated story about using design to create sustainable wealth, and it provides essential insights into the future of business and innovation.

Don’t text and drive, you’ll miss the advertisements.

Sensors could change how bridges are monitored for stress cracks, saving municipalities millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. 

emergentfutures:

Light-Emitting Rubber Could Sense Structural Damage

The new type of sensor could be an early warning system for bridges and buildings under stress.

Full Story: Technology Review

Researchers at Princeton University have built a new type of sensor that could help engineers quickly assess the health of a building or bridge. The sensor is an organic laser, deposited on a sheet of rubber: when it’s stretched—by the formation of a crack, for instance—the color of light it emits changes.

“The idea came from the notion that perhaps it’s possible to cover large structures like bridges with a skin that you can use to detect deformation of the structure from a distance,” says Sigurd Wagner, professor of electrical engineering at Princeton University