SHIFTboston
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briv
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Interesting find, Kennedy.
I really like the idea. I've been been trying to think of how I could incorporate a similar one here -- sort of an expansion of the Design a Better Boston section.
I agree with Lurker that they seem to be mainly focused on cutting edge conceptual stuff. Let's see if they come down to Earth a bit when they launch the competition in Sept.
I really like the idea. I've been been trying to think of how I could incorporate a similar one here -- sort of an expansion of the Design a Better Boston section.
I agree with Lurker that they seem to be mainly focused on cutting edge conceptual stuff. Let's see if they come down to Earth a bit when they launch the competition in Sept.
JohnAKeith
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Never heard of any of these people. Are they known in academia or in the industry? If I don't know them, they must not be very good.
Lurker
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"Conceptual stuff" isn't cutting edge when it has no bearing on reality. Anyone can draw something, if it isn't practical or applicable it is ART NOT ARCHITECTURE.
Given the deliberately 'radical' aspects of these peoples' work, which is terrifyingly devoid of existing urban context, I really don't think the work rises above Corbusian render pornography. It would be absolutely terrifying and tragic, think of a modern dysfunctional West End meets Blade Runner without the robots, if any of their ideas were to be applied to any urban environs.
The future MBTA maps, suggestions for bike lanes, the whole South Boston Canals District, ideas pushed on these forums are leaps and bounds above the utter tripe on that blog. We just don't have sexy renderings or utilize snotty language to obfuscate our ideas here.
As I posted on Universal Hub:
"Looking through that blog, I see one massive issue in that the writers don't seem to care about the existing city. Carte Blanche thinking in existing cities in the name of 'radical change' very rarely (Paris, Vienna, ....) leads to anything good."
Some of the better comments from Universal Hub:
"Look at the conceptual renders on the linked page, including coherent flowing sculptures of structures spanning entire neighborhoods. Then scroll down to where that ambition is reined in and detailed, such as in the image with filename "Parametricism9.jpg". They appear to be indifferent to transportation, and even the render shows a scorching case of urban canyonitis.
I think it's great that people can think and dream and come up with creative ideas upon which we might draw. I'd just be dismayed or scared if I saw actual implementation on any of these concepts without them being refined to be sensibly progressive in all the important regards." -neilv |
"As far as the blog, I'm a 2008 gsd grad and even i'm bored by about the second sentence of each post. They are just pilfered esoteric theory rants, and yawners at that. Formalist ideas are not of primary concern to the city of Boston, or really any city at this point, and if the bloggers are sincere in their notion of creating a new architectural paradigm in Boston they should A) mention the city in some real way in their posts, and B) close the Zaha book and take a real look at the post-Koolhaasian world we inhabit. I'd start with Boston, then Landscape Urbanism, and move from there." -pierce(our pierce?)
Given the deliberately 'radical' aspects of these peoples' work, which is terrifyingly devoid of existing urban context, I really don't think the work rises above Corbusian render pornography. It would be absolutely terrifying and tragic, think of a modern dysfunctional West End meets Blade Runner without the robots, if any of their ideas were to be applied to any urban environs.
The future MBTA maps, suggestions for bike lanes, the whole South Boston Canals District, ideas pushed on these forums are leaps and bounds above the utter tripe on that blog. We just don't have sexy renderings or utilize snotty language to obfuscate our ideas here.
As I posted on Universal Hub:
"Looking through that blog, I see one massive issue in that the writers don't seem to care about the existing city. Carte Blanche thinking in existing cities in the name of 'radical change' very rarely (Paris, Vienna, ....) leads to anything good."
Some of the better comments from Universal Hub:
"Look at the conceptual renders on the linked page, including coherent flowing sculptures of structures spanning entire neighborhoods. Then scroll down to where that ambition is reined in and detailed, such as in the image with filename "Parametricism9.jpg". They appear to be indifferent to transportation, and even the render shows a scorching case of urban canyonitis.
I think it's great that people can think and dream and come up with creative ideas upon which we might draw. I'd just be dismayed or scared if I saw actual implementation on any of these concepts without them being refined to be sensibly progressive in all the important regards." -neilv |
"As far as the blog, I'm a 2008 gsd grad and even i'm bored by about the second sentence of each post. They are just pilfered esoteric theory rants, and yawners at that. Formalist ideas are not of primary concern to the city of Boston, or really any city at this point, and if the bloggers are sincere in their notion of creating a new architectural paradigm in Boston they should A) mention the city in some real way in their posts, and B) close the Zaha book and take a real look at the post-Koolhaasian world we inhabit. I'd start with Boston, then Landscape Urbanism, and move from there." -pierce(our pierce?)
Shepard
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Reading through their blog, it's hard to imagine they would be willing to entertain any sort of practical "amateur" proposals. I mean, for example, we might laugh at bostonbred's idea to turn the greenway into a revolutionary-themed amusement park, but judging from their posts, these people would likely curl up into fetal positions and cry.
Unless their posts become more realistic in nature, I probably won't be reading - we have more than enough intellectual power here to keep me up at night thinking.
kennedy
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I agree, while looking through the 'Parametric Urbanism' post, and all the Zaha Hadid renders for Istanbul, I couldn't see how it related to Boston. From what I understand, Parametric Urbanism may well be a viable solution for places like the SBW. Organic form, varying lot sizes and heights; so long as it's only used for street-grid creation and zoning. Then give the parcels over to different architects, who design more traditional buildings in those parcels, and you've basically got old Boston, only brand new. Better than a rigid grid anyday, I think.
But, I can't really get a handle on the whole Parametrics thing. I understand this (and please explain if you actually understand it more than I):
Parametricism is the next big style in architecture, following Modernism. It is happening as architects react to the tools they now have (parametric design programs like Maya.) It has to do with the shape of buildings being conceived of from the beginning in 3D, and all of the drawings and designs being constantly updated automatically, without the need to re-draw sections and plans. Architecture from digital animation. Architecture from futuristic sci-fi movies.
I don't really like it, it's not exactly innovative on a creative level, only on a technological one. But then again, I don't fully understand the whole concept. Who am I to talk?
And Lurker, of course architecture is art! Some architects are just shitty artists, or they're just good artists and shitty architects. That's why architecture is difficult, in my opinion, because the architect must combine so many aspects of a design and ensure they all balance.
But, I can't really get a handle on the whole Parametrics thing. I understand this (and please explain if you actually understand it more than I):
Parametricism is the next big style in architecture, following Modernism. It is happening as architects react to the tools they now have (parametric design programs like Maya.) It has to do with the shape of buildings being conceived of from the beginning in 3D, and all of the drawings and designs being constantly updated automatically, without the need to re-draw sections and plans. Architecture from digital animation. Architecture from futuristic sci-fi movies.
I don't really like it, it's not exactly innovative on a creative level, only on a technological one. But then again, I don't fully understand the whole concept. Who am I to talk?
And Lurker, of course architecture is art! Some architects are just shitty artists, or they're just good artists and shitty architects. That's why architecture is difficult, in my opinion, because the architect must combine so many aspects of a design and ensure they all balance.
kz1000ps
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kennedy, Lurker didn't say that architecture isn't art. He said if architecture isn't fuctional (like in those proposals) then it's not actually architecture -- it's just art.
Lurker also said this, and I think it bears repeating:
Lurker also said this, and I think it bears repeating:
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I spent a lot of time hanging out in the Harvard GSD library and the MIT Architecture dept and this is exactly the crap they churn out. I fell bad for those people who get all fired up about futuristic architectural theory and then have to design cheap door frames for 10 years while they pay off their loans.
I mean, we probably will have buildings and urban development that looks like this in 30 years when the few remaining kids grow up, get lucky, and get discovered as the next big trend.
Do I sound bitter?
The sad thing is I'm sure a lot of architects don't either but will play along to make money. If you can't boil down a complex concept into a simple to understand idea then you don't understand it. Hell, try asking most people what a "green" building is.
I mean, we probably will have buildings and urban development that looks like this in 30 years when the few remaining kids grow up, get lucky, and get discovered as the next big trend.
Do I sound bitter?
kennedy said:
The sad thing is I'm sure a lot of architects don't either but will play along to make money. If you can't boil down a complex concept into a simple to understand idea then you don't understand it. Hell, try asking most people what a "green" building is.
Pierce
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si
Lurker
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Real 'radical' ideas that don't need $5,000 worth of software, a thesarus, a pair of cliche' 'smart glasses', a poseur black turtleneck, overpiced coffee still picked by slave labor despite the label claiming otherwise, and a terminal egomanical snob complex.
Rewriting zoning from top to bottom for the first time since the 1920s so at minimum neighborhoods can actual be developed as of right to match the existing urban fabric.
An artificial river and linear park system consisting of linked bio-swails underneath a modern elevated highway system to filter the runoff and provide a public amenity.(Ripping off a GSD student sometime in the later 1990s)
Harbor Tram
South Boston Canal District
'Practical' Greenway ideas
Storrow Drive Tunnel
Future MBTA
A massive overhaul of the existing streetscape. Bike Lanes, reconfiguring sidewalks, coordinated street furniture, signage lighting, in a massive replacement effort not seen since the Great Society spend-a-thon to finally replace all the 1954-80 garbage rotting around the city.
Daylighting all those rivers and streams we have in culverts throughout the city.
Street paving materials other than asphalt
Coordinated utility system underground
Solar hot water heated sidewalks in the wintertime
Rebuilding all the substandard existing parks, eliminating useless ones for density, restoring Olmsted/Shurteleff's legacy.
Turning all the above ground Greenline ROWs into shared trolley/bicycle routes. Take the Huntington Avenue/Boston University example of green shoulders, replace the entirety of the track bed with the rubber material used at intersections, and allow cyclists to use the ROWs while yielding to trolleys.
South Bay, becomes a Bay again
Statue/Fountain program, because the city is already missing half it's public art, or has it has been broken for years, and the 'art' pushed by the SHIFT people is sophomoric at best. (To clarify I'm referring to the art on the blog not the art by the co-sponsoring Urban Arts Institute, which has produced high quality public art in the past)
Dartmouth or Berkley Street Bridge and street improvements to create a link from BMC/I-93 to the biotech areas around Binney Street in Cambridge and provide an route alternative to Massachusetts Avenue.
A walkable bridge from downtown to East Boston, yeah it's crazy, but why not?
Sorry I left the sexy renderings in my other berret in a rush here on my new fixie.....
Rewriting zoning from top to bottom for the first time since the 1920s so at minimum neighborhoods can actual be developed as of right to match the existing urban fabric.
An artificial river and linear park system consisting of linked bio-swails underneath a modern elevated highway system to filter the runoff and provide a public amenity.(Ripping off a GSD student sometime in the later 1990s)
Harbor Tram
South Boston Canal District
'Practical' Greenway ideas
Storrow Drive Tunnel
Future MBTA
A massive overhaul of the existing streetscape. Bike Lanes, reconfiguring sidewalks, coordinated street furniture, signage lighting, in a massive replacement effort not seen since the Great Society spend-a-thon to finally replace all the 1954-80 garbage rotting around the city.
Daylighting all those rivers and streams we have in culverts throughout the city.
Street paving materials other than asphalt
Coordinated utility system underground
Solar hot water heated sidewalks in the wintertime
Rebuilding all the substandard existing parks, eliminating useless ones for density, restoring Olmsted/Shurteleff's legacy.
Turning all the above ground Greenline ROWs into shared trolley/bicycle routes. Take the Huntington Avenue/Boston University example of green shoulders, replace the entirety of the track bed with the rubber material used at intersections, and allow cyclists to use the ROWs while yielding to trolleys.
South Bay, becomes a Bay again
Statue/Fountain program, because the city is already missing half it's public art, or has it has been broken for years, and the 'art' pushed by the SHIFT people is sophomoric at best. (To clarify I'm referring to the art on the blog not the art by the co-sponsoring Urban Arts Institute, which has produced high quality public art in the past)
Dartmouth or Berkley Street Bridge and street improvements to create a link from BMC/I-93 to the biotech areas around Binney Street in Cambridge and provide an route alternative to Massachusetts Avenue.
A walkable bridge from downtown to East Boston, yeah it's crazy, but why not?
Sorry I left the sexy renderings in my other berret in a rush here on my new fixie.....
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SHIFTboston
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I am behind the SHIFTboston blog and competition. I read through these comments and find some of them quite interesting. I would like to be clear about who we are and what we are doing to avoid any further misconceptions.
SHIFT is NOT a group of elitest, ego-architects.
We are a group that is trying to make a change. We want to promote a SHIFT. We are frustrated professionals that are tired of the way things are and we want more design opportunity in the City of Boston. We are just trying to engage and inspire other architects and designers to jump on board here and share his/her thoughts. We are seeking ideas from anyone interested.
I would like to begin by saying, this blog and competition is intended as a form of URBAN ACTIVISM.
The point is for people like you, to contribute, so please, email me any of your thoughts and ideas, aslo any articles that you think might be important to post. We want to make a change here. Be a part of this, dont disregard it. In my opinion, we all just want the same thing here so lets quit the criticism and make something happen!
Please email us, we want your thoughts: ShiftBoston@gmail.com
SHIFT is NOT a group of elitest, ego-architects.
We are a group that is trying to make a change. We want to promote a SHIFT. We are frustrated professionals that are tired of the way things are and we want more design opportunity in the City of Boston. We are just trying to engage and inspire other architects and designers to jump on board here and share his/her thoughts. We are seeking ideas from anyone interested.
I would like to begin by saying, this blog and competition is intended as a form of URBAN ACTIVISM.
The point is for people like you, to contribute, so please, email me any of your thoughts and ideas, aslo any articles that you think might be important to post. We want to make a change here. Be a part of this, dont disregard it. In my opinion, we all just want the same thing here so lets quit the criticism and make something happen!
Please email us, we want your thoughts: ShiftBoston@gmail.com
Lurker
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Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting SHIFT.
Please be aware that the tenor and writing style present in your posting here and in your PM is far more accessible to the silent majority of the design profession and the general public. The discourse involving paper architecture has become overrun with obtuse theory and a stereotypical style of language and presentation. Avoiding that stereotype is key to not losing readers and contributors whom otherwise are going to think, "Oh here we go again", and immediately become disinterested.
Please be aware that the tenor and writing style present in your posting here and in your PM is far more accessible to the silent majority of the design profession and the general public. The discourse involving paper architecture has become overrun with obtuse theory and a stereotypical style of language and presentation. Avoiding that stereotype is key to not losing readers and contributors whom otherwise are going to think, "Oh here we go again", and immediately become disinterested.
czsz
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Interesting that parametricism was accused of having nothing to do with Boston. The blog's exposition of parametricism "bundling" streets reminded me of nothing more than Boston's 17th century street pattern, with streets radiating from the "belt" of State Street.
kennedy
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Lurker, this may be more up your alley. A web-magazine/blog/page dedicated to making ideas happen. The philosophy is based on Edison's quote, "Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% and perspiration." Fittingly, they call themselves The 99 Percent. They're run by Behance, a company with similar goals. They run the Behance Network, a social networking/portfolio sharing site for those creative types.
The winning idea actually sounds pretty damn good.
EDIT: Mods, maybe move this thread to "Design a Better Boston"?
Designs on Future
Contest eyes tunnel arts center, river island, homes in harbor
By Paul Restuccia
Monday, January 18, 2010
SUBWAY ART: Andrew Zarzycki, left, and Sapir Ng, winners of the ShiftBoston contest, are seen with their design for an arts center in an abandoned MBTA tunnel.
An island in the middle of the Charles River, a theater complex in an abandoned Green Line T tunnel, a marathon run on barges in Boston Harbor?
They may sound like crazy ideas, but they are all part of a competition meant to spark some spirited and fun re-thinking of Boston?s public spaces. Imagine watching a digital aquarium projected on the deadly dull walls of the Massachusetts Turnpike?s Prudential Tunnel or the chance to go clamming near the real Aquarium.
The idea for the ShiftBoston competition was hatched by two unemployed architect/designers as a way for the like-minded to unleash their imaginations on Boston?s public spaces.
?We thought it would be fun and a great way to tap into the creative energy out there,? said co-founder Kim Poliquin, 35, who was laid off from Cambridge Seven Architects in December 2008. ?There?s a lot of designers out of work, and this keeps their brains thinking and gets them something to be excited about. There?s also a general feeling that what the city needs in design is a shift in attitude.?
ShiftBoston co-founder Dunja Vujinic, 25, also laid off from Cambridge Seven and a 2007 Wentworth Institute of Technology graduate, added, ?This was a chance to give young architects a voice.? She said there?s a lot of frustration among those out of work.
Originally intended as a local competition, the challenge, which took more than a year?s worth of planning, snowballed into an international event, attracting 142 entries from 14 different countries and several dozen states.
And last Thursday, before a packed auditorium at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the group presented the winners of the competition to city and state officials - including chief Boston planner Kairos Shen, MassDevelopment Director Robert Culver, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki and City Council President Michael Ross.
?We wanted to bring in people who make the decisions in government to share these ideas with them,? said ShiftBoston?s communications and technology director, Susan Yoo. ?Our next step is to keep the momentum going and share the ideas with the public through a series of exhibits.?
An international panel of judges, led by Boston architect Brian Healy, winnowed down the entries to 18 finalists - all of whom came up with provocative ideas for the city. Somerville?s Bob Lowe proposed the creation of an island in the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge.
Fort Point artist Lisa Greenfield imagined a digital aquarium along the walls of the Mass Pike?s Prudential Tunnel. A Taiwanese design team proposed an installation that gathers wind energy on Fort Point and another group imagined a clamming cove surrounded by rocks near the current Aquarium.
Locals Katie Flynn, Annie Engstrom and Morgan Pinney?s idea, dubbed Beantown Beanshare, is to connect Hub homeowners with unused yards with those who want spaces for community gardens. And Cambridge designers John Mitchell and Brad Shuck proposed a marathon along a ring of interconnected barges in the harbor.
Honorable mention went to two Dutch designers for ?What the Hell is This?? a play on former Mayor John Collins? initial reaction to the City Hall design, and it whimsically provided new ideas to resuscitate the beleaguered building?s image by putting it on everything from keychains to pink lipstick. Two second prizes went to a New-York-based team that imagined vertical farming along prison walls and to a proposal for a superstructure built over Boston Harbor that would consist of a park above with residences built in bunches underneath. It was designed by 25-year-old Boston architect Moqi Liu of DiMella Shaffer and former journalist Erin Doolittle, who based the idea on Chinese grape farming.
The winning idea was to turn Boston?s abandoned subway tunnel under Tremont Street into an underground theater and gallery complex that would augment the Theater District and offer a new arts and tourist destination. It was imagined by former and present architects from Tsoi/Kobus & Associates of Cambridge, Andrew Zarzycki and Sapir Ng, who received a $1,000 prize and will have their idea featured on highway billboards and on the T?s bus shelters and subways.
While the excited audience enjoyed the imaginative and fun ideas, the unspoken question for many was whether it will help unemployed architects and designers get jobs.
?We do a lot of projects, big and small, and we want to make sure that young talent gets a chance to do design work,? said Bialecki, while state Creative Economy director Jason Schubach collected business cards.
Tom Keane, executive director of event co-sponsor the Boston Society of Architects, said ?the point is not that these proposals get built,? while MassDevelopment?s Culver added that the state needs to be more creative in how it seeks design ideas - ?to solicit and pay for ideas to get proposals going.?
Poliquin said she?s been so focused on ShiftBoston that she hasn?t been looking for work, even as she pushes to promote the organization both locally and globally.
?This competition shows how a new generation of designers isn?t content to sit on the sidelines - they want to make a positive and responsible impact on the development of Boston,? said jury leader Brian Healy. ?There may not be a lot of work right now, but their positive and fun spirit is getting them ready for a time when there will be funds to build.?
http://bostonherald.com/business/ge...r_island_homes_in_harbor/srvc=home&position=6
EDIT: Mods, maybe move this thread to "Design a Better Boston"?
Designs on Future
Contest eyes tunnel arts center, river island, homes in harbor
By Paul Restuccia
Monday, January 18, 2010
SUBWAY ART: Andrew Zarzycki, left, and Sapir Ng, winners of the ShiftBoston contest, are seen with their design for an arts center in an abandoned MBTA tunnel.
An island in the middle of the Charles River, a theater complex in an abandoned Green Line T tunnel, a marathon run on barges in Boston Harbor?
They may sound like crazy ideas, but they are all part of a competition meant to spark some spirited and fun re-thinking of Boston?s public spaces. Imagine watching a digital aquarium projected on the deadly dull walls of the Massachusetts Turnpike?s Prudential Tunnel or the chance to go clamming near the real Aquarium.
The idea for the ShiftBoston competition was hatched by two unemployed architect/designers as a way for the like-minded to unleash their imaginations on Boston?s public spaces.
?We thought it would be fun and a great way to tap into the creative energy out there,? said co-founder Kim Poliquin, 35, who was laid off from Cambridge Seven Architects in December 2008. ?There?s a lot of designers out of work, and this keeps their brains thinking and gets them something to be excited about. There?s also a general feeling that what the city needs in design is a shift in attitude.?
ShiftBoston co-founder Dunja Vujinic, 25, also laid off from Cambridge Seven and a 2007 Wentworth Institute of Technology graduate, added, ?This was a chance to give young architects a voice.? She said there?s a lot of frustration among those out of work.
Originally intended as a local competition, the challenge, which took more than a year?s worth of planning, snowballed into an international event, attracting 142 entries from 14 different countries and several dozen states.
And last Thursday, before a packed auditorium at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the group presented the winners of the competition to city and state officials - including chief Boston planner Kairos Shen, MassDevelopment Director Robert Culver, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki and City Council President Michael Ross.
?We wanted to bring in people who make the decisions in government to share these ideas with them,? said ShiftBoston?s communications and technology director, Susan Yoo. ?Our next step is to keep the momentum going and share the ideas with the public through a series of exhibits.?
An international panel of judges, led by Boston architect Brian Healy, winnowed down the entries to 18 finalists - all of whom came up with provocative ideas for the city. Somerville?s Bob Lowe proposed the creation of an island in the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge.
Fort Point artist Lisa Greenfield imagined a digital aquarium along the walls of the Mass Pike?s Prudential Tunnel. A Taiwanese design team proposed an installation that gathers wind energy on Fort Point and another group imagined a clamming cove surrounded by rocks near the current Aquarium.
Locals Katie Flynn, Annie Engstrom and Morgan Pinney?s idea, dubbed Beantown Beanshare, is to connect Hub homeowners with unused yards with those who want spaces for community gardens. And Cambridge designers John Mitchell and Brad Shuck proposed a marathon along a ring of interconnected barges in the harbor.
Honorable mention went to two Dutch designers for ?What the Hell is This?? a play on former Mayor John Collins? initial reaction to the City Hall design, and it whimsically provided new ideas to resuscitate the beleaguered building?s image by putting it on everything from keychains to pink lipstick. Two second prizes went to a New-York-based team that imagined vertical farming along prison walls and to a proposal for a superstructure built over Boston Harbor that would consist of a park above with residences built in bunches underneath. It was designed by 25-year-old Boston architect Moqi Liu of DiMella Shaffer and former journalist Erin Doolittle, who based the idea on Chinese grape farming.
The winning idea was to turn Boston?s abandoned subway tunnel under Tremont Street into an underground theater and gallery complex that would augment the Theater District and offer a new arts and tourist destination. It was imagined by former and present architects from Tsoi/Kobus & Associates of Cambridge, Andrew Zarzycki and Sapir Ng, who received a $1,000 prize and will have their idea featured on highway billboards and on the T?s bus shelters and subways.
While the excited audience enjoyed the imaginative and fun ideas, the unspoken question for many was whether it will help unemployed architects and designers get jobs.
?We do a lot of projects, big and small, and we want to make sure that young talent gets a chance to do design work,? said Bialecki, while state Creative Economy director Jason Schubach collected business cards.
Tom Keane, executive director of event co-sponsor the Boston Society of Architects, said ?the point is not that these proposals get built,? while MassDevelopment?s Culver added that the state needs to be more creative in how it seeks design ideas - ?to solicit and pay for ideas to get proposals going.?
Poliquin said she?s been so focused on ShiftBoston that she hasn?t been looking for work, even as she pushes to promote the organization both locally and globally.
?This competition shows how a new generation of designers isn?t content to sit on the sidelines - they want to make a positive and responsible impact on the development of Boston,? said jury leader Brian Healy. ?There may not be a lot of work right now, but their positive and fun spirit is getting them ready for a time when there will be funds to build.?
http://bostonherald.com/business/ge...r_island_homes_in_harbor/srvc=home&position=6
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