Friday, October 25, 2013

Railroad Park








Project Name:
Railroad Park
Location:
Birmingham, Alabama 
Size:
19 acres 
Budget:
$17.5 million 
Client:
City of Birmingham/ Railroad Park Foundation 
Completion:
2010 
TLS Team Credits:
Akiko Ono, Gabe Meil, Ivan Valin, Kathryn Drinkhouse, Paul Burgin, Roman Chiu, Sarah Cowels, Sara Peschel & Tom McMillan


Background:
     TLS spent five years working extensively with a public / private partnership to build this downtown central park and master plan the rail corridor. 
    The park site is a former warehouse and brick-making site and much of the park is formed with materials recovered from historic uses. The park is four blocks long by one block wide and was historically, the lowest point in town.
    The “Rail Trail”, located atop this little mountain range is a series of on-grade and bridge connections which allow train-spotting up close, views over downtown and of the frequent large music events and parties within the park. The park contains performance venues of varying scales from small to extra large such as the annual “Crawfish Boil” attracting 30,000 music fans. Noisy or quiet, day or night, the park is only completed by the industrial ballet of freight cars slowly rolling in both directions.( online resources)

     For me, I think this park looks so beautiful, if I have chance I'd like to go  and see this park. From the picture we can see this park combine the nature and urban city in a good way. It looks harmonious and balance. Also, the designs in this park was very delicate, no matter the curve lines,the straight lines or some entertainment facilities. Moreover, we can see people like this park, because they have a lot of activities in this park. A good urban park need to have this function to invite people come and enjoy their life . I think this park did this in a very good way. It makes people think even they lived in a urban city, but they can still enjoy the green scene and beautiful environment. For a landscape designer, this is what we need to study and solve. We need to provide a healthier living environment for people and help them close to the nature.

Edward M. Crough Center











                                     
                   
Project Name:Edward M. Crough Center
Project Term:Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, David J. Lewis; Emily Greene, Jessie Turnbull, Irene Brisson, Naoki Kamitani, Ting Ting Jin, Alan Ford, Clare Reidy, Kristen Chin
Location:The Catholic University of America- Achool of Architecture and Planning
Washington, DC
Size:
76,000 sq. ft.
Client:  Catholic University

     This design aimed to renovate and expand the existing Edward M. Crough Center, cultivate its existing historic building to meet the requirments of expanded studio, faculty and exhibition space. 
     LTL's approach to this project is to strengthen the underlying design imperative of the 1989 renovation that placed the studios as a shared resource at the heart of the school. The design creates new strategic additions to the north and east of the Old Gym that accommodate faculty offices, a relocated lecture hall, exhibition spaces, pinup areas, classrooms and fabrication spaces.By consolidating these functions in the new additions, the design studios are able to be accommodated within the main exposed trussed drill hall of the original structure.  At the same time the design establishes a new entry and sequence of public spaces at what was formerly the rear of the building, engaging evolving pedestrian circulation patterns and establishing a connection to the broader campus landscape.(LTL introduction of Edward M. Crough Center)
     For me, firstly, I think this design is very attractive,because the rendering and the 3D model looks so beautiful. They used the “transparent" person to stress the freedom and fluency in this modern building design.Even the person was grey and transparant, but their activities looks very rich and real.Secondly, I like the color they used in this design, it's looks harmonious. And the color changing is very effective highlighted the part they want to express. For example, highlight the appearance of the building,the building section and the utilization of structure space.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Keyaki Plaza







Name: Keyaki Plaza
Designer: Yoji Sasaki
Location: In the heart of Saitama city, Japan
Size: Covers an area of 23687 square meters
        The square covers 11100 square meters
        The construction area of 10136 square meters

In this design, Sasaki has successfully created new Japanese landscapes using  "Zen Buddhism" based on actual situation by combining modern technology and gardening skill.In Keyaki Plaza, he transplanted 220 zelkova trees to a seven meters high rack in a two-story building.He considered sunshine, shadow, environment, building colors, tree shape and surrounding residential spaces. Sasaki tried to combine these elements and create a simplistic beautiful garden. Also, he uses most primitive techniques to let people feel that the nature is surrounding them.For example: the stone materials and plant materials.

Next,in this design, Yoji Sasaki tried to pursue artistic landscapes. He used some circle, square and layer strip elements to shape landscape and create an elegant space. For example, he used some underground lights to show the different views between day and night. Also, he used some fine pavings and wood benches and tables to express this pleasant landscape space. Moreover, we can see Sasaki really pay attention to some details of his design, like the shape of the trees, shape of the stones and material of facilities.

All in all, I think Sasaki's design defines "Humanistic design". His design looks like a magic key to connect people with nature and serve people through attention to their social and funcitional requirements. For a designer, we need to respect nature and try to make a comfortable, practical, dedelicate design to meet different people's different needs and give people a sense of nature is close to their lives.
      

Friday, October 4, 2013

10/04

    
     With the development of human society and unrestrained use of ecological resources, our ecological environment has been destroyed a lot. For example: climate change, habitat loss, invasive species and so on. I think landscape design is the nature of human life and an integral part of the environment. So I believe landscape could use a philosophy ways to guide human living environment and natural environment in a harmony way. The more we understand nature and respect of ecology, the more we can put nature to work for people. Therefore, I think landscape Architect need to stand out to figure out and try their best to save our unique nature heritage and sustaining our nature of beauty.
     In this landscape design, I see the designer try to combine nature and artifical in a harmony way. It's definitely a good example. Firstly, the form is very special, the designer repeat the simple circle pattern, but create an unique landscape sitting area. It's looks very beautiful and romantic, when you sit in it, you will feel that you are sitting in a big flower. In this exterior garden, you can hear the bird singing, smell the flowers and look this beautiful scenery. Secondly, the material looks good,  the designer used red brick and several small circle shapes to emphasize the flower bed. Also, the designer choose the iron table and chairs in this exterior design which not only looks very beautiful, but also practical. Finally, I like the color shows in this design, it looks very fresh and harmonious. Red, purple, white combine with green, it create a wonderful landscape feeling. And this is what I still need to learn in my later study!