linea degli alberi

In October of 2014, a really fantastic pair of residential towers were completed in Milan and opened their doors to its new occupants. The structures incorporate some one thousand trees and other plants, creating a self-regulating micro-climate on the apartment blocks’ campus plus all the other benefits of plant-respiration, and this vertical forest, if grown in the usual horizontal fashion would require almost seven square kilometres of space.  Such a comparison really turns the notion of a “carbon-footprint” on its head.
We appreciate the fact that there are two towers, since after all, the only downside of living in such a building being that one would have no view of it; Parisian author Guy de Maupassant supposedly thought the newly erected Eifel Tower was such an abhorrent sight, he lunched in a café directly underneath the landmark, reasonably assured that that was the surest spot in the city where he’d be spared of seeing it. We were a little astonished that we missed or dismissed as one of those concept models that never get built this incredible project before, and really appreciated the comprehensive update from Twisted Sifter and will be certain to seek this amazing structure out next time we are in Italy.  Moreover, it was a needed antidote to other trends we’ve heard about recently—like England’s newly discovered penchant for astroturfing in favour of little grassy plots.

6x6

omnishambles: Atlas Obscura features an interesting omnibus article on Olympic ruins, but maybe the same fate won’t befall Rio de Janeiro

touch of evil: a look at admissible evidence in the seventeenth century

tundra: thawing Siberian permafrost is reanimating long frozen pathogens

surrealismo: artist Benoit Paillé experiments with flash and coloured gels in documenting his road-trip across Mexico

salty peppers: cringe-worthy original names of now epic bands, via Boing Boing

gingerbread palace: a pictorial profile of the Victorian seaside resort, the Cliff House, of San Francisco

down-spout: a home in Japan designed to let the rain in, because it should be embraced just as much as sunshine 

achievement unlocked or gotta catch ‘em all

As an unapologetic flaneur, although sometimes I wish I had a dog on a lead as an alibi, I’ve never needed an excuse to go for a long walk and explore. Now, however, I fear removing my phone from my bag whilst out in public for fear I might be taking as hunting virtual pocket-monsters superimposed on reality. Perhaps this is the first evidence that our Universe is the product of a vast computer simulation I’ve heard mention of.
And while it is admirable to promote physical activity after a fashion, I don’t believe that there’s educational value or enduring health in the craze—like how Candy Crush was created to teach economists the concept of “sunken-costs” or how Solitaire was bundled with operating systems to teach people dexterity with mice. Mostly this exercise is a boon for Big Data to gather more and more reconnaissance and farm out the collection of demographics and map-making to willing-players by moving pedestrians out of the mobile-phone lane on the sidewalks and scattering them all over on scavenger-hunt for cartographic corrections and inclusion of those entities and preferences not already accounted for elsewhere, globally, and without deploying fleets of camera mounted cars. I wonder how long we can restraint ourselves from employing comparable methods for policing parking-violators, people on parole, suspected terrorists and others guilty of though-crime, already identified by self-incrimination. How long before we can curate reality and superimpose or erase more pleasant things in our idiosyncratic environments?  What do you think? We already leave our footfalls in indelible wet cement, and I don’t think we want to have a whole entourage accompanying us.

turf-war or push th’ little daisies

The always brilliant Geoff Manaugh at BLDGBlog thoughtfully and considered directs our attention to yet another insult to ecology and our rampant encroachment not only on the pristine but now for what has already learnt to live with us:
the craze for zero- maintenance “permanent botanicals” are canvasing over gardens, yards and campuses, replacing what little plots there are left with artificial grass. Oh England’s green and pleasant land, where will the rain water go, and without worms to churn the soil, I imagine things might get pretty musty rather quickly, and without worms, there’d be no birds? And so on, and so on… I hope that this is a passing craze and new tenants rip all that out, like so much shag carpeting.

ticker-tape

The always interesting Public Domain Review shows us that the isolating, estranging effects of technology were Zeitgeisty (yes, I said Zeitgeisty having heard it uttered by a BBC Radio 4 correspondent—the language we pick up…) back in 1906 Britain, as Punch magazine—which I never realised that Punch was subtitled the London Charivari—lampoons. Though this forecast for the state of affairs of the upcoming year is in jest, the man and woman fixated on their telegraph-feed rather than each other or their surroundings is pretty prescient and shows that concerns about socially authentic cohesion is not the exclusive bailiwick of our age.

royal jelly

Happily those insect motels of straw and cinder-blocks are getting as popular and common as bird houses, but there’s no reason, as the fabulous Everlasting Blört informs, to skimp on luxury for our apian friends. To underscore their appreciation for these pollinators for supplying their fruits and vegetables, a storied and posh Yorkshire emporium has teamed up with Kew Botanical Gardens to prove their swarms lavish lodging in the Grand Beedapest Hotel. Read all about the project and urban bee-keeping at the link.