urbanpattern:

Mashhad, Iran | Imam Reza shrine

naturetamed:

Tungkwan, China

One of the most radical solutions in the field of shelter is represented by the underground towns and villages in the Chinese loess belts. Loess is silt, transported and deposited by the wind. Because of its great softness and high porosity, it can be easily carved. In places, roads have been cut as much as 40 feet deep into the original level by the action of wheels. In the provinces of Honnan, Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu about ten million people live in dwellings hollowed out from loess.

The dark squares in the flat landscape are pits an eighth of an acre in area, or about the size of a tennis court. Their vertical sides are 25 to 30 feet high. L-shaped staircases lead to the apartments below who rooms are about 30 feet deep and 15 feet wide, and measure about 15 feet to the top of the vaulted ceiling. They are lighted and aired by openings that give onto the courtyard.

From the top one can only see small trees placed carefully above each staircase that leads downward. The tree acts as the official sign of the house, so you don’t describe your house to visitors or give a house number but tell them about your tree.

Architecture Without Architects // Bernard Rudofsky

spatula:

(via Modular Retrofit: Bamboo Micro-Homes in Deserted Factories | Urbanist)

paavo:

Flakturm Archives or the Panopticon in Reverse (via Dpr-barcelona)

This project undertakes to design archives within one of the Flakturm, former Second World War anti-aircraft towers in the center of Vienna. The idea of constructing an archive within a bunker is not a neutral one. The defensiveness of this building allows, both symbolically and literally, to host and protect goods against the alteration of the externality —whether it is time or a more direct antagonism. Many civilizations of the past have been annihilated, not only physically, but absolutely as any form of their production has been also destroyed with them. The recent history would have still seen several tragic examples of ethnical cleansing directly linked to processes of cultural destructions.

landscape-a-design:

urban design interventions: additions of trees, plantings, benches, curb extensions, lighting, sidewalk widening, and building setbacks to help greening the pedestrian environment throughout East Midtown.  The conceptual designs introduce key elements that make public space effective and enjoyable – shade, places to sit, and places to meet.

www.nyc.gov

onsomething:

onsomething

Karel Prager | Experimental residential development “City over City”, 1973-75. 

(…) using bridge structures to grow the city into a third dimension instead of its growth out into the surrounding areas. Convertible units – e.g. flats, administration, culture or sport – that were possible to meet spatial requests and needs of residents represented a flexible part of the construction.” Via 1

Photo by Tomáš Souček.

motherboardtv:

What Our Idyllic, Non-Dystopian Future Would Look Like If We Fixed the World

urbangreens:

jamesjgm:

In 2010 Salzburg did an experiment: transform St Julien Street in less than 24h from a car space to a pedestrian friendly space. We need more demonstrations like this!

 Source: International Federation of Pedestrains http://www.facebook.com/IFPedestrians

More parks!

supersonicelectronic:

Tristram Lansdowne.

Tristram Lansdowne’s paintings are formations of the imagination floating at sea, monoliths rising from that blue murkiness that is so well unknown.  Within these creations one will find the familiar but still more of the unknown.  See more of Tristram’s work:

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thisbigcity:

Bury a highway and cover it with a multi-modal, tree-lined boulevard and green space? Austin is considering it…

travelingcolors:

Bergen from Mt. Ulriken | Norway (by Arne Halvorsen)

propaedeuticist:

roof-streets of Masuleh, Iran

conganh:

Urban planning in Denmark.

archiveofaffinities:

Mike Mitchell and Dave Boutwell, Comprehensive City Project, 1969

climateadaptation:

arquicomics:

Kowloon

high-res image

drawing by Adolfo Arranz

A must click.

ethel-baraona:

Kikutake Kiyonori, ECO POLIS [early 1990s] |  Metabolism, the City of the Future

Castle Square, AKA the “Hole in the Road”, Sheffield

c. late 1960s

archimaps:

Map of Canberra, 1962

the-iridescence:

This digital project by Paris-based photographer Thierry Cohen is an imaginative tale about how urban landscapes might appear if we turned out all of the lights. In a big city glowing with street lamps, store signs, car headlights, and rows of illuminated apartment buildings, it’s almost impossible to see the stars in the sky. One project review says, “Atmospheric and light pollution combine to make looking into the urban sky like looking past bright headlights while driving.”

To bring a sense of nature back into these environments, Cohen has taken a bit of a scientific approach. He travels to places free from light pollution and captures the skies that rotate on the same axis as the urban skylines. Those same skies that were at some point visible above the cities are then superimposed into the darkened cityscapes.

The result is Darkened Cities, Cohen’s project in which cold, dark, and desolate cityscapes sit below these atmospheric wonders overhead. In a sense, Cohen is bringing a forgotten nature back into these places. His darkened landscapes are a frightening visual of what it might look like if a city had to be completely shut down. His images are a reminder of the magical beauty of nature and through this project, he encourages viewers to take a step back from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and to appreciate—most importantly, not take for granted—the natural world around us.