Category: Architecture

Here’s to Zimmerman/Volk and to ‘Attainable Housing’

Ben Brown
Ben Brown
I should maybe feel at least a little guilty for escaping the cold weather in the North Carolina mountains where I live and heading to Florida over the weekend. But I don’t. The destination was, after all, Panhandle Florida, the vertically challenged part of Florida that folks farther south call “LA,” as in “Lower... Continue Reading
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Letting Love Rule: All urban density is not created equal

Kaid Benfield
Kaid Benfield Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn
Last week we resurrected a look at the preservation movement — asking if, rather than strict adherence to ideology, love of place could ultimately rule the day — so that, this week, we could put a spotlight on Kaid Benfield, the latest addition to the PlaceMakers team, and his thoughts on the issue's flip-side. In... Continue Reading
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Small to Go Big in 2015?
Maybe. Finally. Here’s why.

Ben Brown
Ben Brown
Those of us who’ve been tangling with status quo protectors in housing design and policymaking got a charge out of Justin Shubow’s Forbes blog post earlier this month. Shubow backhanded modernist starchitects for persisting in their personal artistic vision without regard to the human use of real places: “Modernism... Continue Reading
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Black Friday: Get your gorilla on

PlaceMakers
PlaceMakers Twitter Instagram Facebook
We're happy when we go for a run. We're even more happy when we go for a run in a gorilla suit -- at least according to Roko Belic, director of the award-winning documentary, HAPPY. That’s because some change is gonna do ya good. Which is one of the many reasons that we placemakers advocate for immersive... Continue Reading
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Lessons Learned from Berlin Shopfronts

Susan Henderson
Susan Henderson Instagram Facebook
Like many European cities, Berlin teaches us myriad lessons in building successful shopfronts. While the exclusive international shops along Kurfürstendamm and Friedrichstrasse are elegant and effective, the more creative successes are found in neighborhoods and courtyards. Kaid Benfield’s People Habitat describes in... Continue Reading
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Euro-Envy Reconsidered: Talkin’ time, distance and change

Ben Brown
Ben Brown
When my wife and I headed to Europe for our first two-week vacation in 15 years, I don’t think I realized how grouchy I was getting about change adaptation in the US. So much political paralysis. So little leadership. No sense of urgency on issues of huge importance. It was way past time for a getaway to be among grown-ups. ... Continue Reading
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Let’s Get Metaphysical: Considering the value of soul in redevelopment

Scott Doyon
Scott Doyon Twitter Instagram Facebook
Not so long ago, in a conversation about technology and green building, there was mention of some high-tech green building models coming out of Europe. Models that, according to reports, perform so well that even if you factor the embedded energy of a previous structure torn down to accommodate them, they still come out... Continue Reading
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Celebrating Public Art: Chicago in the summer

Hazel Borys
Hazel Borys Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A recent trip to Chicago on the first weekend of summer reinforced the importance of great public art. After a particularly harsh winter, the welcoming parks, squares, and plazas of the city were burgeoning with people soaking in the sunshine. Coming home to talk with my husband, who happens to be an art museum director,... Continue Reading
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Let Love Rule: Resilience in Mesquite

Andrew Von Maur
Andrew Von Maur
Crossing Campo Street from downtown Las Cruces into the Mesquite Historic District is like crossing between two urban worlds that are often misunderstood. To the west is one of the country’s textbook examples of everything that could go wrong with federally subsidized Urban Renewal, including the obligatory seas of... Continue Reading
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Cottage Simplicity: Keeping it easy, making it attainable

Hazel Borys
Hazel Borys Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
We talk often here on PlaceShakers about cottage living, as well as drilling down into how to make that happen at home, with conversations like Small Y’all: A Cottage Solution to the Housing Problem and “Pocket Neighborhoods”: Scale Matters. This weekend, strolling through Victoria Beach -- an insightful cottage... Continue Reading
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