October 2011
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Watchhere is a short video of the exhibition and public presentation party
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Weisman Grand Reopening & Exhibition Opening
This weekend was the Weisman Art Museum Grand Reopening Gala (Saturday, Oct. 1) and WAMdemonium (Sunday, Oct. 2nd). The new expansion featured our team’s design competition materials for a new public plaza at the east end of the Washington Avenue Pedestrian and Bike bridge. Kick off festivities started Saturday night. Bob Kost, Director of Planning & Urban Design at SEH, was invited to...
Mississippi River Bridge Plaza Design Competition...
Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota The SEH team completed their submission for the Mississippi River Bridge Plaza Design Competition on Thursday, September 1st. The timeline for selection of the winning entry among the four finalist teams is listed below. October 1, 2011 Revealing: The Weisman Art Museum Grand Reopening Gala (Sold-Out) October 2, 2011, 1pm WAMdemonium: WAM...
September 2011
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July 2011
49 posts
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Public art in relation to LEED certification
I thought it was interesting that at least some of the criteria where public art might add points to LEED certification were issues we are thinking about for WAM Plaza. (Pay no attention to the “light pollution” part.)
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Fiber Reinforced Plastic offers us weight and...
In looking for information on the embodied energy / sustainability characteristics for structural building materials to consider for our project I came accross some interesting information (see below) Although it pertains to auto-manufacturing, I think there are some favorable sustainable material characteristics. More investigation is warranted as to costs, availability, color, etc.
The embodied...
Sensor Network
The Sensor Network
The goal of the sensor network is to provide a platform input/output platform that can be used by artists and studied by engineers. Artists can use both the input (the data) and the output (the lights and sound) to express any number of ideas. The model for this interaction is best described by Jim Campell’s Formula for Computer Art. In this case the distributed...
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5 strategies for softening the city
“Space can be shared, transformed, saved and re-made. The temptation is to imagine the ways that futuristic structures will allow for transformable buildings, parks, or homes, but the more immediate possibilities are much simpler: networked structures, meshes of inexpensive sensors and devices, accessible tools to mark and tag locations. Just as memories and historical narratives...
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Light bridge
Interesting description for Susanne Seitinger’s LightBridge:
“The 10,000 pixel display was activated by sensors (proximity sensors, cameras, buttons, microphones, mobile phones) that responded to the movement and activities of viewers in the area. By combining sensors and programmable lighting, the project illustrated the potential for user-driven urban screens [emphasis added]...
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Soft Rockers
The MIT SOFT Rockers are smart, clean energy charging stations disguised as outdoor rocking lounge furniture. Unlike conventional ‘hard’ urban infrastructure, The SOFT Rocker leverages its environment in a dynamic manner by using the human power of balance to create an interactive 1.5 axis 35 watt solar tracking system.
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Emotional weather ball
In a previous post, I mentioned Will Pappenheimer’s “mood” projects. This project at the MIT Fast Festival reminded me further of that specific idea - taking the emotional pulse of the campus and displaying it as a “weather ball” projection on the campanille.
My favorite “mood” project has always been Lars Spuybroek w/ Nox Architects, D-Tower, which...
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flows of joy
Given that the rubber surface of the plaza will automatically bring to mind playgrounds, are there ways to acknowledge this explicitly and incorporate elements of the “flow of joy” a la Csíkszentmihályi.
It’s officially called a ‘transfer accelerator’ by Dutch railway maintenance company ProRail, but everyone else would say it’s a slide.
Also, see Carston Holler’s slide at...
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Electricity hacks
We talked about adding electrical outlets to the grandstand seating. I really like this “hack” of urban space, installing hand cranks to generate electricity.
n.7 Cabine electrique from Raphaël Pluvinage on Vimeo.
Part of the point of this group’s work is also the user-based generation of models/ideas. What if part of the point of the plaza was an opportunity for different...
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Sabrian Raaf + physicalization of flows
I mentioned Sabrina Raaf’s River Meander before as a potential for the screen material - or at least some of it. Her idea is that the pattern in the screen - based on an algorithm for river meanders - becomes “footholds” for a green wall of plants. Here is an installation at UC San Diego:
More info here. I like the way this project ties together river/flow/green/screen.
She...
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Soft furniture
We talked about some of the plaza topography being furniture-like. Maybe, going along with the vertical community gardens idea, some of the furniture can also be planted - at least during the spring summer.
Here are some posts by local landscape design firm ROLU:
Instructables version.
“The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while...”
– Steve’s Wikipedia quote Below
Train/Auto Flow
In addition to the great suggestions in response to the train (wind, train coming lights, etc), we could also think of the train arrival as a disruptive element.
In Ben Rubin’s San Jose Semaphore, the illuminated disks (which are normally in the process of delivering a coded message), are interrupted and set to spinning whenever a jet flies overhead....
Flow Sensors
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Community gardening
I like the green wall(s) idea, but I also think that it would be great to bring in an element of community gardening and/or agricultural remediation to the Weisman Plaza project:
Rebecca Bray and Britta Riley, window farms. They actually have a very evolved program at this point, which allows for a lot of local customization. There is also a larger “maker” community...
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Plaza marquee
Instead of the multiplication of existing light fixtures, I propose a “marquee” made out of thousands of LED lights encased in glass forms, which could look like light bulbs. Imagine stringing the plaza with a grid of lights from the bridge toward the Weisman and from the campanille to/toward the grandstand.This marquee would be somewhere between 10’ and 16’ up in the air...
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Flow (Csíkszentmihályi)
Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.[1]
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a...
Shake Shack + →
Perhaps we can just get one?
Chimney Swift Bird
Along with the bat habitat, we have also discussed adding chimney swift habitat to the campanile in the corner areas as well as under the bridge near the post areas (see diagram). The Chimney Swift population has declined 51% in the last 40 years. Besides the enjoyment that their aerial acrobatics provide people, they are also voracious insect eaters (mosquitoes!), keeping nuisance flying insect...
Focus species: Big Brown Bat
At a Glance
Mating: Polygamous
Peak Breeding Activity: August through October
Gestation Period: Approximately two months
Young are Born: May and June
Litter Size: 2
Number of Litters per Year: 1. Young are called pups and are dependent on their mothers.
Adult Weight: 0.46-0.88 ounces
Adult Length: 5.9-7 inches
Life Expectancy: 1-18 years
Migration Patterns: Year-round resident. Big...
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Bats in the greenwall...
Bob and I have been kicking around ideas about nesting habitat potential in the green wall of the campanile. The newest idea is to provide bat houses on the campanile as a way of providing additional critical habitat and minimizing mosquitos.
Some Minnesota bat facts:
A single bat brown bat can eat 3000 to 7000 insects each night.
Seven species of bats that are native to Minnesota:
the...
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Platform Manifesto (v. 0.1)
Verbal sketch 0.1
7.7.11
An (incomplete) Platform Manifesto
Applications of new media hold the potential to connect what is going on in the Target Studio to the bridge deck plaza, encouraging engagement. Innovative use of new media is desired in design submissions for this competition. Here is an opportunity to combine the physical with the virtual to demonstrate new design solutions. Design of...
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Bike station →
We have a way for bikes to get over the plaza. What if they want to stop? Do we have bike racks? What about adding a self-contained bike fix station? Or other biking amenities?
