Blog

Riverside Park South by Thomas Balsley Associates. As one of the largest megacities on the planet, New York City is a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. New York emerges from an industrial past, where docks, warehouses, rail lines, and piers once represented modern city development. Over the last two centuries, the city has faced urbanization issues, giving way to transformations in its appearance. During the 1960s and 1970s, authorities started a massive urban renovation program in which they envisioned a series of green areas to turn the industrial giant into a neighborhood-friendly city. Some of that program’s iconic legacies include Central Park, Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the subway system, elevated mass transit lines, and skyscrapers. But disagreements o...Read More

We know about his work, but what don’t we know about this legendary figure? Roberto Burle Marx was one of the most influential landscape designers of the 20th century, world renowned for the organic and geometric patterns beautifully imprinted in his gardens. He was indeed very talented, and the wide range of his artistic skills is sure to blow your mind! Read on to learn eight amazing facts about Burle Marx you didn’t know: FACT 1: He was also a singer Burle Marx was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1909. His mother, Cecilia Burle, was a pianist who promoted local music events that allowed her son to be in contact with music from a very early age. As you will see in the next topic, he took singing lessons in Germany and strongly considered studying music. FACT 2: He had training in pai...Read More

Atalaya Park design by G&C Arquitectos. Striking in its detailing and function, Atalaya Park is an example of a modern, inviting public and community landscape space. Nestled between buildings that look somewhat between the combination of modern and traditional, the space, designed by G&C Architects, screams “Look at me! Come and see; enjoy what I have to offer!” This once leftover space is located in Lemoiz, which is a small town in Northern Spain with a population of 1000. The space was built to create a brand new image for the area. As you probably noted from the photographs, the design could very well have been in a crowded cityscape. But why does this modern design work well in this small and pristine town? Why is it that this feels like a space that promises adventures? Resha...Read More

The ChonGae Canal Redevelopment Project by Mikyoung Kim Design. An area of 2.25 acres at the very beginning of a seven-mile green corridor has gone through a major transformation in a commercial district of central Seoul, Korea. The ChonGae canal was restored as part of a campaign by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to revitalize local waterways. Before the intervention, the canal was highly polluted, hidden away from everyone’s view, and forgotten by the community; today, the stream once again flows openly through the heart of the city to be admired and included as a valuable feature in the urban context and creating a pedestrian haven. The Chongae Canal Proposal   The ChonGae Canal restoration project was the winning design of an international competition that aimed to highli...Read More

We give you the low down on extensive green roofs, outlining what’s involved and why you should create them. Extensive green roofs are a form of Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) that can provide many ecological, economic, biodiversity, and aesthetic advantages over traditional tile, metal, or felt roofs. In this essential guide, we take you through everything you need to know about extensive green roofs. Intensive or Extensive? An extensive green roof is a vegetated roof that does not require an additional watering system. Typically, this limits the range of plants that can be accommodated to herbaceous perennials and succulents. Intensive green roofs, on the other hand, can accommodate larger species, such as woody perennials, but require greater engineering and are often mo...Read More

Winning PLAYscape officially opens in Cape Town, South Africa Which city is the most fun? London, NYC, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Moscow, Cape Town? To answer this question Building Trust international asked professional and student architects and designers from cities around the World to propose ideas which encouraged public interaction and turned redundant city spaces into fun creative places. A multidisciplinary team from the City of Cape Town were announced as the Professional winners in a design competition that has turned a neglected forgotten underpass into an interactive playscape. The competition had over 500 registered entrants and a jury including representatives from Building Trust International, Project for Public Spaces, BMW Guggenheim Lab, Landscape Architects Network, 3Space, N...Read More

Polish Street Artist NeSpoon Decorates Neglected Urban Spaces with Lace. For many, the term “street art” still has something of a seedy connotation, conjuring up images of the graffiti tagging and vandalism that occurs in many urban neighbourhoods. However, modern street artists are challenging these notions, and today street art has become an incredibly diverse and unique art form, gaining increased recognition and legitimacy from both the public and authorities. NeSpoon, a Polish street artist based in Warsaw, is one of these modern street artists who are changing the public perception of graffiti and street art. Using her artwork as a tool, NeSpoon transforms and beautifies neglected urban spaces in cities around the world. Ranging from painting to sculpture, from ceramics to textiles, ...Read More

The importance of using trees in the landscape may be unknown to most of us!  There is one element found in almost every single landscape architecture project, and it’s not hardscape, lighting, or a pool. It’s trees and — along with them — the life they imbue into every project they inhabit. But why trees? The following list shows how and why trees are so important for landscape architects and the world around us. 1. Trees Keep Our Water Clean As part of an integrated stormwater management system, streamside forests have important effects on water quality. They remove excess nutrients and pollutants, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and sediments, from surface runoff and shallow groundwater. Trees also shade streams, providing optimal light and temperature conditions that allow...Read More

Cool Pavements: Keeping our cities bearable. Temperatures in cities are rising at a fast pace due to the replacement of natural vegetated areas with artificial waterproofed surfaces. Compared to rural areas, cities have larger swaths of paved surfaces that store more heat – this is one of the causes of the so-called “heat island effect”. One way to solve this problem is to use smart materials known as “cool pavements”. Cool pavement technology can counter the heat island effect and contribute to healthier, more comfortable urban environments. Keep reading to find out how! What is the Urban Heat Island Effect? Urban heat island effect raises temperatures in cities, leading to an increased energy demand for cooling buildings and damaging the population’s health. Its main cause is the replace...Read More

A new bridge for Mont Saint Michel; designed by Dietmar Feichtinger Architects. Anyone who has looked for a touristic destination that gathers unique characteristics probably knows Mont Saint Michel, in Normandy, France. This mini medieval town, combining historical architecture and unusual construction technique has been one of the most visited places in France. Being located in a bay with the highest tides in Europe has contributed to its image of a fantastic boat floating on the sea, with the presence of the one thousand year-old abbey on its top. The lure of this place, declared Unesco World Heritage site in 1979, is being threatened, however, because the island, known for centuries as the “wonder of the western world”, is being transformed into a peninsula. Although this process inten...Read More

The Rocker that makes the most of where you sit! The multidisciplinary SOFT Rockers project, which has been developed by KVA Matx, Boston, under the coordination of Sheila Kennedy and Junqmin Nam, started in 2011 with the installation of innovative rocking lounge chairs at Killian Court, in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They were originally created by MIT students led by Professor Sheila Kennedy for MIT’s Festival of Arts, Science and Technology, featuring organic shapes that embellished the landscape and invited people to rest and reenergise with their rocking movement. This way of cooling down may sound not new but what about resting on these comfortable rockers while charging your mobile devices? And using your balance to optimize the generation of electricity, being part o...Read More