garethace

Pro-active learning. . . is something the planning profession has embraced … but given some luck, may some day trickle down into architectural education. A lot of this pro-active learning can be done on foot too – see Dubin city Council walking tours information on their web site for instance.

But an ideal exercise, which I can highly recommend to explore cities in a thorough organised fashion, is to split it up into areas, and locate all retail areas, the professionals, the entertainment etc, etc. Because generally speaking when you get a large mixed use master plan to do anyhow, you are going to be facing that problem. Not just drawing polylines in AutoCAD and extruding them to do a ‘scanline rendering’ in VIZ. (Insert AutoDesk jiggle)

There is just so much, real world, field-work that architects can do to teach themselves. The recent RIAI publication of housing in Dublin city isn’t a bad one either – because you can find most of those schemes in Dublin, in reality. The Milltown/Dartry Road in Dublin is very interesting I think, since it contains a LUAS intersection and many, many religious type properties becoming high-density residential etc.

Space is a quite fascinating study, but you have to ‘get out there’. It doesn’t come to you inside a studio, holed up in some nice ‘architectural college course’ somewhere. Online places like Archiseek exist, which provide the best point of contact between various people thinking about these matters and comparing observations.

well I just heard Sean O’Laoire talking about a map of ‘nigerian dublin’ in a recent lecture he gave. So maybe a map of DIT dublin, and flower-seller dublin is needed too. 🙂

Originally posted by Diaspora
You don’t need a contra flow up Nassau St it only has to go down Sth Leinster st to Kildare st as a right turn is permitted down molesworth St coming back out at Davy/Hibernian way on Dawson St giving access back to Nassau St but also back towards the Westbury and Grafton st as well. Therbye breaking up the oneway system and allowing preferential treatment for those who provide their own congestion freindly transport.

I can see how that would be infinitely easier to achieve, avoid the problems of bicycles running it ‘right turning cars’ going up Kildare St, and still as a solution, like you have proposed would still manage at least 50% of the improvement, that a total bicycle lane, the full length as I have suggested would achieve.

Don’t get me wrong though, the footpath for pedestrians directly in front of Reads and Easons, formerly Fred Hannas, is a mess from a pedestrian point of view – it is a choke point, and thereby has means that over the years, pedestrians have began to avoid it – it would even help enormously if Dublin City corp shelled out for some kind of ‘wall mounted’ parking metres, so as not to ‘wind’ oneself hopping off of parking metres, in a desperate attempt to ‘make some headway’ through the crowd – That one single pedestrian ‘black spot’ is solely responsible for the deterioration all along Nassau St – that toward Nassau St, Leinster St, etc, the Setanta Centre, all along towards Merrion Square has become rather disused and dodgy at nightime. People don’t know it, it is lost to the city. Despite having gone to all the trouble and expense of building a very fine new Art Gallery extension at the end of that route.

If the said pedestrian choke-point in front of Fred Hannas was fixed, somehow, that would greatly enhance possibilities for all Nassau St to become more than it is. All it would actually take in reality, is for a couple of rich dudes to have to walk a few hundred yards more to their own personal parking space in the underground Setanta centre or something. I mean, the situation is in Dublin, you need to get around on foot – so apart from providing multi storey car parking – it would also help conjestion considerably in Dublin city centre, if the people could walk around, do their business and generally not have to waste as much time as they do, getting stopped at pedestrian choke-points around the city centre. I would love to fly up in a helicopter some day, and watch all the sad, poor, fools having to que at certain points to walk around.

It goes right back to my old point, that we here in Ireland love sending out state paid ‘troppers’ in big, bright badged mechanised transport – Gardai uniforms in this case – to ‘solve’ the traffic problem. Over last xmas, I know from a lot of cases, that two and even three young inexperienced gardai were necessary to ‘make some traffic conjestion problems worse’ when only one could have managed to mess it up by themself. But perhaps if we invested less money in bright, shiny motorcycles and suits for cops, and tried to put a bit of money into relieving pedestrian choke points, things would ‘flow better’.

I mean, the street traders in Dubin city, who sell their bloody flowers to 5% of the total pedestrian street population, who are probably grannies moving at 0 miles per hour anyhow, have been allowed to create artificial pedestrian choke points all by themselves. If it was any other product other than flowers they were selling, they would be brought properly into line. Effectively they manage to ‘barricade’ South Annes St, and the other St, going up past McDaide’s pub – effectively creating a shop premises, free of rent where there should be a pedestrian street. But we here in Dublin have been incredibly naive about these things – pedestrianisation doesn’t equal sentimental, picturesqe, conjested clutter – it means, taking some of the benefits of pedestrianisation – the ability for large popultations of people to march around the place in quick time like armies.

Some day, I will start a riot with the Street traders in Grafton Street by doing a ‘Johnny Wilkinson special’ to one of those buckets of god-damn flowers, and driving it down as far as college green. In general I can see, you have taught about this subject in detail, and while I do have a lot of respect for someone who has done so – I feel compelled to point out some of the more obvious example of ‘pedestrian circulation’ naievity that are staring people blankly in the face as you ‘try to navigate your way on two tired old pins’ around our nation’s capital. I mean also, from the point of view, of running the nation’s capital – keeping the economy afloat, contributing to peoples’ reduction in stress levels, health probs etc, etc. A good example of changing the way, people use a space, in a positive fashion, is of course the Liffey Board walks. It is just a pity, they didn’t shell out and do the same on the other side too.

Take that whole area around the fruit/veg markets – what do you have, an area that shuts down everynight – the old Smithfield, Arran Quay upper/lower, Broadstone and the old N. King St. Church street. Some pretty dead areas in an inner city I think anyone will agree.

I mean, gradually over a long period, I guess people just stopped walking anywhere near/around that fruit/veg market area and it and its surroundings became dilappidated. I would argue the same of Moore St. Contrary to popular culture – Moore Street makes pedestrian avoid that area completely – the dirt, stink, noise, mess and hassle of going anywhere near there is just too off-putting. Result, total disuse and dilapidation of the surrounding area – Parnell St, O’Connell St, Illac centre etc. Camden St, same – street is a mess and the presence of that market created a small pocket where noone really went if they could help it. Thomas St market and surrounding market streets – similar – an area of too-quiet, dead sort of closed down shops and dodgy pubs after trading hours.

I don’t care how much colour markets have, I don’t care how much ‘street activity’ selling bulk loads of toilet rolls generates – you have to look at other cities like Barcelona and french/english cities where the markets were somewhat better integrated and tidied up. The markets in Dublin despite all their RTE celebrity are stinking holes.

I mean, those two or three flower sellling places on Grafton Street make me sick – they deliberately shove you into a space about 2 feet wide, covering the entrances to two useful pedestrian side streets from Grafton street, just so they can sell their stinking ould flowers to fat-cat housewifes. They should be fecked off the street and allow the streets off Grafton to flow and function to relieve pedestrian congestion. It is a disgrace. You will notice those streets off Grafton St, have never really developed, as a result of flower sellers blocking it up.

You talk about pedestrian movement and transit, we have to stop being overly naive about street sellers in this city and basically stop them taking over pedestrian routes, just so they can turn over a profit – without paying a cent in rent. They have been overly sentimentalised in popular culture in Dublin – pulling out this molley malone nostalgia thing. I think part of Baggot St has this problem too.

I think that unless planners begin to understand how to contextualise the huge numbers of people that move around every working day; it will only deteriorate further. Although I doubt stampedes will occur
simply billions lost in productivity

I mean, the purpose of pedestrian ways or traffic is that – to accomodate efficient and enjoyable, if possible, motion of human bodies without the need for an internal combustion engine involves – obescity etc, etc. Not so that every lunch going office suit in Dublin, has to trip over f*** flower pots every lunch hour of their lifes. I think it would be very possible to use computer simulation to study the effect of those unscrupulous, dis-graceful flower re-sellers on Grafton st. Leave blocking off Streets to the Gardai people.

We as architects have been very naive too, in not integrating the subject of human bodily movement into the curriculums in architectural colleges. People like Le Corbusier, Holl, Koolhaas have totally built their designs around the needs of human beings for movment on foot. The street traders of Dublin city are not as naive, and if any city is an example of naivity towards street traders, it is Dublin. How long does it take one to get from one end of O’Connell St to the other? Given the amount of rubbish and flower stands you have to negotiate? I mean, O’Connell St, should be a clean slate from top to bottom – I fear the new ‘monument’ spire is just yet another example of ‘this cluttering mentality’ the is integrated into much of Dublin’s ideas about space, and its use pedestrian by pedestrians.

I constantly reference the millenium wing of the National Gallery, it is for all intents and purpose like a stepped streets with various levels, but no god damn street traders with their pots of flower choking up all the ped movement – No, doubt given half a chance you might find some trader in their blocking most of the width of the atrium and yelling ‘flowers for sale’.

Another point worth making, is about the ‘band of concerned aesthetic police’ that boards like Archiseek and articles by Frank tend to facilitate.

This thread proves me point

As if the designer/engineer in any of these cases could have done much to address the larger problem of how urban space/environments and factory zones are laid out. They aren’t ugly buildings, they are perhaps better qualified as low density forms of development.

My biggest fear is that – the organisation is totally managed and run by fat-cats who having enjoyed perks for so long now, would find it impossible to ‘just give up their comforts’. I mean, even the door boys in DIT are all part of this one happy establishment. When I went to use the new IT facilities at Rathmines recently, being then a DIT students and living in the Rathmines area, I found I got so much harassement from the ‘power crazy’ doorguys, that I just had to give up my hope of convenience and using that building, even as a study room for a couple of hours. It is like one grand big piece of period architecture, with a couple of DIT badge wearing goons rattling around inside in it. Efficiency or bloath?

Grange Gorman, allowed alot of big wigs in those separate campuses, to feel better about themselves, that they had some grand vision – is like the rubbish bin protests – its only function now for years was to distract people from the fundamental issues, and address some real problems. But that is a very common behavioural trait of organisations that have just grown too wild and weedy down through the years. The DIT model is almost a father-to-son thing at this stage. From both the point of view of students and prospective employment positions. I don’t think I would want to work there anyhow, if I wasn’t part of the family so to speak. Do DIT really need an accomdation/admin department in places like Pembroke St? Or is Cathal Brugha St etc really needed? I mean, if you put all of those ‘separated’ properties together, you would suddenly see ‘all the people employed’ in this monster of an organisation – and what it ‘takes’ to run it. Does it need as many different Libraries as it has? Couldn’t it make one really good one?

I compare the situation to a child that has more toys, than he/she can enjoy/benefit from, but is just too spoilt to lose any and perhaps get their lives back into some kind of suitable, more stream-lined organisation. It is the students who suffer the most at the end of it all – that is the fact. I guess what it really needs is some kind of ‘large organisation doctor’ to come along and wrench away from its grasp some of these self-destructive traits.

Originally posted by Diaspora
There was a plan to build a complex on the old freight yards of the Harcourt rail station. Which are now occupied by the Ericom switch centre on Adelaide Rd and DIT music school on Upper Hatch st.

DIT another building? DIT have some beautiful historic buildings around the city, but I am really beginning to question the notion of ‘Dublin as our campus’. I mean, given the ability of University development uses, to add real variety to urban territories – I mean, places like Trinity college. Imagine Dublin without Trinity college, what would it be? Or is that just too frightening a possibility to even consider it, the type that would give you nightmares? Just thinking of some of the office stuff around molesworth st, kildare st, townsend st, pearse st.

Then there were sites around Christchurch too, and areas of thomas st, which have contributed little to the city at all – because of the way and the uses they got developed with – I mean, when you put a whole college together, and really make something cohesive that generates a kind of identity for a part of a city. I kind of like that development in Angier St to be honest, as that site could have been much worse – developed as blank faced apartments and another island of the urban core, becomes mostly a gated ‘community’.

But at least in that case, DIT pulled something together, and actually renovated a part of the city, is a fairly positive way. Still I would like to see ‘a real campus’ too, something which behaved as a positive urban space, as an outdoor room and a collection point for all DIT students. It doesn’t have that, and that feeling runs through any course you will do in DIT too. You wouldn’t believe the arguments it generates between staff and students, ‘not feeling quite part of anything’.

yeah, I know what kind of an organisation VEC was/is. I works on some levels, but it does seem pretty inefficient and ‘bloathed’ in many other ways. I just always seem to be ‘bumping’ into DIT badges stuck on doors all over the city, like some hobo symbols or something. I question, weither it is justifiable to keep that whole bueracracy afloat – or channel resources into providing something cohesive and more useful? Something infinitely more indentifiable with too – I often think DIT is like one of these DOT bomb companies, which only exist on a web site page.

In another organisation like Burger King, or Subways, or a Cafe chain or some kind, this kind of widespread distribution of your ‘brand or product’ might be a positive advantage. I just question, how that is so with education.

Those who hope that suburbia is finally growing up and starting to behave itself often cite this much-quoted line: “Edge cities mean that density is back,” taken from Joel Garreau’s 1991 book Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. Many smart growth proponents who call for higher-density, mixed-use suburbs are especially invested in the idea that maturing edge cities represent a potentially promising future. The reality, however, is that sprawl is back—or, more accurately, that it never went away.

Good paper on edgeless cities

Shocking stuff today, on news about Islam religious gatherings to throw stones at ‘pillars of evil’. Some really awesome footage of ‘crowds of 2 million pedestrians’. Who says, people power isn’t awesome when it is on that scale.

It is rare to see this nowadays though, given that things like Medieval Warfare died a death in WWI. Before that huge formations of armies would regularly march together like some gigantic beast.

One good example of that here in Dublin, is the North Circular Road – designed for the large numbers of ‘dragoons, calavry, infantry formations’ to quickly access various different parts of the city, from their barrack areas around the Phoenix Park.

Sustainability. 🙂

suburbia

More news about Durango.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E33%7E1909288,00.html?search=filter