Saturday, June 19, 2010

Floating Communities

Water front community in the Netherlands (above),
Granville Island, Vancouver (below)






Have you ever seen or thought about a floating community? Is this a new direction towards development in waterfront areas? A way to secure public ownership of shoreline and public access to the water's edge? A way to deal with the current and future challenge of a rapidly growing population?

It is becoming an increasingly popular way of living for lovers of the water. Living ON the water, not in a boat, but in a proper unit/apartment style dwelling.

It is a creative and innovative way of enriching the character of a waterfront, enabling a new sense of community.

Granville Island is an example of a central (Vancouver) waterfront community that is growing. Photos are featured above.

With technology and modern comforts at our fingertips, why not embrace living outside the concrete block of the city and head to the water?!

What do you think?
M.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Pitti Uomo







This week in Florence the Pitti Uomo annual tradeshow for men will take place... Oh how I would love to be there! Italian style is so incredibly unique, so classic, so stylish, so much attention to detail I love it!

Check out one my favorite blogs by Sartorialist Scott Schuman for updates and quality photos:



enjoy.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Book: Great Public Squares

FYI! This book is on my wish list :)
(http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Great-Public-Squares/)

"From the storied piazzas of Rome, Venice, and Florence to the elegant places of Paris via less familiar gathering places in Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Portugal, to the former marketplaces and graceful Georgian-style squares of the United Kingdom, to the most interesting and impressive squares of the New World—Santa Fe, Portland, Boston, and New York—architect Robert Gatje offers new insights, stunning computer-generated plans, and color photographs to convey the spatial experience, supplemented by a brief history of each square and measurements to assess their success in meeting human needs for inspiring outdoor space. There is no other source for this comparative data in one place."

Its a good one!

Below is a photo of Place des Vosges, a famous square in Paris. I have great memories of lovely picnics and macaroons in this park :)




M.


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Milano bookstores



I LOVE bookstores, when I travel I search for them, but not the general chain stores, the ones down random laneways, off the beaten track, supporting independent publishers and specific categories.

Milan has proven to have the best bookstores I have found so far. One of my favorites is Libreria 121+ . It started as a Libreria al Tempo, a Temporary Bookstore, a concept I didnt know exhisted but is supposedly popular in Milan. They started with a shop lease for 121 days to trial the bookstore and see if the location fit the shop. A great concept!

It features books on design, graphics, architecture, interior design, planning, landscape architecute, urbanism, photography, art, art history, and a selection of great contemporary kids books. A very specific collection of books and magazines from around the world... I was in heaven! Books are a real weakness of mine and unfortunately my need for them results in excess baggage fees when I travel...

121 was a real experience too, Nicoletta the lovely girl working there offered me an espresso, we had a good chat and had more espresso :) The owner then walked in, a soft spoken white haired italian man. He was the mind behind the unique collection of books. He facinated me. Funny thing was almost all books were in English and he didnt speak a word of it! Through Nicoletta's translation we chat until we discovered we both spoke French and off we went into conversation. I spent about 2 hours there. A great memory of cultural exchange.

Another favorite is the bookstore in the picture above, just around the corner from La Scala, Nicoletta put me on to it. Thanks!



M.





http://www.corraini.com/boxcorraini.php

Public Art


The above photo features public art in New York's City Hall Park. Both sculptures are by Aaron Curry ("Big Pink, 2010" and "Yellow Bird Boy, 2010")

Public art allows for artwork to be critqued from a viewpoint outside that of the artworld. I like this idea. It also creates an ambiance of social critique, it gets people thinking outside the box, why is it there? what is it doing? How do I feel?

Instalations such as this allow for a new kind of mental stimulation in a familiar place.