ecosistema urbano

Authorship and collaboration | Urban Design Conference at Harvard

Category: english+events

Tags: authorship+collaboration+Conference+events+harvard university+josé luis vallejo+urban design

Next Saturday —February 4, 2012— José Luis Vallejo and Edgar Pieterse will be giving a lecture about “Authorship and collaboration” as part of the Urban Design Conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The conference, subtitled Conditions and projections, hopes to propel a discussion about the unfulfilled potential of the practice of Urban Design and the role it can play in mediating the different disciplines and forces that eventually mould the built environment in our cities, suburbs and peri-urban conditions —the larger landscape that comprises the objects of human interventions of various kinds.

Participants in the conference will address 6 specific aspects relevant to contemporary discourse in Urban Design:

Land/form or the re-consideration of architecture’s traditional relationship to the ground, city and landscape, no longer occupying a site but instead, constructing and transforming the site itself.
Micro-Urbanisms or how in the context of crisis and uncertainty, local, networked, and even intangible interventions can have a direct impact on urban life.
Applied Research or the instrumental use of teaching and academia’s theories, methods and techniques for the purpose of real transformation of the urban realm.
Regulatory Practices that actively engage design through planning and policy making to propose more comprehensive scenarios to the current physical transformations of the built environment.
Strategic Upgrading, or the idea of large-scale transformation precipitated by strategic changes in the urban microcosm.
Authorship and Collaboration, or the exploration of current thinking about the role of collective authorship and collaboration within the design process in response to diverse working scales, emerging technologies and degrees of complexity

You can learn more about the conference at the official website.

January 30, 2012

posted by Manon

placemaking | Place au changement

Tags: Berangere Magaud+Chateaucreux+collectif etc+Dames de Côte-Chaude+Défrichez-la+El Caminito+Ella & Pitr+Feedback association+Leatitia Cordier+place au changement+Place du Géant+placemaking+public space

Place au Changement is a co-constructed square and a placemaking process conducted by collectif etc, to create the Giant’s square, a self-managed temporary public space in Saint-Etienne.

Saint Etienne, Châteaucreux. Since 2008, the district entered a long-term process of urban transformation, a process of destruction, reconstruction, renovation, a process where different mutation stages and time-spaces side and cohabit, often leaving voids pending for weeks, months, sometimes years. And why not include these urban gaps in the process? Why not take advantage of change to colonize rather than procastrinate? Such were the questions carried out by the EPASE (Etablissement Public d’Aménagement de Saint Etienne) when announcing the competition “Défrichez-la” – literally suggesting “Clear it” – to temporarily occupy plot 58, at the crossroads of Ferdinand and Cugnot streets.

Place au changement was collectif etc’s response, to design both a square and a participation process. The name itself plays on two layered meanings: the square Of change and the process to Give way to change. The first intention, to reflect the on-going mutations in the neighborhood and remind the square’s temporary condition, was to design the square as a transitional step of its future outcome: on the ground, the imaginary plan of a future apartments building meant to replace plot 58, and on the surrounding wall, its corresponding section. And second, to design a process involving the citizens both in building the proper square and its identity as a public space.

“Make yourself a square !”. The familiar DIY tag line came out as a call for participation while launching the communication warm-up strategy, first step to pave the way for the upcoming event. Following their success in March 2011, collectif etc, along with two graphists - Bérangère Magaud and Léatitia Cordier - initiated the process by making public presentations of the project in local council assemblies, organizing meetings with the concerned political actors, contacting local associations, social centers and foster cares, negotiating with different city services the maintenance of the building site and its subsequent public space, and opening a blog to keep daily track of the project’s evolution, in order to spread the news in the greatest number of circles.

On 14 July, the building site opened to public participation. To involve the local inhabitants in the construction process, the work was organised in three thematic workshops, aiming to target people according to their own field of interest, capacities and knowledge.

The wall painting workshop, to dress the painted cross-section and bordering fronts with real scale drawings of daily objects, mainly involved the children of the Soleil and Cret de Roch neighborhood houses. The nationally renown street-artists Ella & Pitr also made a punctual intervention to paint the huge Giant, which later inspired the square’s actual name, and allowed to arouse national interest and local pride, while valuing the children’s work alongside.

The gardening workshop, to design and plant the green spaces of the square, spontaneously involved neighbors in the long-term. People voluntarily brought plants and tools from their own homes, and shared their knowledge, from which the collective had usually a lot to learn. On the last day, the group built a shelter to keep the tools and a 1000L water tank which was agreed to be regularly filled by the local city service.

The carpentry workshop, to make the square’s framework and furniture, involved any handy volunteer in the construction of the preconceived designs. A member of the collective along with a neighbor who was spontaneously designated foreman by the team, were in charge of driving and supervising the workshop, and helping people with the tools at the participants’ disposal.

Place au Changement proposed to use not only the building site as a public space, but also the building period to schedule on-site events. A building site is an event as such : closed streets, constant noise, and permanent activity. Yet, whereas we tend to call it nuisance, Place au Changement’s constant occupation was other: free and collective meals, tournaments, concerts, activities, performances, meetings…

During three weeks, what was formerly a wasteland became a daily attraction. Every Fridays announced a collective dinner, prepared by the women of the Dames de Côte-Chaude ONG, which gathered up to 80 people around a couscous, tajine and paella. Saturday nights held open concerts, which drew a miscellaneous public around improvised barbecues and cheap drinks.

Sundays gave out out-door movie projections, that welcomed students of the Gobelins to release their own short films. Associations such as Feedback association, who coordinated a circus introduction workshop, and El Caminito who offered tango lessons, made punctual on-site interventions to incite more people to join the process.

Two round-table discussions around the citizen as an actor of public space were also held, as times of reflection and debate with local associations, authorities and professionals, aiming to claim for a more horizontal cooperation and direct communication between the citizens, actors and administrations in projects of urban and public nature.

On 1 August, the construction site ended in a closing event, marking a new step in the process, the opening of a public space in the neighborhood. To promote the citizens’ involvement, the most active participants had their name carved on a pole on-site, a poster was put up to explain the process, again naming all the stakeholders, and a booklet summarizing the project and three weeks of building and lucrative site was given out to the public. A public vote by show of hands, undertaken by the citizens, renamed the space Giant’s square, after Ella & Pitr‘s huge painting on the bordering wall.

The day ended by a closing concert and jam session, and a silent commitment not to lose what had been raised during the past weeks. For beyond an architectural design and a square, Place au Changement built a self-managed community, and stirred up an activity of spontaneous uses – to be continued.

January 23, 2012

posted by Manon

placemaking | Zuloark

Category: english+placemaking+urban social design+video

Tags: Campo de Cebada+collective intelligence+interview+madrid+network design+placemaking+Zoohaus+Zuloark

Following our last week post on the Campo de Cebada, and still in the frame of our placemaking series, we decided to interview Zuloark, so they could tell us about their own field experience. In the end, we managed to find two Zulos in El Ranchito, absorbed in the construction of their new Open Offffice, and catch a few minutes of their time among drills, nails and hammers. Ironically, they shared their story on the few remains of City Island, first initiative at the root of the Campo.

placemaking | Zuloark from ecosistemaurbano on Vimeo.

“For us it has always been a kind of test, a laboratory where we would put ideas
that weren’t necessarily very clear. [...] The idea is to generate opportunities.”

What is Zuloark? An office, a collective, a platform, a frame, a kind of commitment?
- “You could be Zuloark.”

Indeed. Zuloark is an open and unstable network, a group of individuals who identify themselves as such, as members of a collective identity. The collective’s organisation is based on a completely liquid hierarchy, a mutable structure changing at all times and for each project, challenging the inherited hierarchical models.

By defining itself equally in each of its members, Zuloark doesn’t focus its professional activity on a specific theme, but constantly aims to multiply and extend its fields of intervention by generating various research lines, often linked to architecture and urbanism. You can tell their story from the actual spaces they worked in, some virtual like Zoohaus and Inteligencias colectivas, others physical, like the Campo de Cebada, all focused on building open networks and generating opportunities of co-working.

In terms of working platform, Zuloark considers itself as a zone of proximal development (ZPD), meaning the difference between what one can do with and without help. In other words it promotes a new knowledge environment based on a peer-to-peer model of horizontal collaboration and learning with more capable peers.

Which is precisely what aroused our interest. Despite its unstable and undefinable nature, Zuloark precisely finds meaning and consistency in the latter: a networked, open and unlimited structure aiming to promote collective intelligence and collaborative creation. Beyond an office or collective, beyond fulfilling projects and involving neighbours, citizens to participate in generating their own public space, Zuloark calls for a step further: a completely open and horizontal structure, a new participatory model where professionals and participants are no longer distinguishable.

January 16, 2012

posted by Manon

placemaking | El Campo de Cebada

Tags: AVECLA+basurama+Campo de Cebada+La Latina+madrid+placemaking+Todo por la Praxis+Zuloark

El Campo de Cebada is a project carried out by the neighbors to incite the temporary occupation of the vacant lot in Cebada square in the center of Madrid.

If you live in Madrid, you probably had the chance to peek through the flimsy walls that shelter El Campo de Cebada. In the heart of the city, alongside the market in Cebada square in La Latina, the “Barley Field” – literal translation of “Campo de Cebada” – under the guise of disuse, oozes an unexpected welcome. After more than two years of bare cement and a great deal of joint effort, the vacant lot now blossoms with people.

From Arab cemetery, to actual square in the 16th century where the barley was sorted, to indoor market inaugurated in 1875 then replaced by the present one in 1962, to sports center built alongside the market in 1968, the site inherited a turbulent past. And yet, it is recognized as a place of commercial and especially, social exchange. Or it was, until in August 2009, according to an urban requalification program of the center initiated by the council of Madrid, the sports center and its public pool are demolished. Unfortunately, the city council is unable to raise the money for the new equipment, and the construction is delayed, leaving the neighborhood with an impenetrable square for an undetermined time; end of the story.

But after one year of silence, the empty space suddenly comes back to life. In September 2010 took place, under the direction of the Basurama collective, the annual event La Noche en Blanco: 21 activities to fill Madrid’s main streets with temporary occupations of public space, and reinvent our relationship to the city. Inspired by the slogan “Play on”, the Exyzt collective took over the vacant lot to put up City Island, a “temporary but lively public space to enjoy the shade of the rain forest and its lagoon”. For ten days, the neighbors had once again a place where they could simply meet, play, chill out and enjoy. As the event was coming to an end, and the “island” being dismantled, various discussions rose as to one concern: was the bursting activity following the one shot of City Island really meant to disappear again, pending for the vague promise of a new equipment to be fulfilled?

This is how the Field began to grow… ideas. Neighbors, members of local associations, stallholders of the nearby market, people of all ages and background, along with the Zuloark collective, gathered around the same ambition, get back the public space that was due to them. El Campo de Cebada became an association, a web page and a silent commitment. The process started with weekly meetings in the Onis bar, in front the vacant lot’s entrance, to compose a first draft of intentions before facing the city council. On the 1st of December was held the first meeting with the local authorities, and the real negotiations began. Meanwhile, the project was gaining interest and support among the local associations such as AVECLA and FRAVM, and arousing local curiosity. Several meetings followed, until on February 18th of this year, a temporary cession of the vacant lot was signed with the city council, and El Campo de Cebada opened its doors.

At the dawn of spring, under Concha Velasco’s silent oath “La vida por delante”, El Campo de Cebada started collecting ideas from the neighborhood, giving any proposal, activity or project of cultural, social, artistic or sportive nature, and of social purpose, the opportunity to come forth. Basic equipments, such as an electrical input and a multi-sport game court for local tournaments were quickly provided. Small chalkboards were placed at the entrance, to catch ideas passing by and communicate upcoming events. People started sharing questions, ideas and proposals on the web page. Weekly public assemblies were organized, along with the members of El Campo de Cebada association, to consider, review and schedule the different projects. Several ideas began to sprout.

Little by little, the once monotonous cement dressed with lively colors, work of some merry volunteer painters. The once vacant lot filled up with awkward objects: among others, mobile seats of all shapes, made from reused wood during the “Hand made Urbanism” workshop, conducted by Zuloark with students from the Universidad Javierana de Bogotá, a shed on stilts, put up by Todo por la praxis, and shademakers made from wire rope and reused canvas by Basurama as an attempt to built shadows in the unfortunate solarium the place had become. And the once still and silent void came back to life.

Local festivities, meetings, events, tournaments… ever since its opening, El Campo de Cebada has rarely been at peace. This summer was set up an open-air cinema, and various concerts were held. Every Sunday, the Field fills with the melodies of Cantamañanas. El Campo de Cebada also became a shelter for “inappropriate appropriations”. A place of opportunity for social enterprises such as #edumeet, a twice weekly open meeting to debate on education, or Desayunos ciudadanos, monthly public breakfasts that take place in a street or square of Madrid to claim public space as propriety of the citizens. A meeting point where the community can discuss on the problematic situations regarding the neighborhood and brainstorm potential solutions, especially regarding the market’s and the new sports-center’s outcome.

But more than a place, or the climax of a specific claim, El Campo de Cebada is a process committed to participation, transparency and sociability, an experiment of placemaking between the citizens, local associations and political institutions. From seeding hopes, desires, and expectations, it is now bearing the fruit of a collective mobilization. But it doesn’t stop here. Harvest will come in time to gather new seeds, new farmers, and sow more cement fields among the many remaining in the city.

More photos in Flickr – El Campo de Cebada

January 9, 2012

posted by Manon

placemaking | Ooze

Category: english+placemaking+urban social design+video

Tags: Emscher Community Garden+Emscherkunst 2010+Eva Pfannes+Evento 2011+Ooze+placemaking+Sylvain Hartenberg+Theatre evolutif

Following our recent posts on Théâtre Evolutif in Bordeaux, a project carried out for Evento 2011 to temporarily occupy square André Meunier, this week’s placemaking post is dedicated to the architects Ooze, Eva Pfannes (Würzburg, Germany) and Sylvain Hartenberg (Paris, France).

placemaking | Ooze from ecosistemaurbano on Vimeo.

“Cities aren’t buildings, they’re people”.
- Luis Fernández Galiano

Ooze define architecture and design as natural organisms, ecosystems of interdependent elements belonging to a greater whole: a city, a neighbourhood, a home; an individual. “Architecture and design are vital forms of expression, capable of provoking a broad range of thoughts, experiences, sensations, emotions and memories.”

As architects, Eva and Sylvain have worked on different scales and projects – from exhibition designs and scenographies, temporary interventions and installations like Théâtre Evolutif in Bordeaux (France), Between the Waters in Essen (Germany) or the community garden and kitchen in Amsterdan (Netherlands), to individual housing, and urban scale planning like the Bottrop city development strategy in the Rhur region – including different fields and actors.

Between the waters – Community Garden, and autonomous water treatment system in Essen

Community garden and kitchen, and urban empowerment strategy in Amsterdan

“The process is not so much about designing as it is about emergence.”

As part of our placemaking series, we were particularly interested in these architects’ social commitment, supplanting common designs for a standard mass, to spontaneous and subjective interactions, and individual stories. Ooze describe their first approach of a place as “an archeological research” : what was here before, who is concerned with this space, and who is likely to become so? “The occupants and users of any given space bring their own stories to bear upon it. They draw upon these narratives – their backgrounds and perspectives – to continually recreate the environment in which they find themselves.” Then, architecture is about joining individual details in a larger entity, about building a collective memory around on-going process.

“The process is not so much about designing as it is about emergence.”

With regard to to such perspectives, Ooze was brought to recently participate in urban art festivals, like the Emscherkunst in 2010, and Evento in 2011. Indeed, working on ephemeral interventions allows a more experimental approach, disconnected from the usual official procedures that come with an architectonical project “With the art project you can allow yourself to advance without knowing the outcome”. It allows to experiment, aiming to understand the local and collective identity of a place and different individuals, by observing immediate and spontaneous reactions; then consequently react to real-time issues of the place. Then, the architects’ role goes beyond a punctual intervention, to settle a flexible process and encourage an “informal evolution”, in which people are involved.

January 2, 2012

posted by Manon

placemaking | Ooze talks about “Théâtre Évolutif”

Tags: Bordeaux+Bureau d'etudes+evento+Marjetica Potrc+Ooze+placemaking+Theatre evolutif

placemaking | We recently published “Théâtre évolutif” in Bordeaux the first post of our new series about placemaking, which is finally ready and will be published each Monday along the next two months. The following post shows some more images of the project and a short interview to Ooze, the architects that together with Marjetica Potrc co-designed and co-constructed it.

How were you brought to participate to Evento 2011, and especially to co-design the Théâtre Evolutif?

We recently participated in a number of public art on-site projects with Marjetica Potrc; in 2009 in Amsterdam and last year in the Emscherkunst 2010 with Between The Waters, the Emscher Community Garden. Both had a participative and multidisciplinary nature. Following these projects, in spring we were asked by the curatorial team of Evento 2011, “L’art pour une re-evolution urbaine”, lead by Michelangelo Pistoletto to work on Place Andre Meunier and collaborate with the artist collective Bureau d’Etudes on this location.

Théâtre Évolutif did not start as a concept as such but from the square, “Place André Meunier” – a place with a lot of history and a loaded past which had in time become almost a void in the city, not a place to stay, more a space to pass through.

In the team we came up with the idea to include the building site in the artistic concept. We decided to salvage the trees from this one and other building-sites in Bordeaux as well as the excavated soil. And most importantly we decided to build forth on the notion of the building site as an ongoing work in process and evolution.

How would you describe Théâtre Evolutif?

Théâtre Évolutif performs a collective action that demonstrates the cultural and physical remaking of the neighbourhood – an action that spans diverse disciplines and backgrounds. Through their direct involvement with the project, Saint-Michel residents are articulating a need for greater social innovation in the building of a sustainable city. They are giving new value to their identity with the neighbourhood and their commitment to it, even as they enact their vision of, as they put it, ‘how we want to live together’. For the municipal government, Théâtre Évolutif is a pilot project that tests a bottom-up approach to the design of the city.

Théâtre Évolutif is, fundamentally, a shelter and an agora, a place where groups and individuals can come together with a common purpose to engage with and learn from one another. Equally important, however, they can engage with and learn from the ‘relational objects’ of the Théâtre Évolutif – the open-roof structure, the water-supply infrastructure, the vegetable gardens, and the animals. For visitors to Evento 2011 Place André Meunier becomes a playground where they can discover and participate in examples of coexistence between urban life and nature, a laboratory where they see a new kind of city imagined and constructed.

The project is organized around three cycles: the dynamic cycle of citizenship (participating in the remaking of the public space), the human water cycle (the drinking water station and the public toilet), and the bio-dynamic cycle (interacting with the natural world for example, through gardening and beekeeping). The project enacts coexistence between the architectural site (“Chantier architectural”) and the social site (“Chantier social”).

What were your objectives and expectations, as architects and Evento guests?

Our objectives were to engage with alternative processes to remake the city based on bottom-up strategies, to look into a narrative which involves the residents, local associations and public authorities in the remaking of the square. For us it is very interesting to work on temporary art events as architects with the idea to extend the temporary work to a permanent one. We are very interested in the energy and the momentum that this type of event is bringing to a city to achieve results which normally would take much longer.

Architecture is by nature more permanent and therefore there is not much spontaneity and it is more political loaded with regulations which make the design and decision making process heavy. Art on the other hand, because of its temporariness can go a lot further to break more grounds in the physical, but also in the social. So with the art project you can allow yourself to advance without knowing the outcome, which in architecture you cannot afford because the stakes are higher and it is more frozen.

posted by EU

2012

Category: castellano+ecosistema urbano+english

Tags: 2012+feliz año

Estimados lectores, seguidores y colaboradores:

Desde Ecosistema urbano os deseamos un feliz año 2012.

Nosotros hemos comenzado el año celebrando el Día del Dominio Público, con la entrada en éste de las obras de autores como James Joyce, Rabindranath Tagore o Virginia Woolf, y estrenando en nuestro blog una nueva serie de artículos sobre el placemaking, uno de los conceptos más interesantes de las últimas décadas en lo que al espacio público se refiere. Además, estamos ahora mismo trabajando en otras iniciativas y proyectos que iremos presentando a su tiempo.

Sabemos que hay muchas más cosas interesantes y positivas hechas y por hacer, así que desde este blog seguiremos trayéndoos reflexiones, proyectos, iniciativas, ideas y referencias que nos ayuden a pensar de otra manera y a trabajar mejor en aquello en lo que creemos y por lo que apostamos.

Un saludo con nuestros mejores deseos, y gracias por formar parte de esto.

Dear readers, followers and collaborators:

We wish you a happy 2012 from Ecosistema Urbano.

We have started the year celebrating the Public Domain Day, with the entry into it of the works of authors like James Joyce, Rabindranath Tagore or Virginia Woolf, and also launching on our blog a new series of articles about placemaking, one of the most interesting concepts of the last decades regarding public space. Right now we are also working on other initiatives and projects that will be presented at the right time.

We know there are a lot of interesting and positive things going on around us, and from this blog we will keep on bringing to you those projects, thoughts, initiatives, ideas and references that help us thinking in a different way and working on the things we believe in.

Have our best wishes and regards, and thank you from being part of this.

October 25, 2011

posted by Manon

placemaking | “Théâtre évolutif” in Bordeaux

Tags: Andre Meunier+Bordeaux+Bureau d'etudes+evento+Friche and Cheap+Marjetica Potrc+Ooze+placemaking+Radio Grenouille+Theatre evolutif

placemaking | What if an urban vacant space could turn into a social public space? What if the neglected brownfields that abound our cities were to become a means to social interaction, an urban catalyst of local ventures, a landmark? What if urban design turned out to be a social process? This is the first post of a new series dedicated to placemaking, to projects born in these urban gaps, grown from social participation and involved in sustainable urban development.

Théâtre évolutif - Sketch by the collective Bureau d'études

Théâtre évolutif, carried out by the Bureau d’études collective (France), the artist Marjetica Potrc (Slovenia) and the architects Ooze (Netherlands) invited to collaborate for the Evento 2011, is a co-designed and co-constructed landscape and architecture installation aiming to inspire the future design of André Meunier square.

In the heart of Bordeaux (France), alongside the main avenue Cours de la Marne and close to the train station, sits André Meunier Square, one of the city’s biggest public space and yet, vacant. Situated in St Michel, middle class district hosting mainly immigrants, this urban gap, despite many previous attempts of improvement, remains pending to be occupied. Today, along with an urban requalification program of the district, the square is expecting a radical transformation.

From the 6th to the 16th of October took place in Bordeaux, Evento 2011, an international artistic event. Under the slogan “Art for a re-evolution”, the experience gathered artists from all around the world willing to carry out innovative reflections on urban public space, through creative and social temporary projects. On this occasion, the collective Bureau d’études, think tank and main coordinator of the project in André Meunier square, the architects Ooze and the artist Marjetica Potrc were invited to set up a participation process to design an urban microproject. Local citizens, associations, collectives and volunteers were invited to collaborate for a collective brainstorming around the installation, aiming to inspire the public space’s outcome.

Photography(2) by Pierre Planchenault for Evento 2011

Photography by Pierre Planchenault for Evento 2011

Photography(3) by Pierre Planchenault for Evento 2011

Photography by Pierre Planchenault for Evento 2011

The design process began last summer, officially on July 19th, when participants signed a charter aiming to define common objectives and to engage the members in a common process of design and participation of what would become the Théâtre évolutif. The name of the project highlights two intentions: théâtre, meaning theatre, as for a place where a diversity of individuals may interact, and évolutif, meaning having the capacity to evolve with time and adapt itself to its surrounding, both physically and according to its use. Conceived as a template of urban ecosystem, the project combines a landscape and architectural design and underlines the will to inspire a flexible public space, open to occasional interventions and spontaneous use.

Construction began on September 2nd, gathering all members implicated in the project and two architects, Alan Gentil (from Bureau Baroque) and Marc Berbedes (from Bureau d’études Bois Structures). The project was gradually put together between the stubbornly standing do-it-yourself shed, the Cabane à gratter, built in 2008 from waste materials with Les P’tits Gratteurs association (actively working in the district since 2001) and the menacing municipal construction site of the upcoming parking lot, actually occupying ⅔ of the square. According to its environmental commitment, the structure was made with the trunks of the condemned trees of the adjacent construction, and other building sites in Bordeaux. Free of any determined function, it puts forth more than a space, a welcoming face and a potential of various uses and occupations, aiming to inspire long term involvement.

Photography(1) by Pierre Planchenault for Evento 2011

Photography by Pierre Planchenault for Evento 2011

During Evento, the Théâtre évolutif invited people to take part in workshops such as planting herbs or making “seed bombs”, weapons of mass plantation (with Friche and Cheap association), to enjoy a shady 5 meters high stroll in the treetops (with Adrenaline association), to learn about aromatic herbs and birdhouses along with Bernard le jardinier (from La Maison du Jardinier), to make herbal tea from the plants collected on-site, or even enjoy free collective meals… But what next ? Gabi Farage (Evento commissioner) underlines that the real outcome of the project wasn’t the “one shot” of Evento but relies in its capacity to evolve, hence its name. A closing event on October 15th gathered all the citizens implicated in the process to talk about the future: how can we, real users of the square, get involved in its outcoming design? Evento was just the first baby step of a social process of great ambitions.

Learn more Podcast Radio Grenouille “Éventail d’EVENTO #10 – Écosystème urbain”

posted by EU

EU collaborators | Manon Bublot

Category: colaboradores+english+placemaking

Tags: blog+Colaborador+collaborator+ecosistema urbano+Manon Bublot+placemaking+Urban Social Design

Last week we were glad to welcome a new collaborator here at our office in Madrid.

Manon Bublot is an undergraduate student at the Architecture school of Montpellier in France. She studied last year in the ETSAM in Madrid through the Erasmus exchange program, and during that time she grew interested in social participatory processes as a transversal approach to design architectural projects.

She will be helping us with this blog, providing fresh content in English, highlighting the most interesting projects, professionals and collectives related to her (and our) fields of interest . We hope you enjoy her first series of posts about placemaking and related projects.

Welcome to EU, Manon! We hope you’ll have a nice time here with us.

October 21, 2011

posted by EU

Hamar Experience 14 | Do you think a mango plantation on Stortorget is good for the environment?

Category: dreamhamar+english+events

Tags: activities+belinda tato+dreamhamar+events+Hamar Experience+livestream

As every week, today we are announcing next monday’s Hamar Experience session, which is a live broadcast made by de Ecosistema Urbano team, full with stories and updates about the dreamhamar project. There goes the original text (by Marisa):

Hamar Experience 14 - livestream

dreamhamar is focusing on green an environmental matters these days and that includes Hamar Experience 14. Don’t be surprised at the title, it is one of the many possible and impossible ideas we get for the future Stortorget. What do you think? Are mangos good for the environment?

Send us your ideas and questions to dreamhamar@gmail.com and Belinda will answer them on Hamar Experience 14.

Belinda Tato will talk about the latest activities going on in Stortorget, Hamar, Norway. For instance, on Saturday 22nd there will be an event called greenhamar. From 13h, Naturvernforbundet, Natur og Ungdom, and Hexeringen mushroom gathering group will be offering free home-made local mushroom hot soup, smoothies at a new looking Stortorget square, courtesy of VEA School (Statens fagskole for gartnere og blomsterdekoratører). The weather forecast is 10ºC and a bit cloudy but there is not such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes, as a Hamar neighbour said once.

Join us at our Livestream channel on Monday at 18:00h to have fun with Hamar Experience from your computer!

Meanwhile, you can have a look at the video of the latest session:

posted by jorge

Tags: arquitectura+arte+niños+politica+sostenibilidad+sostenibilidad cultural+sostenibilidad economica+sostenibilidad medioambiental+sostenibilidad social+tecnología+web

#followweb | MoreThanGreen.es

Category: #followweb+castellano+english+sostenibilidad

Aprovechando que es viernes y que el hashtag #followfriday arde por Twitter, retomamos nuestra propia serie de recomendaciones #followarch #web con una interesante incorporación al panorama web hispano- y angloparlante: www.morethangreen.es, creada por los alicantinos Playstudio.

Aparte de su estructura clara y limpia, y el hecho de ser completamente bilingüe, el punto que hace especial esta web es su acercamiento a la sostenibilidad de una manera amplia, tocando todas sus acepciones, y a la vez precisa y cercana, mostrándola a través de ejemplos: ideas, proyectos, buenas prácticas, etc. En sus propias palabras:

PLAYstudio, dirigido desde Alicante por Iván Capdevila y Vicente Iborra, es una práctica que indaga en el campo del diseño sostenible en todos sus ámbitos, desde la arquitectura o planificación urbana, hasta acciones políticas o la gestión cultural. En cualquier trabajo, PLAY es su actitud; la REALIDAD, su campo de juego; la transformación de lo ORDINARIO, su felicidad; EXPRÉSATE, su modo; y la DIVERSIÓN, su destino.

Dentro de esta ideología se encuentra el proyecto MORE THAN GREEN, un concepto integral que agrupa proyectos estratégicos para la implantación y formación de cierta conciencia sobre la sostenibilidad en el contexto de la sociedad. Nace de la necesidad de explicar abiertamente a un público “no especializado” qué es la sostenibilidad MÁS ALLÁ DE LO VERDE, especialmente en un contexto en el que las nuevas políticas universales nos empiezan a hablar de sostenibilidad económica, social, cultural…

Por esta razón, no toma la forma de textos incomprensibles o pesadas teorías sobre la ecología o la sostenibilidad. Mucho más fácil que eso. Arranca tomando la forma de blog-enciclopedia multimedia, en la que se explica qué es la sostenibilidad a través de ejemplos, contados tan solo con imágenes o videos.

Su estructura es también sencilla, dos maneras de entenderse: la primera, desde el aspecto de la sostenibilidad más relevante (medioambiental, social, económica y cultural); la segunda, en función de su campo de actuación (arquitectura, arte, tecnología y políticas). El blog se completa con secciones específicas para niños y selección de los editores.

En esta primera fase, el blog cuenta con la inestimable contribución de Julia Cervantes Corazzina.

PLAYstudio, led from Alicante by Iván Capdevila and Vicente Iborra, is a practice that investigates within the whole scope of sustainable design from architecture and urban planning to political actions and cultural management. In any of their works, PLAY is their attitude; REALITY, their playground; transformation of the ORDINARY, their happiness; EXPRESS YOURSELF, their way; and FUN, their destiny.

Within this ideology is placed MORE THAN GREEN, a comprehensive concept that embraces strategic projects for the establishment and formation of certain awareness about sustainability within our society’s context. It is born from the need of explaining openly to a “non-specialized” public what sustainability is FURTHER THAN GREEN, particularly in a moment that new universal policies have just started talking about economical, social and cultural sustainability.

This is why it does not take the form of incomprehensible texts or stodgy theories about ecology or sustainability. Easier than that. It starts taking the form of a blog-multimedia encyclopedia which explains what sustainability is by means of examples and through images or videos.

It can be read according to what sustainability field you are interested in (social, cultural, economical or environmental) as well as to the work field (architecture, art, technology and policies). It is completed with a section for children as well as an editor’s pick.

At this first phase, the project enjoys the priceless contribution of Julia Cervantes Corazzina.

Como le dije a Iván cuando me presentó la página, me parece un proyecto pertinente, interesante y atractivo, lo cual no es poco decir. Os animo a juzgar por vosotros mismos, visitando la web en www.morethangreen.es y siguiéndoles en Facebook.

October 20, 2011

posted by Urska

EU collaborators | Urska Cernigoj

Category: colaboradores+ecosistema urbano+english

Tags: collaborator+Urska Cernigoj

Urska

Urska Cernigoj

Architectur student in Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana

My four months internship at Ecosistema Urbano is at the end. Working with such a great team, of young creative people is excellent experience for me at the point when I am just about to start my professional career. When I came here I immediately landed in the dreamhamar project. I took part at preliminary design process and now I am a part of a network design team. Coordinating, communicating, developing and dreaming Hamar’s square with so many participants and experts made this four months even shorter.

I am from Slovenia and I am an undergraduate student in the urbanism oriented program at the Faculty of Architecture from the University of Ljubljana. Before I finish my studies I decided to take the opportunity of the scholarship for international training exchange and to apply for internship.

In academic year 2009/2010 I was on Erasmus student exchange in ETSAG, University of Alcalá and became more familiar with Madrid’s architecture and also with Ecosistema Urbano, which became one of my favorite’s studios. Specially because of the projects, which are creative, smart, innovative, social and environmentally friendly. Probably the endless blue sky and mostly sunny weather only helped in my decision to come to Madrid again.

I am also the kind of person who always thinks that she does not have enough knowledge and I am always searching for new ways to learn more. Not just more about architecture but also about things from other professions, because when you have knowledge from different fields you can manage it and do things better. And my curiosity only helps. All this I found here and after four months I am even more convinced that my choice about the internship was right.

You can follow Urska on Twitter: @aksruc

October 19, 2011

posted by Urska

The Bureau of Doing Something About It

Category: critical city+design+english

Tags: Bruce Mau Design+citizens+complaints+creativity+design+exhibition+office

Bruce Mau Design, a design and innovation studio centered on purpose and optimism, set up design exhibition “The Bureau of Doing Something About It”. The exhibition took place in the Propeller Centre in Toronto, Canada.

During the past year over 1000 grievances, gripes, and annoyances were collected from people across the city. The Toronto Complaints Choir transform this complains into “disappointed people’s song”.

BMD studio decided to do something about it. Studio designers Amanda Happé, Kar Yan Cheung, Chris Braden, Michal Dudek, and Paul Kawai team set up a pop-up studio, working in real-time in the Propeller Centre. They tried to design solutions in response to the complaints. A book of these ideas was also simultaneously designed, and sent throughout the city of Toronto and their citizens.

October 17, 2011

posted by marisa

Hamar Experience 13 | Lets get active and green

Category: english+events

Tags: broadcasting+dreamhamar+environment+experience+hamar+interview+participation+public space+video

As every week, today we are announcing today’s Hamar Experience session, which is a live broadcast made by de Ecosistema Urbano team, full with stories and updates about the dreamhamar project. There goes the original text (by Marisa):

In this session Belinda Tato will talk about last week ACTIVITIES WORKSHOP. If you have seen the pictures, then you already know that the participants had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. As Creative Guest Elger Blitz said, playing is good for everybody, regardless of their age.

We also have a guest: ENVIRONMENT Community Activator Romy Ortiz, a human geographer from the University of Bergen. She works in the Centre for urban ecology, on environmentally friendly urban development, urban meeting places, and integration issues. This is what she writes about her role:

“Come to the workshop, so we can design a square that is human and environmentally friendly!”

If you don’t feel like surfing dreamhamar.org, this is your best shot at getting the latest news on what’s going on in Stortorget Square!

See you today, on Monday 17th, at 18:00 on dreamhamar.org!

October 10, 2011

posted by marisa

Hamar Experience 12 | Cultural Rucksack and art in public space

Category: dreamhamar+english+events

Tags: art+broadcasting+cultural rucksack+dreamhamar+experience+hamar+interview+participation+public space+video

This evening the energy of the young and the inspiration of the muses make a somewhat different Hamar Experience, but don’t be afraid, for it is what happens when you have so many things to talk about with such nice guests.

Kathrine Berg is a lovely woman and artist who is working with the 1,300 kids from the Cultural Rucksack Project. By the way, the Cultural Rucksack will finish this week and we are looking forward to seeing the results.

Inger Lise works on a different project about art and youth. Whatever she has to say, it is going to be interesting. And yes, we are letting her tell you the details about the project. We think it’s more interesting that way.

And there is more, because next week ACTIVITIES workshops begin and you are going to get a preview on what is going to happen there – What? You haven’t registered yet? It is free, it is fun and you’ll meet interesting people while talking about Hamar. And we might just invite you to coffee and cake, too.

There will also be a surprise for the technology oriented, so don’t forget your smart phone or your tablet pc.

Let the muses and the younsters inspire you this evening at 18:00h on Hamar Experience 12.

October 7, 2011

posted by Urska

photo: www.flicker.com (c) Grainger Laffan (globalpressgang.com).
For The Social Enterprise Coalition

Shop with a concept: Unpackaged

Category: creativity+english+sustainability

Tags: environmental responsibility+ethical+packaging-free+shop

Unpackaged is one of the shops with interesting, environmental friendly, and ethical concepts. Their philosophy is simple and they are describing it with this statement: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” (Buckminster Fuller)

The model of “world with less wasteful packaging” was created in 2006 by Catherine Conwayin, and company is achieving it one customer at a time. Unpackaged was set because Catherine wanted to refill her groceries using her own containers. She set up shop that made it really easy for customers to come and refill all their daily essentials. The products they sell are usually seasonal and from local production, with minimal transportation, mostly certified organic, and fair trade. In Unpackaged shop in London you can buy the exact amount you need or want so you don’t waste anything and also save money. And in the end going packaging-free means also that less waste will end in landfills.

How It Works? They are giving us some instructions:

- Remember to bring your containers* from home (if you forget, you can buy reusable containers here)
- Come to Unpackaged & say hello
– Weigh your containers at the counter then choose the product & amount you want
– Take your goods home & enjoy
– When you’ve run out, come back for a refill, simple as that!

*Containers: bring anything you like, there’s nothing to date that we haven’t been able to refill (even our lovely friend who likes putting lentils in old water bottles!) Bring glass jars, tupperware, old takeaway cartons, brown paper bags, plastic bags, old packaging.. if it’s heavy, we’ll weigh it first, if it’s light then just refill and we’ll weigh at the end.

photo: www.flicker.com (c) Grainger Laffan (globalpressgang.com).
For The Social Enterprise Coalition

October 5, 2011

posted by ayasha

A Day at New York’s BMW Guggenheim Lab: A Grassroots Example of Creative Urban Development

Category: english+open culture+Uncategorized+urban social design

Tags: BMW Guggenheim lab+First street green+new york+placemaking

In Manhattan, on the corner of Houston and 2nd avenue, there sits an empty lot between two brick buildings. For nearly a century, the lot has existed as a eye-sore for its neighbors, and a nest for lower east side rats. However, today it exists, cleared, paved and transformed into the temporary host of the BMW Guggenheim lab.

Between gratified walls, a massive steel structure, flat screen monitors and a speaker’s podium hosts guests and events that critique and inspire new ideas about 21st century creative urbanism. I had been meaning to visit the BMW Guggenheim lab since, while in Germany this past summer, a friend told me about it’s opening. After New York, the structure and monitors will be traveling to Berlin, and then on Mumbai. In fact, the structure and events are scheduled to travel around the world to 9 major cities for the next 6 years.

And what will become of the lot on Houston and 2nd? As I am currently researching the temporary use of vacant urban spaces, this question had been on my mind. I arrived in New York, serendipitously in time for the “What’s Next” discussions at the Lab. it turns out, the vacant lot owns a history of transformation efforts that extend beyond this past summer and BMW or the Guggenheim’s involvement. First Street Green, a local community organization made up of neighbors and friends of the area, has been trying to clean up and redesign the lot as community space for several years.

I choose the right time to visit. The day’s events kicked off with an address from First Street Green’s President, Robert Graf, who spoke a bit about the history of the 33 East first street site and their efforts to work with New York City Parks and Recreational facilities (who has owned the property since the mid 20th century) to clear and adapt the space to neighborhood needs. Next, friends of First Street Green, architects Jorge Prado and Silva Ajemian of Todo Design, presented a potential blueprint for the future of the site. Melding local neighborhood interests and the larger interests of New York City, they suggested a simple split-level architectural design: half community center and half park-space that would integrate the activities on the bustling Houston street with the first street neighborhood.

Then a representative from Art in the Parks, a project headed by the Department of Art and Antiquities, gave a presentation about the type of sculptures and installations that have been showcased throughout New York’s parks in the past. This presentation was meant to suggest the potential for the space to be used for arts viewing. A young, neighborhood boy raised his hand – and then the real discussions began. “What about the kids?” He asked, “we don’t want to look at sculptures, we want to play sports in our neighborhood”. It was quickly acknowledged that whatever becomes of the space, it will have to meet the needs of the surrounding residents, first and foremost.

It seemed the perfect transition into the presentation “It’s My Park”. The Hester Street Collaborative and Partnership for Parks were presented by Jordan Pender, who explained placemaking - the community benefits of citizen involvement in urban development plans. Along the same lines as the What If Cities initiative at Ecosistema Urbano, Partnerships for Parks now has an online interface called “People Make Parks” which encourages communities participate in the design of their park, incorporating tools like “Design Hoops”, “story map”s and “wish objects”. Lastly, Graem Sullivan, director of the School of Visual Arts and The Pennsylvania State University spoke about the significance as Space for making place for questions.

After a lunch break and a on-site game of Urbanology (it’s great, play it online here), the activities on site switched to a visioning wall workshop. Several tables laid out giant foam puzzle pieces and writing and decorating tools. Speakers, listeners, and passer-bys were encouraged to write their own ideas about what could exist in the space post-BMW/Guggenheim Lab. The puzzle pieces took structure, and the sculpture chart grew in idea potential that raged from Mobile Gardening to Music performance.

The puzzle pieces, we were told, would be presented to the 1st street community, who would lay the ideas in order of preference. The site’s development would depend on this input.

I observed two major take-away points from the First Street Green day’s activities:

First, the potential in the flexible use of raw spaces. Architects Prado and Ajemian suggested a “soft “structure for their proposed community center. Natural materials and a simple structure would allow for later construction or deconstruction. In other words, the architecture of the site could be planned from the beginning to adapt to neighborhood needs. Art in the Parks suggested the idea of installation, not murals or permanent sculpture to share the space. This art form could temporarily expose the neighborhood (and New York’s visitors) to contemporary visual art during periods of the year that the space is unsuitable for lengthy outdoor activities.

Second, the potential of socially engaging tools to integrate local (and larger) communities in urban development plans. These tools give all members of the community, regardless of age or educational status, the ability to impact the future of their shared space. Community members will likely care even more for a space they’ve invested thought into. The more stakeholders in a project, the less likely it will fall into disuse or vandalism.

Ecosistma Urbano is well acquainted with the notion that fluid communication between designers and the communities in which they work is one of the most important aspects of 21st century, sustainable urban development. At DreamHamar’s digital and physical labs, similar social tools are being introduced.

The history of the 33 East first street is, in itself, proof of the potential in communities to develop grassroots urban change. Until mid-October, if you’re in New York, I highly recommend checking out the BMW Guggenheim lab

If you’re in New York some months, years from now, it will interesting to see what becomes of the 33 East first street site as well.

October 3, 2011

posted by EU

Hamar Experience 11 | Technology workshop

Category: dreamhamar+english+events

Tags: broadcasting+dreamhamar+experience+hamar+interview+participation+technology+video

Last week the TECHNOLOGY workshop took place and Hamar response was even better than expected. We also had a workshop with students from Bergen School of Architecture, who resulted in a free lunch on Stortorget – with a cow as special guest!

On today’s Hamar Experience 11 Belinda Tato will share pictures and anecdotes from the workshop and the free lunch.

And of course, because Hamar is the star of dreamhamar, Belinda will share the spotlight with a citizen who participated on TECHNOLOGY workshop – Morten Fridstrøm. He will tell us about his experience and if the workshop was everything he expected!

Unfortunately, we will not be able to bring the cow to Hamar Experience. Nevertheless, you’ve got a date with the progress of dreamhamar on Monday, at 18:00h on http://www.dreamhamar.org/category/hamar-experience/

See you this evening!

September 27, 2011

posted by Urska

Tags: Copenhagen+dreamhamar+ecosistema urbano+experience+Frans Derniak+hamar+josé luis vallejo+Public Spaces+School of architecture+stortorget square+the Royal Academy of fine Arts+Workshop

Dreamhamar network of european workshops: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture.

Category: arquitectura+dreamhamar+english

Copenhagen 5-9th september 2011

During one week master students and 3rd year students from the Royal Academy of fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen were working around dreamhamar project. The students were mainly from Denmark but there was an important amount of them coming from countries all around the world. There were students from: Australia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Chec Republic,
Island,…
The workshop was lead by the danish professor Frans Derniak and the ecosistema urbano partner Jose Luis Vallejo (@jlvmateo).
The main aim of the workshop was to experience public spaces in Copenhagen by directly acting on them and later extract the learning of the process and comunicate to Hamar citizens involved in the design of the new Stortorget Square.

September 26, 2011

posted by domenico

HAMAR EXPERIENCE 10 | TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP STARTS TOMORROW!!

Category: dreamhamar+english

Tags: Bjarte Ytre-Arne+experience+hamar+juan freire+technology+Workshop

This is going to be a very interesting week in Hamar. TECHNOLOGY workshop begins tomorrow, Sept. 27th, at 18h at the Physical LAB, with media expert Bjarte Ytre-Arne as community activator.

The workshop will continue on Wednesday 28th, with blogger Juan Freire. TECHNOLOGY ends on Thursday 29th with a lecture and a round table with Bjarte Ytre-Arne and Juan Freire from 19 to 21h.

You can still register for the workshops (dreamhamar@gmail.com) or just show up at the lecture on the 29th.

You are all invited to participate, share your ideas and meet other people interested in the future of Stortorget Square.

Belinda Tato will talk about this and other subjects on today’s Hamar Experience. Remember, you’ve got a date at 18h with Hamar Experience 10!

More info on TECHNOLOGY workshop here (Norwegian)

September 21, 2011

posted by noa

Watch dreamhamar collaborators video

Dreamhamar Opening event | From parking lot to colorful creative space

Category: ecosistema urbano+english+eventos

Tags: boamistura+dreamhamar+network design+opening event+Stortorget

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Stortorget, Hamar, 1960s

Last Saturday dreamhamar was officially launched in Hamar. Officially that is, as the project has been already running for already 3 months. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to dreamhamar!

For the past 50 years, the main square of Hamar, Stortorget, has been a parking lot. Alread busy one in the 60′s, as you can see in this picture. This is how things were, until now. The time has come to say good bye to engines and honks in Stortorget Square.

In December 2013, the construction of the new Stortorget Square will be finished and the square will become public space again. Like back on the day, it will be a public square made of people – rather than cars -, made of the sounds of laughter and distant conversations.

As you may already know, ecosistema urbano is the chosen architecture and urban design firm that will lead the redesigning process of the new square. We decided we didn’t want to wait until to 2013 to enjoy a public space in Hamar, since the city needed it and we needed an outdoor working space for the upcoming workshops where every citizen of Hamar will be able to shape the future of the square. So we set a date: Saturday 17th, September 2011.

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Stortorget 2011. Frank and the bollards. Be careful with your feet!

To celebrate this new beginning for Stortorget, we managed to close the parking lot by simply moving and changing the use of the existing granite bollards, from being the limit of the parking lot, to benches and tables for this temporary public space. As you can see in the picture, we have Frank and his team to thank for this space. It was a simple, but impressive, transformation.

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Stortorget 2011, not a parking lot anymore

A little sunshine is enough to draw people to the square. Now the stone cubes are places to rest, have an ice-cream, jump or talk.

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Boamistura working on the painting design. What will they come up with?

Stortorget was still grey and uninviting. So we called Boa Mistura, an urban art collective from Madrid, to re-interpret the temporary public space.

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Boamistura recreating a pattern based upon Norwegian cultural roots

It took 3 days, 52 hours of work, 120 litters of paints and 10 hands, to transform the space in a cheerful, colorful, stage for creativity and innovation.

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Hurry up, guys! The weatherman forecasted rain!

Starting at 14h, the city of Hamar gathered at Stortorget for the opening event of dreamhamar. At the beginning, no one dared to walk over the new paint, but little by little the space filled with people.

Gry Veronica Engli, a lovely energetic woman who supported the project since the competition phase, presented dreamhamar and invited everyone to participate. Then, the acknowledgements: We thank to Eidvisa Breadbånd, who provides FREE wi-fi to the square! Hamar sentrum who helped us with communication and sound system, MEDIA 1 who supported us with the printing and graphic design, the viking ship for letting us the LED screen and folkehøgskole for letting us use their sound system.

Right after, there was a serie of speeches starting the Mayor, Einar Busterud, and ending with the invited guests.

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The mayor of Hamar, Einar Busterud.

The Mayor had the honour of the opening speech:
These wore some of his words to the citizens of Hamar:
“Today we are building the foundation of what the citizens, in a 100 years from now, are going to feel about our main square. In the future, the question will be: - Where were you when Stortorget was redesigned? Then you will have to possible answers: Either you can tell us about your participation, or you can explain why you weren’t there. If you are not participating, don’t complain afterwards. The only certain thing is that the square has to change. So please, come join us for this process. Stand up and be a responsible citizen!”

There were many other speeches (we are planning on publishing them too). When they were over, Gry invited everyone to visit the dreamhamar office in the basar building - the physical LAB, which was quickly filled with people who were looking at the interactive model, registering for the workshops, reading information about the project. Overall, it was a great sucess as over 60 names were registered!

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The Physical LAB. You are invited to come and visit us!

This is how Stortorget looked after the artistic intervention of Boamistura.

It makes you wanna jump, doesn’t it?

It is amazing what some paint and lots of imagination can do. Get used to experimenting with Stortorget! It has potential!

Those who stayed outside, watched the video introducing the different collaborators of the project. I will leave you with them. As you can see, dreamhamar is in good hands!

September 5, 2011

posted by marisa

We’ve Got the Mayor!!! Einar Busterud and Writer Knut Faldbakken On Hamar Experience

Category: dreamhamar+english

Tags: Einar Busterud+experience+hamar+Knut Faldbakken+Mayor+Writer

Image by alaskr
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After the amusing – and sometimes amazing – Hamar Experience Session 6 with the Digital LAB team, we are ready to bring you a more serious and quite intellectual Hamar Experience.
We are proud to announce that today, at 18:00h (Madrid, Norway time), Hamar Experience will have two very special guests. We will be meeting Einar Busterud, Mayor of Hamar since 1999 and former general manager of the advertisement agency Ord & Jord. He will share with us his dreams for Hamar and Stortorget, and the wisdom of a long time Mayor.
As it is becoming customary, he is bringing friend along for the Experience.
And he is not just a friend, he is the novelist Knut Faldbakken. He was born in Hamar and lives there, too. His books have been published in 21 countries, translated to 18 languages and have sold two million copies worldwide.
Sorry, with guests likes this, you just can’t miss it. Can’t you?
Looking forward to see you on www.livestream.com/dreamhamar , today 5th of September, at 18:00 (Madrid, Norway time), just 12 days before the Opening Event of September the 17th!!

August 26, 2011

posted by Francesco

URBAN APERTURES >< POROSITY AS A NEW MODEL FOR HYBRID PUBLIC SPACE.

POLITECNICO DI MILANO to participate in dreamhamar

Category: dreamhamar+english

Tags: dreamhamar+fabrizio zanni+politecnico di milano+Workshop

Yesterday Noa (@dolceoblio) described in this excellent post – please read it to fully understand network design – the different participation profiles. The great thing about newtwork design is that allows both individuals and collectives to participate. That is why we also invite schools and universities from all over the world to take part into this collective dream to redesign the city center of Hamar.

Today, I am very glad to offically announce that Politecnico di Milano will take part in dreamhamar.

Every year, in architecture school, we use to have a design course where we developed a design for a specific case study…so why not work on Stortorget Square in Hamar? From Ecosistema Urbano we believe there are a lot of talented students and professors out there that could share their ideas about how a 21st century public space should be and how to apply those ideas to Stortorget Square.

Probably, prof. Fabrizio Zanni was thinking something similar when, during the very first session of HAMAR EXPERIENCE put forward – via the chat – the idea of participating into dreamhamar with his students of the course Architectural Design 3 of Politecnico di Milano.

Here are more details from prof. Fabrizio Zanni:

TITLE OF THE COURSE
The contemporary urban public space has been invested in recent decades, by substantial modification processes and trivialization of the form, social use, materials and construction technologies.
It is to reconfigure the role and form of new public urban spaces “hybrid”, built and unbuilt, artificial and “natural”, placed between the soil, underground and above-ground, inserted in the “Core” of the city or lost in urban sprawl .
The overall intention is to move from their typological definition to a more complex phase of materials, equipment, scenery, so you rethink the urban space as a hybrid generating nucleus of a new and more contaminated Forma Urbis.
The laboratory will develop the project of an interesting case of urban public space (built or not), the scale urban master plans, architectural scale to the definition of a sort of his “inner landscape”, with a focus on the use combination of materials and techniques bio-eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable.

Students will develop a series of transformation and revitalization proposals for the square.

I want to add that Fabrizio Zanni and his students will especially focus their work on TACTICAL URBANISM online workshopsdirected by Ethel Baraona Pohl and Paco Gonzalez. It’s still not confirmed if Politecnico di Milano is taking part into this workshop as a special guest or if they will just develop a special process from the distance. By the way, if you want to participate in dreamhamar too, registration is still open for ONLINE WORKSHOPS to take part on October 2011 (fee reduction until 31st of August 2011)

If you want to have a more precise idea about Prof. Fabrizio Zanni and his Urban Hybridization research program, please visit ecosistemaurbano.org/urbanhybridization or have a look at the presentation below. We did it for the first Urban Hybridization conference in Milan (Domenico Di Siena, Manu Fernandez, Paco Gonzalez, Cesar Reyes Najeraand Ethel Baraona Pohl, Francesco Cingolani):

Click here to read it in full screen.

August 23, 2011

posted by marisa

Hamar Experience Without Ads

Category: dreamhamar+english+internet

Tags: adblock+Arne+belinda tato+Bjarte+dreamhamar+Terje Berg+Ytre

Yesterday’s Hamar Experience was all about Technology. We were lucky to have to exceptional guests, Bjarte Ytre-Arne and his friend Terje Berg. The first will be the community activator of the onsite Technology workshop. As a homage to them, we are going to show you how to skip the ads when watching the Experience (hurray!).

August 12, 2011

posted by marisa

Comments: (3)

How to make pizza, network design style

Category: dreamhamar+english+urban social design

Tags: architecture+dreamhamar+ecosistema urbano+hamar+network design+STYLE

Image by Seth W. (Flickr)
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Sometimes two simple words combine to create a concept difficult to understand, like network design.

Network design is the methodology Ecosistema Urbano is going to apply in the redesigning process of Storget Square, in Hamar. The name of the project is dreamhamar.

It looks like this:

August 10, 2011

posted by domenico

Architecture in your Hand

Category: architecture+english

Tags: APP+architecture+dpr barcelona+Hand+iphone+SitRoom+U-Fields

“Architecture in your Hand” it’s the new dpr-barcelona‘s publishing project. A new approach of how books can take advantage on the use of digital technology, the network organization and the production, distribution and use of knowledge, all together outlining a new suggestive landscape to learn.

The ever growing number of mobile devices, the diffusion of the boundaries between public and private space, the subversion of the traditional publishing structure and the new forms of learning; are somehow the start point of this publishing project for architecture contents.

Considering that the main goal of a book is to store and transmit information added to the potential of networked learning, we have imagined that this concept can be expanded and spreaded. As being transmitted through a new basis, this information should be structured following a different mobile logic: enhancing immediacy, brevity, and simplicity.

August 8, 2011

posted by marisa

EU in Hamar | dreamhamar latest news on Hamar Experience

Category: dreamhamar+ecosistema urbano+english

Tags: belinda tato+done manifesto+dreamhamar+ecosistema urbano+hamar+Hamar Experience+news+Noa Peer

Since last Thursday part of Ecosistema Urbano (@ecosistema) is in Hamar for the dreamhamar project.

Belinda Tato and Noa Peer (@belindatato, @dolceoblio) are in Hamar making contacts within Hamar’s social fabric and trying to get as many people involved as possible. Today they will share with us dreamhamar‘s progress on Hamar Experience, at 18:00 (Madrid, Norway time).

There will be five FREE workshops for the Hedmark County residents to participate on. By means of these workshops their ideas will become part of the network design process of dreamhamar.

For those who do not live in Hedmark, the online workshops are the best way to participate in dreamhamar. Registration is open until September 26th.

August 3, 2011

posted by gitte

STUDIECYKEL.DK | a social economic undertaker company to help students in Denmark and Africa

Category: english+sustainability

Tags: denmark+free bikes+helping Africa+social economic+social economic undertaker+social sustainable+student+Studiecykel.dk

Image above by Studiecykel.dk

As I am a student myself I thought it is important to not just talk about architecture and sustainability but also students, society in general and how we can make our world a better place and help others. See how small actions can do big difference to the world.

I will be going back to Denmark in august and it happens that I am in the situation of needing a bike. My old bike did not survive the last Danish winter and believe me when I tell you, that a student living in Copenhagen needs a bike to get around the city, to go the fast and easy way from home to the university and in my case it only takes 30 minutes by bike and not the 60 minutes by bus to get through the city…

August 1, 2011

posted by marisa

Online Workshops open to participants & Hamar Experience Session 2

Category: dreamhamar+english

Tags: experience+hamar+online+Participants+Session+workshops

dreamhamar is Ecosistema Urbano’s latest project and besides collaboratively designing the new Stortorget square in Hamar, aims to generate the conditions for interaction and self-organization between people and their environment.

Two online workshops will allow anyone to be part of an international network of professionals and talented people. The aim is to develop and share ideas about the design of a public space: Stortorget Square in Hamar, Norway.

Registration is open and they will take place in October 2011:

July 25, 2011

posted by Francesco

PUBLIC SPACE AND PEOPLE online workshop | CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

Category: dreamhamar+english+urban social design

Tags: andres wallier+online+participation+people+public space+Workshop

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image based on a photo by Gunnar Bothner-By (Flickr)

We would like to invite students, designers and creatives from all over the world to participate in dreamhamar online workshops.

The workshops focus on network learning and network design applied to a specific case study – the design of a public space: Stortorget Square in Hamar, Norway.

Via the workshops, participants will be able to be part of an international network of professionals and talented people. The aim is to develop and share ideas about the design of the square.

Please find below the details of the first of dreamhamar online workshops:

July 19, 2011

posted by gitte

Tags: community activation+Copenhagen+denmark+DYRK Nørrebro+initiative copenhagen+Nørrebro+sustainabililty+think globally act locally+urban agriculture

DYRK Nørrebro | an urban agricultural initiative in Copenhagen, Denmark

Category: english+urban social design+urbanism

picture of the roofgarden at Blågård School by DYRK Nørrebro

DYRK Nørrebro | an urban agricultural initiative in Copenhagen, Denmark

Urban agriculture, or agriculture in the city, is an ‘umbrella term’ that covers activities related to production of food in or on the outskirts of cities. A definition used by UN, UN-Habitat, FAO and other important international research institutions explains it as following:

July 16, 2011

posted by Francesco