flynn050

Sparrows Point tells the story of America, the story of an industrial nation in the midst of finding a place in a post industrial world. Once home to a steel mill hissing and clanking 24 hours a day and employing 30,000 workers who lived in the surrounding communities or streamed in on streetcars, the 3,200 acre peninsula as big as the entire land area of Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) the last 2,000 workers had left what had been left of the plant in 2012 when yet another attempt of giving steel a renaissance in the US had failed and RG Steel went bankrupt. No traces of the past: Bethlehem steel facility before demolition (SUN photo) When only six years later Aaron Tomarchio, Senior executive in administration, government relations, communications and public affairs of a company called Tradepoint Atlantic , steers his company SUV to the gate which secures the southern end of one of the country's largest brown-fields, not only have almost all traces of the steel h...

AIA's big topic at this year's convention was equity. This meant, keynote speakers were architects of color, women and sometimes female architects of color, such as Native American architect Tamar Eagle Bull. And then there was Sheela Søgaard. She is a partner in Bjarke Ingels architecture firm BIG, the CFO to be specific, an non architect and a woman. Sheela Søgaard As a woman CEO in architecture, a male-dominated industry where only 18% of licensed architects are women Søgaard certainly is a trail blazer. But she is also a trail blazer with her message that architects should finally behave like real businesses. He talk was, well should one say: macho? Certainly it was tough talk. She clearly thinks that too many design folks are just too glad they can design to worry about the business side of thinks.  She even played a clip from the Dark Knight in which the Joker says “If you are good at something, never do it for free” ( Video Clip ) In a earlier conversation with Quartz sh...

Much of what is known about Jamestown, the first US settlement, stems from trenches and pits along the old roadways. Those were the places were the garbage was dumped. Garbage then was mostly broken pottery, utensils and construction debris. Almost anything was used, whatever food scraps went to the pigs or other farm animals, clothes were handed down and eventually became rags. There wasn't much paper and certainly no plastic. From that almost zero waste society the US developed to the biggest waste producer in the world (in total tonnage, not per capita), a condition that only a few find objectionable. Trash in a landfill: archaic methods But it is the straw that broke the camel's back. The trash camel that is, the plastic camel, the solid waste camel. Indeed, the tiny plastic straw was able to catch the attention of news media to illustrate all those issues via the help of a sea turtle with one of those things stuck in its nostril. Thanks to the turtle, media coverage about ...

Buildings are used as a people stage. Everybody uses them for a myriad of simultaneously animated play areas. Balcony, forecourt, window, gateway, stairs, roof are the stage and box seat at the same time. Even the most miserable existence is proud to be, in spite of all the depravity, a participant in one of the never repeating images of the Neapolitan street, and enjoys being able to leisurely follow the great panorama.  Walter Benjamin: "Naples", 1924 Post WWII Holiday shopping at Howard and Lexington Streets in Baltimore ( Photo SUN, Robert Mottar) Where are all the people in US cities? Except for a few success stories such as Boston, New York, Seattle, or San Diego, US cities still look largely deserted compared to even no-nonsense European cities such as Zurich or Frankfurt, not to mention global fun places like Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris or Florence. US urban spaces are still dominated by cars. In the many places assembly is treated as loitering by police. Walter Benjamin...