When is Whimsy Not Wanted? Or Harmful?

April 8, 2013 Beth Kelley2 Comments

When does public art and playfulness interfere with the health and well being of other living things? That can be up for debate… more often than we think.

The war between whimsy and responsibility is an ancient one, and it is raging in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Someone, and you’d be hard pressed to find who, has put a tiny door on a tree in the park. Officials took it away, saying it was hurting the tree. But people freaked out, so they are putting it back.

via A big battle over a tiny door in a San Francisco tree | Grist (caution, original article has swearing).

While the Grist article favors the tree and park officials, I honestly feel like the door did no more damage than a bird feeder attached to a tree, probably less.

I also like seed bombs, however the seeds contained in those are sometimes invasive, so you do have to be aware.

What are your feelings about adding on to or embellishing living things in order to create public art and whimsy? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Tiny tree door in Golden Gate Park must go, says Rec and Parks (sfgate.com)
Mysterious Tiny Door Discovered in Tree in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park (laughingsquid.com)
Adorable News: Mysterious, Tiny Elf Door Appears In Golden Gate Park Tree (mediaite.com)
Mystery elf door in park sparks attention on the Web (news.yahoo.com)
Teeny Tiny Tree House Door Replaced With Crappier Teeny Tiny Tree House Door (blogs.sfweekly.com)
Mysterious Tiny Door Replaced with Inferior Model (nbcmiami.com)

community · creativity · environment · play · Social · technology

Music for the Masses

April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 Beth Kelley

Happy Friday everyone. Be sure to go out and play today. 🙂

Happy Friday everyone. Be sure to go out and play today. 🙂

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architecture · creativity · environment

“Space Matters” – Mehmet Ali Uysal | 2Modern Blog

April 3, 2013 Beth Kelley

Super cool!

For Turkish artist Mehmet Ali Uysal’s space is paramount, hence the title of this body of work, ‘Space Matters’. Always concerned with how to reshape the space around him, in his art he has achieved this exploration seamlessly. A giant clothespin pinching the landscape, Uysal takes the place of the work as the cause for creating the work. In the end, the gallery space becomes part of the art work, its’ material, form and content. The context becomes the content.Built for the Festival of the Five Seasons in Chaudfontaine Park, on the outskirts of Liege, Belgium generated a bit of attention across the web. It was made for the Festival of the Five Seasons.

via “Space Matters” – Mehmet Ali Uysal | 2Modern Blog.

architecture · community · environment · Nature

April 2, 2013April 3, 2013 Beth Kelley

It makes sense since several studies have found nature in general to be calming and correlates with an increase in concentration.

THE DIRT

What many landscape architects and designers know intuitively is increasingly becoming proven scientifically. In fact, more and more exciting research appears showing the cognitive and mental health benefits of being out in nature — in places like parks, or even just meandering down leafy streets. According to The New York Times, a new study from Scotland shows that “brain fatigue” can be eased by simply walking a half-mile through a park.

In The New York Times’ Well blog, Gretchen Reynolds writes that “scientists have known for some time that the human brain’s ability to stay calm and focused is limited and can be overwhelmed by the constant noise and hectic, jangling demands of city living, sometimes resulting in a condition informally known as brain fatigue.”

Green spaces help alleviate brain fatigue because they are “calming” and require “less of our so-called directed mental attention than busy, urban streets…

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behavior · creativity · environment · Nature

A Return to the Earth

March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 Beth Kelley

This is a great exercise in demonstrating a connection to one’s environment, plus it’s fun! And a great example of how you’re never too old to be playful and maybe a little silly.

This is a great exercise in demonstrating a connection to one’s environment, plus it’s fun! And a great example of how you’re never too old to be playful and maybe a little silly.

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community · design · environment · happiness · Nature

In Philadelphia, More Green Innovations

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013 Beth Kelley

A great example of re-energizing public space and making it more green and friendly.

A great example of re-energizing public space and making it more green and friendly.

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architecture · behavior · creativity · design · environment

Soundscraper Transforms Vibrations from City Noise Pollution into Green Energy Soundscraper Generates Energy From Noise Pollution – Inhabitat

March 19, 2013 Beth Kelley1 Comment

Cool idea, if perhaps a little, um, well, er, too organic?

Soundscraper Transforms Vibrations from City Noise Pollution into Green Energy Soundscraper Generates Energy From Noise Pollution – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building — The concept for the Soundscraper is that it would generate energy from noise pollution.

The Soundscraper is a futuristic structure designed to transform auditory vibrations from bustling cities into a source of clean energy. Designed by Julien Bourgeois, Olivier Colliez, Savinien de Pizzol, Cedric Dounval and Romain Grouselle, the Soundscraper is covered with noise-sensitive cilia that harvest kinetic energy while soaking up urban noise pollution.

more via Soundscraper Transforms Vibrations from City Noise Pollution into Green Energy Soundscraper Generates Energy From Noise Pollution – Inhabitat.

Twenty-seven Captivating Skyscrapers From The Future (yankodesign.com)
Why Noise-Induced Hearing Loss is a Growing Threat (theepochtimes.com)

architecture · design · environment · happiness · health · mental health · Nature · psychology

Dennis Bracale’s Garden Compositions

March 19, 2013March 19, 2013 Beth Kelley

Creating organic, peaceful spaces can be arguably one of the most powerful, important acts for human wellness, both physically and mentally. These gardens are also peaceful just to look at, even if you can’t experience them firsthand.

Creating organic, peaceful spaces can be arguably one of the most powerful, important acts for human wellness, both physically and mentally. These gardens are also peaceful just to look at, even if you can’t experience them firsthand.

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architecture · community · design · environment · play

Superkilen: Global Mash-up of a Park

March 14, 2013March 19, 2013 Beth Kelley

Using parks and other playful spaces to improve urban neighborhoods and the residents’ lives…

THE DIRT

The nearly mile-long Superkilen park in Denmark is a bold attempt to create a new identity for an “ethnically diverse and socially challenged” neighborhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. An in-depth community outreach process organized by the city has led to a place like no other, with a sequence of plazas that honor different ethnics groups living in the area. Designed by Bjarke Ingels’ firm, BIG, landscape architecture firm, Topotek 1, and artists’ group, Superflex, the massive project also accomplished a lot with a little budget: at just $34 per square foot, the landscape “packs a lot of bang for the buck.” The project, which has recently been all over the design press, also just took home the AIA Institute Honor Award for urban and regional design and an annual design award from Architect Magazine in the “play” category.

The AIA jury, which included Ellen Dunham Jones, author of Retrofitting Suburbia

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behavior · community · environment · happiness · health · Nature

Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA | Video on TED.com

March 11, 2013 Beth Kelley

Happy Spring Forward. Time to start planting seeds and playing in the dirt. In honor of getting dirty and creative, here’s a a TED talk from Ron Finley, guerrilla gardener.

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA — in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where “the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.”Ron Finley grows a nourishing food culture in South Central L.A.’s food desert by planting the seeds and tools for healthy eating.