Land of Sky - Brownfield Site

My studio this semester is undertaking a brownfield site located along the French Broad River, in the River Arts District, of Asheville, NC. The site was originally the home of a tannery that used the tannins from chestnut oaks. Now it is a dilapidated squatters paradise.


The developer would like to see it as an extension of the existing River Arts District with low rent spaces for artists and businesses. The River Links Organization and the City of Asheville have other ideas since it is located in the 100 year flood plain. They see it as a recreational extension of the French Broad River - not a mixed use development.


It is our duty to decide and design the best possible solution for the site given the the constraints and wishes of the involved parties. Also, did I mention that this is indeed a design competition? It is focused for Architectural and Landscape Architect students. We have departments and studios from NC State, West Virginia, VA Tech, Arizona, and Clemson competing.

More on the competition.

mooreSQ

Competition. Competition. Competition... Its healthy right?

The Moore Square Design Competition is the City of Raleigh’s first public design competition. The design competition is a one-stage conceptual design competition with an invited jury of five individuals chosen to select the winning concepts. Cash awards will be presented to the first-, second-, and third-place winning concepts.

The State of North Carolina owns the Square and the City of Raleigh maintains it. Pending approvals of the Raleigh City Council and the State of North Carolina, the first-place winning design concept team will be provided the opportunity to participate in the master planning process.



So I was approached by a group of colleagues from a development firm in DT Raleigh: one architect, one graphic designer and one community liaison, back in June. They were interested in working with a student landscape designer and I was referred to them by a colleague.

So now 2 months later we are working full steam ahead with a solid design... The deadline looming in the near future... September 29th, 5 PM... Pray for us.

More on the competition...

Back in the States 3 months and counting...

So summer is here and quickly passing me by. What will I have to show for it? Well let's do back up to June...

The week after I arrived back in the States I moved into my new house, went to a beer festival, Bob Graduated, went to Decemberists concert, went to a Blue Crab Festival in SC, got a dog...


Sir Winston Didymus Jarlen (combo Jarzemsky+Allen) the Third


Deep sea fishing with Dad, Lindsay (roommate), and Mr. Roberts


Bobby's graduation: Master's of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (Environmental Engineer)


Blue Crab Festival - Little River, SC
Laura, Bob, myself, Bobby, Lindsay, and Katie (from left)

So in July my parent's bought a pontoon boat and 2 jet skis! This is where we spent the 4th of July...





So with other adventures to come such as camping, travels to MN, hopefully more beach, and Bob's interview in San Antonio I will leave it here till the next post!

I have a of these on my walls back at the house...

Weird... Especially since I was referring to the animals I was visiting at the Prague ZOO. One of the top 5 zoos in the world.




Yesterday Ben, Keeley, and David made our way on a very crowded bus to the zoo.

We got there around 1130 and left around 400. It was intense and huge!

Most of the animal habitats were pretty nice but I was disappointed with the elephants,

polar bear,
a few of the smaller cats, and the 3 toed sloth...

These guys didn't look too happy and spent most of their time pacing. Have you ever seen a three toed sloth pace? So slow...

For more pictures from the zoo... http://picasaweb.google.com/allen.lorna/200904_PragueZoo#

The sun is out in Praha!

You think that being a Ginger would make me cringe at the sight of a golden ray... Nei! I am 100% daywalker... And I really had no idea how much of one until I went with out the sun for 3 months... But finally the clouds (smog) has parted and the temperatures have risen to the 60's, birds are chirping, and flowers are budding...

Its finally spring in Prague!

So Fridays we have no class... We are supposed to use that time discovering... Well the previous Tuesday I discovered a gorgeous hill on one of my runs... This park had trails, big open fields, a beer garden and a 360 view of the city... Amazing.

So a group of us grabbed our lunches,

a nap,

Frisbee and a soccer ball and headed out there.


It was so nice to lounge on ground that wasn't frozen, drink a beer in a tee shirt, and kick the ball around on something other than cobble.



For more images of Prage in the spring check out these: http://picasaweb.google.com/allen.lorna/200904_Prague#

Impossible Germany...

745...

Meet at the front of the penzion... and we are off in a group of 25 to the train station. Big group and needless to say that we got separated on 3 different occasions.

Finally we arrive at the station in one large group and board the train. I sit with Laura-Nelle and chat her up and in mid speech fall asleep for the entire 6 hour train trip.

Ahh Berlin... Where the people wear liederhosen, sell bratwurst on the street and drink beer anywhere, any time, and any way... I love this city.

We first checked into our hostel which was filled with Italian kids (not my fave)and then we headed out on an excursion to Schoneberger Suglande Nature Park:


The park consists of a fascinating combination of nature, train relicts and art which weave themselves in harmonically creating this stunning park.

Visitors are asked to walk on elevated pathways which run along the former railway tracks. This allows you to explore and experience the park on railway tracks and from the perspective of an old steam engine.


It sets you back in to the past when the park was filled with hundreds of freight trains.

Next we headed to the Sony Center in Potsdamer Potz and saw the awesome work of Peter Walker and Partners.


Next was a beer at this building that was taken over by squatters in the early 90s and now has become this artist studio and gallery colony type of thing.




Following that was dinner at the mall and back to the hostel for naps. Around 11 or so I got up and headed out with Jeremy. We went to a beer store and got great advice from a couple of locals who spoke no English so there was a lot of pointing. They opened our beers at the store and off we went to the streets to find a club. We ended up at one that had four different dance floors and met some really nice Berliners and danced with them till 4 am.

That definitely made it harder to be ready to go by 930 the next day but we did it. Firstly we headed over to the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall.


From there we walked across a bombed out bridge to the Jewish Museum which has an amazing addition that you can't access from the street and all of this symbolism in the materials and layout of the landscape. Also a playground...


Next to the graphic design museum where we had lunch and riffled through their amazing bookstore. The Germans know graphic design...


After lunch we headed to Checkpoint Charlie... This was East Berlin's allies, the Americans and the French. My only complaint was that there was a German dressed as an American soldier charging a Euro for people to have their picture taken with him... poser.


Next we checked out the rest of Potsdamer Potz including an intense green space, a eco rain garden over a parking deck! and other things...


Following that we walked a couple of blocks to another Jewish Memorial. It was pretty amazing and vast... There were all of these identical gray rectangular tombs at different heights and the grade changed so people would get lost... lots of different meanings to that monument.


We followed that up with some more sight seeing and ran into Green Peace protesting nuclear power...


So we went home from there for a nap... woke up, ate and I took the rest of the kids to the club I had been the night before and we danced the night away... I have the bruises to prove it.

The next day we woke up and went to a museum that had ripped of all of these crazy statues and parts of buildings from ancient Greece... not that it wasn't cool to be in a building of buildings from ancient Greece but I am not sure if I liked them being in Germany..


We then went to a museum in honor of the Berlin wall... it had the only remaining portion of no man's land left in tact (West Berlin side. It was pretty amazing to peer through the cracks and see the wall that separated you from freedom... it made me thankful for the things we take for granted... oh lets say.. like moving from one side of town to the other...


Located in no man's land stood a church that was reconstructed from the rubble of an old church that the soviets had demolished as a last stand... very simple, very beautiful tribute to the congregation that has lasted...



The final image is from a monument to the falling of the Berlin wall and an adjacent playground...


The river front around all of the federal government buildings...


The architectural god Mies van der Roe building... hello curtain walls!


And the Bauhaus Muesum... where the design thinking of NC State is based off of...


So after many of hours spent walking the city of Berlin... I can honestly say I loved it and would move there at a moments notice... Its like NYC but with Germans everywhere!

For more pictures from the this entry check out http://picasaweb.google.com/allen.lorna/200903_Berlin#

Tour de Martin

My Czech studio professor had us quite busy this past week...

We went to the Prague Castle for an outdoor tour in sub zero temperatures...

More Pics

And we went 45 minutes outside of Prague to an open air vernacular architecture museum...

And to top it off we just had pinup today... Our newest Professor Fernando, fresh from the States, was there... My group did amazing!

More Pics

More pics

Opera - tion: Czech Style

On Monday our fearless institute assistant, Anael, took a group of 25 students to the Czech National Opera. We saw the Bartered Bride.


My time earlier that day was spent in the studio, from where Lindsay and I ran home to the penzion to prepare for later that night. Everything was going according to plan until I realized that the only pair of heels that I had brought were suddenly too big and get serious stares from old women in the metro. Some how I made it back to the institute after what seemed like an eternity of painful walking on cobble and changed into my cowboy boots... That is correct, my little black dress with cowboy boots...


So the opera was 3 acts... very long acts, but I did enjoy the singing and the orchestra. I sat with my friend Ben for most of it... apparently he as seen several operas... this was only my first.


The story consisted of a Czech woman who was in love with a man but was destined to marry another... there was a marriage broker, carnies, and a man in a bear suit. Pretty normal for a Czech opera.

I must say that it was an enjoyable experience and the opera house was quite impressive. I do believe I will go to another opera.



for more video and pictures from this post czech out http://picasaweb.google.com/allen.lorna/20093_CzechNationalOperaTheBarteredBride?authkey=Gv1sRgCJXqv_r1tevLvgE#

Cesky Krumluv, Again... But with the Bob this time!

Once we made it to our hostel we found a note on the door...

"Lorna, we have gone to dinner. You can check in with Carolyn at blah blah blah.. Here is a map"

Great. I really needed to use the bathroom after 3+ hours of traveling by train. So with the map in hand, the Bob and I twist down these tiny little steps onto a dark residential looking street... Could not for the life of us find this place mentioned on the note. So there is this place called BarBar... I walk in and ask for help. The barkeep doesn't speak English but does speak German.. great so after awhile of really terrible German between the 2 of us I get the directions straight and he says "Ahoj!" Great he spoke Czech...(much easier for me than German).

So we find this Carolyn and she checks us in. We drop our bags and head straight out to the restaurant that I had reserved for us on our way into town. We go down these tight little corkscrew stairs into these catacombs. We are then served the beer that is brewed there and lots of meat! Bob loved it.

The next day we got up and went to redeem ourselves at Laibon, a vegetarian restaurant on the way out of town. The food was so good... I don't think Bob understands how much I miss a variety of well prepared vegetables that don't include potatoes!



After lunch we walked towards the castle. We walked the bridge over the mote and look down... what do we see?

A huge brown bear! No kidding.

The castle was once entirely protected by a mote that was filled with bear... I think I would prefer water and alligators but hey... when in Czech land.

We climbed the largest tower in at the castle and looked down upon the tiny little Cesky town...

I sort of felt like a princess till Bob was like telling me to check out how far he could spit...



After the tower we walked the rest of the castle grounds and all except the castle gardens... like anything worth while in the Cesky Republiky.. closed till April. The lengths I will go through to see a garden...


Right on schedule the clouds came together, blocked out the sun and out came the rain... Just like a normal day in Eastern Europe. We left the castle grounds and retreated back into the town and found a little cafe near an art gallery... where I picked up a print by Egon Schille (20th century Czech painter) love it!

Bob and I got some of the traditional horka cokolada which resembles hot pudding and is quite good.. but you need to order another drink just to wash it down.

The rain continued so Bobby and I headed back to the hostel to hang out. We read, played on the computer and talked with the Aussie couple that ran the joint. Later that night we went into town per their recommendation and ate at a little place called Two Marys (Dva Maryz).

We barley found the door and as soon as we walked in the smoke pour out of the little room. "Restaurant upstairs" So up we go. Into this little room with 4 tables. We were the only ones there. We ordered garlic soup and the bohemian for 2... loads of good food.

I then took Bob to all the local bars and we finally settled at the Travelers Hostel Bar which really doesn't have travelers... more like all the townies...Then headed back to the hostel.

Next morning was Czech out. We left our things and hit town for breakfast. We also went to a cucarie (sweetshop) for dessert. That afternoon we climbed to the ridge opposite of the castle which has an abandoned church at the top. Every 50 meters or so there would be a shrine assuring that you were heading in the right direction. This is the hill I went sledding from in January to give an inclination of how steep it was... also very slushy from the thaw.

So after seeing the view we headed down and said our goodbyes at the hostel. Went to the bus station to catch our bus and took the 3 hour trip back to the city...

for pictures of this trip check out http://picasaweb.google.com/allen.lorna/200903_CeskyKrumlovBob#