The UP Circle of Landscape Architecture Students (UPCLAS) with the Philippine Associatiaon of Landscape Architects (PALA) put together New Blood Landscape Innovations, an expo which will run from August 20 to 21, 2009 at the College of Architecture Complex, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
Learn what’s new in the field of landscape architecture as the two-day event features Landscape Architectural and Architectural Products and Services as well as a Plant Sale and Talks.
We apologize for the silence of the blog for the past few weeks. Everyone has been juggling roles at home and work that posting (specially when one has a very slow connection) has become more tedious than it used to be.
We thank those who continue to visit the site. In return, we promise to post at least once a week.
Last 20 July 2009, we attended a cocktail party sponsored by B van Zuiden (BVZ) Philippines, an authorized distributor of Sunbrella fabrics for key people from Glen Raven, Inc., the manufacturers of the Sunbrella brand. This formally announced the presence of BVZ in the Philippines and was a good venue for design professionals and those in the contracts business to network. Architects, interior designers and landscape architects came to Dusit Thani for the event. Thanks guys for the nice evening!
We also received several product updates during the time of our “silence” like this one:
You can find more information on these outdoor sofas here.
Are you familiar with the practice of landscape architecture in the Philippines? Did you know that there is actually a professional association? Check out www.pala.org.ph for more information.
Anyway, a lot of PALA professionals are practicing in other countries like those in the Middle East. Check out this magazine .
From http://www.marthaschwartz.com
The American Institute of Architects (Hong Kong Chapter) will be having a dinner with a lecture from landscape architect, Martha Schwartz tonight, 8 June, 2009 at the Pacific Place Conference Center, Queensway, Hong Kong. Reception starts at 6:30 pm.
Martha Schwartz will be talking about design and sustainability, along with some of her recent works. Her husband, Peter Walker, designed a park along Ayala Avenue. Can you tell us which one?
Hear this: Sudents around the world are invited to submit innovative solutions to the pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges confronting cities worldwide. The Urban SOS: Distressed Cities, Creative Responses competition, sponsored by EDAW AECOM, is offering $20,000 in prize money to encourage creative interventions that have potential for lasting improvement.
Areas with slum conditions (like in Manila) are one possible subject area for the Urban SOS competition.
“More than half the world’s population now lives in urban areas,” said Jason Prior, President of EDAW AECOM. “Well-executed cities are vibrant cultural, social and economic centers and offer hope for addressing climate change and resource scarcity. But in many urban places serious challenges affect quality of life, limit opportunities and perpetuate inequalities. We want to encourage students’ fresh ideas and creative solutions to a range of real issues.”
It is open to individual students or teams of up to four undergraduate and graduate students at all levels from all countries, in the design and planning fields – including landscape architecture, urban design, planning, architecture, landscape urbanism, economics, geography, engineering, environmental studies and related fields. In their submissions, students should address an actual site from any city in the world and develop an intervention that offers lasting improvement to problems ranging from economic collapse, environmental degradation, social disintegration, civil unrest, climate change or natural disaster.
The socioeconomic health of cities can also be addressed in the students’ proposals.
To participate, students must register and provide statements of intent by May 15, 2009; final board submissions are due July 31, 2009. Semi-finalists will be announced September 1, 2009. The semi-finalist teams will each be assigned a professional EDAW AECOM mentor who will work with the team to further articulate its proposed interventions. The top four finalists will travel to Barcelona, Spain to present their treatments to a jury panel at the World Architecture Festival in November 2009.
The Urban SOS competition is an evolution of the EDAW Intern Program. Since 1980, EDAW has guided students from around the world in holistic, cross-disciplinary approach to real-world projects involving issues of regional or international significance.
For more information, log on to www.edaw.com.
Landscape Architecture, the magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), introduced its digital format online with its April 2009 issue.
Get this first digital issue for free here.
The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) of the Asia Pacific Region will be holding the 2009 Congress at Incheon Korea. With the theme “Green Culture in the City,” it aims to explore the breadth of urban landscape planning and design in terms of new town development, urban renewal and other endeavors.
For more details on this event, log on to www.ifla-apr2009.org.
The Problem of Being Green
March 30, 2009 — drunkondesignBeing a couch potato has its benefits, you get exposed to very relevant information. And by relevant information, we don’t mean the newest development in your favorite teleserye but we do mean things that can help save the planet.
One of the more interesting shows in cable is Living with Ed. For those who have been living under a rock, and has no idea what the show is about, Living with Ed is the hit reality TV series with actor Ed Begley Junior and wife, Rachelle.
Don’t dismiss it as your run-of-the-mill reality show, Living with Ed is about the home life of the couple and their efforts to go green. And we’re telling you, “efforts” is such an understatement, and obsession may be a more fitting word to describe Ed.
Last week’s episode featured several products that piqued my interest: lawn turf and insulation. Why on earth, you may ask would I be interested with turf or insulation? Here’s why: the turf completely requires no watering and the insulation is completely soy-based.
The turf is synthetic but looks so real, and as mentioned earlier requires no watering and only minimal maintenance. So not only do you save on
image from artificialturfsupply.com
your water bills but you save up on what could be gallons and gallons of precious water.
The soy-based insulation on the other hand was featured as a solution to noise pollution in the home of actress Beverly D’Angelo. It works with the same efficacy and effectiveness as plastic foam insulation, but the fact that it is plant-based makes for something biodegradable. And as with any insulation, it helps modulate interior temperature, keeping the cool or the heat in, therefore doing away with excessive use of airconditioning, or heating and lowering your energy bills. It may look like taho, or look good enough to be eaten, its benefit as noise pollution reducer simply dandy in keeping at bay noise from all our neighbor’s belting out videoke songs, all while being green.
There’s one simple catch though. While any green advocate would go gaga on the prospect of getting their hands on these products, you may be hard pressed in finding a supplier here in the shores. This is the great dilemma, so many good and green products out there, and it still remains to be just that—out there. If only someone would take the first step to bringing them all here…is there anyone?
On a related note, we are happy to report that the recently concluded Earth Hour last Saturday was a success, and the Philippines ranked as the highest in participation with 647 towns and cities turning off their lights for the event.Now, ain’t that grand?