Dec

13

Groundcondition participates in Beyond Divides: International Forum on Contemporary Food and Agriculture Issues

Building bridges: The PUREFOOD event “Beyond Divides: An International Winter School and Forum on Contemporary Agri-Food Issues” forges network, debate and learning Barcelona 12 to 22 November 2012   The PUREFOOD Network and the Food and Nutrition Observatory of the University of Barcelona played host to the international winter school ‘Beyond Divides: An International Forum […]

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Nov

06

Saving New York: a radical plan for rising waters

Sorry to say that we told you so, but landscape architects, architects and urbanists have been thinking for a while about how to protect New York from the terrible devastation brought on by climate change. Hurricane Sandy was a taste of what we might face in the coming decades. Sandy has brought into terrible relief […]

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Oct

11

Mushroom Tree Forest

TEAM: Jacques Abelman with de Stuurlui Stedenbouw, in collaboration with CITIES STATUS: constructed, opening November 11th 2012 in the Noorder Park Kamer By recuperating readily available urban waste such as paper, cardboard, coffee grounds, and wood chips we have created a sculptural forest of mushroom production tubes. This project is a continuation and extension of […]

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May

02

WILDPOINTS: urban biodiversity network

TEAM: Jacques Abelman, Celine Baumann (celinebaumann.tumblr.com), YukaYoshida STATUS: design research competition The Wildpoints strategy creates a new form of urban green by actively seeking out new places for nature to colonize the city. The biodiversity network of found and new Wildpoints allows insects, birds, and small animal species to establish themselves in micro-habitats across the […]

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Nov

17

new directions

I am on a quest for new directions for landscape architecture. As we witness rapid changes in the physical, economic, and professional environments, what exactly can landscape architecture hope to achieve in the future? Budgets for public projects are dwindling, not to mention budgets for cultural projects, and the national frameworks for environmental projects are […]

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Sep

15

SERENISSIMA: A plan for saving Venice

THE ETERNAL CITY? Due to faster than expected sea level rise, scientists project that even the drastic intervention of the M.O.S.E. sea barrier project will only delay the permanent flooding of Venice by 100 to 200 years. In this future vision of drastically altered climate conditions, coastal cities such as Venice will have to physically […]

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Feb

01

Swimming to Manhattan

The “Swimming to Manhattan” competition was created by the Amsterdam Academy for Architecture and ARCAM. Jacques Abelman, Txell Blanco Diaz, Simona Serafino, Egle Suminskaite, and Marit Janse collaborated to present Red Point Parks, a vision for future development around New York’s Upper Bay, in a future where the sea has risen over 3 meters. Climate […]

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Feb

06

“Landscape Architecture is not doing a great job…”

Quote from Alan Berger, professor at MIT and director of the laboratory for design research called P-REX, The Project For Reclamation Excellence (www.theprex.net) “The main issue for me is that landscape architecture is not doing a great job addressing the larger-scale environmental issues that are currently affecting urbanized regions in the world. Rather, landscape architecture […]

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Feb

03

Interview with Dennis Moet, author of Autarkische Wonen (Autonomous Living)

Dennis Moet is author of “Autarkische Wonen” and a number of other works dedicated to framing contemporary views on sustainability within urbanism and architecture. He currently works as a senior advisor on water, climate, and sustainability at ARCADIS (www.arcadis.nl.) I was recently able to ask him some questions about sustainability and urbanism in the context […]

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Jan

04

Time Out Amsterdam : Vision 2020

Time Out : Visions of Amsterdam 2020 LAgroup is a leisure and arts consultancy firm that has developed plans for the Amsterdam Hermitage, the NDSM, Paradiso and the Westergasfabriek. Concepts by Johan Idema Illustrations by Jacques Abelman Where have all the mavericks gone? To make Amsterdam a truly world-class city, we need grand projects that […]

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