Archive for the 'Architecture' Category
tree-top-scrapers and urban density in Accra
Ghana is changing. Again.
For the better part of the last two years, the common excuse given for the “ordinary frustrations” was invariaby “this is Ghana;” as though this common complacency made unacceptable business practices more tolerable. I am happy to report… that Ghana is changing. Again.
This is not a scathing rant about why Ghana is deplorable; in fact to the contrary Ghana is an amazing, burgeoning population and the veritable “gateway to Africa [all things considered].” I am here because it is my objective to play a significant role in the positive reinforcement of the image of this society in the eyes of the international community. So why am I so obsessed with this oncoming, or rather ongoing change?
With growth rates in excess of 7% per annum, more than 65 corporations moving their headquarters to Ghana in this year alone and a plethroa of Nigerian banks changing the economic landscape in Ghana; trunk roads and feeder roads (highways) connecting the farthest reaches of the society with the furthest reaches of the world… the gateways to international trade are wide open (well, almost). This place is bursting at the seams. Read more
No commentsUtech visit to Kwame Nkrumah University in Kumasi
Image courtesy of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Among other things, this is working out to be a particularly useful trip to Ghana in terms of Architectural Student Exchange possibilities.
By quite fortuitous means, the Dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment, the Head of the Building School and the Head of the Architecture School [where I did undergrad and now teach Architectural Design Studio, in Jamaica] came to Ghana [with some gentle encouragement] and began to pursue the idea of faculty, student and information exchange programs with the University of Ghana.
On the trip, we visited the Vice Chancellor of the Kumasi campus, the Provost of the Architecture School; thereafter I made a segue to visit with the Provost of the Art School, the Head of the Communication Design School and the Rural Arts School. It was a glorious series of opportunities. There is so much to be done; and both campuses can facilitate the growth and development of both regions in ways that currently defy comprehension.
Back in Accra, we visited with the Dean of the International Studies Dept. and a few others on the Legon Campus.
By all accounts, these visits were fruitful; see article on the homepage of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) website.
No commentsMigration Studies and City Simulations
One of the basic concepts that drive the success or failure of a city is migration; this is one of the things I learnt from playing the video game SimCity, as an adolescent… then as an early adult. Not that an education in Urban Design had anything to do with it.
Migration, based on the programming of SimCity, is a very bad thing as it relates to the success of your city, and is usually driven by factors pertaining to and limited by opportunity and development. duh!
So why do people leave? According to SimCity [now in its fourth iteration] if there is no water or electricity provided, the growth of the city will be very slow; however people will not necessarily leave… they just won’t move in as readily.
This is the clincher:
- if there is no work: people leave.
- if there is inadequate/insufficient accommodation: people leave.
- if there is too much traffic: people leave.
Each of these situations is a threat to the success of the city; however each of these situations is also an opportunity to drive growth. Read more
No commentsPenal.
Every so often… or rather, more often than not, I have a very strong instinct that I can neither explain nor ignore. Tonight, I am compelled to write about the inadequacies of the North American Judicial System: specifically, the state of affairs in the Penal system in New York.
Did I mention that I am not one to get on soap boxes?
A few years ago, as an urban design studio project at Pratt, a group of students was asked to design, or rather redesign proposals, for an existing jail on Atlantic Avenue in the heart of Brooklyn.
For those who are vaguely familiar, or even less interested… the jail is situated at the ‘gateway’ of Brooklyn, in the heart of Atlantic Avenue — which is probably the main drag — in a very rapidly gentrifying section of Brooklyn. Most notably in this area, Forrest City Rattner has commissioned the world’s greatest architect [depending on who you ask] to contribute a design to a mammoth urban intervention at the Atlantic Rail Yards. That architect, by the way, is Frank Gehry.
This all takes place, a few city blocks from the 50 year old modernist jail, in the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge. Read more
No commentsThe buildings for Hillier in China
Upon being asked what my background is, I said that I am an architect; but one would not know from the projects included on this blog. So here is a quick overview of some of the projects completed in architecture during the past few years.
The Xi Cheng Tian Jie building (above) in Chongqing China, is a 2.6 million square foot building, designed as part of an eight person Urban Mixed Use team at Hillier Architecture in New York. Below is an image of Jinji Lake Plaza, in Suzhou China: the first project I worked on after joining the Urban Mixed Use / China team at Hillier.
