Design, Crime and Cycling in the city

"A bicycle shed is a building. Lincoln

Cathedral is a piece of architecture"

Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-83)

Cycling is booming in London. This is now Europe's fastest growing cycling city with trips by bike up 50% in the last 5 years. But there are challenges to be faced. As increasing numbers of Londoners take to two wheels new demands are emerging for more and better cycle parking. Bike theft is an ever-present problem. And 1 in 4 people who get their bike stolen give up cycling.

Reinventing the Bike Shed was launched to encourage inner city cycling and provide a catalyst for some critical thinking on how better design can play a part.

Pecha Kucha Melbourne

NEXT EVENT: Vol.01 - 21 November 2006

VENUE: The Blue Diamond Social Salon & Cabaret, Level 15, 123 Queen Street.

Bar and kitchen open at 6pm, presentations start 7.30pm

Presenters will be:

Adele Varcoe

Alexander Lotersztain - Alexander Lotersztain Studio

Andrew Weldon

Domenico Bartolo - 21-19

Vivian Stappmanns + Ewan McEoin - Melbourne Design Guide

Justin Schmidt - Horse Bazaar

Ian Moore - Ian Moore Architects

Julia Deville - Disce Mori

Kjell Grant

Luke Norris - Tuhi Creative

Paul Barbera + Pollyanna Whitman - Barbera + Whitman

Penny Modra + Stuart Geddes - IsNotMagazine

Randal Marsh - Wood Marsh Architects

Ryan from Canada via New York City

Susan Dimasi + Chantalle McDonald - Material By Product

Tin + Ed - tin&ed

Thomas Jeppe

Pecha Kucha Night, devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture), was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. (Admittedly, it was also a way to get more people to visit SuperDeluxe - their then newly opened multimedia event space in Tokyo).

But as we all know, give a mike to a designer (especially an architect) and you'll be trapped for hours. The key to Pecha Kucha Night is its patented system for avoiding this fate. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.

Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a demand that seems to be global - as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over a dozen cities across the world. Find a location and join the conversation.

PARK(ing)

"A parking spot is essentially a short term lease. Feeding a parking meter enables one to rent precious urban real estate for as little as a dollar an hour. By transforming parking spots into PARK(ing) spaces we can temporarily expand the public realm and improve the quality of urban human habitat… until the meter runs out!"

i love this project. its an art installation that contributes to the cityscape.

Forget about organising a venue for the next FRESH event... lets just take over a few parking spots and have a picnic in the PARK.

International Design conference for Sustainability

Japan will be hosting the International Design Conference for Sustainability from December 14 to December 15, 2006 in Tokyo. This conference will be an opportunity to discuss many aspects related to engineering, technology and sustainability.
For those of us not in that part of the world in a months time it obviously contradicts the spirit of the conference to FLY there considering the carbon emissions of international travel ... lets hope the papers get published...

City farming plant modules.

How Urbanites can do their bit for the environment - or when your project budget doesn't stretch to cover demolition and the client refuses to sign off on pot plants as a design concept....

Castles in the Sky

The next Fresh event is being held on Thursday 14th December from 6.30pm at the Artery, 87-89 Moor St, Fitzroy. We’re inviting all young designers including landscape architects, architects, urban planners & students to submit their unrealised work, broken dreams, failed competition entries, old student work and napkin scrawls.

Please let us know if you are intending to submit work by Friday 24th November -ailafresh@googlegroups.com Send us your work on disc or as hard copies to Hansen Partnership - 136 Exhibition St, Melbourne 3000. Attn: Daniel Nunan

Look forward to seeing you all there for drinks, nibbles and some serious project venting!

An Incconveniant Truth

If you haven't seen this documentary already, go check it out now! It may feel like Al Gore is preaching to the converted, but it is an interesting insight into how one person can achieve major changes across the globe. Certainly in our profession, we can all leran a little on how to be self-empowered.

Topos 56
Cultural Landscapes

All over the world, the economic activities of mankind leave their mark on the landscape. Depending on land use, topography and climate, cultural landscapes differ greatly. Besides covering the preservation and rehabilitation of particular cultural landscapes, this issue of Topos focuses mainly on the transformations of landscapes and the challenges for planners involved. Examples range from an Italian wind farm to Bangkok’s aquacultural landscape.