Mid-rise Mixed-use in Sacramento

Hudson Sangree, in a front page feature for the Sacramento Bee:

For years developers have wanted to build soaring residential towers in downtown Sacramento, but the cost of high-rise construction and the down-to-earth prices condominiums can fetch here undercut their efforts.

Today there’s a wave of apartment and condo projects being built or planned with ground-floor shops and restaurants. Most are midrise structures framed with wood, not steel, on top of concrete. Experts say that type of construction is a more cost-effective way to build housing in central Sacramento that also adds to the city’s urban appeal.

It’s a good overview of how the widespread trend towards mid-rise mixed-use multi-family development is impacting Sacramento. I had the privilege of being interviewed for the story and several of my quotes ended up in the final piece. Of the eight projects mentioned, I have personally been heavily involved in four. It’s great to see this important trend getting general recognition.

Suffering Artist's Syndrome

David Williams, writing on his site PHOTOS4U2C, on the common milestone of photographic development he calls “Suffering Artist Syndrome”:

If you’ve read this far, you’re the type of person that has the requisite drive to learn the technical side of photography. When we get to it, you won’t have any problems understanding how the camera’s aperture setting effects shutter speed. And, I’m guessing, you also have the tenacity to learn the dark art of photo composition. You’re gonna be fine. You’re on the road to seeing. So why are you so anxious? What’s eating at you? I think I know what it is. You’re feeling the first affects of “suffering artist’s syndrome”. The first symptom is an endless line of questions — questions like, “should I be spending so much time thinking about photography?” or “Am I any good? Maybe nobody else like my photos.” Know that these are common thoughts. A stream of questions and doubt is one of the traits of a creative mind. The trick is to turn your mental grinder outwards towards the world rather than letting it drilling back into you. Trust me, once you set it free, this energy will create art. Get up off your butt and take your camera into the world.

It was for this reason that I embarked on my 52 Portraits project. There is nothing more motivating than going through the images from a shoot and really loving what came out. On the flip side there is nothing more demoralizing than looking at a bunch of recent images and not finding anything worthwhile. I’ve had my share of both but I was feeling like my growth as a photographer was not keeping pace with my appreciation of good photography — my photos weren’t up to the standard I could see in other people’s work. And so I decided to embark on a photo project to keep me learning and growing and to turn my focus from consuming to creating.

Disneyland is the New Coney Island

Neil Flanagan, writing for Greater Greater Washington, explains why an ordinary strip mall was designated a historical landmark:

While it may look like an ordinary strip mall, the Park & Shop was one of the first examples of retail architecture designed around the automobile.

In the May 1932 Architectural Record, the author praised the Park & Shop in contrast to a traditional main street retail strip, which he derides as “Coney Island Architecture.”

While the article in general was an interesting look at the beginnings of a movement towards auto-centric development, it was an image from the referenced May 1932 Architectural Record that really grabbed my attention. Particularly this quote regarding a vibrant main street scene:

This unrelated “Coney Island Architecture” suggests the need for cooperative and unified planning by architects.

This main street scene was then juxtaposed with an image of the new strip mall with a description lauding its improvements over a traditional retail district:

A planned grouping of shops with parking space that does not interfere with traffic of main thoroughfare. The design by one architect of buildings for a variety of uses results in uniformity.

And so began an era in which the automobile reigned supreme, uniformity paved the way to monotony, and style was reduced to “rationality” and functionalism.

As for “Coney Island Architecture”, it is not surprising, yet still somehow shocking, to see the strength of the architectural establishment’s collective disdain for traditional architecture and the historic urban fabric at such an early point in the 20th century. This is the first seed of the arrogant attitude that begat the insidious “Urban Renewal” which wreaked havoc on many downtowns and established neighborhoods across the country in the name of “rational” traffic patterns and increased uniformity. As Disneyland had yet to be conceived, “Coney Island Architecture” apparently was the derision du jour for traditional design.

Reverse Engineering Vermeer's Magic

Kurt Andersen, writing for Vanity Fair, on reverse engineering Vermeer’s secret tool:

David Hockney and others have speculated—controversially—that a camera obscura could have helped the Dutch painter Vermeer achieve his photo-realistic effects in the 1600s. But no one understood exactly how such a device might actually have been used to paint masterpieces. An inventor in Texas—the subject of a new documentary by the magicians Penn & Teller—may have solved the riddle.

What a fascinating story at the intersection of technology, art, and just a bit of magic.

Making a Steinway

Steinway and Sons produced this fascinating video showing their process for handcrafting a musical masterpiece. Interestingly, their process has remained so much the same that they were able to pair modern footage with the audio from a previous video, thus the new video is narrated by former chairman John Steinway. Excellence, craft, and attention to detail are qualities that never go out of style.

Via Kottke

Keystoning

Misho Baranovic, on the pesky issue of keystoning in pictures:

This form of distortion is very common across architectural, street and travel photography. It’s most often seen when tall buildings ‘fall’ or ‘lean’ within a picture. This distortion has become so common that most people have stopped noticing it within their pictures or just think it has something to do with the focal length of their lens.

It’s a great overview of what the keystone problem is and the variety of ways it can be fixed.

On Parksify (Updated)

I am particularly pleased[1] to have a piece I wrote published on the brand new Parksify, a site devoted to exploring the various aspects and features of public space. My piece is a celebration of the life lessons to be learned by our children as evidenced by an experience I had with my son while playing at South Park in San Francisco.

This is why we go to The Park. Yes, the park is great for providing kids with a place to exercise and play. Yes, the park is great for getting kids outside exploring their world. But the park is more than that because it is a public place – a social place. The physical benefits of the park can be garnered in other ways, but the social aspect, the learning how to peacefully coexist with others – that only happens in a public place. For our children, the park serves as a proxy for life – a place where kids can get real world interaction with total strangers, a place where kids can explore the limits of their independence, a place where kids can learn life lessons on how to behave in a social world. The world is full of unpleasant people – self-centered bullies who feel better about themselves at the expense of others. But the world is even more full of really great people. People who are friendly and nice. People who spread joy wherever they go. People who enrich our lives. The park teaches kids how to interact with all types of people because the whole spectrum of humanity is represented.

Go read the whole piece and then check out the rest of Parksify.

UPDATE: This article has also been cross-published on Urban Times.

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1. Since starting this journey over a year ago, my work has exclusively been here on this site. This has been my home. And it will remain my home. But just like the real world, it is important to stretch out and broaden your horizons. So I’m delighted to expand my writing to a new site and a new audience.  ↩

   
   

Walking Works

Rowan Walker, writing for the Guardian:

At a recent TED lecture, the author Nilofer Merchant said sitting is the “new smoking of our generation”. The phrase has been picked up by public health academics and experts, who warn of a worldwide pandemic of inactivity. Even going to the gym in the evening isn’t enough to offset nine hours of sitting still in the office, according to studies. Walking needs to be part of everyday life – your commute to work, your journey home, your visit to the shops, your lunch break, and even the way you work.

[…]

Perhaps the importance of combating our desire to sit still is spreading: estate agents in part of the US and Canada are starting to market homes according to their “walkability” rating. That is a measure of just how many places (pub, shops, post box, cinema, schools, offices and so on) you can reach by foot from your home. My home – in Finsbury Park, north London – is a “walker’s paradise”, according to the website walkscore.com. It makes sense. My surrounding streets are close together, with plenty of corners to bump into someone for a chat. If you head out to the countryside your walkscore goes down, because it’s harder to cope without a car. People who live in walkable neighbourhoods are not only healthier and happier, but also 6–10lb (2.7–4.5kg) lighter, says Walkscore.

As I’ve mentioned many times, the best exercise is the activity that comes from living your daily life. It’s integrated and doesn’t need any special accommodation or scheduling. It’s easy to skip an evening workout after a particularly trying day but it’s a lot harder to skip your walk home (although I suppose you could call a taxi).

The End of American Car Culture

Elisabeth Rosenthal, writing for the New York Times, on the end of American car culture:

But America’s love affair with its vehicles seems to be cooling. When adjusted for population growth, the number of miles driven in the United States peaked in 2005 and dropped steadily thereafter, according to an analysis by Doug Short of Advisor Perspectives, an investment research company. As of April 2013, the number of miles driven per person was nearly 9 percent below the peak and equal to where the country was in January 1995. Part of the explanation certainly lies in the recession, because cash-strapped Americans could not afford new cars, and the unemployed weren’t going to work anyway. But by many measures the decrease in driving preceded the downturn and appears to be persisting now that recovery is under way. The next few years will be telling.

[…]

If the pattern persists — and many sociologists believe it will — it will have beneficial implications for carbon emissions and the environment, since transportation is the second largest source of America’s emissions, just behind power plants. But it could have negative implications for the car industry. Indeed, companies like Ford and Mercedes are already rebranding themselves “mobility” companies with a broader product range beyond the personal vehicle.

The era of the car being the only option for mobility is fading. I believe the new era will be one of options. The car will be an option, perhaps not the first or best option, but it will still be around. In addition, we will have expanded opportunities for walking, biking, and public transportation to enable our mobility. This will necessitate a shift in the way we build our towns and cities – from purely automobile based to multi-modal in nature. The goal of mobility is not to move machines around but to move humans. The automobile system is not the only way to achieve human mobility.

Main Street Matters in Placerville

Dawn Hodson, for the Mountain Democrat:

Proving once again how much local residents cherish downtown Placerville, it was announced on Monday that the city is one of 20 winners in the paint makeover contest called “Main Street Matters,” sponsored by the Benjamin Moore Paint Company.

The campaign to honor and revitalize Main Street included over 130 cities in the United States and Canada who competed for one of 20 coveted spots. The outcome was determined by how many votes a city received. According to Benjamin Moore, almost a half million votes were recorded during the six-week voting period that ended June 30.

I’m pleased that my hometown made the cut. Good for Benjamin Moore for promoting and supporting thriving downtowns and I can’t wait to see the results.