Students displaying their prototypes for a better urban future at the Stanford Global Cities 2016 Conference. Top: WePlay piezoelectric urban playgrounds; Bottom Left: Composting toilets for cities like SF that sorely lack access; Bottom Right: ArtsUp, pop-up performing arts events in unconventional or free venues.
Whether you’re looking for a last-minute gift idea or just feeling crafty, this fun, glowing lantern is an ideal DIY project that will bring a little brightness into your space this Winter Solstice week.
All you’ll need is a few cleaned plastic yogurt cups in addition to a plastic water or soda bottle. Easy! Dig through your recycling bin and you’re halfway there.
Cut randomly-sized triangles from the yogurt cups and glue them in concentric rings around the plastic bottle (with the bottom and top of the bottle snipped off).
Let the glue dry, add a pendant lamp socket and a low-watt LED bulb and enjoy the glow!
For the full tutorial, head on over to my Inhabitat piece.
One corner of an enormous parking lot in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood has been temporarily transformed into a lively pop-up “village”, featuring food trucks, seating, planters, retail, and a beer garden all based on repurposed shipping containers. The colorful concept, dubbed “The Yard”, features Gehl Architects’ methodology of activating public spaces and focusing on human interaction.
Photo by Emily Peckenham
The Mission Bay neighborhood has gone through numerous changes in its lifetime, beginning with its origins as, well, an actual bay. The bay was slowly filled in over the past two hundred years of San Francisco’s urbanization, seeing use as a shipyard, industrial zone, dump, paved over empty space, and soon, will feature condos (are you surprised?).
The part of the project that may be a bit unusual is one of its aims – to “create community” and a sense of place –in advance of condos and mixed use development breaking ground. It will be interesting to see how and if this concept succeeds.
For now, you can enjoy a beer at Anchor Brewing’s pop up outdoor beer garden (watch out on game days – its sure to be packed to capacity), and The Yard project hopes to activate the space with free public performances and happenings of various kinds over the coming months.
Read my whole article and check out a photoset from my visit to The Yard last week (and don’t forget to try the food – the greasy, delicious Filipino BBQ pork from Señor Sisig filled me up for the entire day!)
sf parklet update!
ritual coffee, on valencai street in san francisco’s mission district, features a fun new parklet. the tiny public space (created from two former parking spaces) is now home to a “shipwreck” complete with ships beams, sand dune plantings and a tiny anchor! patrons of nearby ritual coffee enjoy sipping their drinks in the sun and passersby turn their heads to puzzle out how this nautical vessel made its way a good few miles inland from the bay. check out my full piece on the project, designed by boor/bridges archictects, here.
Check out my latest DIY post to style an old tank top in three new ways! Its summer, and instead of throwing out an old tank – why not get creative and create a whole new look using your own unique style! Try this fun tutorial yourself.
CHI bike lanes with double lines!
Preview of our site map for the “Mission Creek Arts District” project!
Brainstorm & Design Team Session #4 – “What if I-280 Came Down” Workshop. What kind of neighborhood do we want Mission Bay and Mission Creek to be? How can the designs and elements we choose today change the trajectory of future development of the area? How can we avoid cookie-cutter, formula retail, bland development without a story, without a history and without a place? Only one more week until our final presentation is due!
A PARKCYCLE! Check it out on Rebar’s blog. How much do you love the little kid in boots riding along? http://rebargroup.org/parkcycle-swarms-copenhagen-next-stop-baku/
Knotting string plant holder made from recyclables – new DIY is live here! Remember, I can’t condone it unless you use a recycled glass jar or plastic container….the US has the highest rate of packaging waste in the world, so get cracking!