fidzu : Architecture

The bold and inventive architect Arata Isozaki was born on July 23, 1931 in Oita, Kyushu, Japan. Inspired by the New Wave movement known as Metabolism, Arata Isozaki...

23 Jul 2008 1:00am GMT

The Pritzker Prize-winning British architect Richard Rogers was born on July 23, 1933 in Florence, Italy. His early years didn't seem promising. Richard Rogers suffered dyslexia and didn't excel in...

23 Jul 2008 1:00am GMT

A reader asks, "I'm wondering what type house my house would be considered. Built in 1920, the house is somewhat reminiscent of a bungalow." To answer this question, let's look...

22 Jul 2008 1:14pm GMT

According to the Environmental Protection Agency paper products are the biggest single component of community waste with 85 million tons generated in 2006 Though much of this is recycled the sheer volume compelled the team at product developme

22 Jul 2008 6:30am GMT

The Smart Touch salad spinner has been awarded an IDEA Bronze award 2008 This salad spinner combines eye-catching design and new drive mechanism which ensures that just one press of the Smart Touch lever sets the basket spinning at optimal sp

22 Jul 2008 6:00am GMT

The winners of the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards IDEA are named the SOLUTIONS Branding Design Companies AG obtained one of the eligible Silver IDEA Awards 08 for their TakeOff children buggy Being one of the worlds most prest

22 Jul 2008 5:00am GMT

The UK Young Design Entrepreneur Award is the newest award in the British Councils Young Creative Entrepreneur programme Created by the British Council in partnership with the Cultural Leadership Foundation the award recognises the potential of

21 Jul 2008 9:30pm GMT

Los Angeles-based DUCK formerly Duck Soup Studios announced that veteran multi-disciplined director Simon Blake is joining to the growing roster Over the past several years Blake has directed under the aegis of Chelsea Pictures Sandwick Films

21 Jul 2008 7:30pm GMT

As small- to mid-size businesses struggle to improve their bottom linesweb-based shipping service Red Roller turned to Behavior Design to redesign their revolutionary new comparative shipping product making it easier than ever to use Red Roller

21 Jul 2008 5:30pm GMT

FITC is on the move with an imaginative new event for the broadcast and film community PAUSE Ideas in Motion debuts November 11 - 12 2008 at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Centre in NYC From 30 second commercial spots to feature films an

21 Jul 2008 5:00pm GMT

Lightemotion the Montreal firm already recognized for its creativity and expertise in the realm of exhibition lighting has put its signature to the lighting design for the Passagers Passengers exhibition presented from June 3 to October 19 2008

21 Jul 2008 3:00pm GMT

The Green Dot Awards strive to reward and promote forward-thinking businesses that create environmentally friendly products or services and to recognize revolutionary business plans and proposals All forward-thinking green businesses should ha

21 Jul 2008 2:30pm GMT

Based on their research of the skin rejuvenation market Absolute Zero Degrees helped reposition Jo Robbins renowned skin expert as Skin Architect offering the unique benefit of a unisex range of products that help create Strong Skin This is

21 Jul 2008 1:30pm GMT

Rolling out a new look for a 78-year-old globe manufacturer Planet Propaganda completes an identity system facelift for Replogle Globes Inc The updated logo and materials build upon the earlier brand personality and messaging that Planet develo

21 Jul 2008 12:00pm GMT

Todays sunglasses excel at multi-tasking Sports enthusiasts can find a host of sunglasses that are highly functional yet perfectly fashionable Cyclists runners hikers climbers paragliders and anglers can all find sunglasses perfectly sui

21 Jul 2008 11:30am GMT

This September will see the typical flurry of fashionable activity as the fashion world will collide at the May Fair Hotel who are delighted to announce their status as the official hotel of London Fashion Week Located right in the centre of the

21 Jul 2008 9:30am GMT

Key looks for the upcoming couture season Armani Prive and Anne Valerie Hash have used lightly draped ruffles throughout their collections creating simple effects of volume and movement Voluminous puffy silhouettes were seen at Chanel and Ch

21 Jul 2008 9:00am GMT

Christopher Kane Erdem Marios Schwab and Roksanda Ilincic have today been announced as the recipients of the British Fashion Councils Fashion Forward sponsorship I am thrilled to have been awarded Fashion Forward sponsorship by the British Fa

21 Jul 2008 7:00am GMT

FAK3 led by Johnny Wong and Miho Hirabayashi have recently designed a two storey chic organic fine dining restaurant and bar called Beo Beautifully Organic in Hong Kong The restaurantbar is split into two levels the upper floor has a series

21 Jul 2008 6:30am GMT

Central Park in New York City was officially born on July 21, 1853 when the State legislature authorized the City to buy more than 800 acres. The enormous park was...

21 Jul 2008 1:00am GMT

A reader from Cape Town, South Africa sends an email, wondering about the best course of study for his son. Now that the young man has completed secondary school, should...

20 Jul 2008 12:00am GMT

In the early 1920s, the Chicago Tribune wanted to build the "most beautiful office building in the world." Yet, out of all the proposals submitted to their competition, they selected...

18 Jul 2008 12:00am GMT

From the Forum: "I bought a house built in 1946 that has been covered with vinyl siding. I am wondering if the vinyl should be removed or left intact....

15 Jul 2008 7:31am GMT

A visitor in our Forum is wondering about this 1920s-era house. "It's called a Bungalow in the listing, and the one just like it down the street is called a...

13 Jul 2008 12:00am GMT

Long before we worried about global warming, Buckminster Fuller searched for ways to protect "Spaceship Earth." His most famous invention, the geodesic dome, is still a model for efficient, inexpensive,...

12 Jul 2008 1:00am GMT

A team of researchers say they've found 29 undiscovered works by Frank Lloyd Wright in the suburbs of Chicago. The houses have many of the characteristic details of a Frank...

10 Jul 2008 12:00am GMT

From Cyburbian MacheteJames:
This Monday, I'm going to be doing a 5 minute talk on planning to a group of 4th graders. I've never done anything like this, and I know that 9 year olds aren't going to care about rezonings, facade easements, or stormwater retention policies. How can I make planning sound cool to a group of kids this age? I know it won't be as simple as saying "we decide where sidewalks go and where buildings are built" because the Mayor, DPW chief, and Park & Rec director will be there and I've gotta take them into consideration. I'm pretty sure most 9 year olds wouldn't have played SimCity (although I was a dork and did play it when I was a little older than these kids). Thanks.

06 Jun 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian fourthconchord: A small bedroom community of 10,000 population does not currently have a true downtown. There is no street level retail, though the town is not completely sprawled out. There is some light density as retail is about 30' off the road, houses are about 20' from the street. The city is in the process of defining a formal downtown centered around public buildings and some of the most active retail. Does anyone here know of any other towns that have done something similar? Does anyone have any experience or tips for a community trying to do this?

(Cyburbia Forums original post)

05 Jun 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian Whose Yur Planner: Got this via Law of the Land Blog. Wonder if they will include any planners?

Under the leadership of Edward J. Sullivan, immediate past chair of the ABA State and Local Government Law Section, and a member of the Portland, Oregon, firm of Garvey Schubert Barer, the State and Local Government Law Section and the Administrative Law Section created a joint task force to focus on developing fair procedures for the enactment and administration of land use regulations. This multi-year effort, with input from Association members and others in the field, has resulted in a proposed model act that will be the subject of discussion in August 2008 as the matter is reviewed by the ABA House of Delegates.

04 Jun 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian Maister: I watched a popular western called "3:10 at Yuma" last night. One of the special features included on the disc was a segment about some of the movie production concerns. An important element of just about any film is set design, and during an interview one of the set designers spoke about how the 'town' set was designed. As most of us are aware, "the West" is a body of myths and legends that have been perpetuated and built upon throughout the years via popular literature and films. It occurred to me while watching this segment that many of my (and probably many others') conceptions about the stereotypical historic western town layout are based upon movie sets. Movie sets, however, are designed around considerations such as providing adequate camera and crew accessibility to areas or visual lanes for shot setups, which may have little bearing on the realities of how 19th century western towns were actually built.

03 Jun 2008 4:00pm GMT

Cyburbia has served the planning community since 1994 while earning almost no financial remuneration; no grants, no honoraria, a minuscule amount of advertising revenue, and limited revenue from Cyburbian Plus memberships.

After 13 and a half years online, we ask the planning community to consider giving something back to Cyburbia. By sponsoring Cyburbia, you can enjoy great exposure for your firm, organization, agency, academic program or Web site. Cyburbia sponsorship also lets you reach more planners for the dollar, with very competitive rates and a large audience that has little overlap with those frequenting planning-related news sites. Learn more here!

19 May 2008 4:00pm GMT

The Planning in Australia subforum is the newest addition to the Cyburbia Forums. Discuss planning issues unique to Australia, planning systems used in Australian states, Australian planning organizations and professional planner certification, and other topics related to planning in the Land Down Under.

08 May 2008 4:00pm GMT

Foreclosure Crisis (http://www.cleveland.com/foreclosure/) is a series of articles from the Cleveland Plain Dealer that documents how the recent credit crisis has affected Northeast Ohio; a region among the hardest hit in the country by foreclosures. The site also includes an index of other foreclosure-related stories from the Plain Dealer.

29 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian Plan-it: I have been doing research on policies and regulations to protect areas that are designated as Industrial on our Future Development Map from non-industrial (residential) incursion. This has the impact of inceasing land values due to speculation and placing future residents and future/existing businesses in a potentially adversarial relationship.

I have noticed San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago have looked at this issue and have developed policies and programs to remediate the situation. Does anyone else done any research, policies, or programs that address this problem who would not mind sharing? Thanks!

28 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

When paired with vintage images of the 19th and 20th centuries, Arizona photographers Allen Dutton and Paul Scharbach's modern-day images reveal the changes that have shaped the state's landscape during the past 100-plus years. They searched the state to locate the precise spots from which to rephotograph the scenes captured by their predecessors, endeavoring to achieve the same angles, perspectives, and lighting as in the early photographs.

28 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian graciela: This is a bit trivial but have any of you ever reflected on the the effect that the style of on-street parking can have on the percieved quality of an urban sidewalk/streetscape? In an urban setting, my opinion has always been on-street parking=good. I never really cared if it was parallel or angled. I always let the site/context/traffic patterns, etc. dictate the form of the onstreet parking.

Is one more institutional than the other? Maybe angled is more informal? What are your thoughts?

(Cyburbia Forums original post)

26 Apr 2008 3:00am GMT

From Cyburbian TexanOkie: Texas state statute mandates that all subdivisions, regardless of plat stage, be before the planning/platting commission within 30 days of it's submittal, and, if according to each city's charter the plat also needs to go before the governing body, 30 days after the planning commission decision to the City Council. This is rather fast, in my opinion, and is generally business-friendly and works with most developers and their teams on addressing issues with their plans.

However, we are looking into possibly creating an official "Expedited Review" process that would cut that time practically in half (barring any idiot proposals or lack of progress as far as addressing issues). The expedited review would be an option on each subdivision application (i.e. check boxes for either expedited or standard reviews) and would have a higher application fee due to the added stresses it places on our staff.

24 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian Tom R: Did you know that a group of frogs is called an army or a colony? Me neither. Here is a link that give more names for groupings of critters than should be allowed. Anyway, what is a group of planners? An obfuscation? A stonewall? Others?

(Cyburbia Forums original post)

23 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian centralpark: We are tasked with working in a rural community that has few assets, not even enough to put together an agritourism map with the area cooperative extension folk.

I need some ideas of things that people have seen elsewhere that I might suggest to citizen groups in this community as projects they would support. I'm trolling through 'best practice' sorts of websites to try and find something, anything that is a project that was successful elsewhere and might transfer here.

BTW - there is interest in hunting by the people who live there and those outside the area. I was thinking of maybe putting together an initiative to build a community-owned and operated hunting lodge. That would be seasonal, though, and it would be great to have something that is year round.

22 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

Driving Detroit (http://media.freep.com/drivingdetroit/stories.html) is a series of articles from the Detroit Free Press that documents a four-month odyssey through all 2,700 miles (4,350 kilometers) of Detroit's over 2,100 streets. The idea of this unusual roadtrip was to get a unique view of Detroit; a short-term, street-level survey of the city's 138 square miles (357 square kilometers), and a snapshot of the city many insist is coming back.

22 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT

From Cyburbian jread: I'm just curious as to whether or not anyone on here is going to an Ivy League school for their planning degree. What will you do with it when you get out? I know that local government employs most planners, so I can't imagine a Harvard graduate wanting to work for the City of Bugtussle for $40k per year. It doesn't seem cost-effective.

(Cyburbia Forums original post)

21 Apr 2008 4:00pm GMT