Category: Site_visit

22ff May 2024, ♣ San Francisco inkl. Exhibition „Turning the Page“, Golden Gate Park, Café Trieste

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22.5.2024ff, San Francisco inkl. Exhibition „Turning the Page“, Golden Gate Park, Café Trieste

Golden Gate Park:

Selected SF highlights:

  • Golden Gate Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Park. – The Nature Conservancy’s exhibit: Nature’s future is our future. „You are here. Walk through two possible Californias … Your future depends on clean air, clean water and a healthy planet. So does theirs …
  • Pier 24 Photography (The Embarcadero); Exhibition „Turning the Page“, April 15, 2024 – January 31, 2025, https://pier24.org/exhibitions/: … In its more than ten years, Pier 24 Photography has exhibited many thousands of photographs … Turning the Page … looks at and celebrates the photobook, a medium that has undergone its own renaissance … Each of the galleries presents works from a distinct photobook, whether an iconic volume or a recent monograph. The content, sequence, and design of each selected book guided our approach to that particular installation, aiming for a thoughtful translation of its overall tone and intent … // Selected photobooks represented here (cf. exhibition booklet) – Jim Goldberg (1995): Raised by Wolves; Richard Avedon (1985): In the American West; Masahisa Fukase (1986): Karasu (Ravens); Robert Frank (1958): Les Américains (The Americans); Ed Templeton (2023): Wires crossed; etc.
  • Caffe Trieste (North Beach), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffe_Trieste: … an internationally known coffeehouse, retail store … The original cafe, opened in 1956, was the first espresso-based coffeehouse on the West Coast … considered a San Francisco institution and a local hub for poets, writers, and beat culture …

21ff May 2024, ♣ Berkeley, incl. Pathways & People’s Park

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21.5.2024ff, ♣ Berkeley, incl. Pathways & People’s Park

Selected highlights:

  • Berkeley Pathways (pedestrian paths); Berkeley Rose Garden; Codornices Park
  • People’s Park: undergoing major transition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Park_(Berkeley): … a plot of land … owned by the University of California, Berkeley … a symbol during the radical political activism of the late 1960s … established itself in the early 1970s as a de facto public park before it was closed off in January 2024. The City of Berkeley declared it a historical and cultural landmark in 1984 … UC Berkeley plans to build 1,100 new units of student housing and 125 units of supportive housing for homeless people on the site …
  • Former Dwight-Derby Married Student Housing.

People’s Park undergoing transition:

Food & coffee notes: Berkeley Bowl (2 locations, incl. Berkeley Bowl West, 920 Heinz Ave.), Cheeseboard (1504 Shattuck; Worker owned co-op since 1971); Caffé Strada (2300 College Av. – started in 1989); original Peet’s Coffee (Vine & Walnut Street; www.peets.com: Alfred Peet wasn’t trying to start a coffee revolution when he set up shop in 1966 in Berkeley, CA. He just thought Americans deserved a real cup of coffee …), La Val’s Pizza (Euclid Av.), Gather (2200 Oxford Str.).

15 May 2024, Φ♣ NYC, 3 Landscaping projects near Public Housing in the Bronx & Manhattan

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15.5.2024, New York City (NYC), 3 Landscaping projects near Public Housing in the Bronx & Manhattan

Explorative study tour concerning landscaping projects, guided by Alex Hart, principal, Dirtworks Landscape Architecture P.C., New York (https://dirtworks.us/):

(1) 2424 Boston Road, The Bronx, New York 10467, incl. „R.A.I.N Boston Road Neighborhood Senior Center“, www.raininc.org/, and residential tower. This current redesign project includes: integrating the buildings (semi-covered walkway); main entrance plaza to be transformed into a welcoming space; seating are near the rockface; redesigned picnic area; seating area also on quieter side of the building.

(2) 99 Fort Washington Av., New York, NY 10032 (Washington Heights), incl. „Riverstone Senior Life Services“, www.riverstonenyc.org/. Outdoor area recently renovated, incl. new native woodland planting (improving aesthetics, enhancing biodiversity), new furniture, improved accessibility for residents and visitors

(3) Stephen Wise Towers, 136 W 91st St., New York, NY 10024, built in 1965 by the NYC Housing Authority. https://dirtworks.us/portfolio/wise-towers-2/: „The design maximizes play experiences for all ages and all abilities, while also providing a delightful place for caregivers and others. Focusing on a wide variety of play options, we wanted to give each child, teen and adult the opportunity to explore, create, grow and learn at their own pace“. – www.westsiderag.com/2024/01/09/the-triumphant-return-of-the-nivola-horses: … The Nivola Horses, named for … the Italian artist …, have been through a lot. The 18 concrete, modernist horse sculptures … had their muzzles lopped off by vandals … In … 2021, after a water main break …, they were cut off at the legs and removed completely … While the reconstruction of the concrete horses was an undoubted victory, the plaza space … remains a complicated one … a recently refurbished playground and a basketball court … Progress … at a price … non-residents bringing their children to play on the newly-installed equipment – and moving away from the children who live in the Wise towers …