‘Metaverse,’ a term from the 1992 novel Snow Crash, in which people live as avatars in a three dimensional world, has recently hit the zeitgeist referring to virtual worlds in a burgeoning next phase of the internet.
Architects, writes Chloe Sun for ArchDaily, could be facing crises in the physical world due to constraints of factors such as structure, and management, that limit the possibility of the discipline. The wake of COVID-19, she says, may further catalyse the rise of the digital alternatives to brick-and-mortar shops, houses and offices.
The NFT industry also is rapidly growing, and unique digital creations, Sun says, are not limited to traditional visual art, but include digital architecture and landscape architecture.
“Toronto-based artist Krista Kim has sold the first NFT-backed digital home for over half a million dollars,” Sun said.
Virtual real estate is surging in popularity, offering “an interesting and possibly lucrative domain for designers to leverage their design skills in the physical world and to extend that into the virtual world.”
The metaverse could offer the chance for architects and place designers to follow game designers and evolve their service to be scalable “solutions that can be reused and can benefit millions of users, not just one client.”
Amsterdam plans its first modern-day timber neighbourhood:
The city of Amsterdam has confirmed an ambitious plan to build a neighbourhood entirely out of wood, writes Feargus O’Sullivan for Bloomberg CityLab.
The project reflects a move towards renewable materials by the city’s construction industry and a commitment from the municipalities of Greater Amsterdam to “ensure that at least 20% of new construction uses wood as its primary material by 2025.”
Timber is valuable in reducing the carbon footprint of construction as trees can not only be replanted, but also sequester carbon. The material requires less finishing and masonry, further reducing the use of resources and emissions.
O’Sullivan refers to a 2020 Finnish study that estimates “if 80% of Europe’s construction switched to wood as its primary material, the amount of carbon sequestered would be equivalent to 47% of the emissions from the continent’s concrete industry.”
The new neighbourhood, the Mandela Buurt, will be located in the city’s south, and offer affordable housing. “It will contain ten new apartment blocks, a primary school and social facilities, housing an estimated 2,100 residents in 700 new apartments.”
Construction of the Mandela Buurt neighbourhood is anticipated to begin in 2025, for completion in 2026. Read the full article here.
As a national partner Street Furniture Australia is proudly supporting the AILA 2023 Festival of Landscape Architecture UN/EARTH on Kaurna Meyunna Yerta (Kaurna People’s Country) and surrounding regions on 19-22 October 2023. Here are seven of our upcoming festival highlights: 1. UN/EARTH program now available The festival program brings together streams of thought that engage with the elements and life below and within the earth’s surface, with four themes: DEEP EARTH / RAW EARTH / FERTILE EARTH / SUBTERRANEAN EARTH. Theoretical conversations and talks, presented by international speakers during the conference at the Adelaide National Wine Centre, are enriched by walks and expeditions on Country. Date: Thursday 19 October – Sunday 22 October 2023.Location: Tours and fringe events – various. Conference – National Wine Centre.Cost: Purchase your ticket on the …
Three landscape architects share their thoughts on the Voice History is calling as Australians head to the polls for a referendum on October 14, 2023, to vote on enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution. The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) said it encourages all members to “engage deeply with the available information, contemplate its implications, and arrive at an informed stance that aligns with your values and beliefs. “As landscape architects, we often find ourselves at the intersection of nature, culture, politics and history, aiming to craft spaces that resonate with the stories and experiences of those who inhabit them. This unique position imparts a special responsibility upon us to be both informed and sensitive to the cultural dimensions of our work.” AILA has compiled referendum …
Charlene Bordley (photo: right), the visionary founder of Parramatta Bike Hub, Parramatta Bike Tours and Addventageous, creates programs for ‘hard-to-reach’ groups including First Nations communities, women, seniors and disadvantaged youth. She met with StreetChat writer Kari Hill at the new home of the Parramatta Bike Hub on Wangal country, along the Parramatta River in Sydney Olympic Park. Charlene’s passion for making a difference in the community can be seen across the many social enterprise programs she runs. Wearing her uniform of blue, yellow and green, each colour symbolises a program: Blue for Addvantageous, Yellow for Parramatta Bike Tours and Green for the Parramatta Bike Hub. Social enterprise Addvantageous started off as a school program when Charlene gained confidence as a returning cyclist later in life. She experienced the benefits of …
‘I wanted that self-reliance back’ – disabled hikers forge a new path: A growing movement of disabled people are taking steps to enable independent access to the natural world, writes Amanda Morris for the NY Times. The pandemic has brought a rise in outdoor recreation, with growing visitation numbers for national parks, however not all are equipped for accessibility. Disabled people are taking initiatives to improve independent access, including “publishing trail guides, establishing nonprofits to empower others through equipment, advocacy and training, and testifying before congress,” says Morris. In the United States in April 2021, “disability activists testified at a hearing on Capitol Hill, in front of members of the House National Resources Committee, which oversees the Park Service, to push for greater accessibility in outdoor spaces and call attention to …
Street trees and addressing liveability inequity: Street trees have the capacity to impact the liveability of suburbs, should community members be included in the design and planning of urban greening, say Melanie Davern, Dave Kendal and Camilo Ordonez Barona in an article for Cities People Love. The RMIT, University of Tasmania and University of Toronto researchers write that “street trees and urban forestry provide a great example of a ‘nature-based solution’ to building environmentally sustainable liveable cities that provide multiple benefits.” Although the benefits of urban greening are well known, there is inequity in the distribution of street trees. “Disadvantaged communities in cities characterised by a lower level of income and education, and, in some cases, higher percentages of minority populations, tend to have less street tree cover and less …
Paris has plans to make the Seine swimmable by 2024: by Feargus O’Sullivan The City of Paris is undertaking a new project, ‘Projet Life Adsorb,’ which may soon make Paris’s river Seine clean enough to swim in. Various attempts have been made to make the Seine swimmable, the first in 1988. Most recently, in 2017, swimming pools opened along Canal Saint Martin, a more sheltered waterway in the city’s east. Unfortunately high bacteria levels regularly force swimmers out of the pools. The new plan, which is being designed and implemented by a team of experts overseen by the City of Paris, “might be able to curb pollution more permanently, making it swimmable – and usable as a competition venue – in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics,” writes Bloomberg’s Feargus …
