Spencer Finch artist talk tonight
Spencer Finch’s The River That Flows Both Ways–the first public art commission on the High Line–is an installation of 700 panes of colored glass on the Chelsea Market building, between 15th and 16th Streets on the elevated park at 10th Avenue. The distinct colors of the glass panes are drawn from 700 photographs taken of the Hudson river. On a journey up the river, the artist snapped a photo every minute for 700 minutes within a single day. The result is a testament to the experience of viewing the flowing river as one travels through time and space, whether by rail or by foot. The artist will speak about his work tonight, Wednesday the 30th, at 6:30 pm in the 14th St. Passage. FREE. RSVP recommended.
(Via High Line Blog)
17th century woodland, at NYU today
The New York Times features a 2,200 square foot native woodland garden being planted on the NYU campus. George Reis, NYU’s supervisor of sustainable landscapes, was taken with the idea of evocative and site-specific planting, as well as with the Manahatta Project, an exhibition that envisions the island of Manhattan upon Henry Hudson’s arrival 400 years ago. Reis submitted his garden proposal to NYU’s Class of 2008 for consideration as their class gift.
So this spring, Mr. Reis and Mr. Morrison, with the help of a small student crew, began planting 2,000 plants that were all thriving on Manhattan in the 17th century.
Beneath the lindens and a Japanese maple, sweeps of hay-scented ferns undulate against waves of New York ferns, interrupted ferns and Christmas ferns, each species planted en masse to accentuate subtle differences in shape, texture and color.
The scene sounds romantic, but even absent floral nostalgia, native plants are vital to the development of sustainable ecosystems. We’re eager to check out this garden.
Web tool for environmental transparency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched MyEnvironment, a graphical web database of local environmental data on measures of air quality, cancer risk levels, water quality and brownfields. Users can also find information on the conditions of local watersheds as well as the chemical outputs of particular built facilities, the quantity of those outputs, the facilities’ compliance with regulation and their current violations.
(via The Dirt)
Our Lady of Detritus
Choreographer/performer Jill Sigman and composer/vocalist Kristin Norderval have collaborated to produce Our Lady of Detritus, a performance piece focused on “trash and transcendence” that has been making its way through various outdoor New York City sites for the past month.
The performance travels on a cart made of an orange cargo tricycle decorated with fluorescent junk foods and powered by a combination of solar panels, pedal power and rechargeable batteries. Using improvisational dance structures and an interactive sound system, Sigman and Norderval entice passersby into participating in the event and considering questions such as “What’s the last thing you threw away and how long did you have it?” and “Are there things you’ve discarded that you regret?”
The performance will make its way to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx this Saturday & Sunday, September 26 & 27, from 2-4PM. Attendance is free, and audience members are free to come and go as they like.
Return on investment in habitat corridors
Aerial views of the square natural areas targeted in the study, and the linear habitat corridors established between them.
Habitat corridors are planted or wild strips of land between natural areas that encourage wildlife to migrate from place to place and, in turn, to help fertilize a broader range of places through the seeds they carry on them or digest. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that the establishment of habitat corridors between existing natural areas–and the resulting migration of wildlife between those areas–can increase biodiversity not only in connected sites, but also in habitat adjacent to those sites. In the study, conducted in South Carolina in conjunction with the USDA, the biodiversity spillover effect was found to extend beyond the boundaries of the connected natural areas by as much as 30%, resulting in a 10-18% increase in plant life–particularly native plants–in the larger area. The findings suggest that investments in habitat connections can pay off on a scale even beyond their designed ambition.
The master plan for Freshkills Park includes the establishment of habitat corridors around the bases of each of the site’s four landfill mounds, connecting to three large adjacent natural areas–the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge, the Staten Island Greenbelt and Arden Heights Woods–as well as expanding biodiversity in the Freshkills Park site, itself, and in the general vicinity.
(via Scientific American)
Diffuse light solar panels
Researchers in Jerusalem are developing a new type of solar cell that can generate power from diffuse light. The cells form panels that transmit light to silicon solar receptors at their edges. GreenSun Energy of Tel Aviv say their panels have achieved a 12% efficiency rate, much lower than the world’s most efficient cells, but hope to eventually reach a 20% efficiency. The panels use 80% less silicon than traditional cells, making them more cost-efficient.
The panels would not need direct sunlight to generate power, which not only means they’ll be more useful in regions with less sunny days and in locations without optimal exposure, but also that there will be less efficiency loss due to heat. Once developed, the company hopes to sell the panels at less than a quarter of the price of conventional solar panels.
(Via Inhabitat)
World’s ten greatest large urban parks
The smallest park on the list is the 60-acre Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.
Infrastructurist has posted its list of the ten greatest large urban parks. It’s interesting to see them all viewed from above at roughly the same scale, and to see how they interact at that scale with the form of the urban fabric around them. But like all best-of lists, the real fun here is in the debate–while the authors do note that all of their selections are in Europe and North America, there’s still a lot of contestation and [mock?] outrage to be found in the comments section.
Nature Find
Nature Find is an online tool provided by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to aid in finding local nature or nature-related amenities. Users plug-in a zip code, and the software locates nearby events, city parks, science centers, zoos and other wildlife-related happenings.
(Via Lifehacker)
East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers
Pruned’s three-part “Under Spaces” survey (Parts 1, 2 and 3) explores the problems cities face when planning under and around elevated infrastructure like rail lines and highways. Recent projects have converted these typically neglected landscapes into urban public centers, mountain biking and skating parks and waterfront green spaces.
Noted in Part 3 is New York City’s East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers Project, a proposal to revitalize the two-mile stretch of waterfront between the Battery Maritime Building and East River Park. A master plan by SHoP Architects and Ken Smith Landscape Architects re-establishes the space between South Street and the East River as a public-friendly mix of amenities while reactivating a major broken link in the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.
Recent event photos now on flickr
We’ve updated our flickr stream with photos from the Composting Workshop we held at the end of August and last weekend’s reading from the works of Robert Frost. Both events were rainy but drew enthusiastic and game crowds and speakers. Thanks to Mark Bigelow from the Staten Island Compost Project and Beth Gorrie from Staten Island OutLOUD for organizing these events with us. We’re looking forward to partnering with them again in the future.
