New Maps

I recently discovered Google's latest best-kept secret and decided that it was worth sharing for all who haven't seen it yet.  It's called the Google Art Project, which can be easily found by typing that into Google, and even in its relatively early stages this has enormous potential to transform our experiences with art.

The initiative capitalizes on Google's sphere of social and technological influence to document thousands of works of art from hundreds of museums around the world.  The artworks have been scanned in at high resolutions to zoom in on every detail, and they are also catalogued with information about the artist and a brief history of the work.

The real innovation of this website, however, lies in its interactive format.  Using the same technology found in Google StreetView, users can tour the participating museums through virtual walk-throughs, which are paired with a floor plan of the current museum level.  The website allows users to navigate their own path through the galleries, stopping where they choose as the artworks emerge in the same physical space they actually occupy.  While "moving" through the space, one can click on any artwork within view, bringing up a larger, high-res image of the work.

While this may seem as the next logical step in Google's goal of digitally mapping our entire world, it also expands that vision into something larger: meaningful interaction with the things in our world.  In this instance, we are no longer hovering above the earth, or even strolling down neighborhood streets; we are given access to priceless works of art along with information about them, such that we are no longer merely voyeurs, but participants who can engage with real artifacts.

Such technology could be criticized for trying to replace or displace actual museum visitors, but I see this having the opposite effect.  I believe granting this kind of access to artworks, and letting us see them in their actual environments, only heightens interest as well as encourages us to interact more, and thereby see more, and thereby learn more.  In this way, the Art Project has the capacity to build up some hype on a public scale and get us interested in things and places we may not have even known about.  It's the same reason people go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa: we already know it and what it looks like, but we still want to see it for ourselves.  The same is true for New York, or any great city, that we've all seen on TV and in movies: we feel familiar with it from a distance, and this only encourages our interest to experience it in person.

I am also interested in the architectural capacity of this website in having virtual experiences of the built environment.  While there are obvious limitations to what can, or should, be documented publicly, museums are a great jumping-off point if Google were to start building a repository of online buildings and spaces.  Museums are important cultural icons within a city for sure, but have also served as ideal types for architects to push the creative and technical boundaries of our discipline with radical new designs, specifically in the past couple of decades.  Instead of just flipping through magazines and photos of floor plans, I am excited by the possibility of getting to wander through these spaces that I may otherwise never get to, and believe there is enormous potential for students and teachers to learn through such an interactive model.

It'll be interesting to see how far Google pushes this initiative and whether they will take this concept to other institutions, such as churches, universities, or libraries.  While it seems almost inevitable right now, I hope it's also done thoughtfully.  Once the "exterior" world has been fully mapped, it only makes sense that we would move on to capturing interior environments, along with hyperlinks to the things in those environments.  It might just open the door to a new realm of shared experiences, even if we share them from our desks.

Ryan

An Olympic Legacy

Every four years, I am drawn into arguably the world's greatest sporting spectacle; the summer Olympic Games.  While the events and athletes create memorable stories and moments at each Games, the venues for these events have always stirred my attention as well.  As architects, we can't help but notice how these spaces "perform" alongside the athlete's performances, and how they are transformed during the Games into theaters for the highest level of competition.

But one question arises as we near the end of another captivating two weeks: can the success of an Olympic Games be judged solely on the performances and outcomes witnessed in competition?  Or do the venues, and the "villages" they create, also play a role in determining the legacy the Games leave behind?

Certainly the London Games will be remembered for outstanding performances and seemingly-impossible records being broken, but the impact these Games will make on its citizens cannot be understated.  Hosting these Games necessarily requires cities to build new venues, ramp up infrastructure, and invest (in today's world) billions of dollars towards city improvements and the requirements of the IOC.  London's campaign for the 2012 Games was centered around transforming its East side, referred to as an 'industrial wasteland,' into a vibrant mixed-use community that will make use of the new sporting venues.  As recently unveiled by London's mayor, the Olympic village will be re-appropriated to make way for 10,000 new houses as well as schools and medical facilities.  The city is also harnessing the economic momentum of the Games into other urban areas in need of uplift, creating thousands of jobs in the process.

While I can't say that I have been as impressed with the architecture of these Games to the extent I was with, say, the Water Cube or Bird's Nest from Beijing, their respective approaches to their post-games legacy repositions their success in my mind.  While London has already secured plans for the re-use of nearly every Olympic facility, the beloved Bird's Nest remains empty, along with its aquatic side-kick.  Perhaps London learned from the missed opportunities of Beijing and Athens, picking up the model of other former host-cities.  The '92 Barcelona games brought new life to the city, especially enhancing its water-front communities.  Whereas its Olympic village was perched atop the city, Atlanta brought the '96 Games into the heart of downtown, and is still building off the economic catalyst they generated.

Looking ahead to Rio in 2016, which model will the city pursue?  While signature buildings certainly add drama and bring attention to the Games, it is perhaps what goes on (or doesn't) inside them after the Olympics have ended that is of greater importance.  Will Rio find a way to construct iconic venues that still allow for re-use and the revitalization of the city, or will we perhaps see a new model unfold?  It is speculated that the increasing demand of the Games will soon limit who can legitimately campaign for them, such that even the strongest cities in the European Union may be shut out.  Such a shift is likely to have a major impact on the architecture we will see, as well as the urban growth that will follow in host cities.

All I can say for now is that I believe when we look back at the 2012 Games years from now, the legacy London is currently building may be the model for cities of the future to use the Olympics to bring good to its citizens, not just for two weeks, but for decades.  Though the records just set will soon be broken again, and we will become familiar with a new generation of athletes, the Olympics offer the chance for a city to establish a lasting legacy and improve the quality of life for its citizens.  And isn't that our calling as architects, too?

Sharing Isn't Just for Kindergarteners

(image credit:  B-Cycle via wcnc.com)

I recently heard news that Charlotte is launching, on August 1st, a bike-sharing program.  B-Cycle (www.bcycle.com), a company that has popped-up in several cities across the US, has installed 20 bike-sharing stations in and around the Uptown area.  The concept is that you pay a yearly fee for access to the system, and as a registered user, you can borrow a bike from one station and return it either back to its home or to one of the other 19 stations peppered across the Uptown area.  The first 30 minutes are free, and each additional half hour costs you four dollars.  There’s a kick-off ‘Ride-Out’ of Uptown on Tuesday evening, where the B-bikes will be ridden by users and delivered to each of the stations. 

Although I have seen these types of systems work with great success in other cities, I must say that I have a wait-and-see attitude about how much they’ll get used over time.  I think it’ll be a big hit for the first couple of months, and then interest will wane.  We’ll probably see an upsurge in usage in the fall, and then winter will come, and usage will naturally drop again.  It will be interesting to see how much use they get when spring rolls around again, once the newness of this shiny new ‘green’ transportation alternative gets a little rusty and squeaky.

We’ve seen incredible amounts of city-wide improvements since it was announced that Charlotte would be the host of the Democratic National Convention, and I question the timing of this system’s arrival.  Is this another way in which the city is preparing for hosting the DNC?  Putting-on a pretty face for all of the attention we’ll be getting? – maybe. probably. – but I like this one better than the resurfacing of Commonwealth Ave for the third time, for this improvement is one in which we can actually participate.  This, like the creation of more parks and greenway areas, walking routes, biking routes, light rail transportation, etc., gives the good people of Charlotte yet another reason to get outside and engage each other.  We are friendly people here, and I’m glad to see that we have been provided with yet another venue through which to be social and share even just a few seconds of our lives with each other.  Fostering our natural tendencies toward friendliness and making people feel welcome is about the greatest ‘improvement’ we can make in preparation for our big event in September.

All in all, and pessimism aside, I’m excited about this new city amenity.  I truly hope that it gets widespread use and that we as users end up finding good value for our dollars when using it.  On top of that, I would say that anything that promotes getting us out of our cars and outside into the fresh air is a good thing!

Time

I am not the best person to start this blog but will give it a try.  We always talk about how much time it takes to accomplish anything worthwhile in our lives, and that obstacle (time) becomes a deterent to actually following through. Training for an ironman sucessfully takes a lot of effort, sacrafice and time. You have to be willing to put in the work and hope you don't get injured or sick. Chris W. in our office, just became a pro mountain biker this month. He has been working towards that goal for at least as long as I have known him. Chris has had setbacks that he has overcome and I am proud of him.  Hopefully, as architects we are also willing to put in the time to come up with creative ideas and see them through to completion. TWG has a project that we first started on in 2009 and will not be completed until 2014...five years for one project is a long time. We have to constantly nurture and fight for the design integrity - probably up until the completion. It is something that is very important to me and I am willing to make the time. 
-B. Wilson