Tuesday, June 17, 2008


Virtual Gallery Experiment

I am posting some images of my graduate work to see how well Blogger works with the Firefox PicLens plugin, which is amazing.This was a quick Andy Warhol homage I put together from an existing color photo of the Lawn at the University of Virginia. I removed the color information, then added translucent layers of color and cut them to fit the images. Used in the U.Va. School of Architecture photoshop tutorial.
This is an image from the Green Streets plan I worked on for the Ix site with Keyur Shah. This is the northern end facing Monticello Avenue. The concept for this section was to create a strong pedestrian connection to the Charlottesville Downtown Mall, increase tree cover, and store and treat water runoff. This includes a pedestrian island, curb extensions with cuts to allow water inside and plants to treat the water. The tree graphics were recycled from one of Keyur's previous projects. You should be hearing more about Green Streets in the near future.

2 comments:

Tree hugging said...

We saw a presentation about this in CCOES, and we all thought it was a fantastic idea. I think the one thing that could really improve it is to add native plants into the mix so that you are both treating stormwater and providing habitat at the same time.

Another program I've seen elsewhere is the idea of canopy roads. In Tallahassee they have these corridors through the city where trees are the gospel. they reroute power lines and no one cuts the trees ever unless they have a good reason. Along these corridors people are encouraged to plant native plants and take othr measures that enhance wildlife.

Essentially what I'd like to see in the city are more programs like this that blur the distinction between natural and urban, and which creates healthy green areas within the city.

Unknown said...

@Lonnie:
Hey, thanks for the comment. Was it a presentation about Green Streets in general or did it include the Ix design? I don't really have a sense of who is seeing the Ix design, which is potentially exciting and surprising. How is the Committee? I've heard a lot about it from Dave Norris and Tim Beatley, it sounds exciting.
For the Ix design, there was an entire team dedicated to native plants, so Keyur and I didn't cover that issue, but I absolutely agree that all plantings should be native where possible. Besides the huge habitat benefits, you can often find native plants for cheap or free.
That Tallahassee program sounds amazing, I hadn't heard of it. I strongly agree with you about healthy green areas. I think that the city should be a healthy green area.