Zone: The Spatial Softwares of Extrastatecraft

Recent years have seen the phenomenal rise of the free zone — an opportunistic urban hybrid established in order to legally evade national laws. As Keller Easterling writes, "Though its roots date back to the free ports of antiquity, the zone has only recently emerged as a powerful global form, evolving rapidly from an out-of-way district for warehousing custom-free goods to a postwar strategy for jumpstarting national economies to a paradigm for glittering world cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai."
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LANCE HOSEY

The Shape of Green: Aesthetic Imperatives

Will new technology — cleaner energy, advanced materials, etc. — help us to live more lightly on the planet? Or merely enable us to pursue unsustainable lifestyles ever more efficiently? Lance Hosey argues that we've been focusing too much on the promise of technology and not enough on the reshaping of our aesthetic desires. "We have yet to face the underlying social and cultural circumstances that caused the environmental crisis," he writes. "How do we align what we crave with what we have?"
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DAVID HEYMANN

An Un-flushable Urinal: The Aesthetic Potential of Sustainability

What is the "radical aesthetic potential" of sustainable design? "For architects, this might not seem the central focus of sustainability," writes David Heymann, "but it is indirectly, and perhaps should be explicitly." Drawing on examples from Leonardo to Duchamp to Peter Zumthor, Heymann explores the still unmet challenge of developing a new aesthetic ideal inspired by the evolving technologies of sustainability.
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NEWS FROM DESIGN OBSERVER GROUP SPONSORS

Enter the Sappi Ideas that Matter competition - an annual, innovative grant program that provides monetary support to produce the creative ideas of designers working for social good. Sappi established the Ideas that Matter grant program to recognize and support designers who donate their time and talent to create communications materials for a wide range of charitable activities.
More about Ideas that Matter >>
Watch Doug Hebert an inspiration junkie >>
Find out more about Sappi here >>

Learn to be a design critic through SVA's D-Crit program. Design as subject matter, criticism as a literary genre and the range of tools with which to practice design criticism.
Watch videos of presentations by the Class of 2011 >>
The D-Crit Program >>
SVA Website >>

ROLF POTTS

Tourist Snapshots

Why do we take pictures when we travel? Why has photography become, as Rolf Potts says, a "tourist compulsion"? What has been lost and gained as our photo albums move from hard copy to digital? As the summer season starts, we are pleased to present Potts's recollections — snapshots — from his life on the road and with a camera, from a ninth-grade civics class trip to Washington to later journeys around the world.
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D-Crit: Design as subject matter. Criticism as literary genre.
Learn at SVA >>

A quarterly magazine of art and culture
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Designers and leaders talk innovation in healthcare.
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PLACES ARCHIVE: WINTER 2008

Little Rock's Emerging Nonprofit Corridor

The non-profit sector is a major player in promoting green urbanism. Here's what's happening in Little Rock.
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PARTNER SCHOOL

Woodbury University, School of Architecture
Woodbury School of Architecture is a network of hubs strategically sited within the larger Southern California megalopolis: Los Angeles, Burbank and San Diego. Together, these sites form a critical infrastructure for architectural investigations. The school’s undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture and interior architecture train students as entrepreneurs, architect citizens and cultural builders. Our Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Architecture, Master of Architecture and post-professional graduate programs in architecture and real estate prepare students to effect positive change in the built environment, to tackle theoretical debates and to take on architecture as a critical practice. Our faculty is composed of active and prolific architects, designers and academics practicing in Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana. Internationally recognized and award winning, the faculty works closely with students, teaching the skills required to expand the limits of practice and debate the possibilities of our disciplines.


WEEKLY EMAIL: JUNE 13, 2012
FEATURED THIS WEEK : KELLER EASTERLING Zone: The Spatial Softwares of Extrastatecraft Recent years have seen the phenomenal rise of the free zone — an opportunistic urban hybrid established in order to legally evade national laws. As Keller Easterling writes, "Though its roots date back to the free ports of antiquity, the zone has only recently emerged as a powerful global form, evolving rapidly from an out-of-way district for warehousing custom-free goods to a postwar strategy for jumpstarting national economies to a paradigm for glittering world cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai." READ MORE
LANCE HOSEY The Shape of Green: Aesthetic Imperatives Will new technology — cleaner energy, advanced materials, etc. — help us to live more lightly on the planet? Or merely enable us to pursue unsustainable lifestyles ever more efficiently? Lance Hosey argues that we've been focusing too much on the promise of technology and not enough on the reshaping of our aesthetic desires. "We have yet to face the underlying social and cultural circumstances that caused the environmental crisis," he writes. "How do we align what we crave with what we have?" READ MORE DAVID HEYMANN An Un-flushable Urinal: The Aesthetic Potential of Sustainability What is the "radical aesthetic potential" of sustainable design? "For architects, this might not seem the central focus of sustainability," writes David Heymann, "but it is indirectly, and perhaps should be explicitly." Drawing on examples from Leonardo to Duchamp to Peter Zumthor, Heymann explores the still unmet challenge of developing a new aesthetic ideal inspired by the evolving technologies of sustainability. READ MORE NEWS FROM DESIGN OBSERVER GROUP SPONSORS Enter the Sappi Ideas that Matter competition - an annual, innovative grant program that provides monetary support to produce the creative ideas of designers working for social good. Sappi established the Ideas that Matter grant program to recognize and support designers who donate their time and talent to create communications materials for a wide range of charitable activities. More about Ideas that Matter >> Watch Doug Hebert an inspiration junkie >> Find out more about Sappi here >> Learn to be a design critic through SVA's D-Crit program. Design as subject matter, criticism as a literary genre and the range of tools with which to practice design criticism. Watch videos of presentations by the Class of 2011 >> The D-Crit Program >> SVA Website >> ROLF POTTS Tourist Snapshots Why do we take pictures when we travel? Why has photography become, as Rolf Potts says, a "tourist compulsion"? What has been lost and gained as our photo albums move from hard copy to digital? As the summer season starts, we are pleased to present Potts's recollections — snapshots — from his life on the road and with a camera, from a ninth-grade civics class trip to Washington to later journeys around the world. READ MORE		JOIN PLACES ON FACEBOOK \| TWITTER JOIN DESIGN OBSERVER GROUP ON FACEBOOK \| TWITTER Meaningful work is creating impact. A positive future is taking shape. Submit your proposal >> D-Crit: Design as subject matter. Criticism as literary genre. Learn at SVA >> A quarterly magazine of art and culture Read more >> Designers and leaders talk innovation in healthcare. Join us >> PLACES ARCHIVE: WINTER 2008 Little Rock's Emerging Nonprofit Corridor The non-profit sector is a major player in promoting green urbanism. Here's what's happening in Little Rock. READ MORE PARTNER SCHOOL Woodbury University, School of Architecture Woodbury School of Architecture is a network of hubs strategically sited within the larger Southern California megalopolis: Los Angeles, Burbank and San Diego. Together, these sites form a critical infrastructure for architectural investigations. The school’s undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture and interior architecture train students as entrepreneurs, architect citizens and cultural builders. Our Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Architecture, Master of Architecture and post-professional graduate programs in architecture and real estate prepare students to effect positive change in the built environment, to tackle theoretical debates and to take on architecture as a critical practice. Our faculty is composed of active and prolific architects, designers and academics practicing in Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana. Internationally recognized and award winning, the faculty works closely with students, teaching the skills required to expand the limits of practice and debate the possibilities of our disciplines.
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