RX Architects incorporated part of an unfinished building into this house with a cantilevered upper story on the Rye Nature Reserve in East Sussex, England.

Called Druim, the house was built over an existing foundation and ground floor.

The previous owners of the site had been unable to secure permission for two planned properties due to the area's protected status, and opted to sell the site complete with a half-finished structuree

RX Architects built on this existing masonry base with a cantilevering upper-storey clad in Siberian larch, positioned to maximise views across the landscape out towards the sea.

"When the [new] owners commissioned us it was on the basis of completing the existing house, but I quickly came to the conclusion the proportions of the house were all wrong to meet their brief," project architect Rob Pollard told Dezeen.

"A key move here was to re-use the existing foundations and external load-bearing ground floor walls, then place a new steel structure over it so that the first floor could cantilever out."

The house is split horizontally, with a living, kitchen and dining area opening onto two terraces at ground-floor level and bedrooms on the first floor at either side of a library space.

This library space opens out onto a deeply recessed balcony through glass sliding doors, framing a panoramic view across the site.

"We clad the ceiling in this [balcony] space with the same narrow larch batten strips on the external soffits to create a sense of being partially outside," said Pollard.

"It almost has the feel of a bird hide overlooking the nature reserve."

A single-storey games room with an adjacent studio flat has also been created to the west of the main house, accessed via a garden path.

On the ground floor, the existing structure of engineering bricks has been retained and painted with black Keim paint, usually used for marine environments and lighthouses.

"[The Keim paint] seemed fitting for this very exposed coastal location, and the dark colour would compliment the first floor cladding," said Pollard.

"The top floor will naturally weather and silver and appear very rough and textured, whereas the ground floor will retain a very robust and solid datum feel."

Above, the more lightweight first floor projects over this base with a steel and timber structure.

The cantilever shelters the entrance and south-facing elevation below.

This contrast continues internally, with a more "robust" and tactile ground floor and a bright, calm upper floor.

"We wanted to keep a calm palette so everything felt very natural in the environment but didn't detract from the views over the landscape," said Pollard.

RX Architects was founded in 2016, and is led by Rob Pollard and Derek Rankin.

Also in Sussex, Paul Cashin Architects recently completed the refurbishment of a 19th-century cottage in the seaside village of Sidlesham Quay.

Photography is by Richard Chivers.

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RX Architects builds larch-clad house that cantilevers over landscape - Dezeen

It is a scientific fact that the occasional contemplation of natural scenes of an impressive character, particularly if this contemplation occurs in connection with relief from ordinary cares, change of air and change of habits, is favorable to the health and vigor beyond any other conditions that can be offered them. Frederick Law Olmsted

Relationships are of primary importance in our lives, and the relationship between a City and its designers and architects is no different. Exploring this story by way of the planets, offers a new take and creative depths in its chapters. In the City of Buffalos historical timeline, its intersection with landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (Olmsted) is one such relationship well explore in this series of Buffalo Rising articles (see Buffalo as Taurean city).

The City of Buffalo, incorporated or born in April 1832, was profoundly shaped by Olmsted, born in April 1822 in Hartford, Connecticut. Both born under the Suns passage in Taurus, their identity immediately shares an innate affinity towards nature, establishing environments and structures and delighting the senses. This connection continues beyond the solar reach. By casting a birth chart (chart) to reflect the planetary placements and aspects on the day each of our subjects were born, and then comparing together, we see how far deeper the storied relationship between the two goes. Full of uncanny direct hits and ties, a yield of pleasant curiosities follow.

Olmsted visited Buffalo in the summer of 1868 to identify a site for a central park design, which ultimately resulted in his alternative proposal for an integrated park system instead. Most resources identify Olmsteds visit taking place in August that year, with dates of either August 16 or August 18. Curiously, on August 18 a solar eclipse culminated. Consistent with ancient traditions of many cultures, in astrology a solar eclipse is regarded as a particularly potent aspect indicating a storied new and life-changing event and beginning. Not only did Olmsteds visit occur under this unusual and generally auspicious event, the zodiacal placement in which it occurred highlighted a close tie that both the City and Olmsteds charts share.

Both the City and Olmsted were born with an emphasis of Leo in their charts, sharing the astronomically-calculated lunar node placement in this sign.

The August 18 1868 solar eclipse occurred in Leo, the astrological sign ruled by the sun. Both the City and Olmsted were born with an emphasis of Leo in their charts, sharing the astronomically-calculated lunar node (node) placement in this sign. In astrology, the nodes are ascribed weighted significance as reflecting peak events in the natives life journey that serve as hallmarks and milestones in its definition. Approximately every 18.5 years, nodes return to the same position and are seen as potently charged-times in the life cycle when significant events occur that sweep in and greatly impact our life-path. Node placements in Leo emphasize identity, creativity and play. Curious to find that our paired City and landscaping architect both previously born under a Leo node, meet as the nodes return to Leo and under the auspices of a solar eclipse! As a result, as they remain today, the Olmsted Parks became an integral part of our Citys identity and are places born of, and that foster, creativity and play. These are all hallmarks of the 1868 Leo solar eclipse the relationship was born under.

There are yet more uncanny chart commonalities between the two, for example, the story of the moon, the planetary storyteller of mood, heart, spirit and natural instinct in both. The City was born under an industrious, self-made, stiff-upper-lip moon in Capricorn. Olmsted was born under its polar opposite, the moon in Cancer. Their two moons face each other straight on and enjoy a relationship together; Capricorn and Cancer are two sides of the same astrological coin. During Olmsteds 1868 visit, not only did these moons relate well to each other, but also inspiring creative brilliance in them was another specific astrological event that summer, which occurs about once every 84 years. Uranus was in Cancer during this time and reflected to us the story of a passionate drive being fueled into the hearts (moon) of both Olmsted and the City. This storyline heralded a time of ingenuity, innovation, and desire to depart from the norm. As evident in Olmsteds alternative design proposal, our integrated park system reflects this inventive time and its impact on the heart of our City.

As the list continues, the spot-on connections between the two charts spark more curiosity and quizzical head tilts. Like the moon relationship, both the City and Olmsted have the planet which reflects the storyline of passion, drive, energy and motivation (Mars) in signs of polarity as well. The Citys Mars is found in clever and innovative Aquarius and Olmsteds in Leo. The two Mars facing each other, in the same fashion as did the respective moons, highlighting again the direct relationship and impact the two had upon each other.

A further enrapturing connection is the near-exact placement of the Citys Jupiter and Olmsteds Venus, both found together in Pisces. Planets and the stories they reflect for us are impacted, strengthened and weakened, by their placements in various signs and aspects made to them by other planets. Because of these qualities, Venus and Jupiter generally reflect themes of connections and relationships and particularly so, when in Pisces. Both planets enjoy great comfort in this sign and signal to us, an ease of relationship and understanding and also, of natural beauty and harmony. This pairing lent a clever astrological underpinning to Olmsteds the genius of a place approach to landscape architecture in Buffalo.

Quite literally, the landscape architect (Olmsteds Saturn in Taurus) designs a new park system which becomes integral to the Citys identity (Citys Sun in Taurus).

While yet there are more intimate connections, it is likely the impact that Olmsteds Saturn in Taurus had on the Citys Taurean Sun remains the singular bellwether of this relationships yield. Saturn, the planetary archetype of architecture, design, structure and efficiency reflects a well-placed story in Taurus in our evaluation of this relationship. Quite literally, the landscape architect (Olmsteds Saturn in Taurus) designs a new park system which becomes integral to the Citys identity (Citys Sun in Taurus).

Born under the auspices of a solar eclipse, the yet-enduring relationship between the City of Buffalo and Frederick Law Olmsted continues to radiate its steadfast shine across the 716. Peering through the stories mirrored by planetary connections and placements, we catch a new glimpse of an old friend.

Stay tuned for more articles as our series continues.

If you like what youre reading, be sure to visit Starry Wonder online.

Lead image: Courtesy University at Buffalo University Libraries

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Exploring the Celestial Relationship between a City and its Designers - Buffalo Rising

VDF teams up with reSITE today, with the Prague conference sharing five lectures from its 2019 conference starting with Design Indaba founder Ravi Naidoo's talk about the South African design platform he founded in 1995.

The five talks, which will be exclusively shared on VDF, are all from reSITE's REGENERATE conference that took place at the Ricardo Bofill-designed Forum Karlin in Prague in September 2019.

In the first lecture, Ravi Naidoo tells the story behind the Design Indaba conference and discusses the importance of design.

"The fundamental question is this: what's design?" said Naidoo. "Is design a handmaiden to consumption? Is design just to sell more widgets? Or is design in service of people? What's design for?"

Naidoo launched the annual design event in 1995, a year after the country held its first free elections. Since then it has strived to help South Africa make the most of its human capital through design.

"We were so infused with hope that I gave up my day job," he said. "I was an academic at med school, and I just went in and did the leap of faith into trying to reinvent myself as the country was reinventing itself."

"Design has enough power to give dignity"

Describing Design Indaba as a think tank and a do tank, Naidoo said the aim of the project is to be a crucible for change.

"We have to be advocates, but we also have to be exemplars for what it is that we are suggesting to be a great toolkit for the 21st century," he said. "So we get back to the simple honesty of making and we love making."

Design Indaba works in one of the most unequal societies in the world and as a result, it has conceived a number of projects that focus on improving conditions locally.

"What we're wanting to do with design is to give it a higher purpose," Naidoo said.

"A more noble purpose for design, not just to be about consumption. But design, could it improve the quality of life and how could it do it, not just for the haves, but also for the have nots," he continued.

"So, put higher-level questions to design: can design give dignity? Design has enough power to give dignity."

Among these initiatives is the 10 x 10 low-cost housing project, which teamed 10 global architects with 10 local architects. The resulting designs included Luyanda Mpahlwa's now-complete proposal that made use of sandbags to keep construction costs low.

Design Indaba also helped lay the ground for British architect Thomas Heatherwick's design for the Zeitz MOCAA contemporary art museum in Cape Town, by introducing him to the defunct grain silo that would eventually house the museum.

"We can conceive of a better world through creativity"

In 2018, the conference commissioned Norwegian studio Snhetta to design Arch for Arch, a tribute to human-rights activist and anti-apartheid campaigned Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

For Naidoo the arch, which is located close to Cape Town's parliament building and its cathedral, is an example of how design can convey a message.

"What does Archbishop Tutu say to this generation, and the generations after, and what the message really is?" Naidoo said.

"He used the metaphor of the Constitution. The Constitution has 14 chapters. It also has 14 lines in the preamble. So this has 14 arcs of wood, 14 arcs of Siberian larch, five stories high," he continued. "It starts to say 'protect my legacy, protect this constitution jealously', and as parliamentarians looking down every day, must understand that this constitution is what we need to uphold jealously."

Naidoo explained that Design Indaba has one simple mission. "Ideas are just the most amazing powerful force," he said. "Creativity is the ultimate renewable energy. We can conceive of a better world through creativity."

About reSITE

reSITE is a non-profit organisation with a focus on rethinking cities, architecture and urban development. Its aim is to connect leaders and support the synergies across real estate, architecture, urbanism, politics, culture and economics.

reSITE's flagship event is held in Prague, but it has also held events in Lisbon and Berlin. reSITE was founded in 2011 by Martin Barry, a landscape architect originally from New York.

About Virtual Design Festival

Virtual Design Festival, the world's first digital design festival, runs from 15 April to 30 June 2020. It aims to bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

To find out what's coming up at VDF,check out the schedule.For more information or to join the mailing list, emailvdf@dezeen.com.

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VDF x reSITE: "Creativity is the ultimate renewable energy" - Dezeen

In a recent piece for City Lab, Klaus argued that the biggest shifts our cities might experience after the pandemic have already been taking shape. Factors like climate change and noncommunicable epidemics like obesity already influence the way urban planners and architects think about how to build the cities of the future. What something like the current pandemic can do is accelerate those efforts, turning proposed changes like expanded bike lanes, more walkable city districts, and smart buildings from computer simulations and white papers into real-world experiments. Its a story of acceleration and continuity rather than one of super profound disruption revolution, Klaus tells AD PRO of the epidemics impact. It's much more about the acceleration or deceleration of trendsthe question for us is, what are those trends going to be?

The current state of the world offers a few hints. A potent combination of anxiety and government mandates has rendered many public places inoperable. Those that are still thrivingparks, bike paths, streets, and sidewalksnow give Olmsteds early vision a prescient gleam. In Bogot, Colombia, the government moved quickly to expand the citys bike lanes by 47 miles to reduce crowding on public transportation. In Oakland, the mayor shut down 74 miles of streets to motor traffic to allow pedestrians to spread out and get fresh air.

A cyclist wears a facemask in Bogot, Colombia on March 13. To reduce density and curb the spread of COVID-19, the government moved quickly to expand the citys bike lanes.

Less tactically, the debate around the impact of density on public health will continue to rage as architects and planners weigh how to design buildings and cities that cater to both environmental and public health. There will be questions, too, about how technology should be integrated at the city and building level, as Silicon Valley companies grapple with how to deploy their technologies to track the spread of the disease.

Alone, none of these issues will immediately alter the trajectory of the built environment. Tomorrow youll wake up, and your street will likely look the same as it has every other morning this month. If you think about cholera, there were three major outbreaks over a period of 30 years in the United States, Carr says. Nothing changed overnight. The built environment, especially the public realm, takes a long time to catch up.

Its more likely that the pandemic will chip away at our entrenched habits and beliefs. Some people might decide they no longer care for city life and will decamp for less crowded places; others will decide that loosening their convictions about privacy is worth the public health tradeoff. The way many people work, and where they do it from, will shape real estate decisions for years to come. Will there be a reinvigoration of neighborhoods as self-sufficient hubs of activity? Will we come to expect hand sanitizer placed outside of every business? There are more questions than answers at this pointwere witnessing a large-scale public experiment that will slowly, but surely, reveal itself in time.

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Health and Disease Have Always Shaped Our Cities. What Will Be the Impact of COVID-19? - Architectural Digest

In 1943, when food was scarce during World War II, Americans were urged to grow their own crops wherever they could. Its estimated that 20 million victory gardens flourished in the United States that year, and New York City alone produced 200 million pounds of tomatoes, beans, beets, carrots and lettuce. Seventy-seven years later, as millions of Americans are self-quarantined, and many worry about trips to the grocery store and the strength of the food-supply chain, the coronavirus pandemic has revived the victory-garden movement. There is a simple, beautiful logic to having food security within your own home, says David Godshall, the principal of the Los Angeles- and San Francisco-based landscape architecture studio Terremoto. In my lifetime, I dont think theres ever been a more pertinent moment to start gardening. For those wondering what will thrive in a limited outdoor space, the short answer is lots. A small garden on a rooftop or balcony can produce abundant harvests. Even inside, a sunny windowsill can yield fragrant clouds of herbs such as mint, lemon verbena, thyme, rosemary and Thai basil. Below, a handful of urban-garden experts explain how to grow your own food in a space of any size.

The first step to creating a victory garden, no matter the dimensions, is figuring out where you get the most sunlight, says Zilah Drahn, the owner of Plants & Spaces, a houseplant styling service in Los Angeles. In her own apartment in Hollywood, the most sunlight enters through her south-facing windows, so Drahn installed planter boxes on each sill. Its a joy to see the progress of my basil, parsley and cherry tomatoes every morning, she says. Gardening provides a tranquil challenge with tangible results. To measure the light, as Lauri Kranz, the founder of Edible Gardens LA, outlines in her 2019 book A Garden Can Be Anywhere, take a photo of the area being considered every two hours between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Your garden should go in a place that gets six or more hours of direct sunlight a day.

Once youve identified a sunny spot, assess how much space you actually have available for planting, advises the Parisian landscape architect Arnaud Casaus, who maintains a small herb garden of sage, chives, tarragon and bay leaf in terra-cotta pots on his 108-square-foot terrace in the Second Arrondissement. Then, make sure the area can bear the weight of the soil, plants and water (if youre uncertain, ask your building manager or consult with a professional). For rooftops and balconies with raised beds or planters, Cecilia de Corral, the design and build director at the rooftop farm Brooklyn Grange, suggests low-maintenance crops, such as rainbow chard, dinosaur kale, snow peas, hot peppers, purple shallots and any and all herbs. Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces and sweet peppers will also work but require extra attention. For those with just a sunny windowsill, crops such as carrots and radishes can be grown in containers or coffee tins (just make sure to punch holes in the bottom for drainage). If youre a beginner, consider store-bought herbs or experiment with fast-growing seeds like beans, says Taryne Messer, a designer at the New York-based plant-focused creative studio ETVERNAL, which specializes in planting gardens for clients in the tiniest of spaces. In her own container garden on a rooftop in Brooklyn, Messer cultivates bronze fennel for salads, nasturtiums for a spicy pesto and geraniums, which quickly become dynamic, sculptural houseplants, she says.

Light and space dictate what you can grow, but you should only plant what youll eat. Plan a functional palette that reflects your culinary tastes and is easily utilized for meals, Messer says. In his home garden in San Francisco, Val Cantu, the owner and chef at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Californios, tends essential French herbs like rosemary and thyme. Rosemary is easy to throw on any roast dish and adds a ton of delicious grassy, piney flavor, he says. Thyme is another favorite and good for adding some complexity to a broth. For something more unusual, Cantu recommends hoja santa, an anise-scented herb that can be added to quesadillas or cooked with beans; its large, heart-shaped leaves can also be used as taco shells and loaded up with whatever you want (Cantu fills his with purple masa, wild mushrooms and fermented watermelon radish). Meanwhile, Keegan Fong, the owner of the Chinese comfort-food restaurant Woon Kitchen in Los Angeles, suggests baby bok choy, a leafy green that can be grown in a window box. Its hearty and healthy and so good in soup or stir fry. He also proposes cucumber, cilantro and spinach, which can be served Chinese style, he says, with some garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil. Those who cook less frequently might try growing lavender or chamomile for teas, or mint for Moscow mules.

Check the back of each seed packet to determine your plant-hardiness zone, and when you can sow the seeds. If youre in the Northern Hemisphere and able to plant directly in the ground this month, focus on cool-weather crops until temperatures become more consistent: Direct sow lettuce and carrots, or transplant onion and broccoli seedlings, says de Corral. For warm-season vegetables that cant handle the cold, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash, start the seeds indoors, and then transplant them after the last frost has passed (generally toward the end of April in Los Angeles, and in the first or second week of May in Chicago and New York City). And if you cant find seeds, dont panic. You may have some dried spices in your pantry, such as dill, fennel and coriander, that can be used instead. Even table scraps carrot tops, onion, celery and lemongrass bottoms, lettuce and cabbage cores will start to regrow if placed in a shallow bowl of water and set in the sun.

Once youre settled on where, when and what to grow, youre ready to plant. Fill your container with organic soil and some fertilizer, making sure its deep enough to accommodate a few more inches of soil both in perimeter and depth than your plant requires, Messer says. This accounts for future growth and acts as a water reservoir. The arrangement of the garden will depend on your individual needs, but you can plant in single rows or experiment with intercropping (growing two or more plants next to each other in the same area). Weve seen it all, and it all works, de Corral says, as long as youre giving your plants enough sunlight, water, good organic fertilizer and lots of love. Lastly, adopt a regular watering schedule: once a day in cooler months, and twice a day if its hot or dry (the soil should be moist but not muddy). Theres poetry in any daily practice or ritual that makes you slow down, observe and act more deliberately, Messer says. If you need additional help, Brooklyn Grange is offering virtual consultations on planning urban-vegetable gardens. But, as Godshall advises, I wouldnt get stuck trying to design the thing too much.

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How to Plant a Victory Garden, Even on a Windowsill - The New York Times

Heres how to see the latest, largest, made-in-Weston rope sculpture by the artist Susan Beallor-Snyder:

On the United States Botanic Garden website, find the link to the 2020 Orchid Show and take the video tour. In the first segment, an overview of the display inside the Conservatory, watch for coiled tendrils of rope hinting at the sculpture to come. It will take a star turn in the longer second segment, a caressing scanning shot that shows the 8-foot-tall, 10-foot wide sculpture suspended before a glass wall.

Openings allow the sculpture to act as an airy frame to the Garden grounds. Yet at the same time, the sculptures body is heavy with forms coiled, twisted and latticed. Some coils are tightly wound solids, like a braided rug. Others are looser, like a lasso. Thin ropes wind their way up thick ropes, like vines. Lengths of rope strung transversely make a hammock.

A narrator says the sculpture is a site-specific installation called Weaving Narrative, that it is an expression of the artists emotions and that it is made from 10,000 feet of manila rope, weighing 300 pounds. It also took a lot of hard work. The heaviest rope Beallor-Snyder used was two-inches thick.

Youre constantly drawing it through your hands, because you have to use long pieces. When you start weaving you have to pull it and pull it, she says.

Beallor-Snyder says that as far as she knows, she was offered the orchid show commission after the Gardens landscape architect, Nick Nelson, discovered her in an online search for rope artists. Nobodys doing exactly what Im doing, she says, adding she has a good Google presence. Her recent sculptures may behave like murals or tapestries, but they are freer in form and gain depth from the rope.

On her website, Nelson likely saw the even larger rope sculpture, Changing Tides, Beallor-Snyder made in 2017 for a luxury apartment building in Washington, D.C.s revitalized Southwest Waterfront area. At 14-feet wide and more densely woven than Weaving Narrative, it ate up 20,000 feet of rope.

One video on her website documents the removal of the completed Changing Tides from the loft of her Weston studio. A six-man crew cautiously eases it in a tarp, as if it were a sedated beast, down a ramp to a waiting truck.

Beallor-Snyder and her husband moved to Weston from New York City four years ago, partly in search of better studio space. They had lived in Westport from 2001 to 2006. But they were in Atlanta, where her husband was a Time-Warner executive, when she began experimenting with rope in 2011. Before that she had concentrated on photography and the design of fine jewelry, especially gold. She was searching for something new, but the radical switch in material and scale surprised even her.

I dont know where it came from. It just came into my life, she says. When I first discovered manila the rope the thing that drew me to it was the color and the texture and the heft of it. The way you could weave it and knot it was really wonderful. I was looking for something that would express emotion in a visual way. Rope is like a line; youre weaving a line. When I start I dont even know what its going to look like. Its meditative. Its a journey, she says.

Some of her early sculptures were tall, thickly woven inverted triangles. But the first really large one she made was an actual physical journey, back and forth from living room to sun porch in her home.

I started making this piece and I decided to go as far as I could into those rooms, so the piece ended up being 17 feet wide. My husband would come in and he was looking very worried because it was taking over the living room. It was draping over the chairs and the couch. He asked who I was making it for and I said, My feeling is, if you build it they will come.

She says the sculpture titled, Crossroads, became her calling card and is now being considered for display as public art, though it was premature to say where. As much as rope attracted her, in the beginning she found working with it painful. It was heavy. My back hurt. It got into my fingers, she says. Now she keeps tweezers nearby and buys rope 400 yards at a time. Another hazard with rope sculptures is that they arent easy to fix once begun.

I dont do sketches or drawings. I have (the emerging design) in my head, she says. With Weaving Narrative, I started working it for several weeks and I pulled the entire thing out. Other artists can erase. I have to work the piece and then go, No, I dont like it. Its a lot of time undoing. I have to untie the whole thing. That happens a lot.

She says she turned down several other jobs to take the orchid show commission after it was offered to her last April. She knew that this year the national Botanic Garden, promoted in turn by presidents Washington, Jefferson and Madison, would be observing its bicentennial. The orchid show was to end in May, but Beallor-Snyder expects the sculpture will stay until at least October.

She herself was impressed when she finally saw it in place. Other sculptures were hung flat against painted walls. But Weaving Narrative was backed by a glass wall and slightly removed from it.

When they were hanging it, it suddenly came to me, she says. It was like a whole new way of working, because you could see it from both sides, which Id never done before. I was like, wow.

She expects it will inaugurate a new series of sculptures she is calling Woven Walls.

Joel Lang is a freelance writer.

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Weston artist Susan Beallor-Snyder weaves a rich narrative with lots and lots of rope - CT Insider

To Kundig, there is no distinction in the process to create projects of different typologies. When you approach a large project or a small project, you are approaching it from the same basis: You are making a place for human beings to be human, which means that you have the same sort of value system that is working its way through these projects, the architect says.

Martins Lane Winery in Canada was designed by architect Tom Kundig as two volumes, one that hugs the topography and the other that cantilevers over it.

The idea is guided by his close relationship with nature, one that began in childhood. Born in Northern California and raised in Washington state, he finds himself nature-based in instinct, and is excited by the utilization of natural materials in architecture, embracing the way they age and change over time. Residential projects like the three-story treehouse in Costa Rica, built entirely of local teak and passively operable, or Hale Lane on Hawaiis Big Island, where interior and exterior are nearly indistinguishable, are prime examples.

An interior staircase in a Costa Rica treehouse, designed by Tom Kundig.

The treehouse was designed for clients who are both avid environmentalists and surfers.

But the architects love for designing with so-called gizmos (the levers, cranks, pivoting walls, wheels, and shades embedded in his work) is also rooted in the natural world. When you move something large or heavy or cumbersome using the ideas of physics, you are embracing the natural world through your body, he explains. And often, the movement of those large, heavy, or cumbersome things reveals a vista. Financier Kipp Nelsons Hollywood aerie (revealed in ADs November 2019 issue and also featured in the new monograph) is a contemporary machine for living, where glass sliders open the living room to the pool, and mechanical shutters keep the evening chill out of a cantilevered master bedroom that seems to float over La La Land. Meanwhile, the previously unpublished Wasatch House in Salt Lake City is completely grounded, a series of three pavilions where landscape weaves in and under its sky bridges, and interior panels can open or close living spaces.

The Wasatch House in Salt Lake City, Utah, frames views of Mount Olympus.

If you look through all the projects in the book, they are relatively narrow in certain directions to a sort of refuge area and then that refuge area can open to a big prospect view. So youre always aware of the yin and yang of nature, both big views, refuge views; black and white; hard and soft; protected and exposed, he says. The intention is that you have your choice to either embrace, protect, or waive through use of these objects.

A bedroom in a Dallas apartment.

While each of Kundigs projects has their own contextual quirks, they all feel embedded in nature, whether they are actually urban or rural (the architect is currently completing a multi-family housing complex, 8899 Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, and several hospitality projects around the world). The thread that connects them all? Humanity, he says: The basis is always what it means to be a human, what it means to be alive, what it means to experience our place and our short period of time on earth.

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Tour These Never-Before-Seen Tom KundigDesigned Structures - Architectural Digest

From significant business changes to noteworthy product launches, theres always something new happening in the world of design. In this weekly roundup, AD PRO has everything you need to know.

Kips Bay Decorator Show House and the Invisible Collection Step Up

The Kips Bay Decorator Show House generally raises significant funds for the Boys and Girls Club. But with the showcase unable to take place this spring due to COVID-19, the organization is looking for ways it can still fundraise. Now, it is organizing a raffle, with donated pieces from businesses such as The Shade Store, that will run through May 6. Meanwhile, drawing on their extensive network, the Invisible Collection is staging a charity auction of 25 works that have been approved of by the likes of Charles Zana, Atelier Vime, Osanna Visconti, and Ashley Hicks. The profits from the sale, which will run through next Thursday, will go to support emergency funds in New York, London, and Paris.

Prouv and Ponti and Parisi, Oh My!

Auction houses may not be hosting in-person sales, but their online ones are marching on. Earlier this month, the Sotheby's design sale exceeded estimates. Now, Phillips is set to bring a slew of striking pieces to the virtual block, including a Jean Prouv model 305 Chair, a set of eight Gio Ponti chairs, and an Ico Parisi modular bookcase. A Brge Mogensen chest and sideboard and a Heikki Orvola glass vase are two additional items open to bids through April 30. Also of note, Christies shared plans for a particularly special sounding sale. Titled Handpicked, the auction running from May 12 to 28 features 100 artists chosen by Saatchi Gallery. A wonderfully supportive collaboration, and a creative one at that.

Orior to Host Covid-19 Relief Auction

Oriorwhose products have been spotted in the projects of Martin Brudnizki and DesignAgency, among othersis partnering with the Mayors Fund to Advance New York to support the city that welcomed it last summer, when the Northern Irish furniture maker debuted its first U.S. showroom in Tribeca. From April 27 through May 3, the company is auctioning off nine of the bestselling pieces in its current collection and donating all the proceeds to feed the frontline staff in the New York City Health + Hospitals system.

Give Back by Beelining for Robert Stilins Book

Those in search of inspiring quarantine reads may want to place an order for Robert Stilins monograph. The AD100 designer has announced that both he and the books publisher, Vendome Press, will each donate $10 from every sale placed through BookHampton to Gods Love We Deliver. During this crisis, Gods Love We Deliver is feeding people who would otherwise have nothing to eat, Stilin tells AD PRO. This is an essential service and Vendome Press and I feel donating $20 from the sale of each book sold is the right thing to do. And we chose BookHampton to partner with because small businesses like theirs are really struggling right now to survive.

The Tree of Life Blooms Anew

Marika Meyer's new collection, timed to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, has a fitting theme: The Tree of Life. The two-colorway collection, in sage and pale blue as well as the brand's signature navy, was designed prior to the coronavirus crisis. But, Meyer points out, the theme has proven to be especially relevant: "The Tree of Life has always been about the cycle of lifethe connection between all living things, the role we play in our community, and our impact on the planet. We had originally approached this collection as a way to call attention to the interconnectivity of all life, and the importance of making sustainable choices. But it's meaning is even more powerful now in light of the current crisis," she says. The brand is also launching two re-colorings of one of its popular small prints, called Edward.

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This article originally appeared on VICE India.

A few days ago, under the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus in India, Diipti Jhangiania resident of Bandra in Mumbai, Indiawas walking through a 50-square-meter [538-square-feet] patch of land inside her building complex. In it were robust hedges of tomatoes, carrots, okra, spinach, papayas, chikoos, drumsticks, bitter gourd, and other vegetables. She dug up some fresh turmeric to take back home. During a crisis like [this pandemic], there will always be a shortage of food for those who cant afford it, says the 34-year-old urban farmer and the founder of an agricultural startup called Edible Gardens. And even for those who can, there are some shortages. Weve run out of haldi (turmeric) in the stores nearby. But Ive been growing haldi in my community farm in my society, so were using that instead. And its so much fresher.

A few years ago, when Jhangiani started converting barren public spaces to community gardenslike the one she created in her building complex three years agoshe mostly heard people calling it a silly gardening hobby. Right now though, I have to say, its very gratifying to see that people are talking about growing your own food and managing your own waste. There are elderly people who come to take bitter gourd from the farm, which is excellent for purifying blood, she tells VICE. The real interest in urban farming will only show once the lockdown is over. It will show if people really mean to change. But its good to have started this conversation, finally.

Diipti Jhangiani at her community farm in Mumbai. Photo via Diipti Jhangiani

Across the world, the pandemic has brought to our notice many falloutsfrom the failing public health systems to our fragile mental health to the economic slowdown to the glaring rich-poor divide. But theres another aspect that is slowly bringing the world to its knees: the fear of food shortage. In every country where lockdowns have been imposed in order for the people to maintain social distancing to contain the spread of the virus, there have been reports of panic buying and hoarding in literally every country possible. While many faced empty shelves at supermarkets and stores, others found a huge segment of their population not able to feed itself. And this is despite the fact that some reports say there is really no major concern for global food security yet.

The perception of food shortage and fears of inflated prices, along with disruptions in food supply chains subsequently point to the fact that there is a high possibility that were on the verge of, or are heading steadily toward a breakdown. This trend even led global agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) to predict massive food shortages across the globe. Uncertainty about food availability can spark a wave of export restrictions, creating a shortage on the global market, said a joint statement by UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), WHO and World Trade Organization.

In fact, developing countries are currently at risk of facing famine as well as food riots. Dominique Burgeon, the director of emergencies at the FAO, even warned that the rich should not see food shortages arising from the pandemic as a problem for only the disenfranchised. If food shortages begin to bite, the impacts will reverberate across the globe, he said. In fact, in agrarian and rural pockets of the world, farmers are facing huge losses since the lockdowns forced them out of their farmlands, and shortage of labour drove up costs as well as fall in demand.

In India, where the lockdown is currently seeing a huge displacement of migrant workerswho make up 37 percent of the countrys population, and depend on daily wages for survivalfood shortages are predicted to cause violence and unrest. This is something new and very difficult to predict, Abdolreza Abbasian, a senior economist at FAO, said. It is that uncertainty that right now is the biggest danger.

And its at an uncertain time like this when the concept of grow-your-own-food is increasingly gaining traction. Jhangiani, who has been growing her own food in the form of community farms, is one of the many advocates of self-sufficiency. In fact, the pandemic has barely made much difference to the way she lives. My own process started with processing our own waste, and from that we started growing our own food. In urban spaces, there is so much potential to have these farms on literally every street or garden out there, she says. And you dont even need acres and acres of land for this. Im currently growing chikoo and mulberries in containers! You dont need a lot of space, you just need the right technique. Kitchen gardens, which are perfect for the ridiculously tiny apartments that dot most big cities, are seeing a boost as well.

At the moment, the internet is full of DIY kits to help people grow their own pantry literally anywhere. Look around you and find the spaces that could be filled with food: lawns, verges, community gardens, the end of the cul-de-sac; and if you live in an apartment, a shared communal areathey all work, writes Palisa Anderson, an Australian restaurateur and farmer. Adds Los Angeles Times writer Jeanette Marantos, Food banks are already seeing double the demand. Planting food now can help you and others get through the uncertain days ahead.

The conversation around self-sufficiency in terms of growing your own food has been around for a while, but it appears that the coronavirus lockdowns have pushed many people to do so as an emergency measure. "More people are thinking about where their food comes from, how easily it can be disrupted, and how to reduce disruptions," landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, who designed Asia's largest urban rooftop farm in Bangkok, told Thomson Reuters Foundation. "People, planners and governments should all be rethinking how land is used in cities. Urban farming can improve food security and nutrition, reduce climate change impacts, and lower stress.

The trend is also interesting considering a UN prediction that two-thirds of the worlds population will be living in cities by 2050. In many countries, self-sustenance practices such as permaculture, hydroponic farming or urban farming are an exercise to reap many benefits, from choosing chemical-free food, to bringing farm-to-table concepts in commercial settings, to maintaining mental health and creating an aesthetically pleasing terrace/garden. But in countries such as Singapore, where there are no local sources for food and therefore ends up importing a large chunk of their edibles, self-sustainable farming trends such as vertical and rooftop farms, hydroponic farming, or farm fishing, have become a way forward for economies facing food shortage.

In fact, some experts feel that the pandemic could actually set off a few trends, probably for good. Now more than ever, its important to focus on a hyperlocal food system. Growing our own food is the best way to guarantee access to produce throughout the year, Anusha Murthy of Edible Issues, a platform that fosters a dialogue around food systems, tells VICE. Urban gardens can be a great solution for those of us who can afford it and access it. A community-driven approach to growing food would be a smart solution as well. For us to reach towards self-sufficiency in food, knowing at least where our food comes from is a crucial first step.

Anusha Murthy (right) runs Edible Issues with co-founder Elizabeth Yorke

Jhangiani adds that while there will always be some reliance on stores for urban dwellers for items such as grains or oil, self-sufficiency can also extend to other everyday thingslike making your own detergent (with orange and lemon peels), or utensil-cleaning solution (featuring water, soap nut water and lemon water) or even toothpaste (includes baking soda and coconut oil). Self-sufficiency should extend to other aspects of living as well, says the urban farmer.

Its also interesting to see how the pandemic is radically driving conversations on self-sufficiency as opposed to several years of activism by climate crisis activists. Perhaps its got to do with our collective vulnerabilities, which is pushing us to seek measures that would save us from a whole lot of anticipatory anxiety about the uncertain future. In the U.S., Google searches for home farming jumped by 50 percent last month, along with (and curiously so) a 75 percent jump in searches for how to raise chickens. Food security and sustainability are a very hot topic right now, Phyllis Davis, the president of Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems in the U.S., told The New York Times.

In India, Murthy observes that the pandemic has forced urban dwellers to look at their local food systems, and understand them better. Resources to cook have become limited and people are going back to traditional recipes and learning to cook with ingredients they normally wouldnt use, she says. Theres another section of people creating and innovating on dishes with what they have. This could perhaps explain a whole lot of baking and cooking on social media, while Murthy also adds that the pandemic is pushing more men into the kitchens.

But the pandemic could actually not be so bad for the small and marginal farmers, who are still the biggest providers of food to Indias 1.3 billion population. In fact, the pandemic and its impact would probably spare them, and the shift to local foods could potentially even help some of them. Farm to table is tradition in India, not hipster fad, journalist and author Samrat writes in his column Indian digital website, Firstpost. It may also help build resilience in societies and economies to the vicissitudes of globalization, of which the present global pandemic is an example.

In the end, sure the world is in a deep mess, and yes, we have yet to see the final fallouts, but perhaps its worthwhile to remember that every crisis has a lesson. And this one is in the kitchen.

VICE is committed to ongoing coverage of the global climate crisis. Read all of our Earth Day 2020 coverage here, and more of our climate change coverage here.

Follow Pallavi Pundir on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on VICE IN.

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Nestled between West Rock and the West River, a plot of land on Valley Street is being transformed from nondescript park land into a memorial garden that will be the first of its kind in the United States. The Memorial Garden for Victims of Gun Violence in New Haven set to open late this summer will be the first space to serve explicitly as a memorial garden for victims of gun violence, as a space to mourn, reflect and heal.

The cohort of mothers in New Haven who spearheaded this project wanted more than a cemetery to memorialize and honor their children who were taken by gun violence. They believe that this garden will be a gift not only for their childrens legacy, but to a city badly beaten by decades of bloodshed. They hope that it may even force people to lay down guns for good.

As a mother, when you get the phone call that says your child has been shot and is on the way to the hospital, or if you make it to the hospital and they walk out and say, We lost him, youre hopeless, Marlene Pratt, one of the women behind the memorial, said in an interview with the News.

Pratt teaches science at Career High School on Legion Ave., one block from Yales Medical Campus. Pratts son met a similar fate to nearly 800 other New Haveners since the 1970s when he was shot and killed in 1998 at the age of 20. Pratt has since connected with other New Haven women who, like herself, have had to confront life without their child as a result of gun violence. Pratt and her sisterhood of bereaved mothers begin planning the memorial in 2017. Now, they are a few months away from the opening of the New Haven Memorial Garden to Victims of Gun Violence.

The Nucleus

This past week, Pratt and two other mothers mourned the loss of Winnifred Phillips-Cue after a yearlong fight with pancreatic cancer. Winnie, as she was known, had been friends with another core group mother, Pam Jaynez, since they were eight years old. Both women grew to share the same fate become mothers of children taken from them and have fought diligently for a better future. This diligence is characteristic of what a representative from the architectural firm Svigals and Partners which designed the memorial garden in collaboration with the nucleus called truly remarkable women.

Pratt, borrowing from the vocabulary of a science teacher, called the core group of mothers The Nucleus.

So, its the three of us now but it was four of us, Pratt said. I came up with nucleus because we were the center of the project as far as getting it together. The fact that the nucleus controls the cell, we were more like that, working with the body.

This nucleus of women formed in 2017 when Pratt first engaged with a support group for bereaved parents of gun violence victims organized by the New Haven Police Department. Since then, Pratt, Jaynez, Cue-Phillips and Celeste Fulcher have worked to put an end to the problem that has caused them so much pain.

Pratt recalled a memory of driving past a scene marked by yellow police tape. A bystander commented that another person got shot, unfazed by the public carnage before them. This indifference to suffering prompted Pratt to reimagine how people look at gun violence in her hometown.

Its not a park, its a garden

More than once, the mothers encountered obstacles that made them question whether their garden would ever come to life.

As they searched for a site, Pratt recounted that some neighbors feared that the garden would be used for public drinking or barbecues. Pratt recalled that Cue-Phillips often responded to misinterpretations of the nucleus vision by saying its not a park, its a garden.

The difference between a park a public place where one might drink in public or anticipate a barbecue and a garden, Pratt explained, was that the garden was a site for purpose and reflection.

Architectural firm Svigals and Partners, which designed the revamped Sandy Hook Elementary School, partnered with the nucleus to develop the memorial garden.

I think [the Sandy Hook community] actually chose our firm because of our reputation of being able to involve people in the process, the firms associate principal Julia McFadden said. I think they rightly recognized that their whole community was going to need a process that was going to be very sensitive and respectful to a whole range of emotions and feelings that they might be experiencing.

McFadden said that the Sandy Hook project involved incorporating narratives from the community such as photos and knowledge about the personal story of a place. The firms experience in incorporating narratives of trauma and hope informed their approach to the gun violence memorial project.

Svigals Director of Art Integration Marissa Mead said that her involvement began with a sketch pitched by Pratt. Pratt said that the sketch came from a student of hers who had heard about the nucleus vision for the garden and then rendered it in a drawing. That drawing served as the foundation for the spatial landscape of the garden, Mead said. Features such as a magnitude walk and the tree of life anchor the garden persisted until the final design that is currently under construction.

In an interview, New Havens Chief Landscape Architect Katherine Jacobs reflected on the narrative arc of the memorial garden as it relates to the Elm City.

I really think that there is something to just the spirit of everyone having a collective sense of care for our shared space and our shared community, Jacobs told the News. And also a sense of investment and empowerment and that this is a place that is loved and that we think, by as a corollary we care about each other, and having spaces that are neglected and broken down, kind of adds to a sense of disinvestment, and disempowerment, and lack of care. So my hope and my vision for landscapes is that we can get to a place where we have amazing parks and public spaces, and we just want them to represent how much we care about this place.

This care for New Havens public spaces aims to bridge not only intertwining family narratives, but also the divide between town and gown.

From Hillhouse Avenue to Valley Street

A common preconceived notion about Yale University is that its host citys violent reputation undermines its students safety. Yalies, lifelong New Haveners and those well acquainted with the Elm City know that New Haven is acutely affected by gun violence a problem the city shares with countless other urban areas in the United States. While the number of violent crimes in the city has vastly decreased in recent years, decades marked by deadly violence still cast a shadow on the citys future.

Violence, like many of the citys urban realities, has a less prevalent, but not immaterial, effect on the Yale campus. Gun violence is no exception to that rule. The New Haven Register quoted then police spokesman David Hartman in 2011 saying that there were 36 murders in New Haven in 1991, one of the 36 being Christian Haley Prince, a 19-year-old Yale student fatally shot on the steps of St. Marys Church on Hillhouse Ave. This murder brought national attention to New Haven, even prompting a book in 1995 profiling the opportunity gap between Prince who was white and his killer. It located the Yale community in a problem that has abated but is ongoing, and linked Christian Princes legacy to a community of New Haven mothers committed to planting the seeds of a nonviolent future in the Elm City.

Princes legacy lives on in institutional memory and in the everyday life of Pierson College where his niece Haley Prince 22 is now a sophomore.

Haley Princes grandmother Christians mother owns a collection of boutiques in the Washington, D.C. area where she preferentially hires women who have lost children, Prince said. Haley Prince reflected on an anecdotal family history surrounding Christian. Then President George H.W. Bush 48 called the Prince family to offer his condolences and then University President Benno Schmidt 63, LAW 66 resigned within a year.

I see a systematic issue in the stark contrast between the coverage and tribute my uncle received versus other men, and sons, in New Haven who have suffered the same fate, Prince told the News.

Prince said that her uncles murder has influenced much of her activism surrounding gun violence. She hopes that Yale students elect to form a relationship with the memorial garden and the city so that all New Haveners can heal.

Seven hundred-sixty names including Christian Princes will be featured in the memorial garden, according to Pratt.

John Besche | john.besche@yale.edu

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