When we lose an old building, we lose not just the architect's vision for its exterior, but all the other elements as well, like internal layouts, which can reveal so much about our social history. We lose all the little design features we all too often take for granted, but which make each building unique, like sculptures, and tilings and fonts and metalwork.
"Disability is a natural aspect of the human condition. As people live longer, as we fight more wars, as medical care continues to improve, more and more people who might have died in an earlier era will live—perhaps with a disability. We should accept it, plan for it, build our society around it." Judith Heuman, "Being Heumann". #accessibility#a11y#disability#BuiltEnvironment#aging#rehab
On my way into the office this morning. UIC is in a place and designed in such a way that there are numerous spots where the wind creates mini tornadoes - this one came right for me!
After #Hawaii’s worst wildfire killed scores of people in August, local and federal agencies are reckoning with the #ToxicChemicals created when a #BuiltEnvironment burns
By Travis Hartman, Adolfo Arranz, Sudev Kiyada and Simon Scarr
Published Oct. 25, 2023
"In the case of Lahaina, the age of the building helps cleanup crews determine which ruined plots might be more dangerous than others. Older structures were more likely to have used #asbestos, for example - a cancer-causing insulation material now banned in construction. The plantation-era wooden structures from the early to mid 1900s, which fueled the fire’s rapid spread through the town, might have used timber coated in poisonous #arsenic to ward away insects and rot.
"The everyday objects and materials that populate an average U.S. household generally pose no threat. But when #plastic materials, lead pipes, outdated insulation, treated wood or #batteries are engulfed by fire, they can change dramatically for the worse."
"Eco-building and eco-living appear as essential steps in struggling climate change. Impacting both human and natural systems, architectural design plays a crucial role in this process. Scientific fields, such as sociology, economics, ecology and ideology, study ecovillages and intentional communities, but often forget the importance of their built environments. However, history of architecture can provide an original point of view. In this article, ecovillages are studied as whole entities acting on several levels of architectural design—from dwellings to territories, from spatial to social organization, from local to worldwide networks."
Has your kid's school banned particular movements during recess, "for your child's safety?"
Our kid reports that cartwheels, handstands, and backbends are now forbidden, even when done in wide open spaces. I'm pretty perturbed about this for a whole lot of reasons, and am looking for advice on how to approach the school.
*caveat that yes, I have confirmed from others that my kid isn't making this up.
#Proprioception develops through the use of the body as vessel, tool and means to inhabit space via sensory input and increasingly appropriate response to stimuli.
So, that is a fairly concerning institutional approach.
"You walk into a movie theater. The lights are dimmed, and you hear previews playing. What was your seat number again? You take out your phone to check your ticket: 8G. Cool—now where is 8G? Is G the row number or the seat number? Is it on the side that I walked in from, or do I need to go to another aisle?"
#NewResearch in #JTLU:
"Correlation between the built environment and dockless bike-sharing trips connecting to urban metro stations" by Jiaomin Wei & collleagues at Beijing Univ. of Technology.