The colour purple is still purple. Real rotten roots of a country with little current hope.

No National leadership - even Obama - has ever addressed racial and income disparity in a meaningful or egalitarian way. It has and continues to exist with no meaningful discussion about a real plan that highlights the areas of the country where it’s really hard to make it, and implements a plan to fix it. Why? 

Americans are faced with a cross-generational system that is so politically corrupt that it is not even interested in what it needs to do. It is interested in doing the bare minimum it can do to prevent revolt. Even this has failed and it now has revolt on its hands. Solutions need be at the causal level. The current system offers a choice between candidates from two morally corrupt parties most interested in self-preservation than the public they are supposed to represent. Both are hell bent on stealing well-being from the other and passing it on to their respective constituents.

How did we get here? Facing a global pandemic, rioting in the streets, a movement that is challenging the most fundamental aspects of the west, and we are faced with a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden? What!? Nothing but zero-sum escalation ahead. Neither one of these people is capable of or inclined towards the kind of leadership we need to emerge on a new path. If we do not divert our course, and are choosing between these two, we are putting on hold any solution at least four more years because the president is essential to changing our course. What we’ve got is two parties that get to decide what we choose from, and the game is preventing us from having any choice that could solve the problems. 

It is time for a fundamental breaking of the stranglehold that is the 2-party duopoly. Trump showed us it was possible to get past the parties, but it’s time for real solutions that get at the Purple Heart of an otherwise singular national identity with no middle ground - an advanced, real democracy that sets a new course for the country and forces the people and it’s politicians to think harder.

Likes Come and Go. Memories last forever.

I wonder if we still possess the ability to see the unusual in the everyday and an interest in capturing life’s in-between moments.

I love to design. I love to build more.

Grant me the clarity to face the things I cannot change with the desire to investigate and learn, the courage to fail, and the curiosity to persist at perpetual improvement.

Hear the Image. See the Sound.

Earth revolves around her axis in one day; the Moon orbits around Earth in one month; and Earth around the Sun in one year. How we engage in this rotational journey is unique to each of us. Forever within the common confines of 24 hour time, and forever seeking synchronicity; attempting to seek balance amongst the geophonies, biophonies, and anthrophonies of our worlds. If one cannot physically and audibly connect with the natural world, how are we supposed to grasp its implications beyond cerebral understanding?

Third Space and the Authenticity of the Observed

In a culture that attempts defiance of the realities that its people do not have constant meaning, recent regressive political paradigm shifts bring great concern for the emergent meanings that will be fashioned in the context of this new culture; what we will make things mean or signify moving forward. Islamism or Africanism might substitute Orientalism, but its the upholding of such binary perspectives that masks a hybrid nature of a colonial encounter and the postcolonial condition.

According to Edward Said, “anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient is an Orientalist” (quoted in Sardar and Van Loon 1999, 109), and what they say or do is Orientalism. Orientalism is a cultural derivation of, primarily, the European and American search for self-identity. This search has led to a destructive and omniscient spread of colonial persuasion. Formulating a distinction between the “orient and the Occident” results from the West’s changes in cultural constructions of ‘nature’ and its increasing separation from it. A confused identity in combination with this form of thought perpetuates rhetoric of blame and misunderstanding, and produces what amounts to a state of schizophrenia: Western culture as an observer is becoming completely alienated from itself – assuming a character that is reliant upon the authenticity of the observed. 

Periods of history when values undergo a fundamental shift are certainly not unprecedented. This happened in the Hellenistic period, when from the ruins of the classical world the Middle Ages were progressively born. It happened during the Renaissance, which opened the way to the modern era. The distinguishing features of such transitional periods are a fusion and blending of cultures and a plurality or parallelism of intellectual and spiritual worlds. These are periods when all consistent value systems collapse, when cultures distant in time and space are discovered or rediscovered. They are periods when there is a tendency to quote, imitate, and amplify, rather than to state with authority or integrate. New meaning is gradually born from the encounter, or the intersection, of many different elements.

Said’s notions of a “third space” – a resistance to the categorization of cultures into “universalist frameworks” (Sardar and Van Loon 1999, 120) – are evident in the newly emerging descriptions of Chinese gardens between 1850 and 1950. The collapse or alteration of American and European value systems is certainly connected to alterations in these social and cultural constructions of nature. Orientalist literature which previously saw Chinese gardening practices as “tortuous”, began to speak more of “admiration than condemnation” (Clunas 1997, 28). The “third space” is what Said called “hybridity”. Hybridity “displaces the history that creates it, but sets up new structures of authority and generates new political initiatives” (Sardar and Van Loon 1999, 120). The new interest in and admiration of the Orient was deeply rooted in a shift in cultural and botanic traditions of the West. International horticultural exhibitions spawned an economic movement in “major transfers of plant matter from Asia to Europe and America” (Clunas 1997, 29). 

If we begin to analyse Said’s notion of “hybridity” in light of Western economic initiatives and conceptions of a newly emergent identity with ‘nature’, we may question the validity of his argument. That hybridity is “a strategic reversal of the process of domination” (Sardar and Van Loon 1999, 120) simply does not apply. The appropriation and naturalization of Chinese (Eastern) plant material was deceptively justified in the writings of Orientalists such as Gothein and Jellicoe. The products of ‘nature’ that “risked torture and degradation in the East could be transported to the Home Countries . . . to form part of an unproblematic nature . . . in fact celebrat[ing] British imperial hegemony over a large part of the globe” (Clunas 1997, 29).

The Orient and the East have helped define the West as its contrasting image, idea, personality, and experience. Today, this identity may be best understood within the context of postmodernism. Orientalism is an inherent cultural and societal compulsion deeply rooted in the historical evolution of Western ideological thought, and its dissemination. Certainly it has perpetuated a growing distinction between East and West, 'us' and 'them'. In fact, Orientalism remains as a “Western style for dominating, restructuring and having authority over the Orient” (Sardar and Van Loon 1999, 109). In this hegemonic fervency develops an “Orientalist rhetoric which effectively says that Americans and Europeans do things, Asians just are” (Clunas 1997, 31). The result is an identity of oneself that is detached – reliant upon its distinction with others. 

This is not an attempt to spread an intellectual fear over the commercial expansion of the West that destroys alien cultures. It is rather a typical expression of our multicultural era, a signal that an amalgamation of cultures has been and is taking place. It is evidence that something is happening; something is being born. We are in a phase when one age is succeeding another, when everything is possible because our civilization does not have its own unified style, its own spirit, and its own aesthetic.

Uninvited Publicity

I wish to be clear about my position on the proposed development at Pier 6 adjacent my home at 1 Brooklyn Bridge Park as this 'piece', along with mentions in curbed ny and other recent commentary written by the Gothamist, even Ms. Robbin's ramblings in the NY Times - author of this weekends conversation-igniter - seems more contexomy than journalism. Mr. Colon, in fact, seems rather proud of his abilities to write editorial between "drunk tweets . . .  and . . . listening to arguments drift in through [his[ window". 

I am NOT opposed to development at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, nor am I the resident "Gladiator" out to lead the resistance of "dunderheads"  (the office reference is lost here) against an "incursion of housing" in our community. A Landscape Architect by profession, I am a designer and lover of Parks and Public Space as part of smart development and urban design. I am also NOT opposed to living within a culturally, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse environment. In fact, this is exactly why I moved to Brooklyn from the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

I AM, however,  skeptical of political ambition that flies in the face of due diligence and careful re-examination of a public space that has exceeded anyone's expectations in its use and popularity. Also of concern to me is the safety and accessibility of all people that live in the neighbourhood and the greater borough. If you've been to Pier 6 on a weekend you know exactly how congested chaotic the area can become.

To me there seems to  be some lack of transparency around the financial needs of the Parks operational and capital budgets as they related to the potential funding to be garnered from the development at Pier 6. As BBP Corp presentation documents reveal there appears to be a financial deficit that 100% market rate housing at Pier 6 won't  be able to mitigate. To further increase this deficit through lack of contribution would be fiscally irresponsible, wouldn't it? That is unless there is an astounding outcry from the broader Brooklyn community to open their wallets to ensure this Park remains as enjoyable tomorrow as it is today. According to some sources BBP may actually have a resulting surplus of funds. Somewhere within the ledger is the answer we'd like confirmed. Further, how long might that surplus last and would the City be willing to step in and help cover any future shortfall? I'm certain a equal and opposite reaction to tax-increases would be vocalized by  more than the "elite few" at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Is there such a rush to build affordable housing at the sake of  renewed assessment of the proposed developments influence on all aspects of the community, including access to public education (another of the mayor's top priorities)? With any luck there is less so than the apparent urgency of this weekends slanderous 'commentators' ("journalists") to defame my family name.

'A Battle OVER Brooklyn Bridge Park'

Not two years ago Hurricane Sandy swept across the Northeastern United States and Canada bringing a sobering blow to our (in)humane ability to test natures resolve. A new park on Governors Island emerged from Sandy's wrath with a stunning outcome that confirmed its preparedness and long vision for a changing world; a testament to 'designing-in change'. Raising the height of the Island's Park did not come without much debate. The beneficial effects of such debate, however, were ultimately revealed; the visionary planning and design can manifest by the Park's resilience and current use. 

Across the Buttermilk Channel stands Brooklyn Bridge Park; still emerging as a regional if not national success story in the world of parks and public spaces, but steeped in debate and writhing in controversy over it's recently misconstrued reputation as a "residential enclave for the wealthiest New Yorkers" . . . "going full-NIMBY and waging war over the scourge of affordable housing". Brooklyn Bridge Park  has brought with it a polarizing force that pits neighbour against neighbour; fighting for laudable goals to preserve open space, and at the same time ensure its financial sustainability within a funding model that necessitates its operation as a business rather than a publicly funded common amenity.

I am an outsider having moved to this great city only 5 years ago, and reflect daily on how fortunate we are to have found ourselves living in such a unique and coveted location. Brooklyn Bridge Park was an instant draw for me coming from Vancouver and having witnessed first-hand, over the past two decades, the evolution of industrial waterfront to world-class public space. Coal Harbour is now an amazingly popular park edge to an otherwise continuous urban waterfront; another exceptional segment completed along the shore line of False Creek for the 2010 Olympic Games. Unfortunately there will always be those seeking to diminish and bring-down others' hard work and happiness. New York's #Gothamist mistakes in me a "lacking in self-awareness" for what i believe is hyper-awareness of the under-valued potential and popularity of this great Park. If gladiators are synonymous with pioneers then, yes, I will gladly accept the title. 

Much of Vancouver's success can be attributed to the fact  that most of Vancouver's waterfront is truly publicly funded; maintained and operated by the City and the Vancouver Park Board; an elected board with exclusive possession, jurisdiction and control over public parks in the City of Vancouver. Here at Brooklyn Bridge Park, however, the current model devised to ensure the success of this amazing park relies on funding primarily provided by its residents. With a shortfall 8% of annual revenue needed to simply operate the park and a 64% shortfall in monies to cover the one time expenditure   - $210 million - needed to repair and replace the pilings supporting the Parks piers Pier 6 development is more than desirable, its seemingly a necessity. My "brute arguments" lean more toward any attempts at reducing the available revenue to the Park to further the political ambitions of the City's Mayor. While I might argue this as being fiscally irresponsible it is unfortunately one of the more polarizing arguments that poises anyone questioning of this otherwise laudable goal - increasing affordable housing throughout the City - as sounding elitist and ignorant.

My children, family and many neighbours are avid users of the Park. By no means does this feel like a WASP-y enclave for New York's elite; nor do we identify ourselves as such. The majority of users of Brooklyn Bridge Park appear to represent a diversity that stretches to all corners of the borough and beyond; enriching the community and highlighting the importance the success of this public space is to the City. Unfortunately those seeking drama and the next story are drawn to bad apples like horseflies to flesh. Furthering the negative spin on our communities concerns is a plethora of commentary across our buildings internal bulletin board; often ill-informed and overtly angry at something other than the issue at hand. Fears of loss of property value and a misunderstanding of what social, work-force, and affordable housing really are have been interspersed among more legitimate concerns such as overcrowding in schools, traffic and circulation safety, as well as safety within an otherwise beyond-well-used park were all aired.

It is clear that much has changed since the Environmental Impact Assessment was executed in 2005. In the more than two years my family and I have lived at Brooklyn Bridge Park I consider myself to be an expert observer of the significance of its change. Truly a victim of its own success, the Park has confirmed and further legitimized the necessity for more public space in this borough. Fortunately most that enjoy this Park arrive on foot, bicycle, or transit. Despite this the increased flows of vehicular traffic appear dangerously beyond capacity for single lane bi-directional traffic, compounded by a 400+ stall parking garage, a transit loop, bicycle greenway, and commercial loading. July 4, 2013 I watched from my window as thousands of people brought gridlock to the neighbourhood. Drivers parked there cars three-a-breast in the one-lane one-way bus loop, locked their cars and proceeded to watch the fireworks from their hoods. The buses trying to get through that night? No idea where they went. It is also not uncommon to see a line-up of cars in the morning and evening from the garage entrance to the foot of Atlantic, impeding the orderly flow of traffic through and around the Park entrance. On weekends, bus loads of children from outside the neighbourhood add to the already congested milieu of activity throughout this end of the Park. It is rare for us to take our children to the water park now as I am certain there are more adults and children using it than is safe. The Governors Island ferry adds hundreds more people to this area, now serving as a stepping-off point, not just a destination. The development sites sit right in the middle of this multi-modal node of focused activity. People cling to what little sidewalk space exists and more frequently dawn their manicae and balteus to combat vehicles on their own turf (read asphalt). While convinced of some delicate and creative architectural solution to the building's footprints within the available space I am less certain of an effective solution that will allow those living there to get in or out.

As one of my neighbours noted "we wouldn't be having this debate if the park weren't so successful". He's right. It's not only necessary but in my experience, debate always leads to a better outcome for all. 

The Bus Loop (somewhere) at Pier 6

Madfish 5ive: Dark Passenger

With a leap in scales both personally and professionally, and a momentous and celebratory opening to one of our firm's most celebrated and satisfying achievements  - Miami Beach Soundscape - Madfish 004: 10X was unleashed. 

Almost immediately, the yearning for something equally as satisfying lingered. "A dormant entity lurks throughout our thoughts and emotions quietly unnoticed - however, there are those of us who perceive this Passenger and learn to accept it as a part of ourselves." With a hunger that drives me to the near brink it is only through an exploratory and carefully crafted appreciation for the poetic composition of mood through melody that this hunger can be sated. Life's moments of inspiration come most unexpectedly and when they do it is necessary they be seized; celebrating them in a carnal way that leaves a heightened senses, an agile step, and a determination to succeed.  When in harmonious synchronicity, the Passenger is both controlled and in control.The dark passenger within is not unique but the ability to stumble across it - rare. Enjoy the mix.

Language of a Landscape: Does Music Inspire Space and Does the Space then Improve the Music?

From firsthand experience overseeing the construction of one of the more elaborate and unique park spaces I have personally encountered - personally or professionally -  it is with much anticipation that I continue to drive toward the completion of the recently endorsed "Miami Beach Soundscape" (formerly referred to as Lincoln Park). This will be West 8's first built work in the United States and has been, in 'concert' with the New World Symphony's ambitious vision for it's newly completed facility, a work of art and architecture that I think seeks to aid the evolution of music.

As David Byrne reflects on his own musical ruminations and hypothesizes a model of creativity; do artists write stuff for specific rooms? Do we have a place, a venue, a context in mind when we make things? From the sparse outdoor 'friendship circles' of the African desert to the hymns of gothical cathedrals, Mozart's parlors to  the symphonic chambers of Carnegie Hall, we have been writing music for social situations, not musical situations. Miami Beach Soundscape seeks to provide a new venue that aids in the resistance against a pandemic of "arena rock", bars that lack the visual and physical presence of a "band", and the mutable accouterments of our personal MP3 players.


As predominantly visual thinkers, the conceptual "language of landscape" remains a powerful one. According to Anne Whiston Spirm ASLA the world around us imbued with both syntactical - "features (nouns), processes (verbs) and the principles governing their interaction" - and metaphorical layers. Our ability to use language as yet another tool to educate others about our environment through the shaping of our craft has given life to this once defunct surface of asphalt and oil stains at Miami Beach. In doing so, it is classical music that inspires this space, and it is the space that will undoubtedly improve the music; at least our appreciation of and for it.

Landscape "Nouns" (Features) of the Miami Beach Soundscape
"a SQUARK (park + square)" = slightly larger than a European square but not quite large enough to be a traditional park.

THE PROJECTION TOWER
Skin + Stem + Box
Darth Vader
Pandora
Shrek
The Bulb
The Onion

PERGOLAS (Shade Structures)Baskets
Amoebas
Pods
Monkey Bars

SOUND SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Ballet Bar
Media Hydrants
Bon-Bons
Fat-Boys

While its more iconic pieces - the pergolas - announce the parks entry points, the benches and pathways rise and fall with a subtle topographical undulation that resembles the calmer beginnings of a Mahler composition. As the 350+ palm, live oak and poinciana trees sweep a cool breeze across its green stage, the "ballet bar" embraces this places' audience with a sound that defies location. A term coined early on in the design process, one of the parks most distinct "landscape features" (nearly 180' long and 2' in diameter X 2) - in part inspires the space, but most certainly also improves the music.

Like the movable fold-up chairs of Bryant Park - icons of the place - familiarity with landscape gives space context. While the language of Miami Beach Soundscape is yet to manifest its iconic presence, it offers more than mere background material. It has generated a story - one complete with it's own list of references that deny definition only to those unfamiliar with the park.

Like some birds, we change what we do to fit the context. This "park project" seeks to synchronize the New World Symphony's precision-driven interior soundscapes with that of the atmospheric-driven soundscapes of the exterior. With a rather "humble" hall designed by Frank Gehry - the signature organic shapes introverted in this structure better known as "characters" - the park's mutli-million dollar AV system promises to deliver a listening experience that is comparable to that inside, but moves even further to deliver an environmental experience that is unrivaled.

*For more information and construction updates to this project - check out my channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/blairguppy?feature=mhum

Madfish 003: Straight from the Hornet's Nest

Cover

003.BLOG | In an attempt to further identify and discern the tonal colour of our auditory world, DJ Madfish is set to release his third musical composition. Anticipation of his wife’s impending delivery of new life has renewed his vocational journey through the tonotopic landscape of our receiving world. His first release since leaving Canadian soil, accompanied by a shift in sonic colour, is the direct result of both a perceived and real experience of his auditory landscape. 

DJ Madfish cross-pollinates his occupational pursuits with his extracurricular aspirations and vocational talents. As left brain and right brain work to create visual smells and tangible sites, it is the potential born of the auditory landscape that inspires madfish to bring you tasty sounds.

“These phenomena get to the heart of what it means to have memories. Most of us have a set of memories that we treat something like a photo album or scrapbook. Certain stories we are accustomed to telling to our friends and families, certain past experiences we recall for ourselves during times of struggle, sadness, joy, or stress, to remind us of who we are and where we’ve been. We can think of this as the repertoire of our memories, those memories that we are used to playing back, something like the repertoires of a musician and the pieces he knows how to play”. (D.Levitin, This is your brain on music)

In an effort to preserve the contextual experiences of this time, this 3 set album encodes today’s memories - a vivid and high fidelity set of memory cues for future retrieval and playback in the theatre of our minds . . . and remember, don’t take life too seriously ;)

Inside Leaf