Architect Oscar Niemeyer, who gave the planned city of Brasília its flair, died yesterday at 104. In tribute to him, filmmaker Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) just posted this excerpt from his 2011 film on urban design, Urbanized:  ...

06 December, 2012

Before: After: Lisa Sutt captured this act of civic vandalism this morning on her way to Halifax's Seaport Market. "Brilliant," writes Lisa on her Facebook feed. "So much for history. A bright white stripe is so much better." See this tribute to a dying artform....

27 October, 2012

TV producer John Wesley Chisholm,  whose Arcadia Entertainment production company is located on Halifax's Quinnpool Road, wonders why the street never quite achieves its potential as a great urban neighborhood. In some ways it’s a classic mainstreet. But it’s schizophrenic. It’s a highway with a hundred hidden driveways. It’s a shopping district and residential street. It’s six lanes wide in places, narrow in others. It’s a pedestrian arcade yet almost impossible to cross conveniently. It’s highspeed traffic and slow drag. It’s a parking lot and a thoroughfare. One thing is certain, it’s tired. The faces of the buildings are tired. The wires,...

08 August, 2012

Spoken word artist and social advocate Ardath Whynacht won't be taking part in the public consultations  MT&L and Myrgan Inc. are conducting to smooth the way for Joe Ramia's controversy-plagued Nova Centre in downtown Halifax. Her post at the Halifax Media Co-op website didn't mince words: To engage a single demographic in an orchestrated PR stunt, letting them believe that Joe Ramia and his development cronies will actually entertain the idea of having an after-school drop in centre in their luxury hotel is a crime against democracy. It is a lie. Consultation without a commitment to listen to the citizens is a PR...

26 July, 2012

PlaceMakingHFX is a pilot project of the Halifax Regional Municipality, co-sponsored by the 4Cs Foundation. Time lapse video by E Gordon. Music by Galen Conroy, aka DJ Nagwoode....

25 July, 2012

Our pal Colin May will argue with anyone — even an astrophysicist. He writes: You can push on a string. Freeze it...

02 July, 2012

A curmudgeonly friend writes: Do you live in a mid-sized city with poor public transit, a taxi fleet choked with vested interests, and a risible bicycle system? Do you fear there will never be a day when folks can get around your city efficiently, emitting a minimum of greenhouse gases? If so, then the family sedan may be the answer. That’s crazy talk, of course. Buses are far more efficient, right? But how many times have you driven behind a bus containing two, one or zero passengers. Do you really believe the greenhouse gas emissions from your trusty Corolla are more than those...

15 May, 2012

Anyone who saw Cirque du Soleil's recent shows in Halifax will have noticed the circular structure used to convey people and props between the stage and the upper reaches of the MetroCentre's girders. The shape of this trussed torus, and the way it hung in the air, reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then it hit me: Alexander Graham Bell's circular kite, two fabric-covered disks, conjoined by tetrahedral trusses, flying over Beinn Bhreagh. No larger point here — the structures aren't even all that similar in detail — just a striking confluence of shape, style, and scale across...

15 May, 2012

A design company called Lunar has been pouring fine sand through perforated metal plates, with interesting results: [Video link] HT: 99% Invisible, my new favorite podcast. Thanks to Marie....

13 May, 2012