tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62498608789081863462011-08-01T20:21:31.007-04:00Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.comBlogger821100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-62503999237111878382010-09-22T10:37:00.004-04:002010-09-22T10:42:54.512-04:00

Well, bless me readers, for it has been two months since my last post. Is there is penance to be done in the blogosphere for such a prolonged silence? Extra postings? I promise to amend my ways…But today we celebrate! It’s Car Free Day again, so I’m sending my wishes for a wonderful holiday. What? It’s not a holiday? That would explain the traffic.I’m celebrating, as I always do and as I

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-77281235790444135152010-07-27T16:52:00.010-04:002010-07-27T17:00:31.129-04:00

I was standing on the platform at King Street Metro Station, in that state of mental detachment and disattenuation familiar to transit users, when a freight train rumbled by on the neighboring tracks. Boxcars gave way to open top coal cars, one after another after another after another after another, headed south. It was one of those recently Hades-hot days in Washington, when the grid is

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-79498144117780439122010-07-07T14:10:00.002-04:002010-07-07T14:15:55.408-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-25714768736901524202010-06-30T14:02:00.011-04:002010-06-30T14:23:06.974-04:00

Continuing on my Cobusier riff, the post here is a summary of my presentation at DCWeekThere’s a long tradition of manifestos in modern architecture, of calls to arms to rally round some ideology of one sort or another. (There’s a great anthology of them, Programs and Manifestos on 20th Century Architecture by Ulrich Conrads.) Le Corbusier’s 5 Points made a particularly pithy manifesto. Easy

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-83398983859848094702010-06-17T14:15:00.011-04:002010-06-17T14:43:01.418-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-14387494477229691652010-06-15T13:38:00.006-04:002010-06-17T14:38:24.144-04:00

After my experience at SIGGRAPH last summer, I have gotten more accustomed to techie conferences. Later this week, Friday in fact, I'll be part of a panel at Digital Capital Week talking about--what else?--the green urban future. The moderator told us we each get 10 minutes. 10 minutes? It takes longer than that to say my name! So, with not enough time really to develop a thesis, I think I'm

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-82014899887980445182010-06-07T10:59:00.002-04:002010-06-07T11:06:27.446-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-49246625243972504912010-06-04T11:06:00.005-04:002010-06-04T11:14:50.713-04:00

Matter Practice, that is, and mgmt, the exhibition and graphic designers respectively for Green Community have just received an Honor Award for their work on the exhibition from the Society of Environmental and Graphic Design. With our media designers, Potion, having won a gold MUSE award previously, that makes two awards that Green Community has won. Congratulations to our stellar team!

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-63794840700229150262010-05-27T16:09:00.007-04:002010-06-04T11:14:07.176-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-63200381520538763442010-05-14T16:34:00.002-04:002010-05-14T16:40:01.653-04:00

The semester has ended. The Solar Decathlon 2011 Finalists exhibition is open. so, I'm off to Portland to participate in a Sustainability Symposium at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.See you in the future...

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-47222399610905677822010-04-29T12:26:00.005-04:002010-04-29T19:47:21.958-04:00

I think I need to keep going with last week’s post and my quote from Michael Braungart that there is no green architecture, only good or bad architecture. It’s an attention-getting quip, which as Eco Man Rob Fleming points out is “good yes, but problematic in that I know it’s very difficult to make good architecture under any circumstances. I don't like such a binary distinction. But I need to

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-18100137417550223972010-04-23T13:32:00.004-04:002010-04-23T13:39:09.066-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-13696864884326848072010-04-15T14:55:00.004-04:002010-04-15T15:05:52.501-04:00

Although I should be writing about my experience at the APA convention in New Orleans this past weekend--which included attending epic session with Dr. John, Irma Thomas and hosted by Nick Spitzer-- I'm up to my eyeballs in Solar Decathlon stuff. As one of the winners of the Museum's annual Honor Awards, the Decathlon is getting the star treatment on our website and then in a special exhibition

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-22241954845422131062010-04-08T16:47:00.003-04:002010-04-08T16:53:32.777-04:00

Took Metro to work, got a SmartBike at lunch to ride across town for lunch, and tonight I’m heading to the Zipster happy hour in the West End...although I will not be actually getting a Zip car. That’s a transit trifecta! And I haven’t even mentioned my shoes, those stalwart mid-height spectator sling-backs in café au lait with black patent leather toe, purchased years ago at Carbon One...I

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-36296230651204523992010-04-01T14:42:00.001-04:002010-04-01T14:45:51.167-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-17353600437957394442010-03-16T14:17:00.002-04:002010-03-16T14:23:27.436-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-29490372145970500642010-03-08T13:54:00.001-05:002010-03-08T13:56:29.410-05:00

It’s the snow’s fault. Everything’s the snow’s fault: all errors, omissions, backsliding, procrastinating, overeating, bad hair, and bad tempers. I’m blaming it all on the snow until the last crunchy crystals sublime and leave nothing but black smudges behind. I guess the fact that few heaps still remain is livin’ proof that global warming is a hoax, because if it were real the snow would

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-71939286367688918342010-02-18T16:35:00.004-05:002010-02-18T16:42:20.810-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-39151179887986906502010-02-05T11:26:00.001-05:002010-02-05T11:31:57.799-05:00

I’m a subway situationalist, choosing my colors depending on the circumstances: a delay on Red, and I walk all the way from home to Foggy Bottom to take Blue to Alexandria; train too crowded for comfort, I’ll hop off my home-bound Red at Farragut North and walk north up Connecticut. Sometimes I’ll skip the quick plunge from the Building Museum to Judiciary Square and walk to Gallery Place, just

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-9293192935288638892010-01-28T15:24:00.002-05:002010-02-04T15:01:06.895-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-91879796228607364472010-01-21T17:03:00.006-05:002010-01-21T17:27:30.439-05:00

I’m a bag lady. I have bags stashed all over my house. The former shopping bag are in a cabinet under the kitchen counter: the innumerable Peapod bags (see my post on that one from last year) wadded up and awaiting re-purposing as garbage bags; an obscurely hip black paper bag with “See Artists” stenciled across it from the artists’ opening in London last summer, now empty of its weird

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-82141990521732784212010-01-14T10:25:00.003-05:002010-01-14T16:45:44.918-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-10375709051858811272010-01-07T11:27:00.004-05:002010-01-14T16:46:50.279-05:00

It may be an urban legend, or at least an architectural legend: Architect presents a design for a new house to client with a cool and convincing perspective rendering showing what the house will look like. House gets built and client calls architect threatening a lawsuit. Why? The Mercedes pictured in the curving drive has not been delivered yet. Ha ha. This is clearly a boom-time story, and

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-57047246178728979052009-12-31T12:44:00.003-05:002009-12-31T12:50:44.214-05:00

I know I said in my last post that I’d be back in 2010, and it’s still technically 2009, but among my new year’s resolutions—along with be more p a t i e n t—is quit procrastinating. Working right up to a deadline is a habit I’ve refined to perfection, but it is a bad habit nonetheless. So, here’s my inaugural post for 2010, early.Resolutions are odd things, a grab bag of idle wishes,

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-11930344957969856132009-12-08T12:05:00.002-05:002009-12-31T12:54:20.498-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-64090561002618699452009-11-20T15:50:00.002-05:002009-11-20T15:56:43.875-05:00

I’ve been watching a building go up. The empty lots in and around the King Street Metro are gradually filling in, as they should. The new kid in the neighborhood is just up the hill and west of the Crate and Barrel outlet. The steel frame went up this summer and I feared, having seen plenty of new buildings go up in Old Town, that this was its zenith. It would be all downhill once the bricks

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-47739815993947337272009-11-12T15:24:00.002-05:002009-11-12T15:27:29.735-05:00

Alas, I was not so original as I thought...turns out post-disciplinary has been around for awhile.

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-55897768265522438962009-11-10T17:04:00.006-05:002010-01-14T16:50:13.188-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-2432716004801581292009-10-29T15:50:00.005-04:002009-10-29T16:02:31.568-04:00

The chance of rain diminished hourly—50% at noon, 40% at 1, 30% at 2—so we went ahead with our class visit to Dumbarton Oaks this past Tuesday. By 2:30, after the 30+ students with a few extra Germans had listened to a brief introduction from the docent and filed out of the orangerie, the rain had indeed stopped and an implausibly picturesque mist had settled into the cracks and creases of the

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-62863827221695819842009-10-15T15:06:00.007-04:002009-10-15T15:16:24.948-04:00

“I’ve got a few hours before my next pick-up, so I can take you all the way downtown. Where do you need to go?”That was James, the burly, bald and chatty driver, who picked me up outside of the Fairfax County Government Palace, er, Center, in a black SUV with tinted windows. My mind flashed forward, I’m climbing down--and it is a long way down--from the back seat of this black behemoth, James is

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-51164687641081282482009-09-30T10:33:00.001-04:002009-10-15T16:36:57.548-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-11672753885404111742009-09-25T11:22:00.002-04:002009-10-15T16:39:30.213-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-23637846103326296352009-09-15T11:45:00.005-04:002009-09-15T12:27:31.665-04:00

Here's my question: If a weekly blogger misses a post on Thursday, and knows she'll miss another one on the next Thursday, does a post on the Tuesday between count for both? You see my problem...I didn't post anything last week as loyal readers--and I know at least one of you is out there--know. Why? Well, I spent most of the day last Thursday talking. I had hopes for a quiet fall, with

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-36159470962952415092009-09-03T16:57:00.001-04:002009-09-03T17:02:33.187-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-49290658848537246112009-08-27T15:03:00.004-04:002009-08-27T15:12:50.631-04:00

On Monday Robert Samuelson gave a mighty insult slap to rail advocates everywhere in “A Rail Boondoggle, Moving at High Speed.” I’ve been carrying it around since Monday, having torn it out of the Post—yes, it comes in paper—mulling over how I could blog about it without just having a verbal tantrum. I’d take it out of my bag and –grrrr—get all riled up to respond, and then I’d put it back,

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-4518030436667062922009-08-20T15:37:00.005-04:002009-08-20T15:45:27.275-04:00

Vacation’s over. Heat is on. Emails ferment in heaps. Reentry is so hard.I’ve just returned from about 10 days in the Adirondacks where I, in 19th century fashion, took the cure and recuperated from the travails of modernity. Flippant, but true. Where I go—and the location will remain undisclosed, lest I have to track you all down and, you know, take care of you—has no land line in the cabin,

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-84486084879895523172009-08-06T11:32:00.003-04:002009-08-20T15:46:15.151-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-23109118009349449622009-07-29T10:39:00.003-04:002009-07-30T14:20:39.178-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-12111797715960278472009-07-23T10:15:00.005-04:002009-07-30T14:21:53.577-04:00

I read the news today. Oh boy. Shall I go on? About a little town that made the grade...That would be Edmonston, in Prince Georges County, Maryland. As the Washington Post tells us in today’s Metro section, this town of 1500 has decided to redesign its Decatur Street as a green, pedestrian friendly, water-filtering, LED lit main street. There are so many wonderful things about this story I

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-41259727447329540192009-07-17T15:50:00.007-04:002009-07-30T14:22:44.023-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-1655358180886262302009-07-14T12:14:00.002-04:002009-07-15T15:52:26.557-04:00

They’re playing rollerblade hockey on Pennsylvania Avenue. They’re playing games in this most serious of cities, on the most serious of its streets, under the unblinking gaze of its most serious and secret services. It’s enough to make me want to lace up a pair of skates and join in, at least in spirit. I did play field hockey in high school and to this day I can remember the crisp thwack of

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-27490217679664154112009-07-02T11:51:00.006-04:002009-07-02T17:41:01.453-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-36548925066133200212009-06-25T11:19:00.002-04:002009-06-25T11:36:01.918-04:00

My body has returned to from London, but part of my mind seems to be stuck there, so I'll be posting about London for a few more times. I'm milking my jet lag excuse for a little while longer though--one day per hour recovery--so my dispensation lasts until tomorrow. So this will be a really short post, but I just have to share.I argue regularly about whether 'tis cheaper to live "out" of the

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-37531988478237627062009-06-20T05:33:00.007-04:002009-06-20T05:50:50.174-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-30330956299046918762009-06-17T06:15:00.002-04:002009-06-17T06:40:11.345-04:00

"I have always thought that the substitution of the internal combustion engine for the horse marked a very gloomy milestone in the progress of mankind."Winston Churchill, 1954The horse might have disagreed with the esteemed Mr. Churchill, but it's an interesting observation anyway. I spent 3 1/2 hours in the London Transport Museum at Covent Gardens proving my bonafides as a transit geek and it

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-32857835579891564542009-06-14T04:11:00.009-04:002009-07-30T14:24:00.325-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-42684497479519542202009-06-08T13:13:00.004-04:002009-06-11T14:59:06.508-04:00

It’s always greener on the other side. Or at least that’s how it seems. We in the U.S. are such laggards in sustainability, we moan. Why can’t we be more like the Germans or the Swiss and build elegant high performance buildings? Why can’t we build humane cities like the Danes? Why can’t we be more environmentally and urbanistically progressive, like the English? Up close things are a lot

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-82399420370911106982009-05-30T05:56:00.003-04:002009-06-11T15:03:09.632-04:00

London. In this amazing city Americans can see their past and their future. I’m meeting tomorrow with my seminar group, one third of the 25 students we have here. I’m going to ask them what surprises them most about the city, how the real city aligned with their expectations, what confuses them. So how would I answer my own questions?What surprises me, just as much this summer as last, is the

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-12458694830461852772009-05-18T14:52:00.002-04:002009-05-18T14:58:24.502-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-9278308364356782842009-05-05T18:06:00.006-04:002009-05-05T18:12:46.352-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-19482084893950166362009-04-30T13:31:00.007-04:002009-04-30T13:49:59.017-04:00

I preached to the choir yesterday. A gang of staffers from the USGBC, already card-carrying converts to green, came for a tour of Green Community yesterday and I struggled to think of what to offer them that they didn’t already know. Almost to a person they were extremely young, at least to my presbyopic eyes. So while I always emphasize that we are not the first generation to face the issue of

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-70564093127472949212009-04-20T13:19:00.001-04:002009-04-20T13:20:12.791-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-15483221072054652202009-04-10T11:53:00.003-04:002009-04-10T11:58:28.253-04:00

I’m thinking again about guardians and merchants...and Jane Jacobs. But this time it’s not Death and Life of Great American Cities, it’s the slightly quirky Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics. The title is a mouthful, and what’s between the covers is no easier to chew. I stumbled onto this book in a research ramble motivated by the recession of the

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-83047127643465712532009-04-03T13:03:00.002-04:002009-04-03T13:05:03.682-04:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-43705212608905094522009-03-19T13:50:00.006-04:002009-03-19T14:00:09.957-04:00

Let’s just say this up front: I’ve received no kicks from Route 66. Whatever kicks may have been in 66’s arsenal must have been depleted long before I ever rolled my late, great VW beetle westward from Washington. Nonetheless, The Washington Post’s editorial page came out revved up, shall we say, for the widening of 66 in “Spot On: Planners should vote to widen Interstate 66.” Interested parties,

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-48602919547669264082009-03-13T15:25:00.006-04:002009-03-13T15:41:09.308-04:00

It’s Environmental Film Festival time again in Washington! Last night we hosted a film at the National Building Museum called “Designing a Great Neighborhood” which took us through an 8 year process of from site selection to inhabitation in extraordinary detail. The neighborhood, in Boulder CO, had all the stuff; it was so green it glowed. And all the people seemed so happy. Yet, I’m sure

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-78919470646314058662009-03-06T12:08:00.012-05:002009-07-30T14:26:19.850-04:00

It’s too easy to itemize the obstacles to living more sustainably as problems of technology, or of the economy, when often they are problems of culture. There exists a deep seated reservoir of suspicion, fear, distaste, and often outright hostility to habits and ways of life other than “ours”—however we define “ours”—that constitutes a much more formidable barrier to change than we would like to

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-57121575504632667932009-02-26T15:29:00.004-05:002009-02-26T15:34:32.812-05:00

I’m still thinking about the future and about Paolo Soleri...Last Wednesday I was a judge for the final round in the “Future City” competition, http://www.futurecity.org/, part of National Engineers Week. It’s a competition among 7th and 8th graders to design, as you might guess, a city of the future. The Capitol Hill Hyatt’s underworld ballroom was a sea of tweens, clumping, giggling, and

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-8911411937110028102009-02-19T17:54:00.002-05:002009-02-19T17:56:38.134-05:00

It worked! Thank you Comfort One, you're a role model for the neighborhood! Now, let's see what's on sale...

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-50099298607423027892009-02-12T17:12:00.001-05:002009-02-12T17:13:42.889-05:00

“The future doesn't exist so don't get stuck with that. We only create the past; we never create the future because the future is nonsense. It doesn't exist, period.”That’s what Paolo Soleri told me in an interview a few years ago (http://www.nbm.org/about-us/publications-news/blueprints/lessons-in-arcology.html) when he was in Washington to receive the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-48695673959892855142009-02-04T12:51:00.010-05:002009-02-05T15:38:16.871-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-14365887315951178632009-01-29T11:25:00.005-05:002009-01-29T11:35:49.771-05:00

What can I contribute to the mountain of words after the Inauguration? I’ve lived in Washington now for nearly 25 years and I have never experienced anything quite like that and I found it difficult immediately to digest most of last week. For us fans of the plan---the L’Enfant plan that is—the entire day of ritual assembly and choreographed procession provided an extraordinary demonstration of

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-58766548087656839382009-01-19T12:38:00.006-05:002009-01-19T16:40:42.040-05:00

AW:These are the days here in Washington. The helicopters started their slow circles on Friday night. The Metro is filling with pink cheeked novices. The storefronts are hung with red, white, and blue bunting, framing taffeta and sequins inside. A line of tough bicycles is parked, unlocked, outside of a cafe on Connecticut Avenue. A line of tough bicycle cops is inside. One keeps an eye on

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-78323194120337924662009-01-06T15:55:00.002-05:002009-01-19T16:42:12.368-05:00

Lake Superior State University is feeling pretty superior these days, making news with its annual list of banned words. (http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php) I yield to no one as a vocabulary snob, but like all year end lists, it’s too easy to inflict some collateral damage while shooting down words. Maverick? It’s a mad cow. First Dude? Yikes. And that “<3”? I don't even know what that is!

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-27580270423439216722008-12-30T16:17:00.004-05:002008-12-30T16:24:15.312-05:00

‘Tis the season to sweep out the old, and pledge to the new. It’s also a good time to vent, to do a little mental housecleaning. So, here are a few of my green peeves and wishes for their resolutions:For the local TV anchors: Please resolve to stop conflating “mall” with “shopping.” I can’t count how many times chirpy unreflective anchor people would say “what’s the weather going to be like for

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-68639786825207540712008-12-30T14:48:00.002-05:002008-12-30T14:50:56.281-05:00

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Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-62696918164322937752008-12-23T10:57:00.003-05:002009-02-04T12:59:58.730-05:00

The sun is in the gallery. This is not in itself a surprise. We knew empirically that the sun would come in when we uncovered the windows, given that the space is on the south side of the building. Besides, if we doubted our own perception, the software proved it. If Ecotect says the sun will do this in December and that in June, then it must be true. We now trust our instruments, our

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-11298515799695031922008-12-18T13:31:00.005-05:002009-01-19T16:46:39.260-05:00

I so wanted the Eagles to lose on Monday night. It was 3rd and goal, looking bleak for Cleveland, and I said aloud, “McNabb is going to turn it over.” And he did! If I were a primitive person, I would think that my wishing, my energy, had made it happen. I would perhaps be frightened by my own powers, yet I would immediately try again considering my feelings for the Eagles. Each correct or

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-70001002464496751722008-12-10T11:59:00.003-05:002008-12-10T12:05:36.434-05:00

Last week the Royal Danish Embassy sponsored a program at the Phillips Collection on sustainable urban development, “Urban Development - Global and Local Challenges for the Modern City.” I was honored to be among the speakers on the program (my remarks were the basis for my last post) and share the stage with the incomparable Danish architect and urbanist Jan Gehl. The next day he gave another

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-65683067028086695592008-12-04T17:04:00.006-05:002008-12-04T17:17:44.321-05:00

I took an old friend of mine through the Green Community exhibition a few weeks ago. She’s a card-carrying environmentalist; she pays her dues to Sierra Club; she recycles; she drives a hybrid. But she’s not an urbanist. She lives in an Arcadian, curvy, woodsy suburb well outside of a small city the core of which has suffered from all too typical disinvestment of the last 40 years. Like many

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-39527991247724146852008-11-21T12:00:00.002-05:002008-11-21T12:05:25.999-05:00

Wall Street. Main Street. The Street. Shouldn’t all this trafficking in synecdoches be regulated in some way? The rhetorical devices are lagging behind the realities, and that means there’s a metaphor debt crisis looming in the future. That rhetorical bubble is bound to burst. Truth is, what once made Wall Street the physical, social and culture space that it was has decamped to Connecticut

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-87267995535855183222008-11-13T16:26:00.002-05:002008-11-13T16:36:54.696-05:00

I spent all morning Tuesday talking about Green Community, first straight to a camera for a short web tour and then to a group of sharp and knowledgeable students from Smith College. From a variety of liberal arts majors, they are spending this fall in Washington interning at various Smithsonian museums. Dorothy Moss, their instructor, has been lining up opportunities for them to visit other

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-88603701621643356422008-11-06T16:22:00.004-05:002008-11-06T16:36:37.644-05:00

Like an asteroid with an eccentric orbit, I’ve been revolving around Dupont Circle since I first moved into the city. From what was once the outskirts of the system at 17th and S, to the intense near orbit of 19th and Q, I am now flung farther out to the very edges of L’Enfant’s plan. But the gravitational pull of the Circle is still strong. I have walked to or through it nearly everyday for,

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-18144358948151025112008-10-31T10:18:00.004-04:002008-10-31T12:47:14.180-04:00

"They all live in cities." That's Thomas Jefferson in 1790 writing about his suspicions about the whole urban, centralized power and economy thing. The quote comes from a book I'm reading right now, "Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation," by Joseph J. Eillis. I've been enjoying reading each of his vignettes focusing on seminal moments in the formative years of the country. It

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-78830394179693298862008-10-23T12:55:00.001-04:002008-10-23T12:57:06.589-04:00

Today is not just any Thursday...it’s Green Community opening day. Actually we’ve had a “soft” opening, with one wonderful celebratory event after another. Press, advisors, supporters, members, friends...have already had the chance to see what everyone can now see. Although those who know me well would agree that I’ve never met a microphone I didn’t like, I have to admit that I felt some

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-84608554546144052842008-10-16T16:58:00.005-04:002008-10-17T13:26:39.034-04:00

I promised in an earlier blog (9.19) to pick up the story of making green changes to historic buildings and how the obvious solidarity between preservation and sustainability reveals hairlines cracks at the technological thresholds. Those cracks open wider at the ideological extremes of both positions, represented on one end by historic buildings that score high in the “lovability index” and on

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-47898971978878419422008-10-15T15:12:00.002-04:002008-10-15T15:26:41.558-04:00

I heard on the Writer's Almanac that today that Ocotber 15th is the birthday of both Italo Calvino and Virgil. (http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/) It also happens to be a Wednesday, which is not my usual post day, but this seemed a good excuse to buck my weekly schedule.Calvino's Invisible Cities must be the most beloved work of literature among architects. A series of intoxicating

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-71079144252254013302008-10-09T11:30:00.004-04:002008-10-09T11:39:51.579-04:00

The installation of material has begun in the Green Community gallery. Much to my surprise it looks just like the perspective rendering provided by our designers, Brooklyn-based architects Matter Practice. Non-architects may wonder why that’s a surprise. Isn’t that what renderings are for-- to show us what the space or building will look like when it’s real? Back in the old days before software

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-81540728568467983862008-10-02T14:55:00.005-04:002008-10-15T18:05:02.554-04:00

I took a taxi out to some inaccessible location in the wilds of Northern Virignia recently. At the reception desk I was handed my visitor's badge and a parking pass. I gave it back saying I didn't have a car. (Thanks, but no thanks, I might have said...but I just can't) She looked at me as if I had just beamed down from another dimension. Carlessness just wasn't part of her paradigm.I wasn’t

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-37892634993102517882008-09-25T15:48:00.002-04:002008-09-25T15:51:20.205-04:00

Happy Car Free Day! The District celebrated Car Free Day (http://www.carfreemetrodc.com/Home/tabid/54/Default.aspx) this year on the first day of fall, September 22nd. And, ironically, I was in a car. Normally, everyday is car free for me, so it was a bit odd to be rolling along in South Jersey in a spanking new Nissan Altima (where do they get those names?) so advanced it had no actual key. All

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-54539317844081238772008-09-19T11:52:00.002-04:002008-09-19T11:57:15.961-04:00

“What, you may ask, does historic preservation have to do with sustainability?” That was the question posed by Richard Moe, President of the National Trust, http://www.preservationnation.org/ Thursday at the morning session of the "Greening the World’s Capital Cities" conference. (http://www.ncpc.gov/affairs/pg.asp?p=capitalsalliance) The answer was pretty obvious to some—it has everything to do

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6249860878908186346.post-38880523499396133732008-09-11T16:05:00.007-04:002008-09-11T17:28:04.394-04:00

Blogito, ergo sum. Welcome to Gang Green. With a little over a month to go until the opening of Green Community, the exhibition I'm curating at the National Building Museum, this seemed like a good time to join the blogosphere, to share some of the backstory of the planning and development of the exhibition. And some of my thoughts on the difficult issues it raises. And just some pet green peeves

Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13118150403635212959noreply@blogger.com0