January 26, 2016 by suzannesmom
Nate Homan recently wrote a good human-interest story for the free subway newspaper, Metro. It’s about one of Boston’s subway musicians, a blind woman.
“Michelle Abadia sits at Harvard Station early each morning that her T performer permit allows, strumming her guitar and singing to an audience she cannot see.
“ ‘Music was my passion from an early age. I don’t have a memory without it,’ Abadia said. ‘I am told that I was helping tune the piano when I was three.’ …
“She lost her sight to congenital cataracts at the age of 4 after six unsuccessful eye surgeries. She has started a GoFundMe page hoping to earn $20,000 to fund her musical career and to help pay for medical bills. …
“She earned a double degree in language studies and music in Boston College, and went on to earn a master’s in French literature and International Latin American Studies from Tufts. After that, she earned New England Conservatory master’s for vocal performances.
“Now she is trying to earn a living as a musician, after teaching Spanish at several colleges in the area and working as an interpreter in courtrooms.
“ ‘The commuters are half asleep, and I don’t know how effective I can be in brightening their days, but some people say the I do,’ Abadia said. …
“ ‘For anyone who is blind wants to be a musician, or anything, I would tell them to follow their dreams,’ Abadia said.”
More here.
Photo: Metro.us
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blind, guitar, harvard t stop, mbta, metro, michelle abadia, music, nate homan, postaday, subway | 2 Comments »
January 25, 2016 by suzannesmom
I had to share a delightful report from the radio show Studio 360 in which Khrista Rypl looks at the cultural aspects of African textiles.
She writes, “African textiles are distinctive for their vibrant colors, bold patterns, and batik dyes that give the fabric a unique crackled texture. But I had no idea that some of the trendiest of these prints are actually designed and produced in the Netherlands by a company called Vlisco.
“Inge Oosterhoff wrote a wonderful deep dive into the history behind the Vlisco textile house, and explained how their designs have remained hugely popular in Africa since the late 1800s. But Vlisco doesn’t just make fabric; they’re known for their printed designs. … Some patterns are designed with different countries in mind, while others are distributed widely around the continent. As the patterns catch on among shopkeepers and consumers, many of them get colorful names like ‘Love Bomb,’ ‘Tree of Obama,’ and ‘Mirror in the Sun.’ …
“Many patterns are sold widely in Africa, and different countries and cultures adopt different meanings and associations. [A swallow] print is a perfect example. The fabric was used for airline uniforms in Togo, so there the pattern is commonly referred to as ‘Air Afrique.’ The pattern also symbolizes asking for a favor, like the hand of a woman in marriage. In Ghana, the swallow refers to the transience of wealth, and the pattern is referred to as ‘Rich Today, Poor Tomorrow.’ It has a similar connotation in Benin, where it’s referred to as ‘L’argent vole,’ where it could either be interpreted as ‘Money Flies’ or ‘Stealing Money.’ ”
More designs and more of Studio 360 report, “Textiles Tell a Cultural History,” here.
Photos: Vlisco
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged african, batik, benin, culture, fabric, ghana, Inge Oosterhoff, Khrista Rypl, Netherlands, postaday, radio, sideshow, studio 360, swallow, textile, togo, vlisco | 2 Comments »
January 24, 2016 by suzannesmom
Don’t you love it when something that is extinct turns out not to be extinct at all? Like coelacanths, which, according to Wikipedia, “were thought to have become extinct in the Late Cretaceous, around 66 million years ago, but were rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa.”
While I’m waiting for someone to prove unequivocally the existence of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, I will regale myself with Lazarus-like sea snakes in Australia.
I saw this Australian Associated Press story at the Guardian: “A species of sea snake thought to be extinct has been rediscovered off the Western Australian coast. A wildlife officer spotted two courting short-nosed sea snakes while patrolling in Ningaloo marine park on the state’s mid-north coast. …
“The Western Australian environment minister, Albert Jacob, said the discovery was especially important because they had never been seen at Ningaloo reef. …
“A Department of Parks and Wildlife officer photographed the snakes on Ningaloo Reef and James Cook university scientists identified them.”
Maybe marine creatures such as sea snakes and coelacanths are more likely to be preserved than woodpeckers — hidden away in the ocean’s unexplored depths. Still, as a movie I reviewed, Revolution, made clear, the seas are threatened, too.
More on courting sea snakes at the Guardian.
Photo: Grant Giffen/AFP/Getty Images
The discovery of the short-nosed sea snake, previously thought to have been extinct, is significant because the species had never been seen in the Ningaloo marine park in Western Australia before.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Albert Jacob, australia, climate change, coelacanth, extinct, Getty Images, Grant Giffen, james cook university, Late Cretaceous, marine, movie, Ningaloo, ocean, postaday, revolution, sea, sea snake, short-nosed sea snake, south africa, warming | 2 Comments »
January 23, 2016 by suzannesmom
One of the better aspects of the 2015 Massachusetts Conference for Women was hearing speakers like Candy Chang, an artist who engages ordinary people in public discourse.
At the December conference, Chang focused on Neighborland, a service co-founded with Dan and Tee Parham, that helps “residents and organizations collaborate on the future of their communities.”
This is how it works. Organizations start by posing a question. For example, they might hand out cards that say, “I want [blank] in my neighborhood,” and a resident might write in, “a night market.” Next, using Neighborland tools, ideas are collected from workshops, public installations, SMS, and Twitter. They are then discussed and voted on. The website says Neighborland has “sophisticated moderation, clustering, and de-duplication tools for organizers to aggregate all of the data from residents. Our reports make it easy for organizers to see trends in the data, make decisions, allocate resources, and keep participants involved in the fun part – making their neighborhoods better places.”
In this example, National Gardening Association’s Jenna Antonio DiMare reports on Adam Guerrero, his Memphis, Tennessee, team of blight-busting ″Smart Mules,″ and their efforts to create a greener and more sustainable city.
“During the month of October, National Gardening Association (NGA) partnered with Neighborland to challenge Memphis residents to propose innovative projects to make their city and neighborhoods more sustainable. With a $1,000 grant awarded to the most promising project, Neighborland’s simple platform empowered local Memphis residents to ‘connect and make good things happen.’
“Despite receiving many inspiring project proposals, from founding an urban agriculture school to growing a newly established community garden, it was clear to NGA that the ‘Smart Mules’ project would have the greatest impact with the $1,000 award. …
″ ‘We are fighting [urban] blight, raising neighborhood morale, engaging our local government, and investing in a future for the neighborhood, all at the same time,’ writes the ‘Smart Mules’ team. To accomplish these goals, ‘Smart Mules’ provides work for many young, at-risk males who have been ‘largely dismissed’ or disenfranchised, according to team leader Guerrero.” More here about the work these young men are doing for sustainability.
(A couple years ago, I wrote about Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” interactive street art.)
Photo: Neighborland.com
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Adam Guerrero, candy chang, dan parham, green, Jenna Antonio DiMare, memphis, National Gardening Association, postaday, poverty, Smart Mules, sustainable, tee parham, tennessee | 4 Comments »
January 22, 2016 by suzannesmom
Art: Maggie Stern
“Fish for Supper”
Concord Art has mounted a juried show of member works. I have been twice this week. It’s accessible and stimulating.
When you first enter, you hear a strange clattering and turn to see a beat-up old medicine cabinet with vintage pill bottles inside that are rattling around like ghosts. Very amusing.
My former boss, Meredith Fife Day, had two lovely country scenes in acrylic from her travels in Ireland, and she was the one who reminded me to see the show.
I took a photo of Maggie Stern’s playful “Fish for Supper,” above. Stern says, “What I love most about art is that you get to make up the rules.” I Googled her and found that she has connections with the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Mass., and has excelled in a variety of artistic realms, including illustrating children’s books and making kits for crafty folks to reproduce her original stitchery.
I was also drawn to Lorraine Sullivan’s use of vintage linens. There must be something in the air about vintage. I’ve been doing a little prospecting (along with Erik’s mother) to add to Suzanne’s new vintage locket collection at Luna & Stella, and have learned that the idea of mixing vintage with contemporary birthstone jewelry is quite popular.
In fact, all sorts of vintage items are being cherished now, to the point that it was not only wonderful but a bit painful to see how Sullivan used her seamstress grandmother’s handiwork in the piece below. Creative destruction. Happy-sad.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acrylic, art, birthstone jewelry, concord, contemporary, ireland, juried, locket, lorraine sullivan, Luna & Stella, maggie stern, medicine cabinet, members, meredith fife day, postaday, sculpture, seamstress, vintage, vintage linen | 2 Comments »
January 21, 2016 by suzannesmom
The first pictures feature berries, shadows, rain, and snow. I took them in Massachusetts.
The others are from Providence, which has long exuded an artistic vibe. I liked the sunrise on rooftops in one photo and a beautiful ornate building, sadly neglected. More-contemporary art pops up in unexpected places: the robot-like sculpture at a busy intersection and the robot in the ladies room at Small Point Café.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, art, berries, light and shadow, photo, photography, postaday, providence, small point cafe | 1 Comment »
January 20, 2016 by suzannesmom
The 17th century Cavalier poet Richard Lovelace wrote in “To Althea from Prison,”
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for a hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.
I am not going to make the case that inmates at New York’s Rikers Island prison have “minds innocent and quiet,” but I will contend that poetry can help to free the soul.
Kirk Semple at the NY Times has a story about a poetry reading in the prison.
“The inmates at Rikers Island were slumped in plastic chairs, their expressions suggesting boredom and doubt. They had been pried from their favorite television shows to attend — of all things — a poetry reading. Some nice people from the public library, they were told.
“Then came the poet: unshaven, in his early 20s, dark hooded sweatshirt, dark T-shirt, dark ball cap slung backward on his head. Some men leaned forward, elbows on their knees. Expressions shifted to curiosity: This was not what they were expecting.
“ ‘I’m going to kick a couple of poems,’ the poet, Miles Hodges, said in a drawl of the street, before unleashing a blizzard of words titled ‘Harlem.’ His intonation percussive and incantatory, he spoke of race and of children playing amid ‘roached blunts and roached joints’ that were ‘scattered around the purple-, pink- and black-chalked R.I.P. signs as if whispering from the concrete jungle, “I’m resting in peace and high.” ’
“Mr. Hodges, 25, is a spoken-word performer and a somewhat unusual ambassador of the New York Public Library, where he was hired this year to help create programs to attract members of the millennial generation.
“For the past couple of months, he has been developing a spoken-word program at Rikers, where the library has for years offered a variety of services, including a book-lending system.
“ ‘I really wanted to include this other section of New York City that often doesn’t get discussed as part of the city,’ Mr. Hodges said in an interview. ‘You’ll hear me say a lot: They can lock your body up, but they can’t cage your mind.’ “
Asakiyume volunteers in a prison where she helps women with writing. Bet they would get a kick out of a poetry reading like that.
More at the NY Times, here.
Photo: Richard Perry/The New York Times
Miles Hodges, in cap, performing at Rikers Island.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged kirk semple, Mark Richards, mike Hodges, new york public library, poetry, poetry reading, prison, richard lovelace, rikers island | 4 Comments »
January 19, 2016 by suzannesmom
After Albuquerque’s harsh approach to homelessness resulted in the death of a schizophrenic man in 2015, the city has done a 360.
NY Times reporter Fernanda Santos describes the current approach to homelessness: “Will Cole steered an old Dodge van along a highway access road one recent Tuesday, searching for panhandlers willing to work. … By the third stop, [nine] men and one woman had hopped inside.
“They were homeless. But suddenly, as part of a novel attempt to deal with rising poverty and destitution here, they were city workers for the day.
“Donning gloves and fluorescent vests, they raked a piece of messy ground by some railroad tracks on the edge of downtown … The toil paid off decently: $9 an hour and a lunch of sandwiches, chips and granola bars, enjoyed in a park. For the city, it represented a policy shift toward compassion and utility.
“ ‘It’s about the dignity of work, which is kind of a hard thing to put a metric on, or a matrix,’ Mayor Richard J. Berry said. ‘If we can get your confidence up a little, get a few dollars in your pocket, get you stabilized to the point where you want to reach out for services, whether the mental health services or substance abuse services — that’s the upward spiral that I’m looking for.’ …
“To collect their pay, they must work hard and work an entire shift, from start to finish — five to six hours, on average. They are paid in cash at the hospitality center’s employment office, two blocks from the shelter that feeds 400 people on a given day.
“The sole woman among the day laborers that recent Tuesday was Ramona Beletso, a Navajo Indian in her 40s who had twice fled abuse and destitution on the reservation. …
“ ‘I don’t even know how I ended up homeless,’ said Ms. Beletso, her eyes cast toward a pair of striped pink socks nearby, abandoned in a drying pool of mud. ‘Work helps me forget.’ …
“The mayor said he got the idea for the program from a panhandler he spotted on his way to work, holding a sign that read, ‘Want a job. Anything helps.’ It dawned on him that ‘the indignity of having to beg for money cuts through the soul.’ “
I saw almost the same sign in Providence last week. I usually duck my head and hurry on, embarrassed and not knowing what is right, but the young man who wanted work was so pleasant, perhaps I can think of a place he could ask about a job.
More on Albuquerque at the NY Times, here.
11/23/16 Update: Yesterday I saw the concept being applied by Amos House in Providence. The city has also said it intends to try it.
Photo: Mark Holm for The New York Times
Panhandlers dug up weeds along a side street in Albuquerque as part of a work program in the city. 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged albuquerque, destitution, Fernanda Santos, homeless, mark holm, panhandler, postaday, poverty, Ramona Beletso, Richard J. Berry, will cole | 4 Comments »
January 18, 2016 by suzannesmom
Candice Frederick, of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, recently posted research by Katherine Ellington on an African American artist who was new to me.
From Ellington notes: “Augusta Savage was among [a] group of artists who came to Harlem from the Jim Crown South in search of opportunity and where her creative expression could thrive.
“My quest for Augusta Savage (1892 –1962) sculpture led me to a first-time visit to the Art and Artifacts Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. … As a young girl in the early twentieth century, Savage began shaping ducks out of red clay found in the backyard of her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Savage’s work gained local attention when she entered and won a prize at a local county fair, which led to community support for further study.
“In 1921, she moved to Harlem after studying at State Normal College for Colored Students (now Florida A & M University). Savage later completed a four-year program in sculpture in three years at Cooper Union. …
“In 1931, Savage … opened the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts — a fine arts training ground for over 1,500 students including many well-known Harlem Renaissance artists such as Charles Alston, Ernest Crichlow, Norman Lewis, Morgan Smith and Marvin Smith, Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence. …
“In 1934, Savage became the director of the newly established Harlem Community Art Center, after she was commissioned by the 1939 World’s Fair. Around that time she created “The Harp” as a series, but it was destroyed during the cleanup after the fair. …
“Savage’s art was often in response to the fight against racism. She used a variety of methods, shaping clay and plaster, casting bronze, and later years, carving marble and wood. In the Augusta Savage collection, there are works that illustrate themes such as nineteenth-century romanticism and African and Greek culture. As a trained portraitist, her busts include Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson and Gwendolyn Bennett.”
More here.
Photo: The New York Public Library. Image ID: 1654255
“Harp,” by Augusta Savage
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged african american, art, augusta savage, black, candice frederick, Cooper Union, florida, Florida A & M, Green Cove Springs, Gwendolyn Bennett, harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence, James Weldon Johnson, Katherine Ellington, Marcus Garvey, new york public library, postaday, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, sculpture, State Normal College for Colored Students, W.E.B. Du Bois | 4 Comments »
January 17, 2016 by suzannesmom
A musical based on a winning 1950s Mademoiselle college-contest story, Doris Betts’s “The Ugliest Pilgrim,” is playing at the Speakeasy Stage in Boston, and it’s pretty special. My husband and I saw it yesterday.
The Violet of the title is a young woman from North Carolina who has saved up enough money to take a bus to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to beseech a television faith healer to resurrect her face, disfigured by a hatchet accident in childhood.
In spite of being an ornery character, suspicious of ridicule, she is befriended on the bus by two soldiers and an old woman, none of whom believe in the faith healer.
The group splits up, and Violet makes it to the television studio. Having first accosted the faith healer, she enlists her own belief, her carefully chosen Bible verses, and her childhood memories and fears in a dreamlike growth process that resonates on many levels.
The production’s fugue of psychology, American beauty culture, race relations — and musical numbers suggestive of the regions Violet passes through — rises to a crescendo and resolves into a satisfying ending. The show has humorous moments, moving moments, moments of insight, and memorable songs.
One of the most stirring musical numbers, “Raise Me Up,” is performed at the television station by both charlatans and true believers. The professional actors are backed by a series of Boston-area Gospel choirs, filling in at different performances.
What a great idea! I knew when I bought tickets that, if nothing else, I’d like the local choirs. As it happens I liked it all.
Jeanine Tesori wrote the music. The book and lyrics were by Brian Crawley, direction by Paul Daigneault, musical direction by Matthew Stern, and choreography by David Connolly. An earlier version of the show played Off-Broadway in the late 1990s. Speakeasy is presenting the brand-new version as the Boston premier.
Check out the review by Boston Globe critic Don Aucoin, here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brian crawley, David Connolly, don aucoin, doris betts, faith healer, Gospel choir, Jeanine Tesori, Matthew Stern, musical, Paul Daigneault, postaday, rise up, speakeasy, theater, ugliest pilgrim, violet | 2 Comments »
January 16, 2016 by suzannesmom
Our mostly warm December has turned into a chilly January, and the Samaritan with the hats may find that his or her offerings are finally in demand.
In December, Steve Annear wrote at the Boston Globe that someone had been leaving hats, scarves, and mittens prominently displayed on Boston Common with a sign encouraging whoever might need them to help themselves.
“In an act of kindness, an anonymous person this week hung winter garments on six trees on Boston Common, welcoming passersby affected by the frigid temperatures to help themselves to items of clothing to stay bundled up.
“Tied to the trunks of the trees along the path heading toward Boylston Street are mittens, gloves, scarves, ear-warmers, socks, a pair of warm-up pants, and knit hats.
“A note placed on the ground that was written with a winter-blue-colored marker reads: ‘I am not lost. If you are stuck out in the cold, please take what you need to keep warm.’
“At the bottom of the sign was a drawing of a snowflake. …
“A city spokeswoman said that the Parks and Recreation Department will leave the clothes where they are, as long as they are not damaging the trees or other property on the Common.” More here.
Photo: David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Scarves and gloves available if you need them.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boston common, david ryan, hats, mittens, postaday, scarves, steve annear, winter | 2 Comments »
January 15, 2016 by suzannesmom
Penguins by Keilan
My friend Kristina Joyce gives art lessons to a talented middle schooler who has brittle bone disease.
Henry Schwan wrote about young Keilan Hughes in the Concord Journal last April, reporting that he was “one of several students whose art [was] on display in the children’s room at the Concord Library. Joyce had them focus on nature in the Middle East, and Keilan drew a bird titled, ‘Yellow Wagtail from the Holy Land.’
“ ‘It’s relaxing, it takes my mind off things,’ Keilan said of his art.
“Keilan’s talents could take him in a number of directions. He dreams of being a doctor one day, but also has a backup plan of becoming a residential architect. …
“He was diagnosed with brittle bone disease the day he was born. ‘I don’t mind,’ Keilan said. ‘Most of the time, I forget that I even have [it].’ …
“Currently, there is no cure for brittle bone disease, but Keilan and his mom hope for a breakthrough. …
“ ‘It’s important to look at the bright side and look to the future,’ says his mother.”
Kristina tells me Keilan’s mother, who is from Trinidad, the family as a whole, and the school district have all been extremely supportive. One well-wisher made a website for Keilan to show his art. Others have given him specific requests for drawings. “Everybody loves Keilan,” she said.
More at the Concord Journal, here.
Photo: Ann Ringwood/Wicked Local Staff
Keilan Hughes is submitting yearbook cover art that his teacher said was so good she didn’t suggest a single correction.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ann Ringwood, art, brittle bone disease, henry schwan, keilan hughes, Kristina Joyce, lessons, postaday, yellow wagtail | 2 Comments »
January 14, 2016 by suzannesmom
Jan Flanagan at the Providence Journal has put together a great list of things to do on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, next Monday. I’ll highlight a few to help you plan ahead, but rather than lift the whole calendar, I hope you will go to the ProJo website, here.
The Providence Public Library will feature an exhibit with photos showing the famous Selma to Montgomery March, about which a movie was made in 2014.
In case you are near Newport on the 18th, Chevette Jefferies will speak at the Thompson Middle School at 9:30 a.m.; James Gillis will keynote a lunch at the Mainstay Inn; and St. Joseph’s Church will hold a special worship service at 5 p.m.
You could also consider participating in a Day of Service at the Martin Luther King Elementary School in Providence, a collaboration with RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design) “to help children reach their full potential by engaging them in arts, crafts, special activities and conservation.” And here’s something that sounds like fun: a celebration of black storytelling, ribsfest.org.
The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence will hold a candlelight vigil in honor of Sister Ann Keefe, a longtime supporter of the Providence nonprofit, which follows in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.
NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, will hold a memorial service and reception 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Woonsocket.
Finally, the Providence Children’s Museum will feature living history portrayals of civil-rights activists Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks and others by local actors.
Get all the details about these and other January 18 events here.
Photo: AP
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at the University of Rhode Island on Oct. 5, 1966.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ap, birthday, blackstone river valley, candlelight vigil, institute for the study and practice of nonviolence, Jan Flanagan, martin luther king jr, mlk jr, neighborworks, newport, postaday, providence, rhode island, risd, sister ann keefe, woonsocket | Leave a Comment »
January 13, 2016 by suzannesmom
What’s not to love about undersea creatures? They are so wondrous I’m having a hard time picking just one of the photos from Susan Middleton’s 2014 book Spineless.
Maria Popova reviews the book at Brain Pickings.
“In Spineless, visual artist, educator, and explorer Susan Middleton turns her luminous lens to … the exquisite and enigmatic world of marine invertebrates, which represent 98% of the known animal species in the oceans and are thus the backbone of life on our blue planet, on which 97% of the water is ocean. …
“Using a special photographic technique she developed, Middleton captures an astounding diversity of creatures, ranging from giant squid to tiny translucent jellyfish to two species so new to science — the Kanola squat lobster and the Wanawana crab — that they have been formally named based on the very individuals in the book. Her photographs are at once austere and deeply alive — against the plain black or white background, these creatures fill the frame with striking intimacy of presence.”
(Doesn’t Popova write beautifully? She is from Bulgaria. I just mention that because one of the the best writers I worked with at my old job was Bulgarian. It can happen. We all know about late learners of English who became masters: Joseph Conrad, Vladimir Nabokov, Tom Stoppard.)
More on Susan Middleton’s book here. Marine defender Sylvia Earle wrote the foreward.
Photo: Susan Middleton
Hanging stomach jellyfish (Stomotoca atra)
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ancient mariner, Hanging stomach jellyfish, maria popova, photo, photography, postaday, spineless, Stomotoca atra, susan middleton, sylvia earle, undersea | 2 Comments »
January 12, 2016 by suzannesmom
John sent a link to an Atlantic article by Rose Eveleth on how mosses and lichens are being using in building design.
“For most architects,” she writes, “moss and lichen growing up the side of a structure is a bad sign. … But a new group is trying to change all that. Instead of developing surfaces resistant to moss and lichen, the BiotA lab wants to build facades that are ‘bioreceptive.’“BiotA lab, based in University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture, was founded last year. The lab’s architects and engineers are working on making materials that can foster the growth of cryptograms, organisms like lichens and mosses. The idea is that ultimately they’ll be able to build buildings onto which a variety of these plants can grow. Right now, they’re particularly focused on designing a type of bioreceptive concrete.
“Marcos Cruz, one of the directors of the BiotA lab, says that he has long been interested in what he sees as a conflicted way of thinking about buildings and beauty: ‘We admire mosses growing on old buildings, we identify them with our romantic past, but we don’t like them on contemporary buildings because we see them as a pathology,’ he says. …
“Richard Beckett, another director of the BiotA lab, says that he’s interested in the project flipping the usual way that buildings are designed, at least in a small way. “Traditionally architecture is a top-down process, you decide what the building will look like, and then you build it. Here we’re designing for a specific species or group of species …
” ‘Every architect you speak to talks about the skin of the building,’ says Beckett. … Instead of skin, the lab wants people to think of the exterior of a building as bark. ‘Not just a protective thing, a host; it allows other things to grow on it, it integrates as well.’ ” More here.
I love the concept, but the story left me wondering what the designers’ main motivation might be. They say it’s not about green and sustainable buildings. It seems to be about aesthetics, being “attractive.” They do want the mosses to be self-sustaining and the look to be purposeful.
Photo: Dinodia/Corbis
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, bark, Bartlett School of Architecture, bioreceptive, BiotA lab, cryptograms, lichen, Marcos cruz, moss, postaday, richard beckett, Rose Eveleth, University College London | 6 Comments »
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