Grainge Architects Ltd’s Post

The Pedestrian Experience ++ [urban planning] In the process of creating walkable, mixed-use communities that foster social interaction and sustainable living it is important to design communities that prioritize the pedestrian experience. This includes creating narrow streets, safe crosswalks, and well-defined sidewalks to encourage walking and biking. Also, creating active continuous storefronts to bring a positive interest and encourage walking. Developing architecture and urban spaces that are scaled to the human experience, with buildings and public areas that feel inviting and comfortable. This includes incorporating front porches, community gathering spaces, and public art.

Contextual design is often misunderstood. Many think it means replicating existing buildings to blend in with the surroundings, but that often results in "cookie-cutter" structures that lack character and fail to meet a neighborhood's evolving needs. In our latest blog, we explore what true contextual design really means—and what it doesn't. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/eWTtfcq3 #architecturaldesign #contextualdesign #neighborhooddevelopment

New York City's urban arterials—wide roads carrying heavy traffic—divide neighborhoods and contribute to unsafe, inefficient, and unhealthy environments. Despite some improvements, many major roadways still prioritize cars over people, with over 60% of traffic fatalities occurring along these corridors. On Friday, December 6 at the AIA New York | Center for Architecture, we will explore how to rethink these vast, publicly owned spaces for climate action, public health, and community cohesion. Inspired by MAS’s Greener Corridors for a More Resilient City and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation Urban Design student projects, this event will explore a vision for a more dynamic, sustainable, and community-focused urban corridors. Learn more about the event and RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/eG5ctNBp #newyorkcity #cityplanning #urbandesign #nyc #masnyc #climateaction

Great to be working with Fadi Shayya, to share such innovative student knowledge exchange linked to his research. Check it out on our blog

Comfort and connection created by spaces like community parks act like a magnet to residents and businesses. When you invest in landscape architecture, you invest in your city's future. Discover more ways landscape architecture helps boost local economies: https://bit.ly/3zjo8Ii

Are you thinking of a career in architecture or environmental design? Not quite decided yet? Consider joining a summer program that could help you decide if these creative fields are right for you. University of California, Berkeley's Summer Programs at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design of Environmental Design offer immersive programs on different levels and invite you to explore architecture, urban design, sustainable city planning, and landscape architecture in an academic setting. Read more in this article: https://lnkd.in/gXjseN7s

"If we are going to create and nurture positive, productive, civil conversations, we clearly need to create opportunities and spaces that support that goal—an idea Kate Murphy mentions early in her book 'You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters.' “'People used to listen to one another while sitting on front porches and around campfires,' she writes on pages 7 and 8, 'but now we are too busy, or too districted, to explore the depths of one another’s thoughts and feelings…Instead of front porches, today’s homes more likely have front-facing garages that swallow up residents’ cars at the end of a hectic day. Or people live compartmentalized in apartments and condominiums, ignoring one another in the elevators.' "It’s an idea I’ve come across in a variety of settings—including books and articles about architecture; community and collaboration; and training-teaching-learning—and one that is expressed eloquently and passionately by several people I admire tremendously...." --From "Kate Murphy on Listening: Creating Spaces for Conversations," a set of reflections posted on my "Building Creative Bridges" blog To read the entire piece, please visit the blog at https://lnkd.in/gqyyWQZ2

Take a look at these Collaborative Maps of Curiosity at Simon House 👀 Recently, Catherine Hamel, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary, led a non-clinical project at Simon House together with a group of architecture students, Kyra Richter, Jaspal Ubhi and Brock Egeto. The project, called Collaborative Maps of Curiosity, was a collaborative work through experiential mapping to explore how clients feel about Simon House and its surroundings, including walking by the Bow River, parks, and the Bowness community. Using creative art-making tools, the facilitators and clients crafted the maps to encourage the clients to notice the positive things in their new environment through a lens of curiosity. The maps are visualizations, they offer participants the opportunity to engage with the environment in different ways, noticing the details of that environment at different scales. There are three layers of expression, each with different materials. The goal is for clients to explore something different and express it without requiring any previous art experience. The process invites clients to express their experiences through art and facilitates an important healing component that comes through expressive art.

Fantastic architecture in the States

Landscape Architecture in action. Yet another application.