Today - a few impressions

Neil - I took this specially for you. A pity it's not in the original font.
Apparently I haven't lived until I've had Dim sum at Gogo - it's on my agenda!


Downtown: there is 39 billion dollars' worth of construction activity happening at the moment - said to be the highest concentration of capex in the world. If you look carefully, you'll see the soil of ground zero at the base of the black building - they've started work on the new towers.

On my cycle home - looking west down Atlantic ave in Brooklyn

A new camera

I bought a new camera today. Not the sensible Panasonic Lumix which came highly recommended...it was just too ugly, and it felt awful - too light, too plasticky. I just couldn't. So I bought something which looks and feels beautiful....a Canon Powershot G7 - I hope will love it as much as my Nikon and use it for years.

Buying the camera at B&H Photo was a bewildering and somewhat sobering experience. I mean my once-in-half-a-decade Major Camera Decision is basically a supermarket transaction. Within seconds the order is a plastic bag on a peg, waiting for collection. Even with six credit card cashiers, they can hardly swipe the cards fast enough. It is a seething mass of consumers, but they are exceptionally well-organised. Computerised orders result in immediate despatch of the goods from the basement via a lift & overhead trolley to the post payment area. It took about 7-8 mins. Mind blowing.

Thousands of dollars moving every minute...hanging briefly on a peg...before it is collected by customers

Trolley track and goods lift

Inspiration from Teardrop Park

David Kelly introduced me to this new park in Battery Park City, only a stone's throw from Ground zero. It features a variety of native plant habitats and geology on a grand scale - can you see the big rock wall in the pic below? It's about 7m high, with a tunnel going through to the other half of the park! I love the way nature has been made abstract in a carefully constructed landscape, and the 3D nature of the space. There are many paths and changes of level...always something new to discover around the next corner. Designed by a top designer, Van Valckenburg - it was both humbling and inspiring. For more pics and a description of our visit to a green roof nearby visit Marie's blog - http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/ - she captures it very well.

Marie and Natalie give a sense of scale to the main open area of the park, and its urban context. Incidentally, most of the surrounding buildings have been built according to sustainable design principles (green architecture).

One area has water spouts and jets for kids to play in...

Here's the big rock wall, with water dripping down, like a drippy cliff

A long slide ends in a big sandy area which serves as a focal point for kids. Plenty of stairs and rocks for adults to hang out and chat while the kids play.

My housemates

I share the flat with Natalie and baby Lukas. He is so cute I have to resist the urge to eat him or nibble his toes! He's just ....nearly .....almost crawling...it will be another day or two. Natalie is a musician (percussionist), recently completed her degree in landscape architecture and works 3 days a week at HW&V.

Lukas (he's the blur)...a budding drummer?

Escape from the Big Apple to Fire Island

Phew! Had such a great weekend - went to Fire Island with friends of Marie's. It's a long narrow 'island' (sand bar) running most of the way along Long island. Only 300 feet wide in places. The house was on the bay (west) side but it takes just 5 mins to the beach! No roads or cars - just lanes with bicycle and trolley 'traffic'. The big ocean, wide open vistas, long beaches and a walk through the dunes - it was real food for my soul. Dan and Nancy were wonderful hosts - I feel lucky to have had this experience.

Waiting for the ferry from Long Island to Fire island with our hosts - Dan and Nancy

'Parking lot' upon arrival with the ferry. No cars on the island - each household has a trolley to cart their goods home.

Moghitos for sundowners
Marie updating her blog - lots more pics there - check it out at www.66squarefeet.blogspot.com

Yummy plants at Fire Island

Went for a walk in a little nature reserve on the island - it was magical. Dunes with grasses and thicket vegetation shaped by wind and salt spray - structurally much like the Cape coastal systems, except they have wild black cherries, beach plums, American holly (that's the right - the xmas stuff), junipers and pines ... can you imagine!



Wild Black Cherry in full bloom

a few bogs with Phragmites
Boardwalk through the 'sunken forest'- a lovely mix of holly, safrasso, shadbush and occasional junipers - felt almost like a milkwood forest

Woodpecker work

Temperatures are rising in NYC...

And with the heat comes the smell. Yesterday I took another route to work - Smith street - and ended up on the garbage run. All the cafes and restaurants put out their waste, and occasionally a bag splits emptying food on the pavement. So I was dodging food spills and garbage trucks on my bicycle....I find the stench stomach-churning...aargh!

It's getting hot and humid - apparently not yet as bad as it gets in July, but enough to make me feel less full of the joys of the city. With the miles of tarmac, paved areas, and black roofs, the urban heat island effect is a stark reality - the city is several degrees warmer than the surrounding country.

That's why I'm interested in green roofs. Not only do they reduce stormwater runoff by 30% or more, absorb CO2 and mop up pollutants - they insulate buildings very effectively. We went to go and look at a green roof today in 6th avenue at a Cook & Fox Architects. Apparently the day they were installing the green roof the roof temperature was 170 'C - and after they had laid the soil bags it was 100 'C ! (would be interesting to measure again now that the plants are fully grown). They opted to use a very low tech and cost effective system using bags filled with expanded shale (stone) and a little compost. They laid the bags flat, made holes in them, planted the Sedum plugs and viola! in only one year they had 75% plant cover. And it looks amazing.


Natalie looking out over the rooftop from the office (above).


A simple system: bags of expanded shale (special light stone) with three holes and planting in each.

The office of Cook and Fox is a real inspiration - they have refurbished their floor of the building according to sustainable / green architectural principles. They explained their design approach and showed us a range of products they used for the interior - icestone (70% recycled glass), paperstone (made of post-consumer paper waste, makes an excellent work surface), laminated woods, and laminated bamboo (stunning - looks like delicate inlay). All made from recyceld or renewable resources and without nasty resins /solvents. It was an inspiring visit.