Architecture as an Allusion: The Work of Herman Hiller

It isn’t really clear who happened to start the game off. And it really makes no difference since, in the last analysis, you always need several people to play a game. What is more important is what is being played

Capturing particularities in the metropolitan landscape

Since its first issue, SPOOL has used the term ‘landscape metropolis’ to address urban formations beyond the traditional city that – despite their increasing ubiquity - still lack in-depth attention from the perspective of aesthetic appreciation, designerly concepts of development, guidelines for planning and governance, and design theoretical apprehension. The prefix ‘landscape’ is used to describe attention to these topics through the lens of landscape architecture, and offers, we feel, some novel potentials: in considering the metropolis as a cultural phenomenon that is constructed mentally as well as physically and socially; which relies on human as well as on natural driving forces; and which contains, somewhere in the cracks of the mosaic, in the ‘in-between’, places with distinguishable qualities – particular places

Building transformative capacities: integrating design research into port-city transformation

Port cities understood as complex human-environment systems are in an urgent need of complying with sustainability goals in the wake of the changing climate and the resulting economic and social consequences. Furthermore, such systems’ interdependencies are not fully understood, changes in them not fully predictable, and straight forward solutions to make them more fit for future challenges tackle part of the problem while generating other. Hence, port city development poses to any actor involved what researchers have identified since the 1970s as ‘a wicked problem’. Contemporary researchers engaged in the study of such problems increasingly recognise the inability of a single field of knowledge to generate pertinent answers, pointing at transdisciplinary science to be the only way out. In this paper we invoke basic tenets of transdisciplinary science to call for the inclusion of the discipline of landscape architecture into port-city studies. The disciplinary understanding of dynamic human-environment systems as ‘landscapes’ prompts the production of multi- and transdisciplinary knowledge, in particular through design research. Based on a case study of three design projects for transforming post-industrial port sites in Nantes (France), Gothenburg (Sweden), and Providence (U.S.A) the paper discusses how their design approaches (iterating, prototyping, simulating) could render planning procedures more dynamic. Furthermore, the paper theorise the interdependency of place and site, project and process, practice and theory

Capturing particularities in the metropolitan landscape

Since its first issue, SPOOL has used the term ‘landscape metropolis’ to address urban formations beyond the traditional city that – despite their increasing ubiquity - still lack in-depth attention from the perspective of aesthetic appreciation, designerly concepts of development, guidelines for planning and governance, and design theoretical apprehension. The prefix ‘landscape’ is used to describe attention to these topics through the lens of landscape architecture, and offers, we feel, some novel potentials: in considering the metropolis as a cultural phenomenon that is constructed mentally as well as physically and socially; which relies on human as well as on natural driving forces; and which contains, somewhere in the cracks of the mosaic, in the ‘in-between’, places with distinguishable qualities – particular places

University of Nebraska – Lincoln Libraries Workflow and Organizational Analysis

Libraries everywhere are undergoing tremendous transformation in staffing, services, and collections. With the need to create new programs and services, it is critical that resources are deployed in the most efficient way possible. Library workforces across the country are aging and succession planning is important for libraries to thrive. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln Libraries invited us to review staffing, examine the organizational structure, communication pathways, and general workflows in the DARM and to make recommendations for changes that would improve and enhance service quality, improve productivity, and best align library faculty and staff with organizational priorities and needs. Our experience with a broad array of academic libraries of many types and sizes informs our consulting work, thus enabling us to provide insight and recommendations on best practices. Without exception, the people that we spoke with were frank and open. In February 2016, we spent one and a half days meeting with the Libraries’ administration, the Interim Chair of the Discovery and Resource Maintenance Department (DARM), DARM faculty and Staff, the newly formed Collection Strategies Committee, Library Systems, and the stakeholders who are served by DARM. Our analysis has benefited enormously from the ideas and comments offered by UNL library faculty and staff. These recommendations are interrelated because all aspects of the collections and technical services workflows must work successfully together. However, because we were only on site 1.5 days, we did not have the opportunity to delve deeply into the workflows. As a result, many our suggestions involve establishing a working group or a team to follow up on a process we feel needs closer examination. Like most large research libraries, the content purchased by the UNL Libraries has shifted significantly from print to electronic. However, most of the human resources are still heavily devoted to the print workflows rather than the digital ones. As a very lean organization, making an appropriate transformation from print to digital will be needed in order for the UNL Libraries to operate at peak efficiency and effectiveness

Practicing design for particular places

Since its first issue, SPOOL has used the term ‘landscape metropolis’ to address urban formations beyond the traditional city that – despite their increasing ubiquity - still lack in-depth attention from the perspective of aesthetic appreciation, designerly concepts of development, guidelines for planning and governance, and design theoretical apprehension. The prefix ‘landscape’ is used to describe attention to these topics through the lens of landscape architecture, and offers, we feel, some novel potentials: in considering the metropolis as a cultural phenomenon that is constructed mentally as well as physically and socially; which relies on human as well as on natural driving forces; and which contains, somewhere in the cracks of the mosaic, in the ‘in-between’, places with distinguishable qualities – particular places