Table of contents for N. 102 in Topos

For humanity, the ultimate light has always been the sun. However, astronomically speaking, this star is not much more than a trifle: located in the galactic “provinces”, with a mere temperature of 6000 degrees Celsius and of mediocre luminosity, the sun becomes nothing but an inconspicuous point of light for observers who are a few light-years away. In other words, an unremarkable light source that is largely insignificant in the cosmic context and offers little that would make it stand out, on Earth is the driver of anything that is termed “life”. The light of the sun is magnetic, it exerts an enormous attraction on humans and animals alike. Its opposite, darkness, the topic of our new edition of Topos, has the very converse effect – it repels us, fills…

TALENT Gerdo Aquino Gerdo Aquino is CEO of SWA, a company that evolved from the landscape architecture firm Sasaki. His work focuses on underutilised or abandoned urban and suburban infill sites that nonetheless have the potential to enhance their existing surroundings through creative programming and natural systems integration. 1 CAREER STARTING POINT? Watching the natural sand dunes of coastal Florida beaches transformed into condo developments. 2 INFLUENCED BY? People willing to take risks; artists whose creativity has no boundaries; responsible politicians who embrace the importance of open space. 3 INSPIRED BY? The complex, multi-cultural, creative city that is Los Angeles. 4 WHY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE? The profession allows me to implement big ideas at a multitude of scales that benefit the environment and quality of life. 5 DESIGN PRINCIPLES? Consider the…

LITERATURE AUTHOR: Tim Edensor TITLE: From Light to Dark – Daylight, Illumination and Gloom PUBLISHER: University of Minnesota Press, 2017 For many urbanites, darkness is a deeply unfamiliar condition. Utterly habituated to the ubiquitous presence of electric illumination, it is difficult to imagine the pervasive darkness that formerly saturated most space after nightfall. In medieval times, few made their way out of their homes after bolting the doors firmly against nocturnal intrusion. In an era of prevalent superstition, householders endeavoured to keep weak, flickering candlelight burning to banish the demons and ghosts that might haunt the realms of the unseen. Though crepuscular light was filled with real and imaginary terrors, extensive darkness also fostered the development of practical knowledge about the starfilled sky and the phases of the moon, and necessitated an…

JaapJan Berg is an independent researcher, critic and moderator in the field of architecture and spatial planning. He regularly chairs debates and discussions on architecture and spatial planning and teaches at the Architecture Academies of Amsterdam and Arnhem. jajaberg@xs4all.nl Gareth Doherty is an assistant professor of landscape architecture and senior research associate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he is also director of the Master in Landscape Architecture program. gdoherty@gsd.harvard.edu Tim Endensor teaches Cultural Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University and is currently a visiting scholar at Melbourne University. He has written extensively on national identity, tourism, ruins and urban materiality, mobilities and landscapes of illumination and darkness. T.Edensor@mmu.ac.uk Mark Kammerbauer is the Interim Head of the Department for Theory of Architecture and Design at the Nuremberg Institute of…

Yes, the visions are beautiful: a transnational metropolis between the USA and Mexico, an urban space, close to the existing twin city of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, where national differences cease to matter. The thought is clever, wittily open, and in a relaxed way anti-Trump. No wonder the architecture and urbanism scenes became so quickly mesmerized as these visions were so eloquently put forward recently by Mexican architect Fernando Romero. The border reality, however, looks different. When you do the transnational walk on the “Puente Internacional Paso del Norte”, one of two central bridges linking El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, you encounter two city structures, two distinct urban systems that do not strive for their sameness, but for their differences. Twin cities? Maybe. But these twins are as un-alike…

Standing surrounded by sand dunes, approximately 100 people begin to make history. The year is 1909 and, after taking part in a lottery, the more than 60 families of European origin divide the sand-covered area amongst themselves using shells they collected beforehand. In the following months they will breathe life into this dry place, which will now be called Tel Aviv – Spring Hill – and where now more than 400,000 people live. The photographer Avraham Soskin was there on that day of Tel Aviv's founding: His 100-year-old photographs are proof of what you still feel today, i.e., that Tel Aviv is built on sand. It's not just that sand creeps through even the smallest of cracks into everyone's flats – this city shakes and crumbles like a sand castle.…

When spring arrives people want to go outside again, into the streets, plazas, parks and nearby recreational areas. The amount of time they spend outdoors will increase greatly if proper site furniture invites them to relax and stay awhile, and if the appropriate infrastructure makes their stay more enjoyable. In order to choose the right furniture, the question has to be asked as to which ergonomic equipment best suits the location, the users and the expected activities: e.g. at a bus stop a bench without a backrest for a short wait, a bench with a backrest and comfortable seat for a lunch break at an urban plaza, a lounge chair for a break in the park, and a bistro table and stools for drinking coffee and communicative work at a…

Parc de la Villette’s conceptual starting points and schematic layout was widely publicised – Kandinsky’s painterly abstract thesis Point and Line to Plane was layered with Bernard Tschumi’s theories on the urban condition. Tschumi’s interpretation of “Point, Line and Plane” – the grid of red follies, the circle, triangle and square prairies and discovery gardens – was laid out across the former territory of the La Villette abattoirs. These elements were linked by a covered north-south and east-west route that linked metro stations, neighbourhoods, and major buildings. This entire layout was then subverted by the twisting snake of the cinematic promenade, a series of themed garden experiments that slide into and out of the park’s flat surface, colliding and fragmenting the rational layout, programme and form. The theory was simple…

For a total of 354 days, Bears Ears was a National Monument of 540 hectares until President Donald Trump abrogated Barack Obama’s Presidential Proclamation and reduced the protected areas by 85 percent. Some see this as a new war for federal control of Utah's land – but not our author, Sean Michael. “Speed,” J.B. Jackson opined, helps us to “ re-establish a responsiveness – almost an intimacy – with a more spacious, less tangible aspect of nature.” Therefore, the pace with which U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah’s southeast corner, and within mere weeks later, recommended a reduction of its 547,074 hectares, would suggest his intimacy was short-lived. Operating on directions from President Trump, the outcome was considered a fait accompli. The die,…

“The charm of nature in Bahrain, and throughout the Arabian desert, was best seen at dawn or dusk, when the sun touches the earth most gently.” Having spent a year living in the Arabian Pensinsula for ethnographic fieldwork, I very much agree with this observation by the Lebanese anthropologist Fuad Khuri. Based mostly in Bahrain, I would walk every day in order to better understand the various landscapes. One of the great things about walking is that it helps you to construct the opportunities for encountering the unexpected, and for me one of the most astonishing aspects of living in Bahrain was how much of social life is conducted during the hours of darkness. Before I spent an extended period of time living in the Arabian Peninsula, I didn't fully…

El Internado Paseo Dimalow 167, Alegre Valparaíso Fauna Hotel Paseo Dimalow 166 Valparaíso Violeta Parra Gracias a la vida 1 Harbour Muelle Prat -33.0367771; -71.6277507 Trade relationships with Europe grew following Chile’s independence in the early 19th century. Alongside San Francisco, Valparaíso was the most important harbour on the west coast of the Americas. Its geographic location as the first transhipment point after passing Cape Horn was the foundation for Valpo’s “golden age”. This paved the way for Latin America’s first stock exchange and Chile’s first library along with the oldest Spanish-language newspaper still in print, El Mercurio, founded in 1827. The Panama Canal was opened in 1914 and the Chilean city was catapulted into oblivion as an international transhipment point. Today, the harbour no longer has a unique selling…