contributed by Eileen May 18, 2012, 8:37 am  Over the past few years, trees in Vancouver, BC, and Auckland, New Zealand, have turned vibrant electric blue. Now the same thing is happening to trees in Seattle. It isn’t some strange virus or fungus; it’s part of an art project intended to make people more aware of the trees that surround them.
The Blue Trees is a social art action. Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos uses environmentally friendly paints to coat the trunks and limbs of urban trees all over the world, accompanied by signs that explain the project. His goal is to raise awareness of global deforestation. About 32 million acres of forests were converted to other uses or lost to natural causes each year between 2000 and 2010, according to a 2010 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Blue Trees project started in British Columbia in 2010. Dimopoulos colored trees in Port Moody, West Vancouver and Richmond for the Vancouver Biennale, a 2009-2011 art exhibition. After Vancouver, he colored trees in New Zealand, along the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail. The colorant is made from azurite — a vibrant blue rock — and water, it is non-toxic, so it won’t hurt the trees. The blue color will eventually fade.
Trees are largely invisible in our daily lives, and it’s not until it’s too late that we realize how important they are to us both aesthetically and environmentally. “Blue is not a color we normally associate with trees, so he is transforming the trees,” said the artist’s wife and manager, Adele Dimopoulos. “This creates a pause for people to stop and actually notice the trees.” Over time, the vibrant blue will fade and be washed away by rain. Dimopoulos engages local volunteers to help paint the trees. The reaction thus far has been positive, says Dimopoulous. “Mostly people look at this and they love the blue. It’s actually quite intense and beautiful. We’re doing this to get people to say, ‘Wait, what’s happening?’”
The latest project, 56 painted trees in Westlake Park, Seattle, Washington and Burke-Gilman Trail, Kenmore, Washington was installed in April. After Seattle, Dimopoulous is bringing the project to Florida, Boston, and London. “All I’m doing is raising a flag,” he says. “I am for sustainable forestry, but there is sustainable and managed forestry and then there’s ecocide.”
Check out more images of the Seattle installation.
contributed by Katie May 7, 2012, 11:05 am  I am headed to my best friend (who is also a landscape architect) from college’s wedding tomorrow, and I have been brainstorming my toast for the reception while reliving my college days in my head. I figure what better time to write a post about the Colorado State University Landscape (CSU) Architecture Program than now.
CSU is located in Fort Collins, Colorado, about 75 miles north of Denver. Fort Collins is a smaller city nestled against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The school initially started as an agricultural school named Colorado Agricultural College, then becoming Colorado A &M, and finally a University in 1957. The landscape architecture program was established in 1976.
The landscape architecture program at CSU, which is five-years long, has a strong background in design. Many of the studios are based on real life projects in local sites throughout Colorado that students are able to visit. Studios allow experience on projects ranging in scale from planning to site design, permitting students to focus on aspects of the project they feel strongly about. The program also provides many opportunities to travel, from a tour through the southwest United States to a European Studio where you explore everything from the intricate site design of an Italian villa to the urban design of Paris.
The department has a group of students representing the Student Chapter of ASLA who annually plan an event called LA Days. This is a four-day event where the Chapter invites nationally and internationally recognized landscape architects to speak to the students. Some of the speakers in the past years have included Peter Walker, Ken Smith, Michael Van Valkenburgh, George Hargreaves, Jennifer Guthrie, Andrea Cochran, Richard Haag and Thomas Wang.
As I look back and prepare my toast, I am filled with nostalgia for the studio lifestyle at CSU. Even though it was challenging at times, I came away from that program with experiences that could not be replicated anywhere else.
What makes the landscape architecture program at your Alma Mater unique?
Image: http://ibis.colostate.edu/
contributed by Mark May 2, 2012, 9:07 am  Nature Explore is a collaborative program of the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. Their goal is “to help children and families develop a profound engagement with the natural world, where nature is an integral, joyful part of children’s daily learning.”
Nature Explore provides workshops, consultations, and a variety of resources for designers and contractors. Their design support is grounded in over a decade of research and field-testing by the Dimensions Foundation and ensures productive learning in math, science, art, music and movement, visual/spatial skills, close observation skills, and social skills within the context of an outdoor classroom.
The images below are from Dimensions Educational Research Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska.
contributed by Dave April 10, 2012, 10:36 am  Well, google has done it again. Launched in February of last year, the Google Art Project enables users to access high resolution images from galleries and museums all over the world. By incorporating Street View Technology into this project, they provide 360-degree panoramic views and virtual movement through 46 of the participating galleries. Some of the works in the collection are rendered in gigapixels, allowing the user to zoom way in to the art…close enough to see individual paint strokes. It’s almost as good as standing in front of the real thing…almost.
The initiative for this project was born out of Google’s “20 percent time”, in which the company encourages employees to pursue their own interests one day/week.
Take a tour of your own…
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Smithsonian
contributed by Dave March 22, 2012, 2:27 pm  Mjolk Architects, based in the Czech Republic, is one of 5 winners in the Warming Huts v. 2012 Design Competition. Their entry, dubbed the Polar Hen, is created by pumping and spraying riverwater over an air-filled silicon support structure (an egg-shaped balloon). The water freezes on the surface, creating a thick shell. The silicon is then deflated and removed, leaving behind a transparent igloo that will, come spring, return to its origin.
The 5 winning hut designs have been built and are located on the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
View a video of the creation of the POLAR HEN.
See the other winning entries below or check out the competition website
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