Spaceous Architecture in Amsterdam

Watching TV yesterday my attention was drawn to an item about new constructed appartment blocks. The topic for that day was the 'Christal Court' (by Tangram Architects), located at a small area in Amsterdam (Netherlands).

The project consists of 37 stacked villa's on top of a parkinglot. The complex is consists of separate structures with a minimum of floor coverage which becomes more dense and wider at higher floorlevels. The way the houses are situated creates a high density of appartments at the upper floors and having a spatious patio with lots of transparancy at the lower levels. At groud floor several waterpools and plants can be found.

For more info see Tangram Architects (English) picture by: John Lewis Marshall

(source in Dutch: nieuwbouwprijs.nl)

The Agricultural Urbanism Book has been launched!
Our awareness of the significant challenge our food supply faces in the 21st century is growing rapidly. However, few people offer more than a suggestion that we all grow our own food in our backyard or balcony, attend a farmers' market, and lobby for global change. This book, rooted in a sustainable food system approach and written by leaders in planning and design, outlines a powerful strategy for understanding and taking action on the full scope of sustainable food system opportunities in cities and how we build them.
This book takes sustainable food systems far beyond the community garden and the buying of local food and into strategies for supporting local food processing, wholesale and marketing, education and training programs, and celebration and culture around food, ensuring access to healthy food for all.

The project, meant for a family house back yard in the suburbs, aimed at designing a small park or opened area where the young parents and their newborn child would enjoy a independent space from day to day house activities, a space for reading, playing, etc. Having in mind this objective, and considering the usages of the space in the long term, it was proposed the project incorporated a small building to complement and support outside activities. That way he building would serve as a shelter for the child to share with his parents and, later on, as his own personal activities and hobbies setting.

I would love to have such a 'shelter' in my backyard and turn it into a boulderobject!

(source: Archdaily.com)

Basic Rules in Presenting Poll Results

Eheh, I like this as a counterpart to all the polls who spilled the media about the elections of our house of commons in the Netherlands these days. Njoy.

(source: StumbleUpon.com)

Advertisment comparing MS and climbing

I found this advertisement on Stumble Upon. In a matter of speaking it has a striking resemblance with the condition climbers face if partly or completely devoid of power afer high exertion. Not that I compare both physical states of the body, they couldn't be more different, but it's very effective in the way it's used in this add.

(source: StumbleUpon.com)

Rooftop Agriculture - Growing food locally

Although vertical farming is a very effective way of using unused space, it is also seems difficult to put into practice. Using rooftops makes it a little more achievable, and even more important; it can be put into practise on a very small scale. It is an almost perfect spot for growing crops as the roof is horizontality, has an openness to sun and air and an natural supply for water.

Many projects can be found. An example is the one named the fifth street farm project. The Fifth Street Farm Project has it all: It addresses childhood obesity, stormwater runoff, and climate change. Conceived by a grassroots organization of teachers, parents, and green-roof advocates, the project’s plan calls for a roof farm atop the Robert Simon Complex, a massive public school building on the Lower East Side that houses elementary schools P.S. 64 and the Earth School, as well as the Tompkins Square Middle School. The Fifth Street Roof Farm will grow only a very small portion of the food served in the cafeteria, but it should play an important role in educating young taste buds. “The challenge was doing a green roof at a school and marrying it to this idea of a farmable roof,” said Arad. “You could do an extensive green roof here quite easily and walk away. But it wouldn’t engage school children like a roof farm can.”

Such projects still inspire me to set up a mini rooftop agriculture spot for myself. Self grown food must be so very rewarding if all the ingredients are so close at hand: soil, runoff water from the roof and many friends of family having seeds or seedlings from their vegetable gardens. I can see no reason not to do it.

(source: archpaper.com & CityFarmer.com)

Dutch Environmental Film Festival - DEFF

The Film Festival introduces itself as: We're Strawberry Earth and we proudly present the Dutch Environmental Film Festival (DEFF), an annual platform for the best international, environmental films and documentaries. Each year DEFF screens major international and national premieres, hosts inspirational speakers and creative green organisations, and organises memorable festival parties with talent from the European DJ and live music scene. DEFF is the only major international film festival in the world that uses 100% of all money raised to make the screening venues eco friendlier. Thanks to the support of energy company Greenchoice - and all our other sponsors and partners - DEFF has grown to become one of Europe's premier environmental film festivals. Come and see for yourself, June 3 - 6

One of the starring films is about 'the lazy environmentalist' being Josh Dorfman a.k.a. The Lazy Environmentalist. He is a New Yorker with a mission. It's a rather big mission - to save the planet - and he plans to achieve it by fighting the excesses of the wasteful couch potato.

Must quality or cost be sacrificed in order to adopt a green lifestyle? Does being greener mean being geeky? Josh goes on search throughout New York for the answers to questions like these. And with help from other environmental experts we're able to share in his entertaining style of storytelling.

Join us for one of the first screenings outside the USA, of the Sundance Channel's new series, The Lazy Environmentalist. He's sure to help change your wasteful ways...
You'll also be able to chat 'live' with Josh himself during a post screening transatlantic Q&A!

check: the strawberryearth and the lazy environmentalist

Start of the backyard bouldering season

The really first fine weather days made me 'unwrap' my boulderwall in my backyard. The first to take advantage was my daugther and a friend. She did climb but even more desirable was to make a shelter and play with all het stuffed toys. One way to use the boulderwall and the oversized crashpad.... note that even the brush-stick is used :))

Your morning coffee 's amazing journey

Not only climbing gyms are worthwhile climbing. Just keep your eyes open and seize every opportunity to climb objects out of the ordinary. Life Magazine Cover January 14, 2005
The cover of Life magazine features a photograph of men as they climb an enormous wall made up from sacks of coffee beans in a warehouse, accompanined by the headline 'Your Morning Coffee's Amazing Journey'.

(source: stumbleupon.com)

Photography of bouldering is serious business

Climber Wall decoration at home

For those who can't afford a boulderwall at home...

(source: stumbleupun.com)

Vertical Crop Growing and Agriculture in an Urban Environment

Although plants and crops mostly tend to do it naturally, mankind thinks to have evented a new way of growing crops and plans in high density urban environments: Vertical Agriculture. Aggreed, vertile soil doesn't come in stacks high but here technology can play a major part in the development.

I found a most enlightning post about it on Landscape+Urbanism from Jason King. Seemingly lots of gizmo techniques about space environment producing crops some of the mentioned techniques and structures are very well suitable for small scale production as well!

A future problem of the urban environments is not only the large scale water consumpion but congestion as a result of the never ending supply of food as well. What if most of the inhabitants were able to grow their own vegetables. They would have a better quality of food and, added bonus, it would be cheaper in two ways: less transport and cheaper to make than buy. The only thing is; it takes time to grow it.

Nevertheless let's take a look at the futuristic and cunning structures, architecture and most of all conceptual projects. Below a selection of them. For the complete article go here.

picture above: The Plantagon project is one of a raft of recent projects designed to make urban environments more sustainable in the long term. For example, pictured here is a project called DragonFly. The 600-meter-high (almost 2,000-foot) vertical greenhouse is shaped like the wings of a dragonfly and was created by the Belgian designer Vincent Callebaut. It is designed to house livestock and a wide range of crops.

(above: City Farming in a Plantagon Greenhouse. With its largest glasshouse model estimated to cost about €70 million ($104 million), the costs of such projects are huge — but so are the environmental changes the world will face in the years to come. The stark facts of global warming, combined with population growth, speak for themselves (source: cityfarmer.info)



(below:
Looking into the economics and politics of rising food prices and theories about impending food shortages led us to create the “food farm” to test peoples sensitivity to the issue. We wanted to develop something initially that would supplement the nutritional needs of a family living in high rise accommodation, without drawing electricity or gas (source: cityfarmer.info)


And now: let's go and try to develop something alike for my own roof, and see if I can grow my own crops without all the high-tech installations. Vegetables instead of a green sedum roof: Vegitecture?!

Climbing and yearning to Nature

Not everything about climbing is strength, training and physical technique. Having a balanced mind is a much underdeveloped, and important factor with climbing, everyone should practise, or better still let him overcome. And where better to reach that 'hightened' state of mind than in nature. Away from the (big) cities and crowded places. Even those where it crawles with climbers....

Two weeks ago (at a wednesday) I spend a whole day rock climbing in Freyr with my climbingbuddy 'the Lank'. If ever I have not seen so few climbers at that magnificent place. It felt as if we had the whole place for ourselfes. Yo, let's do it again !

Stone Monkey Urban Climbing Old Skool

If you roam around cities with your eyes open, a whole new world of beautiful, most illusive and most of all small archtectural wonders reveal themselves.

Above picture shows climbing monkeys from the interior of the National History museum in London, designed by Alfred Waterhouse. Ofcourse this is an (old skool) interst from my love of climbing but interesting in it's own way as well.

Seemingly fond of ornaments displaying flora and fauna (both living and extinct) he used all sorts of mamals and plants for decoration of his buildings (see pics under).

Woo-hoo, tipple-AC

Yup, it's time to start posting again. No idea where it will lead, because there are so many climbing-blogs it seems sily to try and add more info to the abundance of it.

New topics?!: Climbing 'nd Climate, Comics (still a favourite), my own climbing thingies, Art and Architecture and last but not least; Animation of all kind. Ya got the tripple AC already?

Back from a long break - Dutch Comic Littlestarman

For the Dutch Comic lovers: Littlestarman is back online !! For me a humorous start of the day and always a twist in the plot. I love the 'klare lijn' (specific drawing style by Sandra Kleine Staarman) but to enjoy it to the most go to her website for her dailies. Njoy !!
Click on the pic for her annual 24-hour comic.

Ice Climbing in the Netherlands

Last sunday I got the word from my ice climbing buddy, Tim, that some guys in Woerden (Netherlands, duh...) had made their own ice climbing wall !! Not bad for the Lowlands and despite the changing climate this winter had many activities in store for the seriouly out doors minded.

More info in the next posts.

(source: Tim, ya know it)

Not so many posts...

I am not posting so much lately, for which I am sorry. But, being optimistic I reckon this will change in due time. Perhaps it's because so many new blogs and websites are being made about climbing and bouldering. Maybe it's time to make a change although 'what' is not clear to me. I will continue to 'blog' though !!

Above is the comic figure Gaston who represents to me 'taking the ordinary out of ordinary' and making the most out of life with tons an loads of fun. That's the way I will continue with Paschnampook

Hard New Ice Climging Routes and Scary Soloing in Austria

On January 7th the Austrians Albert Leichtfried and Benedikt Purner completed the first ascent of Centercourt WI7+, 300m. This route is located in the Eisarena in Gasteinertal, Austria. It took Leichtfried one and a half hours to climb the crux pitch of Centercourt, placing a single bolt on the lead that still did not make him feel that this pitch was safe. The line is now probably one of the hardest ice fall routes in Europe. Leichtfried and Purner are both Austrian Alpine Guides and are building up quiet a resume of hard new routes in their home country. Before Christmas they climbed a 1000m long route that weighed in at WI6/M7 that they named Moonwalk.

Continuing the hard Austrian ice ticks this month was Rudolf Hauser. Just to the side of Centercourt is a 270m long WI6 called Supervisor. This route was first climbed nearly twenty years ago by Joseph Steinbacher and Hans Zlobl and it took them eight hours. In January this year Rudolf Hauser free soloed the route in one hour and forty minutes.

For more info: see here
For more pics: go this place

source: climbmagazine.com

Pictures Ice Climbing World Cup Saas Fee - Finals Men

Being in the vicinity of Saas Fee during the World Cup Ice Climbing I took the opportunity to shoot some pictures of the world class competition ice climbers. Our 'basecamp' in Grachen turned out to be a perfect hot spot for ice climbing activities ourself. Just below Saas Fee a small but fine gorge is situated and filled with high quality waterfall ice in the grades of III and IV. Tim and I scaled two of them and later on another near Saas Balen.

Below some pics of the (for me) two leading men, Markus Bendler from Austria and Park Hee Yong, delivering some spectacular ice climbing acrobatics in the (world?) famous parking lot of Saas Fee. Pictures of our own ice climbing adventures will follow later.