a week of conferences

okay, it’s back to work after all of that travel. this week, we had two excellent conferences at school: the ifhp 2007 student congress ‘futures of cities,’ and a one-day mini-conference entitled ‘creative systems.’

poster for the futures of cities conference and exhibition

these were great for me because the first conference was mostly about planning issues, while the second focused more on architectural (and related) systems. they were really fun – and stimulating (like i needed more thesis ideas!). i’m writing up both of these conferences in more detail on my valle blog, if anyone is interested in more info or photos.

futures of cities was held jointly with the ifhp world congress (read: expensive but amazing professionals’ conference), and we got to share some keynote addresses, events, and a party with them. more than 300 students from 35 countries came to copenhagen for the student congress, and there were more than 193 entries in the 2007 ‘futures of cities’ competition (which was a large part of the student conference). i really wish i could have been able to take part in the professionals’ conference – there were something like twenty different topic-specific organized tours of copenhagen to choose from! it was really cool to be a part of the student conference, though. for me, the highlights of the two days were addresses by shigeru ban and ellen van loon (of oma) plus getting to see all of the cool competition entries (which will be on display at school for a while). the main areas of focus at the conference were shanghai, dubai, dealing with doomsday scenarios (caused by natural disaster or global warming), the design of socially irresponsible iconic buildings, and micro-communities. it was really interesting to get a largely european perspective on the issues tied to these topics, and also to hear all of the hype about shanghai. shanghai and dubai. what a pair. it was also humbling (though not surprising) to see u.s. cities used as examples of unsustainable development (hello, atlanta, denver, and houston!). we’ve got a long way to go, but there are some really inspirational examples out there. okay, moving on…

the four speakers’ exhibits at the creative systems conference

the creative systems conference was also great – it was one day packed full of speakers, but they were all really interesting and the topics fit together really well despite the speakers’ quite varied backgrounds. anne beim, the ph.d student who put this conference together, did a really great job of choosing the topics and organizing everything. in brief, the topics were: possibilities for using research to reorganize architectural practice into a more sustainable and responsible system (stephen kieran); formation of more efficient and beautiful concrete columns using fabric formwork (mark west); using technology to achieve architectural solutions that cannot be arrived at by hand (ludger hovestadt), and technology transfer in extreme textiles (matilda mcquaid). there was some fantastic discussion about new materials, the use of technology in design, and what “innovative” really means – and why we are continually striving to innovate. the conference organizers have promised that the discussions will be published eventually; i hope i can get my hands on a copy!

part of the creative systems exhibition (a little laser cutter work…)

ahh, stockholm!

so, last but definitely not least on the fantastic scandi-russia tour was stockholm. three days there and plenty of walking around was enough to convince me that this is one of my favorite cities ever. it’s kind of funny, because i can’t think of any particular thing that made me decide this…it was just seeing so many different parts of the city and liking them all for different reasons. the streets are lively and have character, most areas are mixed-use, there’s lots of green and water mixed into urban areas, the transit systems are impressive, there’s amazing public infrastructure (stairs connecting various levels of the hilly city, bike paths, parks and benches everywhere)…everything just fits together really, really well. okay, and there’s this fantastic muffin bakery…and ice cream that was so good i ate it even though i was freezing…but those are only supporting factors. : ) ooh, i should back up and say that we took a viking cruise ship to stockholm from helsinki. it was an overnight cruise, one that is known for its wild, party atmosphere. apparently monday nights aren’t so hot…our boat wasn’t really hopping, although there were plenty of gambling and shopping areas, bars, and singers covering classic american ballads. but it was still a fun ride and definitely recommended. in the morning, we got to watch from the deck as the boat entered the harbor at stockholm…really beautiful! i can’t imagine living near the harbor and watching those enormous cruise ships (there’s a photo of our boat in my helsinki slide show) go by every day. anyway. back to stockholm. it was fantastic. we stayed in the old city, which is an island sandwiched between the northern and southern parts of stockholm (norrmalm and södermalm). there’s not really much going on in the old city besides it being the home of the castle and lots of tourist activity, but it sure is photogenic:

the old city from across the harbor

brända tomten, a famous and photogenic square (well, triangle) near our hostel

a narrow lane/the narrowest lane (35 inches wide)

some kind of royal marching band playing outside the castle

social commentary?

stortorget, another famous medieval square/cross-harbor view

old city streets and buildings

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so although the old city was beautiful, it wasn’t my favorite part of stockholm. what i really liked the most were the diverse neighborhoods and everyday urban areas, which i can try to convey here:

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so, if you get a chance, go to stockholm (and bring me with you)! : )

a couple of days in helsinki…

from st. petersburg, we took a (much nicer) train to helsinki, which was about six hours away. i was really amazed at how much the landscape reminded me of northern minnesota. : ) we only had two days to see the city, but it was pretty fun. brief impressions: russian influence (the downtown core was built to resemble st.petersburg); awesome streetcar network; small, walkable city. helsinki’s actually not very old, as scandinavian capitals go…it’s only been a “capital” city since 1809. although we didn’t have much time, we did get to see some really cool architecture (finlandia hall, the church in the rock, assorted aalto + saarinen buildings…) and a little bit of the city and around. one of the very first things we ran into on our first day was this great harborfront market:

right on the waterfront!

cute tables for sitting and eating/giant woks of food…i had salmon and potatoes : ) yum!

it was pretty happening…not a bad way to spend a sunday morning! : )

more market photos: craft stands/finnish reindeer!/fruits and berries/assorted produce

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after eating delicious market fish and potatoes, we took a boat to suomenlinna (the one activity that had been almost unanimosuly recommended by my friends who have been to helsinki). suomenlinna an inhabited sea fortress on a collection of islands outside helsinki’s harbor. this was a really fun mini-excursion and i’ll add my recommendation to the others…! out on the islands, you can hike, picnic, fly a kite, see the fortress, get some ice cream…and it was beautiful to see the old fortress ruins with helsinki in the distance.

a perfect day for flying kites : )

old military housing (?) and a bridge between islands

an old bunker (with a green roof!)

beautiful tree/suomenlinna harbor

bikes at the visitors center (though we did see one car on one of the islands…)

aaron investigates a cannon… : )

suomenlinna land- and seascape

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and last, but not least, the helsinki slide show!