...it's not art

Sponge Park

2011-04-09T08:53:00.001-07:00

Been looking at so many different remediation projects around the world for inspiration and ideas. Found something interesting by dlandstudio on Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn New York. They call the project Sponge Park and are dealing with run off coming from the industrial surrounding and into the canal bringing pollutants and toxins. They deal with it by adding layers of phytoremediating plants to filter and soak up the run off water. It is a quite fascinating project and worth looking.

The project is available here: http://www.spongepark.org/

Time Flies

2011-04-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while here. Don't know where the time goes but it is just flying by! Make me think of one of my favorite quotes by one of my favorite authors; I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. -Douglas Adams

Anyhow, I've been busy working in school and not really doing much else then hanging out with people here in the east residence of the campus. It is a bit weird here. A strange surreal feeling. Every townhouse is the same, with the same furniture and same planning. If you go visit someone it feels like you are first leaving your own home then coming back in to you own home again. You sit down in an identical sofa in an identical living room next to an identical kitchen. It's like something out of the Twilight Zone. Somehow I can picture this place deserted and dead. It has no soul the only thing keeping the shell alive is the people living here. When they are gone the sense of this place will be gone too.

Oyster-tecture

2011-04-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

I found this video on TED.com (a really good site for interesting presentations and lectures). It is from architect Kate Orff on a project reviving the rivers in New York using oysters to clean up pollutants in the water.

This holds a special interest to me since it is similar with the project I am dealing with right now on in the harbour of Owen Sound. Now I'm not going to use mussels or oysters in my project but it made me research the matter a bit further. Lake Huron, connecting with Owen Sound through Gerogian Bay, has a problem with invasive species of Zebra Mussels, not native to the waters. But there is two sides of this coin since the Zebra mussels at the same time is filtering and cleaning up the pollutants in the water. Well the TED-talk is well worth watching!

Ice Hotel

2011-04-09T08:15:00.001-07:00

We made a trip to the Ice Hotel outside of Quebec City also known as Hôtel de Glace. It's a bit strange, we have an ice hotel in Sweden as well but I never thought of visiting that. Might do that now since this was a pretty neat experience.

Indoor ice slide. Every kids dream!

You could pour maple syrup on the snow then roll it up on a stick and eat it like candy. Tried it and it was mighty tasty!

Beautiful patterns in the ice.

Every room had a theme to it, some more interesting and beautiful then others.

This was one of my favorites, the hive room.

Quebec City

2011-04-09T07:53:00.001-07:00

So we finally made it to Quebec City. Went straight to the old part and walked around for a bit.

This was probably what I found most similar to European cities on the trip through French Canada. The architecture and closeness of the buildings. Seemed like we missed the winter festiveness. Same with the Winterlude Festival in Ottawa, think that was the weekend before we came. But I guess you can't be on time for everything.

The old part in Quebec city has two levels and connecting them are probably the worlds shortest gondola, or what you should call it.

Statue of Samuel de Chaplain, founder of Quebec City and the "New France".

So cute!

Montreal III

2011-04-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

Visiting the Old Port area in Montreal.

It was so cold outside so this is where we ended up after just an hour of walking around. Carrot cake and earl grey tea. Yum!

Streets in Old Port.

The Notre-Dame Basilica. Didn't feel like paying 5 bucks for going inside.

Back street.

The Biodome next to the Olympic Stadium.

The 1976 Summer Olympic stadium in Montreal. Futuristic architecture by architect Roger Taillibert.

Montreal II

2011-04-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Just some random snap shots on buildings and streets in Montreal as I was on the bus.

Montreal

2011-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

This was something special. I really liked Montreal, perhaps because it had a bit more European feel to it and it made me feel more at home. I don't know.

The view from Mount Royal. Don't know if would classify as a mountain since it's only 233 meters high. In comparison to Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh for example that's 251 meter high and called a hill. Anyhow, nice view from this old eroded volcano complex.

Snap shot on the eastern slope of Mount Royal from the bus.

Saint Joseph's Oratory, didn't have time to go inside since I was just passing by.

The flag of Quebec enjoying the wind.

Cold February morning downtown Montreal.

Ottawa

2011-04-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I'm back from my travels around Quebec now and had a really good time! Thought I might post the trip in different post, starting with the first stop, Ottawa, Capital of Canada.

Saw these green sticks in the pavement on the streets. Never figured out what they were for. Perhaps something useful when they plow the snow or something.
Ottawa is pretty much a solid government city were most people living there work in government, and you can tell by the public spaces too. This is a place for business.
The federal buildings all have copper roofs that turn green when oxidizing, sort of a trademark. Its a common sight back home in Sweden where we have a lot of copper roofs on our buildings.

View over Ottawa from Parliament Hill. Can see Ottawa River that separates Ontario from Quebec.

If you are a dinosaur and want to go to a museum, turn left. I missed that unfortunately, I love dinos.

The Victoria Tower Bell that was saved and restored from the fire 1916.

Parliament Hill, government buildings.

On Parliament hill they had a cat shelter taking care of stray cats. Some squirrels took advantage of the hospitality too as seen to the left.
Parliament Hill is a gathering place for protests. When I was there they where protesting against Gaddafi and the situation in Libya.

Centennial Flame at Parliament Hill. Couldn't remember the story so I had to look it up and copy/paste it here: On January 1, 1967, then Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson first lit the flame to mark the Centennial celebrations, which was the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation.

National War Memorial, called The Response. Monument for fallen soldiers from WWI, WWII and the Korean War.

Go with the flow.

I love market places, full of life and energy.

Can you see it? This is so strange. The Totem pole on the left is left in such a horrible context. Look at the parking house to the right. Makes no sense at all.
Leave on a good note, of course I had to try a "Beaver Tail". A warm pastry with different toppings. It was good, and just what you need after a lot of walking and cold weather.

February 15

2011-04-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

A few quick lines. I have booked a trip to French Canada for the reading week now. Going to see Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec city! Really excited and can't wait to do some travelling.

The Owen Sound project is going well and I have a lot of ideas, just need to be better with the documentation of my thoughts. Now I'm of to the university pub to meet some people.

Toronto

2011-04-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Finally I made it in to Toronto. First sample of the city. Went with a couple of friends just over the day. It was a freezing day with cold winds. But despite that we struggled on walking around the central parts of the city.

No I didn't eat at Big Fat Burrito, something tells me I wouldn't like it. But I will never know.

A lot of tram wires in the corner giving some interesting angles and details.
Sometimes I just find it more interesting to document people documenting things then the things themselves.

Outside of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Don't know what it is, but I find beauty in this.

Walking in to China town in Toronto.

Didn't eat lunch here either...

Stuff like this makes me think. Someone must be designing this crap somewhere. I wonder who that person is and what a day in their life looks like. That person perhaps was sitting on a train a late September afternoon with her/his sketchbook drawing the the basic design for that wolf hat.

Don't really know why I posted this photo, horrible font though.

Would like to see more street art like this in the city.

10 points to the Italian Consulate for this amazing Italian/Canadian Da Vinci moose on their front lawn!

Wires and church, perhaps one of the wires connect them with the big boss.

The city hall in Toronto.

Sick kids!

Zvezdan trying to outdraw me in a photo shoot out.

Visiting Dundas Square, also called Times Square of Toronto. Busy place with a lot of people and strange unfocused energy.
I went back to the City Hall after the sun set. Now even colder outside, but the futuristic lighting of the building was definitely worth it.
Nathan Phillips square in front of the City Hall had a ice skating area and was quite busy even after dark. Great energy with families, couples and friends laughing, falling and showing off.

Beam me up. Ready to go back home to Guelph.

Niagara Falls

2011-04-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

Finally I got to see the mighty Niagara Falls! But I must say I'm a bit disappointed. Not buy the fall in it self, somehow I never get disappointed by nature. More about people and how we see nature and our surroundings. Surrounding the falls are great tall casinos ans hotels. Money buildings, or "opportunities" probably what people with a business background would call it. It disgust me sometimes. I went up a tall lookout tower and got that feeling that I'm just apart of it all. I pay for my ticket. I get in the elevator. I say "ooh" and snap my photos. Go down again and exit through the gift shop. So many gift shops, everywhere!

Pics in reversed order of the day, just for fun!

At night they put huge colour spot lights on the falls. Sounds really cool but the effect is not that amazing. Or perhaps it was just diminished a bit by the snow fall.

Broadway next!

It was really raw and cold, the wind cut through your body like a samurai cuts pineapples.
A lot of things were closed or under repair. You could feel you were here during off/low season.

No comment.

Going up.

Up.

Down.

A bit icy.

Just like looking in the mirror every morning.

I was the only one I could see taking photos in the tunnels under the fall. This was a really interesting space.

Left or right?

The day started out with a visit to the town Niagara on the Lake. The Lake being lake Ontario, of course.

Lake Ontario with some interesting winter forms along the beach.

This is what you need a cold day in February.

Mandy is taking forever to order.

Ontario on the Lake

Site Visit

2011-04-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wooo, now I've been up to Owen Sound and seen the site I'm working on and the rest of the city. A full day with a lot of new impressions and interesting thoughts. Thought I would share some photos taken from the day.

Snow?
The coolest building I found in Owen Sound. It is so busy!
This is the harbour where my site is for the project. It was freezing out side and no fun taking photos and notes...
This grain elevator is supposedly still operational, don't know if its still used though.
This building used to be an old brothel, where sailors coming in to port went for a nice cup of tea and biscuits... Today people of Owen Sound want to turn it in to a historic building to preserve this important piece of Owen Sound history.

Owen Sound

2011-04-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

So I have started my big project for this semester. The site is located in the city of Owen Sound, around 125km north of Guelph. On Thursday I will go up to the site by car and try to get some photos and feel of the place. Looking forward to seeing Owen Sound.

Arboretum

2011-04-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

Right around the corner from where I live there is an arboretum. The other day I went there in the crisp cold. It was a beautiful winter day and I absolutely loved the place. So nice to get away from the huge cars. Yes, the cars are actually on steroids here. Don't understand why people "need" to drive around in these huge trucks. Anyway, getting side tracked here.

I was getting to the arboretum. Walking around there I found a nice fountain in the snow that was still running for some reason. Never seen that before.

Walking around the fountain I found a second one, I didn't see it at first because it was frozen but still running water inside the layer of ice. Made a short movie clip of it with my phone (that's quite old).

Really awesome!

Random Snaps

2011-04-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Thought I might post some random snap shots I've taken.

The city logo. Fresh.

Concrete slab pavement. Standard.
More parking lots.
Pretty cool church, Knox Presbytarian Church. Downtown.
Should I wait for the bus 15 min or start walking?

Church of Our Lady in the background. Probably Guelph's largest landmark.
Downtown.

This building is really cool. Don't know what's going on here with the architecture but I love it.

Canada 101

2011-04-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

So, today I learned that a one dollar coin is called a "loonie" and a two dollar coin called a "toonie".

This of course make perfect sense. :)

Not Below 18°C

2011-04-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm here now, in Canada. So far most what I've seen is infrastructure, roads and warehouse like stores. Guess it's pretty much like that here. Would like a bit more architecture and urbanization for my part, haven't found the soul of Guelph yet, but I think this is going to be really awesome anyway. The landscape is pretty flat here I've notice as well.

A bit jet lagged and tired but I've managed to document just a little. Seems like we are six people living in this flat/house. Me, a Aussie bloke, a Swedish girl, a US girl and two more girls from South Africa. They all seem friendly and nice. Looking forward to getting some drinks soon and break the formal ice properly.

My first impression of Guelph and Canada. Parking lots....

...and roads. This is a nice treat, a sidewalk.

I have left my freezing days behind me in Scotland it seems. Found this promising notice above the thermostat. And I can assure you it's toasty in here. Why did I pack all those knitted socks?

First Impressions

2011-02-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

I've actually been here for a few weeks now so the first couple of post will be sort of retrospective nature.

Straight from the airport, jet lagged and without sleep for 36h I basically crashed face down in my residence bed, sleep would come first, exploration will come second.

When I woke up the next day I went out to have a look around, trying to get some sense of direction and discovery. What I found was a bit confusing. Doing my homework before I left (that being browsing through Guelph's Wikipedia webpage for 10 min) I was expecting a city. Small in size but none the less a city. But there was none to be found outside my small residence area.

First Post

2011-02-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

Hey and welcome! This is just a little warm up. Have nothing of interest to say, but I did just eat an apple! Yes, it was quite good actually, Granny Smith as always. Have a soft spot for those. You see, we are already starting to get to know each other here. Excellent!