Archive for April, 2010

Tweet The 2nd Annual Jane’s Walk Phoenix Saturday May 1, 2010 9:00am Starting at AmenZone 106 E. Buchanan St. What is it? From Sunset Magazine‘s profile of last year’s Jane’s Walk Phoenix This is an annual walk put on by urbanist Yuri Artibise in honor of Jane Jacobs who was a community activist, amateur urbanist and advocate of walkable neighborhoods.  There are several Jane’s Walks that occur throughout different cities in the US but Yuri brought it to Phoenix, a place that is in dire need of the ideals espoused by Jane Jacobs.  Find out more about this remarkable woman…

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Tweet Have you heard about the $25 mil grant the City of Phoenix received in partnership with ASU and APS as part of the Stimulus Bill?  You need to know about this! This grant is intended to make the Green Rail Corridor into a model of energy efficiency and sustainability.  Now what part of town is this Corridor?  Here’s a map of the area that they’re including in the Green Rail Corridor: (As an aside, this map provided by the City of Phoenix Planning Department is pretty cryptic and you have to work hard to figure it out.  I’m looking…

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April 26, 2010

A Beautiful New Building in Paradise Valley

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last week, I was invited by Alison King of Modern Phoenix to a SMOCA tour of Paradise Valley Fire Station No.1 by LEA Architects.  What a treat it was! I had never heard of LEA Architects prior to this and I thought I knew of all the architects in town doing great work.  LEA Architects comprises of a father-son team which I found to be unusual and charming.  Lawrence Enyart and his son Lance Enyart were present at the tour to tell us about their building.  I found both father and son to be accessible and down-to-earth, a refreshing…

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April 23, 2010

A Post-Earth Day Challenge

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Now that Earth Day’s over, are we going to go back to our wasteful ways?  Why not keep the momentum going with an Earth-Day inspired commitment?  It doesn’t have to be big, it can be as tiny as committing to shut the lights behind you when you leave a room or a big as committing to get rid of your car and trying out the carfree experience. This is my commitment:  buy my produce from local Arizona farmers.  I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going. produce from the Downtown Phoenix Public Market – photo from hubbuzz.com So what’s…

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Tweet In honor of Earth Day 2010 (tomorrow!) I’m focusing on sustainability issues in Phoenix. Monday I touched on 3 of the biggest sustainability challenges in Phoenix and yesterday I focused on the over abundance of parking in our city center.  But we can’t talk about sustainability in Phoenix without talking about solar power.  So today, I’d like to talk about this issue and discuss some creative ways we can incorporate solar power within the existing fabric of our city. Ever Wonder Why Solar Power Isn’t more Prevalent? There are 2 major drawbacks of solar power production.  First, photovoltaic (PV)…

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Tweet In honor of Earth Week (Earth Day is only 2 days away), I’m reflecting on some of the sustainability challenges in Phoenix.  In yesterday’s post I outlined 3 of the biggest sustainability challenges we face.  Today I’d like to focus in on one of them – our dependence on the car.  Specifically I want to talk about parking and why it’s the root of so much evil here in Phoenix. First, let me applaud the small group of people rising up against the car in Phoenix, making an effort to explore other ways of getting around town.   People like Tony…

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Tweet With Earth Day (April 22) just around the corner, let’s take this week to reflect on the sustainability challenges here in Phoenix. What are the biggest sustainability challenges we face in Phoenix? These are my top 3: 1. SPRAWL – The Problem: increased emissions into our atmosphere increased dependence on foreign oil an ever-increasing expansion of highways built on land that could be used more sustainably swaths of abandoned foreclosed homes in failed housing developments in far-flung suburbs such as Coolidge, Surprise, and Maricopa sprawl in Phoenix – photo from The Anthropik Network Suggested Solutions: telecommuting build work hubs…

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April 14, 2010

What is The Arizona School?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This week I’m sharing my thoughts on last week’s Modern Phoenix Home Tour and Expo.  A few important ideas emerged over the course of events and I’d like to share them with you.  On Monday I talked about the Panel Discussion on the Restaurant Revolution.  Yesterday, Donna Reiner taught us about the mid-century modern banks in Phoenix.  Today I’ll talk about the most important, inspiring and entertaining lecture I’ve heard in a while and that is Reed Kroloff’s talk on The Arizona School during the Modern Phoenix Expo on Saturday. Reed Kroloff was once a tenured professor and Assistant…

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Tweet Today’s guest post is written by Donna Reiner, PhD and Bank Maven.  Donna spoke at last weekend’s Modern Phoenix Expo about Mid-Century Modern Banks in Phoenix.  Some of the banks Donna highlighted are buildings you might drive by all the time and not give a second thought to.  They are a part of our everyday fabric and we may not notice them, but on closer inspection, they are fantastic examples of mid-century modern Phoenix architecture.  Donna’s work with banks is important because it helps raise awareness of these historic structures so they don’t fall into disrepair or worse, get…

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Tweet I enjoyed attending the various events last week set up by Modern Phoenix.  The entire week-long series of events was immaculately organized by Alison and Matthew King and their team and was well-attended as always.  I didn’t have a chance to go to all the events, but this week I’ll post my thoughts on the events I did get to attend.  Let’s start with Thursday night’s Panel Discussion on The Restaurant Revolution hosted by David Tyda. The panel comprised of: Wendell Burnette of Wendell Burnette Architects – Project: St. Francis Restaurant Peter Koliopoulos of Circle West Architects – Project:…

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