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A reader shared this post with us on Instagram recently, from an account that focuses on UK history:
“The purpose-built flagship office for the Raleigh Cycle Company in Nottingham is now listed at Grade II. It is the 400,000th entry to the List, which records the extraordinarily varied heritage of England and offers protection so these places can continue to be appreciated for years to come. ”
Check out more information of this unique building at Historic England.
This time of year, the idea of leaving the bike at home and swapping mountains for man-made monuments was very appealing, especially coming off a trip to Tasmania and showing my mom around Death Valley for three days. I’d become inundated with nature and London was going to be the perfect destination this time of year.
After a cold and wet previous 48 hours, we were keen to seek the sun in one of Eastern Tasmania’s most beautiful landscapes: the Bay of Fires. While many believe the Bay of Fires is named after the bright red lichen that grows on the rocks surrounding the blue waters of the Tasman sea, it was in fact named in 1773 by Captain Tobias Furneaux, who upon anchoring off the coast of Tasmania, saw the fires of Aboriginal people on the beaches. Out of all the landscapes we have visited thus far on our journey, this region was by far the most beautiful. To boot, we had a wonderful place to lay our heads after a day of riding and exploring the land’s many backcountry fire roads and tracks.
The Bay of Fires Bush Retreat was recently opened by Tom and Anna, a couple who have spent the past few years working in the hospitality and restaurant industry in Eastern Tas. Tom had worked for a local dinner spot for years before making a name for himself and his cooking. Through utilizing his connections and a with the help of a few contractors, he was able to slowly build out this exceptional piece of property, while subsidizing his endeavors through catering private events in the area. His vision was simple: offer a bush camp-inspired getaway with all the luxuries of a resort but with a rustic edge.
Alongside local contractors, Tom spent a few years shaping this retreat into exactly what he envisioned to be the perfect weekend getaway spot with a beauty only rivaled by the majestic coastline, only a few kilometers away.
While the standard issue talking head approach to bicycle documentary can get old relatively fast, I found this one in particular to be quite informative. Filmed in Copenhagen and NYC, two cycling hubs, Genre de Vie takes a look at urban life and the empowerment achieved by using the bicycle as a form of transportation.
If you’re an architect, urban planner, or someone who is enthralled by urbanism, give this one a watch for sure.
After looking back through all 800 photos I shot while on bicycle tour through China with Mission Workshop and Factory 5, I had a hard time breaking it down to a cohesive gallery show.
What I began to notice were themes in the photos, not apparent as I flipped through the files, but when I printed out a selection of photos, they began to tie in together. These themes represent not only my eye for cycling in urban environments, but also my background education and professional career as an architect.
China really changed my perspective on the world as a whole. I saw beautiful landscapes destroyed in the name of progress and capitalism. I witnessed a precious and old culture wiped out to assimilate with a preconceived notion of luxury. Everywhere I looked, I saw western civilization to blame.
Globalization, our desire to own and consume had changed China. Granted I had no benchmark for the status quo, I could only gather enough information through examining the landscapes.
The Chinese build for the sake of building. Supply and demand is a skewed balance, tilted in the former’s favor. This growth is unwarranted and most importantly, uncontrolled.
So where did this bike tour fall into place? It was, after all, Mission Workshop’s idea. While I was given no direction, no instructions, I did have really, complete freedom to do what I wanted.
We had an agenda: test out the new US-manufactured Acre clothing while riding a bicycle through some of the most polluted areas of China and document the trip for a gallery show. Was it successful? I’d say so…
Which brings me to this post: a selection of 50 photos, all shot with my Mamiya 7ii and Kodak Portra 400. These photos break down into illustrative observations, all of which are noted in the photo’s title. Some are obvious, others are not.
You’ll see the themes fairly easily and I’d like to hear what you have to say about them. Feel free to critique / comment, just be polite and constructive.
Many thanks to Mission Workshop / Acre, the Factory 5 crew and anyone that helped us on this journey.
British architect Norman Foster’s newest project proposal isn’t a giant building with a spaceship-like façade. Instead, it’s an urban adaptive reuse project:
“Foster + Partners has unveiled a scheme that aims to transform London’s railways into cycling freeways. The seemingly plausible proposal, which was designed with the help of landscape firm Exterior Architecture and transportation consultant Space Syntax, would connect more than six million residents to an elevated network of car-free bicycle paths built above London’s existing railway lines if approved.
“SkyCycle is a lateral approach to finding space in a congested city,” said Norman Foster, who is both a regular cyclist and the president of Britain’s National Byway Trust. ”By using the corridors above the suburban railways, we could create a world-class network of safe, car free cycle routes that are ideally located for commuters.”
“To improve the quality of life for all in London and to encourage a new generation of cyclists, we have to make it safe,” he added. ”However, the greatest barrier to segregating cars and cyclists is the physical constraint of London’s streets, where space is already at a premium.”
The 220-kilometer SkyCycle, which has already received backing from Network Rail and Transport for London, would provide a safer and cheaper alternative to constructing new roads. Nearby residents would access the suspended pathway via 200 entrance points, all connected to the street by ramps and hydraulic platforms.”
Read more here.
Architecture is in my blood. It’s in my eye, in my shutter finger and for the most part, mandates how I look at the world, including cycling. Life happens in elevation (not the climbing kind) and part of the reason I enjoy traveling overseas so much is seeing how serious people take presentation… Most recently, the architectural detailing of the booths at Eurobike.
I couldn’t help it. A majority of the bikes were either “WTF” or “What. the. fuck.” – I found it all incredibly disconnected from the US market in a lot of ways, which isn’t necessarily bad – but it made me hard to relate to the European market. Seriously, who the fuck wants an e-MTB? And that’s just one of the many moments I had over the past week.
One of the saving graces I encountered, amongst the bad marketing, body painting, weight weenie talk and general disconnect from “the ride” was the abundance of architectural detailing in the booths. While the European industry may not relate to me so much through their cycling language, I admired the attention to detail for a very ephemeral event. Hell, I seriously think more thought went into the booths than into the bicycle design!
Check out a few shots I snapped while navigating through the madness in he Gallery!
As an architect, I can really enjoy looking through photos of the new Kinoko Cycles space. I’ve always wanted to design a complete bike shop, from the floorboards to the millwork and it looks like the designer went to town on the buildout. As part of any successful project, photos are of the utmost importance and the shots on the Kinoko Flickr look great. One day I’d love to check out the space in person!
One of my longtime favorite Dutch architecture firms, NL Architects, just completed a schematic design for a cycling pavilion in Hainan, China. The elegant form of the roof is the shape of a velodrome, allowing people to race around in all-left loops. One critique would be the lack of spectator seating but maybe there will be a tower in the pavilion’s site to allow for that.
