A new academic design group focuses on coaxing more utility out the plain vanilla 'skin' of a building
Four far-flung academics have come together to create servo, a research-design collaborative... Servo coalesced in the mid-'90s at Columbia University, where Gow, Erdman, Ulrika Karlsson and Chris Perry met as graduate students. They shared an intense interest in digital technology and the accelerating cultural blur that called for new approaches to long-standing design issues... Servo's timing has been propitious because exhibition organizers are increasingly interested in exploring new ways of presenting architecture. "The conventional problem for an architect is, how do you engage a gallery space?"
Thanks to ArchNewsNow
FULL STORY: Making connections

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
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