The photos of this building is located at the South-West corner of Howard Street and 6th Street. It is probably the most idiosyncratic piece of art on a abandon Victorian building by the shear presence of physical and cerebral graffiti- typical graffiti lettering, furniture & other appliances hanging atop & through the window, and vaudevillian advertisement.
Graffiti on the corner of Howard and 6th Street.
Vaudevillian advertisement mural.
Furnitures and appliances poking out from window openings over the sidewalk.
Song of the Blog: The Wonton Song by Led Zeppelin on the Album Physical Graffiti
One of things in moving away from car culture that lasted for more than 50 years is to develop areas that are pedestrian friendly near transportation stops, meaning transportation oriented development (TOD); Make places more inviting and pleasing of the senses by integrating mixed use, open space and connectivity to the neighborhood.
One sort of banal and mundane approach of the typical urban sprawl that hasn’t brought any revitalization nor a paradigm shift of urban renewal into a community is the proposed commercial development at the corner of Woodman Avenue and Oxnard Street in Van Nuys (it’s really called Valley Glen for real estate purposes and local governing councils). It’s right in the center of a transportation stop for the gold line and is a perfect opportunity to have a new type of development in that corner with some good design acumen. This type of development is the same approach that disenfranchises communities than to more forward into a sustainable society.
This development could exacerbate the mindless cost to extend the practice of more parking lots and boxy buildings for the area that doesn’t tell about the people, area and locale of its richness and diversity. When will there be some kind of civic approach towards urban design that has the capacity to embrace the neighborhood and capitalize urban growth.
It is time to rethink this type of development and design, to bring down the hideous mini-mall that’s going to be obsolete.
The site on the corner of Woodman and Oxnard where the mini-mall is being develop.
The proposed development of vacant lot. A typical approach to Urban Sprawl near the TOD site on the Orange Line.
Close up of the building. Check out one of the name of the businesses (Modern Design). Far away from the truth.
Song of the Blog: the pre-released song Georgia by Eagle and Talon on the up-coming CD THRACIAN
The clay plastering workshop a few weeks ago came with surprises and accomplishment. Only a few people (probably eight) attended the workshop and about nine people cancel the last minute, but all in all it was a success.
Previously, the first workshop was about the raising the bale at the Chartwell School Campus and this time was about applying the first layer (scratch coat) over the straw, deer netting and coconut webbing (around the doors & windows per approved plans). It’s probably the most important part of the process because if the mix of the water and the clay contents are not right, than the clay will start to crack and won’t adhere to the surface. Having the leaders of the clay plastering workshop, CJ Cavet & Kathy Gregor, gave a full presentation of clay plastering all around the world and examples of different techniques of clay plastering.
For the whole day Saturday, the group was able to finish the whole exterior portion of the building and Sunday morning, finished the interior. It was amazing when you has a group of dedicated people working together for this project.
Hopefully, next time, there will be documentation on the finish plastering. In the meantime, check the workshop photos:
Slip coat is added on the straw bale and a rough mix of clay & straw to patch up the holes, gouges and inconsistencies of the straw bale.
Rear view
Deer netting is added instead of metal lath for the scratch coat to be applied and building paper is covering the box plate under the eaves.
Enjoying playing with mud clay.
Scratch coat applied to the straw. A mix of fine cut straw, clay & mortar clay.
Finishing the exterior side with the scratch coat.
Another side of the scratch coat.
Now it’s time to do the interior. Note: deer netting and coconut webbing attached to the staw bale.
Applying the scratch coat to the interior.
Finishing up the interior.
Truth window; a box framed picture window to show the layer underneath the finished plastering.
Song of the Blog: Midnight in A Perfect World by DJ Shadow on the CD record Endtroducing