Fresh and crisp

New books to get the season off to an invigorating start:

How to Build an Igloo and Other Snow Shelters

Norbert E. Yankielun

TH 4890 .Y36 2007

In this instructive, whimsical manual, U.S. Army engineer and seasoned cold-regions explorer Norbert Yankielun takes readers through the process of constructing and inhabiting a range of useful snow structures step-by-step. Whether you want the know-how to protect yourself from adverse weather conditions while back-country skiing or want to try your hand at building a backyard igloo just for fun, this book can show you how.

Extreme Architecture: Building for Challenging Environments

Ruth Slavid

NA 2543.35 .S624x 2009

Architects face some of their m

ost difficult challenges designing for extreme environments. Divided into sections titled Hot, Cold, High, Wet and Space, Extreme Architecture showcases 45 recent buildings designed for these challenging environments, giving valuable insights into the extremes of architectural thinking. Projects range from the fantastic – a lunar hotel – to those already built, including a school in Burkina Faso, a floating sauna in Sweden and an underground seed vault in Norway.

Smart Surfaces and Their Application in Architecture and Design

Thorsten Klooster

TA 418.7 .K56x 2009

Luminescent wallpaper, curtains which generate electricity, self-cleaning windows: new developments in the field of surface technologies will continue to influence the

ways in which materials can be used in architecture and design. Smart surfaces expand the range of design options available to architects, leading to new concepts which can meet the changing requirements of buildings and design. Smart Surfaces provides background and technical information for the categories of surfaces, nano, energy, light climate and information, with samples of amazing and often mind-boggling projects from around the world.

Albert Speer & Partner: A Manifesto for Sustainable Cities: Think Local, Act Global

Jeremy Gains & Stefan Jäger

HT 166. G24x 2009

For more than forty years, Albert Speer & Partner have been designing ecologically sensitive communities throughout the globe. As one of the world’s most forward-thinking architectural and urban planning practices, many of their trailblazing projects are discussed and analyzed for their success in satisfying the array of social, economic and environmental demands of the twenty-first century. Focusing on projects in cities such as Shanghai, Baku, Cairo, Changchun and Abuja, this book explores themes like the redeveloping of aging cities, resource conservation, urban density, zoning and new technology.

Out of the darkness and into the light

From the same students who brought us cake, come more enlightened creations. You can't find these lamps at Ikea, but you can find them here! These lamps and more will be on display in the library for the rest of the year.


(Click on the images to see the incredible detail!)

The Dutch, Denmark and Deutschland, oh my!

Check out these new books on architecture abroad...

Nordic Architects
David Sokol
NA 1208 .S65x 2008

Nordic Architects surveys some of the most dynamic architects in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, celebrating the recent works of established as well as up-and-coming talents. In their own voices, architects discuss the opportunities and challenges of working within a renowned design heritage – and rebelling against it.

FollyDOC EXPO
NA 846 .F65x 2008

In 2005, the Dutch artist Lowieke Duran announced an international contest to design an architectural folly - a visually provocative, poetic structure without a specific function - for a once flourishing, now down-and-out industrial dockland area of Rotterdam where there has recently been some promising new development. This catalog documents the second FollyDOC held at the same venue in 2007. The structures range from the silly [Hairy Monster] to the sublime [Free Standing Dome]. Check out the catalogue from the earlier exhibition too [NA8460 .I58x 2006]. It’s on Reserve for the term.

Updating Germany: 100 Projects for a Better Future
Friedrich von Borries + Mattias Bottger (eds.).
NA 1068.6 .U64x 2008

Solutions have to be found for the great global inequalities – social, economic, and ecological. Architecture can and does make a contribution to this process. The ninety-nine realized and experimental projects depicted here were originally presented at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition held in Venice in November 2008. This book aims to provoke action, encourage new ideas, and to help nurture the conviction that all of us can make contributions to a better future.

Back to the City: Strategies for Informal Urban Interventions
Steffen Lehmann (ed.).
N 72 .A75 B33x 2009

The quality and potential of disused sites, vacant buildings, and abandoned spaces is frequently hidden in the urban fabric, but once revitalized, these spaces can be an important urban resource. Back to the City documents a series of innovative site-specific installations and temporary interventions in public spaces, in Germany and Australia, by interdisciplinary teams of architects, artists, urban planners, and landscape architects. These informal interventions add to the meaningful discourse of contemporary urban culture, challenging our architectural stereotypes in a sustainable way.

Livin' la vida local

This season, the library staff are challenging ourselves to eat only (or mostly) local foods. Largely inspired by the 100-Mile Diet, we each have our own goals, rules and reasons for doing this.

We will be promoting local eating throughout the summer in various ways. Drop in to the library now to check out our display of student theses, library books and DVDs, and Eat Fresh Eat Local maps you can take home. We are also compiling a binder full of maps, articles, farms, CSAs, stores, restaurants and recipes. We are perfectly situated here to make the most of what's grown and raised in Ontario...and don't forget the school's own Community Garden, where you can adopt your own plot to get growing!

Try challenging yourself to eat locally this summer. It doesn't have to be 100%, start with one meal, check out the farmer's markets, sign up with a CSA. There are countless reasons to eat locally: the health of our environment, our own health, the consequences of peak oil and just getting to know your food - who makes it and where it comes from.

Keep an eye on our Eat Local blog for tips, tricks, events, ideas, sources and more!

They let us eat cake...

This month, 2B students in Vince Hui's Industrial and Graphic Design class certainly had their plate full. Their first task...get cooking.

The assignment? Build a structure at least 8 inches high. The clients? Musagetes Library. The building material? Cake. And this was one class that really rose to the challenge.

The five groups had less than a week to design, plan, bake and build their pastry projects. All were smart enough to interview library staff to determine our preferences, which served them well when the majority served us chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

The hardest part was judging the decadent designs, which ranged from the literal to the symbolical in design, and from scrumptious to suspicious in flavour.

In the end, though, we all escaped with our good health and had a sweet spot for seeing what Musagetes Library means to the students...and they made it look like a piece of cake.

Take a hike!

This weekend (May 2 & 3, 2009) is the annual Jane's Walk. In celebration of the legacy of urban theorist and activist Jane Jacobs, the event is designed to help people explore and learn about the community around them.

There are well over a hundred walks planned in over 20 cities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Waterloo, Kitchener, Vancouver, Guelph and more. One of the two walks happening here in Cambridge is even being led by one of our Architecture students!

If you have your own idea for leading a walk in your community it's not too late to register.

The weather should be perfect for walking this weekend, so what better way to get in touch with your neighbourhood and your neighbours! As Jane said it herself, "No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You've got to get out and walk."

Room to Grow

Want to grow your own food, but don't have the space? Have space to grow food, but don't have the time or the energy? Sign up on Sharing Backyards! This site matches people who want to grow with people who have room to grow...it's like online dating for local food lovers.

Can't find a backyard to use? Don't discount those forgotten corners of your city...there's always room to grow!

Unfortunately, Waterloo Region has just voted against allowing chickens to be raised in residential backyards, so you'll have to stick to plants.

Don't have space, time, energy or know-how? Let someone else do the growing for you. Support one of your MANY local food growers by visiting the Farmer's Market, a local farm, or buying into a CSA co-op.

Good Eats

Our Food for Fines drive has officially been declared a success!

The School of Architecture managed to gather a whopping 631 pounds of food! That translates into over $1,400 in cleared fines for you and hundreds of meals for local families and individuals in need.

All donations have been delivered to the Cambridge Food Bank right around the corner.

It was really great to see our little community so enthusiastic about the drive and the staff got a real kick out of watching our mountain of food grow day by day. Go team!

Got Fines?

From April 6th to the 17th, Musagetes Library will be hosting our 1st annual Food for Fines event, in support of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region.

For every non-perishable food item you donate, you will receive a coupon good for $2 off your fines!

Don't have any fines? Hold on to your coupon and redeem it any time in the future.

The Food Bank is in most need of the following items: Baby food/formula, canned fruit/vegetables, beans, lentils, rice, pasta/sauce, canned meat/fish, canned soup/stew, peanut butter, nuts, cereals, juice, and canned/powdered milk.

Last year the food bank served 25,000 people in the region, and almost half of those were children. Let's fill some bellies!

The fine print:
* We can not accept the following items: instant noodles, junk food, perishable foods, damaged, open, expired or homemade items.
** We can not forgive lost book charges, ILL book fines or film rental late fees.

Hot off the presses

Portraits from Above, the latest tome from our very own Rufina Wu, is now available on the New Book shelf...check it out!