Watch Live: CityLab 2013

In conjunction with The Aspen Institute and Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Atlantic is hosting CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges in NYC, which brings together urban theorists, architects, mayors, city planners and artists, presenting ideas about the world's urban ideas that shape the world's global metropolis', running over the next three days. Join the live discussion here.

Australian Garden Wins Landscpae of the Year Award at World Architecture Festival Awards

The Australian Garden Taylor Cullity Lethlean Has won the "Landscape of the Year Award". The Australian Garden is situated within the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne on the south-eastern outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. It was developed in a former sand quarry and allows visitors to follow a metaphorical journey of water through the Australian landscape, from the desert to the coastal fringe. The garden brings together horticulture, architecture, ecology, and art to create the largest botanic  garden devoted to Australian flora. It showcases some 170,000 plants across 1700 species all adapted to its challenging site condition, using the Australian landscape as its inspiration to create a sequence of  powerful sculptural and artistic landscape experiences that recognise its diversity, breadth of scale and  wonderful contrasts. 

The jury summarized the project: “This garden brilliantly summarises the great variety of  Australian flora as well as the large part of the country which is arid desert. Like a botanic garden, it is a  collection of difference, but with a strong unifying set of journeys through the various landscapes. This landscape stood out with its originality and strong evocation of Australian identity without having to use any signs or words – just the beautiful flora of Australia’s countryside!”.

Auckland Art Gallery Wins Prestigious World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival

Proud to be an Aucklander at the moment! I have to say, the subtle and delicate beauty of the Auckland Art Gallery is quite inspiring - and the strategic, almost 'hidden' placement of the site makes for a great place for recollection and repose in Auckland. Read the rest of the article here, at Dezeen.

Asaf Avidan - One Day/Reckoning Song

Colin Hay - I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You

Bad - Tiara Thomas ft Wale

Fight Club

"I Felt Like Destroying Something Beautiful"

Tarhir Square: Social Media, Public Space

The arab spring was galvanized by the public relam that is the internet, but it's ctalyst was the public square that brought. The digital spaces in which we allow for social movement to convene is directly related to the physical spaces we allow them to happen. The public relam, much like the Greek Agora is not dead. Read the full article here. A compelling case for public space.

A Scanner Darkly: Best Scenes

My favourite esoteric scenes from the best Keanu Reeves movie, A Scanner Darkly (2006), Where finally, Keanu's wooden acting skills came to use when he played this vacant and  jaded character. Still yet to read the 1977 Phillip K. Dick book though. And most definitely not the best Linklater film, 'cause Before Sunset takes the cake. 

James Mollison's Photography

"Photography is a way to experience the world."

James Mollison has the job I want. Travel, document, experience. I love how he uses comparative photography on unlikely subjects to draw a larger story out from a series of photographs i.e. the Ape passport photos. So simple and also fascinating. Check out more of James' work here. 

William Gottlieb's Iconic Photos of Jazz Greats

In the 1930s, a young reporter by the name of William Gottlieb set out to cover the boom of the jazz scene for the Washington Post, only to find the paper didn’t care to dispatch an official staff photographer. Gottlieb, a self-taught photographer armed with his Speed Graphic and an ample supply of flashbulbs, took it upon himself to photograph the subjects of his interviews. Between 1938 and 1948, he documented the jazz scene in New York City and Washington, D.C., and created what eventually became some of history’s most iconic portraits of jazz greats. The Golden Age of Jazz gathers 219 of those, including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan (who would have been 88 today), Billie Holiday, and Thelonious Monk, along with original text from the photographer contextualizing the images and their subjects.

 Sarah Vaughan, Café Society (Downtown)(?), New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1946

 Thelonious Monk, Minton's Playhouse, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947

 Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Feb. 1947

 Joe Thomas, Pied Piper, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947

 Ella Fitzgerald, New York, N.Y., ca. Nov. 1946

 Nina Simone performing, Town Hall, N.Y., 1959

 Lennie Tristano, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947

 Ernest Tubb, Carnegie Hall, New York, N.Y., Sept. 1947

 Charlie Ventura, William P. Gottlieb's home (table tennis room), N.Y., ca. Apr. 1947

 Henry Wells, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. Jan. 1947

Josh White and Mary Lou Williams, WMCA, New York, N.Y., ca. Oct. 1947

 Cootie Williams, New York, N.Y.(?), between 1938 and 1948

 Louis Armstrong, between 1938 and 1948

 Tex Beneke, ca. Jan. 1947

 Gracie Barry and Dick Stabile, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948

Sy Synclair

 Joan Brooks and Duke Niles, New York, N.Y., ca. Apr. 1947

 Vivien Garry, New York, N.Y., Dixon's, ca. May 1947

 Mary Lou Williams, New York, N.Y., ca. 1946

 Dizzy Gillespie, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947

 Buddy Rich, Arcadia Ballroom, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947

 June Christy, 1947 or 1948

 Louis Jordan, between 1938 and 1948

 William P. Gottlieb, WINX, Washington, D.C., ca. 1940

Mister (Billie Holiday's dog), New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948

Svan Fennema's Forgotten Places

Sven Fennema, a German photographer's passion for abandoned places is recorded in these following images that make up his photo series, "Forgotten Places". Find out more about Sven's work here. This series is somewhat reminiscent of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, who also shoot abandoned buildings, resulting in images mirroring a poetic poignancy. Find out more about their work here.