dunderjeep has clepploplulila

If you’re in the area check out the Pump House Steam Museum just a block away.

I didn’t realize Kingston had such a great marine museum. If you’re interested in the marina, or the history and construction of boating in Canada this is a good place to start. My favourite part is the self-guided tour of the Alexander Henry, a 3000-ton retired coast guard, navigation vessel and ice-breaker, now moored beside the museum. You can also book a night inside one of its rooms as a bed and breakfast. A unique stay for travellers or locals alike.

In 1832 the construction of a blockhouse was started, one of only four built along the Rideau. It was completed in about 1834. It was built to the same dimensions as those at Narrows and Newboro, 24 feet (7.3 m) on a side, designed to accommodate 20 men. It was built with a masonry base, about 3 feet (0.9 m) in thickness, with an upper storey, 28 feet (8.5 m) on a side, built of large squared timbers. Access was by a stairway to the second floor.

This is where they garrisoned about 20 troops to guard the Kingston Mills. Just down the hill is a waterfall near a power house.

I walked past this place one day and thought, “WOW, I wonder who lives there?!” Turns out, the 1st prime minister. Oh.
So, my mom, the kid and I visited. There’s a lot about Sir John’s wife Isabella and her mysterious illness who possibly died of tuberculosis. He also unexplainably lost a child. Sounds like a job for Cold Case.
The garden’s got gigantic sunflowers, and the ornamental garden an even more enormous tree beside the gazebo.
There’s also scavenger hunt for the ‘kids’ that I found tied the whole thing together well.

Did I mention the events for kids? like puppet shows and plays?
and events for adults? like book readings and clubs?
and community programs?
and an art gallery?!
If they don’t have a book you want, just ask for it!

So many resources!
It’s more than just books!
Besides being up-to-date on most of the books you see at Chapters/Indigo, it also provides free wireless and hubbed internet access, dvds, cds, magazines, newspapers, and a little cafe. Their website is a treasure-trove of information. And now you can get a free pass to many of Kingston’s museums.
I watched most of AFI’s 100 movies with my library card. Did I mention its free?!

SOCIOPOLIS

Sociópolis is a project fomented by the Generalitat Valenciana for the construction of a new model neighbourhood of accessible housing, in line with the modern tradition of investigating and proposing new habitable environments that reflect the social reality of the time.
The project promotes the construction of housing that responds to the needs of the new types of family unit (young people, the elderly, single-parent families, etc.), both owner-occupied and rented, in a quality urban setting in which the landscaped areas, social amenities and good architecture generate urban excellence.

Sociópolis was presented at the Valencia Biennial in 2003, as a project in which 13 international architecture firms took part. The project put forward a model of new urban development in which housing and multifunctional amenities were integrated in an agricultural environment, a continuation and updating of the model constituted by the Mediterranean hortulus.

Following the presentation of the project it was decided to construct a first neighbourhood of 2,500 homes in the La Torre district to the south of the city of Valencia, on a 350,000 m2 site on the banks of the new course of the diverted River Turia; the same principles would be followed, but on a larger scale.

In this project the urban transformation is guided by a commitment to ensuring the maximum protection for the existing huerta (one of the traditional agricultural zones surrounding the city of Valencia) irrigated with waters from the River Turia by way of channels originally dug by the Arabs some 800 years ago. The new urban development reinforces the protection of the landscape and the environment while at the same time fulfilling a much-needed social function, making housing available at a controlled price to a great number of people.

Within the neighbourhood has four well-conserved historic farmhouses, and around these will be the focal points for ‘urban farm’ zones cared for by the local residents. The neighbourhood will also promote social interaction and a sense of community by means of sports facilities such as a soccer pitch, an athletics circuit, games areas and a skating rink.

All of the proposed buildings are oriented toward the central landscaped zone, which has a surface area of 120,000 m2, with direct access from the peripheral traffic circuit running round the complex.
In addition to residential blocks and towers the neighbourhood will have amenity buildings accommodating a hybrid programme, around which the public life of the neighbourhood will be organized. The public buildings will have rental housing intended for young people under thirty and elderly people, and at the same time all of the buildings will fulfil their public vocation by means of programmes that encourage social relations, such as an arts centre, a kindergarten, a sports zone, a social centre, a youth centre and studios for artists.

The architects participating in the project include Vicente Guallart, Abalos & Herreros, Manuel Gausa, Eduardo Arroyo, José María Torres Nadal, Sogo Arquitectos, Willy Muller, Antonio Lleyda / Eduardo de la Peña, Toyo Ito, MVRDV, Greg Lynn FORM, Duncan Lewis, José Luis Mateo, Kim Young-Joon, JM Lin, Jose Maria Lozano and Maria Colomer.

from:
http://www.guallart.com/01projects/sociopolismasterlan/default.htm

Dongtan is a new eco-city planned for the island of Chongming, near Shanghai. The city should be open, with accommodation for 50,000, by the time the Expo 2010 opens in Shanghai. By 2040, the city is slated to be one-third the size of Manhattan.

Dongtan was recently presented at the United Nations World Urban Forum by China as an example of an “eco-city”, and is the first of up to four such cities to be designed and built in China by Arup, a British company. The cities are planned to be ecologically friendly, with zero-greenhouse-emission transit and complete self-sufficiency in water and energy, together with the use of zero energy building principles.
-from wikipedia

Downtown K-town must be differentiated enough from the Walmart and Riocan local-life-killers to thrive. Its got fashion you can’t find in the big box stores, cool restaurants, bars and events. There’s the Limestone City Blues Fest and the Buskers Rendezvous to name a few. Check it out!