From 1945 to 1961 over 3.5 million people fled the Soviet-occupied zones through East Germany to freedom in West Germany. To staunch this flow of socioeconomic refugees, the “Communist” German Democratic Republic closed the borders in divided Berlin with concrete wall segments. Since the fall of the GDR, these wall segments have been spread throughout the world.
WE PERCEIVE A BIKE’S SILHOUETTE AS A JOYFUL TOKEN RECALLING CAREFREE CHILDHOOD DAYS, WHERE ONE HAS ACHIEVED A SENSE OF INDEPENDENCE AND AN EXPANSION OF BOUNDARIES. NEARLY EVERYONE HAS THIS ASSOCIATION GIVEN THAT LEARNING TO RIDE A BIKE IS A KEY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT. YET, SO IS LEARNING TO DRIVE A CAR. AND THEREIN LIES THE CONFLICT AS BOTH MEANS OF TRANSPORT SHARE THE SAME ROAD THAT IS OFTEN DESIGNED WITHOUT THE BIKE IN MIND.
The causes of tire punctures are numerous, as indicated by the images in this year’s calendar. These objects were collected over the past year from auto repair and tire shops in Philadelphia. The city’s streets are notoriously filthy, as noted by infamous former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on a 2007 visit to thank Philadelphia for accepting refugees from Hurricane Katrina. By calling NOLA’s streets clean by comparison, Mayor Nagin suggested that even the detritus from the cataclysmic 2005 hurricane could not top Philadelphia’s debris.
Philthadelphia has long abandoned its street sweeping program, choosing instead not to annoy car owners by having them move their parked cars (a very popular political option) and to funnel that money instead toward the black hole of the “general fund.” This short-term thinking leads to more annoying tire punctures.
But how do the streets get so filthy, and how do these objects end up puncturing tires?
Want these deflating items as a 2023 calendar? if so, download it here for free! large file.
vochos
Volkswagen Beetles or Vochos are the beloved workhorses of Mexico, enabling citizens to travel and transport for generations. Appearing on the roads like automotive M&M candies, their distinctive two-door colored shells stand out among other vehicles. This led to their use as taxis in Mexico City until 2012. As taxis, the front passenger seat was removed, trapping fares in the back. Like insects, the car’s sound would announce their approach from afar due to the unique rear-mounted four-cylinder air-cooled Boxer engines. Full Production in Mexico began in 1967 with the last Type 1 rolling out from Puebla in 2003. Millions were produced and exported worldwide with owner modifications such as roof racks, tow hitches, and singular surface treatments. The Vochos featured here are all from the Free and Sovereign States of Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
Want these vochos as a 2022 calendar? if so, download it here for free! large file.
Pandemic parklets
As the reality of the contagious nature of the Coronavirus became apparent in 2020, cities across the United States grappled with its impact on their economies. While the Federal government waivered on issuing pandemic control mandates, the media began to expose the nascent science of how Covid-19 spreads. Places of indoor public gatherings like offices, theaters, sports arenas, rallies and eateries were determined to be loci-nexuses. Restaurants lost income almost immediately as municipalities limited occupancy to slow down the infection rate. Many beloved establishments couldn’t weather the drop in diners and closed. Yet, in many locations, outdoor dining was permitted provided that restaurants followed social distancing measures.
In Philadelphia, eateries responded with a rush on permits to create pandemic parklets. ….
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sAVESIES
After a particularly heavy snowstorm, the clean up begins. Parked vehicles on the street are are often plowed into their spots, thereby compounding shoveling out. Much effort is often
individually expended to release one’s vehicle from its frozen prison. Therefore, once the spot is cleared, that spot is often believed by the shoveler to be personally “owned” until the snow on the street has melted away. Random furniture, concrete filled buckets and unwanted bric a brac are brought out to “save” the spot. Signs are often posted with threatening, expletive-laden scrawl. Fights have broken out over these cleared spots, and in Boston last year a man was shot. Evidently, clearing a spot altruistically, for any neighbor to benefit, is not something taught in Sunday school. Instead, marking one’s temporary territory by calling “Savesies” is the lesson learned.
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hey, there lonely cart
The shopping cart is capitalism’s beast of burden. Scaled to iconic proportions by the Supermarket, the shopping cart feeds the world’s desire for consumption and convenience. Yet, in its pragmatic form, the cart offers functionality beyond the transportation of goods from the market to the car trunk. Sometimes freed from the parking lot by teens as well as those in need, shopping carts often appear abandoned in odd places. These non-sequitur appearances showcase the functional value of the cart as they are sometimes filled with recycling, flea market debris, and other sundries. And when unattended these carts appear like a lone modern-day donkey on the periphery of urbanity awaiting its next cargo.
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Shoefiti
“I wore my sneakers but I’m not a sneak, my Adidas touched the sand of a foreign land”
Run- D.M.C.
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end of the line
Train buffers are single use vernacular elements of rail infrastructure. Destructive forces derive their forms. They have evolved through tragedy and serve silently.
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windshield memorials
“Wherever I go, she knows I’m thinking of her.” That was the response of a car owner when asked why he placed a memorial decal on his car. These Windshield Memorials, often found in Latino communities, are one of the many examples of cultural public displays of grief. Some are written with large glass paint markers, an immediate response to the loss. Others are designed with permanent decals, whose graphic designs are often expressions of clip-art and folk art. Most of the Windshield Memorials obscure the rear view, thereby ignoring the risk to the driver. As demonstrated by the August entry, sometimes room is set aside for another loss (as on a grave monument) despite the impermanence of the vehicle. This is an insight into an industry, one that is largely devoid of trained graphic designers.
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storied hands
Storied Hands
Photographs of hands from residents of a senior residential tower in Philadelphia, PA
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boot scrapers
In the days of yore, when horses and buggies were the norm, boot scrapers were placed outside of each house. Horse excrement then was our dog doo of today. Many of these vernacular works reside by our residences, quietly standing, often unnoticed. Pictured here are a few examples of their integration within the urban fabric. 2010 was a difficult year from a financial and political perspective. In future years us scrape away that residue for a more prosperous year and a cleaner soul.
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emergent Memorials
These images were all taken on the streets of Philadelphia. The objects brought and the emergent nature of display at an impromptu memorial site, are by-products of our culture. Here, people have been taken before their time. What do you bring for a child that has been gunned down? How does one express their grief and sorrow for a friend or neighbor? Who cleans the site up and when? Where does it all go? When will it stop?
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party wall sections
Reveled due to decades of neglect caused by redlining, racism and a declining urban manufacturing base these exposed party walls read like architectural fossils. Longitudinal sections never meant to be seen, many of these wall sections have now been parged in beige per the rules of Philadelphia's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. How does one determine what is transformative?
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a room with a costly view IV
“...Just let me design the window...”
To paraphrase Frank Lloyd Wright upon designing a building in New York City
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a room with a costly view iii
“...Just let me design the window...”
To paraphrase Frank LLoyd Wright upon designing a building in New York City
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a Room with a costly view ii
“...Just let me design the window...”
To paraphrase Frank LLoyd Wright upon designing a building in New York City
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a room with a costly view
“...Just let me design the window...”
To paraphrase Frank LLoyd Wright upon designing a building in New York City
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