The following precedents explore this activity taking place on rustic and organic mediums of enclosed and exterior space.
Showing posts with label Skateboarding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skateboarding. Show all posts
Friday, 4 March 2011
Unexpected Use of Space
This study explores the art of skateboarding, and how such activity adapts to the immediate and surrounding context of interior but primarily exterior disused landscapes. Skateboarding has always been associated with the streets, allowing the enthusiast and his/her tricks to flourish and adapt to ranging conditions that is rarely achievable in a generic modern day skatepark due to its custom made and seemingly perfect structure and composition. Skateboarding, I find is most natural to participate and watch when being performed on random obstacles and changing surfaces etc, of which were not intended for skateboarding use.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Unexpected Use of Space
"Lego Land (Secret DIY spot)", Austin, Texas
It is important to note that this area has been left to decay over a considerable amount of time, dozens of concrete slabs were left behind from construction work that took place in its local area, the enthusiasts therefore transformed this space into a useful playground for skateboarding by simply placing the slabs where appropriate in order to ensure fluidity and creativity in their movement throughout this exterior space. (images from google images)
Unexpected Use of Space
"D'IT YERSEL", London (Secret Spot)
The Secret Home Made Skate Park... from Martyn Thomas on Vimeo.
These guys turned a disused exterior space and created a home made skatepark.
Unexpected Use of Space
Skateboarding in bonny Scotland
John Rattray is an Aberdeen born professional Skateboarder, his style is distinctive and fluid which is probably brought on by the numerous street spots in which he skated growing up in Scotland.
Unexpected Use of Space
Javier Mendizabal
Cliché Javier Mendizabal commercial by French Fred from Cliché Skateboards on Vimeo.
working with common architectural artefacts that we often see in the urban landscape.
Unexpected Use of Space
"Nordic Hydro Pipe", Finland
This pipe is clearly not intended for skateboarding use, though the images suggest that this structure is entirely suitable for this activity.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Thursday, 11 November 2010
South Bank, London. An Achievable Visi... CTD
As part of my personal development plan, I was eager to pick up on my rusty filming and video editing skills with other software. In this case I used a trial version of Sony Vegas Pro 10.0 which is much like the Adobe Premier Pro package.
I used a Sony VX1000 to film all of the video contents. Although this camera is somewhat old, it captures a very distinctive quality of video that some cameras fail to record (HD), this distinctive quality is a result of its 3ccd or 3-chip image/colour processing system.
The aim behind my filmed site visit was of course, to develop my visual communication skills through means of producing a short video, but also to support and raise awareness of my exploration on my blog (An Achievable Vision…). The video can be watched below, pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy.
FOCUS 2 (LD3005) wk1 from John Barnes on Vimeo.
South Bank is regarded as one of London's oldest and most iconic skate spots, attracting many enthusiasts to make use of an attractive and useful destination to throw down their tricks. This area is only within a 5 minute walk away from the city's Waterloo Station and a matter of seconds away from the River Thames, which is passed frequently by a large number of pedestrians through night and day. The Embankment area in which it nestles in, has gone through rapid transformations in terms of re-development throughout the past number of decades, particularly post 80's. The video below documents the transformation of South Bank in mid 20th century.
With reference to A Brief City, a large number of small spaces were "planned intimately", a number of these spaces were re-transformed into larger spaces in later years, South Bank skate spot as we know it was indeed one of these spaces that was left unchanged, because of this the popularity of these pocket spaces have grown significantly especially to those who attract the attention of passers by, though positively in nature. These people have varied from graffiti artists, bmx'ers, rollerbladers, skateboarders and free-runners, all of which are categorised as types of expressive art forms. The display of these activities only seem right due to the fact that South Bank area in general is widely known from the public and commercial sector as Europe's key centre for visual arts.
The main success of South Bank skate spot is the fact that the small space does not feel governed by anyone else apart from its users, they get on with what they love to do without being at risk of constant gruelling which would almost definitely take place elsewhere in an urban environment throughout London and any other city alike. It is scenarios like these that help create truly magnificent and unparalleled environments to be part of (for both enthusiasts and pedestrians), but in order for such a scenario to be successful, aspects of respect, control and guidance must be made whether or not they are forced or encouraged by local management and security organisations through restrictions and regulations or even by Landscape Architects and Urban Designers whereby certain elements of design could reduce any potential clashes of disagreement between both users of the single space.
South Bank skate spot was not an area that was designed to cater for these hobbyists, in this case they made use of a neglected space over time, one that was not considered to have productive qualities to the wider public in any way whatsoever.
The success of growing positive relationships between skateboarders and pedestrians within this area seems somewhat hard to comprehend from a glance, especially when this space was not even intended to create a much needed delight in this respect, much to the bewilderment and luck of the site users. Though, there are numerous qualities found within and around the site that help reduce conflict between these mentioned users, e.g. by means of pedestrian emotions and decisions that are evoked from certain gestures of changing directions of infrastructure that are present within the skate spot. In this case the following qualities are merely coincidences in skate spot success, but I find it important to explore exactly why it is successful, therefore with such knowledge one is able to deter or make skateboarding highly practical after the processes of design and construction in urban spaces.
Allot of these qualities can be seen in the video provided above, the composed relationship between pedestrians and skateboarders can also be captured.
Skateboarders rarely go out with the obvious spatial divide into the pedestrian flow, all of the architectural artefacts that are skate-able are contained within a sheltered space that is predominantly below ground level, though not at the first half of the spot situated further west. A continual shelter and a few barriers aid this spatial divide parallel to the pedestrian walkway, during rain the shelter becomes far more successful in the division of site users but this division is typically effective regardless of weather patterns. Interestingly, in some cases pedestrians can be found within the sheltered spot during times of heavy rain whilst skateboarding takes place. The locations of barriers surrounding the northern area of the spot are installed for the safety of pedestrians, preventing anyone to fall or trip down the steep flat banks that result in sudden changes in ground level. The change in ground level allows pedestrians to view what is happening within the spot with greater clarity, a large fraction of these pedestrians become spectators, on many accounts these spectators photograph and admire the expressive art-forms for a pre-longed amount of time without being at risk of injury. The flat banks also mildly dampen noise levels that come from South Bank skate spot.
Graffiti is evident on every wall within the space, often non-assuming and very vibrant, frequently changing. This display of art always captures the attention of passers by, though perhaps graffiti is not always the most ideal art-form to be part of due to its reputation, through this skateboarders at South Bank may be judged as a result of this.
The strong line that clearly separates these contrasting spaces results in the creation of this needed space of comfort and reassurance for pedestrians to pass through regularly, such emotions could be influenced by something as simple as the casting of sunlight on the strip of walkway for pedestrians (since these areas are directly exposed to the sun), whilst the skate spot remains artificially lit; a difference in medium that allows one to sub-consciously feel spatially disconnected from an area that they might not want to be directly associated with.
Due to the prime and central location of this site, in many situations, the generic notion of this dark, dingy and dangerous place is not usually thought of by many in South Bank, instead this space can be looked upon as a unique, productive and a harmless space since firm security and management enforcements are highly reckoned by passers-by and spectators.
Spohn Ranch - Brief Profile and Case Study
''At Spohn Ranch we take great pride in leading skatepark projects from the conceptual planning stages all the way through to the contests, demos, and skate camps that become a part of everyday life at our skateparks. The skateparks we build are about much more than installing a few ramps and leaving town. For us, it’s about watching kids transform into young adults as they become involved in the civic process, seeing a skatepark bring a community together, and most of all, being amazed at the high-flying stunts we see in the photos and videos that kids send to us.
"As the first licensed and bonded municipal skatepark builder in the United States, we have seen it all when it comes to skateparks. We can provide as little or as much help as you need, and have the experience necessary to identify potential problems and design responsible solutions. We know how to represent action sports in an authentic way – by creating facilities that are a perfect fit, not only in terms of functionality, but also as testament to the creative and progressive spirit of these
Spohn Ranch has always been at the forefront of skatepark design. We first set the standard as the designers of the X-Games vert ramps and street courses. Over the years, as we’ve provided competition courses for the best skateboarders in the world, we’ve incorporated their feedback into each new version of our skatepark equipment.
Aaron Spohn has traveled the world, visiting and photographing over 2,500 skateparks and skatespots. He incorporates these unique elements into his street plaza designs, creating instant classics like the LA Skate Plaza’s Bent Penny. Each of our engineers and designers participates in one or more of the sports we serve. They understand skating techniques and the physics involved. This knowledge is the source of our constantly evolving line of superior products—from the faithful reproduction of traditional obstacles to the creation of unique new forms of skating terrain.
We engineer our products to the highest standards, using precise fit and finish to maximize performance and durability. The expert design and quality of our products minimizes the risk of injury and creates a safer skating environment.
This expertise permits us to create ideal course geometry based on obstacle selection and user demographics. It’s easy to say layout is important, but it takes a depth of experience like ours to have mastered the complexities and subtleties of park configuration.
Our design philosophy balances the practical needs of the Town, the preferences of skaters and strengths of the site to create an ideal, custom park for every client. While many designers see each project as another opportunity to advance their own design experiments or express their vision, we see ourselves as servants to the Town and skaters. Our idea of success is to find out your vision and make it a reality.
Cost Control – One of the things we pride ourselves on is completing projects not only on time, but on budget, without change-orders. This is due to a careful planning process, which involves calculating all our costs and the peripheral costs before finalizing any design or cost estimates. With other designers, costs will increase during the construction process as unforeseen items are discovered, and the design is dumbed-down to stick to the original budget, or the budget for the initial design is increased with change-orders. Too many designers over-promise and under-deliver.
Spohn Ranch has accurately cost estimated over $16,000,000 in skatepark construction since 1992. In all these jobs, Spohn Ranch has never requested a change order on a job. All 450+ parks have been completed on budget. To insure that the site amenities and non-skatepark elements of the park are accurately budgeted, David Tripoli, an estimator with 10-years experience at ValleyCrest Landscaping, one of the nation’s largest contractors, will estimate costs at every phase of planning and design.
Compliance and Liability Protection – Spohn Ranch’s experience in designing and building skateparks for cities covered by various Insurance Pools lets us minimize and eliminate any unforeseen liability. In addition, Aaron Spohn is a senior member of the ASTM Board governing skatepark standards. His design oversight will ensure that all of our skateparks meet all appropriate standards including ASTM, CPSC, and ADA.
Best use of Site – Our basic design philosophy is “We want to build your community’s skatepark, not build our skatepark in your community”. By letting the site dictate our design, we make use of its advantages and plan around its weaknesses. Instead of designing with a particular build method in mind, we believe in a balanced approach to skatepark design that ensures we are creating the best skating environment for your site. We will adapt to your project’s unique conditions.
Creativity – At Spohn Ranch, we take great pride in being able to continuously redefine the limits of skatepark design. As a testament to the innovative act of skating, we aspire to create one-of-a-kind skatepark solutions that will inspire the most creative forms of skating. At the same time though, we do not design wild concepts just for the sake of being different – we do it with purpose and with a strong focus on safety, functionality and feasibility.
Building a positive action sports community – When designing skateparks we aim to create facilities that will become the hub of a thriving action sports community. Action sports enthusiasts of all styles and backgrounds can feel comfortable learning new tricks and progressing, while making new friends and gaining a sense that they are a part of a unique collective of individuals. To ensure our skateparks can remain vibrant for generations to come, our design philosophy has a strong emphasis on creating endless possibilities within the park. An uninspiring skatepark design with predictable lines will no longer provide skaters with the challenges they seek once the newness of the park has worn off. With each skatepark we design, we hope that we are creating something completely unique and contributing to the legacy of action sports.
Inviting recreational space – Our approach to skatepark design involves looking at the bigger picture, by creating public space that is integrated with its surrounding environment and inviting to more than just skaters. Our skatepark designs aim to bridge the gap between the action sports community and the community at large. We hope to accomplish this by creating the most interesting and interactive space in the public domain.
Reflecting local culture – During the designing and planning stages of skatepark projects, we take inspiration from local culture and thoughtfully incorporate it into our designs. Whether it is a replica of a local skate spot, a unique sculpture, or integrated landscaping – our skateparks tell a distinct story. With a deep respect for local tradition, we are able to create skateparks that the entire community can embrace and reinterpret in their own inspiring ways."
DAYBREAK SCULPTURE GARDEN
City: South Jordan, Utah
Size: Winding park path
Year Built: 2008
"The park that changed the way the world thought about skateparks. In the summer of 2008, Spohn Ranch was proud to collaborate with the forward-thinking Daybreak community and local landscape architects, G. Brown to design and build the nation’s first skateable sculpture garden.
Throwing all notions of conventional skatepark design out the window, we developed a vision for a mixed-use public space with eye-catching skateable sculptures artfully set along a pair of winding pedestrian paths. Nestled in an unassuming housing development, this unnamed park is home to over a dozen integrated skateable art pieces, such as the “Ribbon” which was inspired by Park City’s 2002 Olympic ribbon sculpture.
By integrating skateable elements with the park’s landscaping, we’ve truly recreated every skater’s dream session of pushing through the natural terrain of the streets and hitting one obstacle after another. At the same time, this groundbreaking space also appeals to community members who are drawn to the park’s compelling shapes and aesthetic details. Several of the park’s elements are accented with integrated lighting, making the park perfect for a nighttime stroll."
As G. Brown describes this unique space, “As the park widens going westward, a quaint flagstone path meanders away from the main walk where sculptures built to handle active use are placed within colorful perennial gardens. People have the choice of engaging in play or enjoying the sculptures or observing the surrounding activities.”
All text from - http://www.spohnranch.com/
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
An Achievable Vision?: Urban Design and Intentional High-Risk Activity (skateboarding) Implementations
Imagery - Ted Szukalski
There have always been elements of conflict between pedestrians and high-risk activity enthusiasts. Within public spaces we rarely see these people positively interact with one another, mainly due to the fact that these activities are perceived as being extremely dangerous and destructive and that such characters should not be present within an area where people are at risk of injury to both pedestrians and skateboarders themselves. Unfortunately the activity of skateboarding has been tagged with negative labels through various degrees of media and words of mouth making the art form/sport come across as an unrighteous nuisance to the wider public. It is unrighteous because it can only take one person to shatter the image of ‘street skateboarding’ as a whole from one single event within an area, therefore no account is given to the vast majority of these enthusiasts and it is these reasonable people who suffer as a result of accidental and intentional events caused. Unfortunately, in most cases the majority of public spaces are suitable for skateboarding uses, they take full advantage of steps to ollie down, benches and curbs to grind and handrails to slide and other architectural artefacts to exploit, usually little consideration is given to the wider public because many of these areas were not designed to cater for such enthusiasts; to their demise, they fully acknowledge this. Over recent years there have been a rising number of cases where anti-skateboarding devices have been installed to these formerly skateable obstacles, a massive middle finger is directed at skateboarding, therefore the problem is left unresolved and many skateboarders feel aggravated.
The following article reports on the negative relationships between skateboarding and pedestrians in Gympie, though the nature of this issue is commonly read about in a range of stories from city to city, country to country. It is no surprise why reports like these exacerbate the situation at hand.
Article: Skateboarders Scare Pedestrians (The Gympie News) by Lee Gailer, 30th May 2009.
SKATEBOARDERS and BMX bikers are causing grief to pedestrians and motorists in Gympie's central business district and on various roads.
Several people have been struck by riders but police claim the situation is no worse than it ever has been.
Gympie Regional Mayor Ron Dyne said he was aware of the problem and told The Gympie Timeshe would be asking police to increase foot patrols in the main street.
“I know skateboarders and BMX bikers are a nuisance and an inconvenience to the public at the present moment - especially to the elderly people in town,” he said.
“Whenever I'm down the street I have a chip at them and most kick up their skateboards and continue along walking. I was having great success until recently when a kid refused to get off and gave me a gobfull.
“This kid said 'you silly old .... why don't you go and get ....'.”
Signs at every entry point to Mary Street clearly indicate no bikes or skateboards are permitted in the CBD however, there is question over who actually enforces the rules.
Council spokesman Bob Fredman said the signs were authorised traffic signs that police can act upon.
“It's not a local law matter,” he said.
“By putting those signs up it makes it a police matter - if they've got the resources at the time.”
Skateboarders and BMX bikers counting on Council to upgrade the skate park may find themselves up against strong opposition from business owners if they don't change their attitudes towards pedestrians.
David Hetherington and Warrick Hosking are both against Council upgrading the skate park and said: “When you see the problems they (skateboarders) cause and their attitudes, why should Council do them any favours?”
Source - http://www.gympietimes.com.au/story/2009/05/30/youths-on-wheels-scare-pedestrians/
The Gympie News website allows people to demonstrate their response, the following text allows us to see what some of these responses were.
Posted by papermate from Mountain Creek, Queensland
30 May 2009 3:21 p.m.
'Skateboarders' are actually people, they are young kids out and about living their life and not at home sitting on a computer. Give them a great place to skate and guaranteed they will be out of your way. Don't threaten these kids with attitude adjustments, how about you work with them and provide a really great facility where they can be safe, have fun and not get in the road of pedestrians? You have to earn respect, not demand it by the way...it goes both ways and those in authority positions would do well to learn that respecting young people is teaching them to respect you in return.
Posted by thedaily_millie from Gympie, Queensland
30 May 2009 8:52 p.m.
The news treats skateboarders as if they are pests, and shouldn't be allowed in communities. I mean, honestly, an inconvenience and a nuisance?
How mature and open minded.
So are the drug dealers and underage girls drinking and having sex but the police are more concerned with skateboarders and bmx riders?
Oh, the brilliance of our system.
Our attitude problems are as a result of the attitudes of the authority in Gympie
Skateboarding is a form of art and expression. A creative outlet and a passion.
Just like music, art, sport and writing. None of those are criticized and frowned upon.
I think that what was written in the Gympie Times about a skateboarder hitting an elderly man is ridiculous. No skateboarder is even aware of this event occurring.
You wouldn't know that skateboarders and BMX riders are respected members of the community because the media and the authorities are too busy stereotyping us and grouping us under 'social menaces.' Apart from this alleged 'running into an elderly person' what else can you pin the blame on skateboarders?
Posted by veteran from Veteran, Queensland
31 May 2009 6:57 a.m.
It seems that Mary Street is being treated like a playground by scateboard riders and pushbikes, it is a dangerous combination, pedestrians with these young people, who have no respect, manors and obviously no reading skills, as they completely ignore the signs banning the use of bikes and boards. I dislike shopping in Mary Street knowing at any time I may be injured, I feel so sorry for the business owners, they must be feeling the effects of these Law breakers.
Come on pedestrians, take a stand, demand safe footpaths in this beautiful city we live in.
The success rate of pulling in high-risk activity enthusiasts into skate parks is soaring, however many feel that they have been cast aside and pushed to one corner. These facilities are catered for skateboarding and every obstacle found within them is particularly desirable to progress on, though skate parks are limited in social dynamics, never changing and after time many people move on because they have had enough of the ordinary. Skateboarding within an urban environment is profoundly appealing because such spaces offer sometimes prudent and variable environments, the beauty comes down to the fact that skateboarding is an art form and in order for it to become distinct and diverse as intended, we need to provide terrain for this activity to strive in amongst a variety of challenging, but controlled atmospheres. Providing that upmost consideration is given to both parties (pedestrians and skateboarders) in design process, there is no reason to disbelieve that implementing high-risk activities into urban spaces is a firm and practical likelihood. If this implementation was to be encouraged, designers need to understand how and why this firm and practical likelihood could be achieved, exploration into aspects of sociology, spatial dynamics, materiality etc. need to be carefully measured when successfully minimising potential instances of conflict between the two users, considerations like these will result in a socially legible and coherent landscape for pedestrians to walk through, meet and audience whilst the art of skateboarding takes place.
Break-dancing is similar to skateboarding, with respect to their degrees of individuality and risk factors. Spectators can be seen in the image below, space is present from the act and pedestrians resulting in minimal conflict between them. Instead, pedestrians can fully admire the art form without feeling at risk of injury or in some aspects, a wrongly assumed social classification from others, all within a small urban space.
Imagery - Google Images
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