The (by now) legendary S:t Eriks neighborhood in Stockholm. Built 1995-1998 on 0.06km² with 770 apartments, parks, public places, giving it a population density far higher than modern Manhattan. The whole area was uniformly built in the hugely popular 1920s "Swedish Grace" style.
The area used to be the site of a large hospital, and some buildings were kept, some moved, like the handsome chapel building of the former hospital which now serves as a neighborhood church.
Most buildings follow the successful 5-7 stories of human scaled urbanism but there's two towers that form a portal leading into the neighborhood from a charming park area by the "Orphanage Bay" (named after the orphanage of the old hospital).
The new neighborhood was widely derided and hated by the Swedish and European architecture establishment, because they are allergic to charm and simple beauty. People love it though, and it has won CNU awards and royal visits.

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More from @wrathofgnon

23 Sep
Foraging trip today. Great work for children. Here's five minutes of Juglans ailantifolia, Japanese Walnut (lit. demon walnut, onigurumi, on account of its devilishly hard shell). In most of them the husk had completely rotted away saving us much labor. Image
Another bonus of waiting until the husk has rotted away is that you let squirrels have the first pick (they tens to go for the smaller ones you don't want anyway with a thinner shell). Here are empty walnut shells discarded underneath a tree with a squirrel nest. Squirrel tracks! Image
Here's a large stand of egoma (Perilla frutescens, or Korean perilla). The leaves are great in salads, as garnish or as tempura or in sauces. A couple of weeks more and they'll be seeding: makes for good lamp oil! All indoor lighting in Japan used to be egoma oil until 19th c. Image
Read 7 tweets
18 Sep
Instead of spending your home improvement money on a silly wood deck, consider fixing your chimney and making sure your wood stove works while there still is time. ft.com/content/7c31ca…
If you can't make a fire at home, consider buying a large box of tea lights. They're not much more expensive than electric heaters and surprisingly good in a pinch.
A hanten is good for working at home in 5-15°C (41-59F), or in Europe, a comfy sweater will save you tons of money come winter.
Read 4 tweets
17 Sep
Know your bricks. The vertical thickness of a brick wall is measured in wythes. Almost everything gets better with a thicker wall: sound and heat insulation, thermal mass, longevity, etc. Say the words "triple wythe" to a trad architect or a mason and check out the goosebumps.
A single wythe wall can have a structural purpose as well as acting as a wall. However, a single wythe wall that does not have any structural purpose is called a veneer. Two single wythe walls with a cavity in between are called a double brick wall or a cavity wall, as below:
As thicker walls are stronger (and heavier), it is common to reduce the number of wythes the further up you go. This ex-bank and office, now museum, in Tokyo was built in 2004 with an average of six wythes between all floors and the basement. It will be around for awhile.
Read 5 tweets
16 Sep
Recently given UNESCO protection status, the city of Al-Salt in Jordania, famous for its 1890-1920s historic core of Ottoman era townhouses. Built on three hillsides around a central valley by Christians and Muslims with Italian and local labor to a Nazareth-Napolitan vernacular.
Originally funded in 300 B.C. by Greek soldiers the town was razed by Mongolian armies in the 13th c. For centuries it was a Christian-Muslim enclave isolated on an important trade route surrounded by hostile tribes. Cooperation was the only way they could survive.
In the late 19th c. the city grew as the most important way point between the eastern and the western deserts. Prospering trade brought wealth to the townspeople who finally submitted to Ottoman rule. It was supposed to become the capital of Jordan but the honor went to Amman.
Read 4 tweets
16 Sep
Back in the old days we built all hospitals and school using natural ventilation to achieve negative air pressure. This means that an airborne infection can't spread throughout the building but instead is ventilated out where it is quickly neutralized by UV light.
You could easily fix modern schools, retirement homes, hospitals, clinics, waiting rooms, libraries etc. to allow for negative air pressure by inviting an HVAC engineer and a carpenter. Many hospitals all over did this in 2020, quietly (many govs still don't ack. airborne covid).
Read 5 tweets
31 Aug
701 A.D., first time shop signs are mentioned in Japanese law. It became a legal requirement to display the name of the shop and what kind of items or service it dealt in, with one line of text (on cloth). The entire law itself is merely one line of text: 凡市毎律立標題行名.
Later on the customs regarding store signs evolved gradually, from cloth to simple bamboo sticks with writing to properly carved wooden slabs. We are now at the 17th century and shop signs have peaked in both utility and aesthetics. In wide streets, roofed hanging signs...
...or if you had limited space, the roof mounted wooden sign boards were commonly used. For businesses open after dark, lighted signs were essential. You can see all types of shop signs in this photo of a replica street with a representative collection of period signs.
Read 7 tweets

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