River Livers

Now doesn't that sound appetizing?  River livers are not a new food craze to hit Dallas.  It is apparently a new art installation coming to the Trinity River in 2012.

The eco-art collective Greenmeme is looking at Dallas for one of its "River Liver" installations.  From the Greenmeme website:

"The River Liver is an on-going investigation into the creation of constructed wetland sculptures that aim to raise awareness to water quality issues, water pollution and habitat loss. The sculpture's plants act as a filter, becoming a form of productive and protective infrastructure that actively break down some of the identified pollutants in the water."

Oh and these art pieces glow green at night. Neato.  More from Greenmeme:

"An LED "traffic light" would respond to changes in water quality. Navigators were encouraged to cast a River Liver off at it's new location, where it could attempt to remediate the lake. These illuminated the islands, experiment with translating water quality and a variety of other environmental data into coded light and color."

No word yet on what the Trinity River Liver will look like or where exactly it would be.  You can read a more in depth interview with the Greenmeme collective at Dangerous Minds and see pictures on the Unfair Park blog and at Greenmeme.

What would a renovation of the Statler Hilton look like?

I've talked about the Statler Hilton Hotel before here and here. The Statler Hilton, also known as the Dallas Grand Hotel is a MCM hotel that borders the newly opened Main Street Gardens. Robert Wilonsky on the Dallas Observer's Unfair Park has followed the story of the Statler and the attempts to reopen the hotel or convert it to lofts, apartments, etc. As part of the marketing for Main Street Gardens, Merriman Associates created this nice video about what a potential renovation of the Statler could look like.

Woodall Rodgers Deck Park Video

The Park from kristin gray on Vimeo.

Here is a video rendering of what the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park will potentially look like upon completion. You can also view a live web cam of the construction here.

H/T to Unfair Park.

What I have been reading lately

I am on the road this week for work, but here is what I have been reading up on:

1. The Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation announced that Thomas Phifer and Partners will be the architects for The Park's restaurant and performance pavilion. Phifer used to work with Richard Meier, who designed the Rachofsky House in Dallas. More info here.

2. One of the finalists of the Re:Vision Dallas competition (turning a parking lot into a sustainable mixed-use development) is on the shortlist to exhibit its competition entry at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain this November. Still trying to figure out if I should be proud of that or embarassed. Read about it here.

3. The Disney Streets and the people who live there - home to some beautiful MCMs - are still duking it out over whether there should be a conservation overlay. Read about the nastiness here.

A hodge podge of stuff today...

I thought about individual posts on these subjects, but let's face it, it is Monday and I am feeling a bit lazy. So in no particular order, things I have been reading up on today:

1. For those of you who live in a historical district and looking for economical ways to landscape your lawn, AstroTurf/fake grass is verboten.

2. The steel has arrived on what some have said is Dallas' bridge to nowhere, aka the Calatrava Bridge. You know what that means? It's time to party!

3. The winner of the Shroud of Statler Hotel competition to be announced sometime this week, with postings of all the submissions to be released by August 17th.

4. A conservation district for the Disney Streets may or may not be in the works. These streets are a host to a bevy of MCM homes.

5. Some opinions on the future Dallas Convention Center Hotel. DMN architecture critique and interview with 5G Studio Collaborative, which designed the hotel here.

and finally,

6. The contractor has been selected for the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park. Groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for September 14.

H/T to DO's Unfair Park and D Magazine's FrontBurner blogs.

DC9 in Space on Wednesday Nights

The Dallas Observer music blog, DC9 at Night has partnered with photographer Hal Samples' Space Studio to present DC9 in Space. Every Wednesday a different band will perform at Space. One week later you will be able to view a video of the performance.

This week San Francisco based Tartufi will be performing. After that you will have show up to see who will be playing.