Courtney Embrey - Urban Design

Build a Better Burb (Before)

cembrey — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:19:55 +0000

Coming soon…

Build a Better Burb

cembrey — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:09:16 +0000

More to come…

Build a Better Burb – Outdoor Theater

cembrey — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:29:42 +0000

Coming soon…

Bike Station

cembrey — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:21:58 +0000

Upon arriving to Washington DC for a weekend getaway, of all the great sights to see I was mostly excited to see the “bike station”. A place where you can store or rent a bike and the structure guards against theft and weather damage…. it’s conveniently located at the central station. Supposedly, it’s getting a lot of use and is an archetype for other cities who want to find ways to up their bike friendliness — I believe Philadelphia is now looking into building one near a busy transit station. I think in the near future of urban transportation we’ll be seeing a lot more of these pop up.

A Typical Sunday at the Farmers’ Market

cembrey — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:28:56 +0000

A great way to bring a disconnected community together is a weekly market day. Events like farmers’ markets, local cultivar festivals, permanent outdoor marketplaces, or even a simple local produce stand can create social connectivity and can promote healthy organic sustenance and locally purchased produce. Currently, the majority of America’s suburbs depend on large chain supermarkets for their goods creating a great dependency on fossil fuels for distribution transportation — not to mention packaged produce is more expensive for the consumer.

Cold apple cider, a horseradish pickle, Greek salad and some quiche while strolling through the flea market on a hot and humid day in Manhattan’s Green Market livens up a Sunday afternoon.

Cambria, Morro Bay and Moonstone Beach

cembrey — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:43:32 +0000

Here are some snapshots from a four day retreat to the California Central Coast — flowers, grasses and other pretty things (amid seasonal allergies)…

Panasonic CityBeijing, China

cembrey — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:57:01 +0000

Client: N/A
Project Size: N/A
Project Type: Urban Renewal

Coming soon…

Private ResidenceQueens, NY

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:29:59 +0000

Client: Private
Project Size: 7,500 Square Feet
Project Type: Private Residence, Residential Landscape Design

The Queens residence involves a series of simple design solutions for the front, back and side yard of an early colonial revival home in the Queens borough of New York City.

Great Places in Eastern US

cembrey — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:38:19 +0000

Rain has been keeping me indoors… it’s taunting me… I really want to get out and go on another one of my little fact-finding explorations to “somewhere”. In the mean time, to keep myself occupied I’ve compiled some photos of my latest road trip around the Northeast and southern Atlantic Coast… some of the places we traveled through were magnificent.

An Urban Garden… a Hydroponic Experiment

cembrey — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:20:34 +0000

You’d imagine that New Yorkers could care less about gardening. I mean, with their busy schedules, limited space, and copious pocket parks and botanical gardens in walking distance there really isn’t a reason that warrants a jungle of houseplants strewed across an eighty-year-old fire escape outside your window. Not to mention, with a produce stand on virtually every street corner why would you want or need to tend to your own domestic vegetable garden? Well you don’t. But if you want to do it for fun, get a Prepara Power Plant!

I was delighted to discover that there is a culture of city-dwelling experimental urban gardeners out there that think it’s possible to grow a vegetable garden in an apartment — some industrious folk even have livestock. Although, I’ve yet to find a chicken coupe in Manhattan, while briefly conducting some research on the subject I found that some areas in Brooklyn and the Bronx partake in private or communal chicken raising. Apart from the ingenuity and convenience of urban farming and gardening, it’s nice to see that people want to, at least in moderation, have control over the source of their food. I will definitely harvest my little crop as soon as it matures… then I will use it for cooking. I’ll keep updates on the progress.

UPDATE: The Power Plant was returned back to it’s manufacturer because the rotating disk was malfunctioning. Apparently, there are a few kinks that need to be worked out in the system and Prepara is doing so for their next generation Power Plant.

I am still growing lavender and two cacti in ceramic pots, however.