I have remarked this before, but I’ll say it again anyways: sneakers are very popular in Paris. Everybody seems to be wearing cool and colorful sneakers, regardless of what the rest of their outfit happens to look like.
Full business suit? Why yes, you should be wearing cool sneakers.
But why is that?
Paris is a famously walkable city. At any given time, you’re on average just about 500m from the closest subway station. So my entirely unproven sneaker theory is this: shoes follow built form.
If you build a city around people walking everywhere, one will ultimately choose the most appropriate kind of footwear.
Photo: Rosa Bonheur sur Seine
I now know what all the fuss is about. Yesterday I rode a dockless (Lime) scooter for the first time. I took in lieu of an Uber in order to get to the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology (MAAT) on Lisbon's waterfront. Here's another photo from my ride:
We don't have these scooters in Toronto, but I understand they are imminent. And now that I've used one -- and learned how shockingly fun they are -- I can see why they are proliferating across so many cities. They're a solution to the last mile problem, but they're also fast enough (20 km/h) that they can be a substitute for other forms of urban mobility, as was the case for me yesterday. I can also see myself using one to get to the office when I would rather not sweat through my suit. Of course, there is the much talked about problem of scooters as urban litter. It's a real thing and I am seeing that firsthand here in Lisbon. Because they are dockless, people leave them anywhere and everywhere. At the same time, part of what makes them so convenient is that, well, you can leave them anywhere and everywhere.
I'm confident there's a tidier solution that doesn't involve fixed docking stations. Geofencing, perhaps? Cars are "dockless" and we've sort of figured that out. Many cities are already working on and experimenting with different solutions. Here's an example from Tel Aviv. I have also noticed a natural clustering effect. I'm not sure how good of a business they will prove to be. The barriers to entry seem fairly low right now. You just need some Chinese scooters and an app, which is why I am noticing so many competing companies. But as the market matures, increased regulation could change this. We are going through a period of growing pains and it's not particularly elegant. However, I believe we'll get there. So I am looking forward to riding these scooters when they do finally land in Toronto.
Today we visited BMW Welt (World) and the BMW Museum in Munich. BMW Welt was designed by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU out of Vienna. It is the result of a design competition that the BMW Group held in 2001. Construction of the ~73,000 square meter facility was completed in 2007. The project is centered around a great hall and an elevated vehicle delivery area known as Premiere. It was designed -- and this includes the HVAC system -- to handle 40 car deliveries per hour, or 250 per day. I guess they don't work a full 8 hours. Below are two photos that I took of the delivery area. The circles you see on the floor in the second picture are rotating platforms. This is where you want to pick up your new car.
And here is a plan of the entire Welt space via COOP HIMMELB(L)AU:
I also really enjoyed the BMW Museum, which is housed in a separate building adjacent to the BMW Tower (the one that looks like engine cylinders). The "art cars" were a lot of fun. I'm sure that many of you will be able to guess the artist behind this one:
But what I enjoyed most were the classics like this one here:
The least interesting cars for me were the ones that weren't old enough to be "classic", but also weren't new and shiny. This can happen with architectural styles as well. Designs sometime need time to settle in. For more photos of BMW Welt and the BMW Museum, follow me on Instagram. Drawings/Isometrics: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU