Liz Diller is One Smart Lady

So, a little late posting this interview from the Boston Globe: Q+A with Elizabeth Diller. Don't let the horrid photo of her distract you from her powerful ideas about public space and architecture. How many architects readily admit to having a "money-losing projects division" in their firm? Any chance I could head up that department sometime? She's one smart lady, especially when she talks a little about Lincoln Plaza and their concept for it. Can't wait to see the ICA in person, after those weeks preparing a presentation for Gabriel Feld's Buildings + Ideas seminar two years ago.

Best in Breed 2007

Who would you vote for? Kippy (Kipnuk Kodiak Delaine)
or Paragon's Red Red Wine

be mine

happy valentine's day
red velvet cake is the new chocolate according to the New York Times. I still remember that horrible birthday cake we made keirsten, kerri--tooth pick reconstruction and all. i think it was red velvet.

the Stephen Holl Show-- I mean the 2007 AIA NY Design Awards

Last night, the AIA New York Chapter gathered round to pat themselves on the back and showed me why architects make bad dates. They come late and then leave early; they stuff their faces with cheese and wine before they say hello; they're always looking around them to see who's watching them or if someone better has shown up yet; they like to use big vocab words when explaining a simple idea. how horrible!

I have to be honest: I came to see Peter Waldman, who seemed to be the unofficial superstar in the room. Everyone there had him as a teacher or as a critic. And he's doing quite well: working on an elementary school project in Richmond, watching the UVA A-school expand before his eyes, etc. Hopefully he'll enter "Envisioning Gateway" and then the universe will be happy.

The host of the evening, Kurt Anderson, of Design 360 (not Anderson Cooper 360 or of Studio3Six0) couldn't manage to operate a simple power point slide show. Maybe it was because it wasn't on a snazzy beautiful Mac--design snob. Thank God Benjamin Gianni had mad skills to save Kurt's ass. Anyways, the Architecture awards could've been renamed the Steven Holl Lovefest since his office won 2 (out of 6) Honor Awards and 1 (out of 4) Merit Award.



ok, so these are some good work (as best as one can say without ever having seen them in person). i'm not a Steven Holl Hater, but I have to say, Simmons Hall leaves something to be desired. Not every project can be a St. Ignatius Chapel I guess. Congratulations Mr. Holl.

The mainly foreign jury complimented the Americans on the new era of work and reminded us to brush up on our world capitals because Architecture has gone global. Watchout Africa. Which it's funny how they stressed the new way of thinking because it felt not so fresh to this new grad. Guess the architecture world opperates on a time delay of 4 years. Still for all the talk about sustainability these days, only 2 out of 10 projects were LEED anything, so I think we still have a ways to go. Come on architects! Time to step up!

Let's not forget to commend other award winners in the Architecture category: Diller + Scofidio + Renfro's ICA, Foster + Parterns Hearst Tower, Steven Harris Architects' 92 Jane Street, Weiss Manfredi's Olympic Sculpture Park.


the ICA photo is by Kerri and is in her opinion, the best part of the building

One of my favorites for the interiors is Dean/Wolf's Operable Boundary Townhouse Garden.
Unfortunately, an image of the NYPL Fort Washington Branch Children's Room by Sage and Coombe Architects (my other favorite) has proven to be elusive.

This project removed the service aspects from the lower section of a townhouse in order to open up the entire floor to the outside. The room has turned into a field. Very nice.

The Interiors jury attempted to avoid awarding prizes to corporate retail spaces with unlimited budget. Benjamin Gianni made the point of how the jury was consciencious of looking for the sophisticated execution of the concept generally noted as the "economy of means" and not let themselves be distracted by architects' crutches of surface treaments and digital screens. Although, they did award a Merit Award to Asymptote's Alessi Flagship Store because it executed a pretty simple idea incredibly well--so they said.
hmm...i'll have to check that out for myself.

In the projects catagory, I have to point out the Windshape installation by nArchitect and Daniela Zimmer in Lacoste France (@ SCAD FR) because it bears an uncanny resemblance to my Design Principles project at RISD in 2004. This proves my theory that moderism is dead and there is nothing left to invent.

The Projects jury sounded like the most fun. They really invested themselves in getting to the root of the architectural concept. Hearing them talk more about the projects took me back to school and studio desk crits. They really looked at the link between landscape and building.
Peter Waldman had a twinkle in his eye as he talked about the North Carolina Museum of Art. Something about the trees like clouds. Maybe he was distracted by the apocalyptic sky in this rendering. All kidding aside, the integration of the landscape and building were very strong in this project. The trees offer a nice respite from all the works of art and white gallery walls.

Thomas Phifer and Partners also designed the City Lights (street lamps) pictured here.


Matthias Sauerbrunch loved them so much he composed a sonnate to them on the spot. Never seen a man so excited by industrial design--quite refreshing. And I have to agree with him; they're pretty hot. Matthias pointed them out mainly because he theorized the general public only notices the horrid victorian style street lamps and this fresh design would go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Better watch where you walk from now on--you could run right into an architect admiring the street lamp.

Yet another favorite project I couldn't locate an image for is Kathryn Ogawa's Red Hood Workspace. Keep an eye out for it and let me know if you see it.

All in all, an interesting night. Congratulations to all the winners.

for politically active kids

teeshirts from our friends at coudal partners.

lowercase tee

Bow-Wow

I attended a lecture last night at the Harvard Graduate School of Design given by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto of Atelier Bow-Wow. Based in Tokyo, Bow-Wow's work focuses on situational installations and architecture. Their books, Made in Tokyo and Pet Architecture, discuss strange juxtapositions of program in Tokyo as well as spaces made usable by filling in the gaps between buildings. What I found to be interesting were the ways they use sectional differences to provide new views and create larger spaces within a tight building envelope.

Atelier Bow-Wow

Abu Dhabi's Cultural and Artistic Future

Abu Dhabi has an ambitious plan to make itself not only the business and tourist capital of the Middle East, but also the new center of art and culture. Architects involved include Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Tadao Ando.

NYTimes

Oh Helvetica...How I Adore Thee

i have a friend who is obsessed with Helvetica especially during our last year at RISD. he even has the pencil pouch. and he constantly disparages PCs and lauds Macs. i now realize this is because of his Thing for Helvetica. needless to say, it's rubbed off on me a bit. my ears prick up any time i hear helvetica mentioned. 2007 is the 50th anniversary of this font. fitting that it should be celebrated with a documentary film by Gary Hustwit.
see Helvetica for more info.
too bad i couldn't post in this font. stupid PCs.

Black Chicken With Googley Eyes

Black Chicken With Googley Eyes, originally uploaded by Sugar Pond.

WNYC Leonard Lopate Show will host Amy Sedaris Feb 9th. She, of course, has to be competitive and issues a Craft Challenge. The challenge: make food come alive with googly eyes! This is my particular favorite of the group at the moment. Tune in at noon on FM 93.1. Or listen on-line here.