tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14996725723362263602024-03-13T01:46:33.230-07:00Mark Horton / ArchitectureRuminations on Architecture, Design and LifeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-36159393618721743872014-04-18T15:20:00.000-07:002014-04-18T15:21:27.454-07:00DOES SIZE MATTER?<div class="p1">
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Let’s see… You hire an architect to come up with a new design that enlarges your facility. In order to do this, though, the new design needs to travel directly through the middle of an existing building. There is a public uproar about the possibility that the existing building might be torn down, so you ask the architect you hired to study the new building to “study” the possibilities of saving the existing building. A sufficiently long-enough period of time passes, and the architect comes back with a report stating that the existing building needs to be removed to allow for expansion.</div>
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Duh…</div>
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Exactly the scenario the <a href="http://www.moma.org/" target="_blank">Museum of Modern Art in New York</a> has gone through with <a href="http://www.dsrny.com/" target="_blank">Diller and Scofidio</a> in determining whether or not to save <a href="http://www.twbta.com/" target="_blank">Williams and Tsien’s</a> beautiful <a href="http://www.folkartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">American Folk Art Museum</a> building. A building that was only dedicated in December of 2001 - 12+ years ago. Now that makes ecological sense… </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zA7Ul84IOs4oeq3JxGUyWT7jXc5l_W3R_ihd25xLK1KK7eYTftKbPxa_Eri6mAPP2rr0HQ3_nvJn7FPabvd8V1el1_gTQeIWtQepr84wyaLUEYaEfKwjhRRDx7zpsF0gAzhzDw8IJFAE/s1600/Image+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zA7Ul84IOs4oeq3JxGUyWT7jXc5l_W3R_ihd25xLK1KK7eYTftKbPxa_Eri6mAPP2rr0HQ3_nvJn7FPabvd8V1el1_gTQeIWtQepr84wyaLUEYaEfKwjhRRDx7zpsF0gAzhzDw8IJFAE/s1600/Image+3.png" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
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Isn’t this the museum that purports to be interested in <a href="http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1031" target="_blank">all things green</a>?</div>
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I have no doubt that their new structure will be <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/leed" target="_blank">LEED</a> Certified.</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kimmelman" target="_blank">Michael Kimmelman</a> raises a number of issues in his recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/arts/design/momas-plan-to-demolish-folk-art-museum-lacks-vision.html?_r=0" target="_blank">New York Times article</a>, including the question of how MoMA was thinking they were going to transgress the small museum building to get to their developer-driven high-rise space were the Folk Art building not to be removed. Now, that’s a good question. And, maybe the answer would allow the building to remain.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yoBjADBY7_VHCaMI8IuDooJEdIk2-w_daXo6PVPtenmEzzopFw1WEIz-abnxN4BHCG6c3hG7C63XXfieSA8LW2mJGX-C7QRKuImpsymM6wcZh_Lu3741dnGiaYpb_7dNqpU3W0DmnF9A/s1600/Image+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yoBjADBY7_VHCaMI8IuDooJEdIk2-w_daXo6PVPtenmEzzopFw1WEIz-abnxN4BHCG6c3hG7C63XXfieSA8LW2mJGX-C7QRKuImpsymM6wcZh_Lu3741dnGiaYpb_7dNqpU3W0DmnF9A/s1600/Image+4.png" height="320" width="235" /></a></div>
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But, perhaps more importantly is the question about expansion and size. How large do museums need to be? When are they no longer museums? What’s the point where “mega” takes over “museum? Does New York’s Museum of Modern Art need to consume the entire block, the entire mid-town district, the entire island of Manhattan, in order to remain a museum?</div>
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You may have stood in line recently at the <a href="http://savernackstreet.com/contact/" target="_blank">Savernack Street Gallery</a> in San Francisco’s Mission District. No gift shop, no fancy (or fast) dining, no bookstore… Just art. And thinking. And, contemplating.</div>
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So, which is really a place to further the intellectual process and development of human thought? The Mall of America, on 53rd Street in mid-town Manhattan, or a sidewalk in the Mission District? Granted, the peephole gallery is probably not going to sell many t-shirts, or raise a multi-million dollar endowment, but I have a feeling their carbon footprint as a ratio to brain neuron firings is significantly higher. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-21309729428364533222013-08-02T13:11:00.000-07:002013-08-02T13:11:21.552-07:00QUOTES<div class="p1">
Here are a few quotes I have recently come across that I thought were worth passing along:</div>
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From an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigo_23" target="_blank">Rigo 23</a> comments on the status of status in our society: “…progress and going toward the future cannot only be measured by the size of your cell phone.”</div>
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From an interview by writer <a href="http://www.an-onymous.com/" target="_blank">Iman Ansari</a>, published in Hamshahri Architecture in Iran, <a href="http://www.eisenmanarchitects.com/" target="_blank">Peter Eisenman</a> laments the loss of hand drawing in architecture: “I cannot read a book on a Kindle.To me, drawing and reading are the same thing. I can’t read on the computer. Anytime someone draws something in the computer, I want it printed so I can draw over it either with tracing paper on it or without it. You cannot make a plan in the computer by connecting dots. You have to think about a diagram or what it is you are doing. You have to think in drawing. I watch people in this office sitting and looking at these things on their screen as they roll them around in space, and I think to myself,what the hell are they doing? It’s nuts. It’s totally wacko.”</div>
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From an article in the New York Times about a cadre of new movies, including <a href="http://www.fandango.com/movie-trailer/thegreatgatsby2013-trailer/149090" target="_blank">“The Great Gatsby”</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4c6hmrwba0" target="_blank">“The Bling Ring”</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVvn9T6bqls" target="_blank">“Spring Breakers”</a>, talking about Gatsby: “The contradictory answer supplied by the movie is that he thought he was just like everybody else: exceptional, a winner, a V.I.P. The idea that everyone can have everything may be logically preposterous, but it is ideologically essential to the imagination of a country that seems to be living simultaneously in the Great Depression and the Gilded Age.”</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAG4MPXUIVnZ7KOreRJdYFtoYN3nlfDkXd_z05WCvFTXpSvTcP7tKX1JFPuSsNjYyBcdvXuJO6gh0FNJdH2C8hF4OE-ntOf_JqCO4M0yrt66YWVCoBcGzBJysWAzdieAAu9vX6SSxQhIZM/s1600/Image-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAG4MPXUIVnZ7KOreRJdYFtoYN3nlfDkXd_z05WCvFTXpSvTcP7tKX1JFPuSsNjYyBcdvXuJO6gh0FNJdH2C8hF4OE-ntOf_JqCO4M0yrt66YWVCoBcGzBJysWAzdieAAu9vX6SSxQhIZM/s320/Image-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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From an article in the New York Times regarding the ongoing negotiations between England and Argentina regarding the status of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands" target="_blank">Falkland Islands</a>, and Britain’s suggestion that the Argentinian Foreign Minister meet with a representative of the island population: “I need to meet with the Foreign Minister. Kings meet with Kings, and Queens meet with Queens. Usually that is the way it works.”</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-32766033968170122662013-07-26T17:50:00.000-07:002013-07-26T17:50:08.212-07:00RAMBLES AND PASSION<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the real advantages of
living in a place like San Francisco is the enjoyment of watching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Percent" target="_blank">the 1%</a> spend
their money. It appears to get
distributed in a spray shot that hits everything from the sublime to the
ridiculous. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />One of the places this new-found
wealth seems to be directed more often than not is toward saving the
planet. Good! One of the places it doesn’t seem to
get directed toward is design. Ouch!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And, a favorite place to spend
money, at least in California, is on cars!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8784UQ6SSj31xfscTgm99BX8OA6UzT7SRpmfAd6SVGfd23Ux2IQyEYMNSipfiUGdl_issRrseDWVLeU0YCS9oVB3PSeOlNovgs1JrEpNw8q7IZG0tPvtuHH4dBLMSORu1HvTWqcc_x9_g/s637/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8784UQ6SSj31xfscTgm99BX8OA6UzT7SRpmfAd6SVGfd23Ux2IQyEYMNSipfiUGdl_issRrseDWVLeU0YCS9oVB3PSeOlNovgs1JrEpNw8q7IZG0tPvtuHH4dBLMSORu1HvTWqcc_x9_g/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not long ago all hybrid cars
looked like enlarged packaging cases for feminine hygiene products or
characters in a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Dreamworks</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> movie. Why was it that almost all hybrids looked like they were an offshoot on
the family tree of the Prius computer design program? Why was it that no one, or seemingly no one, was able to
design a good looking hybrid / electric car? Did someone decide that design was in part responsible for
global warming?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoprAgAzaW34uNUCKHgSC6gg8uN8sMFQGqjZFQGGSpfBaKV6JsPys_CphC0CUshb-Tu87HKRLw9c3TIVmUWfRcCKQk-_Zw7ipG2ij04cCjWd3YnBxeWWNAYCYmyLQSdWVNB3wQVLPZgbf/s739/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoprAgAzaW34uNUCKHgSC6gg8uN8sMFQGqjZFQGGSpfBaKV6JsPys_CphC0CUshb-Tu87HKRLw9c3TIVmUWfRcCKQk-_Zw7ipG2ij04cCjWd3YnBxeWWNAYCYmyLQSdWVNB3wQVLPZgbf/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But, then, along came </span><a href="http://www.teslamotors.com/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Tesla</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and suddenly design and the environment were, or are, back in the same bed. Only, the problem is that the bed is made with the </span>equivalent<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of imported 360 count Egyptian cotton sheets. Titans of the New World can afford that count. </span><a href="http://actuallyyourethe47percent.tumblr.com/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">The 47%</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> group will have to hope that design is headed their way at some point downstream. But, at least Tesla seems to have reinserted the idea of passion back into the world of automobile design. It’s been a long time coming. As </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/godfrey-sullivan/8/a01/102" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Godfrey Sullivan, CEO of Splunk</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, was quoted as saying in a recent SF Business Times, “It’s as if Steve Jobs built a car.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_da-Txzh1i4E-xXaRmQ6PfKrailROF3r5L1Nb6k5Pb6kyXR6b2ETsOVjSfSjBU4q6up-JcNH9WmJCTaclaKN1uW6inzaO8nGkwk4_n2RdsXu99wLBQnf-b2B3fi80aFSWWtWx0WwDyh_/s590/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_da-Txzh1i4E-xXaRmQ6PfKrailROF3r5L1Nb6k5Pb6kyXR6b2ETsOVjSfSjBU4q6up-JcNH9WmJCTaclaKN1uW6inzaO8nGkwk4_n2RdsXu99wLBQnf-b2B3fi80aFSWWtWx0WwDyh_/s320/3.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If Jobs had been born earlier,
he might have been friends with the Arfons. You might have seen the recent obituary for </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Arfons" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Walt Arfons</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. He and his brother, Art,
defined passion and automobile design. After dropping out of school after the 10</span><sup style="font-family: inherit;">th</sup><span style="font-family: inherit;">
grade, and serving in the military in WWII, Walt and his brother spent the next
20+ years strapping cars onto jet engines in an attempt to set the land speed
record. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQgBqGl750zDbc65lipBSms0agRFqqBKuGliErfedMt7lt5Fh12JBc5iBU3RdwnJPAGemPm95jSNUd7WZkkXVi-R-NrTkz9gsmSl7JSO4g8xoaxK3zqg-GkeZIbSBFdGAyvNtVrVuIhuu/s490/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQgBqGl750zDbc65lipBSms0agRFqqBKuGliErfedMt7lt5Fh12JBc5iBU3RdwnJPAGemPm95jSNUd7WZkkXVi-R-NrTkz9gsmSl7JSO4g8xoaxK3zqg-GkeZIbSBFdGAyvNtVrVuIhuu/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bingo!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />The jet-propellled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Arfons" target="_blank">WingfootExpress</a> set the record, on 2 October 1964 at 413.2 mph.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMhifDXv6kxwAE9OOsrR_xDwDohhkizaFwdiSOyqdMUb70KzxFXT0HLHgWwN0_l1xVwJDv_jCcjoRMv7bPKffh6oYB-HBb3_hVKClJQskhCNEtW7_Lj4JRLLg_5EBPbO2NM5vscwzHhpjD/s500/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMhifDXv6kxwAE9OOsrR_xDwDohhkizaFwdiSOyqdMUb70KzxFXT0HLHgWwN0_l1xVwJDv_jCcjoRMv7bPKffh6oYB-HBb3_hVKClJQskhCNEtW7_Lj4JRLLg_5EBPbO2NM5vscwzHhpjD/s320/5.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Three days later, Walt’s brother
Art, who by this point had become estranged from his sibling, set a new record
with his turbojet driven car. 434
mph. That record lasted just
over a week, at which point an auslander from California set a new record. At that point, Walt dropped out of the
race, and the two remaining teams exchanged records several times.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0O3Ku6Z7Gu7kPcEFnaXI07RUe9cP8PuyLp2u3xy_dBMQbScb6ypFGK2KaBE6VEWJKkpqQq8WksKvTo-j1pkpXgTdmKqHxaZtLtUxMkIDlt-v-LLMEPozlfsHay7hffO7-BFIrMO0eDjEV/s627/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0O3Ku6Z7Gu7kPcEFnaXI07RUe9cP8PuyLp2u3xy_dBMQbScb6ypFGK2KaBE6VEWJKkpqQq8WksKvTo-j1pkpXgTdmKqHxaZtLtUxMkIDlt-v-LLMEPozlfsHay7hffO7-BFIrMO0eDjEV/s320/6.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What the two brothers didn’t
exchange, because they were both full of it, was passion. Summed up by Walt: “There’s nothing
like sitting in a car and feeling the afterburners.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />In a recent interview in the New
York Times, Brad Garlinghouse, the <a href="http://about.me/bradgarlinghouse" target="_blank">CEO of YouSendIt</a>, was asked what traits he
looks for when he hires someone:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />“The thing I look for more than
anything else is passion. If
someone brings passion to their work, it compensates for myriad potential
weaknesses, and that passion manifests itself in hard work and commitment. It manifests itself in authentic
communication. For really
passionate people, it’s hard for them to keep their opinions to themselves
because they feel so strongly about something.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What’s your passion?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-37249697044251475942013-05-30T15:01:00.000-07:002013-05-30T16:24:06.423-07:00FOREST / TREES<div class="p1">
You might have missed <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/place/article/Boxy-Apple-store-could-shrink-popular-plaza-4551879.php" target="_blank">John King's article</a></span> in the SF Chronicle regarding Apple's new retail store on Union Square. You may have missed my <span class="s1"><a href="http://mh-a.blogspot.com/2013/04/green-or-evil-you-decide.html" target="_blank">blog entry on Apple's new corporate headquarters</a></span> as well.<br />
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King has a number of issues with the new Apple store. Some you may agree with. Some you may not agree with. One issue he brings up is the fact that the new store has a very tall two story clear glass façade facing directly south onto Union Square. King brings up concerns regarding heat gain and the amount of energy-consuming air conditioning this will require to mitigate. OK... Trees.</div>
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Forests : According to the <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/docs/fullbaselinereport2011.pdf" target="_blank">EPA</a></span>, 150 million cell phones were junked by Americans in 2010 alone. Apparently, Americans replace their cell phones every 22 months, on average (it's unclear if this takes into account the whole <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Cell-phone-thefts-boon-for-carriers-4551851.php" target="_blank">cell phone theft</a></span> calendar or not...). Between 2006 - 2010, Americans threw away (this does not include anything sent to a recycler) 850,000 tons of cell phones. Add in the 3,930,000 tons of computers, monitors, keyboards, and mice, and you end up with something that approaches the weight of 47 + <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimitz-class_aircraft_carrier" target="_blank">Nimitz-class aircraft carriers</a></span>. Ouch!<br />
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Keep in mind, that's what went into the trash. Some stuff did, in fact go to recyclers to be properly returned to the system.</div>
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So... I own an iPhone. Most likely, you do to. And, despite being an architect, I think I care a lot more about trying to require companies like Apple to recycle all of their product than I do about the energy consumption of a store on a public square. Obviously you can do both, but if we can save the whole forest I don't get too concerned about cutting down a single tree. Congress introduced the <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2284" target="_blank">Responsible Electronics Recycling Act</a></span> in 2011, which had bipartisan support, but was never put to a vote. That’s something I would really like my Congressman to be paying attention to.</div>
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Wonder what happens to all the lead, cadmium and mercury contained in e-trash? Here's a hint:<br />
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So, instead of getting concerned about a two story façade, let's get Apple dealing with this bigger issue. And, while we're at it, let's skip the whole <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/apple-tax-evasion" target="_blank">tax thing</a> </span>as well - chump change to the world, in comparison! Get Apple to take the tax delta and apply it to recycling their products - in the end that is good for them, good for Mother Earth, and good for the American economy. </div>
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Probably better than paying taxes...</div>
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Two other points I should mention that King has with the new Apple store:</div>
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Apparently the façade along Stockton Street is blank. I agree this isn't very nice. In fact, it's unfortunate, and - probably - a missed opportunity based on an architectural diagram. I’m sure that will get figured out downstream.</div>
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And, King seems to have grown sentimental over the <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.ruthasawa.com/" target="_blank">Ruth Asawa</a> </span>fountain at the stairs off Stockton between the current Levi's store and the hotel to the north. I'm going to guess if you polled 100 San Franciscans about that fountain, a strong 3 would even know it exists. I have a feeling there is a much better location for it.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-5244147046211626092013-04-12T11:49:00.000-07:002013-04-12T11:49:48.804-07:00Green or Evil - You Decide<br />
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In May of 1972 I was sitting in my family's dining room in Frankfurt, Germany, when the <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction" target="_blank">Red Army Faction</a> </span>set off a car bomb just a few blocks away. Like any young boy, I was attracted to the bombing like a moth to light, and I arrived on scene to experience my first sighting of a dead person, a Lieutenant Colonel lying on the sidewalk. I had no comprehension of the socio-political overtones of the event. In fact, what seemed to fascinate me most was that the bomb had blown out ever single window on the facing wall of the I.G. Farben Building next to the Officer's Club where the bomb had been placed.</div>
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The <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben_Building" target="_blank">I.G. Farben Building</a></span> is a large crescent-shaped building, built by the IG Farben company, one of the largest stake-holders in Nazi Germany's military-industrial complex. The rumor on the street, when I was living nearby, was that the built structure was only part of a much larger full-circle building, whose diameter was to be approximately a kilometer. Luckily, the outcome of World War Two prevented that.</div>
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My own personal fascination with the building, though, was its large collection of <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster" target="_blank">patternosters</a></span>, which provided for endless hijinks for teenage boys. They most definitely did not meet current ADA / HC Accessibility code requirements.</div>
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Which all brings me to the soon-to-be-realized Apple Corporate Headquarters in Cupertino. It seemed to slip off the new headlines after its original unveiling, but is now back on the front page. The cost of the building has ballooned from just under $3 billion to nearly $5 billion at the same time that Apple's shares have dropped 38% with strong competition from other smartphone and tablet manufacturers like Samsung Electronics. Reasonably so, shareholders are wondering why the company is spending so much on a building, which - for the record - has a per square foot estimated cost of $1,500, and will exceed the total cost of the new <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_site" target="_blank">World Trade Center in New York</a></span>.</div>
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I'm not so worried about the cost of the project. It's not my money. I am worried about the idea that <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.apple.com/" target="_blank">Apple</a></span>, and their esteemed architect, <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.fosterandpartners.com/" target="_blank">Sir Norman Foster</a></span>, are seemingly able to push the building as a model of "green" architecture. I'm unclear on what is green about a 10,500 car parking garage, and, for that matter, building a corporate headquarters in a location that requires most of the 14,000+ employees to get there in a car. It seems to me that no matter how many photo-voltaic cells you put on the roof of the building, or no matter how many trees you plant, the equation just never pencils out on earth's side.</div>
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To make that number of parking spaces just slightly understandable, I'll compare it to a structure you may be familiar with. The <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.fifthandmission.com/home.htm" target="_blank">Fifth and Mission parking garage</a></span> - a full block in length, and eight stories of parking. It holds 2,585 cars. Apple's green garage will hold a little more than four times as many cars. Ouch.</div>
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Maybe Apple could have considered actually being green, as opposed to looking green, and located their offices somplace easy to get to by public transportation, as opposed to conveniently next to an interstate highway.</div>
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Maybe my skepticism of the building runs deeper than a concern for its green-ness. Besides the IG Farben Bulding, which was [at least theoretically] to be a complete circle, the only other building I know of that is the same physical magnitude as the Apple headquarters, and general architectural idea, is the <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon" target="_blank">Pentagon</a></span>. Which makes me think of <span class="s1">Google's </span>corporate slogan : "<span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_be_evil" target="_blank">Don't be evil.</a></span>"</div>
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Or, maybe this new building makes me think of other high-flying Silicon Valley firms that constructed big fancy corporate headquarters, like <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.sgi.com/" target="_blank">Silicon Graphics</a> </span>(now the <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.computerhistory.org/" target="_blank">Computer History Museum</a></span>!), <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.borland.com/" target="_blank">Borland Software</a></span>, and <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems" target="_blank">Sun Microsystems</a></span>, and subsequently, like <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus" target="_blank">Icarus</a></span>, paid for flying too close to the sun.</div>
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Apple may want to re-think its architecture for a number of reasons. Apple is a great company. They can do better.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-36850690701069342982013-04-05T15:08:00.000-07:002013-04-05T15:30:33.713-07:00Paintings / Picon / Preservation<br />
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I am scheduled to have lunch with a long-ago colleague from <span class="s1"><a href="http://som.com/" target="_blank">SOM</a> </span>this coming week at the <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.sfpalace.com/Pied-Piper" target="_blank">Pied Piper Bar and Grill in the Palace Hotel</a></span>. "So?... " You may say.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy75v1NhhoZrW2xf42kgZ5xSXHyA-UczSVDh3CwwVRyzMDAJavavroZqPY2Q_tDr_k28_lFM8lr_DyI0c8RGIfcIxauYqmfhflfRbNsRHwjXFgxv9QCp-9fcboBwrDxoiMihjZDeEt79Uh/s1600/PIED-PIPER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy75v1NhhoZrW2xf42kgZ5xSXHyA-UczSVDh3CwwVRyzMDAJavavroZqPY2Q_tDr_k28_lFM8lr_DyI0c8RGIfcIxauYqmfhflfRbNsRHwjXFgxv9QCp-9fcboBwrDxoiMihjZDeEt79Uh/s320/PIED-PIPER.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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So... There's a lot embodied in that lunch hour.</div>
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First, I am reminded of my time at Skidmore. Great training ground, despite the fact that my tenure with the venerable firm coincided with its nadir in the design world. Hopefully the two conditions were not related. Since my time there, SOM SF has produced a large portfolio of extraordinary buildings, Including both the international terminal at SFO and the <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.ctlcathedral.org/" target="_blank">Cathedral of Light</a></span> in Oakland. I applaud their work, and I continue to strongly suggest to young architects that it is a great place to hang their hat for a short period of time.</div>
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Then, I am reminded of how much I don't really like <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxfield_Parrish" target="_blank">Maxfield Parish</a></span>. He is the artist who was commissioned in 1909 by the hotel to paint the "Pied Piper of Hamelin" a 16' x 6' painting that hangs behind the bar. As an undergraduate, Maxfield Parish's studio / museum in Cornish, New Hampshire wasn't far from my college. As was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Saint-Gaudens" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Augustus Saint-Gaudens</span>'</a>. Saint-Gaudens was a lot more interesting to me than Parish, who always seemed to be the <span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell" target="_blank">Norman Rockwell</a> </span>clone of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Hieronymus Bosch</span>,</a> without the intellectual content. Saint-Gaudens, on the other hand, at least did some very cool designs for money.</div>
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And, finally, all of this gets me to start to think about the power of historic preservation commissions and City agencies. As an architect, these regulatory boards are just one of the many banes of my existence. But, as a participant in something that loosely makes up a living organic urban fabric that we call "city", I rely on these entities to protect the many "things" that provide for this fabric to be, for lack of a better word, enjoyable. So, should an historic preservation commission be able to regulate the interior of a hotel, and require that a painting not be removed from a bar? Or, should the hotel owner be able to do as they please, and sell the painting on the free market, thus changing a piece of the fabric that has, for many years, contributed to the City? Because the bar is a public place, and enjoys an economic benefit as such, does it then fall under different consideration than other interior spaces? As <span class="s1">Kevin Starr</span>, the unofficial state historian of California has noted, growing up in San Francisco he was introduced to life in the City when he was taken to the Pied Piper, at 18, for a drink and to admire the painting.</div>
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Luckily, we don't need to decide if the interiors of buildings, and this painting, are protected. In the end, at least for now, the Palace Hotel has decided to keep the painting in place.</div>
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So, head to the Pied Piper Bar and Grill, and enjoy a little bit of history in a wonderful setting. And, when you do that, you will be taking in one of <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.sfheritage.org/" target="_blank">San Francisco Architectural Heritage's</a> </span>25 Legacy Institutions. Which is a whole different, and just as interesting, topic.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-62598278627981278172012-02-06T16:08:00.001-08:002014-04-18T09:36:35.344-07:00Plays! Books! Movies! Videos!OK, let's just get it out of the way first...<br />
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Charles and Ray Eames are now hip enough that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cube">Ice Cube</a> has made a video about his interest in them, their work, and the legacy they left for Los Angeles. It's a long way from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5gRIud57jQ">Cop Killer</a>...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PPFcZ-Ux4Lg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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By this point you may be aware that architects seem to be back in fashion as the object of desire in the media.<br />
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The <a href="http://www.act-sf.org/site/PageServer">American Conservatory Theater</a> in San Francisco is about to present a play, "Higher", about two architects competing against one another to win a competition for a memorial in Israel:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/b9LppQ0hVU0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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And, I am sure many of you have read the recently-published book about the architect who wins a blind competition to design a 9 / 11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, only to be revealed to be Muslim after the competition results are announced. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Waldman">Amy Waldman's</a> book, "<a href="http://www.thesubmissionnovel.com/author">The Submission</a>", has had every glowing adjective possible attached to it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.thesubmissionnovel.com/author"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8s_1CatdiA89pjKMTd5IT6LwNIk6hYVT5YuVB_PDcvURJSXXMiIrRnJSm1JRSDWDklOTnK_OZYBjMs8Wk6PwHHzuETd77Ih9dDfnCpGP4bIn9exTpZU4SMzqlkI0deXBdLkXcsYGbFqW/s320/submission.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706458757004880802" style="height: 320px; width: 254px;" /></a><br />
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Which then brings us to the current spate of films about architects and architecture! The three films currently out are spread across the spectrum : a PR event for an architect, a most decidedly non-PR piece for architecture, and a third somewhere in between.<br />
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The first, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Foster">Norman Foster's</a> "How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster" seems to be a visual version of a vanity press book. If you don't know his work, or don't know much about Sir Norman, this will will visually fill you in.<br />
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The second, "The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruitt-Igoe">Pruitt-Igoe</a> Myth", centers around the failure of the public housing project in St. Louis, and is summarized in the quote from its designer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoru_Yamasaki">Minoru Yamasaki</a>, "Social ills can't be cured by nice buildings.'' Definitely not a PR piece for architecture.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/g7RwwkNzF68?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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And, finally, "Eames, The Architect and the Painter", an archival research piece into the world of Charles and Ray Eames.<br />
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/_YMzmuBBBzo/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_YMzmuBBBzo&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_YMzmuBBBzo&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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Among the many fascinating pieces of the-world-according-to-Charles-and-Ray this film explores, three stick out:<br />
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1. Eames' explanation of what the architect, or designer has to offer a potential client at the start of a project: "You sell your expertise, you have a limited repertoire. You sell your ignorance, it's an unlimited repertoire." Not too far from what we have been telling clients (who generally don't want to hear this, or don't understand this) for years : "MH/A begins each project with the understanding that the questions which should be asked are more important than knowing the presumed final answers."<br />
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2. Eames' explanation of the issue of constraints, and how they are manipulated in the design process (as summarized in this excerpt from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eames-Design-John-Neuhart/dp/0810908794">" Eames design, The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames"</a>):<br />
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Does the creation of design admit constraint?<br />
Design depends largely on constraints.<br />
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What constraints?<br />
The sum of all constraints. Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem—the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible—his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints—the constraints of price, of size, of strength, balance, of surface, of time, etc.; each problem has its own peculiar list.<br />
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Does design obey laws?<br />
Aren’t constraints enough?<br />
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Have you been forced to accept compromises?<br />
I have never been forced to accept compromises but I have willingly accepted constraints.<br />
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Which also pre-echos something else I have been telling clients for years: "The assumption on the part of MH/A is that the world is not an "either-or" universe, but rather a "both-and", and that one of the tasks of the architect is to discover the point in space where disparate arcs of issues actually coincide."<br />
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3. And, finally, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Roche">Kevin Roche</a>, expressing how "fucked up" (his words) he thought the Eames were when he went to their house for dinner, and they served a "visual" dessert, of beautiful flowers in a vase, at the end of dinner. He left and immediately drove to Dairy Queen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpRctLTffzNWHAcCLTkQG8_PQHV2H12NXzNQ0d6HQ7axrggT9wPiiGMoZn9paAhY1jFTjtLbin-5PdyDf0wC7ksnKJigwkFM9wXicY9qVcCGmtQcuKTSTG-Ald5Z3p4m8mVH8c_IOLdnV/s1600/image_8.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpRctLTffzNWHAcCLTkQG8_PQHV2H12NXzNQ0d6HQ7axrggT9wPiiGMoZn9paAhY1jFTjtLbin-5PdyDf0wC7ksnKJigwkFM9wXicY9qVcCGmtQcuKTSTG-Ald5Z3p4m8mVH8c_IOLdnV/s320/image_8.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706462740094808130" style="height: 220px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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You can watch the film, in its entirety, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/charles-ray-eames-the-archi%20tect-and-the-painter/watch-the-full-documentary-film/1950/">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-8703278653921802072012-01-31T17:39:00.000-08:002012-02-01T10:31:52.052-08:00Ceci n'est pas une pipeOK, I am really starting to get confused...<br /><br />First, Newt Gingrich announced he was not a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, but then Mitt Romney accused him of, in fact, being a duck (no relation to Robert Venturi's pet).<br /><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AyuOPnuTDZo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />Then, the Supreme Court proclaimed that police could put two officers in a cruiser to follow someone around day and night, but definitely not just check a person's cell phone whereabouts instead without an actual search warrant, as a much easier and less expensive way of tracking possible criminals.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKYq3frDE-rqa4O4WltWnwGzFDzFfTlHzho_o1GRgI5-0pvhHRnWu_CkKarIbWOHv-zW-epYJn2MVRUTLIQYPfLYl0SjIn-g3-dSjXsrYIUK4aYKmzYGmXLLf-8Rs94jNCzOTFvI-bAxQ/s1600/1_image.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKYq3frDE-rqa4O4WltWnwGzFDzFfTlHzho_o1GRgI5-0pvhHRnWu_CkKarIbWOHv-zW-epYJn2MVRUTLIQYPfLYl0SjIn-g3-dSjXsrYIUK4aYKmzYGmXLLf-8Rs94jNCzOTFvI-bAxQ/s320/1_image.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704221508288709762" /></a><br /><br />And, now ING Direct, the bank, has opened a café - not a bank! - in San Francisco.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljmZ71c4YKCeG6YyBOi_xJakrtXvptPl47DV9ijgZ-yBwnS9VCSH4d-vyI-AqGpH5JT6foouTuU9mTG_CegHioSQLhr3k736N1Y4GDHL4hXas4eLZxHh-7QQgoDGX_CCVu0G52XPYBfWN/s1600/no_number.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljmZ71c4YKCeG6YyBOi_xJakrtXvptPl47DV9ijgZ-yBwnS9VCSH4d-vyI-AqGpH5JT6foouTuU9mTG_CegHioSQLhr3k736N1Y4GDHL4hXas4eLZxHh-7QQgoDGX_CCVu0G52XPYBfWN/s320/no_number.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704222277865030578" /></a><br /><br />Here are some of the things I am confused about...<br /><br />1. What's a bank?<br /><br />2. Is this good or bad for urbanism?<br /><br />3. Who actually cares about this?<br /><br />Having designed a few banks, I thought I understood what a bank is. You know, it's the place where people can go and get cash...<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qu2uJWSZkck" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />The cash is inside the large vaults...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbY5321mPbgomsnyyzYKcfyX5D0K9Rb3FLNAYGPFwpsPy3eZiVS70IwDZ6BZHVPO7zNEJKKnnEJvsuG2_gEaUZm0wyZl_SrvbajrBPdJ1SVFfg00oQubmRfOAALjYtz6NOXF0tY7urQNYr/s1600/4_image.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbY5321mPbgomsnyyzYKcfyX5D0K9Rb3FLNAYGPFwpsPy3eZiVS70IwDZ6BZHVPO7zNEJKKnnEJvsuG2_gEaUZm0wyZl_SrvbajrBPdJ1SVFfg00oQubmRfOAALjYtz6NOXF0tY7urQNYr/s320/4_image.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704235362985831730" /></a><br /><br /><br />And banks are physical anchors of small towns and large cities across the country...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaBp1FLdPr-Cop5GAT3QRbnyPqgeFqY6-8foghGgb-u_yRg6C0fEwRwqyT9v0kJm3IPY0lFGDBtguPpIlTk50WZkE94OByHvMahL4pW8Ak52W51-wNE4E_Ll-A-_QjBCLPK-0Gc9Ecz62/s1600/5_image.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 228px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaBp1FLdPr-Cop5GAT3QRbnyPqgeFqY6-8foghGgb-u_yRg6C0fEwRwqyT9v0kJm3IPY0lFGDBtguPpIlTk50WZkE94OByHvMahL4pW8Ak52W51-wNE4E_Ll-A-_QjBCLPK-0Gc9Ecz62/s320/5_image.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704235969916315874" /></a><br /><br />But, now you can deposit a check without leaving your living room...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_sG__Q7YfwzNUbmROYC_iU_tixy3hqaVGC1WnBJeiHXMlc6up8y6-2bcIxI2w-3m-HSJTiauBufPzQuxJ6Q8vtkBnWsSni0qm0qjt3qZLOkBYh_envlnzSIK1q0FTT8fQQKrO4ComGC7/s1600/6_image.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_sG__Q7YfwzNUbmROYC_iU_tixy3hqaVGC1WnBJeiHXMlc6up8y6-2bcIxI2w-3m-HSJTiauBufPzQuxJ6Q8vtkBnWsSni0qm0qjt3qZLOkBYh_envlnzSIK1q0FTT8fQQKrO4ComGC7/s320/6_image.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704236116386135394" /></a><br /><br />So, who is to care whether ING's introduction to San Francisco is a bank or a café? Well... Mayor Lee seems to care:<br /><br /> “I got excited that they are coming to San Francisco. I started reading about the cafes. Before I was even introduced to them they were already doing San Francisco things. Their concept is using technology – online baking – and offering a place where people can get face-to-face financial advice.”<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3Je3wtKAle2aXPYTyuXcJpXkqmlp4PhXZDOLSF50GmTyvR8yFoxvN4X3eFbOuc5JJAa1nzlrPfawJkSmZqo5ExSxY5xDDipZht6RCjMT6ADBA_VDdU1imVXhCXmLYYrxXmVlU6-v91Bx/s1600/7_image.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3Je3wtKAle2aXPYTyuXcJpXkqmlp4PhXZDOLSF50GmTyvR8yFoxvN4X3eFbOuc5JJAa1nzlrPfawJkSmZqo5ExSxY5xDDipZht6RCjMT6ADBA_VDdU1imVXhCXmLYYrxXmVlU6-v91Bx/s320/7_image.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704236233079499954" /></a><br /><br />Good or bad? Who should care?... Well, I suppose people who are concerned about what the social contract between banks and the communities they serve is, or should be, should care. And, in a place like San Francisco, that usually means the people who are not depositing checks via a cell phone. Some consumer advocates are pointing to requirements of the Community Reinvestment Act that require banks to lend money to low- and moderate-income individuals in areas where they have branches that accept deposits. Since, in one interpretation of the definition, ING only accepts deposits at its Delaware office (you can't actually make a deposit in the San Francisco "café" - someone will hand you an envelope to mail a physical check to Delaware!, and the ATM in the corner disperses cash but does not take deposits), this requirement does not apply to San Francisco and ING feels no obligation to comply with CRA. The numbers prove this out : According to data provided under the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, ING Direct originated 705 loans in the Bay Area in 2010, but provided only three to African-American borrowers and six to Hispanics. Huh? In a state where Hispanics and African-Americans make up almost 44% of the total population, this seems suspect at best.<br /><br />As Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Greenlining Institute, a Berkeley-based advocacy group, was recently quoted : "It’s great that they sell lattes to people doing Internet banking on their iPods, but they should not be able to avoid obligations to the communities they serve.”<br /><br />So, what does this have to do with architecture? <br /><br />Well, not much, and a lot. <br /><br />If the objective is to make banking less inhibiting to the consumer, architects can address that in our designs. Our office recently completed a design for One PacificCoast Bank, a community-based bank established to provide banking for underserved populations, primarily ethnic minorities and small businesses in Oakland and the East Bay (the exact population ING Direct doesn’t seem to be lending to). One of the primary design goals, set forth by the client, was to make the final space inviting and less intimidating for a potential customer base that generally feels uncomfortable walking into a bank. We think we did that - coming at it from a very different direction than ING Direct.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYzQG8V2fQoCsfr4ejCZhxn2iO73FUd4KwL_Tr7jE9VU6yWCB1qgWqlaatPGb6QCsuy5vqRlT2No_Ah-Wz57Y56DbPD4DE4oQxhTZfqfEKdNq52i0pow9S0Y-XZcGuh7oP6gtisehUNcia/s1600/8_image.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYzQG8V2fQoCsfr4ejCZhxn2iO73FUd4KwL_Tr7jE9VU6yWCB1qgWqlaatPGb6QCsuy5vqRlT2No_Ah-Wz57Y56DbPD4DE4oQxhTZfqfEKdNq52i0pow9S0Y-XZcGuh7oP6gtisehUNcia/s320/8_image.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704236398388011778" /></a><br /><br />And, is IND Direct's new bank good for the urban fabric? On the one hand, yes of course! It doesn't take a genius to notice service providers - from bookstores to shoe repair shops - disappearing from the fabric of city centers. And, given the ability for on-line banking, I suppose banks aren’t far behind in the exodus. But, conversely, are we robbing Peter to pay Paul by allowing a bank to sidestep its communal obligations, for the sake of a hip coffee shop? While I might have enjoyed the coffee, I am going to say that ING Direct's new "product" is bad for cities.<br /><br />As architects we may not be able to shape the business plans of our potential clients, but we can address elements of the built world that may, downstream, shape the way they do business. Banks can be friendly places for all and an oasis in the urban fabric; they just don't need to do this as a result of skirting banking laws. Everyone should care about this; architects, citizens, politicians - we all have something to gain from vibrant cities, and a lot to lose when the requirements needed to make our cities vibrant are sidestepped.<br /><br />And, besides, if banks disappear, where are we going to channel our inner-Willie Sutton?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-52584786736201011822011-06-17T12:33:00.000-07:002011-06-17T15:07:29.278-07:00Once Again, the Golden RuleFor the last few months, I have been slightly depressed about the news that <a href="http://twitter.com/">Twitter </a>would stay in San Francisco in a deal worked out with the SF Board of Supervisors. Depressed by the fact that Twitter's stay has nothing to do with those grand altruistic ideas that cities are good, that corporations are integral elements of cities, or that the workforce at Twitter would prefer to be part of a vibrant organism called San Francisco, and - oh by the way - reduce its carbon footprint by taking advantage of all the efficiencies a city has to offer, like public transportation and ease of biking to work.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpg5y2-kerHmja0YexDwCpSNxvGF_W6pHCexEX-2vd17avoA0ban5Tkv8NnKPiWphi5wWX4UQMmKzl8X7wBRi-vI1KPgLh1haKXF53lcShF2I9h666z4gOUtug9ZgsUBRdUN55Lpf8Or7W/s1600/twitter-logo.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpg5y2-kerHmja0YexDwCpSNxvGF_W6pHCexEX-2vd17avoA0ban5Tkv8NnKPiWphi5wWX4UQMmKzl8X7wBRi-vI1KPgLh1haKXF53lcShF2I9h666z4gOUtug9ZgsUBRdUN55Lpf8Or7W/s320/twitter-logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619275314081140162" border="0" /></a><br />No, Twitter decided to stay in San Francisco because it got a tax break on payroll taxes. End of story.<br /><br />Ouch.<br /><br />So much for urban design, architecture, and everything else those of us who are trying to make the world a better place to inhabit via design think are important. In fact, this may be a slam dunk case for eliminating things like the <a href="http://www.sf-planning.org/">San Francisco Planning Department</a> and replacing it with pure-and-simple Dollar Deduction Departments. And, by-the-way, does anyone else find it ironic that one of the companies in San Francisco that probably should be able to actually pay more in payroll tax is in fact getting the break that all the small enterprises that make cities livable could never receive? Has anyone tried to find a shoe repair shop recently?<br /><br />Ouch.<br /><br />Ouch, that is, until the recent news about <a href="http://thehighline.org/">New York's High Line</a> came out. According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/with-next-phase-ready-area-around-high-line-is-flourishing.html?_r=2&src=rechp">Mayor Bloomberg's office</a>, the High Line apparently generated $2,000,000,000 (yes, that is a 2 with a "B" behind it!) in private investment in and around the park. That's on a cost of $115,000,000 that the City of New York had to put up to make the project, and its surrounding elements, happen.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oH5rs2ktazQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="425"></iframe><br /><br />Simple calculation: that's a return much higher than what the country has gotten from Chrysler, what Cisco has earned from the Flip, or what the world has gained from the Iraq war.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgcnPbso-flhO4D-DVfJnfFmUPo0gAQCNU7piIDQ-drzkY29oJYU0ZBdyOHbmZeN4V-GmpwqbAZR3HUjPwxoDHC5764iF8j36yz5Amod2ii-n93hjohI_WxoxfE6ZU_67jniaO6Kb-uM7R/s1600/Picture+12.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgcnPbso-flhO4D-DVfJnfFmUPo0gAQCNU7piIDQ-drzkY29oJYU0ZBdyOHbmZeN4V-GmpwqbAZR3HUjPwxoDHC5764iF8j36yz5Amod2ii-n93hjohI_WxoxfE6ZU_67jniaO6Kb-uM7R/s320/Picture+12.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619277068662164882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And it all came about because a group of designers thought the High Line was worth saving, that it would make a better city, and that design counted! <a href="http://www.thehighline.org/about/friends-of-the-high-line">Friends of the High Line</a> believed that their idea was important when most developers thought it should be torn down for progress. After many long hours and a lot of work, the Lower West Side of New York is now a much better place for all - including the neighboring capitalist entities!<br /><br />So, design can count!<br /><br />San Francisco has figured this out in the past, and should be able to today. And, a company as filled with brain power as Twitter should also be able to understand this independently of payroll tax arm wrestling. Bean counting counts, but design can make a difference.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-66442648935957003582010-09-24T15:04:00.000-07:002010-09-24T15:52:51.140-07:00Architecture CountsThis past weekend you might have missed two news articles, one in the New York Times and the other in the San Francisco Chronicle, both of which touted the power and draw of architecture. Not a news flash for those of us in this profession, but certainly something that Joe Six-pack doesn't think about. The interesting aspect of the two articles was the fact that they came from completely different directions in the process of reinforcing the importance of design.<br /><br />The easy article, about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzog_%26_de_Meuron">Herzog de Meuron’s</a> <a href="http://deyoung.famsf.org/">de Young Museum</a> in San Francisco, was on the front page of Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/19/MNMV1FD76R.DTL">"Popular de Young Flourishes"</a>, by Julian Guthrie didn’t waste time in getting to the third paragraph and a reinforcing quote by Director John Buchanan:<br /><br />"The building is a big part of the success. Its exterior. Its Interior. The tower. It all works. So we started with the great gift of the building."<br /><br />and...<br /><br />"When the de Young opened, everyone knew it was going to be a great building and a success. But I don't think anyone knew it was going to be the gang-buster it turned out to be."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkfOS_B7lwYVbqN-Qzze5g3xxLev1K9of_98a8fetKfnRWDBIkboRQpKNVOiO-mcjRWt1UwmkVS30tXVVyXpdr-mK1HzhQ1AwG1g9wzmb08uThZbHE9p81eDaptzy_Z3tltZK8nBiSpeD/s1600/de-Young.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkfOS_B7lwYVbqN-Qzze5g3xxLev1K9of_98a8fetKfnRWDBIkboRQpKNVOiO-mcjRWt1UwmkVS30tXVVyXpdr-mK1HzhQ1AwG1g9wzmb08uThZbHE9p81eDaptzy_Z3tltZK8nBiSpeD/s320/de-Young.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520605135262135938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If anyone remembers the old de Young, and how dusty and sleepy it felt, this new-found success is staggering. Keep in mind that the aspect of the museum that changed is and was only the building - they didn't change the collection and they didn’t change the location. By changing the building only, the de Young has catapulted itself into the position of being the art museum with the fifth highest attendance in the United States.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheG-wZa7-stePdAn0-sFJgSmwxa3EI3KA46odAZ3cHfmJkiiHRbmQT9qoN8HSxtztHLIFh1nZQMyHj2xts30NyRWSwkZpbA79ZgMpJei9JhBmA_XFvJZclg2NIxy4cpLEc_F1ZJjZ-BiVp/s1600/Old-de-Young.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheG-wZa7-stePdAn0-sFJgSmwxa3EI3KA46odAZ3cHfmJkiiHRbmQT9qoN8HSxtztHLIFh1nZQMyHj2xts30NyRWSwkZpbA79ZgMpJei9JhBmA_XFvJZclg2NIxy4cpLEc_F1ZJjZ-BiVp/s320/Old-de-Young.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520605326708940530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The harder article to de-code was an opinion piece in Saturday's New York Times Business section by Joe Nocera, titled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/business/18nocera.html">"In Skyscraper at Ground Zero, Sentiment Trumped Numbers"</a>. You may recall the early iterations of something called the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York. The project, nine years on, is now reaching skyward and the re-named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center">1 World Trade Center</a> is now up to something like 20 stories.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMrNqgF1JAPnoR_BiHqpPhqLWWMoqYJJKVggBhErAtB3NBndypQXyekBN1s1292ubUfz5ah4esCKmDK_hJWySTnAyINJDmtl1UJjbhJ6gWA3w8rWLQU5m7RCg7RjicVvJts1yk-9mkw5G/s1600/Freedom_Tower.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 228px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMrNqgF1JAPnoR_BiHqpPhqLWWMoqYJJKVggBhErAtB3NBndypQXyekBN1s1292ubUfz5ah4esCKmDK_hJWySTnAyINJDmtl1UJjbhJ6gWA3w8rWLQU5m7RCg7RjicVvJts1yk-9mkw5G/s320/Freedom_Tower.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520605504365652194" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The interesting aspect of 1 World Trade Center is the economics of the project, and the underlying reasoning for it to be proceeding forward. The building currently has an assumed construction cost of $3.3 billion, which would make it the most expensive skyscraper ever built in the United States. More importantly, this price tag will make the rent structure required to pay for construction to be two times that of the equivalent office space in adjacent high rises, and one and a half times the rent of pricier and more attractive office space in mid-town Manhattan. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoVW7a_x4dM1N-PaMiwA03GpHEnxHOvgfVPwXMo6mvejdhLBwt6vqAzvKMgi1NN0f6htnZWtjlBnmEuEvRedt3_0xo53xo_tvga_Ii1AMNbVwYHyVb5H0pFwMVIjV4TeeCnrfZoJ52lWf/s1600/Under-Construction.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoVW7a_x4dM1N-PaMiwA03GpHEnxHOvgfVPwXMo6mvejdhLBwt6vqAzvKMgi1NN0f6htnZWtjlBnmEuEvRedt3_0xo53xo_tvga_Ii1AMNbVwYHyVb5H0pFwMVIjV4TeeCnrfZoJ52lWf/s320/Under-Construction.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520605610442303394" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So, why would someone (or, in this case something - the Port Authority of New York) spend that kind of money? It comes down to the idea that architecture can embody ideas and ideals of society. In the words of one observer of this project, "You can only understand this as a political statement. It makes no sense as a commercial real estate endeavor." Which really begins to help you understand why the height of the building - 1,776 feet - was not coincidental. <br /><br />Architecture counts. It counts in large amounts. It can count on a commercial level like it has for the de Young (even if they weren’t aware of this affect at the start of the project) and it can count on a sociological level like it has for Ground Zero. We need to reinforce this within our own offices, and we need to make sure that those outside the profession understand this.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-39785502776055770642010-07-01T14:54:00.001-07:002010-07-01T17:22:26.325-07:00Time<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6qgxzqd_Gm6BGTUH4ruPvXwZZLRm8lUHivE7QzWNyq9U64nCLlHeQDH73CLsAGzUFA0VpUzi-Z0yTufHk1EZbHwrANeJ19uWOrg4DZzQpKBQuOFqv1NZLcmM-lZcYnia_tulwHWCLxdnY/s1600/Picture-31.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 93px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6qgxzqd_Gm6BGTUH4ruPvXwZZLRm8lUHivE7QzWNyq9U64nCLlHeQDH73CLsAGzUFA0VpUzi-Z0yTufHk1EZbHwrANeJ19uWOrg4DZzQpKBQuOFqv1NZLcmM-lZcYnia_tulwHWCLxdnY/s320/Picture-31.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489092035021395378" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Hayek">Nicolas Hayek</a> died this week. Not a name that is going to be familiar to most (if, in fact, any) of you, I am sure, but one that should be. Not to cloud the story below, but before we get started it should be noted that Nicolas Hayek played a key role in the development of the <a href="http://www.smart.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/smart-content-Site/de_DE/-/EUR/Default-Start;sid=WZz8tqHgO5P9tu3Lr4EyurFM71-IlkUbAhul1bfivWenMaq7YDkppeD6Yy_fjtKEEzJgcols71-IlviDT54=">Smart Car</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYVgKOGzgNldmBd6jA6s9arHKo3km2TmkhgYz2z1tm87QXDv26NeKm3AfThnMXXaL0_m5CZyCdMOx4vldv0fJuSHmX892_KwfZJKCia9i9JoO6gxNUQoNypsMhXKH8_WP0Uq2gAoO2W8t/s1600/Picture-31a.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYVgKOGzgNldmBd6jA6s9arHKo3km2TmkhgYz2z1tm87QXDv26NeKm3AfThnMXXaL0_m5CZyCdMOx4vldv0fJuSHmX892_KwfZJKCia9i9JoO6gxNUQoNypsMhXKH8_WP0Uq2gAoO2W8t/s320/Picture-31a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489092762540316498" /></a><br /><br />OK, here's the stage to be set:<br /><br />Imagine a craft that is no longer appreciated by the general public. This craft takes too much time and energy to produce a product, at a rate that no one wants to pay for any more. This craft has been superceded by a digital alternative.<br /><br />Sound familiar to the design world?<br /><br />Here's what happens next:<br /><br />A person is hired to come up with a business plan to phase out an entire country's craft workforce. This person decides instead to "re-invent" the craft, as opposed to abolishing it. This re-invention goes on to kindle a renewed interest in the original craft. Everyone and everything lives happily ever after.<br /><br />This, unfortunately, does not sound familiar to the general design world.<br /><br />OK, so what's the story?<br /><br />Hayek was hired in the early 1980's to come up with a plan on how to liquidate and re-purpose the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_watch">Swiss watch industry</a>, by a group of Swiss banks who were worried about what little assets they had left in the industry. Swiss watches, which were generally labors of love, were being outmoded by Japanese digital watches at the time, produced by companies like <a href="http://www.seikowatches.com/">Seiko</a>.<br /><br />Hayek took a look at the whole picture and decided that there was a better solution, and proceeded to buy a majority share in the Swiss conglomerates that owned brands like <a href="http://www.omegawatches.com/">Omega</a>, <a href="http://www.longines.com/">Longines</a>, and <a href="http://www.tissot.ch/">Tissot</a>. He then used this firepower to introduce Swatch, which seemed at the time to be the non-Japanese inexpensive watch.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/17zb_H2ENfU&hl=en_US&fs=1?color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/17zb_H2ENfU&hl=en_US&fs=1?color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.swatch.com/us_en/home.html">Swatch</a> watch went on to be an item touched by many designers, collected by people, and sold in the hundreds of millions. <a href="http://www.haring.com/">Keith Haring</a> was just one of many names who produced designs for Swatch.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCauEq47fVxSwtejKn6B26h4uyMy_xbtSrGFiLGiMpctfTCICBqQfwOabNtW1RShFTXrKINW3ehGBS9uOZiBIZy2W28fRhI5CB7e60XXgGS2h_cAQseNU0myz0sJ1tDCUDJpIB5Sg34yq/s1600/Picture-32.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCauEq47fVxSwtejKn6B26h4uyMy_xbtSrGFiLGiMpctfTCICBqQfwOabNtW1RShFTXrKINW3ehGBS9uOZiBIZy2W28fRhI5CB7e60XXgGS2h_cAQseNU0myz0sJ1tDCUDJpIB5Sg34yq/s320/Picture-32.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489093099302623282" /></a><br /><br />The Jelly, with its see-through everything, was a Swatch that seemed to be everywhere at the time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NzqbpgA7Vr0Nk-SEp_lo9rpABkw7o5rr6E7vwH8cyZ2PnIguEnjq3oRcV_Uc3AvYPQNP7oZT3A1fc3A_6Of3QMWLzwsxZbQz9aoOhwLvVmJgf0BmmCyF2Wb_o_hunpDEA6akZgJ6ABf_/s1600/Picture-35.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NzqbpgA7Vr0Nk-SEp_lo9rpABkw7o5rr6E7vwH8cyZ2PnIguEnjq3oRcV_Uc3AvYPQNP7oZT3A1fc3A_6Of3QMWLzwsxZbQz9aoOhwLvVmJgf0BmmCyF2Wb_o_hunpDEA6akZgJ6ABf_/s320/Picture-35.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489093217485185906" /></a><br /><br />Long story short, the Swatch renewed interest in Swiss watch making, pumped billions of dollars into the very old-craft industry ($4.9 Billion in 2009!), and lifted the boats of all the brands above the tide line they were sinking into.<br /><br />Moral:<br /><br />What we do as designers (or craft artists, or whatever you call yourself) may not appear to be valued by the public. And, it may appear that the industry is undervalued and waning. But, somewhere out there is a solution for this state of affairs that just needs someone to look at it in a new light - and, not a light that has been predetermined in scope, intensity or direction by others!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWmWWYWBosgOTaGHgVuX3FCe6XiAUgT_9Od-vicpQqnrl-yMICI-j9JVrQ-DoITdhyphenhyphenF_rZRcb29FnFJNxPApn_g3vHgnNP4nZjNrvs1wkgAl-WFRrNVmFa1CHRt1TQrWUA0ibnGGOvkd1/s1600/Picture-36.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWmWWYWBosgOTaGHgVuX3FCe6XiAUgT_9Od-vicpQqnrl-yMICI-j9JVrQ-DoITdhyphenhyphenF_rZRcb29FnFJNxPApn_g3vHgnNP4nZjNrvs1wkgAl-WFRrNVmFa1CHRt1TQrWUA0ibnGGOvkd1/s320/Picture-36.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489093350947775122" /></a><br /><br />Pay attention to the past. It is the future.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-75064120253710764462010-05-07T17:50:00.000-07:002010-05-10T09:01:53.554-07:00CommunicationIndependent of what you think about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think we can all agree they don't seem to be going as planned. That may be because the planning isn't exactly clear - at least not visually - for those doing the work.<br /><br />In a Powerpoint-gone-mad presentation, the war was laid out in all it's glory for General Stanley McChrystal, the leader of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHIt8k7CEZMD0f6GVcQK67Q5_7Ddbz1K1tYEw464IPAROp8nbUr1ANjcWQvmnEyLQYMlUFJU3BKUgMT6MqK_748cHVraiUMrvIW8ebxul_K4dhu3ArMtBdDiZlaVC_Qo_NIabh_WCzMxu/s1600/Afghanistan-diagram.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHIt8k7CEZMD0f6GVcQK67Q5_7Ddbz1K1tYEw464IPAROp8nbUr1ANjcWQvmnEyLQYMlUFJU3BKUgMT6MqK_748cHVraiUMrvIW8ebxul_K4dhu3ArMtBdDiZlaVC_Qo_NIabh_WCzMxu/s320/Afghanistan-diagram.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468697120477618450" border="0" /></a><br /><br />His response: "When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war."<br /><br />Is the image a result of the war, or is the war a result of the image?... I'm not quite sure of that, but I am sure that somewhere along the line most American's seemed to have lost the ability to convey ideas simply, either visually or otherwise. Maybe with a little more background in this, the United States might have thought twice before sending close to 200,000 soldiers half way around the world. I know Napoleon would have thought twice had he seen <a href="http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/">Edward Tufte's</a> visual graph of his march to and from Russia:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-qsPIBdlZjxK3tqeOAf3Jzjh-0Ei1YYy65BZv00fOLNcatbkXAI7RhoxXknzRHuLW-1TKE74tu5RXfU9584HUCBtlf3vfpkXG85omwiQpd71ZGoL9cWiysEtsKcGblN5gUJo7tdGpOoI/s1600/Napoleon.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-qsPIBdlZjxK3tqeOAf3Jzjh-0Ei1YYy65BZv00fOLNcatbkXAI7RhoxXknzRHuLW-1TKE74tu5RXfU9584HUCBtlf3vfpkXG85omwiQpd71ZGoL9cWiysEtsKcGblN5gUJo7tdGpOoI/s320/Napoleon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468697269872784002" border="0" /></a><br />Or, maybe with better communication skills we wouldn't have had to trek across the globe to get someone to agree with us.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nokTjEdaUGg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nokTjEdaUGg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br />As anyone who spends any time in my office knows, I harp daily on the inability of architects to communicate with others. Which is a funny thing, given that we are - basically - in the communication business. You know... Put something down on paper to communicate to someone else, so they can take our thoughts (marks on a piece of paper) and make them into physical objects.<br /><br />But, the ability of architects to write simple complete sentences in English, seems to have been lost somewhere between the 3D model on the computer screen and the job-site visit.<br /><br />I would strongly suggest that everyone pick up a copy of <a href="http://www.overstock.com/Books-Movies-Music-Games/The-Elements-of-Style-by-William-Strunk-E.B.-White-Paperback/71898/product.html?cid=146609&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=2504317">Strunk and White’s Elements of Style</a> and start using it. <a href="http://www.mairakalman.com/elements.html">Maira Kalman’s</a> version is a little friendlier for the designer crowd.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpom8MlkIyyr7bMQOR0fsyngfpOswtaqxakgqoVnzbj8Qke84LYarxg3ieCJFFdmmbLIdjqtISay7aTnaFe7-bYXe_F9DAvFzXt2vBPoQnFFtUtj7wVEmdcTzVw_Q1z6BeE2-XMfLs_Zy/s1600/Elements-of-Style.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpom8MlkIyyr7bMQOR0fsyngfpOswtaqxakgqoVnzbj8Qke84LYarxg3ieCJFFdmmbLIdjqtISay7aTnaFe7-bYXe_F9DAvFzXt2vBPoQnFFtUtj7wVEmdcTzVw_Q1z6BeE2-XMfLs_Zy/s320/Elements-of-Style.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468697606914270178" border="0" /></a><br />Otherwise, we may all end up Paul Newmans.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1fuDDqU6n4o&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1fuDDqU6n4o&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object></span><br /><br />Or, even worse, we may end up trying to talk about foreign policy like Donald Rumsfeld.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GiPe1OiKQuk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GiPe1OiKQuk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />Huh?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-84834046312578718462010-04-23T09:00:00.000-07:002010-04-26T09:17:56.448-07:00Trampolines<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb2z3-QIZnE"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh34K_6WfDBu8YqxPrDvK9PBk1v0L8KWnHjtHysUuUgegKpere3DnN-vFjweFL2OyInQJx-5ruvinojCiLfJwwZJRssA3IrssfBN6MGY5LIUYAa51dvOkHE8I_Z60alvi5g1AiebrHlBhDv/s320/tramp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463142563759192242" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The fascination with obituaries continues… I’m sure this one bounced right over most of your heads, but <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/us/13nissen.html">George Nissen</a>, the father of the trampoline, passed away a few weeks ago near San Diego at the age of 96.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_d9mCu8r-c0_W_CtoB0LDucpH72MdMfo7l1QE71oYxccUUy0XQlrMc9HpfC5GFtahuga0G6Z8ej3MTAqeOEFx53gCNLYcnamXJ1creTNy7OQnjHtfR6CZ55HaN-as1F__gP596Kbin7n/s1600/pyramid_jumping.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_d9mCu8r-c0_W_CtoB0LDucpH72MdMfo7l1QE71oYxccUUy0XQlrMc9HpfC5GFtahuga0G6Z8ej3MTAqeOEFx53gCNLYcnamXJ1creTNy7OQnjHtfR6CZ55HaN-as1F__gP596Kbin7n/s320/pyramid_jumping.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463143821823741042" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In the 1930’s, George, along with his gymnastics coach, invented what they called, at the time, the bouncing rig. After a 1937 tour to Mexico, and after hearing the Spanish word for diving board : el trampolin, an “e” was added to the word to turn it to Spanglish (as well as a trademark – hello, Kleenex!), the trampoline was born.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBFAhHrVF1G6PKpcwlmSHLXNpt4oEOebuNsRrodWPEMSQw-u-XTilm1u6oK278H6qaqxggFtcrveSvwrfJ4zzFsgGyyIWRjSopY5XEuEVzUEIvOMmkJkeUbGbdQ4i20CZDFaVM_h3kCCo/s1600/kangaroo_man_jump.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBFAhHrVF1G6PKpcwlmSHLXNpt4oEOebuNsRrodWPEMSQw-u-XTilm1u6oK278H6qaqxggFtcrveSvwrfJ4zzFsgGyyIWRjSopY5XEuEVzUEIvOMmkJkeUbGbdQ4i20CZDFaVM_h3kCCo/s320/kangaroo_man_jump.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463143933198375586" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Visions of Bauhaus inspired Gymnasium Halls in both East and West Germany come to mind… In fact, the 1972 Munich Olympics come to mind, where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frei_Otto">Frei Otto’s</a> entire construct seemed to be inspired by trampolines.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUanYcdddrvbiIVypdnKSJmqxewXZnLNx48uG_1TOEwY63qDzaWSq5D_2UoSVQR-0ItiBbuN95hdPtogRPqVZF_VgS-0bGZsed3L_rS1izNpRSGA0NtNEZNcTWsd6fASsawGcj9_NSkTgS/s1600/stadium.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUanYcdddrvbiIVypdnKSJmqxewXZnLNx48uG_1TOEwY63qDzaWSq5D_2UoSVQR-0ItiBbuN95hdPtogRPqVZF_VgS-0bGZsed3L_rS1izNpRSGA0NtNEZNcTWsd6fASsawGcj9_NSkTgS/s320/stadium.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463144066314351906" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Which all leads directly to architecture… Sort of… That is, if you are in our office working on <a href="http://www.houseofairsf.com/">House of Air</a>, a new trampoline facility to be installed into an existing hanger in San Francisco’s <a href="http://www.presidio.gov/">Presidio</a>, along the waterfront at Crissy Field.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjClCegO7T2Y1_7MBcwGnjOWQmBnT-qCEaUvCJWbH9BaOf7k56-RPzYxJy5GZzfd6b1MBabx2837khsrpoS7N3zrW1UNXjp4DrraNKZf7YF05dUEziP2_5t-EAZhQYGHxTe8MhXOd3Ji8Nw/s1600/Hanger.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjClCegO7T2Y1_7MBcwGnjOWQmBnT-qCEaUvCJWbH9BaOf7k56-RPzYxJy5GZzfd6b1MBabx2837khsrpoS7N3zrW1UNXjp4DrraNKZf7YF05dUEziP2_5t-EAZhQYGHxTe8MhXOd3Ji8Nw/s320/Hanger.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463144180770396834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />House of Air is currently under construction, and will hopefully open for business in August, this summer. The clients have taken a large step forward in thinking that what might, in another city, be merely an amusement park, requires, in San Francisco, a certain amount of architecture to attract a slightly more sophisticated clientele. We are looking forward to the entire enterprise coming together in late summer!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QpZEGT9hUX3tvNhD32tiJdo-iqpbORfvRydb_M-9uIGGCq3RwuB9VyCC4B34V5B0ZXial00usM73zXxQOFPiMll5MF5Z-zVsNX1p5nt7gqezZ0uLRS9dNl8tQap_6B2lLqYUQHB9iKtx/s1600/HOA.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QpZEGT9hUX3tvNhD32tiJdo-iqpbORfvRydb_M-9uIGGCq3RwuB9VyCC4B34V5B0ZXial00usM73zXxQOFPiMll5MF5Z-zVsNX1p5nt7gqezZ0uLRS9dNl8tQap_6B2lLqYUQHB9iKtx/s320/HOA.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463144306108647298" border="0" /></a><br />How much you think the House of Air plays into the world of architecture is up to you. Trampolines, though, have integrated themselves into the world of architecture and design, most notably as part of <a href="http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/9054/jds-architects-experiencing-the-void.html">JDS architect’s recent scheme</a> for an intervention into the central void of FLL Wright’s <a href="http://www.guggenheim.org/">Guggenheim Museum</a> in New York.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkJ0BXRG9Dw9m_gmkIrVCytd8CmBP6uXK4OnjJp40cal8-IDE2fC3GJX3DDbdFk7KCQYa3hJBj6K-81AxMmfqHvqOeF_DyXnr8ygVCR9YT1XoxaDaBcJoGF9Bv_7tjwwvYayeLMhgLB9t/s1600/guggenheim.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkJ0BXRG9Dw9m_gmkIrVCytd8CmBP6uXK4OnjJp40cal8-IDE2fC3GJX3DDbdFk7KCQYa3hJBj6K-81AxMmfqHvqOeF_DyXnr8ygVCR9YT1XoxaDaBcJoGF9Bv_7tjwwvYayeLMhgLB9t/s320/guggenheim.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463144581003247890" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And, for those of you looking for the trampoline equivalent of ABBA (or, maybe the Wiggles), Hold Music’s trampoline video may do the trick.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/khxFF8rcG-A&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/khxFF8rcG-A&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Happy Bouncing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-76644563827564783602010-03-12T09:04:00.000-08:002010-03-12T09:57:15.937-08:00The ObituariesAt the end of every year, while most people are comparing their personal best-of-year lists with their favorite movie / music / literary (you fill in the blank...) critic, I look forward to the New York Times Magazine's annual obituary issue, recounting the rich lives of many of the people who passed away in the prior twelve months. Short of that issue, though, I camp out a lot on the obit page of the Times' daily edition. See an earlier blog entry on <a href="http://mh-a.blogspot.com/2010/01/bob-noorda.html">Bob Noorda</a>.<br /><br />Last Saturday was no exception, and there it was - <a href="http://www.ruthkligman.com/">Ruth Kligman's</a> life history, distilled into a dozen short paragraphs. You may not remember Ruth Kligman, unless you saw <a href="http://www.zuguide.com/index.php#Pollock">'Pollock'</a>, the 2000 movie about the artist's world. Ruth was the sole survivor of the car crash that took Jackson Pollock's life after a hard day of drinking. Or, maybe you might know her as the subject of <a href="http://www.willem-de-kooning.com/">Willem de Kooning's</a> painting named after her, "Ruth's Zowie". De Kooning and Pollock were two of many artists Ruth "bumped" up against, including <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/arts/design/08penn.html">Irving Penn</a>, <a href="http://www.mapplethorpe.org/">Robert Mapplethorpe</a>, <a href="http://www.warhol.org/">Andy Warhol</a>, Jasper Johns, and <a href="http://www.franzkline.org/">Franz Kline</a>. But, what Ruth Kligman might be best remembered for is her life's motto as well as something Franz Kline told her. Her motto : "Art is my life." And the life reflection Mr. Kline imparted on her about being an artist and what people outside the art world think of you : "They think it's easy. They don't know it's like jumping off a 12 - story building every day."<br /><br />Jackson Polllock:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHdTAWWdf2WAGOzWRoz4lc9SzUDP56LTgsizPkYu4XZwncIhh8B6CNgZBe4x2h3fRcMpkn30NauBAXo0M8_-E-BGFnEdBOkVEqTPDDggY2Po8c68g7gAFhmb-llSqKoTjm-h3W8r-aXCU/s1600-h/Picture-33.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHdTAWWdf2WAGOzWRoz4lc9SzUDP56LTgsizPkYu4XZwncIhh8B6CNgZBe4x2h3fRcMpkn30NauBAXo0M8_-E-BGFnEdBOkVEqTPDDggY2Po8c68g7gAFhmb-llSqKoTjm-h3W8r-aXCU/s320/Picture-33.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797085715937602" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Jasper Johns<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTSlafxsspqo6pCJ0vAiYiBWmzkI7f-l9p0JkVRxYXZsmOzx0Vs4xkOew3H8JybcBtYrGTYQEbW-CDqSMlPiezUrWmhHGFZ8TUeShMZUeVngKcSSDaLMc89pPCo-szkDlQDQDpKwrMqP0/s1600-h/Picture-61.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTSlafxsspqo6pCJ0vAiYiBWmzkI7f-l9p0JkVRxYXZsmOzx0Vs4xkOew3H8JybcBtYrGTYQEbW-CDqSMlPiezUrWmhHGFZ8TUeShMZUeVngKcSSDaLMc89pPCo-szkDlQDQDpKwrMqP0/s320/Picture-61.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797188254852626" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Ruth's Zowie:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WOxMrgJXd1zwx3kJ2dpTE8NSTStrJnURWVPKix6n2avuzT1l4AEXQ6XIHi8Un7yXJa3SnB1riN3-Vz1BmMWxLzGXlm8PuK62scSnEKQqY8lqQ5-AUUlM6Vf2xx7Q5c5lEPZj-ZUJtaeA/s1600-h/Picture-6.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WOxMrgJXd1zwx3kJ2dpTE8NSTStrJnURWVPKix6n2avuzT1l4AEXQ6XIHi8Un7yXJa3SnB1riN3-Vz1BmMWxLzGXlm8PuK62scSnEKQqY8lqQ5-AUUlM6Vf2xx7Q5c5lEPZj-ZUJtaeA/s320/Picture-6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797303087036802" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On the same day as Ruth Kligman's obituary, it was a short jump across the page to <a href="http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/2010/100309raimund_jo%20hann_abraham.asp">Raimund Abraham's</a>. An architect's architect who definitely did not make it look easy. His built work can pretty much be counted out on one hand. His influence, though, is hard to grasp with two outstretched arms. Teaching at <a href="http://www.risd.edu/">RISD</a>,<a href="http://www.cooper.edu/"> Cooper</a>, <a href="http://www.pratt.edu/">Pratt</a> and <a href="http://www.sciarc.edu/">SciArc</a>, Abraham touched a generation of architects in a mini-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hejduk">Hejdukian</a> manner.<br /><br />Abraham spent more time drawing and imagining the world of architecture than he did building it. To Abraham, in <a href="http://lebbeuswoods.wordpress/">Lebbeus Woods'</a> words, architecture "existed as an act, a concept, a discipline." His drawings were captivating and enigmatic, rich in imagery that connoted other worlds and meaning.<br /><br />Abraham drawing:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MAmnpUwoXLDiwrWQktaXPDKMYGBmEPg-2S08QIGAC2OvU3yBuwoWAVHiVGvhftNNzoYahz10R5Wa8j850P3MHPgjeb3lOakIuvgP8ih7fk0r94Of-VlFa9fM0KG5SB4mXH08W9Hz4C_J/s1600-h/Picture-62.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MAmnpUwoXLDiwrWQktaXPDKMYGBmEPg-2S08QIGAC2OvU3yBuwoWAVHiVGvhftNNzoYahz10R5Wa8j850P3MHPgjeb3lOakIuvgP8ih7fk0r94Of-VlFa9fM0KG5SB4mXH08W9Hz4C_J/s320/Picture-62.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797420851278050" border="0" /></a><br /><br />His architecture did as much as well. Abraham's Austrian Cultural Forum in Manhattan was, in his own words, "a cross between 'Blade Runner' and an Easter Island sculpture".<br /><br />Austrian Cultural Center<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgE9ubx2gzoZa3L2jGy-9_Uq4zSK7fXUH3_02X8vvz2_9m0GG285SlKYMSBlbjz9Osb8Vr4kVl2QmIKGX6vRwZmXZZutYiPFc6_iBnx9lZcVzRbdmj2pKaenB-4lBu8W0L4cnwxCFrVi0/s1600-h/Picture-13.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgE9ubx2gzoZa3L2jGy-9_Uq4zSK7fXUH3_02X8vvz2_9m0GG285SlKYMSBlbjz9Osb8Vr4kVl2QmIKGX6vRwZmXZZutYiPFc6_iBnx9lZcVzRbdmj2pKaenB-4lBu8W0L4cnwxCFrVi0/s320/Picture-13.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797580663813186" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVz5wa6MtfYFwAT0axBVPNNFdNY7Y1wpHi0ZbApWEizL05iNgc1IyGyO0Hzkca5kVA_Ow-F2NuIvQa3mZ8lrqcO7kLMSTTmiaAg2SEFfkR7GFr1JtyvAi8W4mx3he-RTOTgST5E3r1nOWv/s1600-h/Picture-31.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVz5wa6MtfYFwAT0axBVPNNFdNY7Y1wpHi0ZbApWEizL05iNgc1IyGyO0Hzkca5kVA_Ow-F2NuIvQa3mZ8lrqcO7kLMSTTmiaAg2SEFfkR7GFr1JtyvAi8W4mx3he-RTOTgST5E3r1nOWv/s320/Picture-31.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797684721751058" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsGVg1v4r_ldQNdduTr6AD5_wPuJbE7GpoKu_HEpX-u3VmGTfoyCWQVaqToK_BVDryAaWZ-J8i8LwkJngeEnbVmIViukRKM3KCzIs6tRAKN5Y8VeerTAxLpCHXm6NM5K0w1kwpMnSdFkT/s1600-h/Picture-32.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsGVg1v4r_ldQNdduTr6AD5_wPuJbE7GpoKu_HEpX-u3VmGTfoyCWQVaqToK_BVDryAaWZ-J8i8LwkJngeEnbVmIViukRKM3KCzIs6tRAKN5Y8VeerTAxLpCHXm6NM5K0w1kwpMnSdFkT/s320/Picture-32.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797790443596162" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9ggxn7JAMsVHGryEN45P4efVU-jesoFCTlCI48WhR_71Rx92XyMK7g88vtkp7B5K9qMwt0WOOlPHn12Wu4SBhVHHrsJLHMGJXROQwPh9CfWkqimfF06-u8Qo-e6PGhuSXvRP8YO6SBap/s1600-h/Picture-66.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9ggxn7JAMsVHGryEN45P4efVU-jesoFCTlCI48WhR_71Rx92XyMK7g88vtkp7B5K9qMwt0WOOlPHn12Wu4SBhVHHrsJLHMGJXROQwPh9CfWkqimfF06-u8Qo-e6PGhuSXvRP8YO6SBap/s320/Picture-66.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447797875053259122" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Abraham was killed in a car crash in Los Angeles after giving a <a href="http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=1678">lecture at SciArc</a>. The final sentence he shared with the eager students in the audience:<br /><br />“You don’t have to become a slave in a corporate office or a groupie of a celebrity architect. All you need is a piece of paper, a pencil, and the desire to make architecture.”<br /><br />Make!<br /><br />markUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-22444978074869619812010-03-08T09:26:00.000-08:002010-03-08T09:57:25.723-08:00Abivalent EmbassiesThe summer of 1969.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong"> Neil Armstrong</a> had just taken one small step for mankind and it seemed incredibly hard not just to be proud of, but to actually not brag about, being an American. Meanwhile, on the far side of the world (at least that's what if seemed like at the time), the Viet Nam war was dragging the country deeper into a quagmire that seemed inextricable, and the rest of the world was beginning to see the country in a little less of a shining light.<br /><br />In late August of that summer, I found myself with my mother in Athens, Greece needing a visa to travel north through Yugoslavia and several other Eastern Block countries to return to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org%20wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States_in_Berlin">West Germany</a>. To do this, we needed to check in at the <a href="http://athens.usembassy.gov/history.html">American Embassy</a>. Visualize a larger, imposing building with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps">Marines in Dress Blue uniforms</a> in front - it felt like we were calling on someone, or something, very important. And, we were - the United States of America seemed like it was at the apex of its <a href="http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=weltanschauung">weltanschauung</a> as perceived by the rest of the world.<br /><br />Flash forward to today. The perception of the United States by the rest of the world... - visualize something in your mind. Now, take that personal visualization and construct the idea of a new Embassy. Say... In London.<br /><br />Poof! Does it look like one of the following? Does what you think the Obama Administration might want to project to the rest of the world look like one of these?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigV3OTEgmjW-YdgY-aPh-dlvEtaHeDWnoHzhocVg-377zkLmjRi5uMrY_s-tSey0pL-RQYQiBIOAzXEHprVEjbZVjrAtrkOVVqI6p5fjDrXYadZVM9aqAbxsizl97y1_yBhnfNjroRZFvM/s1600-h/Picture-22.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigV3OTEgmjW-YdgY-aPh-dlvEtaHeDWnoHzhocVg-377zkLmjRi5uMrY_s-tSey0pL-RQYQiBIOAzXEHprVEjbZVjrAtrkOVVqI6p5fjDrXYadZVM9aqAbxsizl97y1_yBhnfNjroRZFvM/s320/Picture-22.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446318292218161874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAglUtQgG_zRNqj4k8h9TBXnSFGwNDbHFRvC-AANCanxPDZAJMDstvxDtPb_ZpxucHOkCDLmK4eyqMl6aj4etKZRXdvRkVcDlDJiYvy4rMyFDtN71f0vux5heIeW-OmMuvIxYl_82tsg7N/s1600-h/Picture-24.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAglUtQgG_zRNqj4k8h9TBXnSFGwNDbHFRvC-AANCanxPDZAJMDstvxDtPb_ZpxucHOkCDLmK4eyqMl6aj4etKZRXdvRkVcDlDJiYvy4rMyFDtN71f0vux5heIeW-OmMuvIxYl_82tsg7N/s320/Picture-24.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446318377480150338" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5h9xidC1TI_tFYqkwTjZzWAjVHVqAohSA6v4_iO5zdcxUffztWcHTmy7locXs76PCeUlI1UpuBmS503MUsyprpl2UnDDFbTNDPgf9sYgMlVdhq4Z23T3mr-DtP5maZPUpL5bCGbpev2aM/s1600-h/Picture-25.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5h9xidC1TI_tFYqkwTjZzWAjVHVqAohSA6v4_iO5zdcxUffztWcHTmy7locXs76PCeUlI1UpuBmS503MUsyprpl2UnDDFbTNDPgf9sYgMlVdhq4Z23T3mr-DtP5maZPUpL5bCGbpev2aM/s320/Picture-25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446318468664989650" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWM8EjQRL0FSuVJfOydlQEFnF6YznFZkzQ0WbjsBcpCETn1e9Pwd4AJ3_BcqxcRyiVlkcp0IZOL2m4-vsKvEI4RZwOiuMgM04hdUZQx2W5GdtwGbAlnF-Cz1bhyphenhyphenIQq_NvFM1l7vugD7RGO/s1600-h/Picture-28.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWM8EjQRL0FSuVJfOydlQEFnF6YznFZkzQ0WbjsBcpCETn1e9Pwd4AJ3_BcqxcRyiVlkcp0IZOL2m4-vsKvEI4RZwOiuMgM04hdUZQx2W5GdtwGbAlnF-Cz1bhyphenhyphenIQq_NvFM1l7vugD7RGO/s320/Picture-28.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446318564206806466" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://kierantimberlake.com/home/index.html">KieranTimberlake's</a> design, the first photograph, won. The next three, were designed by <a href="http://www.richardmeier.com/www/">Richard Meier Architects</a>, <a href="http://www.morphosis.com/">Morphosis</a>, and <a href="http://www.pcf-p.com/">Pei Cobb Freed</a>, in that order.<br /><br />Here's what a few critics have said about the winning design:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jonathan Glancey of The Guardian:</span><br />Cool, remote and superficially transparent, the winning design does reflect what we can divine of the US political process. Nominally open to all and yet, in practice, tightly controlled, the system of US government and its prevailing culture, aped bad-temperedly in Britain, does indeed inform the brief to KieranTimberlake and their response to it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">James S. Russell, US Architecture correspondent at Bloomberg:</span><br />Of course, it's difficult to create a compelling statement when America's place in the world is hotly contested at home and its international intentions are debated everywhere. America can't even create a coherent climate-change policy. This ambivalent embassy perfectly sums up the extraordinarily difficult Obama moment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKENJj-hKDrU8vtIGhIGYjGa3WUYfbaMjSIaDGsgj6bTHT3E-B9Zj0t7jx3_ayQOJeyeVYXxUf31feV-NFQ_1l9-qmztlD4ubpX0fBxbit6Hwd2-YJALXPOF3LcBPB4TNIWwhWz3d-Jrb/s1600-h/Picture-29.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKENJj-hKDrU8vtIGhIGYjGa3WUYfbaMjSIaDGsgj6bTHT3E-B9Zj0t7jx3_ayQOJeyeVYXxUf31feV-NFQ_1l9-qmztlD4ubpX0fBxbit6Hwd2-YJALXPOF3LcBPB4TNIWwhWz3d-Jrb/s320/Picture-29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446318115144523890" border="0" /></a><br /><br />From my vantage point, this building appears somewhere at the convergence of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Durell_Stone"> Edward Durrell Stone</a>, corporate America, and the <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19">USGBC LEED</a> requirements. Is that what we have come to?<br /><br />markUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-74462186678763396342010-03-01T14:05:00.000-08:002010-03-01T17:05:56.760-08:00Responsible ArchitectureMost of you probably missed Andy Smith and David Fox's presentation at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. I for one feel perfectly fine ensconced in sunny California, as opposed to dreary Boston this winter, but I would have liked to have heard what they had to say. The announcement for their talk struck a cord with me, as I am sure it would with most architects:<br /><br />“<a href="http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/calendar/details.cgi?event=1026175&popup=y">Architects as Stooges for the Business of Greed</a>” emerges from the notion that the practice of architecture has become so marginalized in contemporary culture that the gatekeepers of the built environment, the new “architects”, are the wealthy and their bankers: architects have simply become those who do their bidding. Quoting Sambo Mockbee: “We have become lapdogs of the rich.” It doesn't take a rocket scientist to make the leap to conjuring up images of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMansion">McMansions</a>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBoQ5xPayV48w4VPiHDkm45gOD32bVOyrTYBp0EheBZzGMDzWBj9KOGEmJSTqNQy9mYyYtG80yaB5Ekc2MAnoFwghOcBW0thsjmwt5pFeOUb4ydyWts7l6zc1XSs-jqOP5M7q2yTsGJ_Jz/s1600-h/Salinas_mcMansion.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBoQ5xPayV48w4VPiHDkm45gOD32bVOyrTYBp0EheBZzGMDzWBj9KOGEmJSTqNQy9mYyYtG80yaB5Ekc2MAnoFwghOcBW0thsjmwt5pFeOUb4ydyWts7l6zc1XSs-jqOP5M7q2yTsGJ_Jz/s320/Salinas_mcMansion.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443836415889879682" /></a><br />What we should really be thinking about, though, are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Study_Houses">Case Study houses</a>, and what they did for the average American.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2fE75GWa-icqfuoRq0SUjPGChqJCrLjcBJrD6_S4-SYsGbTtKvxUb0c0YKor-ut1HItMDskCLSh5dMUXhyphenhyphenbo8BV2K-q3C3aMOkUOOOlsF9tQIj3nuuznXQpm5a9a-EOVUWylmok5etGx/s1600-h/Picture-28.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2fE75GWa-icqfuoRq0SUjPGChqJCrLjcBJrD6_S4-SYsGbTtKvxUb0c0YKor-ut1HItMDskCLSh5dMUXhyphenhyphenbo8BV2K-q3C3aMOkUOOOlsF9tQIj3nuuznXQpm5a9a-EOVUWylmok5etGx/s320/Picture-28.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443794787280876050" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Or, maybe to jump even further, we should be re-conjuring up the ideals of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_modernism"> High Modernism</a>, where there was a belief running through the veins of architects that what they were doing could change the lives of people - think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbusier">Corbu's</a> Salvation Army.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFEOsfTDY_TV7_rBgPgGzPijJd0y6J7YZ1dgp2A_kkuRbAg7wbSRc4XK2jOhrIom4w8fxJy95GHSeaBYBMrzb6vjSV1YvBpuj4pguPvlDm6-ADXIPdmNFrbGD6RTaU60nkVmRsBTO6ykW/s1600-h/Picture-29.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFEOsfTDY_TV7_rBgPgGzPijJd0y6J7YZ1dgp2A_kkuRbAg7wbSRc4XK2jOhrIom4w8fxJy95GHSeaBYBMrzb6vjSV1YvBpuj4pguPvlDm6-ADXIPdmNFrbGD6RTaU60nkVmRsBTO6ykW/s320/Picture-29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443794677845824402" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Smith and Fox's lecture was sponsored, in part, by <a href="http://gsdsoca.blogspot.com/">SOCA</a>, the <a href="http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/">GSD</a> student-run organization for social change and activism. David Fox's work is associated with a University of Tennessee program titled<a href="http://www.arch.utk.edu/Research_Outreach/upside.html"> UPSIDE : Urban Program in Sustainable Design Education</a>, which is a direct outgrowth of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Mockbee">Sam Mockbee's</a> program <a href="http://www.cadc.auburn.edu/soa/rural-studio/Default.aspx">Rural Studio at Auburn University</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwQkme3rzbHZMAi0uiIiTeEx0FHHlV2OEVol5ng4oIBjnOYzTO1KKR4R8a19wczWZOvxjGSfYJEF155jxaYp_8wGcqlnC_Z09fF0JUJ1zHAhczM8PzQDyjqWKrBKU-3_Rp0muu9e5-XQC/s1600-h/rural_studio.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwQkme3rzbHZMAi0uiIiTeEx0FHHlV2OEVol5ng4oIBjnOYzTO1KKR4R8a19wczWZOvxjGSfYJEF155jxaYp_8wGcqlnC_Z09fF0JUJ1zHAhczM8PzQDyjqWKrBKU-3_Rp0muu9e5-XQC/s320/rural_studio.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443800533526335042" border="0" /></a><br /><br />While many architects are engaged in transforming dreams of wealthy clients into three dimensions, many others, actually, are actively engaged in trying to make the greater world a better place. <a href="http://work.ac/">Work Architecture Company</a>, a firm in New York, is working with <a href="http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/">Edible Schoolyards</a>, an organization founded by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters</a> of <a href="http://www.chezpanisse.com/intro.php">Chez Panisse</a> fame, to bring her program to an inner-city school, PS 216.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphehUbw1hxa4VAMZ2zUtZuH0iHPtSTy1Ow7TOILQQ_fP0Yp91nI1zz-ylEYnQ0xZJu40gK78WsHkCh__-11ZiZfLsHInu7GO1tQBs-285nqzz7X8HO8yQlMok7O3sxok2MKE8a-I13IKf/s1600-h/Picture-6.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphehUbw1hxa4VAMZ2zUtZuH0iHPtSTy1Ow7TOILQQ_fP0Yp91nI1zz-ylEYnQ0xZJu40gK78WsHkCh__-11ZiZfLsHInu7GO1tQBs-285nqzz7X8HO8yQlMok7O3sxok2MKE8a-I13IKf/s320/Picture-6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443794573620947890" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Many of you may, or may not, know that Edible Schoolyards got its start here in the Bay Area, at <a href="http://www.mlkmiddleschool.org/school-resources/edible-schoolyard">Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School</a> and has traveled as far away as <a href="http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/features/2008/02/12/sustainable-food-confr%20onts-elitist-past/">Yale</a>. It's a great idea, despite its <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/school-yard-garden">detractors</a>. Even in a dreary winter - New York, Boston, or otherwise.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22SdOSrNuBzKUdTznDODxYjQcYxpMhPznPqk_iiOaKSldKwt3nsVzAnLg60xsiZ-t25pcWqWvoyz2TeHLxlaLoABxJ9S77tTiMraspii3QVuz8F1x8sgNry26RPO3Nhr0RdpBoIkZFdTF/s1600-h/Picture-24.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22SdOSrNuBzKUdTznDODxYjQcYxpMhPznPqk_iiOaKSldKwt3nsVzAnLg60xsiZ-t25pcWqWvoyz2TeHLxlaLoABxJ9S77tTiMraspii3QVuz8F1x8sgNry26RPO3Nhr0RdpBoIkZFdTF/s320/Picture-24.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443793640016694322" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Architects can make a difference. Andy Smith and David Fox can rest easy.<br /><br />markUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-76528775241580527882010-02-11T17:11:00.000-08:002010-02-12T09:24:29.124-08:00Design RevolutionWhen we put a book together to show the work from our office, <a href="http://www.stoutbooks.com/cgi-bin/stoutbooks.cgi/74851.html">Machinations of a Small Office</a>, I included the following:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Designers say they are professional problem-solvers; here are some problems:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">1. In 1991, 6,019 people were wounded or killed by gunfire in New York; 530 were children.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">2. The number of U.S. welfare recipients increased more in 1990 and 1991 than in the previous 16 years combined.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">3. One of every 53 New Yorkers is infected with HIV.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">4. Each day, some 137 species become extinct mostly because of rain forest destruction.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">5. Coffee filters are often a hassle to pull apart.</span><br /><br />Which one of these looks like a design-size problem? Well, here's the solution : the One-at-a-Time Coffee Filter Dispenser from Black & Decker.<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRyACCOvP4CpI880lG4dZKxB5538qup0J__vRV-jGDxaxzOEBHnGrjxz9q4y4EFnEVnVhj1tO429ep-atqMzmI9g1G7BjiqPsgGSNKg4h1j99P1-ybzIVLaHQjQnSu4HpeBo62bdNN_f_r/s1600-h/filter.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRyACCOvP4CpI880lG4dZKxB5538qup0J__vRV-jGDxaxzOEBHnGrjxz9q4y4EFnEVnVhj1tO429ep-atqMzmI9g1G7BjiqPsgGSNKg4h1j99P1-ybzIVLaHQjQnSu4HpeBo62bdNN_f_r/s320/filter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437166656872739890" border="0" /></a></p>This was a quote from Karrie Jacobs and <a href="http://www.salon.com/people/obit/1999/05/19/kalman/">Tibor Kalman</a> in their essay "The End", in the book The Edge of the Millennium. You may remember <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/4543">Tibor Kalman</a> for his product firm, M & Co, for his work for Esprit’s Colors Magazine, or for his “There ain’t no black in the Union Jack” image for Colors.<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvo-UaMdxW-_N0qFo7HL48oll19hC4SnF2uS2CG2UR9JyAZoOmIUGwoniaG_ELcilppG8yLZvaL44pJquw8I1nm3w7xj6c7Q65y77JUj2tflIIv8SPrF7P_stoBH0NsC7CSg2t6TAfXCT/s1600-h/Picture_28.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvo-UaMdxW-_N0qFo7HL48oll19hC4SnF2uS2CG2UR9JyAZoOmIUGwoniaG_ELcilppG8yLZvaL44pJquw8I1nm3w7xj6c7Q65y77JUj2tflIIv8SPrF7P_stoBH0NsC7CSg2t6TAfXCT/s320/Picture_28.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437163824640879906" border="0" /></a><br /></p>I was reminded of the quote above when my son turned on <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/262000/january-18-2010/emily-pilloton">The Colbert Report</a> recently and Emily Pilloton was fending off snide comments from the host about saving the world through design. She did a great job, obviously having had a lot of practice in getting her road show, The <a href="http://designrevolutionroadshow.com/">Design Revolution Road Show</a>, literally on the road.<br /><p> <table style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="353" width="360"><tbody><tr style="background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" valign="middle"><td style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.colbertnation.com/">The Colbert Report</a></td><td style="padding: 2px 5px 0px; text-align: right; font-weight: bold;">Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c</td></tr><tr style="height: 14px;" valign="middle"><td style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;" colspan="2"><a target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/262000/january-18-2010/emily-pilloton">Emily Pilloton</a></td></tr><tr style="height: 14px; background-color: rgb(53, 53, 53);" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 2px 5px 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 360px; text-align: right;"><a target="_blank" style="color: rgb(150, 222, 255); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.colbertnation.com/">www.colbertnation.com</a></td></tr><tr valign="middle"><td style="padding: 0px;" colspan="2"><embed style="display: block;" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:262000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="window" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="autoPlay=false" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" bgcolor="#000000" height="301" width="360"></embed></td></tr><tr style="height: 18px;" valign="middle"><td style="padding: 0px;" colspan="2"><table style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="middle"><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a target="_blank" style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes">Colbert Report Full Episodes</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a target="_blank" style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.indecisionforever.com/">Political Humor</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a target="_blank" style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.colbertnation.com/special/colbert-vancouver-games">Skate Expectations</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJW3HzlrHiqQuv-AVX-8jYu4YAix9DgUUzQxgLBKtXfClS6wjlgsxcY9M_zWWgKZQ5Rb3n2rafGt0opL2Jjb22Kl6vZHY3hswnHjASjTGvjcBTLCZ3bEH_bz8SS0LSs1Mn__UYIOqCaYH3/s1600-h/Picture_25.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJW3HzlrHiqQuv-AVX-8jYu4YAix9DgUUzQxgLBKtXfClS6wjlgsxcY9M_zWWgKZQ5Rb3n2rafGt0opL2Jjb22Kl6vZHY3hswnHjASjTGvjcBTLCZ3bEH_bz8SS0LSs1Mn__UYIOqCaYH3/s320/Picture_25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437163527388655362" border="0" /></a> </p>The road show centers around the idea that design can actually change the world, and that designers can do more than make coffee filters more convenient. As an example, Emily showed a pair of liquid-filled eyeglasses that can be self-adjusted for the correct prescription by someone far from an eye doctor, to provide sight! Simple idea, huge good!<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmGzsPQvpsx7d19mo6548M3VYUfs8mHsOXFX-UO3Vx3vcucE71COvBj6pbJHmCLYz74-qRVglfzomlYWEGeCl4jApH1KkBjqoVjUuHlPnMYE5jMv8TE_AorbIc2SWk68SSnTUFFoZtt_E/s1600-h/Picture_29.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmGzsPQvpsx7d19mo6548M3VYUfs8mHsOXFX-UO3Vx3vcucE71COvBj6pbJHmCLYz74-qRVglfzomlYWEGeCl4jApH1KkBjqoVjUuHlPnMYE5jMv8TE_AorbIc2SWk68SSnTUFFoZtt_E/s320/Picture_29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437164072029478338" border="0" /></a><br /></p>Many of the products that are trying to make the world a better place are documented in her book, <a href="http://projecthdesign.org/designrevolution.html">Design Revolution : 100 Products that Empower People</a>.<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gLimmhnN4xLh_RtnBvFR7-S7tKrING_VBdzKqqsdj5VW3Kjxg24KbLTuadVwZos3k5SvrwJ08XorxTfSQH0Ef9CvR8zNyv_BbiRDw0bfQL5uckOfVQ-uFd3lrX0W11CjYMAERxME43Nd/s1600-h/Picture_32.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gLimmhnN4xLh_RtnBvFR7-S7tKrING_VBdzKqqsdj5VW3Kjxg24KbLTuadVwZos3k5SvrwJ08XorxTfSQH0Ef9CvR8zNyv_BbiRDw0bfQL5uckOfVQ-uFd3lrX0W11CjYMAERxME43Nd/s320/Picture_32.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437164221804105154" border="0" /></a><br /></p>Making the world a better place comes in a lot of flavors, and often isn’t always something that is clearly black and white. All you need to do is watch Emily try and answer simple questions on what is good and bad about the designed world:<br /><p><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dvwvSsAgocg&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dvwvSsAgocg&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /></p><br />But, we can try to make a difference. There are a million ways to - none of them wrong. Try!<br /><br />MarkUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-12738790790035807772010-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:002010-02-05T08:00:02.637-08:00Ames Shovels<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibM1nz5sbpHGg8OSOhZx7ZRUnhyphenhyphenkieQVFycDtYAkEI-kRvt0D61zWm57g4VoO34T3vDnqaCsG-277eeSsRckff1WQKR2-T08Wyu8q5YT2z5oRlxl6GMTmaVIDouUJBN-b8-zcCcv6trm3W/s1600-h/ames_shovel.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibM1nz5sbpHGg8OSOhZx7ZRUnhyphenhyphenkieQVFycDtYAkEI-kRvt0D61zWm57g4VoO34T3vDnqaCsG-277eeSsRckff1WQKR2-T08Wyu8q5YT2z5oRlxl6GMTmaVIDouUJBN-b8-zcCcv6trm3W/s320/ames_shovel.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433467468551021330" border="0" /></a><br /><p>When El Nino rolled into California a few weeks ago with the fury of winters past, I found myself at the Ace Hardware in South Lake Tahoe, buying a snow shovel for my car. CalTrans' "Just in Case" syndrome had me walking down aisles of candles and emergency blankets. When I grabbed the snow shovel, I immediately was struck by the fact that it was made by <a href="http://www.ames.com/">Ames Shovels</a>.<br /></p>Ames Shovel may, or may not, jog a few brain cells for you, but for me it was a jolt to see that the company was still doing exactly what it had been doing for the past two hundred years.<br /><p>Not that any of us are shovel aficionados, but if you think far back into that architectural history class, you may remember a few of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hobson_Richardson">H. H. Richardson's</a> projects when the name Ames is mentioned. You may also remember <a href="http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=8&Itemid=95">Trinity Church in Boston</a>, perhaps Richardson’s most famous built project Richardson designed a large number of projects, (<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=105465992766854694968.00044f54bb4fc896e66ba&ll=43.317185,-73.24585&spn=3.7248,6.723633&z=7&layer=c">see map</a>) primarily in New England.<br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1r8mthP7HfrYnAnHpAgJH1jZmzZjLAPHSeTCJLIOYWIotosX38Nt_Dekh_SCqLRit459_ULWUF9CSGg7wjJ9e5hk1R6TvZDwdogopn9I2COK6FP6OkVoqb_Bzy5F-E1Nvc60941RVGc4/s1600-h/Picture-22.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1r8mthP7HfrYnAnHpAgJH1jZmzZjLAPHSeTCJLIOYWIotosX38Nt_Dekh_SCqLRit459_ULWUF9CSGg7wjJ9e5hk1R6TvZDwdogopn9I2COK6FP6OkVoqb_Bzy5F-E1Nvc60941RVGc4/s320/Picture-22.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433465068358622146" border="0" /></a><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNt229XDWSRhjFixuvnh9Fg2MRfsJS11DZjE2wxSvDxqJQFQtM0tlLiy9AplSAid00dgzqwvKTQvvc8Vl_7JMF2HHuu6-yKCojbUCa3SVvGwa7f-cM1Nil6qON6EM6DhEmNjOLlGgpkKs3/s1600-h/Picture-20.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNt229XDWSRhjFixuvnh9Fg2MRfsJS11DZjE2wxSvDxqJQFQtM0tlLiy9AplSAid00dgzqwvKTQvvc8Vl_7JMF2HHuu6-yKCojbUCa3SVvGwa7f-cM1Nil6qON6EM6DhEmNjOLlGgpkKs3/s320/Picture-20.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433465204603098514" border="0" /></a><br /></p>Richardson, the father of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardsonian_Romanesque">Richardson Romanesque</a>, found a patron in <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000175">Oakes Ames</a>, one of two brothers who provided all the shovels used to stretch the Trans-Continental railroad across North America.<br /><p>A resident of North Easton, MA, Ames hired H.H. Richardson to design a number of projects, including the Oak Ames Memorial Hall + Ames Free Library in town, as well as the Ames Gate Lodge at the Ames Estate.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHpTASih6HlTjR4Nz1k2vRYc97NUwAVKP15bpIwLS207hra0vbGYEd4ETkPgE8zzwZrRuGABj0KbFLlGOUJi98dPWY_KX-nukXsPUqQxFHsGVROvwGV5VaDvcRtWhE8_7fXBh2SRFD4UM/s1600-h/Picture-33.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHpTASih6HlTjR4Nz1k2vRYc97NUwAVKP15bpIwLS207hra0vbGYEd4ETkPgE8zzwZrRuGABj0KbFLlGOUJi98dPWY_KX-nukXsPUqQxFHsGVROvwGV5VaDvcRtWhE8_7fXBh2SRFD4UM/s320/Picture-33.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433467779642490658" border="0" /></a><br /></p><p>Eventually, Richardson also designed the Ames Monument in Wyoming, which is certainly worth the side trip if you find yourself in the upper Plains. Along with Richardson, <a href="http://www.nps.gov/saga/index.htm">Augustus Saint-Gaudens</a> contributed a bass relief of Ames. Saint-Gaudens is perhaps best known for his Robert Gould Shaw Memorial bass relief monument on Boston Commons, and like the Ames Monument, Saint-Gaudens’ home site is worth the side trip if you are in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire.<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpgTNavpL_0kSKqrtg-wdJTR5OKRDEq2GqbCdUpFyahtWqxQqslV6DQ9fSrZhA3yZChsIuaL_p3GIKmBaR8zyKQSFGKAc1obLIrK1KxmiZ7-nNWj-WUVuw-RK-hl1QMGJyMHkOALa41Pk/s1600-h/Picture-29-17-36-37.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpgTNavpL_0kSKqrtg-wdJTR5OKRDEq2GqbCdUpFyahtWqxQqslV6DQ9fSrZhA3yZChsIuaL_p3GIKmBaR8zyKQSFGKAc1obLIrK1KxmiZ7-nNWj-WUVuw-RK-hl1QMGJyMHkOALa41Pk/s320/Picture-29-17-36-37.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433465987022567826" border="0" /></a><br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38YAlMe0n6_7zKiHfzPoKV1zApT9gwdh6h_445Yp3DE-sPH6eLxNel1dshvoVgkVytW_3m4bl-feF6qGMLGcDgSzb14A52MMXWIcdmE-vZjGygqICFNE867-VhctEDJicXKymapHW6X5S/s1600-h/Picture-32.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38YAlMe0n6_7zKiHfzPoKV1zApT9gwdh6h_445Yp3DE-sPH6eLxNel1dshvoVgkVytW_3m4bl-feF6qGMLGcDgSzb14A52MMXWIcdmE-vZjGygqICFNE867-VhctEDJicXKymapHW6X5S/s320/Picture-32.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433466418088784642" border="0" /></a><br /><p>A shovel in a hardware store reminded me that architecture and the history it has constructed can weave its way into everything. It’s a rich world out there, take it all in!<br /></p>-mark-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-75032159196424464862010-01-29T09:00:00.000-08:002010-01-29T09:00:02.373-08:00Bob NoordaIt may have been missed, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Noorda">Bob Noorda</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/arts/design/24noorda.html?scp=1&sq=Bob%20Noorda&st=cse">died earlier this month</a>. Unfamiliar to most, if not all of us, Noorda was the graphic designer of of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyc_subway">New York City Subway</a> system signage. Think letters and numbers inside colored circles. Think very simple and straightforward arrows directing you to the next train. Think actually getting to the next train efficiently.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzO3Scia9ytxBLQTI2zqzMdL95tWqJQO8D8goLRJvQA9Q0YkVct0aIZe5pC3rlVfaok2Vml7dwea6QImts3e5BRRCWPUFy7sT9oVI13ZfuubD7nP6zDKQOoq42NN7ndgbGQrSIVSJIGnaz/s1600-h/Picture_22.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 172px; height: 104px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzO3Scia9ytxBLQTI2zqzMdL95tWqJQO8D8goLRJvQA9Q0YkVct0aIZe5pC3rlVfaok2Vml7dwea6QImts3e5BRRCWPUFy7sT9oVI13ZfuubD7nP6zDKQOoq42NN7ndgbGQrSIVSJIGnaz/s320/Picture_22.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431937973647248162" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Noorda's mark on our culture seems obvious today, but prior to his work each subway station was addressed individually, and the signs, the fonts, and the general display of information was different at each location. Certainly quaint, but difficult to navigate for the average visitor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJtilprp-fYLWKRL5gMNYTNs48dlYKT6WxO2jdegGrNAx_uYs5f_yH5k0Bjcd5lQXTljGEEhETH3r8U_maj1i7zgVwLGmRKISQEAioUp4ZqOsix5H-4YyKu2BHzksl74Z2tZUByDjY5sA/s1600-h/Picture_20.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJtilprp-fYLWKRL5gMNYTNs48dlYKT6WxO2jdegGrNAx_uYs5f_yH5k0Bjcd5lQXTljGEEhETH3r8U_maj1i7zgVwLGmRKISQEAioUp4ZqOsix5H-4YyKu2BHzksl74Z2tZUByDjY5sA/s320/Picture_20.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431938322344047746" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Interestingly enough, when Noorda started working on the project, he wanted to use a type font called Standard Medium, developed in his office after the font <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzidenz-Grotesk">Akzidenz-Grotesk</a>. Primarily, Noorda (and, presumably the MTA) didn't want to pay for <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6UHOApOVw2EC&dq=lars+muller+helvetica+book&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=gdBhS8XbCYHesgOD7ditCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=lars%20muller%20helvetica%20book&f=false">Helvetica</a>. Sort of like Microsoft versus Apple...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4g8bcA1uRblqv9C4cE02zyeuvB3VNiTSvCNlECoOE-KV3hyphenhyphenftkSt0WmkIM7k_BgYW76SpJpZRTH5v1FcWroRtekDUQBLpJgRPAHe0hhm4Ihnx4SevZuvwBpnHA-O9NnjIAipRRu6S2Dhg/s1600-h/Picture_24.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 178px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4g8bcA1uRblqv9C4cE02zyeuvB3VNiTSvCNlECoOE-KV3hyphenhyphenftkSt0WmkIM7k_BgYW76SpJpZRTH5v1FcWroRtekDUQBLpJgRPAHe0hhm4Ihnx4SevZuvwBpnHA-O9NnjIAipRRu6S2Dhg/s320/Picture_24.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431938613321492978" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As a side note, if you haven't seen the <a href="http://www.helveticafilm.com/">movie Helvetica</a>, you need to put it on your <a href="http://www.netflix.com/">Netflix</a> list. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Vignelli">Massimo Vignelli</a>, who was a partner of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Noorda">Bob Noorda's</a>, plays a large role in the film.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIG04DVLwoWNcIOrqC7QKsmYuNbp4rlda4fEcfg0ikPViwLl5OfUzuqbOCGuuhQQs_2DfBHmetUBS0gjhz3dksIZS0_-_RMY-ZioRMKdFSzRBVcXB1Ctlsj4FGVyjvJOcI3tOOQmGY2JJ2/s1600-h/Picture_25.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIG04DVLwoWNcIOrqC7QKsmYuNbp4rlda4fEcfg0ikPViwLl5OfUzuqbOCGuuhQQs_2DfBHmetUBS0gjhz3dksIZS0_-_RMY-ZioRMKdFSzRBVcXB1Ctlsj4FGVyjvJOcI3tOOQmGY2JJ2/s320/Picture_25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431939215845263778" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As a final note on Bob Noorda, I will quote him:<br />"Don't bore the public with mysterious designs."<br /><br />-mark-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1499672572336226360.post-43678540676825763312010-01-27T15:04:00.000-08:002010-01-28T15:49:26.950-08:00Unpacking my Library<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.unpackingmylibrary.org/book.html"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 311px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrWZxyVtOxFvo5nc5bjc-KnTY-V3q2glAkWhmLKAGbhqi1Z_c5y_FY8bWLIkTiPUURfvWdBOj8fjiSMN9DpgvwO7q2AK3F03rSCF87BRAI7Xoo34FHTSDizGY0Z5eV7Mzo4mpgOTgAuRC/s320/unpacking.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431566738598251186" border="0" /></a><br /><p>I just read (if that's what you call it when a book actually has very little writing in it) <a href="http://www.unpackingmylibrary.org/"><u>Unpacking My Library : Architects and Their Books</u></a>, edited by Jo Steffens with an essay by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin">Walter Benjamin</a>. Unbeknownst to the person who gave it to me, my library occupies a large portion of my physical and intellectual world; in fact, my family would say too large a portion. There is something about being surrounded by - inside - a collection of books that gives a person the idea that much of the known world is accessible, and the remainder of the unknown world is attainable. Sitting in a library induces the concept that ideas are possible and that much of life is like a complicated math equation that can be solved by mining the required formulas from available texts and arranging them in the correct order.<br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cx23-GFBPq0YfJl781mUykp7PwTMDKuhk9qQR2K4TkrAYxsUzf9Cr9ttRH4w7xQfw2rxx3v_rmjVqfIQTfo_2jXOqqduRxIjZm2Y8PmAGgtP0dqIa28jLbAYB6FyOciz1cgXQ2szM14M/s1600-h/mark_library.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cx23-GFBPq0YfJl781mUykp7PwTMDKuhk9qQR2K4TkrAYxsUzf9Cr9ttRH4w7xQfw2rxx3v_rmjVqfIQTfo_2jXOqqduRxIjZm2Y8PmAGgtP0dqIa28jLbAYB6FyOciz1cgXQ2szM14M/s320/mark_library.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431862247093000338" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Who could possibly sit in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Public_Library">Asplund’s Stockholm Library </a>and not imagine the power and opportunity of knowledge as an accumulation of humankind?<br /></p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQgLdolXLj_at7_l4cEI2jplc5iw5yqIUqu6069NUFMYTPeZ67SSqgkeWoU_Y94pqcYJ57se7ba4tvIiPOdULtb77wJaFHb7ZfHReXC5_Y1QBkuSxx-k6WxX77i_-h9EpSaWzCT9EK0Qr/s1600-h/asplunds_library.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQgLdolXLj_at7_l4cEI2jplc5iw5yqIUqu6069NUFMYTPeZ67SSqgkeWoU_Y94pqcYJ57se7ba4tvIiPOdULtb77wJaFHb7ZfHReXC5_Y1QBkuSxx-k6WxX77i_-h9EpSaWzCT9EK0Qr/s320/asplunds_library.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431568179637521122" border="0" /></a><br /><p>More importantly, who could enter the library without literally grasping the importance of this knowledge and power!<br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHaUjBH9P_20zVVNMiiVV-aicOvqWDl1n7fXZ-3Vv-XL6fbO9W-MyIm4uQssxbG3Q23oelTm8oUEGknXT2VfvKx5BOPyuz5NjQCep_P74cH0Jw9H1Aa0SfVrTDIQjAa2JgXeAkGuI4cIK/s1600-h/asplunds_doorknob.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHaUjBH9P_20zVVNMiiVV-aicOvqWDl1n7fXZ-3Vv-XL6fbO9W-MyIm4uQssxbG3Q23oelTm8oUEGknXT2VfvKx5BOPyuz5NjQCep_P74cH0Jw9H1Aa0SfVrTDIQjAa2JgXeAkGuI4cIK/s320/asplunds_doorknob.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431861914630946754" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Is it any coincidence that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Holl">Steven Holl</a> was Bill Stout’s first employee at <a href="http://www.stoutbooks.com/cgi-bin/stoutbooks.cgi/index.html">William Stout Architectural Books</a>? Is it true when Peter Eisenman says “Without <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Quattro_Libri_dell%27Architettura"><u>The Four Books on Architecture</u></a> of Palladio no one would have cared about Palladio?" Why is it that <a href="http://www.twbta.com/">Tod Williams</a> reflects my own assessment when he posits “Rarely will I pick up a book on architecture when at home in the evening. This is my time for reflection, exploring, and getting lost in the stories.”<br /><br />A colleague recently confessed to me that it has been years since he read a novel. Perhaps architects spend too much time thinking about architecture, and not enough time thinking about society, culture, and the people who interact with their buildings. Books are a perfect prescription for this. Four books which show up on the architect’s lists in <u><a href="http://www.unpackingmylibrary.org/">Unpacking My Library</a> </u>are Faulkner’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_in_august"><u>Light in August</u></a>, Pynchon’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity%27s_Rainbow"><u>Gravity’s Rainbow</u></a>, Melville’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick"><u>Moby Dick</u></a>, and Joyce’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_wake"><u>Finnegan’s Wake</u></a>. I would suggest Faulkner’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_and_the_Fury"><u>The Sound and the Fury</u></a>, but any of these will do.<br /></p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYIPFXwkjjYWqsd3zEIUcuauui09mdzmiDu2c9KoRleLHnCdpPsIzrBhFJt7AkSmHvQEEEG2SKrku-eGpj8kOIcbMXAkRoQzcojT1A_hq5twGwNr8N9YKo8euob21GnTJsI_KcjIWRioAN/s1600-h/books.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYIPFXwkjjYWqsd3zEIUcuauui09mdzmiDu2c9KoRleLHnCdpPsIzrBhFJt7AkSmHvQEEEG2SKrku-eGpj8kOIcbMXAkRoQzcojT1A_hq5twGwNr8N9YKo8euob21GnTJsI_KcjIWRioAN/s320/books.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431570455628710306" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Architects would be well served to step outside the boundaries of their profession and connect with the larger world.<br /></p>-mark-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1