The book answers questions like: Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why were kitchens cut off from the rest of a home? And did strangers really share beds as recently as a century ago? (Yes, they did.) — npr.org
We may perhaps have been preconditioned to search out irony, but this, like most of our preconceptions, quickly began to fade. Eight years and thousands of miles later, this view has shifted into a multiplicity of facets describing a place that is far more difficult to define. Our once hermetic view of the supposedly hermetic suburban world has taken on a prismatic new form — and with it a far greater sense of omnipresence. — The Design Observer Group
Also, The Book Discussion: In 2002, Jason Griffiths and Alex Gino set out to explore the American suburbs. Over 178 days they drove 22,383 miles, made 134 suburban house calls, and took 2,593 photographs. In Manifest Destiny, Griffiths reveals the results of this exploration. Structured through... View full entry
Many of us evaluate a restaurant based on the food; after all, restaurants are about eating. But how many of us stop and think about the design--like the look of the interior, the materials used, and the color scheme--when it comes to our food experiences?
This is the question that the Chicago Architecture Foundation wants you to think about through their series Appetite for Design.
— gapersblock.com
Berlin-based Barkow Leibinger Architects have shared with us "Loom-Hyperbolic," the architects' installation at the 2012 Marrakech Biennale "Higher Atlas" in Morocco which commenced earlier this week (the installation however is still on view until June 3rd at the ruins of the Koutoubia Mosque). This year's Moroccan biennale of contemporary international culture was curated by Carson Chan and Nadim Samman. — bustler.net
Iker Gil's MAS CONTEXT relaunched this week - hot new site, hot new issue on OWNERSHIP...check it -> http://www.mascontext.com View full entry
Contemporary architecture and urban planning seem to address uncritically the conditions and context in which this discourse on health is developing. In most cases, the design disciplines rely on an abstract, scientific notion of health, and very literally adopt concepts such as “population,” “community,” “citizen,” “nature,” “green,” “development,” “city” and “body” into a professionalized, disciplinary discourse that simply echoes the ambiguities characteristic of current debate. — Places Journal
In its latest exhibition and book, Imperfect Health, the Canadian Centre for Architecture critiques what curators Mirko Zardini and Giovanna Borasi call a “new moralistic philosophy: healthism.” Zardini and Borasi trace the long relationship of environmental design to shifting social... View full entry
It’s time to put a moratorium on urban agriculture. On guerrilla street furniture. On food trucks and on yarn bombing. — Guggenheim Blog
It’s time to put a moratorium on urban agriculture. On guerrilla street furniture. On food trucks and on yarn bombing. View full entry
Buildings are discussed — indeed aspects of them obsessed upon — but almost exclusively in the context of economics. This building went over budget, that surplus of houses led to the foreclosure crisis, that condo broke the record for residential real estate, etc. To the layman, then, architecture is conveyed as little more than something that costs a lot and causes a lot of grief, rather than something with the potential to enhance our daily lives. — New York Times
You can’t just focus on housing and transit in the core of a city, you need to focus on the physical needs of manufacturing, development and the needs that go along with them. That will clearly have a huge effect not only on the city but regional level. — Wired - Autopia
Jason Kambitsis recently interviewed Bruce Katz, the founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The two spoke about Katz's belief that optimizing economic structure, not urban form, is the key to revitalizing depressed cities and strengthening thriving ones. View full entry
I’m just happier than heck to see this thing go.- logistical superintendent Rick Albrecht — NBC LA
As the rock’s massive, centipede-like transporter inched onto Granite Hill Drive, lit by over 300 string lights, the mood was less public art project and more engineering-feat-meets-the-Rose Parade. More than 100 people –- truckers, police escorts, media and museum workers, as well as art... View full entry
“Euthanasia Coaster” is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster’s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. — julijonasurbonas.lt
Last week's LA Times article, "Architect of Hollywood Hills mansion damaged in fire, is charged in firefighter's death," stirred discussion, particularly among architects, as the individual who designed the home was not a licensed architect. Aside from requesting that the LA Times retract the word "architect" from the article, the [AIA|LA], in conjunction with [AIACC] Executive Vice President, Paul Welch, Hon. AIA, have released the following statement... — AIA|LA
Previously: Architect charged for the death of a firefighter Statement from AIA|LA... Editor, The recent Los Angeles Times article concerning the negligent activities of an individual purporting to be an architect, and how those activities resulted in the tragic death of Los Angeles Firefighter... View full entry
Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece, is accepting applications for summer 2012 onsite residency programs for students and educators. The one-week programs will include sessions for high school students at two different skill levels, and one program for K-12 teachers. — pittsburghlive.com
As if Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s giant inflatable balloon set to rise (sometime) from its roof, Up-style, weren’t a sufficiently kinetic addition to the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., the institution announced in a press release yesterday that artist Doug Aitken will turn the building’s circular facade into an enormous 360-degreen screen for nearly two months this spring. — blogs.artinfo.com
All the headlines talk about Marina and Rem, but his involvement is quite minimal, isn’t it?
He’s involved, but I’m running the New York office. You know the media always has to say Rem just to catch people’s attention, but I appreciate if you don’t repeat that laziness. Of course Rem is involved, but as you can see he’s not here.
— artinfo.com
