You thought dining while nested high up in a tree was for the birds? Think again. New Zealand based Pacific Environments Architects Ltd. has designed a beautiful dining pod for the Yellow Treehouse Restaurant perched in a redwood tree. The Yellow Pages approached Pacific Environments to design the treehouse, and PEL jumped at the chance. “The tree-house concept is reminiscent of childhood dreams and playtime, fairy stories of enchantment and imagination. It’s the treehouse we all dreamed of as children but could only do as an adult fantasy.” The backdrop is a rise near the edge of a wood overlooking a stream. The eighteen seat cafe—10m wide and 12m high, with kitchen and lavatories on the ground.
The treehouse project is part of a large-scale marketing effort by Yellow Pages to promote their services. The campaign includes a spokes-model, blog, live webcam, contests and more.
http://www.pacificenvironments.co.nz/
http://www.yellowtreehouse.co.nz/#
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Art All Night in Trenton, NJ is fast approaching! Each year, the historic 50,000 square foot Roebling Machine shop that manufactured the cables used to construct the Brooklyn Bridge, is converted into a 24-hour visual and performing art event. It is happening this Saturday, June 20th starting at 3pm and running continuously until 3pm on Sunday, June 21st which is the summer solstice and the longest day of the year! It is free to attend or submit art and this year, it is featuring a Petcha-Kutcha style presentation called MeSH 575 where designers, artists and other creatives share innovative ideas through interatctive presentations of 17 slides in 5 minutes each from 10:30pm-1:00am. There will also be live music, DJ’s, yoga, food, children’s activities, lectures, films, glass blowing and much more!
http://www.artworkstrenton.org/artallnight/
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Appologies for the long delay between posts. I have been renovating a house and studying for the LEED exam. Luckily, I passed the exam and can now say that I am a LEED Accredited Professional. On top of that, I found out that I am expecting my first child. So, appropos to this news, I have become interested in what “green” baby products are available on the market.
Welcome the little one home with this wonderful gift basket from Green Depot. It includes adorable onesies made of organically-grown cotton that are sewn in Pennsylvania, organic cotton receiving blanket, and a thermal hat. Also included is the classic Earnest Efforts baby rattle made from unstained remnant woods, hand-sanded, and finished with all-natural beeswax.
http://www.greendepot.com/greendepot/dept.asp?dept_id=3000&s_id=0
These beautifully designed rattles are the organic teething remedy from Little Alouette. Natural wood toys are a better alternative to plastic toys for baby teething since they are free of any extraneous chemicals. Each 5 inch rattle teether is filled with beans that makes a gentle (and not annoying) sound. They are finished with certified organic seed oil!
Give the baby a good start with a nursery fit out with this customizable crib from MUU. It is made in the USA, ensuring local manufacturing for quality and safety, and reduces the impact on the environment. They believe that making furniture here means less energy is consumed transporting the product to you. By designing furniture to meet your evolving needs, from nursery to playroom to your own modern bedroom, we reduce your need to buy more stuff. The crib can be easily transformed to a toddler bed and the panels are interchangable for different colors and designs. The cribs are built using locally-sourced hardwood from verified sustainable sources and MDF made from certified environmentally-friendly recycled wood fibers. Our products are finished with non-toxic lacquer.
In honor of today being the birthday of quesited’s founder, Patti, I am featuring the design of one of her favorite things: beautiful perfume bottles! Consistently, some of my favorite designs have come from the fashion house of Issey Miyake. 
Le Feu D’Issey was the first perfume I purchase entirely for the packaging and fell in love with the scent second. Unfortunately, this bottle was discontinued because the unique design did not sell in mass quantities. The glass bottle is protected in a rubbery red sphere that appears designed to evoke a techno version of the poison apple from the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The atomizer travels along a channel to reveal or cover the opening. 
Shiro Kuramata’s perfume bottle for Issey Miyake is an innovative bottle in a limited edition, posthumously released almost 20 years after Kuramata’s death. When it was designed in 1990, the manufacturing techniques didn’t allow for a perfect sphere to be cut into a cube. The design collaboration between arguably two of Japan’s most creative minds created a vision of “an oversized drop of water and a condensed version of the earth with visions of flowers and dreams, light and wind, men and women dancing a rondo inside.” That is a tall order to pack into one tiny perfume bottle!
2,500 bottles have been made thanks to the development of laser technology, a perfect sphere has been cut into a cube of glass and polished, achieving the ‘absolute purity’ Kuramata intended with his original drawings.
The limited release of a design that could have been consigned to the history books without ever having been made is reason enough to raise its value. But given the technical precision of the design, Kuramata’s ‘ahead-of-his-time’ thinking and the timeless appeal of the object itself, we would recommend you keep the bottle long after the perfume’s finished.
Kuramata’s original drawings for the perfume bottle from 1990
http://www.isseymiyakeparfums.com
Spring is almost here and you know what that means…DESIGN EVENTS GALORE! Three of my perennial favorites are in NYC this year and are listed below. Hope to see you there!
The first to kick off is Lightfair International. There are illuminating classes available from May 3rd to 4th and a tradeshow from May 5th-7th displays everything the lighting market has to offer from the most efficient new technologies to imaginative decorative fixtures.
Next up is the 7th annual BKLYN DESIGNS. This year’s showcase will include a specially curated “green” exhibition at the BSH Showroom, a children’s furniture off-site located at Jane’s Carousel, as well as multiple design related evening festivities at hot spots across DUMBO. Sign up for the mailing list to receive updates and reminders about the 2009 show scheduled for May 8-10!
To finish off a fun-filled tour of design, visit ICFF International Contemporary Furniture Fair May 16th-19th at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. This is where the world displays the most current and exciting furniture designs. Plan on staying the whole day!
A friend and very talented designer, Ben Mickus has been designing furniture in his free time. His cleverly named, Relief Chair will be featured in an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. The exhibition is called “Fashioning Felt” and will be on display from March 6th through September 7th of this year.
I put an emphasis on free time as Ben is a full time architectural designer for Diller, Scofidio & Renfro. It is a busy month for my friend Ben, as a project he has invested a few years of his time in is coming to fruition. He has been a part of the design team working on the renovations to Lincoln Center. Alice Tully Hall opened mid February to rave reviews. The interior features stellar acoustics and sensuous interiors. The original proportions have not changed, but its smooth surfaces have been clad in a translucent veneer of moabi, a rich African hardwood with LED lights embedded behind the wood that can be subtly adjusted so patches of the wood’s surface begin to glow, shifting from pale orange to magma red.
http://www.mickusprojects.com/
http://www.cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/Fashioning-Felt/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/arts/design/20tull.html
http://www.dillerscofidio.com/
Fashion week in NY brought some fresh new ideas for Fall ‘09 including a new collection from Rachel Comey. Her designs take inspriation from vintage styles through modern rock stars like David Bowie. She started her own label after leaving a job at Theory and designing one-of-a-kind meanswear pieces for friends. The label got national recognition when David Bowie wore one of her shirts on The Late Show with David Letterman. She then expanded her line into women’s wear. She is a native New Englander with a sculpting degree from the University of Vermont. She brings her art backgroud with her, as she seems to sculpt the fabric around the body.
So, you think you don’t have enough storage space? Gary Chang, a Hong Kong architect, has all of the modern luxuries one could desire in a 350 square foot apartment. Because of his innovative use of accordion-like wall units, he can create at least 24 different room configurations! Simply by shifting the walls around, he can create a kitchen, library, laundry room, dressing room, lounge with a hammock, and a dining room with a wet bar. Behind one movable wall of shelving is an extra-large Duravit bathtub. A glass shower stall doubles as a steamroom with color therapy and massage and a Toto toilet has a heated seat and remote control bidet. The yellow tinted glass on the exterior creates a mysterious glow in the space and adds plenty of color through the light rather than painted walls. He also has a wall of CDs and a six speaker sound system that lets him enjoy listening to his collection. Mr. Chang uses a hydraulic Murphy bed of his own design, hidden behind a sofa during the day.
Photo: Marcel Lam for The New York Times
Watt is the world’s first sustainable nightclub. Studio Roosegaarde in Rotterdam, Holland, designed the Sustainable Dance Floor which is created by 2 foot square modules made of sustainable materials, a energy harvesting mechanism, software and embedded electronics. Each panel produces up to 20 Watts. The panels are spring mounted and as vabrations are created by a dancing crowd, energy is created to illuminated the colorful LED lights below and supply the DJ console with energy. See it in action @ http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/videos/SDF-Studio.
Average nightclubs use up to to 150 times the amount of a normal household. Club Watt aims to use 30% less! Watt is in the concept materialized about a year ago by a group of Dutch ecological inventors, engineers and investors. Watt is a huge performance space with not just the sustainable dance floor, but also rainwater-fed toilets and low-waste bars. (Everything is recycled.) Its heat is harvested in part from the bands’ amplifiers and other musical equipment. Eco-hedonism is personified here proving that being eco friendly no longer means you have to sacrifice your lifestyle!
http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/
The law firm, Thompson Wigdor & Gilly (TWG) needed a new face. After spending years in an office in the Empire State Building, they moved a block from Union Square in Manhattan. They selected an 8,000 square foot loft space. They felt they needed to connect more directly with their diverse clientele that includes top chefs, and bold names in entertainment and sports. They wanted their space to make a statement about them that was as “dynamic, agressive, independent and successful” as their thinking.
In order to accomplish this, they hired Studio Tractor Architecture of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They created a stunning reception desk with an electric blue LED panel on the front which mimics the firm’s logo color. Frosted glass partitions the offices, conference rooms, and kitchen-cafeteria area. The glass allows natural light to flow through the space and gives reference to people moving through the space while allowing visual privacy. TWG got the look they wanted to present to clients, along with pleasing effects on the staff.
Scott Browning Gilly, one of TWG’s 3 partners said, “I didn’t foresee the impact on how the office functions, how people approach their jobs and each other and the collegial interaction; they don’t feel like thier punching a clock.”
Photos courtesy of: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/realestate/commercial/11sqft.html?_r=1
Disney recent updated its 1950s vision of domestic utopia for the 21st century. The original house was designed by MIT in cooperation with Monsanto, a company that produced the artificial sweetener, saccharin, until the mid 1960’s. This was the dawn of the ear of thermoplastics when 30% of the company’s output was in synthetic resins and surface coatings. As a result, the home design revolved around using plastics inside and out.
It’s worth noting how times change, when in today’s market, ‘plastic’ is a dirty word and green options and recycled plastics is the name of the game! However, the properties of plastic represented the future to the designers at the time because of it’s pliable, flexible nature which could create an infinite number of forms. The structure was comprised four floating fiberglass-reinforced polyester wings with large thermal-pane windows which was a completely original design.
The House of the Future was advertised as a 100 % synthetic environment in which, in classic 1950’s style: mother and daughter cooked, the son played in his room, and father lounged on a flexible sofa while reading the newspaper or listening to the hi-fi. It is also interesting to note that no one was watching TV. Again, what a change that is from today’s households that are so focused around TV watching and computer use with an on-the-go family of constantly shifting roles. On one wall, a non-operational large flat screen hinted at the not-too-distant future.
Forty years after it was deconstructed, the House of the Future opened it’s doors again in Disneyland’s old Carousel Theatre. In contrast, the hearth of this home was the 100″ digital screen. All picture frames and artwork were displayed digitally and shift imagery depending on who enters the room. The kitchen counter has the ingredients to recipes projected on to it and the bathroom mirror acts like a digitally displayed catalog showing hairstyles, accessories, and clothing suggestions. The children’s room also has a screen that reads books aloud with effects, colors videos, and sounds that correspond to the story.
The overarching idea is the create “interactive immersive experiences” linking technology more seamlessly into our lives.
Kitchen of the future 2008
Kitchen of the future 1959
For the complete article, visit: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/30147/houses-of-the-future/?page=1
Budget hotels are reaching out on a limb.
The new Linden hotel, designed by Lang Architecture is located in an industrial area of Brooklyn called the East New York neighborhood. The Architect’s Newspaper interviewed Drew Lang, the principal of Lang Architecture who stated, “I’d never thought of working in this section of Brooklyn, but if you share a vision with your client and your contractor, you can build good architecture almost anywhere.”
The design incorporates translucent materials like polycarbonate panels, clear glass, expanded metal mesh, as well as stucco cladding that is meant to create a varied composition that responds to the daylight and therefore changes over the course of the day.
The designer and developer hope these and the unique design make the 30-room, budget hotel stand out from the competiton which uses the usual ”loud roadside signage.”
Multiverse, the largest and most complex light sculpture created by American artist Leo Villareal has been unveiled between the East and West Buildings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
Villareal’s work focuses on movement and light which is ideal for the concourse walkway that thousands of visitors pass through daily. The installation is on display until November 2009. Multiverse features approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED (light-emitting diode) nodes that run through channels along the entire 200-foot-long space.
Once the appropriate hardware was installed in the existing architecture, the artist programmed sequences through his custom-designed software to create abstract configurations of light. His programming both instructs the lights and allows for an element of chance.
While it is possible that a pattern will repeat during a viewer’s experience, it is highly unlikely. Still, the eye will seek patterns in the motion, a perceptual effect of the hypnotic trailing lights.
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/villarealinfo.shtm
Morgans Hotel Group will soon unveil its Modrian hotel in South Beach, FL designed by Marcel Wanders. The Dutch designer has designed what some are calling “a modern fantasy.” You can escape to an oasis of lush gardens with an outdoor pool bar, private cabanas enveloped by curtains of living vines, and even an adult sandbox.
In addition, Wanders incorporated original furnishings developed in his own design studio, including his iconic Knotted Chair and a custom designed reception desk; covered in mirrored Bisazza tiles for the Agua Spa.
The Modrian also features the latest Jeffrey Chodorow Asia de Cuba restaurant, complete with a royal communal table, crystal chandeliers set within golden bells above the tables, and private dining gardens.
http://www.mondriansouthbeach.com/hotel.html
Two talented architectural designers from R.S. Granoff Architects in Greenwich, CT have taken different approaches to homes in New York’s posh Hampton’s region.
Irene Ioffe designed an approximately 9,000 square foot shingle style vacation residence in Bridgehampton. The interiors are bright and open with clean, classic architectural detailing. The shingle style is a uniquely American building type with shingle surfaces, stone foundations and wide porches. It is an organic design, growing out of the landscape with dramatic rooflines and irregular footprints. It has become a standard for New England waterfront real estate.
Vote for Irene’s project in the Architectural Digest Magazine’s Open Audition here:
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/polls/week_2/open_audition
By contrast, Christian Calemmo has designed the NH2 residence in Northampton with aspirations to become a LEED certified home. NH2 is Christian’s take on a modern farmhouse. This beautiful design is luxury with an environmental agenda brought to life. LEED for Homes is a rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes.
A green home uses less energy, water and natural resources; creates less waste; and is healthier and more comfortable for the occupants. Benefits of a LEED home include lower energy and water bills; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and less exposure to mold, mildew and other indoor toxins. The net cost of owning a LEED home is comparable to that of owning a conventional home.
For more information on how to have a green home, see The Green Home Guide: http://www.thegreenhomeguide.org/
The economic roller coaster never felt so wild. Even the dot com bust has a rather nostalgic feel to it, now. The upside of that ride, was that we knew technology wasn’t going away. We tasted the fruit and it was good. We were hooked on email and on-demand information. So, while many tech funds and stocks took a sharp turn south, we were confident that technology, as meausred by new product and service innovation, would survive and even thrive. And, it has.
However, the recent bailout actions and discussions of south bound financial and auto companies leaves the stomach flipping in the air while our cart steers into a dark abyss. The difference between these two rides, is that in the days of early consumer technology, even without blogging, podcasting, video on demand, and all the other Web 2.0 features and benefits, those with vision and product innovation understanding, could see brighter days ahead. Not so with business as usual banking and car manufacturing. While, admittedly technology is used extensively in both industries, at the core is a lack of innovation and creativity…and creative mortgage transactions and packaging, or multiple dvd players on seat backs don’t count. In their current state, these two industries don’t deserve additional, large sum investments. We need real investment in real innovation.
High tech economies are driven by research and development, and for the past 50 years total American R&D spending has remained flat. Industry funds about 4 percent of basic research costs, and that counts for 60 percent of total national research spending. Government spending on pure research is also declining. And while investment in pure research pays big for investors, it takes decades to reap the dividends. As THE ‘grab and go’ consumer society, our propensity for delayed gratification falls well on the short side.
We’re now paying the price. In 1997, the US exported $32 billion more in advanced technology products than we imported.
However, our export advantage took a hairpin turn and headed due south. By last year technology imports exceeded exports by a whopping $52 billion.
As a percentage of gross national product, the US ranks eighth in the world on R&D. Countries spending more on innovation research includes Israel, Sweden, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and Iceland. The current economic downtown has opened wide the door for more discussion of innovation investment. Some in the academic community are even creating their own buzz words to drive the importance and relevance of innovation investment. Dubbed ’stim-novation’ by Fred Block, UC Davis professor, the sharp focus could stimulate the economy. Block advocates seizing opportunity during this tumultuous time to invest in innovation, which will result in millions of new, sustainable, well paying jobs.
Some hurdles for innovation investment are a desire to lower taxes, a balanced budget, and spending on current infrastructure. Instant gratification. Americans hate to wait for anything….Oh, that’s right, that’s how we got to this mortgage crisis in the first place!
But, when considering that government investment aided the development of the mainframe computer and the Internet, leading to millions of well paying, interesting jobs, it’s up to us, who like those seeing brighter days ahead during the dot com bust, demand increased funding of innovation investment, increased support for risk assuming start ups, and public awareness of the need and benefits to next generation innovation. Daunting, but not impossible. Our competitive advantage and a brighter, healthier future count on it.
Below are inspired, innovative projects for you to consider while you define your role and strategy in moving stim-novation forward.
by Terrafugia of Woburn, MA (www.terrafugia.com)
(Photo courtesy of Popular Science; www.popsci.com)
Ooops! All the other innovative projects I want to show you are being developed in other countries! Well, below are the radical innovations that resulted from investment made outside the US.
The motorized disks collect solar rays and the energy is converted
to AC/DC power and transferred to the power grid.
(Photo courtesy of PhysOrg.Com)
The Prosolve 370E are decorative architectural tiles used to reduce
pollution and improve urban air quality.
The firm, Elegant Embellishments is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
www.elegantembellishments.net
(Photo courtesy of popsci.com)
Christmas by Colour is a great little not for profit project that attempts to portray the real Christmas color spectrum. You are invited to submit your own color chip along with its personal meaning! The best entries will be made into letter size posters and individual v-cards!
Frustrated at the plethora of Christmas reds, whites and greens the graphic designers at Raw Design Studio are exploring what colors people really associate with their Christmas. Abstract, funny or literal - the choice is yours. This is a collaborative, self-initiated project so feel free to share your own personal Christmas color experience!
http://www.christmasbycolour.co.uk/
The Globus, from Artifort, is a self-contained mobile work station. The innovative styling is right out of a sci-fi movie. The compact form is positioned on wheels for ease of flexibility around the home or office. It is available in two versions, the Globit and the Globot. It comes installed with a touch-screen computer, speakers, card reader, USB 2.0 hu and a webcam. It can also be equipped with a chess computer!
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Art, fashion & architecture are traveling around the world in one neat little package… and it’s about to land in NYC. From October 20th to November 9th, a mobile display showcasing the work of twenty leading international artists inspired by a single common theme: Chanel’s iconic quilted 2.55 bag will be at Rumsey Playfield at Central Park. The glistening, white, pod-like display case was a design collaboration between fahion designer, Karl Lagerfeld and architect, Zaha Hadid.
Wallpaper* magazine states, “The look is trademark Hadid – whimsical, fluid and graceful – an aesthetic that would have strongly resonated with Chanel’s bold creative director who in the past has likened the value of her designs to ‘great poetry’. The curved, undulating walls of the interior serve as a dramatic backdrop to work by the likes of Yoko Ono, Sylvie Fleury, photographers Nobuyoshi Araki and Stephen Shore and the Russian collective Blue Noses.”
Mobile Art will will travel fromNew York to London (June ‘09), Moscow (September ‘09), and finally Paris (February ‘10).
http://www.chanel-mobileart.com/
I was recently inspired by these beautiful rocking chairs by industrial designer Scott Wilson. And come to find out, so many of my other favorite products like the Nike Presto watches and Contora Portable Swingline staplers are also his creation.
His company of one was chosen this summer as Design Director for the Motorola Wearable Technology group. Wilson started with IDEO Product Development and recently founded studio MOD, a virtual studio with focus on establishing long-term, collaborative relationships with design-sensitive and marketing-savvy companies.
He aims to strike a balance within his products which speak both rationally and emotionally to the consumer, ultimately ensuring a higher probability of market success and endurance.
