The United States Postal Service is giving Charles and Ray Eames (and some of their designs) some face time on your mail.
The set of sixteen stamps designed by Derry Noyes (wow... you can make a living as a stamp designer?!!?) showcases the broad range of work for which the design duo are known. Coming next summer.
Art inspired by landscape architecture and design | 10/06/07
A bit late to say the least, but let's start the New Year off right by provided a wrap up of Cultivated, an exhibition held in conjunction with the annual ASLA conference in San Francisco back in October.
The Event was a great success, only minutes after Mars Bar opened its doors, the space was filled with the buzz of local artists, landscape architects and designers. String lights lined the sod-covered sidewalk directing the incoming flow through the doors where they were presented with a layout of the exhibits and a schedule for the media show. People meandered through the Front Gallery to explore the art work ranging from photography portraying the American Landscape in Bryan Schutmaat's eyes, poetic mixed media works from local Designer Zach Tanner, and Landscape Architect Christian Lemon's sculptural work constructed from bamboo, wood burl and Japanese maple.
Michigan based painter Michael Pfleghaar is well known for his interior subjects depicting animated mid-century furniture and accessories, bringing such things as an Eames lounge chair to life. Pfleghaar's new body of work depicts modern landmarks in Palm Springs, California. Pfleghaar skillfully captures the optimistic spirit of his architectural subjects as well as the magical quality of the light and landscape of their environment.
These paintings will be exhibited in a group show at Dezart One Gallery in Palm Springs, October 11-November 11, 2007.
The ASLA meeting in San Francisco is coming up quick, which means it is almost time for Cultivated, the event where landscape meets art... and Landscape Architects meet artists on October 6th at 9:00 pm at the Mars Bar.
The West Coast Independent Design Show - March 14 - March 16, 2008
It's like every time I turn around, it's CA Boom time again! OK, so it isn't time yet, but it will be here before I diggity dag darn know it... and this year we're planning ahead.
Well, I told you before, but I'll tell you again: CA Boom V will be March 14 through 16, 2008, once again at the fabulous Barker Hangar in sunny Santa Monica, California. And I hear that the show will continue to expand the offerings as attendance has grown significantly over the past two years... we have a winner here, folks.
By the way for you designers and hawkers of design schtuff, CA Boom V still has room for exhibitors, but space is filling up fast so get your applications in pronto. And for you architects with projects in the west LA area, CA Boom is on the hunt for tour locations... be seen.
A day on which one can't help but think of monuments and symbols seems like an appropriate time to take a look at a successful modern monument... at least Witold Rybczynski thought so, and it got me to thinking about it as well.
The Spire of Dublin, also known as An Tur Solais (the Monument of Light) and The Spike... it also has some unsavory nicknames in the Dubliner tradition: The Stiletto in the Ghetto, The Nail in the Pale, The Binge Syringe, and (perhaps my favorite) The Erection in the Intersection.
The monument was conceived in the early 1990's to provide a replacement for Nelson's Pillar which was blown up by former IRA members in 1966. An architectural competition was held with the intention of building the monument in time for the millennium. Alas construction was delayed by a pair of lawsuits filed by failed competitors - one designed a resurrection of Nelsons Pillar but topped by a bronze sun, the other a column topped by a revolving restaurant...
Of course monuments are contentious by their very nature - e.g. Ground Zero, Alex Eiffel, World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., etc. And the sore losers of the competition weren't the only detractors of the winning entry - public opinion and politicians decried the monument citing its inappropriateness to the context, the exorbitant cost and everything in between. Not to mention the planning process and environmental regulations (EIS). It is a wonder it was ever built at all... and so it is perhaps a fitting symbol of the new Ireland where such things are possible. And yet that uncovers an ironic twist: this monument of the new Ireland, built to replace a symbol of British imperialism, was an entry by a British architect, Ian Ritchie.
Being in the "experience design" world professionally myself these days, I was very interested to check out the work of Tel-Aviv, Israel based designers Roy Roth Yaal Tevet. They say:
We explore all design disciplines, creating exciting, multi-sensual experiences for the public domain, telling a new story each and every time. We are always looking for new boundaries to cross.
Their work covers a broad range of disciplines for a broad range of clients, including exhibitions, public spaces, cafés, bars, restaurants, clubs and products.
What I appreciate about their work is that they are able to skillfully navigate multiple disciplines and genres, creating environments which work emotionally as well as intellectually. And that really is the key to the idiosyncratic world of experience design. You must be adept at designing from a variety of perspectives, not just from your own aesthetic.
Increasing the volume of architectural discourse... now blogging!
It's back! We just got word from Loud Paper editor Mimi Zeiger saying that after a lengthy hiatus, Loud Paper is back... as a blog! Mimi says:
In this new incarnation loud paper is part per-zine, travelogue, marketing machine, and wunderkammer, but it will also remain true to the original mission to provide a forum for multiple voices.
Maybe you didn't know about Loud Paper before... or perhaps you even forgot... in either case bad! Very bad you! Well, Loud Paper was (and is) an independent architecture zine "dedicated to increasing the volume of architectural discourse." It was started in 1997 when Mimi Zeiger was a graduate student at SCI-Arc... back when a couple of us from the L+L crew were in the house too.
We're glad to see Loud Paper back and online. And Mimi says to get ready for a new call for submissions later this fall. We'll keep y'all informed.
FaulknerWorks is the brainchild of Truckee, California architect Greg Faulkner in partnership with Leo Burke, and Brian Hijos - a team which combines the skills of an architect, theatrical lighting designer, artistic metal fabricator, and electrical contractor. I dig their products which are basically extracted from the custom fixtures and hardware that Greg Faulkner has designed for his commissions over the years.
I almost worked for Faulkner Architects many years back when I lived at Tahoe... I was all fired up to work there until they told me what my salary would be... ahem. Anyway, what I like about Faulkner's work is the balance and contrast of the modern and the rustic. There is a hand-made feeling (obviously owing much to the American Arts and Crafts movement) yet with an aesthetic informed by modern and industrial design and materials. I would love to see an even more modern evolution of this design thread.
Art inspired by landscape architecture and design | 10/06/07
Cultivated is an exhibition to held in conjunction with the annual ASLA conference, October 6th 2007, in San Francisco. Cultivated's opening debut will be a night of art and inspiration hosted at Mars Bar, a local art bar in the burgeoning Soma district.
In concept, Cultivated seeks to provide a place where visiting and local artists, designers and landscape architects can gather to celebrate interpretations of Landscape Architecture that reflect the impacts that natural and built environments have on our lives.
Various forms of appreciation and expression of landscape will be represented... and there is still time to participate. The submission deadline is September 14, 2007.
I don't think we've ever featured a product from Room & Board... I've never bought anything from them... but I've perused their catalog and their products seem decent and some are quite nicely designed.
Take, for instance, this modernized version of the classic American Adirondack chair. I like the laid back comfort of an Adirondack chair... nice wide arm for my beer... but generally don't like the aesthetic. This one might change my mind... depends on how comfortable it actually is to sit in.
I definitely dig the lines and the fact that it is constructed of 100% post-industrial recycled material.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced changes in ozone pollution standards that fall short of what the scientific community recommends. In response to this news, and to the lobbyists working against tougher air quality standards, non-profit public interest law firm Earthjustice has created a project called Adopt The Sky to raise awareness about this issue.
Visitors to the site can add their own personalized message about the issue and "adopt" a square mile of sky above the U.S. to pledge their support for cleaner air.
This isn't super-model modern, it is more basic. And honestly, we can't all have (or be) super-models, now can we? Kovac Architects has taken a bland hillside stucco box in Los Angeles and modestly but effectively transformed it with some nicely thought out and executed design ideas.
The addition is sliver-thin at a mere eight feet, and is attached almost parasite-like to the side of the existing structure. The addition and reconfigured interior create a 2170 square foot modern tree house with living spaces on the first floor and a master suite with office mezzanine on the second. In addition to the walls of glazing which open the house to the trees at the rear of the home, a glass floor in the dining area visually connects the inhabitants to the canyon floor below.
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007 by Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen
A quick round up of the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London... this year by Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen (of architecture firm Snøhetta). The pavilion opens this Friday and will remain on site until November 2007.
A load of articles and images to totally max out your senses... have at it, kids.
Back in "the day" L+L put more emphasis on outdoor spaces... or at least we had the intention of such things... Regardless, we are very pleased to be joined by Paris-and-London based designer Anne Robert.
Anne maintains her own blog, My Urban Garden Deco Guide and will be popping by to share her fabulous outdoor finds with you fabulous L+L readers.
The American mid-century magazine lives again on the web
The archives of this iconic publication which created the Case Study House Program have been exhumed and have found new life on the web.
Pages straight from the original publication featuring the Case Study houses complete with text, images and drawings are presented in PDF format. All of the greats are there including Edward Killingsworth, CharlesEames, EeroSaarinen, RichardNeutra, Craig Ellwood, Pierre Koenig, William Wurster, etc. etc. etc.
David Travers, the second and last editor following John Entenza, is involved with the project and has written an interesting remembrance of the magazine and era. He also offers an admonishment to the contemporary architecture profession:
Architecture, which used to be serious but fun, is now serious but silly. Innovative straight line, geometrical, rational, less-is-more architecture has been replaced by novelty, by glib, zigzag, crumpled, broken, exploded and discontinuous designs, by "constructive alienation," by Bernard Tschumi. Gott in Himmelb(l)au. The avant garde in architecture has lost its way.
Perfect for renters, loft-dwellers and the restless, the Nomad System (not to be confused with the Nomad Desk) is a modular system that can be assembled like a giant children's toy into free-standing sculptural screens, temporary partitions, rooms or displays without hardware, tools or alterations to existing structures. Designed by Jaime Salm & Roger Allen, the system is made from recycled, double-wall cardboard, and comes in six colors.
Nomadic lifestyles and the desire for flexible space inspired the creation of Nomad. Designed to grow and adapt to any environment and a range of applications, Nomad Architectural System translates the tools of architecture into simple modules that anyone can use.
One 24 Module Set sells for $56 and creates a 3 ft x 4.5 ft wall section.... not outrageous, but definitely an investment to create a wall of any significant size.
Link: Mio - Nomad System
Designers: Jaime Salm and Roger Allen
Via: AT
Roll on down to El Toro on Saturday, July 14, 2007, where you can get a glimpse of the future according to Ken Smith.
The City of Irvine and the Orange County Great Park Corporation are hosting the inaugural launch of the Great Park, and you are invited.
The design team for the Great Park is lead by New York City landscape architect Ken Smith. His band of merry-makers include Enrique Norten (Ten Arquitectos), Mia Lehrer, (Mia Lehrer + Associates), Buro Happold Engineers and Ecologist Stevel Handel.
"Architorture" -- this term has been the lament of countless aspiring architects for years... who knows, perhaps for generations. It is a simple slang word which embodies a range of emotions, experiences and tribulations faced in the course of an architectural education... and career.
And now "Architorture" is a documentary being created by architects David Krantz and Ian Harris (et. al.) that follows five students through the process of developing their thesis projects.
Content is currently evolving with occasional uploads. Current features are "The Confessionals" where different people explain what Architecture is about in their experience.
American Society of Landscape Architects honors 38 projects
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2006 Professional Awards. The jury considered over 500 entries and selected 38 projects to receive awards. The awards will be presented on October 8 at the ASLA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The top "Awards of Excellence" are awarded in several categories:
IMAGE: The Red Ribbon - Tanghe River Park, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, China
Turenscape (Beijing Turen Design Institute) and Peking University Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing, China.
We were contacted recently by a L+L reader who, while offering compliments, also had a request: more art, please! While not exactly what she had in mind, we are pleased to present the work of that very L+L reader.
I was immediately drawn to Betty's woodcut prints. There is a wonderful quality of space and movement to these pieces, and the craft displayed in creating the prints is marvelous. Betty is based in Cushing, Oklahoma where, in addition to creating her own work, she has the vital and admirable job (especially in this day and age) of expanding the minds of young people as a Middle School Art teacher.
Open House: Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living envisions the house of the future as a place for new spatial experiences, new systems of sustainability and new sensory enhancements. This open-ended exhibition and multi-faceted research initiative, incorporating Art Center research studios, as well as a series of public programs, encourages creative individuals to make a substantial contribution to the dialogue on how we will live in the future.
As promised, the good folks at Minarc-Architects have passed along photos of the Greenfield residence which was part of the Sunday CA Boom 4 home tour.
Be sure to read Nico's full report, and enjoy this exclusive Greenfield Residence featuring the amazing Greenfield residence.
Let's wrap this puppy up... mmm mmm tasty CA Boomage
OK, let's get our hands around this whole CA Boom thing... for your convenience, we'll wrap it up right here so you're good to go.
After the jump we'll serve up a hearty scoop of linkage topped with some final pics, hold the babble.
But first a light appetizer to whet your appetite -- CA Boom V will be held March 28-30, 2008, again at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. You heard it here first.
How else would Reyner Banham tour Los Angeles but by car? Take a circa 1972 ride through Los Angeles with the architectural critic and author of Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies as he visits the Plains, the Foothills, Surfurbia, and (of course) Autopia. It is amazing to see how much Los Angeles changed in the last 35 years, and yet how relevant Banham's observations still are. Awesome.
We'll get back to modern day Los Angeles with more coverage from CA Boom 4 shortly... stay tuned.
Homes designed by Design Universal, Touraine Richmond Architecture, XTEN, Translation of Space, and Sant Architects
Well, for the first time in CA Boom history, L+L missed the first day of home tours... sorry kids. But not to worry, we have days 2 and 3 covered. And besides, we've already Clipped links to 2 of the 5 homes from the first day -- the Living Homes design by Ray Kappe as reported by Curbed (previously on L+L here and here) and the LA Times article covering the Beitcher residence designed by W3 Architects.
OK then, on to day two... overall this was a solid tour line up. Visually, day two featured variations on a theme with materials consisting of white plaster, steel and concrete... with one loud exception, pretty obvious from the thumbnails at right, eh? Let's break it down in chronological order (click project name for photo galleries):
The United States Postal Service is giving Charles and Ray Eames (and some of their designs) some face time on your mail.
A bit late to say the least, but let's start the New Year off right by provided a wrap up of Cultivated, an exhibition held in conjunction with the annual ASLA conference in San Francisco back in October.
A day on which one can't help but think of monuments and symbols seems like an appropriate time to take a look at a successful modern monument... at least Witold Rybczynski thought so, and it got me to thinking about it as well.
Being in the "experience design" world professionally myself these days, I was very interested to check out the work of Tel-Aviv, Israel based designers Roy Roth Yaal Tevet. They say:
FaulknerWorks is the brainchild of Truckee, California architect Greg Faulkner in partnership with Leo Burke, and Brian Hijos - a team which combines the skills of an architect, theatrical lighting designer, artistic metal fabricator, and electrical contractor. I dig their products which are basically extracted from the custom fixtures and hardware that Greg Faulkner has designed for his commissions over the years.
Cultivated is an exhibition to held in conjunction with the annual ASLA conference, October 6th 2007, in San Francisco. Cultivated's opening debut will be a night of art and inspiration hosted at Mars Bar, a local art bar in the burgeoning Soma district.
I don't think we've ever featured a product from Room & Board... I've never bought anything from them... but I've perused their catalog and their products seem decent and some are quite nicely designed.
A quick round up of the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London... this year by Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen (of architecture firm Snøhetta). The pavilion opens this Friday and will remain on site until November 2007.
Back in "the day" L+L put more emphasis on outdoor spaces... or at least we had the intention of such things... Regardless, we are very pleased to be joined by Paris-and-London based designer Anne Robert. 
The archives of this iconic publication which created the Case Study House Program have been exhumed and have found new life on the web.
Perfect for renters, loft-dwellers and the restless, the Nomad System (not to be confused with the Nomad Desk) is a modular system that can be assembled like a giant children's toy into free-standing sculptural screens, temporary partitions, rooms or displays without hardware, tools or alterations to existing structures. Designed by Jaime Salm & Roger Allen, the system is made from recycled, double-wall cardboard, and comes in six colors.
Roll on down to El Toro on Saturday, July 14, 2007, where you can get a glimpse of the future according to Ken Smith.
"Architorture" -- this term has been the lament of countless aspiring architects for years... who knows, perhaps for generations. It is a simple slang word which embodies a range of emotions, experiences and tribulations faced in the course of an architectural education... and career.
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2006 Professional Awards. The jury considered over 500 entries and selected 38 projects to receive awards. The awards will be presented on October 8 at the ASLA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
We were contacted recently by a L+L reader who, while offering compliments, also had a request: more art, please! While not exactly what she had in mind, we are pleased to present the work of that very L+L reader. 
An exhibition at Art Center College of Design's South Campus in Pasadena (right down the street from my office) is running April 14 – July 1, 2007.
OK, let's get our hands around this whole CA Boom thing... for your convenience, we'll wrap it up right here so you're good to go.
Well, for the first time in CA Boom history, L+L missed the first day of home tours... sorry kids. But not to worry, we have days 2 and 3 covered. And besides, we've already Clipped links to 2 of the 5 homes from the first day -- the Living Homes design by Ray Kappe as reported by Curbed (previously on L+L here and here) and the LA Times article covering the Beitcher residence designed by W3 Architects.