February Lectures

Lots of lectures, exhibitions and other presentations happening in New York City during the second month of 2009. Below is a list of some of those. Click the titles for prices, learning units and other information.

Tuesday, February 3
Step by Step: Building Schools in Africa, lecture by Diebedo Francis Kere
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Wednesday, February 4
Eco-Cities: Building Green on a City Scale, Eric Sanders will lead a discussion with Hillary Brown, Kate Orff and Ashok Raiji
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Conflicts, lecture by Thomas Leeser
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Monday, February 9
Advancing Architectural Research, debate with GSAPP Professors/ Lab Directors: David Benjamin, Living Architecture Lab; Jeffrey Inaba, C-Lab; Jeffrey Johnson, China Lab; Laura Kurgan, Spatial Information Lab; Scott Marble, Fabrication Lab; Moderated by Kazys Varnelis, Network Architecture Lab
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Wednesday, February 11
The Bank of America Tower with Richard A. Cook and Robert F. Fox, Jr, Cook + Fox Architects LLP
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Architecture and Context, lecture by Annabelle Selldorf
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Thursday, February 12
Peter Eisenman: University of Phoenix Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals, a film by Tom Piper, presented by Steven Holl
6:30pm - 9pm @ The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place

In Situ Design: People, History, Place, lecture by George Ranalli
6pm @ Pratt University, Higgins Hall Auditorium

Friday, February 13
Current Work Grafton Architects, lecture with Yvonne Farrell and Shelly McNamara of Grafton Architects
7pm @ The Urban Center, 457 Madison Avenue

Book Launch: "Leven Betts, Pattern Recognition," by Leven Betts Studio
6-8pm @ 66 Fifth Avenue, Kellen Auditorium Lobby

Saturday, February 14
Urban China: Jiang Jun, presentation by the editor-in-chief of Urban China
3pm @ The New Museum, 235 Bowery

Monday, February 16
Material IMMATERIAL, Kengo Kuma and The Work of Kengo Kuma, Botond Bognar
Kengo Kuma exhibition begins, running until March 13
6pm @ Pratt University, Higgins Hall Auditorium

Crisis, debate and Volume Magazine launch with Benjamin Godsill, New Museum; Joseph Grima, Storefront for Art and Architecture; Jeffrey Inaba, Volume; Jeffrey Johnson, C-Lab; Jiang Jun, Urban China
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Tuesday, February 17
The Rebirth of the South Bronx with Majora Carter
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Wednesday, February 18
Interlaced Logic, lecture by Pei Zhu + Tong Wu
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Thursday, February 19
Process: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, with Charles Renfro, Mark Holden, Peter Rosenbaum, and introduction by Reynold Levy
12:30pm @ Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

James Wines lecture
6pm @ City College, Shepherd Hall room 95

Steven Holl: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, a film by Tom Piper, presented by Peter Eisenman
6:30pm - 9pm @ The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place

Slenderness: New York | Hong Kong, super slender New York towers
6:30pm @ Steelcase Showroom, 4 Columbus Circle (@ 58th Street)

Friday, February 20
Hermitage 2014, lecture by Rem Koolhaas
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Situation Room, exhbition opening (running until March 31)
Storefront for Art and Architecture, 97 Kenmare Street

Saturday, February 21
Home Design in New York with Jean Nouvel, Craig Greenberg, James Archer Abbott, moderated by Donald Albrecht
1-5pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Wednesday, February 25
Book Launch: "Digital Modelling for Urban Design", new book by Brian McGrath
6-8pm @ 25 E. 13th Street, 2nd floor: The Glass Corner

New Urbanism for New Yorkers with Robert Yaro and John Norquist
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Thursday, February 26
Lebbeus Woods lecture
6pm @ City College, Shepherd Hall room 95

For more lecture resources, see also:
:: AIA/NY Calendar
:: newyork-architects
:: bustler

Maison & Objet Varios

Magis

Poliform

Poliform

Ralph Lauren Home

Stelton

4UDECOR - Maison & Objet Icono clash

Icono clash - Vicent Grégoire (Nelly Rodi)

A positiva subversão dos códigos, com humor e elegância. A decoração tem o prazer de reviver agitando os ícones do déjà vu. Épocas, estilos, folclores. A decoração questiona a tradição e o património, a fim de dar valor ao que existe. De uma forma lúdica, exercitando a liberdade e a fusão entre o arcaico e o sofisticado, o natural e o artificial, ao perto e ao longe, o meio urbano e o rústico.

Icono clash - Vicent Grégoire (Nelly Rodi)

A positive subversion is mocking the established codes with humor and elegance. The decorative revival takes pleasure in shaking up the icons of deja vu. Eras, styles, folklores. Decor is questioning tradition and heritage in order to give value to what has none and put what has too much back in its place . In a playful way, exercising freedom fuses the archaic and the technical, the natural and the artificial, the nearby and the faraway, the urban and the rustic.

4UDECOR - Maison & Objet Calligaris

Sala / Living room Calligaris

Varios ambientes / various environments

Nova cadeira Wien / New chair Wien

Na Maison & Objet, a Calligaris apresentou um stand fabuloso e apresentou a nova cadeira Wien.


At Maison & Objet, the Calligaris presented a fabulous stand and presented the new chair Wien.

4UDECOR - Maison & Objet Swarovski

A 4UDECOR esteve presente na Maison & Objet, feira de referência internacional. Com um pavilhão dedicado exclusivamente ao Design onde estiveram presentes algumas das inumeras marcas que representamos.

The 4UDECOR was present at the Maison & Objet, international fair of reference. With a hall dedicated to the design which was attended by some of the many brands we represent.

Vasos / Vases

Swarovski - Candeeiro / Lamp

Swarovski - Candeeiro / Lamp

Swarovski - Candeeiro / Lamp

Swarovski - Aparador / Multileg Cabinet Showtime

The Right Balance Between Order And Disorder....

Mr. Brock’s definition of aesthetic beauty made me reflect on how I put together the many pieces of the 'DESIGN PUZZLE,' that I call a beautiful and interesting room.

Horace Wood Brock may be a cutting-edge authority on the economics of uncertainty, but when it comes to art, he’s as traditional as they come.

“Beauty is back,” he said defiantly, discussing his collection, which is now on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “Political correctness, move over.”

His collection includes a 17th-century Flemish cabinet-on-stand veneered with turtle shell, ebony and bone; an extremely rare Louis XIV Boulle longcase clock commissioned for the palace at Versailles; a Louis XVI fall-front desk by Jean-Henri Riesener; a George II japanned chinoiserie tea table; a garniture of floral Qing dynasty porcelain vases with Louis XV bronze mounts; and a Regency medals cabinet-on-stand veneered with precious woods. (His English Regency antiques have been promised to the Boston museum.)



Go here for the rest of the NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/arts/design/30anti.html?_r=1

Mr. Brock’s definition of aesthetic beauty is based on a complex mathematical theory he developed. In the catalog he writes that beauty is present in an object “when the right balance is achieved between order and disorder.”

Go here to see collection:
http://www.curatedobject.us/the_curated_object_/exhibitions_boston/

*you may have to type in the above link and search for 'Splendor And Elegance' ( the name of his exhibit)

( enlarge any picture for more info and a closer look )

Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design

Queens Builds

On the heels of 2007's opening of the administrative/visitor center at Queens Botanical Garden, the borough I call home has a string of high-profile public projects in the works, many under construction. Below are some details.


[Museum of the Moving Image by Thomas Leeser | image source]

One of the borough's cultural gems is the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. An expansion designed by Leeser Architecture will double the museum's facilities, create a new entrance and courtyard, and fuse the architecture "seamlessly with the moving image." The three-story addition at the building's rear will be clad in pale blue aluminum panels.


[Museum of the Moving Image by Thomas Leeser | image source]

Work on the foundations and subsequent steel work began late last year. Neither the architect nor the client's web page indicate an opening date, though I'd guess sometime in 2010.


[Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School by Polshek Partnership | image source]

Across the street from the Museum of the Moving Image is the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School, a new building by Polshek Partnership. The 1,000-student capacity school has a strong presence in the neighborhood, stemming from its scale as much as the articulation of the three main façades. I'm guessing from that since the building is almost complete it will open this fall.


[The Children's Library Discovery Center by 1100 Architect | image source]

A couple buildings for Queens Library are worth noting. The first is The Children's Library Discovery Center in Jamaica by 1100 Architect. The 14,000 sf building includes exhibitions, a "cyber center", story areas resources (aka books), among other things catering to kids and fostering their interest in learning. All are behind a simple, flat box that is punctuated by rectangles of vision glass in apparently random locations.


[The Children's Library Discovery Center by 1100 Architect | image source]

The Discovery Center is scheduled to open in late 2009.


[Kew Garden Hills Library Expansion by WORKac | image source]

Another Queens Library project is the expansion of the Kew Garden Hills Library in Kew Garden Hills by WORKac. I saw the project at a lecture by the firm's lead duo, but unfortunately neither they nor the client have images of the rather exciting design online. Basically the expansion of the corner building occurs at the two street fronts, like wrapping a square with an "L" in plan. This wrapper is clad in a solid, undulating wall of concrete that is lifted at the corners to reveal storefront glazing below, letting light in and allowing views out. The concrete wall is low at the entrance to mark its location and provide a peek of the green roof above. The shallow, V-shaped section also creates clerestories over the existing roof, providing even more light into the open-plan of the library. (I'll post images of the design as they become available.)


[Queens Museum of Art Expansion by Grimshaw Architects | image source]

Lastly are a couple projects in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The expansion of the Queens Museum of Art by Grimshaw Architects will double its size to 100,000 sf. Residence will have to say goodbye to the World's Fair Skating Rink, since the expansion will extend into its area to the south of the existing building.


[Queens Museum of Art Expansion by Grimshaw Architects | image source]

According to the museum, "new entrances on both the east and west sides of the building will welcome visitors into a large skylit lobby. A stunning etched glass panel running most of the height and length of the [west] façade (top image) will make the Museum highly visible to everyone driving along the Grand Central Parkway."


[Queens Theatre in the Park by Caples Jefferson Architects | image source left & right]

The nearby Queens Theatre in the Park opened last year in a renovation/addition Caples Jefferson Architects. The design includes a new cylindrical, glass structure flanking the 1964 World Fair's Theaterama by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, which the Theatre also occupies. Even with a gently curving enclosure capped by a nebula oculus, the new digs have a hard time competing with the adjacent New York State Pavilion also by Johnson and Foster.

4UDECOR - Esteve na Exposição de Ron Arad, Paris

Uma explosão de pura exuberância acolhe os visitantes ao Centro Pompidou do novo espectaculo do trabalho do designer Ron Arad: exuberantes linhas e cores numa fantastica apresentação de Ron Arad desenhado por ele mesmo. Se esta exposição a entusiasma, nada fará.

O grande facto desta exposição é que ela é mais do que apenas uma simples colecção de móveis e objetos exibidos como jóias individuais. Este é um raro exemplo em que a concepção do espetáculo em si é quase tão interessante como os objetos em exibição, com o espaço ocupado pela variação de curvas de elementos arquitetônicos.

Mesmo só os projectos arquitectonicos de Ron Arad - irão ser alvo da abertura de um museo que irá abrir em 2009, em Holon, Israel, por exemplo - serão apresentados através de modelos, filmes e imagens em plasmas. Elementos serão reconstruídos dos seus projectos arquitectonicos, incluindo o saguão e escadaria da Casa da Opera de Tel Aviv (1994), também estão incluídos.

Mas é no seu mobiliário que Arad deixa seu humor e talento através do olhar: o tonto, bouncy espiral pendurado luzes; o relógio maluco que parece um insecto gigante mutante preto projetando agora na parede, os famosos em forma de caracol "Este Mortal Bobina "estante; bulbosa o" Big Easy "em uma variedade de poltronas (duro) materiais; o escultural balançar das chaise longues que são nada mais do que duas alças, e assim por diante. Muitas destas cadeiras, incluindo as chaise longues e as cadeiras de costas direitas de molas que possuem ângulos agudos que parecem sentar-se impossível, mas a exposição comprova essa impressão errada, permitindo que os visitantes se sentem à vontade para experimentarem essa sensação (outra raridade a mostrar num museu).

Ron Arad, nasceu em Israel em 1951, vive e trabalha agora em Londres, é infinitamente inventivo, e ao mesmo tempo ele tem, obviamente, uma tendencia para as formas arredondadas. Ele também está interessado no som: a exposição está cheia de efeitos sonoros, e uma de suas invenções mais divertidas é um sistema estéreo e um conjunto de oradores utilizando cimento e metal enferrujado. Arad executa constantemente experiências com os materiais e as mais recentes tecnologias e nossa necessidade de uma aparencia bonita exterior para esconder o funcionamento interno das coisas é especialmente pertinente no contexto da construção do Centro Pompidou, projectado "de dentro para fora" por Renzo Piano e Richard Rogers, com suas "entranhas" expostas.

Alice Rawsthorn, critica de design do jornal International Herald Tribune, levou o Centro Pompidou à tarefa para a escolha de Arad bem como o tema de uma exposição, uma vez que o seu trabalho está intimamente ralacionado com a estética "numa altura em que o design é dominado por complexos desafios políticos , como resolver a crise ambiental e capacitar os mais pobres 90 por cento da população mundial para quem os designers são tradicionalmente ignorados. "

Esta exposição vai viajar depois para o Museu de Arte Moderna de Nova York (28 julho-19 de outubro de 2009) e posteriormente para o Stedelijk Museum, em Amsterdam (primavera 2010).

Centre Pompidou: Place Georges Pompidou, 75004 Paris. Tel.: 01 44 78 12 33.

Aberto das 11h até às 21h. Encerra às terças-feiras e 1 Maio.

Metro: Rambuteau.

Entrada: € 10 - € 12. Até de 16 Março.

www.centrepompidou.fr/

An explosion of sheer exuberance greets visitors to the Centre Pompidou’s new show of designer Ron Arad’s work: exuberant swooping lines and exuberant colors in an exuberant presentation designed by Arad himself. If this show doesn’t bring a smile to your face, nothing will.

The great thing about this exhibition is that it is more than just a collection of furniture and objects displayed like individual jewels. This is a rare instance in which the design of the show itself is almost as interesting as the objects on display, with the space broken up by the sweeping curves of architectural elements.

Even Arad’s architectural projects – a handsome design museum set to open in 2009 in Holon, Israel, for example – are entertainingly presented through models, films and images on plasma screens. Reconstructed elements of his built projects, including the foyer and staircase for the Tel Aviv Opera House (1994), are also included.

But it is in his furniture that Arad lets his wit and talent shine through: the loopy, bouncy spiral hanging lamps; the crazy clock that looks like a giant mutant black insect projecting the time on the wall; the famous snail-shaped “This Mortal Coil” bookcase; the bulbous “Big Easy” armchairs in a variety of (hard) materials; the sculptural rocking chaises longues that are nothing more than two loops; and so on and so on. Many of his chairs, including the chaises longues and straight-backed chairs on springs that lean forward at acute angles, look impossible to sit on, but the exhibition proves that impression wrong by allowing visitors to actually sit in some of them (another rarity in a museum show).

Arad, who was born in Israel in 1951 and now lives and works in London, is endlessly inventive, and while he obviously has a penchant for rounded, amorphous forms, he does not limit himself slavishly to them. He is also interested in sound: the exhibition is filled with sound effects, and one of his more amusing inventions is a stereo system and speakers set inside crumbling concrete cases with rusty metal supports, a nice comment on our obsession with high-tech materials (Arad himself constantly experiments with them and with the latest technologies) and our need for handsome exteriors to hide the inner workings of things – especially pertinent in the context of the Centre Pompidou’s building, designed “inside-out” by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, with its innards exposed.

Alice Rawsthorn, the design critic for the International Herald Tribune, has taken the Centre Pompidou to task for its choice of Arad as the subject of an exhibition, because his work is concerned with aesthetics “at a time when design is dominated by complex political challenges, like defusing the environmental crisis and empowering the poorest 90 percent of the global population whom designers have traditionally ignored.”

This show will travel to the Museum of Modern Art in New York (July 28-October 19, 2009) and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (spring 2010).

Centre Pompidou: Place Georges Pompidou, 75004 Paris. Tel.: 01 44 78 12 33. Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Closed Tuesday and May 1. Métro: Rambuteau. Admission: €10-€12. Through March 16. www.centrepompidou.fr/

PS1 Blow Up

One of the finalists in this year's PS1 Young Architects Program (won by MOS in an announcement earlier today) is Brooklyn's Bade Stageberg Cox (BSC Architecture) and their Summer Blow Up entry.


[image by BSC Architecture | image source]

The architects "call for a renewed excitement about the joys of lightness, precision and efficiency," echoing Bucky Fuller's sentiment with "an absolute economy of physical material." Seven interconnected, inflatable torus shapes overhead make up the design, with wading pools below echoing the circular shapes. Overlapping and set at varying heights, the "clouds" allow for the requisite shade asked for by PS1.


[image by BSC Architecture | image source]

One of the interesting aspects of BSC's design is how the "entire weight of Blow Up is less than 2,000lbs and can fit in the back of a pickup truck." The idea of lightness extends to the transportation of building materials, something typically overlooked when ideas of sustainable design are considered. Even the energy required to keep the clouds inflated (a la the snowmen that take over front yards at Christmas time) would have came been bought from upstate wind farms. Less than ideal, but considerate nevertheless.


[image by BSC Architecture | image source]

Probably the most appealing aspect of the design, though, is that something so light (fabric and air) can have so much visual weight. Compared to the winning design, this one appears more anchored and rooted than MOS's design which will be executed in aluminum and thatch. Bucky would've been proud.

I will miss domino

: : just read the sad news on d*sponge that domino is closing down. it was my favorite interior design magazine, and the only one I subscribed to. is this yet another sign of our economy going downhill or is it a sign of the digital times where newspapers, books and magazines all struggle to stay alive? I can't imagine a world without books, newspapers and magazines!

every now and then, more and more frequently now, am I reminded of our terrible economy. I try constantly to distract myself from all the gloomy news, and pretend like things are the same. but then I hear of a friend who's lost her job, or see a favorite store that's closed down.....how much worse will it get before it gets better?

Dream Modern Kitchen Design and Pictures

I just came across my dream modern kitchen design that has most of the elements that I want should I be able to build in the future. The first thing that catches my eye in the pictures is the wine cellar storage underneath the island. I love the look it creates in the kitchen. If you are a wine fan, then this may be a nice touch. I will admit that there is quite a bit of storage so perhaps a scaled down version would be appropriate. One idea would be to put an ice maker or beverage cooler in one of the sections there. To the left of the wonderful Thermador refrigerator is a small station for a computer and cookbooks. What a nice idea! How often are you waiting for something to cook and have to stand in the kitchen? Here you can multi-task while spending your time there. You can also store all your recipes electronically which is a nice feature.

I do love the size of the kitchen island and the fact that there is a sink there. It would be easy to have barstools or furniture brought up on one side of the island for kids or guests. The stove and oven are beautiful. I love the size of this appliance and the amount of cook space it provides. I am not so sure about the cabinet color. I would maybe opt for a different color of kitchen cabinets. The sink along the right counter looks great with the window. I do like where the dishwasher is tucked into the space to the right of the sink. My favorite elements of this dream modern kitchen design are the wine storage, computer workstation, appliances, and size of the kitchen island. Pictures:

great luxury and stylish minimalist kitchen

minimalist Living Room designs

minimalist house

kitchen islands

black kitchens

Source: http://temi.repubblica.it/casa / via / http://freshome.com