Entries Tagged 'eye-candy' ↓

In 1924, Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to create an “objective” for short automobile trips from Baltimore or Washington DC. Gordon Strong, a wealthy Chicago businessman, had purchased Sugarloaf Mountain and surrounding land south of Frederick, MD with the idea of creating a destination at the top of the mountain, reachable only by car. The plans and models for the Gordon Strong Automobile Objective, though never built, show the early appearance of the spiral design which 30 years later would be realized in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, one of Wright’s most celebrated masterpieces. Models and sketches of this work are part of the the Guggenheim’s 50th anniversary celebration and exhibit of Wright’s contributions to architecture.

Not having been to the exhibition yet, I can’t say whether there is a discussion of the effects of Wright’s love of the car as well as his love of open spaces and distaste for crowded cities. How much did he influence the growth of suburban sprawl and the spiraling number of ills it has caused?

(via NYT Wheels Blog and www.loc.gov)

“”Hammock” by Daniel Arsham
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami/Paris

The Moment Blog – NYTimes.com

Sander stands about 21″ high at the shoulder. He went out, posed for the photo, then ran back inside as fast as he could.

The patio table I forgot to put inside for the winter.

I think the birds are going to need this filled.

We were just at the new Museum of Modern Art during a post-New Year’s visit to NYC, and—as is mandatory—my wife forced us to spend what seemed like most of our visit in the Museum Shop. Because the MoMA focuses on design as much as it does art, their shop is much more interesting than the usual museum shop. Unlike most other museum stores, Instead of containing nothing but books with images from the collection, postcards with images from the collection, t-shirts with images from the collection, mousepads with images from the collection, neckties with images from the collection… the MoMA shop has for sale many of the actual items in its design collection. There’s serving bowls, clocks, lamps, electronics, games, furniture… and of course books, postcards, posters, etc. But… the prices! Maybe museums are used to paying those prices, but I’m just a poor corporate drone! (Okay, okay, I’m exaggerating just a little: most of my glassware was stolen from bars, so I’m not really sure if US$26 is a lot of money for a pair of tumblers.)

Anyway, in the spirit of DIY which seems to be all the rage on the web these days (honestly, do you think BoingBoing or Engadget can go more than a day or two without linking to Make?) I came across Thwart Design‘s Design Without Reach site with instructions for making your very own MoMA-worthy reproductions. I mean, can you tell the difference between the US$265 Nelson clock from the MoMA store and this replica made from Tootsie Pop lollipops* and the bottom of a salt container? Didn’t think so! Museum-worthy design, here I come!

*Tootsie Pop clocks not recommended for humid climates.

Technorati Tags: moma, museum, reproductions, nelsonclock, thwartdesign

So, I didn’t watch the first season when it was first broadcast… does that make me a bad person? I’ve watched it pretty damned regularly since then, enjoying the smart writing, the sometimes-smart acting, and — I confess — especially the lesbian storylines. (Hey, if I can’t have Willow, I’m glad she’s not shacking up with any other guy!) And… I even made it through the dismal 6th season.

The final ep was an excellent sendoff… a dense, well-written and -plotted episode, with some terrific, non-gratuitous twists. When it was over, I was amazed that only an hour had gone by — and I mean that in a good way! So, now all the academics can get to work on their final theses and conferences about the show, since it is an officially “closed” text.

Me, I’m waiting for next fall, when my friend Randall says there’s gonna be a spinoff with Dawn and Willow, which, he claims, is going to be called “The Whiner, The Witch and Their Wardrobes.”

After September 11, many experts have claimed that we may be at the end of the age of skyscrapers. I don’t think that the illustrators at SkyscraperPage.com would agree.

They have a terrific community of artists creating lovingly detailed and accurate drawings of the world’s skyscrapers. You can search for them by location, architect, year. They’ve even got categories for buildings that have been proposed but not yet built.

Their very active forum contains discussions about how the drawings are created, glimpses of drawings in progress as well as much discussion about urban issues. There are also a huge number of pro and amateur photos of skscrapers.

One of the coolest features is the forum members’ access to architect’s renderings of proposed buildings. I love the style of these drawings and the cleanliness of the cities they depict.

Just in case the 4440 illustrated structures isn’t enough skyscrapers for you, check out Skyscrapers.com. It’s a news and database site for skyscrapers and real estate worldwide. The database is very deep and requires many clicks to get just about anywhere, but once you get to a building page, the info is very complete.