Object(ion) of the Week

In the various descriptions of Gordon Brown's conference speech one small detail stuck out for me. Apparently Gordon had a full sized replica of the conference podium set up in his hotel room to practice with. Tony Blair always had one too, although in his case you can imagine it wasn't just at conference time.

It's a tragic image though, Gordon standing impassioned in his pyjamas on his fake podium, frantically rehearsing his big ideas of clamping down on binge drinking and incarcerating fallen women to an audience of three snoozing aides.

It raises some interesting questions too. Is it exactly the same as the real one or is it a mock up made from cardboard and sellotape? Does he bring it with him? And who designed it? This is an object which, along with the rest of the conference interior, carries a significant amount of symbolic weight. And yet they are rarely discussed in design terms.

Make no mistake the podium itself is a fucking ugly object, like a huge plastic mushroom with an unpleasant foreskin fold halfway down its length. The whole thing is hydraulic too so the top half actually lowers down at the end of the speech in an unfortunate display of political detumescence.

It's difficult to know where the styling is coming from. There is a touch of the X-Box display stand about it and, obviously, a lot of the pulpit, both of which are probably deliberate. Political symbolism in this country is generally pretty clunky and gauche though from the Conservative's Caran d'Ache oak tree to the Liberal Democrats golden Phoenix rising from the ashes.

At the party conferences such insipid bits of graphic branding are combined with Spearmint Rhino lighting and a love of Union Jack emblazoned plasma screens. It makes for a queasy spectacle, a mix of faux self-effacement, orgiastic self worship and jingoistic mania. I'm not sure it would be preferable if it was well designed but - the vacuous populism of the content aside - its difficult to imagine a more alienating spectacle than the modern party conference.

Kjoo Jewelry

This is some of the most interesting textile jewelry I've seen in a long time. Talk about art!!!

Luxury Interior Design Curve Kitchen

Luxury interior design curve kitchen

~ Apron Collection ~

Hello sweet friends! It's been a busy month, but then again, when isn't it ? My parents are up for a visit this week , but I had to pop in with a quick post and show you some new fabulous finds! I'm always looking to expand my little Apron collection and after seeing one that Kathy ( from Kathy's Cottage ) had made, I emailed her and asked if she had more, the one below is so beautifully made by her and the colors could not have been more perfect for my kitchen. Plus it has Rick Rac, and that just makes me smile!! Thanks so much Kathy, I love it!! You can head over to her gorgeous Etsy shop "Hens in Daisies" and see all the other beauties she makes too!

I also saw another from Tara's Vintage Kitchen, and caved in again, lol.... The yellow Swiss dot reminded me so much of one my Mom had, so I clicked "buy now" fast before it was gone ... Isn't it so pretty too?!

And now it looks right at home in my kitchen too, Thanks Tara! Your Etsy shop is wonderful also!

As I was going through Tara's shop I spotted a sweet little yellow creamer and added it to my shopping bag, how cute! I just adore yellow, it's so vintage!

I thought it looked right at home in my new hutch and was meant to be :) She also added the sweet little hankie , I love the colors in it and the vintage look it had too! Thank you Tara!

So now my collection has 2 more pretties! Thank you ladies!

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful fall season!!..... I'm just starting my Autumnal decorating now, so hopefully I'll be ready to post pics this coming week!

Have a fabulous and blessed week everyone!

Hugs,

~ Cynthia ~

Wood Napkin Rings

These wooden napkin rings have a great look and an even better price tag. They are on sale at Virve. Get them while you can.

I Wouldn't Give A Shit If Your Bicycle's In Bits

Posted here as a sort of explanation for the title of the last post but mainly because I always really loved Suede. Not quite as much as my wife, who is still a member of the fan club, and not enough to tolerate Brett's dreadful solo output, but enough to jump up and down behind Simon Price's mohawk a half dozen times or so.....

Incidentally, Brett attended the same architecture school as I did although not at the same time. Remarkably, he's actually older than me. He was known then for wearing a bright yellow suit accessorised - when he was in the college workshop - with a pair of welding goggles.

I found Suede most appealing when at their most preposterous, circa either the camp bottom waggling hi-jinks of The Drowners or the stylised trashy outsider silliness of Coming Up, an almost, but not quite, unforgivably cliche-ridden album.

To The Birds also contains one of the best references to cycling in pop, as the title of this post testifies. It's not as good as Morrissey's magisterial and heart breaking line "When you cycled by, here began all my dreams" from Back To The Old House, but, then again, what is?

To The Birds

(Ron Onions' Pigeon Loft, Albany)

I've always loved allotments and, in particular, the little sheds that are built on them. These are artful assemblages of as-found building components; old doors, windows and timber panels lashed together to make hybridised, miniature houses.


(Joe Bridges's Racing Loft, Timsbury, UK)

The same strain of home made ad-hocism exists in the world of the pigeon loft only with the added interest of the obsessive pigeon fancier thrown in. The photographs accompanying this post are taken from here - a South Western Australian pigeon fancier's (who knew?) website, cataloguing lofts from around the world.


(Graham Britton's Garden Loft, Newborough, UK.)

They are a lovely collection, a group of miniature buildings ranging from the almost Miesian simplicity of the one at the top of this post (owned by the fabulously named Ron Onions) through Mittel European style chalets to the (slightly decrepit) LA poolhouse style loft below.


(Fred Thompson's Poolside Loft, Western Aust.)

There is a strong sense that the lofts are far more expansive and luxurious than required. They are clearly an expression of the owners obsessive love of racing pigeons and the dedication it takes to train them. In the world of the pigeon fancier the birds are the 'talent' and these lofts are their Bel Air mansions. They're a far cry from the terrace rooftop lofts of the Northern England stereotype anyway, and the term loft is a bit of a misnomer. These are houses in their own right.


(Advanced Pigeon Loft diagram, Via)

The site also contains detail of each fancier's dietary and training regime should you be interested. Each one has a personal profile offering an insight into a remarkable world of obsessive feeding patterns and slightly obscene sounding terminology ("widowhood cocks"). Like most hobbies it is a sort of parallel universe, one where humans build houses for birds to live in that are quite probably a lot nicer than their own.

(Joe Baker's Racing Loft, Hereford, UK)

North of Northwest Lovejoy

The newest "it" neighborhood in Portland is NoLo. That stands for North of Lovejoy. It runs from north of lovejoy to the river and west to 20th. It's the Pearl, but across I-405 to 20th. It's the only place left to build. Mix writes in the October issue the area "was considered the next big thing. Then the bottom dropped out. Businesses suffered from a lack of foot traffic..."

But there are some interesting things happening. The Pearl District Business Alliance (PDBA) has formed a group that will bring the merchants and real estate owners together to promote the area using all their social networking skills.

Mix says there are new restaurants going in. There's Wine Unwind that took over the space vacated by Vinideus at 1019 NW 11th. "Drop by on weekend evenings, when bluegrass and jazz combos offer live music."

There's Via Delizia, 1105 NW Marshall - gelato, neighborhoodcoffee shop and lunch spot - at night illuminated lanterns make you feel as if you are in Sienna.

MetroVino, a new bistro and wine bar, opened this year in the D.F. space at 1139 NW 11th.

Little Green Grocer is at 1101 NW Northrup, on the streetcar line. "Eat Well, Drink Well, Be Well" is the motto on the window.

Then there's Bridge Port Brewpub &Bakery, 1313 NW Marshall. The "transformation from warehouse to upscale neighborhood" has happened at the brewpub in a remodeling that save s the best of the old. It's where we meet.

You will see more more happening in the NoLo. Stay tuned and come visit.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
We love it in NoLo across from the new Magnum Opus, arriving in late October.

More on Plant VOCs

A follow-up email from Susan McCoy at Garden Media Group offered some follow-up information on the my previous post related to Plants and VOCs (Sept. 6, 2009). My take on it was at least on the right track, unlike some others - but I figure the press release (and upcoming report) is a good opportunity to get some background from the actual scientific experts :



Here's the text from the letter from September 22nd, 2009:

"To Whom It May Concern,
There have been a number of recent discussions resulting from information taken out of context from an American Society of Horticultural Science press release concerning research conducted on plant volatiles in our laboratory at the University of Georgia.

The release indicated that indoor plants have been found to release volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Unfortunately the results were subsequently misrepresented on an internet site, giving the impression that it is undesirable to have plants in our homes and offices.

This could not be further from the truth. All living things give off VOCs; one of the simplest is
CO2 that we emit when breathing. Therefore, solely equating VOCs with “harmful” is totally inaccurate. The fragrance of a rose or the aroma of apple pie are each made up of volatile organic compounds.

The assumption that has incorrectly been made is that all VOCs are equal and are harmful.
Mankind has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years breathing VOCs from plants, nearly all of which are harmless at the concentrations encountered in nature. Unfortunately over the last 150 years there has been a logarithmic increase in the number of synthetic chemicals from other sources to which we are now exposed. A number of these are extremely harmful and in some cases, lethal. These undesirable volatiles represent a serious health problem that is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths per year and 2.7% of the global burden of disease (WHO, 2002).

Critical questions with regard to VOCs include: What chemicals and what are their
concentrations? In the website account, much was made of a minute amount of volatiles derived from pesticides applied to the plants. In reality, these pesticide-derived volatiles emitted from the Peace lily represented less that four hundredth of one percent (0.038%) of the volatiles given off by the plant. Finding minute amounts of chemicals indicates the extremely high level of sensitivity of the analytical techniques but does not imply a potentially harmful situation.

Our research has shown that while plants give-off a small amount of harmless VOCs, they also
remove significant amounts of toxic VOCs from the air. The net effect is overwhelmingly positive. Plants in homes and offices are not only aesthetically pleasing, they can also increase the quality of the air we breathe and thereby the health of the inhabitants. As we continue to research and learn more about the potential of plants to remove harmful volatile compounds we should generate knowledge that will enhance our ability to create exceptionally healthy indoor environments.

Sincerely,
Stanley J. Kays, Professor
University of Georgia

More info and contact for Professor Kays can be found here and I will try to get my hands on the report and see if there are any nuggets of info out there. And thanks Susan for the heads up on this!

FLYP Media - High Line

A reader pointed me to a new online magazine entitled 'FLYP' which takes the idea of new media to a level. that isn't just an electronic display of the content but a more interactive idea of content. A recent article about Diller, Scofidio + Renfro and their work with Field Operations on the High Line.


:: image via FLYP

McDs as Density Indicator

It's interesting to make connections between mapping and healthy communities. In this case it's not just health in terms of people (such as this correlation between parks and obesity) - but factoring in local business, access to fresh/healthy food, and even the idea of non-drive through oriented business. The always fantastic Strange Maps offers a slice of this view, using a map of 'The McFarthest Place' in the contiguous United States. This map case a look at geographical distribution of McDonalds of which there are 13,000 or so in the US.


:: image via Strange Maps

From Strange Maps: "This map is the brainchild of Stephen Von Worley, who got to thinking about the strip malls sprawling out along I-5 in California’s ever less rural Central Valley: “Just how far can you get from generic convenience? And how would you figure that out?” His yardstick for that thought experiment would be the ubiquitous Golden Arches of McDonald’s – still the world’s largest hamburger chain, and to cite Von Worley, the “inaugural megacorporate colonizer of small towns nationwide.” That’s not the whole story: like other convenience providers aimed at the motorised consumer such as gas stations and motels, McDonald’ses have a notable tendency to occur on highways and, specifically, to cluster at their crossroads."

Having grown up in North Dakota, where a 3-4 hour one-way drive isn't uncommon for a quick 'day trip' it's not a surprise that this McFarthest Place comes from that general vicinity of the upper Great Plains - in this case South Dakota amidst the badlands. The exact coordinates are on the post (N 45.45955 W 101.91356) leaving a 145 mile drive to McDonalds (which probably sounds pretty good if stranded in the desolation of the Badlands for a week or so). I've roughly shown this on the map below - and it's also interesting to see how it is equidistant the parallel freeways.

:: image via Google Earth (additional info added by L+U)

The lack of people, coupled with large land area, leads to a specific indication of the density of the US - obviously as the marketing muscle of McDonalds to interject themselves in close proximity to population centers. A quick glance at the map will obviously lead you to some of the less dense areas of the country: More: "This map moreover demonstrates that the spread of McD’s closely mirrors the population density of the Lower 48, the most notable overall feature of which is the sudden transition, along the Mississippi, of a relatively densely populated eastern half to a markedly less populated western half of the country. Some notable ‘dark spots’ in McDensity east of the Mississippi are the interior of Maine, the Adirondack region of New York state, a large part of West Virginia, and the Everglades area of southern Florida."

It may be the best bet if you want to get away from it all - to get as far away from the McDonalds. I actually remember seeing something like this for Wal-Mart as well - which probably has a totally different set of socio-economic markers on location.

Reinventing Cities Winners

The finalists for the Reinventing Cities competition have been announced. This open ideas competition was aimed at reinvisioning 'new urban infrastructures'. It's hard to tell too much about the entries themselves w/o any appreciable explanatory text to accompany them, but some views of the graphics. I hope we can get more detail about the entries and winners to see what is behind the graphics.

1: take smoke, makes water - 100m2



2: dynamic transformation in border condition - pyo arquitectos



3: living the outsite - rita topa



4: performative landscapes - david newton



5: infrastructural armature - fletcher studio



In related news, the entry by myself and Brett Milligan '(re)volutionary infrastructures: urban ecotones' (entry #2804) was one of the 9 additional selected projects that were included but didn't officially place. As there were over 200 entries, it's a great honor to be included in this group. Look for some more info as these get collected in publications... for instance an upcoming issue of future architecture magazine. More soon.

Modern Loft Bedroom Interior Design

Modern loft cascade bedroom interior design, brown color.

Contemporary loft bedroom interior design, red theme.

Modern loft interior design bedroom, fresh yellow.

Modern Kitchen

After spending months designing a new modern bathroom, construction is underway. Now it's time to think about a new kitchen and this is where I'm starting. Love the sleek look and the combination of wood, steel white.

50 Beautiful fish aquarium designs

Here is some very beautiful fish aquarium designs for inspiration. Hope all fish lovers will like it @ home.