This gorgeous crystalline structure is the new home of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. Designed by Krueck + Sexton Architects, the building’s layout is focused around the use of natural light, and its contemporary design sets it apart from the surrounding 19th Century masonry buildings. A beautiful multifaceted facade symbolizes the institute’s mission and logo, which features a flame accompanied by the phrase yehi, which means “let there be light”. (more…)...
007 isn't generally known for being friendly to anything except the ladies. So being friendly to the Earth certainly hasn't ever mattered. The question is, now that green-tech is awesome, and green-style is sexy, what's a Bond to do? Quantum of Solace seems to take two stances on the issue. First, green chic is lame. The lead villain of the movie (who shares my last name, unfortunately) is beyond greenwashing. His energy company has been pretending to buy up ecologically sensitive areas, but really he's trying to control the world's water. Sounds like a page out of T. Boone's playbook...
Gmail released its new set of graphical 'themes' today (access them by going to the Themes tab under Settings -- it might take a day or two to appear on everyone's account). I don't know, I think maybe I'm too jaded to have a lot of fun changing background colors. The old thrill (and I mean, at this point, 20 years old) of seeing a close-up photo of pebbles, waves or outer space appear magically on the screen, is mostly gone for me. But perhaps by the same token, I was tickled to see the 'terminal' theme, a nod to...
A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice has delivered another defeat to a developer's long-delayed plan to turn a century-old school in the East Village into a massive dormitory. You may recall the heated controversy surrounding developer Gregg Singer's plans to build a 19-story university dorm where a five-story school on East 9th Street stands—the school, finished in 1906 and abandoned by the Department of Education in the '70s, had been revived as the vibrant Charas community arts center. There was enormous protest when Singer bought the building for $3.15 million and evicted Charas in December 2001, and his plans for the...
Frequent passerby in the neighborhood of Santa Margarita, Spain may find themselves a bit lost when they can’t seem to find the white wall they just passed by. Appearing at first as a simple sheet of folded paper, this beautiful white-walled building features a facade of panels that open in brilliant pops of color. Designed by Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos, “Ocho casas inscritas y tres patios” is a sustainably constructed social housing complex with a facade that changes according to the wishes of its inhabitants! (more…)...
It's my pleasure to announce the launch of Google SketchUp 7. If you've been putting off getting familiar with Google Earth's 3D modeling "other half", now's the time to do something about it. After all, nothing makes a nicer holiday gift for your spouse than a 3D model of your dwelling or dream dwelling. Well, almost nothing.So what's new in SketchUp 7? Lots of stuff, but here are some of the highlights I think you'll find most interesting (take a look at the SketchUp website for a complete rundown).Some of the improvements we made to SketchUp 7 are especially useful for beginners. For example:Edges now...
Restored and remodeled by the Spanish modernist architect Antoni Gaudi in the years 1905–1907, Casa Batllo is now one the most overlooked buildings by the tourists who visit Barcelona.Although Casa Batllo is a museum now, Gaudi designed it for for a wealthy Barcelona Aristocrat.The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality.Casa Batllo’s roof has been compared to a reptilian creature, the backbone of a gigantic dinosaur, the dragon killed by St. George (Sant Jordi being the patron saint of Catalan).It seems that the goal of...
Frequent onlookers moving through the neighbourhood of Santamargarita may find themselves wondering if they are a bit lost and can’t seem to find that white wall which they passed by. In reality, that white wall is the facade for one of the simplest and most effective pieces or architectural design for social housing that we have seen. The project “Ocho casas inscritas y tres patios” is a multi-unit apartment block that has a facade that changes according to the mood of its inhabitants! (more…)...
Some readers think my continuing attempt to expose all the lies and flim-flam and bizarre behavior of Sarah Palin is now moot. She's history - they argue. Move on. I think she probably is history. Even Bill Kristol and his minions in the McCain-Palin campaign may not be able to resuscitate her political viability now. But even if she is history, she is history that matters. Let's be real in a way the national media seems incapable of: this person should never have been placed on a national ticket in a mature democracy. She was incapable of running a...
Google Earth has rolled out a neat new feature that lets you explore Ancient Rome in 3D. The aptly named Ancient Rome 3D, announced this morning, lets you zoom around the city as it stood in 320 AD. You can get inside numerous ancient structures such as the Colosseum to see up-close detail of their interiors, and pop-up bubbles give you historical insight into what you’re viewing. In all, Ancient Rome 3D has 6,700 detailed buildings. “Users can visit the Roman Forum, stand in the centre of the Colosseum, trace the footsteps of the gladiators in the Ludus Magnus, stand...
Even though Dubai's hunger for increasingly elaborate architectural designs is starting to border on the absurd, I still believe that pushing the envelope of design is ultimately a good thing. I mean, even Kazakhstan is reaping the rewards. Along these lines, architect Jean Nouvel created a mechanical facade in Paris 20 years ago that has inspired many followers since. OObject has compiled a list of 12 of the best examples of these moving facades—many of which are hard to take your eyes off of. [OObject]...
Throughout this election, self-interested vendors of neophilia have touted tech's ability to transform old-school politics. In reality, it has put a new facade on an old building: touchscreen vote analyses and Twitter quotations are just new ways of presenting exit polls and man-on-the-street interviews Barack Obama's heralded social-networking tools? Merely an update of the ward-boss operations of old. CNN's "virtual Capitol" on election night was the ludicrous culmination of this trend. When Wolf Blitzer thanked a holographic correspondent — "Jessica, you're a terrific hologram, thank you so much" — I realized that tech is not transforming the political process; it...
Gary Vaynerchuk has another brilliant video on his website called Giving a Presentation vs. Working the Room. In this video Gary talks about brands using social media in terms of giving a presentation versus working the room. When you are giving a presentation you are speaking to a group of people. When you are working the room (as many networking junkies know) you are getting involved in the group, in the community. There is another facet of working the room and giving a presentation in social media: authenticity. Authenticity When you are working a room at a networking event you...
Click to play Urban Screen are a creative collective based in Bremen, Germany. They work with interactive installations and performances using facades and architecture as their stage (or screen if you will). The above video shows their approach towards involving architecture. The group usually builds their artworks for a specific building, so they can customize their projections and staging to the given conditions and play with it. The first step is to exactly measure the outside of the building along with all windows, billboards or any other appliances. Then the group builds an exact replica of the facade as...
There is no escape from the advertising recession. Not even for hotshot TV advertising startup Spot Runner. Despite having raised more than $111 million, half of that as recently as last May, the LA-based company may be in for a major round of layoffs next week following the election (and the associated last-minute media blitz). As many as 25 percent of its more than 300 employees may find themselves without a job come next Thursday. While the exact number has not yet been determined, I have been able to confirm that the company is currently going through a cost-reduction...
