(incli)NATION

Top 10 Architects who are not Architects

2008-08-18T15:14:41-07:00

Got this email this morning; 'Arthur Erickson...Canada's most famous architect and the first to put Canadian architecture on the world map.' is no longer allowed to call himself an architect because he will not take the 18 required hours of continuing ed. every year to certify him as such. Hilarious, if it wasn't so absurd and it made me think of all the influential 'architects' in modern history who had no formal architectural training. Here is my first-pass at a top ten list. I'm sure I missed many more so shout-out your favorite non-architects and we'll get a top 100 list going...

1. Tadao Ando, Japan

2. Charles Eames, United States

3. Buckminster Fuller, United States

4. Carlo Scarpa, Italy

5. Luis Barragan, Mexico

6. Bruce Goff, United States

7. Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Great Brittan

8. William Morris, Great Brittan

9. Gerrit Th. Rietveld, The Netherlands

10. Mary Jane Colter, United States

Of course, this list could go the other way too, as in the 'Top 10 Architects who became Something Else...' Beginning with Sergei M. Eisenstein and moving on from there...

The Bill Nye Interview at TreeHugger

2008-08-11T16:19:17-07:00

When we lived in Hollywood, I used to see the willowy Science Guy walking the Topanga Canyon trail with friends and dog in tow, so I feel a particular affinity, however unfounded, for Bill (we're that close) one of my childhood heroes.

If you feel the same, be sure to hit the interview over at TH.

From the interview:

TH: And maybe you can give us one great eco-experiment or investigation that you can suggest our readers try at home to better understand environmental issues?

BN: You know, I did some research into what were the most heavily traded commodities in the world. The first, of course, is oil… But the second is coffee, which surprised me. It’s not something you need, like wheat or rice, but something you can choose to buy… So I’d ask you to keep a running record of how much you spend on coffee and bottled water for a week or even a month, and compare them. It’s amazing what you’ll find… And if you can convince people to change some really basic habits you can really change the world… Just think of the enormous impact coffee consumption has on the planet.

read the rest after the jump...

"Love of bustle is not industry"

2008-08-07T13:00:05-07:00

—Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger) (c. 4 BC - 65 AD)

Tom Kundig's 'Delta Shelter'

2008-08-06T07:40:00-07:00

Tom Kundig has always been one of my favorite local architects. I mean, what's not to love; a melange of rural sensibilities, Modern aspirations and Postmodern mash-ups. And while I've never really understood the argument placing his practice within the Modern movement, C. Mudede makes an interesting case for it in this brief article from The Stranger. Hopefully we will get a fully fleshed-out argument in the future...

From The Stranger:

"The other modernism, the sort Kundig represents, retains the minimalism of zero-degree architecture, but it does not banish the processes of aging and physical change. In Kundig's work, materials are not only exposed to time but time itself becomes a material. It is for this reason that his homes already have in them the majesty of their movement through time. "Buildings outlive people, you have to design with this in mind," Kundig points out. Buildings, like people, are not permanent; they have life spans, they are born, grow old, decline, and crumble."

To my thinking, Mudede doesn't make a convincing case, but I'm up for more. Regardless, it's always great to see Kundig's work getting the attention it deserves. He's a Northwest treasure.

Read the rest after the jump...

Philippe Stark's Rooftop Windmill is Beautiful, of course

2008-08-05T12:17:46-07:00

Yes, he's a pain in the a**, but at least he's starting to walk the 'green' talk. Have a look at this rooftop wind turbine for residential use. If he can pull it off, even half of it, it will be his best work to-date:

From IHT:

"Take Starck's claim to have "invented a concept called Democratic Design," which, he says, gives everyone high quality products at affordable prices. Sounds great, but didn't the modern movement try to do that for most of the 20th century? And how can he claim to have "won the battle" by designing "a chair that sells for less than €100," or $157, when that's still too expensive for most people? Let alone the 90 percent of the world's population who are too poor to afford the basics? What has Democratic Design done for them? "Oh please, I'm not God," pleads Starck. "I'm just a designer, and I'm doing my best.""

read the rest after the jump...

"A goal without a plan is just a wish"

2008-07-18T09:59:09-07:00

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery French writer (1900 - 1944)

Glow, All Night Art-mania on Santa Monica Pier

2008-07-17T10:04:31-07:00

So you couldn't make Coachella because you got the flu. You couldn't use your comped tickets to WMC because of a business trip to Birmingham. And you completely flaked on SXSW. Well now is your chance to make up for it: Glow, this weekend on Santa Monica Pier...

Here are some highlights via Thrillist:

Primal Source: Surreal images projected on this beach-based 40-foot wall of mist'll move based on the sounds of voices around the installation, allowing you to see what "Dude, that's totally a 40-foot wall of mist!" looks like.

The Amazing Mental Scope: Get hooked up with an EEG, then climb on the ferris wheel, and your brainwaves will be displayed via flashing lights on a cylindrical LED display. Onlookers will enjoy the soft glow of your Pleasure Center as you enjoy top-of-the-wheel "special alone time".

Poetry Boat: Use the provided phone to call the three poets on this off-shore boat, and they'll compose and read back to you on-the-spot custom poetry. Why are they out on a boat? Because that's where they put people with leprosy.

All the while, there'll be a kickin' soundtrack from Djs like KCRW's Garth Trinidad and Postal Service member Jimmy Tamborello, aka Dntel -- himself so accustomed to late-night shenanigans he once took his own E.

Check out all the craziness at GLOW

Billy May's Torn Lighting Concept

2008-07-16T10:37:24-07:00

Some great work here by Billy May. Taking LEDs he installs them underneath sculptural assets fixed to the wall board and designed to look as though the wall board is peeling, waving or similarly unexpected feats. I particularly like it when he uses the corners as 'seams'. It gives the effect that the walls are made of fabric, making the space feel much lighter and open even though not a single inch has been added to the space.

Nice work

Dream Holiday: Bucky Fuller, Chris Burden and David Byrne

2008-06-14T00:53:40-07:00

If I were not going to be floating in my father's Arizona pool week after next, here is a list of the things I would be seeing on my [imaginary] trip to NYC. [not that I in any way take for granted my father's generosity...]

Erector Set Skyscraper at Rockefeller Center Is Adult Fantasy: ...a sweet, old-fashioned tribute to boyhood optimism...Chris Burden's "What My Dad Gave Me"... [images]- Bloomberg News

Dymaxion Man: The visions of Buckminster Fuller: By staging the retrospective, the Whitney raises—or, really, one should say, re-raises—the question of Fuller’s relevance. Was he an important cultural figure because he produced inventions of practical value or because he didn’t?- New Yorker

and of course...

[David] Byrne’s new installation produced by Creative Time, “Playing The Building,” is located downtown in the Battery Maritime Building, which was built in 1909, closed in 1938 and hasn’t been open to the public for 50 years.

Sugar Cube City: Floating New Orleans by Kim & Stayner

2008-06-03T10:07:51-07:00

It's pouring rain here today which lends poignancy to this project by Kiduck Kim and Christian Stayner of Harvard's GSD. Utopian in the best sense of the word, the project serves to highlight the reasons it could not work, rather than the reasons it could; class, capitol, private property, and common sense.

What a wonderful world it would be if we could rise above these limitations and enter a new era of urban development, a world of sweet sugar cubes floating without malice in a sea of good will. Kudos to Kim and Stayner for imagining such a future.

From Inhabitat:

It’s been almost three years since New Orleans weathered Katrina’s wrath, and debate still rages over plans to reconstruct the sunken city. Myriad options have surfaced ranging from rebuilding the levees to designing storm resistant structures to not rebuilding at all. Here’s an approach that endeavors to ride the river rather than stem it’s course. Harvard Graduate School of Design students Kiduck Kim and Christian Stayner have conceived of a Floating City that will “rise safely in an Archimedean liquid landscape.”

(more…)

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

2008-05-30T12:41:27-07:00

Is Dr. Taylor with us? More than most... http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

Reclaimed Lumber Bookshelf by Blankblank

2008-05-21T15:55:49-07:00

Anything that makes me laugh out loud must be shared.

via Inhabitat