3.8.10 | I was invited to join Contract magazine and its Editorial
Advisory Committee at the publication’s annual Design Summit, last year
held in Austin, TX. This gathering of august architects and designers practicing interior
design/architecture (take your pick), seemed to have a good time
listening to the two featured presentations:
>Second Life - a virtual reality technology and consulting
business, as well as the host of the public web site of the same
name
>Frank Duffy - the noted British architect, writer and thinker
who presented some of the ideas from his new book Work and the
City, 80 pages, (2008 Black Dog Publishing).
Environment >>, Events >>, Research >>
3.8.10 | Every day I get a Google Alert on green leases. I dutifully read them and
then click on the various twits, blogs and websites listed in the alert.
Sometimes there will be a well researched nugget. The typical article,
however, is riddled with misconceptions, faulty assumptions, and
over-simplification of the leasing process. Far too often, the authors do
not grasp real estate economics or common building operating practices.
Green to Gold >>
3.8.10 | It may be a new name to many designers in the States, but Mokum
Textiles has been established in its native Australia for over 30
years. The name of the company is derived from a sentimental Yiddish
nickname for the city of Amsterdam. Mokum’s new collection,
Moderne, is just as elegant and globe-spanning as the company’s
namesake.
Materials >>, Product >>
3.8.10 | Ted Moudis Associates
(TMA) is hot. Other firms might be laying off, but TMA has been picking
up some of the talent. The firm has the results to show for it. Recently
it received two architectural design awards for its clients, Société
Générale and Cottingham & Butler. Both projects received Awards of
Merit from Midwest Construction magazine.
A&D Firms >>, Competitions and Awards >>
3.1.10 | What is virtual reality? How does it differ from digital reality? Is it
real? What is reality? Perhaps the greatest ramification flowing from the development of virtual
reality – presently, largely a visual subset of digital reality – is the
perspective it creates on our notion of reality. Obviously, without a
contrasting experience, it is very difficult for us to understand our
existential notions of reality.
Technology >>
3.1.10 | I always wondered why Material ConneXion was spelled that way. . .
and why is that X capitalized? It was clearly a choice that emphasized a
deliberate intent of the company, but the intent was remained a mystery
until I visited the firm’s new space, located at 60 Madison Avenue in New
York. I was aware of Material ConneXion’s status as a global material
consultancy – the firm has four other locations, two in Europe and two in
Asia, each with a capital X of a different color in its logo – and knew
it focused on materials for construction and design, but as a resource
librarian, I noticed it didn’t catalog materials the way that I or my
fellow resource librarians did. During my visit I realized that Material
ConneXion is a unique company that, in the end, expertly indexes what is
possible in manufacturing and design.
3.1.10 | Mr. Smed has the rare entrepreneurial combination of insight and
predisposition to act. Fortunately, to this is added the ability to see
things as a whole, and what amounts to almost a compulsion to do things
better ( environmentally and for clients) and more efficiently. As a
result, anyone with an open mind can find morsels of value and
inspiration in his presentations.
Random Walk >>
3.1.10 | While the idea of cognitive ergonomics is relatively new, it’s a concept
that Kimball Office has spent years studying. In order to
fully understand how the mind works at work, we must first recognize the
office environment in which we work, and how such dynamics complement the
mind. This column aims to identify the variables in an office setting,
and the impact they can have on how the mind works.
Research >>
2.22.10| Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards were announced on December 3rd
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The event, sponsored by Edelman
Leather and organized and hosted by Interior Design magazine,
and attended by over 750 from the design community. Obviously, we are
late in publishing these awards and we apologize to Interior
Design for this delay; the year end tends to get a bit clustered.
Nevertheless, if awards have any meaning, their glow should last beyond
the ceremony and we are happy, even relieved to finally catch up with
this.
Competitions and Awards >>
2.22.10 | There are many awards presented each year in the A&D and related
communities of dubious merit, but we can think of no greater tribute
than the creation by one's peers of a scholarship, endowed chair or
similar continuing enterprise to continue your work. One such
charitable endeavor is the Donald Brinkmann Scholarship competition
created by Gensler to honor, remember and thank one of its former partners and design leaders, Donald G. Brinkmann, who died
unexpectedly in 1999.
Competitions and Awards >>, People >>
2.22.10 | Anthony P. Schirripa, FAIA, chairman and CEO of Mancini•Duffy
has been elected to the College of Fellows of the AIA (American
Institute of Architects). He will receive his Fellowship medal during the
Investiture of Fellows Ceremony at the 2010 National AIA Convention and
Design Exposition in Miami on June 11, 2010.
People >>
2.22.10| Late last year, Material ConneXion, the global materials consultancy,
launched of its first annual MEDIUM Award for Material of the Year,
naming UK-based company Concrete Canvas's Concrete Cloth as the
inaugural winner.
Competitions and Awards >>
