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It’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also a weekday. So my husband and I are planning a low-key evening: cooking up a romantic dinner together at home. If only our kitchen color palette was theme appropriate like these beauties!
Image via Nikki Kitchen Design
Image via Billzano
Image via Elle Decor design by Kaare Klint
Image via This Old House
What better way to spend a blistery cold Sunday than catching up on the lastest exhibitions at my neighborhood museum. So, that’s just what I did yesterday. First I checked out the Perelman Building; a gorgeous exhibit of Art Deco architecture itself, the building houses the museum’s modern design collection.
Perelman Building at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Through March 25, 2012 the Perelman is showcasing Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion. The iconic female architect of today designed the exhibit that features her product design and architectural works. Standing amongst products that range from shoes to tables, Hadid’s consistent style is obvious. Whether she is designing a necklace or a train station, Hadid conveys a signature dynamic essence, which makes the exhibit title, Form in Motion, so apt.
Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion exhibit (image via PlusMood)
Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion exhibit (image via G8-Life)
Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion exhibit (image via G8-Life)
Next, I crossed the street to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Main Building to check out a brand new photography exhibit, Zoe Strauss: Ten Years. The native Philadelphian has spent the past ten years exhibiting her work under a local highway for one day each year. In her own words she strives “to create an epic narrative that reflects the beauty and struggle of everyday life.” Be forewarned of the graphic nature of the images, but with a strong stomach you’ll see she accomplishes her goal of juxtaposing both hardship and joy.
The color of 2012 may be Tangerine Tango, but I’m proposing a toast to a Champagne palette to ring in the new year! Here’s to a great year ahead!
Acido Dorado Residence by Robert Stone (image by Brad Lansill)
Hospitality Project by Jenny Madden Design
Residence by Tucker & Marks (image via Elle Decor)
Retail Project by Jenny Madden Design
King & Grove Tides South Beach Hotel
The corporate office environment has been moving towards the open plan, away from private offices and standardized cubicles for some time now. But recent trends in office furniture show people are looking for nooks of their own within the open plan abyss.
Bene’s Parc Wing Sofas and Toguna Meeting Space (image via Bene)
In a nod to the comfort of diner booths, a number of high-back seating options are now available for commercial office spaces, like the above Wing Sofas by Bene. Bene also offers a Wing chair option. The winged style adds to the privacy of the high back by wrapping the users up, protecting them from distractions.
Allermuir’s Haven Sofas (image via Allermuir)
In the same vein, Allermuir’s Haven sofa offers an even cozier, and complete surround. Plush cushioning makes the personal nook especially inviting. For a sharper look, Martin Brattrud’s Reveal line has the high back, and wing as an option.
Martin Brattrud’s Reveal Lounge Seating (image via Brattrud)
On the traditional side, Interior Design magazine recently featured an office that references a studious, old world coziness. Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel, Architects created the intimate nook with bookcase patterned wallpaper, and traditional club chairs, which hug the user quite like Allermuir’s Haven sofa. Like any good design, the open plan concept should be balanced. Providing nooks and niches can add the variety to make an office truly dynamic.
Leather club chairs (image via Eric Laignel & Interior Design)
It’s an oxymoron. Chic parking garages? No way, no how. Three architecture firms are defying expectations and proving every building type benefits from good design.
Miami Beach Parking Garage (image via NYTimes)
In Miami Beach, Herzog & de Meuron recently designed a groundbreaking and breathtaking parking garage. Like most urban parking garages, the place empties out at night, but the visionary developer, Robert Wennett, fills it right back up. Weddings, charity events, and bar-mitzvahs are booking the 25,000 SF space. The dramatic view and lighting certainly help it’s cause, but Herzog & de Meuron’s dynamic column structure sets the stage.
Miami Beach Parking Garage (image via 1111 Lincoln Road)
So, as exciting as Miami’s new garage is, it begs the question, why hasn’t this been done before? Why is it commonplace for a concrete blight to show up every few blocks, shadowing over a neighborhood’s aesthetic and safety? Thankfully, a few other projects are collecting into a trend that can shift the low expectations for parking garages.
The bamboo facade for the Leipzig Garage in Germany emerged from a 2002 competition. HPP Architects’ design has a clean and wholesome sensibility, characteristics generally devoid in parking garage structures.
Leipzig Zoo Parking Garage (image via HPP Architects)
In Copenhagen, Bjarke Ingels with BIG Architecture designed a garage that cuts a new topography and then almost disappears through its reflective cladding.
The Mountain Dwellings Parking Garage by BIG (image via thecoolist)
Santa Monica is home to the first LEED-certified parking garage. While the sustainability efforts are respectable, it errs on the side of flashy, while I’m looking for handsome.
Santa Monica City Center Garage (image via Yanko Design)
NYC recently announced a $4 million upgrade to a DOT garage downtown. The renderings by Michielli + Wyetzner Architects aren’t breathtaking yet; maybe a charette in Miami Beach is in order.
NYC Municipal Parking Garage (image via Arch Record)
If all else fails, we can cure the unsightly parking garage syndrome by simply Not Driving as much! One of my first internships was with Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group for public transportation, walking, and bicycling, and I’m still a firm believer in its principles. Whether we’re raising the bar for parking garage design, or getting out of the car altogether, I think we’re moving in the right direction.
A face-lift is just what the doctor ordered for this 50s era baby blue bathroom. However, the doctor ordered more than the face-lift; this redesign needed to accommodate wheelchair accessibility. With a few key layout changes, I opened up much more floor area, allowing for a wheelchair’s turning radius.
I selected a pedestal sink, which allows a wheelchair to roll underneath, and added a wall mounted shelf for easy access to those daily use items. A roll-in shower was a safe route for bathing, and it’s more appealing for resale than other safe bathing options. A disabled user can either roll into the shower with a waterproof wheelchair, or transfer to a removable shower seat (the floor area of the roll-in shower has the room to accommodate either option). A glass door could be added for resale, but isn’t necessary since the floor is slightly sloped to keep water within the shower area.
The client didn’t have artwork in mind for the bathroom walls, so I took a few photographs in his garden, and framed them as the artwork in the space, adding a personal touch.
Wheelchair accessibility issues add a challenge to tight spaces, but a well thought out design can rise to the challenge without sacrificing aesthetics, or resale value.
The path from art school to the boardroom isn’t exactly intuitive. As artists and designers, we’ve developed incredible skills to problem solve, and envision those solutions before they’ve materialized. We are primed to found startups that address the needs of the future. However, turning a vision into a creation, hard and fast in today’s market, requires more than skill. It requires cash. A few organizations are navigating the path for designers turned CEO, and they’re turning out some amazing startups.
+Pool by Family and PlayLab (image via kickstarter.com)
Kickstarter.com has been around since 2009 and provides an online pledging site for creative projects. According to the site, its the “largest funding platform for creative projects in the world.” Kickstarter is unique in that its about patronage not investing. People pledge money to an idea without getting any equity in return, and the model works!
The +Pool by Family and PlayLab is one of the exciting projects currently seeking funding. Family and PlayLab does a better job than I could do explaining their project so check out the link! I hope to be swimming there someday soon.
On the product design side, there’s the Magnetic SnapStylus for iPad. A simple, sensible concept, the stylus magnetically attaches to your iPad tablet so it won’t be left home, or lost in your bag. I wonder if the same solution can be applied to my nephew’s Nintendo DS stylus. Whoever thought a 7 year old could keep track of a pencil must not spend a lot of time with 7 year olds.
Magnetic SnapStylus for iPad (image via kickstarter.com)
The SnapStylus has already met its funding goal on Kickstarter, but there are plenty more exciting projects awaiting your pledge. More traditional venture capital opportunities are out there for designers as well. The Designer Fund launched in April of this year as a VC fund solely for designer-founded startups. It offers financial support and business expertise in exchange for equity. From shipping tips to website structure, The Designer Fund guides your concept into a business. Best of luck to all the entrepreneurial designers out there!
I’m back from a quick, but restful Memorial Day in the country. As tough as it will be, I’m going to try to find moments of peace tomorrow while settling back into the work week. These waterfront lounge chairs leave me hopeful there are more lazy days ahead.
Lakeside (image by Michael Moran via Architectural Digest)
Poolside (image by Durston Saylor via Architectural Digest)
Lakeside (image by Mary Nichols via Architectural Digest)
Poolside (image by Emily Rylander via Elle Decor)
Poolside (image by Eric Piasecki via Elle Decor)
Beachfront (image by Nicolas Matheus via ElleDecor)
Lakeside (image via HabituallyChic)
What a weekend for design in NYC! The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) kicked off New York Design Week at the Javits Center, and as an offshoot to the main event, the 3rd annual Model Citizens showcase was on display at Chelsea Art Museum. Model Citizens NYC was established to create a venue for independent, and emerging designers to get noticed. And noticed they were!
Dhos Stool by Stevenson Aung
How could you miss the Dhos Stools by Stevenson Aung? The vibrant, aluminum stools are both organic and crisp. Quite simply, they make me happy. While we’re in the category of shapely seats, the K chair by emerging industrial designer Jin Ah Roe has great lines. It could hold its own in any home.
K Chair by Jin Ah Roe
Debra Folz showcased brand new wall shelving, composed of clear acrylic surfaces and rubber string. I see it in a minimal space, where the shadows cast by the strings can stand out.
Shelving by Debra Folz
Shelving by EcoSystems
Perhacs Studio was in town from the West Coast displaying eye catching pendant lamps. The laser cut, botanical inspired shades held my interest from every angle. I can see one hanging above my kitchen table, adding a bit of whimsy to the room.
Lamp by Perhacs Studio
I was lucky enough to have my own work exhibited at Model Citizens as well. As part of a group of students working under Nicole Koltick, I designed and assembled a suspended installation called the papercloud. Using digital fabrication techniques, we created the 3-dimensional cloud from a repeating paper component. Thanks to Model Citizens and Chelsea Art Museum for exhibiting all the inspirational work!
papercloud by Nicole Koltick, Liz Curreti, Antonio Hache, Telsa Love, Jenny Madden, Kevin Malawski, Megan Mitchell, Samie Messerly, Liz Moskus and Vivian Mulder
Commercial office spaces are often painfully drab. Fluorescent lights and plastic corner guards nag “Hey you, employee! You just aren’t worth it.” Today I’m finding inspiration from the anomalies.
Dow Jones Staircase (image by Albert Vercerka via Arch Record)
Campbell’s Staircase (image by Edward Hueber via Interior Design)
I’m happy to see designers physically expressing connectivity within office spaces. In large corporations, interdepartmental communication is challenging, and needs to be encouraged through design. The Dow Jones office space spans four floors in Rockefeller Center, and in order to maintain connectivity, STUDIOS Architecture employed open-riser stair towers, and generous use of glass. Design firm KlingStubbins utilizes a similar strategy in Campbell’s Soup Company ‘s new Camden, NJ headquarters.
Campbell’s Signage (image by Edward Hueber via Interior Design)
The Campbell’s office entrance is energized by an inflated version of Campbell’s iconic logo. The Dow Jones office also showcases large scale graphics that speak to the function of the company. These oversized graphics enliven interior spaces with their unfamiliar scale, and in the case of the Dow Jones office, the graphics are a reminder to employees of the big picture when day to day activities feel trifling.
Dow Jones Signage (image by Albert Vercerka via Arch Record)
While billboard scale graphics add interest to office interiors, so can subtle touches. Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel, Architects created interest with subtle contrasts when they designed new office space for a financial-services firm. The reception space juxtaposes old and new; gears salvaged from a paper mill, and a patchwork of Persian and Turkish rug scraps honor the old in a new way, while emphasizing the financial firm’s interest in sustainability.
Reception Area by GKV (image by Eric Laignel via Interior Design)
Like many conference rooms today, the walls are glazed, but unusually, the conference room door is solid wood. The stroke of opaque material accentuates the transparency on either side, adding interest through contrast. Thanks to all the design firms that are working outside of the box so we can too!
Conference Room by GKV (image by Eric Laignel via Interior Design)
