Learning from “Learning From Las Vegas”

March 9, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Filed under Designers, Placemaking, Signage, Urban Planning

“From October 29, 2009 to Feb 5, 2010, Yale School of Architecture Gallery held What We Learned, an exhibition that features the teaching, research, and design work of Venturi and Scott Brown. The exhibition was made up of two independently organized shows.” — A.M.

Towering work in a brown paper wrapper

March 8, 2010 at 10:54 am
Filed under Design education, Exhibit Design, Green Related, Materials, Placemaking, Public Art

A ten-meter tower made entirely of recyclable cardboard, brought to the Carton Plein! exhibit in a small delivery truck, and erected in nine hours with no scaffolding.  Oh, and it’s student work. — A.M.

Secrets of New York

March 4, 2010 at 9:25 am
Filed under Architecture, Arts and Crafts, Placemaking, Public Art

One of the backlit collages Chris Rubino created for the Distrikt Hotel

Cafe mural (left) and typographic work at the Distrikt Hotel

Smells Like [aaaarrrgghh!] Teen Spirit

February 18, 2010 at 11:09 am
Filed under Architecture, Graphic Design, Placemaking

Working on the large-scale renovation of Kansas City’s Piper High School, architects DLR Group wanted to create a dramatic entry statement that would also support the project’s sustainability goals. The solution is a 520-sq.-ft stainless steel mesh facade element that provides shade but allows daylight to enter, eliminating the need for artificial lighting in the commons area.

The facade, made by GKD-USA of its Omega 1510 mesh, also provides a memorable branding moment. Etched into the mesh, the school’s pirate mascot is unmistakable during the day and glows like a lantern at night.  –P.M.K.

Photos: Alistair Tutton Photography

Getting Over Houston

February 17, 2010 at 9:31 am
Filed under Placemaking, Transportaton

As airports continue to evolve as the town squares of an increasingly global society, savvy airport operators are learning the importance of placemaking as a means to differentiate their facilities. Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport certainly gets it. The airport recently celebrated the installation of a major art glass installation by Napa, Calif.-based artist Gordon Huether.

“Over Houston” is a series of six 12- by 20-ft. art glass compositions installed on connector bridges in the airport. Inspired by imagery from aerial photographs he shot of Houston and the surrounding area, Huether used sandblasting, carving, enameling, and other techniques to create 48 colored panels. The components were laminated onto a bed of silicone over hurricane glass, then sealed into tempered glass units.

For passengers making the long trek to their gates, the art glass is a welcome respite and a therapeutic splash of color. With airline and airport competition at an all-time high, they may be just one more reason to pick Hobby Airport over its competitors. — P.M.K.

Love Letters

February 6, 2010 at 11:15 am
Filed under City Happenings, Placemaking, Public Art, Street Art

Steve Powers with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is covering the City of Brotherly Love in love letters — just in time for Valentine’s Day?  Some of the murals will be seen in Burma Shave progression from one of the train lines. — A.M.

Flower power

December 11, 2009 at 9:42 am
Filed under Architecture, Placemaking, Uncategorized

Goodbye boring glass curtain wall, hello landmark architecture. Thanks to environmental graphics designed by Gottschalk + Ash International (Toronto), the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy (designed by Hariri Pontarini) is a landmark in Kitchener, Canada. Last week, the Toronto Globe and Mail named it one of the top 10 significant projects in the greater Toronto area in the past decade.

The school of pharmacy teaches a naturalistic approach, introducing healing substances in medicinal plants in addition to the traditional chemical-based curriculum. So, inspired by 17th century botanical drawings, Gottschalk + Ash researched medicinal plants appropriate to the Canadian climate. The resulting images were cropped in more than 600 frames, printed on a 3M interlayer film, and sandwiched between layers of DuPont SentryGlas. The overall effect is a bloomin’ success. –P.M.K.

Underground beauty

December 8, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Filed under Placemaking, Transportaton

Your devoted blogger has always found the Washington Metro to be clean and safe.  Turns out clean and safe are just the starting points.  Check out some of the most gorgeous subway spaces around. — A.M.

Refuse Probes Project

December 5, 2009 at 9:23 am
Filed under Exhibit Design, Green Related, Placemaking, Politics, Public Art, Social Issues

“At this year’s Shenzhen Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (SZHKB), LOT-EK  will be presenting their Refuse Probes Project. It is a physical and social device that visually questions the relationship between the artificial/manmade and the natural. The concept looks to the local waste of shenzhen’s manufacturing landscape. Using this refuse LOT-EK has produced vertical units, stacks which are a visual representation aspects of packing, shipping transformation and the movement and trade of goods within the area. They are cut and extracted out of the ground to reveal the layers of refuse accumulated under the top soil of the land.” — A.M.

Giant binary clock

December 2, 2009 at 9:06 am
Filed under Placemaking

“Students at the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland, decorated the outside of their building with a giant LED clock that displays the time in binary. It consists of eighteen round windows, with green windows representing hours, blue windows representing minutes, and red windows representing seconds.” (Thanks to Neatorama for, well, pretty much everything about this entry.) — A.M.