Last week a parody of Dwell magazine made the viral rounds. Unhappy Hipsters consists of photos drawn from the magazine, each showing cool young homeowners looking forlorn in their expensive interiors. Tagline: “It’s lonely in the ...READ»
This may be the year that the third-dimension finally takes hold. The earnings for Avatar exceed $1.8 billion, and 3-D TVs were all the rage at CES this year. Earlier this month ESPN announced plans for a 3-D channel to debut with ...READ»
A year ago, some designers reacted to the distress of the financial pages by borrowing imagery from farming and scenes of rustic subsistence, a style informed by the fear that we can no longer rely on banks and other ...READ»
A year ago I told myself that social design would thrive in reverse proportion to the stock market. As soon as the Dow hit 10,000, I suspected, designers would abandon their humanitarian projects and resume work on $6,000 pendants. ...READ»
The Oz-like Burj Khalifa in Dubai officially opened today, succeeding Taipei 101 as the world's tallest building. There is no disputing its preposterous height: At 169 stories, or 2,717 feet, the $1.5 billion tower on the edge of ...READ»
What could be more American than the suburban cul-de-sac, that leafy and lonely fixture of post-war development? They're under attack. Is the criticism justified?READ»
Why stilted? Whatever their actual environmental benefit might be, stilts express a culture-wide desire to tread lightly on the land. They’re also a throwback to the virtuously simple tropical huts and the early days of prefab. READ»
Two years ago, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York displayed 30 humanitarian design and engineering projects, including a biodegradable shelter, a low-tech food cooler, and a straw that helps prevent the spread of ...READ»
Imagine for a moment that a business needs a radically innovative approach to a vexing problem. Designers and managers start with an intense focus on the human aspect--the real problems their customers face in daily life. Somebody ...READ»
The extra-large architectural complex--art museums, libraries, office complexes--built so prolifically over the past decade are commonly described as expressions of civic pride. They might just as easily be called grandiose ...READ»
Here's one for the annals of experimental marketing: On Wednesday and Thursday a white van carrying a stack of powder-coated Real Good chairs by Blu Dot, a Minneapolis design firm started by three college friends, will patrol ...READ»
Like everyone else, the design field braced for the fallout from the financial meltdown. At the time, some of us argued that good things could come from a period of constraint and reexamination. The consumer culture of design had ...READ»
Sir Terence Conran, the designer and founder of the Conran Shop, has made preparations to design a dozen hotels and resorts in Cuba.
Sir Terence, who revolutionized the sale and marketing of home furnishings in the sixties and ...READ»
A panel held as part of National Design Week addressed ways to integrate designers, and design thinking, into organizations that usually resist change.READ»
You don't have to try very hard to spot the architecture students on a college campus. They're the ones with the carefully considered shoes (and artful eyewear). It's easy to see why architects are so selective about their footwear: ...READ»
Thirty years ago, in the badass seventies, the warehouse loft was cutting-edge real estate. The loft was then the height of bohemian cool; now it seems tame and utterly conventional. The conversion of offbeat industrial ...READ»
Designers, corporate leaders, foundation heads and journalists meet next month in Aspen to solidify plans for a national design center in Alabama to study and alleviate rural poverty.READ»
