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What Kind of Genius Are You?A new theory suggests that creativity comes in two distinct types – quick and dramatic, or careful and quiet. Conceptualists is certainty (Picasso, T. S. Eliot, Maya Lin). Experimentalists never know when their work is finished (Cézanne, Robert Frost, Frank Lloyd Wright).
'Doomsday' seed bank to be builtNorway is planning to build a "doomsday vault" inside a mountain on an Arctic island to hold a seed bank of all known varieties of the world's crops.
Powers of TenThe brilliant 1977 short film dealing with the relative sizes of things in the universe by Charles and Ray Eames. Not just reel-to-reel, now online.
Gnome-be-GoneGot a gnome problem in garden? Well, exterminate them with the Gnome-Be-Gone. They are made out of "spare parts", including what looks like nails. If your garden has a gnome problem, check them out.
Interview: Danny Forster (comdian / architecture student)GSD student (and apparently failed comedian) Danny Forster landed a gig as the host of the Discovery Channel show "Extreme Engineering" after answering an ad on Craig's List. Now he gets to travel around the world and talk about architecture... lucky bastard.
Pollack's documentary 'Sketches of Frank Gehry' reviewed by Christopher Hawthorne"...no picture that gives us Julian Schnabel analyzing the design of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, while wearing sunglasses and a robe and swigging brandy ought to be dismissed outright..."
a collection of Avant Garde YouTube linksA wide ranging list of links to video and film clips featuring the likes of Andy Warhol, Johnny Cash, David Lynch, Salvador Dali, Tom Waits and many many many more.
Soviet Underground Submarine BaseWhoa... BLDGBLOG points us to something right out of a Tom Clancey novel or a James Bond movie - photos of a secret Soviet submarine base on the Black Sea.
Power Point - see the powerThis concept for a power outlet designed to make visible the amount of power being consumed by each socket in a direct and immediate way. The product is intended to change patterns of power use by creating awareness of how much power is being used leading users to re-evaluate how they consume power.
"The Bachelor" is going to be an architectABC's "Bachelor" has always been quite the catch (read wealthy). An architect will be a change of pace... oh won't the lucky lady will be surprised when she sees this bachelor's checkbook. Or might this could be an opportunity for a successful (read struggling) architect to trawl for a free ride? Wonder if my wife would mind...
Tilt-shift photography effectA Photoshop tutorial for making photographs of everyday scenes look like images of scale models. Find yourself a copy of CS if you don't already have it.
Free download - MetropolisArchive.org is offering Fritz Lang's Metropolis (an inspiration to most every design geek) for download - FREE. It's the original edited American release, not the 2002 restoration, but still... throw it on your iPod, it's good to go.
Virtually TorinoGoogle Earth and Google Local have added high resolution images of sites for the Torino Winter Olympic Games and a KMZ file including the locations and descriptions of all the events.
What is the point of design?A big long article about the design of useful objects and art, modernism vs. postmodernism, etc., revolving around issues at London's Design Museum... and asks, "is a design museum even necessary or desirable?"
oxygen clothespinHave you ever found yourself wishing you didn't go to that bar as your clothes now seem to have been 'bathed' into cigarette smoke? A solution might be at hand.
Los Angeles Apartment NumbersThis photograpahic series documents the ubiquitous los angeles apartment building and their often ornate address markings.
Modernism: the idea that just won't go away"Just 50 years after modernism first emerged as the style to end all styles, the design philosophy that tried to abolish history and reduced every shape to its supposedly timeless geometric elements was itself declared dead."
Charts, diagrams, information graphics by Karl HartigI like info graphics. The map of the London Underground, signage from the '84 Summer Olympic Games (and other Olympics for that matter), etc. Karl Hartig's designs are now on my list too.
Modernism 101: rare design booksAn amazing resource for rare and out-of-print books on 20th century design including architecture, interiors, graphics, etc. Descriptions and scanned images for each book. As Jim Coudal said, "Warning, major time-suck ahead."
Transparent concrete image faked!I think most of us have seen the image of a translucent concrete wall with shadows cast by trees. Well a Gutter reader reveals the Photoshop deception! I won't let the Sniper whip me into a hoax frenzy, but the last photo got me laughing.
"Welcome to Melbourne, the world's designer city""In the 1970s, it was Graz, in the 1980s it was Barcelona, in the '90s it was Amsterdam and Rotterdam..." An article in The Age says Melbourne's architects are currently leading the world in innovative design.
Mid-century American IllustrationsPlan59 is a gallery of American commercial art from the mid-century, and this gallery of mid-century decor is particularly fascinating. Plan59 also sells prints of some of their collection.
Raw sewage is good for property valuesRecently, the city of Manhattan Beach suffered a major sewage spill. Garrison Frost, editor of The Aesthetic, has some interesting ideas about how the city might try to spin dung into diamonds. Good stuff, Garrison!
More Great ParkThe full report with lots of quotes, including the sour grapes George Hargreaves, "They left it to the amateurs," and MoMA's geographically challenged Peter Reed, "The L.A. project would be very exciting."
It Can Be Done, but Will It Be Inspired?The critics are already weighing in on Ken Smith's Orange County Great Park... Christopher Hawthorne digs in.
Forest methane scientists tell the media to get a gripIt seems the scientists responsible for the study which revealed that plants emit methane have learned a bit of a lesson about media sensationalism. They have issued a new statement to try to clear things up.
Great Park landscape architect... and the winner is...Ken Smith! Despite some last minute reservations, and the temptation to go the "safe" route, the board finally decided to ratify the recommendation of the design juries and select New York based landscape architect Ken Smith.
Fujy Sustainable Architects of BarcelonaThe Fujy House in Madrid, Spain is a study in stustaibable design, planning the building to be in harmony with the land and environment with each facade responding to the site conditions and orientation.
Cologne Furniture Fair & Ideal HouseReluct brings live images and reports from the Cologne Furniture Fair including the "Ideal House" this year by Joris Laarman, Steven Dietz, Dieter Rams and Astrid Krogh. (See this link and other posts)