Global Warming Again?

My wife and I finally got a night out and watch a movie, and we saw a sci fi called the Inconvenient Truth. It turns out it wasn't science fiction, it's real. Al Gore was so good that you may finally want to vote for him for president. I do hope that people can realize how serious it is and actually do something about it, though history tells us, human beings can be very skeptical about scientific projection and prediction...

One

Just watched Bono on NBC's Brian William Special (actually download for free from iTune). The entire interview was shot in Africa and is about how Bono saves the world (or Africa). I have to say seeing things like this humbles me a lot. These people are not only extremely successful in their business but also feel the responsibility to do something about the inequality and injustice of the world. That got me think what are the most successful architects doing...

What can you do to make poverty history? You can at least buy a t-shirt from One that says make poverty history.

Sculptural Bench

Designed by Simon Pengelly for Hitch Myliu in UK, the HM83 creates branches of informal modular seating, doubles as a piece of amoeba like sculpture in lobby space.

2x4

2x4, the most famous graphic design firm for architects, after Bruce Mau, is the winner of 2006 National Design Award (in the communication category). This, as many of us have seen, is the figure symbols for IIT Student Center or otherwise known as the McCormick Tribune Campus Center. I forgot who is original designer for the ubiquitous bathroom sign, but this new version by 2x4 is a lot of fun.

Cartoon or Diagram?

I am in no way implying that I am any expert or fan of Chris Ware. But I looked at his cartoon as a cross over between comic book/graphic novel and graphic design diagrams. The chicago-based cartoonist/artist is currently on display at the Chicago Museum of Comtemporary Art.

AMOS

AMOS toys by James Jarvis from UK. They are probably some of the more expensive action figure ($20 for a 3-inch vinyl figures, quite hard to get in the US actually, luckily we have Wexner Book Store here), mostly for adults than children. I like its abstract and minimal quality, supposedly influenced by Hergé's Tintin comic books and some other mid to late century comics. Yet each figure is unique in its own way...

The MVRDV Brand

MVRDV is coming out with another dictionary-sized book, KM3. In an interview with Icon Magazine, they talked about the branding of their work in order to compete in the global world. It is always interesting to see how similar and different they are from OMA. Similar because both quesiton the fundamentals of typology and program every time they approach a project. Different because Koolhaas always works with different young designers coming through his office, including Maas, while MVRDV has a core of three for more than a decade...

Customize the Mass-produced

Very interactive website. A new way to buy your sneakers, Converse allows you to customize pretty much everything about the shoes you are about to buy. Nike has a similar deal, but I think it makes a lot of sense for Converse's classic canvas shoes.

High Graffiti Art

Barry McGee, aka Twist, is probably the most well regarded artist coming from underground graffiti scene. I guess the question is, how do you deal with something inherently subversive and outlawed and put it in an institution? I guess in some way, Koolhaas is exploiting that in his "Content". It is fine, but I am trying to understand whether it is a sudden appreciation of the cult of graffiti, or is it commoditize whatever you can find, or something else?

StairCase

"Staircase II" by Do Ho Suh, a Korean artist. These series of his work are about his feeling of displacement from Korean to the US. Using traditional Korean architectural elements that he was similar with at home, he creates these sculptures made by translucent fabric with traditional Korean sewing technique. Something he can fold it and take along whenever he goes...

FIFA

World Cup started this week in Germany. For the rest of the world, it is easy to remember the Olympic and World Cup, since they come every other even number year. H&dM possibly is the most popular stadium architect now, responsible for the opening ceremony for this year's World Cup and the Beijing Olympic two years from now...

Cute Minimalist

Just a cute little poster by Swiss Graphic Designer duo Julien Notter and Sébastien Vigne. I don't even remember where I heard of them, but this robot is very cute with the yellow background.

Cross Disciplinary

I am very interested in Minimal art lately. And I realize how much contemporary architecture has been referencing from a group of minimal artists, who creates a whole new visual vocabulary after abstract expressionist. It seems that artists (at least in America) after modernism didn't stop and go back to historicism like their fellow architects, their "post modernism" keeps moving "forward" and becomes abstract expressionism, then minimalism and pop art... long story short, we need to be know more than architecture to make architecture.

Maximal Cola

A follow-up of Jon's FakePilot post. Well, FakePilot did a website for a Coca-Cola campaign called the M5. And this is one of the Ms, I guess, by another graphic designer MK12, who design a package design for the new aluminum bottle that shape like the classic glass bottle. I realize this Maximal aesthetic has been around the graphic world for a few years now. It mixes the highly decorative motif with motion graphic and creates this ecstatic form (or forms)...