Vince Carter's - Daytona Beach, Florida

After dining at one of her favorite restaurants, Darden Restaurants' Seasons 52, Michelle Carter-Scott, mother and business manager for Orlando Magic NBA star Vince Carter, knew she had found the design team for her son's namesake restaurant: Orlando architecture firm Cuhaci & Peterson and interior design firm Schmidt Design Studio. The design brief: a unique restaurant that Daytona Beach, Florida, had never seen before. Says principal interior designer Anna Schmidt: "I remember her saying, 'We want Vegas, baby!'"

But don't think Vince Carter's is packed with memorabilia a la Hard Rock Café. "Vince wanted his outstanding basketball career to only be represented by subtle touches," she says. The Highlight Zone, which is the high-end sports bar, dons a few pieces of basketball art; in the entry, there is a retail space that features some mementos of Carter; and custom painting of the star hangs on a high wall in the main dining room.

Elsewhere, throughout the 11,000-square-foot space, the designers used rich and contrasting dark wood stains, warm colors (raspberry, gold, metal hues), touches of metal (steel copper, and pewter), lots of textures, and clean lines. And there is motion and curves to the design—in the massive hanging features with undulating metal strips to curved details in the carpet pattern. "Our goal was to create a rich, high-class, yet comfortable and approachable atmosphere," Schmidt says. "While the color palette was different than you might expect, all the aspects came together to create a beautiful aesthetic. It really draws you into the space."

Schmidt's favorite room: the VIP dining room. Elliptical in shape, it features an oval ceiling cut out with staggered furrdowns, which guests can see on to the exterior 30-foot high windows, she explains. And the room has a warm glow, thanks to gold and pewter hues, custom blown glass pendants that hang from the ellipse, and a 25-foot custom glove glass chandelier that spirals from the ceiling.

"The restaurant features four inside dining and drinking environments, as well as three exterior patio areas. Each offers a unique guest experience for both traditional and private dining," Schmidt says.

Giacometti Sculpture Becomes Most Expensive Work Ever to Sell at Auction

A rare life-size and life-time bronze cast, from 1961, of Alberto Giacometti's L'Homme Qui Marche I, better known as "Walking Man," improbably became the most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction today, selling for £65,001,250 ($104,327,006).

The price barely edged out the previous record, set in 2004 by Pablo Picasso's Garcon a la Pipe, 1905, which went for $104.1 million (£58,052,830) at the time. But Giacometti's personal previous record, achieved when Grand Femme Debout II, 1959-60, earned $27,481,000 at Christie's New York in May 2008, was vanquished in seconds.

The £65,001,250 ($104,327,006) result also pulverized the previous record for any modern sculpture sold at auction, achieved last February at the Yves Saint Laurent sale in Paris when Constantin Brancusi's Madame L.R. (Portrait de Mme L.R.) from circa 1914-17 sold for $37.7 million.

Estimated to sell for £12-18 million, the much-talked-about Giacometti figure of a spindly man, who resembles a survivor of a cataclysmic event, frozen in mid-stride, took off like a Roman candle, with multiple bids erupting in the packed salesroom.

At least four phone bidders tangled for the prize, as did several seasoned dealers, including New York private dealer Nancy Whyte, who went up to £23 million before dropping out, connected via cell phone to her anonymous client.

"That was peanuts," said Whyte shortly afterwards, alluding to her bidding, and expressing surprise at just how much higher the bronze traveled.

Pre-sale buzz that the Giacometti might hit $50 million was greeted with considerable skepticism by even seasoned players. No one even fantasized it would exceed $100 million.

There are two versions of "Walking Man," I and II, each in an edition of six plus artist proofs. It is believed that example of the first walking man, which was consigned by the Frankfurt-based Commerzbank, is the only life-time cast still in private hands.

Sotheby's senior specialist Philip Hook, who took the winning phone bid at a hammer price of £58 million, said that one of the unidentified underbidders told him before the sale that he had been waiting 40 years for the sculpture to come on the market. It turned out to be that kind of generational event. Hook declined to divulge any information about his phone client.

The six-foot-high bronze has an American heritage as well. It was first acquired in December 1961 by legendary New York dealer Sidney Janis, who bought it from Galerie Maeght in Paris and debuted it in New York at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1968, according to the auction catalogue.

The catalogue also showed a vintage photograph of Giacometti covered in white plaster and working on the spindly legs of the figure in his Paris studio before it was cast in bronze. The image added to the iconic status of the astonishing sculpture, believed by some to be his greatest work. There's no question it's his most expensive

Architecture for Humanity Responds to Haiti Quake

Architecture for Humanity members haven’t slept a wink since Monday night. The San Francisco-based non-profit design services firm founded by Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, is busy mobilizing an architecture army for reconstruction efforts in Haiti following Tuesday’s horrific earthquake.

The firm, which provides design, construction, and development for nations and cultures in need, is currently fundraising for long-term efforts in the crumbled city of Port au Prince. Additionally, Architecture for Humanity has issued a call to architects, interior designers, engineers, environmental scientists, agronomists, and landscape architects across the globe to donate their time and talent to aid in the long road ahead.

“While Haiti is currently in desperate need of relief and recovery services, very soon we will move to long-term reconstruction,” said Cameron Sinclair. “When the world’s attention turns away from this disaster, that is when the design and building community is needed most. Give now to build back better.”

Currently, Architecture for Humanity is fleshing out a comprehensive, two- to four-year plan (including transitional, temporary shelter, as well as permanent construction) for the devastated nation that begins with a site visit in approximately three week’s time. Ideally, the firm will have professionals in the field by month two. Sinclair and his team are urging dedicated, passionate members of the industry, especially those who are French-speaking, to sign up to volunteer at architectureforhumanity.org/getinvolved/offerdesign. Monetary donations can also be submitted via PayPal sans service fee at architectureforhumanity.org/donate.

Tropical Turquoise Top Color of 2010

Interior designer Debbie Sheaf of Orlando, Fla., is way ahead of the curve.
Last February, inspired by the blues and greens in her collection of antique majolica pottery, she painted the room that houses her collection a vibrant turquoise.

Turquoise was selected as the color of the year for 2010 by Pantone, a global color authority. The blue-green shade replaces mimosa, the sunny yellow that was Pantone's top pick for 2009.

Combining the "serene qualities of blue with the invigorating aspects of green," turquoise evokes thoughts of "soothing tropical waters and a languorous escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while restoring our sense of wellbeing," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute in Carlstadt, N.J.

Just the kind of feel-good color we need in 2010, the year in which the depressed economy is expected to start recovering.

To determine color trends, the Color Institute's team of specialists travels the world, observing colors in many contexts and studying consumer psychology. Pantone then creates the standardized color palettes used in the design and fashion industries.

"In many cultures, turquoise occupies a special position in the world of color," Eiseman said. "It is believed to be a protective talisman, a color of deep compassion and healing, and a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky.

Most people respond positively to turquoise, she said. Universally flattering, it appeals to men and women, can look elegant or casual, and because it has both warm and cool undertones, it pairs well with any other color in the spectrum. It adds a splash of excitement to neutrals and browns, complements reds and pinks, creates a classic maritime look with deep blues and is especially trend-setting with yellow-greens.

People who like turquoise tend to be complex, imaginative and original, said Ron Redding, vice president of design for York Wallcoverings in York, Pa.

Once seen mainly in resort decor and clothing, turquoise now is making its way into "everyday homes," said Gina Shaw, a designer with York Wallcoverings. In addition, "turquoise and other ocean-inspired blues are 'eco-colors' that reflect increasing consumer appreciation of the environment and nature."

In general, a high-voltage color such as turquoise is best confined to smaller areas, such as a single wall. But if you're not brave enough to splash the color of the year on your walls, at least use accessories to update your decor, said Sheaf.

"Pop in a turquoise lamp, picture frames, towels or a painted chair. The result will be magical."

MoMA gives Modern a Makeover

The modern design section of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) recently received a facelift. Running from December 23, 2009 to July of 2010, the museum’s third floor Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries showcases “Shaping Modernity: Design 1880–1980.” The exhibit houses a selection of visionary objects, graphics, architectural fragments, and textiles from the Museum’s collection that reveal the attempts of successive generations to shape their experience of living in the modern world. Curator Juliet Kinchin and curatorial assistant Aidan O’Connor organized some 300 works into the following five sections:


The International New Art 1890–1914

The International New Art flourished in urban centers around the world taking on many localized forms and names (among them Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Arte Modernista, Sezession, and Glasgow Style). The pieces in this installation were used in the office of the MoMA’s founding director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Other examples in the exhibition include a side chair by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a side table by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, and a plaster cast of Antoni Gaudí’s original finial sculpture for the Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

New Typography 1927–37

In the 1920s and 1930s, the movement known as the New Typography brought graphics and information design to the forefront of artistic avant-gardes in Europe. Rejecting traditional arrangement of type in symmetrical columns, modernist designers organized the printed page or poster as a blank field in which blocks of type and illustration (frequently photomontage) could be arranged in harmonious, strikingly asymmetrical compositions. Included in the exhibition are 14 works by Jan Tschichold, Ladislav Sutnar, Johannes Molzahn, Theo H. Ballmer, Herbert Bayer, Frantisek Kalivoda, Zdenek Rossmann, Joost Schmidt, and Aleksandr Rodchenko.

Mind, Body, Machine 1925–40
The tone of this section is set by a giant railroad-car spring and a boat propeller first shown in MoMA’s landmark Machine Art exhibition in 1934, which celebrated such items of anonymous industrial design as symbols of social improvement and technological progress. The theme is further explored in utilitarian objects such as a streamlined meat-slicer (given in memory of the Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman), and the Vipp trash can, designed for a Danish hair salon.

What Was Good Design? MoMA’s Message 1944–56

This section,which opened in May of 2009, presents over 100 selections from the museum’s collection—ranging from domestic furnishings and appliances to textiles, sporting goods, and graphics—to illuminate the primary values of Good Design as promoted by MoMA within an international debate conducted by museums, design councils, and department stores.

Continuity and Critique 1960–80
The clean and elegant forms of classic modernism continued to appear in the domestic appliances of Dieter Rams for Braun, and the Vignelli Associates’ stacking plastic dinnerware. For many however, the emphasis on pop music, youth, and counterculture opened up new possibilities in materials, colors, and forms, as well as more humorous, expendable design.

The BMW Art Car was conceived in 1975, the year that French auctioneer and racecar driver Herve Poulain first entered 24 Hours of Le Mans. Searching for a link between art and motorsport, Poulain asked his friend, noted artist Alexander Calder, to commission a rolling canvas on the BMW 3.0 CSL that he would race. In the years that followed, this unique combination of motorsport and BMW design fascinated the famous artists of our time. Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol have all turned BMW racing cars into Art Cars.

Since 1975, outstanding artists from all over the world have been designing the BMW automobiles of their era. The BMW Art Car Collection include works by well-known artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, A.R. Penck, David Hockney and Jenny Holzer. The Art Cars reflect the developments in art history with regard to fine art, design and technology and are displayed worldwide in major museums such as the Paris Louvre, the Royal Academy in London, the New York Whitney Museum of Modern Art, Venice's Palazzo Grassi, Sydney's Powerhouse Museum and the Guggenheim Museums of New York and Bilbao. In the future, too, Art Cars will document the fascinating link between art and technology in international exhibitions.

Chronological list of all BMW Art Cars.

Alexander Calder (USA) 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL

Frank Stella (USA) 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL

Roy Lichtenstein (USA) 1977 BMW 320i Group 5 Race Version

Andy Warhol (USA) 1979 BMW M1 Group 4 Race Version

Ernst Fuchs (Austria) 1982 BMW 635 CSi

Robert Rauschenberg (USA) 1986 BMW 635 CSi

Michael Jagamara Nelson (Australia) 1989 BMW 635 CSi

Ken Done (Australia) 1989 BMW M3 Group A Race Version

Matazo Kayama (Japan) 1990 BMW 535i

César Manrique (Spain) 1990 BMW 730i

A.R. Penck (Germany) 1991 BMW Z1

Esther Mahlangu (South Africa) 1991 BMW 525i

Sandro Chia (Italy) 1992 BMW 3 Series Racing Prototype

David Hockney (Great Britain) 1995 BMW 850CSi

Jenny Holzer (USA) 1999 BMW V12 LMR

Cornell Professor Launches Interior Design Naming Practice

In the late 1990’s, professor Jan Jennings struggled to talk with her interior design students about design practices that had been used throughout history and across cultures, such as a dramatic staircase in the lobby of a luxury hotel, two similar chairs situated side-by-side in a large space, or columns in a restaurant ornamented by decorative means. For decades—even centuries, in some cases—these reiterative examples have gone unnamed and undocumented.Today, Jennings, a professor in Design and Environmental Analysis, leads a multidisciplinary research team of faculty from the Colleges of Human Ecology, Arts and Sciences, and Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in building a new knowledge base for the creative dimension of design. The project is the first of its kind to assemble contemporary design theory in a searchable, online database that includes imagery from real buildings.“We had to invent a naming practice, a vocabulary for students to use in talking about design,” Jennings said. “Interior design had borrowed language from architecture and visual arts, but when you came down to it, we didn’t have a typology for contemporary design practices that have been occurring across history, style, and culture.”Today, that original concept is a full-blown research and teaching project called Intypes, which is short for the Interior Archetypes Research and Teaching Project. The project officially launched this summer at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago with partners Interior Design magazine and IIDA.

“This extraordinary undertaking, 13 years in the making, is sure to invigorate the educational process by creating a new vocabulary to define contemporary design,” said Cindy Allen, editor in chief of Interior Design."The project brings the field of interior design to a whole new level," said Cheryl Durst, executive vice president and CEO of IIDA. “The Intypes approach gives credence and relevance to the history and legacy of interior design as a profession, as a discipline and as a viable and vital contribution to society as a whole.”To date, the project has named nearly 70 interior archetypes. “Some of our alumni are using these words in the field,” Jennings said. “When they do that, they hear the word being used later by their colleagues. If the word is used without translation or definition, then it really has become a word that contributes to a design language.”In total, four faculty members and 16 interior design master’s students have actively participated in the project. Many of the students take on a market segment, such as health care, for their thesis projects, researching the history, cultural implications, and use. Their proposals go to the Intypes Research Group, which evaluates the research and considers the students’ proposed names.The Intypes workgroup is hoping their project inspires designers to think about these issues, and opens the door to more formal research in interior design. “Interior design is its own field and profession,” Jennings said. “We’re hoping the project provides a new way to talk about field and lends it the credibility it deserves.”

Images courtesy of Cornell University.

Mood, Memory Affected by Your Home

(OPRAH.com) -- Anyone fond of coming home to a chilled glass of Chardonnay to help wind down may soon be dreaming of the front door keys rather than a corkscrew. The pleasure is due to a hot new field of design called neuroarchitecture.

Big windows that allow in lots of natural light can provide a mood boost.

Emerging research on how factors like light, space and room layout affect physical and psychological well-being are driving the buzz behind this new intersection of art and science.

"The premise is to consider how each feature of the architectural environment influences certain brain processes such as those involved in stress, emotion and memory," says Eve Edelstein, Ph.D., adjunct professor at the NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego and a research consultant to the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA).

For example, light is already a well-known mood modulator -- candles, artificial sources controlled with dimmers, lots of natural sunshine. Beyond that, neuroarchitecture experts have a few suggestions about how to make the kind of home improvements that also might renovate your mood:

Decor

Surprisingly, sleek minimalist interiors may not feed the brain as much as a home or apartment that's a little cluttered, says John Zeisel, Ph.D., who serves on ANFA's board of directors and designs therapeutic environments for dementia sufferers through his company, Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, in Woburn, Massachusetts.

"Alzheimer's patients wander. However, if you provide good visual cues -- pictures and objects they're familiar with, destinations at the ends of hallways, such as kitchens, activity spaces and doors that lead out into safe and inviting healing gardens -- they stop wandering and begin to walk with purpose."

Similarly, when you look around your own place and see the evidence of who you are (the books you've read, the projects you're working on), you feel grounded. Oprah.com: 7 decorating essentials

The hearth should always be the center of the home, according to Zeisel and British kitchen designer Johnny Grey, who have collaborated since Daniel Goleman, author of "Emotional Intelligence," introduced them three years ago.

"Being in the kitchen links you to hardwired feelings of comfort -- beyond getting food, there's a sense of protection, warmth, sociability, sharing stories," says Zeisel, which is why, ideally, it's both a functional and a social space where friends and family can gather, do homework, and relax.

Grey says the "sweet spot" is a location where you can cook with your back facing a wall while looking others in the eyes.

Zeisel explains why: "After a busy day, if your kitchen design makes you face away from family or company, wondering what the noises and bustle going on behind you mean your brain is more likely to continue to produce adrenaline and cortisol, the hormones associated with anxiety, fear, and stress.

"But when you face into the room and can see what's going on, you feel safer and more in control; then oxytocin, the bonding hormone, and serotonin, associated with relaxation and enjoyment, have a greater chance of being released."

Better yet is a kitchen in which you have a view of the door where people enter, a window onto a landscape and a fireplace. Oprah.com: Go inside this dream kitchen

Windows

A yard is nice, but if you don't have one, big windows or a balcony also offer an emotional lift. "Just being able to see how the weather is and knowing what's out there relaxes people and makes them feel more in control," says Zeisel.

'Soft geometry'

Grey suggests the use of curves instead of hard edges on counters, furniture, and cabinets to help nurture contentment and well-being.

"The reason has to do with your peripheral vision and is linked to a primitive part of the brain called the amygdala," he says. "If you were to walk down a dark, narrow tunnel lined with sharp rocks, you wouldn't be able to think about anything except avoiding getting hurt. But if the same tunnel were lined with linen upholstery, you'd feel safe to daydream."

Everything need not be rounded --"that gets very tedious," Grey says. "But if the key pieces and places are curved, that makes the body relax."

Original art

Decorating with a signed painting or one-of-a-kind sculpture not only puts your unique fingerprint on your place, it transmits a sense of authenticity and trust, says David Lewis, PhD, research director of Neuroco, a British neuromarketing company that uses EEGs (which measure electrical activity in the brain) and other techniques to understand consumer behavior.

A room of one's own

Lack of privacy is stressful, Zeisel says. Even if you can't have your own room, it's important to find ways to guarantee yourself solitude (make a time when the bathroom is yours so you can put on makeup alone, find a corner away from the family traffic to read).

Rearranging

"One of the keys to a home that elicits a lot of happiness and positive emotion is that it changes to some extent," says the University of Wisconsin's Richard J. Davidson, PhD.

Even an environment that makes our spirits soar -- an incredible view, for example -- tends, over time, to grow stale. We get used to it. Davidson isn't suggesting turning your place upside down, but if you get the bug to move things around a bit or play with the lighting, you might find your own interior gets a lift toward the sunnier.

By Tim Jarvis from O, The Oprah Magazine © 2008

Sears Tower to Be Revamped to Produce Most of Its Own Power

By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: June 24, 2009
CHICAGO — The Sears Tower, that bronze-black monument that forms the 110-story peak of the skyline here and stands as the tallest office building in the Western Hemisphere, will soon have another unique feature: wind turbines sprouting from its recessed rooftops high in the sky.
The building’s owners, leasing agents and architects said Wednesday that they are literally taking environmental sustainability to new heights with a $350 million retrofit of the 1970s-era modernist building — and the turbines are only the tip of the transformation. The plan, to begin immediately, aims to reduce electricity use in the tower by 80 percent over five years through upgrades in the glass exterior, internal lighting, heating, cooling and elevator systems — and its own green power generation.
In such a huge tower, with 4.5 million square feet of office and retail space, 16,000 windows and 104 elevators, the project is bound to be one of the most substantial green renovations ever tried on one site, planners said. The Sears Tower is significantly larger than the 102-story, 2.6-million-square-foot Empire State Building, for instance, which is also undergoing renovation to reduce energy consumption.
“If we can take care of one building that size, it has a huge impact on society,” said Adrian Smith, an architect whose firm designed the Sears Tower renovation. “It is a village in and of itself.”
Buildings are among the world’s largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. After the retrofit, energy savings at the Sears Tower, which is to be renamed the Willis Tower this summer, would be equal to 150,000 barrels of oil a year, officials said. The savings are expected to help redeem some of the project’s cost, which is to be financed through private equity investment, grants, debt financing and government funds.
The Sears Tower plans to open a first-floor center to educate the public about the redesign, and hopes to serve as a model for other aging skyscrapers around the world, officials said.

June 25, 2009

IC Green Container Dwellings Sprout Up in California

by Haily Zaki

Inhabitat loves shipping containers, whether from down under or the Great North. These self-contained quadrilateral wonders are the perfect modular building unit; easily transported, super durable, and, with over700,000 containers being abandoned per year in U.S. ports, in need dire need of being re-purposed. That’s why we are happy to see IC Green, another innovator in the field of shipping container architecture. Check out their line of modest but sustainable and stylish container dwellings as they sprout up all over Southern California, including this weekend at Dwell on Design!

IC Green is a Southern California-based design/build company that specializes in transforming overseas shipping containers into simple, comfortable and sustainable residences. The company features six main models ranging in size from a diminutive open floor plan studio to a full four-bedroom unit with courtyard.

All models come with water conservation measures such as rainwater collection systems, grey-water systems,green roofs, and dual flush toilets. Materials used include FSC certified wood products, VOC free paint, and metal products with high recycled content. All homes are also fitted with radiant floor systems paired with highly efficient insulation to reduce the overall energy demand of each residence. The large glass facades allow for ample daylighting and reduce the need for electrical lighting. IC Green is also currently investigating using LED lighting in their homes. Customized stackable designs are also available upon request. These boxy delights make simple but sweet abodes (and the perfect pool house).

For an up close and personal look at their dwellings, check them out at the special Dwell Outdoor pop-up community at Dwell on Design this weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. If you can’t make it to the conference, they also have an upcoming 2400 unit project in LA County, a 1200 unit project with a 480 studio over a garage in Torrance, and a 320 unit on display at their main office in Garden

What is Evidence-based Art?

How are Evidence-based Art Programs different from regular art programs and what advantage do they offer hospitals?

Evidence-based Art is based upon the principles of Evidence-based Design, and makes a commitment to basing design decisions on the best available research evidence. There is a small but significant body of research evidence today on the impact of art on clinical and behavioral outcomes of patients in hospital settings. Viewing artwork with appropriate nature content has been seen to reduce stress and pain perception, as measured by physiological outcomes such as blood pressure, heart-rate, and skin conductance, in addition to self-report measures such as pain-rating scales and surveys. For example, in a study conducted in Sweden by Roger Ulrich, heart surgery patients in an ICU who were shown nature scenes with water, trees and high depth of field, showed lesser anxiety, suffered less intense pain, and required lower strength pain medication, than those shown abstract scenes or no image at all. Economic benefits of lower cost of pain medication, reduced length of stay, and increased patient and staff satisfaction, can be extrapolated from such studies and strengthen the case for taking an evidence-based approach.

Unfortunately, the critical importance of Evidence-based Art programs has not yet been fully appreciated within the industry....

While experienced art consultants have the ability to provide aesthetically pleasing artwork consisting of pretty, local pictures, the insight into whether this aesthetic is appropriate for healthcare populations is often missing. Given the evidence on the therapeutic effect of using appropriate art (discussed above), this could be a critical oversight.

Yet another aspect of evidence that is relevant, in addition to the therapeutic benefit of art, relates to how presence and quality of art can effect patient/visitor perception of the quality of care at the hospital, act as a de-stressor for staff, have an impact on the branding of the hospital, serve as a point of focus and discussion for visitors, and of course, add to the overall appeal of the visual environment (these themes are emergent from a 2007 post-occupancy evaluation of the art program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston). Artwork is often the most visible and noticeable aspect of the visual environment and this increases its potential impact on patients/ staff/ visitors, and in the final analysis, the economic bottom-line at the hospital.

There are well-researched guidelines in place today for appropriate healthcare art based on rigorous research findings, which can be implemented, creatively, by experienced art consultants. Ulrich and Gilpin’s chapter on Healing Arts, in Frampton’s Putting Patients First, is one of the most comprehensive resources and recommends the use of

1. Waterscapes (Calm or Non-turbulent Water),
2. Landscapes (with visual depth or open foreground, trees with broad canopy, Savannah Landscapes, verdant Vegetation, or positive cultural artifacts),
3. Flowers (familiar, healthy and fresh, in natural settings with open foreground), and
4. Figurative Art (depicting emotionally positive faces, diverse and leisurely in nature).

While these guidelines are in place today, an evidence-based art consultant has the onus of creative but conscientious interpretation, in order to ensure that the most appropriate art for the facility is chosen while maintaining a standard of visual appeal that is befitting to the hospital. Furthermore, there is little known on art for special populations, or different ethnicities, and mere prescriptive adherence to guidelines cannot suffice.

In the end, commitment to an Evidence-based Art program entails going the step beyond the implementation of existing guidelines, to improving and updating guidelines towards the maximum impact art can have on improving the healthcare environment.

BY KATHY HATHORN AND UPALI NANDA
Published in FacilityCare Magazine. Vol 12. Number 3. May/June 2007

ORANGE

Orange evokes a variety of emotions and is said to stir up controversy more than any other color out there. It is a color that is definitely vibrant and is associated with energy, fun and warmth. It is used in many restaurants due its ability to stimulate ones appetite, which I found to be quite interesting. So, perhaps this may be a color that you may want to reserve for your kitchen or dining room.

HG's Walk for Autism awareness

We had a great time for a great cause!! THANK YOU Lisa, for getting our team motivated and the money raised for Autism awareness!! To see more event photos check out our Event Gallery, don't let the dark clouds fool you, it was a wonderful day!!

Art and Design in the Ice Hotel

Shigeru Uchida (Interior Designer)

It is named after the Paramount Picture "Alfie" in 1965. Its theme song is also a famous jazz number with the lyrics, "What's it all about, Alfie?" This petal-shaped chair was created on the image of flowers blooming in a neutral space. This product is suitable for the space with high ceiling.

You can arrange these system-centered chairs in various ways such as round shape, oval shape, waved shape, and rectangular shape and others by combining four different shapes while they can be used as an individual chair. This product is suitable for a narrow hallway, irregularly shaped space, and high ceiling space and the like. This system is truly "just in time" for space. You can apply part of this Series to private space such as a reception room in the office.	Chairs in this Series were designed based on the image of "Side by Side," a famous jazz number with rhythmical tune. Its design was born from rhythmical and bouncing image. Connected chairs are mainstream products of this Series, but you can use them individually by placing them separately around a table as well.	"So in Love" was created by Cole Porter as a theme song of the musical "Kiss Me Kate" in 1948. It is a sweet love song with a line, "When I'm close to you, dear, the stars fill the sky c" Since the chairs in this Series can be freely combined, you can create various images by arranging the bench seats with three different shapes at your own choice. Also, free combination of chairs will create a form of communication between space and people. Larger size chairs in this Series were designed to create a landscape in a space.
Shigeru Uchida(Interior Designer) Born in Yokohama in 1943. Graduated from Kuwasawa Design School in 1966. Guest professor at Tokyo University of Art and Design and Kuwasawa Design School. Uchida received the Mainichi Design Award, Commercial and Environment Design Award, the First Kuwasawa Design Award, and the Ministry of Education Award for Art. As one of the leading designers in Japan, Uchida has been engaged in a wide range of domestic and international activities from furniture and industrial design to community development as well as commercial/living space design. His major works include Yohji Yamamoto's boutiques, the Japanese Pavilion at the EXPO '85 in Tsukuba, Hotel Il Palazzo in Fukuoka, a lobby of Kyoto Hotel, Kobe Fashion Museum, Japanese tea-ceremony rooms called 'Ju-an, So-an, Gyo-an,' and Mojiko Hotel, etc. His works are exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum and others as permanent collection.

THE DESIGN VOTE.. A VERY COOL SITE

About

Sep 2nd, 2008 by admin

http://www.thedesignvote.com/

The Design Vote is a daily site where design items are presented to be voted on by you. You can either vote an item as thumbs up or thumbs down. The results are displayed as a running tally, pointing out the most popular item presented to date.

Fernando + Humberto Campana: Their art & their curated exhibit at the Copper Hewitt

By Karen Uribe

If you’ve heard of the Vermelha chair, you’ve probably heard of the Campana brothers.

They are a two-man team of Brazilian brothers that are among the most ingenious designers in the modern art world. Their native Brazil is their home & inspiration. Each one of their creations are always wild, sensual & completely surprising. They say their inspiration comes from everything they see in Brazil. From the kids playing on the street, the street vendors selling all kinds of fruits, the poverty, the Favelas, the dense & lush scenery of the Amazon with it’s wild life & swamps. It all comes to life in each one of their creations.

Fernando + Humberto Campana: Their art & their curated exhibit at the Copper Hewitt

BLOB MENTALITY

A home-improvement project by Greg Lynn evolves into the Blobwall, a modular wall system produced by Panelite.

Its name may reek of science fiction, but Greg Lynn’s Blobwall was conceived under pretty prosaic circumstances. Inspired by kids’ outdoor toys and 1970s Italian interiors, Lynn had the idea to put a colorful plastic wall inside the home he is building for his family in Venice Beach, California. He designed a hollow plastic form—a blob, as it were—that could function as a whimsical alter­native to bricks, with heat-welding replacing mor­tar. The commercial applications quickly became appar­ent. “A very big percentage of small-scale construction is plastic,” he says. “But it’s some horrible beige plastic made to look like wood. I thought, Well, why not tackle this big chunk of the environment that, really, nobody designs?”

Lynn hopes eventually to take the idea even further. “It’s in the air that people are thinking of these three-dimensional cellular lattice structures,” he says. “The Blobwall is simply one of the first, or the first, manifestation of it. But I think it’s very applicable at a lot of different scales.” Lynn says that the blobs, or a variation on them, could even be applied to building-scale construction. The Blob­house? Now that really does sound like science fiction.

PROPERTIES
Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) is recyclable and impact- and puncture-resistant. The wall modules are available in three stan­d­ard configurations and five color palettes, or they can be custom ordered.

APPLICATIONS
Interior walls, partitions, and enclosures. (Panelite is currently testing its feasibility for outdoor use.)

COMPOSITION
Hollow “blobs” of LLDPE heat-welded into wall modules

THE FUTURE IS GREEN... BURKE, HOGUE +MILLS

Burke, Hogue, + Mills, an architecture and interior design firm in Lake Mary, Florida, believes that " Every site, every building, and every interior, should be designed to function in a manner that responds positively to the environment in which it occupies and the people who use it"

With that in mind, the company had it's first "art exhibition" this month. The employees created wonderful pieces of art with recycled scrap materials only. Using items like old carpet, metal, and colorful leftover laminent chips, the pieces of art turned out to be brilliant. Enjoy the show!