2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

Greenwashing

What is greenwashing? Greenwashing is the creation or promotion of a products or ideals that exhibit environmentally sound qualities without actually performing at a less consumptive level. For example, the illusion of buying bamboo chairs imported from Vietnam over oak chairs from your native state. Yes, bamboo is a very renewable resource, but once the deforestation and glue toxins and shipping fuels and packaging are considered, its much better to just buy local furniture that doesn't require so much processing. Read a similar article on the greenwashing of the Chinese Olympic Gardens here.

Beijing's Olympic Garden

In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing has festooned the grounds with lush sculptures portraying a greener version of China than we’re used to seeing. But artful topiary design is no replacement for creating a cleaner city at its height of pollution. Read the full article.

CCTV-TV Station and Headquarters, China, Beijing-Nearing Finish.

Architect Rem Koolhaus and his firm the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (Rotterdam) won the competition (in 2002) set for the design and construction of a new complex for the CCTV's new headquarters to be completed in time for the Beijing Olympics.  The design was/is so spectacular that the Museum of Modern Art in New York created an exhibit around it in 2006, already a phenomenon in architectural circles, to address the preconceived notions surrounding the building of a tower with the magnitude this has.  “It’s a fiendishly complex building in terms of program and structure,” Mr. Koolhaas said in a quote from a 2006 New York Times article about the exhibit.

Construction began in 2004 and the famous right angle cantilever at the top of the building was joined in December of 2007.  Reaching their goal of finishing by the time of the scheduled Olympics in Beijing began to look not only possible but plausible.

Several flickr accounts have begun taking images with regularity to keep us updated as to the construction's progress.  Then on May 31st, Nike got the jump on the Olympics when it projected the introduction of China's Golden Athletes Olympic suits  against 4 of the building's columns giving us a small glimpse of what is soon to come at the same time realizing the imaginations of those who created  the sci-fi worlds of Blade Runner and the Fifth Element.  For more stills and to see Nike's eerie video go here. 

Meantime the 5 million square foot complex is more than an astral projection....

The CCTV project also includes a second  building that will house a five-star hotel (bldg left of CCTV) with 300 rooms, restaurants and spas, recording studios and a 1,500-seat theater.  This structure, the Television Cultural Center or TVCC is, as described by the architects, the public component of the project and was to open ahead of the larger headquarters in 2007.

Also as reported by the New York Times, China’s television network  will be capable of broadcasting 250 channels when the headquarters is completed. CCTV currently produces and broadcasts just 16 channels.  For more information about the building and interior drawings visit OMA's official website.

Road Trip Pt. 4 -- Modern Inspirations

Here I am, writing this post from a coffee shop in New Orleans. While in town, me and my travel buddies have been staying with one of their brother and his friends, whose lifestyle resembles that of the modern day Merry Pranksters. Their styles are what Urban Outfitters and the like tries to replicate. Here are just a few shots from around the house (shh!) that I thought that, if slightly tweaked, would be totally appropriate in any modern design magazines or stores. These are the people who take a can of spray paint to a cuckoo clock straight on the wall, and make it look like it was meant to be that way forever.

 

Road Trip, Pt. 2: Coca-Cola Land

I hate to dedicate a post to the Coke conglomerate, but I was wooed by the design of the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta, which was where my two fellow travelers and I found ourselves this week. Personally, I didn't find it $15 well spent, but was enthralled by the design of the place. The art on the walls of the "Tasting Room" was designed by Antoine + Manuel. Even the machines that dispersed samples of Coke products from around the world were exceedingly pleasing to look at.

Breathing: Art as Memorial

The Breathing, a memorial to all the journalists, cameramen and crew killed while reporting the news has become the latest addition to the skyline of London, England. The BBC commissioned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa to design the 30ft high, inverted steel and glass cone, which together with BBC radio mast and the spire of All Souls Church, forms a trinity of spires. The words engraved around the sculpture, which is shaped like a listening glass, evoke the themes of speech and silence, life and death: Life turns and turns on the crystal glass, silence is a voice, our voice.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon unveiled the sculpture, which sits on top of the new wing of Broadcasting House, today. The sculpture will be illuminated for 30 minutes each evening by a beacon that shines half a mile into the sky.
Along with the Breathing sculpture the BBC commissioned poet and ex-war correspondent James Fenton to write a Memorial Poem

We spoke, we chose to speak of war and strife –
a task a fine ambition sought –
and some might say, who shared our work, our life:
that praise was dearly bought.

Drivers, interpreters, these were our friends.
These we loved. These we were trusted by.
The shocked hand wipes the blood across the lens.
The lens looks to the sky.

Most died by mischance. Some seemed honour-bound
to take the lonely, peerless track
conceiving danger as a testing ground
to which they must go back

till the tongue fell silent and they crossed
beyond the realm of time and fear.
Death waved them through the checkpoint. They were lost.
All have their story here.

The column of light is a reminder that more than 200 reporters across the world have lost their lives since the start of 2007 through kidnapping, acts of war and terrorism .

Olafur Eliasson: Waterfalls in the City

Work by Icelandic-Danish Artist Olafur Eliasson is all over New York City this Spring and Summer. Currently showing at MoMA and PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Take Your Time is an exhibition exploring  the cognitive aspects of the sense of sight using light, prisms, water and, the case of his photographs, time and motion. One of the most remarkable exhibits is the 360° room for all colours,  which allows the visitor to experience the physiological and psychological effects of the changing color spectrum. As the colors change from red through magenta, fuchsia to shades of blue you feel different emotions, happy, sad, bewildered but also warm or chilly. In Ventilator, which occupies the huge Marron Atrium at MoMa, a swinging fan suspended above the visitors' heads sends them ducking and scurrying for cover.

Opening later this month his New York City Waterfalls is a series of four art installations on the East River in New York organized in collaboration with Public Art Fund and the City of New York, who hope to generate millions of tourist dollars from visitors while highlighting the revitalization of the waterfront .

Designed as an eco-friendly sustainable resource, water will be pumped from the river to the top of 90-120ft high scaffolds from where it will cascade back down to the river. At dusk low-level lighting will be switched on to illuminate the towers. By presenting the usually horizontal river in a dramatic vertical form, Eliasson hopes The Waterfalls "will give people the possibility to reconsider their relationships to the spectacular surroundings" evoking "experiences that are both individual and enhance a sense of collectivity."

Best seen from the river itself, tours are offered by Circle Line Boats, but all four structures can be viewed from the  South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan.

New York City Waterfalls runs from June 26th through October 13th 2008 from 7am-10pm.

Take Your Time runs through June 30
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Stree, New York, NY
and
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City

Traffic flows into Dubai

The Dubai design scene is booming, much like everything else here, and with the new opening of Traffic Gallery in the Al Barsha area of Dubai, the buzz from all the excitement is deafening. Not only are they having a FAB sale during May (first come first serve basis), with designers such as Droog, Magis and Tse & Tse being represented, but they have these awesome items from the Campana Brothers.

Warning: these are almost too cool.

Fernando and Humberto Campana are inspired by South American street life and successfully create vibrant, energetic & colorful unique pieces from found objects such as scraps of wood and fabric off-cuts. Coming from Brazil, one with a degree in law, the other with a degree in architecture, these brothers are establishing worldwide presence from Boston, USA to now, the UAE.

...and one for the kiddies!!!

Hotel Everland: booking a forever memory.

   "Hotel Everland is a project by Swiss artist-duo L/B (Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann). L/B are known for their Installations that deal with architecture and space and invite the viewer to get involved and become part of the artwork.

Everland is a Hotel with only one room including a bathroom, a king-size bed and a lounge. The bounteous dimensioned room represents the subjective dream of a hotel: the architecture, the playful details, as well as the request to steal the golden embroidered bath towels. All Everland guests are partaking in the project.

                  

                   (Night view from Palais de Tokyo)

Also the concept for operating the hotel was defined by the artists. All facets are important constituents of the artistic idea: The room can be booked for one night only, the mini-bar is fully stocked and included in the price, breakfast is delivered to the door and a record collection stands at ones disposal."

(Looking back into module toward bedroom and bathroom, complete with shower)

Having been invited to different venues since its conception in 2002, Hotel Everland will be atop the Palais de Tokyo art gallery until the end of 2008.  You can book the room online at the hotel's website and obtain further details about the project.

NORMANN Copenhagen

Souk al Bahar (the new souk open at The Palace Hotel in Downtown Burj, Dubai, where we live) has opened some great little places since it's grand opening a few months ago - shopping, cafes, restaurants, furniture...and as in most of the souks in the city, some great one-of-a-kind boutiques. We are lucky enough to have 50 degrees (check out Kitsch22 for more on their brands, links, etc.) - a kitschy, groovy hipster boutique selling things for your home, music, journals and all things cool - lighting (think Tord Boontje), music (think Ennio Morricone remixes) and all things NORMANN Copenhagen.
Founded in 1999, this is what their catalog has to say about them:
"...honored with numerous international design awards, the brand continues to challenge convention, and reinvent the everyday to make even the ordinary extraordinary through great design."
From silicone vases and pen/toothbrush holders to brushed steel and rubber money clips and card holders, NORMANN Copenhagen I am certain can provide you something to use, showcase or just admire...
Some of my faves are below, as well as a list of upcoming fairs you are invited to, to see a presentation of their collection:

ICFF
New York - 17th to the 20th of May 2008 - stand # 904
www.icff.com

Pulse
London - 1st to the 3th of June 2008 - stand # M1
www.pulse-london.com

Decorate Life
Frankfurt- 4th to the 8th of July 2008 - stand Nordic Design, hal 4.1