February 15, 2008
The blues
Russia rising
Well coat
Taking action
Exhibitions
Resources
The blues
For 2008, the new green is blue--this according to Ann Mack, the chief trend spotter at JWT, the global mega-ad agency.
"Green is used up, played out and weighed down by associations with the 'beards and sandals' activists of yesteryear," Mack recently told the Chicago Tribune. "I think the word has lost a lot of its meaning," citing overuse in advertising and promotion.
Blue, however, Mack says is "fresh, distinctive and relevant."
"Most people understand that the climate is all about the seas and the sky, both of which are blue," Mack explains. The next phase in the environmental movement, she predicts, will be color-coded blue.
In a similar development, Pantone, provider of professional color standards for the design industry, has selected Blue Iris, as its 2008 color of the year, "combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple," the company said.
Donna Warner, editor of Metropolitan Home, recently voiced support for green's possible downgrade. Warner cited a "green ennui," the result of "the relentless greenwashing of products." "People use the word like it's the low-carb label of the furniture business, just slapping it on everything," she told the New York Times. (Warner also finds bamboo "boring.")
Hopefully, sensitivity to the environment will not become passe, regardless of color.
Russia rising
Much is made of the building boom in places such as China and Dubai. However, Russia continues to use its oil revenue to flex its architectural muscle.
Now, the former Soviet Union is taking a shot at the world's tallest building. Set on a peninsula near Moscow's center city, the mega-project is dubbed Crystal Island. The centerpiece, according to the Sunday (UK) Times, will be a $4 billion "city inside a building" designed by British luminary and Pritzker Prize winning architect Lord Norman Foster.
Floor space for 30,000 residents will quadruple that of the Pentagon. The project will include "900 apartments and 3,000 hotel rooms, an international school for 500 pupils, a cinema, museum, theatre, sports complex and dozens of shops," according to the Times. Topping out at 1,500 feet, the structure will dominate the urban landscape.
"When countries are doing well again you often see these large iconic buildings appearing," Foster told the Times. Typical British understatement for what Foster has called "the world's most ambitious building."
Well coat
Are you looking to restore balance in mind and body, to heal the spirit? The answer could be a paintbrush and roller away.
According to E magazine, recently introduced Ayurveda Essence Paints, produced by AFM Safecoat, "add a touch of eastern philosophy to house painting." Ayurveda translates "knowledge of a long life." It is a holistic mind/body healing therapy practiced by millions in India and Nepal. (Transcendental Meditation is a Western spin-off.)
The paint manufacturer claims "the color system consists of 108 mood enhancing colors in three sets of 36, created to complement a person's 'dosha' or energy type." The color palette "is designed to channel and balance energy."
AFM Safecoat is a long-established leader in providing non-toxic, non-polluting products. (Both Gap and Banana Republic chose the company's paint for new headquarters.) So, while the jury is still out on healing therapy, at least environmental safety should provide peace of mind.
Taking action
Architecture and design groups are rising to the occasion, aggressively assuming responsibility for environmental impact.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently launched "Walk the Walk." This new initiative is described as "a multi-faceted campaign to educate, promote and encourage sustainable design among consumers, business owners and architects." The organization is committed to a fifty percent fossil fuel reduction by 2010. Look for a major communications program including high visibility print and online advertising, new media, and PR.
Designers Accord is a newly established, loose-knit coalition of product and graphic designers. The goal of the fast-growing group is to "create sustainable products and services, and share information about how to do that with each other." An online database that features case studies is promised shortly.
"We believe it is our obligation to use our knowledge, experience, and reach to positively influence what we design and consume." So states the group's mission statement. A worthy pledge.
Exhibitions
Frida Kahlo
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 20 - May 18, 2008
This, the 100th anniversary of the Mexican artist's birth, is certain to be "The Year of Frida." A major retrospective features works from collections worldwide including several powerful and mesmerizing self-portraits. Over time, Kahlo has almost eclipsed her husband, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, in the public imagination. Her powerful and vivid imagery wears well. The exhibition concluded a successful three-month run at the Walker in Minneapolis. After Philadelphia, it moves to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 16 - September 28.
Resources
Guiding Architects
"Themed" travel tours are available for lovers of classical music, regional cuisine, Renaissance art, or ancient history. Guiding Architects, a new organization, facilitates those fascinated by the built environment. The group is described as "an ever-growing network of architects, architecture journalists and writers." Tours offered "present current architectural developments, urban contexts, social and political backgrounds and many other issues in an entertaining and informative way." Major European cities are the primary focus. Visit the website to download the latest newsletter. And, start packing.
Building A New Europe: Portraits of Modern Architects
Essays by George Nelson
Yale University Press
2007
In the mid-1930s, the names Mies van Der Rohe and Le Corbusier were unknown to most Americans. European architecture, impacted by the Bauhaus and other like movements, had seen fundamental change, a major paradigm shift. Modernism was on the rise. American architect and designer George Nelson, then in his late 20s, realized that age-old concepts concerning the built environment were in flux. Ever curious, he traveled the continent interviewing and observing. He wrote these prescient essays in 1935 and 1936 for Pencil Points, an American design journal. His observations are as fresh and insightful now as then.
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