Balance, Design
April 24, 2013
By Jamie Latendresse
Architect Ray Tam left the advertising industry to begin studying architecture at the University of Oregon. After finishing his degree, he began a new focus on the rehabilitation of affordable and market-rate multi-family housing while working at BASIS Architecture and Consulting. Ray is also involved with the Bay Area Young Architects, part of San Francisco’s AIA chapter, and is a photographer. We asked him to take time out of his creative endeavors and design a sound musical structure for us in this week’s Playlist. Take a listen.
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Balance
December 5, 2012
By Jamie Latendresse
After graduating from Yale in 2001, Boston architect Chongzi Chen founded independent firm Chen Architect (which we learned about from previous Playlister Aisha Densmore-Bey). His work ranges from commercial projects to residential home and interiors to green buildings. In addition to his design work, he has also taught courses focusing on integrated design practices for environmental systems and the history of sustainability. From his sun-drenched studio, Chongzi gets right to the music in this week’s Playlist.
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Balance, Design
October 17, 2012
By Jamie Latendresse
This week, Washington, D.C. architect and business owner Kathy Dixon welcomes us into her firm. Kathy provides architectural services, which includes base buildings, historic renovations, and additions for both commercial and residential clients. She’s lucky enough to enjoy two home workspaces: an interior space and a beguiling outdoor patio for those sunny afternoon work sessions. Check out her selection of classics in this week’s Playlist. Read more
Balance
May 30, 2012
By Jamie Latendresse
Boston-based designer Aisha Densmore-Bey is a multi-faceted creative who works in mediums from architecture and interiors to film and painting. Aisha recently wrote, produced, and directed an architectural short titled “The Built Perception: Boston” which explores our relationship with the built environment. In her installation “FOLD!” at Boston’s center for Architecture and Design, BSA Space, she investigated the interaction of creases, pleats, curves, and computational patterns within all aspects of design. One might wonder what such an eclectic artist would listen to while contemplating the design of the physical world. Let’s find out in this week’s Playlist.
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Balance
May 16, 2012
By Jamie Latendresse
Affirming his affinity for modern and mid-century modern design, designer Tyler Goodro created Plastolux in 2007. With a razor-sharp focus on interiors, furniture, and architecture from the mid-20th century to the present, Tyler has compiled an impressive collection of arresting images and information on the blog. Currently the creative director at TiLite, an innovative wheelchair manufacturer, Tyler is also developing furniture designs and designing a series of lamps from cut and blasted wine bottles. We caught up with Tyler to see how music fits into his prolific work for this week’s Playlist. Read more
Balance, Design, Products, Technology
January 13, 2012
By Cerentha Harris
Where we were this week…
1. Eric Fischer’s amazing Flickr site. Fischer captures people’s photo-taking habits (locals and tourists) on maps and publishes them to Flickr. The images are really beautiful. Below is a snapshot of Chicago – the blue denotes locals taking photographs, the red is tourists.
2. Core 77′s store for their Hand-Eye Supply spiral bound notebooks that are wrapped shut with a strip of elastic that doubles as a pen holder. Clever.
3. PSFK for their piece on Mercedes mobile workplaces…more on this next week!
4. SFMoma’s artist’s series lets you buy prints from young contemporary artists. The latest contributor is Jason Munn and his clean-lined graphic work would make a great addition to your home office.
5. Danish architects MLRP for their amazing mirror house. Part fun house, part sleek contemporary design.
6. Designer Seung Yong Song’s wonderful Object-O. A paper lantern perches on top of a chair – it’s the ultimate tiny home office.
7. Wallpaper for their W* House. Check out the study for some incredible home office accessories (yes, they have included our Airia desk)
8. W magazine wonderfully over the top House Tours series. Love this dark-walled library. I imagine you’d cosy up and get a lot of work done here!
9. Apartment Therapy – which has undergone a major redesign – for their coverage of digital decals for the home office.
10. Designboom for their online store selling original designs. Have a look at the 24k pencil. Nice accompaniment to the gold typewriter I covered yesterday.
Balance, Design
December 18, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Just in case you missed this one we wanted to point out that Frank Sinatra’s Farralone Estate is up for sale. It’s listed at $12 million. The modernist house was completed in 1951 by Pereira & Luckman – the architects behind The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Kennedy Center. You can check out the slideshow here…keep an eye out for the Eames chairs (here’s a hint – they are in the guest house!) You can also check out a slideshow put together by Forbes magazine here.
Balance, Design, Products, Technology
October 13, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Where we’ve been this week…
1. Metropolis magazine for their multimedia section. Check out the photo essay by Michael Wolf titled Transparent City - makes me glad to work from home!
2. Domus for their amazing website – go straight to the architecture section for some wonderful residential and commercial projects.
3. New York Times for their interview with the authors of the new Unhappy Hipsters book It’s Lonely in the Modern World.
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Balance, Design
October 6, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Mark Jensen is the principal of San Francisco-based architecture firm whose work includes projects like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s award-winning rooftop sculpture garden (above) to lovingly detailed hillside homes. Here we take a tour of his homes and learn more about a shift in the way we work that informs his residential designs.
Above: Mark Jensesn at work. Photo: Jensen Architects
You are the principal architect of an 18-person firm that was established in 1990. Can you tell us about what drew you to architecture? Two things: first, my German grandfather hand-crafted a collection of solid maple building blocks for his grandson (thankfully, he didn’t have the tools in his garage-shop to make “blobs”). Second, my high school geometry teacher (a “recovering” architect himself) took one look at my hyper-organized class binder and said to me: “Mark, you are going to be an architect.”
Above: The Kokoris residence. Photos: Cesar Rubio.
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Balance, Design, Products, Technology
August 12, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Where we’ve been this week…
1. CondeElevator on Twitter. I know it’s shallow but these tweets makes me laugh. This person publishes comments they overhear in the Conde Nast elevator – mostly snippets from Vogue employees.
2. App.Itize.Us is a great spot to find new apps.I love the Crouwelclock by Dutch designer Wim Crouwel (below). Thanks to Lifework reader Marc for the tip.
3. Kitka for their post on designer David Ericcson. Great workspace.
4. Design Skool for their coverage of Estudio Manus (office below).
5. Better Living Through Design because they’ve got a great eye for interiors and homewares. I really like the desk set by Mateo Ilasco.
6. BKids for their tour of Nerissa Coco’s home and office (below).
7. It’s Nice That is a beautifully designed blog and curated on art and design (check out the cat scan!)
8. Found By James is a site that offers up objects discovered by global traveller “James”. These pocket pencils, which he found in London, are wonderful.
9. red.house for their interiors coverage including this Swedish apartment in Malmo (below).
10. Design Observer for their poetry posts. It’s so nice to come across contemporary poems in this context. Thoughtful addition to a great site.