On the Radar

SHOPPING
When the IGL Jet desk popped up in our inbox we nearly spilled our martinis. It’s the 747 of office desks.
-thanks to Seattle Picks

For some slick furniture and cabinetry get on over to Double Butter. We dig that they’ve developed a standard kit of parts that can be switched up for a variety of finished products.
-thanks to Peter

PHOTOGRAPHING
Digital photography is taking to new, unexpected evolutions –some of them quite beautiful, others may seem a bit manipulated (if any of you also spent long hours in the dark room). Either way, go check out the architectural photography at Smashing Apps and most notably the work of Thomas Holtkoetter.
-thanks to Josiah

DATA MAPPING
Twistori is a data driven site that is constantly trolling Twitter for entries containing: love, hate, think, believe, feel, and wish. It reminded us of a brilliant show that came through Seattle years ago and turned digital “space junk” into poetic music and visuals.
-thanks to Angela

The History Shots website sells visual data posters ranging from political parties to the history of major league baseball.
-thanks to Angela

Flowing Data recently uploaded the 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year, all of which are worth taking a look at.
-thanks to Angela

From the New York Times Art section on April 6th – “Called ‘The Geography of Buzz’, The authors, Elizabeth Currid, an assistant professor in the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and Sarah Williams, the director of the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University‘s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, mined thousands of photographs from Getty Images that chronicled flashy parties and smaller affairs on both coasts for a year, beginning in March 2006. The maps show the density of different types of cultural events in New York and Los Angeles.”
-thanks to Angela

ARCHITECTING
In response to our recent post on architecture in Sao Paulo, Movimento1 was brought to our attention. The design firm is doing some well designed, low-rise residential buildings. They also have a fun website to navigate.
-thanks to Michael and welcome back to the states

DREAMING
Good news for anyone even remotely conscious of sensible, modern design.  Seattle’s erroneously named “Street of Dreams” is rumored to be cancelled for 2009. Since 1983 the Street of Silliness has been convincing hard working Americans that the pinnacle of success is buying a 6,000 square foot home designed in a faux traditional style on a cult-de-sac in the suburbs. With styles like “European-French Provincial” and “Large bungalow style in Arts and Crafts tradition” the architecture community isn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Hopefully, the Street of Dreams cancellation signifies a new era of sensibility, simplicity and economy.

VISUALLY COMMUNICATING
We’re suckers for hot diagrams and the GE Smart Grid website does a phenomenal job of creating an interactive graphic experience around energy in the 21st century.
-thanks to Angela

MAKING
Recently we received a resume from a sharp shooter named Kyle Dunnington. And while we don’t have any spots open, he put himself well on the radar with his cardboard tube chair that we took a liking to immediately. Email us for more info about the chair or a capable recent graduate.

EXHIBITING
The Seattle Architecture Foundation is throwing its 12th annual Model & Drawing Exhibit which will run from June 26th until July 31st. Seattle architects have until May 4th to get their entry forms submitted. The show is a great example of the skill and craft of our local architectural community. More info here.

BLOGGING
There are many blogs out there that aggregate information from other blogs or simply repost images from other sources.  However, it’s actually rare to find good, original writing within the architecture and design blog realm. We were recently introduced to the Talkitect blog authored by Lucas Gray which serves up well written articles. In addition to the written word, he keeps a nicely managed photo album of favorite architecture projects from his extensive travels.

READING
Dubai: How not to build a city. That pretty much says it all.

LECTURING
BUILD LLC has been invited to the Good Chemistry symposium and we’ll be giving a presentation on the future of creativity along with Chase Jarvis, Andrew Rohrmann and Ksenia Oustiougova. Get your tickets here.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNING
There are a number of fold-up bikes on the market, but none as gorgeous as the IF MODE fold-up model. Rrrroww. And as you know, beauty comes at a price (like $2,500)

And finally, get your eyes over to 100% to check out the minimal Faceless LED Watch designed by Hironao Tsuboi.

Header credit: Photo of Cardboard Tube Chair by Kyle Dunnington