Tuesday, March 29, 2011

small world department

Anthony Bourdain at Fred's Fish House is a link to video from his trip to Fred's for his Ozark edition of 'No Reservations.' He is, by far, my favorite food guy and for this to air 2 weeks after I was back at Fred's for the 1st time in years seems more than a coincidence.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

studies in projection



Friday, March 25, 2011

The Elements of Euclid

This is a facsimile edition of a mid 19th Century book. Primary colors and black are used to code the proofs in this remarkable edition. It is hard to have art or construction w/o geometry.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

A Green Renovation in a Modern High Rise

One condo at a time. I am consulting on a 2 unit renovation and this is an opportunity to set a mindful standard for sustainability practices in this building. I've always liked this building and hope to make the most of it.
There is a lot that can be done, even with a central plant for heating and cooling. IEQ issues, material and resource choices, universal design, recycling and more can be a significant part of a project such as this.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Information

James Gleick's new book (pictured above) is a fascinating meditation on 'information' as the defining quality of the modern era. I am not quite a third through the book and he is covering a lot of material on communication and language I am familiar with from other sources but with a sharper focus on what it is making of us.

A section on telegraphy quotes Scientific American from 1880: "the time is close at hand when the scattered members of civilized communities will be as closely united, so far as instant telephonic communication is concerned, as the various members of the body now are by the nervous system." Gleick follows the quote with: "Considering how speculative the analogy was, it turned out well. Nerves really do transmit messages, and the telegraph and the telephone did begin to turn human society, for the first time, into something like a coherent organism." (p126)

Technology participating in the creation of analogies/metaphors, using the particular which, in turn, become analogies/metaphors for the general. In some sense it seems to enhance a holistic world view. In this sense technology doesn't make the world a smaller place, but a larger one. All of a sudden our realm of concern is extended far beyond the village or countryside and we have the pressure/need to be involved in something much larger than our forebears had need to consider.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

more on JR

JR wins 2011 TED Prize. See his presentation : Turn the World Inside Out
This is some of the most engaging and relevant work I have seen in a long, long time. I highly recommend watching his presentation.