Melissa Hope Matlins

Much ado has been made over Eliasson’s Waterfalls, and after seeing them at night I can confirm that at least some of the hype is justified. A leisurely stroll to the Eastern-most end of Grand Street at dusk, and you are treated to these lovely views of falling water along the promenade, mystically lit. One waterfall south of the pier is close up and clearly visible, and another peeks into view under the bridge in the distance. It just might be the biggest temporary piece of public art in New York City since Christo’s Gates.

Mini-trend warning - New York City is having a love affair with all things Nordic. I am basing this on three things that I like, two things somewhat design-y in nature:

1. I just saw the Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet, featuring a curious, streamlined set design reminiscent of a postwar cruise ship, or repurposed military vessel. This is a tale based in Denmark after all. It would have been nice to throw a classic Jacobsen or Panton piece of furniture in there, it would have been right at home. Even the weird puppet in this picture - part of the play within the play - made sense in a quirky Scandinavian sort of way.

2. Speaking of quirky Scandinavians and streamlined design, New Yorkers flocked to the new Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn this weekend. I didn’t feel like camping out in front of the store for a week, but someone else was lucky enough to be greeted by cheerful Ikea employees at the door and took this picture. I think they are beating ballons together, like at a baseball game? And singing? A tribute to good and inexpensive design perhaps?

3. My friend Siggi’s Icelandic yogurt is called Siggi’s Skyr. Plus all the architect’s in my firm are mad for it, so maybe this item is design-related too.

Great photos of the new Digital Water Pavillion, courtesy of the deep thinkers over at MIT’s Design Laboratory. It works like a giant inkjet printer, and each “showerhead” is computer controlled, allowing the wall of water to morph into shapes or even letters. Equipped with sensors, the wall can also detect people approaching and part the water to allow entry into the building. Biblical.

Image via: Digital Water Pavillion

Looks like Washington D.C. will be taking the honors as the first stateside city to launch a real bicycle sharing program. After a pilot program in NYC last summer, I was hoping that my hometown would take the lead. Its hard not to get excited about these sleek looking racks and wheels though, very European.

This weekend The Washington Post marvelously captured the general public’s paranoia about new street furniture, bicycling, sharing, socialist enterprises, and new things in general, when they wrote of the new bike racks:

“Yet another homeland security device?
Actually, they are being installed to make us more like people abroad rather than protect us from them.”

Remain calm.

image: via The Washington Post

The world should have known that the spawn of Jef Raskin, the “father” of the Macintosh computer, would one day revolutionize a genre of his own - office furniture. Enter the Bloxe, interlocking pieces of cardboard that click together like a life-size lego set to form walls, benches and tables. Aside from its green credentials (far superior to the toxic particle board that most office furniture is made of), the air spaces within the Bloxes help to dampen sound, so you won’t ever have to hear your cubicle mate fighting with her fiancee again! Plus the assemble process looks like a bit of fun if you are mechanically inclined.

Via: Green Tech Blog

FEMA claims that the temporary trailers provided to Hurricane Katrina victims cost only $14,000. Independent investigations by the GAO show that the real cost is more like $229,000 when you factor in transportation, on-site construction and maintenance. To this already staggering number we can now add another hidden cost - health problems caused by formaldehyde off-gassing of the trailer materials. A new congressional report points the finger at FEMA for downplaying reports of formaldehyde exposure. FEMA claims that their tests concluded that air quality inside the trailers was safe “as long as things were properly ventilated.”

Maybe a better architect, or a FEMA architect, could tell me exactly how you are supposed to ventilate an outsized tin can with four tiny window openings inside four tiny rooms in a humid climate like Louisiana. Sustainably-designed buildings often undergo a “flush-out” period of several weeks to optimize air quality. They are also designed to ventilate naturally, and feature nifty things like fully operable windows, on two adjacent walls even! And porches for shade. A lot of people think that green building is a luxury that only the rich can afford, or that disaster housing cannot be decent housing. A quick review of Rural Studio’s work on the “20K house,” and Shigeru Ban’s cardboard-tube disaster housing illustrates that this is patently untrue. In times of need, architecture can become a redemptive, and sometimes even inspirational force.

Via: The Daily Green and MSNBC

Have you ever noticed an out-sized evergreen tree in your neighborhood that appears to be sprouting antennae? I think we all know that most evergreens don’t grow to be 131 feet - the height necessary to transmit a cell phone signal. Fake evergreens like this one are literal lightening rods for aesthetic and environmental criticism. Ericsson, along with designer Thomas Sandell, have designed a lean, green answer to these great pretenders - The Tower Tube.

Modular concrete construction is used (instead of conventional lattice or tubular steel construction) reducing environmental impact by 40 percent due to material, transportation and energy efficiencies. Natural air convection creates a chimney effect, cooling the interior. All equipment is housed within the slender 16 foot wide structure, eliminating the need for a equipment shed at the base, or an unsightly security fence. It looks like it is time for the cell phone tower to come out of hiding.

Via: Metropolis Magazine and Ericsson

Baby its cold outside, and in case you were wondering how to build an igloo, your friends at Architectureweek have you covered. With a pole, saw, shovel and a little luck, the step by step instructions will have you warm and toasty in no time, and you will even learn some basic principles of physics and sustainable construction in the process. However unless you are in Alaska, Canada or a more exotic locale in the high northern latitudes, you may be out of luck. Suitable dense-packed, dry snow has yet to make its seasonal appearance in my hometown of New York City.

Via: Architectureweek, image by Amelia Bauer

Art loves Miami. Art loves Music. Art loves design. But mostly Art loves New York. There were a great number of these endearing tag lines meant to categorize a plethora of events in and around the Art Basel fair this year. The one thing that everyone seemed to have in common though, was New York. “Where are you from?” meant what borough. When you see your New York City neighbors under the umbrella nearby, you get the funny feeling that you are being followed.

Can you really blame them? If I told you that Art Basel Miami was just like a fun weekend in New York City, but with more art and less clothes, wouldn’t you want to go? There is so much partying going on that the seriousness of the enterprise tends to get overlooked. Which is why it was refreshing to see a few brave designers convey a shred or two of meaning.

One of my favorite works, unsurprisingly, was an architectural one. Shigeru Ban, best know for his cardboard tube architecture and laudable disaster relief housing, designed an elegant pavilion for Artek. Constructed entirely from recycled plastic beams, it was one of the few things at the fair with a sustainable agenda.

As Art Basel is mostly about looking, check out my slideshow for more images (and commentary.)

Thousands of curiousity seekers, including this one, braved a chilly December day to view a handful of paintings and prints by the mysterious artist Banksy in a claustrophobic townhouse cum gallery in Chelsea. Known for his elaborate street art, known for sneaking his paintings into museums, known for not being known - he is not particularly known for gallery shows, and it was pretty obvious why. His work, like that of most graffiti artists, dies inside a gallery, where it is separated from the street, from buildings, from its context. Graffiti is most interesting to me, because it is the only form of art entirely dependent on architecture as a medium.

There were two compelling ideas presented here that were giggly spoofs on art and commerce. Next to each work was a fairly astronomical price (at least I believe so) scrawled directly on the wall, in pencil. Kind of like a discount store. My favorite piece was a handwritten note, which described a “promotion” of sorts. If you purchased a Banksy piece, an identical work would be installed in a public place by the artist. Now that is giving back!