These days designers have animals on the brain.
The critter-friendly habitats that Fritz Haeg created for the Whitney Biennial still stand in the museum courtyard, three weeks after the show closed.
More recently, Phillips de Pury & Company, a New York-based auctioneer, commissioned 24 designers, including Max Lamb, Martino Gamper, Jurgen Bey, and Michael Young (above), to create habitats for the United Kingdom’s endangered bee, bat, and bird species. While taking the living requirements of each species into account, the designers used only the company’s waste—crates, catalogues, wood, and cardboard used to pack, ship, and display artwork—to make these works.
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By Dwell.com, on Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:50am PDT
Bookends
Designer Seth Rolland has taken the idea of fluid forms to a new level with Abanico, accordion-like bookends each made from a single piece of FSC certified ash wood. The sculptural accessories are treated with a non-toxic oil-based finish, and can be purchased individually.
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By Dwell.com, on Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:38am PDT
Is the Internet making grocery shopping obsolete? Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article on the Ikan, a new kitchen gadget that uses the internet to create grocery lists and facilitate delivery. The contraption, which comes in neutral white and retails for $400, can be mounted on a wall or... Read More »
By Dwell.com, on Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:34am PDT
Lawnmowers guzzle 800 million gallons of gas annually and account for five percent of U.S. air pollution, according to the EPA. Several cities are hosting an exchange program that allows residents to trade gas mowers for an eco-friendly alternative at a reduced price: the battery-powered Neuton CE... Read More »
By Dwell.com, on Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:27am PDT
Arch Daily is fast becoming one of my favorite new blogs for architectural marvels. Recently featured was this poured concrete house located on a beachside complex called Ocho al Cubo, in Chile. Architect Sebastian Irarrazaval has designed the house to encourage a variety of circulation routes, whether accessing programmatic spaces along the building’s perimeter or through an open patio at the center. The lack of a rigid layout speaks to the main function of the property, a leisure retreat that promotes the wandering of the spirit.
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The American romance with the shed-like home continues with this shack by Maryland-based architect Jeffery Broadhurst. The home, which Broadhurst built with friends and neighbors for his family in rural West Virginia, can be accessed by off-road vehicles only. The front façade is a retractable door looking out from the mountainside, and the steel roof collects rainwater. [More photos after the jump.]
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As I’ve previously noted, green roofs are thriving, with 2.4 million square feet of green roof planted between 2006 and 2007. But with this growing interest in green roofs has sprung the myth that they’re simple, DIY projects. Not so, cautions Marni Horwitz, a green roof specialist in New York... Read More »
