Expo 2010 :: Shanghai, PRC

Wow. I can wait for this. Steven's mom is in Shanghai right now.

Habitat '67

After two comments from new (and very interesting) readers of the previous post.. i wanted to delve further into Habitat '67 over lunch. Did you know Habitat '67 was the first in a big scheme that was to deploy in NUMEROUS OTHER CITIES? Very interesting. Moshe Safdie. Ok. Must. Eat.

Utopia

Having been to Montreal twice now, we both really appreciate the groovy Frenchiness of this wonderful city. The food is incroyable, there is alot going on, and the people are beautiful and fabulous. Here is a little piece i found on youtube today about Expo '67... seems to be a, ummm, fully rounded--shall we say--commentary. After our first visit to Montreal years ago, we came back and googled Habitat to find that it is very difficult and competitive to live there, and requires a bit of life's ambition to tackle the requirements of being allowed the priveledge of living there. Utopia indeed.

Newsclipping of the Day :: CCTV in Beijing

Steven just sent me this link to OMA's new CCTV headquarters building in Beijing. We've been marvelling over this one for a while, and, while the main building is not yet complete, the cultural centre / hotel is ready for it's first purpose as CCTV's official outpost of the upcoming Olympic Games. I remember in graduate school, way back in '90, wacky Dutchman Rem Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture's star was just beginning to rise. They were finally exiting the realm of theoreticians and getting real commissions, such as the Millenium Dome in Great Britain. This is really a marvel of a complex, i can't wait to see the finished results. What do you guys think? I think it is a real work of art.

Intellectual Dishonesty

Advocating a position known to be false and wrong. Manipulating ideas to frame an argument or story to advance an agenda or to reinforce one's beliefs--however utterly wrong--in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

A nice way to tell someone they are lying to you: "You're being intellectually dishonest, i'm afraid."

Ad (Wo)Men LOVE intellectual dishonesty.

"Fill your home with the fresh scent of sweet melon and tropical fruit. Hold can upright and spray."

I'm sorry, that is a lie.

Politicos LOVE intellectual dishonesty.

"The White House told Congress Friday that Iraqi leaders gained little new ground on key military and political goals, a discouraging assessment a day after President Bush said progress justifies keeping a large U.S. military presence there."

I'm sorry, you are lying.

Complete Assholes LOVE intellectual dishonesty.

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad. We know exactly where they are."

Sorry, you are a complete liar.

Even Apple engages in it:

"Early adopters always pay a premium"

Can't Steve Jobs be honest and say "You nerdjobs who stand in line for 6 hours for a damn phone" instead of "early adopters?" Come on.

i'm a designer, and while intellectual dishonesty coursing through life's veins all over the place is a depressing sight to see, observing it in the design world really kills me. Just as i'm sure it pains healthcare providers seeing it all over their worlds, quite egregiously, I notice it most deeply where it affects my chosen vocation. Apparently, we Americans have a REAL problem keeping anything real anymore.

Our cultural denial runs so deep we think we can just rename anything and everything's ok. In the design world, former building materials are now building products and polymers and a bunch of fake crap. Plastic stone, Hardiplank, and ductwork that resembles my sister's 1960's hairdryer hood and hose now replace once slightly more authentic materials. National defense is now hit men in service of private American corporations, which by the way, mostly move overseas to avoid paying for anything anymore. We once fought madmen who threatened to destroy the world; now we are madmen picking fights and threatening to destroy the world.

We just went to Shenandoah National Park very briefly and had a great time, but there were some nagging design dishonesties going on. Most of the park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 30s, and is wonderfully authentic in terms of it's rustic design, the countless quantities of hard work and love that went into the construction, and it's utter appropriateness to it's setting and context.

Oh my, though, what a difference 70 years can make. The place has been "updated" so many times that it is a train wreck expression of clashing ways of viewing the world, authenticity, and honesty. I am a design professional, so I would consider myself a bit picky about these things. But I must say it is a bit incongruous, that the beautifully constructed lodge and outbuildings are now filled with furniture and items one would find in a Motel 6. It's too bad really. As a place on the National Register of Historic Places, it seems warranted to have sensitive interior designers who could help with this. I found myself daydreaming about what my rooms must have been like originally, while looking at the intrusive dorm refrigerator (which we did not use in a 3 day stay i might add) next to the spectacular stone fireplace. Same for the bath: I found myself thinking, why oh why would someone have not updated these bathrooms in a way that is sensitive to the historic nature of the environment? Slipcovers--once a chintz daydream one wrapped on one's threadbare sofa--are to be found all over the bathtubs. Everytime i stepped in, i was painfully aware that the thin layer of polymer in the guise of a bathtub was not adhered properly, and moved around with each of my movements. In the lodge itself, a giant, spectacular living room with sweeping views, but uncomfortably and inappropriately outfitted with herculon lowest-common-denominator furniture.

But enough whining about the design world.

The thing that bugs me the most is how Bush and the Republicans have capitalized on this nasty cultural trend. They've taken lying from bad to acceptable to cool. They reinvent lying everyday.

I wish i were in Washington today protesting them and their intellectually dishonest war.

I Miss Bill II

My future's so bleak, I gotta wear shades. I'm cryin' Bill. Anyhow here are also some pictures of the main body of the exhibits. Mostly, aside from the "immersive-lite" exhibits described in the previous post, visitors are confronted with these big, imposing, listing walls, 8 of 'em, one for each year, 1993 - 2001. Each has WAY TOO MUCH copy to read, lots of photos, nicely produced a/v summaries of the year's events, and a bookcase full of binders of the President's schedule/agenda for EVERY SINGLE DAY (weekends too...never found any entries marked Monica, however)! It was fun for me to learn that on my 35th birthday, Clinton--aka 42--and entourage were in Florida visiting the Toy Store of someone who was once on Welfare, as part of his Welfare Reform intiatives. 1/10th of 42's papers were in open storage surrounding everything (all the blue boxes visible in one of the photos above), attesting I suppose to the gargantuan amount of paper that self-importance can generate. In between the open storage towers are theme nooks, on the long sides--in the naves of the church--on topics celebrating 42's success, such as the First Lady's Work, or Progress on Protecting the Environment, or Huge Achievements in Crime Reduction or Stellar Progress on the Economy, or Huge Programs and Initiatives for People who want to Help Themselves...this is a list of exhibits that will not be possible in 43's exhibit. Who will do that? And what will it contain?

I Miss Bill

Do you feel my pain? The exhibition was overly cool (as in not warm), slick, modern, and pretty much immersion-free (a made-up term that connotes an exhibit that surrounds visitors in a multi-sensory recreation that takes them to the space of the story. Think actually going to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld, feeling the bats fly by, watching the ghosts appear, feeling the goosebumps on your back, rather than reading about it in a book). There were some of what I would call "immersive-lite" spaces: a replica of the Cabinet room, complete with touchscreens built into a giant conference table, one long wall blown away to reveal a huge projected media show/collage. And of course, the obligatory Oval Office replica was there, just like everywhere else. Would be nice to have one that visitors can actually interact with someday. Actually sit in the Prez chair, have to make some hairy decisions, face up to Newt Gingrich...I could think of some fun ideas that Ralph Appelbaum & Associates did not. I don't know why Presidential Centers have to be so goddamned reverential that they skip the idea of iteractives that could actually allow visitors to step into Bill's shoes and be him for a bit. That would be fun, and eye opening (no, not zipper opening). The exhibit was beautiful though. The building itself is a gem, and not the "flying trailer" that I'd heard it described as. Arkansas is so swampy, humid, and bug infested in the summers though, I hope they have a big budget to maintain the building. The entire is skin is nearly 100% glass. It is very open, and bridge-like, apparently an homage to a Bill quote: "Let us build a bridge to the twenty-first century together."