Reference Page: November 2005

Cure for the Common Hospital
Here’s more proof that pleasant surroundings do in fact make people feel better. Research from Texas A & M’s Roger Ulrich—read about his work at rev.tamu.edu/stories/03/111403-9.html—should be air-dropped to medical complexes around the nation—and for that matter, office parks and strip malls. Meanwhile in Italy they’re already putting this idea into practice by hiring artists to instill much-needed soul in the Pistoia dialysis center. If you’re interested in the work of some of the artists, try www.museoilrenatico.it/ruffi.htm for a piece by Gianni Ruffi; www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000047912.htm for a monumental sculpture by Dani Karavan; or www.spruethmagerslee.com/exhibitions.php?e=102?=w for early sculptures by Robert Morris.

Proto-Type
Whether or not you need a computer keyboard with customizable OLED screens like the ones Art. Lebedev Studio came up with for Optimus, you’ll likely appreciate the sentiments expressed in the Moscow design collective’s constitution, found at www.artlebedev.com/studio/constitution: “Every Team member has the right to take a nap on the premises. For such purposes a special sofa is provided, while toothpaste and pajamas are not.” The site also provides answers to unasked questions at www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/answers, with responses including “There’s no snow in Moscow in summer” and “It will be real.”

Boutique on Rye
Architect Guy Zucker, who was born in Israel and often collaborates with the New York-based studio LOT-EK, www.lot-ek.com—no strangers themselves to planning temporary structures—struck out on his own in the design of Delicatessen’s easily reconfigured showroom. For more photos of the project, a comparative formulation of what constitutes fashion design and architecture, and much, much more, go to www.guyzucker.com, and click on “Ephemeral.”

The Building as Canvas
Imagine a mayor for whom aesthetics are actually a civic priority. Now read about that mayor—Tirana’s Edi Rama—in The New Yorker’s cheerful profile, www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050627fa_fact2, which quotes Rama as saying that his constituents “can be calmed by beauty.” Albania could presumably use some calming after 40-odd years under despot Enver Hoxha. But the communist tyrant’s son Ilir sees things differently. In his memoirs, at www.oneparty.co.uk/compass/compass/com13604.html, he writes, “I knew and shall always remember my father as model parent and far-sighted leader…. He was a genuine democrat.”

Not a Little Teapot
Admit it—you can’t resist that bird. Get your fill of Michael Graves’s quirky tea-making creation or order your very own limited-edition kettle on the Web site of Italian design company Alessi: www.alessi.com. The site also features designs by other architects such as Ettore Sottsass, Aldo Rossi, and Ron Arad.

Warhol’s Time Machine
The art world may have reached saturation point with Andy Warhol, but his Time Capsules are still hard to resist. To see the artist’s detritus in the flesh, take a trip to New York’s Dia:Beacon, www.diaart.org/exhibs_b/warhol-patronage; the museum’s exhibit Dia’s Andy: Through the Lens of Patronage is showcasing Time Capsule contents along with other Warholia through April 10. To learn more about the young firm SO-AD, www.so-ad.com offers a port-folio of projects, though the photos are sadly small and the text difficult to read. If bridges are your style, the Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh Web site, www.pghbridges.com, is a highly informative labor of love by engineering enthusiast Bruce S. Cridlebaugh—not affiliated with the government or official organizations—complete with a backgrounder on the Andy Warhol (née Seventh Street) Bridge.

Onward and Upward?
If you worry that skyscrapers nowadays have strayed too far from their Freudian roots, rest assured it’s not so. Just have a look at the picture of Santiago Calatrava’s Turning Torso at www.sweco.se/upload/02/theo/projekt/turning_torso.jpg. Meanwhile the Burj Dubai’s Web site promises that the building’s residents will be limited to “a privileged group of people…who possess the vision, resources, and opportunity to live in the world’s tallest building.” For a taste of the impossible go to www.burjdubai.com.

The Life Botanic
On Chicago-based artist Chris Garofalo’s Web site, www.chrisgarofalo.com, images of her ceramic oddities expand and glow when rolled over. Some of her creations—like a green suction-covered sculpture or another that resembles a purplish jellyfish—are available for purchase online, with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to $12,000. The Garfield Park Conservatory, www.garfieldconservatory.org, where Garofalo’s work is being exhibited, also offers workshops on winter gardening and bridal bouquets, and reserves weekend afternoons for a plant clinic, where you can quiz University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners on tips for growing buttercups and dogwood.

By the Numbers
Paula Scher—a partner at Pentagram, www.pentagram.com, and one of the designers of the Bloomberg headquarters’ signage—produced hundreds of album-cover designs during her eight years at CBS Records. In Make It Bigger (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002) she confesses her fear that her epitaph will read “Art director of the original Boston album.” Antenna Design, www.antennadesign.com, the team behind some of Bloomberg’s sleekest technologies, also fashioned new MTA subway cars and two lines of MetroCard vending machines. Non-New Yorkers with an unhealthy curiosity about the stainless-steel-and-ceramic dispensers can scroll through 12 demo screens to simulate the joy of buying a subway pass.

Total Design
Rough waves of cedar that beg to be touched greet visitors to the new Bloomberg headquarters, one of the many artworks that enliven the mammoth offices thanks to New York institution the Public Art Fund, www.publicartfund.org. Ingeniously conceived lighting schemes by Johnson Schwinghammer Lighting Consultants, www.jslighting.com, were inspired by the blue glow of video screens, which informed their color choices for the office’s tickers. Humanscale, www.humanscale.com, handled ergonomics, custom cutting trays to comfortably accommodate employees’ keyboards, while Shen Milsom & Wilke, www.smwinc.com, designed all of the audiovisual systems and managed the open-plan building’s acoustics.

XXXL
Lakewood, www.lakewood.cc, the Houston megachurch that moved into the former Compaq Center, credits the hand of God—not to mention a little earthly sweat—in expediting the $95 million renovation of the arena, which now includes waterfalls and an Internet café. The Christian self-help book Your Best Life Now (Warner Faith, 2004) by Lakewood pastor Joel Osteen, www.joelosteen.com, has millions of copies in print. The back-cover blurbs feature both Pat Robertson and Chuck Norris, an odd pairing unless you take into account the aging action star’s film role as a hit-man and The 700 Club host’s recent call for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez: www.cbn.com/about/pressrelease_hugochavez.asp.

Chattanooga Crossroads
Both one-time Chattanooga mayoral candidate Ann Coulter (no relation to the conservative talking head) and Stroud Watson, former director of the city’s Planning and Design Studio, were set back by the election last spring; Michael Kull’s newsweekly, Pulse, has lively coverage in its searchable archives, www.chattanoogapulse.com. But afterward Coulter and Watson joined forces with two of the city’s other prominent urban planners to start a firm of their own. Go to www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_71999.asp for details.