Reference Page: June 2006

Prefab Sprouts
Even if you’re not in the market for one of Marmol Radziner’s deluxe prefab homes, it’s fun to build one virtually on their Web site: www.marmolradzinerprefab.com. The basic models run from $215,000 (for a cozy one-bedroom) to $630,100 (for a three-bedroom, 2,650-square-foot behemoth), but only the less expensive ones can be customized with options like countertops and bathroom tiles. We outfitted the cheapest model with solar panels ($28,000), teak kitchen cabinets ($2,020), and a rot-resistant tropical hardwood deck ($1,670) and came up with a total just shy of $300,000, perfect for when we buy those 10 acres of desert outside of Sedona.

It Takes a Village
In a time when architects are doing big things for big bucks—think Frank Gehry in Brooklyn—it’s nice to see architects doing big things for next to nothing. Architecture for Humanity’s Web site, www.architectureforhumanity.org, offers information on the organization’s various ongoing projects, many of them dedicated to Katrina victims. They also have a “People We Like” section that lists socially conscious designers and architecture programs to patronize in good conscience. To pre-order their new book, Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crisis, click on “Store” and then follow the book’s link. Of course, proceeds from book sales will go toward the organization’s humanitarian efforts.

A Workable Utopia
After sordid New York housing experiences, namely paying around $1,000 a month for a room akin to a closet, we in the Reference department understand the appeal behind Steven Nygren’s spacious wonderland Serenbe. For some brief escapism visit the Web site www.serenbecommunity.com, where a virtual tour of the grounds is expected soon. You can also get information on Serenbe’s eco-friendly initiatives and real estate offers. But be warned: the feel-good photo album featuring happy white people working the land together may make you appreciate your urban closet and E! Channel access after all. You can also visit www.cookinglightcentral.com/clc/events/fithouse06.html until June 30 for a chance to win a trip for two to the 2006 Cooking Light FitHouse, located in the Serenbe community. Just don’t blame us if they make you exercise.

Orange Alert
Although Object Orange’s exhibition of photographs at Paul Kotula Projects, in Ferndale, Michigan, ended in the middle of May, you may still be able to see the 20-by-8-foot billboard the group affixed to the outside of the building. Either way be sure to visit the gallery, www.paulkotula.com. The Heidelberg Project, a strong influence on Object Orange’s demolition-baiting paint projects, is primarily the work of one man, Tyree Guyton, who in 1986 began turning abandoned houses on a decrepit stretch of his Detroit street into art. Bulldozers sent by the city have twice set upon the site, demolishing four houses in 1991 and razing another section of the project in 1999. Since then Guyton has rebuilt much of Heidelberg, which now features a penny-covered manse he calls the House that Makes Sense. Go to www.heidelberg.org for information on guided tours and purchasing Guyton’s artwork.

Premium Blend
While double-checking the spelling of Authentics, www.authentics.de, the manufacturer of German designer Konstantin Grcic’s Square wastebasket, we in the Research department had a funny feeling that the answer was close at hand. Unbeknownst to us, underneath our desk (and the desks of most of the staff) sits a generic-looking plastic trash can with four tapered edges gradually emerging from a round base. Voilà! In fact Grcic’s creation is so widespread that it is practically generic, and knockoffs began appearing before it had even reached American shores. (See “Invisible Hand,” in Metropolis’s February/March 2000 issue, for the full story.) You might ask, “What music inspires a design paragon to bring a new object into being?” When Grcic was working on the industrial-strength Krups KB720 blender, he found solace in the buzzing of electric guitars—in particular Fugazi’s muscley postpunk, www.dischord.com; the desert rock of Giant Sand, www.giantsand.com; and vintage David Bowie, www.davidbowie.com. Visit Grcic on the Web at www.konstantin-grcic.com.

Brooklyn Block Party
Go to www.blockpartybrooklyn.com to plan your trip to 267A State Street; the Boerum Hill town house that blockparty built gathers together a veritable who’s who of local talent. Rogers Marvel Architects, www.rogersmarvel.com, the building’s designers, make a brass-and-concrete NoGo barrier that John Hockenberry pondered recently in these pages (“Fear Factor,” May 2006). Cocurator Jennifer Carpenter started TRUCK Product Architecture, www.the-truck.com, with Rob Rogers and Jonathan Marvel, and the three partners design furniture and kitchenware. David Weeks, www.davidweekslighting.com, is widely known for his slender furniture and industrial lamps; his lighting fixtures are available exclusively through Ralph Pucci International, www.ralph-pucci.com. In 1999 he cofounded the design collaborative Butter, www.butter-ny.com, with Lindsey Adelman, www.lindseyadelman.com, a Parsons instructor whose Bubble chandelier graces the town house. Brooklyn Royal’s Jamie Gray also owns Matter, a Park Slope design shop for the well-appointed apartment; visit the store at 227 Fifth Ave., in Brooklyn, or call 718-230-1150. The Duct Tape armchair, by Jason Miller, www.millerstudio.us, can be found in Brooklyn at the Future Perfect, www.thefutureperfect.com, which also carries Miller’s near iconic Superordinate Antler lamps. For information on buying one of the 14 town houses go to www.14townhouses.com.

Feathering the Office
We’ve all had those days at work when you wish you could crawl into a beaver’s den—though the idea behind advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy’s wooden fortress, “The Nest,” isn’t to hide from coworkers but to brainstorm creative design concepts with them. You could lobby for a similar sculpture in your office, but chances are your request won’t go far unless you are working with the likes of the W+K clan. The agency’s Web site features an amusing section introducing employees via clips of their “random musings,” www.wk.com/rawmaterials.htm, including one employee decked out in full Star Wars Storm Trooper attire. If you’re hungering for more pictures of artist Patrick Dougherty’s lairlike creations, visit his Web site, www.stickwork.net, and click on the world map to see pictures of his sculptures all over the globe. You can also order two documentaries detailing Dougherty’s construction of different installations from the site if you’re curious or need to build a nest of your own.

The Virgin Mary Is in the Details
When Domino’s founder and former owner, Tom Monaghan, was suddenly faced with tough questions over his plans to impose a radical asceticism on Ave Maria, the Florida town that he is developing in tandem with a religious university, the so-called Pizza Pope retreated to rhetoric more catholic than Catholic. In push-back television appearances with his business partner, the developer Paul Marinelli, Monaghan emphasized that everybody would be welcome, regardless of faith. However blandly inclusive Monaghan became overnight, before the media scrutiny began in earnest he was a lot more forthright. In June 2005 the Boston Phoenix quoted from his speech to a local Catholic conference: “We’re going to control all the commercial real estate, so there’s not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We’re controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives.” (To access the full article, search for “Ave Maria” in the archives of www.bostonphoenix.com.) Toned-down rhetoric or no, this scuffle in the culture wars has ramped up interest in the development, and Pope Benedict XVI is said to be closely following the town’s progress. To secure your own slice of heaven, go to www.avemaria.com.

From Highway to Home
Before the Big Dig House ever rose on Six Moon Hill, Single Speed Design (SsD) proposed two similar buildings that were never constructed. The six-person architectural firm, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has detailed plans and renderings of one of the Big Dig buildings projects, which were awarded the first Metropolis Next Generation design prize in 2004, on its Web site: www.singlespeeddesign.com. (Alex Marshall’s article announcing the contest winner appeared in our June 2004 issue.) SsD’s other recent projects include HBNY, a “parenthetical space” New York apartment dwelling for 12; the Lodge, a Manhattan music-production house; and lofts to be completed next year
in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Charles and Ray’s Timeless Take
The Eames Lounge Chair exhibit on display until September at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York (www.madmuseum.org) encompasses more than just the iconic chair—the exhibit delves into the motivations and inspirations of Charles and Ray Eames themselves. The Eames Foundation Web site, www.eamesfoundation.org, also offers a singular glimpse into the lives of the couple, highlighting their creative history and home life. You can become a member of the foundation, which provides access to restricted areas of the site as well as an invitation to the Eames’s wedding anniversary party on June 20, which will include a rare peek into the Eames house interior. Perhaps the most out-of-this-world feature is the Powers of Ten site, www.powersof10.com, a dedication to the Eames’s 1977 nine-minute film that takes the viewer from the vantage point of a sleeping man at a picnic out to the far reaches of space, and then back to a carbon atom in the hand of the slumbering man, all in a single shot. What better way to celebrate the Power of 10 day on October 10 than to lie back in the lounge chair and take a brief journey through infinite matter?

Back to the Future
Viktor Schreckengost’s niece, Metropolis art director Nancy Nowacek, says the legendary Cleveland-based industrial designer’s regular lunch spot is the renowned Nighttown jazz club www.nighttowncleveland.com, where he favors the shrimp cocktail and a Gibson. Though the Schreckengost family may not have decided how to organize their museumlike house just yet, the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation’s Web site, www.viktorschreckengost.org, offers a meticulously organized portal into his work, life, and art. From the home page, click on “Paintings and Watercolors” to peruse Schreckengost’s bright orange-infused depictions of cityscapes at sunset, including a few colorful portraits of the New York City skyline. The “News” column located on the right-hand side of the site is kept rigorously up to date and includes details about major exhibits such as the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Viktor Schreckengost Ceramics show, www.clevelandart.org/exhibit, being held at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo through August 13. Check there to see if one of the more than 100 exhibitions celebrating Schreckengost’s 100th birthday this June is being held at a venue near you.

The Great Divide
Although an unbiased account of the island’s contested history is hard to find, www.cyprus-conflict.net, edited by Fulbright scholar John Tirman, offers a comprehensive and balanced narrative of the Cyprus conflict. Many of the bicommunal programs working toward peaceful unity are sponsored by the United Nations, including a new effort, Action for Cooperation and Trust in Cyprus, www.undp-act.org, which sponsors an integrated summer camp for the Greek and Turkish Cypriot youth. The UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus also has a Web site, www.unficyp.org, which features fact sheets, history, past proposals, and addresses by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Cypriots are taking the initiative to bridge the gap as well. Leaps of Faith, www.leaps-of-faith.com, an international arts project, organized an exhibition of work along the Green Line of Nicosia last summer designed to provoke and inspire social change.