Reference Page: February 2007

Bird’s-eye View
The Rural Studio slogan, “Proceed and be bold,” is something you may have to murmur to yourself as you climb the steps of the tallest bird-watching post in the country. If boldness fails you, take refuge in snapshots of the Perry Lakes Birding Tower available at www.perrylakes.org/perrylakes/tower.htm. There are four pages of pictures documenting the project from construction through completion. Director Chuck Schultz’s compelling documentary, The Rural Studio Film, features the workshop’s creations through the years, including Ora Lee’s Chapel and Bryant Smokehouse, among other socially conscious projects. You can see a clip of the film, which focuses on the Rural Studio’s buildings as social art forms, at www.ruralstudiofilm.com; click on “screening dates” to see if it will be showing at a theater near you.

The Full Matta-Clark
Before Gordon Matta-Clark began the “cuts” into buildings that earned him wide recognition, he was part of an artist collective operating out of his girlfriend’s restaurant, Food, in Soho during the early 1970s. Sculptor Ned Smyth weaves a first-person account of his time there as an assistant chef into his essay on Matta-Clark: www.artnet.com/magazine/features/smyth/smyth6-4-04.asp. The restaurant doubled as the artist’s first New York gallery space, and Matta-Clark documented the experience in a 1972 film titled Food, available for purchase from Electronic Arts Intermix: eai.org (type “Gordon Matta-Clark” into the search box). If you’re going to miss the Whitney’s retrospective, Thomas Crow’s book Gordon Matta-Clark (Phaidon, 2003) is an excellent reference to satiate your curiosity for the man and his art.

LEED by Any Other Name
When planning the route of your child’s education, there’s a new issue to consider. In addition to public vs. private, and secular vs. parochial, parents are adding sustainable vs. unsustainable to the debate. Across the country, a trend in green schools is emerging—and for good reason. “Review and Assessment of the Health and Productivity Benefits of Green,” a 69-page interim report put out by the National Research Council in mid-2006, makes a convincing case for environmentally friendly academic spaces. Concerned parents should take note of www.greenschools.net, the home of a California-based grassroots initiative started
by parent-environmentalists aimed at transforming school atmospheres—and the markets that supply schools—to address and improve health and sustainability. EcoSchool Design, www.ecoschools.com, offers direct links to specific articles, case studies, and resources that promote basic knowledge of the issues. And for all the list lovers out there, read Jane Holtz Kay’s article “America’s Top Ten Green Schools” at www.alternet.org/story/24530.

Drop in the Bucket
Three months after Katrina hit New Orleans, the government arranged a “Look and Leave” for former residents, and city native Estée Blancher filmed them as they returned to their homes to sort through the wreckage: www.filmkatrina.com. Much of the area shown in the film Heaven Come Down: Stories of the Lower Ninth Ward is where the Louisiana state government plans to infill with Marianne Cusato’s Katrina Cottages and Andrés Duany’s Carpet Cottages. Cusato displays her cottage varieties, floor plans, and side elevations at www.cusatocottages.com, under “Plan Options” off the main page. You can also watch a clip of Isaac Mizrahi presenting the People’s Design Award to Cusato at the National Design Awards Gala at ndm.si.edu/pda/live.asp. Money is still needed, especially for grassroots rebuilding efforts. Visit www.globalgreen.org to contribute to the campaign to build affordable and sustainable housing in New Orleans.

The DNA of Science Labs
Don’t let the word farm fool you—Janelia Farm is more bustling city than barnyard. According to www.hhmi.org/janelia, the Landscape Building, if turned vertically, would be 85 stories higher than the Eiffel Tower. The length spans out horizontally, offering inhabitants a panoramic view of the surrounding scenery. In case your breakthroughs on the human genome aren’t going to win you a fellowship on the Farm this year, you can take a peek at the campus and surrounding area by clicking on “Take a Tour” under the “Janelia quicklinks” sidebar. The photo guide that follows shows detailed drawings of the interior layout as well as aerial photos of the idyllic setting. Now that science is all dressed up in sleek lines and glass, you should give it due attention by frequenting www.rdmag.com, a magazine dedicated to supplying news to the research-and-development crowd. The history of the Janelia Farm estate and the landmark manor preserved on the campus can be found at www.ashburnweb.com/history/janelia/htm, where we learned that the name “Janelia” was derived from a combination of the names of the first owner’s two daughters, Jane and Cornelia.

The Greening of Science
With a population of 2.5 million and counting, Toronto, like many cities experiencing rapid urban expansion, is being forced to reevaluate the sustainability of its growth. The University of Toronto’s new Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research is one step in the right direction. Other moves include the resolution the city council approved this past summer to implement the Toronto Green Development Standard, a set of guidelines that promote sustainable development—check out the details at www.toronto.ca/environment/greendevelopment.htm. Another citywide initiative gaining speed is The Living City, which aims to curb pollution by offering an extensive network of services that are green at heart. Its Web site, www.thelivingcity.org, is updated regularly and offers a free subscription to Ecolife, a monthly e-bulletin jam-packed with useful information. All this talk has actually led to action; one of the most exciting developments on Toronto’s green scene is that two of the city’s biggest builders, Tridel and Minto, have committed to LEED certification. Read all about it at www.tridel.com (click on “Naturally Better Living”) and www.minto.com (click on the green power outlet).

The Science Hall of Fame
Louis Kahn fans have reason to celebrate with the recent restoration of the Yale University Art Gallery, designed by the Philadelphia architect in 1953. With Polshek Partnership Architects at the reins, the building reopened last December to rave re-views. To complement the ensuing Kahn frenzy—also inspired by his son’s documentary a few years back—next month W. W. Norton will release Carter Wiseman’s 288-page biography, Louis I. Kahn: Beyond Time and Style—A Life in Architecture, which makes use of more than 100 interviews with colleagues, coworkers, clients, and family members and is illustrated with several previously unpublished photographs.

Tokyo Style
There’s no doubt that Masamichi Katayama’s fresh design for Japanese mega-retailer Uniqlo has raised the bar in the U.S. flagship-store genre. His involvement in the brand has inspired the Designer Invitation Project, in which a select group of New York–based fashion figures, such as Alice Roi and Philip Lim, will create limited-edition Uniqlo collections this spring. But Katayama’s success Stateside hasn’t slowed down the Tokyo-based designer, who is still hard at work pumping out futuristic concepts for the masses. Only a few short weeks into 2007, Katayama has put the finishing touches on his second 100% Chocolate Café in Tokyo; and with another A Bathing Ape store slated to open in Nagoya later this year, it’s no wonder the young designer is taking the stylish crowd by storm. If you love Katayama’s aesthetic as much as we do, you’ll find everything you need at www.wonder-wall.com. Select a color from the splash page, and the “projects” link on the left-hand side allows you to view a chronological list of the designer’s work. Images and commentary follow, shedding light on his inspirations and goals with each successive project. Although it hit shelves in 2003, Frame magazine’s monograph on Katayama’s studio is still the best; chock-full of photographs, reviews, and personal reflections from the designer, the 255-page book will satisfy even the biggest Katayama-philes.