Video: The ABC of Architects

Came across this earlier, had to share...



The ABC of Architects from fedelpeye on Vimeo.

M-RAD: Fresh Hills

While I was attending Dalhousie, getting my masters in Architorture, I had a partner in crime with whom I had an spectacular amount of fun; Matthew Rosenberg, founder of the LA based design office M-RAD. Getting into all the kinds of trouble one really should, and some that one shouldn't, we supported each others Scotch habits, and helped each other make it through the late night x-acto blade and super glue marathons that are so prevalent in architecture school. Sadly, our time together was cut short (perhaps for the best), when he moved on to pursue his masters of architecture at SCI-Arc, whereas I stayed on at Dal. Needless to say, we've stayed in touch over the years, and recently I was happily impressed with an outstanding achievement of his, when he received second place in the Fresh Kills Land Art Generator Competition. 

His project Fresh Hills for Fresh Kills was not only conceptually strong, but a beautiful, poetic response to the site, and so I felt the need to share it with you.

Inventive: Thread Wrapped Furniture

I came across the video below earlier today. I have seen the furniture by Anton Alvarez, but I had not previously seen the process by which it is made. It is by far one of the most interesting process driven designs I've seen in a while. 

With thread and glue replacing standard joints and screws, the process by which the furniture is built is fascinating and uses a custom-made machine designed by Alvarez. Aside from the really cool inventiveness of the machine to wrap the string while adding glue, the aspect that appeals to me is that the process of making this furniture is itself a craft; the craft of thread wrapping, and it's a seemingly new craft at that. 
 

Check it out...

Thread Wrapping Machine by Anton Alvarez from Dezeen on Vimeo.

More description and images can be found from Dezeen HERE.

Video: Gloam

I came across this beautifully created short animation, and fell in love with the spooky yet gentle woodland creature Gloam. I can't wait to show my boys tonight, we've got plans to design/build a pint-sized haunted house out of cardboard boxes in order to begin prepping for Halloween. This movie will provide a great ending to the night, we'll sit in our newly created haunted house eating cookies while listening to the fire crackle in the background. Sounds like a perfect October night to me, good thing everything always goes according to plan when little children are involved...

Hhmmm, Better keep my fingers crossed.

Gloam from We Are The Forest on Vimeo.

Follow the link here to see the 'behind the scenes' shot breakdown. I'm always fascinated by process, and it was really interesting to see.

Life Moves Fast...

What an amazing week we've had. It never ceases to amaze me how fast time goes by with the day to day, but when you're more busy that usual it just flies. This past week was definitely no exception to the rule for us. The start of October is a busy time for us here; Keiran's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Grammy's birthday, throw into that mix a John Fogerty concert and a head shave fundraiser and its a whirlwind!

The night everything really ramped up I received a last minute phone call from Carl, Loreen's brother, inviting me to see John Fogerty as Carl's wife wouldn't be able to make it. SWEET! (Sorry Nicole) What an amazing show! We were witness to almost every major hit he ever had, and he's still got a voice of gold, with skills on the guitar that would give Jimi Hendrix shivers.

The very next day was Keiran's birthday party. Talk about an awesome affair, with 15 pint sized party troopers being granted superhero status after graduating from a rigorous training program. As usual, Keiran's mother went a little 'overboard' on the prep work (a standard carried by Cahoon Ladies I've been told), she made an amazing cake (with a little Photoshop help from me, and a rice paper and edible ink printer), a buffet of food fit for a small wedding, custom capes and masks for all the little hero's, and goody bags packed with an assortment of superhero fuels. Fun. Exhausting. Memories were made.

Birthday Morning

How Old!?

VIDEO: Ai Weiwei: NEVER SORRY [Trailer]

This will be an amazing film.

Ai Weiwei, hero to millions, is China's most famous artist/political activist/designer. In the film he gives the inside story to his work and life while striving to make a positive change through his art and social media in China. Though Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, held him in secret detention, beat him, and most recently destroyed his new studio, he will not stop battling to speak out against the ongoing problems in China. Journalist Alison Klayman directs the film and provides unique insight into contemporary China, and the country's most outspoken critic.

I am very much looking forward to seeing this film! Enjoy the trailer...

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry OFFICIAL TRAILER from Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry on Vimeo.

Architect: Bates Masi Architects

Today, I'm showing off the work of one of my favorite Architecture practices in the US. As with pretty well all of the architecture that I show on Design Dad, their work brings together an amazingly successful marriage of form and material. Bates Masi Architects is a small practice run out of Sag Harbour, NY. Each of their projects involves a uniquely targeted design approach to meet the clients needs/desires, including researching materials, craft, environment within an architectural scope. There are all kinds of subtle but highly innovative details they generate for each project. The firm approaches each project as an opportunity to enrich the lives of the client and all who interact with the architecture while enhancing the environment.

See for yourself why they rock.

Robbins Way

Amagansett, NY

Bates Masi Architects

Bates Masi Architects

Bates Masi Architects

Hello 10,000th Visitor!

It's nice to see we're getting quite a few return visitors these days! We have now passed an average of 2,000 hits per month, and have garnered a total of 10,000 site visits to date! Heh, well, it's enough to keep me happy, so I'll keep at it... Cheers!

Video: One-Point Perspective

I came across this awesome composition from Kogonada on Vimeo earlier. It's an incredible "flash-back" of some of the most important, and super cool, movies ever made. Entirely composed of Kubrick's original work, this piece offers an excellent argument for the power potential of a one-point perspective, while at the same time it fragments the scenes in such a way that multiplies the violent emotion and brings you quickly into that dreamlike world that exists only Kubrick's movies. Cool.

Kubrick // One-Point Perspective from kogonada on Vimeo.

Kindergarten

Wow, as parents well know, time speeds up faster than you ever thought possible once you have children. Of course that is aside from those moments where we expose the world to the full vocal capacity of our children during tantrums in the grocery store check-out, time has a happy way of slowing to a crawl for those special cases. I fully realized just how fast time is progressing today as we dropped off our little 4 year old (4.9 really) at his first day of Kindergarten. Wow. Sigh.

Boy Wonder

It all proceeded so fast! The walk to school was filled with smiles and laughter, both Keiran and Merrick were quite eager to get to school.  We were directed to the gymnasium where the teachers were introduced and Merrick was in AWE of the basketball nets. Following the quick introduction, childrens' names were called then ushered out to their prospective classrooms. When Keiran was called, he walked up and introduced himself to his teacher (he always has been the most gregarious of us all), who led us to his class where we said our sweet goodbyes, giving kissing hands to hold onto for later - he made sure we had some too. A few blocks away the tears fell  (poor Mama). With a happy-sad mix of emotions we realize that the Keiran is no longer fully in our hands. He is even now being molded by his peers and teachers. We can only hope that they understand how amazing he is, and how special he is to us. As Loreen pointed out, there is a great prayer that encapsulates our feelings. She wanted to print it out and pin it to his chest for his teachers to see.

Personally, I'm mostly just excited. School is exactly what Keiran needs. He is a social creature, and thrives when he's learning new things. The saddest thing to me is the fact that Merrick is loosing his day time play buddy, luckily it's just a few hours. I just can't wait to hear all about his first day of school tonight. I also wonder if Keiran's had his surprise treat yet, as we hid a tasty kissing hand (sugar cookie with a chocolate kiss) in his lunch to remind him we are thinking of him...

Kissing Hands