American Ambition
Santiago Calatrava has designed an impressive 2,000 ft tower for the Chicago water front called the “Chicago Spire”. It’s 150 floors will house 1200 condos; and would be the world’s tallest residential building (and most likely the world’s 2nd tallest building overall – eclipsed only by the Burj Dubai, rumored to be over 3,000 feet tall when completed in 2008).
It’s nice to see America getting back into the skyscraper game with some ambitious plans. I hope to some day visit Chicago and take the multiple elevators necessary to get to the top.
Now if we can just get them to build Frank Lloyd Wright’s mile-high “The Illinois”. (Yes kids, thats 5,280 feet, 528 floors).
Vintage Illustrations: Space Needle
Thanks to some good digging by pk at Bibliodyssey, here are some great old illustrations of the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle. I love the color and aging of the paper, and the time and effort that went into creating these images by hand. When these concepts were presented straight from the mind of the illustrator, there was a certain amount of idealism and imagination that meshed with the technicality of architectural drawing, that always tweaks both sides of my brain.
For example the third image in the series has what seem to be bubbles floating above the grounds; and the water in the fountains has a great cobalt blue hue.
Today’s computer generated concepts for proposed buildings can offer great realistic visions for a design, but there’s something lost in these types of images. It’s just all too convenient today to take an actual photo of a location for a proposed structure and superimpose the building almost exactly as it will look in a location.
PK also talks about using Google Alerts to scrounge up some of these illustrations.. gonna have to check that out!
And the Oscar Goes To…
I’m not really into following the Oscars thing, but one overlooked category I always love to check out is the animated and short films. Atomfilms has a “Hall of Fame” featuring Oscar-nominated shorts. If you’re into design and especially animation, check these out. Here’s the most recent nominee, “The Cathedral”, which is computer graphics based and is reminiscent of the “movies” between gameplay in most video games. Although this is by far better quality.
Men are Crotch-Watchers
A recent study by the Annenberg Center for Communication at USC has revealed some interesting habits of the human male. Eye tracking technology tracks where the participant’s eyes spend more time on a particular image. It’s interesting to see how adding a little white space and organizing information helps the user navigate a page more effectively.
Another perhaps even more interesting find of the study is that men are apparently crotch-watchers. Participants were presented with a photo of George Brett, and while both men and women focused on the face, men were also apparently interested in George’s little George. And these men aren’t particularly gay.
This is the gayest thing I’ve heard since Ryan Seacrest’s exchange with Simon Cowell. Apparently, men are just like dogs sniffing each other’s crotch; sizing up the competition.
Thanks, Towleroad
That’s Good Poulton
Here’s another great drawing from Eric Poulton, the re-imagined Death Star from Star Wars. I guess I just like this style so much I had to share. As I’ve said, it’s so reminiscent of the Myst style of Robyn Miller.
And I love this footnote from Eric’s post:
“[1]As it has not yet been discovered a way for machines to directly generate Force energy, it must be supplied by a powerful Force user. The user conjures the energy inside of a specially designed resonance chamber which amplifies the energy before directing it through a series of lenses to produce a powerful coherent beam of unimaginably destructive energy.”
Eric Poulton’s Re-Imagined Star Wars
Stumbled across a very cool series of drawings by Eric Poulton of Star Wars in the “Steam Punk” style. Now, being neophyte that I am to the Steam Punk style, I had never even heard the term before. But seeing the drawings, I realize I’ve seen it many times, and it apparently is one of my favorites. It reminds me a bit darker twist on the design of the Myst series.
Also check out his additional posts which include a very good Jabba the Hut complete with feathered hat.
Very cool, indeed.
Thanks, Bonnie and Boing Boing.
Holiday excuses have never been so good (or funny)
If your looking for a good reason to escape that invitation to a holiday party, check out this Holiday Excuse Generator at Enlighten.com. It’s alot of fun even if you don’t get invited to parties. Just answer a few questions about your relationship with the host and how honest you want to appear and viola! You get a sample letter fit for Martha Stewart’s hand!
I’ll be trying it out this season. Unless any of my friends are reading this. In which case, I really can’t come to your White Trashmas Themed soiree because I’m going to be on vacation in Budapest.
No really.
Tell me all about it when I return.
The designers out there should also check out the Enlighten site, since it’s well designed as well.
En Tus Brazos
“In Your Arms” according to altavista’s translation, is a great animated short worth checking out. Even though the site is in French, it appears that the short has won some awards. Alot of work has gone into the film and I love the tone and style. Check out the “Contacts” link… the creators’ photos have the same early 1900′s look. Great job guys!
Online Desktop?
In me never ending search for a solution that will keep my contacts up to date on my laptop pc, my home pc and my Mac, I stumbled across a very cool Web 2.0 site. DesktopTwo is a web-based app package that looks and acts like your personal desktop; complete with email, address book, rss reader, instant messenger, file browser and 1GB FREE (for now) storage.
I haven’t yet decided if it’s any kind of solution for what I was searching, but it’s always nice to find an example of great design and origina ideas. I know there have been other similar attempts, but I don’t think any have been this successful or nice looking.
Desolation Row
Originally uploaded by CantikFotos.
Fascinating set of photos of an abandoned housing project in Taiwan. It’s too bad the’ve fallen into such decay. It reminds my of some of the modern designs of today, especially many of the flatpak or modular modern designs available.
These are haunting and beautiful at the same time; and it looks like their on the beach.
This Ad is so Gay
And I don’t mean “gay” like some straight people say to mean “lame”, but “gay” as in “I can’t believe they marketed this to straight women”-gay.
But seriously, it’s amazing to me that some people think America is out of control, that we need to increase censorship of the media; but sexuality has been in advertising practically since the printing press was invented. And this ad is a great example.
And I don’t even think the ads in Out magazine are this racy. So I just wonder in what magazine these were advertised.
UPDATE: Thanks to a little sleuthing from my pal Jenn, this apparently ran in Life magazine. You can see more ambiguous (and not-so-ambiguous) advertising at commercialcloset.org.
Originally uploaded by Mamluke.
UFO Photoshop Contest
Worth1000.com has some great Photoshop contests. A recent one was for UFOs, and I think this is one of the best. It as a bit of a Myst feel, which has some fantastic art. Check out the rest of the contest entries; and if you don’t already, check back at Worth1000.com for other great Photoshop contests.
Housewives Tarot
Found a fun site, housewivestarot.com, where you can get your very own Tarot reading. And you don’t have to be a housewife!
The graphics are great, and it’s fun to see how they’ve created images for the traditional tarot deck using that great style of the 50′s.
Even if you’re not into devination, you should check this out just for the great art and flash design. And you can even buy the boxed set (great gift for your Johnson County repressed-housewife friends).
Move over Donna Reed, and make me a martini!
For more fantastic design (especially for the web designers out there), check out the creators’ website at headcasedesign.com. Coincidentally, they’re located in Philly, my surragate home town! (I hope they don’t yell at me for posting the pic… )
Recent Dallas Trip
Just thought I’d post one of my fav photos from my last trip to Dallas. This is a temple in Thanksgiving Plaza in Downtown Dallas.
Sometimes the simple lines and color are just as moving as complex shapes. This building is really pretty amazing, and has a stain glass window in the spiral. Thanks to BrianBlevins, one of my flickr buddies, who pointed out the website with a great photo of the window.
Cartoon Ads
Here’s a series of cartoon-ads from yesteryear that are fun. Even if you’re not a graphic design enthusiast, the nastalgia is still worth taking a look at.
Thanks, leifpeng for sharing these on flickr! 
