With spongy, tanned-leather seating, a rope-festooned lobby from costumier Michael Schmidt, a giant Swim Club pool, and rooms replete with vintage vinyl and Americana aplenty.
via: Wallpaper/Travel
But in a metropolis of eight million overlapping voices, that is rarely possible.
Public spaces like parks are a particular battleground, equally prized as green oases and places for personal expression. And other than Central Park, perhaps none are more valued than the 10-acre, 181-year-old Washington Square Park, the beating heart of Greenwich Village. Through the decades the park has been the haunt of some of America’s best-known artists, writers, musicians, anarchists and Beatniks, and a seemingly round-the-clock distillation of the frenetic spirit of New York. In 2004, responding to what it said were numerous calls for repairs and improvements, the parks department announced a plan to renovate the space, a proposal quickly met with bitter opposition from residents who complained that their park was being violated. In December 2007, after candlelight vigils, demonstrations and rancorous fights at community board meetings and in the courts, the city won and workers began moving in.
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"The Battle of Washington Square"
Having just opened in September 2008 the California Green Academy of Sciences took approximately 8 years to build. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano the academy is a sustainable building that consists of an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest and a research center. one of the main features of the building is its 2.5 acre living green roof. Looking like small humps protruding from the surface each are skylights that provide natural light and ventilation for the exhibit space. Extending beyond the building walls into a glass canopy the roof provides shade, protection from the rain and generates energy through more than 55 000 photo voltaic cells in the glass.
via: designboom
From the beginning, the Chace Center was created for people — to be a crossroads where students, faculty, staff, alumni and museum visitors from the general public all come together. With its unpretentious design, it melds student and museum exhibition galleries, an auditorium and other public venues with studios, classrooms and collection conservation areas, creating a welcoming center where art is made, studied and enjoyed.
Distinguished glass artist Dale Chihuly's installation, marks the opening of the new $34 million expansion at the museum of the Rhode Island School of Design. Chihuly earned a master's degree from RISD and studied and taught there for 20 years, serving as a visiting artist in 1990. Now 67 and living in Seattle, Chihuly said he always wanted to show at RISD.
José Rafael Moneo, the Pritzker Prize-winning principal of José Rafael Moneo Arquitecto in Madrid, designed the Chace Center.
— though perhaps not in the way you might think.
Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs.
It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana’s chemical makeup.
The current research, by Giovanni Appendino of the University of the Eastern Piedmont and colleagues and published in The Journal of Natural Products, looked at the antibacterial activity of the five most common cannabinoids. All were effective against several common multiresistant bacterial strains, although, perhaps understandably, the researchers suggested that the nonpsychotropic cannabinoids might prove more promising for eventual use.
link: "Marijuana Ingredient May Fight Bacteria" By Henry Fountain, The New York Times
Photograph:Matthew Spiegelman
B-SIDES: 'This is a project which questions the nature of everyday objects and how we interact with them. Small additions and subtractions convert simple objects into communicative tools. Transformed, these items also make a subtle statement about consumer culture. 'b-sides' comprises an ongoing series of modified objects (to date there are more than thirty), including vases with clamps, plug-in torches and wine bottles with integrated glasses. While most of these objects are conceptual explorations, some of the modified objects - buttons which speak, surprise matches and 'reduced' t-shirts - are intended for production. More than an exercise in design, 'b-sides' is as a proposal for how we might look differently at the unextraordinary bits and pieces we find around us.'
Fiat re-launched the tiny and iconic 500 in Turin, Italy in early July. Known in Italian as Cinquecento, Fiat is hoping this small car will be hugely popular with its clean design and made-in-Poland prices. Fiat's hopes for this vehicle are so high, the company is publicly calling it the "iPod of cars."
The 500 has not been made in 32 years, so it's kind of a big deal that Fiat is bringing the name back. The original struck a chord with Italians following World War II, and still have many fans. This time, the 500 is a bit bigger than before and it has to compete with other small cars like the Smart and the Twingo. Initial interest is high, thanks in part to a price tag of about 10,000 euros ($13,600); more than 25,000 people have placed an order for the new 500.
link: Fiat hopes that the 500/Cinquecento will become the "iPod of cars" ~ autobloggreen
