why are things so boring now?

Spaceship condo

May 25, 2011

Spaceship condo

Spaceship condominium in Guilford, Connecticut, designed by Wil Armster. We need to see more buildings like this, especially in Vancouver, to break up the endless architectural monotony not to mention mediocrity.

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Citroen Kar-a-Sutra

Citroen Kar-a-Sutra

Living room on wheels designed by Italian designer Mario Bellini in 1972 as a collaboration for Citroen and Pirelli. It’s a combination conversation pit/sleeping area. It was introduced to the US later that year in a show at MoMA – Italy: The New Domestic Landscape.

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See-through furniture

January 28, 2010

See-through furniture

These are a mix of glass and lucite, past and present. The bottom 3 pieces are from the 70s and all of the pieces at top are contemporary. Transparency puts furniture into the realm of the future or the imaginary, even when it also automatically harks back to the 1970s.

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Categories: design, Uncategorised

The Dome Show – Intermedia builds geodesic domes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1970

October 25, 2009

The Dome Show – Intermedia builds geodesic domes, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1970

These photos of The Dome Show, an exhibition by art collective Intermedia at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1970, are all from the web archive Ruins In Process: Vancouver Art in the Sixties.

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Categories: design, Uncategorised

Montreal vs. Vancouver Olympics graphics – a little comparative photo essay

October 18, 2009

Montreal vs. Vancouver Olympics graphics – a little comparative photo essay

Ignoring the problems of hosting the Olympics, which are serious and many (and as a Vancouverite I’m speaking from experience), let’s just compare the graphic design from two different Canadian Olympics.

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If Studio 54 were in the Emerald City

August 11, 2009

If Studio 54 were in the Emerald City

“Electrified Plexiglas and Mirrored Glass Low Table,” circa 1970-79, by American designer Ron Ferri. American Glam. From the artnet site:

“There are few designers who captured the essence of the Studio 54 era as well as Ron Ferri did.

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Categories: design, Uncategorised

Whatever happened to the seating platform, the conversation pit?

June 23, 2009

Whatever happened to the seating platform, the conversation pit?

Above, the 1970s modern two-level platform in painter Frank Stella’s loft, from the classic book Inside Today’s Home. Below, a recent photo of the renovated 1950s conversation pit in the Number 31 Hotel in Dublin.

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70s kitchen

June 22, 2009

70s kitchen

From the 1975 edition of Inside Today’s Home. “A vividly colored, streamlined kitchen forms one wall of the major group space in this minimal-care beach house. The brilliant blue and red scheme contrasts strikingly with the clean-lined Breuer and Mies van der Rohe furniture and a soft goat hair rug.

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Categories: design, Uncategorised
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