Architects must be bold or go under

Image has nothing to do with the article,  but somehow still works.  It is a still from a series of videos called Mister Glasses.

From the article:   “Now, architects, I know you’re going through tough times. If even Lord “Moneybags” Foster is ditching a quarter of his workforce, things must be bad. I know the public don’t appreciate you. I know your job is thankless: anyone watching Grand Designs can see that only a masochist would ever consider building anything larger than a garden shed. And I know that the last thing you want to hear is criticism. But, here goes.”

Why do Architects Wear Black?

This fun little book asks the question “Why do Architects Wear Black?”   Packaged in a small, sketchbook-size format are a hundred or so answers to that question, one response per spread with the original handwritten answer opposite the typed, translated text and the name of the architect, designer or draftsman. Spanning seven years, the answers reveal as much about the personalities as they do about the question itself.

LEGO Architecture

LEGO has introduced a line of architectural based products, including a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous house, fallingwater.

Get Things Done Manifesto

Get Things Done Manifesto

A radical approach which says there are 3 states of existence:  not knowing, action, and completion….

this could be useful to architecture students ……

Magic Basin Tap Fitting

Sensors detect the location of hands in the basin and direct water flow and temperature accordingly.

http:www.villeroy-boche.com

Advice to designers by Milton Glaser

http://www.miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/essays/es3.html

From a lecture “10 things I have learned.”    (for example “AVOID TOXIC PEOPLE” -  how do you know if a person is toxic, you ask intelligently …. read the lecture!

Milton Glaser is perhaps the most famous american graphic designer,  responsible for many images, for example the “I love NY” design.

Tech Shop – rent cool tools in Silicon Valley

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/04/bb-video-recent-epis.html

http://www.techshop.ws/index.html

I’ve been looking for a place in the San Jose area where I could rent time on a 3d printer, and from this BOINGBOING video, it appears that TechShop has it!  Located in Menlo Park.

Statue of Jesus made from lego

A boy examines a statue of Jesus Christ made entirely out of Lego construction bricks in a church at Vasteras, Sweden, Sunday April 12, 2009. The 1.8 metre (5.9 feet ) tall statue, a copy of Thorvaldsen’s ‘Resurrected Christ’, has taken parishioners 1.5 years to construct out of 30.000 tiny plastic pieces. AP Photo/Jonas Ekstromer)

Float in the clouds

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/04/14/sofa-that-lets-you-f.html

A concept for a couch that levitates via a magnetic field.

Smart Cars fare poorly in safety tests.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090414/ap_on_bi_ge/crash_tests

It seems you can’t get around those PESKY laws of physics.   Hey kids, there’s this little concept called MOMENTUM … who knew?????

WASHINGTON – Micro cars can give motorists top-notch fuel efficiency at a competitive price, but the insurance industry says they don’t fare too well in collisions with larger vehicles.

In crash tests released Tuesday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers of 2009 versions of the Smart “fortwo,” Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris could face significant leg and head injuries in severe front-end crashes with larger, mid-size vehicles.