Gehry has done some beautiful work, but his home (modified bungalow) in Santa Monica is still one of my favorites of his projects.
I.M. Pei - Architect (April 26 1917 – May 16 2019)
See some of his influential works here.
WILCO - Musicians
Great stuff. Listen.
Humans of New York - Social Experiment
Photographer, Brandon Stanton, started taking photos of people in New York and captioning each picture with a story an individual or group shared with him at the time. Needless to say, his experiment has grown, see more here.
Carlson-Reges Residence - Roto Architects
This is a very fun LA project - transforming an old power plant into a house/gallery. We saw this 20 years ago and loved it. Note on the 2nd level, the pool jutting out the right side (it’s made from a large industrial tank). The vegetation has taken-over nicely too. Check out more here.
Santiago Calatrava - Architect / Engineer
I love a good bridge and Calatrava has been making some beautiful ones for the past 30 years. His architecture follows his white and skeletal preferences but the bridges have the added bonus of being clear urban connection points. See more of his elegant work here.
Bialetti Moka Pot - 1933
3D Printed House - Austin TX
Get ready, the robots are finally taking over. Check out this video to see more about this process.
Board Formed Concrete
I love (especially in this example) the combination of concrete taking on the texture of the wood, plus the space between the boards (great shadow potential). That said, Tadao Ando’s smooth and almost billowy concrete walls (here) take the casting process to a level of high art.
David Fincher - Filmmaker
Love his dark sense of humor (Fight Club, Seven, Gone Girl, etc.). Check out this excellent 7min. video from Tony Zhou at Every Frame a Painting about what makes Fincher standout.
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk (writer)
This is one of those little books with lots of big ideas and unexpected observations and wisdoms buried within it. Here are more books by Palahniuk, but this is my favorite.
Lisa Shell - Architects (London)
Surprising use of cork on the outside of this house located on a salt marsh in Essex, UK. This modern box on stilts makes it feel like a research station (in a good way). Read more here.
Johnny Cash - Musician (Feb. 1931 - Sept 2003)
His music only got better as he aged. In the 3rd act of his life/career, he made American Recordings (1994) in producer Rick Rubin’s living room, mostly featuring Cash on acoustic guitar playing his favorite songs - it was his 81st album. Here’s his cover of U2’s “One” (he would do this with Rubin in 2000 on American lll). His body of work is an amazing contribution to the fabric of American music.
Northside Park - Wenk (Landscape Architects)
This is one of my favorite adaptive reuse projects. Check out Denver’s old water treatment facility’s transformation into a park here.
Herzon & De Meuron - Architects
How many Swiss architects does it take to design a California winery for a Frenchman? Love Herzog & De Meuron’s uses of materials on minimalist structures. See more photos of the winery here.
IDEO - Innovators in design process
IDEO’s design philosophy is inspiring. Check out this 8mins. video demonstrating how they re-thought/re-made the shopping cart.
Scavenger Hut - EERKES ARCHITECTS
Love how this project has only a few materials, some strong horizontal bands and clear vertical supports. See more by this Bainbridge WA architecture firm here.
SUNFLARE - FLEXIBLE SOLAR PANELS
This new technology comes in thin flexible sheets and now roof shingles. I’m excited to see what they do next. Read more about Sunflare here.
BILL MURRAY - ACTOR / COMEDIAN / WRITER
Goofy around on the set of The Royal Tenenbaums. Love seeing the moments between takes (and that’s Wes Anderson in the background with hand on head). Some fun Bill Murray stories here.
SERIAL - PODCAST
This is the podcast that got me hooked on podcasts. It broke-the-record for most listened to audio shows (over 300 million downloads). If you missed it or want to learn more - check it out here.
