Naturally Juicy...

You have to check out this CG video from the awesome team at The Mill. It's an ad for Orangina (a citrus beverage) that is running in France. There's no chance of it ever being aired on US tv, as it's a little suggestive. (And before all you perves out there get too excited, it's not a commercial featuring humans.) It is available on youtube but the quality is completely lost in that format. Check it out here. It's under the CG category, then click on the green text "view on BEAM.TV". I read some comments on youtube that many people found it to be silly, and lame, but I think it's pretty darn cute.

nine-leaf exercise

I feel like this is one of (if not the) worst drawings on my blog. I was hurried, and it shows. :(
The assignment was to use the different techniques we've learned in class to draw a leaf, in nine squares.
Top l-r: crosshatching, random scribbling, blind contour; middle, l-r: gesture, contour, smudging; bottom, l-r: negative space, hatching, stippling.
The stippling one is the ONLY ONE I like. It's an English Laurel leaf by the way, a beautiful specimen that my husband I and chose when we first bought our home. I love these shrubs.
I feel horribly that I didn't spend more time on it, but Merry Christmas anyway!

(yes I realize the scan cut off the top... I'll try again later to get the whole thing.)

Design Research: 10 Sustainable design ideas

Here's a list of 10 sustainable design materials:

1. cork flooring
2. LED and compact fluorescent lightbulbs
3. bamboo flooring
4. flyash concrete
   
5. engineered structural products
6. insulations: Cementitious foam, Perlite, and rockwool
7. photo-voltaics
8. fuel cells
9. green roofs
10. low or no-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints
    

Design Research: Interior Environments

above: 2 photos of the set on "The Seven Year Itch", released in 1955. Besides the obviously aesthetically pleasing Marilyn Monroe, I have always loved the set for Richard Sherman's apartment in NYC (he's the main character). Right in the middle of the 1950's I would expect more space-age atomic style, but this set design portrays what a realistic everyday household (of a certain income) would look like. I love the soft blues and uses of metallics in the living room. Another fave is the "Stairway to Nowhere" used as a book ledge. While the room is not minimalist in any way, I don't find it to be too cluttered. I think it's close to perfection, actually! (I highly recommend the movie, as well!)


This is an anonymous photo found on the Internet of a children's room. I think the lime green on the walls is very creativity-inspiring, and it seems like a great place to study or do homework. I'm usually a fan of built-ins, and I particularly like how the bunk beds are built in to the cabinetry as well. It makes the beds seem like integral parts of the whole wall system, as opposed to separate entities. Also the maple finish is very light reflective, which aids the cheeriness factor for the whole room.


This Mickey D's would certainly be more interesting to visit than the typically boring and sometimes dirty ones we're used to in the US. This one, outfitted with Jacobsen Egg chairs, is in London. The color choices for the chairs are very bright, and are definitely not the red & yellow you see everyday. Those little marshmallow shaped seats are adorable and are visually not as cluttered as chairs that have backs.



What beautiful lighting! Kudos for the home having this facing (probably west or east) to accentuate these awesome furniture pieces. Already a fan of the Eames molded ply chairs and the Saarinen Womb chair, I find them to be right at home in this room. The red sofa compliments the dark ply chairs and sage of the Womb chair nicely. Neutral wall color is not usually my first pick, but it is a great backdrop to showcase this well thought out room.
Designed by Chris Marzec in Chicago.



This is a courtyard view from a Joseph Eichler home in southern California. A trademark of this builder's homes, the courtyard is treated as another room of the house rather than an outdoor space. I LOVE the floor-to-ceiling windows, a staple in mid-century design. They provide an unobstructed view of the outdoors, and were placed with a desirable view in mind. The use of plants adds a vertical element to draw your eye upward as well as provides some color to the concrete terrace. What I also find pleasing is how the smooth floor in the living space leads right out to the terrace, for an almost seamless transition. The white pod-type furniture adds the finishing mid-century touch to this classic space.



above: from the Entenza House (Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen) in Pacific Palisades, CA.
This is one of the Case Study houses (no. 9) from Arts & Architecture magazine built in 1949. The oval coffee table, low to the floor, and simple clean sofa are elements I find attractive in mid century design. Again, I dig those floor-to-ceiling windows to show off the view.

2 new technologies used in design

1. Solar powered billboard

The Pacific Gas & Electric Company in California will soon be unveiling the first solar powered billboard in the US (Dec. 2007). Comprised of 20 solar modules that are interconnected to a grid, the billboard will create more energy than needed to light it at night, therefore giving up to 3.4 kilowatts of (solar) energy to PG & E customers. "We Can Do This" is the slogan for the company's green advertising campaign. The US will become only the third nation to use solar energy technology in this manner, following similar uses in South Africa and Canada.

2.Louisiana-Pacific's LP Solidstart LSL

A new product from LP called Solidstart is a laminated strand lumber that offers superior strength and consistency vs. traditional dimensional lumber in residential building. As a structurally engineered wood product, the key to LSL's strength is how it's made: from thin, longer length wood strands that are oriented parallel to the beam's length. Suitable for use as headers and beams, wall studs, roof beams/rafters, truss chords, rim boards and stair stringers, the product is certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and backed by a lifetime limited warranty. (From the International Builder's Show 2008 website.)

time capsule drawing

prototype and final time capsule process booklets

to document the processes we've been through during the creation of our time capsules, we have constructed "zines" (small informative booklets) showing the progress. included are photos, illustrations and narratives describing the various stages of design. we developed prototypes of what we desired our booklets to look like and hoped the final product ended up somewhat like it.
here's my final booklet:










here are pages one and two of the "ideal" layout/scheme for the process booklet that we came up with before completing the final zine. I think I managed to stay true to form, at least with colors and the orange color-blocked theme.

le corbusier drawing

this is the completed drawing of a le corbusier building, drawn from a photograph.
homework assignment, due 11.20.07

"mmmmm, melted plastic..."

In a recent issue of ReadyMade magazine there is a how-to guide about making your own melted plastic bowl. Besides the one in the mag being orange (my new thing this fall) it has a very cool form. Seems it's made of the plastic fencing material used in construction (you know those little pretend fences that won't keep anything in or out during road construction). I didn't have $40 to experiment using that particular material, so I found plastic canvas and had fun.



the last photo (my beloved orange one), as Homer Simpson would say, "is what happens when plastic says, 'No more'!" yes, it's plastic gone bad. oh well. that's what happened when I fooled around with the temp settings. it seems 50 degrees makes all the difference. the successful ones were heated in the oven at 400 degrees, and that seemed to work. not so good at 450!
I'd like to practice some more, on another day when I feel like getting a headache. the fumes weren't noticeable, but my headache sure is!

homework assignment, due Nov. 15