design:related - posts list

Slate magazine examines signs and signage in a six article series

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:58:44 GMT

From Legible London to hand drawn maps to GPS.

24 Beautiful Web Designs Across the Color Spectrum

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:10:56 GMT

Here are 24 beautiful examples of web designs that feature a specific color across the color spectrum. If you’re in a color rut, take this opportunity to expand your horizon and be inspired by a color that may be out of your comfort zone.

The sports mascot. Adventures in logo illustration. A behind the scenes...

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:22:01 GMT

Very often, you see the oh-so slick and beautifully-crafted logo designs of your favorite sports teams. But, have you ever wondered how the designs evolved into what you see now, the completed logos? Well, there is an interesting world that combines logo design with the related discipline of illustration. In this post, I'm here to show you how...

Cage lamp by Dima Loginoff

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:00:18 GMT

Russian designer Dima Loginoff (1977) is specialized in lightning design. Now he presents new concept of a Cage lamp. In last years Dima introduced many impressive designs of lamps, especially the table ones. The Cage lamp continues in this line. Archetypal shape of a lamp is minimized only to basic construction reminiscent cage. The lamp was [...]

Today's archidose #400

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:04 GMT

Eastbourne - Towner, originally uploaded by Dubris.

Towner in Eastbourne, England by Rick Mathers Architects, 2008.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

FAST TRASH

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:00:04 GMT

"On Roosevelt Island —- located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens —- there are no garbage bags on the sidewalks and no garbage trucks. Instead, garbage is collected from its 14,000 inhabitants via a retro-futuristic system of underground tubes. A computer empties the trash chutes several times a day, whisking away the waste of the Island’s residential towers, and zooming it through underground pipes to a transfer station at one end of the island. There it is compacted, sealed into containers, and loaded on a truck to join the rest of New York City’s waste."

Who knew? I didn't until a friend of mine who lives on Roosevelt Island recently told me about the system. Soon many more people will learn about the island's trash system -- and what can be learned from it towards "alternative futures for New York City's infrastructure" -- when the exhibition FAST TRASH: Roosevelt Island's Pneumatic Tubes and the Future of Cities opens at Gallery RIVAA (Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association) on April 22, running until May 23.

For those not familiar with New York City's non-Roosevelt Island trash "system," garbage and recycling are placed on the curb, usually the night before the designated day for the building/block/neighborhood pickup. Garbage/recycling trucks pick up the bags or empty the bins, compacting the trash before unloading at a waste disposal facility somewhere in the city before being sent to some other state (Pennsylvania or New Jersey, I think, for trash) for burying in a landfill or sorting for recycling. As the description at top shows, Roosevelt Island is unique up to the last step.

Coming from Chicago, it's obvious that Manhattan's lack of alleys creates the situation whereby curbside pickup is basically the only option, besides subterranean solutions of course. Roosevelt Island's pneumatic method is too costly and complex for extrapolation to its big brother to the west. But maybe smaller, building-scale installations in the not-too-distant future could set out clean, Wall-E-esque compacted boxes on the curb instead of piles of black/clear bags, bins or bundled papers. This doesn't alleviate the fact garbage is curbside -- and as anybody who has visited New York City can attest, removing garbage from the curbs would be ideal -- but the point here is that rethinking even the smallest steps in the current system might have larger implications. In this scenario, trucks could pick up trash more quickly, blocking less traffic and creating less of a noise disturbance with their compactors.

[Viewing portal before garbage is sucked into the compactor on Roosevelt Island | photo courtesy Juliette Spertus]

The idea of a network of tubes underneath the buildings that straddle Main Street on Roosevelt Island makes the occasional protuberances along the street (below) much more intriguing. Do these tubes (I'm guessing they are ventilation ducts...maybe related to the garbage collection?) connect with each other, with other tubes poking above the ground plane, their own network of shared air? We know water and sewer and now garbage is moved around via a network of pipes, but how about hot air for heating in the winter? Or cold air in the summer? Like industrial complexes that trap and recirculate heat created by various processes, one can envision something similar here where all waste (exhaust, trash, sewer) is contained and reused in some way, so no waste escapes the island. A completely self-sufficient Roosevelt Island.

Speculation aside, it should be noted that the exhibition, curated by Juliette Spertus, will also include a symposium at NYU on May 6:

"Comparative Garbage Collection Strategy and Urban Planning"
Thursday, May 6, 6 - 9pm, Reception to follow.
NYU Wagner School of Public Service
295 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012

For Further information and to RSVP please contact:
Juliette Spertus, curator
Email: Juliette.spertus@gmail.com

"Comparative Garbage Collection Strategy and Urban Planning"
Moderated by Rosina Abramson, VP of Planning and Intergovernmental Affairs, Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC).

The panel will explore the decision making process around recent installations of urban-scale pneumatic garbage collection systems around the world, and open a dialogue around the role of garbage collection in dense urban environments.
Confirmed Participants include:

-Richard Anderson, President, NY Building Congress.
-Suzanne Mattei, Director NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, NYC office.
-Carlos Vazquez, technical director, department of sanitation, Barcelona.
-Mike Youkee, Chair Mayor’s advisory board on housing development, London.

The symposium is cosponsored by the Urban Planning Department, RIOC and Envac, the Swedish manufacturer of RI’s system, in conjunction with the exhibition.

The art of the conference

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:00:13 GMT

I’ve just wrapped up my third GDC conference. I learned loads from it and feel incredibly rejuvenated creatively! But before I talk about what I learned there, I wanted to take a moment to share some helpful guiding principles for attending conferences. Here’s sort of a top ten list of tips for making the most [...]

Downtime

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:00:13 GMT

Had a little unexpected downtime this week when my host turned off our site when a wordpress plug-in caused the shared server to crash. After much jousting with tech support, we’re back online.

Philippe Nicolas

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:00:09 GMT

Aerial wonder! These birds-eye illustrations from Philippe Nicolas are pretty fun. Simple, colorful, and oblique—I love how angular and well composed these pieces are. In addition to the Ground series, Phillipe also has a nice collection of typographic and design work. His portly-weighted font, bang-bang, makes an appearance in a tasty series entitled N.Y. Foods. Check out [...]

GOOD DESIGN for Meandre by mmcité

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:00:15 GMT

Bike stand Meandre by mmcité has won Good Design Award 2009‘ awarded by the Chicago Athenaeum (Museum of Architecture and Design in Chicago). mmcité product came through in tough competition of world’s famous manufacturers and managed to catch attention of international jury. Meandre is adaptable soft grooves and original shape of the rubber belt. Bike [...]