Hasta La Ideas

Picture, in your mind, a homicide detective. Now picture a kindergarten teacher. I’m guessing you imagined the first person as male, and the second as female. Based on direct experience or what we’ve seen on TV, we all have certain stereotypes about which genders work in which occupations. But what does the data actually say?

Statistician and information designer Nathan Yau pored over data collected from 1950 to 2015 to break down the Most Female and Male Occupations Since 1950. Let’s consider that in 1950 the workforce was predominantly male; roughly 30 percent of women had jobs and 80 percent of men had jobs. Today about 70 percent of both men and women have jobs. So what jobs saw very little gender change over those decades? These two:

More interesting are occupations that were male-heavy in 1950, and which flipped to become female-heavy by 2015. Here are some examples:

I must admit the bartender stats surprised me, but that’s probably a function of the bars I go to.

Yau’s next breakdown was to find which jobs were male-heavy in 1950, then worked their way to about a 50/50 gender split in 2015:

I was excited to see Yau made a little applet where you could type in the name of a profession to see how the gender ratio changed over the years. I typed in “industrial designers,” and it was of course not listed as a category. Instead I had to settle for “architects:”

Then I went with the more general “designers:”

The term is, of course, too vague to draw any conclusions. In my own “picture which gender” exercise, I stereotype graphic designers to be predominantly female, industrial designers male, interior designers female. I wish there was a more detailed breakdown so I could discover the truth.

I then tried typing in “product designers,” which wasn’t available, but it autofilled “Actors, producers and directors” and I found this interesting result:

In other words, we have almost identical male/female percentages for these jobs today that we did in 1950, but there was an odd moment of parity in 1970, and then it snapped back to the default in 1980 and hasn’t changed much since.

The applet is fun to play around with, and you can also have it show you the results for random occupations. Check it out here.

Looks like we officially have a trend on our hands: Retro-Electric? We saw both Volkswagen and Jaguar reinvigorating classic automotive designs with electric powerplants, and now Honda’s dipping their foot in the pool as well. Their compact Urban EV, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, bears a striking resemblance to their original Civic, the car that put Honda on the map in America in the early ’70s.

Urban EV

First-generation Civic

Some condensed automotive history: In the early ’70s we Yanks were still driving around in land boats. Japanese cars at the time were not taken seriously, being much smaller, and Japan was not yet recognized as a technological and engineering powerhouse. (Throughout the ’50s and ’60s Japan, which was steadily rebuilding after World War II, had a reputation for producing goods of shoddy quality, similar to the perception of Chinese-made goods today.)

The original Civic, introduced in Japan in 1972, could not have come at a more perfect time: The 1973 oil crisis hit the following year, and the affordable Civic’s 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine sipped gas economically. Americans hit hard by high gasoline prices were willing to give the tiny Civic a try. They found the car to be reliable and well-made at a time when Detroit’s quality control seemed to have disappeared. On this reputation of economy and reliability, Honda and other Japanese automakers were able to gain a foothold in the American automotive market that would in later years blossom into outright domination.

First-generation Civic

Despite its tiny appearance, the Urban EV is actually a four-seater, and it looks like Honda is following in the original Civic’s economical spirit by opting for bench seating (both fore and aft, unlike the original Civic, which had split seating up front). The interior is Spartan, to say the least:

One interesting interior feature is that camera-connected screens embedded within the doors themselves take the place of rearview mirrors. And an interesting exterior feature, though it’s not shown in the photos, is that the car will have suicide doors (i.e. hinged at the rear).

And yes, we said “will.” Honda President and CEO Takahiro Hachigo has announced that “This is not some vision of the distant future; a production version of this car will be here in Europe in 2019.” No word on whether they’ll bring it Stateside.

“You need to breathe, honey,” Joe Banfi, frontman of London three-piece band Banfi, urges in their latest music video. A flaming rose and scenes of a dancing heroine splice up moments of straightforward band performance visuals—all of which end……

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Panoramic views of Seattle‘s harbour are afforded from the overhanging rear of this house, completed by American firm Robert Hutchison Architecture.

The two-storey Cantilever House is located on a lot that the clients have lived on for 15 years, originally in a small bungalow.

Apart from its convenient location to the University of Seattle and downtown, the owners particularly enjoy the site’s waterfront views – so the house was designed to make the most of this.

From the street, the building has few openings save two small, narrow windows and a garage door. However, glazing runs along the entire right side, facing the water.

Upon entering, stairs lead up to the main floor that has expansive views of Portage Bay, with its floating houses and sailboats.

“The owners desired a home that was open, light-filled and private but also transparent and oriented towards the water and city views,” said architect Robert Hutchison.

“The building turns its back to the street while opening up to the views to the northeast through a large glazed corner window system.”

The house is situated on a slope, with a suite for a mother-in-law tucked underneath the main home. Poured concrete forms the base of the building, as well as a walled enclosure, and steps leading up to the front door.

Otherwise, the exterior walls are clad in black-stained western red cedar, which is native to western North America.

Robert Hutchison Architecture collaborated with Seattle-based Carla Allbee of Allbee Romein for the interior design.

Minimalist cabinets line the walls, from the foyer and kitchen to the bedrooms and bathrooms, adding storage without visually altering the interior. The majority of the flooring is light-coloured wood, with large black tiles found in the entryway and galley kitchen.

A large wooden dining table forms the centrepiece of the open-plan main floor, which also features a fireplace, a seating area, and a row of bookshelves along the staircase railing. The kitchen joins the space with light cabinetry and countertops.

Towards the front of the home, off the kitchen and dining area, is an office, powder room, and master bedroom with walk-in closet and en-suite.

An exterior stair from the living room leads down to a small back patio at grade level, with lounge chairs and a custom-made concrete structure that houses a grill. Off the mother-in-law’s suite below is a separate patio, partially covered by the cantilever above.

Photography is by Mark Woods Photography.

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