Here in New York City (specifically SoHo), we’ve seen dozens of popup “museums” come and go as quickly as documentation that they even existed in the first place filters through and disappears on Instagram feeds. There’s been a Rosé, “Mansion”, a bubble tea “experience” (just drink a bubble tea, there’s your experience), and a Color “Factory”. Even Refinery29’s 29Rooms managed to feel less like an art installation and more like a branded photo-op this year.
What we like to think started off as good intensions in a marketing meeting to give millennials real, meaningful experiences, has turned into an empty void of alternate realities designed to only look presentable on camera and be minimally fun in real life. For starters, I can absolutely guarantee that an adult ball pit is not a sanitary, aesthetic or entertainment improvement upon McDonalds Play Places in the 90s:
So as you can imagine, when I first heard about Snarkitecture’s upcoming permanent exhibition space at Hudson Yards called Snark Park, my thought was: Here we go again. Because, naturally, Snarkitecture is responsible for the mother of all adult ball pits, which looks exactly like what I imagine hell would look like if it really does exist:
I’ll be good the rest of my life, I swear. (Snarkitecture’s The Beach, via Snarkitecture)
Once I managed to set my personal ball pit bias aside, though, I remembered that the guys behind Snarkitecture—Alex Mustonen, Daniel Arsham and Ben Porto—are experience/spatial design pros. They’ve worked on notable projects ranging from corporate retail spaces to more personal installations and furniture and have been doing so for about a decade. So, while Snarkitecture is smart to capitalize on the trend of immersive experiences at this moment, this is not necessarily a trend or a marketing ploy to them. Therefore, I have high hopes that this space won’t end up being treated as such like its frenemies Rosé Mansion and Color Factory were.
Rendering: Entrance of Snark Park
While details on what Snark Park will look like are still sparse, it was just announced that the first exhibition to take over Snark Park will be called Lost and Found. The exhibition will feature a maze of massive, inhabitable columns that feature audio and visual experiences inside. Plot twists and secret worlds are promised to keep visitors engaged. Following Lost and Found, Snark Park will feature three site-specific installations per year.
Snark Park will celebrate its ticket drop with an activation at KITH in Soho tonight. Details here. Here’s to hoping Lost and Found will encourage people to lose their phones and find some humanity along the way.
A crystal chandelier tangled with 100 colourful stuffed birds and an unfurling wooden cabinet are among a series of new works that artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz is showing in New York.
New York-based, Chilean-born Errazuriz is debuting the new Bird, Mechanical Cabinet and Metamorphosis series in the Breaking the Box exhibit at the R & Company gallery, located in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood.
Comprising “vibrant taxidermy”, moving cabinetry and organic furniture, the works are intended to “reconsider conventions”, following the designer’s past experimental projects that include penis paperweights and statues that double as seats.
Photograph by Joe Krammer
“We tend to understand reality by constraining meaning into closed and simplified boxes defined by previous cultural conventions,” said Errazuriz in a statement.
“We live within these pre-established cognitive borders where we only tend to see, recognise and accept as true that which has been previously ordered and defined.”
Photograph by Joe Krammer
A highlight of the showcase is the Bird Chandelier, which Errazuriz designed to hang down a 40-foot-high (12.1-metre) atrium at R & Company, providing a centrepiece for the exhibition.
It is among his Bird set, which also includes a hanging lamp that acts as a perch for colourful small creatures in different poses – some with their wings raised. There is also a mirror that has a stuffed bird on a twig, as if looking back its reflection.
Lastly, two headless birds rest on a pair of lamps, with light bulbs in place of their heads.
The top floor of the gallery – a 19th-century building recently overhauled by Thai architect Kulapat Yantrasast – is dedicated to Errazuriz’s Mechanical Cabinet series.
Designed to appear “simplistically elegant”, the wooden credenzas, cabinets and boxes are crafted to open in various ways, including rotating and spinning, and transform into new shapes.
The dark wooden Grand Complication gradually opens to reveal different compartments, drawers resting on stilts, and a mirror. The Kaleidoscope, meanwhile, is fronted with four doors that reveal a series of optical, reflective surfaces hidden inside.
Photograph by Joe Krammer
“Merging both advanced technology and traditional craft, this versatile series allow for various interpretations that test the limits between sculpture and function,” said R & Company.
Two stacks of six wooden boxes form the Spin Cabinet, twisting to unveil storage compartments, while the Fan Cabinet’s slatted wooden doors peel open, offering an update to the designer’s unfurling furniture collection.
“The mechanical cabinet series is part of an ongoing exercise developing through systems to create outside of the box in methodical and structured manners,” said Errazuriz. “On the other end, this aviary series embody the daily reminder of the fragility of time and his need to also think freely and intuitively.”
Other designs on show as part of Breaking the Box include the Metamorphosis bench and table, which are carved from a tree using a mixture of computer numerically controlled (CNC) robots and high-end hand carving.
The exhibition at R & Company, 64 White Street, runs from 24 January to 8 March 2019.
Carl Lavia est un artiste autodidacte dont le travail consiste à dessiner au crayon des paysages urbains, tels que de loin le spectateur à le sentiment de regarder une carte ancienne en vue aérienne, mais qui de près s’apparentent davantage aux esquisses de dessins impressionnistes et aux eaux-forte de la fin du XIXème siècle. Son grand projet #69cities, mené en collaboration avec Lorna Le Bredonchel l’a amené à dessiner les 69 villes du Royaume Uni dans des dessins précis, documentés depuis les repérages dans les rues jusqu’à l’exposition finale, en passant par toutes les étapes du dessin, qui peuvent durer jusqu’à quatre mois pour chaque dessin.
For most of history, the traditional timepiece was purely defined by its aesthetics. For today’s smartwatches, it’s all about the guts! Suunto’s collection of Spartan smartwatches highlights its robust package of smart sports-optimized features with an elevated user interface designed by Kallan & Co.
Most impressive is that no part of the design’s face is spared from use. Between sport-specific data tracking to real-time sleep analysis, there is a massive amount of data to be presented to the wearer, so each section of micro real estate serves a purpose. Organized in an intelligent and easy-to-navigate way, its large state-of-the-art touchscreen makes it easy to review your stats and check live vitals whether you’re swimming or competing in a triathlon.
Designer: Tommy Incrosnatu & Lauri Incrosnatu for Kallan & Co
Reader Juliana submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
How do you stay on top of your chores if both members of the household work demanding jobs all day? There’s no way we can afford a housekeeper and we are both exhausted at the end of the day. By the weekend, things have piled up to an overwhelming level and I feel like it’s too much to handle. Help!
Oh, Juliana, I know exactly how you’re feeling, and I’m sure a number of our readers do, too. After a long day of work the last thing you want to do are chores, and when the weekend arrives you want to do something more remarkable than clean. There have been many times when I have wished for a housekeeper.
My first piece of advice is to set aside one weekend to simply catch up with all of the stuff around your house. In the days leading up to this weekend, tell everyone that you’re going out of town, stock up on groceries, and clear your entire schedule. Then, wake up early on Saturday morning and get down to business. Clean your place from top-to-bottom, inside-and-out, and do all of the big stuff that just has to get done. On Sunday evening, celebrate your efforts by going out to a dinner where someone else is responsible for doing the dishes.
Once you have this clean slate, then you can get started on a daily maintenance routine that takes little effort and leaves your weekends free for your remarkable life.
Your routine first needs to include a landing strip. You need an area where you can come in after a long day at work and immediately process items. Put a trash can and recycle bin/paper shredder in this space so that mail and paperwork are immediately handled (especially since you don’t want to sacrifice weekend time doing this). Have hooks for coats and hats, and designated spaces for your keys, bags, etc. Put all of your charging equipment for your cell phone in this space, and plug in your phone the minute you walk in the door. The landing strip provides a space for your things, and also makes it a breeze to leave your house in the morning for work.
Next up, commit to doing exactly 30 minutes of cleanup a night. You may do best if you do this 30 minutes right when you get home, or it may work for you right after dinner. Yes, you’re exhausted, but if you remind yourself that 30 minutes now will save you two whole weekend days, it’s pretty easy to keep moving. I have a “cleaning” mix on my iPod that is 30 minutes of fast tempo songs. I play it while I clean to motivate me.
Designate specific rooms for specific days, such as Mondays = Kitchen, Tuesdays = Bathrooms, Wednesdays = Bedroom, Thursdays = Living Room, and Fridays = Living/Family Room. Do a general 10 minute pick up around the house, but then spend 20 minutes really focusing on just one room. With both of you working together, you’ll be surprised by how much you accomplish. You’ll also reap the benefit of having your weekends free of chores.
If you watch television as a way to relax, invest in a DVR. You can do the cleaning while a favorite show is recording, and then start it half-way into the program and watch the show without commercials.
Finally, here are more time-saving tips and suggestions for establishing routines. And, remember to get ready for bed half-an-hour or an hour before you plan to go to sleep. Your clothes are more likely to hit the hamper, and shoes/belts/jackets are more likely to get put away properly.
Thank you, Juliana, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope we helped a little to solve your problem.
Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.
This post has been updated since its original publication in 2009.
The Cintiq 16 is an impressive piece of hardware, but it doesn’t feature a built-in stand for monitor (as opposed to sketching) orientation. Industrial designer Eric Strebel aims to remedy that: “This week’s video is about building a display stand for my Cintiq 16,” he writes, “so that I can stand it up on my desk and actually use it as a monitor when I am not sketching on it.
“So, how does one hack an existing display tablet to attach a custom stand without sacrificing anything? I cleverly use the existing connection points on the back of the display, of course 🙂
“Also included is a review of the Hogore Mag-Safe USB-C adapter and their Thunderbolt 3 dock.”
Has it already been almost two years since Aaron Betsky wrote a Dezeen piece criticising both my efforts at rebuilding the demolished Frank Lloyd Wright-designed pavilion in Canada’s Banff National Park, as well as those by a New York architect to rebuild Penn Station and restore several city blocks in Manhattan to their original grandeur?
I’ve been busy doing other things, but I think now is finally the right time to respond. I would like to share some of my favourite quotes from Betsky’s article, and then tell you what I think.
Is it seriously being suggested here that experiencing a Frank Lloyd Wright building through seeing it as a computer-generated 3D model is a satisfactory replacement of seeing the actual building in person? The mere suggestion of that being the case is one of the most frightening ideas I can imagine.
The argument boils down to “Why bother to exist in the real world at all, with all of its authentic wonders, when you can sit home on your couch, put on a pair of futuristic goggles, and experience it virtually”. Personally, I don’t want to virtually do anything. I want to do it for real.
And then, of course, why have architects at all? Or painters, or sculptors, or creators of anything tangible, which can be actually be felt or touched? Wright’s greatest love was nature. Why bother to experience the natural wonders of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion, or the Grand Canyon in person?
I don’t want to virtually do anything. I want to do it for real
This idea is not only preposterous, it is fundamentally dangerous. If there is a single word one associates with Frank Lloyd Wright, it is organic. To me, organic means real. I hear people all the time state that they believe Wright would have embraced today’s technology as a means to somehow make architectural design better. I emphatically disagree.
When something is no longer real, but only virtually real, or imagined, it doesn’t really exist. My point has always been, with a choice, why would you want something that is virtually real, when with even less effort, you can have something that is actually real?
Sure, technology can be a useful tool, but technology should never be the destination, only the means by which to get there. Guys, there’s a real world out there. Embrace it.
I’d like to point out that the Banff Pavilion would not be the first Frank Lloyd Wright project ever resurrected, even by me. I was responsible for having the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed doghouse rebuilt by original client Jim Berger, along with his brother Eric, back in 2010 for my film “Romanza”.
Also, when film producer Joel Silver obtained and completely restored the Auldbrass Plantation in South Carolina, he not only refurbished the existing dilapidated structures, he rebuilt from scratch several of the service buildings which had been lost in a 1952 fire.
Technology should never be the destination, only the means by which to get there
Since those buildings had never been properly executed by original client C Leigh Stevens due to material shortages during the second world war (construction began in 1940), Silver was able to properly construct the buildings to Wright’s precise specifications and using the correct materials, so that now those buildings are superior to the originals.
And I can think of no one, except the most fringe-thinking purists, who consider these rebuilt structures as inauthentic.
Huh?! Monsters?! Really?! I’m really not aware of the doghouse ever having grown to a gargantuan size and begun terrorising Tokyo, carelessly stomping on people, swinging its tail to destroy infrastructure, and melting electrical towers with its radioactive fire breath.
Nor am I familiar with the rebuilt Auldbrass buildings tearing loose from their foundations, and aimlessly wandering the countryside looking for human brains to eat. I always thought that the Boogeyman was only used to get children to do their homework and eat their vegetables. Using fear tactics to scare people away from supporting our efforts is out of the most lowly politician’s playbook.
There is nothing to fear from a good building. Bad buildings yes, there is much to fear from them. The fear that the standards for creative work, or any other type of work for that matter, will sink so low that poor work will then be deemed as acceptable, mediocre work will be considered excellent, and therefore, excellent work will cease to exist.
And so, why bother? Mediocrity sells.
What is most objectionable to me, more so than the silly arguments made above, is that the overall premise of Betsky’s article seems to suggest that there is a finite amount of money available in the philanthropic world, which is unable to simultaneously support both the rebuilding and restoration of historic architecture, that a potential donor has to choose between supporting one or the other.
Nonsense. Rebuilding architectural masterpieces will only serve to bring awareness of the need to accomplish both tasks, and bring in donations from those who might not otherwise have been aware of these causes.
As demonstrated by the doghouse story, we have already successfully captured the public’s imagination, and as a result, these stories are being covered by many high-profile mainstream publications, and not just the architectural trades. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and NPR have all done stories, just to name a few.
You out there, take people to Fallingwater
To summarise, I hate to criticise the American public, but there currently exists a tremendous cultural and aesthetic illiteracy in this country. Until people can distinguish good design from bad, they will unlikely be able to distinguish good ideas from bad, and America will continue in the downward spiral in which it now finds itself.
You out there, take people to Fallingwater, take them to the Dana-Thomas house, and the Johnson Wax buildings. It may change their lives. Really.
I believe that it is incumbent upon those of us who possess at least a trace of aesthetic judgment to enlighten those who do not. That, I contend, is our true task.
La photographe libanaise Lara Zankoul nous amène aux confins de mondes subtilement surréalistes où elle dissèque visuellement les ressentis humains et notre rapport à l’espace. Toutefois, c’est aux spectateurs de son travail de se forger leur propre interprétation de ce qu’ils croient observer. L’esthétique léchée de ses oeuvres ainsi que leur aspect énigmatique confèrent à son univers photographique une attraction propice à l’imagination et à la rêverie. Rencontre.
Bonjour Lara! Quel chemin vous a amené à devenir photographe?
Ma passion pour la photo, voire même mon obsession pour cette discipline. Je me souviens que lorsque j’étais enfant, je regardais des magazines de photographie de mode et je rêvais de devenir moi aussi une photographe. J’ai toujours eu une grande attirance pour le monde de la photo, mais j’ai longtemps cru que je n’y appartenais pas. Ce n’est qu’à l’âge de 21 ans, lorsque j’ai commencé mon premier emploi, que j’ai décidé de m’acheter un appareil photo et que les choses ont évolué à partir de là. J’ai appris la photographie en autodidacte, et après huit ans, je suis maintenant photographe à temps plein. Je possède un studio à Beyrouth et je ne pourrais être plus heureuse.
Souvent mystérieux, étrange, mais toujours en contact avec les émotions humaines… Comment décririez-vous votre art?
Les émotions humaines, et plus précisément la psychologie humaine, peuvent toujours sembler à première vue surréalistes. Mais si nous creusons plus profondément, nous commençons à déchiffrer les significations et les codes. C’est ce que je recherche à travers mon art; déclencher des pensées, analyser la surface. C’est très personnel. C’est mon moyen d’expression. Chaque série représente un peu de mon développement personnel et mes recherches sur les sujets qui m’intéressent le plus : philosophie, psychologie, émotions, etc.
Vous capturez divers personnages au sein d’ambiances éclectiques, mais vos images comportent souvent quelques architectures géométriques. Pourquoi?
Jusqu’à présent, j’ai créé deux séries mêlant la photographie d’architecture et le portrait (« Strangers » et « The Maze »). Dans ces deux séries, j’étudie la relation entre les personnages représentés et l’espace. La géométrie mélangée à ces environnements très colorés reflétait une sensation d’agression très passive. Les lignes, en opposition à des formes plus organiques, symbolisent le monde matériel qui, à mon humble avis, est très rude.
Les lignes me permettent en fait de créer des obstacles et d’éloigner les personnages les uns des autres. En général, dans mon travail, les lignes représentent tout ce qui est matériel, elles créent un confinement et des limites.
Qu’est-ce qui vous inspire à créer?
Tout. Mon inspiration peut provenir d’un lieu, d’une lumière, d’une expérience personnelle. Comme mentionné précédemment, je suis très inspirée par la psychologie humaine, les pensées philosophiques et mes propres expériences avec la vie – généralement de mauvaises expériences me poussent à créer! Mais j’ai entraîné mon esprit à trouver l’inspiration partout autour de moi.
Quels sont vos projets à venir?
Comme chaque année, je prépare une nouvelle série. J’ai également lancé la vente de mes tirages et je vais bientôt commencer un incroyable atelier en ligne que j’ai filmé ce mois-ci. Il sortira en mars 2019 et je suis vraiment impatiente!
Oslo-based architect Espen Surnevik has nestled the PAN Treetop Cabins on slender stilts among the treetops of Finnskogen, a woodland in east Norway.
The PAN Treetop Cabins were commissioned by a couple that wanted to create a tourist retreat in “the real Norwegian wilderness”.
Both matching cabins are elevated on black metal structures, with black cladding designed by Surnevik for a “man-made” aesthetic that stands them apart from the landscape.
“Rather than building the project in wood, that you find directly in nature, the materials used in the project seeks to be a contrast to the tactility of the forest,” said Surnevik.
“The use of homogeneous metal surfaces gives the cabins a distinct character, which is important to underline the cabins as an intellectual, man-made, object put into nature.”
The PAN Treetop Cabins have tent-shaped forms with large glazed gable-ends, which Surnevik modelled on the “primal clarity” of North American A-frame lodges and the “surrealistic” houses of Tove Jansson’s Moomin cartoons.
Both of the cabins are based on the same drawings, but have been customised to fit their specific sites. They each measure 40 square metres and can accommodate up to six people.
Access to the cabins is provided by large spiral staircases that rise up beside the slender stilts, and connect to an elevated walkway leading into sheltered entrances.
The PAN Treetop Cabins each have a small black kitchen, bathroom and a mezzanine floor with a double bed. Extra beds are hidden within the walls, which can be folded down when they are required.
They are fitted with pine-wood floors and walls, while all the textiles are made from local wool dyed the colours of the forest to create a “warm, intimate atmosphere”.
Surnevik angled the cabins in relation to the sun path to maximise natural light, which pours in through their large glass windows, and simultaneously helps to heat the living areas.
In 2016, Swedish studio Arrhov Frick Arkitektkontor also used slender stilts to elevate a timber-framed cabin into the treetops of an island in the Stockholm archipelago.
Project credits:
Engineer: Finn-Erik Nilsen Woodwork: Terje Nymoen AS Steelwork: Armec AS Owners: Kristian Rostad & Christine Mowinckel
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
I’ll be good the rest of my life, I swear. (Snarkitecture’s The Beach, via Snarkitecture)
Rendering: Entrance of Snark Park 
Rendering: Lost and Found at Snark Park 
Reader Juliana submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
