Oct 26
In Brief: Kanye West Collaborates with Vanessa Beecroft; LVMH Stocks Up on Hermès
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Oct 21
Starbucks Rolls Out Latest (Final?) Redesigned Test Shop
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In the latest chapter of Starbucks reinvention of itself through new designs, which began last year with the announcement of new “greening” plans and redesigned test shops springing up internationally, the company has reopened its Olive Way shop in its native Seattle, redesigned, green as can be, and now even serving wine and beer. While still just another test store while the company figures out what direction to go in now that it’s become perhaps too large and too ubiquitous, according to what’s said in the first look at the new store the company gave exclusively to USA Today, it sounds as if this might be the decided-upon model going forward, at least assuming it receives high marks from customers now that it opened for business earlier this week. Here’s a bit from the company’s rundown on the new look:
Columns and floor were preserved from the existing building. Coffee bag tapestry on the wall was created using repurposed burlap coffee bags from the Starbucks Roasting Plant in Kent, Washington. Live-edge wood at the coffee bar was made from urban salvaged wood. Wood for the case-worked panels was made from reclaimed wood flooring. Structure of the main serving bar incorporates reclaimed and recycled materials. Community table was made from flooring from Garfield High School. Community board was made from reused panels from old espresso machines. Some of the chairs originally came from the University of Washington campus.
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Oct 21
AIA’s Architecture Billings Index Crosses 50, First Time Since 2008
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While firms like Foster & Partners might be struggling to have an upbeat week across the pond, for those of us in the States, if you’d want to cautiously open a cautious bottle of inexpensive champagne to kinda sorta celebrate, this would be the time for it. For the first time since January of 2008, the American Institute of Architects‘ Architecture Billings Index has finally crossed the 50 point threshold, meaning there is currently, or at least at the time of the survey, an increase in billings across the industry. We’ve watched over the start of last year as it inched ever-so-slowly toward that magic number, only to be handed a big dip back in June that left everyone rattled. But for the last three months, things had risen again, ultimately winding up where they are now, at a lovely 50.4. What’s more, the report’s new projects inquiry also rose substantially, up to 62.3 from 54.6. Positive news for an industry plagued by more than two full years of what’s seemed like an endless series of downers, from big project cutbacks to massive layoffs and unemployment. Though while we said champagne might finally be in order, make sure you heed the always-sane Mr. Baker’s cool and collected advice:
“This is certainly encouraging news, but we will need to see consistent improvement over the next few months in order to feel comfortable about the state of the design and construction industry,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “While there has been increasing demand for design services, it is happening at a slow rate and there continue to be other obstacles that are preventing a more accelerated recovery. Still, the strong upturn in design activity in the commercial and industrial sector certainly suggests that this upturn can possibly be sustained.”
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Oct 20
Revolving Door: Design Council Loses Deputy Chief Executive
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Late last week, the news came out that the British government’s review of the country’s Design Council, the organization created to generate interest and support of design in the UK,
“>forced them to move from public funding to independent non-profit (albeit still with some government grant support). Word of this came with the obvious news that this would likely mean trimming back and staff layoffs. Now the first major exodus from the Design Council, its Deputy Chief Executive, David Godber, a former Nissan Design employee and who had “a high-profile career in the automotive sector and energy sectors” before coming to the organization. Dexigner reports that Godber has decided to step down from his role this December, but “will continue to work with the Design Council in an advisory capacity.”
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Oct 19
Building Taken Back by Lender, Chelsea Art Museum Cries Foul
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More news on the Chelsea Art Museum front. Despite a decision to make a few needed bucks as a Fashion Week venue during their self-imposed “temporarily shut down” last month, it appears that the hurdles keep growing for the indebted organization. The Wall Street Journal reports that the museum “failed to meet a bankruptcy-court deadline” and thus the deed for its property has been handed over to the property’s lender, Hudson Realty Capital, essentially taking the building completely out of the hands of the museum and its founder, Dorothea Keeser. The paper reports that Keeser has argued that the lender hadn’t first gone into foreclosure proceedings, and that they had also found a new buyer for the building, which their original bankruptcy filing had stipulated as a requirement for buying them some time. However, even with a deadline extension, the museum still missed the dates they were to bring the buyer forward. Now it appears the next long step will be this legal battle. Though even if Keeser and the Chelsea comes out winning the case, they’ll still be in the same precarious financial position they were before. We’re not yet ready to make the mistake we made back in 2008 when we predicted that the museum was on its last breaths, but the bad news certainly has been piling on of late.
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Oct 19
Private Equity Firm with 40% Stake in Foster & Partners Wants Out
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Apparently, not all is the quiet joy of building automobile replicas in Norman Foster‘s life. The architect, who appeared earlier this year in the Times‘ annual “Rich List,” could soon see his firm, Foster & Partners, dealt a financial blow. The private equity group, 3i, is looking into exit strategies to unload its 40 percent stake in Foster’s practice. After buying into the firm three years ago, Foster has suffered through the financial troubles that have plagued the industry, with several high-profile projects suddenly dropped, which resulted in a number of layoffs of hundreds of employees since last year. The British business daily, City A.M./, reports that Foster & Partners “had amassed a debt burden of £340m by the year ending April 2009″ but had managed to turn things around a bit by April of this year, though still operating a loss of several million dollars, which explains 3i’s desire to step away after having invested during the boom and sitting through the past three years of financial trouble across the whole of architecture. As the deal is not yet locked down and we weren’t business majors, we can’t speak to how this will affect the firm. We’ll have to wait and see.
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Oct 15
The IDSA’s Catalyst program seeks tales of design (and makes last year’s available, for a fee)
Posted in: UncategorizedDo you or your organization have a great design story to tell? The IDSA’s Catalyst Case Study Program, initiated by RKS Design’s Ravi Sawhney, seeks tales of design success, change, and influence. Winning entries will be turned into both write-ups and podcasts.
Design is vital to all aspects of our lives. By bringing depth, clarity and transparency to the industrial design process, these case studies reveal the profound importance of the profession. This concrete body of evidence will instill into the collective consciousness design’s power to effect positive change.
Eligibility: Open to design stories worldwide. Designers, client companies or any interested party may nominate a design story. There are no restrictions on dates in use or in distribution; however, the design story must clearly demonstrate the impact of design.
Would-be design raconteurs can get started here, and if you’d like to see last year’s case studies (Apple’s iPod-iTunes-iPhone ecosystem, Black & Decker’s Dustbuster, OXO’s Good Grips, Whirlpool Strategy) and are willing to shell out ten bucks for each of ’em, they’re available here.
Oct 15
UK’s Design Council Forced to Become Independent Non-Profit
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Staying in the UK for a few minutes longer, despite the government-funded Design Council‘s red letter year, making England safer through less breakable pint glasses and less exposed with new, Ben de Lisi-designed hospital gowns, it was enough to save them from the British government’s massive, sweeping cuts, and so the organization has been removed as a “Non Departmental Public Body” and will now serve as an independent, not-for-profit. The clouds had been looming since last July, when we told you that the group had been forced to go up for review. While the statements the organization had made at the time were all positive (though probably not the best time to look sour), the writing seemed like it was on the wall. Answering this shift from government entity to independent, the Design Council has published this letter on their site, as well as an FAQ on what it all means, from how they’ll now function (similarly) to staff lay-offs (likely) and how they’ll be funded (they’ll still be receiving money from the government, just not as much).
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Oct 14
Following Affordable Housing, Google Now Gets Into Wind Turbines
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Last month, search giant Google got into the home building business by partnering with U.S. Bank in financing the construction of 480 affordable housing units for low income families and seniors in locations across the country. Now they’re branching out again into the non-online world with the announcement that the company has just financed a wind power project. Called the Atlantic Wind Connection, 6,000 wind turbines, 350 miles off the coast running from New Jersey to Virginia are to be connected in one of the largest wind-produced power generator in the country. Google sees it as an investment, once the turbines start generating power and it starts flowing into the electrical grid, and most likely to drum up some nice positive press after a rough summer of net neutrality backlash. Also, no doubt, they were jealous that Philippe Starck beat them to it, so they decided they needed to one up him, and good. Here’s a bit from their statement about financing the project:
The AWC project is led by independent transmission company Trans-Electand is financed by Google, Good Energies and Marubeni Corporation. We are investing 37.5% of the equity in this initial development stage, with the goal of obtaining all the necessary approvals to finance and begin constructing the line. Although the development stage requires only a small part of the total estimated project budget, it represents a critical stage for the project.
We believe in investing in projects that make good business sense and further the development of renewable energy. We’re willing to take calculated risks on early stage ideas and projects that can have dramatic impacts while offering attractive returns. This willingness to be ahead of the industry and invest in large scale innovative projects is core to our success as a company.
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Oct 05
HP Pledges $5 Million to Help Newseum Get Newsier, More Museum-y
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We’re still trying to get past its unfortunate name, but since opening in 2008, the new and improved Newseum has made a real splash on the National Mall. Now the 250,000-square-foot, seven-level institution is making headlines with a freshly inked partnership with HP. The embattled tech company, which last week appointed former SAP CEO Leo Apotheker to replace Mark Hurd as its CEO and president, is underwriting a new, interactive media gallery in the Newseum. Expected to open in early 2012 on the museum’s fourth floor, the HP New Media Gallery will allow visitors to explore technology’s impact on how information is reported, distributed, and accessed. HP will contribute $5 million over the next 10 years to underwrite the gallery, which will continually change to reflect the ever shifting and occasionally shifty media landscape. Think massive HP touch screens that offer customizable mixes of grainy historical footage, iconic photos, and streaming live Twitter feeds (sample tweet: “at Newmusem (sp?) exploring technology’s role in the democratization of content & news! anyone know where 2 get good burger nr white house?”).
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