HH Richardson

This semester I have my first class in a classic Harvard building, Sever Hall. Designed in 1880 by H.H. Richardson, Harvard man and all-American bad-a. Getting out of leaky Gund Hall it is a welcome relief to listen to some Mr. John Stilgoe and take in the undergraduate culture of this fine school.

[1] portrait is in the Smithsonian, photo from uncle_buddha flickr photostream.

Looking Back: Literary Sketchbooks

The way people work through ideas in sketchbooks, journals, etc. is fascinating. Above the Commonplace book of Jonathan Edwards. Via Artisan Lab.

Looking Back: National Media

The National Media Museum is a great resource for historic images. The UK museum of the same name is devoted to photography and hosts an extensive collection including the earliest surviving photographic negative(!).

The Photographs Collection reflects the multiple identities of photography and enables the Museum to present different accounts of the impact of the image on society… [it] selectively traces the aesthetic and technical developments of photography, from the early experiments by Talbot and Herschel in the 1830s, to examples of contemporary practice.

Resources like this are not only inspiring, but provide a grounded sense of context for our design. Lest one think that the classic style prolific right now is somehow new. But while the man above may look like he is sitting in Brooklyn yesterday, the woman’s outfit has missed the cut on sartorialist lately. Tis cliché, but [as designers] we have to remember where we came from to know where we are going. Check it.

Military Design

Nice photo collection of vintage military designs over at A Time to Get. Particularly like the collection of radios and how it shows the homogeneity of military device design. I have designed a couple of these artifacts and the complexity of requirements is paramount. The aesthetics of a weatherproof, radiation proof, dust proof, ruggedized object has a certain appeal. The U.S. military loves a good black box.

Roy Works the Kinect

My friend and partner Roy S. is doing big things over at the Media Lab. Not the best video, but the functionality of browsing the web, etc. with gestures in one step closed to the Minority Report HCI holy grail. Now we need some holograms. Congrats man.

VISVIM

Working on a paper about perceived American ruggedness in Japanese fashion. Bag by VISVIM.

Lulu Wang Center Visit

Visited the Lulu Wang Center in Wellesley, MA by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects today.

Richard Rogers in Japan

Richard Rogers housing in Japan, 2003.

Astronaut Suits

Balance of Motorbikes

Inspiration this morning from bikeexif. Function, form, and (relative) comfort seem to find a great balance in vintage cafe racers. One of the most interesting rebuilders of these is wrenchmonkees in Copenhagen.