Art and Design
From John King:
There’s a new design for the museum that Gap founder Donald Fisher wants to build in San Francisco’s Presidio, and it’s the antithesis of the icy box that caused uproar last year.
Instead of a sharp-edged stack of concrete and glass, it’s a low pavilion with a landscaped roof. The pavilion burrows into the earth and includes a public thruway, rather than rising up, as its predecessor did, to demand attention within the historic heart of the army base turned national park.
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One of the few TV shows I wish I could still see regularly is This Old House (PBS doesn’t show episodes on their site and it’s not on Hulu). Hey, I think it’s a cool show!
Boston Magazine has a great retrospective on 30 years of the series:
On its 30th anniversary, the creators, cast, and (mostly) lucky homeowners of This Old House reveal what the cameras haven’t shown””from how the series almost didn’t get off the ground to who really foots the bill for all those jaw-dropping renovations.
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From the New York Times:
DARMSTADT, Germany “” From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.
In Berthold Kaufmann”™s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room “” but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann”™s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.
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TED:
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
This year’s TED speakers include Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee. Past speakers have included Al Gore and Jane Goodall.
Our mission: Spreading ideas.
We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.
I like that TED strives to get their message and information out and accessible:
More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.
TED home page: http://www.ted.com/
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