As it's opening day for the 2008 baseball season I thought I would pay homage. I was reading an article in a recent New Yorker about former Philadelphia Phillies baseball player, Lenny Dykstra - Nails Never Fails, from the March 24th, 2008 issue and I was struck. Dykstra was a weird favorite of mine as a kid - gritty work horse; not a show horse - and I liked the article because it nicely combined a fascination with the mega rich and their foibles and the continued emergence of hyper targeted marketing. Dykstra is attempting to start a lifestyle magazine that will provide financial and life advice for professional athletes in hopes that those gifted enough to make several million dollars a year because they can do something only a tiny fraction of the human population can do, won't spend it all on rims and grillz.
From the article, "“You’ve got the ten per cent who are going to find their way no matter what,” Dykstra said of the athlete population. “And you get the ten per cent that are (radio edit)heads no matter what—we’ll paste an ‘L’ to ’em.” The rest need guidance....."
Who knew? Good Luck Lenny.
March 31, 2008
The Elephant in the Room
An intersection between architecture, digital media and absurdity. Nice tramp.
On Travel, Development and Sustainability
Just returned from a trip to Costa Rica and although we had an amazing time and found the country to be full of friendly people and an awesome diversity of nature, I am left in part with a sense that the tourism industry 
may ultimately be the end of what attracted my family and others to the country in the first place. A common thread throughout the world, it certainly gives one pause. The irony of wanting to travel to and see these beautiful places first hand and understanding the impact of those actions seems parallel with the irony of participating in the building economy while trying to meet the definition of sustainability. Is it possible?
Undoubtedly there is tremendous economic advantage to the people of Costa Rica in having billions of dollars in foreign investment and trade pouring into their country every year. That being said the development is happening quickly and without significant planning or design. There is an emphasis on catering to wealthy (middle class?) Americans, Canadians and Europeans with mega luxury resorts that makes one think of Robin Leach. It's a country renowned for it's high literacy rate, commitment to democracy and conservation of its natural treasures and yet McHaciendas abound and multiply. Do Americans really all want to go on vacation and feel like we walked into an issue of Robb Report? Somewhere there seems to be a perception that's out of whack.
Check out this article regarding a new development by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, in Northwestern Costa Rica. This isn't far from where we visited and falls on the heels of another large scale and controversial development in Costa Rica, the Peninsula Papagayo.
It's an amazing place. One hopes that the things that make it so special aren't lost in an effort to please the tastes of the world. Pura Vida.
may ultimately be the end of what attracted my family and others to the country in the first place. A common thread throughout the world, it certainly gives one pause. The irony of wanting to travel to and see these beautiful places first hand and understanding the impact of those actions seems parallel with the irony of participating in the building economy while trying to meet the definition of sustainability. Is it possible?Undoubtedly there is tremendous economic advantage to the people of Costa Rica in having billions of dollars in foreign investment and trade pouring into their country every year. That being said the development is happening quickly and without significant planning or design. There is an emphasis on catering to wealthy (middle class?) Americans, Canadians and Europeans with mega luxury resorts that makes one think of Robin Leach. It's a country renowned for it's high literacy rate, commitment to democracy and conservation of its natural treasures and yet McHaciendas abound and multiply. Do Americans really all want to go on vacation and feel like we walked into an issue of Robb Report? Somewhere there seems to be a perception that's out of whack.
Check out this article regarding a new development by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, in Northwestern Costa Rica. This isn't far from where we visited and falls on the heels of another large scale and controversial development in Costa Rica, the Peninsula Papagayo.
It's an amazing place. One hopes that the things that make it so special aren't lost in an effort to please the tastes of the world. Pura Vida.
March 13, 2008
Thinking of Changing my Last Name
We can't list levitation as a service quite yet but this is certainly how we would like our clients to feel about our work. Do you believe? People use buildings in the strangest ways.
Museum Plaza by OMA
This is a competition video by OMA for the Museum Plaza in Louisville Kentucky. Opinions vary about the design but the presentation is amazing. Architect Joshua Prince-Ramus, who led the design team at OMA, a firm founded by Rem Koolhaas, said he expected a wide range of opinions on the building’s design.
“We are not surprised. We are very happy to see a lot of reactions,” he said. “To each his own opinion.”
March 2, 2008
Clarity Machine Two
Making
A continued effort to unlock the jargon of the architectural world; establishing a more closely related plane of reference. Nearly.
Chapter Two
How is design defined? Some assume they know what the word means and how to achieve it. But how do we know what it is? Is it an action or a thing? Is it a time or a style? Is it a person or an organization? And why do we design?
The following is a series of definitions referred to and found on the Internet for the term “design”. Identified here for purposes of illustration. The wide spectrum of definitions is notable.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design
Design Usually considered in the context of applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other creative endeavors, is used both as a noun and a verb. As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component. As a noun, "a design" is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan (e.g. object produced, result of the process).
More recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of design, giving new meaning to the term "process design".
Designing normally requires a designer to consider the aesthetic, functional, and other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.
A continued effort to unlock the jargon of the architectural world; establishing a more closely related plane of reference. Nearly.
Chapter Two
How is design defined? Some assume they know what the word means and how to achieve it. But how do we know what it is? Is it an action or a thing? Is it a time or a style? Is it a person or an organization? And why do we design?
The following is a series of definitions referred to and found on the Internet for the term “design”. Identified here for purposes of illustration. The wide spectrum of definitions is notable.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design
Design Usually considered in the context of applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other creative endeavors, is used both as a noun and a verb. As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component. As a noun, "a design" is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan (e.g. object produced, result of the process).
More recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of design, giving new meaning to the term "process design".
Designing normally requires a designer to consider the aesthetic, functional, and other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.
Design is:
A decorative or artistic work
A deliberate ordering of components
The creation of something in the mind
A plan, organization, or arrangement of elements in a work of art
To plan and fashion the form and structure of an object or work of art
A process to find and describe a way to implement the system's requirements
Both the process and the result of structuring the elements of visual form; composition
A set of experimental runs, which allows you to fit a particular model, and estimate your desired effects
Qualitative analysis to identify categories of error reported during a randomized controlled trial of computer and paper reporting methods
A framework or scheme of construction on which artists base the nature of their total work. In a broader sense, design may be considered synonymous with the term "form"
An activity during which decisions are made about the geographic placement of and interaction between natural resources (e.g., topography, vegetation) and built elements (e.g., buildings, roads) in a specific area
A set of fields for problem-solving that uses user-centric approaches to understand user needs (as well as business, economic, environmental, social, and other requirements) to create successful solutions that solve real problems
Quotes:
"Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It's a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy."
Erik Adigard
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
Henry David Thoreau
"Delay always breeds danger; and to protract a great design is often to ruin it."
Miguel de Cervantes
"Good design, at least part of the time, includes the criterion of being direct in relation to the problem at hand - not obscure, trendy, or stylish. A new language, visual or verbal, must be couched in a language that is already understood."
Ivan Chermayeff
"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute."
Gil Stern
"To whom does design address itself: to the greatest number, to the specialist of an enlightened matter, to a privileged social class? Design addresses itself to the need."
Charles Eames
March 1, 2008
Clarity Machine
Process Logic
How do we define collaboration? An often-used term to describe how teams work; it is typically used in vague and self-referential ways. What does it really mean? What are the best ways to collaborate? How do we put the word into action?
The following is a series of definitions referred to and found on the Internet for the term “collaboration”. None are intended to provide any prescribed answer. Definition gives us a place to start. The wide spectrum of ideas is notable.
Collaboration is:
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration - _note-2
a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal—typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can even bring better results through decentralization and egalitarianism. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.
Something done with cooperation
Shared control over decision making
Work that is done jointly to improve the efforts of all
Cooperation between citizens of a country and its occupiers
A series of business transaction activities between two roles
The process of working together in pursuit of common objectives
A social skill involving working together with two or more persons
Something of a gray area, and a common source of misunderstanding
The process by which people and organizations work together to accomplish a common mission
The process people with different ways of seeing the world interact to learn from each other in order to get better at what ever they are trying to do
Any cooperative effort between and among governmental entities and private partners through which the partners work together to achieve common goals
Intra-enterprise business process integration. The intra-enterprise information flows are managed by business process logic that is shared by two or more organizations
Permitting governments, industry, and other stakeholders to create, grow and reform communities of interested parties that can leverage strengths, solve common problems, innovate and build upon existing efforts
A dynamic relationship that exists between objects. Additionally, a Classifier Role should be associated to the collaboration to illustrate the role an element plays in that collaboration
A process where groups that disagree, often significantly, come together to identify common interests, define common problems, and seek solutions that reach beyond what any one of them could accomplish on their own
The idea of employees working together in a joint intellectual effort. This is usually achieved by using tools that allow employees to share information dynamically between one another to boost performance and productivity
Extensive academic definition: http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=129418
More from Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/collaboration-1
Tools: http://news.hsl.virginia.edu/?p=42
Collaboration and Libraries: http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/03/collaboration-20.html
Post on best practices and link to American Society for Training & Development, an association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals: http://community.astd.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9301062/m/27010053
Blog on online extranets – article about online collaborative tools and sites and best practices for their use: http://blog.novedge.com/2007/09/an-interview-wi.html
Quotes:
"As teams develop objectives around communication, and they create structure, that's where collaboration begins."
How do we define collaboration? An often-used term to describe how teams work; it is typically used in vague and self-referential ways. What does it really mean? What are the best ways to collaborate? How do we put the word into action?
The following is a series of definitions referred to and found on the Internet for the term “collaboration”. None are intended to provide any prescribed answer. Definition gives us a place to start. The wide spectrum of ideas is notable.
Collaboration is:
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration - _note-2
a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal—typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can even bring better results through decentralization and egalitarianism. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.
Something done with cooperation
Shared control over decision making
Work that is done jointly to improve the efforts of all
Cooperation between citizens of a country and its occupiers
A series of business transaction activities between two roles
The process of working together in pursuit of common objectives
A social skill involving working together with two or more persons
Something of a gray area, and a common source of misunderstanding
The process by which people and organizations work together to accomplish a common mission
The process people with different ways of seeing the world interact to learn from each other in order to get better at what ever they are trying to do
Any cooperative effort between and among governmental entities and private partners through which the partners work together to achieve common goals
Intra-enterprise business process integration. The intra-enterprise information flows are managed by business process logic that is shared by two or more organizations
Permitting governments, industry, and other stakeholders to create, grow and reform communities of interested parties that can leverage strengths, solve common problems, innovate and build upon existing efforts
A dynamic relationship that exists between objects. Additionally, a Classifier Role should be associated to the collaboration to illustrate the role an element plays in that collaboration
A process where groups that disagree, often significantly, come together to identify common interests, define common problems, and seek solutions that reach beyond what any one of them could accomplish on their own
The idea of employees working together in a joint intellectual effort. This is usually achieved by using tools that allow employees to share information dynamically between one another to boost performance and productivity
Extensive academic definition: http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=129418
More from Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/collaboration-1
Tools: http://news.hsl.virginia.edu/?p=42
Collaboration and Libraries: http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/03/collaboration-20.html
Post on best practices and link to American Society for Training & Development, an association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals: http://community.astd.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9301062/m/27010053
Blog on online extranets – article about online collaborative tools and sites and best practices for their use: http://blog.novedge.com/2007/09/an-interview-wi.html
Quotes:
"As teams develop objectives around communication, and they create structure, that's where collaboration begins."
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