Despoke

Refuge, Princen’s most recent project, could be described as a photographic fiction of sorts. Although it is the result of extensive travels and research in five cities of the Middle East and Turkey – Istanbul, Beirut, Amman, Cairo and Dubai – it could just as easily pass as the pictorial record of a drive through a single, imaginary city: a city without a center, populated by extraordinary and at times implausible architectural artifacts; an urban laboratory whose physical traits are defined by migratory flows, spatial transformation and geopolitical flux on a continental scale.
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Drawing inspiration from stepping patterns commonly found in Navajo blankets, Rafael de Cardenas constructs a new retail space for OHWOW, the creative collective spearheaded by Al Moran and Aaron Bondaroff. The OHWOW Book Club is located below street level in a landmarked historic brownstone on Waverly Place. At 150 sq ft, this pocket-sized store was conceived by de Cardenas to echo a classic black & white, pre-war NYC bathroom. Its shelving units appear stacked one atop the other and the negative space behind the shelves lends a floating sensation. A layered pattern of stream-lined brushstrokes on the walls, coupled with reflective angular mylar shapes and sharp fluorescent lighting give the space a sense of disorientation and chaos, fitting in OHWOW’s vision of creating a heterotopic arena for cultural projects.
www.oh-wow.com/

ADDRESS AND HOURS

227 Waverly Place
New York, NY 10014
Tuesday – Sunday 11am – 8pm

Yotel, which has been an innovator in establishing micro hotel facilities called “pod” hotels at major airports of the world, has now ventured into opening hotels in cities too. Their first hotel is scheduled to open in 2011 in New York’s Times Square.
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Rendering courtesy of ARO and dlandstudio/MoMA
It’s easy to imagine an apocalyptically soggy future for New York—high waves soaking the hem of Lady Liberty’s robes, flash floods roaring through subway tunnels, kayakers paddling down Wall Street—and just as easy to dismiss it all as another end-of-days Hollywood fantasy.
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NY-based designers Martina Decker and Peter Yeadon wanted to address the energy use and waste problems that still plague the furniture industry. They found that even ‘eco’ produced furniture still tended to use materials like aluminum that while being recyclable, required a lot of energy for production. So instead of developing ideas based on creating more ’stuff’, Decker and Yeadon challenged themselves to rethink furniture as a thing. Their project is intended to provoke thought about why buildings and the furniture that fills them can’t be more integrated and efficient.
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From January 21 to February 6, 2010, Kueng Caputo, a Swiss-born designer/artist duo, creates a cardboard hotel room within a gallery space which promises five-star comfort and luxury in spite of low-cost disposable materials. The accommodation will be offered free of charge during the gallery’s regular hours (Tues. – Sat. 11am-6pm).
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Beautiful Earth Group, a New York-based sustainable energy company, has finally made solar powered electric vehicle stations bi-costal. Red Hook, Brooklyn, is home to the first of these powering stations, just a stone’s throw from Beautiful Earth’s offices in downtown Manhattan. The stations is completely modular and off-grid, and is comprised of shipping containers that have been recycled specifically for this purpose.
The station, located in an industrial lot, is powered solely by 235-watt photovoltaic panels. With the amount of commercial electric and plug-in hybrids that will be hitting the market next year, this station is one of only several that will be demanded in New York City. And the station, while it’s primary use is for vehicles, can power a small home and has a battery bank that can store electricity for 24/7 on-demand usage.
Via:[LostatEminor]
www.beautifulearthgroup.com/

‘The Wright’ (restaurant) at the Guggenheim was designed by Andre Kikoski. Architect.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building, The Wright, New York City’s newest restaurant, opens to the public on December 11, in the famed museum. Named in honor of the great American architect, the intimate Upper East Side destination is located in an elegant and modern architectural space that is sure to dazzle trendsetters, fine diners, art lovers, and world travelers. Additionally, a site-specific sculpture by British artist Liam Gillick was commissioned for the space, creating a truly unique dining experience.
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