CYOR Day 5 - NYC

Wow, what a day.....

Jennifer and I were in Tribeca at 9:30 to interview Gigi Chang who started a company called Plum Organics. Great lady with a ton of energy. She actually shares space with Ray20 a design firm with a great modern furniture collection.

After Gigi's interview we met up with Jen Mar and Carolyn Kepcher (of The Apprentice fame) for lunch. They are both great people and Jennifer really connected with them. They have recently started a company called Carolyn & Co.

This afternoon we sat down with Robin Wilson, founder of Robin Wilson Home. She is a excellent contact for us (ai3) and a great advocate for sustainable practices.

After Robin's interview The New York Post interviewed us for a section on Careers and Entrepreneurs that prints in Monday's edition. We took a ton of pictures in and "on" the airstream. Should be fun to see what they print.

This has been an amazing adventure with still more to come.

CYOR Day 3

After a nice weekend with the family in Raleigh, we took project CYOR to Washington DC yesterday. Jennifer and I made our way to Annapolis for dinner and witnessed one of the most incredible sunsets. This morning we jumped the Metro along with a few hundred thousand other commuters to downtown to interview Ada Polla a young entrepreneur who has launched a high end skin care product line. She has an amazing amount of energy and was a great interview.

We set out for the New Jersey shore around 2pm, made a short stop for steamed shrimp and beer on the Chesapeake Bay and rolled into Bayville around 7 this evening.

Jennifer has an interview set for 11 tomorrow in Red Bank, NJ and then we plan to take the AS onto Manhattan tomorrow evening.

New York Gets Decent Street Furniture

Apartment Therapy notes that new bus stops and news stands are popping up all over New York. Cemusa, a Spanish outdoor firm, is installing the first of 3500 bus shelters, 330 news stands, and 20 public toilets in a billion dollar contract that is the culmination of a process that started in 2002. They are designed by Nicholas Grimshaw Architects, made from "95% recyclable materials" and are not yet scratchittied into eyesores like Toronto's,.
Well designed amenities like bus stops and news stands make the public spaces more comfortable (certainly a clean public washroom does) and public services like transit easier to use. Too bad the price is always more advertising in the public realm.

Grimshaw even makes a public toilet look good. They are the jazzy new kind that are self cleaning:
"These state-of-the-art facilities offer comfort, hygiene, accessibility, and security to the public, within a modern design. Designed to self-sanitize after each use, the APTs will also be serviced twice a day for inspection and system maintenance, affording the people of New York a safe and valuable convenience." ::Apartment Therapy

recycle!!!!!!!!!

Lot-ek loves recycling, and is well known for its container projects. It has tried airplane fuselages before; Justin covered their proposal for a library in Guadalajara that was to be built from 200 Boeing 727 and 737's. Moving up the airplane timeline, they have built a student pavilion out of a 747 at the University of Washington in Seattle. Emily at inhabitat says:
"Despite the inherently rigid nature of the interior space, Lot-Ek proposed a flexible seating system that makes the space multi-functional and surprisingly comfortable. While the raw structural qualities of the fuselage are highlighted (its aluminum rib cage and metal grated floor), the rotating floor/seating systems adapts to accommodate three different positions/needs: floor, bench, and lounge. This flexibility is ideal for a student gathering space, allowing every activity from lectures and parties to performances and movie screenings. Adding to the entertainment possibilities, the Pavilion is networked with Ethernet connections, and integrated projection screens can be pulled down along the perimeter of the entire fuselage, transforming the space into a “face-to-face” theater."

Cool Entry Door

http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/jpgs/leeboydGymentrance.jpg

GOT MILK?

James Beard Award Finalists: Outstanding Restaurant Design

Click on the image above for an enlarged view

Look Up

As we all deal with acres of ACT it may be a great time to look up and see what the possibilities are..... just a few for fun!

Just In Case You Are In Columbus Ohio

Bristol, Columbus' most innovative and original bar is the brainchild of two young, demented and highly creative individuals who recognized a while ago the need for a different kind of gathering place. Plunging headfirst into the task of creating such a place, they worked night and day for two years revitalizing an old, historical structure in a well known transitional neighborhood. They designed the floorplan, built the furniture from scratch, the windows, laid out the floors and constructed THE WALL. All in all, the results were quite cool.

ai3 gets physical with MODA for Resurgens 07 Design Perscription.

Dave, Vanessa, Kyo and Joe pulled on a number of resources to develop an exhibit focused on thde design challenges and choice we make everyday and how they affect our physical health.

The exhibit is Resurgens 07 Design Perscription at MODA and will be on display through the summer.