OBSERVERS ROOM : MARK LAMSTER

Juliaan Lampens: An Architecture with Jaws

There are many architects, but few who create a true architecture of their own, a unique and original way of building driven by something more than expedience and formal experiment for its own sake. The Belgian architect Juliaan Lampens falls into this rare class, though he is all but an unknown to the world, as his practice has been almost entirely confined to a small area in Flanders around Ghent, where he was born in 1926. Maybe he'd be more famous if he was known as the architect who designed the chapel inspired by a crocodile's jaws. 

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OBSERVERS ROOM : RICK POYNOR

Should We Look at Corrosive Images?

The violent photograph of war confronts us with a dilemma. We need to see it because it is right to be informed, we want to see it because we demand to see everything, and seeing it is easier than ever before because technology makes it so. But none of this tells us anything about what these images do to us.
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Two great MFA programs: The  Interaction Design program, which explores the role of design in shaping everyday life and the Graduate Program for the Designer as Entrepreneur.
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PLACES : WILLIAM L. FOX & MARK KLETT

The Half-Life of History

The old World War II military base at Wendover, Utah, where the U.S. Army Air Force trained for the bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945, is today a semi-ruin — and as such a testament to our collective unwillingness to ponder the world-historical event of the first act of nuclear warfare. Writer William Fox and photographer Mark Klett explore Wendover and its past, finding evidence everywhere of what Fox calls "the erosion of history."
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CHANGE OBSERVER : JOHN THACKARA

5% Health: The Risk of Catabolic Collapse and Peak Fat in Modern Health Systems

The many designers present at the "Transform" conference were thrilled, and rightly, that the Mayo Clinic has established a Center for Innovation that has design thinking at its core. But there's a danger, amid the euphoria, that priorities will get skewed.
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OBSERVATORY : JOHN FOSTER

Accidental Mysteries, 09.25.11

Accidental Mysteries, a weekly cabinet of visual curiosities curated by John Foster, highlights images of design, art, architecture and ephemera brought to light by the magic of the digital age.
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OBSERVERS ROOM : ROB WALKER

Quirky and "Design" as Entertainment

Quirky, and "design" as entertainment: “We’re gonna make some products!” Um, cool?
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OBSERVER MEDIA : DEBBIE MILLMAN

Jessica Hische

In this audio interview with Debbie Millman, Jessica Hische discusses her attachment to the internet, the differences between being a letterer and a type designer and working for Louise Fili.

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CHANGE OBSERVER: PROJECT ARCHIVE

Conflict Kitchen

Report on Conflict Kitchen, a project by artists affiliated with Carnegie Mellon to foster cross-cultural understanding through food.
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OBSERVATORY ARCHIVE

PLACES ARCHIVE: WINTER 1989

Western Civic Art: Works in Progress

In 1989 Phoenix, Arizona, commissioned one of the first public art master plans. The city now has one of the strongest public art programs in the country.
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