OBSERVATORY : OWEN EDWARDS

A Demanding Man: Steve Jobs

In his bedrock belief that everything matters, Steve Jobs was more like a great architect than a corporate CEO. And getting the devilish details to behave is no easy thing to accomplish. Yet, there are those who ask, "Isn't the ultimate measure of a human being the way they treat other people?" In the case of Steve Jobs, this requires some reflection.
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PLACES : ADAM HARRISON LEVY

Urbanized: An Interview with Gary Hustwit

Opening theatrically this weekend in New York, the documentary Urbanized aims to bring new ideas in urban design to a general audience. Adam Harrison Levy sits down with filmmaker Gary Hustwit — whose previous films include Helvetica and Objectified — to talk about urbanist strategies that have richocheted around the world, from Capetown to Bogotá.
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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 : CENTER FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY & MARK KLETT

Water in the West

In the late 1980s a group of American photographers created the collaborative project Water in the West. For a decade they focused on what project member Mark Klett describes as "the one natural element that for over a century has remained key to understanding Western geography: water." Here we present a slideshow of images from the project, which is now being archived at the Center for Creative Photography.
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CHANGE OBSERVER : WILLIAM DRENTTEL

Winterhouse First Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Program Description

This symposium, sponsored by the Winterhouse Institute, was held October 17-19 2010 in Falls Village, Connecticut. This was the initial information shared with participants.
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CHANGE OBSERVER : WILLIAM DRENTTEL

Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Participants

The Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change, was held August 14-16, 2011 in Falls Village, Connecticut.
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CHANGE OBSERVER : WILLIAM DRENTTEL

Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Program Description

Winterhouse Institute hosted a symposium at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, August 14-16, 2010. This symposium was an invitation-only gathering of thirty educators and interested parties to explore the practice of social design in design education. This summarizes the original program description.
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PLACES : DAVID ADJAYE, JORGE OTERO-PAILOS, NIKOLAUS HIRSCH

On Architecture and Authorship: A Conversation

What is the relationship of architecture to authorship? Is the architect an author of a building or provider of professional services? Can we develop more nuanced understandings of the idea of architectural authorship that acknowledge the complex and collaborative processes of making, inhabiting and preserving buildings? Architects David Adjaye, Nikolaus Hirsch and Jorge Otero-Pailos met recently to contemplate these issues; we're pleased to present the results.
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OBSERVERS ROOM : ROB WALKER

Imagine To Me

The best thing about MoMA's "Talk To Me" show is its entertaining display of imagination. "The Language of Objects" offers a set of imaginative responses.
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OBSERVATORY : JOHN FOSTER

Accidental Mysteries, 10.23.11

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 : RICK POYNOR

On Display: The Kirkland Museum

A couple of weeks ago, in the Denver Art Museum, I walked into a room full of marvelous paintings by an artist who was unknown to me. I had seen two or three similar pictures by him before, though I had never taken in the painter’s name, Vance Kirkland. I made a mental note to find out more. The next day I was wandering in the city when I noticed on a map that there was a Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art. How many significant artists called Kirkland could there be in Denver?
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OBSERVATORY : WILLIAM DRENTTEL

Design Matters Wins People's Choice Design Award

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum announced the People's Choice Design Award on Thursday, October 20, 2011 at its annual gala in New York City — and Design Observer's own Debbie Millman, the creator of the popular Design Matters series of podcast interviews, was the surprise winner.
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CHANGE OBSERVER: PROJECT ARCHIVE

Déjà Vu

Designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies on the reappearance of an old invention.
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OBSERVATORY ARCHIVE

PLACES ARCHIVE: WINTER 2006

Seattle Central Library: Civic Architecture in the Age of Media

In the Seattle Public Library, Rem Koolhaas and OMA work to transform architecture into media interface.
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RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures
Caroline Preston

Rethinking Design and Interiors: Human Beings in the Built Environment
Shashi Caan

Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar
Tom Geismar, Sagi Haviv & Ivan Chermayeff

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