Here is a companion piece to the Prince Charles post of a couple of weeks ago (I hope it is clear by now that my Zaha comments were made with tongue embedded firmly in cheek…). Here, for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure perhaps?), is a very short clip propounding the virtues of Poundbury:

What do you make of it? Would you live there? Read the rest of this entry »

I’d like to say the title says it all, but the mental image is just too disturbing - and there isn’t really a whole lot of confronting going on. What we are exposed to here (if I can use that expression to open a discussion of sexuality), is an excellent piece of post-design rationalization from Gehry, and a rambling Eisner whose point, if we extrapolate somewhat, would seem to suggest that Gehry’s buildings could never be as universally adored in the same way as Mickey Mouse – well… duh!

And I’m not sure exactly what the person who posted this clip on youtube was really trying to say by describing the video in the following manner:

Michael Eisner and Frank Gehry talking about the way their sexuality expresses itself in their work. In a word, Michael Eisner is to Mickey Mouse as Frank Gehry is to Marilyn Monroe.

I’m assuming it has nothing to do with Frank singing happy birthday to Obama…

Anyway, having watched this, the burning question I had was – have we really reached the point in our culture when this conversation passes as a) a serious discussion on the state of contemporary art and culture, or b) entertainment? You decide….

m-d

Amid all of the hooha surrounding our Supreme Court - symbols of power, propaganda, and hair loss - we should take time out to step back and really consider the dome issue in a more holistic way. You see, as this remarkable little film sets out, there really are supernatural consequences of building domes, which have no doubt been taken into account by the architects of our esteemed Supreme Court (who are obviously well up on their freemasonry)… The result being, of course, to hide the dome away in the interior so as not to expose bystanders to the energy drawn therein.

The energy will, of course, be invoked by the highest powers of judiciary in this country when passing judgment and handing down sentence, and will no doubt contribute to the building’s green star rating…

You may want to look away if notions of anti-christ, other dimensions, ley lines (must check Wellington’s position wrt this), or the new world order offend thine eyes…

m-d

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The Wellington season of the DOCNZ 2009 Documentary Film Festival is on sooon! This year the films are screening at Hoyts Regent on Manners.

Festival includes world premiere of ‘Architect of Dreams‘ about Ian Athfield.

New Zealand 2008 / 52min, Director Geoffrey Cawthorn. Producer Richard Riddiford.

Smack the Pony, according to Wikipedia, was a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4 (some of you out there might have seen them?). Weirdly, its title was intended to sound like a euphemism for female masturbation - something I won’t tag this post with in case it gets too popular amongst a demographic that we are just not seeking here…

Anyways - here’s an amusing sketch that reveals what really goes on in those design concept meetings. The expressions of a bemused Jo (the engineer) are classic…

m-d

More student studio madness - this time created by  5th year honours students in Architecture (WITS University) as a response to last week’s video… I hope this doesn’t bring back too many memories…

m-d