Re-Blog thesis Blog

Via: BSQUAD

(Slideshow via RushmoreAcademy)

This is a culmination of two of my favorite things.

I have been waiting for this! I need to go to Bergdorfs and check this out for myself, its such an incredible idea. Especially for a Wes Anderson movie, his work is always so meticulous in regards to set design.

Bergdorf’s window design has always been a great event for me. I love merchandising and their design teams always come up with the romantically beautiful displays. Winter is my favorite time of year but the windows at Bergdorfs make it extra memorable.

O’Toole v. St. Vincent’s

The jagged face of the O’Toole building has secured the Greenwich Village block between 12th and 13th Street on 7th Ave for 45 years. O’Toole’s white whale served as the National Maritime Union until St. Vincent’s Hospital acquired the building. Even though the location is protected by landmark status, St. Vincent’s believes that the building hinders their ability to expand medical facilities. The hospital also claims the expansion of their operation is necessary to fulfill its charitable mission. They have stated that constructing a new, larger building will better serve its goal to supply “equitable healthcare.”

Garage Door to the Stars!

Quietly tucked away at 497 Greenwich Street is an intriguing reminder of the post-industrial transformation of the city. Designed by Archi-Tectonics, the Greenwich Street Project (GSP) is an eleven-story structure that joins a class of renovation that is respectful of its surroundings. A leading example of this kind of considerate architecture is the Hearst building, in Midtown Manhattan, that marries the old with new, keeping a close relationship with the existing identity of the building. These structures bring current ideas of natural light, curtain-walls and open floor plans to an existing space that builds on the aesthetics of their neighbors.

NYC DOT: SAVE OUR STREETS!

Under the Bloomberg Administration, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, implemented an extensive plan to create a “greener, greater New York.” Working with mandates set forth by PlaNYC and sustainable streets, NYCDOT has created the World Class Streets initiative. Key elements of this plan are a public plaza program, the Broadway Boulevard program, and the Complete Street project. The NYCDOT also plans on creating safer streets, promoting public art, and continuing Summer Streets, a weekend pedestrian and cycling program. This new New York will include more public friendly spaces for pedestrian transit, such as bicycling and walking. The city is laying the groundwork for a more sustainable metropolis by creating destinations like sidewalk cafes and public seating, as well as enhancing main roadways to attract pedestrians.

H&M&Everyone

Many clothing retailers boast slogans such as “trends for less” or “high fashion, low prices,” but few deliver in both areas. Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), a Swedish clothing company founded by Erling Persson in 1947 has successfully combined fashion trends with very (sometimes shockingly) reasonable prices. H&M regularly updates their designs to keep abreast of current styles. They cater to a variety of people. Teens and their parents both shop at the store. Young professionals and expectant moms browse adjacent aisles. With such a wide consumer base in an international market, H&M has maintained its success, in large part, due to their approach to designer collaboration.

Build It! : Controversy around the Tower Verre

From the Chrysler building to the Empire State building, hundreds of multistory office and real estate towers reign over Midtown Manhattan. Here, office buildings rise into the clouds while retail stores line the streets. Midtown is an area that has been built up again and again, continually reinventing and developing itself. The City is known for its skyscrapers but, few outsiders know that they are mainly in Midtown. So, when a developer decides to construct a skyscraper, what is the preferred location? Midtown seems to be a perfect fit, but some people disagree. Regardless of the height or aesthetics of these buildings, some residents refuse to allow another high-rise to take over their neighborhood.

This not That: Why Massimo Vignelli’s Transit Map is Important

American design is an amalgamation of different styles, and origins. Although Massimo Vignelli is Italian by heritage, the New York City subway map he designed, while living in New York, for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), in 1972, is notable and, in all respects American. His subway map is iconic for New York City. Even if it is not being used in subway stations today, it has not been forgotten, and still sparks discourse because of its unconventional design. As a design object in the Museum of Modern Art collection, the Vignelli map should be included in Russell Flinchum’s book American Design in place of William Bonnell’s poster “Celebration! 200 Years USA/50 Years CCA,” designed in 1976 for the Container Corporation of America (CCA). Although the CCA is known for their use of top designers in their advertisements, the Bonnell’s poster does not exemplify the company’s creative background. From a Graphic Design perspective it does not posses the historical importance or value of Vignelli’s subway map.

Urban V. Foster: Battleground Hearst

A steel and glass tower stands at Eighth Ave and Fifty-Seventh Street that has been hailed by critics, such as Paul Goldberger, as the most significant piece of New York City architecture since the new millennium. Completed in 2006 over a 1920’s base, the Hearst Tower was designed by Sir Norman Foster + Partners for the Hearst Corporation. The tower rises 46 floors over a tan limestone building, originally designed by Joseph Urban in 1927, that is garnished with large vase finials that sit upon geometric columns, four stories above street level. While twelve cloaked figures, depicting various aspects of the Hearst Corporation (Music and Art to Printing and Science), watch dutifully -¬¬¬ two above each entrance. The six-story building served as the Hearst Corporation’s first headquarters and was constructed with the intention that it would expand as the company grew. This new addition to the New York City skyline planned to meld the old with the new and tradition with innovation. Foster + Partners and Hearst both set the bar high for this project, utilizing the newest technologies and greenest materials available, but in trying to create a new, significant piece of New York City architecture did they lose any of the old building’s significance?

I like Hello Kitty and I am cool

In my elementary school, if you owned anything Hello Kitty, you were cool. The most popular girl in my class was turning 12th and guess what her birthday invitations were? Hello Kitty. Even my best friend at the time had a one-foot-tall Hello Kitty phone, and I was jealous, not only did she have her own phone, but it was also Hello Kitty. What made this intense, adolescent need for these products even greater, were that they was so hard to find. There was only one store in my hometown that carried Hello Kitty, a small dancewear shop located in a local strip mall, and even they had limited merchandise.

Parsons V. NYU: Battle of the Renovations

Urban campuses are often a collection of mismatched buildings that are donated or acquired by a college or university over time, and in most cases, beggars can’t be choosers. Many smaller schools don’t even own the buildings they occupy, making it difficult to control their students’ environments in the same way that non-urban campuses who own their own buildings can.