Hollywood’s House of Modern Architecture Design : Tucked in the Hollywood Hills, this 7000 square foot piece of architectural splendor, which was designed and built by Temple Home, is not only drop-dead gorgeous it’s really, really smart. Packed to the rafters with top-end technology, it features ‘a CinemaScope theater, 7.1-channel surround-sound, intricate TV concealment, [and] extensive automation’ among other things. No word on how much moo-la it would fetch in the open market, but, as they say, if you have to ask you cannot afford. Contemporary home designs typically provide all of the amenities, conveniences, and comforts afforded by today’s technology. Read more about the property here. (more…)
A company trying to harness energy from sunlight and interior light to wirelessly power everything from cell phones to signboards now has financial backing from the White House.
President Bush’s program to help solar energy compete with conventional electricity sources will help fund Konarka Technologies’ development of flexible plastic solar cell strips _ material that could be embedded into the casings of laptop computers and even woven into power-producing clothing to energize digital media players or other electronics.
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Many managers of aging Canadian health-care facilities are beginning to see the benefits of changing old buildings into innovative and green health-care environments. This is exactly what happened with Ste-Anne Hospital in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, where the clients and ARCOP architects – a joint venture with Cardinal Hardy / Provencher Roy/ Jodoin Lamarre Pratte & Associates architects (PCJA) – designed a long-term psychiatric-geriatric facility that feels like a contemporary home rather than a typical health-care institution. (more…)
Because the country is in the middle of the international trading pool, cross cultural interaction and influences are inevitable from music to clothing to architecture. Turalba added that “architecture is about culture. Culture is about use of space and different people use it differently. Our own culture asserts itself.”
In addition, architecture is a noble and creative profession. In designing, Turalba said “you can discipline people or you can destroy the Filipino people though your architecture. It is being sensitive to the need of the person, to the nature of the person.”
She cited the inherent Filipino warmness and hospitality. Part of our culture is to welcome and escort family and relatives to the airport, which should be considered in the design of airport terminals. “A foreigner may not appreciate this but this is our culture. This is us. Isn’t it heartwarming to have all these people waiting to bring you home?” (more…)
A visit to Downtown’s newest furniture store, Red Pony, is like a glimpse of India under Colonial rule.
The store at 202 Fifth St. is filled with antiques from India, primarily made between about 1880 and 1920. The pieces represent the culture, spiritual beliefs and subjugation of that vast nation by Colonial Europe.
“Really, the purpose of the shop is to show people that there’s beauty in India,” said Red Pony co-owner Kate Cole Buffington. “It’s not all poverty.”
She and her silent partner in Red Pony – her fiancé, David Mitchell – are both well-acquainted with India. He lived there for three years in the 1970s. And, since the couple met last May 13, they have bought a home on India’s East Coast in the city of Pondicherry. They spend two months a year there. (more…)
