The cooling board table. This piece of furniture may be one of the strangest objects that I have ever encountered, and definitely the strangest that I own. Ever since learning what its true purpose might be, I have rethought how it should be used with other pieces of furniture and objects in our home (Portraits of a Collection).
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The history of mirrors goes back to the first human gaze in a pond of still water, which in around 6000 BCE evolved to become the ubiquitous object that we call a mirror. To create mirrors, man started with polished stone (or volcanic glass when available), later fabricating them from various metals, finally ending with rough polished man-made glass backed by mercury. This technique was invented in Venice, which during the Renaissance held the monopoly for the production of mirrors.
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Harrods mid-century cocktail cabinet. I occasionally enjoy Campari, Aperol, or a glass of wine, but rarely liquor, with the exception of the sweet variety such as Amaretto, Cointreau, or Grand Marnier. I guess it’s because I have a sweet tooth, yet I own a cocktail cabinet and bar! And not just any cocktail cabinet.
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The drop-leaf secretary is a derivative of:
Post-office-box cabinet. This piece of furniture may at first glance seem unusual, even surprising, as it has little to do with what one thinks of typical domestic furnishings. Yet, upon closer examination, one gains a sense of familiarity after noting the bank of keyless lockboxes, each face marked with a number, suggesting a bank of mailboxes.
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Preparing to travel with students this Fall, I could not remember how long ago it was that I took an overnight train between two major European cities. After some thought, I realized that the last time I took an international sleeper car was a decade ago, traveling from Zürich to Vienna.
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An Architecture travel abroad program (i.e., field trips), historically coined the Grand Tour, were established in the 17th century and tailored to British aristocrats in pursuit of refining their liberal arts education through a visit to continental Europe. For students tutored under a mentor, favored destinations such as Italy and Greece introduced the Classical world of antiquity to those who were expected to be leaders of their country, especially in that time of the beginning of “greater political or economic cooperation among states and nations.”
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The need for disciplinary integration: Part 2. Design topics related to urban preservation have become one of my favorite themes when teaching second year architecture students. In my program briefs, I also tend to incorporate that projects be determined—to a certain extent—by a client’s functional needs, preoccupations, and desires, all the while having student projects reflect their creative ambitions.
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Towards a new studio environment. I imagine that sooner or later the current studio environment where architecture students work mostly—or even exclusively—at their desks will become obsolete. Over recent decades, architecture schools have made a conscious effort to provide students with desks as part of their architecture design studios (belonging to the student for the semester) that are generous in scale and accommodate activities ranging from a response to program briefs and desk crits to conducting digital research, completing homework, viewing videos, listening to music and podcasts, making models, and occasionally enjoying a quick and often not so healthy snack.
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Still lifes by Ben Nicholson. Recently, I was delighted to rediscover the British artist Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) whose paintings I had so much admired while studying architecture. For some reason, I lost touch with his oeuvre despite my growing interest in the art of painting, especially the still life genre that I so much cherish. There are two reasons for my renewed interest in the still lives by Ben Nicholson.
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