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Life of an Architect contributor Scott Taylor wrote an article, It’s all about me introducing himself and explaining a bit about who he is and what makes him tick. He accomplished this by preparing a list of things that he felt defined his design sensibilities. In that post, Scott called me out to prepare a similar list (as if I could be so easily defined…)
I have prepared these sorts of lists before and I absolutely HATE doing them. Sadly, I don’t have many things that stay my favorite for very long. Does that mean I’m fickle? Does it mean I can’t commit? Maybe … but I think it means I become enthused rather quickly and easily which leaves little time for things to remain in the top spot for very long.
That having been said, here is a list I put together playing off the same sort of things that Scott culled together. It was painful putting this together be here goes:
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Favorite piece of furniture: Eames molded plastic chair with eiffel base
The Eameses adapted molding techniques developed during World War II to produce these shells. They also perfected another technique with which they had been experimenting—creating a bent, welded wire base. The result was the process that allowed the manufacture of the first mass-produced one-piece plastic chairs. I don’t own any of these but I have been coveting them for a long time.
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Favorite Pen: Sharpie Ultra Fine point
I am hardly an artist but I do think I can communicate well enough when drawing. I love my Sharpies and I am quite sure that between my office, my house, and my car, there are several hundred laying out. I always wanted to be able to use a fountain pen but since I am left handed, I would inevitably draw my hand through wet ink and smear whatever I just drew. These Sharpie pens lay down a nice dark line with little effort and the nib has enough give that I can get a little pen weight when I draw.
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Favorite Deserted Island Food: Egg Rolls
Maybe it’s just me, but I used to play this game where I would pick the things I could have in unlimited supply should I ever find myself stranded on a deserted island. The premise is that you could select one single food item – that you could eat as much as you wanted, whenever you wanted – but you could never change. If I had to eat the same thing day after day, it would be egg rolls.
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Favorite Car: 1969 Jaguar XKE II
What’s there to say about this selection? The only reason not to choose this as your dream car is that you didn’t know it existed. Beautiful lines and proportions … it was, without a doubt, the easiest item to choose for this list. I didn’t even have to think about it.
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Favorite Poster: 1934 Guinness ”Good for you”
I am going to say right now … who has a favorite poster?!? I have to admit that I do like the poster Scott chose but to have a favorite means that there are others up for consideration. Any of the Guinness posters from the 1930′s I think are pretty strong graphically and 7 glasses, 7 days of the week and 7 beneficial reasons to drink it (for strength, nerves, digestion, exhaustion, sleeplessness, its tonic effects and the blood).
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Favorite Architect: Impossible for me to select
There are so many that I respect and that shape my interests but does one stand out head and shoulders above another? I wish … I wracked my brain on this one for the last 7 days knowing that I was going to write this post at Scott’s request. Sorry I let you down on this one so to make it up to you, I am going to provide a bonus topic and answer, you know – try and end on a high note.
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Favorite Movie: Raising Arizona
This was probably the second easiest item for me to select. This movie was really popular when I was in architecture school and I’m sure I must have watched this movie 10x more than the No. 2 movie (Blues Brothers). To really drive this selection home, somebody in school copied the audio track to cassette tapes and we used to listen to this movie while in studio. This is the only movie that I could recite the lines to -
Parole Board chairman: They’ve got a name for people like you H.I. That name is called “recidivist.”
Parole Board member: Repeat offender!
Parole Board chairman: Not a pretty name, is it H.I.?
H.I.: No, sir. That’s one bonehead name, but that ain’t me any more.
Parole Board chairman: You’re not just telling us what we want to hear?
H.I.: No, sir, no way.
Parole Board member: ‘Cause we just want to hear the truth.
H.I.: Well, then I guess I am telling you what you want to hear.
Parole Board chairman: Boy, didn’t we just tell you not to do that?
H.I.: Yes, sir.
Parole Board chairman: Okay, then.
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So there you have it – a peek into the madness or the brilliance. While I sweated the details on this post, with very small exceptions, this post would look significantly different in 6 months.
Except for the part about the egg rolls.
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The Modular Man (with a weight problem)
When asked what my New Year’s resolutions were going to be this year I had to think about it for a few minutes.
Before I start committing myself to a bunch of things I’m not going to end up doing this year I thought I’d start with a tally of the accomplished resolutions from last year. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember any of them.
Every year we (and yes I’m pulling you into this now) snuggle down into our burrow of comfortability and completely forget about all of the great aspirations and goals we had ambitiously set at the beginning of the year. I usually start off every year with good intentions, focus on them for a few months … then waiver a little in the middle … then summer rolls around and there are pool parties and bbqs … fall sneaks up on me, then it’s the holidays and before you know it … I’m back at square one. No resolutions accomplished.
New Years day is the time when we should all take a step back, evaluate our lives, and realize just how much potential we have. Instead, most of us wake up at 3:00pm, eat a slice of cold pizza, and then watch that Kardashians marathon we’ve been saving up to watch for the last 3 weeks (don’t tell me what happens to Kim and Chris…I haven’t gotten to that episode yet!!).
I realized that maybe I should ring in the new year by getting fit. Maybe I could eat a little better, take the dogs on a run a little more often and get back in the gym instead of watching the P90X infomercial as a substitute for working out (that post infomercial stretch is really important. Also, don’t forget your post workout recovery drink … Mountain Dew).
I got married this past year and found myself on the ever prevalent phase known as the “post-honeymoon diet”. This is the period that precedes the wedding – where you are supposedly in the best shape of your life – and you move on to the honeymoon phase where you throw out all dietary discretion, eat like a pig for a week and lay around on the beach until your butt gets sunburned (you know what I’m talking about). Fortunately, there are the lucky few who are able to regain their self control, but for the rest of us, it’s a steep uphill battle over chocolate covered donuts and chicharrones.
With my increasing self image issues I’ve started to notice the amount of home gym equipment commercials that start airing this time of year. These commercials are on day and night advertising home gyms, stretchy rubber band thingies and pushup bars all while being hocked by celebrities, athletes and 60 year old men that look like they’re 25. This is a no holds barred attempt to make you feel insecure about your body in the hopes that you’ll pick up the phone (and with 4 easy payments (plus S&H) you too can own a pile of steel and rubber crap that will take up the space in the closet where you use to store your luggage (or for the architects out there, the place where you use to store your college architecture models and/or design magazines). So this got me thinking… are there any fitness machines out there that could be left out in the living room and not be an eyesore? Better yet, is there anything on the market designed by an architect? Would an architect ever have any inclination of attempting to be physically fit to begin with (which is another stereotype that has not been reserved for the architectural profession…see beards of an architect)?
What types of home workout equipment would STARchitects design?
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Mies Van Der Rohe “Barcelona Bench Press”
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Zaha Hadid “Thigh/NURBS Master”
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Tadao Ando “Cast-in-place Concrete Free Weights”
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Frank Gehry “Titanium Clad Home Gym (with fish attachment)”
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Lebbeus Woods “Leg Extension (please don’t sue me)”
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Charles and Ray Eames “Molded Plywood Exercise Ball”
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Michael Graves designed toilet plungers that Target mass produced … does it really seem that ridiculous to have STARchitect designed fitness equipment? Obviously, you’ll never see any of these in your local sport supply store but in the future, you might want to double check that Design Within Reach catalog.
And remember, don’t forget your post blog reading recovery drink …
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- Scott
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