krink

Fun or pure stupidity...I can't decide.  

The mix of alcohol peddled from The Standard Grill and graffiti pens sold at the hotel's sundries stoop could make for a dangerous concoction for the existing maquillage of the Meatpacking District.   The urge to try it out immediately could be too intoxicating.

Where's the beef?

Modena's Hosteria Giusti has been tailored for the truly epicurious.  Garnished with a cut of secrecy, it reigns supreme in it's designed approach.
Beckoning from an ominous Freemans-style alley, the salumeria requires patrons to call from a hull of darkness.  Once reservation has been confirmed, louvered doors swing open and light reveals a lilliputian dining emporium scaled around four dining tables.  Andiamo.

Culturally Uplifting

West 8 designed this undulating thread which buffers Toronto's spread of Lake Ontario.  Appearing to be contorted from seismic activity,  it's pallid gesture is a unique silhouette along the monotony of pedestrian paving.  The amalgamation of form and function that play on proportion and scale.... beautility.

Tourniquet

Thomas Heatherwick is at the top of my dance card.
To mark the transition into this under recognized London hospital, he bandaged it's skeletal structure with braided stainless steel frames.  With a Tensor Bandage je ne sais quoi, his installation supports the weight of the structure, resuscitates the cement and glass fabric of the neighborhood and subdues the overbearing scale of the cityscape.

Heeling hijinks

A perfect pairing.

"BECOME YOUR DREAM"

De La Vega pens philosophically charged "annotated chalk drawings" on the sidewalks of NYC. Stumbling upon one is a true spree in emotional pleasure.
"THIS MOMENT IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN YOU THINK"
Pedestrian Perfection.

A Lay-Up

The backdrop to this Seattle basketball court looks like it was engineered by the Pointer Sisters. Skirted by the prominent Frank Gehry EMP Museum, I would gladly preform a Neutron Dance in the key.....

the lexicon of street

Graffiti artist, Barry McGee tats his serifs with a candy striper slant.  The double wide sidewalk and picture lights persuades the diffident urban landscape to transform to gallery art form.  
                                

The Bomb

The transition between stone and lawn can be an abrupt mess.  With the addition of these grenade-esque sculptures, they smooth the passageway along this threshold with a Mycenaean edge .

Leviathan

Anish Kapoor found the interior space of the Grand Palais "more overwhelming" than being outdoors because there were no vertical or horizontal references to human scale.  In a stroke of brilliance,  he inflated the space to engulf the occupier. 

Boston to the T

I'm kind of digging Silvetti's glass shroud in Boston's Dewey Square.  A tip of the hat to I.M.Pei's Louvre by way of Giza, a nod to Gropius via glass and steel construction...and it's harking a Veritas hoodie spin.

Between Tread and Rise Find Stile

For several weeks "staircases" have been romancing my periphery vision.  Enjoyably, the skeletal thread that binds this infrastructure together is a nautilus-inspired interruption to my linear persuasion.

Assouline

Tucked away in the lobby of NYC's Plaza Hotel is a wonderful little bookshop, Assouline. Filled with the most beautiful collection of current and collectibles, you feel honored to browse. Window shop online for fabulous gift ideas to feed virtually any hobby or enthusiast. www.assouline.com

Ground Control to Major Tom

Janus et Cie, maker of all things stunning, has launched their new line of futuristic outdoor furnishings.  This set certainly solves the conundrum of how to store your patio furniture over the the shoulder season. 
Headquarters must have been boning up on the Gestalt theory when this baby was hatched.  Part function, part sculpture... Fly me to the moon.
 

crosby redux

Just when the ink from my latest post on the Crosby Street Hotel became stale, they beckon me with a third digit....a rooftop culinary garden.  Should stars align, reel yourself into the Sunday program. Enjoy the screening room while you dine on locavore deliciousness and then tuck yourself into the folds of the Meadow Suite for a full throttle circumference of the Crosby campus. 

PFD

The tired keyhole life jackets that I was bound to as a child were suffocating and restricting.  However, they seem far more emotionally buoyant when illustrated by Santiago Morillo.

 

Rock Garden

It's rare that beetles are a benevolent element to a garden.  However, in this case Ringo and friends act like Vitruvian gents, showcasing the dramatic scale of the biannual digitalis.

Louvre

Recently, the Louvre uncloaked it's Islamic collection from under an undulating sleeve of distressed metal.  At once engaging, it's fluid gesture against the rigid facade of the courtyard dares the occupier of the space to inch closer.  Cleverly, scale is maintained by the sine curve which grounds the structure comfortably within it's surroundings and maintains human proportionn.

scarpetta

Scarpetta's  dining pavilion is a well braced addition to Toronto's downtown core.  One main dining table references summer camp chic as it collides with the urban landscape.