In May at the Brooklyn Expo Center in the Greenpoint neighborhood, the design fair Bklyn Designs is one of the most vibrant shows in New York City and one of the anchors of the citywide NYCxDESIGN initiative. It showcased the wares of designers from the trendsetting borough, which, according to some accounts, gave...
Cities are at a tipping point. By 2050, the United Nations estimates that 66 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. So, where to put all the newcomers and how to reduce noise and air pollution from the increasing automobile traffic overwhelming urban cores? One place is in the dead zones...
Mass production has come to connote outsourcing and soulless factories where workers labor long hours for little pay to produce our furnishings. The tables, lamps and chairs may sport labels from famous designers, but increasingly for many consumers, the signatures don’t add intrinsic value to mass-produced...
Nothing epitomizes the sweet smell of success for a product designer like seeing their wares for sale at the MoMA Design Store in New York City. In fact, every product at the store has been vetted by the museum’s design department curators. In some cases, you can even find items at the store sold under the label “MoMA...
Dubai is the financial and nightlife capital of the Arab world. The city is defined by thumping discos, gravity defying buildings and blindingly bright beaches. But when one wants to take a break from the non-stop partying and incessant deal making where to go? And what if one wanted to settle down and raise a family...
“I am going to spend the next couple of minutes talking about poop,” the New York City-based architect Ate Atema told his audience at the New York Times Cities for Tomorrow Conference, which took place in early July. According to Atema, more than 700 cities have “major poop problems” because they depend upon...
Philip Johnson’s Glass House, built in 1949, broke down the barriers between public and private. The translucent structure’s influence still dominates the design world. You can see it in the obsession with glass shower stalls and in the eschewal of ornamentation, and the emphasis on function in domestic...
So-called global cities are running out of space to put everyone. To meet the demand, a new market has emerged in micro-apartments and aPodments; finding ways to cram people into smaller units has been the subject of design competitions such as the landmark aDapting to Small Living Show hosted by the Cooper Hewitt...
Africa is leading the world in population growth, but its inferior infrastructure remains a major impediment to progress. In general, the continent’s roads, ports and airports lag far behind those in other parts of the globe.
The Proposal
Echoing Jeff Bezos’ plans to someday deliver Amazon products by drone, an...
Life is getting more comfortable for global nomads who might want to personalize a generic hotel room or an anonymous workspace. Thanks to some of the new products from Pablo Designs on display at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair, you can take your furniture with you on your travels. Here there...
