#79: MID-CENTURY MODERNISM: STOP THE INSANITY!

March 2, 2018

I am exhausted watching Mid-Century Modern (“MCM”) seep into every crevice of design. As popular as this design movement is, I find MCM as outdated and old fashion, like the styles of 19th century Victorian or 17th century Baroque.

Why are people obsessed with living in this particular MCM past? Are these fanatics doing away with their computers, going to drive-in movie theaters, wearing saddle shoes, and twisting to Doris Day? No, these MCM zealots are only interested in the superficial look of a vintage era, roughly the 50’s and 60’s.

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#78: ANTHONY DREAMS OF SUSHI

February 9, 2018

This wasn’t funny at the time, but such a speed bump on my career path was a building block in my character—at least I hope so.

I was dreaming of sushi. More accurately, I was tired and disoriented, as life loves to do to those who choose to participate. As a young Manhattan architect in the late 1980’s, thrilling yes, but it was late and I was hungry.

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#77: PLEASE STOP ASKING, “RESIDENTIAL OR COMMERCIAL?”

January 26, 2018

When you meet a chef, do you ask, “Do you cook chicken or fish?”

If you did ask such a stupid question, the chef would be thinking how absurd you sound. At the same time, this chef would be thinking of the thousands of things he cooks, in addition to “chicken or fish.”

When someone meets an architect, the first (and only) question is typically, “Do you design residential or commercial?” Please realize that the field of architecture—that the world— is made up of much more than houses and office buildings.

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#76: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING DAVID E. MARTIN

January 5, 2018

How many friends of yours have hung out with First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, as well as President Barack Obama? How many friends of yours have designed for Microsoft’s Bill Gates, as well as Apple’s Steve Jobs? Or renovated a house that sits on 60,000 acres in Austria?

Staying below the radar, David E. Martin, architect and humanitarian, has done the above. And that’s just for starters.

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#75: DESIGN AND DISCOMFORT: SIT AND BE CURIOUS

December 15, 2017

I have written about a number of things that are in essence, big pains in the butts. Recently, I asked two colleagues, Christine Fang and Ji Ahn, who practice mindfulness and meditation: What do you do with the discomforts of life? I requested of them to provide me a peek into their training.

They tossed back some words: adventure, commit and experience—and sit and be curious. But somewhere along this pattern of words, Chris and Ji are aware that discomfort will inevitably rear its ugly head.

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#74: LEARNING FROM FIGURE DRAWING: THE BIG PICTURE

November 24, 2017

So as teenagers in figure drawing class, we all had that moment when the beautiful model dropped her robe to the floor and stood there in all her naked glory, surrounded by students in awe and dropped jaws. Then our teacher said to study the model and draw.

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© Poon Design Inc.