Posts Tagged ‘environment’
Who needs a car in L.A.? We got the best public transportation system in the world!
May 2, 2013
“Who needs a car in L.A.? We got the best public transportation system in the world!” says private detective Eddie Valiant in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Matt Novak of the Smithsonian Magazine Blog Paleo Future writes about the rise and dominance of the car in Los Angeles. It is a fascinating read [...]
2013 | From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, art, environment, happiness, Inspiration, ModernismComments (0)
A Striking Visual History of New York City
April 30, 2013
I came across an article by the Associated Press announcing the release of an amazing photo database of 870,000 photos of New York City from the mid 1800’s through the late 20th century. No one, two or twenty photographers could ever shoot a collection as vast and varied as this, but anonymous municipal workers did, [...]
2013 | Architecture, Events, From the Road, Industrial Design | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, environment, museum, researchComments (0)
Drink Responsibly on Earth Day – Sustainable Craft Breweries
April 22, 2013
From Inhabitat – Here’s a list of America’s favorite sustainable craft breweries. We enjoy Sierra Nevada, Harpoon IPA, and Boulevard. Have you tried these or the others on the list? I’m going to check out Fairway to see if they carry these other brews. Kudos to these small craft breweries. They are fine examples of [...]
2013 | Events, Gastronauting, Happy Hour | Tags: adventures, ale, beer, cocktails, drinks, environment, green, Happy HourComments (0)
Good, but sad nonetheless…
March 27, 2013
It was a movie theater, it was used for performance, now it’s a bookstore… in Buenos Aires. This ain’t no Barnes & Noble from out on the highway. The is El Ateneo Grand Splendid. This a temple to the power of the written word in much the way Scribner’s was in
2013 | Architecture, From the Road | Tags: adventures, design, environment, KLAD, Lighting DesignComments (0)
Hot Location, Cool Hotel.
March 25, 2013
It’s not a Kimpton, but we’d stay at the The Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs. These folks are not afraid of color, and the space seems to celebrate the desert, and Palm Springs Modernism. The Saguaro interior and exterior are a riot of bold color that pays homage to the swinging midcentury vibe of this desert [...]
2013 | Architecture, From the Road | Tags: art, color, design, environment, Inspiration, Lighting Design, Modernism, set designComments (0)
Been There, Done That
March 21, 2013
I bookmark things and keep them together as ideas I want to blog about. Of course, that file gets a bit messy and work always gets in the way of blogging. I looked through that file today and found this post by Modernus about And Bob’s Your Uncle Lighting. Some crazy, wonderful, fun stuff. What’s [...]
2013 | Fashion, Industrial Design | Tags: design, environment, KLAD, Lighting Design, set designComments (0)
The Tragic Beauty of Abandoned Urban Landscapes
January 18, 2013
Sander Meisner, a photographer who lives in Amsterdam brilliantly captures the interplay of light, shadow and color, breathing life into the often overlooked tragic beauty of abandoned, decaying urban industrial landscapes. Tweet
2013 | Architecture, Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, color, design, environment, lightingComments (0)
Fading Memories of a Bygone Era
November 14, 2012
If you’ve spent time in New York, or almost any old industrial city, you’ve probably seen some ghost signs. Glimpses of the past, when women wore corsets, blacksmiths welded carriages, and Coca Cola was sold everywhere for 5 cents ( there’s no cent symbol on my keyboard, another relic of the past, I guess). These signs [...]
2012 | Architecture, From the Road, Industrial Design, Uncategorized | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, design, environment, InspirationComments (1)
A Beau-Arts Masterpiece for the 21st Century
August 27, 2012
When Union Station was designed by Daniel Burnham in 1907, the country was experiencing unprecedented growth in train travel. The elegant Beaux-Arts station quickly gained status as one of the busiest, most important rail stations in the world. After its busiest years during World War II, Union Station fell victim to the passage of time [...]
2012 | Architecture, From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, elegant, environment, green, Modernism, researchComments (0)
The Black Eggs Project
August 10, 2012
Nature + Technology + Art = Amazing levitating Buddha I am in awe of all the wonderfulness in the world. From Inhabitant: Situated in a 6,000-square-foot pond at Eindhoven’s University of Technology, Vermeulen’s eggs generate solar power that is converted into a magnetic field. The magnetic field makes a Buddha figure, which is encased in a [...]
2012 | Architecture, Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, elegant, environment, green, happiness, Inspiration, researchComments (0)
Does Design Have To Work?
June 8, 2012
“Designers are artists of real issues. We are not creating art by any means, art is a selfish act and design is a social act.” -unknown. I’ve been contemplating this quote for quite a while. When I first read it, I was a bit put off. I make my living by design, and there’s always [...]
2012 | Architecture, Design Basics, Industrial Design, set design critique | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, design, designer, environmentComments (0)
Light Dancing – Natural Light Plays on Modern
May 10, 2012
Here at KLAD we often use specific lighting instruments, gobos, and gels to design lighting for our set design projects. Here, a series of cantilevers and recesses create a rhythm for nature’s lights to show off pattern shadows on a modern home designed by architect David Jameson. The series of cubes, with frameless windows and edges of the flat roof that [...]
2012 | Architecture, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, elegant, environment, lighting, Lighting Design, ModernismComments (1)
Vectorworks Creative Minds Monthly Design Competition
March 28, 2012
Nemetschek Vectorworks has announced their Creative Minds competition that challenges designers, including and especially set designers and lighting designers, to explore multiple options for documenting and presenting your response to a design concept. Each month’s concept can be answered with ANY kind of design response – architectural design, product design, landscape design, entertainment design, or [...]
2012 | Architecture, Theatre of Games, VectorWorks, VWX Spotlight and Design | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, green, KLAD, lighting, Modernism, scenic design, set design, VectorWorksComments (0)
Art Director’s Note Book: Modernist Furniture Pieces
December 30, 2011
Here are a few pieces I’ve archived as inspiration research for dressing some of the sets we design at KLAD. These pieces may not yet be available on the general market, they serve as jumping off points for creating a look, mood, feeling and may speak to a character or setting that is essential to [...]
2011 | Inspiration | Tags: design, designer, elegant, environment, Inspiration, lighting, Lighting Design, Modernism, scenic design, set design, setsComments (0)
Flying into the Future through a Golden Age Doorway
September 12, 2011
As a newly minted salesperson, I flew the Pan Am shuttle to Boston a million times. Ticket book in hand, I’d run through the terminal getting to the gate just in time to jump on the plane. Focused on my client meetings, and trying not to draw the ire of my relentless sales manager, I [...]
2011 | Architecture, From the Road, Industrial Design | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, design, elegant, environment, Inspiration, researchComments (0)
Set Designers Should Be Preservationists
September 1, 2011
There, I said it. Flame away haters of building huggers, I have an asbestos suit that I throw on when I get riled up and write about Historic Preservation. Why should set designers, or most designers be preservationists? An important reason is that we rely on a combination of many different tools and techniques to [...]
2011 | Architecture, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, preservation, research, set designComments (0)
Indoor Gardening
July 29, 2011
Even though it is 110 in the Shade here right now. And, it seems, generally across the dust bowl of middle America. It is time to begin to think about how much we use fresh herbs preparing winter meals. We really don’t have a lot of dry herbs, they’re just not the same. Of course, [...]
2011 | Gastronauting, Happy Hour, Industrial Design, Restaurant Design | Tags: Architecture, cocktails, design, drinks, environment, green, ModernismComments (0)
Maybe it wasn’t sepia toned enough to save
June 7, 2011
If you’ve walked around the Village in the past few years, you’re probably familiar with the building at the corner of Greenwich Ave. Before the recent facade change, it housed a restaurant called DAY-O, with its digned up but sort of polished metal storefront. I recently read about this building on a sometimes sad, mostly [...]
2011 | Architecture | Tags: Architecture, design, environment, ModernismComments (0)
Set Design Research – Miami to Mexico to the Jersey Shore
April 19, 2011
Always on the lookout for set design inspiration and not being impressed with Spring so far, I’ve been poking around the internet hoping to find a ray of sustained sunshine to brighten things up a bit. We’re designing sets for a client who wants to see shapes and colors that evoke a Miami tropical vibe, [...]
2011 | Architecture, Inspiration, The Work | Tags: Architecture, art, color, design, elegant, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, research, set designComments (0)
Bicycles and trains, oh my…
March 24, 2011
COBE Architects (careful theirs is a nasty flash-based website design) recently won an architectural competition with a sexy and bike-friendly new design for the redesign of Copenhagen’s Norreport train station. Slightly retro in style, the architects’ vision of the new station is composed of a series of curved, floating roofs set on dynamic glass pavilions. [...]
2011 | From the Road | Tags: Architecture, design, environment, green, set designComments (0)
RIP Knut and the importance of design…
March 22, 2011
Knut the polar bear died suddenly last week at the Berlin Zoo. Sadly, he died young and in front of helpless visitors to his small piece of the world. He was only four years and three months old. Polar bears are known to live up to 30 years. He was an adorable baby, but we [...]
2011 | Architecture | Tags: Architecture, design, environment, set design, Theatre, VectorWorksComments (0)
When is a ruin not a ruin?
March 21, 2011
Green is good. In fact, green may be the new black, but this green looks old. Populous announced this week that its master plan for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China has taken first place in a competition to design the development, including public buildings, schools, exhibition centers, Olympic venues and athlete accommodations. [...]
2011 | Architecture, Design Basics | Tags: environment, green, lighting, Modernism, set design, Television, VectorWorksComments (0)
Set Design Inspiration: Modernism Week
February 22, 2011
It’s Modernism Week in Palm Springs, CA! If, like us hard working set designers here at KLAD, you couldn’t get out to CA this year, I’ve added some links to Modernism Week, and the spectacular Dinah Shore house designed by the super talented Modernist Architect, Donald Wexler. I’ll be posting nuggets of information as I [...]
2011 | Architecture, Events, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, designer, elegant, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, researchComments (0)
Preservation and Adaptive Reuse by Design
December 1, 2010
If you’re a fan of the Kevin Lee Allen Design page on Facebook – and we hope you are – you may have seen a link I posted to a weburbanist post on abandoned skyscrapers. That link inspired me to discuss adaptive reuse and historic preservation, as some of these structures are listed on the [...]
2010 | Architecture, Industrial Design, Inspiration, Uncategorized | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, green, ModernismComments (1)
UltraModern Roadside Architecture
August 27, 2010
In the 1950’s, the future was as bright as the SoCal sun. We were living in a post war prosperity, the dawn of the space age and tremendous advances in technology fueled our imaginations of what tomorrow would bring. Designers, architects and engineers boldly explored new materials and processes and were released from the constraints [...]
2010 | Architecture, From the Road, Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, neon, research, signsComments (0)
A Set Design for What?
August 23, 2010
Art installations are something of a conundrum to me. Sometimes they make sense, other times they fall into the category I call designer masturbation. The same if often true of couture and some furniture design that isn’t about comfort and style. In my opinion, the image at left of ights and umbrellas is amusing. It [...]
2010 | Art for Art's Sake | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, scenic design, set design, TheatreComments (0)
Modern Design – Rhythm, Scale, and Green Building
August 9, 2010
(and a Monday morning rant – let me know if I need to cut down on my coffee consumption) Scale. So often I see contemporary new construction or renovation that leaves me wondering what ever happened to the concept of scale? Are today’s home builders familiar with the term fenestration? Why are so many architectural [...]
2010 | Architecture, Design Basics, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, design, elegant, environment, Inspiration, ModernismComments (0)
Set Designers Need to Know Everything! (Almost)
July 28, 2010
I finally watched Mad Men on Sunday. I know, I know, as a tragically trendy urbanist, I should’ve been all over this show. The production values are excellent, from production design to props to wardrobe, hair, make-up, lighting and cinematography. But I wasn’t. Why? You ask? Well, it is, as I say to my relentlessly [...]
2010 | Architecture, Design Basics, Inspiration, Television, The Work | Tags: Architecture, color, design, environment, Inspiration, KLAD, Modernism, scenic design, set design, sets, Television, TVComments (9)
The World’s Most Unusual Weather Station?
July 14, 2010
When a client comes to KLAD with a project, one of the first things that I get started on is research. Whether it’s a period play, a news set for the Steelers or a trade show booth for a toy manufacturer, all of our set design and event design is grounded in a combination of [...]
2010 | Architecture, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, Inspiration, lighting, Lighting Design, researchComments (0)
Can KLAD use Inflatable Icebergs in Set Design?
July 12, 2010
Woods Bagot, a worldwide architectural firm has designed an interesting solution to the recession stalled, partially finished construction projects that dot the Manhattan landscape. This caught my eye with its potential for set design and events. The firm is shopping to developers temporary inflatable buildings which may help developers collect rent from these sites, and [...]
2010 | Architecture, Industrial Design, Inspiration, Uncategorized | Tags: Architecture, art, color, design, environment, green, Inspiration, set designComments (0)
Pre-fab Design: Diner beauties in stainless steel
July 6, 2010
As a follow-up to my post on Wildwood populuxe, here’s even more incentive to put Wildwood on your roadtrip list if you’re a fan of populuxe roadside architecture. Thanks to Michael at ModernCapital for the heads-up via twitter. from Press of Atlantic City The Retro Roadmap Vintage Diners of Southern New Jersey photo exhibit opens [...]
2010 | Architecture, From the Road, Gastronauting, Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, design, environment, Inspiration, researchComments (0)
It’s bouncy, it’s boisterous, it’s bubbly it’s….
June 24, 2010
Populuxe! Just say the word out loud. It’s bouncy, bubbly, boisterous, like summer. In the summer, if you’re a Jersey girl, you have to go down the shore. At least I have to, it’s in my DNA. One of my favorite places is Wildwood. The beach is gorgeous, and the bazillion mile walk in the [...]
2010 | Architecture, From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, design, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, neonComments (1)
Gehry and Ike?!?
March 26, 2010
I wonder if they used Vectorworks? I know that Frank Gehry’s firm has a proprietary CAD application that they use to develope his trademark sail like metal shapes. For about 10 years, Gehry has been working with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission. The first cool thing about this concept is the expansion of the [...]
2010 | Architecture | Tags: Architecture, design, drawing, environment, green, set designComments (0)
Natural Disaster at KLAD World HQ
March 14, 2010
Time to make Lemonade. We went to bed last night shortly after an unidentified thump in the midst of a hurricanesque Nor’Easter. This morning we awoke to find one of our major oak trees more horizontal than vertical. Actually, totally horizontal, just pushed over by the wind. Amazingly, aside from the loss of the tree [...]
2010 | Inspiration, now blooming, The Studio | Tags: Architecture, design, environment, green, set designComments (1)
Moss!
March 10, 2010
It is springtime and a young man’s fancy turns, of course, to lawn care! Well, not so much, me not so much anyway. In springtime, I start to think about how to eliminate lawn care. I frankly hate our lawn and hate the 60 or so Briggs & Stratton engines that swarm over the yard [...]
