Cinnamon Grand Atrium, Colombo

The construction of Hotel Lanka Oberoi, which was the original name of the Cinnamon Grand, began in 1973. The hotel commenced operations in 1975. It was the first hotel located outside India of Oberoi Hotels. The hotel was constructed on the land where the Bishop of Church of Ceylon resided until the 1970s. The atrium of the hotel was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Until then, only Hyatt Regency Atlanta had such an architectural feature. The atrium in its original state displayed large Batik flags draping from its roof.

Cinnamon Grand, Colombo atrium today

Cinnamon Grand (Then Oberoi) atrium with Ena De Silva's batik tapestry

An American hotel atrium decorated with Ena's batik tapestry in the same way.

putting time In perspective - a prezi presentation

bembos zoo

Bembo's Zoo

independence day; sri lanka

bottle timelines

Evolution of the Nevia lotion bottle.
Image from page magazine 02.13 - p. 48

 Evolution of the Coca Cola bottle.
 Image from Coca Cola GB

happy new year!

Happy New Year

street art in colombo

Is this the first time serious street art is happening in Colombo? This looks like the 'Diyawanna' water front. Anybody who has actually seen this?

olympic pictograms

Tokyo 1964

Mexico City 1968

Munich 1972 & Montreal 1976

Moscow 1980

Los Angeles 1984

Seoul 1988

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

Sydney 2000

Athens 2004

Beijing 2008

London 2012

Evolution of Olympic Pictograms-1964 to 2012
Look and image: The branding of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
London 2012 show the way with Olympic pictograms

Olympic pictograms are copyrights of the respective Olympic Organizing Committees

ruslan khasanov’s liquid calligraphy

Ruslan Khasanov. some really cool graphic work!

quotes on design

I fill up a place, which may be better… when I have made it empty. 

— William Shakespeare (the William Shakespeare)
When you are stuck, walk away from the computer and draw. It will teach you how to see.
— Gerard Huerta (typography designer)

There are now about as many different varieties of letters as there are different kinds of fools.
 — Eric Gill (designer of Gill Sans type face)

Computer design is quite often merely bad design done on a computer.
— Mike Hicks

Without deviation from the norm progress is not possible.
 — Frank Zappa (yes,  Frank Zappa)

Simplicity will stand out, while complexity will get lost in the crowd.
— Kevin Barnett

Type is a beautiful group of letters, not a group of beautiful letters.
— Matthew Carter (type designer: Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma)

For me, discomfort is a signal of an exceptional concept. When I’m totally comfortable with a concept, I’ve probably used it fore or seen it somewhere else. Discomfort is almost a prerequisite for a great idea.
— Craig Frazier

I don’t think that design needs theory, but I think designers need theory.
— Johanna Drucker (author, book artist, visual theorist, and cultural critic)

Stop downloading. Start uploading.
— Jay Bradner

finally,
'You are what you are seen to be'
— Erik Spiekermann

a reality of design

One of the most complicated things for people to grasp is understanding that true design doesn't happen in physical form. The process of design is solving a problem, that means identifying it and coming to conclusions about the entities that surround that problem. Let's start here; design has happened for hundreds of years. To iterate again and force focus, literally, hundreds of years. None of those years did anyone have Photoshop. Design does not by any means happen inside Photoshop. For instance who was a better designer, Claude Monet or Benjamin Franklin? Of course, Benjamin Franklin! Marc Newson said it best in Urban Spaceman, "It looks great because of what it does and how it answers particular issues." •••• One of the things we're going to be trying at Groupon is telling PM's that they're not allowed to (rather not inclined to) bring their laptops to initial meetings. The focus will be on pencil, paper, imagination & communication (clearly understanding the vision well enough to articulate it). Point is to steer away from visual focus ("Something similar to this" - Anyone). Because like we're thinking in this,

Design is not completely a visual thing (we should be architects not painters). And yes, by thinking this it does conclude that almost anyone could be a designer. But that's what is so incredible about the opportunity; a large company & force thinking of design as the pathway to problem solving. Which is exactly how design should be treated. •••• The really neat by-product of the Web is that it has allowed us to look onto life with a new reality. There was a brief discussion about the difference between a toy and a utility toward an online Product. The fundamentals of life would tell us that they're obviously very different. A washing machine you can ride like a horse? Probably not the best. A 5 lb wrench you give to your 1 year old? No sir. But in the Web it's plausible to make these two things match. The question becomes, should you? I can't answer that since that's not the problem I'm attempting to solve. But asking the "why" question becomes exactly the point. The best things in the world have been created from imagination, lets not stop now.

read more..
@ Patrick Algrim

maya lin's original design submission for the Vietnam War Memorial

For anybody who thinks architectural submissions and presentations should be full of 3D renderings and glitzy models.

Vietnam War Memorial

Maya Lin Studio

Image from Wikipwdia

P.S. Here are the original submission drawings for the Sydney Opera House

what is design simplicity?

All designers say simplicity is important, but what does it really mean to make something simple? Most of the time we think it means less, that by removing stuff we achieve simplicity. We think by keeping content above the fold we're helping people focus, or by using bullets instead of paragraphs more people will read it, or by cutting text in half it becomes more clear. But simple doesn't mean “less”. A better definition would be “just enough”.

Oops, I may have oversimplified there…

Read on..
From 52 weeks of UX.

cool!

via Justin Matthew(Google+)

culture and design

Culture

"The function of culture is not to satisfy existing needs, but to create new ones".  –  Zygmunt Bauman

Zygmunt Bauman is a Polish sociologist who, since 1971, has resided in England after being driven out of Poland. He is the Professor of sociology at the University of Leeds (and since 1990 emeritus professor), 

Design

“That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works” – Steve jobs

Steve jobs was a cofounders and head of Apple Computers

Culture and Design are two issues that we have to deal with, some times on a daily basis when  teaching architecture in Sri Lanka (for that matter may be i other countries as well). The fundamental question of 'how to design' and how culture influences this process or rather how much one has to lean back on culture in the design process. .............. ..............

namal's & SIBO's cartoon colection from uni days

Via Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.108743515875222&type=1
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.301517926567177.81934.100001269154418&type=3

look out loo

Artist Monica Bonvicini has created a minimalist glass cube containing a usable loo to stand opposite the Tate Britain gallery in London (Photo 2). The work, called Don't Miss A Sec, is made out of one-way glass which means you can see out but not in.

The toilet was also exhibited at the Messeplatz in Basel, Switzerland (photos 1,3)

steve jobs 1955-2011

open source software for architects

Is it possible to run an architectural office solely based on open source software? Perhaps yes.

Reliability and the ability (to handle complex tasks) has never been an issue with open source software now a day. The issue, most of the time is to do with the compatibility with their more expensive big brother software. Would I be able to read my Open Office files in MSWord? Can I open AutoCAD files in this particular application? The more established ‘Openware’ has continually sought to solve this issue and succeeded considerably in the past few years.

By the way what is ‘Open source software’? Technically speaking Open source software’ is the category of software that is available in source code form to the general public. When source code is not available to the public but still public are free to use them they are generally called ‘freeware’ or ‘public domain software’. But for this discussion let’s call all of them as ‘Openware’.
Wikipedia reference for Open-source software

So what are the pros and cons of ‘Openware’

Pros

1.      Obviously the cost factor. They are either free or very cost effective compared to big brothers.  Eg. Ms Office between 150 to 450 $ vs. Open Office which is  free

2.      Increased security Eg: Linux vs Windows

3.      Better performances in selected areas of application. This may come a s surprise, but some ‘Openware’ are better at certain tasks than their more expensive proprietary big brothers. Eg. I think Blender is more efficient at certain aspects of animation than 3DMAX

4.      Sometimes better customization or ‘tweakability’, if you are in to these things as the code is available to you.

Cons

1.      Compatibility with established file formats. ‘Futureproof’ness is also a related issue as big brothers keep on changing their file formats. Eg. AutoCAD updating their .dwg fiel format now and then.

2.      Comprehensiveness in capabilities.  Eg. Can do this and this but not that particular thing.

3.      Stability. Largely sorted out in more established ‘Openware’

4.      Difficulty in installing. Again this is sorted out in more established ‘Openware’

5.      Less user friendly. Used to be like that. But they are getting better and some of the big brothers are getting worse.  Try to find the …. Try to find anything in Auto CAD 2010!

You have to weigh these pros and cons against what exactly you do or want to do. AutoCAd is a good case in point. Unless you are a very large office with work group sharing or in to highly specialized type of work, you don't need anything more than AuotCAD 2004 or of equal capacity. You may not be able to find an 'Openware' program equivalent to AutoCAD 2011. But instead look for a program with equal capacity of AutoCAd 2004. Same thing with MS office or Adobe Photoshop

So what are the “Openware’ available for an architect's office? Here is list from the blog ‘design in the world of open source. 

Free and Open Source Software for Architectural and Design Applications:

Word processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Graphics, Databases Applications: Open Office

2D Drafting Applications: DraftSight

3D Modelling, Rendering Applications: avoCADo and Blender

Image editing and manipulating: Gimp

Movie editing and manipulating: AVS Video Editor

Please give your comments and feedback.

Posted by archifour2010 
archifour2010@yahoo.com

Original source

Let’s add a few more items to those and see what we have;

Operating systems:
Linux based systems
You don’t have to look any further, Linux based systems provide better stability (less crashing) and security (less prone to virus attacks etc.). If they are so good why aren’t we already using them? We may not but lot of other already do! Eg. Canadian Govt, Russian Govt. Brazilian Govt. to name a few. Remember these are not small companies, they are BIG bureaucracies and they are also from the left, right and the center of the world.
Some popular Linux Distributors (Linux based systems)
Ubuntu (Most probably better suited for Desktops)
Fedora
openSUSE (Better for Laptops)

Office Applications
(Word processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Graphics, Databases Applications etc.)
Open Office
Standard for the free office ware. Does pretty much everything that MS Office does and then some more, like native export to pdf format. Also known as Oracle Open Office or before 2010 as StarOffice. Anybody still remember the good old Wordstar from the floppy disk days! That is the precursor of this program.

LibreOffice
An open office fork so pretty much equal to Open Office. Ubuntu comes with this.

IBM Lotus Symphony
Again based off of OpenOffice source code. But apparently ‘better’ layout.

Google docs
Don’t forget that you can use web based Google docs for a quick memo or two.

2D Drafting Applications:

DraftSight: I had a quick look and looks very comprehensive and 'AutoCAD like' to me. I mean similar to the good old AutoCAD not the very much bloated new versions. If you know AutoCAd you can straight away start drafting with this application. I think this is as good,  if not even better than AutoCAD Lite. Looks  like these guys want to give AutoDESK  a good run for their money. Actually Dassault Systemes is one of the few companies who can do that. After all these guys are the developers of CATIA used in companies like Boeing and Toyota. I think eventually they will start charging money for this, but it has to be much less than what AutoCAD chargers now. What AutoCAD does now is daylight robbery :). They are actually turning their users in to AutoCAD addicts with their current  licensing policy, Once you are hooked, not only you can't get out, you also have to upgrade, every year.
Interview with Draftsight people 

3D Modelling, Rendering Applications:

Sketchup: Better than 3DMax for visualization
Blender: (Open source Modeler + Renderer)
 Avocado (Open source modeler)

Kerkythea (Renderer, works well with Sketchup)
Brazil Rio (Renderer, ideal for 3DMAX , which is not free!) 

Image editing and manipulating:

Gimp (Open source)
Paint.NET (Open source)
Photoscape (Free)

Desktop Publication
Inkscape: An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator or CorelDraw
Scribus: An Open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux and Windows with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design.

Movie editing and manipulating:

AVS Video Editor (Free)

Photography 

Canon Photostitch: Stitches photos to create panoramas
Picturenaut, FDRTools, Essential HDR: For creating HDR Photography
 

There are zillions of other free and opensource applications on the net, especially for one off tasks like file recovery, ripping and converting files which are thousand times better than more expensive big brothers.

Few of my favs are;
DVD Shrink: for ripping DVDs :) The Best. Ripping DVDs is easy. What is difficult id fitting it back in to another DVD for burning as  most of the time you end up with a set of files bigger than the DVD's capacity ( This is I think due to consumer DVD compression algorithms being less efficient than those used in creating those original DVDs. Blas, blas, blas……) Any way this program manages the whole thing without a hitch.
Screen Hunter: for screen capturing
Treesize: shows the size of each folder in your hard disc graphically
CCCP: Audio and Video CODEC Pak
GOM Player: Media player (GOM Player + CCCP  can virtually  play ‘anything’ on the internet; so far)
Font Explorer: Show all the fonts in your computer whichever way you want
CCleaner: Cleans up your windows registry and other leftovers. Oh, and also all those history files and cache files from your web browser.

Here is a list of Free apps for further references.

But remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. Some of these products may will definitely give you trouble  at the beginning . Also don't take this as advice. This is only my opinion!

P.S. I’ll keep on adding bits and pieces to this post as we go along. And some of the info is based on a chat I had with P.B. Prasad Botejue (thanks Holly!)

Also read this before touching Opensource stuff :)
"Dell laptop with Ubuntu leads woman to drop out of college" 

Open source opening doors to IT 

designing theory and theorizing design

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