South End cafe

A new casual cafe has opened on King St, Newtown near the St Peters station end. Tried the South End brekkie with halloumi, olives, fried eggs, sausage, and bacon and the Chorizo, chickpea stew which was on the Specials board. The chocolate milkshake was pretty refreshing too.

Out of the box - architecture talks 18 July and 9 August

"Join leading architects, academics and urban designers in lively debate followed by informal chat with drinks and nibbles at the MOS bar.

To coincide with the Homes in the sky exhibition we begin with the subject of sustainable housing for our future and the viability of ecologically sustainable housing design.

Out of the box 1 | Wednesday 18 July
Can we reduce our global footprint or is it too late? What does the changing demographic of Australian cities mean to the quarter acre block and the barbeques in the backyard?

Speakers include:

Adam Haddow
Adam Haddow is a promising young architect, a Director of SJB Architects and the 2006 recipient of the 40th Anniversary Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship.
Recently returned from a 4 month sabbatical, Adam will discuss new movements in medium density housing projects from his investigations in the USA, Europe and Japan.

Frank Stanisic
Frank is the Director of Stanisic Associates and has designed collective housing projects throughout the Sydney metropolitan area including Mondrian, Zone, Edo and Rose. Winner of the RAIA Premier’s, Wilkinson and Special Jury Awards, his projects focus on ideas of eco-minimalism to create unplugged, breathing and permeable environments. He teaches at UTS Design Studio V and has been published locally and internationally.

Rod Simpson
Rod Simpson of SW Architects was instrumental in developing the NSW Government’s BASIX legislation, designed to ensure that all new homes use less water and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Rod has also worked on the Metropolitan Planning Strategy to show the big picture for the state’s future growth.

Caroline Pidcock (Chair)
President of the Australian Sustainability Built Environment Council and past president of the RAIA. Her principal in practice focuses on the ecologically sustainable design.

Out of the box 2 | Thursday 9 August
What can architects and designers do to help solve the energy and resources crisis? Houses in the sky? Medium density living? What more must we do to address the problems facing us all in the years to come.

Speakers include:

Kim Crestani
Principal of Order Architects and designer of the innovative add-on called the Pod System,.Kim is also the recipient of the Marion Mahony Griffin Award for her contribution to architecture.

Tina Engelen
Designer for the Altair apartments astride the Cross City Tunnel, Caroline has formed a new design company to address the issues of medium density living.

Stephanie Smith and Kim Mcbryde, Innovarchi Architects
Stephanie and Ken met during the 4 years they were working with Renzo Piano in Genoa and Paris. They established Innovarchi in 1996 and were the local representative architects for Renzo Piano on Aurora Place (Macquarie Apartments and ABN AMRO Tower). Innovarchi then went on to design the Podium of the Q1 tower, one of Australia’s tallest residential buildings. They are now working on a sister project, an 80-storey residential tower in Dubai, and a 3-hectare master plan adjacent to the Auckland CBD involving 20 buildings and 1400 apartments. Both projects are driven by underlying concerns for sustainability.

Peter Droege (Chair)
Conjoint Professor, School of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of Newcastle. Author and public speaker on urban design, author of The Renewable City and director of Epolis.com.au

Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House | 6pm – 8:30pm | General $20 Conc/Members $15 | Includes a tour of Homes in the sky with curator Caroline Butler-Bowdon from 6pm and refreshments from 8pm following the talk | Bookings essential T 02 8239 2211

Each hour of participation in these events may contribute to the annual informal CPE requirements for architect’s registration."

W: http://www.hht.net.au/whats_on/events/architecture

10th Sydney Writer's Festival - till 3 June

For program details go to: http://www.swf.org.au

Australian Timber Design Awards - entries close 31 August

The Australian Timber Design Awards are a national competition to promote and encourage outstanding timber design in the built environment professions.

The aim of the Awards is to develop a timber design ethos through the encouragement and showcasing of superlative timber design in a variety of applications. A broad range of entry categories demonstrates the diversity of timber and permits recognition of achievement in a variety of areas.

The Australian Timber Design Awards are open to builders, designers, architects, engineers and landscapers: to anyone involved in the design or building of structures that feature timber. A separate section in the residential category is available to students and entrants aged 30 or under.

W: http://www.timber.net.au/awards

Furoshiki: Reviving a Dyeing Art - till 1 June

"In his latest exhibition, artist and Tsutsugaki Yuzen master Shumei Kobayashi combines the classical Japanese hand dyeing technique Tsutsugaki Yuzen, with the delicate furoshiki wrapping cloth..

Living and working in Kanazawa, the birthplace of Tsutsugaki Yuzen, Shumei is among one of the few Tsutsugaki Yuzen practitioners left in Japan and continues to work hard at sustaining the legacy of this dyeing craft. Tsutsugaki Yuzen is a classical hand dyeing technique, which evolved approximately 400-years ago, and is characterised by its complicated process. Similar to batik, the artist will make an outline of the design onto fabric using a resist paste. The resist paste - a steamed mixture of glutinous rice powder, rice bran, lime, water and salt - is applied to the fabric using a finely pointed funnel-like utensil. After the outline is drawn onto the fabric, the artist will use a selection of natural pigments to add colour and bring the image to life.

Furoshiki will showcase thirty of Shumei’s new furoshiki designs as well as a number of his larger trademark noren (door hanging) works. On the 18th and 23rd of May Shumei will hold two workshops where participants can learn about the many ways to fold and use the furoshiki. Shumei will also be demonstrating the Tsutsugaki Yuzen technique on the 15th and 26th of May."

W: http://www.jpf.org.au/02_events/furoshiki/index.html

Green Building Seminars - 3-6 June

Designbuild 07 have a list of green building seminars you can attend for $33 per session. Topics and speakers include:

* 6 Star Building Performance: the 40 Albert Road Experience by Mark Lister, Szencrop, Energy COnservation Systems Pty Ltd
* Climate change means a change in Climate design by Tone Wheeler, Environa Studio
* Innovations in Green Building Design by John Macdonald, DesignInc
* Living the Green Building Dream by Siobhan Toohill, Stockland
* Going beyond appearances by Frank Stanisic, Stanisic Associates Architects

W: https://www.infosalons.com.au/designbuild07s/seminarBooking.asp?sn=SEM01

Beautiful Minds Nobel Prizes exhibition - till 30 June

The Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prizes

"What is creativity and how can creative activity best be encouraged?"
"Which is more important to the creative process: the individual or the environment?"

"Beautiful Minds examines these questions by presenting selected Laureates and milieus from the 100-year history of the Nobel Prize. The Exhibition does not provide specific answers, but gives visitors the chance to think about these questions for themselves.

Characteristics of creativity are explored through the research of more than thirty Laureates such as physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the work of Peace Prize Laureate Martin Luther King, and the literary works of Selma Lagerlöf..."

Where: UTS Tower Building, 1 Broadway, Ultimo

W: http://www.nobel.uts.edu.au/

The Leonard Da Vinci Machines Exhibition - till 1 July

"The Artisans of Florence bring to you the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci, in Sydney for the first time on the Showring at the Entertainment Quarter. This remarkable internationally acclaimed exhibition displays over 60 models of Da Vinci's famous machines, inventions and designs based on ancient codices.

Leonardo da Vinci dedicated himself with passion to scientific studies in anatomy, biology, mathematics and physics. His manuscripts, exhibit ingenuous solutions to practical problems of his time and he was able to imagine future possibilities such a flying machines and automation..."

Proudly Sponsored by IWC Schaffhausen

Till Sunday, 1 July 2007

W: http://www.eqmoorepark.com.au/?page=event&id=1197

Does it really get recylced? - 16 June

Marrickville Council: Does it really get recylced? Come see for yourself

"Marrickville Council residents recycle more than 8,700 tonnes of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal each year. As part of World Environment Day, Marrickville residents are invited to a free tour of the VISY Recycling Facility to see what happens to their recycling after the trucks collect it. The tour includes transport and will take approximately 2 hours. Refreshments and a free gift will be provided as well as a trivia quiz with prizes. Meet at Marrickville Council Depot, 15-17 Unwins Bridge Road, St Peters, on Saturday 16 June at 10.30am & 1.30pm. Bookings are essential as places are limited. Call 9335 2131 to secure your seat on the bus. Limited to ages 14 and over.

Saturday 16 June, 10.30am and 1.30pm
Meeting Place: Marrickville Council Depot, 15-17 Unwins Bridge Road, St Peters

W: http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/livinginarea/culture/events.htm

MUJI Award 02

Theme for 2007: Re. Re-think. Re-design. Re-use. Re-fuse... Show us how you can discover and conceptualize Re in a familiar, everyday thing.

"MUJI is proud to announce the second in our series of MUJI Award Internaional Design Competitions. Our theme for 2007 is RE, which stands for the reinvention of everyday life that is MUJI's greatest resource. So we ask designers submitting proejcts to focus on reality, in which people are both part of the environment and whose lives create the environment. Each submission should embody a new angle on the everyday of a kind that provides the foundation for everything that MUJI does. We look forward to seeing this competition inspire the creation of future MUJI products."

Entry period: 15th May - 31st July 2007

Gold Prize winner (1 award) 20,000 US dollars
Silver Prize winner (1 award) 10,000 US dollars
Special Prize winners (6 awards) 2,000 US dollars

W: http://www.muji.net/award/

Tokyoflash - Cool Japanese watches

For new ways to represent the big hand and the little hand check out these watches.

"Limited Edition and exclusive to our store. You will not find watches like these anywhere else in the world except for specialist shops in Japan. We ship worldwide, direct from Japan to your door & we promise a fast and friendly service. If you're looking for a super cool watch, then you've just found the only place to buy one."

W: http://www.tokyoflash.com/en/

d factory Design Literacy discussion - 31 May

"Some would say the talk surrounding design is as important as the design itself. Elegantly produced books, design journals, a growing array of design related websites indicate there is a global community critiquing design and an equally appreciative audience tuned into design issues. Regular d factory host Nell Schofield joins Karen McCartney, publisher/editor of InsideOut and author of 50,60,70 Iconic Australian Houses: 3 decades of domestic architecture (to be published November 2007), Kate Bezar publisher/editor of Dumbo Feather, pass it on and Dr Paul McGillick, Editorial Director of Indesign Publishing to look at what it means to be a part of the design publishing world."

6pm – 6.30pm Drinks and music in the Café with DJ
6.30 – 7.15pm Design Literacy discussion
7.15 – 8.30pm Drinks and more music

Where: Powerhouse Museum, Courtyard Café – enter via Macarthur Street

W: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dfactory/

Atelier Bow-Wow: Tokyo Anatomy

Archinect features an interview with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto of Atelier Bow-wow.

"Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, along with his partner Momoyo Kaijima, is one half of the Tokyo-based Atelier Bow-wow. Founded in 1992, Atelier Bow-wow is one the most unique practices of its generation... Bow-Wow embraces a kind of accidental urban vernacular, using their research/work to chronicle the complex - and often unforgiving - logic of the city. Acting as urban detectives, Bow-wow has catalogued the agility of Tokyo's fabric to produce radical programmatic collisions (Made in Tokyo) and nuanced micro architectures (Pet Architecture).

These observations have figured heavily in their own work, as documented in recent publications Post-Bubble City and Graphic Anatomy. Armed with the understanding of architecture's maneuverability in Tokyo, Bow-wow posits a practice engaged in what they call "lively space." This is a kind of space that is willingly infected with the accidents of site and program rather than trying to control or sterilize them.

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto recently completed teaching a studio at Harvard GSD and runs a lab at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

I caught up with Tsukamoto in Toronto at the TD Centre and later in Tokyo at Bow-Wow HQ to talk pets, public space, stairs, zoning, metabolists, and manga kissa. - Mason White

Part two of this conversation is available in Mark Magazine #8."

W: http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=56468_0_23_0_C

Bear on the street

Saw this very cute blue bear resting on top of a bin on the street. What was his name? Why did he get placed outside? Did the giver and receiver of this bear break up and he was too painful a memory?

He spent two chilly nights out on the street. Late this afternoon, someone claimed him. Hope he went to a nice warm home.

May Lane street art

Mays website: http://mays.org.au/

Jim Woodring exhibition at Kinokuniya - 24 May to 12 June

Catch Jim Woodring - creator of the comic books Frank and Jim at Kinokuniya, the Sydney Opera House, and at the Sydney Writer's Festival.

Jim Woodring's website: http://www.jimwoodring.com/

Jim Woodring's blog: http://jimwoodring.blogspot.com/

Marc Newson designs Qantas' new first-class lounge

Article in the SMH titled: 'Qantas unveils new first-class lounge' about the new Qantas first-class lounge at Sydney International Airport designed by Marc Newson. The budget is $20 million. It opens for business on May 23.

SMH article: http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/highflyers-heaven/2007/05/10/1178390462937.html

Photo gallery: http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2007/05/18/1178995382127.html

Angelo Candalepas talk - 17 May

"Angelo Candalepas graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney in 1992. He runs a practice of around 20 people in Sydney and is Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of New South Wales

Since commencing Candalepas Associates in 1999, the practice has been involved in the design and construction of institutional, university, schools, commercial, aged care, residential and interior design projects as well as large-scale projects of master-planning and town-making. Refreshments will be served in the lobby from 6.15 pm, and a copy of the the Australian book "Austral Eden" will be given to one lucky person in the audience."

Free to attend. Book at the link below.

When: Thursday 17 May 07, 6.15 pm for 7 pm
Where: Home Ideas Centre, 61 O'Riordan Street, Alexandria 2015, in the auditorium upstairs from the bookshop.

W: http://www.buildingbookshop.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7205

Breaking Down the Visual Effects of Frank Miller's 300 - 6 June

"Join Popcorn Taxi for a look behind the creation of the stunning visual effects on Frank Miller's "300", and how Animal Logic brought the film's stylized world to life.

Animal Logic's Senior Compositor Lindsay Adams will break down the process of how the Sydney based team created millions of Persians battling 300 of Sparta's finest soldiers in fully CG environments.

The talk will feature a look inside the film with a detailed breakdown of the process behind some of the heaviest digital compositing work done on the show, including the Crazy Horse sequence where a 3 head camera system was used to capture multiple lens lengths of the same action that were seamlessly composited together to achieve one massively long piece of killer action.

Lindsay will follow the visual effects process from start to finish, demystifying the tools and techniques that are used to create the amazing images you see on the big screen. The presentation will include a selection of clips and previously unseen material.

Lindsay Adams specialises in visual effects and digital compositing for feature films and has worked on films such as House of Flying Daggers, Stealth, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, Happy Feet and 300.

POPCORN TAXI
This Program Is Rated: MA
When: Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 - 7:30pm
Where: Greater Union Bondi Junction
Address: Level 6, 500 Oxford Street, Westfield Bondi Junction
Entry: $16/$14

W: http://www.popcorntaxi.com.au/Events.asp?Event_ID=518

Ashley Goldberg interview on Etsy

I enjoy reading Ashley Goldberg's blog over at Kittygenius.com. She sells prints of her illustrations through Etsy. Etsy did an interview with her in their featured seller section.

W: http://www.etsy.com/featured_seller.php?featured_user_id=4187

To read the latest Featured seller interview, go to: http://www.etsy.com/featured_seller.php. You can also read archive interviews by clicking on the interviews on the right hand side.

Website: http://www.kittygenius.com/

Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair - 27 June till 1 July

"The Craft & Quilt Fairs are Australia's premier craft event. The Fair tours 10 locations across Australia and New Zealand making it a must see event for any craft enthusiast. The Fairs are a dynamic combination of inspirational displays, education, and access to buy the latest products, tools, kits and accessories for every craft imaginable."

Where: Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Drive, Darling Harbour, Pyrmont NSW
When: June 27 - July 1, 2007, Wednesday - Sunday 9am - 5pm Daily
Craft Classes commence Monday 25th June.

W: http://www.craftfair.com.au/sydney07.php