Announcement

The Pompomist has packed its bags and move to Squarespace. Please continue reading at www.thepompomist.com were you can enjoy a new home with new features.

Hope you like.

Jamie Awesome

The Pompomist Is Undergoing A Cosmetic Surgery

Yep. This design magazine is being re-designed! I am currently building a better site for all of you to enjoy: new web hosting, new look, new configuration...

Check back in the next couple of days to see how things are coming along. So hang in there...

Happy 2008, Everyone!

The Standard

The Standard Hotel project still under construction in New York City was featured on the famous Spanish architecture weblog 'Plataforma Arquitectura'.

I am actually working on this project, so it's really nice to see it online in such a reputable magazine. And that makes me very happy...

Danish Furniture

This is a great example of the wonderful work of Danish furniture designers. This one is called 'Two Makes The Difference' designed by FurnID. One of the coolest seats I've ever seen...

Via Contemporist

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Your Pompomist friend will spend some quality time with family and friends, so posts might be infrequent or non-existent for the next couple of days. Pardon me for taking a little break but I have some fruitcake eating to do.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Sleeping...

This video really made me laugh a little:


Via Swiss-Miss

Opposition Of Memory

Here I present you Opposition Of Memory or for those who understand german Gegenüberstellung der Erinnerung. Designed by Nils Nova, this wonderful artwork is a study of space, light and perspective created by pasting a gigantic ink-jet print on blueback-paper on the wall and paint-on-board application.

Via Core77

Robert Bruno's Steel House

Wow. This is probably the craziest house I've ever seen! Located near Lubbock, Texas, this steel structure was designed by architect and sculptor Robert Bruno. The architect spent 23 years (1974 - 1996) building this strange home constructed out of 110 tons of steel.

Very interesting design! But I am not sure if I would live there... would you?

Via Contemporist

A Love-Hate Relationship

Interesting design by The-Home-Project: a design studio with offices in Portugal and Germany. This one is called Amor & Morte... suitable for nature lovers.

Via Pan-Dan

Book Shelves: Reloaded

Yep. My love for cool bookshelves continues with this nice piece (or pieces) of furniture called Broken Shelves. Designed by Mareike Gast, is a bookshelf that can store almost any book size while providing a place to sit and read inside the shelves.

Book Autopsy

Brian Dettmer is the artist behind this carved books. His concept is to reveal the artwork inside every book. The result? A collection of complex layered three-dimensional sculptures.

For more info about his work you can go to the websites these images were originally lifted from:

packergallery.com
toomey-tourell.com
haydeerovirosa.com

Via Centripetal Notion

Hotel Elan

This is the spectacular pool of Hotel Elan in Dallas, Texas. It is a pool located on the 10th floor of the hotel which extends 8 feet over the easement below.

Not much info about it but at least now you know that there's a pool out there that can take you all the way to the street.

Via Flickr

'Dear Architects, I Am Sick Of Your &$%#@.'

Many architecture blogs have posted this controvertial article. Annie Choi, from the Annie Choi blog, wrote this open letter on Part IV to all architects out there... don't take it personal! I didn't. I actually made me laugh:

“Once, a long time ago in the days of yore, I had a friend who was studying architecture to become, presumably, an architect.
This friend introduced me to other friends, who were also studying architecture. Then these friends had other friends who were architects - real architects doing real architecture like designing luxury condos that look a lot like glass dildos. And these real architects knew other real architects and now the only people I know are architects. And they all design glass dildos that I will never work or live in and serve only to obstruct my view of New Jersey.

Do not get me wrong, architects. I like you as a person. I think you are nice, smell good most of the time, and I like your glasses. You have crazy hair, and if you are lucky, most of it is on your head. But I do not care about architecture. It is true. This is what I do care about:

* burritos
* hedgehogs
* coffee

As you can see, architecture is not on the list. I believe that architecture falls somewhere between toenail fungus and invasive colonoscopy in the list of things that interest me.

Perhaps if you didn’t talk about it so much, I would be more interested. When you point to a glass cylinder and say proudly, hey my office designed that, I giggle and say it looks like a bong. You turn your head in disgust and shame. You think, obviously she does not understand. What does she know? She is just a writer. She is no architect. She respects vowels, not glass cocks. And then you say now I am designing a lifestyle center, and I ask what is that, and you say it is a place that offers goods and services and retail opportunities and I say you mean like a mall and you say no. It is a lifestyle center. I say it sounds like a mall. I am from the Valley, bitch. I know malls.

Architects, I will not lie, you confuse me. You work sixty, eighty hours a week and yet you are always poor. Why aren’t you buying me a drink? Where is your bounty of riches? Maybe you spent it on merlot. Maybe you spent it on hookers and blow. I cannot be sure. It is a mystery. I will leave that to the scientists to figure out.

Architects love to discuss how much sleep they have gotten. One will say how he was at the studio until five in the morning, only to return again two hours later. Then another will say, oh that is nothing. I haven’t slept in a week. And then another will say, guess what, I have never slept ever. My dear architects, the measure of how hard you’ve worked and how much you’ve accomplished is not related to the number of hours you have not slept. Have you heard of Rem Koolhaas? He is a famous architect. I know this because you tell me he is a famous architect. I hear that Rem Koolhaas is always sleeping. He is, I presume, sleeping right now. And I hear he gets shit done. And I also hear that in a stunning move, he is making a building that looks not like a glass cock, but like a concrete vagina. When you sleep more, you get vagina. You can all take a lesson from Rem Koolhaas.

Life is hard for me, please understand. Architects are an important part of my existence. They call me at eleven at night and say they just got off work, am I hungry? Listen, it is practically midnight. I ate hours ago. So long ago that, in fact, I am hungry again. So yes, I will go. Then I will go and there will be other architects talking about AutoCAD shortcuts and something about electric panels and can you believe that is all I did today, what a drag. I look around the table at the poor, tired, and hungry, and think to myself, I have but only one bullet left in the gun. Who will I choose?

I have a friend who is a doctor. He gives me drugs. I enjoy them. I have a friend who is a lawyer. He helped me sue my landlord. My architect friends have given me nothing. No drugs, no medical advice, and they don’t know how to spell subpoena. One architect friend figured out that my apartment was one hundred and eighty seven square feet. That was nice. Thanks for that.

I suppose one could ask what someone like me brings to architects like yourselves. I bring cheer. I yell at architects when they start talking about architecture. I force them to discuss far more interesting topics, like turkey eggs. Why do we eat chicken eggs, but not turkey eggs? They are bigger. And people really like turkey. See? I am not afraid to ask the tough questions.

So, dear architects, I will stick around, for only a little while. I hope that one day some of you will become doctors and lawyers or will figure out my taxes. And we will laugh at the days when you spent the entire evening talking about some European you’ve never met who designed a building you will never see because you are too busy working on something that will never get built. But even if that day doesn’t arrive, give me a call anyway, I am free.

Yours truly,

Annie Choi”

Architecture vs Real Estate

An Architecture posted an interesting article about real estate costs in different prime locations around the world:

"Usually real estate isn’t a big topic in architects’ education, however, architect should be aware of the value of their work. Especially how to deal with non architecture related circumstances causing a serious impact to a project (and that's basically location).

Surprisingly the growing economies still have low housing prices compared to hot-: spots in London and New York. Anyway, it’s still far from social housing."

I totally agree with the folks at 'An Architecture', especially now that I am looking for an apartment in NYC... the price of real estate is crazy up here!

Inverso Chair

The 'Inverso' chair, designed by Luis Porem, has the perfect combination of movement and static: on one posture is a rocking chair, on the other is a rigid chair. Oposition also shown with the materials: cold as metal and warm as wood. I want one of these for my home...
Check Luis Porem's website for more designs.

Via MoCo Loco

Featured Artist of The Month: Milosh

Michael Milosh or simply ‘Milosh’ is a Torontonian singer and songwriter with an amazing sensual, airy, dreamlike, jazz-inflected voice. His music is to me a comfortable mix of electronic downtempo and soul so loungy and soothing, it reminds me of Bossa Nova.

His debut album “You Make Me Feel” (2004 - One of iTunes top 10 best electronic albums) and his second album “Meme” (2006) were full of beautiful organic-sounding bass drums, low rising trumpets and abstract clicks and blips. Listening to Milosh’s music is almost like moving underwater surrounded by synthetic tones and his feather-like voice… a voice that doesn’t make you sleep but transports you to another world. Whether the song’s topic is about a happy relationship or a break-up, his lyrics are always therapeutic, romantic and optimistic.

Milosh will be soon releasing his third album mixed in Chicago with Telefon Tel Aviv’s Joshua Eustis. He’s telling us more about it on a short interview I had with him.


The Pompomist: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself; where you were born and any other biographical details you feel like talking about?

Milosh: I was born and raised in Toronto Canada my background is Ukrainian, I was a mischievous child...hmmm what to say what to say. I do love traveling a lot and every record I have done (3) has been in a different place. You make me feel was written and recorded in Holland, I lived there for a year. Meme in Toronto and my latest record I recorded in Thailand on an island called Koh Samui. I set up a studio there, wrote the record and then came back to North America to fine tune it.

TP: Some artists I've talked to have known that music was what they wanted to do from fairly early on in their life. When did you first start to consider creating music as a means of creative expression?

Milosh: Well I knew when I was really young I wanted to be a musician, I didn't know all that went into that but I knew that's what I wanted to be. I started playing cello at 3 and I have been learning things ever since. I did also want to be an artist and that took up most of my creative energy when I was younger but then it slowly shifted to almost totally encompass music.

TP: Describe your sound to us:

Milosh: My sound huh… hmmm it's electronic in that I produce the tracks electronically but the songs are very sentimental almost folky in some weird way. The tracks have intricate beats and all the synth patches I make myself so the sounds are, dare I say unique. My music has been for the most part pretty melancholic with some sort of happiness infused in there. Oh yeah and I think I sing like a woman in some way.


TP: I've always loved really well played electronic downtempo music, which is one of the reasons why I love your music. When did you find electronic music, and what made you say "yeah, that's for me"?

Milosh: The first record that blew me away was garbage by Autechre found also on tri repetea. Autechre really inspired me, I had to know how they made the sounds that they made.


TP: I know that you just finished your 3rd record with the cooperation of famous artist and music producer Joshua Eustis from Telefon Tel Aviv...? Any favorite songs?

Milosh: Yeah I have some favs on the record, "Awful Game" and "Remember the good things. Josh played guitar on "Remember" and another good friend of mine Paul Pfisterer played guitar on "Awful"

TP: How was it working with Josh Eustis?

Milosh: Well, first of all Josh is a great guy, we get along pretty well. I kinda think we are almost the same dude, we kinda dress the same, like the same stuff have the same jokes… He mixed this record and mastered it, it was actually really refreshing to kinda sit back a bit and have Josh approach the tracks in his way. I love what he did. It took more then a week to do the record with him, working 12 hours a day and it was one of the better experiences I have had in a long time. The dude is good peoples…

TP: What makes your new album different?

Milosh: Hmmm well it's a progression stylistically and in it's content so I guess it's not so much different but a continuation. However the differences that do pepper the record would be in the guitar work on the songs, the way I sang and in some of the synth sounds. Pauls playing for instance was very… hmmm kinda like a throw back to some Neil Young style of messy but good wabi sabi. My voice, I use it a lot more in this record. I sing in my full voice in a lot of the songs, not something I did a lot of on Meme or You Make Me Feel. The synth work is much more tailored, designed, I think.


TP: What musical groups do you think influenced Milosh's sound?

Milosh: Well music in general is my muse, even when I don't like it. My list of favs would be , Autechre, Aphex Twin, Lots of classical ie Mozart Pergolisi. Imogen heap definitely, she always makes stuff that makes me feel jealous that it wasn't me who wrote it, Bjork, Telefon Tel Aviv, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Brian Eno, hmm this list could go on…


TP: What can we expect from Milosh for 2008?

Milosh: 2008 I will playing live in various parts of the world. I am doing a song for Ghostly, I am working on a 4 song ep with Paul, and I am going to do another 4 song ep in there at some point. Then I will find a new place to start working on another record, it might be Berlin but who knows.

TP: Is there anything you would like to tell the fans of Milosh?

Milosh: Talk to me… and thank you.

TP: Thank you, Michael!

Here’s the music video for ‘The City’ (from the album 'Meme'):




Visit his MySpace page and click here to buy his CDs through Amazon.

Garage Doors For Windows

Isn't this cool? This building in Vancouver, Canada has glass garage doors for windows. Genius!

Via Contemporist

Wha? Hydropolis?

It’s incredible all the construction going on in Dubai! Well, not to mention the tallest building on earth posted not too long ago here at The Pompomist. But some projects aare just hard to believe. Like this one called Hydropolis: the world's first luxury underwater hotel currently under construction in Dubai. According to their website, is expected to be ready at the end of 2007… really?

It will include a ‘land station’, a 220-suite hotel, a cosmetic surgery clinic, a connecting tunnel, a restaurant, a cinema, a marine biological research laboratory and conference facilities. It will supposedly be the largest contemporary construction projects in the world, covering an area of 260 hectares.


Joachim Hauser is the developer and master mind behind this futuristic hotel, which will be located below the surface of the Arabian Gulf.

Now I just have one simple question: if this is ready for business, why do they have just five cheesy renderings on their website?

What do you think?

Looking For Another Out-Of-The-Ordinary Christmas Tree?

Well, you could also get this plywood Christmas tree designed by Buro North. I think is a fabulous idea!... Hey, at least is eco-friendly.

Art Basel Miami Beach

I had a wonderful time today at Art Basel Miami Beach. Sunday was the last of a 4-day weekend displaying the World's best contemporary art. The event took place at the Miami Beach Convention Center, covering all mixed media of visual art: paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, performances and art in film.

Art Basel was a huge array of booths for 190 galleries from all around the world that have brought extraordinary pieces for the public to see… and buy as well, if you don’t mind paying big bucks. Prices ranged from hundreds to millions of dollars.

The show is a sister of Art Basel Switzerland, an art exhibition that’s been going on for 34 years.




After enjoying the show and walking for hours, you’re bound to get hungry… sushi anyone?

Hot Chip In The US

The British electro-soul group Hot Chip will release a new album ‘Made In The Dark’ next February. Knowing that the previous album ‘The Warning’ was so great; I can’t wait to hear the new tracks.
Their songs are like a compilation of greatest hits: unsteady and fun… they’ll definitely make you go to the dance floor. The best aspect of their music is the combination of crazy guitar, handclaps and other instruments and objects used to create a fantastic melody.
Hot Chip will have a special show on February 2nd in NYC to promote their new album release. This event will probably be broadcasted right here at The Pompomist. I’ll keep you posted.

[Warning: excessively playing this record on repeat may leave you reeling from an emotional sugar high. If you're not convinced, you’ve got no soul.]

Super Tall Skyscraper!

Burj Dubai… this is the big one. It is a super tall building currently under construction in Dubai. When completed in late 2008, it will be the tallest man-made structure in the world and the tallest building (let's see for how long). The building will be of mixed use: commercial on the lower levels and residential on the levels above.
The total budget of the project is about $4.1 billion US dollars and is being built for the Samsung Company, in conjunction with other major international companies.
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it will have 164 levels and an overall height of 2,684 ft. The two photos below (taken 10/14/07) show the building’s current state… what a difference compared to the buildings around it. Here's the building's website.



Here's a current diagram of the tallest buildings on earth:

[Click on image to enlarge]

How To Make An Awesome Paper Toy

Here's how:




Make sure you have plenty of tape...

Via Boing Boing

Tiny Figures

These are tiny stainless steel figures (smaller than a paper clip) in silhouette created by Hannes Freising for use in architectural models. I could have seen myself having fun using these while modelmaking back when I was an architecture student.
To purchase, click here (if you understand German).

Via MoCoLoco