Sunday, October 27, 2013

McDonald's + Apple Architecture


Thus, the 1968 introduction of the double-Mansard roof.  It struck just the right balance: homey, but with just a touch of the classical. Wholesome. Simple. Instantly recognizable. But after four decades, what had once made McDonald’s familiar and welcoming took on a down-market, numbingly identical seediness that diminished the brand.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI)



Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI) is an initiative aimed at dismantling racism and empowering low-income and communities of color through sustainable and local agriculture.
This comprehensive network views dismantling racism as a core principal which brings together social change agents from diverse sectors working to bring about new, healthy and sustainable food systems and supporting and building multicultural leadership in impoverished communities throughout the world.
The vision for this initiative is to establish a powerful network of individuals, organizations and community based entities all working toward a food secure and just world.

Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab



"Food is integral to human sustenance and to quality of life. Yet the food system which delivers food from farm to table is often overlooked in urban and regional planning decisions. The Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (‘the Food Lab’) at the University at Buffalo is dedicated to research that critically examines the role of planning and policy in facilitating sustainable food systems and healthy communities. Under the leadership of Principal Investigator, Dr. Samina Raja, the ‘Food Lab’ team conducts research, builds capacity of planners through education and training, and engages in community-based efforts to build sustainable food systems and healthy communities. The Food Lab team conducts research in collaboration with research labs and centers within UB and elsewhere, as well as with community and planning organizations from across the United States."

HUNGER AND DECADENCE: CROQUEMBOUCHES



As part of the exhibition BEING , Storefront presents DISRUPT: Croquembouches, an installation-banquet on the connections and connotations between Food and Architecture. The event will follow a day-long installation by Savinien Carcostea, which includes five giant cones of Croquembouches, a traditional French dessert, that will be on display at Storefront's gallery throughout the day and will be offered to visitors from 6-7pm. 

The conversation will raise the points of contact between food and architecture: From the social and political connotations of what, how, and where we eat, to the similarities and differences of the research and distribution processes, to the performativity of the act of eating as a way of producing bubbles of negotiation. The conversation will include contribuitions by Jan Aman, Levan Asabashvili, Edward Eigen, and Yehuda Safran,  among others.

7,000 Croquembouches will be available for consumption.


HUNGER
According to City Harvest, 1.5 million New Yorkers are struggling against hunger. A new restaurant of refined decadence is always opening around the corner. 

DECADENCE
"The croquembouche, a pyramid of small cream puffs welded by caramel, inscribes itself in the tradition of classic French pastry as a decorative centerpiece. It is also a modular structure, and as such can be understood within a contemporary formal framework. Created by Antonin CarĂªme, the celebrated early nineteenth century pastry chef who stated that “the most noble of all the arts is Architecture, and its greatest manifestation is the art of the pastry chef”, the croquembouche is in fact an avant-garde work of Architecture, both structural and spatial."
A historic construction somehow contemporary, a mixture of high cuisine, art, architecture, and cinema, the croquembouche is a disconcerting structure whose humorous appearance has long dismissed it as an outdated typology having no place outside of celebrations. Now is the time for the croquembouche to be celebrated." - Savinien Caracostea

About the artist
Savinien Caracostea has degrees in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Cornell University, a degree in Pastry Arts from the French Culinary Institute, and has extensive experience in film, photography, and graphic design. With an interest in cross-disciplinary spaces, events and publications, he consults and offers creative direction in Edible, Cinematic Architecture. For more, please visit www.savinien.com. 

Friday, October 18, 2013

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Ultra Dining at Ultraviolet - At the restaurant Ultraviolet in Shanghai, the chef Paul Pairet has taken dining and turned it into theater, adding ambient music, unorthodox utensils and enhancing scent.



Tuesday, October 1, 2013