David A. Greene
Dave has contributed to Dwell since its inception. He's a CalArts dropout, a former art critic for The New Yorker, and a producer of comedies on TV. He lives in, and writes from, Los Angeles.
Sun Mun Way Cool
In Los Angeles, California, a family of four inhabits a polychrome fantasia in the heart of Chinatown. Formerly a restaurant, punk rock night club, and furniture warehouse, the Berniers’ loft is anything but boring.
Living Room
When Im and David Schafer moved in together they faced the challenge of combining the contents of David’s 880-square-foot loft and Im’s 550-square-foot apartment into a one-room, 426-square-foot downtown loft.
Method Lab
Designer Jennifer Siegal’s own house is a modest 1920s Spanish bungalow on the leeward side of busy Lincoln Boulevard in Venice, California, that looks nothing like what she makes at her day job. A little bit homely, a little bit avant-garde, it’s a place to try out ideas, test products, and show off to potential clients and give them a feel for how she might make their own new house work. If they don’t grok Siegal’s crunchy-granola-meets-industrial vibe, then maybe they should just move on.
Sing for Your Supper, Kid
Though it was released in 2006, lately I've been appreciating David Weeks' Sing Sing Dinner Plate. Purportedly a copy of the actual food-trays used at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, this orange melamine, TV-dinner-sized food-holder is both jaunty and institutional—which, to a parent's ear, sounds eminently kid-friendly.
Porsche Sled
Driving gloves, check. Aviator sunglasses, check. Hair gel and minty-fresh breath spray—check. You're ready to hit the slopes with your Porsche Design snow sled, an elegantly designed (and genuinely cool) product from the company that made the midlife crisis famous.
Bük 'em, Danno
For fans of good design, great writing, and smart cultural objects, consider the Bük. Billed as "one provocative essay, short story, portfolio of pictures, collection of poems, or other surprising entertainment," individual Büks cost $1.49, the same as a new game for your iPhone (but better for your brain).
Google Maps Vacation
Even though fuel is cheap, in the current economy some of us may feel like we have to forgo vacations to conserve cash. But with improvements in satellite-based internet tools, the ultimate architectural "staycation" is now more fun than ever.
The H-Bus Drops
The first hydrogen-fuel-cell public transit bus west of the Mississippi will make its debut this coming spring in beautiful downtown Burbank, California.
Kid Lit Goes Undergound
What is a paper engineer? Something like an architect—but for paper. (Think pop-up books and origami, not bridges and skyscrapers.)
Make It Right Gets Made
The feel-good story: The first six houses funded by Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation have been completed in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. They include homes designed by New Orleans architectural firms Billes Architecture and Concordia; plus KieranTimberlake of Philadelphia, and a couple of prefabs by Los Angeles-based Graft. Soon to come are the balance of Pitt's all-star lineup, including Adjaye Associates, Morphosis, MVRDV, Pugh + Scarpa, and Shigeru Ban.
