Tudor City Greens Spring Home Tour

The first-ever Tudor City Greens Spring Home Tour was the single largest fundraising event in support of Tudor City Greens which garnered widespread public and media support. In addition to serving as the co-creater and co-chair of the event along with Michele Keith and Suzanne Simonelli, I had a great time showing my apartment as featured residence on the Tour.

The following is an excerpt from the Tour program: 

"Command Central - 

Architectural designer Christopher Sale leads a busy, multi-faceted life and his 400 square-foot home reflects it with demarcated zones for working, sleeping, entertaining, music, and cooking - a lot going on within four walls. while respecting a "sense of place" so that it feels right for Tudor City, he combined traditional, New England farmhouse details with clean lines producing a decor that is urban and contemporary yet also timeless. The predominant color is soft, dove grey, wi9th such subtle shadings as a delicate blue for the ceiling, and a hint of yellow for the doors to add interest. The result? Functional, compfortable and very personal." 

Norman Foster - Corgan Prize 2011

The Following is excerpted from a feature appearing on Corgan.com: 

"The Corgan Prize is a travel-study program that provides the opportunity for one person in the firm to conduct an individual study of specific architectal or interior design subjects that are of interest to the contestant. The winner of The Corgan Prize is slected from an essay entry describing where they would like to travel, the sutdy subject, what they intend to achieve, the their study plan, and most improtantly how the experiences will be conveyed to others in the firm.

New York Corganite and winner, Chris Sale, selected the architectural works of Norman Foster. He travelled to twelve projects completed by Foster + Partners in New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Berlin and London, as well as two projects by close Foster collaborators. Armed with a flip video camera and a sketch pad, Chris compiled the 'findings' of the trip into a short documentary film which was screened in Corgan's New York and Dallas Offices.

Chris recalls, "The three projects that really spoke to me were the Reichstag Building in Berlin, the Museum of Fine Arts Bpston, and Hearst Tower in New York. Each project responded to a complex set of constraints, worked with an existing building, and addressed long wish lists from their responective clients. It was amazing to see how the limitations and complexities of each project actually fostered stronger, more creative solutions to the problemes posed." 

For him, a highlight of the trip was not only seeing the building in person, but also getting to experience the buildings in use. Since so many of the projects were mseums and galleries, he had the opportunity to see some outstanding exhibitions at top museums in the U.S. and Europe. Chris described the experience as, "providing a far richer perspective than a photo could even begin to portray...Life doesn't get much better than a high tea sitting under Foster's famous glass canopy at the Great Court of the British Museum in London either!"

Please enjoy the following copy of the film posted below.  

flowers in the park

So....its beeen exactly a year since my last journal entry, but SO much has been happening lately that I have been regretting NOT putting up on the website!

As many of your know, I am the co-director of activities for the Tudor City Greens (www.tudorcitygreens.org) two Manhattan landmarked parks in Midtown East. Several months ago, we were excited to recieve a call from a venerable Tudor City Establishment, the prestigious FlowerSchool NY, www.flowerschoolny.com, who contacted us about putting on an event in the Park.

I always enjoy looking at the spectacular arrangements displayed in the windows of the Flower School, which is located on the first floor of my building, daily on my walk home from work. Since 2003, founder Eileen Johnson has been "dedicated to showcasing the best in floral design." The flower school offers Master Classes, together with "a roster of the best Master Floral Designers in New York City, with frequent guest designers from throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia."

In the Flower School's first collaboration with the Greens, we teamed up to host a benefit for the non-profit Greens while showcasing the final projects of the School's event design class. The best part of it was that the event design students - led by noted Boston and New York based designer, David M. Handy - did all the work! (www.davidmhandy.com).

Meanwhile, I got to enjoy the event, which began at 5pm after arriving home from the office. Students created displays with different themes, such as "Farm to Table," "Modern Elegance," and "White Wedding" selecting dishes, seating, and designing accompanying arrangements. Can you guess which theme is which?? We received a respite from the intense heat we've been having in NY and many turned out for a wine tasting to support the Greens as well as friends creating displays. Sussex Wine Shop was the vendor of the beverages served. Enjoy these photos from the event!

    

 My friend Michele Keith, author of Designers Here and There published by Monacelli Press, and TCG board member and friend.

     Student Olga with her display.

Lisa Harte, friend, and Interior Designer Elle Lebowitz-Becker with son Noah

TCG Treasurer, Anne Stoddard (far right) with Greens Supporters

 A display Table

Event organizer, Cal Crary of the Flower School with chic FlowerSchool NY patron

A very modern table setting. I liked the square motif in this look.

 An aspiring designer with her colorful composition.

The charming pair of  North Carolinians turned long-time Tudor City Residents - Country Boy & City Belle -  http://countryboycitybelle.blogspot.com/.

Here's what....

21+ things, people, and places I'm all about right now...or mostly just food, but - hey, what's so bad about that?

1. Pickles: Tangy. tart. sweet. The perfect summer side.
2. Fresh Peaches from Auman's Peach Farm in Pinehurst, NC and Eagle Springs Blueberries. Check out my recipe for peach blueberry cobbler.
3. The Fireflies song by Owl City.
4. Cows
5. Olives
6. Pugh + Scarpa
7. Raddishes and Sea Salt  
8. Williamsburg, NY
9. Banana Ovaltine Milkshakes
10. Fresh Chuncks of Parmesean Cheese (Inspired by The Standard)
11. Govornor's Island
12. Shake Shack (Totally worth the wait.)
13. Avocados
14. The Flatiron District
15. Trader Joe's Dumplings (With a good drizzle of soy sauce on the side.)
16. South Beach, Miami, FL
17. East Hampton.
18. Feinstein's at the Regency. I've been hanging out there a lot lately with my neighbor Raissa Katona Bennett. 
19. Potato Salad.
20. Brunch. At Cafe Ze. Can't be beat.
21. Chickens
22. Stars and Stripes, in miniature.
23. Pale Male. (The Hawk in Central Park.)
24. No. 7 Sub Shop

Going Green in DC

I recently had the opportunity to explore the green homes on the mall in Washington D.C. during the final weekend of the Solar Decathlon 2009, a global expo of homes presented by the U.S. Department of Energy. Featuring submissions by university teams from the continental U.S, Puerto Rico, and beyond, the exhibit showcased a variety of new technologies and materials to promote the idea of "Green Living." While the weather was somewhat unconducive to touring the compact homes in the exhibit, I still enjoyed exploring a number of the submissions.

 Among my favorites was the submission by Rice (pictured in the above two photos.) What was so great about this home to me was the economy of construction and feasability of their solution. Ringing in at around $100 / sf it was also one of the most affordable homes in the Decathlon and demonstrated some real potential in the "take home ideas" department. Since it was designed for a real neighborhood in Houston, TX it met the challenges of being able to conform to an actual site. A crisp modern design using inexpensive off-the-shelf materials from retailers such as IKEA and Home depot to acheive simple, clean "high design" drove home the concept. 

My favorite home in the exhibit was the so-called "Sol-Abode" presented by Team Alberta. While advanced systems were in place throughout the home, the best features were simple, yet creative design gestures such as a glass "keyway" which bisected the center of the home struck a great balance between "styling" the home and providing integrated aesthetic and functional features to meet the needs of an end user in the space. While no larger in square footage than the other submissions, the Sol Abode felt surprisingly large thanks to good space planning and those aesthetic gestures I mentioned earlier, not to mention the extra deck and roof deck space integrated into the plan.