Cleveland is no New York or Milan, so it may not seem to be the most ideal city in which to launch a design studio. But Objeti, Joseph Ribic’s design/manufacturing firm based in Ohio, is proving modern designers can flourish in America’s heartland. Objeti’s designs—stools, lighting, and tables—won accolades at this year’s ICFF. Ribic recently chatted about his inspiration, what it’s like working with his brother and father, and the challenges of being an upstart furniture manufacturer. Here he takes Dwell through some images of his shop, and gives us an insider’s look at the processes used to create Objeti’s pieces… (go to article)
John Carney’s eyes glowed with excitement that cold December night in 2007 at a community center on East 82nd Street. An air of triumph washed over the chairman of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority as he revealed plans for a new port that would create 25,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic development for the region. Rest easy, fellow citizens: The dawn of a new and prosperous era was upon us.
Then, in a burst of reckless arrogance, Carney announced that there would be no questions from the public, even though the meeting was held for that very reason. A manipulation of the law exempted him essentially from answering to anyone… (go to article)
Jit Kumar Gupta
Director, School of Architecture
Institute of Engineering and Technology Bhaddal, Punjab
will be giving a lecture entitled
“Chandigarh – contemporary planning challenges”
at the CUDC
1309 Euclid Ave. Suite 200 Cleveland, OH 44115
Friday, Septermber 3, 2010
12pm… (go to article)
Jim Schumacher, a reader of Cleveland Area History recently brought to my attention another condemned property of historic significance. It was outside the area that I tend to focus – mostly because I only have so much time, so the things that are close to my job or home get more attention. I drove out to look at the house, a duplex built c. 1915, a style that is seen throughout the greater Cleveland area… (go to article)
Please join us for a presentation on Chandigarh by Professor Jit Kumar Gupta, Director of the School of Architecture at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in Punjab. Professor Gupta will discuss the challenges faced by Indian urbanists and architects as they seek to adapt the city’s famous Corbusier plan to changing circumstances.
This free lecture will be this Friday, September 3 at noon at the CUDC, 1309 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200. Contact srugare@kent.edufor more information… (go to article)
During the last four years, The Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) rolled out a slew of energy savings programs. And while some early birds are feeding, hundreds of small businesses who may starve in this recession have shied away.
That concerns Nicole Stika, COSE’s Energy Program director.
“We’re providing a whole suite of products that think beyond paying utility bills,” she says. “The businesses that are doing something are already into sustainability. They’re the early adopters… (go to article)
If you drive on Interstate 90 through downtown Cleveland, you’ve surely seen the Cold Storage Warehouse, most notable at this point in time as the large flat surface used as a support for billboards. The building is located just south of the Cuyahoga River.
Built in 1927-1928, the Distribution Terminal Warehouse represented a major change in the way food was handled and distributed in greater Cleveland. This insulated cold-storage structure will be demolished to make way for the new I-90 bridge… (go to article)
Like tens of thousands of East Side commuters, I’ve driven past the looming mass of the 11-story Tudor Arms building for years without any idea of the grandeur of its interior spaces. Located on the southwest corner of Carnegie Avenue and East 107th Street, the building is a highly visible landmark that stands sentinel over a major traffic gateway to the city… (go to article)
New grants from the Fred A. Lennon Charitable Trust and the Lozick Foundation have pushed theCleveland Rowing Foundation$100,000 closer this year to the dream of establishing a public center for rowing, canoeing and kayaking on the Cuyahoga River. The foundation is negotiating a bridge loan with a bank to complete the $3 million deal to buy the former Commodore’s Club Marina on Columbus Road peninsula in the Flats. A closing is planned for mid-September… (go to article)
ReImagine a Greater Cleveland keeps the city’s deep thinkers and land-based technical experts concentrating on how to restore ecological and economic function to 3,300 vacant parcels in Cleveland (and more in the suburbs). At what was intended to be the final steering committee meeting last week, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) Director Terry Schwarz revealed some of the proposed “catalytic” projects that could offer proof of concept for theReImagine study, Pattern Book and work groups, which worked for more than a year establishing a new framework for reusing vacant land. The Cleveland Foundation has committed to funding conceptual designs for two-four projects from the ReImagine initiative… (go to article)
CLEVELAND – Local artists had a dream that came true in one Cleveland neighborhood.
Along East 156th and North Waterloo roads, crews began installing a new sculpture in front of the Arts Collinwood Center Wednesday… (go to article)
For us Average Joes and Josephines, the thought of hiring a decorator can be a little intimidating.
Evidence of the importance of interior design is all around us — entire TV networks have sprung up to support the idea in the past decade, for goodness’ sake — but wanting an attractive, cozy home does not always translate into knowing how to achieve it… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka is testing a way to board up vacant houses so they don’t look like glaring neon signs saying nobody’s home.
Pianka brought in a Chicago man who specializes in making plywood to look like doors and windows. He gets vacant homes to blend into the neighborhood and not stand out as eyesores that draw drive-by vandals as well as vagrants and kids… (go to article)
As I reported last week, the two surving houses where poet and author Langston Hughes lived in Cleveland (of an original five) have been condemned.
Yesterday, in the Plain Dealer, Sandra Livingston reported on the state of the situation regarding these important pieces of Cleveland history. She noted that the houses had been condemened in June, even though a Cleveland Landmark applicaion was pending for one of them – 2266 East 86th Street… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Planning Commission today conditionally approved the design for a downtown convention center, giving the go-ahead to slope the mall between Public Auditorium and a to-be-designed medical mart.
Members have not yet signed off on the mart building, the other half of Cuyahoga County’s $425 million, taxpayer-financed project, because they haven’t seen detailed drawings. They also want more information on the square footage and layout of the underground convention center and more frequent meetings with the county’s developer, Chicago-based MMPI… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has signed on to the Flats East Bank project, where a 150-room Aloft hotel is scheduled to open in early 2013.
The Aloft brand launched in 2008 and quickly grew to more than 40 locations, most of them in North America. A younger, sexier sibling of Starwood’s W Hotels brand, Aloft targets tech-savvy travelers and offers rooms at an average price of $125 a night. Rates have not been set yet for the Aloft Downtown Cleveland, a $20 million development being funded by international investors… (go to article)
The Eco-ttage, one of three winners in Red Hook, Brooklyn’s Conover Cottages design competition, packs a whole lot of green innovation into a limited and historically sensitive space.
Back in April, I made mention of the Conover Cottages design competition, an innovative, preservation-minded residential restoration/renovation contest taking place in Brooklyn’s Red Hook section, home to truck farms, zero-energy building projects, Kurt Vonnegut memorial composters, high-end green furniture designers, gorgeous garden centers, and last but not least, yours truly… (go to article)
Do you know what this building is or where it is located?
Be the first to identify it in the comments here and win your choice of the following books… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert has reached a deal with Forest City Enterprises to acquire land for his downtown Cleveland casino along Huron Road next to Tower City Center.
Gilbert’s Rock Gaming LLC will acquire about 16 acres from Forest City, including land immediately adjacent to Tower City and part of the Riverview parking lot, the two companies announced today. The companies have also agreed on a mulityear lease for the Higbee Building, where Gilbert hopes to open a “Phase 1″ casino as early as next year while moving forward with development of the main casino… (go to article)
My wife, Laura, and I are taking a carless vacation to the Boston area. We are giving rail and public trans a good work through, and below you will find some musings and images detailing what it is we are up against and what it is we will find… (go to article)
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