Google Earth in 3D

I pay pretty close attention to the latest goings-on at Google. They are the most fascinating thing going in the world of readily accessible technology. I've had the good fortune to meet a few of their development people and it's not hard to see where Google gets its unassuming brilliance.

I stay pretty active in the world that revolves around SketchUp and after you've used one Google app it's not hard to see that all of their apps dovetail into one another. SketchUp bridges the gap between Google Earth and Google Maps and all three of those apps work together in ways that still amaze me.

I was reading the Google SketchUp blog yesterday and Christian Frueh and Manish Patel posted a video that shows what they've been working on over at Google Earth. Google's goal seems to be not only to map the world but to do it in 3-D.




The video shows some of the cities in California that have been rendered in 3-D on Google Earth. It's an amazing video and the technology behind those images is even more amazing.

Buildings get built in SketchUp then have facades applied to them using images that come from Google Maps' Street View. Then they get positioned and uploaded to Google Earth for the world to see. Then I think about it a little more and realize that every one of those apps and all of that imagery and all of that technology is available to anyone anywhere in the world for free. I hate to sound like I've been drinking the Kool-Aid, but thanks Google!

Google Earth
Google Maps
Google SketchUp

Questa è una prova

This is a test: 77MAUU7JD782

Field notes: the complicated counters from last spring arrive

Last May, I designed an adventurous and complicated kitchen and home office. The style was a transitional contemporary with an emphasis on the contemporary. My design was a vision of seemingly unsupported cantilevers, risers and descenders; all made from a stark white Silestone.

Well, this job has been under construction for quite a while and here it is November already. The second phase of my counter installation took place yesterday and there's one phase left to go before these counters are in completely. Like I said, this is a complicated design, clearly the most difficult to install I've ever dreamed up. Difficult, though not impossible and the counter fabricators have been an integral part of this process the whole way through. None of this would have been possible with the expertise of Cutting Edge Granite in Largo, FL; and I cannot imagine any other fabricator pulling this off.

Today's phase dealt with the large horizontal pieces that will make up the kitchen counters, the window seat (for lack of a better term) and the desk. The space where these surfaces were to be installed were unreachable by the usual means of lugging around 500-lb. slabs of counter material, so Cutting Edge brought in a crane and they hoisted each piece up in through a second floor window.

Before any of this could be installed, the engineering had to be worked out and kudos to Allan Palmer for doing the math. That "window seat" consists of a run of 9-inch tall drawers that hang 12 inches above the floor. That makes for an eight foot span supporting at least 500 pounds of Silestone plus the weight of whoever decides to actually sit on the counter when it's done. As you can see in the videos below, that engineering marvel was all but being jumped on this morning with nary a shudder. Unless you count mine. I know it can support over a thousand pounds, but it's still unnerving to watch.

So it was a productive day and everything went as planned. I cannot thank Cutting Edge enough for their skill and professionalism through this entire process. I have to thank my client too. Without whose check book none of this could happen. Just wait until you see the entertainment center I have cooked up.

The long piece that will end up as the window seat gets hoisted up to the window.

It's then caught by able hands and eased into the room.

Once it's in the window, a whole lot of yelling ensues. I think the yelling is an integral part of the process. You'd yell too if you were suddenly handed something that weighed 500 pounds and cost $5000.









And so after the dust settles down a little bit, my idea starts to take its final form. I swear, I have the best job in the world.

My secret love of laminate

Well, it's not really a secret. Done well, laminates are an important and too-easily-overlooked option when it comes to covering surfaces. At least they're easily overlooked in homes. Every time you walk into a Starbuck's, or a Panera, or a Gap or any other store or chain restaurant you can think of, you're surrounded by them.

Laminate was invented by two engineers at the Westinghouse Corporation in 1912. Back then, the mineral mica was used as an electric insulator. Daniel O'Connor and Herbert Faber set out to invent a substitute material for mica. They figured out a way to impregnate layers of kraft paper with melamine resins and then cure it under heat and pressure. Since they'd invented a replacement for mica, they called their invention Formica. O'Connor and Herbert left Westinghouse and formed the Formica Company in 1913. Their product found widespread use as a counter surface and they pretty much owned the surfaces world until DuPont rolled Corian in 1967.

I can't remember the last time I put a laminate counter in someone's home, but it's not anything I'd reject out of hand. Laminate has a place in both homes and in commercial spaces, but that place is best served when laminates are allowed to be laminates. The secret to their versatility is on how they're made. Laminates are still made from layers of kraft paper, but the top layer can be any image someone can imagine. If someone can reproduce a pattern, it can end up as a sheet of laminate.

I've used it for wall cladding, for ceiling tiles, as cabinet inserts, you name it. But the kinds of laminate patterns that interest me aren't hanging on a chip rack at Lowe's. My interest in laminate surfaces is around three years old. Three years ago, a rep walked into my office with a sample book from Arpa, an Italian laminate manufacturer.

In that sample book were some of the wildest patterns I'd ever seen. I swear, I went out and found reasons to use some of their stuff. Here's some of what I saw in that pattern book. Careful though, you'll never be the same after you see these.

Ball

Cream Charisma

Frame

Moebius

Frequency

Profile

Black and White

Romance

Texture

Tribe

Slate

Wave

I've fallen in love. With a movie theater.

So I went to  he movies last night. There's nothing unusual about that, but where I went to the movies was incredibly and wonderfully unusual. My friend Mike and I went to Tampa's brand new CineBistro theater.

CineBistro got its start over the summer in Miami. The new one in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Tampa is the second CineBistro in this market and the third in the chain. CineBistro is a venture of Cobb Theaters and there are plans underway to open additional locations in Daytona Beach, Atlanta, Savannah, suburban DC and Vail, Colorado.

CineBistro is a movie theater unlike any I've ever been in. For starters, they are a full-service and full-menu restaurant and you have to buy your tickets in advance. Your movie ticket is also your dinner reservation. The shows start later than usual, and the idea is that you should arrive a half an hour before showtime. Once you're shown to your seat, a waiter comes along and reviews the chef's specials, answers questions and takes a drink order. They have a full bar and an extensive wine list. A separate bar runner brings your drinks while the server takes your order.

As my server explained to me last night, they do not serve courses. The goal is to get all of your food in front of you before the movie starts. The menu was adventurous and very regional. By that I mean it was very Florida-specific. Churrasco, plantain fries and yellow rice are very common foods here but I wonder how they'll play in DC or Atlanta. Hmm. Anyhow, my dinner was fantastic. Any place that puts whole anchovies on a Caesar salad is A-OK in my book.

I mentioned that their goal is to have your dinner served before the movie starts and that goes for paying the bill too. The servers have handheld registers and they place your order from where they're standing. The servers have a small printer hanging from their aprons, so they swipe your credit card and print the receipt as they're standing in front of you and I thought that was pretty cool.

The theaters only accommodate around 50 people and there's an over-21 age restriction in place at all times. The seats are very wide and have two arm rests per seat. Now more arm rest wrestling. Hurray! No screaming kids. Hurray!

The public areas of the theater are beautifully done. I noticed that the chairs in  the bar were all Philippe Starck and all of the lighting was by Tech. Somebody spent a lot of money...

Anyhow, it's a fantastic idea and I can't believe no one's thought of it before. A movie theater for grown ups. What a concept. Thanks CineBistro!