23 May 2011

Things I Like

Running - actually that's a lie but I force myself to do - so I can continue to eat chocolate! Just a little over 2 weeks ago my friend Celine signed us up to run the Hairy Haggis Relay at the Edinburgh Marathon - it's two 5 mile legs and two 8 mile legs - so yesterday I spent most of the day either on a bus, waiting to run or running. I managed my 8 miles in 1 hour and 20 mins - was hoping to be faster but it was really windy and rained heavily a couple of times whilst I was running. Overall the 4 of us in the team managed the marathon in 4 hours and 1 minute.




I first saw it in a copy of Living Etc and decided that I wanted one for my living room - there are quite a few red accents in the living room - a ghost candelabra and a couple of cushions so it was just perfect - and the price also seemed pretty good. So now it resides on my shelving unit in the living room.


My new sunglasses - bought in TK Maxx on Saturday morning. I have a narrow face so it is often hard to get glasses that suit me - these ones I love!

The V&A at Dundee:


This is the big project in Dundee at the moment that we are looking to raise £45M to build - having a branch of the acclaimed Victoria & Albert Museum (often considered the best design museum in the world and resident in Kensington, London) in Dundee to host their large scale exhibits and to promote the heritage of Scottish design and its impact on the world stage - think Pringle Jumpers, Jean Muir fashion, Charles Rennie Mackintosh architecture to name a few (oh and of course the television and the telephone).

Following an international design competition Kengo Kuma & Associates, architects from Tokyo were chosen to design the building - see the image above and this weekend Kengo Kuma himself was in Dundee to give a series of public lectures. I went on both Friday night and Saturday night to hear him speak and left inspired.....and excited to be working on the project.

Kengo Kuma explained how he loves to use local materials, how 21st century architecture should blend with its surroundings, how fantastic he thinks the site for the V&A at Dundee is, how he loved the flow around the site of water, wind and light, how the 21st century museum should act as a living room for the city and is about more than just the physical content. It will be an amazing addition to Dundee....it will revitalise the city.

Anyone know any millionaires that would like to make their mark on a city? Here's a short video showing you the proposed developments. The beige buildings are the ones that are there already and the coloured ones are those that we hope will be developed as part of the waterfront regeneration - and the V&A at Dundee goes a long way to helping us achieve that!


(And before anyone asks - the dolphins are wild and live in the River Tay.)

Kengo Kuma has designed a host of beautiful buildings in Japan, China and France. These include the Suntory Museum of Art, whose floors are made from reclaimed oak whisky barrels, the Nezu Museum, the Bamboo House at the Great Wall of China and the Nagasaki Art Museum. Browse his website for some amazing buildings!

His buildings are aesthetically stunning and images drew many gasps of delight from the assembled crowd on Saturday.

To the future of Dundee!!

6 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Wow, that museum looks like an amazing project. I wish I were a millionaire -- I'd like to leave my mark on Dundee! ;-)

Unknown said...

Lovely future project! Incredible...it will be a great touristic point!
And congratulations for that running mark...all that run are my heroes..it is something I cannot...so

Bethany said...

I love the video and totally agree with Kuma's philosophy on architecture. You live in a beautiful city! I was still living in Cincinnati when they were developing the waterfront along the Ohio River and it was exciting to hear the artists speak on the development and see that materialize (though Newport, Kentucky on the other side did a much better job!). Congrats on your marathon! Now chocolate is definitely in order!

Bethany said...

Ooh... I love that lamp too! So much in this post that I wanted to comment on!

mariannealice said...

The relay marathon sounds like fun- what a great way to complete one with friends.Congratulations on the result! Since I have been told in no uncertain terms that I should not be running really long distances then this could be the answer....(for now my first sprint distance Triathlon is next weekend- just a bit apprehensive about the open lake swim. And the bike leg. But not the run...)

scott davidson said...
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