Thinking Big: Four Visions of a New Penn Station

By ROBIN POGREBIN

Published: May 28, 2013

The Municipal Art Society asked four design firms to draw big: Reimagine the ideal Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden. “We think it’s an important part of the process, for people to start to see ideas,” said Vin Cipolla, the society’s president, in an interview. “The present station isn’t sustainable — it can’t meet the needs of New Yorkers and the needs of the region.”

The proposals — by Diller Scofidio & Renfro, SHoP Architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture — will be introduced on Wednesday at the TimesCenter. All plans expect the new station to include high-speed rail.

The Madison Square Garden Company, owned by the Dolan family, has asked to renew its permit for the site in perpetuity. The New York City Planning Commission last week voted to limit it to 15 years. Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, and Community Board 5 have recommended a 10-year term. The City Council has two months to vote on the commission’s ruling before it becomes law.

H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture

H3 HARDY COLLABORATION ARCHITECTURE Moves the entire complex to the West Side waterfront at 34th Street, creates an elevated bike and pedestrian promenade and turns Pier 76 into a new 16-acre park. “It’s an opportunity to do more than just fix things,” Hugh Hardy, a founding partner, said.

Diller Scofidio & Renfro

DILLER SCOFIDIO & RENFRO Moves Madison Square Garden across Eighth Avenue next to the James A. Farley Post Office building; Penn Station becomes a multilevel public space with amenities like a spa and a theater. “We’re making waiting a kind of virtue,” said Elizabeth Diller, a principal of the firm. “In New York, we’re always late and we think of waiting as a waste. How could you turn that into a positive attribute and actually come there early and spend more time?”

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

SKIDMORE, OWINGS & MERRILL Moves Madison Square Garden off site and expands the station to four city blocks from two. Above ground: green space four times the size of Bryant Park; housing twice the size of Tudor City; more offices than Rockefeller Center; and more cultural spaces than Lincoln Center. “We saw Madison Square Garden as a sideshow,” said Roger Duffy, a design partner. “The primary purpose of the site is for the public and transportation.”

SHoP

SHoP ARCHITECTS Expands the existing site with a lightweight concrete structure that is meant to evoke the old Penn Station and seeks to make the station a social meeting spot. “When’s the last time you heard someone say, ‘Let’s meet for a drink at Penn Station?'” asked Vishaan Chakrabarti, a principal. “People say that about Grand Central all the time.”

A version of this article appeared in print on May 29, 2013, on page C7 of the New York edition with the headline: Thinking Big: 4 Visions of a New Penn Station.

Seeing Art Through Austen’s Eyes

Marsha Miller

A preview of the exhibition "What Jane Saw."

By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER

Published: May 24, 2013

On May 24, 1813, Jane Austen went to a crowded art gallery on Pall Mall in London, looking for Mrs. Darcy.

“I dare say Mrs. D. will be in yellow,” Austen wrote that morning to her sister, referring to the romantic heroine whose happy ending she had sketched out in “Pride and Prejudice,” published four months earlier.

She came back disappointed, having failed to spot a ringer for the former Elizabeth Bennet among the actresses, aristocrats, royal mistresses and assorted well-married ladies on the gallery walls, which were covered with portraits by Joshua Reynolds. “I can only imagine that Mr. D prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye,” Austen wrote jokingly later that evening.

But now, precisely 200 years later, an ambitious online exhibition called “What Jane Saw” will allow modern-day Janeiacs to wander through a meticulous reconstruction of the exhibition and put themselves, if not quite in Austen’s shoes, at least behind her eyes.

“It’s the closest thing to time travel on the Web,” said Janine Barchas, an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, who led the project.

Such time travel is on a lot of Austen fans’ minds in this year of global celebration of the 200th anniversary of “Pride and Prejudice.” And “What Jane Saw,” which went live just before midnight London time on Thursday, can be seen as a scholarly answer to extravagant bicentennial reanimations like the Netherfield ball, the BBC’s recent staging of the dance where Darcy and Elizabeth shared some pivotal banter.

But a reconstruction of the Reynolds show would be of interest, scholars say, even if Austen had never gone anywhere near it. It was the first commemorative museum show dedicated to a single artist, and perhaps the first modern blockbuster, attracting as many as 800 people a day. There were celebrities in the crowd — both Lord Byron and the prince regent attended the red carpet opening — and also on the walls, where the first thing visitors saw were portraits of George III, the reigning monarch, and the theatrical grande dame Sarah Siddons, juxtaposed in an Annie Leibovitz-like array.

The exhibition “was a wonderful moment in the history of celebrity culture,” said Joseph Roach, a professor of theater and English at Yale University and the author of “It” (2007), a cultural history of the charisma that distinguishes “abnormally interesting” people. “There was a new kind of royalty emerging.”

And Austen, Ms. Barchas said, would have been as interested in that new royalty as any modern reader gobbling up TMZ updates about Kate Middleton and Brangelina. In her recent book, “Matters of Fact in Jane Austen,” Ms. Barchas traces the way Austen wove sly nods to actresses, artists, parliamentarians and scandal-ridden aristocrats into her novels — almost “in the spirit of a preteen adorning a bedroom with Justin Bieber posters,” as one reviewer put it.

Ms. Barchas’s celebrity-centric reading of Austen is part of a growing body of scholarship that emphasizes the worldly, history-minded side of a writer long seen as a country mouse preoccupied with timeless truths. But assembling “What Jane Saw” required meticulousness more typical of construction engineers than of paparazzi.

The gallery, in a building that was subsequently demolished, was recreated using the 3-D modeling software SketchUp, based on precise measurements recorded in an 1860 book. Ms. Barchas and her team then spent a summer working out how the 141 paintings listed in a 20-page pamphlet sold at the exhibition were arranged on the walls, a process that involved a lot of Rubik’s Cube-like playing around.

“I feel pretty sure this is the way the exhibit was actually hung,” Ms. Barchas said.

Seeing the pictures on virtual walls, scholars who have visited the Web site say, reveals juicy “hidden narratives” that the viewers of 1813, including Austen, would have picked up on. Portraits of the prince regent and his mistress, for example, were kept at a discreet remove, while an image of George III was hung cheekily close to a painting based on “King Lear,” a play whose performance was essentially forbidden at the time, lest it raise uncomfortable thoughts about the current monarch’s madness.

“You can imagine what it would’ve been like as an early-19th-century viewer of this kind of painting as theater,” said Devoney Looser, an Austen specialist at the University of Missouri (who, perhaps not incidentally, appears in her local roller derby as Stone Cold Jane Austen). “That would have been a really exciting part of life then.”

Ms. Barchas’s team at the university’s Texas Advanced Computing Center is exploring a “gamified” version of the project, involving 3-D goggles that allow full immersion, including an option of bringing viewers’ angle of vision in line with Austen’s own. (Among the details still to be worked out: was Austen, who was described as tall and slender, closer to 5-foot-4 or 5-foot-8?)

If the notion of a Wii-ready Austen offends purists, others may be happy to see 21st-century technology harnessed in the service of the Divine Miss Jane.

Ms. Barchas recalled a recent conversation with a programmer working on the project’s metadata: “He said, ‘O.K., I’m going to go home now and tell my mother-in-law that I have not been wasting all these years working with computers, because now I am working on Jane Austen.’ ”

A version of this article appeared in print on May 25, 2013, on page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Seeing Art Through Austen’s Eyes.

倫敦-台北 品牌顧問公司

留學日記：台灣女孩在倫敦追逐創業夢

英國布魯奈爾大學國際新聞研究生 朱思翰

更新時間 2013年 5月 20日, 星期一 - 格林尼治標準時間11:22

勇敢追逐創業夢的劉佳昕

最近倫敦伯爵宮(Earls Court)舉辦了「Pulse」設計展，而設立在入口位置的台灣專區成為展場中的焦點。但可能沒人注意到，台灣專區的策展人，竟然是一個年紀輕輕的女孩，而她就是在英國完成碩士學業、勇敢追逐創業夢的台灣女孩劉佳昕。

我有機會結識了劉佳昕，了解到她幾年前才從布魯內爾大學(Brunel University)的設計策略與創新碩士(MA Design Strategy and Innovation)畢業，之後在英國工作幾年後創立了自己的品牌顧問公司，從協助台灣偶像劇在英國的拍攝，到規劃設計展或時尚秀，都是她的工作範疇。

相關内容

• 「品味台灣」：台灣設計產業的國際發展
• 海外生存之惑：創業篇

佳昕說，剛開始成立公司時也是跌跌撞撞，但經過不停的努力，成功的果實讓一切辛苦都值得了。她說：「其實我這個人比較固執，但我覺得如果撐過了就是你的，所以這一切就這樣開始了。」
品牌策略
之所以會來英國求學，佳昕說是因為在台灣讀大學時就接觸了一些品牌識別的概念，這種概念在當時的亞洲還是很新穎的，業主不大會接受這麼理論的東西，所以她才決定要到另一個設計產業較為成熟的國家，嘗試看看自己能夠做些什麼不一樣的事情。
佳昕表示，當初選擇布魯內爾大學的品牌相關科系，而非如聖馬丁等學院的設計科系，是因為她認為品牌的課 程長遠來看是比較有發展性的，並且若有機會進入英國業界實習，對於未來是更有幫助的。她說：「雖然品牌聽起來不是很具體，但因為這個學門的面相比較多，所 以像我有設計的背景再加上品牌後，就把自己的路打開了，而且能夠發展更廣。」
但成功之前總是要經過一番掙扎，佳昕也說：「以前找工作不順利的時候，會想說乾脆回台灣算了，在台灣找工作也沒很難，沒必要留在這裏吃苦。但我仔細想想，覺得事情應該不只這樣，因為大家都可以出來唸書，但能夠留下來工作的人卻又有幾個呢？」
下定決心後，佳昕開始在英國的一些設計相關公司工作，並在碩士之後還自行加強了行銷的課程，因為她說， 台灣的設計教育在美學的部分做得很完整，但是卻缺乏在商業上的連結，導致有些設計師和商人無法溝通。佳昕說：「這也是為什麼歐洲的設計走入市場不大容易走 錯路，因為他們不會設計歸設計，美學歸美學，生意歸生意。」
創業之初
在英國工作五年後，佳昕發現她很喜歡英國的工作環境，她說，「英國人很懂得去欣賞你想要做的東西，都是以比較正面的方式在跟你合作，所以我覺得這樣的工作環境比較能夠激勵人，讓人做事。」
但她也在思考，「如果走出一個把自己保護的好好的公司獨立創業，會面對怎樣的情景。」所以在與朋友仔細地討論與思考後，她決定離開原本的工作自己創業。
佳昕表示：「因為之前的工作機緣有些基礎，但創業不是這麼簡單當設計師而已，很多事情都要注意，不過還 是想要嘗試看看。」她說，希望公司能成為一個亞洲及英國之間的橋樑，交流兩邊品牌的發展；也就是說把台灣的好設計，甚至是中國大陸或香港的好設計帶到英國 來，同時也帶一些新的想法回亞洲。」
她說，「因為我們沒有真的資本，所以只能用我們會的東西，像是做網站或雜誌的設計與編輯，又或者是做一些跟品牌相關的設計，看如何能把台灣的品牌用美學的方式介紹到歐洲來。」
「一開始我設計了一個網站，把過去我做過的或是手邊的一些案例先放到網站上，讓客戶知道我的公司具有什麼樣的技能與實力，藉此來更進一步討論業務上合作與發展的方向。」
「其實很多時候我們都還是在摸索，有些事情一開始沒有想到的，再慢慢去轉換，抓一些新的方向。借著一次 又一次的練習，我從中慢慢學習到，跟客戶討論的時候，要考慮到什麼樣的重點，因為首先要知道他們的定位及市場趨向，然後進一步去想下面要做的事情，並了解 到哪些點和設計是不相關的。」
累積經驗
談到是否建議其他留學生在未來創業時，佳昕也給了相當中肯的建議。她說：」如果真的已經很確定你想要做 什麼，那你再來創業。這相當的重要，因為很多人之所以創業是因為不知道自己留在這邊能做什麼，所以只好自己「創業」看看接下來怎麼辦。我覺得這是很不對的 想法，若沒有去想過要怎麼去運作這些事情，不論是時間或金錢，在各方面來講都是一種浪費。」
「另外就是要思考大環境是否適合你想要做的這件事情，因為如果不適合的話會非常辛苦。還有手邊資金是否 可以讓你順利撐過第一年也很重要，因為一開始都是在賠錢，更何況如果想要用自己設計商品去做品牌來賣，不論是產品化或通路都需要很大的一筆費用，要成功最 少要三五年，所以我還是建議先找個工作並存一筆錢，觀察並了解市場的運作方式後，再決定要不要創業。」
佳昕持續不斷的努力，使她在今年Pulse設計展中爭取到規劃台灣專區的機會。Pulse是由英國第二大展覽公司Clarion籌備，每年於倫敦舉辦的大型禮品設計展，在此盛大的活動與英國當地企業連手出擊，也代表了佳昕的努力已經獲得英國業界的肯定。
佳昕同時也鼓勵留學生們，畢業後留在英國創業並非不可能，在仔細思考之後勇敢追夢，才有可能築夢踏實。

紀念曼德拉在1962年8月6日被捕下獄50週年

公共藝術
 
位於約翰尼斯堡的一座公共空間創作藝術，
側看完全不知道是什麼東西。               

近看還是看不出名堂，               

 這樣呢？有比較清楚了！               

 這是為紀念曼德拉在1962年8月6日被捕下獄50週年，
 所創作的一件藝術作品，真是不可思議啊！               

倫敦Pancras街的三臥頂層閣樓公寓(Thomas Griem)

倫敦地標閣樓公寓的生活化設計

來自TG-Studio設計工作室的設計師Thomas Griem設計完成的這套位于倫敦Pancras街的三臥頂層閣樓公寓，佔據了倫敦這幢地標建築的西塔三層。據悉，這座閣樓的歷史可以追溯到 1873 年，具有當時新文藝復興風格的外觀設計，可以居高俯視倫敦全城。
　　設計師Thomas Griem認為“設計源于生活，也服務于生活。”鑒于業主要將這套標準的住宅改為具有私人特色的豪華寓所意圖，這位“基于生活的貼心設計理念”的設計師維 持了住宅平面格局的大致不變，但是將所有的樓梯、欄桿扶手以及空間的功能分區進行了重新設計和布局，並將全新改造的閣樓內部打造成以橡木作為主體的支撐與 裝飾，輔以現代主義的極簡線條與家具選擇。
　　主臥室位于公寓頂樓，在公寓入口處通過一部全新的旋轉樓梯可以到達，這部新樓梯環繞著橡木包裹的儲藏室。設計師對這一層空間進行了擴展和分區， 設置了由項目和羊皮革打造的步入式衣櫥。主臥室呈開放式設計，但可以通過控制三倍客廳高度的自動化簾幕來獲得相應的隱私，由大理石板打造兩間浴室位于哥特 風格的尖頂之上。