Last week I was lucky to attend a function that hummed with expectation. Looking around the make-shift lecture hall within the pier facility, I noted the collection of people to be well informed residents, realtors, hospitality business men, museum representatives, shipping union heads, neighboring local government officials, preservationists, environmentalists,  [...]]]>

Existing Plan of Union Pier

Last week I was lucky to attend a function that hummed with expectation. Looking around the make-shift lecture hall within the pier facility, I noted the collection of people to be well informed residents, realtors, hospitality business men, museum representatives, shipping union heads, neighboring local government officials, preservationists, environmentalists,  the Charleston Mayor Joe Riley among others.

The presentation was made by Jack Robertson of Cooper Robertson & Partners.  Peter Rumell is the Developer Advisor.  Rawle Murdy is the Communication Outreach Representative.  Mr. Jack made an informative and exciting urban planning presentation in a North Eastern draw flavored with an Ivy League accent.  He was so passionate about idea that he frequently escaped the radius of the microphone and an A/V aid would have to chase Mr. Jack until he just unhooked the mic and gave it to Mr. Jack to hold.

Things noted that  Mr. Jack said:

This project is about: Traffic, Context, Scale, Valuable Land, A Reconnection to Water, A Historic Front Door, A New Terminal.

A key aspect is that pick-ups and drop-offs will occur withing Port Authority property.

Other important elements this considers are: Residential, Commercial, Hotel and Retail.

This site is surrounded by neighborhoods such as: The French Quarter, Helston Village, Mazyck Waggborough Garden and Ansonbough.

Main Streets and their Function within Charleston: King = Retail, Meeting Street = Hospitality, Market Street = Regional Arts, East Bay = Restaurants, Broad Street = Business & Government.

Streets Washington and Concord Street are being looked at as part of the drop-off and pick-up scenarios and they have more exploration to do to see the best solution.  Washington Street is a more straight forward solution while Concord presents an unique chance to create residential blocks around it.

The Port Authority is still in discussion with BMW, so it is unclear the time frame that this project  may be achieved.  (I am thinking this is a 15-20 plan.)

The Prize Key Element:  A Historic Front Door.  This is to be achieved by tearing down the warehouses along the river, restoring the street view to the river view.  The building most impacted with this restoration will be the Federal Customs House.  It will ultimately need a  dredging of the area in front of the  Customs House.

Unique smatterings of history,  which will most likely result in new books, museums (such as the African-American museum expansion) and tourism,  to be covered in this newly recaptured area are the stories of the private successful business owners and merchants who owned the slips along the river throughout history and the relationship with the African-American Mosquito Fleet who helped the big boats navigate and provide other essential services to those on the Ashley and Cooper River.

So that was my afternoon on February 9th.  It is going to be very exciting to watch this develop.  Hopefully, I can be a part of it.  Reopening vistas to the river and reclaiming the shore land will only enhance and expand residential offerings to the town. I believe it will make the downtown area more hospitable to both native and tourist alike steeped in Charlestonian history as always.

And a final note,  this project is a ONE SHIP PORT for origination and port-calls.  It needs to be able to handle the REAL luxury sized liners for a certain QUALITY of tourist who spends quality time in Charleston. They are the ones who will generate more business to the existing hospitality haunts when the ship needs to be turned around and restocked which allows the cruise ship patrons to explore, dine and overnight in Charleston whether they are waiting to embark or disembark or port-call visit.  I also believe that the City of Charleston and the Port Authority needs to keep the  weekend party boats, who party at a discount, to a minimum.

New Urban Plan of Union Pier in Charleston

Well, here we are, just  a day or two before the Christmas Eve.  And what an easy way to create an elegant centerpiece! A bag or two of cranberries, a dozen of green apples and a half a dozen red roses.  That should take some of the finishing stresses off the shoulders!

My last [...]]]>

Easy Centerpiece

Well, here we are, just  a day or two before the Christmas Eve.  And what an easy way to create an elegant centerpiece! A bag or two of cranberries, a dozen of green apples and a half a dozen red roses.  That should take some of the finishing stresses off the shoulders!

My last minute items included gift shopping/making,  wrapping and making a much abbreviated cookie list.  Favorites for others are raspberry brownies and apricot bars.  Easy appetizers: the family favorite of chili and current sauced meatballs.  New discovery: Scallops sauteed in sesame oil after marinating in a ginger teriaky sauce for two hours with sesame seeds and scallions on top.  Christmas Cards….I never was very good at them.  So I decided all older relatives who are not socially networked will still get theirs.  And important people who made my year always get little handmade gifts, personally delivered.  All others will get on via the web.  Now that is quick and GREEN too!  Only thing left to do which is always stress is to wrap the gifts for the little ones which has to happen when they are asleep.  So I think that should leave enough time to spend with friends and family who celebrate!

ECCE MUNDI GAUDIUM! ECCE SOLUS GENTIUM! VIRGO PARIT FILIUM! SINE VIOLENTIA! AVE, VIRGO, REGINA! DEI PLENA GRATIA!

Color of the Year 2010

Clients insist on quick overall success rather than perfect accomplishment of (small) task; Use technology to support an alternative process selection; Neutrals animated by bright touched of color; Saving the environment, especially water; Light Therapy; Colors that enlarge spaces; Luminosity/clarity/white washed; Shapes with indispensable thickness (volume). Fashion without constraint without [...]]]>

Kate in Ruling Class Blue

Clients insist on quick overall success rather than perfect accomplishment of (small) task; Use technology to support an alternative process selection; Neutrals animated by bright touched of color; Saving the environment, especially water; Light Therapy; Colors that enlarge spaces; Luminosity/clarity/white washed; Shapes with indispensable thickness (volume).
Fashion without constraint without cost: peer-to-peer, have it all right now with a fair price; need to feel involved as equal partners or even consultants of the brand; feels good to save money and create ‘outfits’ from eclectic array of garments; mixing textile and pattern; basic simple shapes that last over time; finishing or accessories must be original; invites consumers to vote for favorite; free samples; brand to express self rather than fool (storefront) for presenting products, audience fascinated by lively presence of images, colors-royal blue/acid green/bronze/grey/black/red, unlimited access to free fashion; maverick-against establishment/ acceptance of complexity/ become an individual, consumers in transit-new form of social ability is forming; new observation shows changing self awareness; new ecology is emerging (relationships/values and attitudes); tailor-made technology is the ultimate luxury item; technology that inspires a more personalized human dialog; invisible technology; getting back down to earth/raw talent/beauty; the real you (inner strength); revival of unsophisticated pleasures pushing limits of ordinary life; mass consumption is disappearing; personalization appearing; consumer wants to run with the crowd but must speak to the consumer as individuals; consumers need to be seen as unique; pampered, conscious consumption-strive for ethical enlightenment to guide buying decisions; desire and choice based on need; taste and conscious not simple extravagance; to be pragmatic and modest; remaining realistic while pursuing goals; consumer values for a better holistic global understanding; choice fatigue-too much endless product options has lead the consumer to choice fatigue; no longer value products that are low-end and short lived; product usage not just a possession but is a re-emerging axiom for the future-alternative trading/recycling/exchanging/bartering/free economy; alternative services-intelligent convenient solution services for niche markets; alternative marketing-non-consumption/no choice/no fairytale, exclusivity/limited editions-twice a year rollouts; one shot products with unique packaging in disruption with the visual codes of the brand-yet still decipherable as belonging to it; stay-cations, organizing-garages, bedrooms, linen closets.
Style-vision

Late May 2009, I had one of those family emergencies that changes daily life… for a very longtime. Since that discovery, I have been helping that elderly relative  regain her home by providing accessible space to assist in her rehabilitation and navigating various caregivers and the professional medical community. Without a doubt [...]]]>

Late May 2009, I had one of those family emergencies that changes daily life… for a very longtime. Since that discovery, I have been helping that elderly relative  regain her home by providing accessible space to assist in her rehabilitation and navigating various caregivers and the professional medical community. Without a doubt I can surmise that caring for an elder in the family is much more stressful than caring for a child.
Things that I learned:

Changing appliances out for new ones causes stress in an elder’s routine.  It might be user friendly but relearning buttons and programs is trouble with a capital T.  Have you ever heard term “Can’t teach and old dog new tricks”.

Bathrooms have to be considered very carefully….even if you design tons of them for a living.  I was so proud at putting in emergency call buttons and grab bars  only to be told by a PT to put in a transfer bench  and elder in question wanted another grab bar I had not considered.  Humbling.

American Medical Alarms Co. barely cover the scenarios in which I needed their help.  Please note  it is a ONE-WAY SYSTEM.  And  if elder presses button and announces it was a false alarm, the company DOES NOT CALL YOU….even if you request it.

And everything you do will change the natural habitat of the elder and will cause anger and frustration…at first…for a while…If  you are caring or designing for an elder who is a pack  rat you will change that space for safety and cause the whole house to NOT FEEL LIKE THEIRS.

Companion Care 24/7 averages about $13,000 a month.  Can I repeat that.  BREATHE TAKING…this  does not include the household maintenance bills.  Organizing for another to live as independently as possible can take from two to six hours a day.  And the days you have nothing going on ….all is well.  And the days you need to concentrate on say…a design project, a meeting, a daughter’s birthday….forget about it.  It is very hindering to a profitable life.

Synopsis: realize that specifications and ergonomics are not the only thing affected…the other factors are immeasurable and should be noted with frequency in all design guides/classes for Aging in Place.

A week before the Spring Holiday, I had an appointment set up to meet the designer who put the St. Helena’s Tour together. Living in Charleston and having parents in Beaufort, I offered to meet her in her town and she suggested this lovely little restaurant called Wren. Little did [...]]]>

Wren in Beaufort South Carolina

A week before the Spring Holiday, I had an appointment set up to meet the designer who put the St. Helena’s Tour together. Living in Charleston and having parents in Beaufort, I offered to meet her in her town and she suggested this lovely little restaurant called Wren. Little did we know that a spat of bad weather, a round of early morning lectures, an impromptu client meeting and a voice mail box that had yet to be set up on a fairly new cell phone (mine) would cause us a bit of confusion and no meeting!

Finding myself without an appointment, I called my parents and they had stopped their day to meet me at Wren to have a quick visit and a great lunch. I had a sandwich and some tea and they had wine and a dessert. (It was 2.20 pm by the time we were seated and they had had lunch already.) The desert ordered was a triple chocolate mousse that was just wonderful! (Mom shares a few bites with me.) If I get to go there again, I am saving room for that choco-treat!

The restaurant was surprisingly busy and bustling even on that dreary day. Many couples in Beaufort out and about enjoying a casual lunch tete-a-tete, in small groups or tucked in having a bar lunch while watching a game or a show with Gullah subtitles.

On the design side I felt that I walked into neutrally schemed, urban and sophisticated West Coast meets South Carolina farm. The drapes are of seagrass, rough hewn benches and mixed in with metal chairs of the forties or fifties sans the paint with drink tables that looked like they might have been in a wood workshop or a potter’s studio. These were set on a shiny floor of terrazzo with exposed brick walls and ceiling with metal trusses and HVAC systems in aluminum and steel. The pillows on the long bench and tall chairs were done in burlap. The lighting had the feel of utility and function accented in steel and glass. The bar seats also had a woven theme. At the entry, the table was wrapped in hemp rope displaying a minimal flower arrangement while the bistro seating, across the way was set up with wooden crossed-backed chairs and crisp white table clothes. The other side was more formal with banquet seating separated by the bar and kitchen from the bistro side holding a deli and a small collection of wine for sale as well as the restrooms. Behind the bistro area was a great big chalk board with the Wren logo drawn in chalk. Dare I ask the designer again and chose the same spot? I would really like to get that triple chocolate mouse all to myself while networking and talking design.

Entrance at Wren