The purpose of the event  is to “bring together historians, architects, industrial designers and visionaries in the fields of science fiction, film, theater and future studies to explore the ways the future has been imagined over time.”

Registration is now open and registration information is available online.

Panelists will discuss the guiding principles of designers of the 20th century and today, creative works that have inspired their visions of the future, efforts to market these visions to the public and developments in transportation design.

Panel topics include: “Imagining the Future,” “Designing the Future,” “Marketing the Future,” “Motorways in the Twentieth Century and Today” and “Today’s Visions for Tomorrow.”  The panelists will be Donald Albrecht, curator of architecture and design at the Museum of the City of New York; Alan Hess, San Jose Mercury News architectural critic and columnist; Alexandra Lange, architecture and design critic; Phil Patton, author of “Open Road”; and Tom Vanderbilt, author of “Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us).”

The keynote address will be delivered by Bruce Sterling, futurist and author of “Shaping Things” and “Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years”  and will be open to the public and available on webcast.

The exhibition “I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America” will also be on display and explores the career of Norman Bel Geddes (1893-1958), an innovative stage and industrial designer, futurist and urban planner who created and promoted a dynamic vision of the future — streamlined, technocratic and optimistic. The exhibition brings together never-before-exhibited drawings, models, photographs and films from the Ransom Center’s Bel Geddes collection.

If you wish more information, contact Jennifer Tisdale, Harry Huntt Ransom Humanities Research Center at 512 471 8949  or Alicia Dietrich, Harry Huntt Ransom Humanities Research Center,  512-232-366.

Waller Creek is an important but neglected feature of downtown Austin and the whole effort to upgrade the path of the stream is looked upon as one of the largest such projects in the nation.

The four finalist groups are:

1. CMG and Public Architecture
2. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and Thomas Phifer & Partners
3. Turenscape and Lake|Flato Architects
4. Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape Architect, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects and Rogers Marvel Architects

We look forward to seeing who has the winning design in the near future.

This coming Tuesday, April 24th, the Dallas Center for Architecture is holding a panel discussion on the merits of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava.   Some critics have called it “the bridge to nowhere.”  Taking the opposite proposition, the panel discussion is entitled “The Bridge to Somewhere” and will focus on West Dallas and what will happen to it post-bridge. Panelists will include David Whitley from Dallas CityDesign Studio and the West Dallas Plan; John Brown, architect for Phil Romano’s restaurant incubator Trinity Groves; and Nick Troilo, West Dallas “pioneer” and owner of The Workroom.

The discussion will undoubtedly be lively.  Cost is $10 at the door.

Date: April 24, 2012

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Dallas Center for Architecture
1909 Woodall Rodgers Frwy.
Suite 100
Dallas, Texas 75201

Photo credit: Gustavo Rios

Please feel free to leave a comment on my blog here if you have any questions.

Photo credit: xedos4

The latest entry is titled “Contractor Disclosure Statement” and covers the vital information that you need to receive from your contractor. It details your rights, responsibilities, and risks in this transaction. Certainly a valuable document to understand.

You can find all of the Homeowner Resources here.