h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh, now that's a thought. Of course, if Frank Lloyd Wright won, we'd have to tell his estate, and I don't think they'd like that.

We'll have to make up a really impressive certificate, and try to get TP to sign it. And we could make up a trophy design. I vote Malabarista for the trophy design - she has so much experience with BS Johnson-type things already.

My resident kibitzer (=Kiebitz) suggests a Klein bottle. There's a guy in the US who manufactures them.

What was the 'lambanana'? Was that your sheep stall?

I meant the Superlambbanana suggested by Vamster (about 2 dots back)


Why on earth does everyone assume i'm competent? I hate it when that happens...

As for the estate not being happy - if they like TP, they'll have a sense of humour, if not they'll be happy for the prize...

House Farnsworth by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe:
http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/f3.jpg
one of the most important pieces of modern architecture (many people say)
it is nearly entirely out of glass, also the walls inside, so all pieces of furniture where visible in the whole house and it was very hot in the summer (mosquitos...) and right next to the house is a parking lot and all people could look into the house

Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/savoye/savoye3.jpg
bath tub: http://mapage.noos.fr/romanos/photos/savoye/019.jpg
1. It must be a grandiose design. No half measures. very famous example
2. The design must utterly fail to do what it is supposed to do. should be a house which can be built in every climate; I told you about the leaking roof and the frozen bath tub
3. The design must contain emergent properties: that is, it must do something utterly unexpected.
4. The design must illustrate some previously unsuspected, but utterly astonishing, truth about the universe, revealed in the most insulting way possible. it is impossible to design an universally valid thing
5. The design should be aesthetically pleasing. (The last criterion is open to debate.)

There was a cathedral somewhere in England built in th e middle ages that was supposed to have a stone dome for a roof but collapsed so often they made the dome out of wood and just painted it like stone... I'll try to find it!

sounds nice

.. back to the shape of the award: we need something very symbolic, is there a thing which never works but looks great? There has to be something.

Looks great but never works?
That would be a millionaire's wife!

You know, we should really take that, it's fitting. Which name do you give her?

That's why I suggest a Klein bottle, since it's a three-dimensional Moebius strip. But maybe somebody can think of something else?

I notice we all hate Bauhaus mistakes. Here's one from the twenties that I DO like - NOT an entry in the contest, just thought you'd like it, too. It's in Potsdam (Germany, not NY).

http://www.archinform.net/projekte/876.htm?ID=e75El3fbyh7aerlg

I have the perfect trophy!


I present: the gilded Barbie doll!

It was designed to look good, but medical students have found out that if she were real, she'd have to walk on all fours and would die when she first had her period, not to mention having babies...

And it would be called the Barbie Stupid Johnson Award of course...

... what about a hard boiled egg ? ...

You mean as in truth, justice, reasonably priced love and a?

yes ... at least you could say it tells us something about the universe!



maybe

Ooh yes, let's get philosophical and claim it says that man will always worry about his next meal along with abstract ideals... And the hard-boiled egg completely fails to fulfill the purpose it was designed for !

<>

Ooh, uncomfortable...

How does a hard-boiled egg fail to fulfill the purpose it was designed for? (Sorry; feeling dim.)

The egg was designed to be nourishment and a safe home for a live chicken in the making - boiling quite undoes all that!

! I see, said the blind man.

But since chickens produced far in excess of the number of eggs they need, and since not all of them are fertilised, the 'extra' eggs serve the purpose of human nourishment.

Does that make the hard-boiled egg a proof for the existence of god?

By the way, I like the Barbie-Doll idea, but beware: Mattel has killer lawyers. They sue all the people who use Barbie dolls for artistic purposes.

OK, then an almost but not quite utterly unlike Barbie award!

I like it.

Maybe we could completely mix genres and have a Nutrimatic drinks machine.

what is going on here?lol I've read the blog and have just become mor and more confuddled by the minute

so, let's get this straight: We're going to get a gilded Barbie Doll trophy and send it to the winning architect?

Yup, i think the nutrimatic definately qualifies

T&M: where was it we were disscussing the Meaning of Liff? I am now enlightened!