apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Revin' up. Out of the dumps of December, H & H is ready for the new year with their 2005 User's Manual (acutally, the last two issues were good too). With a stunning cover to rival a shelter magazine (we hear rumours that this is to continue), and sharply written and comprehensive surveys of the furniture and design scene, this is a great issue. It is inspiring, educational and hip.

It also shows what newspapers can do so well: authoritative and in depth reporting on a whole scene through multiple intelligent voices... with pictures. This is the sort of work that shapes opinions.

• Forecast: Fast and Warmer - Is it really time for architecture to go prefab? Charles Lazor of Blu Dot is betting on it with a new model called the Flatpak House, and so is Werner Aisslinger with the LoftCube. We expect in our lifetime to buy a prefab house.

  Is interior design getting warmer? Duh, it already has.....

• Forum: share your thoughts on prefab in 2005 (NYTIMES gets webby)
  

• Modern Design: A Yesterday With a Future - Want to know all about the auction world, Mid-C modern and how Eames is NOT hot, while Prouve is? Would you pay $40,000 for this chair?
  

• Take This Sofa, Please, in Sueded Chino - This is great. It's all about how furniture makers, Williams Sonoma, Martha Stewart, are going upscale in the face of declining sales. Our prediction? They both will hit it rich. Americans NEED something other than Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn.

• Americans Let Their Taste Trot the Globe - Infinitely practical, check this out for tips on where to find worldwide furniture without leaving New York.

• The Call of the Primordial - Michael Van Valkenburgh, the landscape architect who is overseeing the renovation of Brooklyn Bridge Park, says, "There is a voracious appetite for parks that are vigorous, robust places....." Brooklyn will be lucky to get this park.

• Personal Shopper: Here's Looking At You, Everyone - Frames to house your holiday pictures....
  

• Currents - Always refreshes. Check out the apartment building where the floors rotate, and Wook Kim's fascinating wall paper.