Designer Spotlight: Sheila Bridges

CasaSugar — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:34:11 -0700

Though she's an interior designer in name, Sheila Bridges' job description includes everything from hosting a show on the Fine Living network to appearing as a design pundit on "Oprah" to decorating the Harlem office space of Bill Clinton. And if an interior designer can achieve national fame, Bridges has done it. Since founding her own firm in 1994, she's been named America's Best Interior Designer by CNN and Time magazines.

What I like about Bridges' designs is her ability to use very traditional pieces in unexpected ways. A room by Bridges won't be too jarring for anyone with less-than-edgy tastes, but she's always likely to throw in a playful accent or an objet d'art that keeps formality to a minimum. She also has a great eye for color and for mixing different furniture styles and patterns. Take a look at a gallery of her work and tell me what you think when you read more

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Casa Verde: World's Greenest Building to Go Up in Paris

CasaSugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:15:54 -0800

Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the architects behind New York's Freedom Tower (on the site of the former World Trade Center), has announced plans to construct the world's greenest building in the city architecturally known for the Eiffel Tower. The proposed building will house offices as well as up to 5,000 people, and is to be built in the run-down area of Gennevilliers in the outskirts of Paris. It is being dubbed "Energy Plus" because, project partner Marc Eisenberg says, "It will be the first building in the world to be 'energy plus' and carbon zero." read more According to the Daily Telegraph, a UK newspaper, the building will generate its own heating, lighting, and air conditioning by "having more solar panels on it than any other building in existence," and "take water from the nearby river Seine and pump it around the offices." It will be much more expensive to build than other buildings, and the tenants will have to pay the price to live there, but they will save money on utility bills and maintenance fees. There are also plans to trade the building's carbon credits for money in the future. The Daily Telegraph says that normally with costs like this a building would have trouble getting approved, but it has gotten off the ground due to high-profile backers such as the Clinton Global Initiative and "financial incentives from governments."
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