After sending out inspiring Christmas quotes, follow up with our new collection of motivational Happy New Year quotes. Post them on your social media and inspire all your friends and followers too!
And if one quote or saying resonates with you, own it! Start the year with the right mindset. Print out your favorite saying of the bunch or make it into your wallpaper. Put it up where you’re guaranteed to always be looking at it so you’ll never forget.
It’s a new year, friends! It’s another 364 days of exciting opportunities and chances! Happy New Year 2017!
The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals. – Melody Beattie
And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been. – Rainer Maria Rilke
There are greater things to be achieved in every New Year, and each and everyone must prepare themselves to be great, not by words of the mouth, but by a lot of sacrifices. – Michael Bassey Johnson
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis
Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day. – Michael Josephson
This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change. – Taylor Swift
New is the year, new are the hopes, new is the resolution, new are the spirits, and new are my warm wishes just for you. Have a promising and fulfilling New Year!
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. – Edith Lovejoy Pierce
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. – Bill Vaughan
Happy New Year to you! Wish this year brings to the warmth of love and illuminates your path of life towards a positive direction.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Chinese Proverb
A new year brings not only happiness, it makes us happy with a hope to fulfill our dreamz or a new beginning of our life. So, a new year is very special to everyone. – Santonu Kumar Dhar
“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” George F. Burns
“Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.” Jim Rohn
Life today is quite different compared to when I was a kid in the 80’s and early 90’s. Back then I had a TV with just a few channels and later on a Nintendo videogame. That was it.
Today many of us have smartphones that we use to browse the internet, to work and to play games. We spend a many hours in front of computers and a part of our day is often spent online.
There is so much information these days. So many potential distractions and sources that seem to have made people more stressed, overwhelmed and unhappy than they were in the past.
Working and living in this age isn’t always easy.
So this week I’d like to share 7 habits that help me to keep my attention on what truly matters – both at work and in my private life – and at the same time minimize stress and overwhelm.
1. Shut off notifications.
To find focus the first simple thing to do is to shut off notifications in:
Your email client.
Messaging programs.
Social media and gaming apps.
Then get back to what truly matters without those pings hanging over you and distracting you.
2. Keep your smart phone far away for quality time/work.
The simplest way to not be distracted all the time by your smartphone is to put up small obstacles so you don’t have that easy and tempting access.
Here’s, for instance, what I do when I work:
I put the phone in silent mode.
I put it in another room at the other end of our home.
Then I check it a few times a day for calls and text messages.
We often do the same thing during the evenings and weekends to make sure that the time we spend together is quality time and not time spent being distracted.
3. Unplug or use an app to keep your focus on what matters.
When I write a new article or work on a course then I usually do that disconnected from the internet.
If that’s not possible for you then try a program or browser addon like for example StayFocusd or Cold Turkey Pro to temporarily block the sites where you know you tend to procrastinate and waste too much time.
4. Disconnect over the weekend.
Stay away from work and offline over the weekend. Leave your work phone at your job.
If that’s not possible keep things to a minimum:
Leave that work phone in silent mode and check it just every 24 hours over the weekend.
Do a quick 2 min check of email once a weekend (that’s what I do).
Reply only to the calls, texts and emails that are very important. Otherwise, let them wait until Monday.
5. Focus your information inflow.
Ask yourself:
What email newsletters in my inbox have I actually read and gotten something good out of in the past 30 days?
What podcasts I have listened to that have given me value in the past month?
You can ask yourself the same questions for magazines, blogs and forums and so on. Then take 5-15 minutes to unsubscribe to the ones that just clutter up your inbox, smart phone, bookmark list and shelves.
Time is limited. So is your attention.
So use both of them in a way that enriches your life and that focuses on only the best information sources. This very simple exercise can be surprisingly effective to get rid of mental clutter too and think more clearly again.
6. Stop comparing your life to someone’s high-light reel.
When you start comparing yourself and your life to what old classmates, friends and celebrities share on Instagram or Facebook and you each day see how perfect and wonderful their homes, kids, work and lives are then that can create a lot of stress and erode your self-esteem.
So what can you do if you get stuck in this habit?
Remember that what they share is usually just the high-light reel of their lives, the most positive moments. The other stuff that is a part of life happens too, you just don’t see it.
Focus on comparing yourself to yourself instead. See how far you have come, what you have learned and what you have overcome.
7. Remember the 5 little words for sanity: One thing at a time.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the tabs open in your browser or missed messages, when you’re distracted by something while trying to have quality time with your loved ones and when the stress is starting to build up remember those 5 little words.
Breathe and let them help you to connect with this moment and with simplifying things. Use them to slow down, to find clarity in what you need to do and to resharpen your focus and attention once again.
After a career as a professional skateboarder, Helsinki-based Janne Saario has become one of few landscape architects in the world with a practice devoted completely to designing skate parks for young people. Saario’s designs—all of which are located in Europe—diverge from the typical brutalist stereotypes of concrete skate park masses, and rather, are site-specific and heavily influenced by their natural surroundings.
“Young people are our hope and future,” says Saario. “And by offering beautiful and meaningful surroundings to grow, like wonderful skate parks, we can make a positive change on their picture of the world and future behavior.”
Learn more about the skateboarder-turned-architect by watching the Time Magazine video, above.
Alongside Camilla Block and David Jaggers, Neil Durbach of Durbach Block Jaggers has carved out a unique place in Australian architecture. Known primarily for their carefully sculpted modernist houses, the firm’s architecture is simultaneously rich in architectural references and thoroughly original. In this interview, the latest in Vladimir Belogolovsky’s “City of Ideas” series, Durbach explains the true inspirations behind their work, why these inspirations have little to do with the public descriptions of their projects, and why for him, the intention of all of his architecture “is to win Corb’s approval.”
Vladimir Belogolovsky:You came to Australia while the Sydney Opera House was still under construction. Does this mean you were here even before going to the US?
Neil Durbach: Yes, I first came to Australia as an exchange student while still in high school.
VB:So you have seen the Opera under construction then. How special was that? Did that building change anything in particular in you?
ND: Well, at that time I wanted to be an artist. A friend took me on a boat to see it. It was kind of staggering… And I thought – you know, this is much more interesting than art. And I felt – maybe architecture is what I should pursue.
VB:Why did you think that architecture was more interesting than art?
ND: I think it was its scale… It was so mysterious and overwhelmingly monumental…
VB:You grew up in South Africa and it was not until you graduated from college that you came here to Sydney, right?
ND: First, I went to the US. After my degree in South Africa in 1981, I started my Masters at the University of Berkeley. But I got bored, and realized that I could and wanted to immigrate to Australia, so I did. That’s how I avoided the draft, and I never went back. Soon I started doing competitions. Harry Levine and I won a competition for the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay and then we won another one – for a new wing at Tusculum, home of Australian Institute of Architects’ New South Wales Chapter.
VB:When we first discussed the idea of interviewing you, you said, “I have nothing to say.” Were you joking?
ND: No. It has all been said. Architecture is something beyond words. Do you know what I mean?
VB:Sure, but you know why I am here, right? [Laughs.] This building where your studio is based here in Sydney, Roslyn Street, you designed it as an homage to Antoni Gaudi. Why is that?
ND: Well… not actually. There are things you have to learn to do as an architect. There has to be an easy narrative to get past so many gate keepers. For the Holman House we used Picasso’s The Bathers painting as a metaphor. But the truth is that this association came much later. It was an easy analogy and we realized a long time ago that to get past so many barriers you need a metaphor, an easy metaphor. If you say “Gaudi,” everyone would say, “I love Gaudi.” That’s what we said to the council to get the approval.
VB:And what did you say to the clients of the Holman House? Did you talk about the painting?
ND: No, we talked about architecture only. We talked about houses designed by architects José Antonio Coderch and Jørn Utzon. But then people ask you, “What inspired you?” So you begin to think of quick and simple metaphors. For Canberra Gallery, it was Christo’s Valley Curtain, for The UTS Science and Health Building it was a grove of trees, and for the Holman House it was The Bathers. I love this painting; its aesthetic qualities and the way it stretches, and folds, and moves towards the edge. I think it is important to think of ways of getting into your projects for other people.
VB:You said about your studio, “We are a practice committed to search for the possibilities of architecture itself – its power and poetry; its pleasure and necessity.” Out of all these words, it is the word pleasure that strikes me most. Do you think architecture is about providing pleasure? Do you see pleasure as perfection? Is that what you are after?
ND: I do think that architecture is about a sense of joy and yes, pleasure. Perhaps these qualities are all on the soft side of architecture. And it could be provocative, of course, as in the case of the Melbourne-based architects, Ashton Raggatt McDougall. And I don’t quite see architecture as the armchair of society. To me architecture should be about joy and a sense of happiness, and beauty. After all, as Stendhal said, “Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.” We need beauty. You know, I grew up in an incredibly boring, conservative, constrained middle-class environment. So when I looked at the images of Le Corbusier or Picasso, there was such an unbelievable sense of liberation through pleasure. I like this idea of pleasure achieved through making beautiful things. You look at Le Corbusier’s work and it seems like changing the world was not that hard.
VB:You also said that you are “aiming for clarity of intent and joyfulness of form.” Could you talk about the importance of form to you and is “iconic” a particular quality that you try to achieve in your work?
ND: There is a painting by Cézanne called The Hanged Man’s House. My mother had a poster of this painting at home. It was an ordinary house but the fact that it was called The Hanged Man’s House turned it from something very ordinary to something unbelievably iconic. For me, it was a painting with a very powerful meaning. I realized that iconic may not be about what something looks like but about what it means. So an icon could be something that makes you connect in a certain way. Iconic is something transcendent; it opens a door into… subliminal.
VB:But your houses, for example, are named after your clients. So if we were to call them iconic it is because of how they look. They are visual icons.
ND: Maybe… And it is difficult for icons to sustain themselves. You know how Corb said that his Ronchamp roof was inspired by an upside down crab shell. But you know, it was not really that. That was a decoy. Nothing is so easy. And just because something is different and memorable does not make it an icon. Or it could turn into a bad icon. It has to have some richness, complexity, depth, and subtlety. You can’t just flip a turtle on its back and call it an icon.
ND: Just to hook the initial interest because, you know, generally architecture is not that interesting to Australians. Architecture to Australians is about as interesting as surfing is to people in Iceland.
VB:Not in general. It becomes interesting when architecture itself is interesting. Are you interested in defining your own voice in architecture?
ND: I think our work has become connected with an image of our practice. But it would be futile and pointless to aim for that.
VB:Let’s talk about some of your inspirations, such as Le Corbusier.
ND: I have seen many good buildings by great architects and sometimes I would become obsessed about some of them. But often what happens is that certain buildings flare up, but eventually, they seem to just – fade away. But there is something different about Corb. Look at his La Tourette, Ronchamp, or even his tiny Cabanon in Roquebrune. His buildings become richer and richer with time. The work is persistently present. His work is sustainable on every level. It is absolutely brilliant and it gets endlessly better. Perhaps that’s because he was so keenly tuned to making architecture itself; there was this incredibly deep sense of architecture itself, somewhat independent of function. Of course, Kahn, Aalto, Asplund, and Mies had some of that, but to me, Corb was unique. It is as if all architectures were channeled through him. Everything he touched was made into something rich and transformative. He is endlessly fascinating and intriguing to me.
VB:Discussing architecture you mentioned such words as cool not being the same as beautiful and you contrasted such terms as trendy, hip, and sugary to beautiful. What words would you use to describe architecture that you really like?
ND: I think people particularly like certain buildings when its intention creeps up slowly on you… The same is with people. Someone said – you may ride in an elevator 10 times with the same person and one day you hear him or her speak, and you suddenly fall in love with the character. You discover something so compelling, something not evident at first, something quite personal and beautiful. For example, SANAA just won the new addition to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. If you think about their work, it has richness, complexity, subtlety. Ryue Nishizawa’s Teshima Art Museum in Japan is just staggering, breathtaking. And you may see all the drawings and photos but all that is nothing until you go and visit it. That’s an extraordinary talent.
VB:You know, Joshua Prince-Ramus told me he likes SANAA’s work the most. I said, how can you like something that’s so completely the opposite of what you do? And he said, “How can I do something so irrational? That’s not who I am.” He said some of their work is pure shape, and some spaces are not accessible. So my question to him was – how can you so stubbornly follow your mind and not listen to your heart?
ND: Sure, it says something about consistency and fear of change… Waldo Emerson, an American poet and champion of individualism said, “Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” But look at Rem Koolhaas’ work; he has a very fluid way of thinking. He said once that he always tries to escape what he calls an “architectural ghetto.” In a funny way, this is how we started here. Everybody was doing boxes, and as light as possible. But because I was an immigrant, I said, I am never going to really be like them. So why not do the complete opposite? Meaning, as heavy as possible.
VB:You think your work is heavy; in what way?
ND: You know how architecture here seems to be all constructed, put together, and assembled out of parts? So I said, we are going to carve things. We will carve spaces out of solids. That’s what I mean by heavy. Our buildings are sculpted.
VB:Do you like when your projects are described as “quirky” and “playful?”
ND: No, because it implies that our work is frivolous. But we work unbelievably hard here. For us, architecture is serious play. It is not silly. Of course, we try to be playful, but we are very serious while doing it. I am hesitant about picking particular words because then it would imply that we have a style. But that’s what is fascinating about architects such as Asplund and Utzon… They didn’t have a style. You know, Asplund never looked at his old drawings. He never detailed anything the same way. So even if he had to do the same detail again he was forced to think about it from the beginning, which led to new discoveries.
VB:Is that how you work? You never look at your own old drawings?
ND: We try to… That’s the nature of our approach. Georges Braque kept working on his collages slowly and steadily, perfecting them slowly. And then there is Picasso who just went through it; he just kept exploring and never stopped. There are different ways, but here we like going forward.
VB:I think now is a good time to ask you – what is the intention of your work?
ND: That’s easy. The intention is to win Corb’s approval.
VB:How did you achieve the final form of the Holman House? What is your typical process?
ND: We always work in models, and with this house, we have done many models. Each one is different. It is all based on a kind on non-judgement – from one thing to the next. We work very quickly. We start with anything and then we build all these tiny models, one after another. They point somewhere. Sometimes you start with something that you think about for a long time… Sometimes it is just a stumbling of things… The final form becomes a hybrid of many things and ideas. Sometimes it is completely chaotic… And we often feel insecure about the result or the next step… And traumatized… Because you don’t want to do the same thing again. You want to do better.
VB:But what in the world was driving you? Why did it need to be so original?
ND: The very fact that we wanted to build something that we had not done before, is that good enough? We wanted to climb to another height, that’s all. We are constantly doubtful and we try to be critical. We want it to be the best it can be.
Belogolovsky’s column, City of Ideas, introduces ArchDaily’s readers to his latest and ongoing conversations with the most innovative architects from around the world. These intimate discussions are a part of the curator’s upcoming exhibition with the same title which premiered at the University of Sydney in June 2016. The City of Ideas exhibition will travel to venues around the world to explore ever-evolving content and design.
Have you ever not eaten a new food because you were afraid that it might taste bad?
Have you ever not gone out with a new group of people even if you wanted to?
Have you ever not delivered a presentation even though you knew it would bring amazing benefits to you?
Fear stops us from experiencing and living life to the fullest. We feel fear when we feel a negative outcome may arise out of a situation. As a result, we often try and avoid the situation completely to prevent the potential harm.
This is completely normal. In fact, fear is a core human mechanism which gave us the fight-or-flight instinct which helped us survive as a race.
However, in modern times, fear is often restricting as it attempts to protect us from emotional danger. This is the fear that our emotional state or feelings may be negatively impacted by a situation. Unfortunately, this creates huge mental barriers to go out and do what you truly desire like meeting new people, making new friends, moving city or going out and speaking to an audience.
Recently, I have been taking steps to really understand and embrace fear. These are the three steps that aided me significantly:
Embrace the fear
Trying to lock the fear away will not work.
Fear is a core part of our emotional state. It is what makes us who we are. Trying to hide part of yourself from yourself is only going to lead to more internal complexities occurring.
Just like with your insecurities, you have to embrace them; opening up and accepting yourself for who you are is key to improving yourself and overcoming your fears.
I have found that being overwhelmed often does more harm than good.
When you get chucked in the deep end, you often develop a negative connotation with the feeling. As a result, it may damage your progress to embracing and overcoming your fears.
Instead, I suggest you start small.
If you are scared of public speaking, do not just got out and present to 1000 people. Start by speaking to yourself in the mirror.
After that, express yourself more openly to friends and family. Let them judge and criticize you. Embrace the feeling and realize that the feeling is manageable.
You can then use this as a stepping stone to slowly get a little bit out of your comfort zone each time. Slow, steady and consistent progression is better than trying to do too much too fast and pushing yourself further away from your goal as a result.
Fear develops when you fear the negative events of a situation occurring. On the other hand, excitement is when you are looking forward to the positive outcomes from a situation.
We actually elicit a very similar physical response when we feel fear or excitement. It is the net positive or negative interpretation of the outcomes that may occur which ultimately determine if we are going to be fearful or excited.
In order to make this transition from fear to excitement, try and visualize all the good things that could happen from facing the fear such as meeting amazing people, going to incredible places, or having mesmerizing experiences. Do you really want the fear of your emotional state being affected a little stop you from benefiting from all these positives?
Using the break-it-down method from step 2 will also help you appreciate these positives. When you tackle very small components of the fear, the potential negative impact will be minimized whilst still experiencing the positives. Slowly, you will develop a positive connection to the experience and will look forward to experiencing it more. You will start to value the potential benefits of the situation over the negatives, and as a result, the fear will turn into more of an exciting opportunity.
These 3 steps really helped me make significant advances in helping myself overcome my fear. If you implement these I am sure it will help you too.
Odessa Flat is a private project located in Odessa, Ukraine. It was designed by Mooseberry Design Group. Odessa Flat by Mooseberry Design Group: “Apartment with sea view in costal city Odessa, Ukraine. Very masculine design was made for a real man.Dark colors, raw materials and natural wood make flat brutal and cosy at the same time. One can easily imagine waking up here with sunlight through glass wall and making..
The architectural team comprised of Davis Brody Bond and Kieran Timberlake has unveiled its newest updates on the design for 181 Mercer, a 735,000-square-foot complex for New York University that will replace a 35-year-old gym facility and become NYU’s largest classroom building, as well as a space for performing arts, athletics, and students and faculty housing.
The design, which features a slimmer massing and 20% less gross square footage than permitted by the City approvals process, focuses on transparency, lightness, and connection, in an effort to contrast with the bunker-like character of its predecessor—Cole’s Sports Center—and to make Mercer Street itself more engaging.
Through the addition of 60 new classrooms, 20 music instruction rooms, and a variety of study spaces, NYU will accommodate a growing need for properly sized and equipped academic spaces, thus allowing for other buildings to create more laboratories, as a part of a long-range effort to support the sciences.
Additionally, the space will feature three new theaters, an orchestral ensemble room, ten performing arts classrooms, and 50 individual practice rooms, giving “young performing artists in Tisch and Steinhardt practice, rehearsal, and performance spaces in keeping with programs of NYU’s caliber.”
While the academic purpose of the building was foremost, the architects were asked to do more than that, said NYU President Andrew Hamilton. They were asked to meet our academic needs while achieving the highest standards for design in order to produce a building of which the University can be proud, one that reflects our character and is thoughtful and responsive to the concerns of our neighbors. And they accomplished just that.
In lieu of a traditional university “quad,” the second floor of 181 Mercer will become a “Commons” space that will encourage casual interactions between different disciplines and activities for students and faculty alike.
The building will also include housing for approximately 420 freshmen, 30 to 60 faculty apartments, and an athletics facility with spaces dedicated to various sports and the capability of hosting up to 2,700 people for assemblies.
Because the building will be used for such varying programs, separate entrances for classrooms, athletics, residences, and theaters will work to control traffic flow and optimize user interactions. Moreover, the first-floor atrium will be accessible to neighbors, with a dedicated room for local community users.
With a transparent façade of floor-to-ceiling windows, the building aims to save energy by admitting natural light. Similarly, sustainability was kept in mind for the design of an outdoor greenway, green roofs to moderate water runoff and naturally cool the building and a connection to NYU’s co-generation plant. Overall, 181 Mercer will pursue LEED v4 Silver at a minimum and is targeting a Gold rating.
Demolition on the existing Cole’s gym began in October of 2016. Construction of the new building is slated to begin in February 2017, and be finished in 2021.
Learn more about 181 Mercer through interactive floor plans, here.
