The Ice Palace That Melted Away: Restoring Civility and Other Lost Virtues to Everyday Life |  | Author: Bill Stumpf
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $2.99
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Sales Rank: 1,320,714
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 168
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0375402217
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.4
EAN: 9780375402210
ASIN: 0375402217
Publication Date: September 22, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Very minimal damage to the cover no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks minimal wear binding majority of pages undamaged minimal creases or tears. Book may have writing, underlining, highlighting, wear to cover and corners, notes in margins, writing
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Amazon.com Review
"No thing is too large or too small to have within it a civil message," writes designer Bill Stumpf, "inventions, all manner of urban architecture from public schools, daycare centers, to housing, police cars and uniforms, taxicabs, food, plumbing, telephones, computers, media, affordable and available products of quality." Stumpf has been doing his part to make the world a more comfortable place for years--among the products he's designed was the world's first ergonomic chair--and in The Ice Palace That Melted Away, he shares his thoughts (and a few flights of fancy) with readers. Stumpf has a folksy, grandfatherly style of delivery that serves him well, whether he's talking about a set of lace curtains he saw in the window of a Swiss police station, Britain's lamentable phase-out of its archetypal red telephone booths, or his suggested redesign of the 747 to allow more passengers to enjoy the thrilling airborne views. Stumpf lives in Minneapolis (the titular ice palace was a 100-foot-plus sculpture at the neighboring St. Paul Winter Carnival), and his quiet celebration of his neighbor's way of life is somewhat reminiscent of Garrison Keillor, but with some urbane twists all his own.
Product Description
With The Ice Palace That Melted Away, Bill Stumpf, the designer of the first ergonomic chair, addresses the symbiotic relationship between design and the way we live, the often deadening effect of technology, and his hopes for a more humane future. As a designer associated with Herman Miller, Inc., for more than twenty years, Stumpf has been thinking about the profoundly positive or negative effect design can have on our culture. He is both an idealist and a pragmatist, and his wry, anecdotal style gently reveals his shrewd observations about American customs and values. Stumpf is convinced that good design can create the right atmosphere to inspire learning, rehabilitate criminals, and generally lift our spirits. Since technology has succeeded in distancing us from the real experiences of life and such former pleasures as travel, in this facinating book he proposes a playful redesign of the Boeing 747 and a jaunty carriage-like taxicab to put us back in touch with travel as it once was. But it is an event s
uch as the construction of the ephemeral ice palace in St. Paul, Minnesota, during the winter carnival--a source of joy and pride to adults and children alike--that encapsulates the idea of play, which Stumpf feels is essential to all our lives.
This provocative book asks whether we might want to do something about our ever-declining levels of "comfort, hidden goodness, play, personal worth, and helping others" to make our future society a truly civilized one.
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