Word: utilitarian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fact, it seems that Weintrob did little to this play beyond building a utilitarian set, changing the play's locale to the United States (though the heaths of England added more to the intrigue of the story) and changing the famous line "I never drink...wine" to "I never drink...socially." Of course, the last of these alterations is probably playwright Ted Tiller's fault, but whoever's fault it is, the change underscores the effect of the whole play--an old story told in a tired...
...some fundamental ways skywalks are more perniciously anti-urban than the shopping malls they are intended to compete against. Good malls, like city streets, encourage lingering, serendipity; skywalks, however, are pedestrian freeways, streets distilled to the strictly utilitarian function of providing transit from Point X to Point Y, no detours allowed. In skywalks, there is none of the traditional city's invigorating mix of commerce and leisure, businesspeople and loiterers. "The street is the way of democracy," says Richard Maschal, architecture critic for the Charlotte Observer. "The Overstreet Mall system creates a biracial society." Sam Bass Warner Jr., a Boston...
...problem with the word "legacy," though, is that legacies are not always useful. There may be regrets and emotional baggage, but great-grandfather's stamp collection eventually gets hocked. "Memo" is utilitarian and modest. No one expects a memo to be preserved out of pure sentiment, because a memo only aims to be helpful for what comes next. And his memos--subtle and insightful--will stick around, because they will remind future writers of what he and his contemporaries have discovered about fiction...
...first museum devoted exclusively to modern industrial design. Located in the dockland area of London, the four-story building will be finished in 1989. Sir Terence is already planning the exhibits, but do not look for roomfuls of extravagant furniture or wacky-looking appliances. Expect the sort of simple, utilitarian pieces that have helped make Conran a household name -- and have helped make the Conran household a dynasty of design...
Hamnett, 39, has a deft hand for funk, and her clothes for men and women look lived-in even when they are freshly pressed, like something hung on a wooden peg behind the back door. She works largely and most successfully in utilitarian fabrics: cotton drill, lining silk and, for the coming season, leather that seems to have been ridden over by a motorcycle gang on a rainy Sunday. Her lines are loose and simple, the detailing fine and witty and heavy on the pockets. The clothes are not remakes of hardy perennials like parkas and biker jackets, but revisions...