Today’s Flickr fave comes to us compliments of member eclectica miami. Love the Dansk pot, love the retro chair/stepladder, love the combo of yellowish lime and turquoise. After noticing it in our Fresh New Spaces Group, I was drawn to the rest of her photos, which are so much fun to look through. Here’s a little peak to tempt you to check them out for yourself:

To see the rest of her photos, click here.

I was cruising ASLA.org today, as I often do, and I was really interested in this article about the new esplanade underneath the elevated FDR Drive. They make the analogy to The High Line (one of my favorite projects/parks in the whole wide world), describing the way the new project uses the space beneath the elevated highway. All of this makes me wonder, as I always have, how different the results (and preceding hellish construction that went on for what seemed like forever) of Boston’s Big Dig could have been if this precedent in NYC had already existed, or if the planners and politicians had simply looked at the project differently. The main excuse for The Big Dig (which tied up most of the country’s federal highway funds for years) was that Boston was cut off from its waterfront due to the elevated highway. However, anyone who ever walked from Faneuil Hall to Rowe’s Wharf back in the day knows, the waterfront clearly was not cut off by the highway at all; in fact, it was very easy to walk beneath it. The waterfront area had already revitalized itself long before The Big Dig came along. And you know what? I miss driving through buildings on an elevated highway at 50 m.p.h. – it was pretty awesome. Now we have to drive through this thing, where we hold our collective breath and hope no concrete slabs fall from the ceiling and crush us:

Anyway, this Manhattan promenade looks like a cool project. I always tend to like any project that involves Ken Smith, who had my class over to his office, gave us beers, and strolled across the Brooklyn Bridge with us in 1999. I’ll never forget that the walls of the office were covered in bubble wrap, and wondered how his employees could resist popping them all day. I’ll also never forget that he was playing some kind of weird gong music, and my friend Lucia whispered to me “this is my favorite song” and I got an uncontrollable case of the giggles (the laughing in church, wet your pants kind of giggles). But I digress. In fact, I just had deja-blog, which means I think I write that story every time I mention Ken Smith’s name. Click on that link above and check out the article; there are some great images there. And let me know what you think of The Big Dig, the East River promenade, and The High Line if you have a second. I’d love to hear from you.

• Image: East River Esplanade. Peter Mauss / ESTO
• Second image from Flickr member Bill in D.C.

New at DesignPublic.com this week: Tempaper, See Scout Sleep, Heller Frank Gehry Color.  Enjoy!

Free gift to you! Receive a FREE Fatboy Point ($89.00 value) with any Fatboy purchase of $249 or more! After loading up on at least $249 of Fatboy products, just go to the Point page, make your selection and use coupon code FRE POINT. The Point’s costs will then be deducted from your cart. Expires August 13th, 2011. Limit one Point per customer.

Are you familiar with the artist Eric Hopkins? His beautiful renderings of Maine’s landscapes continue long tradition of artists being inspired by the sublime landscape there. This list includes Edward Hopper, Fairfield Porter, Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, Alex Katz, Winslow Homer and Neil Welliver. If you’re lucky enough to be in Maine this summer, check out his gallery in Rockland (a stone’s throw from The Farnsworth Museum) and/or his show at Isalos Fine Art in Stonington, Maine.

All images via Erichopkins.com, property of Eric Hopkins. All rights reserved.