A lot of things have changed on this year’s season of AMC’s hit TV show Mad Men. The show, which has been off the air since October 2010, came back bigger than ever with a record number of 3.5 million US viewers tuning in to Sunday’s two-hour premiere. Besides Don Draper’s new wife Megan, played by Canadian actress Jessica Pare, Draper is also sporting a new Mid-century modern pad in Manhattan.

The LA Times has featured a look inside this great apartment for those of us obsessed with the show.

Photo via the LA Times

Photo via the LA Times

Photo via the LA Times

Photo via the LA Times

According to the LA Times, set decorator Claudette Didul, drew inspiration from “two books by 1960s bestselling interior design author Betty Pepis and “Decoration U.S.A.,” a 1965 collaboration between Jose Wilson and Arthur Leaman.”

What do you think about Don’s new abode?

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is working in conjunction with The Home Depot to create an online green home products database.  The green database will feature products from The Home Depot that will help homeowners take steps in becoming more environmentally conscious in their home.

“The LEED green building program helps homeowners measure green home performance across a range of categories, and products play an important role in achieving certification,” said Nate Kredich, vice president of Residential Development at USGBC. “This database represents just one of the many ways in which The Home Depot is advancing sustainable, efficient and healthy homes by supporting green building and green products.”

“As the world’s largest home improvement retailer, we want to show our customers that building green can be easy and affordable,” said Lindsay Chason, senior manager of Environmental Innovation at The Home Depot. “We have innovative, environmentally-friendly products that make LEED certification simpler. Now through our partnership with U.S. Green Building Council and their LEED for Homes program, we are simplifying the process of bringing healthier, greener homes to reality.”

Currently there are over 2,500 products on the website. To learn more about this green initiative or to make your home a little more “green” visit leed.homedepot.com.

The architect who coined the phrase “Less is more” and “God is in the details” is being honored today with a Google Doodle. Mies, along with other renowned Post World War I architects, helped usher in the modern era of architecture.  His minimalism design style is reflected in his work such as S.R. Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he was head of the architecture school,  the Seagram Building in Midtown Manhattan and the Farnsworth House, in Plano, Illinois.

Mies migrated to the United States after Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s. Here he had a remarkable career earning the AIA Gold Medal (the American Association of Architects’ highest honor) in 1960 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (awarded by President Lyndon Johnson). Happy 126th Birthday Mies van der Rohe.

Photo via Google.

Everyone loves to eat out and if the environment in which you do so is equally as great, it makes for an even more enjoyable experience. In the world of  good food, there is one award that takes the cake, the James Beard Foundation Award. Seen as the Oscars to the culinary industry, a James Beard Foundation Award, can really catapult a chef’s career and  that of their restaurant.

Elle Decor examines this year’s nominees for Best Restaurant Design. Here are the nominees, all from New York City.

Design Firm: Design Bureaux, Inc.
Designer: Thomas Schlesser
Project: DBGB Kitchen and Bar, New York City

Photo via Elle Decor

Design Firm: Bentel & Bentel Architects
Project: Le Bernardin, New York City

Photo via Elle Decor

Design Firm: Glen & Company
Designer: Glen Coben
Project: Romera, New York City

Photo via Elle Decor

Sometimes good food is just as important as the ambiance. The winners will be announced on May 7th.

While you’re in Denver for the Home Show this weekend, make sure you head south to Parker, Colorado and check out their new Arts, Culture and Events venue. The PACE Center includes a 536-seat theater, art gallery, events space, dance studio, classrooms and an outdoor 250-seat amphitheater.

The town of Parker spent more than a decade planning and building the PACE Center and spent close to $22 million to do so.  The red-brick and glass building is open so that one can see the beautiful landscape from inside the building. It also has a number of walking trails. PACE cultural director Jeannene Bragg told the Denver Post that “This is a place where you can come in your little black dress or you can come in your jeans.”

Sounds like the perfect venue for the Front Range.

The Parker Arts, Culture & Events Center. Photo via The Denver Post

To read more about the Parker Arts, Culture and Events Center click here.

We often don’t highlight events in the Denver area, but with the Denver Home Show happening this weekend, we thought we’d make an exception. This year’s spokesperson is America’s favorite handyman Ty Pennington, from ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  It’s the perfect place to find inspiration for your own home makeover.

Want to know about the latest products and trends in the home remodeling industry? Well make the drive into Denver this weekend and check it out.

The Denver Home Show begins this Friday, March 16th at the National Western Complex in Denver, Colorado. Click here for more information or to purchase tickets to the show.

A new exhibition is examining “The Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American Design.” The exhibit will be touring smaller cities here in the U.S., bringing great design to the heart of America.

The Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American Design…presents a survey of exceptional American chair design from the early 19th century to the present day. The chair is experienced not only as a functional item, but as sculptural in view—the chair as art.

Each of the approximately 40 chairs in the exhibition are chosen for their beauty and historical context with important social, economic, political and cultural influences. Selections from The Jacobsen Collection of American Art are joined by contemporary designs offering a stylistic journey in furniture with show-stoppers by John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger, Herter Brothers, Stickley Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles & Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and Frank Gehry among others.

Take a look at this clip below where Dr. Diane DeMill Jacobsen, who heads up the Jacobsen Collection of American Art, talks about the exhibit.

The race to the top in design just got a little bit crazy. It seems Obayashi Corp, the developer behind Tokyo’s Sky Tree, announced their plans to build an elevator to space. No it is not April 1st, and yes we are serious. Or at least Obayashi Corp is serious.

The space elevator will be an estimated 22,370-mile high with a completion date set for 2050.

Photo via Architizer Blog

Welcome to the space age!

The 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize was recently awarded to Wang Shu of The People’s Republic of China. Mr. Wang, a 48 year old architect, is the first Chinese citizen to win the prize. I. M. Pei, an American, was the first Chinese-born architect to win, in 1983.  Now Wang Shu will join the likes of follow Pritzker winners such as Phillip Johnson, who won the first prize, Richard Meier, Frank Gehry and Norman Foster to name a few.

Lv Hengzhong A history museum by Wang Shu in Ningbo, China. Photo via The New York Times.

According to the New York Times,”The prize, founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, to honor a living architect, consists of a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion, which this year will be awarded at a ceremony in Beijing on May 25.”

Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prized, stated “The fact that an architect from China has been selected by the jury, represents a significant step in acknowledging the role that China will play in the development of architectural ideals. In addition, over the coming decades China’s success at urbanization will be important to China and to the world. This urbanization, like urbanization around the world, needs to be in harmony with local needs and culture. China’s unprecedented opportunities for urban planning and design will want to be in harmony with both its long and unique traditions of the past and with its future needs for sustainable development.”

We love seeing our friends to the north embracing sustainable design and Canada-based SYSTEMATEKS has taken the snack bar to a whole new level. This design is complete with solar panels and has a way of collecting rainwater.

It’s amazing to see how far eco-friendly design has come and we look forward to seeing more from SYSTEMATEKS.

Photo via Inhabitat

What do you think of this solar paneled snack bar? Is this what the future holds for sustainability?