October 1, 2005
Most inspiring and innovative places in the U.S.
Dear Innovators,
There are some places which have an ambience, an experience that simply makes you think big, opens up your mind to new possibilities and gets your creative wheels turning. I’ve been to a few such inspiring places. What are the most inspiring and innovative places that you have ever seen in the United States?
On my list are:
- Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago
- MIT Media Lab (although I’ve only seen glimpses online)
- The office of Inventables – they have the some of the coolest things from their magazine hanging on their walls
Very short list so far, isn’t it? I’ve only been here 4 years…. I bet there’s a lot more places out there which I don’t know about. What are the most inspiring and innovative places on your list?
- Anand [anand.chhatpar@brainreactions]
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18 Responses to “Most inspiring and innovative places in the U.S.”
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October 1st, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Oh yes, I forgot to mention… Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It is an incredible day-long experience. Amazing use of high technology to make new ideas happen in the field of entertainment.
- Anand.
October 1st, 2005 at 6:56 pm
Appalacian Mountains
October 1st, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Disney World - Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Design Within Reach
Magic shops
October 1st, 2005 at 7:36 pm
Cleveland Science Museum - Did a lot of hands-on science there.
Xerox PARC would probably qualify, though I’ve not been there.
Perhaps Space Camp in Alabama? Or any of the NASA facilities?
Even the NY Museum of Natural History is an excellent place. Just about any museum could qualify as inspiring and innovative. Even though museums show the past, each of the past items reflects some kind of innovation.
October 2nd, 2005 at 5:59 am
Air and Space Museum in DC
Yacht on Lake Michigan looking at the Chicago skyline (I’m sure the same holds for NYC)
UIUC Beckman Research Center on Engineering Open House
Fallingwater (Frank Lloyd Wright House)
NextFest (Wired’s yearly expo)
TED
Scaled Composites Facility - Mojave Desert - when launching SpaceShipOne (I wasn’t there but I saw videos. Not sure what it’s like on an average day but I’d love to see)
National Archives in DC housing the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Consitution
Samsung store in the NYC Time Warner Center
Signature Room in the Hancock Building
Times Square NYC
October 2nd, 2005 at 7:26 am
A night boating trip across Lake Pepin to the large Sand Dunes on the St. Croix River.
Broadway or small comedy clubs in Greenich Village, New York City.
Rolling Stones Concerts, where ever they are.
The top of a double black diamond ski hill, slightly above the clouds at Breckinridge, Colorado.
New Orleans/ private air boat rides through the Bayou with face to face encounters with American Alligators. (Regrettably not right now)
or
Anytime one swims with sharks. Great place — Sharky’s on the Pier, Venice Florida.
October 2nd, 2005 at 8:20 am
London: Museum of the Moving Image
Tokyo: For its controlled chaos and interior/urban design
October 2nd, 2005 at 8:27 am
I will call any big research labs..
Google
Microsoft
to name a few…
October 2nd, 2005 at 9:12 am
Boundary Waters Canoe Area (Northern MN) - THE inspirational wilderness
Dylan, Colorado - a mountain lake in the heart of the Rockies
Experience Music Project in Seattle - a sweet music museum
October 2nd, 2005 at 4:01 pm
I was totally blown away by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (and I have seen a lot of aquaria). One of the tanks makes you feel like you are just staring into the ocean, even though it is all manmade.
But while I am on the aquarium thing…both the New England A. and the National A. in Baltimore are in buildings designed by the Cambridge 7.
And continuing with innovative and inspiring structures, there are a bunch, but a visit to Frank Lloyd Wrights studios at Taliesen West in Arizona is worth it. And my newest fave is Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston.
October 2nd, 2005 at 9:14 pm
The land of Evermor in Praire Du Sac, Wisconsin… a truly inspiring and overlooked relic of imagination. http://www.drevermor.com/
October 2nd, 2005 at 9:36 pm
The five months I spent working in the “Gutting House” of a trout farm. There’s nothing like a never-ending stream of fish guts to inspire. Sometimes motivation comes from knowing, smelling and dissecting the alternatives!
October 3rd, 2005 at 8:48 am
Glacier National Park
Teewinot Mountain in Grand Tetons National Park
Jondachi River in Ecuador
Quetico Provincial Park in Canada
October 3rd, 2005 at 11:06 am
Shaker House at Fruitlands Museums, Harvard, MA (simplicity of design lead to innovative solutions); also Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA
Beacon Hill, Boston, MA (walking through history and the dead end alleys on a sunny day allows the mind to solve new problems)
standing at the reject bin of a United States Postal Service sorting machine (MLOCR, DBCS) running at 30,000 pieces an hour (try to develop solutions to solve the root causes of the rejected pieces as they come flooding in; alternatively, study the “undeliverable as addressed” return mail at a Fortune 500 company)
visit all 50 states (we did so for my wife’s 50th birthday; the missing states often are the ones you didn’t know enough about to want to see. We got the last 6 by driving from Kansas City, Missouri to Salt Lake City, Utah through our missing states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho. History, natural beauty, the extraordinary Badlands, and the unexpected treasures around the corner made it all worthwhile. Never knew we’d enjoy South Dakota so much on the way across.)
October 5th, 2005 at 8:55 am
I used to love the museum of science and industry as a kid. I would draw inventions on the way home from Chicago after visiting there, the inspiration in that buiding is amazing.
I also felt so motivated and inspired after visiting the Les Diablaret Glacier in Switzerland a few years back. It was just so clean, pristine and truly a blank canvas.
October 6th, 2005 at 10:59 am
Inspiring
1. Paris (Art & Architecture)
2. Chicago (Blues & Baseball)
3. New York City (Commerce & Culture)
Innovative
1. Musee D’Orsay
2. Millenium Park
3. The Tech http://www.thetech.org/
October 10th, 2005 at 11:43 am
Driving along the coast in Alaska…and later standing a top a mountain on a clear summer day.
Skiing in light, but deep powder in the western US.
October 21st, 2005 at 8:15 am
The top of the Empire State Building at nightfall
The Chicago Art Institute (particularly the impressionist wing)