'The Marked Ones' trailer references Katie and Kristi, suggesting it's more connected to the main series than we'd thought.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
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ShareContact: Amanda Wren
awren@vhio.net
34-695-207-886
Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology
Barcelona, 17 October 2013. A multicentre phase III study, with centers participating from 11 countries in North America, Europe and Australia, shows that the drug combination nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine is more effective in the treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer than gemcitabine alone, which has been the standard treatment for these patients up until now.
The clinical trial, sponsored by Celgene Corporation, involved 861 patients, half of whom were administered the nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination, while the other half received gemcitabine alone. Median overall survival was 8.5 months for nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine versus 6.7 months for gemcitabine alone. One-year survival rates were 35% and 22%, respectively, and two-year survival rates were 9% and 4%, respectively. Similar side effects were found in the new drug and gemcitabine alike. The trial report therefore concluded that the nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination significantly improves overall survival and response rate in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Dr Josep Tabernero, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall dHebron University Hospital, Director of the Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), and one of the co-authors of the study, confirmed that "the results of this study take a step in the right direction towards controlling advanced pancreatic cancer, a disease with a very poor prognosis. We are confident that the gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel combination will become one of the reference treatments for this disease. New drugs in the pipeline in this field are already being gauged against this combination as the benchmark to beat. Along these lines, investigators at VHIO are developing promising laboratory model combinations for pancreatic cancer treatment."
New first-line treatment for pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in Europe and the United States. Gemcitabine therapy has been the standard first-line treatment in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer since 1997. In metastatic disease, one-year survival ranges from about 17 to 23%, while five-year survival is only 2%.
Although numerous phase II and III studies have been conducted on new drugs combined with gemcitabine, most have not shown significant improvement in survival among these patients. The nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination opens a new treatment avenue in this patient population.
###
For more information contact:
Amanda Wren
Communication Manager
Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO)
Tel. +34 695207886
Email: awren@vhio.net
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ShareContact: Amanda Wren
awren@vhio.net
34-695-207-886
Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology
Barcelona, 17 October 2013. A multicentre phase III study, with centers participating from 11 countries in North America, Europe and Australia, shows that the drug combination nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine is more effective in the treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer than gemcitabine alone, which has been the standard treatment for these patients up until now.
The clinical trial, sponsored by Celgene Corporation, involved 861 patients, half of whom were administered the nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination, while the other half received gemcitabine alone. Median overall survival was 8.5 months for nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine versus 6.7 months for gemcitabine alone. One-year survival rates were 35% and 22%, respectively, and two-year survival rates were 9% and 4%, respectively. Similar side effects were found in the new drug and gemcitabine alike. The trial report therefore concluded that the nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination significantly improves overall survival and response rate in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Dr Josep Tabernero, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall dHebron University Hospital, Director of the Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), and one of the co-authors of the study, confirmed that "the results of this study take a step in the right direction towards controlling advanced pancreatic cancer, a disease with a very poor prognosis. We are confident that the gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel combination will become one of the reference treatments for this disease. New drugs in the pipeline in this field are already being gauged against this combination as the benchmark to beat. Along these lines, investigators at VHIO are developing promising laboratory model combinations for pancreatic cancer treatment."
New first-line treatment for pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in Europe and the United States. Gemcitabine therapy has been the standard first-line treatment in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer since 1997. In metastatic disease, one-year survival ranges from about 17 to 23%, while five-year survival is only 2%.
Although numerous phase II and III studies have been conducted on new drugs combined with gemcitabine, most have not shown significant improvement in survival among these patients. The nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination opens a new treatment avenue in this patient population.
###
For more information contact:
Amanda Wren
Communication Manager
Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO)
Tel. +34 695207886
Email: awren@vhio.net
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Getty Images; AP
Larry Flynt (Inset: Joseph Paul Franklin)
On March 6, 1978, as I stood on the steps of the Georgia courthouse where I was fighting obscenity charges, a series of gunshots rang out. I remember nothing that happened after that until I woke up in the intensive care unit. The damage to my central nervous system was severe, and it took several weeks before doctors could stabilize me. From then on, I was paralyzed from the waist down, and have been confined to a wheelchair ever since.
Years later, a white supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin was arrested for shooting and killing an interracial couple. He soon began confessing to other crimes, and that’s when he admitted to having shot me. He said he'd targeted me because of a photo spread I ran in Hustler magazine featuring a black man and a white woman. He had bombed several synagogues. He had shot Vernon Jordan Jr., the civil rights activist. He hated blacks, he hated Jews, he hated all minorities. He went around the country committing all these crimes. I think somebody had to have been financing him, but nothing ever turned up on who that somebody may have been.
PHOTOS: Larry Flynt and The Inner Life of a Dirty Old Man
In all the years since the shooting, I have never come face-to-face with Franklin. I would love an hour in a room with him and a pair of wire-cutters and pliers, so I could inflict the same damage on him that he inflicted on me. But, I do not want to kill him, nor do I want to see him die.
Supporters of capital punishment argue that it is a deterrent which prevents potential murderers from committing future crimes, but research has failed to provide a shred of valid scientific proof to that effect whatsoever. In 18th century England, pickpocketing was a capital offense. Once a week, crowds would gather in a public square to observe public hangings of convicted pickpockets, unaware that their own pockets were being emptied by thieves moving among them. That’s a true story, and, if you’re ever trying to convince somebody of why the death penalty is not a deterrent, that’s a good example.
PHOTOS: 20 Biggest Political Players in Hollywood
As far as the severity of punishment is concerned, to me, a life spent in a 3-by-6-foot cell is far harsher than the quick release of a lethal injection. And costs to the taxpayer? Execution has been proven to be far more expensive for the state than a conviction of life without parole, due to the long and complex judicial process required for capital cases.
Franklin has been sentenced by the Missouri Supreme Court to death by legal injection on Nov. 20. I have every reason to be overjoyed with this decision, but I am not. I have had many years in this wheelchair to think about this very topic. As I see it, the sole motivating factor behind the death penalty is vengeance, not justice, and I firmly believe that a government that forbids killing among its citizens should not be in the business of killing people itself.
ShareContact: Ann Benbow
aeb@agiweb.org
703-379-2480 x245
American Geosciences Institute
Alexandria, VA -- Today, a national center focused on the geosciences launches the world's most comprehensive and up-to-date online clearinghouse for Earth and space science information and educational resources, ranging from high school curricula and classroom activities to video collections, career resources, and national research reports.
The first such clearinghouse of its scope and type, the Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding's searchable web site http://www.geocntr.org provides the geoscience community, schools, and the general public with an extensive collection of resources and research from reliable science and education organizations.
"Teachers, media, families, and policy-makers should bookmark this site as the starting point for research about Earth and space science education," said Ann Benbow, director of the Center. "We have collected and organized resources that provide a variety of perspectives on important issues, and the site expands daily."
The Center's new site currently provides access to resources from nearly 700 organizations. These include universities, museums, federal and state agencies, media groups, AGI, and its member organizations and publishers. Approximately 2,000 annotated and searchable resource entries are available on the site, and this number includes many collections and galleries, each with hundreds of individual items such as photographs, videos, and presentations.
A sample of materials on the site: Earth science curricula; Earth science classroom activities; Teacher professional development programs; Science-topic presentations; Animation, video collections/still galleries; Virtual field trips; State science/Earth science organizations; Funding sources for teachers; Teaching award information; Earth science outreach programs.
###
The American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the Center's parent organization, is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific professional associations representing more than 250,000 Earth scientists. The Center web site is being launched as part of Earth Science Week, the international celebration of the Earth sciences that is organized by AGI and reaches over 50 million people with geoscience resources and information each year.
AGI's Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding is a unique clearinghouse for Earth Science educational materials, information on "hot topics," geoscience career information, and geoscience educational research. The Center produces and releases national reports on the state of geoscience education, as well as examines implementation of new science education standards.
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ShareContact: Ann Benbow
aeb@agiweb.org
703-379-2480 x245
American Geosciences Institute
Alexandria, VA -- Today, a national center focused on the geosciences launches the world's most comprehensive and up-to-date online clearinghouse for Earth and space science information and educational resources, ranging from high school curricula and classroom activities to video collections, career resources, and national research reports.
The first such clearinghouse of its scope and type, the Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding's searchable web site http://www.geocntr.org provides the geoscience community, schools, and the general public with an extensive collection of resources and research from reliable science and education organizations.
"Teachers, media, families, and policy-makers should bookmark this site as the starting point for research about Earth and space science education," said Ann Benbow, director of the Center. "We have collected and organized resources that provide a variety of perspectives on important issues, and the site expands daily."
The Center's new site currently provides access to resources from nearly 700 organizations. These include universities, museums, federal and state agencies, media groups, AGI, and its member organizations and publishers. Approximately 2,000 annotated and searchable resource entries are available on the site, and this number includes many collections and galleries, each with hundreds of individual items such as photographs, videos, and presentations.
A sample of materials on the site: Earth science curricula; Earth science classroom activities; Teacher professional development programs; Science-topic presentations; Animation, video collections/still galleries; Virtual field trips; State science/Earth science organizations; Funding sources for teachers; Teaching award information; Earth science outreach programs.
###
The American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the Center's parent organization, is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific professional associations representing more than 250,000 Earth scientists. The Center web site is being launched as part of Earth Science Week, the international celebration of the Earth sciences that is organized by AGI and reaches over 50 million people with geoscience resources and information each year.
AGI's Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding is a unique clearinghouse for Earth Science educational materials, information on "hot topics," geoscience career information, and geoscience educational research. The Center produces and releases national reports on the state of geoscience education, as well as examines implementation of new science education standards.
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Los Angeles Dodgers fans cheer after Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 6-4 and trail in the series 3-2. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Los Angeles Dodgers fans cheer after Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 6-4 and trail in the series 3-2. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez hits a home run during the third inning of Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Carl Crawford (25), Yasiel Puig and Andre Ethier celebrate after Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 6-4 and trail in the series 3-2. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers' A.J. Ellis hits a home run during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez celebrates after hitting a home run during the third inning of Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It took the Dodgers five games to hit a home run in the NL championship series. Once Adrian Gonzalez powered up for the first one, their dormant offense broke loose.
Gonzalez homered twice and Zack Greinke came through with the clutch performance Los Angeles needed in a 6-4 victory over the Cardinals on Wednesday that trimmed St. Louis' lead to 3-2 in the best-of-seven playoff.
"Guys weren't ready to lose today," said Carl Crawford, who also went deep to help the Dodgers save their season.
Los Angeles held on in the ninth, when St. Louis scored twice off closer Kenley Jansen before he struck out pinch-hitter Adron Chambers with two on to end it.
The series shifts back to St. Louis for Game 6 on Friday night, with ace Clayton Kershaw scheduled to start for Los Angeles against rookie Michael Wacha.
When those two squared off in Game 2, the Cardinals won 1-0 on an unearned run.
"We've kind of become America's team because everyone wants to see a seventh game," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Probably even the fans in St. Louis would like to see a seventh game, so I figure that everybody's for us to win on Friday night."
The Cardinals also led last year's NLCS 3-1 before losing three straight games to the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants.
"We're looking to do the same thing," Gonzalez said.
Desperate to avoid elimination, the Dodgers brought in some Hollywood star power for pregame introductions. Will Ferrell announced their lineup and lent a comic spin to each player's name, capping it by introducing Greinke as "today's winning pitcher."
Ferrell knew what he was talking about.
Greinke got into a bases-loaded jam with none out in the first but escaped with no damage. From there, he pitched seven strong innings and even delivered an RBI single.
"That was big. I was real nervous out there with that situation," Greinke said.
A.J. Ellis also homered at Dodger Stadium, where it is tougher to clear the fences in the heavy night air.
Helped by playing in 82-degree heat on a sunny afternoon, the Dodgers rediscovered their power stroke just in time to extend the series. They hit .274 in three games at home after batting .184 during the first two games in St. Louis.
"It was just one of those days that we were a little better, got some runs, good feeling," Mattingly said.
The Dodgers regrouped after Greinke squandered an early 2-0 lead just as he did in Game 1, which Los Angeles lost 3-2 in 13 innings on the road.
After neither team homered in the first three games for the first time in NLCS history, the big bats came out. The Cardinals used a two-run homer by Matt Holliday and a solo shot from pinch-hitter Shane Robinson to win 4-2 on Tuesday night.
This time, Gonzalez went 3 for 4 with two solo homers and three runs scored. His two-out shot in the eighth made it 6-2.
"We have a team that can bounce back and do some pretty incredible things out there," he said.
The Cardinals tied it at 2 in the third on Carlos Beltran's RBI triple and Holliday's run-scoring double before Yadier Molina grounded into his second inning-ending double play against Greinke.
"He wasn't as sharp as he was the first time we faced him," Beltran said. "But guys like that, the best guys in the game, they're able to regroup and find a way to help their team win."
Los Angeles answered in the bottom of the third. Mark Ellis singled leading off but was erased when Hanley Ramirez grounded into a double play.
Gonzalez followed with the Dodgers' first homer of the NLCS, slugging the ball an estimated 428 feet into the right-field pavilion for a 3-2 lead.
As he headed toward the dugout, Gonzalez cupped his hands to his ears and wiggled them in a gesture resembling mouse ears. It was an apparent jab at Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, who said Gonzalez had done "some Mickey Mouse stuff" in celebrating a double on Monday night.
"It's just having fun," Gonzalez said. "I'm going to retire them so they're not talked about once again."
Crawford egged Gonzalez on.
"I'm pretty sure it rubbed them the wrong way and they're going to use that as some kind of fuel, so you might as well keep doing it," Crawford said, laughing.
Gonzalez replied: "Hey, if Carl wants them. It's for him, not for anybody else."
After wriggling out of big trouble in the first when Molina bounced into a double play, Greinke allowed two runs and six hits. He struck out four and walked one.
"He made his pitches, we made the plays, got out of it," Gonzalez said. "We were able to get run support for him. All he needed was a few runs."
Jansen gave up RBI singles to Matt Adams and Pete Kozma in the ninth.
A.J. Ellis homered in seventh, sending an 0-2 pitch from Edward Mujica into the left-field pavilion to make it 5-2.
Crawford homered with one out in the fifth, extending the Dodgers' lead to 4-2. He walloped a 3-2 pitch from starter Joe Kelly an estimated 447 feet into the right-field pavilion.
Kelly gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked none.
"I made a few bad pitches on heaters and didn't locate that well, and they turned into home runs," he said. "With guys on base, I was going after them and attacking them with the fastball, but they're good hitters and they put good swings on them and hit them out of the park."
Beltran's triple went over the head of Andre Ethier and to the wall in center, scoring Matt Carpenter, who singled. Holliday followed with a double to deep center, but that was it for St. Louis until the ninth.
"We had a couple of opportunities to do something, and we just couldn't make it happen," manager Mike Matheny said. "These guys have done a tremendous job in those exact same situations all season long. You're going to have games where you just can't make it happen, and we've got to figure out a way to get it done the next time we get a chance."
NOTES: Molina went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. ... Greinke's hit in the second was the third of his postseason career. ... Ramirez, playing with a broken left rib, left after six innings. ... In the three games Ramirez has started with the injury, only two grounders have been hit to him at shortstop. ... The homers by Gonzalez and Crawford were the first given up by Kelly in 24 career postseason innings. He allowed two homers in a game twice during the regular season. ... The Dodgers are trying to become the 12th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. ... Beltran's triple was his first ever in the postseason. ... Former Dodgers star Orel Hershiser tossed out the first pitch on the 25th anniversary of his three-hit shutout against Oakland in Game 2 of the 1988 World Series.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-16-BBN-NLCS-Cardinals-Dodgers/id-8997ff0cab74487c83519e3058ee8a8fMARYVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A northwest Missouri prosecutor said Wednesday that he's asking for a special prosecutor to look at the case of a 14-year-old girl who says she was plied with alcohol and raped by a 17-year-old acquaintance.
The announcement from Nodaway County prosecutor Robert Rice came amid increased scrutiny in recent days over how he handled the case.
Melinda Coleman, the mother of 14-year-old Daisy Coleman, claims justice was denied when Rice dropped felony charges against the 17-year-old boy in March 2012, two months after Coleman found her daughter passed out on the family's front porch in below-freezing temperatures. The mother also has said the family had to move from the small town of Maryville because of harassment over the allegations.
The county sheriff and Rice have insisted their investigation collapsed after the Colemans became uncooperative with investigators and refused to answer questions. Coleman says she and her daughter did cooperate and that investigators didn't do enough to push the case forward.
Rice stood behind his earlier statements at a news conference Wednesday but said he was asking a court to appoint a special prosecutor because of publicity surrounding the case and recent media stories questioning the integrity of the justice system in the county. Rice said the special prosecutor will investigate and decide whether charges will be refiled.
The incident happened in January 2012, after Daisy and a 13-year-old friend left the Colemans' house in the middle of the night to meet some boys.
Daisy's 13-year-old friend also said she was forced to have sex with a 15-year-old. The 15-year-old was charged in the juvenile system.
Charges against a 17-year-old who allegedly videotaped the incident involving Daisy on a cellphone were also dropped in March 2012.
Daisy said the boys gave her alcohol and she doesn't remember much of what happened next. The boys said the sex was consensual.
Rice has said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the charges because the accusers had stopped cooperating and asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Rice said Wednesday that he had been concerned about the Colemans' decision and so he had asked that they assert their Fifth Amendment right under oath in a deposition. He said he couldn't release the deposition because it's a closed record.
Asked to speculate on the accusers' reasoning, Rice said, "I can't go into their minds. I don't know. I can tell you this: We were very careful, very deliberate to make sure that they recorded that there was no misunderstanding, that they understood that at that time when they invoked their Fifth Amendment right that by doing so was going to force the dismissal of the case, that they understood that."
Melinda Coleman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment after Rice's announcement. But in an interview with The Associated Press earlier in the day, Coleman insisted she would help investigators in any way she could, even if the case never made it to trial.
"I think just having it looked at fairly and having other people know how much we were bullied goes a long way. Even if that's all that ever comes out of it," she said. "That may be enough to move on and have some peace and some security."
The Associated Press does not generally name victims of sexual assault but is naming Daisy Coleman because she and her mother have been granting public interviews about the case. The AP is not naming the boys because there are no longer active charges against them.
Robert Sundell, who represented the teen accused of assaulting Daisy, was out of the office Wednesday and didn't immediately return phone message left before and after the news conference.
In a statement Tuesday, Sundell said his former client cooperated with the investigation and freely admitted to the sexual encounter. He said that while many may find his former client's behavior "reprehensible," the legal issue was whether a crime was committed.
The case has drawn international attention to Maryville and city officials said they've had to increase police patrols because of threats made against residents and the city in general.
However, Coleman said harassment her family faced in the town was from just a few residents, mainly friends and family members of the boys accused. She said that otherwise, she liked the town.
The mother of the boy accused of assaulting Daisy pleaded with people to stop making threats against people who are from Maryville, telling reporters that some people no longer feel safe going to work or school.
The case has drawn comparisons to one in Steubenville, Ohio, where two 17-year-old high school football players were convicted of raping a West Virginia girl after an alcohol-fueled party in 2012. The case was furiously debated online and led to allegations of a cover-up to protect the city's celebrated football team.
Before Rice's announcement Wednesday, pressure had been building on Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to intervene. Koster's office has said it had no authority under state law to reopen the investigation on its own.
Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, a Republican who had called on the Democratic attorney general to step in, said the decision to seek a special prosecutor is good progress.
"However we get to the point of examining this matter more closely is really irrelevant to me," said Jones. "The point is there seemed to be too many questions out there about this case for it to just be suddenly closed."
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-16-Missouri-Teen%20Sex%20Assault/id-39d619d89fcc4ac0a3c2d3257f50010bThe Washington Collection, manufactured by Knoll and Designed by Adjaye Associates, is inspired by the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Photo: Knoll
The plastic Skin side chair is injection-molded and available in a variety of colors, with prices starting at $300. Photo: Knoll
The $50,000 Corona table will only be available in a limited edition of 75, to commemorate Knoll's 75th anniversary. Photo: Knoll
Adjaye designed the profile so that the chair would largely disappear when people were sitting on it. Photo: Knoll
The Skeleton side chair has some interesting finish options, like a polished copper surface. Photo: Knoll
The chairs are manufactured using two very different processes, but share a distinct ribbing pattern that is both aesthetic and functional. Photo: Knoll
Some architects scoff at furniture commissions, but Adjaye was thrilled with the chance to work at a different scale, using new materials, in a relatively fast-paced environment. Photo: Knoll
The exterior sides of the Corona table were left unfinished and retain the sandy texture from the molds they were cast in. Photo: Knoll
The interior faces of the panels were CNC milled and buffed to a mirror shine to create a deliberate contrast between the interior and exterior, one of Adjaye's big aesthetic themes. Photo: Knoll
Almost every museum has a gift shop where visitors can buy a knickknack to remember the time spent in front of a lovely Vermeer, but few galleries give patrons the ability to purchase furniture inspired by the building’s architecture. The National Museum of African American History and Culture, designed by David Adjaye, is a 420,000-square-foot project being built in the shadow of the Washington Monument at a cost of $309 million, but for just $300, fans of the British architect can own a chair inspired by it.
Furniture giant Knoll commissioned Adjaye and his 48-person office—which has completed commissions in Moscow, Oslo, and London—to design a collection of furniture inspired by the stunning, bronze-clad, Smithsonian affiliate. It consists of: The Washington Skin Nylon Chair ($300), the Washington Skeleton Aluminum Side Chair ($490), and the Washington Corona Bronze Coffee Table, which is being produced in a limited edition of 75 units ($50,000).
The strong angles and bold materials used in the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture serve as inspiration for a related line of furniture. Image: Adjaye Associates
The cantilevered legs follow similar lines of the building’s profile.
“I explored a number of themes in the Knoll furniture—such as monumentality, materiality and history—which are also evident in my architectural projects including the Washington building,” says Adjaye “So the formal languages do share a timeframe and a common inquiry.”
Adjaye started the process working on the plastic chair, but quickly realized that the distinct ribbing pattern, which helps the resin flow in an injection mold, would also make for an impressive die-cast aluminum design. “To be cost effective for both metal and plastic, we were limited to a two-part mold, which means that all the holes are cut in one direction,” he says. “That was a challenge for us at first because we wanted the ribbing to feel integral, not applied.” In the end, both designs have slightly different structures with limited variation in the number of ribs and their spacing. The chairs are minimal, but even the lightweight plastic chair can accommodate people who weigh 300 pounds.
The chairs have a distinct look that mimic the museum in subtle ways—the cantilevered legs follow similar lines of the building’s profile and the ribbing is inspired by African patterns which also adorn the metallic facade, but despite his passion for larger than life forms, Adjaye was always keenly aware of ergonomics. “The primary idea behind the design was to mimic the form of a seated person,” he says “The idea is that the chair almost disappears when in use.”
For a designer used to planning projects that will span a decade, the Washington Collection gave Adjaye the flexibility to focus on big ideas instead of ballooning budgets. “Rather than making a product, it was an opportunity to express my position in terms of materials, silhouettes and forms,” says Adjaye “It was like a testing ground for ideas that interest me”
Adjaye is no stranger to technical challenges, but required him to master a new set of materials, as well as price targets that would be rounding errors on his construction projects. “It is very different,” he says. “Furniture can be everywhere and used by everyone, unthinkingly in their daily lives—it is a background. There is something very powerful and very rewarding about that.”
The Corona table is a heavy piece, crafted out of slabs of bronze and glass, and carries a hefty price tag of $50,000. Photo: Knoll
The chairs are joined by the Corona Table, a $50,000 piece that is inspired by the bronze panels that will cover Adjaye’s museum when it is completed. Its four panels were cast in bronze, with the exterior revealing the sand cast texture while the internal face was CNC milled and polished to a mirror finish. “The contrast in the finish is an investigation into the relationship between inside and outside, public and private, exposing and concealing,” he says. “Many ideas which feed into my work more generally.”
Some architects famously reject small projects like furniture and even small homes, but Adjaye relishes the opportunity “The collection explores critical themes in my work—research, history, materiality—finding specific conditions, amplifying them and making them aesthetic while giving them the potential to be part of our world.”
