10 May 2008

Furniture Designs




Droog Design - The use of industrial and recycled materials is emphasized by this Dutch design firm established in 1993. "The Droog collection features over 180 designs by over a hundred designers, in the product categories of lighting, furniture, tabletop, kitchen, bathroom, accessory and various. Droog products are chosen or commissioned based on the curatorial criteria laid out by founders Renny Ramakers and Gjis Bakker. They need to combine functionality and conceptual clarity with a keen expression of awareness of cultural and technological references and contexts." Some examples of their products: Treetrunk Bench by Jurgen Bey, 1999

Art Basel Miami Beach

Design Miami: DM takes itself very very seriously, both from a practical/beautiful and a spectacle perspective. Lodged firmly in the latter, Demisch Danant’s concrete chair.

Art Basel Miami Beach

“Designer of the Year” Tokujin Yoshioka’s Chair that disappears in the rain. Much more about Yoshioka’s gorgeous installation here.

Kerry Phillips at Locust

Kerry Phillips’ installation at Locust.

Chrome furniture by Vito Acconci.


Installation by Shintaro Miyake, including painted wood pieces, photographs (of a performance), drawings, sculpture, and stuffed plush animals.

Jacob Hashimoto. A sculpture of cocktail umbrellas connected by string, 4 levels deep.

Birdhouse by Marcel Wanders, 2005

Etrat Gommeh - Living Bench
A design made for Plantware using its method: Aeroponically grown trees are shaped to create a bench. Some parts of the template will be removed in the future, leaving a living bench.
Teamwork with Tal Kamil.

Zivia Israel. Stripped folding chair, 2003. Plywood, fabric, military textile. Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 2006. I love the playfullness and seriousness in the ‘stripped folding chair” by zivia


‘zit up’ chair by zivia, 2003


EZRI TARAZI newspaper chair




MOVE chair, ottoman, and table
Ezri Tarazi
Israel, 2005
Plywood, vinyl, filling material


Cube Chair

Transformted the cube case into a chair. The Cube Chair(CHF 3,900; about $3,750) made of Wood, aluminium, leather. The height is 68cm(closed), when it is open the height is 90cm.



‘bin seat’ by ami drach & dov ganchrow, 2001
- ready-made weber garbage can -

BOOKCARE INTO A BED: A NEW TAKE ON THE MURPHY BED
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 10. 5.07

folding-bed-bookcase.jpg

Here's an interesting take on the folding Murphy bed idea: instead of folding into the wall, this concept jigsaw-puzzles together to become part of the wall. The bookcase/bed combination works together to help maximize space and give your walls a little extra pop of color; when it's bedtime, just take down your bookcase and you've got a bed.

We like that the bookcases remain on the wall, so you don't have to take stuff off the shelves when it's time to go to bed, but we see a few tricky spots in the day to day operation as well; you'd have to make the bed every night (unless it came with a puzzle-shaped fitted sheet) and it might be a little weird sleeping with a puzzle-shaped crease in the middle. Still, it's a great idea (if the implementation leaves a little to be desired) so we'll hope that some of the kinks will get worked out for Puzzle-Bed 2.0. via ::Yanko Design

Bookseat

The Bookseat($TBD; Spring 2008) is a bookshelf be curved to a chair. When you sit it, you can reading you favorite books from your "seat". It designed by a Toronto based design-duo company named FishbolDesign Atelier. It is made of bent plywood, available with a felt cushion in customizable colors. The Bookseat available in Spring 2008

ChairStoolBench

The ChairStoolBench in Yvonne Fehling's and Jennie Peiz's exhibition at the Arp Museum in Remagen, Germany. They designed by the Utrecht design. These Dynamic ChairStoolBench, it seem to tell us stories happen in this ChairStoolBench. I also love to see it in a city park somewhere.

Foldable Chairs and Tables Made of Paper

paper chase - www.myninjaplease.com

foldable soft seats

From mocoloco:

Molo creates and distributes unique and innovative products designed by partners Todd MacAllen and Forsythe. That’s Softseating above, a series of seating elements that use a honeycomb structure that fan open to form stools, benches, and loungers. A sort of fan-flatpack (fanpack?). The multi-use elements can be used as seating, low tables, or even stacked as building blocks and to top it off it’s all made out of paper.”

These are extremely creative and easily storable, but I just wonder how comfortable they are.


Reclaiming Public Spaces - Park(ing) Day

A PARK near City Hall organized by the City Health Department and the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association.

The International PARK(ing) Day, is a day in which people turn street space normally used for car parking into mini parks or something else that gets people to stop and talk to each other. It provokes discussion about parking policy in cities. I'm a fan of PARK(ing) Day as it's a small way to get neighbours talking, even if only for one day. Seeing a PARK is so surprising to most people, that a lot of passers-by tend to stop and talk to the PARKers, or even do a double-back once they decide that they did really see what they thought they saw. Hence more neighbourly interaction. Look up Neighbor's Checklist items.

The longer term idea is to reclaim small pieces of the street infrastructure for some programmed space that gets neighbours talking on a day-to-day basis. This could be a garden, a play space, bike parking racks, a sculpture, a permanent hop scotch court, a bag toss set up, etc. Whatever makes sense for that neighbourhood.

Several PARK(ing) spots were set up in San Francisco. One of the favourite's was the beauty school on Folsom. Extending local commerce onto the street is a highly practical way to boost the local economy while also making the street more pleasant and neighbourly, especially for the deader areas with bloated driving lanes. In fact, small-scale street space reclamations are more often than not about improving the bottom line of the local economy rather than a reflection of wide-spread agreement that streets should be for people. So it was nice to see a number of commercial institutions participating in the event this year. Another was not a PARK, but just an outdoor cafe. It looked like a PARK because it was across the street from a double PARK.

A negative aspect is that a lot of the organizers seemed to miss the point that, if you want to engage people on the street, you should arrange the PARK to face the sidewalk, not the cars on the street. City government in many areas of this country often makes the same mistake when they place benches and bus stops to face car traffic, rather than the sidewalk. People watching is far more interesting than watching cars go by. The photos from NYC suggest that New Yorkers got it right. Similuar projects went on in Chicago and L.A.


Doing hair and makeup at a PARK. Loved this one because it's practical and weirdly fascinating.


This is just a cafe in the street. Again, it's practical and looks like a nice place to eat.


A theater company handed out schedules of their performances for the year. Though they made the mistake of setting up to face the cars on a vast street. Again, a practical reason to reclaim street space.

P(LOT)

Michael Rakowitz is know for his controversial uses of public space, and P(LOT) is no exception. Taking the notion that a parking space could be rented for other uses, like say a temporary encampment, Michael has designed tents from car covers to help make them blend in. The covers are available for loan from MUMOK if you want to give it a go.

michaelrakowitz.com - Go to Projects, P(LOT)

Comment about Park(ing) Day:
"Park(ing) Day was a huge success! Twenty parcels of public space--that on any other day would be parking spots serving only a handful of drivers--were repurposed to benefit thousands of pedestrians. With a little ingenuity and a lot of creativity, groups from Staten Island to the Bronx fashioned green spaces, sitting places, and active public space from some of the most undervalued real estate on the planet."

The most encouraging and exciting part of Park(ing) Day was the positive response from the public. Not only were New Yorkers eager to spend some of their workday in a repurposed Park(ing) spot, but many people also wanted to know how parks of this type could be made permanent. Given Park(ing) Day's popularity, the city should consider developing a program where neighborhoods could apply to transform 1 or 2 parking spots on their street into permanent community space. If you would like to see such a transformation on your street, please contact streets@transalt.org.

If you missed Park(ing) Day or just want to remind yourself how fun it was, check out StreetFilms newest short, Park(ing) Day 2007 NYC. To find out how you can become involved next year, sign up for the Park(ing) Day mailing list at the Park(ing) Day organizing site.

And a special thanks to REBAR, The Trust for Public Land, The Open Planning Project, Councilmember Gale Brewer, Chashama, Clarence Eckerson, Colin Beavan, Day de Dada, Endless Love Crew, Fordham University, Green Map, Ian Dutton, Jen Petersen, Julie Raskin, Jennifer Ewing and Columbia Students, Kiss + Cathcart Architects, The Lower East Side Girls Club, Ms. J's Gym and Dance, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, New York University Environmental Health Clinic, Park Slope Neighbors, Project for Public Spaces, Sustainable Flatbush, Time's Up, Upper Green Side, Yoshihara McKee Architects, and all the groups and individuals involved in Parkin(ing) Day 2007 NYC!


"Play catch in your street and/or alley."
  • Two guys were playing the bean bag game with Bears branded bags. The bean bag game has been big in Chicago for a long time thanks to the Bozo Show, which was based here and _the_ thing to do when I was a kid. It seems to have grown as we've aged and now I see a lot of adults in my neighborhood (of varying ages) with bean bag set ups in front of their houses. It's a kind of bizarre game, and what gets me most is that people usually have not one, but two bag boards so that you can compete simultaneously against your opponent. Anyway, I guess it goes well with our beer and sports culture here, so I'm all for more bean bagging.
  • Some kids were playing wiffle ball on an especially wide residential street. They seemed a little uncertain whether it was OK to do.

Public Art

Fulcrum

Richard Serra, 1987

FulcrumFulcrum

FulcrumFulcrum

Fulcrum

Location: Wilson Street, London

Shoe Tree

Shoe Tree

Shoe Tree

Shoe Tree

Garden Wall

Garden Wall

Garden Wall

  • Not known/entered
  • Location: Old Street, London

7 May 2008

TOY SHOW

Stage One

Gathering children's and adult's perspectives using observation, then the participatory tools of cameras, book making, tours, map making and the Magic Carpet, and ending with the more formal interviews with children, parents and practitioners.

Case Study

The Manager and practitioners in the preschool wanted to develop the outdoor provision and had been given a small grant from Learning through Landscapes to begin this process. The preschool has over 80 children on its roll with up to 36 children at each session. A number of the children have special physical or behavioural needs. It serves an area of economic disadvantage.

Together with parents and practitioners, 28 three and four year olds were involved in the pilot project, which took place between September 2003 to February 2004.

  • Observation: a general observation of both a morning and afternoon session, then a focused observation of five randomly selected children
  • Cameras: 15 children, including some with speech and language delay, were asked to 'take photographs of what is important here'. The children used single use and basic reusable cameras.
  • Book making: 10 children who had taken the most photographs made individual books about the outdoor space. Two sets of photographs were made, one for the children and one for the researcher.
  • Tours: four children directed and recorded tours of the outdoor space, indicating the important places. The children were in charge of the route as well as how the tour was recorded. Each pair had a camera and a small tape recorder.
  • Map making: eight children worked in pairs and in a four to make maps of the outdoor space, using photos and adding drawings. These maps were made on large 'polos' - circular pieces of paper, with a hole in the middle to enable children to think about the space 'in the round'. Maps were displayed in the cloakroom area where parents, staff and children could discuss them.
  • Magic Carpet: this is a new piece of the Mosaic and has been adapted from an idea by Christine Parker (20012) as a way of talking to young children about different places. Slides were made of the local town centre, the castle and park (all taken from a child's height). Children watched these slides of their locality, whilst sitting in a darkened corner of the indoor play space on a 'Magic Carpet'.
  • Child interviews: 20 children were interviewed about their use and preferences in the outdoor space. The questions were structured but the format of the interviews remained flexible, and they were conducted outside in a place where the children might feel relaxed.
  • Practitioner and parent interviews: short interviews were carried out with the Manager, three other staff and four parents. Practitioners were asked about what they enjoyed doing with the children outside, and what they would like to change. Parents were asked about what their children enjoyed doing inside and outside at home and at preschool.

Stage Two

Discussing the material with children and adults, reflecting on what were the important places and uses of space emerging from the process.

  • Children's comments and photographs from Stage One were made into a book, which the researcher discussed with the children. They talked about their photographs and comments and answered questions in the text about their views on future changes to the space.
  • The book became the focus of two short staff meetings. The researcher shared the children's comments from the book and this led to a wider discussion about the children's photographs and map making.
  • The researcher and Learning through Landscapes Early Years Development Officer met to review the material. A large plan was made to summarise the visual and verbal material produced by the different research tools. Each of the tools were discussed in turn in order to reveal emerging themes from the reviews with children and practitioners.

Stage Three

Deciding areas of continuity and change. Four categories emerged- places to keep, places to expand, places to change and places to add.

Places to keep: the caterpillar

A large plastic caterpillar tunnel was regularly placed outside. It had been apparent from the first visit that the children enjoyed this strange shape. However, the use of the different research tools had emphasised just how important this piece of equipment was for the children: for example, ten of the sixty photographs chosen by the children in the book making activity, showed the caterpillar. This was a play space not to try to change.

Places to expand: the house

Observing the children revealed this to be a key resource for the children. The children confirmed this through their photographs, the tour and their interviews. Parents also mentioned the house as an important space in the preschool. However the interviews with practitioners showed that the house was a source of tension. They felt it was too small. The multi-method approach adopted had made these differences visible. The review with children, practitioners and Learning through Landscapes recognised these opposing views and raised some possible solutions. These included providing the children with building material, crates and planks to build their own temporary structures on the available ground.

Places to change: the fence

The children's photographs and maps emphasised how the security fence dominated the outdoor space. Close observation revealed another dimension. The gaps in the security fence were wide enough for the children to see through. Any solution needed to bear in mind the importance of leaving these gaps, so the people spotting and dog watching could continue. Three ideas under consideration are adding temporary weaving to the fence, placing paint boards on the fence and having binoculars and telescopes available for long-distance viewing.

Places to add: new seating and digging

The research process identified places which could be added to the outdoor space to maximise the children's enjoyment. The first was more places for adults and children to sit together. There was a lack of places for this to happen apart from the decking. The 'Magic Carpet' slide show drew on children's wider knowledge of places they liked to sit. One possibility emerging from this pilot project is to add seating for adults and children to sit comfortably together around the play space.

The second was places to dig. Observation had shown how popular the inside sandpit was: one child included a photograph of the inside sand tray in his book of important outdoor spaces! The opportunities to dig outside in the compost tray were not taken up by the children. However, parents talked about how their children liked to dig outside. Practitioners discussed adding a digging area as a new feature of the outdoor space.

Discussion

What might be the possible uses of this approach with older children?

A flexible set of research tools

A multi-method, participatory approach, time consuming though it is, enables children with different skills and personalities to contribute their experiences.

This applies to older children including those with special needs. The tools you choose to use can be altered according to the children you are working with. For example, in a future project the research team is hoping to use the Mosaic approach with 4, 7 and 12 year olds. The 12 year olds will use videocameras rather than single use cameras. Perhaps older children could conduct the interviews with their peers?

'Experts in their own lives'

The philosophy behind the Mosaic approach, children as 'experts in their own lives' can apply to children of all ages. This was recognised by Iona and Peter Opie working in the 1950s onwards who wrote the classic 'lore and language of schoolchildren. They recognised this expertise and observed:

'The modern schoolchild when out of sight and on his own , appears rich in language, well-versed in custom, a respecter of the details of his own codes, and a practicing authority on traditional self-amusements.'3

So when designing outdoor spaces work needs to begin by looking at children and not looking at a catalogue. There is a temptation for practitioners to apply for a possible grant by looking up new pieces of equipment in a catalogue. However, the most rewarding changes are those which use as their starting point young children's views and experiences.

Listening is about learning

This approach to listening doesn't need to be seen as an extra activity that takes up valuable curriculum time, because this is about learning. At one level, there is the potential for learning goals to be achieved through working with children in this way: for example, developing speaking and listening skills through using the cameras. At a deeper level children are engaged in an active process of meaning making.

Next steps

Learning through Landscapes: Kent Space to Grow Project

Following the completion of the research project and taking account of its findings, the Manager of the preschool has met with Learning through Landscapes to draw up an action plan which will form the basis for the development of the outdoor space.

Thomas Coram Research Unit: Spaces to Play Project

Following the successful completion of the pilot project, a three year project has been funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation to work with young children, architects and early years managers and practitioners. This will extend the Mosaic approach to consider how young children's perspectives can be taken into account in a 'new build' and in early years institutions planning to change either the indoor or outdoor environment.

Conclusion

The pilot project has demonstrated how young children's views and experiences about their outdoor environment can play a tangible part in decision-making about change. Three and four year-olds of different abilities have shown themselves to be competent documenters of their play space.

6 May 2008

AVL

Atelier Van Lieshout

Constitution AVL-Ville

In a constantly developing society, the artist plays an important stimulating role. Development implies breaking away from existing structures. To reach optimal artistic expression, it is crucial for the artist to be able to deploy himself or herself without being subject to the restrictions of civil morality. The objective of AVL-Ville is to create an environment where this is possible. To reach this goal, the rights formulated below are to be seen as absolute, without any exceptions. Living at AVL-Ville can be experienced as a hard and confrontational artistic life. However, this is the ultimate consequence of an honest and uncompromising existence.

Text of the Constitution
1) Everyone has the right to freedom of artistic expression and design.
2) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which is to say revealing and receiving thoughts or feelings other than artistic.
3) Every participant of AVL-Ville is equal and is entitled to be treated without discrimination on account of race, colour, sex, language, belief, political, artistic and philosophical ideas, nationality, possessions, or any other ground.
4) Everyone is entitled to gather with others and to demonstrate.
5) Everyone has the right to freedom of religious expression, including idolatry, polygamy and forming a sect.
6) Everyone is entitled to have an education, including an artistic education.
7) Everyone has the right to immunity in privacy and artistic lifestyle, as well as communication in any way with third parties.
8) Everyone is allowed to wander freely within the AVL-Ville area.
9) Everyone is entitled to create independently his or her own housing within the AVL-Ville territory.
10) Everyone has the right to have immunity over body and spirit, which also includes being able to dispose of one’s body and spirit according to one’s own wishes, with or without help of artificial means.
11) All AVL-Ville participants are obliged to treat any other member with absolute honesty and respect; it is compulsory to solve any conflict within AVL-Ville.
12) A) All AVL-Ville participants accept that management will be decided by the general committee, which is composed of an as of yet unspecified supervising board, to be formed by members of the general committee along with others.

B) The general committee is qualified to expel participants, if no amicable settlement can be agreed upon in conflicts.

Freestate of AVL-Ville

In the year 2001 Atelier Van Lieshout realised AVL-Ville, a ‘free state’ in the port of Rotterdam, with its own constitution, currency and flag. It was a utopian village, where people could live and work in an ecological, autarkic way. Besides a large workshop where art works are made, the Pioneer Set, a mobile farm, would provide food. Alcohol and medicines were produced in a special workshop. Through creating their own energy resource powerplant and water purification system the free state was independent from other resources. This large-scale project forms a high point in the work of AVL; it was a culmination of all the works produced by AVL up to that time. This project provided a form of art not just to look at, but to be lived in and with. After a successful and tumultuous year, AVL-Ville closed its doors.

AVL-Ville Money, 2001

AVL designed its own money for AVL-Ville to promote the ideals of the Free State. If customers pay with AVL bills at the bar, the bar doesn’t need a liquor license. The value of the AVL money was not related to gold but rather to beer: 1 AVL is 1 beer, 5 AVL is 5 beers, 25 AVL is many beers and a meal and so on. AVL decided to adorn its currency with heroic symbols instead of the nondescript designs on the euro bills. 1 AVL is dedicated to weapons and bombs; 5 AVL to alcohol and energy; 25 AVL to sex and mobile homes; 100 AVL to the most important realms of food and farming. The money is functional while displaying AVL’s belief in heroism and ideals.


Pioneer Set, 1999 several units

With the Pioneer Set, AVL created a prefabricated farm and equipment, which handily fits into one 40-foot shipping container. Individuals and groups can travel around the world, set up the farm at any location and live self-sufficiently. The set consists of a farmhouse, a stable, a rabbit hutch, a chicken coop, a pig pen, several tools, equipment and fencing. Pioneer Set is a sturdy construction which has been built to function indefinitely, without any need for repairs and extensions. The only things that have to be added and replaced are the farm animals. AVL’s goal was to make a farm set for survival – not to create a farm driven by profit or in competition with other farms. Pioneer Set is a fully functional farm that appeals to the imagination in its concreteness. The set fulfils a nostalgic, utopian and even romantic idea of living: longing to go back to nature, to be independent or even not to be a part of this world.



Alfa Alfa with Chicken Run
, 1999

Alfa Alfa began its life as an Alfa Romeo 164. The car had put in a considerable amount of time as an AVL company car before its engine was taken out to serve as a generator. The body was lovingly restored in 1999 and converted into a chicken coop. To transform the car into a coop, AVL undertook a thorough study of chickens: habits, health, habitat and psychological behaviour. The results of the study were integrated into the final design; proper adaptations were made. The chickens have a run and feeder outside the car; their nest is located in the trunk; which can be opened to collect the eggs with ease. Human conveniences are happily united with chicken welfare in the Alfa Alfa.





Utopian Doghouse, 2002

This ideal home for dogs has a living room, a bedroom and a porch with an unlimited supply of fresh water and dog food. A canine utopia, the doghouse was made for the biennial of Bussan in Korea, where dogs are on the menu; the unit’s storage place also holds the butchering equipment.




Satellite des Sens was commissioned when the city of Lille carried the annual title of Cultural Capital of Europe in 2004. Eager to include children in the celebrations, the organizers asked AVL to create a mobile unit, which could travel around to different schools. Once parked, the unit welcomed 12 children - aged three to six - along with an adult companion, and invited them to take another kind of trip: an artistic discovery tour of the five senses. The children can hear, see, feel, smell and even taste their way through the spacious green caravan to become conscious about the body's senses in a fun and informative way. The caravan's exterior - which looks like a bright green, friendly monster – is an experience in itself, stimulating the 5 senses. Created in close collaboration with a team of specialists – trailer builders, engineers, sculptors, sound artists and pedagogues – AVL's Satellite des Sens is a surrealistic dream object on wheels.