Metropol Europe

by Yona Friedman

Unless You Remove

Objects that acts for an action

by Luis Gómez-Barquín Lanne-Lenne

I am so proud to present the work from my very good friend Luis, that recently graduated from the Design Academy of Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. His final master's project is based on our relationship with objects and how our interaction with them can affect our behavior. His designs talk about the physiology of habitat and its relation with the action of carving and getting rid off material. If you want to know more about his research, have a look at his thesis here, which is beautiful and worth seeing by the way.

One of the pieces that emerges from my thesis research is a chair that is not comfortable to sit down unless you remove matter from its volume. The chair originally is a pile out of wooden planks. The chair itself is virtually inside but it will appear when you take material out of the pile. Using your hands, break and remove some pieces from the planks to start to have a tiny place to sit. The volume generated will change with every removal action, and the chair will begin to appear as this action is performed, until all the excess of matter disappears, with a personal chair as a result.

© L_2xNe

Terrains Vages

Many post industrial cities are paralyzed by their large scale land vacancies. Planned around industries that no longer exist, their sizes far exceed the resources available to them today.  

terrainsvagues.org was established as an independent private initiative;  a thinktank escorting vacant urban landscapes during their repositioning.  Founded with the belief that cultural concepts can succeed where conventional approaches have not, terrainsvagues incubates vacancy strategies into cultural concepts able to underpin larger scale private investment.  Through creative management of vacant land and space, we inspire new discussion about its future potential – elevating vacancy management from what is a stop gap measure into a place’s largest opportunity for reinvention.

In Buffalo, urban agriculture is transforming once residential, abandoned land into small farms to serve local groups. While farming is a first step in repurposing vacant land, this singular activity can be supplemented to attract a broader audience to the area. ARTFARMS was conceived to specifically insert a cultural dimension into the ongoing reuse of vacant land.

New ideas for the vacant land must be developed and tested at the neighborhood scale and good ideas that work locally must resonate beyond.  While the ARTFARM installation is only one approach, it has potential to support a larger scale concept – a neighborhood as an ‘urban gallery’.  

terrainsvagues second step, Buffalo Visions of Identity (B_VOID), is an international urban competition inviting top level firms to submit their visions for transforming vacant landscapes at the neighborhood scale into new and unusual uses.

http://www.terrainsvagues.org/

Glasgow Riverside Museum of Transport

diagrams

in construction 

roof images

by Zaha Hadid Architects

I have to admit that I like Zaha Hadid architecture, but sometimes I see that the deployment of resources and advanced techniques in contruction are wasted in the very last minute with a lack of taste and being very bold with finishes and details. I think it would look much better if they step back. For example would not be nice to have built the Glasgow Museum of Transport as an unfinished warehouse...

Recently I read an article by the prestigious Lebbeus Woods that expressed his admiration to Zaha architecture, although he is seeing how as many big international studios. It seems like the quality and esence of the originality of Hadid's ideas have been contaminated and infected by the forms generated by the computer.

... one the most gifted architects of my time has been reduced to wrapping such conventional programs of use in merely expressionistic forms, without letting a single ray of her genius illuminate the human condition. Am I being pretentious and overly demanding? Of course. But that’s the way disappointed lovers behave. Exaggerated emotions. Absurd demands. Anger that transgresses all reason. She has let me down, and what makes it worse is that she apparently couldn’t care less. — Lebbeus Woods

read the rest of the article here

 

Empowerment

by Marco Monterzino

What is it?

The Ark of Many Voices is a sound system designed to stimulate thought. It is a symbolic object, a visible common element, an ideal, a materialized discipline.

Who is it for?
For people who feel empowered to gather and commit themselves to a protest.

Why am I doing this?
I am undertaking a further research effort. My aim is to to have a deeper understanding of what really is important to the people who protest.

Ethnographic research of a current case of social empowerment

  

Project description:

The design of the Ark of Many Voices is informed by the ethnographic research I have undertaken so far and it materialises the issues that my project is arguing. (...)

My final aim is to produce industrial design artifacts which address the issue of empowerment.

DIY Power Tool

Hypothesis:
It is by shaping the everyday little things that one can influence and contribute in shaping the larger scale of community and society.

I am very interested in see how this project is going to evolve. For more information visit his tumblr and MAID at CSM website

Colour-physco

Working as an interior designer one of the most complicated decisions that you have to make is the colour scheme for a project. As an architect I am used to work in blanck & white, but coulour is what it gives personality to a space. It gives the warmth required to make a room habitable. Monochrome images talks about the depht and volume of an space but colour is more related with feelings and perception. 

In 1666, English scientist Sir Isaac Newton discovered that when pure white light passes through a prism, it separates into all of the visible colors. 

While perceptions of color are somewhat subjective, there are some color effects that have universal meaning. Colors in the red area of the color spectrum are known as warm colors and include red, orange and yellow. These warm colors evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. 

 

Gilardi House by Luis Barragan

 Colors on the blue side of the spectrum are known as cool colors and include blue, purple and green. These colors are often described as calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference.

Several ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Chinese, practiced chromotherapy, or using colors to heal. Chromotherapy is sometimes referred to as light therapy or colourology and is still used today as a holistic or alternative treatment.

Red was used to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation. 

Yellow was thought to stimulate the nerves and purify the body. 

Orange was used to heal the lungs and to increase energy levels. 

Blue was believed to soothe illnesses and treat pain. 

Indigo shades were thought to alleviate skin problems.

Verner Panton interior

Most psychologists view color therapy with skepticism and point out that the supposed effects of color have been exaggerated. Colors also have different meanings in different cultures. Research has demonstrated in many cases that the mood-altering effects of color may only be temporary. A blue room may initially cause feelings of calm, but the effect dissipates after a short period of time. 

 As a conclusion there is a lot of presure on choosing the colour for a wall and even more combine it with another. Sometimes you can go crazy but there is this inner responsability as a designer that your choice will have an effect on people. Experience it is crucial and learning from errors give you the correct answer to paint a white canvas.

Verner Panton

Explore more about colours physicology HERE