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May 21, 2005
How design evolves
Every year the Institute For The Future publishes a map of the decade (ahead). The 2005 version is not yet online, but I was delighted to learn, during my visit to Palo Alto this week, that Jason Tester, an alumnus of Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, is helping IFTF enhance its maps by the development of 'artefacts from the future'. At Ivrea, the design of enticing representations of imagined futures was regarded as a core process, and a technique was introduced there by the English service designers Live|Work. Live|Work called their technique evidencing. One of the roots of evidencing, in turn, was the development by Tony Dunne and Bill Gaver of "cultural probes" at the Royal College of Art during the late 1990s (where the Live|Work guys studied interaction design). I don't suggest that a linear history is playing out here - but every now and again in the chaotic blizzard of life one briefly glimpses tracks in the snow.
Posted by John Thackara at 07:38 PM | Comments (2)
May 20, 2005
My chances of survival
Is there something in the air in this town? Seattle’s W Hotel has more features than I need and they don’t all work. A 64-page catalogue in my room lists an extraordinary array of services ”masterfully orchestrated to surround you with style, service and comfort”. A menu for pets is available 24 hours. So too are newspapers from Algeria, Croatia and Iceland. A tall vase next to my bed contains artesian water from Norway. A basket under the tv contains a teddy bear, a hat, and an “intimacy kit”. I am nonethelesss bothered, at 3am, by the sound of running water.The taps in my bathroom are turned off, but it transpires that earlier, whilst searching the room for light switches, I had inadvertently turned on the electric water sculpture fountain artwork thing on my table. The thing was probably meant to sooth me. By now I am fully awake, so I decide to make a cup of coffee. Bad move. I can't open the plasticated coffee sachet because my scissors were confiscated at JFK. Then, to set up the KitchenAid coffee machine, I have to follow pictorial instructions that are printed on its back - and the machine sits inside a gloomy unlit hole in the wall. Twenty minutes after I press “on”, the machine sounds exactly like the Tardis in Doctor Who when it’s taking off. But no coffee emerges. I return with a sinking heart to the W's services catalogue to search for “cup-of-coffee”. I am distracted by a 400-word essay, on page 34, entitled “fire”. The text, which is printed in small grey type, instructs me:“Your chances of survival increase with your level or preparedness and ability to act with a clear head. Count the number of doors to the exit and any corners or obstacles along the path so that you can find your way in thick smoke. Feel the door before opening it to see if it is hot. If it is cool, leave. But be sure to take your room key. If you stay in your room, fill the bath and wastebaskets with water. If you are in an upper floor, wait. People who jump from the third floor could be injured”. I contemplate calling the front desk to complain that I can’t jump from my window because it won’t open. But the memory of a divine Copper River salmon at dinner the evening before stays my hand.
Posted by John Thackara at 05:51 PM | Comments (3)
Avian bird flu viral marketing breakthrough
I surmise that the W Hotel in Seattle, where I am staying, has designed its lighting to foster chance encounters: everything is bathed in (but not much illuminated by) weak blue light. Seattle seems to be obsessed by social networks and biological models of economic activity. My driver today waxed eloquent about the necessity for marketing to "emulate avian bird flu" and enable "product memes" to "jump from one species to another". The last time I was here, my cab driver was a Polish (ex-) brain surgeon - so I can't decide if this town is in good shape or not. But the driver made me anxious; how do we get the book to make the jump from our species, to the next one? Preoccupied by this conundrum, I probably overdid the Tipping Point - because he seemed rather pleased. Answers (to the conundrum) in person please to: Friday 20 May: 7:00pm, University Bookstore, 4326 University Way SE Seattle, Washington 98195. 206 634-3400
Posted by John Thackara at 05:11 AM | Comments (1)
May 19, 2005
Surrogate blogging
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang blogged my talk at Ideo and made it sound much crisper and more interesting than the talk itself. Surrogate blogging sounds like a great businesss opportunity - and good for the environment, too, if it reduces the quantity of hot air entering the atmosphere.
Posted by John Thackara at 07:30 PM | Comments (1)
Why do we work?
A half-page ad in today's San Francisco Chronice features the words "Why do we work?" displayed over the photo of an assembly line worker's hands, shifting a box.The text below begins with the strapline: "to keep the future growing". A bank called Principal.com probably paid good money for this fatuous claptrap. Meanwhile, Seattle Airport fired all its baggage handlers on Friday. This further depopulates airports here in the US of human staff. The only exception is security control gates where hordes of guards make elderly passengers take of their sandals. Sticky rubber mats with pictures of feet on them are provided for you to stand on whilst re-shoeing.
Posted by John Thackara at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2005
Breathless
Amid the swirling damp mist of San Francisco I receive news of an intriguing event in Maastricht called Breath-taking. A series of lectures about air, art and architecture include heavier-than-air pieces from Francois Perrin ('The geometry of climate') and Peter Sloterdijk ('Inspiration'). The website features a bursting blue bubble, which is my feeble pretext for reminding you of this week's In the Bubble events:
- Today: Palo Alto 12:00 noon IDEO "KnowHow" talk, introduced by Bill Moggridge, 831 High Street, Palo Alto. Contact person: Scott Underwood (scott@ideo.com), (650) 289 3409.
- Tomorrow (Thursday): 5:30pm Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 South Main Street, Seattle Washington 98104. 206 624-6600
- Friday 20 May: 7:00pm, University Bookstore, 4326 University Way SE Seattle, Washington 98195. 206 634-3400
Posted by John Thackara at 06:06 PM | Comments (1)
May 16, 2005
David Burney's good excuse
I was disappointed when David Burney, a speaker at Doors 8 failed to show up at my book party in New York. Then I started seeing David's face on all the television sets in town. It turned out that a landslide had blocked one of the main arterial roads into New York - and he was responsible, as Commissioner of the city's Department of Design and Construction, for getting this horrendous mess cleared up. Which he and his team seem to have done, in double-quick time, to plaudits from the local media.
Posted by John Thackara at 05:09 PM | Comments (2)
May 15, 2005
Vote for Reverend Billy
The most entertaining challenger to Michael Bloomberg for Mayor of New York is the Reverend Billy , leader of the The Church of Stop Shopping. The Reverend has announced plans to conduct his entire campaign on premises of the Starbucks Corporation; he will offer 258 sermons in 258 locations in the five boroughs of the city. Reverend Billy is banned from Starbucks world-wide, possibly because he describes the firm as a "community-destroyer". Or maybe it's because he is often accompanied at Starbucks by a 40-strong gospel choir that sings "Put That Latte Down".
Posted by John Thackara at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2005
Collective intelligence
The notion of collective intelligence, a term coined by the French philosopher Pierre Levy, continues to engage original thinkers. In France, Jean-François Noubel has published a paper called Collective Intelligence: The Invisible Revolution . And Michel BauwensI has sent me the draft of an essay on Peer to peer as the premise of a new mode of civilization . I'm on the road right now so act only, on this occasion, as a signpost.
Posted by John Thackara at 08:56 PM | Comments (1)
May 09, 2005
Hermetically hived-off homes
A group of artists in California called Heavy Trash has launched a guerrilla war against gated communities, the self-contained housing estates that are walled off from the outside world but ring more and more American cities. In a stealth operation, carried out at dawn, a group of 20 architects, designers and urban planners deposited 12ft bright orange viewing platforms at the gates of three of Los Angeles's most exclusive developments. Heavy Trash says that gated communities are the fastest growing type of housing development in the United States: more than eight million Americans now live in hermetically hived-off homes. The impact on the public domain is generally malign, of course - but remember this: the gates which keep us out also keep them, in.
Posted by John Thackara at 02:33 PM | Comments (1)
May 06, 2005
Creative class on the run
A trouble-maker sent me a copy of Richard Florida's new book, The Flight of the Creative Class - hoping, no doubt, that I would be rude about it. Perish the thought. Florida's new book has two virtues. First, Florida argues for "a broadening of the definition of creativity that will ennoble and encourage the everyday efforts of 'ordinary occupations'...from housekeeper to fieldworker". Now a class, by definiton, is a subset of a population, not its entirety; extending the concept of "creative class" to cover the entire US population destroys the (hated by me) notion that there is such a thing as a creative class at all. Which is a welcome outcome. Second, the book argues powerfully that diversity and immigration are the lifeblood of (America's) economy - a progressive policy aim that we should all support. Citing many examples of foreign-born entrepreneurs who have played central roles in the US economy - from Google's Sergey Brin, to Vinod Khosla of Sun Microsystems - Florida argues that "the real foreign threat to the American economy is not terrorism; it's that we may make creative and talented people stop wanting to come here". The book ends with a ghastly sounding proposal for a "Global Creativity Commission" - but, with luck, that will not prevent the book dampening the enthusiasm of urban planners for creativity ghettos.
Posted by John Thackara at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2005
Europe's institutional Spruce Goose
The European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, wants to create a European Institute of Technology to compete with MIT. According to one report, there's a belief that “Europe needs an institution capable of bringing together its currently too-dispersed scientific and teaching excellence". Instead of creating one new institution, the EIT would be a network institution founded on about six of the best universities in the EU. Five of these would be responsible for coordinating the main areas of EIT work (chemistry/materials science, life sciences/biotechnology, physics/communication sciences, etc); the sixth would be responsible for making the EIT network function. My own view? This top-heavy monster has the appearance of a network organisation, but the body and brain of a Barosaurus. EIT is not needed, and will never fly. The European Research Area contains hundreds of tech-based universities and research labs; their workers intertact and network with each other continuously, and a new 'center' is the last thing this thriving ecosystem needs. Barroso makes life needlessly hard on himself (and the rest of us) by defining economic success only in terms of tech-based economic growth. His people frantically measure things like biotech patents to persuade themselves that more needs to be done. What Europe really needs is a European Institute of Well-Being, directed by this author, whose task would be celebrate the many facets of life in Europe that work perfectly well without clunky, expensive technology.
Posted by John Thackara at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2005
"In The Bubble" tour dates
If you, or someone you know, would like to meet the author of In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World - then read on. If you don’t, stop reading now because that's all this entry is about.
TALKS, READINGS, SIGNINGS
NEW YORK Thursday 12 May.
6.30pm-8.30pm. Celebration drink to launch the In The Bubble US tour. Hosted by Colin Robinson and Doug Sery at the new Brecht Forum , 451 West Street, New York.
NEW YORK Friday 13 May.
Malfatto: Imperfect Design For A Better World? Conference at Tishman Auditorium, NYC . Material Connexion's founder, George M. Beylerian, has also invited the architect/artist Gaetano Pesce; toy maker and sculptor Kardash Onnig; trend announcer Li Edelkoort; Scott Henderson, co-founder of Mint; James Ludwig, Director of Design for Steelcase; and Scott Wilson,Global Creative Director for Nike Explore.
NEW YORK Sunday 15 May
Design Downtown 10.30am - 11.30am. Brief, lively and interesting presentations on “the business of design” (with fresh coffee and Krispy Kremes) featuring Robert Kloos (Consulate General of The Netherlands) and Sina Djafari (partner in Edge, Modern and Public Design). Plus moi. Event location: Drive-In Studios, 443 West 18th Street. Seating is limited so please call +1 212 352 9968 to reserve a place. Contact: susan@designdowntown.com
BOSTON Monday 16 May
5.30pm MIT Building 34 Room 101. Phone: 617 253-5249 or email: Colleen Lanick colleenl@MIT.EDU
STANFORD UNIVERSITY Tuesday 17 May
Reading and Signing 6:00 pm at Stanford University Bookstore,
519 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, California 94305. 650 329-1217
SAN FRANCISCO (PALO ALTO) Wednesday 18 May
12:00 noon IDEO "KnowHow" talk, introduced by Bill Moggridge. At IDEO's meeting space: 831 High Street, Palo Alto. Contact person: Scott Underwood (scott@ideo.com), (650) 289 3409.
SEATTLE Thursday 19 May
5:30pm Reading and Signing Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 South Main Street, Seattle Washington 98104. 206 624-6600
SEATTLE, Friday 20 May
7:00pm Reading and Signing, University Bookstore, 4326 University Way SE
Seattle, Washington 98195. 206 634-3400
HELSINKI Wednesday 25 May
University of Art and Design, Masters of Arts Seminar 2005 : “What type of communities does digital media shape - physical or virtual”. Hämeentie 135 C, FIN-00560 Helsinki
6pm Book Signing, Arabianranta
Contact: Sari Väänänen sari.vaananen@uiah.fi
HELSINKI Thursday 26 May.
6pm Reading and Signing, Kiasma.
HAY ON WYE Tuesday 31 May
The Guardian Hay Festival Tuesday 10.00h. . 25 Lion St, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AD. T - 0870 787 2848
Media contact: Sophie Rochester Sophie@colmangettypr.co.uk
LONDON Wednesday 1 June.
16.00h (tea) for 16.30 (talk): “Designing In A Complex World”. Hosted by Robin Murray, RED Unit , the Design Council, Bow Street, London. To reserve a seat, please email Jude Codner: JudeC@designcouncil.org.uk 0207 420 5216
GLASGOW Thursday 2 June.
The Lighthouse (with Urban Learning Space). Contact: stuart@thelighthouse.co.uk
BREDA, NL. Wednesday 15 June
A national debate between cultural leaders, investors and policy makers. With Medy van Van der Laan (culture minister), Rene Hoogendoorn (investor, ING) and John Thackara (symposiarch). 9.00 to 18.00 “somewhere in the industrial area behind the station”. Contact: mrp.warendorff@breda.nl
BERGEN, NORWAY. Wednesday 5 October
Bergen National Academy of Arts. Conference: Hybrid Art & Design Practice.
Contact: Professor Jeremy Welsh jjw@khib.no / jeremyjwelsh@mac.com
LONDON Friday 14 October
Global Design Critical Debate at the V&A. Rem Koolhaas and John Thackara. Chaired by Joe Kerr. 2.00pm - 5.00pm. Book now on +44 870 906 3883 or www.vam.ac.uk/a
CAN'T COME, BUT WANT TO HELP THE BOOK?
1. Ask your company, college or library to buy a copy.
2. Mention it in your blog.
3. Tell two friends about it
4. Suggest to one journalist that she consider reviewing it
5. Write a review of it at Amazon
6. Humbly submit a story about to Slashdot.
Posted by John Thackara at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)
May 01, 2005
Designing the Transformation of Rotterdam Harbour
This sounds like a fab summer engagement. Lucas Verweij, who Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design has been fortunate to land as its new Dean, is organising a summer school entitled 'Big and Beautiful, Designing the Transformation of Rotterdam Harbour'. The two week course takes place at one of Europe's more exciting locations, Rotterdam Harbour. Based in a listed former head-office building of RDM, one of the biggest dry-dock companies in Rotterdam, students will be accommodated in apartments close to the summer school venue, and will move around by boat. Peter Wilson, Martin Aarts and Aaron Betsky are masters.
Posted by John Thackara at 09:57 PM | Comments (0)