Objects of desire
Design: indulge in the individual desire and sell us MORE STUFF!
We live in the ultimate designer age, can we have too much of a good thing? Where do we get materials?
Marc Newson - address mass production, designer's goal. Dilemma: how can mass production feel a desirable one-off?
Peter Saville( Joy Division) Interest in producing things that he wanted.
Milano- design is an industrial philosophical affair. Ettore Sottsass at the end of the 1070's: Offer consumers' choice, variety and abundance - Memphis Blues. Bring some personality to the production. rational, functional, long-lasting, in the new fashion the customer was KEY. Memphis meant end of the modernism: collective good make way for individual desire, rise to a new kind of design object.
Michael Graves commissioned by Alessi to make an "american pot", associated colours to functions and his kettle was immediately a design classic, a "mass icon".
Redefining function: things we want but that we dont really need.
Philippe Starck - there are more parameters than the materialistic ones, pleasure seeking brands.
1987 big british recession >>> they opened to the swedish IKEA, giant automated warehouse.
Sweden IKEA most successful furniture company in the world, began in 1955.
Make furniture fit in a FLAT package. Ikea proposed opposite to luxurious products: flatpacked and cheap.
Low price, sustainable, flatpack, long lasting.
Computers ; 1984 the computer went personal. December 1946 -research programme on computers: demo showed computers can be useful everyday to ordinary people.
The first mouse that was ever built was in 1963, it was a wooden box with two wheels inside: it changed everything. Democratisation of computers. Larry Tesler - computer designer, make a computer friendly and efficient.
iPOD 2001. cradle in cradle design - glen oliver "think chair" its components are designed to be infinitely re-used.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Assignment one pt 2
DEFINE PROBLEM:
BRIEF
Who? the Client is Dublin City Council and the target are 3rd level education students, who are going to study interior landscape design,and the local community who
are going to enjoy the comunity garden on the roof top and use their own allotment. Results of survey and charts explained in the next paragraph.
What? the brief has 3 functions: A) School of interior landscape design B) community roof top garden C) administration and exhibition spaces
When? Works to commence in May
Where? 31-36 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 7
Why?The building occupies a space which used to belong to Dublin City Council and was used as a market place.
it was an important sapce for the local community: there a re a lor of residential buildings in the area and the market represented a focal meeting point for the
locals. Later in 2008 DMOD architects won the bid for the redevelopment of that site: construction works finished early in 2009 and the use of the building was going
to be offices. Despite being a commercial project, I don't think an office block is a good space for the community because most of the people living in the area won't
have access to the premises anyway. A place which used to belong to the locals has now closed its doors to the people of the area and only serves solicitors companies.
Another problem is that the entire third floor is still empty and it's currently a building site: this means that there is no need for more offcie space in the area
because no one is renting it, despite being a very central and attractive location.
How: use of sustainable ad durable materials, retention of existing structure approach.
RESEARCH:
in order to better understand the target for my brief I sent out a survey to students of various institutions including Griffith College, UCD, KLC London and the Technical Institute for indoor gardening of San Francisco. It gave me information about the demographic group, their needs and wishes and their opinion and thoughts about the importance of indoor gardens. I have also conducted a primary research on three different typology buildings: the university of Salford Centenary Building - the building is divided in two separate wings with a central circulation space and glazing at both sides - , the school of architecture of Nantes - a system of external ramps leads all the way to the top floor/ the ground level is very well thought through as it cares for the students of the colege but also invites the community to join the premises with a hip cafeteria and an exhibition gallery - and at last the Zollverein school of design - very similar to the building im working on, both in size and shape/ there is a missed opportunity here fo a striking roof space: it could be a garden, a restaurant, a bar or simply an event/show space, but at the moment it's simply a lid to the building box.
I’m including the charts of the results of the survey to illustrate how I got to my target and my users’ needs.
IDEATE:
The initial concept for the design would be something related to nature. My initial ideas are about scale and proportions. The idea is that: an indoor garden brings the big trees from the big outside world into a small enclosed building > therefore nature becomes OUT OF SCALE. The initial visual concept would be that of recreating the feeling that the human eye gets whenever we look up to big tall trees. There is a big difference in scale and proportion and I think that this difference could be recreated using interior architectural features, like walls, floors and ceilings, but also through the use of materials, colours, light and textures.
Monday, 21 November 2011
Number 55
Studio Project.
The building I've chosen for my final studio project is located on 31- 36 Ormond Quay upper. It was completed in 2009 by DMOD architects. It is currently in use as offices and there's a shop on the ground floor. It is a four storey over basement building with two terraces and possibility for a roof garden on top. The south and east facades have a limestone cladding, the north and part of the west ones show red bricks.The brief I've chosen is for a School of Interior Landscaping and Horticultural studies: it will also have a community roof garden and administration facilities. The brief relates entirely to my thesis so that helps me alot, especially when it comes to design the indoor garden in its technical details. The submission for the second chapter of the thesis was due last week and it was about technical requirements and details on how to build an interior garden.
The building is very user fiendly: it is a very new construction so it complies to all the newest Building Regs in terms of universal access design.The structure is rather irregular: bearing walls, stairs/lift core and a columns layout which varies every two floors.The research submission is due on the 30th. I have collected a good amount of responses through a survey I sent out to my friends, acquaintances and lecturers and students of UCD school of landscape architecture here in Dublin, KLC school of interior and garden design in London and The Technical Institute for Indoor Gardening in San Francisco.
The building I've chosen for my final studio project is located on 31- 36 Ormond Quay upper. It was completed in 2009 by DMOD architects. It is currently in use as offices and there's a shop on the ground floor. It is a four storey over basement building with two terraces and possibility for a roof garden on top. The south and east facades have a limestone cladding, the north and part of the west ones show red bricks.The brief I've chosen is for a School of Interior Landscaping and Horticultural studies: it will also have a community roof garden and administration facilities. The brief relates entirely to my thesis so that helps me alot, especially when it comes to design the indoor garden in its technical details. The submission for the second chapter of the thesis was due last week and it was about technical requirements and details on how to build an interior garden.
The building is very user fiendly: it is a very new construction so it complies to all the newest Building Regs in terms of universal access design.The structure is rather irregular: bearing walls, stairs/lift core and a columns layout which varies every two floors.The research submission is due on the 30th. I have collected a good amount of responses through a survey I sent out to my friends, acquaintances and lecturers and students of UCD school of landscape architecture here in Dublin, KLC school of interior and garden design in London and The Technical Institute for Indoor Gardening in San Francisco.
Number 34
The genius of design - a summary.
"Something can always be better". Design is about problem solving but also aesthethics.It's a reflected image of its time, it depends alot on the economy, it dictates
trends and fashions. Good design has changed capitalism with mass production of goods and has introduced a globalisation in terms of materials and needs. Designers are
well inspired by craftsmen; the question is whether or not a quality craftsmanship product can be replicated by machines in mass production.At the beginning of the
Industrial revolution of the 19th century there was more appreciation for mass production as it was regarded as a new thing that could produce more goods for less,
thus serving more people. Notely the Draby iron pot in 1709 is iconic in those terms. later in 1839 fabric patterns designer W. Morris introduced the designers'
copyright and he went back to craftsmanship.Design has to be affordable for everyone, be "democratic". The object has to have a function first of all. The Bauhaus
school and Le Corbusier put function first ( the house as a "machine for living").
After the Second World War people started selling their "antiques". An iconic object from this era is the George carwardine Anglepoise lamp, born by a fusion between
design and engineering.
As opposed to european design, american design is more focused on the mainstream, rather than being exclusive (Dreyfuss designed "Joe and Josephine", figures based on
the average americans in order to deisgn around those measurements). from this time is also the invention of the roulett by W.Byam.
Blue prints of war - It explored design on the war front, such as weapons, which in the end are designed like all the other objects in terms of their ergonomics and
funciotnality. At this time Hitler understtod the power of design and communication and used it at his advantage as part of his regime propaganda.
60's & 70's - Chemistry led to Plastics, the greatest invention of this time in terms of materials. Everyday objects like the Tupperware kitchen design were born at
this time. The 60's are also known as teh "plastics decade": plastic was fashionable, affordable and disposable.R.Day, Alessi, J.Colombo and V.Panton are all great
designers who contributed to history through the use of plastics. After the war Japan took on the leading role in the industry of electronics. Sony designed the
"Walkman" in 1979 which gave users freedom and liberation and promoted a more mobile way of living. Unfortunately for plastics they did not stand the test of time:
plastic it's a very brittle material, it ages very badly and it's not eco-friendly. As a reaction to plastic sustainability now is the main focus for designers.
"Something can always be better". Design is about problem solving but also aesthethics.It's a reflected image of its time, it depends alot on the economy, it dictates
trends and fashions. Good design has changed capitalism with mass production of goods and has introduced a globalisation in terms of materials and needs. Designers are
well inspired by craftsmen; the question is whether or not a quality craftsmanship product can be replicated by machines in mass production.At the beginning of the
Industrial revolution of the 19th century there was more appreciation for mass production as it was regarded as a new thing that could produce more goods for less,
thus serving more people. Notely the Draby iron pot in 1709 is iconic in those terms. later in 1839 fabric patterns designer W. Morris introduced the designers'
copyright and he went back to craftsmanship.Design has to be affordable for everyone, be "democratic". The object has to have a function first of all. The Bauhaus
school and Le Corbusier put function first ( the house as a "machine for living").
After the Second World War people started selling their "antiques". An iconic object from this era is the George carwardine Anglepoise lamp, born by a fusion between
design and engineering.
As opposed to european design, american design is more focused on the mainstream, rather than being exclusive (Dreyfuss designed "Joe and Josephine", figures based on
the average americans in order to deisgn around those measurements). from this time is also the invention of the roulett by W.Byam.
Blue prints of war - It explored design on the war front, such as weapons, which in the end are designed like all the other objects in terms of their ergonomics and
funciotnality. At this time Hitler understtod the power of design and communication and used it at his advantage as part of his regime propaganda.
60's & 70's - Chemistry led to Plastics, the greatest invention of this time in terms of materials. Everyday objects like the Tupperware kitchen design were born at
this time. The 60's are also known as teh "plastics decade": plastic was fashionable, affordable and disposable.R.Day, Alessi, J.Colombo and V.Panton are all great
designers who contributed to history through the use of plastics. After the war Japan took on the leading role in the industry of electronics. Sony designed the
"Walkman" in 1979 which gave users freedom and liberation and promoted a more mobile way of living. Unfortunately for plastics they did not stand the test of time:
plastic it's a very brittle material, it ages very badly and it's not eco-friendly. As a reaction to plastic sustainability now is the main focus for designers.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Number 21
Visit to Tile Style.
Interesting class trip down to the biggest tiles showroom in Europe. Loads of information about natural and man made stone and all the process behind an impeccable tiling...
Interesting class trip down to the biggest tiles showroom in Europe. Loads of information about natural and man made stone and all the process behind an impeccable tiling...
Number 13
Daintree building
Short stroll down to Pleasant place to look at the most sustainable building in Ireland.
Short stroll down to Pleasant place to look at the most sustainable building in Ireland.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Number 8
For my thesis research John suggested I'd go visit the buildings at the Botanic Gardens and this time...I did have my camera,yaaay!
I had already been at the Gardens in first year, loooooong time ago, so it was good to go there again! They were as beautiful as I'd remember them, although I didn't see any fluffy pretty squirrel this time!
The tour they gave us was about the big green houses, in particular the restoration of the Palm House built by James Boyd.the biggest challenge with green houses is that they expand with the heat and the change in temperature. When I say they expand I mean they expand A LOT! We're talking over 15 cm!!! So they invented a system of heating the glass over and over till it reached enough elasticity to cope with the unpredictable Irish weather and the humidity coming from the plants inside. Brilliant! In the past the interior tropical climate (oh, it was so nice to stand in there...!) had caused metal corrosion leading to a state of dangerous decay and instability of the columns. So they took the challenge: the whole complex was dismantled, removed off- site for restoration, returned to site, re-erected and new services were installed!In the finished building the rear stone building was retained and restored with new visitors access for the disabled and renewed service access to the internal Palm house gantry walkway (which plays an important structural role as it is used as reinforced lateral support that transfers the load onto the reconstructed rear wall, taking some stress away from the columns). The two side wings of the house were simultaneously restored along with the work to the central Palm House. To protect against new possible corrosion they used advanced modern painting technology which is more environmentally friendly and has a low permeability rate. The tour then moved on to the library, unfortunately they did not give us access but we stayed in the atrium and learnt about the very valuable collections they have (there's a book which , ten years ago, was worth over 10 millions Irish pounds....!) the thing that I liked the most about it tho it was - obviously - the use of the Golden Ratio in the glass partition of the facade. No wonder it looked beautiful...!
Number 5
Open House weekend, Saturday - Dublin
The festival for us architecture lovers! A number of buildings all over town will literally open their doors and let visitors in! We would normally not have this chance, so we had to grab it then and there!The festival started off on Friday but unfortunately we were in class till 5 :( On Saturday we met with John and Moni outside the Henry J Lyons architects building in Pearse street.Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring the memory card of my camera - silly me - so I have no pictures from the day! One of the architects gave us a very good tour. The design feeling can be sensed immediately coming in through the reception where you are welcomed by an amazing reception desk and a spectacular atrium with a void spanning the full height of the building. We later learnt that the atrium is essential to the correct functioning of the ventilation system. there's no mechanical ventilation in the building: the right and constant temperature is provided by computer- automated vents which opens on the north facade to let the cool air in: this is heated up by the filter and vents in the floor and goes all the way up through the atrium where it then leaves the building through other vents positioned on the very top there. The big fat chunky exposed concrete slabs act as a thermal mass, keeping the building at a constant temperature. A very clever and sustainable system! The building is used by a number of different companies, including Henry J Lyons architects and Benetton Ireland.The architects' studio are down in the basement that had been dug down to 12 meters below ground. The studio level has got lots of natural light coming from the unplanted garden on the north side. On the lower ground level there's a meeting room which receives natural light from the skylight in the roofs and has got a partition system that allows for a bigger space if needed. There's also the plotting and printing room and a model - making room. the -1 level is the car park where we could see how the building "fights" constantly against the water coming in. It was a great trip and going out passing thru that spectacular atrium again really reminds you of the importance and the effect of great designed spaces!
Second stop the Oktoberfest on the Docks! No seriously, we all wished...!
Second real stop was the Criminal Courts of Justice off Heuston station. Impressively massive circular building, a bit intimidating at first but really elegant and timeless. Designed by the above mentioned Henry J Lyons studio, the building is designed to deal with something like 400,000 cases every year!The real challenge for the architects was the design of the circulation space, as they had to provide different circulation paths for the public, jurors, persons in custody, judiciary and staff. The colour palette is very muted with ebonized ash wood and limestone floor. we got to go in one of the courtrooms: doors were heavy because they had to provide adequate sound insulation, but the architects chose the right ironmongery so they were actually light enough to open even for a person with disabilities. Inside we were told how the different seats work to let the different parts to a case work with each other. Again, sound insulation is essential and they actually managed to achieved the same insulation you find in recording studios! It was interesting to see how the different circulation paths work even in case of emergency.The glazing panels are so oriented at an angle to provide privacy and allow no visibility from the outside. the glass panels are 7 meters high giving the impression there's only 4 floors in the building,whereas there are actually 10! I like it when a building manages to trick people into thinking it's bigger/smaller than what it actually is!
The festival for us architecture lovers! A number of buildings all over town will literally open their doors and let visitors in! We would normally not have this chance, so we had to grab it then and there!The festival started off on Friday but unfortunately we were in class till 5 :( On Saturday we met with John and Moni outside the Henry J Lyons architects building in Pearse street.Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring the memory card of my camera - silly me - so I have no pictures from the day! One of the architects gave us a very good tour. The design feeling can be sensed immediately coming in through the reception where you are welcomed by an amazing reception desk and a spectacular atrium with a void spanning the full height of the building. We later learnt that the atrium is essential to the correct functioning of the ventilation system. there's no mechanical ventilation in the building: the right and constant temperature is provided by computer- automated vents which opens on the north facade to let the cool air in: this is heated up by the filter and vents in the floor and goes all the way up through the atrium where it then leaves the building through other vents positioned on the very top there. The big fat chunky exposed concrete slabs act as a thermal mass, keeping the building at a constant temperature. A very clever and sustainable system! The building is used by a number of different companies, including Henry J Lyons architects and Benetton Ireland.The architects' studio are down in the basement that had been dug down to 12 meters below ground. The studio level has got lots of natural light coming from the unplanted garden on the north side. On the lower ground level there's a meeting room which receives natural light from the skylight in the roofs and has got a partition system that allows for a bigger space if needed. There's also the plotting and printing room and a model - making room. the -1 level is the car park where we could see how the building "fights" constantly against the water coming in. It was a great trip and going out passing thru that spectacular atrium again really reminds you of the importance and the effect of great designed spaces!
Second stop the Oktoberfest on the Docks! No seriously, we all wished...!
Second real stop was the Criminal Courts of Justice off Heuston station. Impressively massive circular building, a bit intimidating at first but really elegant and timeless. Designed by the above mentioned Henry J Lyons studio, the building is designed to deal with something like 400,000 cases every year!The real challenge for the architects was the design of the circulation space, as they had to provide different circulation paths for the public, jurors, persons in custody, judiciary and staff. The colour palette is very muted with ebonized ash wood and limestone floor. we got to go in one of the courtrooms: doors were heavy because they had to provide adequate sound insulation, but the architects chose the right ironmongery so they were actually light enough to open even for a person with disabilities. Inside we were told how the different seats work to let the different parts to a case work with each other. Again, sound insulation is essential and they actually managed to achieved the same insulation you find in recording studios! It was interesting to see how the different circulation paths work even in case of emergency.The glazing panels are so oriented at an angle to provide privacy and allow no visibility from the outside. the glass panels are 7 meters high giving the impression there's only 4 floors in the building,whereas there are actually 10! I like it when a building manages to trick people into thinking it's bigger/smaller than what it actually is!
Number 3
Visit to St Peter's church and parish centre - Bray
Last week we took a morning trip to the pretty seaside down in Bray to go have a look at one of the renovation projects our dear John has been working on.
The project comprises an extension to the parish centre and the renovation of the interior of the church and its sacristy. The focus was on the beautiful use of local materials - slate, Irish oak - and a subtle palette - greens and other country colours. I particularly enjoyed the intervention in the church and I think the design team did an excellent job, hats off! The seats were very original and unlike to anything I've seen in Italian churches, where everything looks so dark, and grand, and...! Here there's a sense of community, openness, everything is so light and simple. The altar still had lots of marble, but that's essential to a Catholic church I believe! Attention was given to universal design and to provide access for all, thing which you rarely see in a church.An amazing restoration job had been done with the original paintings that were there, bringing them back to a life of vibrant colours! As for the extension to the parish I really liked what they did with the glass balustrade along the staircase and also liked the use of wallpaper. It was really interesting to see how they approached the renovation process on such a community-loved space: you have to be careful to please everyone and to make something that will last for another, let's say, good century. Again, hats off!
Last week we took a morning trip to the pretty seaside down in Bray to go have a look at one of the renovation projects our dear John has been working on.
The project comprises an extension to the parish centre and the renovation of the interior of the church and its sacristy. The focus was on the beautiful use of local materials - slate, Irish oak - and a subtle palette - greens and other country colours. I particularly enjoyed the intervention in the church and I think the design team did an excellent job, hats off! The seats were very original and unlike to anything I've seen in Italian churches, where everything looks so dark, and grand, and...! Here there's a sense of community, openness, everything is so light and simple. The altar still had lots of marble, but that's essential to a Catholic church I believe! Attention was given to universal design and to provide access for all, thing which you rarely see in a church.An amazing restoration job had been done with the original paintings that were there, bringing them back to a life of vibrant colours! As for the extension to the parish I really liked what they did with the glass balustrade along the staircase and also liked the use of wallpaper. It was really interesting to see how they approached the renovation process on such a community-loved space: you have to be careful to please everyone and to make something that will last for another, let's say, good century. Again, hats off!
Number 2
A bit of summary over the past couple of weeks. Only starting to get familiar with the blogging emisphere,so please be patient with me and have faith!! :)
okidoki, we start off with our dear Hanover quay building.
Currently working on this project to give a new imaginary family of 6 a brand new home in Ireland.
We were given freedom to choose whatever vertical/ horizontal layout we'd prefer. I'm going to have only 5 apts spread over three levels to create a triple height space: reason for that being that I was given a huge Mark Rothko's canvas as one of my art/ furniture pieces and I' d really love to emphasis that and to make people coming in go Wooow! I also got a couple of Mackintosh chairs and a Prouve's side table. The overall style is very decadent and dark which I really love.
There was an issue with the sun orientation of the site. We were given a north point which we later discovered to be the wrong one. I had initially chosen the apts on the west side overlooking the canal and the theatre view, but now apparently that side is the actual south, which is great news. We honestly suspected that from the day we went there to have a look at the building. Me and a couple of friends (Hege's interior corner and KGB interiors, aka Hege and Karoline) arrived there around 1 pm when the sun was almost at its highest and the light was coming from what we thought being west, but it was actually south. Long story short, my project is now facing south. Yaaaay!
Libeskind's jewel and
Our project building
Proving the south side!
okidoki, we start off with our dear Hanover quay building.
Currently working on this project to give a new imaginary family of 6 a brand new home in Ireland.
We were given freedom to choose whatever vertical/ horizontal layout we'd prefer. I'm going to have only 5 apts spread over three levels to create a triple height space: reason for that being that I was given a huge Mark Rothko's canvas as one of my art/ furniture pieces and I' d really love to emphasis that and to make people coming in go Wooow! I also got a couple of Mackintosh chairs and a Prouve's side table. The overall style is very decadent and dark which I really love.
There was an issue with the sun orientation of the site. We were given a north point which we later discovered to be the wrong one. I had initially chosen the apts on the west side overlooking the canal and the theatre view, but now apparently that side is the actual south, which is great news. We honestly suspected that from the day we went there to have a look at the building. Me and a couple of friends (Hege's interior corner and KGB interiors, aka Hege and Karoline) arrived there around 1 pm when the sun was almost at its highest and the light was coming from what we thought being west, but it was actually south. Long story short, my project is now facing south. Yaaaay!
Libeskind's jewel and view of the square
Our project building
Proving the south side!Thursday, 29 September 2011
Number 1
Design theory research on how the design principles can be found in interior spaces.
Accent light
Decorative light
General light
Line
Planes
Point
Task light
Unity/ variety
Volumes
Accent light
Decorative light General light
Line
Planes
Point
Task light
Unity/ variety
VolumesFriday, 23 September 2011
Number 1
So now I'm also a blogger.
Brilliant.
Will try to keep you posted on interesting facts, progress on college work and other funny (or not) bits ' n ' pieces here and there and everywhere.
I'll leave you with something beautiful to look at (no, I'm not that much of a narcisist to actually put a picture of me......YET!)
Stay tuned folks.
Brilliant.
Will try to keep you posted on interesting facts, progress on college work and other funny (or not) bits ' n ' pieces here and there and everywhere.
I'll leave you with something beautiful to look at (no, I'm not that much of a narcisist to actually put a picture of me......YET!)
Stay tuned folks.
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