Etant à l’origine un projet Kickstarter, Lumio est un excellent objet situé à mi-chemin entre une lampe et un livre. Pensé par Max Gunawan, ce projet maintenant commercialisé au prix de 160$ dans trois coloris est à découvrir en images et vidéo dans la suite, alliant avec intelligence décoration, utilité et mobilité.
How much stuff do we have in our homes that we seldom use? The infrequent baker may have muffin tins, cookie cutters and such that hardly ever leave the cabinet. The person living in a warm climate may have clothes for the once-a-year ski trip; families may have tents for twice-a-year camping trips. Homeowners may have tools bought for a single need — tools that are rarely if ever used again.
If you don’t like giving your space (or your money) to these infrequently used items, you may want to investigate ways to rent or borrow these items. Or, perhaps you enjoy owning certain items, but would like to allow others to save money and space by borrowing from you. You can rent all sorts of things, but for now I’d like to focus on borrowing.
You may well have friends or family members who you can borrow from (and lend to), but what if you don’t?
If you’re in a condo, your homeowners’ association may already have items available for members to use. On the Ask MetaFilter website, one person said:
My old condo HOA had a lot of game/sports stuff. For instance, you could borrow the croquet set and put it up in the greenbelt behind your townhouse. It was a random mix of games and toys but it was actually really nice.
Neighborhood, condo, or apartment building Facebook groups are another way to facilitate sharing. MetaFilter member Jacquilynne Schlesier shared her experience:
We have a very active FB group for our building on which people are constantly asking if anyone has an X they can borrow. Most if not all of those requests are fulfilled within about an hour. I’ve lent people my sewing machine, my grocery cart, my c-clamps and my drill. I’ve borrowed a flatbed dolly, and also asked people to save up their empty cereal boxes for me instead of recycling them so I could use them for a project. Our FB group gets a bit testy, but people helping each other is actually one of the things I love about living here.
If you have a good local freecycle group, and your group allows borrowing, that’s another possible route to go. There are also websites focused on facilitating this kind of sharing.
NeighborGoods, which Unclutterer has mentioned before, defines itself as a “social platform for peer-to-peer borrowing and lending. Need a ladder? Borrow it from your neighbor. Have a bike collecting dust in your closet? Lend it out and make a new friend.” NeighborGoods also has sharing guidelines that include things, such as:
Over in the U.K, Streetbank is “a site that helps you share and borrow things from your neighbours.” People can add things they want to lend or give away, and can include skills they are willing to share, as well as their stuff. As the FAQ states: “Communities that help each other are closer, nicer, and friendlier to live in. Streetbank can help make your neighbourhood a nicer place.”
I haven’t used NeighborGoods myself — the closest community is an hour’s drive away from me — but the idea behind NeighborGoods and Streetbank is appealing. I have done some lending; for example, my neighbor borrows my manual juicer when she needs one.
While it always makes sense to take reasonable precautions when borrowing or lending, sharing with others lets all of us live a somewhat less cluttered life.
Let Unclutterer help you get your home or office organized. Subscribe to our helpful product shipments from Quarterly today.
Opinion: Kieran Long responds to the recent closure of ten London fire stations, arguing that architecture built for a specific purpose and location is far more valuable to a city’s sense of place than generic, pragmatic solutions.
Last week in London, ten fire stations serving the city closed for good. The buildings will be sold to the highest bidder and most likely turned into apartments. It felt like a tragedy. These civic places that housed some of the bravest of our citizens were suddenly surplus to requirements and, at a stroke, the men and women who served there had no representation on these high streets.
One striking consequence was the sight of beefcake guys openly weeping on the streets of London. It was as moving as it was unsettling. What kind of a society reduces its strongest and bravest to crying on each others’ mountainous shoulders? As the last watch ended at Clerkenwell, Westminster and Belsize stations, emotions ran high. Some anger, yes, which the trade unions stoked as best they could, but mainly resignation and powerlessness: a sense of the inevitable carelessness of contemporary cities.
Architecturally, many of these stations provided a curious setting for this human drama. Take Belsize station in north London, designed by an architect with the unlikely name of Charles Canning Windmill. With its pitched roof and tall dormer windows it has the villagey idiom of the suburban Arts and Crafts. It must have been terribly retro even in 1915 when it was opened, with the gleaming, noisy engines it accommodated seeming jarringly modern against this romantic cottage of a building.
At Clerkenwell station, the built fabric was more urban and assured. Clerkenwell fire station is the oldest in the country (it opened in 1872) and was part of a dense urban fabric even then. Piled on top of and behind the functional, fire engine-related accommodation are flats intended for firefighters and their families. On the roof of this six-storey building is a platform that was used during the war to spot fires as they broke out. There’s even a small football pitch for exercise.
To what degree does the architectural character of these fire stations contribute to the guileless sadness expressed by the people who used to work there? Profoundly, I would say. Good architecture marks out our territory; it gives us a place in the world in both literal and metaphorical senses. When that building is built specifically to a purpose that benefits all of us, the sense of loss at its demise is all the greater.
Can we say that the firemen of Clerkenwell felt more sad than those at Kingsland Road, whose building is a fairly banal Modernist box of beige brick and red concertina doors? I’m not sure what kind of quantitative research would be possible on this question, but it’s an intriguing problem. When a building articulates its location and purpose so clearly it can be a powerful thing, one that has its own momentum, and some are more powerful than others. Battersea Power Station feels like the most strident example of a building so perfectly suited to its time, place and function, that many have failed to transform it into anything useful since it closed down.
Something happens to the city when you replace the specific with the generic. I’ve been thinking about this a lot in the last couple of weeks, especially in view of MoMA New York’s decision to demolish the Folk Art Museum by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, which is an egregious example of the sacrifice of the precisely tuned, specific environment with a purposefully generic one.
It is here where the vandalism of that proposal really becomes clear. The Folk Art Museum was intended for a collection of folk art: small, unheroic things that needed low light levels. The galleries helped you concentrate on these objects, but the building also provided a sense of relief through its vertical connections.
MoMA‘s architect Diller & Scofidio proposes to use the same site for what they call the Art Bay, a large, abstract glass box. In its banal simplicity, it’s supposed to enable access for the public and give freedom to artists. In fact, it’s a classic misunderstanding of what a public place really is. Taking our place in society is not about being free from constraints, it’s about being free enough to commit ourselves to something: understanding our place in relation to others. It’s not about flattening or denying our differences by pretending they don’t exist, but instead about expressing ourselves clearly and tolerating and enjoying wildly differing approaches to life, culture, art and work.
In her Opinion piece about the MoMA plan on Dezeen, Mimi Zeiger argued that it is somehow sentimental of us to wish for architecture to endure, that it has a sell by date and we should all just accept obsolescence as a fact of contemporary life. In this regard, I think she’s wrong. Perhaps bad architecture or arcane, outmoded institutions become obsolete. But good ones adapt, become influenced by their surroundings and renew their commitment to their place in the world. The fire fighters of Clerkenwell were torn away from their place in violent, pragmatic fashion, and it caused pain.
MoMA and institutions like it should be the last to cause such a sense of loss because of pragmatic considerations. Without a sense of institutional and architectural character, our cities would not give us a place in the world. We would all be fire fighters, exiled to a modern, strategically located facility, out of the sight of our fellow citizens: mere service providers.
Kieran Long is senior curator of contemporary architecture, design and digital at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He presents Restoration Home and the series The £100,000 House for the BBC, and is currently the architecture critic for the Evening Standard newspaper.
The post “London’s fire station closures represent the
inevitable carelessness of contemporary cities” appeared first on Dezeen.
It’s impossible to separate the art of animation from the art of illustration. Just ask Dan Covert and Andre Andreev of Dress Code, the award-winning design agency specializing in motion graphics, video production and stop-motion animation. Since establishing Dress Code in 2007, Dan and Andre have worked across nearly all creative disciplines, from web and print to video and animation. These days, the studio focuses exclusively on motion graphics and live action video and has been busy turning out great work for clients such as Herman Miller, Martha Stewart and Nike, to name only a few. No matter the project, outstanding illustration has been—and continues to be—the constant, whether the team is drawing by hand, in a sketchbook or on a computer.
For the Dress Code team, the first step in any motion graphics project is to determine the style of animation, which ultimately depends on the client’s goals. For inspiration, the team turns to every tool they have on hand, including perusing old design books and searching online for ideas in blogs and on Pinterest, Tumblr and Vimeo. Also helpful are the obsessively categorized folders on the company’s servers. Eventually, all the input comes together to help the team identify a style to best communicate a concept.
Dezeen Mail issue 187 includes the Google Glass collection of spectacles and sunglasses, a house with glass floors instead of windows (pictured) plus the latest news, jobs and reader comments from Dezeen.
Read Dezeen Mail issue 187 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail
The post Dezeen Mail #187 appeared first on Dezeen.
« Je suis pas un sosie » est le surprenant projet du photographe François Brunelle, cherchant aux quatre coins du monde des personnes se ressemblant énormément sans pour autant avoir un lien de filiation. A découvrir dans une série de clichés toujours en cours, proposant ainsi de voir des gens qui ne sont pas jumeaux.
Known for their mugs and cups designed to provide optimal fluid dynamics (aka the best possible set-up for pouring and drinking coffee), the newest creation from notNeutral—a division of Rios…
Continue Reading…
Alain de Botton heads the editorial team behind The Philosophers’ Mail, a new website that aims to make us think about why some aspects of the news prove so captivating (and why we shouldn’t neccessarily feel too guilty about enjoying them)…
Borrowing from the Daily Mail school of lengthy headline-writing, there’s also an Onion-esque ring to some of the writing on The Philosophers’ Mail with articles ranging from the world weary (“Best not spend too long on all this”), to wordier ruminations on the merits of Tyler Swift’s legs (above).
Written by a group of philosophers, the site has been produced in support of de Botton’s forthcoming book, The News: A User’s Manual, which is published next month by Hamish Hamilton. But far from being a satirical take on the World’s Most Popular News Website, it’s clear that The Philosophers’ Mail heralds a different approach to online news and gossip.
It’s more philosophy-led contemporary news analysis with celebrities providing the jumping off point. (“Simon Cowell, on holiday in Barbados, proves suffering part of the human condition,” for example.)
Dig deeper and an article headlined “Not as much news as previously thought”, is in fact an interesting piece on why celebrity stories captivate readers.
These kinds of tales are, TPM argues, mostly recycled stories, ‘archetypes’ that repeat down the ages. And rather than honing in on the details of every case – what the particular MP/actor/singer did and to whom – the more important thing to gauge is why these things happen like this. If readers can become more conscious of the story archtypes, says TPM, then we would have a lot less news to take in. In a way, we can then look at celebrities in order to realise some form of truth:
“When we’re stressing to fit the baby car seat in the back or when we get a take-away coffee and have to drink it in the rain, we realise that we are not – as we might normally feel – suffering an irritating indignity or a banal humiliation – we are in fact sharing the life of the stars; not because we are making ourselves like them, but for a deeper and more moving reason: they are like us.”
While it promotes the ideas in de Botton’s new book, the site is written and published by The School of Life, the London-based “cultural enterprise offering good ideas for everyday life”, which runs “a variety of programmes and services concerned with how to live wisely”. (It is listed as TPM’s “sponsoring organisation”).
A release states that each day the publication will look to record the stories that “everyone is interested in – a double suicide, Miley Cyrus, a paedophile teacher, Gwyneth Paltrow’s marriage, a fireball on the runway, but then [apply] its own very particular spin, in the direction of traditional philosophical interests: calm, complexity, dignity and wisdom.”
It will be interesting to see how the site develops amid the noise of the top level gossip websites – their stories, after all, provide TPM with its material. But as a taster of some of the ideas de Botton is set to discuss in his new book, The Philosophers’ Mail already offers much to think about.
The News: A User’s Manual is published on February 6 by Hamish Hamilton.
Le peintre canadien William Fisk aime peindre au reflet près des objets du passé : un vieil appareil photo Yashica, des vielles radios avec des traits extrêmement précis. Sa série « Portraits », très réussie, nous fait hésiter entre peinture et objets réels photographiés. Plus d’images dans la suite de l’article.
News: Swiss firm Harry Gugger Studio and Boston office over,under have teamed up to design Central America’s largest museum of Mayan history and culture for a site in Guatemala City.
Planned for the northern edge of L’Aurora Park, the Museo Maya de América will house a vast collection of historical artefacts from the Mayan regions of southern Mexico and northern Central America, within an all-new structure that draws on the architecture of traditional Mayan temples.
The stone-clad exterior of the building will be punctured by a series of openings that draw light and ventilation through to a succession of galleries and corridors, which will be laid out in a chequerboard-like pattern.
“At first glance, the building appears to be a contemporary expression of Maya architectural elements,” said Harry Gugger. “It forms a monolithic box perched atop blocks of stone, as if floating above the ground.”
“On closer inspection, a pattern of staggered stone screens is punctuated by over-scaled loggias that draw light into the building and offer glimpses inside,” he added.
The building will centre around a lofty courtyard modelled on a natural sinkhole, called a cenote, which will be surrounded by staircases.
“The central court evokes the cenote, a type of natural sinkhole characteristic of the Yucatan and held sacred by the Maya,” said over,under principal Roberto de Oliveira Castro. “Open to the sky and lushly planted, the eight-storey cenote functions as the heart of the museum, its displays, and its activities.”
The ground floor will be opened out to its surroundings to encourage the public to explore the building, while the roof will accommodate gardens, outdoor galleries, viewing terraces and a restaurant.
Construction is expected to start in 2015, in collaboration with local studio Seis Arquitectos, and the building is scheduled to open in 2017.
Here’s a project description from Harry Gugger Studio:
Museo Maya de América, Guatemala City
La Fundación Museo Maya de América unveils the design of Central America’s largest museum of Maya artefacts and culture
The Museo Maya de América, to be located in Guatemala City, will become a leading venue for the public to view objects, artefacts, artworks, textiles, and information on the history and culture of the Maya civilisation. The institution is among the most ambitious cultural projects in the region, containing approximately 60,000 square metres of program (more than 600,000 square feet) with a construction budget of US$60 million.
“With an enormous sense of optimism and a vision for the future, we aim to create a museum that celebrates Maya culture and carefully explains it,” stated Fernando Paiz, president of the sponsoring organisation Fundación Museo Maya de América. “We want the world to understand the sophistication and richness of this civilisation in Guatemala and beyond.”
Sited at a prominent location at the northern edge of L’Aurora Park, the museum will be immediately visible when exiting Guatemala City’s international airport. It will become the capstone to a series of museums, including the Children’s Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. This cultural nexus-located in what is expected to become the largest recreational open space in the city—will provide a new destination for tourists and residents alike.
The Museo Maya de América’s striking design will contribute to that effort, drawing inspiration from the language of traditional Maya temple architecture without directly replicating it. “At first glance, the building appears to be a contemporary expression of Maya architectural elements,” stated Harry Gugger, principal of Harry Gugger Studio. “It forms a monolithic box perched atop blocks of stone, as if floating above the ground. On closer inspection, a pattern of staggered stone screens is punctuated by over-scaled loggias that draw light into the building and offer glimpses inside.” The building presents this large, abstract form to the surrounding city.
Organised for maximum public interaction with the site, the ground is given almost entirely to open space. The galleries reside within the floating box, connected to the lower levels by stairs that climb their way around a central courtyard.
“The central court evokes the cenote, a type of natural sinkhole characteristic of the Yucatan and held sacred by the Maya,” stated Roberto de Oliveira Castro, principal of over,under. “Open to the sky and lushly planted, the eight-story cenote functions as the heart of the museum, its displays, and its activities.” It forms an orientation point within the museum and extends down to the parking levels below ground, providing an interesting route into the museum and a special place to display underworld-related artefacts.
The building takes advantage of Guatemala’s temperate climate by naturally ventilating all but a small number of spaces that require artificial conditioning. The exhibition floors are organised in a chequerboard of galleries and circulation areas. The walls of the circulation spaces are lined with glass cases to place the collection of artefacts – normally in storage – on display.
The landscaped roof is returned to the general public as an accessible civic space, containing a restaurant, outdoor galleries, gardens, and viewing terraces. The large surface of the roof will be used to collect rainwater and filter it through the cenote in a manner recalling traditional Maya practices of channeling water.
The design of the Museo Maya de América has been developed by Harry Gugger Studio of Basel and over,under of Boston. Seis Arquitectos of Guatemala City will serve as the architect of record.
Conceptual design work has been completed, and a fundraising campaign has commenced. Construction is expected to start in 2015 with completion by 2017.
The post Central America’s largest museum of
Mayan culture to be built in Guatemala appeared first on Dezeen.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
