Hasta La Ideas

In this week’s comments update, plans for a pair of skyscrapers caused a debate on the merits of the stacked-box aesthetic.

Stacking up: Büro Ole Scheeren‘s plan for Barclay Village in Vancouver, which will be formed from irregularly stacked glass boxes, caused readers to question the merits of stacking volumes into a tower.

“Jenga on the mind?” asked Hikoo.

A disappointed Tyrannosaurus lamented: “I’d hoped we’d moved on from the jumbled stack of boxes style by now.”

Howard Cosell defended the design: “Jumbled? I think they are rather neatly stacked. But you can change my mind if you can give me a much better alternative?”

A particularly frustrated Karl Diskin had a different issue with the project: “This infuriating doublespeak use of the word ‘village’ in relation to skyscrapers needs to end. The idea that a skyscraper whose facade is articulated as an assemblage of smaller volumes can thus be described as a village is an entirely erroneous one.”

The other commenters were impressed by the strength of Karl Diskin’s reaction to the word village.

What do you think of the proposed Barclay Village? Join the discussion ›

Loud and proud: ahead of London’s Pride parade that took place at the weekend, Dezeen took a look at nine LGBT+ design projects including a rainbow font and a sex toy for gender-transitioning men. However, not all readers were impressed.

“Just plain embarrassing. I’m gay, always have been – I don’t need labels or victimhood status, I am not and have never been marginalised,” said Vuillard.

Chris Becket agreed: “I have never been marginalised either, and my achievements have been in direct proportion to my merits, no more but no less than what I deserve.”

Susan, however, felt that some commenters were lacking empathy and understanding for marginalised people saying: “The comments so far reads like a conversation from a middle school locker room.”

Other commenters took a less political view, including E.May who was disappointed about the price of one of the items featured:



Should Pride be all encompassing? Join the discussion ›

Missed the target: readers were cynical about news that China has developed a stealth laser weapon capable of burning the flesh of targets 800 metres away.

Mirqus felt the story was “classic Chinese clickbait – show a fake prototype and let global scientists prove you wrong, only to then mass-produce their solutions.”

Bill CanoJr also cast doubt on the design saying “it’s possible, but not ready for combat use.”

Even if the gun is put into production Karol B doubted its usefulness as a weapon, stating “it would be quite easy to make an armour to protect from that laser light.”

Others, were more convinced by the design with Jam questioning why the laser gun has only just been developed: “About time, am I right?”

One reader had a suggestion for what the gun could be used for.

Is the rifle Chinese clickbait? Join the discussion ›

Big idea: readers were amused by a crowd-funding campaign launched by BIG architects’ Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange to install a huge, inflatable mirrored sphere, called The Orb, at this year’s Burning Man festival.

Knownquantity felt that: “Bjarke needs to get more in tune with the steampunk vibes of Burning Man.”

By the same token, FuriousB sarcastically commented that: “The diagram illustrating that a sphere is a scale model of the earth is pure genius. Thank god we have Bjarke to make these deep connections for us.”

“At least it’s not concave otherwise it would set things on fire.” retorted Mcmlxix, whilst a baffled Threefloatingorbs asked: “Where’s the giant shark jumping over the orb?”

On a slightly different note, Spadestick offered a new name for the festival:



What do you think of The Orb? Join the discussion ›

The post “Jenga on the mind?” appeared first on Dezeen.

My mother was a teacher for over 30 years. When I decided to have children, she gave me the book, Kids are worth it! by Barbara Coloroso. I learned a lot from that book, including how to help my kids (and my organizing clients’ children) develop their organizing talents and independent thinking skills.

Identify the problems

It is important to identify the organizing challenge and frame it correctly using positive, empowering language. Blame and accusations are counter-productive. Young children need help in identifying the issues while teenagers should be capable of figuring it out on their own. For example, if you want to help a younger child keep a playroom tidy, you might state, “You seem to be having some trouble finding [special toy]. Would you like some help organizing so you can find it when you need it?” With teenagers you might say, “The family sits down to supper at 6pm. You’ll need to create a plan so that your art supplies are cleared off the dining table by then.”

Give ownership and options

By giving the child ownership of the problem and letting them know you will be available to help, builds confidence. As a parent/caregiver, asking these questions will prompt useful answers for creating organizing solutions.

• What is working? If something is working well, try not to change it. If the children are happy with all of the Lego pieces in one large bin, don’t suggest they separate it into various colours and types. With younger children you will likely have to ask them specific questions about specific things such as, “Do your dolls like living on this shelf?”
• What is not working? By clearly identifying what is not working, you can take steps to fix it. For example, the kids need a large, flat space to do art and crafts and the heirloom dining table is off limits to paint, glue, and ink.
• What are the most and least important tasks done in the space? What are the most and least used items in the space? These questions encourage kids to establish priorities. Once those are defined, decisions can be made about how better to use the space.
• How do people and things move through the area? Do people need a clear path to walk across the room? Is there enough space to build the Lego Millennium Falcon?

R.S.V.P. solutions

In the Kids are worth it! book, Coloroso uses the acronym R.S.V.P. to determine if discipline techniques are appropriate. This acronym can also be used for organizing solutions.

R — Is it Reasonable? The organizing solution needs to make sense. Helping younger children choose their outfits for the next day is reasonable. Having a teenager do his/her own laundry and prepare their own school clothes the night before is also reasonable.

S — Is it Simple? The organizing solution should be easy to implement. Purchasing hanging shelves or toy bins is relatively simple as is tidying up for ten minutes at the end of the day. Renovating the house or hiring a cleaning service is not so simple.

V — Is it Valuable? It is important that the solution work as intended. It might take a little while for a student to get the hang of using a planner (either paper or electronic) but the end result will be worth the effort — having homework assignments submitted on time.

P — Is it Practical? If a child is always late for school because they are disorganized in the morning, a practical solution would be to prepare as much as possible the night before. Skipping school or having a parent drive the child to school every morning is not practical.

Children who create and implement their own R.S.V.P. organizing solutions, develops self-discipline and confidence. As they grow, they learn to recognize the value of uncluttering and organizing, setting them up to be productive adults.

Post written by Jacki Hollywood Brown

Disney has released another new 90-second trailer for their upcoming Christopher Robin movie, from director Marc Forster, a live-action re-introduction of all the Winnie the Pooh character.The Hundred Acre Wood is opening up to our world. Working-class family man Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) encounters his childhood friend Winnie-the-Pooh, who helps him to rediscover the joys of life. Christopher Robin is directed by German filmmaker Marc Forster, of the films Loungers, Everything Put Together, Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Stay, Stranger Than Fiction, The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace, Machine Gun Preacher, World War Z, and All I See Is You previously. The screenplay is written by filmmaker Alex Ross Perry, with additional work by Allison Schroeder and Tom McCarthy. This is based on the story and characters created by A.A. Milne, originally in 1926. Disney will release Forster’s Christopher Robin in theaters everywhere starting on August 3rd this summer…(Read…)

Designer Andrew Greenbaum has created the Pom Pom Float, an inflatable pink coffin pool float. The pink coffin pool float isn’t quite ready for purchase yet, however, as the design duo are “about $15,000 short from being able to sell this to ya’ll.” He goes on: Let us know if you think a kickstarter would be a cool idea or if you have a rich daddy who wanna invest.” [ link ]..(Read…)

“This month, 20 years ago we were all watching Saving Private Ryan and Armageddon at the movies, listening to Brandy and Monica and The Goo Goo Dolls on the disc-man and playing F-Zero X on Nintendo 64. Or were we? What were you doing?”..(Read…)