Hasta La Ideas

We’ve teamed up with Zaha Hadid Architects to offer our readers the chance to win one of five copies of The Autopoiesis of Architecture by Patrik Schumacher, a partner at the firm.

The first of two volumes, the 478 page book contains only 18 illustrations and offers a unified theory of architecture, suggesting a framework for the discipline’s next phase of development.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Autopoiesis of Architecture” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers.

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Competition closes 22 February. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

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Here are some more details from publishers Wiley:

The Autopoiesis of Architecture; Vol 1 A New Framework for Architecture
By Patrik Schumacher

In recent years, architectural theory has remained tentative and even sceptical. A bold new two-volume treatise by Patrik Schumacher, one of the leading international architects and architectural thinkers of our time is set to change all that. The first volume of The Autopoiesis of Architecture provides a wholly new approach and framework for thinking about architecture.

The impact of this is far reaching. Architecture is presented as having its own unique logic, asserting architecture’s role as a discipline and its place in contemporary society. On  Tuesday 7th December at the Architectural Association in London, Patrik Schumacher will launch the publication of The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Volume 1: A New Framework for Architecture with a lecture outlining his new unified theoretical system for architecture.

He will describe how this wider structure accommodates further theories, such as that of architecture’s social function, a theory of the avant-garde, aesthetic theory and media and process theory. Most significantly, architecture is conceived for the first time as a system of communication comprising artifacts, knowledges and practices.

What is Autopoiesis?

The ‘Autopoiesis’ of the title refers to self-production: the term having first been introduced in biology during the 1970s to describe the essential characteristic of life as a circular organization that reproduces all its specific components out of its own life-process. Once transposed into the theory of social systems, autopoiesis came to be understood as a system of communication capable of producing all its specific communication structures within their own internal process. It is this autopoietic system of communication that is applied by Schumacher to an architectural context.

About the author

Patrik Schumacher is partner at Zaha Hadid Architects and founding director of the influential AADRL (Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory). He studied philosophy and architecture in Bonn, London and Stuttgart, and completed his PhD at the Institute for Cultural Science in Klagenfurt. His contribution to architectural theory is evident in his published writings collected at www.patrikschumacher.com

Paperback: 478 pages
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; Volume 1 edition (3 Dec 2010)
Language English
Product Dimensions: 22.2 x 17.2 x 3.2 cm

Publication details

The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Volume I: A New Framework for Architecture,
ISBN 9780470772980, Paperback Original £29.99 , is published by John Wiley & Sons in December 2010.

The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Volume II: A New Agenda, ISBN 9780470666166, paperback original £29.99, is published by John Wiley & Sons, autumn 2011.

Buy this book and others at the Dezeenbooks store
(in association with amazon.co.uk)

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Core77 was proud to work with Aava Mobile to create two distinct design invitational challenges. In the first phase, we combed through the 200,00+ portfolios on our site Coroflot.com to find the 5 most creative thinkers and sketchers in the world of consumer products. Each created sets of scenarios articulating the potential use-case scenarios of the mobile device. The second phase challenged one of the phase 1 participants as well as an additional designer to create more refined, rendered concepts closer to production pieces rather than blue-sky concepts. Both of the designers took the challenge seriously (and with delight) delivering incredible work that was both rigorous and imaginative. Core77 could not have been happier with the results, and we are gratified to continue making strong connections between designers and manufacturers.

As a celebration of the success of phase 2, we are publishing the case studies from each of the designers to share some of their learnings from this design invitational. Alberto Villareal, Creative Director of the Mexico City-based design firm AGENT shares his process below.

Aava Mobile, a Finnish company founded in 2009 by a team of engineering wizards who built an open-source mobile device platform, asked AGENT to design their latest smart phone.

Alberto Villarreal, the Creative Director of Mexico City-based firm AGENT explains their design approach: “We focused on making it simple, but with a twist.”

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Stockholm designer Axel Bjurström will present a collection of furniture including these wheeled side tables as part of the Greenhouse exhibition of work by young designers at Stockholm Furniture Fair next week.

Above and top: Dolly. The dolly side table takes care of the pile of magazines often found on the bottom shelf or on the floor next to the sofa. It uses the weight of the magazines to gain stability and the small wheels on the backside make it possible to move your pile around just like a hand dolly.

Called Dolly, the tables incorporate a bar to hold magazines, which in turn weight the piece.

Other products in Bjurström’s collection include a combined vase and candlestick, a tray in the shape of a wedding ring, makeup mirror and two chair designs.

Above: Flora. Flora gives you the possibility to use your candlestick as a vase or combining candles and flowers in your candelabra. It is made of high quality laboratorial glass and has a conic silicone joint in the bottom to sit steady in almost all sorts of candlestick.

Stockholm Furniture Fair takes place 8-12 February.

Above: Precious. Precious is a tray with the shape of a classical wedding ring. It is made of d-profiled brass pipe and it can be customized with your personal inscription laser engraved on the inside of the rim.

The information that follows and captions are from the designer:

Axel Bjurström is a freelance designer/architect with a MFA from Konstfack (2007) working with architecture, interior and product design.

Above: Piga. Piga is a remake of the old fashion swedish “pigtittare”, a mini cabinet with an adjustable mirror to use when applying make-up. Behind the mirror i t has a partition to hold bottles and bigger tubes behind the mirror.

Clients are companies such as the Swedish fashion brand Filippa K, outdoor furniture company Nola, Panasonic etc. Exhibiting at Sthlm Furniture Fair is a first step towards focusing more on furniture and product design.

Above: Hammock Chair. The hammock chair is a simple tube rack with a more sophisticated free hanging textile. The seat is form sewed just like the knee on a pair of skipants that will adapt to your body and follow your movements just like a hammock.

The ambition is to find interesting companies for long term collaborations.

Above: Trinity. The Trinity lounge chair is a small simple lounge chair. It uses the advantages of the three materials; a wooden structure to keep it light and to get natural feel, a steel frame to achieve a stiff, thin curvy back and textile in seat and back get a smooth and comfortable feel.

See also:

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Luca Nichetto at Stockholm 2011	Inga Sempé at Stockholm 2011	All our stories from last year’s fair

Business Operations Lead
IDEO
Cambridge, MA

IDEO is seeking a Business Operations Lead for its Boston studio. We are looking for an individual with strong analytical capabilities as well as the ability to build trusting relationships across a diverse design team. This person must demonstrate a collaborative leadership style, great communication skills, and an ability to thrive in a ‘non-rules based’ environment of innovation. At IDEO, Operations is about supporting great decision making, building trust and demonstrating great judgment We strive to build both a healthy business AND a generative innovation driven culture.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

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