Hasta La Ideas

According to Autoweek, legendary designer Chris Bangle, the man responsible for the much-imitated aesthetics of the BMW 7-series, is quitting the auto design industry to “pursue his own design-related endeavors.”

In an interview with the man, Motor Trend mused that Bangle might be “The most influential automotive designer of the early 21st century.” For those of you unfamiliar with him, here’s a look at some Bangle news, opinions and accomplishments from the past few years:

Bangle on design, from Design Thinking Digest.

Chris Bangle at the TED conference, explaining that “Great cars are art:”

Bangle giving his personal overview of the BMW Design Group’s exhibits at the Detroit Motor Show from ’06:

Lastly, Bangle’s basic bio is here.

For Bangle to quit the biz is horrible news for BMW, but may be great news for the design world at large. No word on what Bangle will be getting into yet, we’ll keep you posted of developments.

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From the fevered mind of Bruce Sterling and his alter-ego, Bruno Argento, a consideration of things ahead.

“Let’s consider seven other massive reservoirs of potential popular dread. Any one of these could erupt, shattering the fragile social compact we maintain with one another in order to believe things contrary to fact.”

And a call to do better than this.

“In a world so redolent with wonder, how can we allow ourselves to conduct our daily lives with so little insight, such absence of dignity? We should discover that there is no objective need for such precarity; the planet Earth should not be run as a fire sale. Precarity was supposed to be for the little people; when it is for everybody, its absurdity is manifest. Precarity cannot make us a cleaner, better, or more just society. Precarity is not sustainable. It has nothing to do with economic productivity. It does not help us sustain our precious cultural heritage or our natural heritage, the planet’s priceless biodiversity. It is the mayhem of a disturbed ant’s nest.”

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6 collaborators of the Danish Design Centre (DDC) have been fired, “in a strategic adjustment of the centre’s activities,” due to the financial crisis.

The centre experienced a decrease in commercial business, states the DDC website, with several customer events having been cancelled, and fewer bookings at the DDC conferences.

>> Read article (in Danish)
>> Read English machine translation

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Look skyward in certain major cities and you’re bound to see a bunch of cranes, placed there to construct new buildings back when the economy was humming. As the charts and graphs now slide steadily south, some of those projects are being halted, while others have no choice but to continue. Regardless of their status, the one thing the buildings all have in common: they were all designed by architects.

Back in early November, Archinect launched a survey called “Checking the Pulse of the Architecture Industry.”

Over a 2 month period, more than several thousand Archinect visitors responded to the survey. The survey asked architecture students, working architects, unemployed architects and those on the business development side of the industry straightforward questions about their current experiences, feelings about their job security and thoughts regarding their career choice. The results were then compiled, analyzed and finally posted on Archinect on January 15, 2009.

The survey results are displayed in a dynamic format. There is an interactive tool that allows the user to sift through the information and customize the results according to their areas of interest.

The results paint a sobering picture of the economy’s effect on architecture job market. We hear from respondents who are experiencing career remorse and deep frustration with their inability to find a jobs after spending many years and a fortune on their education. It all seems bleak until a silver lining is revealed, as architects share their thoughts on how this economy’s downward spiral may be a blessing in disguise. The economic collapse may be the very thing the industry needs to reshape design and force innovation.

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