Hasta La Ideas

I love this retro electronic inspired cutting boards. Get yours here

Stockholm’s Färgfabriken Gallery is currently playing host to one of the most playful and interesting conceptual exhibitions in recent memory. Entitled “Building Blocks,” the show takes a look at the intriguing relationship between client and architect, but does so with a fantastical twist—the clients were kids from around the world.

Investigating and illuminates the differences between the thought process of an adult and that of a child, the exhibit showcases the startling results that vary between magnificent flights of fancy and some very practical solutions to architectural problems.

While the solutions are far from average, the process itself was conducted as it typically would be to give the scenario full context. Children spanning ages six to 16 were invited to develop a brief for a selected architecture firm. From this brief the architects created a proposal incorporating the kids’ list of demands and needs. (One child insisted that a “pooping owl” be prominent on one wall—their demands were met!).

Once the clients were satisfied, the buildings were erected; some as models with viewing portals, others as semi-full-scale buildings to be explored by the viewer. Multiple floors, secret rooms, football and bowling alleys, a disco, rooftop observatories, a suspended bath, a climbing wall, a fireman’s pole, and fully-customizable wall decoration all feature in the nine different builds.

“Building Blocks” forces the architects (within the context of the exhibition) to think, “Actually, why not?” Indeed, the show really opens up the debate on whether our sometimes dull surroundings are the result of goalless and unambitious architectural practices or clients themselves. While the mind of a child may lack a framework of references for their designs, the limitless imagination more than makes up for that.

“Building Blocks” is the result of a solid year of development, reminiscent of the 1971 Tate show “Bodyspacemotionthings,” which encouraged viewers to get involved and explore the artifacts on show (although that show quickly fell apart—literally).

“Buildings Blocks” differs in that the buildings themselves look substantial enough to withstand the months of exploration they are likely to have before it closes its doors this September. However, there is no doubt that it is one of the most intelligent, well-crafted and entertaining exhibitions currently on show today, inspiring the notion that having a child on a retainer at every architect’s office is not a bad idea.

“Building Blocks” runs through 12 September 2010.

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pIt’s frustrating reading about great programming that you have no access to, but for those of you lucky enough to live in the UK, tonight is the debut of BBC2’s new “A HREF=”http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sc85s” The Genius of Design/A” program. (Gotta love that acronym.) /p

pThe five-part series kicks off with the “Ghosts in the Machine” episode:/p

blockquoteThe first episode of this new series tells the fascinating story of the birth of industrial design. Alongside the celebrated names, from Wedgwood to William Morris, it also explores the work of the anonymous designers responsible for prosaic but classic designs for cast-iron cooking pots to sheep shears – harbingers of a breed of industrially produced objects culminating in the Model T Ford. Includes interviews with legendary designer Dieter Rams and J Mays, Ford Motors’ global head of design./blockquote
a href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/education/bbc2s_five-part_the_genius_of_design_series_premieres_tonight_16527.asp”(more…)/a
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pemThis guest post from a href=”http://uncommonprojects.com/site/”Tarikh Korula/a. Thanks Tarikh!/em/p

pGot hack? In advance of their upcoming a href=”http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/”Disrupt Conference/a, Techcrunch is hosting an a href=”http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/hackathon/”Open Hack Day/a, May 22-23 in New York City. It will be a marathon session of hacking for creatives to gather and build. The Hack Day will mix 200 hackers, coders, developers and hardware geeks, with a whole lot of Red Bull and pizza, then let it all ferment overnight. Participants will have 12 hours to hack and 90 seconds to present their masterpiece. A recent Hack Day hosted elsewhere turned out a toaster that printed news headlines on bread before turning it into breakfast./p

pThe TC50 conference has launched more than a few startups, but it’s typically been a West Coast affair. It’s a promising sign for New York that they’re looking East. While New York has its fresh crop of startups (e.g. a href=”http://foursquare.com/”Foursquare/a), it also has a host of world class art and design schools. The creative co-mingling of software, hardware and design might be unique to the city and we wonder if that’s the reason we have so many creative hardware prototypers here–a href=”http://www.buglabs.net”Bug Labs/a, a href=”http://www.makerbot.com/”Makerbot Industries/a, a href=”http://www.adafruit.com/”Adafruit Industries/a and a href=”http://www.nycresistor.com/”NYC Resistor/a–to name a few. It even seems the event organizers are looking to prime the hardware pump by having the folks from a href=”http://www.scrapyardchallenge.com/”Scrapyard Challenge/a set up a workshop./p

pOf course the Hack Day isn’t limited to just hardware, it’s open to anyone who wants to mash up a software API. Projects will be shown on stage Sunday, and awards will be given. All presenters get a free ticket to the three day Disrupt conference. The judges’ favorite hacks will be covered by TechCrunch and other attending media, but they’ll also present alongside the top startups chosen during Disrupt–in front of the event audience of 2,000 people./p

pTechCrunch Disrupt Open Hack Daybr /
May 22 23, 2010br /
570 Washington Street (between Houston and Clarkson Streets)br /
New York, NY 10014/p

pLearn More and register here: a href=”http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/hackathon/”http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/hackathon//a/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/events/calling_all_prototypers_-_open_hack_day_16526.asp”(more…)/a
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