BUILD?

In Method we discuss process, Scale sets up your work space, BUILD could be how to put your project into action.

a more concise description about how to build a project
how to make perimeters that are inspiring and not confining
this is where we could include exercises and lots of examples
from conversation to actuality
getting your idea/project out in the world (kickstarter, etsy, lulu…)
large to small examples so we still cover scale

I’m suggesting we take out the exercises from the other chapters and make this last chapter more action based. Lots of projects to work on, filled with examples of what has been done and how they got started.

d.school at Stanford

Wall-E: Reconfigurable Walls at Stanford d.school Make Each Class the Perfect Size, by Linda Tischler, 4/28/2010, on the Fast Company website

http://www.fastcompany.com/1631889/wall-e-reconfigurable-walls-at-stanford-dschool-make-each-class-the-perfect-size

Fast Company article on the moveable walls of the new d.school building at Stanford. The innovative idea here is that the instructor can literally change the layout of the classroom making a “perfect fit” for each class.

“The school’s second floor is, essentially, one large room, framed by a truss system that lets planners design a series of sliders, attached with a gizmo they call a “taco” to a beam-mounted C-channel. That allows teams to create instant studios, of the exact dimensions appropriate to the day’s activities. Need a cozy nook? Done! A wide-open expanse of space? Not a problem.”

“The system allows a modal shift between intimate and open,” says Scott Witthoft, co-director with Scott Doorley of the school’s Environments Collaborative, which designed the arrangement along with Dave Shipmen of Steelcase.”

Department 21

Department 21 was launched in 2009 by a group of students at the Royal College of Art in London, with the aim of artists, designers and architects coming together to do interdisciplinary projects. I think they’ve recently disbanded.

http://www.department21.net/?page_id=1919
“Emerging from an institutional context in which individual authorship and outcome-driven projects are the dominant frames for creative production, the project is the result of a need for new, collaborative forms of exchange between students from different disciplines: it is a means to get in touch with other peoples’ practices (and in this way question one’s own practice), as well as being a platform to support collaboration beyond specialties.”

“Particular to Department 21 is the emphasis on a physical space within which ideas can grow and serendipitous encounters occur. With a belief that the physical and social design of a learning space has an impact on the learning that happens within it, Department 21 has sought to work with a variety of spaces, both within and outside the Royal College of Art, to encourage different forms of social interaction and dialogue and participation. For each location the project inhabits (alternatively shared common space, occupancy of the college’s galleries during exhibitions, outdoor events etc.), the question of design comes first.

Recognising the impact that structures have on how we interact and learn, and using the inter-disciplinary knowledge of the group, Department 21 has created a purpose-built moveable working space, to enable the activities of learning, teaching and collaborating to flex to fit a wide variety of spatial environments.”

This is the moveable furniture they have created to facilitate their various events and meetings:

 

Arranging Your Desk

On March 10, 2008, How Magazine ran a feature titled Make Your Creativity More Productive Around the Office. It focused on Behance, the online portfolio site and their approach to office space. I like the simple idea of keeping stuff up on the wall and keeping the desk clear. The notion of balancing order with chaos. And the simple idea of lining your wall with fiber board (homosote) to make a large pin up area.

Above: Chief of Design Matias Corea at work. He tends to keep his wall full and his desk clear, what he describes as a “proper balance of chaos and clarity.”

 

Chief of Design Matias Corea’s desk, with his “Action Pile” to the far left.

The famous “Done Wall” that is a testimony to ideas happening as a result of action steps being captured, processed, and completed.

Creative workspaces

On this blog of design studio Eighty One, I found an assortment of creative office interiors.

http://www.eightyonedesign.co.uk/how-would-you-improve-your-graphic-design-studio-or-office/
Accessed 6/12/12

Google offices:
Office as set design, as adventure

Top left: Google office in Zurich, Switzerland, designed by Camenzind Evolution, Ltd.

Lego offices
Cartoon Network offices:
A bit of childhood nostalgia in your cubicle
Selas Cano, Spanish architecture office:
Melding with nature