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1001 Building Forms
By Lisa Smith - Mar 30, 2010
Not new, but definitely notable: Siteless: 1001 Building Forms, by Architect François Blanciak, was released to the academic architecture community for a little while now, but, after rediscovering it this morning on Jacket Mechanical and Lined and Unlined, we realized it has wide resonance and wanted to share it here.
Though the book is meant as a catalog of siteless building forms, all hand drawn from the same perspective, this book is relevant for formal thinkers at any scale, from sculptors to industrial designers. In particular, we're wondering how this book might mix with interaction design and tangible interfaces: What would the pigtail towers do when combined with some flex sensors, for example?
If nothing else, the book sidesteps the often opaque written dialogue of architecture (just sayin') and presents itself visually, accessible to a wide audience.
Order from Amazon, or read more at the MIT Press.
Images from Jacket Mechanical
Lisa Smith
Lisa is dedicated to promoting the American contemporary design scene. She keeps herself busy as the co-founder of the Object Design League, an association of independent designers in Chicago, and design practice Smith&Linder, both co-founded with Caroline Linder. She also teaches foundation research studios at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
3 Comments
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I take my critique back; this young French architect represents the decontextualized world of ME. In industrial design, they ask, "how does the object respond to the users?" In architecture, we now ask, "how does this design formalize ME?"!Report as spam
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The specificity of "floor plans" changes it somewhat--but maybe only if the floor plans were clearly labeled with distinct programmatic elements. I disagree that the book is a critique of the lack of contextual thinking, though I do understand how it might be perceived that way, depending on one's reaction to the content and design priorities. From the MIT Press summary: "Its author, a young French architect practicing in Tokyo, admits he "didn't do this out of reverence toward architecture, but rather out of a profound boredom with the discipline, as a sort of compulsive reaction." What would happen, he asks, if architects liberated their minds from the constraints of site, program, and budget?" Don't forms create their own context? Can't we learn something by navigating the combination of context-less forms with specific and pre-existing conditions? Or through fitting our pre-existing notions into equally willful formal types?!Report as spam
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If the title had read, "1001 floor plans for Designers", would you not be amused? There is a reason why it says, "Siteless"; it's a critique of the lack of contextual thinking.!Report as spam
Continued Reading
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By Lisa Smith - Mar 30, 2010
Comion: 3D-printed steel jewelry
Forget silver soldering—Gonçalo Campos is making jewelry from 3D-printed steel. The collection, entitled Comion Jewelry, comprises of a ring, two bracelets (one open, one closed), a pendant necklace, and a range of accessories (to come). In addition to the striking, non-modular open truss geometry, also notable is Campos' embracing of...
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By Rain Noe - Mar 29, 2010
On the ground in Iceland: Street-level differences, Part 4
Not strictly a "streel-level" difference, but I was fascinated with the design of the soap dispenser in my Reykjavik hotel bathroom. Probably because I recently went soap-dispenser shopping back in the 'States, installed one in the photo studio I run and have been unhappy with its design ever since. The...
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By Rain Noe - Mar 29, 2010
On the ground in Iceland: Street-level differences, Part 3
Throughout my stay in Iceland I'd discover that the people are extremely sweet, generous and smart, but not really big on punctuality. I wonder if that's due to Iceland's complete lack of trains. If I remember my product design history correctly, worldwide sales of watches and clocks didn't really take...
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By Rain Noe - Mar 29, 2010
On the ground in Iceland: Street-level differences, Part 2
While walking around early-morning Reykjavik, I noticed the weather is as crappy as it is in England--grey, cold, drizzly--but the buildings here are made a heck of a lot more cheerful-looking with bright, pop-py paint.One presumed effect on design of constant precipitation is that there are transom windows everywhere, or...
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