All posts filed under: Design

Archigram – ‘every generation must make its own city’

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Sketches and collages from ARCHIGRAM are a recurring reference point for Fat Nancy. The magazine dominated the architectural avant garde in the 1960s and early 1970s with its playful, pop-inspired visions of a technocratic future after its formation in 1961 by a group of young London architects – Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron and Michael Webb. “A new generation of architecture must arise with forms and spaces which seems to reject the precepts of ‘Modern’ yet in fact retains those precepts. We have chosen to by pass the decaying Bauhaus image which is an insult to functionalism. You can roll out steel – any length. You can blow up a balloon – any size. You can mould plastic – any shape. Blokes that built the Forth Bridge – they didn’t worry.” So wrote David Greene in a poem published in the first issue of Archigram magazine or, as Greene’s co-editor, Peter Cook, called it “a message, or abstract communication”. It was published in 1961 on a large sheet of the …

the 3D printer that can build a house

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So imagine designing your own dream house, what would you say if a builder came to you and said he could deliver you a 2500 sq foot house in 24 hours? What if your friendly builder said he could skip past the weeks and months of waiting for materials to be delivered and trying to steal moments of construction in between spurts of bad weather? What if he said he could printout your house?   Well the researchers at California university reckon you’ll be pretty interested in that prospect. So much so that they have developed a new layered technology 3d printer called contour crafting. Up to now, 3d printers use thermal plastics that harden but this uses concrete in layers to construct straight or curved walls, even domes. The man behind this idea, Mr Koshenevis, said that everything is being made by computers and machines but not buildings and he wants to bring that technology to urban construction. The advanced process is actually quite simple: a computer program guides a giant robot with a …

Light design

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Made by: Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph NautaMaterials: Phosphor Bronze, real dandelions and LED’s With Fragile Future III, Studio Drift fuses nature and technology into a fairylike multidisciplinary light sculpture. It consists of three-dimensional bronze electrical circuits connected to light emitting dandelions. The project can be seen as a critical yet utopian vision on the future of our planet, where two seemingly opposite evolutions have made a pact to survive. The sculpture contains real dandelion seeds, that were picked by hand and piece-by-piece connected to LED lights. This labour-intensive process is a clear statement against mass production and throwaway culture. Are the rapid technological developments of our age really more advanced than the evolution of nature, of which the dandelion is such a transient and symbolic example? And could those two evolve together and meet in the future? Studio Drift proposes a vision of that future in their own signature aesthetics, a distinct mix between hi-tech and poetic imagery. Light functions as a symbolic and emotional ingredient rather as a tool to simply illuminate the dark. Fragile Future …

Glithero design agency

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Glithero are British designer Tim Simpson and Dutch designer Sarah van Gameren, who met and studied at the Royal College of Art. From their studio in London they create product, furniture, and time-based installations that give birth to unique and wonderful products. The work is presented in a broad spectrum of media, but follows a consistent conceptual path; to capture and present the beauty in the moment things are made. From machines that miraculously create wax chandeliers from strung wick, a pouring slide that becomes a 10 metre long poly-concrete table, to ceramics that turn vivid blue with UV light, the key ingredients of their work are time and transformation. With their own concoction of creation-performance they aim to bridge creative disciplines and make works that can be understood by all. Glithero has presented solo shows in London, Paris and Rotterdam, as well as exhibitions in Milan, Berlin and Basel. and in 2011 the studio has been shortlisted for the Brit Insurance Award and the Dutch Design Awards. More information here: http://www.glithero.com/ – including some great …