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Forms from the land of plenty
Three hundred architectural sculptures are showcasing Australia's architectural diversity
at the Venice Architecture Biennale in an exhibition entitled Abundance.
A re-imagined cubby house, a facade based on the filigree pattern of a moth's wing,
a 'future shack' made from a shipping container, a tattooed Aussie Rules football,
a space science centre like the 'spiralling arms of a birthing nebula' and a luxury
mixed-use building based on a snowflake for Michael Schumacher in Abu Dhabi, are
just some of the architectural models showcased in the Australian Pavilion at the
2008 Venice Architecture Biennale this year.
One hundred and eighty architectural practices from across Australia have
created what they call 'architectural artefacts' for the exhibition. |
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Sound affects
The Bose Corporation has been producing state-of-the-art hi-fi products for more
than forty years. Its classic speakers, headphones and audio systems have been
prized by generations of music lovers, technicians and sound gurus.
The corporation was founded in 1964 by Dr Amar Bose, a researcher investigating
'psychoacoustics' at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Bose's graduate research at MIT led to the development of new technologies and he
founded his company based on their patents. He continued to teach electrical
engineering at MIT for forty-five years and has employed many of his students at Bose.
With the introduction of the 901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system in 1968, Bose
won international acclaim for the product's lifelike sound reproduction. The speaker
was radically different from the conventional speakers of the time, and the sound
reproduction came much closer to the quality of live music. With no woofers or tweeters,
its unique blend of reflected and direct sound put Bose on the map. |
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Carlos Hinrichsen
and students |
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Interview – Carlos Hinrichsen
Professor Carlos Hinrichsen is president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial
Design (Icsid; 2007-2009); director of the School of Design, Instituto Profesional DuocUC de la
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; and design director of Design Innovation in the Latin
American region. He is also well known as the co-founder of the Chilean design firm 3Design,
which created furniture, bicycles and household appliances from 1982 to 1996. Belinda Stening,
Curve editor, asked him for his thoughts about global design trends, design education
and the changing role of designers.
As president of Icsid, and as a designer with extensive international experience, you must
meet designers from every corner of the globe. What are the issues that you hear most about
from industrial designers around the world?
The way that governments, as well as business leaders, still regard designers as mere stylists
is often discussed. There are a number of examples (including Tupperware, P&G, LG, NOKIA and
Poggenpohl) to support the fact that with extensive training, time and funding, and an
understanding of both user and context, designers can build upon their ideas and develop
products that they believe in. The willingness of business to ignore quality for the sake
of profit and the tendency for governments to avoid nurturing and developing design
industries are major concerns.
Education quality is also a recurring industry topic and a primary focus for me as an
educator. In terms of gaining equal status in relation to other technical programmes,
the design education sector would benefit from improved resources in the technical aspects
of product development. Reputable design education programmes are the breeding grounds
for great designers, and design educators can be further empowered with the proper
knowledge tools. The desire for stronger partnerships with governments is echoed
in almost every region as one solution. |
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| Franco Raggi and his racetrack game |
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Designer games
Laura Traldi
The International Convention of Infants Rights approved by the UN states it very clearly: playing
is a fundamental right of all children. This statement at first sight seems to have more to
do with educational experts than with designers or architects. Yet a recent project developed
by Italy's Fondazione Riccardo Catella (a foundation that promotes initiatives in urban development),
and presented during the last Fuori Salone in Milan, has underlined the primary role that design
has in supporting this right of children.
Design, architecture and urban planning all share the same responsibility: the enhancement of
the quality of everyday life and experiences. Allowing children to play in a constructive and fun
environment and to learn from the sharing of their experiences is certainly one of the main duties
of any community. Yet also due to poor design, town planning or maintenance it is often
impossible for children to take full advantage of the right to play.
It is almost natural to ask the design community for an answer to this challenge. Leveraging on
the existing list of childrens' rights with regard to playing (right to silence, smells, wilderness,
laziness, being dirty, using hands and being on the road), listed by the Convention of Infants'
Rights, the Fondazione Catella commissioned seven designers to develop installations that would
help and support kids with normal abilities as well as those temporarily or permanently disabled. |
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Learning the ropes
Globally, the roles played by industrial designers are shifting as they adapt to the
enormous changes afoot in the manufacturing environment changes that are happening fast.
The challenge for educators is to stay ahead of the trends and produce graduates who are
prepared for what they find in the workplace once they get there.
So, what are the most important aspects of industrial design education at the moment? What, and how, do students need to learn to contribute effectively to industrial design
practice in the future? What does the industrial design profession want from a graduate? Where is design education excelling and where does it need to
improve? Curve asked
universities and design organisations internationally to comment.
While the responses indicate that university programs are mostly hitting the mark,
especially when it comes to environmental awareness and the emphasis on designing for
end users, there is broad agreement about where it could do better with business and
project management skills repeatedly cited as needing improvement. |
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Excellent innovations
The winners of this year's International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) showed a concern
for sustainability and attention to detail, and many products were also very affordable.
The re-design of existing products for new markets was also evident.
The IDEA programme encourages understanding of the influence of industrial design excellence
on quality of life and the economy. There were 1517 entries in total, with thirty-five awarded
gold awards, seventy-seven receiving silver and ninety-three earning bronze. This year's list
of entrants indicated increased international participation, and there was an especially strong
commitment to environmentally responsible design by student winners. |
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Get smart: active materials
Active materials, often referred to as smart materials, are a collection of materials
that can change their properties in response to some form of stimulus. These active
materials may change colour, shape, opacity or temperature, some even move in response
to light, heat, electricity, magnetic fields, chemicals or biological agents. Materials
that can change energy into other forms of energy such as turning light or pressure
into electricity are also classed as active materials.
The 'cleverness' of the material itself can be harnessed and applied to create something
that reacts, bringing a design to life. Part of the beauty of these materials is the idea
of getting something for nothing you can use the material itself to generate its own
power, or use a material that automatically responds to its environment without
people having to intervene. |
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Rise and shine
The Wake-up Light, a product that helps you wake up in natural light with gentle sound effects,
has been released in Europe by Philips. The light was developed from a concept first presented
to the media in at a Philips Simplicity Event in 2006 after years of consumer research.
The combination bedside light and alarm clock offers a more pleasant way to wake up by gradually
illuminating to simulate a sunrise and follows the natural waking rhythms of the body. This
illumination is further enhanced by a diverse range of sounds from those derived from nature
to gentle ambient noises that accompany the waking experience.
These sounds were designed by a sound artist specifically for the Wake-up Light. When fully
illuminated, the lamp resembles a sunset with a divider between the luminescence above and
the dark part of the object below. |
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