Slow Design

Slow Design is a growing creative movement and a way of thinking. Its basic concepts revolve around the idea of holistic and thought-out design which is responsive and responsible to and for its environment.

“Slowness … describes the individual's elevated state of awareness in the process of creation, the quality of its tangible outcomes and a richer experience for the community it engages.”

A work of Slow Design which draws directly from the theme of time is Thorunn Arnadottiri’s ‘slow clock’. It is a wall hanging clock which is made up of a cog and a long string of beads. Each bead represents five minutes of time and the hours are marked of with red beads rather than blue. This cyclical representation of time is a recurring theme in the field of ‘slowness’ and the incremental changes are also a favourite feature in the slow scene. The effect of having 5 minute intervals of time is a calming one and sets a slower pace for the user. The beads can also be completely removed and worn giving the wearer freedom from time.

Sustainability in lifestyle is key to slow design, not just ecologically but psychologically and emotionally too. Carolyn Strauss and Julian Bleecker’s ‘slowMail’ is a project which takes a normal email and analyses all sorts of real data about it: the physical distance from sender to recipient, the relationships involved and even the actual content. SlowMail uses this data to slowly send your mail over a long period, even slower than regular mail. The system aims to establish a less frantic, calmer form of communication and to create ‘a new rhythm of social interaction’.

I’m really taken with the idea of slowness, it hints to craft, and care, and most importantly, thought. The poetry which often seems wound up in these projects creates beautiful outcomes filled with narrative (a good amount of them are concerned with a prolonged system or the life span of a product) and most have the sense of adaptability and change built in to them. I think if we keep up the pace of life which modern society is dictating, then we’ll burn ourselves out, both in the literal global warming sense and also in the personal human sense. Stop the world I want to get off- if that’s not possible the least we can do is slow it down.

http://www.slowlab.net/

http://www.thorunndesign.com/

did you know that when you do that

Future Farmers, Harvest, Systems Design Limited, Hong Kong, 2002

Slums and that

In the General Public Agency Book there is a project in India which talks about slum networking. It’s a concept which uses natural drainage paths in cities to transport water and waste and recognizing that many slums are built in lower parts of the city near water courses. The system uses gravity rather than pumps and does not require deep excavation, therefore being cheap. The main part of this project, as I see it however, is that the city recognizes the residents and their homes as places to be networked and thus treats them with the same respect as richer citizens. Every home is given a toilet and running water.

“gaining working infrastructure of a standard equivalent gives slum dwellers the incentive to improve their own homes”

“after only five years, the former slum area… is indistinguishable from the ‘normal’ neighbourhood.”

Another infrastructure led scheme is being created by a UK based charity called ‘Hope Through Action’. It has recently started a project in Mbekwini, a poor township in South Africa, which is hoping to help all sorts of social problems. It’s aims are:

• An increase in awareness of HIV/AIDs and its prevention
• A growing self belief in individuals and the community
• A significant increase in individuals’ health and self esteem
• An increase in community pride and participation
• An opportunity for different communities and racial groups to work and play together in harmony
• A reduction in crime and unacceptable behaviours

It hopes to do this through the seemingly irrelevant act of building a football stadium in the township. It has been the product of a lengthy collaboration between the UK charity and the South African locals and throughout, decisions about the design, building and running of the stadium have all had input from the South African side of the relationship.

The interesting similarities of the projects are that they are both use simplistic forms of intervention to create a massive change. The India Networking project uses the lands natural topographic waterways to create a cheap and lasting infrastructure and the Football Stadium uses creating a shared space as a way of creating civic pride whilst the recreational activity gets young men (the key ‘problem’ demographic) ‘off the streets’ and is also a good platform for educating about health issues (the educating would be undertaken by local authorities). Both projects also utilize the local knowledge and listen to their needs and wants- this creates a lasting system which wont fade when the battery runs out, or the designer goes home- it becomes self sufficient and relevant.

I think that systems are more effective and appropriate in these slum areas- their aims are not to impose but to give people the tools to help themselves. Clever planning and good communications and collaborations will always work better than a quick fix.

India images and quotes: Clare Cumberlidge & Lucy Musgrave, Design and Landscape for People: New Approaches to Renewal, Thames & Hudson, 2007

Bullet Points: http://www.unitedutilities.com/?OBH=5674

HTA logo: mine under development

Artificial Natural

Heather Barnett
Cellular Wallpaper
Interior Narcissus Collection developed at Poole Hospital 2000

The boundaries between the artificial and the natural are becoming more and more difficult to distinguish. Our definitions of ‘Artificial’ and ‘Natural’ as concepts are therefore under construction. The concept of natural might have previously been thought of as something ‘organic’ or something ‘grown or produced in the countryside’, might now be thought of as something ‘based on’ or ‘influenced by’ nature.

This blurring of boundaries is not necessarily a negative thing; it conveys the constant evolution of concepts, ideas, conventions and language. So what will this constant evolution mean for design? Maybe Stelarc’s ‘Extra Ear’ will be standard and designers will be expected to experiment in the scientific to find new solutions to an evolved generation of problems.

Rather than researching into the newest scientifically innovative design project I decided to look into the blurring of natural and artificial boundaries in existing design projects. I came across the work of Heather Barnett, an artist working “at the intersections of art, science and education.” I found her ‘Cellular Wallpaper: Interior Narcissus” project particularly intriguing. Barnett designs wallpaper patterns by artificially enhancing the graphic design apparent in nature. The examples shown are “designs derived from human cellular microscopy.” The first example, Rosebud, is a magnified graphic of a cervical smear, and the second and third examples, Kaleidoscope and Peach Blossom are magnified blood samples. This subversion of intimate human cellular imagery through artificial means result in beautiful repeat patterns that are reminiscent of historical chintz designs. Although they are artificially enhanced the wallpapers convey nature’s strength as a designer in its own right. Barnett’s work may not be a feat of technological genius but is thought provoking and gives an insight into the natural world that cannot be seen naturally by the human eye. Although the subject is natural, its representation can only be seen using artificial tools, for example a microscope. As Marshall McLuhan would agree, a microscope is the man made extension to the human eye, therefore it would be classified as artificial, without it however human perspective on the natural world would be restricted.

The natural world has always influenced fields such as art, design and science and will always be a rich source of inspiration, it is natural to look to the natural and our investigations are commonly led by or informed by the artificial. The relationship between the two can be harmonious or disastrous and rarely fails to be informative.

Ester Kneen

http://www.heatherbarnett.co.uk/cellularwallpaper.htm
Hanaor,C(2006)The cutting edge of Wallpaper.London:Black Dog Publishing

Artificial Natural: Sk-interfaces review

TISSUE CULTURE & ART PROJECT/O. CATTS & I. ZURR

Artificial Natural: Stelarc Event

6.30pm Friday 29 February 2008
Cruciform Lecture Theatre 1, Gower Street, London, WC1E
Bartlett School of Architecture International Lecture Series

Stelarc
Artist

'Stelarc is an Australian artist who has performed extensively in Japan, Europe and the USA- including new music, dance festivals and experimental theatre. He has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, Virtual Reality systems and the Internet to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body.'

'He has performed with a THIRD HAND, a VIRTUAL ARM, a VIRTUAL BODY and a STOMACH SCULPTURE. He has acoustically and visually probed the body- having amplified brainwaves, blood-flow and muscle signals and filmed the inside of his lungs, stomach and colon, approximately two metres of internal space. He has done twenty-five body SUSPENSIONS with insertions into the skin, in different positions and varying situations in remote locations.'

'For FRACTAL FLESH, as part of Telepolis, he developed a touch-screen interfaced Muscle Stimulation System, enabling remote access, actuation and choreography of the body. Performances such as PING BODY and PARASITE probe notions of telematic scaling and the engineering of external, extended and virtual nervous systems for the body using the Internet. Recently for Kampnagel, he completed EXOSKELETON- a pneumatically powered 6-legged walking machine actuated by arm gestures.'

'Current projects include the EXTRA EAR- a surgically constructed ear as an additional facial feature that coupled with a modem and a wearable computer will act as an internet antenna, able to hear RealAudio sounds. And MOVATAR is an intelligent avatar that will be able to perform in the real world by possessing a physical body. It will have a sound feedback loop from the body giving the virtual entity an ear in the world.'

'He has also completed an EXTENDED ARM- a manipulator with eleven degrees-of-freedom that extends his arm to primate proportions and a MOTION PROSTHESIS- an intelligent, compliant servo-mechanism that enables the performance of precise, repetitive and accelerated prompting or programming of the arms in real-time.'

'The Bartlett School of Architecture International Lecture Series is a free event and everyone (including non-students) is welcome. Tickets are not required and seats cannot be reserved. For up-to-date information please visit the website www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/events/lectures/lectures.'