Withdrawal

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So we have been trying to post regularly now. Once a day, around the morning, just in time for your coffee/tea/other warm beverage break.

And then, on Saturday AM, we did not post. Thought it was fair to take a day off. Did not inform the readers- just took off. And now we are going through withdrawal. A feeling so hollow–for those who have experienced it. We missed you. We missed writing. And we missed the Discipline.

So with all apologies that are due to you, here is a fabulous mobile that we saw recently. All parts are metal. This was made by a pair of Belgian Artists. We are still trying to source their website….Google has not been too kind so far in aiding this search. Reaching out to the owners of the mobile to find its source.

You all, just enjoy the colors and the vibrancy…

KidSpace: Church etc.

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Who knew that Churches could be spaces that kids find interesting? But we have a pre question: how did so many children find their way to church in the first place? In such an organized manner? And are sitting quietly?

Now while we agree that this is indeed odd, it is also clear that a well designed church (Name one that isnt…) is an architectural beauty to behold. The structure IS the design. No other embellishment required.

But we bet you anything that the kids were watching the stained glass behind the teacher…

Redefining Public space?

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Maybe “re-defining” is too strong a term- its raises expectations. One expects a strong, deliberate deviation from the norm. A statement. A space like no other.
No- the example below is not a re-definition of public space. It is perhaps a different expression of it…yes that is the term. EXPRESSION.

A construction zone on a street…expressing itself (courtesy of Le Pain Quotidien) as a public zone.


View from sidewalk

Interesting detail of floor structure- Place it anywhere and Voila!..instant decking for public space!

LightSpace:Candles

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Looking around for the effects of Candles in spaces. After the invention of the lightbulb, candles are mostly frequently used for decorative or aromatic purposes. Unless you are a bar in MePa ofcourse.

Interesting effect of this decorative wall-seems to form a large backdrop to the proceedings without overdoing the whole “so many candles” thing.

Patience

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Beautiful video shared by Geninne (a great artist, by the way). Her blog is here. This video film is an original work, conceptualized, designed and produced by Jim Hill & Meesh Rheault Miller of Glowing Heads, Olympia WA. The music was a piece by Laura Inserra. The book featuring in the video, Patience, was designed, created and demonstrated by Randi Parkhurst at Parkhurst Paper Arts.

Thank you Meesh, for getting in touch and for sharing your wonderful work.

Shutter-Priority

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Discovered the “shutter priority” setting on the camera recently. This came especially handy in taking evening shots of the 9/11 memorial. It is a wonderfully serene place. Congratulations to Michael Arad for the design of the memorial pools and the grounds around it. Overheard at the memorial…”I think whoever designed this think could never have imagined that it would look THIS beautiful”

And we agree.

Slim pickings

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Apple picking on Saturday (with everyone on the East Coast by the looks of it!) hence the silence. Found some nice detail of a water fountain there. And of course apples.

Water fountain in the city:

Water fountain/trough at apple farm:

Enjoy.

LightSpace: Welcome to our new project

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Light makes a huge difference to a space. You knew that though…

So we are going to get right to the point then. The purpose of the “LightSpace” project is to find and highlight natural and man-made plays of light and shadow in the world around us. Please note that unlike other “design” blogs, our purpose is NOT to highlight a good lighting design versus a bad one. It is only to OBSERVE Light as it manifests in space.

Let us explain:

Light is what makes up our world. It separates day from night. It is much like Space, in that it fills up the volume that exists between solid objects. That is why “Light” and “Space” can act as the same thing in the design world.

A sparsely populated space (a room with less/no furniture) is also called a “light” and “bright” space. A well-lit room, or a space designed to highlight white furniture, paint and accents is also described using similar terminology. That is a semantic example.

A physical/design example is bright beams of light that are projected upwards to mark the Twin Towers near Sep 11, every year in New York. Those beams of light are a fascinating embodiment of the Twin Towers that used to be there. Need we say more?

Image ©2011 Songquan Deng. (Check out his Flickr-stream here. More information on him here.)

Through this series we hope to highlight examples of how light defines a volume or a designed surface, acts as a sculpture or just is. Like KidSpace, this is an ongoing project so if you have any comments or a valuable contribution to make, feel free to email us. We always respond:)