Category: Design history
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Journal: Interaction Design Classics #4: The Melnikov House intercom system
(See previous entry on visiting the Melnikov House in Moscow.) Fourth in an occasional series, and this found in one of the true icons of 20th century architecture, designed and built between 1927 and 1929 by Konstantin Melnikov. One of the many quirky delights of the Melnikov House in Moscow is this internal intercom system.…
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Journal: Moscow, December 2014; Narkomfin Building; Melnikov House
Melnikov House, Moscow In Moscow, for two days, for Moscow Urban Forum, and various meetings. I recall photos my father showed me of a school trip he led there in 1968, from the American International School of Zürich where he was teaching, to Red Square and more besides, all saturated Kodachrome, sharp clobber and fresh…
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Journal: Films about Ian Nairn, and by Reyner Banham
I've been meaning to write about Gillian Darley and David McKie's book about Ian Nairn for ages now. Entitled 'Ian Nairn: Words in Place', it's a wonderful read about one of the most important characters in post-war British architecture and planning—albeit a character on the edge in more ways than one. (See an earlier post on 'Nairn's…
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Essay: ‘Ego’: On masterplanning and London; plus, relaunch of The Journal of The London Society
David Michon recently asked me to write a piece for the new issue of The Journal of the London Society. I'm posting a version of it below. David has just taken over as 'honorary editor' of the Journal, and has produced a wonderful new issue. The London Society itself has been around since 1912, but despite…
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Essay: ‘Designing Finnishness’, for ‘Out Of The Blue: The Essence and Ambition of Finnish Design’ (Gestalten)
Late last year, my friend Marko Ahtisaari kindly asked me to write an essay on Finnish design. This was a little daunting, as it was a) for Marko, who I respect greatly, b) about Finnish design, which I can really only claim a kind of foreigner's passing understanding of, and c) to open a major…
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Journal: 20th century gestures / Supplement to the Italian Dictionary
By chance, after posting the 21st century gestures series a few weeks ago, I discovered Bruno Munari’s 1963 book “Supplemento al dizionario italiano”. This is a delicious project, which starts with a collection of gestures collated in the 19th century, published in 1832 in Naples, collated by Canon Andrea de Jorio under the title “The…
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Essay: The Garage of Small Things; nanotechnology, biomimicry and design practice (Annex)
What follows is a slightly different edit of my article for Artek’s new magazine, 'Annex', as part of their science and technology-themed issue. It explores some of the possibilities in and around advanced material research, based on a conversation between researcher Olli Ikkala, Artek design director Ville Kokkonen, and me, at Aalto University’s “Nanotalo” (nano-house).…
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Sketchbook: Domus magazine on iPad
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(This is a slightly unusual entry in the Sketchbook series, as the end products are largely all the hard work of others, as noted below. Still.) For the last couple of years, I’ve been a strategic advisor to Domus magazine in Milan, principally on their digital aspects, where I’ve also led much of the design…
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Essay: Foreword to Rory Hyde’s “Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture”
We had the Helsinki launch of Rory Hyde's new book "Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture" today, featuring a panel discussion between Rory, Bryan Boyer, Jenna Sutela and me at the World Design Capital Paviljonki. Rory kindly asked me to write the foreword to the book, and as per usual, I've reproduced an…
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Essays: Introducing SuperNormal
A quick word about a new series I’m curating for Domus, the Italian art, architecture and design magazine. Called SuperNormal, it’s an attempt to ‘sketch’ a different kind of technology journalism, recognised how cultural it is. A few years ago, in response to the usual diminished depiction of contemporary technology as simply “IT”, someone—I forget…