DIFFERENT BY DESIGN

Interior designer Amanda Hamilton, who has resided and worked in Calgary since 2002, recently returned to her hometown of Edmonton, observing its significant evolution. During her visit, she engaged with the city's culinary scene, dining at establishments like Woodwork and RGE RD, and immersed herself in its artistic offerings at the Art Gallery of Alberta and The Artworks, noting the increasingly defined design aesthetic of Edmonton. Hamilton's journey into interior design began after a challenging start to a general arts degree. Coming from a family of educators, she discovered a passion and aptitude for interior design through a program catalogue at Mount Royal University, finding it a suitable blend of her creative and business interests. Hamilton emphasizes that the reality of interior design, particularly in commercial contexts, is far removed from the simplified portrayals often seen on television. Her firm, Amanda Hamilton Interior Design, handles both residential and commercial projects that often involve highly technical requirements, strict budgets, and tight deadlines, where delays can have substantial financial repercussions for clients. Her team collaborates with various professionals including mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers, architects, and kitchen designers. The selection of paint colors and fixture finishes occurs only after navigating complex health and safety regulations and municipal building codes. Her experience working in restaurants during her university years, from hostess to server and bartender, particularly her enjoyment of crafting Caesars, has influenced her design approach. She describes her style as classic, incorporating colorful flourishes and intricate finishes. Hamilton advocates for mixing design aesthetics and appreciates incorporating "a little bit of weirdness" into her projects, even when designing for longevity. Her personal home reflects this philosophy with a classic contemporary base, accented by unexpected elements such as a neon sign in her powder room and a bronze statue with a provocative gesture in her living room. Hamilton has also ventured into home decor, creating a line of linens and pillows designed, cut, and sewn in Calgary, initially as a creative stress-reliever. Her most successful product, however, has been a kimono, which she designed out of personal preference and which has outsold her home accessories. Her company's expansion into Edmonton began with her home decor line being retailed at Dwell Modern, followed by several large residential projects in 2014. She plans to further expand into commercial projects in Edmonton and increase the retail presence of her home accessories line, expressing satisfaction about her return to the city. A small oracle from local artisan group Concrete Cat, purchased during her visit to the Art Gallery of Alberta, serves as a daily reminder of her origins, current position, and reconnecting with her hometown. Hamilton offers practical advice for selecting decor items, guided by four questions to ensure mindful purchasing for clients and personal use. These questions focus on whether an item is handcrafted and locally produced ("Is it of the Hand?"), evokes personal sentiment or connection ("Is it the Heart?"), carries a unique narrative ("Is there a Story?"), and genuinely captivates the buyer's aesthetic appreciation ("Is it Fabulous?"). These principles underscore her belief in valuing craftsmanship, personal connection, and unique narratives in design choices. #InteriorDesign #DesignEvolution #Edmonton #Calgary #AmandaHamilton #HomeDecor #CommercialDesign #DesignAesthetics #LocalArtisans

The exhibition "Design and the Elastic Mind," opening at the Museum of Modern Art, explores how contemporary design is drawing inspiration from hidden patterns in nature and science, moving beyond traditional forms to embrace the transformative power of technology. This show, curated by Paola Antonelli, argues that scientific advancements have opened new avenues for visual pleasure and design innovation, echoing the revolutionary impact of MoMA’s 1934 “Machine Art” exhibition. The exhibition highlights a departure from conventional design approaches, suggesting a new era where the ideological divides between modernity and history, technology and humanity, and individual and collective are dissolving. One of the initial exhibits features a high-tech graffiti installation where a computer-controlled spray can precisely spells out the show's title, challenging the traditional dichotomy between artistic expression and artificial intelligence. Another piece, "The Honeycomb Vase" by Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny, exemplifies "slow prototyping" where a colony of bees constructs a hive around a temporary frame, demonstrating a collaborative process between humans and nature. Similarly, Joris Laarman's "Bone Chair" utilizes software that mimics human bone creation to design a chair optimized for weight and stress, showcasing the computer's role in generating efficient and adaptable forms. Beyond individual objects, the exhibition delves into the concept of the human body as part of a fluid, elastic chain connecting atomic particles to global networks. Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch’s “Rules of Six” illustrates this by using algorithms to create an organically based architecture that can scale from rooms to entire urban neighborhoods, mimicking the growth patterns of nanostructures. Oded Ezer's imaginative proposal to imprint messages on spermatozoa using nanotechnology further pushes the boundaries of design, linking advanced technology with ancient fertility rituals. The exhibition's layout, designed by Lana Hum, guides visitors through converging walls, creating a forced perspective that disorients and immerses them in the unfamiliar world of the exhibits. The show also presents ambitious visions of future societies. “New City,” a virtual world by Peter Frankfurt, Greg Lynn, and Alex McDowell, imagines an idealized society where architecture and geography flow seamlessly, suggesting the internet as a platform for emerging utopias. In stark contrast, the "Million Dollar Blocks Project" by Columbia University’s Spatial Information Design Lab uses data visualization to expose social inequities, identifying city blocks where over a million dollars are spent annually on incarcerating residents. This graphic study demonstrates the computer's power as an analytical tool to challenge received wisdom and examine complex social problems through a new lens. While the exhibition occasionally includes less refined futuristic concepts, its broad scope effectively stimulates imagination and encourages new ways of thinking about design, technology, and their societal implications, making it a significant and uplifting presentation by MoMA's architecture and design department. #DesignAndElasticMind #MoMADesign #TechnologicalInnovation #Bioengineering #ComputationalDesign #SustainableDesign #FutureOfArchitecture #DigitalFabrication #ArtAndTechnology

Daniel Pink, a prominent speechwriter, author, and former Dwell on Design keynote speaker, identifies three significant ideas that he believes will profoundly shape design in the coming decade. Pink, known for his work on understanding societal trends, was interviewed from his Washington, DC, home office to discuss these influential concepts. The first idea revolves around the unprecedented proliferation of smartphones. Pink highlights the astonishing projection by Cisco that by 2016, there will be 10 billion smartphones in the world, exceeding the global population. He underscores the transformative power of these pocket computers, noting their widespread adoption not only in Western countries but globally. This ubiquitous connectivity will fundamentally alter how people work, live, and communicate. Pink suggests that this shift will dramatically impact the "grammar of design," particularly in architecture, even if the precise implications are not yet fully clear. He ponders the architectural changes that will arise from a world where everyone, even in remote villages, possesses immense computing power. The second idea concerns the massive aging population in regions like the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. Pink points out that the world will soon have more elderly individuals than ever before. While much focus is on the fiscal implications of this demographic shift, Pink emphasizes the societal and living arrangement transformations. He raises questions about the future of multi-generational housing, where homes might need to accommodate not only aging parents but also adult children returning home. He also considers the design challenges posed by a large demographic that may not easily navigate stairs, suggesting the emergence of new housing models, potentially including communal living arrangements or "elder dorms." The increasing longevity of human life, he argues, will inevitably influence how homes are built and how people generally live. The third idea Pink discusses is the impending breakthrough in alternative energy. He asserts that after decades of slow progress, alternative energy is on the verge of significant expansion. Factors such as foreign production, advancements in solar panels, and government subsidies are aligning to create a tipping point. Pink also notes a shift in consumer behavior, where individuals are increasingly motivated to adopt environmentally responsible practices when they can compare their actions with others. The rise of smart meters and advanced thermostat technologies is facilitating this trend, making alternative energy more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Pink believes that despite past failures, the current trends indicate that alternative energy will soon become a dominant force, impacting design and daily life. #DesignTrends #Smartphones #AgingPopulation #MultiGenerationalLiving #AlternativeEnergy #ArchitecturalImplications #FutureOfDesign #TechnologicalAdvancement #DemographicShift

This blog post is a transcript of a Berkeley Talks episode featuring Dr. Bess Williamson, a historian of design and material culture and an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The discussion revolves around the history of disability and design, focusing on accessibility, inclusion, and justice in design and technology. The talk is part of the "Design Conversations at the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley" series, themed "For Whom? By Whom? Designs for Belonging." Dr. Williamson's work, particularly her book, "Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design," explores how design has responded to disability rights from 1945 to the present day, examining the concept of access and its everyday impact on people with disabilities. The discussion begins by acknowledging the current global situation and how it has forced a reevaluation of accessibility, making virtual participation more common and highlighting the vulnerability of human bodies. Dr. Williamson emphasizes that disability is not an external issue but an intrinsic part of human experience, shaped by social and political circumstances. She illustrates this by discussing the varying experiences with video conferencing tools during the pandemic, noting how features like captioning have become widely used, fulfilling long-standing requests from disabled communities. She also highlights the subtle but significant differences in accessibility features across platforms and the importance of human-operated captioning over AI-generated alternatives. The core of the talk delves into the historical evolution of accessible design, particularly in the U.S. Dr. Williamson asserts that design has historically been built around norms, citing examples like Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Le Corbusier's Modulor. These historical norms often excluded or marginalized disabled individuals, forcing them to adapt or be institutionalized. The shift began after World War II, transforming access for disabled people from a private burden into a public concern. Legal measures, starting in the 1960s with local building codes, played a crucial role in driving change. Ronald Mace, an architect with polio and a wheelchair user, was instrumental in illustrating and interpreting these early codes in his "Illustrated Handbook of the Handicapped Section of the North Carolina State Building Code," advocating for renovations and remaking the existing built environment rather than starting anew. The blog post also highlights the significant role of the disability rights movement in Berkeley, California, in the 1960s and 1970s. The Center for Independent Living, a community-driven social service agency, empowered disabled individuals to chart their city and make recommendations for accessibility. This led to the creation of the world's first continuous wheelchair-accessible streetscape, demonstrating a community-driven approach where disabled people defined their own priorities. An example cited is the evolution of curb cuts: initial designs flattened out the curb, posing a risk to blind pedestrians. The disability community then proposed a sharper, slightly offset curb cut, allowing for cross-disability access. This illustrates that achieving accessibility often involves conflict and compromise, pushing back against resistance from designers, cities, and businesses. Beyond legal mandates, Dr. Williamson discusses how product design began to incorporate disability awareness. Examples include the Cuisinart food processor, designed by a professor who researched manual and visual impairment, and OXO Good Grips, developed by designers Betsy and Sam Farber to address Betsy's arthritis. These products seamlessly integrated accessibility features into elegant, functional designs without explicitly marketing them as disability aids. This led to the concept of "universal design," coined by Ronald Mace, which aims to create designs that work for both disabled and non-disabled individuals, eliminating the need for separate entrances or products. However, Dr. Williamson also critically examines the limitations of universal design and ADA compliance. She points out that while the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was a landmark achievement, it often led to a "normalizing" approach, focusing on minimum compliance rather than genuine inclusion. The example of the Queens Public Library, with its inaccessible fiction section, illustrates how designs can be legally compliant yet fail to reflect a culture of openness. In contrast, the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley is presented as a flagship enterprise that celebrates access, integrating highly visible and generous accessible features, but it's questioned why such a level of access is almost exclusively found in buildings dedicated to the disability community. The discussion concludes by exploring a newer generation of design, exemplified by Rebirth Garments, a fashion company creating highly customizable clothing for diverse body shapes and needs. This approach moves beyond universality towards distinctiveness, showcasing a creative, community-based approach to access that addresses disability not as a functional problem but as a cultural issue, emphasizing individualized solutions and visible context. Ultimately, Dr. Williamson encourages designers to consider the underlying ideas about disability that drive their work, asking whether they are striving for a truly inclusive community that actively engages with and celebrates disability, or merely fulfilling minimum legal requirements. The conversation also touches upon the durability of access in physical versus digital environments, emphasizing the importance of "maintenance" in design and engineering and the role of legal frameworks in ensuring lasting value. #disability #design #accessibility #universalDesign #disabilityRights #inclusiveDesign #materialCulture #architecturalDesign