Design and Storyboards

GROWING TORRENT OF INFORMATIONA paper by Berkeley scientists estimated that information created on print, film, tape and disk in 2002 was roughly equivalent to all the text in the Library of Congress--multiplied by 500,000. The amount has doubled in the past three years and will grow even faster as people begin to take advantage of low-cost storage technology. Steven Levy, Newsweek, 11/10/2003

KEEPING ON TOP OF THE FLOWThe world’s capability for storing, communicating and computing information has grown at least 23% annually since 1986. The average person in 2007 was transmitting the information equivalent of six newspapers each day and receiving 174 newspapers of data (much of that reflected in video and photos). Dr. Martin Hilbert, Science Magazine, 2/2011

EFFECT ON IQ OF EMAIL DISTRACTIONA recent study from the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London suggests that your IQ falls 10 points when you’re fielding constant emails, text messages, and calls, the same loss you’d experience if you missed an entire night’s sleep and more than double the 4-point loss you’d have after smoking marijuana. On average men fared worse than women because, researchers say, men have more difficulty multitasking. YogaJournal, p. 22, 12/2005

OVERWHELMING TORRENT OF INFORMATION

from left to right1. Chris Finch2. Keith Bishop3. Brenda4. 5. 6. 7. Gareth Keenan8. Neil Godwin9. 10.11. David Brent12. 13. 14. 15. Tim Canterbury16. Dawn Tinsley17. Oliver18.

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SubjectResourcesToolsFurnitureColleaguesAtmosphere

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design no1: SPARKLING TREE

Staring into space...

Space alive with dancing sparkles

Tree is ‘strapped’ to outside of office tower.

The ‘leaves’ are constrctucted of lightweight reflective materials in a variety of colours.

‘Branches’ extend, following the movement of the sun across the sky, and the strength of the sunlight, providing shade where required.

‘Flowers’ bloom in relation to the quality of interaction between people.

‘Leaves’ flutter in relation to the flow of data, creating an alive backdrop to concentration.

Tree responding to exterior conditions, but also mechanically connected to the human action inside.

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design no2: INHABITABLE WINDOW(half-floor meeting room)

The inhabitable window is a simple timber frame structure that disrupts the monotonous unitised facade of the office tower, and creates corners, hidden rooms, short cuts and dramatic views to be enjoyed by the office workers. The glazing panel is removed from the cladding panel and the inhabitable window is constructed on site in an organic way.

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design no3: SELF SUFFICIENT COMMERCIAL ZONE(retrofit solution)

Road traffic is removed from The City of London, the commercial heart of the capital, and replaced with arable farm land. Farm buildings are positioned as required in shop premises, and unrented office space. In this way the City can produce more of the food that it consumes, and the office workers can experience a natural activity close by. The air quality will also be greatly improved.

design no4: COLLABORATION DESK

This table is designed for workers who share the same space but do not interact. It forces them to collaborate by connecting the two chairs with a see-saw.

Other possible designs in this section include the merry-go-round meeting room, photocopying acrobatics.

design no5: THE HALF/HALF RULE

Half of every office must be converted into a swimming pool for the free use of the office workers.

The pools are arranged such that they occupy a portion of each floor of the office building alongside one exterior wall. This allows the existing office windows to be maintained, becoming under water windows.

design no7: COLLAGE-WEAR