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LETTER no. 49Week no.7: Voyage into my room. SundayDesign 101
MOOC, Abadir for iversity
Greetings from Milan,
We came back home to the Big Bag Box!The living space where most
of the Design 1o1 crew sleeps at night.
An open space made of ten themed boxes. Ten cute, customized and
compact living cubes. We use them when we work up late, when we
have guests and friends coming to visit. An informal housing system
to make our life easier and nicer.
Each of us has his own preferred one. For example, Giulias box
is called the Russatore (or Snorer) and has 2 soundproof
panels.
Anne-Sophie took the Ordinato (or Ordered / Tidy). Her boxe has
different pockets on the inside surfaces. She can store and divide
various things into various categories.
Stefano sleeps in the XL (we dont need to translate XL). His box
is 50 square centimeter larger than all the other boxes. Actually,
Stefano is given this luxury because he has been living in BBB for
quite a few years now...
If ever you come to visit us in Milan, it would be pleasure to
have you sleep in BBB with us! You will have seven boxes to choose
from!
Then, in BBB, there is a dressing room and two bathrooms. One
for the boys, one for the girls.
For us, taking a shower is a hot and relaxing ritual.The idea
comes from the Japanese tradition.
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Week 7
Sunday
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This is how it goes:
1. We undress ourselves in our own box and wrap our body into
our Furoshiki (a very large cotton cloth or towel).2. Once in the
bathroom, we fill up our black rubber basin with hot water. 3. This
is the time to take off our Furoshiki and hang it on a hook.4.
While waiting for the basin to get filled, we wash ourselves with
soap.5. Once the basin is filled, once we are covered in soap, we
sit down on our little stool.6. We take our little red bucket, fill
it up with the hot water from our rubber basin and wash away the
soap on our bodies. This is the most relaxing part of the whole
experience. Hot water on our bodies... It feels so nice!7. Once we
are done and choose it is time to get back to reality, we empty the
remaining water from our rubber buckets and dry ourselves with our
Furoshiki.8. Then, we brush our teeth and go back to our box to get
dressed up and ready to work!
By the way, if you want to see an early image gallery of BBB,
you can click here (things have evolved but it gives you an overall
idea).
Question of the day: To spend less as a design tool?Now, you
have seen the final result (the physical space of the Big Bag Box).
How did we get there? What was the design process to reach this
result?
Very simple. When we were designing, every time we had to take a
decision we went for the simplest (hence, cheapest) solution.The
modular system was built upon the dimensions of the Ikea bed
(simplest solution to have a bed).
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The space was parted using a special fabric: the one used in
truck business to cover the freight. We found a supplier and upon
our drawings and requests he delivered 10 fantastic envelopes (with
zips, pockets, windows and all kind of cute details).When we got
into the bathroom we started from traditional showers. Then we
asked ourselves: can we find a simpler solution? Well, the Japanese
have it. The way they wash themselves it is nicer, simpler, more
intelligent. And so on.A living unit where simplicity it is
foremost a design tool. Make it simpler (and the result, it will be
better).
Finally, we have a very cozy environment, made of extremely
conceptual parts. Very nice, very lovely, very special. To us, very
natural. Or as Josef Albers said, Abstraction is real, probably
more real than nature.
Homework no. 49If you were to think about your life, the places
you go and you know. Some of them are complex and elaborate. Some
others are extremely simple. Think to the simple ones.
How do they work? How come that most of the times they are
invisible to our eyes?
What could you learn from these places?
What will I learn today? To think about simplicity. How to think
simple. How to transform this quality into a design tool to be used
for all the things you do. If you start simple, you cant be
wrong.There is always time to make things more complex. Start
simple, be simple.
In a world where we are overwhelmed by elaborate information, to
be simple is one of the few possibilities for survival (and/or
escape).
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Why do we do this? In contemporary world there are a lot of
ecological, sustainable, green products and solution. You can buy
them, you can use them, you can believe in them.
To us, it is not a matter of labels. It is a matter of a certain
state of mind. As soon as something is tagged as ecological, it
isnt anymore.
It is like butterflies. If you like them so much to collect
them, to collect you have to kill them. For us is the same. The
point is not to be sustainable or green. The point is to design
intelligent things. To set up the parameters of success and to try
to comply as best as we can.
Something to remember: Design is aboutmaking things right.Design
is to make right things. Each of us can have a different idea on
what is right. There is no absolute righteousness. There are
multiple ways to be right. And most of them contradict
themselves.
Make things right, and not being obnoxious with other people.
Accepting the fact that other people can have a different
understanding on a given issue.
Further inspiration...If we compare our boxes to a form of human
habitation, we could say it is similar to tents.
Initially, tents were used as portable homes by nomadic people.
Now, tents are still used by nomadic tribes but they are also used
by the military, victims of natural disasters, protesters...
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We would place ourselves in the first category (the nomadic
one)... But then, if we want to force our point of view into more
conceptual stuff, we could say to belong to the other categories as
well... Hmmmm...
Anyways, one other form of human habitation we like so much is
the portable yurt from Central Asia. To understand how it is made,
the 25 minute movie Mujaan is wonderful.
We also love how the Bedouin live(d) in the desert. Made from
goats and camels hair, they are strong and durable. And they also
keep you warm in the winter. And then, in the summer, their sides
can be rolled-up to allow the breeze to come in.
Finally, one of our favourite tents on the market is the
two-second one. Its quick, cheap and easy.
If all these things about basic architectural structures to
provide covers interest you, we have very special reference for you
to check Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: The Classic Guide to
Building Wilderness Shelters written by one of the funders of the
Boy Scouts of America. A how-to-construct more than 50 different
shelters. Very precious book...
And now, a curiosity... Archigrams mobile and modular living
pods:
Speculative proposal for a sculpted and mechanised trailer home
which can exist independently or be plugged into larger structures.
(David Greene)
I am sorry for the length of my letter,but I had not the time to
write a short one. (Blaise Pascal)
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Design 101. A How-To.We know we have some late-comers, here are
a few instructions on how the whole thing functions...
A typical Design 101 day:
We send you an email around 9 in the morning (Berlin time) with
the link to our daily unit + some news, updates, cool Design 101
things we found etc.etc.
Note: you can find all of our previous emails in the
Announcements section of Design 101 on iversity.
Once you land on the units page, you find our shipment (which
consists of a video-postcard + a letter). You watch the video, read
our letter, get to work and complete the assignment (or relax if
its a weekend day). For even more fun, you can always refer to the
Design 101 encyclopedia, which is updated every week.
Dont forget to take part in the conversations of the Discussions
forum!
Now, going beyond the iversity platform, we have setup other
places for us to meet and spread things we do.
On Facebook:the Design 101 page: to follow whats going on (in
general terms)the Design 101 Exercises page: to check out picks
(things that fascinate us the most)the Design 101 Arena group: to
post your pictures, share your thoughts, emotions, references,
lalala (as a complement to the discussions happening on the
platform).
On Twitter,@design1o1: to follow whats going on + discuss with
each other.#design1o1: to connect us all under a same hashtag.
On YouTube:the Design 101 channel: to view + share our video
postcards (which is not possible to do from the iversity
platform)
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On Instagram:#design1o1: to connect us all under a same
hashtag.
Regarding the hashtag, make sure to use #design1o1 with an o and
not a 0...
:-)
PS Uploading your homework to the iversity platform is very
important in terms of archiving. It is the only way we can collect
all the things we do in one same place. Once the course ends, it
might turn out to be reorganized into a wonderful book and/or
exhibition
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John Horton Conway
Living Pod, Archigram
Todays postcardIn the Big Bag Box