Chhh, chhh, chhh…chaaaaanges at c|change! 

One of our beloved designers, Rachel, just moved to Denver, Colorado. We will miss her bright smile and sunny disposition here in the office, although rest assured: her talent will continue with c|change as she’s going to be working with us remotely. Cheers to that—-and a new and exciting chapter of her life in Colorado!

And, that’s not all: Another exciting change here at c|change is the recent arrival of Baby Claire, the beautiful daughter of one of our other beloved designers. Congratulations, Jessica and family! 

Gravity Free is an event that’s “designed to take attendees out of their daily routine of familiar ideas, people and solutions, and instead connect them with the most diverse designers and passionate visionaries who are changing the way we see the world.”

This year’s conference was held May 1-2, 2012 in Chicago. The theme was “Outlaws & Icons.” Two c|change designers, Jolene and Rachel, attended and had very positive reviews of the event.

They came back to the office inspired by the boundary-breaking designers and speakers. The goal of the conference was to help designers approach their projects in a new and different way, and to inspire them to push their clients out of their comfort zone because that’s often when the best work gets done. 

In the photos posted above you’ll notice a couple of pretty fun little food sculpture creations created by Rachel and Jolene. Rachel’s was titled “There Are Starving Children in Africa” and Jolene’s was “Mr. Fizzlepopstein.” Check ‘em out!

Did any of you attend Gravity Free this year? If so, what did you think?

(Source: exhibitoronline.com)

Street Art Utopia houses photos and videos of street art installations from all over the world. It’s very inspiring to see outdoor art installations that enhance the landscape versus detract from it. The photos posted here are appealing for their own reasons: the guerrilla gardening in Thailand is just gorgeous and on that scale must have been a monumental undertaking; the largest alpona in the world in Dhaka, Bangladesh brought together hundreds of people with the goal of creating something of pure, vibrant beauty in the street; and the “green carpet” in Jaujac, France was created to celebrate the town’s 10th year arts and nature programs, and runs throughout its streets, parks and stairways. There is so much to see on Street Art Utopia. Take a look… 

The Little People Project makes me smile. The first time I came across Slinkachu’s mini street art installations I giggled. They’re cute. And funny. But there’s more going on than that. After studying them, I realize that the artist is—more than in just a straightforward, literal sense—referencing the plight and the struggle of the “little people” in our society, which is something any and all viewers can identify with. Enjoy!

In building the Orange House in Ankara, Turkey Yazgan Design Architecture  wanted to integrate “design of relationships” between everyone and everything that had input into the creation and building of this house.

In the architects’ words:

Orange House is a 1050 m² residence of three stories, located in a very steep site. The site has a nice combination of urban view with Middle East Technical University forest. The building has a steel structure. The main principle that shaped the design process is the program written by the architects by considering the one given by the employers. The program is based on the development of flexible relationships between diverse inputs of design, such as, materials, program elements, demands of users, dimensional requirements, site peculiarities, Ankara climate and its habitat, architects and engineers involved with the project. Writing the design program can be called as writing the “design of relationships”. The “design of relationships” refers to the relations developed between not only design programs, but also between the drawing and the architect, the architect and the owner and the owner and the drawing. The design program is supported by diagrams, giving way to the integration of user with the design process. The building is the product of a flexible-systematic process without losing the initial idea. The building design is based on surfaces that develop an exterior-interior space relation between autonomous rooms, and an initial diagram concerning the circulation connecting these rooms. All rooms reflect the specific needs of employers in their design. For instance, dining room is dimensioned with reference to the existing Persia carpet belonging to the users. Every room wall is double-layered. They took into shape by taking advantage of a peculiarity brought forward by steel construction. Shafts, niches, doors, rainwater pipes, wardrobes, etc., are located at the inside surfaces of the double layers. Through that approach, technical and user requirements are integrated with the initial diagram. The steel structure follows a 60cm x 60cm grid dimensioning in the design, therefore, provided another systematic for diagrams.

What do you think of the house and the approach? Do you think it worked well?

[Source: The Contemporist]