Thursday 25 February 2010

Designboost at Arkitekturmuseet

DesignBoost is an event consisting of workshops, lectures, panel discussions and exhibitions revolving around a central theme. The events theme was "Design for Life" and it was held at Arkitekturmuseet as part of Stockholm Design Week.

Included in the line-up this year was Ross Lovegrove, Karim Rashid, Ilse Crawford, James Irvine, Ineke Hans, Stephen Burks, Jens Fager, Satyendra Pakhale and Henrik Otto to name a few. I could only attend six speakers and by far the most interesting of those I saw was Ilse Crawford.


(Image via Designboost)

Ilse Crawford heads design company Studioilse (current home for Irish designers Jennifer Chan and Jonathan Legge of a shop) alongside her brand consultancy. A figurehead for design that puts the human being at the centre, she encourages designers to design with a warm heart. The projects she presented were based in the real world, with a client's budget and time restrictions to the fore. One project she highlighted as a good example for the "Design for Life" theme was a social housing project in Quinta Monroy, Chile designed by Elemental Architects.


(Image via Elemental Architects)

Often social housing decreases in value over time, this project aimed to increase the value of the units due to the fact that 50% of each unit’s volume will eventually be self-built. Not only does this allow the families to extend at their own pace, it allows each family to contribute and make their homes more personal instilling a sense of pride and ownership.

-Colm


(Image via Elemental Architects)