Wanted: Roof poets
Two views of Place d’Italie in Paris. The inner city is to the left hand side: zinc roofs, of many shapes, create a…
Ephemeral design and counteraffordance
Affordances, affordances, affordances! When one of the authors of this blog had his apartment renovated, he had to make sure that the baby grand…
Icon capture
Icons are icons. The Hilton Hotel is an icon. A token-icon, in the sense that there is only one brand around. The smartphone is…
Collateral affordances
A prayer or a tourist exiting from the main doors of Montréal’s Notre Dame cathedral is visually invited to walk down a flight…
Bumpy behavior at the speed bumps
Speed bumps are quite effective in slowing down traffic. Provided they are clearly visible and wear their heart on their sleeve. France uses at…
Size Matters
Nature is on display in a couple of nice photographic exhibit in Paris. It’s a great concept: oversize pictures on the walls…
Gibellina vs Ground Zero – memorials and epic architecture
What can we expect from architecture? That it overwhelms emotionally? Countless visitors of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, know what it is to…
Is size a neglected factor in design?
If you design a new series of objects, you’ll think first of shape – of form. That’s where your design will make a…
Logic is part of design
There are many constraints on the quality of information. Respect of hard mathematical facts, and of logic, is one of them. Logic is about…
Let’s start talking about restrooms
Public and private restrooms are fascinating environments – for designers, we mean. Small spaces, repetitive actions, coded social interactions, and basic emotions, such as…