Featuring the thoughts and work of Architects Independent and Independent Architects - respectively Qatar & London based interconnected Architectural & Design R&D Practice(s)...
A few images of the tactile guide map at the Musiikkitalo (Music House) in Helsinki, which not only includes a tactile/ topographical representation of the building's various layers and spaces, but also uses a select set of different materials - each with its own unique texture and temperature - to distinguish and amplify the readability (including visual clarity) of the guide...
I've always had an penchant for handles and railing that retain a residual mark of their users. Such subtle evidence of wear can often be observed in many a wood railing in a bit older residential buildings, on brass handles of (more historic) department stores, and leather covered handles...
The above leather handle belongs to the Svenskt Tenn shop in Stockholm. I've also come across leather covered railings in a few more exclusive shop interiors.
There is something inherently tactile about using leather on handles, entities that inevitably entail direct 'skin against skin' engagement in their operation. The unique friction, temperature, and even subtle sound and smell of such leather covered artifacts entertain an almost intimate quality. The sensation is more deep-rooted or intrinsic compared to handling comparable objects made of, say, fiberglass or some of the more generic plastics. The connection is almost emotional, bonding, in its perceptual attributes. The way it weathers is comparable to how our skin ages and responds to wear and tear...
And as handles and railings go, leather functions very well as a surface material, providing a comforting level of grip to sate and complement even the most discerning door or stairwell...
Following the two previous posts, it seemed only appropriate also include an entry on one of our own recent MFA graduates, Rania Chamsine (whose project I supervised)... Its title Ashes to Lashes, Dust to Design, which was chosen during the projects initial phase, is slightly misleading, as the project ended up focusing mainly on the design based re-appropriation of discarded hair (you can read the project abstract by clicking the image below). Her project is, however, a prime example of a project that (in its own individualistic way) summarizes what the, still newly established, MFA Department is attempting to achieve and explore - the notion of what interdisciplinary design practice entails...
Rania and her colleagues' thesis projects examine, each in their own way, various universal issues, but which here were inevitably approached from a regional and culturally reflective and relevant perspective. The outcomes of most project are difficult to affiliate with any particular discipline, as their founding suppositions were based more on personalized insights rather than on know-how and nous specific to any single branch of knowledge. This is the way it should be, although it often does give rise to a very challenging process for both the students as well as faculty. Accepting the innately hybrid way designers mostly work - and opening the brief, any brief, to influences beyond the usual frameworks and constraints defined by a set field of study - stimulates and introduces a novel set of (often unexpected) paradigms that are defined according to the actual empirical findings found during the research and defining phase of a project, rather than being based on pre-existing assumptions... Something I feel that design research involved at a post-graduate level should, as a matter of course, embrace...
There is an intrinsic beauty in the vagueness in the inter component of interdisciplinarydesign that opens it up to a variety of subjective interpretations of what this type of academic design praxis entails. This quality of dynamic openness should be celebrated and allowed to adapt along with the times and accompanying, also evolving, student body...
Portraits: Rania Chamsine (with the assistance of Sarah Lauck) Model: Sarah Lauck Main Advisor: Thomas Modeen Associate Advisors: Alia Farid & Rhys Himsworth Additional Advisor: Constantin Boym Technical Advisor: Khaled Saoud Reader: Michael Wirtz
Rania's Thesis Abstract...
Above & Below: Hair-Ball Beard/ Necklace...
Above & Below: Hair Crown/ Beard/ Necklace...
Above & Below: Hair Head-Scarf...
Hair Print Hair-Scarf...
Hair-Ball Ear-Ring...
Brush-Rings...
Beard-Brush Ring...
Eye-Brow Rings...
Brass-Knuckle Brush...
Case-Study: Hair with Plaster...
Case-Study: Hair & Plaster Tile...
Case-study: Hair Etched into Copper ...
Case-Study: Hair infused with Golden Nano-particles...
The Display Cubes of the MFA Thesis Exhibition...
The Interior of Rania's Cube...
A walkthrough video showing Rania's MFA Thesis exhibit. The video also includes a bit of fellow graduate Imad Fadel's exhibit. Unfortunately it ends abruptly in the middle as my camera ran out of memory...
Continuing on from the last blog entry, which showed some images from the AA Projects review. Included here are some pictures from the Bartlett, again shown in no particular order...
This blog is maintained and predominantly written by Dr. Thomas Modeen, partner of Architects Independent, which he founded with his wife Maysaa Al-Mumin in Kuwait in the Fall of 2008. The practice also has a base, and its origins, in London, where it's known as Independent Architects, which is headed by Paul Brady and Eng Ling Ho. The blog aims to provide a personalized outline of all our practice and discipline related escapades.
ArchitectsIndependent/ Independent Architects are a research based architecture and design practice that retains a equal and collaborative footing within both practice and academia, with strong links to various academic and research facilities around the world. Our current interest involve the use of various computing based design methods and tools in the realization of physical builds (using both subtractive and additive CAD-CAM methods).
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