everyday hero: lightness . . .

ubiquitous quality factor number 01 •
everyday design hero:
lightness . . .

“the aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity & familiarity.”

philosopher ludwig wittgenstein

01) lightness . . .

02) enhancing civility . . .

03) beautility . . .

04) robust, resilient & repairable . . .

05) embracing aspects of homo ludens . . .

06) anthropomorphic . . .

07) adaptable | transformable . . .

08) intuitive | self-explanatory . . .

09) accessible to 90% of the world . . .

10) a variation on a theme . . .

11) ephemeral . . .

12) wabi-sabi (grows better with time &/or use) . . .

13) improvisation . . .
.
.
.
thirty spokes meet in the hub,
but the empty space between them is the essence of the wheel . . .

pots are formed from clay,
but the empty space within it is the essence of the pot . . .

walls with windows and doors form the house,
but the empty space within it is the essence of the home . . .

lao tse | 600 bc, possibly a contemporary of confucius |,
tao te ching
.
.
.
a mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it’s closed . . .

frank zappa
.
.
.
gilco 100 road bike | centenary of gilberto colombo:
a project from jasper morrison & fabrice domercq . . .

.
.
.
suggested reading &/or the dialects of design continued, lightness:

01) beukers, adriaan, and ed van hinte. lightness the inevitable renaissance
of minimum energy structures.
rotterdam, 010 publishers, 1999.
02) farrelly, e.m. three houses glenn murcutt. new york, phaidon, 1993.
03) garland, ken. mr beck’s underground map.
london, capital transport publishing, 1994.
04) joachim krausse, and claude lichtenstein. your private sky r. buckminster fuller
the art of design science.
baden, lars müller publishers, 1999 | 2017.
05) mc cullough, david. the wright brothers. new york, simon & schuster, 2015.
06) nitsch, stephan. von sprung zum flug: der flugtechniker otto lilienthal.
bielefeld, brandenburgisches verlagshaus, 1988.
07) frei otto, and bodo rasch. finding form.
fellbach, deutscher werkbund bayern | edition axel menges, 1995.
08) riley, terence. light construction.
new york, museum of modern art & harry n. abrams inc. 1995.
09) touchaleaume, éric. jean prouvé tropical house. paris, galerie 54, 2006.
10) van hinte, ed, and adriaan beukers. designing lightness: structures for saving energy. rotterdam, nai010, 2020.
11) windeck, georg, et al. constuction matters. brooklyn, powerhouse books, 2016.

posted 13 March 2021

categories design, education