New Design Process: Business Minded

Nathan Shedroff is the chair of MBA in Design Strategy in the California College of Art and author of the book, Design Is the Problem: The Future of Design Must Be Sustainable. In his lecture on November 18th in Kleiber Hall, Shedroff introduced his unique approach in design that was based on his profession and sustainable business. Shedroff’s speech was exceptionally attention-grabbing because he presented us a different design concept– “there is no sustainable design, but a more sustainable design.” He revealed the truth that there is no actual sustainable design because of the fact that design is driven by social capitalism and financial capital. Shedroff explained this matter by using a wide range of data and statics that he combined with his business strategy. By comparing the data he collected globally, Shedroff was able to show, as for today, Cuba is the most sustainable country, followed by Brazil, which is also sustainable by using their resources and financial capital well. India has the least consumerism. Shedroff’s effort in the lecture was trying to use data and statistic and combine them into a well managed and effective sustainable design. For example, he depicted how faulty and inaccurate the common economic data, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is by comparing it to the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator). The numbers of GDP has been historically used by politicians to show to the public, and it does not reflect the actual living quality standard. Base on Shedroff’s graphic, as the GPA doubled in the past the 50 years, the living quality standard actually dropped by half at the same time. Therefore, among other solutions to the issues of sustainability, it is important to redesign the system to have an effective sustainable design in this “Age of Data”. Other solutions offered in the lecture are Design for Use, Reuse, Durability, Disassembly, Dematerialization, Substitution, Localization, Transmaterialization, Informationalization and Restoration.

Overall, Shedroff’s speech was an effective one. He successfully proved his theories by providing cross reference with the world’s economical data and graphs which coincided with his effort in convey business strategy into the design process. As a designer himself, Shedroff had effectively demonstrated in his lecture that there is no sustainable design but only a more sustainable design by integrating the economy into design thinking.

Objectified Design And Contemporary Design

The film, “Objectified” by Gary Hustwit has pointed out many difficulties that the contemporary designers face today, such as design purposes, mass-produced designs and sustainable designs. Hustwit presented the problems to us by focusing the film on the complex relationships between man and manufactured objects (mainly daily used objects). I believe that is the reason why the film is named “Objectified.” Objectification is when designers attempt to use their products to convey their purposes to the world, and thus, the reason why we need design. It is also the thesis of the film, conveying the importance of design – objectified. In an interviewed in the film, Jonathan Ive, the senior designer in Apple, said that many products today have a form that it has are not surprising or random, but because it follows the cause of nature. Ive explains with the example of playing with an ipod. The shape of an ipod is not surprising or awkward because it is natural for a person to hold it with one hand, and designing a face with multiple buttons that can be pressed with the same holding hand. As such, a good contemporary design would make people recognize its function within the first few seconds of looking at it because it is well objectified in a semiotic way.

Later in the film, by showing how new contemporary design objects are developed on the market, Hustwit pinpointed the problem within each of the steps while the objects were being designed, manufactured, packaged, shipped and disposed. Hustwit depicted that these are the new problems that contemporary designers face today, which designers in the post-industrial age were not confronted. In other words, “design is about mass production” as said by a designer in New York. Because mass production has satisfied people with their desire for the new products, old products are being replaced and sent to waste. And products in the past decades were designed for profits. Rob Walker, the author in New York Time Magazine, says that new products were designed to have new looks but were not meant to last. Designers were to make products that are “used to be new, look like then, and people would buy the new now.”

These are the major problems that Hustwit argues that contemporary designs and designers have to solve. And in order to solve them, Hustwit presented many sustainable designs and solutions around the world. Contemporary designers today not only have to design the product itself but also have provide better shipment methods and recycle solutions for products after disposed.

The Benefits of External Solar Shadings

As reducing energy consumption and utilizing natural resources becomes essential in today’s agenda due to global climate change, solar shading systems have become more common in modern architectures because they deliver low energy consumption without affecting the conform, usability and aesthetic of architecture. In a recent article from Levolux (a well known solar shading company), 30% of energy is wasted in UK primarily due to global environmental problems, such as energy consumed from the change in climate that cost the nation billions of pounds. Based on the article, the air conditioning, which once was the summer savior, is the major drain of energy. It consumed over 50% of many buildings’ energy cost. And followed by light and heating, which consumed approximately ten to fifteen percents.



To reduce the waste in energy consumptions, Levolux’s solar shadings are designed to fit the government’s plans for energy conservation by controlling and diffusing sunlight which maximize the use of daylight in buildings. The solar shadings are made by the recyclable materials like aluminum, steel, timber and glass, and they could be anodized or powder coated to blend with the external architecture. The primary external solar shadings are called aerofoil fins and they could be installed in horizontal, vertical, in an angle or along curves. These aerofoil fins are designed to provide shadings but not obtruding the views. With the external solar shading placed in the south facing windows, it would reduce heat, excessive light and glare throughout the day, and in which it would ultimately cuts the energy consumption in air conditioning. This design is extremely beneficial for today’s society, as energy efficiency and consumption have always been a major concern for architects and interior designers. These external solar shadings are also used in many other modern buildings such as the Devonshire Building in the University of Newcastle. It has also became the landmark in the heart of the university.

Color Theory and Josef Albers

Since I was a child, I learned to mix water colors based on the three main colors, red, yellow and blue. Later, I learned that they are the commonly known primary colors, RYB. Without knowing it, I owe debt to Josef Albers for his contribution to color theories in the 1800’s. The color theory was never really understood until the studies and investigation of blending physical colors in the 18th century. It has made clear especially when Sir Isaac Newton put colors opposite one another on a hue circle, which later known as color circle, then came the primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors, cold and warm colors, complementary colors, analogous colors, monochromatic and achromatic colors, etc. These categorized colors are differed by different levels of hues, saturation, shades and tints. Josef is the foremost American artist who played with colors by painting the same color with different context to show radical differences. For example, if we place five different saturations of the same color in order, we would begin to see a continuous airbrush effect, because the colors are very close to each other which would soften the edges. On the other hand, a different effect would happen if a heavy saturated color is placed to a mild saturated color. This would make the heavy saturated color stands out and the less saturated color would fade into the background. Color plays an important role in our society from every object that we manufactured based on our daily usages to everything we see and have interactions with. Color is especially essential for interior designers, who have to deal with color matching from ceilings to floors and from walls to furniture. But thanks to color studies like Josef’s Homage to the Square, our society has been able to use color more effectively to integrate them into our daily lives.

Conserving A Chapel Means A Lot...

After reading the recent article from Cool Hunter, I completely adored the renovation of converting a church into a living space by the Dutch architecture firm, Zecc. The decline in church attendance over the last several decades has meant that countless churches have lost their function. They are crumbling, demolished, or put to new uses. Their specific architectural features often fall by the wayside in this process. Not every church can be turned into a municipal exhibition hall, and if, for example, when a residential use is chosen, the original spatial qualities are usually lost. In this conversion of an old chapel into an apartment, Zecc carefully enhanced the character while respecting the original building. The chapel was part of a large housing complex of the Friars of Utrecht, which at its height, around the mid-20th century, housed 217 residents. The remaining 13 elderly friars, however, moved to a nursing home in 2005, and the complex was divided up and converted into about 40 apartments.

This was how the chapel looked like before.

This is how it looks like now.

The design team chose to keep many of the original features like the high gothic stained glass windows and the original choir organ. To allow more light to enter the space, they cut a Mondrian-inspired glass window into the front of the house facing the street. The entire living area has been whitewashed, while the private spaces above were painted dark. In conclusion, this place might be controversial, but it suggests a different approach in conserving the old fashion and culture to our society, and yet, it is very modern and stylish.

A House From Another Planet

This is called Casa no Geres, designed by Gracia Correia and Roverto Ragazzi for their clients, Mica and duardo Pinto Ferreira as their dream residential house located in Peneda-Geras National Park, along the Spanish border in northern Portugal. This house has been met with a range of different opinions from people, from hating it to loving it. It looks quite unsuitable for its surrounding. In some angles, the house seems like an accident, which is like a some kind of a transportation container or a wrecked spaceship being thrown at this site. While the house has a long rectangular shape, one part of the building is buried inside the hill while another sticks out over the river. It almost appears to be falling off the cliff of the hill at any moment.

However, it is easy to find the architect's intention from certain perspectives and angles of the house. Following the specific desires of the clients, Casa no Geres is a concrete house by the Cevado river. The floor plan of the house was made to fit in the site of 1000 square feet, while no trees were cut within 10 square feet around the house. Thanks for the natural environment, looking out from the inside shows the awesome beauty of the house design. The simplicity of the structure, the openness of the views and the calm balance of the elements seems to speak the same language as the cleak surroundings. Nature has a way of being beautiful even when it is not, and this house obviously reflects that.

African-American Quilt - The Unrecognized Contribution to Design

The Nelson Gallery at Art Building is hosting an unusual exhibition of African-American quilts. There are exhibitions of French painting, Asian china, Modern photography, and many more, but I don't see African-American quilt too much. As a matter of fact, the Nelson Gallery exhibition director, Renny Pritikin said that "Among the visual art museum, quilting has been largely ignored." In this exhibition, it features private collections from Sandra McPherson, a former UC Davis English professor and Avis Robinson of Washington, D.C.

Avis Robinson, Piano Keys, 2009

McPherson said that "the African-American contribution to American culture has been crucial, even definitive, in music and dance, and inceasingly vital in literature and theater, but not as well apperciated in the Black contribution to the visual art." In Avis' Piano Keys, I can clearly see the most important design theory elements of Gestalt. Influenced by African-American culture, this quilt pattern is bold. The pulsalting color theme gives it a off balance symmetry with the heavy blue color being contrast with the light yellow, which, at the same time, it creates an instant focal point at the red at the center. The design grabs attention like how modern American pop-art style does with its bold simple color theme. The Gestalt unity does not stop here. The few fragments of blue stripe at the bottom create a continuation out of the frame, which leading the audiences' eyes back on the top. I found the rest of that collections happen to have the same similarities of modern American arts, mainly in their simiplicity and boldness.