Tabla de contenidos para November - December 2020 en Frame

I have children of different ages, two at home and two who live independently. Their world has changed dramatically over the past six months, and not exactly for the better. I’m not talking about the fact that their nightlife and social life has largely come to a standstill, let’s leave that aside for the moment. I’m talking purely about education here. Let’s start with the oldest two, one of whom finished her university studies in July. That was after six months of house arrest: she was no longer welcome at the company where she was following an internship to complete her graduation project. So she spent week after week in her student house, on Zoom or staring at the walls, in search of connection and inspiration. If the pandemic has…

After studying fashion design in her native New Delhi and interning at Ikea, Akanksha Deo Sharma was hired onto the Swedish company’s internal design team four years ago – at that point, barely halfway through her twenties. She was one of the minds behind Förändring, a 2018 Ikea collection that, motivated to reduce air pollutants in global crop-burning regions, explored the use of rice straw as a raw material. As a rising advocate for democratic design, the designer uses her role to emphasize the importance of social and environmental sustainability. New Delhi and India as a whole have been hit very hard by the pandemic. How has it affected you? AKANKSHA DEO SHARMA: My job pre-Covid of course involved going to the satellite office here in Delhi, but it was…

Remote working was slowly inclining before the Covid-19 outbreak – more often than not, an occasional punctuation mark within an at-office routine. According to a report published by the European Commission, in many EU countries, more than half of the workers who started working from home since the pandemic had no prior experience with teleworking. From one week to the next, companies across the globe had to pivot to get their workforce up and running from a distance. And now that it’s proven possible, a more flexible working arrangement looks likely to continue – not here nor there, but a hybrid of both. What’s more, office configurations themselves need to become more flexible to best accommodate a shifting workforce. The rush to go remote has left many with subpar setups,…

TOKYO In many places around the world, public toilets were already few and far between before Covid-19 struck. And then when it did, great numbers of facilities locked their doors to prevent the spread of the virus. We’re not just talking about dedicated council-operated public toilets either, but about the countless public buildings – restaurants, cafés, museums and so on – whose shuttered entrances left no possibility for a pit stop. The result is not just an inconvenience, but considered to be a public health concern on top of the continued threat of the coronavirus. In an article on the topic for The Washington Post, Alex Brown writes that the ‘lack of restrooms has become an issue for delivery workers, taxi and ride-hailing drivers and others who make their living…

I’ve lived in both Auckland and Amsterdam, two places that couldn’t differ more when it comes to transportation. The car reigns supreme in New Zealand’s most populous city, its urban sprawl connected by busy roads and motorways with barely a bike lane in sight. The Dutch capital, on the other hand, ranks second only to Copenhagen in the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities. But even in automobile-oriented environments, current events – namely the Covid-19 crisis and climate change – are inspiring a two-wheeler wave. During lockdown, 17 km of temporary cycle lanes were installed across the Auckland region, for instance – much of the space siphoned from car parks. Closures and/or reductions of public transport services – as well as the appeal of travelling out in the fresh air instead of…

Life used to be so much simpler, didn’t it? A mere generation ago, most people still had a clear blueprint to follow that would take them from cradle to grave – a neat tripartite structure where you would learn for the first third of your life, work for the second and (hopefully) retire for the final third. This has been heavily disrupted in the last couple of decades, as careers-for-life become hazy memories, entire industries have crumbled and shiny new technological sectors have arisen almost overnight. This has been met with a rise in ‘lifelong learning’ as people scramble to retrain, meaning education spaces need to cater to ever expanding demographics – as far back as 2016, 73 per cent of Americans considered themselves to be lifelong learners (according to…

We’re clearly at a crucial crossroads when it comes to educational design, and the Covid-19 pandemic may provide a necessary catalyst to address long-term pressures on the sector. The vast variations across global educational needs – combined with the dramatic onset of the current crisis – means that it’s impossible to say with certainty what innovations will provide the right solutions. One thing we can say with certainty though: flexibility will be key in the coming months, both in the physical design of classrooms and in our attachment to old certainties. Another thing we can be pretty clear on is that we are nowhere near being able to abandon physical classrooms. Digital products and services may have provided a lifeline during the crisis, but multiple studies have shown them to…

WILKHAHN HUMAN-CENTRED WORKPLACE A new concept by Wilkhahn and architectural office 1zu33 visualizes the human-centred benefits of working in a physical office. The pair developed a digital projection that showcases an ideal setting, promoting the importance of increasing wellbeing, encouraging collaboration, boosting identity and creating purpose for employees. Wilkhahn and 1zu33 see the initiative as a ‘practical and useful guide to planning office environments holistically and turning them into places where people like to be and are productive in tomorrow’s world too’. wilkhahn.com KNOLL MATIC Milan-based architect Piero Lissoni has once again joined forces with Knoll to create Matic, a system of architectural sofa components conceived as a ‘platform suspended in space’, according to the company. Low-sitting linear seats are enhanced with capitonné details and armrests and backs that can…

As a journalist and content creator for museums, my job is to explain complicated stuff using understandable words and engaging narratives. When I became a mother of two inquisitive young girls whose minds are driven by relentless binary logic, I tried my best to unfold the world’s complexity to them. Then Covid-19 suddenly wiped out my cute stories and upset the routine I strove to build to prevent tantrums or hitches. If the illusion of having control over our lives was replaced by a global awareness of human transiency, in Brazil things were even more complicated. While most world leaders adopted World Health Organization guidelines to protect the population, president Bolsonaro publicly stated his priority was saving the economy, not human lives. He refused to declare a lockdown, repealed the…

2020 has forced many of us to consider the concept of ‘home’ more intensely than we have in several generations. As a spatial category, it’s been forced to take on many new roles, some expected – others less so. As a sense of place, it’s seen many look again at what’s available on their doorstep and reinvest, both emotionally and monetarily, in the area in which they live. Consultants Accenture thinks this domestic mindset will echo throughout the 2020s, ushering in what it terms the ‘decade of the home’. The assertion is supported by two international surveys that found that, despite the lifting of many restrictions, 69 per cent of people expect to do most of their socializing over the next six months either in their home, at a friend’s…

MÓNICA PONCE DE LEÓN: I grew up in Venezuela, surrounded by cutting-edge public buildings that were tied to community identity. We Venezuelans knew the names of the architects who designed them, that they were important, that they were creating a language of expression that was uniquely ours. A language that responded to our climate, our customs, our history. We all knew the name Carlos Raúl Villanueva, and that his design for the public Central University in Caracas was unequivocally Venezuelan. Discussing materials and construction techniques – new and old – was part of our culture. During career day in high school, I saw a recent graduate’s presentation about architecture as a profession. He showed us images of Banco Metropolitano by José Miguel Galia, a tiny building in Sabana Grande, one…

ARCHITECTURE IS A SOCIAL ACT Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects Good architecture needs to meet head-on the forces that are shaping today’s world. Featuring 28 projects drawn from across LOHA’s nearly 30-year history, this book underscores this urgent idea and points the way ahead for both people and architecture. €39 MOMENT Redefining the Brand Experience Tokyo-based design firm MOMENT’s book of the same name highlights a versatile and skillful visual approach, focusing on detail-oriented spatial branding and lighting design for interior solutions that are both functionally and emotionally driven. €39 THE THEATRE OF WORK Clive Wilkinson This book proposes six humanistic principles that will inform a holistic and collaborative workplace design – each demonstrated by the award-winning work of Clive Wilkinson Architects. €39 HYBRID FOOD RETAIL Rethinking Design for the Experiential Turn…

Two explosions in Beirut’s port on 4 August 2020 destroyed 40 per cent of the city, shaking the core of its cultural heritage and causing substantial damage to its urban and social fabrics. Neighbourhoods directly facing the port, such as Medawar, Rmeil, Gemmayzeh, Achrafieh, Mar Mikhael, Karantina and Geitawi, were particularly impacted. According to preliminary reports, 200,000 housing units were affected; 40,000 buildings were damaged, 3,000 of which were severely struck; and of the 730 historical structures dating back to the 19th century that were harmed, 331 are in disrepair and at risk of collapsing. The Lebanese capital has never seen this amount of destruction, not even during 15 years of civil war. Surreal events that once seemed farfetched have become the reality of a whole nation. The once hybrid…

From a stool made of discarded materials sourced at a Thai Buddhist temple that produces rockets for the flying cylinders festival, to a 59.55-kg table representative of the amount of asphalt produced each second in Spain: the raw works of Spanish designer and self-proclaimed ‘crafts traveller’ Lucas Muñoz are firmly rooted in their local context. And that context is diverse. After his education took him from Madrid to London to Eindhoven, his creative practice led him through China, India, Thailand and beyond. But wherever Muñoz lands, he embeds himself in the sociocultural environment and works with what – and who – is at hand, addressing consumption and production issues while at it. You divide your time between Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and Madrid, Spain. What’s the difference between both locations when…

Strength in simplicity TAKAHIRO KINOSHITA: Once I took a closer look at Uniqlo’s products, I realized that they’re not only affordable and comfortable to wear but also incredibly well made with great attention to detail. Because Uniqlo’s designs are so basic, its ingenuity so subtle, not many people realize this – it’s a shame. In order to convey these quiet strengths, it’s important to develop a holistic strategy. That’s why my role crosses over into various divisions within Uniqlo. I oversee product planning and design, advertising, marketing, the installation of visual merchandising and store development, as well as directing the production of Uniqlo’s concept magazine called LifeWear. Data-driven retail At the core of Uniqlo lies a customer-centric approach to manufacturing. We’re not aiming to be a fashion brand, by which…

01 THINK BLENDED, NOT BOUNDED The future classroom will likely never be as analogue as before, but nor will it be purely digital. Tomorrow’s learning environments will need to offer unprecedented access to virtual learning when necessary, but also encourage direct human interaction when not. 02 CULTIVATE ACTIVE LEARNING We’re moving away from the traditional top-down education system towards self-initiated learning, thought to be a valuable way to hone 21st-century skills. Interiors should similarly allow students to play an active role in defining their own spaces and activities. 03 BRIDGE INSIDE AND OUT Workplace design feels like it has long had a monopoly on biophilia, but the concept is potentially even more impactful for young learners. School designs that place access to nature at the core of their programme will…