Google House!

“Google house and Magnus”

I hadn´t seen my good old friend Magnus for about 5 years and when I last year produced a “geek” event Crossover Nordic on the island of Orust in Sweden, I realised that our venue Slussens Pensionat was only 10 minutes from his house and the Eco village that he has been part of creating. I have heard about the plans and the process for many years over many coffees but to actually visit it and see it in real life was fantastic.

He told me that he built the whole house by himself with no help and by using Google to find material and to learn different skills such as plumbing, carpentry, electricity etc. The house is taking its fresh water from a lake and clean it and pump it back again.

“Massey”

To prepare the ground and to move material he had to get a tractor…a classy Massey Fergusson and since he is a fixer he had to mend it first because it didnt work.

“Prototype”

To test if he actually could build a whole house by himself, he started with a prototype. When that worked well, he went on to build the main building. It took him about a year.

So there I am… on Orust working with Nordic content producers to create new ideas from the web and mobile and Magnus has managed to mock up a house using Google, rapid development including a prototype. Sustainable as well…!

Beauty in public spaces

When we look around us, at the majority of our modern urban public spaces and buildings, one would be forgiven for assuming that beauty in public space is of no importance or significance. But why should it be this way?

It’s understandable that the public purse has limited resources, but a little bit of imagination and the willingness to recognise that pleasure, meaning, and satisfaction in one’s surroundings has a great impact on social psychology, and culture.

We could literally improve society by improving design of space and instilling pride of place!

I recently came across this image on D*Hub by Joep Verhoeven showing how traditional lace design has been put into a modern context.

I wish our local council Tower Hamlets and local developers would consider adding a bit of long-lasting beauty to our environment! A little here and there goes a long way!

Maybe we can convince them…

The Story of Co-Design by thinkpublic

Love this film and their approach to public service design!

The Story of Co-Design by thinkpublic