socks-studio

What better ending to our five days in London (thanks Giulia and Florian for hosting us!) than to post a pair of videos of the city 50 years ago?

When the future wasn’t a threat, nostalgy was absent and the propaganda showed technology as a miracolous epiphany of man’s evolution.

Of the whole set of videos, we have chosen this one about the inner working of London’s brand new office complexes of the time: mechanised typing pool, air conditioning and heating, automated posting system, computer rooms!

And another one showing the construction of modern buildings, including the Barbican (still at the planning stage), Moor House, the Golden Lane Estate, etc.
Also notice the absence of whatsoever forms of workers’ safety measures at around 3 minutes 50″

Via: Things Magazine, Phil Gyphord

The following images come from the digitisation of the handwritten manuscript ‘La Sphere du Monde..’, 1549, by Oronce Fine.

From BiblyOdissey:

Oronce Fine (or Orance Finé) (1494-1555) was a third generation physician from France. He was also a teacher and prolific author in the fields of mathematics, geography, cartography and astronomy and he held the chair in mathematics at the Collège Royal in Paris for more than twenty years.

I’m not a fan of Wes Anderson, but nobody can deny the value that staging and scenery have in his movies.

In a scene from The “Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”, the camera moves across a wooden section of a boat, from room to room, without ever trying to hide the scenography.

This movie therefore belongs to a family of works whose “theatrical staging” is itself part of the narration, aiming at concentrating on storytelling and acting, and reminding the audience of the film’s artificiality. Or, better said by L.Lambert: “questioning the relationship maintained between the subject and the representation”.

Comparative exemples include 1954 Red Garters, a musical spoof of the Western gerne, where the setting only “suggests” houses, trees and windows; 2003 Lars Von Trier’s Dogville, whose famous minimalist scenario includes only walls and separation as a blueprint on the ground and very limited use of furniture to symbolize rooms; 1994′s Louis Malle and Andre Gregory’s Vanya on 42nd street, an interpretation of Uncle Vanya, by Chechov, shot entirely within the New Amsterdam Theatre, also on 42nd Street.

Here’s : Let me tell you about my boat:

Watch here some scenes from the movies mentioned on the post:

A “growing database of arcane, marginalized, or forgotten planning practices” by David Knight, Making Planning Popular is on show at the Royal College of Art in London.

From BLDG BLOG:

Specifically, Making Planning Popular “aims to encourage greater popular knowledge of how the built environment is, or could be, produced.” Accordingly, “David is showing a manifesto, recent articles and essays, and a series of case studies chosen from his growing database of arcane, marginalized, or forgotten planning practices. This work will in time form a popular history of planning”—publishers, take note!—”one in which such practises are brought back to life to explore their relevance to today’s environment, in the belief that putting planning knowledge back into popular culture will lead to a more democratic built environment.”

Below are some case studies.

Ho Kim is a brilliant student from Peter Cook’s atelier that we met during the students’ works exhibition on last 21st of December et ESA.

Here are some of his drawings and videos excerpts including his animation: “The Vertical City”.