Past Programs
Media, Information and Communication - 2008
Philip Cox's Australian style
26/11/2008
Philip Cox is now one of the elder statesmen of Australian architecture. He really started his career in the middle of last century, at Sydney University in the late 1950s, and then his first practice in the 1960s. His buildings have influenced the way Australian cities look. Lets find out why and meet the man himself, Philip Cox, on the eve of a new publication - Cox Architects and Planner 1960-2010 - about his life's work.
Swatch watches with Adrian Franklin
29/10/2008
Adrian Franklin joins By Design -- as he does every now and then -- to spin us a yarn and give us some insight into the world of design and collecting.
Today Adrian talks about the Swatch watch...and how it transformed the world of watches. Along the way, according to Adrian Franklin, Swatches have become one of the most viable collectables from the late 20th century.
Trends: the 14-hour city
22/10/2008
Our Trends guest this week is James Calder from the architects Woods Bagot, who work now pretty much across the globe. Woods Bagot is an interesting firm in that they have been doing a lot of research and thinking about culture, about cities and about how we live our lives.
James has put forward the concept of a 14-hour city -- the argument being that most of the our buildings lie dormant for half the day -- and the weekends -- and that most of our lives now are too complex to revolve around a 9 to 5 existence.
Trends and Products: blogging
24/09/2008
Blogging is making its mark in the design world, rapidly becoming the fastest and most effective way of getting your message out. Find out why.
Trends and Products: future of the internet
17/09/2008
The internet is dynamic. What happens when English is not the world's most used language on the internet? What happens when most of the readers do so from right to left, instead of the current left to right? Research is underway between USA's Intel Corporation and Melbourne's Swinburne University to identify the main shifts in the way we use the internet.
The shrinking office
10/09/2008
You may have noticed the subtle and not so subtle design shifts taking place in your workplace. The office is shrinking in size, and sometimes there is no office at all anymore, simply a bit of space at the ubiquitous workstation. As there has been a call for higher density housing options now the pressure is on for higher density offices. By Design looks at when all this started and what the outcome is for us all.
Project houses in Australia
03/09/2008
Most new houses built in Australia are bought off the shelf -- in other words people want houses they have already seen -- and they then feel confident buying and building these project homes, which in some cases today have become large McMansions. This passion for buying designs off the shelf has been a long tradition in Australia, especially after WW2 when the project home really took off and the designs offered were very modern and very stylish.
Trends and Products: retirement housing?
30/08/2008
Here on By Design we have run a couple of discussions over the last few months about the changing demands and market for retirement and aged-care living. Today we look at intentional communities in the USA and UK, and in Holland at the Humanitas organisation's concept of Apartments for Life.
Conversation: teaching 21st century architecture
30/08/2008
Sandra Kaji O'Grady is head of architecture at the University of Technology in Sydney, an architecture school deliberately positioning itself right at the edge of the latest ideas in the world of architecture and design. Sandra is part of By Design's Conversation series, where leaders in the world of design and architure talk about their ideas. Sandra Kaji O'Grady's topic and interest is focused on what skills students need to learn if they're to become good architects for the 21st century.
How pin-up girls taught men to shop
16/08/2008
In the 1950s marketers looked to educate men and women quite differently when it came to advice about the then burgeoning consumer lifestyle. For men the lure was often pin-up girls inside quite respectable publications such as Popular Photography. Many advertisers believed that by placing the 'hook' of a scantily attired girl in photographic spreads and features many a lawnmower or motor car or particularly male product could be more easily sold. Many advertisers believed that 'a girl in the hand [was] worth five salesmen on the road'.
Skin Deep: Facades
19/07/2008
In the architecture business a new specialisation has emerged - one that just deals with facades. Making a significant mark worldwide in this area is Front Inc, based in New York. Since Front began in 2002 the firm has worked with all the world's pre-eminent architects - Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Tadao Ando. In the design world they are the façade consultant of choice. They have worked with OMA (Rem Koolhaas's firm) on the CCTV building, opening soon in Beijing.
Guerrilla gardeners
12/07/2008
Horticulturalist and activist Richard Reynolds is on a mission to bring to our awareness the potential of the unused, abandoned and unloved garden spaces of our cities. His city is London. At night he and his team drive, walk, or cycle to 'their' abandoned lot—which could be simply an unruly sidewalk of weeds struggling through concrete or a traffic roundabout—and the action starts. Out come the daisies or lavender or Californian poppies—whatever is in season—and their night of guerrilla gardening has begun.
Australian Pavilion in Venice
28/06/2008
The Australian Pavilion in Venice—the one used for the Venice Art Biennale and the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale—is the subject of a show that opens today at Melbourne's Heide Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition has 11 finalists, shortlisted from an international competition, that give options for a new Australian Pavilion.
Trends and Products: urban sensors
21/06/2008
By Design spoke a couple of weeks ago to Nokia's principal researcher, Jan Chipchase, about the future for mobile phones. You may recall that he mentioned the idea of mobile phones as 'urban sensors'. This week we speak to Eric Paulos, from Intel, about the work he is doing with urban sensors. He says we carry mobile phones with us nearly everywhere we go; yet they sense and tell us little of the world we live in. Look around you now. How hot is it? Which direction are you facing? How healthy is the air you are breathing? What is the pollen count? How strong is the sun? Were pesticides used on the fruit you just bought?
Vince Frost: what look is now?
14/06/2008
By Design talks to Vince Frost about his approach to design -- in his favourite room, a converted textile factory in Surry Hills, Sydney. He also talks about today's look, the aesthetic of our time. VIDEO: To view video click into this story, then follow links.
Vince Frost is a UK-born, Australian-based graphic designer. For him graphic design is not just drawing, it is a larger way of thinking about space and about the way we construct our lives. Vince Frost is a member of the Australian architecture curatorial team chosen to represent Australia at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, which opens in Venice in September. The Australian team comprises three of Australia's top architects, Kerstin Thompson, Neil Durbach and Wendy Lewin; and two of Australia's top designers, Vince Frost and Gary Warne.
Mobile phones: could they eliminate poverty?
24/05/2008
The way we use our phones is changing. Mobile phones are increasingly the centre of our technological universe, and this is so not only in the West but in the emerging markets where the greatest sales growth is underway. In the next three years over 1 billion phones will be sold into the emerging markets. So find out how they are being used in these new markets—and how this could change all our lives. Could they eliminate poverty, for example?
What makes a good opening sequence?
03/05/2008
Danny Yount has an interesting job in the world of design. He says of himself that his 'primary focus is main title design'. Today on By Design we look at the magic of designing the 'look' of a film, the power of the opening sequences, for example, the way a trailer is designed to hit the mark. Danny Yount is the man who designed the powerful opening sequence of Six Feet Under, and his work on this cult TV show earned him an Emmy.
Trends: Movie Posters
26/04/2008
Today, movie poster aren't quite as important as they once were as a marketing tool for flim distributors. Nevertheless, the way a poster is designed still has a lot power to influence our choice at the cinema.
The Sydney writer and critic Christine Cremen, takes a look at a few posters currently on display in your local multiplex for 'Sweeney Todd', 'The Eye' and 'The Other Boleyn Girl'
Trends: Milan International Furniture Fair
19/04/2008
Now trends and products, and this morning we go to Milan where the most important event on the global design calendar, the Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile (as well as the SaloneSatellite), is underway.
Who is Hedi Slimane? What's he got to do with me?
15/03/2008
Hedi Slimane worked for Dior and changed the shape of men's suits -- and fashion. Blame skinny jeans on him. David Meagher has interviewed some of the world's top designers as a way of understanding what makes fashion tick. Many of these designers are the reason some of the top fashion companies make as much money as many of the world's top resource companies. In other words fashion is a very serious business.
Trends: Tactiles
23/02/2008
Australia leads the world in the development and quality of tactile ground surface indicators for the visually impaired -- just one of many areas in the built environment where Australian research and innovations are offering global leadership.
