Design with Intent | Ballardian

The Convention on Modern Liberty

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 27, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Britain’s supposedly on the verge of a summer of rage, and while like Mary Riddell I am of course reminded of Ballard, it’s not quite the same. I don’t think this represents the ‘middle class’ ennui of Chelsea Marina.
Instead I think we may have reached a tipping point where more people than not, are, [...]

Architecture and Intent

By Dan Lockton ⋅ December 23, 2008 ⋅ 4 comments

Ernő Goldfinger on his Trellick Tower:
I built skyscrapers for people to live in there and now they messed them up — disgusting.
Discuss.

The detail of everyday interaction

By Dan Lockton ⋅ September 5, 2008 ⋅ 9 comments

Understanding what people really do when they carry out some ’simple’ task, as opposed to what designers assume they do, is important. Even something as mundane as boiling a kettle to make a cup of tea or coffee is fraught with variability, slips, mistaken assumptions and so on, and can be studied in some depth [...]

1st Ballardian Festival of Home Movies

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 11, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Simon Sellars, proprietor of the endlessly fascinating Ballardian, has organised a ‘Festival of Home Movies’, inviting mobile phone videos on the ‘Ballardian’ theme, including but not limited to “dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes & the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments”:
In 1984 J.G. Ballard called for a ‘Festival of Home Movies’ and 24 [...]

J G Ballard & Architectures of Control

By Dan Lockton ⋅ January 5, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Over at the brilliant Ballardian, editor Simon Sellars has just published my article ‘J.G. Ballard & Architectures of Control‘, where I take a brief look at how Ballard’s work repeatedly examines ‘the effect of architecture on the individual’ – something central to both the physical and psychological aspects of my research. Many thanks are due [...]

Review: Architecture as Crime Control by Neal Katyal

By Dan Lockton ⋅ October 18, 2007 ⋅ 5 comments

Review: Katyal, N. K. “Architecture as Crime Control”, Yale Law Journal, March 2002, Vol 111, Issue 5.
Professor Neal Kumar Katyal of Georgetown University Law School, best-known for being (successful) lead counsel in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case dealing with Guantanamo Bay detainees, has also done some important work on the use of design as a [...]

The Terminal Bench

By Dan Lockton ⋅ July 6, 2007 ⋅ 19 comments

Mags L Halliday – author of the Doctor Who novel History 101 – let me know about an ‘interesting’ design tactic being used at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. From the Guardian, by Julia Finch:
Flying from the new Heathrow Terminal 5 and facing a lengthy delay? No worries. Take a seat and enjoy the spectacular views through [...]

archiPWNED

By Dan Lockton ⋅ May 24, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

Image from archiPWNED portfolio entry (PDF)
Scott Nusinow, one of Cory Doctorow’s students in his University of Southern California class, ‘PWNED: Everyone on Campus is a Copyright Criminal‘, carried out an architectural concept project for the design of a Los Angeles library. He’s specifically addressed ‘architectures of control’ in the contexts of encouraging the public to [...]

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