Before the pandemic, two-thirds of U.S. office workers were in open office environments filled with bad acoustics and distracting noises from loud group meetings, phone and video calls, watercooler chatter, and the clicking of keyboards. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Made Music Studio’s research shows that companies can improve employees’ workplace experiences — by creating a sense of privacy, masking bad noise, and enhancing mood, focus, and even productivity — through the right use of sound.
https://sloanreview-mit-edu.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-does-the-future-of-work-sound-like/amp
Category Archives: architecture
Inside the Rise of “Risky” Playground Design
Educators in Britain are embracing the idea that purposeful risky play promotes resilience and builds more self-reliant young people. As a result, public playspaces there are being redesigned or newly built to actively present that risk. What that looks like—playgrounds with access to saws, knives, loose bricks and two-by-fours, and fire—is something that might sound alarms for some parents here in the litigious U.S.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/risky-play-design
Paris to build $145M cable car system
Scheduled to open in 2025, the “Cable 1” project will travel from the Parisian suburb of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges to the Pointe du Lac station in Creteil in the Île-de-France region within just 17 minutes, less than half the time the journey would take on a bus.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/paris-to-build-145m-cable-car-system/index.html
Cities and the Metaverse (National League of Cities)
Cities are the places where people come together, live, love, work and play. Human connection is one of the most critical components of day-to-day life. Much of the world quickly learned how to connect with one another and access services in virtual environments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we lacked the ideal tools for connecting in this way. Zoom meetings, Google Chat and good old fashioned phone calls provide a poor simulation of the physical world. What if a true simulation of our physical world could be recreated in a virtual manner? What value would this bring to people’s lives, what challenges would it present, and would it ultimately prove to be a net positive for cities?
Homes Past, Present, Future (Deloitte)
There are many paths forward, and overlaps are likely. We map possible futures on a spectrum from those centered closely around the individual, to those encompassing the places and communities around us.
What will cities look like in 2050?
Experts have revealed how the world’s biggest cities look like in 2050.
The United Nations has predicted that by 2050, a whopping 68 per cent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas.
Cities will continue to expand, with more skyscrapers being built as millions head to large cities for employment and career prospects.
Climate change will also have a huge impact, as many will be forced out of coastal towns due to flooding.
It’s possible that one billion people could be displaced by 2050.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/lifestyle/what-cities-look-like-2050-vab4e13dd
Politics of Space
The pandemic changed how we use public places – and private ones, too
https://thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/february-2022/covid-refigurations/politics-of-space/
What does it mean to design urban technology?
Dead Salmon and Elephant’s Breath: How a British paint maker’s oddball colors redefined luxury
In the aftermath of World War II, the West was upended by a do-it-yourself boom. IKEA was founded in 1943, with its first flat-pack furniture catalog released just a few years later. By 1954, Time magazine had dedicated its August cover story to the phenomenon, declaring DIY “the new billion-dollar hobby.”
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/farrow-and-ball-brand-history/index.html
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 