No 2 Snow Facts are alike

As we here in New England are buried deep under heap loads of snow, I thought some snow facts and thoughts are in order.

 No two snow flakes are alike, this to me is a mind boggling fact, the amount of creativity that simply falls down out of the sky amazes me.

Snow loads are measured in PSI (pressure per square inch), if you are from New-England and have not been living under a rock, you know you won't be calling the Patriots any time soon, to build your new roof.

In fact great consideration is taken when building a roof, not only the load is measured, but also the pitch and grade of the roof are measured. That is why in cold climates you'll see pitched roofs verses the flat roofs in warm climates.

Snow is a wonderful heat insulator, it will always stay at 32F (0C), so if the wind chill goes bellow 0 the snow will actually keep your home warmer, that is if it's built with the right detail in mind. (otherwise you get in to Ice-Dam issues). In fact many gardeners like having snow over the ground, because it keeps the ground from actually freezing, and this protects the seeds.

Snow also acts as a great sound insulator, the streets are quite not only because of travel bans, but also because of the air that each snow flake creates a great sound barrier, similar to foam.

Snow is simply beautiful, my mind is forever challenged by the masses of white that cover yard furniture, stairs, and everyday things we just take for granted. The snow transforms them in such a way that inspire me as a designer to re-think the world around me.


Stay warm!

Open

The open space office concept, though seems to have a modern sounding flair to it, has been around from many years. The first open spaces in modern times have been the factory floors during the industrial revolution.

photo credit 48 photography by Udi Edni 

Many things have changed since, and open spaces have become safer and more employee oriented. Yet things are far from being perfect in these spaces.

Recently the BBC  created a series about the open space concept in the work place. As we are at the midst (start?) of a technological revolution, it's time to rethink the open space concept, and free ourselves from the design paradigms that are damaging the work environment. Especially in the USA where the average open space employee suffers the harshest conditions in the western world. Office spaces in large US cities come at a premium, many companies want the best 'bang for their buck' options, overlooking the fact that employee wellbeing and happiness can hamper productivity . Many open spaces are so poorly planned they reflect badly on the brand of the company and the corporate identity. There are some, what I would call, cosmetic solutions (note not all cheap); there is the"pink noise" solution, some tall plants , or beautiful and costly furnishing options. None of them really touching upon some the core issues of the open space.

Having too much of an open space can generate an awkward silence, where one dare not even whisper to a co-worker for the fear of interrupting others, thus forever keeping THAT great idea with-in one's head. I'm not even going into the whole flu season issues, and how uncomfortable it would be to come to work with a stuffy nose. The lack of privacy creates for socially odd behaviors, sitting with bulky sound proof headphones for a good 8 hours is one I can think of.

photo credit Emily Neumann

Yet not all is evil in the world of the open space office, it allows for flexiblity, which can accommodate changing needs of a company. It breaks the molds of company hierarchy (that is if there are no corner offices to covet), that can allow for a free exchange of ideas. It's cheaper to have an open space office than costly and space guzzling build-outs. There are many initiatives of community open spaces, one can walks in and plugs into an open and free environment. I still fondly remember the open studios of the 10th floor at MassArt, where creativity literally was rolling on the floor. There are places like a news desk that would not function without an open space concept.

Open spaces need to be adapted to the need of the company, they can't be 'copy-pasted', they need to be flexible enough to allow different working styles, they must have some 'escape' zones where one feels free to huddle over a cup of coffee with a co-worker with out being shushed into shame.

When planning on getting your new office space a new shift in <cost of sqft per employee> has to be made to accommodate for these added spaces within the open space. A perfect example of creating such zones are city parks, and centers.

Bench (mark)*

An urban scape is a great testing ground for people watching and human behaviors. One of the nicest features in open public spaces are in my view benches. I always had an affinity with benches, something about the semi-public way of seating has a lot to be discussed about. Tel-Aviv, posses one of the finest urban scape I have had the privilege to live in, and visit frequently.

What I find most intriguing is the placement of benches, some are placed directly in front of the best ocean views, some face elevator doors, or uninteresting high traffic roadways.

Benches are perfect for defining public areas, an accurate placement of a bench can make or break a public zone.

Benches are places for human interaction, points of pivot, and moments of pause. They are perfect as  destination markers for you to get to. Some are majestic, artistic and FUN.

I find benches to be a social-democratic piece of furniture that guide you through space, allow who ever wants to sit on, to enjoy it together with another person, or alone.

Design by Numbers

I like watching HGTV, I really do. There is a calm that comes over me when I'm fed the easily digested  format of 3 out 3 in each and every program they put out (3 homes to pick out from, 3 tiles to choose from, 3 problems that will be solved).

                Too many choices can overwhelm            

The number 3 is a magical number in the design world; 3 vases, 3 color choices, 3 windows. I even use the number 3 trick when presenting clients options of tiles, colors, etc., it's enough to show diversity, yet not too much that it overwhelms them. Flipping through random furniture store catalogs most of the spaces have some sort of 'casual' feel to them. If you look closely, you'll notice many spaces have an odd number of pillows on the beds, an arrangement of 3 cups on table, these little things make you feel at "home".

There is the saying 'three's a crowd', so why the number 3 in design?
I don't think that there is a clear cut answer to this, I can only try and give my take on it.
From the beginning of time, there was a need to define aesthetics in a certain way, one aspect was the use of the Golden Ratio , which in very layman terms is devision of space to 1/3 and 2/3.
This creates a bit of an imbalance yet not a complete upset of space.

In the Jewdeo-Christian cultures the number 3 stars in many ways, the 3 fathers, the 3 archangels, triptych paintings at the alters. You see, we humans like things a bit messy, we like to round up some of the sharp edges of the corner. If there are only 2 vases on the fire place mantel, it will look balanced, it will look solid, static completely forgettable, and boring. We need to create a visual interest, something to draw the eye to, because if it's not balanced, we are intrigued. Any odd number would create this kind of visual upset, but most of us have small spaces and even smaller budgets.

Next time you arrange your dinning table, try putting 3 glasses of water with some flowers in them, I think the reactions you'll get will be great!

                                                Space divided into 1/3 and 2/3