Area Brera in Milan

This work is made of bottle caps, maybe pushed into the sidewalk when, in a hot summer day, the asphalt was melted

A song for you

Of course this kind of design can become an advertising

or a sign that indicates a place like a theatre, a bar, a museum, a cinema…

 I’m agree when she says that the passengers take a position of honor…it’s seems a throne… but in my opinion this is very essential and simply stop bus so if you aspect the bus in the stop bus below you should feel more of a king on a throne…an emir. In fact here we are in Dubai, luxurious city in the middle of the desert. The particularity of this bus stop is that it is air-conditioned. Also the shape and its design make it very innovative and suitable for the city-landscape of Dubai. 

One of the city component, with the help of design and the designer Tejo Remy , can become more nice. In fact what is normally built as a barrier or a separator becomes an area for connecting people… It has bends and surfaces to sit and play on in both of the two parts.

Phone box is an example of how the urban design can change because of the innovations in our lives. In an era characterized by the domination of cellular does anyone remember the old phone box? As we can see in this milanese newspaper clipping, we can observe their decline.

 It seems that even in London the trend is the same and the “red boxes” are falling… do you imagine how the characteristic city-landscape of London can change without one of its symbol?

Photo by Sabrina Ronchese

 Here, in order to give a “tribute” to our old place where we phoned, some funny phone boxes’s design (from Japan).In this way you can’t ignore them:

If you are missing them the project by Alessandro Busana “Isolution” could help you. It is a particular  telephone box where you can go and telephone with your personal cellular…this idea permits to have a place in our busy cities where you can find the opportunity to make a call in peace. This idea belongs to “mini design awards”.

I wish you all Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Buon Natale!!!!

Feliz Natal!!!!

It is called Brillo. As you can see in the photo it is a normal sitting but the back can become a kind of support. With his double function it can meet the needs of contemporary society; for example it can be a back to relax but also a support for a book or mostly for a pc. In fact this idea of design is associated to another idea called “E-postcard”. This is a project that has as its aim the enhancement of the artistic heritage of cities, because thanks to possibility to connect to the Internet through the connection WI-FI inserted in positions you can create postcards of the city and send it immediately. The sittings can transform into a communication tool. I think that this object is very versatile and if it is placed in a square I think that the material make it elegant (instead if it is placed in a park I would prefer maybe wood).

Other designers that think how to design a square in relation to wireless technology are Piter Perbellini and  Lorenzo Bartolomeis who took part to a design competition  Mini Design Award 2007. Piter Perbellini won the first prize with “Wireless Square (or W2)” , a project of urban forniture to facilitate communication, human relationship and dialogue virtual. It is placed in a square where there is a totem-antenna for wireless connection to the Internet and a series of sittings that develop in concentric way around this. The shape that comes out allude to form of the radio waves. I imagine it cover with grass in a park. It is a good solution for communication, with your friends near and far and the rest of the world, that is very important for our contemporary cities.

The Lorenzo Bartolomeis’s project is called  “MINI wi-fi sofà” and he also participated to Mini Design Award 2007. It is a urban pouf  equipped with wireless technology for free access to the network.

In those days the Milanese can see the new “bikeMi” going round the city.

This bicycles belong to a Municipal project started on 3th December 08 based on sharing bike. It is a new public transport of the city.

This fact made me thought about how designer can, with a study on design, carry out a secure system for bike’s parking, because bike theft is problem in cities. Surfing on the net after the vertical garden  I found the tree bicycle racks, but here we don’t have leaves but only bikes. Bike Tree’s concept helps to alleviate this problem by raising bikes up and out of reach of bike thieves. The project incorporates a locking mechanism that would use your fingerprint as a key.I think that it could be a good idea but I can’t imagine a technological and also expensive (I suppose) installation like it in Milan. Maybe we can see it in cities like Dubai.

If you aren’t able to stand up Rolling bench could be a good solution for you.

Design resolve your problems with simple and very efficient concept. In fact it is a wooden slat bench that with the handle on the bench’s right-hand side you can rotate to expose the dry and clean underside.

It was designed by a Korean design. I ‘m surprised by the simplicity of this clever idea. See how it wotks:

He wants to inspire city planners, designers, and individual inhabitants to look for inventive ways to create a more organic and healthy environment to live in. As he knows all the type of plants existing on the earth he knows also that they can grow also in vertical and sometimes also without ground so he selects the plants to suit the climatic conditions and he adds to his project. The system is composed of three parts: a metal frame, a PVC(polivinilcloruro a type of material) layer and a layer of felt where water and fertilizer flow regulated by a timer. This idea is good under an aesthetic and energetic profile (CO2 reduction and emission of oxygen)and also because isolate acoustically and the temperature between the outside and inside. Of course there are also a disadvantage: the cost is roughly €600 per sq m.  In Milan we can see an example of this project in  corso di Porta Ticinese 93 (Enel’s initiative). 

It is used also for the Louis Vuitton store’s facade. Under a research on brand’s percepition the message that cames out is to create  a LV building “alive” as people can experience this “aliveness” when they own and use a LV product.