Material, Function and Space Reunite at the Vennesla Cultural Center — from architizer.com, Domus, Einar Bjarki Malmquist
.
Also see:
Plural Bookshop — from Fubiz.net
Excerpt:
Installée à Bratislava en Slovaquie, voici cette construction imaginée par Plural et TotalStudio pour un établissement doté à la fois d’un café et d’une librairie. Une structure en escalier et une large bibliothèque occupant l’ensemble de espace. Plus d’image dans la suite de l’article.
.
Stockholm’s school without classrooms — interesting piece from architizer.com
.
.
Excerpt:
Children have wild imaginations. Take Max from Maurice Sendak’s illustrated classic Where the Wild Things Are, whose mischievous tantrums cause his room to sprout into a lush, inhabited forest. In a similar experience of my own, I can recall a particular elementary school gym class, in which the gym was transformed into the perilous domain of a sword-wielding ‘gorilla’—played by my gym teacher. The masked predator hid behind colossal trees of rolled blue gymnastic mats and tangled cargo net vines before springing out to prey on us hysterical, spritely youth.
[All photos © Kim Wendt and Rosan Bosch]
.
Addendum on 1/12/12:
- The Pedagogy of Play and the Role of Technology in Learning — from pbs.org/mediashift by Aran Levasseur
On 09/28/2011,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Apple, architecture, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, emerging technologies, future, Google, innovation, Microsoft, mobile technologies, multimedia, strategy, technology (general), telepresence, television, tools, transmedia, trends, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
This posting evolved after having read $500 billion TV market new battlefield for Internet companies (from forbes.com and the Trefis Team therein) as well as the posting at Future TV disruption – Forbes says it’s worth half a trillion dollars for Internet companies (from appmarket.tv).
As the convergence — and the movement of data/apps/content/services towards the cloud — continues, I wanted to jot down some thoughts re: the current field:
- Apple, Google, Cisco and Microsoft seem to be solid players to watch in terms of cloud-based computing architectures, tools, and functionality — something to keep in mind when planning for the future directions of your organization’s set of tools and technologies.
- Personally, I vote for vendors that “get the web.” Apple and Google have traditionally been very solid innovators on the web and have turned in solid report cards in terms of innovation, performance, and web-based applications. (Adobe — with their Macromedia purchase years ago and their current lineup of tools — has also done a pretty good job, but doesn’t have the arsenal to make my top 4 picks here.)
- I don’t need to say much about Apple in terms of innovation — as they have out innovated every company on the planet while becoming the world’s most valuable company in terms of market cap. Apple is on the verge of adding enormously powerful, cloud-based functionality and apps to their ecosystem when they introduce iCloud this fall (and perhaps a web-connected/smart TV type of device in the future). They have proven themselves to be #1 in terms of working with multimedia-based content — its creation and distribution. Given the continuing trend of the convergence taking place with computers, telephones, and televisions, the ability to create and work with multimedia is key for many technology-related vendors, and, in my mind, Apple leads in this area.
- Google has shown themselves to be solid innovators as well — and they “get the web.” Their current set of web-based apps — including Google Docs, Calendar, Hangouts, Reader, Alerts, etc. — provide a solid menu of web-based apps to choose from.
- Cisco has proven themselves to be innovative as well, and owns some powerful technologies in their WebEx Meeting Center, Videoscape, networking infrastructures, and some of its other tools.
- Though traditionally not a leader/innovator on the web, I think that Microsoft has deep pockets and they are a savvy business (having just purchased Skype as an example). So with SharePoint, Skype and Office 365, Microsoft is laying the foundation for a solid, web-based collaboration space.
Having said this, one can see that it is getting harder to practice the KISS principle in the IT departments out there. But where we can do so, it makes sense to do so — as there is less finger pointing and more accountability. It’s easier to support a fewer amount of tools and, often times, it seems that things simply work better with a reduced amount of vendors/technologies involved.
So I’ll wrap up this posting by listing some of the things that I’m trying to (simultaneously) keep in mind:
- Web-based collaboration tools such as videoconferencing, shared interactive whiteboards, shared document creation, calendars/scheduling, form creation and reporting tools, chat, other
- Cloud-based content/data/apps/services
- Synchronization across multiple types of devices
- Web-based updates (think publishers’ content in addition to apps)
- Storage plans and pricing
- Types of integration and tools a vendor provides on the cloud
- The end user experience and the usability of proposed solutions
- A vendor’s strategic direction(s) for the future
On 08/30/2011,
in 21st century, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, architecture, computer science, digital learning, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, Microsoft, mirroring and/or multiple devices, multi-touch, smart classrooms, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
On 08/17/2011,
in architecture, colleges, community colleges, design, higher education, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, smart classrooms, teaching & learning, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
Addendum:
- Guidelines from Bretford.com
Guidelines for the design of effective learning spaces should support teaching and learning opportunities. The following factors should be considered when providing learning spaces…
On 08/17/2011,
in architecture, Australia, learning spaces, library / librarians, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
Woods Bagot talks next generation design at education conference — from architectureanddesign.com.au
On 07/24/2011,
in 21st century, architecture, business, computer science, economics, ethics, mathematics, media/film, physics, real-world assignments, technology (general),
by Daniel Christian
Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our world [TED]
Description:
Kevin Slavin argues that we’re living in a world designed for — and increasingly controlled by — algorithms. In this riveting talk from TEDGlobal, he shows how these complex computer programs determine: espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can’t understand, with implications we can’t control.
Relevant to mathematics; shaping our world; ethics; media; culture; society;
computer science; technologies; stock markets/business; architecture.
On 06/20/2011,
in A/V -- audio/visual, architecture, Augmented Reality (AR), emerging technologies, innovation, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
