The green cycle path that runs through the heart of Thyssen-Krupp Steel’s large industrial site offers visitors a chance to pass through a monumental industrial landscape. Still in operation, 24 hours a day, here one is lost in time and adrift in history.
Thanks to the big window facing east, our bedroom is filled with sunshine from early morning till noon in clear days. During the period of not being too cold, say from late spring to early autumn, we would open the window and let our pillows sunbathe there.
If you couldn’t find anything strange, please think twice.
In front of the building we live, there are three trees, standing in snow. We collected some snow and made a pot for the smallest one. Then it stood in a pot but not snow. Continue reading Tree Pot
We made Cold to celebrate Yoko’s birthday. Yoko had been thinking for having a pinwheel for a long time. Therefore we decided to DIY some and put them together in a meaningful way.
It was just another autumn-like summer day in Valsassina, wet and chilly. A trembling character came into our mind. It was 冷 (lĕng), a Chinese character meaning cold in English. We made it out of pinwheels and put on the wall where strong wind arrives. In this way it materialized man’s sensation of ‘cold’ in an interactive way, and at the same time make the room even colder…
Tao got an iPhone from his uncle ages ago. It ended the old and good days of using his b&w NOKIA. Tao had thought to get a cover, but the price made him hesitant.
In response to the theme “re-appropriation” of MIAW 2010, we wanted to dig out some hidden values in the campus. In the building of architecture school, during breaks, people chat outside the classroom while lean against handrails, on which coffee cups or coke tins can always be found. People do it naturally. But the performance of handrail could be better. By just adding wooden boards, we found the potential of handrail lying in its width. Finally, it was proved to be highly welcomed.
“What do you think you are looking at?” We asked friends and colleagues with the picture on the right. Paper-cut? Red envelope? Package for Spring Festival gift? Wedding invitation? None of them really did the answer we had expected to hear—the mounted Chinese character Fú (福), a traditional way of celebrating Spring Festival. We were shocked about this since we had thought confidently that nobody would misunderstood it, but the fact gave us a solid slap. It urged us to review our design strategy completely, which brought us our second proposal. —Now, it would be good to talk about the things that happened prior to this very moment.
The second house we lived in Milan was a super tiny one, about just 20 m². Small as it was, everything had to go vertical: Washing machine on top of fridge; bed on top of a balcony in between bathroom and wardrobe, connected to the living room with a moveable wooden ladder; orange tile on top of bathroom, indicating you could sit there eating watermelon in summer; of course, you could lie or sit or put things on top of wardrobe too.
Although it was so small, it had almost everything to support our life: except fridge and washing machine we talked before, there are a tiny balcony, a ceiling fan, an oven, a shower room, a bidet, and so on. We loved it when we saw it the first time.
When we moved into our previous house, we was captured by the little balcony. It brought us fantastic view. However, the concrete ground was not in a good condition, rough and untidy. We kept this in mind till we encountered a set of bed planks in IKEA.
15/03/2012 I added a red plastic bag to attract more cups but got nothing at the end of the day.
16/03/2012 I tried a professional looking blue plastic bag but got nothing at the end of the day.
17/03/2012 I persuaded people by words, but still got nothing.
29/03/2012 I went back to blue-bag-only solution, and the bag was taken away by someone!
30/03/2012 Someone left a cup in my basket again! I learned that people enjoy throwing trash in semi-right place—a container never says it contains trash.