ForesightbyDesign

A short movie introducing the drivers of change cards and some of the key issues they raise.

In this film, New York-based artist Matthew Ritchie and Daniel Bosia, leader of Arup’s Advanced Geometry Unit, discuss their new work: The Last Scattering, on display at Phase 2, Arup, 8 Fitzroy St, London, UK until mid-July 2009. It is part of an ongoing collaboration, which explores the relationship between space and matter. This installation refers to the birth of the universe and the cosmic background radiation (visible as static on your TV screen), which comes from a moment called ‘the last scattering’ - the collection of points in space and time when light separated from matter, less than 400,000 years after the Big Bang.
The exhibition will tour to New York in October.

You’ve seen the movie; trawled the web sites; shopped around for that green lifestyle. Like me, do you wonder if we can build enough of this green technology to keep up with economic growth and reduce our voracious appetite for fossil fuels? Alternatively, how can our society can get off the growth tread mill without wholesale collapse of our economy?
Through simple drawings, I explain how its possible to "count up" all our stuff (physical assets) using embodied energy. This is the first step to building a physically based model of an economy. I go onto apply such a model to a scenario for the UK to 2025. Finally I test my scenario against objectives for jobs, national energy security, balance of payments, consumer welfare and CO2 reductions. The scenario scores well! Have you got a scenario you would like tested in this way?

(left to right) Steve Lodder, John Etheridge and Philip Sheppard come together and improvise a piece of music - collaboration at its best. The video below is a bit shakey - i had to improvise ;-) but watch how the three are continually watching each other - how much communication amongst collaborators is non verbal? One of the themes of the atabrahams event at Arup where this impromptu piece was recorded.
arup.com/
atabrahams.com/

Last month we were asked to pull together a short thought piece for an internal Global Buildings event at Arup on the "Future of Design". The pre-recorded piece was being used alongside feedback from clients on their view of the value of design. Both pieces provided the introduction for break out groups to think about 4 plausible scenarios for Arup in the years ahead. The summary blurb is:

"The role of the designer in the business world is changing. With increased activity at a strategic level and the innate skills that support community and collaboration, the designer has the skill set to play a pivotal role in today’s business. In addition, they have the desire to work with new tools and are experienced in making the complex simple. In a world where technological innovation has increased the complexity of both the products and services we consume, achieving elegance has become the hallmark of good design."