creative spaces
I have just received a copy of Make space: How to set the stage for creative collaboration, from Stanford d.school’s Scott Doorley and Scott Witthoft – [Link] It is about the wonderful environment of the Peterson Building, home of the d.school, how it came to look the way it does, with its customized fittings, studios, [...]
Beamish – quiddities
Beamish – Living Museum of the North – [Link] Historical textures of the everyday. I first wrote about Beamish in my book with Chris Tilley – ReConstructing Archaeology (1987) [Link] Focusing on the narrative that frames the museum, I hated the clichéed, static, and ideological experience it presented of the north-east of England. There is [...]
Revs at Stanford – launched
The Revs Program at Stanford was launched this week with a conference at Stanford’s Arillaga Center. Over 300 came along to a day of talks and displays celebrating automobility. We were in the company of an extraordinary artifact sitting outside on the patio – a famous 1930s Bentley (chassis B35AE) raced by Yorkshireman Eddie Hall. [...]
Revs – agendas
These whiteboards capture some of the ideas and discussion at the launch of the Stanford Revs Program – [Link] Press and publicity links – New York Times Automotive News KQED – PBS News Stanford Report
Olmec Art
“Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico”, an exhibition of Olmec artifacts, is running at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Extraordinary pieces. Extraordinary presence. It was the first time we had come across them first hand. Here the monumental heads, zoomorphic basalt thrones, engobe ceramics, jadeite celts, are gently spotlit in that subdued ambient lighting [...]
Bentley B35AE
Fuel cap. Bentley B35AE, built at the Rolls Royce Derby works in 1933. Raced by Eddie Ramsden Hall in the 1930s and then again at LeMans in 1950. Now part of the Collier Collection in Naples, Florida. My lab is working towards the launch of a new initiative at Stanford, the Revs Program, which will [...]
Archaeological project design
Encountering the work of FARO in Flanders (see blog entry – [Link]) prompted me to think about our own project in the Roman borders at the Roman town of Binchester – VINOVIVM.org – and particularly in relation to the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention [Link] I talked about the implementation of broad principles and policies [...]
FARO – heritage futures
Faro – (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) – lighthouse (after the Pharos of Alexandria, with its cultural beacons – the Library and Museum). Faro, Portugal – The European Convention of Faro: Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Council of Europe, 2005) – [Link]. FARO – the NGO cultural agency/consultancy in Flanders dedicated to [...]
anthropometrics – the Museo Cesare Lombroso
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Anthropometrics – part of human factors design. Its roots lie in nineteenth century anthropological science, and forensics. Measuring the distances between eyebrows for evidence of criminality, correlating shapes of skulls with [...]