The Challenge Series

The Challenge Series tells the story of the people and the work behind the planning, designing and building of Vancouver's Olympic Village. For the past few years, I have had my eye on the site, wondering how it would all unfold, not knowing how involved I would get in learning about the site's history, policies and the development process. A crash course in urban design and sustainable community building.

Beginning last April, I began working for this project, brought on to essentially manage all the visual information for the seven chapter publication that would launch each new chapter monthly. Each chapter covered a different topic from History and Policy to Public Space and Infrastructure, Architecture, Water and Building Landscape, Energy, and Community.

There were thousands of images to sift through, collect, review, and choose. I worked with illustrators from Letterbox Design Group and Cobalt Engineering to develop schematics. I created each chapter's wireframe for publication, liaised with writers (New Climate Strategies) with respect to appropriate images for each story. I liaised with graphic designers (Mizu Creative) with respect to each chapter's wireframe, image hierarchy etc. and I put forth recommendations for the front and back covers.

All in all it was a fabulous project to be involved with– great people full of optimism and passion.

You can access all chapters here. I recommend downloading the low res pdfs for a more graphical / magazine type experience.

Weird

larytta - souvenir de chine - video directed by körner union

so weird. but i couldn't stop watching... trying to get posting again. starting with videos. more writing and personal work to come soon.

Talk nerdy to me

 
Amazing Czech biking history from Fransisco.  What a nerd.

Human Development Index ~ for the developed

B+, as usual.

http://measureofamerica.org/
via: http://www.humantific.com/

359 nodes and 2799 links

PSFK conference in SFO

Yesterday I went to my first conference as a creative strategist with Ci. Oooooh moving up! PSFK hosts creative idea conferences in cities around the world and yesterday's took place at an old military base near the water in San Fransisco. Many of the speakers focussed on technology enabling community building and one particular speaker from Apple - Chris Riley - spoke of three highly influential people - Stewart Brand, Alice Waters and Paul Hawken. I just had to thank him at the end of the day. Another highlight was Max Schor from GOOD Magazine. Very refreshing, humbling and thought provoking. He asked the audience as he was getting started - "How many people want to make things better?" Not a single person did not raise their hand. The room was certainly filled with optimistic bright creative (and nerdy) bodies, minds and souls.

The best surprise for me was the fact that the Long Now Foundation was just next door and I got to see the prototypes for the 10 000 year clock! I was in heaven. I had done quite a bit of research on Stewart Brand for my thesis. Some call him the smartest man in America. Look him up! The Foundation exists for the sole and brave purpose of encouraging us all to adopt a long term view. We're talking centuries and millenniums. What a breath of fresh air considering the conference was all about trends and what they mean and where we're going.

More in line with the 'short view', I couldn't get over how many people were talking about Twitter! This is something I have not really been interested in adopting - maybe because I find the name a bit irritating. Hmmmm.

Some of the recurring themes I noticed during the day - take risks, do the right thing the right way and the business model will follow, don't be afraid to fail, be considerate, listen to people, experiment, play, and of course - collaborate! Look outside your own discipline and geography for inspiration. Oh yes, and have fun!!!

Speaking of fun, here are some photos from the after party!
Thanks to Orange Exposure for the great photos.


Serge, Sarah and Rachel

Piers Fawkes and Max Schor

What a great day! Looking forward to more of this!

raftacular

It was always my intention to keep the RAFT project going after school. It was always my intention to develop a simple design that could be scalable, adaptable, modular and work with materials at hand. I am so grateful for having met the fantastic people at eatART who are now supporting (and storing) this project at the hangar. Our mutual love for the sea as well as things like civil disobedience, energy awareness, creativity, invention, and general mayhem brought us all together this weekend, dressed like pirates, armed with a potato canon and ready for adventure. ( : So fun!!!

data art + love

"I Want You To Want Me", by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar, commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art, for their "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition. It examines and organizes data from online dating sites and reveals some deep insights into who we are and what we are looking for. Of course, it also shows us how data can be turned into art.

:: via Ed Cotton at www.influxinsights.com

hello, lawrence weiner

I recently saw a Lawrence Weiner (and John Baldessari) show at the Apt. I went with Alex and Katrin which was a treat in of itself. I hadn't heard of either of the artists before this week. It was a private showing so we learned a lot about conceptual art and 'the business of. Alex asks the best questions. And since then (of course) I recognize the names. So you can imagine the delight of seeing this short video which I first saw on Kara's fabulous oliveisgreen. Check it oot.

RAFT :: being held hostage in gallery

Conceived as a floating structure, built mostly of salvaged materials, the project component of my thesis (RAFT) is used as a way to test and work through the creative possibilities that surround slow design. I use RAFT as a research tool – a conceptual and physical sounding board to uncover and develop a template for practicing slow design. The method was conceived primarily for industrial designers, and therefore more often than not includes a physical product output. It has the ability to transfer to other forms of sustainable design and production.

primed - opening!

Thanks to mandroid for taking these!!!

down in front!

Emily Carr Institute becomes Emily Carr University!

primed

hello out there,
my grad show is coming up quick!
just want to have here for the record; the river; the stream; the flow; the blog.
i installed the RAFT in there this afternoon.
i have to say i'm running on a low tank these days.
nothing a little pulverized pineapple, banana, and wheat grass can't fix.
still lots to do. but when is there not?

ready for the next chapter.

grass chair

I'm liking this image.
Something like this with the RAFT for our grad show could work.
Very finished yet there is a time element with the two objects.

RAFT- test launch

RAFT as platform

Updated sketches coming soon to a scanner near you. and who is YOU? aha I get a kick out that question. It's very Modest Mouse.

sketches

evo lives on

I entered evo (my carleton ID grad project) into the core 77 / inhabitat / greener gadgets design competition. and received a notable mention. Cool! So did terry and shane. go carleton. Check it out over here. I'm flattered that 4 years later, the same design could even qualify for being green. Approaching emotional durability.



Eternally yours,
Sarah

designer memories

Reinier sent this link to me the other morning. Didn't see that coming.

Dear Professor Knight,

That was an incredible experience.
Prototype prototype prototype!

Sincerely,
Sarah

slow moments

been thinking more about this notion of the moment. they happen all the time. life is after all an infinite series of moments. i'm talking about the ones that change the way we think and feel. the ones that show us that another world is possible. they can be planned but often i think they happen due to a series of events, thoughts, influences, and of course timing.

so i had a 'moment' while biking home in the rain yesterday. since i've been getting into researching slow design again, i've been wondering about ways to invite (or force) people to slow down. so i was biking and the car behind me was unable to get around me. he just stayed behind me and i'm not sure if he was getting frustrated or not with me. either way i successfully slowed down that car for just a few minutes. all by myself. made me smile.