Anechoic chambers

Acoustic anechoic chambers are used to minimise reflected sound - sometimes used for sound recording - could the principle be used on a smaller scale to create quiet places or talking booths? One of these chambers has been rated the quietest place on earth.

Jacob Kirkegaard is an artist who works with resonance, sound and hearing.

an empty cinema

Went to see a one off showing of Fish Tank at the local Odeon. Such an alternative film that they didn't bother to put any adverts on before the film. I was the only one in there. Beautiful

hiding places

Getting peoples preferences on their version of a space for time out has generated some good nuggets of ingredients to chew on so far:

• ' a haven of the unexpected' that is 'deliciously enclosed' 
  
• ' a womb like flotation tank'
• ' pre-menstrual huts complete with stacks of plates for smashing'
• ' padded cells'

with 

• 'natural colours and patches of intense pigment'
•  wind and breezes quite popular

Bin Bowl Water

If sunlight, a bowl of water and a waste paper bin can make this there is potential for magical shelters...

tidy sleeping

Is it the density of the population and the limited space that makes some people in India so organised and tidy? A place for everything and everything in its place, including yourself. Work done, time for a break. This was in a Bangalore market in April

grown homes

One way to maximise resources and provide shelter, these ones are in iceland, where cosy is essential.

snug

this project by Luis Carjaval and Annie Davy  about victorian snugs is a reminder of a great idea that could be revived. Time out from the crowds, where you can make conversation. Apparently it had other uses..

in between spaces

I like the idea of this pod by Mariko Moro - a floating day bed pod for time out

in between spaces

Earlier this summer I worked on the installation of the Elephant Bed at Fabrica, a large scale site specific piece by the Canadian artist John Grade, made from soluble biodegradable paper. The shapes are based on microscopic structures of Coccolithophores that ultimately form the chalk sea beds. They create an intriguing space in which to retreat: warm and light, muffling external sound.

Must be entirely synchronicity that Olivia Decaris MA student in Design Products at the RCA has created something almost identical for a similar purpose. 

sheep shelter

Even sheep need shelter sometimes

building a shelter

Started building this in June - so far just the base - went back in August and it is growing itself

information overload

What intrigued me at first about Nacho Carbonnell Evolution series was the contrast to the rest of the Milan design shows. Amongst the onslaught of opulence and glamour of sumptuous materials and extravagant signature pieces, his work looks awkward, hand made, childlike. when you discover that its intention is to provide a refuge from information overload, and that it is literally made out of pulped printed material. - it makes all the more sense. There is something appealing about how the drab material, the crooked lines and apparently unstable structure compare to the ubiquitous sleek, stripped down, wipe clean urban shopping environments.