MIT's James Wescoat partners in Pakistan on a critical issue: Water

Irrigated plains of the Punjab province in Pakistan, viewed from a Mughal tower in Sheikhpura Distric

The historic gardens of the Mughal Empire in India and Pakistan first drew James Wescoat to the Indus Basin four decades ago. A landscape architect and professor in the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture in the MIT Department of Architecture, Wescoat has returned to the region many times for research that spans studies of 17th-century waterworks and 21st-century water systems, policy analyses, and multilateral water agreements.

His partners in Pakistan include the new Centre for Water Informatics and Technology (WIT) of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). “WIT has devised innovative canal management and data transmission technologies that monitor water flows precisely and in real time,” says Wescoat, who chairs the WIT Advisory Group. “WIT’s pioneering systems can revolutionize water management.”

Read a profile of Wescoat at MIT News.

How To Get Creative

‘In pre-modern epochs, renewal of practice was always initiated by looking backwards, as a return to the fundamentals. The cult of the new/young first came with modernity. Are young offices still obsessed with the ideas of idols, former employers and teachers? Or are young practices in architecture today considered to be especially innovative? Are they generating new knowledge or just recycling winning formulas? If truly innovative new practices still exist, from what fields of knowledge do they get their input?’ Conditions Issue #9, New Knowledge – New Practices?
 

status: commissioned by Conditions magazine

team: Konstantinos Pantazis, Marianna Rentzou, Lida Stamou

collaborator: Joana Sá Lima

year: 2011

By Gregory Ciotti

When it comes to doing creative work, it’s important to not only look for ways to let our creativity thrive, but to also be mindful of insidious “creativity killers” that can sneak up and strangle our ability to come up with our best ideas. According to research from Harvard University, there are five main culprits that are responsible for killing our creativity.

It’s important to recognize these impediments to the creative thought process because many are insidious, and worse yet, most can be made on the managerial end, meaning we may be stifling our creative workers without even realizing it. For those of us doingcreative work, we must be mindful of these deterrents of the creative process so we can continue to put out our most novel ideas.

1. Role Mismatch

As Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Placing people in roles that they are not fit for is a surefire way to kill creativity. Although this may seem like a managerial concern, there are personal consequences here as well. Additional research has shown that we are at our best when we are “busy” (and pushed to our limits), but not rushed. In the wrong role, we can struggle to keep up and live in a constant state of creativity-crushing panic.

2. External End-Goal Restriction

Although self-restriction can often boost creativity, the Harvard study shows thatexternal restrictions are almost always a bad thing for creative thinking. This includes subtle language use that deters creativity, such as bosses claiming “We do things by the book around here,” or group members implicitly communicating that new ideas are not welcome.

3. Strict Ration of Resources

While money and physical resources are important to creativity, the Harvard study revealed that mental resources were most important, including having enough time. Creative people re-conceptualize problems more often than a non-creative. This means they look at a variety of solutions from a number of different angles, and this extensive observation of a project requires time. This is one of the many reasons you should do your best to avoid unnecessary near-deadline work that requires novel thinking. Also, when we are faced with too many external restrictions we spend more time acquiring more resources than actually, you know, creating.

4. Lack of Social Diversity

Homogeneous groups have shown to be better able to get along, but it comes at a cost: they are less creative. This even applies to the social groups you keep, so beware of being surrounded by people who are too similar all the time, you may end up in a creative echo-chamber.

5. Discouragement/No Positive Feedback

It’s tough to continue working on novel ideas when you haven’t received any positive feedback. This feeling is backed by psychological research that shows people who’ve started a new undertaking are most likely to give up the first time things come crashing down, also known at the “what the hell!” effect. Creative people thrive on having others impacted by their ideas. Without feedback, their motivation begins to wither and die. — How about you? What kills your creativity?

 via 99U

FORUM ON EUROPEAN CULTURE An initiative by DutchCulture & De Balie

What is Europe? This question can be answered in countless variations on the theme. Rem Koolhaas and Luuk van Middelaar will go in search of the answer within the brackets of 12 hours, hoping to find it in nonstop conversations with impressive guests from the worlds of art, philosophy, and politics. What does Europe mean to them? Is there such a thing as European culture and identity to begin with, and if so, what should define it?

Get TICKET HERE

Architectural Review - Typology: Multifaith

In the most recent Architectural Review magazine, Tom Wilkinson is History Editor of The Architectural Review and the author of “Bricks and Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the People They Made”, investigates some of the questions that we have been researching at MIIM Designs:

‘What defines a place of worship?

Does it have to be sacrosanct?

Must it display certain signs?

Or is it enough that it feels ‘spiritual’?’

In AD631 (or AH 10) a delegation of Christians from Najran, in present-day Yemen, arrived in Medina to negotiate a treaty with Muhammad. He received the Najrans in the mosque and, although they were unable to agree on certain doctrinal matters, invited them to pray there nonetheless, which they did – facing east.

This episode demonstrates some of the possibilities – and the problems – inherent in the idea of adherents of different faiths sharing spaces of worship. First, there is often no intrinsic impediment to taking the occasional dip. Muslims can pray anywhere, as can Christians, although Mass should only be celebrated on consecrated ground (according to Canon 933, churches of other denominations may only be used in extraordinary circumstances). Catholics aside, Christian worship is now more likely to take place in a light industrial unit or megachurch than in a cruciform building, basilica, rotunda, or any of the other forms that have been developed and disputed across the centuries. As for architectural objections to shacking up on a more permanent basis, despite there being great regional traditions in mosque design, there is no essential mosque-form. As the above list demonstrates, the same can be said for Christian churches.

Read More HERE

METROPOLIS: Pritzker Laureates: We Must Rescue the Role of the Architect

On Tuesday night, seven Pritzker Prize laureates—Richard Rogers, Glenn Murcutt, Christian de Portzamparc, Wang Shu, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, and the newest among the group, Alejandro Aravena—gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss what they thought to be the greatest challenge facing the built environment.

Australian architect and 2002 laureate Glenn Murcutt chose not to discuss sustainability, which he has spent his career championing, and instead delivered a rousing, emotional speech about a project that has occupied his mind for the better part of a decade: the Newport Mosque. The mosque has been the source of much controversy in Victoria, Australia, where it will be built. "The real issue," said Murcutt about the public discontent surrounding the project, "is fear"—fear of the unfamiliar that underpins social and religious prejudice around the world. 

Read More HERE

Maryam writes about Fast Fashion buildings

From Stranded to Standard: Who’s to Blame for the Failure in Bangladesh Fire

STRINGER/BANGLADESH/REUTERS

Rescue workers attempt to rescue garment workers from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 28, 2013. Fire broke out on Sunday in a garment factory that collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, complicating attempts to find any survivors of a disaster that has killed 377 people

Since designer brands, whether in clothing or custom-made products such as furniture, textile and home goods, are not the fundamental basis of priority goods to sustain a living, often these goods are categorized in secondary or tertiary needs. Therefore, the cost and demand fluctuates based on the consumers market. With today’s economic turmoil, consumers are not in immediate need to buy clothing, let alone “designer” clothing. Thus, retailers such as JC Penny, Mango, Walmart, Fresh Joe, etc. are under pressure to keep overhead of their companies to a minimal low while selling products with a 300%-1000% markup (a profit is made even if the product is on “sale” for a consumer in Europe or the United States). In order for overhead to be kept minimal, sacrifices are made. There are three categories in which the designer can make sacrifices to meet the market’s demand and still gain profit: the quality of the product, the employees, and the factory. Designers will never sacrifice their product. Take Louis Vuitton, for example; rather than selling their product after several years above the marginal price, each year if their line is not sold, they burn the line to avoid sacrificing their brand.

Savar building collapse, Bangladesh. On April 24, 2013, in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh, an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza, collapsed. (Photo Credit: rijans / Flickr)

Sadly, this 8-story building which had over 3,122 employees, ” most of them female garment workers between the ages of 18 and 20″, did not have adequate walls, based on the 1-hour rating and typical standard doors, which allow for a minimal 1-hour rating and adequate circulation space. By U.S. standards in any given space, there needs to be an emergency exit route without the use of elevators or electrical lifting, down to the ground level. Typically at every 20′-0″ in either direction there must be an emergency exit door for evacuation. This building failed to meet that standard as well.

Originally Published in TIM

Memory Matrix at M.I.T.

The Memory Matrix is a monument that explores the possibilities for future heritage creation, employing new fabrication techniques and transcultural workshops. The Matrix is made of border fences carrying over 20,000 small fluorescent Plexiglas elements. This solidarity-building and educational enterprise was conceived by ACT Assistant Professor Azra Aksamija and is produced with the help of MIT students and a diverse range of partners within the MIT community and participants from the Maker Faire in Cairo and Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. This collaborative making process is a seed for a longer-term mission of the project – to benefit the education of Syrian refugees.

Tickets for Opening Ceremony

Learn more about the project

YouTube-er "Fun for Louis" visits Humayun's Tomb

British film-maker and YouTube "Fun for Louis", is traveling around the world. As part of his YouTube v-log, he stops by one of our favorite projects: Humayun's Tomb. 

Garrett Jacobs in GOOD Magazine

This spring, GOOD Magazine is celebrating innovators who are tackling pressing global issues. They are known as the GOOD 100. This group of influential global citizens are rolling out insights and personal stories on the projects that they are working on to better our world. We’ll be highlighting GOOD Citizens will be highlighting them once a week. This week, Garrett Jacobs, Executive Director of The Open Architecture Collaborative, reflects on his time with "Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools". 

Read More HERE

ZADY IN VOGUE

Our friend, Maxine Bedat, makes beautiful, effortless, sustainable clothing! Check out this article by Vogue, and check out Zady, one our favorite brand! 

CleanAcwa Update

A message from our dear friend and founder of CleanAcwa, Sangu Delle: 

Yesterday was one of the happiest days of my life and a big day for us at CleanAcwa. In a single day, in honor of upcoming World Water Day, we provided water infrastructure to about 3,000 people across 5 communities in Suhum: Akropongfomu, Ahafi, Kpladey, Addo Nkwanta and Koko junction. In Akropongfomu, this was the first water infrastructure the community has ever received since its founding in 1846. Why it has taken 170 years for this to happen is another essay for another day. Today we thank God and our amazing team at cleanacwa and our partners ACDEP and the District Assembly for helping make this happen.

As I pumped water, I was joined by my new friends in the picture Noah Ayittey, Emmanuel Tagoe, Gabriel Nyarko and Addantey Aaron, who were so excited to drink clean safe driving water for the first time! The prior source of drinking water was a spring infested with E.coli. Nana Adom Arthur and I had a great time hanging out with them and learning colorful stories about their lives including one about dodging a snake on the way to school.

It starts with water because nsuo y3 nkwa (water is life). But it's bigger than water. In the process of putting in place the boreholes, we set up village Water & Sanitation committees, helped them set up bank accounts, trained pump mechanics and treasurers to ensure sustainability. The community now owns and manages the infrastructure themselves.

We also worked on a development plan with them. They drew a map of their community identifying every single household, water body, and landmark. They articulated their vision of the future and how they imagined that future. They felt empowered and are now using the same WATSAN committee to pool their little resources together to invest in community projects examples building a kindergarten or a market structure. I was inspired and blown away by their resilience, their hope and their commitment to build a better life for their children.

I haven't slept in days but I am overjoyed and thankful to God for bringing us this far. Thankful to the team for all the hard work in making this happen. We spent almost a year doing training, skills development, capacity building and learning. We are so excited that by the grace of God and the generosity of our donors, including many friends on Facebook, we have been able to bring clean water to 3,000 rural poor!

But we can't rest on our laurels. We take today to celebrate but tomorrow the hardwork begins again. As we used to say at Peddie School, Finimus Pariter Renovamusque Labores. We still have over 3 million Ghanaians without access to clean water and we won't stop until every man, woman and child, whether in Aflao or Nandom, Suhum or Bunkprugu, will have access to the most basic fundamental right -- clean safe drinking water.

This is our dream for Vision 2030 where the water you drink and where you come from should have no bearing on your chance to live a full dignified life, free from diarrhea, and water poverty by 2030. I believe together we can make this dream, this vision, a reality. Thank you for supporting us! Back to work on our next cluster. ‪

Sangu Delle

PS: Join us this Saturday for our Walk for Water (details below)

Steve Martin to Curate at the MFA

We here at MIIM Designs are very excited to welcome Steve Martin at the MFA Boston. The actor and comedian is guest curator of an exhibition at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts devoted to Canadian modernist Lawren Harris. Some years ago, when our founder, Maryam Eskandari, designed the Phoenix College Fine Arts Building + the Eric Fischer Gallery, both Eric Fischl and Steve Martin made a surprise visit. 

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Wim Delvoye to exhibit at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

Wim Delvoye, Rimowa Classic Flight Multiwheel 971.73.00.4, 2014. Embossed aluminium, 53 x 35 x 80 cm. © Studio Wim Delvoye, Belgium.

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art has announced it will devote its entire space to a solo exhibition of the work of the internationally celebrated artist Wim Delvoye.

On view from March 7 to May 13, this remarkable display will be the first time since the revolution that the 38-year-old institution dedicates its complete exhibition space, in- and outdoors, to a non-Iranian artist.

A Belgian neo-conceptual artist, Wim Delvoye is best known for art that cleverly combines philosophical ideas, a fresh use of materials and a love for craftsmanship.

Organized by independent curators Vida Zaim and Leila Varasteh, in collaboration with TMoCA’s Director Majid Mollanoroozi and Deputy Director Ehsan Aghaei, the select survey offers an overview of Delvoye’s practice—from his Delft patterned shovels and gas canisters of the 1980s to recent aluminum suitcases, which are ornately embossed by Iranian artisans in the city of Isfahan. 

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