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Architectural Index |
GoTo: What is New Achieve #1 |
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What
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pre-Prototype MediaPOD Mule Presented
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click on picture to go to mediaPOD Design Development |
The mediaPOD™ Mule was presented at the AI production facility to UVA today to receive feedback necessary to producing a prototype for their radiology facility. It was a great meeting, we learned a lot and solved the remaining interior arrangement problems for this application. |
| A “Mule” is a model of an intended design. Usually rough in many of its aspects and built to demonstrate the most critical elements of the design. It is also provides an opportunity to explore many solutions to problems intrinsic to the design. In this case the overall shape, acoustic properties, possible internal arrangements and entry/exit door were the main items in focus. In addition we explored different ways to make the mediaPOD in easy to ship, assemble and install components. Detailing and appearance of the outer shell were of lesser importance, this iteration, although we did this as nicely as possible given we used flat stock paint grade materials. We applied “Arts and Crafts” colors which provided a playful look to the product. The prototype and production versions will be made from natural woods and some metal elements, with the detailing being much crisper and delineated, providing a warm yet more technological look. The design metaphor is the mediaPOD as a fine, well equipped, yacht which can be “sailed” through world of the media content. For a Mule, we are very pleased with how far we got and we had a lot of fun doing it. After we learn all we can from this iteration, we intend to finish her up and put her somewhere to be enjoyed and used. |
| Besides providing a team space for the analysis of medial X-rays, we believe the mediaPOD will create an ideal environment for Team virtual conferencing and collaborative work, Computer programming, Multimedia creation and editing, Interactive multimedia presentations, Gaming, modeling and simulations, A personal workspace, Technical and scientific data-information display, Designer, architect, artist’s electronic drafting board, Interactive KIOSK for a variety of public settings and uses, a Learning environment for teachers and students and as booths in a “green-garden” organic food eatery. |
| We are presently developing three of these applications and looking for additional client-partners to work with us to specify the interior arrangements for these many uses. |
| The mediaPOD will fit under a nine foot ceiling although the higher the better. Its horizontal footprint is ten foot six inches. It is easily disassembled, and moved in lightweight modules, requiring simple tools and no specialized skills. It will be produced in a variety of finishes, materials and colors and can be adapted to reflect the trade dress of the user’s organizational environment. |
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| Taylor workPODs - A History |
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| Prototype mediaPOD is installed at UVA to begin testing process. Click on photo to view details. |
| The interior of the UVA mediaPOD prototype was installed on May 23rd. Click on photo to view details and for additional narrative. |
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UniManagement NavCenter Opens |
click on picture for a tour of the Unimanagement NavCenter |
| The UniManagement Development Center was introduced to the city of Torino’s leadership today. This included a roundtable discussion, in the NavCenter, on the subject of leadership and sustainability in which I took part. It was an excellent discussion which revealed the degree that Torino is aware of the challenges ahead and is determined to meet them by transforming the city/region. |
| UniCredit CEO Alessandro Profumo [welcome to the first truly european bank] invited the city to make use of the the UniManagement facilities and the Mayer of Torino said that they would. For my thoughts on the Economics of Replacement Bio Regions go to: [future link]. |
| The NavCenter received many appreciative compliments and this afforded me the opportunity to outline its history and mission while noting how it was the product of intense collaboration across many organizations and why this way of coming to being [link: unicredit nav center - 60 days to realization] exemplified the intended use of the NavCenter and how design solutions to systemic problems can be accomplished to meet 21st Century challenges. |
| A number of articles have been written on the project and they can be found here: [future link]. |
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Guest House and Studio for Stan Leopard |
design by: Matt Taylor and Matthais Oppliger
rendering by: Irina Sokolova |
| The Guest House and Studio addition for Stan Leopard has been approved for Design Development with the goal to erect the buildings in the April-May time frame. |
| The 1500 square foot project is a combination of field built and AI prefabricated components with the intention of serving as a prototype for a new post-Usonian grammar. |
| Click on the graphic for a description and drawings of the preliminary plans of the project which were completed last summer. For my articles on the post-Usonian project go to [link: the return of the usonian]. |
| There is no question that the addition will be successful in terms of serving the requirements and aspirations of Stan Leopard - the collaboration and extensive thoughtful dialog insures this. What we are all waiting to see, including Stan, is if this project, at this time and in this market, can be a means to develop a way of building that will make this kind of architecture affordable to those whose income is moderate. If this turns out to be so, and if the work is well received publicly, a small sub-division of 25 is contemplated. |
| On its own, this is a fine project and one I cannot wait to get my hands into. If it does lead to a viable post-Usonian method this will even be better and it will fulfill a quest of mine that goes back to the mid 60s and the un built Three Houses On a Cul-De-Sac project. Of course the times, conditions and requirements of a basic house are much different now than when this quest started. It takes constant reinvention until opportunity, time, conditions market and capability all meet allowing a solution to emerge - perhaps this time it happens. |
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design: by Bill Blackburn |
| The VA has opened their third Learning Exchange, this one located in Wade Park, Cleveland. There are several more in the design process. |
| We designed a building for this site [link: Cleveland as architecture] however the VA decided to go with another concept and design/build team. The new Center, designed and furnished by us, is built on most of the second floor of this new building. |
| The space has both office and collaborative capabilities as well as individual work areas. It can be used for a variety of purposes in many combinations. It has several new AI products including a new POD. This work has achieved a level of integration and expressive grammar - of the work options it supports - that we have been working toward for over two decades. |
| The VA has a curious habit of adding members to the design team without telling the other members so, for the second time, we were surprised to find several startling additions to the work by an interior decorator. We never though that our work needed “decoration” and it was an interesting experience to see the result. As near as we can tell, his interpretation of our design philosophy is that we build kindergarten environments for 5 year olds. We are reflecting on this “feedback.” In 1996, the president of TCCC called one of our spaces a Montessori school for Adults but, at the time, we took it as a compliment. |
| In our mind, most architecture that is created for young children is an unhappy adult’s nostalgic memory of a childhood that never was and that this imposed viewpoint is degrading and insulting to the actual intelligence children display when given the opportunity. The young, we have found, do very well in our “adult” environments [link: master’s NavCenter], without the added decoration, as do those of all ages. Playfulness has to be built in - not added on by worn out, stereotypical symbols. |
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concept: Matt Taylor
design: by Matt Taylor, Bill Blackburn, Tim Siglin
Architects: Franco Maroni, Paolo Zanoncelli, Permisteelisa Interiors
illustration by Irina Sokolova
© 2006 |
| MG Taylor has signed a MOU with UniCredit Bank to build a NavCenter in their UniManagement Center now under construction in Italy. |
| The 2005 WEF RDS Armature will be employed in this environment for two to three years at which time it will be moved to another space and a cantilevered steel and glass Armature, now in design development, will be installed. This arrangement facilitates a year end opening which would otherwise be impossible and allows the final Armature solution to be the result of an experience-based-design process done in concert with the actual use of the facility as it evolves. |
| Completion will be in December of this year with further development to continue well into 2007. This will be the most sophisticated NavCenter yet built. The NavCenter is one part of a state-of-the-art executive development facility being built in an historic building in Turin. |
| Since January, Matt Taylor has been consulting with UniCredit Real Estate Architects and Permasteelisa Interiors on their design of the restoration and adaptive use of the building while also leading the Taylor Architecture Team in the NavCenter design effort. Last week, a DesignShop® was held in Lesmo, Italy, with Milan-based Architects of Group Genius - a practitioner of the Taylor Method in training - and UniManagement colleagues to further develop the concept of UniManagement. The project will be built by the manufacturing and construction division of Permasteelisa a world class provider of exterior cladding for signature projects all over the world by architects such as Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano. |
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concept, Matt Taylor
design by Bill Blackburn
illustration by Irina Sokolova
© 2005 |
| In September 2005 the development of a new RDS for the World Economic Forum began [rds II]. The next phase of of the Davos WorkPlace is unfolding [link: the next generation rds]. A meeting with the WEF Team and the MGT Team will take pace the first week in December to set the final specifications and determine the design strategy of the the work. |
| The iteration of the RDS will make available the interior environment and the capability conceived of in 1983 [link: rds concept and history index]. The RDS shell, which will complete the capability to deploy to crisis areas is under consideration for prototyping as the structure of the MG Taylor Nashville Compound project. |
| This RDS features light weight, extreme flexibility - the Armature rolls and can be adjusted in real time along with the WorkFurniture - and will be assembled into deployable “kits” that match process to environmental requirements so that just the materials required will be shipped. The WEF intends to us it at the DAVOS Annual Meeting and other meetings throughout the world. |
| Time limits made it impossible to create the new Tree Armature for the 06 Annual Meeting and constricted access, prior to the meeting, made it impossible to employ the Armature system used in 05. Publicis, the WEF team and MG Taylor team members met in Nashville in early December and designed a set of four fixed Trees for the meeting. These were manufactured by AI and installed by Publicis in late January [future link]. The idea of this exercise was to prototype the form in order to get feedback for the creation of the more sophisticated, movable application. |
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INDEX of Matt Taylor Papers
2005 |
graphic by Irina Sokolova
© 2005 |
| Over the last year, I have been working on a series of Papers that address both what is going on in my world and how the work of MG Taylor relates to the issues, local and global, of our time. If you click on Irina’s dragon graphic you will go to the annotated INDEX of 12 pieces that range across a wide variety of seemly unrelated subjects that, upon reflection, are related by common issues and themes. These papers also provide a comprehensive window into what has constituted MG Taylor’s 2005 experience. |
| These Papers are still works-in-progress and I will editing and expanding them throughout the rest of 2005 and into 2006. I highlight them today, on September 11, for reasons that should become clear upon their reading. You may find it interesting to check in from time to time over the next three months and see how these ideas are evolving and weaving together. |
| These papers are a new section of my web site and constitute a shift of focus which will continue over the time ahead - a greater emphasis on the world “out there” and the future and away from the autobiographical nature of this site which has been it prime purpose since its launch in 1999. The filling in of the biography will continue, of course, along with this natural migration as the focus on “what’s next” takes place. |
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| Prior “What is New” articles are Archived [link: what is new archive 1]. These highlight the 2005 RDS deployment to Davos [link: davos rds]; MG Taylor work at 2004 year end [link: year end work]; the opening of the Master’s Academy NavCenter in September of 2004 [link: masters collaboration studio]; a “bird call” for the EcoSphere project, March 2004 [link: ecosphere project]; a new WorkWall design from AI in December, 2004 [link: new workwall]: SFIA Architects - Master Builders Poster [link: sfia architects poster] and closing of the PA knOwhere Store, May 2003 [link: pa knowhere closing]; Confort Interior Magazine and ECIFFO Magazine publications featuring the PA knOwhere Store, September 2002 [link: confort and eciffo magazine]; Office for the Joseki Group, May 2002 [link: joseki design-build by sfia students]; Belmont-Redwood Shores School District designs a Performing Arts Center, April 2002 [link: performing arts designshop]; The new AI Anaconda WorkWall debuts, March 2002 [link: double-folding five panel workwall]; the HyperCar Mule comes to knOwhere, December 2001 [link: hypercar mule]; a tour of the PA knOwhere Store, October 2001 [link: pa knowhere offerings]; knOwhere Press publishes the Most Amazing Thing, October 16, 2001 [link: white wolf llc]; Curved, rolling “wall-size” bookcases from AI, October 2001 [link: new bookcase]. |
| Note: When the previous “What is New” articles were archived, certain links to anchors were broken. These anchor links have been directed to this spot. It should be possible to find the desired material by employing the links above. |
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