Spring Equinox

 

The Mystery of the Viewfinder cover design illustration

 

Children and the Trees, a long and short story

Part II (EXCERPTS FROM MY CHANGE MANIFESTO)

Now where are we going with our design thinking?  

There are three main lessons that we are learning that influence the ways we think and design. 

 

No. 1. CHANGE, We now understand that we have to be more flexible with our think and our solutions.  Everyday brings new information and new understandings.  Now I know I have to be always ready to rebound, to change and to react.  This is not the time to be rigid and stubborn.  

No.2 SAFETY  We want to be safe, and we want to know we will be safe.   

As a space and environmental designer, I have been practicing sustainable design approaches in all of my projects.  Now more than ever, a sustainable and a truly safe design process is the only way we can move forward in our evolution of our cities, buildings, interior spaces and objects.   

No. 3 TRUST   All of us in the the world are having a crisis of trust. We can’t trust others around us, we cannot trust spaces and places around us as they might be carriers of the disease.   And we cannot trust our own buildings, the occupant.  I believe that in order to  make progress with our next steps in the design of our environment, we need to rebuild our many layers and senses of trust.   We need the same sense of trust that we have in our homes to be part of our spaces that we share with others. 

Where can we look for guidance?  

 

TREES

CHILDREN

 

Holiday Family Project

Holiday Family Project: to create these two “little libraries” which will be stocked with high quality books for children and youth. Children can borrow books, and those who have books can exchange theirs for new ones; the idea of “take a book, leave a book” 

Target Clientele: Children and youth living in trailer parks in the North Houston / Tomball area. Ages of intended customers are 3 – 15 yrs. Many, but not all, are of Hispanic origin, from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

When the children come to your office for a #holidayparty in #outerspace and you give them a black wallpaper surface for #drawing, amazing things can happen!... #gensleroakland

When the children come to your office for a 

Holiday Party 

On a wet rainy Saturday afternoon, creative energy can be directed into a color painting exercises for plates at Color Me Mine...

  You can select your colors from a numbered spectrum of choices, and then apply to your ceramic piece with brushes and detail pin drops...

Our City Oakland event design challenge

Here is the set of first sketches for our Gensler team idea for the Our City Oakland event challenge. 

Now its time to build it, make it, construct it and paint it!

Our City and the City of Oakland are partnering to produce the first Our City: Oakland Fair. The Fair is inviting Oaklanders to imagine, build, and celebrate the future of their community.

This first Fair is focused on the theme of play. From February 4-6 February 2016, Frank Ogawa Plaza will come alive with new public design installations and performances that encourage Oakland kids, families, residents, and visitors of all ages to play in new ways.

http://ourcity.is/oakland/

Counting rocks with my daughter in Japanese...

 

 

On a warm Sunday morning, sitting outside on the patio, counting rocks in Japanese with my daughter...great fun....

I remember back in 1991 of my life, starting up with early lessons of Japanese, and practising first attempts of hand lettering and kanji numbers...and then I went to Japan and stayed in Asia for over 13 years...