Valueless

I’ve got used to hearing the statement “We’d get rid of that building but it isn’t worth anything”. My reaction is always the same: “I’ll take it then”.

Certainly, some buildings are falling down, some lend themselves to no obvious purpose, and some are mired in bureaucracy. But no value at all . . really? I suspect that this stock of valueless buildings is massive. I also suspect that we all know many worthy organisations and worthwhile purposes that are desperately looking in vain for a home.

Our challenge is to use design to find ways of turning these liabilities into assets, and to use our power and imagination to release the potential for good in our valueless buildings.

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Media

Sometimes I get interviewed by journalists. No matter how carefully you choose your words the feeling persists that in amongst those seemingly reasonable answers to seemingly reasonable questions you have offered an unfortunate quote out of context.

So the choice is simple. Say nothing of any consequence, at length. Or use the opportunity to talk about things that really matter to you in language that conveys some sense of your passion and principles.

Like design without courage, words without heart make us complicit in the acceptance of the unacceptable.

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Hong Kong

From the aircraft window a panorama exploited in a hundred movies. On the ground a reminder that the English language has a rival.

Travel shows us other ways of living and makes us reconsider the things we take for granted. Design is a way of imagining what those other ways might mean for us and how to reinvent the conventional into the extraordinary.

A logical way of looking at airport design is the transformation of the flight timetable, a work of imagination, into an historical document. Neat, but misses the big picture. Another way is to look at the ripples of life changes and life chances that radiate from those journeys.

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Sydney

It’s winter in Sydney. Torrential rain, ash clouds, and stormy debates about the effectiveness of $16 billion investment in school buildings as a key part of Australia’s Economic Stimulus Plan.

It reminds me that what happens in our schools is important not only to our pupils and our communities and to learning – but also to our economies. When we say that schools must be seen in context we mean the whole context. When we say that our children are our future – we mean it.

Irrespective of which economic models prevail, schools are at the heart of any nation’s future.

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