The Commercial Games

At first the numbers don’t seem to make any sense. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976 a total of 742 corporations were allowed to advertise with the Olympic Games. By the Sydney Games in 2000 the number was down to 104. The same downward trend is obvious in the number of sponsors: 628 in 1976, [...]

The Solo by Andrew Cross

‘The Solo’, is the latest film by artist Andrew Cross to celebrate the subject without resorting to seemingly literal visual metaphors. In much of Cross’s work the subject is omni-present by it’s absence, it’s deliberate omission literally burns the retina. In Cross’s own words, ‘if people are looking at something over here, then I choose [...]

T-sa Forum 2010

Toh Shimazaki Architecture Forum
Japan Workshop 201
T-sa forum, an annual architectural workshop initiated and run by London practice Toh Shimazaki Architecture travelled to Tokyo for the first time this spring. Setting up its temporary studio at the British Council in central Tokyo from 29 March to 9 April, the t-sa forum welcomed 16 international students from [...]

The Surreal House

The Surreal House
The image of the home has been traditionally represented within the cultural sphere as the safe haven, a realm of security, stability and comfort. However, The Surreal House capsizes all of these notions. All that is familiar becomes unsettlingly wrung, distorted, melted and torn apart. Sculptures, photographs, paintings and films depict everyday objects [...]

British Council Blog: Anatomy of a Street

Anatomy of a Street at Church Street, Paddington
On walking down Church Street, through the Market and past the small independent shops, the colour and vibrancy of the area is at once endearing. Anatomy of a Street created a journey to uncover and dissect the area, its inhabitants and activity through a series of small, pop [...]

Blueprint Big Breakfast with Jon Snow

At last Thursday’s Blueprint Big Breakfast, Jon Snow regaled guests in a packed-out Smiths of Smithfields with his views on designing for the deprived, tree-hugging, and the ‘architecture of lunacy’. See below for the the full talk in three parts.

British Council Blog: Architecture and its Inhabitants

Images: Stills from another life without Sundays, 2008 (c) Jose Arnaud-bello
‘Architecture and its Inhabitants’ at the Embassy of Mexico
‘Another life without Sundays’ is one of two films screened at the Embassy of Mexico that explores Mexico City using a voyeuristic approach.
Inspired by walks through Mexico City, Architects Jose Arnaud Bello and Sebastian [...]

British Council Blog: Moss Your City

‘Moss your City’ at The Architecture Foundation
On walking into the exhibition, ‘Moss your City’ presents a sensory experience. Hit by the smell and humidity of damp moss that covers the walls, the installation offers an immersive experience that takes you from the busy London street to a mossy garden escape. This warm, green environment invites [...]

Land Architecture People

In recent years London has seen a spate of architecture retrospectives for the industry’s largest and most revered names. With the approaching London Festival of Architecture and the forthcoming retrospective of John Pawson at the Design Museum, these exhibitions continue to attract an audience seeking to understand architecture as well as experience it first [...]

British Council Blog: LFA2010

Throughout the duration of London Festival of Architecture, members of staff from the British Council will be producing a blog with information and commentary on the projects which they are undertaking.
The British Council organised The Embassies Project for the London Festival of Architecture in 2008 with 24 countries. This time round the number has [...]

In Praise of Light

The latest work by Chris Levine was unveiled last night at the former Holy Trinity Church in Marylebone. Simply titled Light, the laser installation was a compelling visual spectacle that well complemented the neo-classical space designed by Sir John Soane in 1828.  Levine’s Light was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation. Set up in 2001 by [...]

Profile: Diango Hernandez

As Django Hernández was studying industrial design in Havana the 1990s, Cuba was learning to adjust to life without the support of the Soviet Union. During this time, Hernández observed the way that global politics impinged upon the daily, domestic lives of Cubans and how scarce resources led people to create their own furniture and [...]

Folding Metal

British office furniture manufacturer Bisley recently presented a design brief to Creative Product Design students at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol. Blueprint and British designer Richard Shed were asked to participate as external judges in the crits.
As well as encouraging students to explore new ideas and possibilities for office storage, [...]

The Mechanical Aquarium

Richard Sharples ‘Mechanical Aquarium’ installation was a spectacular display of kinetic sea life; installed in a derelict building, an enchanting tribute to marine conservation. The Mechanical Aquarium was set up in the long-abandoned and usually inaccessible Fish and Coal Offices in Kings Cross. The Grade II listed building, situated along the canal behind St Pancras International, [...]

Heatherwick in Shanghai

At the Shanghai Expo this May, Thomas Heatherwick’s British Pavilion will sit in an faceted landscape of silver-and-red artificial turf, flanked on one side by the Huangpu  River, and on the others by pavilions dedicated to Italy, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg. With its explosion of 60,000 acrylic rods whose fine tips sway with [...]

Blueprint Big Breakfasts

This year, Blueprint will be hosting its fourth series of bi-annual Big Breakfasts during the London Festival of Architecture. At these events, we invite leading critics, writers, artists broadcasters and commentators to speak about their views and personal reactions to London. It is all done in an informal atmosphere, over a full English breakfast, providing [...]

Future Room Competition Winner

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Blueprint and Unite are pleased to announce the Future Room competition winner, Jerome Tsui. His design impressed judges with his minimalist vision for future student digs. The competition was open to all art, design and architecture students in London to project ideas for the future of student accommodation, challenging the contemporary stereotype of run-down and [...]

Future Room: Final call for entries

Blueprint and student accommodation provider Unite are announcing the final call for entries to the Future Room competition. Open to all art, design and architecture students in London as well as others studying in the capital, it is a call for original ideas about student living. The deadline for submissions is Thursday 1st April, 2010.
Accomodation [...]

New Generation

Despite good intentions, few products are successful in combining design, aesthetics and ergonomics in a way that is also friendly to users. The new Generation office chair, just launched in the UK by American furniture company Knoll, can be counted as a rare exception.
Created by New Zealand-based practice Formway Design for Knoll, Generation was four [...]

The Expert View

In addition to our own choices, Blueprint asked three experts in the fields of Technology, Architecture and Urbanism and Product/Furniture design to look ahead and make recommendations for the people they think will make a difference in 2010.