Monthly Archives: July 2009

The future of work

What is really the future of work? Most books on the subject are outdated the moment they hit the shelves. I thought I’d make a diagram explaining my thoughts on what I think at least the future of work should take into consideration when thinking about the elements that shape what we are considering to be and become work. <– Wow, that’s a mouthful. Basically I see this diagram like 3D soap bubbles moving slowly at many directions, growing bigger, smaller, closer, further apart, appearing and disappearing again. The territory will be moving all the time and in any direction.

For the moment the bigger the bubble, the bigger the element will have an influence on the direction of work. The first thing we are already seeing is that work and leisure will become more and more intertwined. Further emphasis will be on the individual. We are all individuals now and cherish this more than we like to admit. “I love you like a love myself” as the song by Herman Brood goes. Individualization will have an influence on anything we do…

Vertical gardening

One of the sustainability concepts that I’m very interested in is vertical gardening. By keeping the place of production of our food close to the place of consumption we can greatly reduce the often ridiculous distances that food covers before it is placed on our plates. Often the total sum of the stuff in our supermarket basket has been transported thousands of kilometers, with the consequences to the environment. By utilizing the horizontal as well as vertical spaces that of our cities we will be able to produce a significant amount of fresh produce at the almost immediate location of consumption. Roof tops of office and apartments could be used to grow vegetables, fruit or even have mini farms. Facades could be used too. Not only are vertical and city gardens an excellent way to reduce the carbon footprint, the idea could help to reduce the heat island effect of the cities. A roof garden is a natural insulator both in the winter as well as in the summer.Â Green roofs will absorb rain and plants would also help to create a micro climate harbouring insects and in turn attracting birds.

I can imagine a city that’s lush, green and full of life.

Ultra thin ultra efficient lights

The Korean researchers have created a new ultra thin OLED. (Via Inhabitat)

Building with trees

Patrick Bernatchez

I’ve been watching the short films by Patrick Bernatchez this morning. They’re disturbing and haunting images, capturing in a few minutes human misery, despair and loneliness like suspense movies. “Empereur” from the series Crysalide has a Ronald McDonald sitting in a car slowly filling with water. The music of God Speed You Black Emperor works perfectly with the dark images.

The exhibition is held at Gallery West in The Hague.

Pen Magazine interview

I was interviewed in the Pen Magazine about my WorkVitamins concept. It was my first interview conducted in Japanese only…

You can read the whole article (in Japanese)Pen001

Twitter

Twitter‘s been taking up too much of my time the last few weeks. I have to admit it, I’m completely addicted to it. It is just so much fun. Especially now since I found Historical Tweets. I submitted the image below, not sure if it will be published.

Clean desk

I’m terrible at this, my desk’s always a mess, but the secret is rather simple. The secret of a clean desk is that everything should have its place. If everything that you use has a place and if you place it back after using it you don’t get a situation like the image below.