23% of people get their alone time out of home, Ikea Reports:
The traditional idea of where we find a feeling of home is being disrupted, moving beyond four walls, according to a global research project by Ikea Group.
The report found that 1 in 3 people of the 22,000 surveyed in 22 markets including Australia, the US, Europe and China, said there are places where they feel more at home than the space they live in. In cities Ikea tracks this as rising from 20% in 2016 to 35% in 2018.
The Life at Home Report 2018 identifies five core emotional needs which capture the feeling of home – privacy, comfort, ownership, security and belonging. Ikea says many living situations do not answer these needs, hence people look to their community and local area, their work, and the homes of their families and friends for fulfilment.
For example, 23% of people felt they had to leave their home to find alone time.
“For a large number of people, home just doesn’t feel like home any more,” says Maria Jonsson, Macro Insights Leader at Ikea.
“We discovered a new behaviour, where people use a network of spaces and places, both within and beyond the four walls, as part of their homemaking experience.”
Public spaces it seems, as the new backyard for city apartment dwellers, as a place to meet, work, socialise, eat together and play, to relax, de-stress and unwind, are becoming more important in answering the emotional needs of urban lives.
Photo: Ikea.
Sails not Sales, public icon protest:
Sydney’s design and landscape community rallied to try and stop the sails of Sydney Opera House from becoming a glorified billboard, Stephen Todd writes for Habitusliving.
The international icon projected Racing NSW advertising on its sails for 10 minutes on October 9, 2018, after pressure from a radio shock jock, then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, followed by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
More than 250,000 people signed a petition of protest, and over a thousand assembled to shine torchlights onto the sails in an attempt to obliterate the ads.
The design community, says Todd, was particularly vocal among protestors: “A series of Instagram tiles by local graphic designer Marcus Piper, their witty quips – OUR SAILS ARE NOT FOR SALE, THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS – rendered in a punchy font borrowed from boxing posters went viral.
“And government architect Rory Toomey’s (@rorythearchitect) satyrical sketchpad rendering of a logo-laden opera house [headline image] captured the trepidatious mood of us, the incalcitrant, unrepentant and downright angry latté-sippers of this place,” he writes.
Protest image by Marcus Piper.
Linda Corkery, National President of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, told Foreground: “our main concern is the exploitation and potential compromise of the Opera House’s image and world heritage status.
“The visual impact of the projections radiate out into the public domain. It’s not only the commercialisation of the Sydney Opera House, but the entire public space of Circular Quay.
“Sydney Harbour, its waterfront and the built environment surrounding it, should be enjoyed for its drama and natural beauty, and should be free from projects that detract from that beauty.”
The NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects also expressed disappointment, as did the Planning Institute of Australia, and Sydney architect Angelo Candalepas toldArchitectureAU: “It’s official. Sydney is the Stupid State.”
Todd writes: “The New York Times titled one story covering the scandal, ‘Is All Australia for Sale?’ to which we respond, ‘No, it’s not’. The battle for public domain is a fight for the democracy itself – and this will not be the last time we have to fight. Resist.”
Image by Rory Toomy.
Award-winning Australian landscapes:
The 2018 National Landscape Architecture Awards celebrated the power of creative design thinking in improving the world around us, reports Foreground.
The 38 winning projects are commended for helping to address and improve the future quality of the public domain at a time of increasing urbanisation and climate variation.
Street Furniture Australia was proud to sponsor the Urban Design category this year, and would like to congratulate winners Hassell, RPS and Hansen Partnership.
For a list of all winning projects, including images and some of the stories behind them, please see Foreground’s article, Expanding Horizons.
Photo: Ian Potter Children’s WILDPLAY Garden by Aspect Studios. Image: Brett Boardman.
To celebrate the unveiling of the Piatto Chair at our annual product launch party with AILA NSW in Sydney, Jazz at The Mint, clients were invited to enter this quirky contest. The competition called for teams to incorporate Piatto Chairs into an ‘Awkward Family Photo’ portrait, for a chance to win Piatto Chairs of their very own. Congratulations to the creative crew from Yerrabingin, who delivered the strongest awkward family vibes on the night. Highly commended goes to the entrants below, and the full photo gallery from the event is available for viewing. Please contact marketing@streetfurniture.com if you would like to request a high res file to print and frame for your best room.
Clients from Sydney, Adelaide, California and Texas joined Street Furniture Australia and AILA NSW to celebrate the unveiling of new products on March 14, 2024, with margaritas and live music. Jazz at The Mint is an annual product launch held at The Mint, an iconic site in the heart of the Sydney CBD. It is an elegant affair and a unique opportunity to connect with landscape architects and built environment professionals at a global scale. This year’s party featured the new Linea Planter System and upcoming Piatto Chair, a single-seater hybrid between cafe and robust public space furniture – available now for specifications. The gathering was opened by Uncle Allan Murray, representing the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council, with speeches from: Ben Stockwin, AILA CEO, acknowledged the 10 year relationship with …
The Street Furniture Australia factory, in Regents Park, Western Sydney, is both a manufacturing hub and R&D studio for our Australian-designed and made street furniture products. We run fun and informative group events for customers throughout the year, to share how products are designed, tested and built, and the latest products and projects. This tour is open to design specifiers such as landscape architects and architects, and place custodians including Councils, government agencies, developers and other place managers. Director of Tract Julie Lee said: “It was a great opportunity for our team to look behind the scenes and understand the innovation, research and climate positive outcomes Street Furniture Australia is focusing on. Thank you for having us!” Place Design Group Associate, Liam Isaksen, said: “The factory tour is a fun …
Recycled plastic roads now on trial: Inventors are currently trialling recycled plastic road technology in the Netherlands, says The Economist, with a 30 metre bicycle track opened in early September. The first prefabricated PlasticRoad track in Zwolle consists of modular sections made in a factory from 70% recycled plastic and 30% polypropylene. Developers say it includes recycled plastic equivalent to more than 218,000 plastic cups or 500,000 bottle caps. Sensors to measure temperature, the number of bike passages, durability, flexing and the flow of water through drainage channels, are also fitted inside the path. Two Dutch firms – KWS, a road builder, and Wavin, a firm that makes plastic piping – are developing the product in partnership with Total, a French oil-and-gas firm. The trial follows an Australian test project installed in May, with a …
Kanye’s housing renders: Kanye West’s Yeezy Home design and architecture collaborators have released images of an initial pre-fab concrete concept design, with a Brutalist aesthetic, on Instagram. Very little information has been offered about the architectural renderings, posted by Jalil Peraza, a long-time West collaborator who teamed up with architect Nejc Škufca and industrial designer Vadik Marmeladov to bring us a first look at Ye’s housing vision. Peraza told The Urban Developer his intention is to create a “scalable” low-income social housing scheme using prefabricated concrete. His company, Face Modules, has prior experience with low-cost prefab commercial pod systems. Should West’s project go ahead, a ’tilt-up’ method of construction, using cranes, could be used to erect as many as 30 house panels per day. It could be the start of West’s new city. Or perhaps he is currently …
Kanye West – rapper, fashion designer and now city builder? Kanye West appears to be turning his sights from music and sneakers to architecture and city-building. “Don’t let him do this,” writes Brentin Mock in CityLab. In the final 15 minutes of an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, ticking well over 8 million YouTube views in 20 days, Yeezy walks his 300 acres and muses, “I’m gonna build five properties, so this is my first community. I’m getting into development. Anybody who’s been to any of my cribs knows I’m super into developing homes. This is the next frontier for me.” “I’m going to be one of the biggest real estate developers of all time, like what Howard Hughes was to aircraft and what Henry Ford was to cars.” His …
