Tag: design

North Korean Interiors

In every refurbished building we visit, there is a peculiarly consistent style of preschool color schemes and shiny synthetic surfaces, the pastel palettes and axial symmetry giving an eerie feeling of walking into a Wes Anderson film set, or a life-size Polly Pocket toy… kindergarten kitsch is the logical next step for a regime intent on projecting an image of carefree prosperity. It is architecture as anaesthetic, a powerful tool for the state to infantilize its people.

design has suddenly become nk’s best export.

The Substance of Style

this was one of my favorite books in the last 5 years, and it has aged pretty well. as more of our world is eaten by software, it will become both easier and more impactful to have good design.

From airport terminals decorated like Starbucks to the popularity of hair dye among teenage boys, one thing is clear: we have entered the Age of Aesthetics. Sensory appeals are everywhere, and they are intensifying, radically changing how Americans live and work.

We expect every strip mall and city block to offer designer coffee, a copy shop with do-it-yourself graphics workstations, and a nail salon for manicures on demand. Every startup, product, or public space calls for an aesthetic touch, which gives us more choices, and more responsibility. By now, we all rely on style to express identity. And aesthetics has become too important to be left to the aesthetes.

Dementia Village

Today, the isolated village of Hogewey lies on the outskirts of Amsterdam in the small town of Wheesp. Hogewey is a cutting-edge elderly-care facility where residents are given the chance to live seemingly normal lives. With only 152 inhabitants, it’s run like a more benevolent version of The Truman Show, if The Truman Show were about dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. Like most small villages, it has its own town square, theater, garden, and post office. Unlike typical villages, however, this one has cameras monitoring residents every hour of every day, caretakers posing in street clothes, and only 1 door in and out of town, all part of a security system designed to keep the community safe. Friends and family are encouraged to visit. Some come every day. Residents at Hogewey require fewer medications, eat better, live longer, and appear more joyful than those in standard elderly-care facilities.