Categories
-
Recent Comments
Tags
"baltimore architecture week" "design center" aesthetics authenticity Baltimore vacant alley RFP criticism curation Design Conversations design conversation very important architecture Design Convo Design Convo Absorb Media diversity elsewhere events facility graphic design historic preservation Hopkins downtown center interdependence letterpress meta hacked design innovation modernism Project ideas self-organization service social design Sustainability tools
2 Comments
I dropped into The Windup Space on North Avenue in the Station North Arts District last night to see what Design Conversations is all about. Held monthly at this location, it is an outgrowth of the Design Center morphosis taking place here in Baltimore. Programs are free and fairly informal but anyone can put on a program built around some design issue.
Last night the conversation was about Design Policy, a very fuzzy topic at best. One person presented the topic, punctuated with slide images, and this began the conversation. Many of us (about two dozen may have been present) chimed in and it became quite obvious that there are as many perceptions of what constitutes ‘design’ as there are people. And, predictably, there were a great many thoughts about what ‘policy’ could mean in the context of design within our city.
There were a number of architects present but people who just happen to work for BDC, the BMA, NDC and a few other ‘alphabetics’ also were there, not to represent their employer but to engage with the group out of their personal interests in ‘design.’ The group also had its share of artists, graphic designers, landscape architects, greenies, urban gardeners, bicycle and transportation advocates, etc. I found last night’s topic and the ideas expressed stimulating and on point for the most part about what has happened, is happening or needs to happen to raise awareness of good design and to see it implemented in our city.
I would encourage anyone with an interest in ‘design’ to go and to participate. The topics change monthly and I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised at the mix of people and ideas. Russell, the proprietor and barkeep of The Windup Space, hosts the event but he also hosts a lot of other events during the week, including live music performances, art events and other things that are generally of interest to the design community.
hey jim – I was the guy who organized the topic for the event and shared those first few slides… I definitely appreciate your thoughts on it, especially given that this may have been your first Design Conversation. The only thing I’d add to your very on-point observations is to underscore what you mention in the last paragraph : that each design conversation event is completely different… different organizer, different topic, different crowd (!). And there is definitely a need for more individuals/groups to organize future conversations.
Glad you made it to that event