It is a real pleasure to be able to sit back and listen to interesting people talk about things that interest you. I have been thinking about prototying a lot recently and have just rewritten some term one lectures as I am working out ways of getting digital native students to explore more thinking with analog devices (pens, paper, card etc). Papercamp 4 entirely organized, delivered and hosted by the amazing Alex created a more than anticipated few hours of noodling things over in my head.

The full speaker list is over on Alex’s site with links to their respective homes on the internet but a few moments that really resonated are below.

I am embarrassed to say I have somehow managed to get this far through life without hearing about Drawing Matters. Jesper gave a lovely overview of the work they do in preserving the work of architects and designers through their drawings. I loved the idea of drawings as a way of thinking and the way in which they are used to explore ideas. I didn’t get my phone out in time to take a picture but the quote (by Robin Evans?) he put up on screen resonated:

“What can the drawing tell us about the architecture that the building cannot?”

I am continually pushing our students to capture and tell us the story behind the journey towards the thing they have made. I have added a potential visit / workshop for CASA staff / students to my list of things to do! I really want to see this collection in person.

Image from Drawing Matters website

Alastair Sommerville’s style of presentation was really appreciated and fired off lots of ideas that I want to explore in our workshop sessions with students and we can enter their lived perispace rather than their virtual one. I loved his “paper powerpoint” and the physicality of tearing between talking points (maps, tools, cards, the gift (a zine) and the thank you).

I also liked his “did you know” that post-it notes, jenga blocks and Moo large rectangular stickers all have the same proportions - ideal for creating workshop objects.

Eva-Lotta’s session on making a zine was really good fun and highlighted a nice learning through doing approach. Am going to work out how I can integrate her approach into one of early workshops on sketching with students. I also learnt to talk about hot dog folds and hamburger folds.

I have not head Adrian talk for a while but was reminded why I love listening to his stories. He always seems to be having so much fun - from his personal correspondance with Paul Daniels (at age 11, he is a member of the magic circle) to getting older adults to design banana phones.

I had not heard him talk previously about an internal project in the studio for a client they wish they could work with. Their “missing pages” was a lovely response to some user research around peoples lived experiences of acquiring Ikea furniture - from buying, building, the pain, and the recovery. The prototypes included physio suggestions at the end of the build instructions to couples self help guidance to mitigate the inevitable arguements that DIY can create.

I also went to Papercamp last year - Papercamp 3 notes over here.

In other news, the UCL200 greenwall project on Gordon Street is progressing - need to make sure we coordinate sensor install before the cherry picker departs and there is a buzz of preperation over in 22 Gordon Street as Bartlett students prepare for their end of year show.