| The Editorial  Productivity
By Byron Kinnaird
Martin Heidegger foresaw an epoch of flexibility, which seems to have launched itself right through us and brought with it a penchant for sophisticated modes of productivity. Transcending our twentieth century obsession with industrialised efficiency has become an everyday practice, a practice which is productive, deceptive and hyper-active.
We have so much to do, that we just love to figure out clever ways of doing it all. Jeffrey Inaba and his experimental broadcasting laboratory C-LAB recently directed their attention to the matter, enquiring in to the nature of Content Management and its proliferation through the practical world. What they moulded was a kinship between architecture and Content Management, both sharing an affinity, or perhaps an unrequited lust, for complexity:
“Though Architecture and Content Management both claim to clarify, they obfuscate.” Inaba continues, ‘Even the term Content Management is beautifully deceptive: its bureaucratic connotation entirely lacks appeal, as if it is about administering material, not creating it.'
Productivity and architecture are ironic bed-fellows.
They are inter-locked, but horribly mis-matched in velocity. Productivity creates speed-wobbles for architecture, where collaborative, multi-headed and many-armed projects are edited continuously and furiously, pausing (out of breath) for bureaucratic sign-offs as the race continues.
Productivity is the entrepreneurial response to an economic break-down. Mark Wigley posits that it may in fact be our first creative quality: 'To some extent to be aware of designers is to experience…their ability to control the flow of information. Paradoxically, the first symptom of creativity is managerial.'
Modes of productivity that may offer insight have been suggested by Jeffrey Inaba in the past. He proposes that the architect could be hyper-active, questioning for example why we just work at one practice, in one particular way? Why not many, simultaneously? Questioning these existing boundaries of practice may consequently generate economic and architectural innovation. Closer inspection of such architectural idée reçue and methods of practice can hopefully prolong the rocky relationship of Productivity and Architecture. | The Products  | Decking Solution
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|  | Tint Pro - Hüper Optik
“We don’t like window tinting!”
This is the reaction a lot of Architects & Specifiers give us. What is it they don’t like? Reflection, darkness, bubbles.
What if there is a film which is non-reflective, virtually undetectable and will not bubble, with a solid guarantee and proven track record? Would you consider it? People usually do!
Hüper Optik Nano-Ceramic Window Films utilize a patented system, delivering superb optical clarity, low sheen European elegance and style. Very effective solar heat gain coefficient ratings reduce the load on A/C systems. Consider Hüper Optik to cut down heat at a fraction of the cost of replacing the glass and more effective than other options.
Hüper Optik – The smarter choice
http://www.tintpro.co.nz/ | | | Calendar  | 22-23 NOV [AKL]
Elam Open Days 2008
Final Year BFA, BFA(Hons), PGDipFA & MFA submissions
20 Whitaker Place & 5 Symonds Street, Building 113
November 22-23, 10am-6pm
Until 22 NOV [AKL]
‘Long Live the Modern - New Zealand's New Architecture, 1904-1984’ Exhibition
The Gus Fisher Gallery
74 Shortland Street, Auckland
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm; Saturday, 12-4pm; closed Public Holidays
25 Nov [AKL]
NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards
Grand Tearoom, Level 7, Heritage Hotel, Hobson Street, Auckland
RSVP Justine Francis: jfrancis@nzia.co.nz
25 NOV [WGN]
Pecha Kucha Night Wellington_04 8
Paramount Cinema, 25 Courtenay Place, Wellington City.
Doors open 7.30, starts 8.20pm.
(see Event feature below)
26 NOV [WGN]
Rugwell Meeting
Argest Technical Services, Ground floor, Radio NZ House,
155 The Terrace, Wellington.
5.30pm, RSVP Jason@archaus.co.nz
17th - 24th NOV [CHC_DUN_AKL]
Peter Buchanan ‘NZ Wood Sustainable Design Series’
20th NOV Christchurch, 21st NOV Dunedin, 24th NOV Auckland.
See website for event locations.
| | The Tech Bit  It’s all about Productivity: Introducing Productspec MyProjects.
By Jason Howden, IT Systems Manager - Archaus Architects
With the world in financial crisis and projects going on hold everywhere it seems being more productive with our time is even more important than before, with that said Productspec this month released their latest Free Productivity Tool for Architects, Designers and Specifiers.
Productspec MyProjects is a secure online collaborative tool set that allows users of the Productspec Database to create virtual projects and associate users to these projects. Once a project has been created in MyProjects users can then add products from within the Productspec Database to their projects, comments and notes can be added to the individual products for example; Wash Hand Basin for Comment and Review.
As MyProjects is an online tool your virtual projects can be easily shared with your entire design team and even external users like clients, thus extending and streamlining the traditional methods for choosing, approving and specifying products on a construction project.
MyProjects is a innovative use of online technology and even though this is the first release of MyProjects, I've found it useful as a centralised digital record of the products I’m looking at using on up and coming projects and I’m now looking forward to using this technology as it is further refined and new features are added to it.
Key features of the Productspec MyProjects Tool: - Clean and Easy to use Interface.
- Store and Group Products by Project code or name.
- Add Comments and Notes to individual Products.
- Direct access to the Productspec database from within MyProjects.
- Create user defined Projects and Project Users.
- Control User Access and Permissions.
For more information on the MyProjects visit http://www.productspec.net/myprojects.a | | |