Desyn magazine by MEDS Meeting of Design Students

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly we would like to thank the organising team of MEDS Ireland and Global Green for all their hard work and for hosting us in the beautiful city of Dublin: Joe Murphy, John Flynn, Oksana Lastovetsky, John Geraghty, Kieran Donnellan, Ailbhe Cunningham, Hugh O’Rourke, Aoife Flynn, Alex Dimitrova, Fran Kaucz, Amandine Dicaccio, Olwyn Greene, Brendan Spierin, Ciarán Molumby, Aprar Elawad, Isabella de Brito and Michelle Walsh. Secondly to the venues who have allowed 200 International Students to use their spaces and equipment to their full capacity: Dublin Institute of Technology, The Chocolate Factory Creative Community, Mt Carmels Girls Secondary School, Hendron’s Collider, Stoneybatter Guild, Market Studios, Seomra Spraoi, Christchurch Cathedral and Dublin Castle. Thirdly to the outstanding lecturers who gave us an insight into true global design thinking: Séan Harrington, Jim Roche, Peter Flynn, Joseph Walsh, Kaethe Burt O’Dea, Gearóid Carvill and Robert Skoczylas Fourthly to the REC workshop participants who worked hard to produce this publication with enthusiasm: Masa Mazi, Berra Demirel, Hazal Parlak, Nadezda Leonova, Eva Bartova, Marta D’Elia, Eliska Malkova, Jack Lehane, Vincenzo Meoli, Penny Jalkotzy, Karolina Kotlicka, Marta Kowalska, Elkeda Kalaci, Angelica Fernandez And Tutors: Janneke Earl, Smaranda Ilie, Cătălin Grigore, Alastair Brook and Oytun Günel. With a special mention from the Chief Editor to Janneke Earl, Smaranda Ilie and Nikoletta Christidi who have kept the idea of DESYN Magazine alive throughout his absence over the last few months. And last but not least, a special thank you goes out to all those who donated to the Global Green cause through Indie GoGo: Martin Marinov, Gav Wheeler, Cormac Murray, Davina Moody, Amandine Dicaccio, Claudia Murray, Oksana Lastovetsky, Ailbhe Cunningham, Jim Roche, Barry Murphy Auctioneers, Jimmy and Anna Roche, Ponke Danker, Brendan Spierin, Susie Newman, Alexey Lastovetsky, Paddy Roche, Kieran Donnellan, Cecilia Murphy, Richard Hannon, Gulnara Lastovetsky, Sean Harrington Architects, Murphy Mueller Family and Seamus and Mary Cunningham.

contents

meds foreward page | 6 |

history page | 7 |

maps & statistics page | 8 |

global green foreword page | 10 |

intro to dublin

page | 11 |

workshop map & timetable page | 12 |

workshop venues

page | 14 |

the workshops page | 16 |

sustainability of workshops page | 24 |

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poster competition

page | 25 |

lectures page | 26 |

national day page | 29 |

meds dublin 2014 exhibition

page | 30 |

meds serbia - tara mountains

national contact list

page | 32 |

page | 33 |

Desyn articles page | 34 |

editors notes page | 36 |

sponsors page | 37 |

blurb page | 38 |

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MEDS Foreword - Joe Murphy - International Director at MEDS

I’m Joe Murphy- Irish by birth but living in Germany. I have a degree in Industrial Design + Transportation Design, with a history of 1 year Graphic Design education in Valencia and 1 year Design Thinking education in Berlin. Whilst I was in Valencia I heard about the MEDS workshop being held in Istanbul, and the year after I joined MEDS in Ljubljana and accepted the role as German National Contact. What is so special about MEDS is that every Design and Architecture school has their own methods and teaching styles, and MEDS offers the opportunity to interact with people from different schools of design and experience these differences in culture and education. MEDS is at a very interesting stage after 5 years, as many veteran MEDS-ians are beginning their professional lives, and from this emerges a large network of people throughout Europe and now globally as we expand. I can’t wait to see what happens! Can and Zana, the founders of MEDS, have asked me to take over the leadership role and oversee the democratic organisation of future workshops with National Contacts and participants alike. I still don’t know if I said yes, and I definitely can’t tell you why! But I hope that what we are doing here might have the potential to positively affect Design Education for the future.

- Can Baysal & Žana Kopitar - Founder & Co-Founder at MEDS Due to previous experiences with workshops we realised that young designers are seeking challenges and looking for more opportunities at the beginning of their professional life. We found it a bit strange that all existing workshop strikingly separate design disiplines and are mostly closed to predefined groups of people. We decided to start an organisation which won’t exclude any of the design desciplines and will be open to each and everyone who would like to be a part of it. MEDS is a place for designers to make social and professional connections, unlock their potential and use their talents out of faculty. First of all, I think that it is extremply important to built something on your own. As designers we need to understand the way things work and not just how they should look. Secondly, designing something with no limits, no pressure and no frustration opens our mind. I believe participants are exploring their creativity and having fun at the same time. And this is MEDS! A combination of new skills and friendships. Now looking at it from distance feels so good. It makes us feel proud that people have adpopted the whole idea of MEDS and decided to carry it on. Furthermore, people involved in MEDS are coming up with some amazing new ideas that are allowing MEDS to grow and become more profesional as a platform for design students. MEDS won’t find you a job but it can give you a good starting point and a lot of connections. It is up to you how you are going to use this experience. Each workshop has a unique combination of specific location, culture, and a lot of MEDS people. Each of them we remember by something special. For Ireland it will probably be terrific weather and delicious beer. I am looking forward to our next MEDS memories.

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History

MEDS organizes international events for students of all design disciplines to pursue their ideas and showcase their talent in different cultural environments. Events take part each summer in different countries, focusing on various issues, themes, topics and settings that will help any designer to expand their experience. It is a chance to get in touch with diverse approaches to design, different building techniques, traditions and skills. MEDS events are not only practical but also theoretical with several conferences and lectures taking part. MEDS History 2010 Alanya, Turkey : Alice in Designland 2011 Istanbul, Turkey : Relationship Between Europe & Asia 2012 Ljubljana, Slovenia : SenseAbility 2013 Lisbon, Portugal : REaction 2014 Dublin, Ireland : Global Green

MENC is a meeting for the MEDS team and national contacts.

Each year it is held in a different country and unites the MEDS family. It is organized to discuss the progress of MEDS, events, workshops, future work etc. The aim of MENC is to improve MEDS as an organization as a team and to share ideas for forthcoming events.

MENC History 2010 Famagusta, Cyprus 2011 Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia 2012 Kortrijk, Belgium 2013 Prizren, Kosovo 2014 Mardrid, Spain

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maps & statistics

69% 31%

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ALBANIA

GREECE 8

BELGIUM

IRELAND 20

BULGARIA

ITALY 6

CANADA

JORDAN 2

CROATIA

KOSOVO 9

CZECH REPUBLIC

MACEDONIA 1

DENMARK 6 FRANCE 3

MEXICO 2

GERMANY 9

NORWAY 2

NETHERLANDS

maps & statistics

POLAND 12 PORTUGAL 2 ROMANIA 8 SERBIA 1 SLOVENIA 9 SPAIN 6 SWITZERLAND 4 TURKEY 16 UNITED KINGDOM

participant picking criteria This year MEDS Dublin hosted participants from 27 countries from all over the world including Jordan, Canada and Brazil. The criteria of picking the participants was based on poster/ video entry by each participant. Then, every NC (national contact) was responsable of choosing the best 6 entries of all. Some countries were not able to fulfill the given number of participants, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why, for example, this year Turkey had a total of 16 workshop attenders. The Irish Team organisers expected a total number of 250 participants, but only 175 people actually attended.

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Global Green Foreword - John Flynn - Project Manager at MEDS Ireland How did you come about setting up the workshop? I suppose it all began back in Kortrijk, Belgium in 2012 at the MENC (Meeting of National Contacts). I was the national contact from Ireland at that time and there were about 30 international delegates present from throughout Europe. At this meeting a number of other countries made proposals for the 2014 MEDS workshop, and I felt based on their presentations that I could propose a better alternative, a more enjoyable comprehensive solution than the other candidates.

Why you did it? Where to start, I’ve met so many amazing people through my involvement with MEDS. I feel extremely blessed to have been born and raised in Ireland and to have had some of the opportunities I’ve had. I guess I wanted to share some of my everyday experiences with my MEDS friends. I felt like the assembly was the perfect platform to explore and promote the city. In terms of design and learning, the varied nature of the 12 workshops and the interdisciplinary backgrounds of the participants & tutors offer an unparalleled opportunity to learn new skills in a practical hands-on environment.

Why this theme? The theme of global green came about from the core values I wished to instil in the workshop. I wished to focus on the international and Interdisciplinary nature of the delegates and wanted each of the workshops to be creative and innovative. Hence global green. I also thought the name was catchy and I think sometimes people take themselves and images too seriously , I wished to concentrate on the workshop output and hopefully when all is said and done the proof will be in the pudding.

Why in Dublin? Dublin is the economic, cultural and social centre of Ireland. The pure scale of the city appealed to me from a logistical point of view. There is so much to do and see. It’s easily accessible and can offer quite good value once you know where to look. The people and places within the city are unique and the creativity and collectives that can be found here are unparalleled, so the question for me has always been not why, but why not?

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intro to dublin There is a colony of seagulls flying above our heads. We were lying on a wavy green carpet, waiting for the next rain clouds to cover the gullsongs heard in some American 90’s TV series. Now we are standing under this small roof, maybe it will be better to find a bigger shelter from the rain. I can see some friends under the roof of that pub. It’s Guinness time.

Dublin is a plot/set of circumstances that end up with a beer, the old “Black Pool” in which rivers and streets come together, the crossing point from the north to the south of Ireland, the best natural meeting place of design students.

MEDS has found accommodation in one of the most liveable European cities, in which everyone has the awareness of being a Global Green actor since Dublin City Council has been working with strategic, organisational sustainability towards significant investments in energy efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and sustainable urban development.

People will not hesitate to make us feel welcomed as Italians do. Even if we can’t find the most delicious coffee ever, after a couple of beers the Irish tricolor will look like the Italian one and we will talk to smiley people who would do everything to make us feel at home.

And when the night comes the high coloured Temple Bar alleys will shine on our faces, with the soundtrack of the street musicians and, of course, the echoes of the gullsongs that the wind has blown to us. Even tonight the river will take us home.

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Sun 10thSun 10th

Mon 11th Mon 11th

ue 12thTue 12th

Wed 13th d 13th

Thu 14thThu 14th

15th Fri 15th

Tutor site visit Tutor site visit

arrival ParticipantParticipant arrival

Meal and evening event Meal and evening event

Workshop discussions Lecture Lunch discussions Workshop Workshop Lecture Lunch Dinner Workshop Tutors exposition exposition& CEUD & CEUDTutors meet teamsmeet teams Mingle Session recruitmentrecruitment Mingle Session StephenPitcher StephenPitcher

Dinner Opening Opening Opening Ceremony Ceremony party at Dicey Reillyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Opening party at Dicey Reilly â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop discussions and discussions and brainstorming brainstorming session session

Dinner

Dinner Lecture: Lecture: Evening Sean Sean event HarringtonHarrington Twisted Architects Architects Pepper

Evening event Twisted Pepper

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop design anddesign and implementation implementation

Dinner

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Dinner

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Dinner

Dinner Prepare food Preparations for and drink for the national day national today

Sat 16thSat 16th

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1110 1211 1 12 2 1 3 2 4 3 5 4 6 5 7 6 8 7 9 8 10 9 1110 BREAKF AST: 8-10am daily at the hostels

BREAKF AST 8-10am daily at your hostel

National Day BBQ) Prepare foodNational and drinkDay + (evening for the national day

Lecture: Evening Jim event RocheGrand Social

Evening event Grand Social

1110 1211 1 12 2 1 3 2 4 3 5 4 6 5 7 6 8 7 9 8 10 9 1110 Workshop Workshop Lecture Lecture Event Event

Lunch - Participants, Tutors and National Contacts provide their own lunch Lunch - Participants , Tutors and National Contacts provide their own lunch Dinner at the Chocolate Factory Dublin Creative Community Dinner - atThe Chocolate Factory Dublin Creative C ommunity Exhibition Exhibition

BREAKF AST: 8-10am daily at the hostels

Sun 17thSun 17th

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BREAKF AST 8-10am daily at your hostel

citytime touror -Free time oroptions Excursion options Dublin cityDublin tour -Free Excursion

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Dinner

DinnerLecture: Lecture Evening Evening ARUP Group event ARUP Group event Walsh Bernard Joseph Joseph Dicey Walsh Reilley’s Shaw

Lunch Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Dinner

DinnerLecture: Lecture Kaethe Burt Kaethe Burt O’Dea O’Dea

Dinner

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Dinner

DinnerLecture: Robert Skoczylas

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Dinner

Dinner Set up exhibition Set up exhibition

Lunch Exhibition Lunch Exhibition

Dinner

Dinner Goodbye Goodbye Party at Party at Generator Generator

Lunch Workshop Workshop Workshop Lunch Workshop implementation / implementation / Construction Construction

Exhibition Exhibition

Bruce Evening Willis at event the Lost WorkmansSociety

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medsdublin || global global green green 131 || medsdublin

Workshop Venues - DIT Located in the centre of Dublin, DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology) has existed in its present form since 1992, although a longer history of it can be traced back to the establishment of the first Irish technical education system in 1887. It maintains its primary ideals through its offering of third level education from certificate to doctorate level. Moreover, Alumni of the Dublin Institute of Technology include many of Ireland’s leading politicians, artists and writers, including The Boomtown Rats, formed by Bob Geldof. It has a wide range of courses, including Science, Marketing, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering and Architecture, the latter opening up their doors to this year’s MEDS (Meeting of Design Students) participants and tutors in Linenhall, opposite its sister building on Bolton Street. It is on the third floor of Linenhall that the central hub of both the REC and Photography workshops for MEDS was created. The Photography workshop focuses on light-painting techniques – a relatively new method of challenging convention with exciting light patterns and displays using long exposures – and the REC workshop collaborating with both participants and tutors from the surrounding workshops in order to both record and experience what it means to be a part of MEDS.

- Seomra Spraoi An autonomous social hub in the centre of Dublin, Seomra Spraoi is run by non-profit collective in order to create an affordable and approachable relief to the city culture that surrounds it. A host to the Waste Bicycles and Primitive DIY Photography workshops for MEDS (Meeting of Design Students), it is also host to film screenings, gigs, cafés and language lessons, as well as a host of other subjects for activity. By creating such a diverse range of experiences within its walls, Seomra Spraoi allows itself to cater for a wider range of individuals, further extending its positive relief from a city culture which has arguably become defined by property speculation and consumerist ideals. In essence, a city tailored less to the individual, and more to the culture of the car. By challenging this culture, a truer value is experienced through their alternative selections, including vegan cakes and tea, Spanish language classes and camera-making; an insightful exploration into the mechanics of the camera - and photography as a whole. It is within the bicycle repair workshop that some MEDS students have made their home for two weeks, alongside their camera-making counterparts – making reusable DIY bicycles for later use to distribute food to the less fortunate.

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Workshop Venues - The Chocolate Factory Many dubliners may be familiar with the old Chocolate Factory on King’s Inn street. The current owners have started to bring it back to life in the last two years and they have established rentable studios, a communal space for artists, on the upper level which is used by the costume makers, jewellers and there is also a music production studio available for rent. But this is just a starting point. The area downstairs is going to open as a cafe in the near future, it is a good opportunity for them to start with us. They started putting the place together a week before MEDS has started - the furniture downstairs has been found within the building and some of it was brought in by the staff. The kitchen equipment has also been installed in the weeks up-coming to the event. All of the menu has been prepared well in advance and agreed upon with the organisers, and lets say they have done a good job and we are all enjoying the food! Chefs: Wagner Hassam and Tulagh Tuathal

- Market Studios On Halston Street next to the bustling warehouse doors of the fruit market and behind an electric blue facade lie the Market Studios: 15 affordable studio spaces for visual artists. Their gallery space “Unit H” has been kindly loaned to the Guerrilla Graffiti workshop for the duration of MEDS. It’s a warren of small, white studio spaces with the artists’ work lining the walls leading to a rooftop garden where the MEDS participants are practising spray can techniques in the sun. Twice a month, the Market Studios are also home to “Live Stock”, a performance art evening that provides a non-critical platform for Dublin’s artists to share, experiment and socialise in this intimate environment. We spoke to Eleanor Lawler and Katherine Nolan: two artists and co-organisers of Live Stock about the events. They’re “great craic” (great fun), even when the organising is manic, and are an important social event that encourages informal discussions between audience and practitioners.

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the Workshops - The Happines Algorithm During the first three years of MEDS the selection of workshops by participants was based entirely on a screening process devised by individual Tutors, which sometimes left workshops without any participants or some overcrowded. Each year this issue was discussed between National Contacts at the annual MENC (Meeting of National Contacts) with varying solutions being implemented unsuccessfully. It wasn’t until MEDSlisbon2013 that a returning National Contact, Daniel Haarhoff- a student of mechanical engineering specialising in robotics- devised an algorithm to combat this issue. The algorithm is a ‘points’ system based upon a participant’s top three workshop choices and the number of participants of the same country and gender in each workshop. These ‘points’ then accumulate to chart a participant’s projected ‘happiness’ within each workshop, hence the given name of ‘The Happiness Algorithm’.

Casino-Marino - Tutors - Daniel Haarholf and co-tutor Joana Martins - Architect - Douglas Carson A team of 20 participants visited the Casino Marino building and brainstormed for approaches to replicate one of the rooms in the Castle Gardens. The Casino Marino workshop is fully focused on the reproduction of the china closet – a room with only one natural light source. Once the eyes are adjusted to the darkness the intricate plaster work can be seen due to the casting of shadows that make it visible to the eye. The structure of the pavilion is in the construction process and there are two approaches being tested. The team is experimenting with knotting on 1:1 scale to get a feel of the real structure, tying ‘green’ timber poles together with a rope to work out the best way for the construction, also making sure that all health and safety regulations are met. The interior is going to be completed with an internal lining of Tricoya MDF panels – an Irish designed product made from waste timber – which completes the sustainable aspect of the design. The panels will be layered to create a threedimensional spatial quality. This process will be used for all of the walls except one which is going to have a more detailed finish created using a stencil and acrylic paint. A variety of roof structures have also been tested on a smaller scale – all of which use rope to create the illusion of a vaulted ceiling and use canvas to protect the pavilion from the rain. The finishing touch will be added to the pavilion by the participants who are going to incorporate their own artwork into the space, such as photography and painting.

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the Workshops Wooden Furniture - Tutor - Gildas O’Laoire

“People should be able to face each other and interact with one another.” This is the main aspect of the chairs being designed this year as described by the tutor, which are also a part of a bigger university project showcase. As the tutor has discovered through his participants, all of them being architecture students, furniture design and architecture are closely related disciplines. This allows for easy communication and efficiency at work; the students are improving day by day and it is a great experience to be a part of. Gildas O’Laoire has been based in Dublin for the last 15 years and he is currently studying Furniture and Interior Design at the DIT, which keeps him informed about the industry; having done a lot of lamination work before he is a well experienced tutor and has the skills to pass onto his workshop participants. The lamination process takes a lot of patience – the wood has to be glued together accurately and shaped carefully, fixed to the form work with clamps for a few hours, allowing it to dry. After that the prepared pieces can be joined together to form a bigger construction – in this case a ‘conversation chair’. This process enables the creation of fluid forms which are also light-weight and relatively easy to transport (depending on the size). The workshop location had to change from the DIT to Gildas O’Laoire’s own studio. Also the materials have all been prepared by him, since the sponsors for his workshop were unfortunately lost. Nonetheless everyone is enjoying their time at MEDS and would like to come back next year.

Clock Making

- Tutors - Henry Daly, Niall O’Lochlainn and Darren Bratten Henry has been a participant of MEDS in Portugal and this year he is tutoring the clock-making workshop which has been influenced by the project he has been working on himself during the past year. The tutors, all having studied product design, believe the approaches of the students across the disciplines are very similar. Although the interests of the tutors themselves vary, one of them is involved in illustration and others with 3D design and graphics, which creates a more diverse environment for the students. A hands-on approach has been chosen for this workshop and it has mainly focused on developing the participants’ skills and letting them experiment with the available materials such as glass, steel and wood. During the initial stages of the workshop students had an inspirational walk around Dublin and were also set free to explore and produce anything they wanted. In the later stages they have been asked to design and present their ideas to the rest of the team with a final goal of creating at least one clock each. By letting the students experiment with the materials early on, the production time has been cut down. Learning the techniques that can be used instead of planning things out on paper allowed for better understanding of what can be achieved in two weeks. Their contribution to the workshop theme Global Green has been small but nonetheless they have conducted all of their experiments on the scrap pieces of plywood. Dublin is believed to be a great setting for the workshops in general and this one in particular. “The final exhibition is going to be great!” - Henry

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the Workshops Concrete cube - Tutors - Emma Bremenstent, Rasmus Feddersen The Concrete Cube workhop concentreted its skills on developing and exploring the qualities of concrete over two weeks. 14 students, under the leadership of two tutors Emma Bremenstent and Rasmus Feddersen from the Danish Royal Academy, started their workshop by walking around the city to gain inspiration last week. They visited the area around Christchurch, where their final exhibition shall take place, as well as other important sites in Dublin. After this participants, led by their tutors, created many small cubes with different colours, structure, texture and surface patterns to understand concrete as a material and explore its possibilities. The main part of the workshop comprised of final products being created during the second week by the students. Despite the assigment name, Concrete Cube, students were not forced to keep this form in theirs design. The idea was to concentrate their skills on site specific final products with the cubic shape considered only as a starting point. Students are working in pairs and created their final pieces in the final days of the workshop. You will see the 7 final designs near Christchurch for two weeks after the final exhibition.

Concrete canvas furniture - Tutor - Agnes Günther A group of 13 students led by Agnes Günther have focused their attention on discovering the design possibilities of a newly developed material, Concrete Canvas, during the two week workshop. Agnes Günther studies Jewellery and Product Design at Escola d’Art I Superior de Disseny in Valencia and works for the Concrete research centre in Germany. As a previous participant in the last two years of MEDS she decided to be a tutor this year and share her knowledge about Concrete Canvas with the participants of her workshop. Concrete canvas is material that consists of three functional layers. It has a PVC foil on one side, dry concrete mixture in the middle and fibrous top surface. The canvas is hydrated by spraying or fully immerse into water and after drying for 24 hours it gets the character of cured concrete with several advantages – it is waterproof, fire resistant, and, thanks to effective usage, reduces the enviromental impact of normal concrete projects by up to 95%. Concrete canvas is normally used in civil infrastructure application and its design possibilities are waiting for discovering. It is made in three thickness 5, 8 or 13 mm, which all are used by Agnes and her students during the two weeks. The Concrete canvas workshop is full of discovery and experimentation. The participants designed their own furniture during the first days to prove their stability. Some of designs needed only some final corrections and finishing such as screwing or cutting, whereas some of them collapsed totally. The successful ones have been produced in larger amounts. The final products will be exhibited in front of Christchurch and in The Chocolate Factory Creative Community.

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the Workshops Photography - Tutors - Fran Kaucz and Davide Nizzi In the photography workshop there are people from all over the world, Spain, Denmark, Turkey, and Bulgaria to name a few. The participants are very involved and it is nice to see them try their best! Fran has been producing stop-motion videos for advertising companies in Brasil, which inspired the idea behind this workshop. The main project will be showcased on the last day of MEDS at the Chocolate Factory. It is a stop-motion video about all of the workshops present this year and it will look at both the work being done by the participants, and explain the essence of the theme ‘Global Green’. They will accomplish this using simple materials like paper and card to construct sets, and will rely upon the imagination of their participants and the ideas they come up with. Fran was impressed by Dublin, calling it “a clean city and the people here are really polite.” She has also mentioned that her first impression was “green” – correlating back to the theme this year. The trees stay green all year round in this climate and while it might be taken for granted by the residents it comes as a surprise to some visitors. “There are so many good workshops; it must be hard for the participants to choose from!” However she would like to come back next year as a participant and face that choice herself.

Camera making - Tutor - Hvroje Spudic Based in the bustling community center Seomra Spraoi, a space that is shared with the Waste Bicycles workshop, tutor Hvroje Spudic guides his group of 8 participants through the process of making simple cameras. Hvroje’s interest in building cameras was sparked 5 years ago, when he was introduced to the process at a similar workshop. While he mainly studies architecture and hopes finish his Master’s thesis next year, he says that he finds the process of building cameras very interesting, especially regarding how that process affects the image created by a camera. The two week introduction to DIY Photography involved the production of increasingly complex cameras out of scavenged materials. This began with a demonstration of creating a room sized pinhole camera to better understand the basic photographic principles that they were working with. The participants then moved on to creating smaller pinhole cameras out of found tins, and were able to produce photographs by the end of the first day. Developing techniques were also explored in an improvised dark room using hand-mixed household products, instead of potentially harmful storebought chemicals. In the following days more complex cameras including 360 degree, anamorphic, and finally cameras using lenses were created in the final days of the workshop.

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the Workshops Guerilla Grafitti

- Tutors - Conor Bourke and co-tutor Hugh O’Rourke

Conor has explored graffiti art in one of his university projects, which is surprising since he is studying architecture. Nonetheless he has experimented with many techniques since then and has a lot of knowledge to share with his participants. While the name of the workshop implies rebellion, the beliefs this workshop holds actually contradict this stereotype. They are focusing on work within the boundaries allowed by the law. For example, reverse graffiti through power washing is environmentally friendly and contributes to the community by making the streets cleaner. As part of the workshop schedule participants went on an alternative tour of Dublin to see the artworks created by other graffiti artists around the city, and have also placed Molotov stickers around the town to identify certain places. Every day the participants have been learning a new technique or experimenting with a new medium, making it an enjoyable workshop to be a part of. The main output can now be seen by the residents and visitors of Dublin, Guerrilla Graffiti collaborated with Dublin based graffiti artists - Novice, Marca Mix and Vents - to revitalise a run-down handball alley on Green Street. The workshop also intends to interact with the people of Dublin by creating pathways for people to follow and games to play in open public spaces. In the spirit of Global Green, all will be created with consideration for the environment – using power washing technique and charcoal instead of spray paints. This makes it less resistant to the weather conditions in the long term but also implies that it is not an invasion but rather an intervention for the citizens of Dublin.

audio - video; ensemble

- Tutors - Łukasz Orlowski, Erzë Dinarama

The most secret and unpredicable workshop being held at MEDS this year has finally revealed its instillation. A group of 12 students together with their tutors started their work with a short lecture about sound and visual installations and its possibilities during the first week. After the lecture sketched their first designs and began collecting materials essential for their final exhibition. The initial plan to get a lot of waste material from scrapyards and junkyards did not work out because they would need permission from the city and regretably there was not enough time to get it during the two weeks. They did not give it up and all together walked around the city and got as much waste material as possible from the small shops, workshops or other organisation (such as DIT). They suceeded and started to built the interactive pavilion from OSB and MDF desks, tyres, pieces of guitars and lot of other stuff on the second Monday. The final design, with provisional name ‘inside/outside’, is a collective work which aims to involve all human senses. The participants work inside all the time, but it is necessery to go outside at least for a lunch break. They try to improve their audio visual senses during the work and sharing a lunch on the roof of Hendron’s Collider enables them to share taste and smell experiences. The students are constantly improving their skills in screwing and drilling as well as in dancing and singing. Thanks to this amazing experience and the feeling of community the group decided to make just one final design installation. The appearence of the ‘product’ is not the same as it was expected, it is mainly influenced by the scavenged waste material. It will be a pavillion made of OSB which will connect audio visual space inside and outside of it with the use of projectors and microphones. The pavillion will stay in the middle of studio where the group is working right now. It will be worth seeing!

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the Workshops BEE life - Tutor - Kaethe Burt-O’Dea

Kaethe Burt-O’Dea is the tutor for the Bee Life workshop at MEDS, an annex of her wider long-term project to reintroduce nature into the city and invigorate communities through “desireland”, the not-for-profit company she set up in 2005. With themes coming from her background in healthcare consultancy, desireland hopes to capture people’s imagination, making political subjects (food, social inequality) readily accessible at different levels. SPUDS has been promoting a naturally blight-resistant variety of potato in Ireland - that the biggest potato grower in the country is currently trialling - with a view to reducing the fungicides used in potato agriculture. As part of the project, Desireland has been working with volunteers and recovering addicts to create a new (healthier) brand of crisps, utilising their colleagues’ in-depth knowledge of marketing strategies. Sales of the compostable-packaged, non-GMO, preservative and gluten-free crisps go back into funding the campaign further. Bee Life is part of the “Lifeline” project to promote health and nature in Dublin’s city centre, re-appropriating the disused Midland Great Western Railway cutting as a green link between Dublin’s city centre and the new DIT campus at Grangegorman. This new cycling, running and walking path will be home to wildlife and plant life, and run alongside a planned extension to the Luas (tram) line. Kaethe is introducing bees as “carriers” for information and education, to make the whole project more accessible, as well as physically making the city more hospitable for bees. The “ground-up” approach will enable communities to become more involved in shaping their own environments around the city, so the project will spread social inclusion and biodiversity down a new green “spine” of Dublin. The Bee Life MEDS team is working with Kaethe to develop a design and prototype for a “bait hive” - a hive to attract a new bee colony to settle in a different place. These bait hives will be set up around Dublin as information points for residents over the winter and spring, to become inhabited by bees in April. Alongside helping desireland achieve its goals for Lifeline, the bees are symbolic of the project’s aims. Bees all work as a collective for the common good of the population, and overwhelmingly survive better in cities due to polyculture, fewer pesticides, and being warmer than the countryside. Part of Kaethe’s approach is including marketable products that act both as a source of funding and advertising, so she is planning on incorporating honey, wax and other bee products into her line of soaps. The “Lifeline Soap” is made from 50% high quality waste oil from a food importing factory in Dublin, plus foraged herbs like rose-hips, and plants grown in her local community garden. It is easy to make soap in your own kitchen, so Kaethe is hoping to expand the process to provide a vocation for local single parents and people seeking employment. With this tactile approach to creating relationships between communities, and partnerships between companies, desireland is developing a business model that could be replicated in cities worldwide, given the right amount of energy, planning and patience

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the Workshops Waste Bikes or North Shore Customs - Tutors - Ali Kolaritsch, Christian Heshmatpour Ali Kolaritsch and Christian Heshmatpour first met in university, where they study architecture, and later participated in EASA (European Architecture Student’s Assembly) workshop together. Their first collaboration leading a workshop in creating bicycles from waste materials was in Helsinki, where they noticed a desire for more metal-working opportunities, and the large site suggested a need for transportation. This year they lead a team of 13 participants through the basics of working with metal in the courtyard of Seomra Spraoi, a venue they share with the camera making workshop. Their two weeks have been spent creatively repurposing found and scrap materials into four or five finished bikes. Some of these were created in collaboration with the charitable organisation Food Cloud, a connection made by the organisers rather than the tutors themselves, to help distribute food to the less fortunate. Alongside the more functional bikes being built to aid charity, bikes were also completed based on creative prompts, such as the ‘Rain-Disco Bike,’ and the ‘Tandem of Social Inequality.’ These concepts, and the bikes themselves, had to be worked and reworked throughout the two weeks. The workshop integrates seamlessly with this year’s theme of ‘Global Green’, using abandoned materials to create a sustainable means of transportation. The main goal of the workshop is to provide a general introduction to working with metal, and build confidence with the medium, while of course having a good time on the way. The tutors enjoy watching the confidence of participants grow over time; their attitudes changing from hesitance to healthy respect.

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the Workshops REC - Tutors - Janneke Earl, Smaranda Ilie, Oytun Gﾃｼr Gﾃｼnel and co-tutors Cﾄフﾄネin Grigore and Alastair Brook Only in its second year, REC has already set itself high targets with ambitious outcomes. Taking its name and meaning from the iconic camcorder symbol, REC constantly records all MEDS activities from workshop development to social and cultural exchanges. Led by Tutors with a diverse range of interests and educational backgrounds, REC participants are given the opportunity to follow various lines of work during the two weeks including reporting, editing, photography, video and graphical layout design. During the two weeks a collection of newspaper issues are published, interspersed with mini workshops where participants can try their hand at new and interesting activities. Every second day a newspaper issue is published internally throughout the workshop, designed, written and laid out by REC participants, which include updates on workshop developments and a compilation of fun and interactive articles to entertain and inform. For this process to work effectively the REC participants integrate themselves in various task and workshops, interviewing, reporting and compiling information in written and visual media formats. As well as this already large undertaking, REC has partnered with the Editors of the newly formed DESYN Magazine. DESYN Magazine is a publication of MEDS which aims to combine information about previous and future workshops with the creation of a platform for young architects, designers and journalists to publish their ideas. This interaction allows participants to work alongside a fledgling publication during the workshop and influence the layout, design and content for the upcoming printed issue. This influence from participants is, and always will be, the focus of REC. A vibrant group of young and upcoming individuals are guiding the direction and style of the publications, and along with their talents the REC workshop and DESYN Magazine will continue to grow into new strengths.

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sustainability of workshops casino marino

wooden furniture

clock making

recycled materials

paper used

energy needed to produce

energy needed to utilise

distances walked

oxygen breathed

lifespan of products

social impact

concrete cube

concrete canvas

photography

recycled materials

paper used

energy needed to produce

energy needed to utilise

distances walked

oxygen breathed

lifespan of products

social impact

Camera Making

guerilla grafitti

Ensemble

recycled materials

paper used

energy needed to produce

energy needed to utilise

distances walked

oxygen breathed

lifespan of products

social impact

Bees

waste bikes

REC

recycled materials

paper used

energy needed to produce

energy needed to utilise

distances walked

oxygen breathed

lifespan of products

social impact

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POSTER COMPETITION

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lectures

Joseph Walsh Studios and Arup

Representation of natural beauty is the focus of Joseph Walsh Studios, where sketch material models serve as a starting point and they change their shape and from throughout the development process, from initial idea to final outcome. While the prototypes remain small they are easy to manage and to be controlled intuitively. The conversation between the engineer and the designer is an inevitable part of the design process which came about once the project started to scale up from the more manageable objects. It is a part which enables further development, rather than an obstruction to the creative process. Nonetheless the process of design is never straight-forward. The client can demand changes, the engineer might see the project impossible to realise without alterations, and this can only be resolved through continuous alteration of the form. Although it remains a very organic process influenced by nature, the spatial qualities of the place the objects are commissioned for and the properties and characteristics of the materials also affect the design. Up until now, the process employed has been free form lamination, which allows for an elegant appearance and a wide range of forms. More recent experiments have been conducted with materials such as resin and stone which will appear in future designs.

Sean Harrington Architects

All of Sean Harrington Architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; projects interact with public space, such as the two projects which were discussed during the lecture: Umbrellas at the Meeting House Square and Pallet Theatre. The umbrella project was initiated by the Temple Bar Cultural Trust as part of the urban regeneration of the Temple Bar area. The architects were inspired by bulrushes, and wanted to achieve a slim appearance of the structure. The umbrellas are very elegant even when closed and do not obstruct everyday activities in the square. Rather they allow it to be used for many other purposes, such as film screenings, festivals, and music concerts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even when it is raining due to the unpredictability of the weather in Dublin. It takes around seven minutes for the umbrellas to open fully and to transform the appearance of the square. The second project discussed, temporary Pallet Theatre, is interesting not only in terms of its architectural characteristics but mainly for its social aspects; it was commissioned in part to bring teenagers from two conflicting areas to work and collaborate on the project and was successful in creating a bridge between the communities. Nonetheless this contemporary theatre also enabled performances to take place once it was completed and hosted a festival. It is also impressive as it had to be built from the materials that would be easy to acquire and to construct with without ensuing extra costs, namely pallets which were acquired for free.

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lectures

Jim Roche – Destruction and construction in the occupied territories Urbicide - violence against the city.

This lecture was titled the “Architectural shock doctrine” and shone a light onto the issues we do not come across in our everyday lives. Jim Roche spoke about the Palestinian territories, Nablus and Jenin: their occupation, continuous destruction and the illegal settlements. He also shared an inside view of Gaza, which he has visited as part of an Irish working group, and discussed its confict. “A trip to the besieged Gaza strip … examined the difficult conditions faced by people in the Palestinian territory and revealed a strange contradictory reality; the suffocating conditions under which the people live and yet their fierce steadfastness and resilience.”- Jim Roche, TUI News We were also joined by telephone with his friend, an emergency architect in Gaza, who shared his experiences with us. The lecture concluded with powerful poetry by Rafeef Ziadah - ‘We teach life, sir’. Suggested reading: Cities, War and Terrorism: towards and Urban Geopolitics - Stephen Graham The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War - Robert Bevan A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture - Rafi Segal, David Tartakover, Eyal Weizman

Gearoíd Carvill and Kaethe Burt-O’Dea A pair who often work together, Kaethe is a healthcare consultant with her own not-for-profit company desireland.ie, and Gearoíd partnered with Andrew Brady on their architecture and design company abgc. Gearoíd begins, illustrating abgc’s collaborative design projects that are driven by his company’s need to make noncommissioned work - which will inform the commissioned work and win them more of it. abgc is a multi-disciplinary collective that designs and builds furniture, installations, wormeries and now bee hives. An almost seamless segue brings us Kaethe’s ‘Lifeline’ project, a long term push to bring biodiversity and green transport into the city. She focuses on tenacity and patience as virtues for real social change, and a multi-faceted approach to engage different groups of people. Bees act as one of these carriers; in the case of MEDS they are carriers of information about the Lifeline project while our Bee Life workshop develop a prototype “Bait Hive” for the interest of both Dubliners and new bee colonies. The wider aim is to promote healthy living and biodiversity in cities whilst including as many different groups on the social spectrum as possible.

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lectures Niall Murphy – Universal Design Niall Murphy delivered his lecture on universal design to the architecture and design students of MEDS. He discussed issues concerning the abilities/disabilities of people, our age and size and ways of approaching them to create a built environment, products, services and systems that can be “accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people”. The considerations all designers should keep in mind were well summarised by Ronald Mace in his seven principles for universal design: equitable use, flexibility, simplicity and intuition, perceptible information, tolerance for error, low physical effort, and finally size and space for approach and use. The design process should always consist of the four following stages: discover, define, develop and deliver. Architecture and design are essentially services, and as such should serve the people. Universal Design provides the industry with guidelines which are easy to refer to and follow.

Robert Skoezylas Robert Skoezylas is a practicing architect; his focus however has shifted to furniture design in the recent years – we were introduced to some of his products and were shown prototypes for the ‘Module’and ‘Teepee’ tables. The irregular form of the Module table units allow for them to be re-constructed in many different ways to be suitable for a variety of occasions, easy stacking. The ‘Teepee’ table on the other hand is circular, with supports that branch out like a tree. The lecture itself was on colour and communication: the international meanings of the colours, ways in which famous brands employ colour coding to serve their purposes and an explanation of how colours can be used in buildings i.e. to emphasise the circulation and to differentiate between the building’s functions. During this interactive lecture we have been shown some interesting and/or thought-provoking videos, two of which are worth highlighting - Michael Stevens: Is your red the same as my red? and Neil Harbisson: I listen to color.

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National Day This year we dedicated one full day to celebrating our different cultures, to educate each other about our home country’s delicacies and customs. Each country has a table decked out with flags, food and drink for everyone else to savour and enjoy - it’s somewhere between a buffet, a birthday party and a world tour. National Day this year was held in Andrews Lane Theatre, an ex-theatre (unsurprisingly) that has become a legendary club and event venue. The owners were kind enough to lend us the venue on very short notice, due to the probable imminent threat of raining on our parade. All the countries represented at MEDS put on a fine spread of delicacies from their homelands, some spending the whole morning preparing bread, cig köfte, sangria, and much much more. The English team was upset that there were no tea-making facilities at the venue, but they made do with Gin & Tonics to complement their biscuits. Romania had arguably the largest table, with a wide range of sweets and savoury dishes including Aubergine Salad on bread. Participants from Poland sourced a local woman who made hundreds of pierogy (potato dumplings filled with cheese) for their table. All the way from Canada came three litres of Maple Syrup for the multitude of pancakes on the Canadian table, which also featured their own version of the Bloody Mary: Caesars. What began as an “organised” feast of national dishes at lunchtime descended into a rakia- and various other types of alcohol -fueled disco with flags freely changing hands and cheeks until 10 p.m. Through highlighting our subtle differences, it became a celebration without borders. Luckily nothing and nobody was seriously damaged, except maybe some reputations…

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meds dublin 2014 Exhibition

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meds dublin 2014 Exhibition

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MEDS tara Next year’s MEDS workshop will be held on the Tara mountain in the Dinaric Alps in western Serbia. The slopes of the mountain are clad in forests and are home to a range of natural features (caves, ravines, meadows) and a variety of protected plant and animal species. A removal from the city locations of previous MEDS workshops, Tara will be a breath of fresh air and allow participants to create timber structures to be used for many years to come. The MEDS “tribe” will be based at Mitrovac, a settlement to the south of the mountain, living and working together to explore the mountain. Accommodation is provided by a vacation centre with rooms of 6-8 beds, a covered swimming pool and a restaurant. Within walking distance from Mitrovac is the Lake Zaovine, with clear waters for swimming and beaches perfect for enjoying stories around campfires. You’ll be glad to hear that the weather in Serbia is much warmer than Ireland. Each workshop will be given a few cubic metres of timber to transform into something long-lasting to be integrated into the National Park, for example animal shelters, observation points and furniture. The products of the workshop will contribute to Drvengrad (Wooden City), the site of the Küstendorf international film and music festival, whose facilities we will use for lectures and film screenings. The Serbian team is working with government organisations for funding and design institutions for lectures and specialist skills workshops. There will be plenty of time to visit some of the local wonders, such as wooden churches, a house in the Drina River and generally enjoying the landscape. Above all, MEDStara2015 will be an opportunity for collaboration, learning new skills and respecting the environment that we will call our home for two weeks.

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national contact list ALBANIA

Anisa Lloja

medsshqiperi@gmail.com

ARMENIA

Mariam Arshakyan

meds.armenia@gmail.com

BELGIUM

Samory De Zitter

samory.de.zitter@hotmail.com

BOSNIA

Senad Alibegovic

senadalibegovic@live.com

BULGARIA

Maria Baykova

meds.bulgaria@gmail.com

CROATIA

Andrej Vuk, Lana Petrak

andrej_vuk@yahoo.com, lana.petrak@gmail.com

CYPRUS

Giorgos Kyriazis, N. Pirikki

george_s.k@hotmail.com, nicky.pirikki@hotmail.com

CZECH

Eliška Málková

malkova.eli@gmail.com

DENMARK

S. Mogensen, N.Ransome

sarah_mog@hotmail.com, nicholas@ransome.dk

ENGLAND

Ally Brook, Ian Campbell

alastair.brook@yorksj.ac.uk, iancampbell@ifhc.co.uk

FRANCE

Marion Ottman

medsfrance@gmail.com

GERMANY

Joe Murphy, D.Haarhoff

josephmurphy0@gmail.com, daniel.haarhoff@gmail.com

GREECE

I.Marcantonatos, N. Christidi irene_marcantonatou@hotmail.com, nikolechr29@gmail.com

HUNGARY

Fanni Csernatony, D. Sator cserfa@gmx.com, sator.denes.fo@gmail.com

IRELAND

John Flynn

ireland@meds-workshop.com

ITALY

Marta D‘Elia

medsitalia@gmail.com

KOSOVO

Teuta Kelmendi , B. Salihu

tkelmendi@gmail.com, blediansalihu@gmail.com

MACEDONIA

Ivana Kostovska

ivana_k2@yahoo.com

NETHERLANDS Janneke Earl

medsnederland@gmail.com

POLAND

Anna Gajowiec, M. Warot

anna.gajowiec@gmail.com, warotmaciek@gmail.com

PORTUGAL

Claudio Goncalves

claudio_a_goncalves@hotmail.com

ROMANIA

Sandra Lup, Smaranda Ilie lup.sandra@gmail.com, smaranda.il@gmail.com

SCOTLAND

Matthieu Robin

robin.matt1991@gmail.com

SERBIA

O. Lekic, M. Naumovic

oliveralekic@gmail.com, naumovic87@yahoo.com

SLOVENIA

Katarina Mravlja

slovenia@meds-workshop.com

SPAIN

Ignacio Bocigas, R. Alvarez nacho.bocigas@gmail.com, raquelalvarez.holgado@gmail.com

SWEDEN

Ella Renneus, Erik Arnell

ellarenneus@hotmail.com, altsaxofon@gmail.com

TURKEY

Nur Gayretli

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desyn articles - Lana Petrak - Blankan Sans or how east already met west

When writing about a topic I often google it and see what comes up : When googling about typography you get a definition saying its origins (from the Greek words τύπος (typos) = form and γραφή (graphe) = writing) and how it is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make the language it forms most appealing to transparent learning and recognition. In 2012 two designers (Nikola Đurek and Marija Juza) created a very specific font that can live up (and exceed) the definition previously googled. By combining two scripts (Latin and Cirilc) they not only created a visually interesting font but rather than that they asked (and answered) an important question of communication between ex Yugoslav nations today. The explanation of the font and the idea itself was copy pasted from a typography webpage (also made by one of the authors) because it explains in brief how and to why this font was created. ‘Balkan sans is a new typeface system that consists of Latin and Cyrillic scripts. It is based on the study of a phenomenon known as Balkan sprachbund**, a term used to describe neighbouring languages whose sound and grammatical features have merged because of their proximity. The typeface system also represents an attempt to identify the features shared by some South Slavic languages and alphabets like Bosnian, Montenegrian, Croatian and Serbian. The designers focused on dual-literacy that characterises Slavic peoples, many of whom use and transliterate both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. Historically, there were three scripts in this region: Cyrillic, Latin and Glagolitic. The use of Latin and Cyrillic typifies the former Yugoslavian countries, today’s Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina as well as Montenegro. Historically, both scripts in this region were bearers of cultural, ethnic, religious and political identities, but their communicative and symbolic functions were often out of step just for the sake of multi-ethnicity. On the other hand, close development of languages and scripts throughout history resulted in shared properties. The Balkan typeface system is a series of fonts that decodes Latin and Cyrillic; it demystifies, depoliticises and reconciles them for the sake of education, tolerance and, above all, communication. Though Balkan is a “font” in the usual sense, it can also be used to translate Croatian Latin into Serbian Cyrillic and vice versa. One could therefore think of the fonts as educational software capable of reconciling discrete scripts. Like all OpenType fonts, Balkan can be expanded to include the Russian, Macedonian and Bulgarian alphabets. Today some regional languages in the Western Balkans are so similar that they can even be thought of as dialects. To a foreigner when speaking Croatian or Serbian he sees individuals communicating without hesitation basically in the same language (this can also occur comparing Bosnian with Croatian or Serbian or even with Slovene). Although this is not the case and all the mentioned are in fact different languages it is the idea of their inter-translation that is offered in a new way. The notion of a font carrying a moral connotation in a world of design that is mainly created just for the sake of design itself with a pressure for instant likeability is inspiring. Balkan sans (with its authors) confronts issues with itself by offering words and sentences of opposites entwined as one. Quite brave, for a font.

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desyn articles

- Senad Alibegovic - Small interventions, big sway

As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown” - Norman Foster From this point we can do nothing but assume whether it will be worse – or better – but it is certainly not waiting for anyone. “The Future” never gets closer, and it is our responsibility to facilitate those social, architectural, and other interactions that are just around the corner. One thing that is even surer, is that we are capable of many things. Step by step, piece by piece, our world and environment could be an amazing place filled with inspiring and creative solutions for many needs inherent in urban life. At present, the majority of people choose to live in an urban context. However, this does not mean that cities are ultimately the best and most eventful living environment. Depending on which corner of the world we are talking about, urban sites can be incredibly rough and frustrating. Architecturally speaking, ‘rough’ and ‘frustrating’ are exactly the right words to describe the situation of some of the most innocent and deeply marvellous places on Planet Earth. As a preventative (or preservative) measure, small and efficient urban interventions can be simple yet radical antidotes to be injected, creating practical – sometimes humorous and fun – solutions focused on enriching every day human activity and the urban context. As for the question of significance, reactions are important in trying to influence the social community, locational identity, the built environment and public places, and from that point of view they are inevitable components of our architectural practice. One of – if not the – most important, in my opinion. Taking this stance, I am directly giving credit to a variety of groups using their creative arsenals of different skills to influence our planet, on micro and macro scales. Big or small, here or there, they are all using colourful spirit and the most creative solutions to make the biggest impact with design or urban interventions, and to move with the ‘sway’ I mentioned. Established, led and organised by students, Meetings of Design Students (humble name but enormous impact) – a team of hundreds of designers from various nationalities and with different formal training backgrounds – is one of the reactors I admire. And

they do react! Not just through experience between themselves and among similar branches, but also between neighbourhoods, environments, people and lives. Furthermore, Meetings of Design Students (MEDS) is an annual event, moving through Europe (for now), and influencing different cities. Gathering the most creative minds from every country you can point on the map of Europe (and much further afield), they are working on specific topics and challenging areas and neighbourhoods, solving some of the issues that are the by-products of time, movements and people. Creativity – Spirit – Urban Interventions These keywords are the driving force combined with multi-disciplinary knowledge, technical skills and thrilling creativity available to understand and address the problems affecting the specific areas chosen in the last four years. Through this platform we are able to gather university students in the same place, welcoming them into the debate on specific questions, activating the local community and allowing the creation of small projects suited to different urban and cultural contexts. Last year’s (2013) workshop – “REACTION” – was held in Lisbon, Portugal. The process consisted of finding zones in the Graça district that the community wanted to revive, identifying the issues that arise in these zones and proposing real solutions to be designed and implemented during the event. Each “action” became an approach to an issue-zone with the intention of creating new programs, structures, urban furniture, street art or other forms of intervention to enable the area to live again. With this in mind, over two hundred students carried out urban acupuncture, divided into 15 different “actions” based around the city, mostly within Graça itself. This reaction intended to promote contact with the community, taking advantage not only of the typical Lisbon mind-set, but also of the bohemian lifestyle the city encourages. The public may view these projects as an embodiment of diversity, a provocation, or a simple decorative embellishment of the public space. It is, however, meant to incite both chit-chat and deeper public discourse. The flexibility of the pieces implemented in Lisbon and the variety of possible meanings is the key to inspiring discussion. No matter the viewer, the pieces induced a reaction. As they were implemented all around, the inquisitive onlookers and their battery of questions indicated its nascent success. With this work, the MEDS family gave birth to one successful small-scale intervention, claiming space with the aim of keeping diversity alive in a contemporary way. But, most importantly, they showed they care, and that is why they reacted. Did they succeed? Sure they did! Moving towards a conclusion, we can see that small interventions are not just defined by function, social and natural resources, but also by amusement and recreation. The improvement of the relationship between the structured landscape and the natural environment, functional wholes and unused places, using small interventions as the main implement – is a promising new architectural tool. And if we consider the line of factors such as historical course, local traditions, and cultural backgrounds, the success of intervention projects will be unquestionable. The phenomenon of urban interventions as urban healing injections is working with a simple concept: gather creative minds, give them support, give them problems, watch and learn. It’s as easy as that! The original work has been published in the book “What is the future of architecture?” 35 | medsdublin | global green

editors notes

Sometimes it can be extremely difficult to express your thoughts to those around you, especially when your thoughts are of something wondrous! MEDS (Meeting of Design Students) has been one of these wondrous but illusive topics for me, where I could never express to those around me the great opportunities, networks and social interactions that come about from attending a MEDS workshop. For this reason four National Contacts from across Europe (England, The Netherlands, Romania and Greece) became the four editors of DESYN Magazine, an online and printed publication that not only describes and publicises the amazing exhibitions from MEDS, but also allows its participants to express themselves through external articles. We are trying to kick start an ambitious and long lasting project, using the little funding available through the MEDS not-for-profit organisation. This first issue has been designed, written, compiled, printed and published in one week with a group of interdisciplinary students who had never met before, and emphasises the real power of MEDS bringing international groups together. Whilst this first issue is a testament to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Do It Yourselfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; publishing, a second edition and further issues will be published as funding and recognition grows- but for now we would like to thank you for your support and for taking the time to read about the wonders of MEDS.

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