Architectural toys at FAUP 2022/2023

One of the things I like about teaching is that even if I repeat the course every year, the results always change. Because students are always different, with different profiles, backgrounds and interests.

Despite that, this year I decided to change some things in the course, starting with the name. Now it is called "The ludic construction of architecture", paraphrasing the well-known book by Giorgio Grassi "The logical construction of architecture".

In addition, I reorganized the classes, synthesizing the subject and leaving more time to follow the work.

The result was many more candidates and works with a very high quality level.

Here some examples:

Pietro Alfano and Gábor Houchard work is inspired by the game Cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse), a collaborative drawing approach first used by surrealist artists to create bizarre and intuitive drawings. With a careful selection of images, the user can create several configurations that combine basements, facades and roofs.

MYTHO - mythologická stavebnice / mythological construction set

Last year I lectured at the Pilsen Art Camp a Toy Design course. This year Pilsen is the European Capital of Culure 2015 and when I went back for lecturing again at the ArtCamp 2015 I found a city full of exhibitions and happening. 

Of course some exhibition was about Ladislav Sutnar, his graphic and industrial design works, painting and, for sure, toys. The three exhibitions are part of the project The Return of Ladislav Sutnar which comprises a number of activities, in which Sutnar's work will gradually, during the course of 2015, be presented to the public. But all of them absolutely unmissable.

I must to confess that I felt really happy when, in a collateral exhibition at Pilsen Municipal Gallery, I saw some toys designed by Pavla Boháčová, a student from the last year course, and that was already in production for selling. Mytho, that's the toy's name, is a construction set inspired on mythological figures. Made by colored wood, Mytho in sold in a box with several pieces that allow to build Pegasus, Centaur or Unicorn, among others.

As a teacher is a really great proud when your student start his journey by himself. Is some kind of circle that, finally, reaches its final shape. Congratulation Pavla!

Here the official site: http://www.kutulu.cz

Architectural toys conference at Soares dos Reis School of Arts

Next Monday I'll be at Soares dos Reis School of Arts in Porto for a brief conference about Architectural toys. This event is insert in a large commemoration of 130 years of that School and will be one more opportunity to spread my work for younger people. 

This time I'll talk mostly about the relationship between the design studio exercise, that is a characteristic of all art courses, and the idea of play. Indeed play is an action quite close to the design process in a school context because it is under simulated and controlled circumstances too. Behind that play is, as design studio teaching, a reduction of  complexity and it is restricted in a certain space and time (following the famous Huizinga theory about play as explained in his book Homo Ludens).   Toys are powerful devices in order to educate young children, through play, for the creation as an uncertain and  heuristics thinking route, as design thinking is.

Please find here the main poster: