Author: thematicdesign

See post in category ‘plays’ titled “The Silent Game; an interactive DesignPlay” here the entire play is done with nails of different sizes.  These nails were part of a larger collection of pieces like washers and parts of clothespins that are readily available in any hardware store and ready to play with. 

The library here gives these  parts in SketchUp format.  Playing with the real things is by far the fastest way, but if you want to convey the various stages of a play,  or want to play with a partner who  is elsewhere on the globe, the library here is ready for use. 

You will also find a few differently coloured slabs that we had made when the game was new. They can be used for an alternative library or be mixed with the hardware parts.

The SketchUp document with  this post gives the base form for Play One, Zones of Transition:  suggested on  page  46 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture”  In this post the dimensions of the base  form are given in feet and inches.

Under the category ‘base forms’ you will find base forms in SketchUp format in both meters/cm. and feet/inches for all the seven plays in the SWF book as well as for all the plays newly introduced in this site. Click category ‘plays’ for an overview of the  plays available on this site.

Casa Alenquer in Portugal (2001) was designed by architect Aires Mateus. It is situated in the ruin of a ancient stone farmhouse, of which only walls were left, in such a way that it occupies the space between the walls, but in such a way that the new structure never touches the old one.  In the book “Conversations with Form” play 7 is about combining two very different systems into a coherent whole. the casa Alenquer shows a special way of doing so. (page 224-225)

Using a ruin as a baseform to be preserved in a new project is an interesting kind of play to do: (more…)