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A floating school
www.theweek.co.uk
The Design Museum, in east London, U.K., has unveiled 76 candidates for its prestigious design of the year awards 2014. Among the finalists is a floating school designed by NLÉ Architects, Lagos, Nigeria, for the community of Makoko, a historic area on the shore of Lagos Lagoon.
The Makoko community has dealt with life on the water for many years. Houses in the area are built on stilts; during floods, navigation in the community is by canoe. Nigerian-born architect Kunle Adeyemi of NLÉ hopes that the radical design will address challenges faced by the community, such as climate change and rapid urbanization.
The design competition comprises seven separate categories: architecture, product, furniture, fashion, graphic, digital and transport. Previous winners include the London Olympic torch.
Good fences
www.suslik.org
One day a farmer called up an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician and asked them to fence off the largest possible area with the least amount of fence. The engineer made the fence in a circle and proclaimed that he had the most efficient design. The physicist made a long, straight line of fence, proclaimed that “We can assume the length is infinite” and pointed out that fencing off half of the earth was certainly a more efficient way to do it. The mathematician just laughed at them. She built a tiny fence around herself and said, “I declare myself to be on the outside.”
ATA Magazine to the rescue
A photograph of Harry Balfour will soon be restored to the school in Grande Prairie that bears his name, and credit is due to the ATA’s archives. One of our editors received a telephone call from Wendy Crispin, principal of Harry Balfour School. Crispin had seen a picture of Balfour in the winter 2013 issue of the ATA Magazine and wanted to know if the ATA could send her a copy. It seems that someone had stolen the school’s picture of Balfour and thrown it into the reservoir nearby. (No motive has been established.) The editor contacted the ATA archivist, who located the photograph, which an ATA graphic designer scanned and turned into an 8 x 10 glossy, which ATA Distribution staff packaged safely and sent to Crispin. It’s all just part of ATA’s service to members!
