Avrupalilaştiramadiklarimizdanmısınızcasına? As we arrive in Istanbul with the UK Trade and Industry for the 2014 Great Festival of Creativity / Creative Future Cities mission, it seems appropriate given Turkey’s apparent aspirations for European ascension to recall this local phrase meaning “as if you are reportedly of our those that we were unable to Europeanise?”. Often cited as an example demonstrating the synthetic quality of the Turkish language with it’s high morpheme-to-word ratio, this phrase is politically trumped however by the longest word in Turkish: Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine meaning: “you are talking as if you were one of those we can not easily turn into a maker of unsuccessful ones, right?” Given the intertwining of linguistics and politics, Prime Minister’s QuestionTime requires some verbal dexterity.

“Corbusier spends a great deal of the Radiant City manifesto elaborating on services available to the residents. Each apartment block was equipped with a catering section in the basement, which would prepare daily meals (if wanted) for every family and would complete each families’ laundry chores. The time saved would enable the individual to think, write, or utilize the play and sports grounds which covered much of the city’s land. Directly on top of the apartment houses were the roof top gardens and beaches, where residents sun themselves in ‘natural’ surroundings – fifty meters in the air. Children were to be dropped off at les unités day care center and raised by scientifically trained professionals. The workday, so as to avoid the crisis of overproduction, was lowered to five hours a day. Women were enjoined to stay at home and perform household chores, if necessary, for five hours daily. Transportation systems were also formulated to save the individual time. Corbusier bitterly reproaches advocates of the horizontal garden city (suburbs) for the time wasted commuting to the city. Because of its compact and separated nature, transportation in the Radiant City was to move quickly and efficiently. Corbusier called it the vertical garden city.” Lewis Mumford called this city “buildings in a parking lot. The space between the high-rises floating in a superblock became instant wastelands, shunned by the public….”

Our Shoreditch Station preferred partner Spitalfields Music present Britain’s smallest concert venue: audience capacity is 1. “Folk in a Box is a unique one -on-one music venue and performance space. It is a bespoke wooden box with a little front door for audience members and a little back door for performers. It can be set up anywhere.One audience member is allowed in at a time. The door is closed behind them. They are given one song, performed by one musician. It’s simple, but works like a charm.” [Vimeo 36453122]

The reconfigurable office: vs project team (players): WORK MODE 1 vs CPD lecture / project review (formal play): WORK MODE 2 vs Lunch time / office drinks (informal play): PLAY MODE 1 We are not alone: Particular Architects build themselves a reconfigurable studio