The Olympic Games should be reformed to enable more democratic input from the communities they affect the most, argues Parisian journalist Jade Lindgaard in this Olympic Impact interview."With the games, there's never enough time," said Lindgaard, author of Paris 2024: A City in the Face of Olympic Violence."Every four years, a giant event is organised in a different city, with conditions largely set by an external institution the International Olympic Committee," explained the journalist and ecology editor at the French investigative news website Mediapart."In order for the host country to meet this unmoveable deadline, a lot of the usual checks and controls are waived," she told Dezeen."The result is top-down decision making and an erosion of the democratic process."In her book, Lindgaard sets out to document some of the negative effects of the Paris 2024 Olympics, from the destruction of parkland and allotments to the 1,500 people, many of them poor and vulnerable, displaced from their homes in the interest of games-related development projects.Projects "imposed on residents from on high"She is the first to admit that huge progress has been made in comparison to previous Olympiads the 70,000 people displaced for the 2016 Rio games, for example, or the 60,000 ancient trees chopped down for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.But she argues that no-one should have to suffer negative effects from the Olympic Games, and that the model could be adapted to prevent it from happening at all.Her investigation calls into question the oft-touted claim that the 2024 Olympics required no mega-building projects, detailing how the Paris games are inextricably entwined with one of the biggest redevelopment programmes the city has ever known.Named Le Grand Paris, which roughly translates as Greater Paris, the operation in question dates back to the early 2010s, when president Nicolas Sarkozy tabled legislation for the building of a huge orbital metro network that would transform the suburbs around the historic core."The idea was to link business and research clusters to each other and to Paris's two main airports, in a context of increasing competition between global cities," explained Lindgaard."Sixty-eight new stations are planned, each of which will generate redevelopment in its immediate vicinity."The Olympic Village was enabled by an extension of Paris' public-transit network. Photo courtesy of Elise Robaglia/Potion Mdiathique/Dominique Perrault Architecte/ADAGPEurope's biggest civil-engineering effort, currently estimated at 36 billion, this colossal transport-infrastructure project was barely off the starting blocks when the Olympic bid was made.Yet the plans for the games relied heavily on it, since the extension of Line 14, which was inaugurated in June this year, now links Orly Airport in the south to the Olympic Village in the north, served by the new Saint-Denis Pleyel metro station."In this sense, the games played the role of a powerful motor, vastly accelerating work since the line had to be completed by 2024," said Lindgaard.The same can be said of the 2 billion Olympic Village a huge redevelopment that was only possible thanks to the new metro,whose builders like to boast that they achieved in six years what would normally take 20.For a long-term project like Le Grand Paris, which is hugely vulnerable to the evolving priorities of changing governments, the Olympic boost has been invaluable.That boost has had both positive and negative consequences, depending on one's perspective.Read: Paris 2024 aftermath "most dangerous time" for Olympic Village says Dominique PerraultOn the one hand, the drive to decarbonise construction at the Olympic Village has accelerated the French building industry's move towards more sustainable architecture.On the other, the village's host suburb the dpartement of Seine-Saint-Denis, one of the most underprivileged and underfunded in France finds itself with a vast influx of new real estate that almost none of its current inhabitants can afford.For Lindgaard, this is a missed opportunity."There's a huge shortfall between what the Olympic bid seemed to promise that the games would be an opportunity to redress the investment deficit in Seine-Saint-Denis and what the inhabitants actually got," she said."At no point were they consulted on how the Olympics might help them. Instead, turnkey projects were imposed on them from on high. Residents aren't anti-games, but they say, 'they're not for us.'"In a region where voter abstention is already significant, Lindgaard finds this deficit of democratic involvement "very worrying for the future of citizens' political engagement".River cleaning "hijacked by trivial media stories"The ambiguities of the Olympic boost also apply to the Seine, into which the authorities have poured 1.4 billion in an effort to reduce pollution.Yet another issue that predates the bid, cleaning up the river became tied to the games after the organising committee suggested holding the triathlon and free-water swimming contests in its waters.All those involved agree that the Olympic deadline has greatly accelerated the work as well as raising its public profile.But Lindgaard sees two big problems. "Yes, the Seine is less polluted than it was, but it's still not clean! Moreover, the imperative of the Olympic deadline has led the authorities to be rather economical with the truth about current pollution levels."She feels that, as with many aspects of the games, communication around the whole process has been murky at best."It's a missed opportunity to get inhabitants involved in a real debate about the river's future," she lamented. "Why is it so polluted? How might we as citizens change our habits to improve the situation?"Lindgaard believes that the project to clean the Seine could have been more inclusive. Photo by Alexandre Rosa via Shutterstock"More broadly, it's the whole question of the water supply: how can we use and respect it better?" she asked, citing the example of Berlin, where, she says, debates about cleaning up the River Spree are far more bottom-up and inclusive.There's also the question of what happens after the games. Without their impetus, will efforts to carry on depolluting the Seine flag in the future?"I feel the whole issue has been hijacked by trivial media stories about whether mayor Hidalgo would keep her promise to swim in the river," continued Lindgaard."There's been no space for a truly democratic appropriation of this fundamental urban and ecological challenge."Nor, she fears, will any of these lessons have been learned in time for France's next Olympiad, which looks set to take place in just six years.Before the 2024 contests had even begun, the country was already gearing up to host the 2030 Winter Games across two regions, Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Cte-d'Azur.Read: Eight ways Paris aims to host the most sustainable Olympics in historyIn a context of Alpine climate change where snow is scarcer every year, "they're planning a real industrialisation of the mountains. There'll be new roads, improved ski resorts, even a new ice rink in Nice," said Lindgaard."I feel we've reached a crossroads: either we reduce tourism and try to find a way to preserve the mountain ecosystem so that it can support its inhabitants, or we continue as France has always done by building large state-supported infrastructure projects that generate short-term economic growth."As with the Seine, she would like to see a true democratisation of the decision-making process, though that seems improbable given the bulldozer effect of the Olympics."The games are an unstoppable branding exercise there's a huge event that must be organised in a very short time, people come from all over the world, the tourism and sports industries get a giant boost, as do a whole host of collateral developments," concluded Lindgaard.Despite all the well-documented issues with the Olympic model and the current paucity of host candidates, some politicians will continue to court the games with a view to just such goals.This interview was conducted in French and has been translated into English by the author.The portrait of Lindgaard is by Mathieu Genon.Illustration by Capucine MattiussiOlympic ImpactThis article is part of Dezeen's Olympic Impact series examining the sustainability measures taken by the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games and exploring whether major sporting events compatible with the climate challenge are possible.The post Seine cleanup a "missed opportunity" says author of book on the negative impacts of Paris Olympics appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Khan Bonshek's founders have remodelled their own terraced house in east London around a central brick wall, carrying out the majority of the work themselves.Named Two Up, Two Down, the house was renovated and extended by Sabba Khan and Mark Bonshek, who founded Khan Bonshek in 2021.With the studio acting as client, architect and contractor, the couple aimed to rearrange the home's interior and add small additions to make the most of the space.Khan Bonshek designed their own home in London"The house represents our guiding philosophy; how to make the most with very little," the couple said."Most expensive new builds are about packing in rooms and low ceilings," continued Bonshek."We've taken a volumetric approach. We sought to create expanse, have views beyond rooms and create something humble through spatial arrangement."The house is arranged around a central brick wallThe studio removed all the existing internal walls in the terrace, which the couple acquired in 2018, before adding a central grey brick "spine wall" through the centre of the building.This wall supports the stairs, which are visible in the front room, and runs the full height of the home adding a natural, textural element.A rear extension was replacedTo improve flow and openness in the house, two small extensions were added. On the ground floor, the existing extension was replaced with a full-width brick addition, which now contains the light-filled kitchen.At the top of the house, the existing loft conversion was extended with the addition of a timber-framed dormer.Read: Will Gamble Architects modernises London Victorian house with "soft minimalism" interiorsTo further improve the sense of space, the walls enclosing the bathroom and study on the first floor were replaced with curtains.In the bathroom, a section of the ceiling was removed to create a double-height space.A timber framed dormer increased the loft spaceDuring the demolition, Khan Bonshek salvaged materials, which were reused in the reconstruction.These materials were supplemented with accessible materials such as plywood and yoghurt pots along with salvaged teak, black marble and brass.A double-height space was created in the bathroomAccording to the couple, the focus of the renovation was to create a home that would be an enjoyable place to live in, rather than adding value to the property."We were very clear from the outset that we were creating a comfortable healthy home, rather than an asset," said Khan."We need to get to a place where we change policy and attitudes around housing as assets and instead to places which offer a reprieve and comfort."The stairs are connected to the spine wallKhan believes the home can be an example of how existing terraced houses in the UK can be upgraded and argued that the government should amend tax laws to encourage renovationsRefurbishments in the UK currently incur 20 per cent VAT, levies that are not applied on new build developments."We have a duty to provide housing from the existing stock," Khan added. "Think about all the embodied energy and why that's such a better option than demolishing and putting up lots of new buildings."The home is located in east LondonOther London home extensions recently featured on Dezeen includea minimalist extension to a Victorian homeanda Grade II-listed villa with a wood-filled extension.The photography is by James Retief.The post Khan Bonshek arranges east London home around brick "spine wall" appeared first on Dezeen.

A new vision for artificially intelligent devices has emerged from US start-up Friend, which is launching a necklace wearable that promises constant companionship.The Friend device is an amulet-like pendant that listens to its wearer throughout their day and sends conversational text messages based on things that are happening in their life.Friend launched for pre-order on 30 July with a blog post by company founder Avi Schiffmann titled "Happy International Friendship Day", beginning with the line "Friend is an expression of how lonely I've felt".Friend attempts to combat loneliness with an AI companionIn several interviews with tech publications, Schiffmann discussed how he had become disillusioned with productivity optimisation as a de facto end goal for AI technology.He started to develop Friend while feeling lonely on a business trip in Tokyo with his then productivity-focused AI prototype, Tab. He found he didn't just want to talk to the AI, he told Wired, he wanted it "to feel like this companion is actually there with me travelling".His tweaks to that prototype became Friend, which has a stripped-down functionality focused purely on conversational companionship.The companion is always listening and interacts via text messageFriend's AI is always listening and sends messages without prompting. But the user can also press on the centre of the circular device to talk to their companion directly and receive a response in reply. A video ad for the device shows it usually taking a positive and supportive tone.While the user can speak out loud to Friend, Friend always replies via text message.Although the idea of constant audio recording will be a dealbreaker for some consumers, Schiffmann considers it necessary to get the natural-feeling interaction he is aiming for with the device.Avi Schiffmann is the founder of Friend"You don't need to give your Friend context," Schiffman said on X. "[You] can just walk out a meeting and say 'that was crazy' and they understand.""Just makes for a really seamless integration of a digital friend into your life."Read: Google reports 50 per cent jump in emissions due to AI energy usePhysically, Friend has a simple, rounded design with a light-up central element, and is initially being sold in a white colour only.The casing contains a Bluetooth microphone but all recorded data is sent to the cloud for processing, with the company promising end-to-end encryption and no long-term audio or transcript storage.Friend has a circular amulet-like formThere is also no back-up for Friend. If the necklace is damaged or lost, the company says, that is the end of that particular Friend.The product is the latest in a run of ventures from Schiffman, who first gained recognition while still in high school at age 17 when he created one of the first Covid-tracking websites in the US, the Coronavirus Dashboard.Two years later while at Harvard in 2022, he built another website to match Ukrainian refugees to hosts in neighbouring countries, although that proved more controversial.The device is designed to be worn constantly around the neckWith Friend, he is promising relatively limited functionality compared to this year's high-profile AI product launches; however, that is the selling point.The Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin were positioned as all-round assistants that could action requests, control the user's apps or identify objects in the real world, but both failed to live up to expectations and met with poor reviews upon release.The post Wearable Friend device aims to fight loneliness with AI companionship appeared first on Dezeen.

Here's what we looked at this week:A look inside NBC's insane Olympics war rooms.The Owlet: A new form factor for the e-bike.Smart design: The Allpacka One is a collapsible cargo box for bikes. Stanley vs. Sigg's classic metal storage tin offerings.The FlipDie: Dice with a coin form factor.Skip's MO/GO "Movewear:" Powered pants with exoskeleton technology.Clever design: A jack-free tire changing solution for dual-axle trailers.Industrial design case study: SeymourPowell tackles Brompton bike rental stations.Jim Dimond invented and sells this Tigers Teeth oscillating tool blade sharpener.The Sneaker X, designed by JMDF, is a gaming PC designed to look like a sneaker.Explaining what the Olympics shooting competitors are wearing on their faces.Finally, a wheeled robot dog that can escape enclosures.The do-it-all Modular Bottle.Industrial designer Paul Cohen's hingeless eyeglasses.This Mobile Block Factory turns rubble into Lego-like blocks for disaster relief housing.The Fairfield Parent + Child Carrel is library furniture designed to make childcare easier.Oakley's WTR Icon is a helmet for surfers.The simple, elegant Iota door handle, by industrial designer Sebastian Bergne, has a family on the way.Industrial design case study: Formation Design tackles an off-road suspension controller for Fox Factory.

Fox Factory, the manufacturer of high-performance automotive components, wanted to create an in-vehicle interface that would allow users to dial in suspension settings on-the-fly. To realize the product, they turned to industrial design consultancy Formation Design.As the firm writes:"The LiveValve system is an evolution in off road suspension control. It marries an in vehicle physical control unit with a web and mobile application. The app provides customized set ups, post run feedback, and more that communicate with the in vehicle touchpoint controller. The touchpoint distills the complex set ups into a simplified interface for optimal control whilst driving." "Through research and cycles of concept development it was determined that simple concise controls were needed in vehicle, and most existing products reflect this. However, by implementing simple controls you can get stuck trying to cover a wide range of potential desired settings with limited input selections.""Our goal was to design a system that could filter down the potential desired settings based on terrain. Then within the terrain settings you could have a more niche range of options, which could be even further dialed in with the web/mobile application. Combining all this together with Fox's LiveValve tech will help users achieve perfect suspension setting." "After concept exploration for both the web/mobile application and the in vehicle controller select designs were taken forward into physical prototypes. This led to human factors and usability testing to advance the concept. ""Due the expected rough terrain impacting users dexterity we aligned on paddles to allow for larger motor control inputs. These paddles had simple up and down functions to cycle through two columns of options." You can see more of Formation Design's work here.

This beautiful Iota door handle is by the prolific British Industrial designer Sebastian Bergne."Iota is based on an extremely simple notion of subtraction from a supersized bar. If the bent tube handle has become a ubiquitous symbol of modernity, this design subverts, distorts and rethinks it so that the everyday becomes the special. Unusually, the neck becomes the rose and the junction between handle and door becomes a single seamless, fluid sweep."It was originally designed in 2010 and is in production by door hardware manufacturer iz. Bergne has teased that "work on an expanded family is now well underway," and says we'll be able to see it "soon."

I don't know much about surfing, but saw one of those Olympic surfing clips making the rounds, and was surprised to see some of the surfers wearing helmets. It makes sense, given the massive force of nature surfers are up against, and we now have a better understanding of concussions than when surfing was invented. That said, I've learned not all surfers wear them. "Even top pro surfers can have a wipeout that changes their life forever. But when it comes to wearing a helmet, surfers are still torn," says pro surfer Griffin Colapinto.Colapinto is sponsored by Oakley, who has been working on a helmet that they reckon surfers will want to wear. Their description of the design illuminates the user resistance points they're trying to overcome:"The best-in-class helmet is made from strong ABS and is designed to absorb impact, disperse energy, and reduce blunt force trauma. Its unique shell design prevents disorientation and drag in the water and with open ventilation, surfers can easily maneuver through and under water even while duck diving, allowing for immediate drainage upon reaching the surface." "Complete with adjustable and removable ear protection, engineered to maintain hearing, prevent cuts and protect against eardrum blowouts, the helmet allows surfers to stay aware of their surroundings, make split-second decisions, and always be in control." The helmet is called the WTR Icon, and you won't see it at this year's Olympics; it won't be ready for production until November of this year.

Librarians at the Fairfield Area Library in Virginia spotted a problem. "The staff noticed that parents with toddlers or infants in strollers had no easy way to use the library's adult reading room computer workstations. Further, their young children might disrupt the work of others using the library workstations."The library reached out to architecture firm Quinn Evans to develop a solution. Quinn Evans then worked with Michigan-based TMC Furniture, the largest contract children's furniture manufacturer in America. They jointly created this Fairfield Parent + Child Carrel:"The Carrel's workstation side has a tall panel offering privacy for the seated parent, while the mid-panel is low, providing sight lines into the child's play area. The worksurface includes a grommet and wire management features." "The Fairfield Carrel enables parents and caregivers to use the workstation while older children are reading or playing nearby. The inside play space, designed for infants and toddlers up to two years of age, features a mirror at the lowest level and a series of interactive panels above. Library staff can switch these panels out to provide a variety of content which might change for the season, curriculum or other community needs. The exterior panels can feature a variety of TMC-standard ImPrinted designs or a custom creation." "Maintaining sanitary surfaces was a prime concern. TMC's two decades of work in major healthcare systems around the world gives us leading expertise in sanitary system and material specifications for children's furniture. The vinyl mat is made of healthcare-grade material which can be easily wiped down multiple times a day as needed. Both the mat and the maple finish on the workstation are non-toxic and durable for frequent cleanings. A gate on the play area also simplifies access for cleaning." The library reports that the carrels have been a hit with parents.