http://www.designboost.se/index.php/home/boostevent/miniboost.html

http://www.designboost.se/index.php/home/boostevent/miniboost/139-tim-power.html

… Over the span of the past half-decade or so, Tim Power Architects has consciously enlarged the focus of their research and production from physically small scale projects to include interventions on a grander scale.  Projects which relate to territory, land and city scapes, buildings, urban environments and the social scale have increasingly taken a larger part in the studios research and professional output.  This shift of focus came at the heals of a simple realization: that the design revolution of the 90’s-10’s was largely focused on consumer goods and services, and while this is not inherently a negative phenomena, we are aware that the civic sector, public space and territorial concerns have in many parts of the world become greatly impoverished at the same time that private space has become enriched.

It is not our belief or intent to communicate that small scale projects are no longer of concern. To the contrary, the need to create intimate situations (as opposed to social ones), resound nature and respond to human behavior, project ‘design primario’, propagate tactile forms and surfaces and generate symbolic content in the domestic and commercial scale is paramount to nurturing the quality of ‘intimate environments’ across the globe. We are surely pleased to have been involved in this ‘design revolution’ and continue to research and produce numerous projects at this diffused level, for clients old and new, with experience and confidence on both the domestic and commercial level.

However, we note that by-and-large, across the globe, the ‘design generation’ has turned its focus at the and academic and professional level to an ever decreasing amplitude; generally stated, interest has not been applied with proportionally equal interest to the larger scale, and it is for this reason that we are doubling-down our efforts in this arena.  Obviously, the complexities and difficulties of operating at this larger social, environment and political scale are not to be underestimated. Recent large scale territorial projects in Northern Italy in which we have been involved at the conception phase, with James Corner Field Operations from NYC and more recently with Foreign Office Architects from London,  have only aided to reinforce our belief that this is a scale in dire need of qualitative improvement, but have also demonstrated the complex nature of operating successfully in the public sphere, where interests beyond ‘mere’ environmental or qualitative improvements are at play. We look forward to continuing the integration of private and public projects with our partners on both ends of the spectrum, convinced that these improvements are parallel to both social betterment and economic growth.

Contemporarily to this professional development, Tim Power has been involved teaching a course at the Polytechnic of Milan, researching the integration of industrial design at the urban and territorial scale.  This full circle of working contemporarily on the intimate scale and the social/territorial scale will continue be part of the focus of Tim Power Architects for the immediate future.  This increase in complexity and scale inevitably insinuates a decrease in the number of projects the studio will be able to produce, yet we will continue our research and excellence on smaller commercial and intimate projects as a major part of our professional output, including our broadly published projects for workspaces, retail (luxury and non), projects related to contemporary art and communication, housing, furniture and illumination  etc.

Our design goals remain constant:  to create qualitative environments, increase personal well-being, stimulate a sense of wonder while contemporarily addressing social and environmental concerns, on projects big and small.

This video clip,

produced by Peer Ericsson and David Carlson, founders of DesignBoost, is part of a series of interviews with protagonists in the contemporary Design community, posing the same 10 questions related to Design, in what they have called the Miniboost series.

Ever concerned about the relationship between Design and the Environment, this informative series focuses on ‘Design and the City’.

The responses in this interview with Tim Power delve into some of scale and the shifting nature of the studios work from the primarily Private sector to research and development in the Public one.

http://www.designboost.se/index.php/home/boostevent/miniboost.html