The Art of Architecture

There is a fantastic collection of Le Corbusier works currently showing at the Barbican. It is an amazing collection of original models, interior reconstructions, drawings, furniture, paintings and sculptures. His ideas of social housing and utopian urban plans still resonate today. Working your way through the exhibition, you can see why he is dubbed the most influential architect of the 20th century!   

meet green thing

Do the Green Thing is a public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. The website is an interactive one where you can watch brilliant short clips, add to the blog or add a story of your own. The mission is to get as many people in as many countries doing the green thing and then use that power to persuade government and business to do the green thing too. 

So make sure you take the time to watch Green Thing do his thing, very funny and imaginative. Oh and Plug Out Boy is also very cool!

nigel

I have to share with you all the blog of artist/photographer Nigel Peake. It is so refreshing to see fun, architectural images so equisitely hand drawn and the photos are great too!  

His website Second Street is a joy too... so many quirky drawings and the water colour site is just so cool. Make sure you check it out. 

Thanks Nigel. 

important news from b+c

The bricks + cartwheels directors are fresh off the plane and we have some important news for our supporters. Following our recent time spent in Kenya, bricks + cartwheels is reluctantly withdrawing from the previously proposed Secondary School for Girls project in Katolo, Kenya.

Whilst in Kenya bricks + cartwheels were faced with a series of challenges and difficulties, some of which we were able to resolve and some of which were largely out of our control. We are particularly regretful of this decision because of the great friendships we made with so many people in Kenya and the ongoing need for education of children in the community. During our time in Kenya we made every endeavor to rescue the project and this decision was not made lightly.

There were many issues that presented challenges... please read here for the complete letter. 

We appreciate your support and will make sure to keep you in touch with our future plans. Thank you! 

suno new york

One of the girls recently stumbled across this great website, Suno. Suno was formed in 2008 by Max Osterweis after more than a decade of collecting textiles in visits to Kenya. The design and development is New York based but the production is done in small workshops in Kenya. 

After falling in love with the fabrics on our trip we would all love to get our hands on some of these pieces. If only we knew about them while we were there... they are just beautiful.

invest in a girl and she will do the rest.

This is a brilliant video and I couldn't resist watching it 3 times in a row.  It left me with chills and feeling very inspired. 

There are 600 million adolescent girls around the world living in poverty.  By giving one of these girls a chance, you start what can be referred to as The Girl Effect.  When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive.  And when they thrive, everyone around them thrives too. 

If you want to end poverty and help the developing world, the best thing you can do is invest time, energy, and funding into adolescent girls.  It's called the girl effect, because girls are uniquely capable of investing in their communities and making the world better.   The following poster outlines 10 things that are standing in their way...

If you want to read more, go to girleffect.org

Kev does Kisumu

Our friend Patchy insisted that Kev had a visit to the pool! So here he is enjoying the sites of Kisumu along with a refreshing dip and an ice cool drink at the Imperial Pool!