Well, it is not exactly a guide, but a book that was designed by a really cool woman, Candy Chang who does all sorts of projects in the built environment to get us all thinking. I think that this book that she wrote, The Idiotic Building, points out that people who say that new ideas are “idiotic” and too “far-fetched” don’t help us to solve problems.* Creative people solve problems, people who have kooky ideas or unusual ideas or plain old crazy ideas. If Gustave Eiffel, who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, had listened to folks who called him a lunatic for building that great iron structure, it would never have been built. And it is THE emblem of Paris – a wondrous and elegant structure that firmly states “I AM Paris!” People could not imagine Paris without it.
Great ideas come from creative solutions to difficult problems. If you have a very small apartment, for example, you have to find clever solutions to make the every inch of space usable and liveable.
In Japan, where people generally live in very tight spaces, there are some very innovative ideas because there is NO MORE room. These folks in Japan came up with a very clever traveling HOUSE TRUCK where the tiny stairs are all storage compartments and the roof folds up to make a second floor. Take a look and think how you solve some space problems where you live or in your classroom.
*Update: Candy Chang’s book is no longer available. 01/17