One of the accepted holy grails of building an organization is that you should fill a need. Fill people's needs, they say, and the rest will take care of itself.

But... someone might know that they need to lose some weight, but what they demand is potato chips.

Someone might know that they need to be more concerned about the world, but what they demand is another fake reality show.

As my friend Tricia taught me, this is brought into sharp relief when doing social enterprise in the developing world. There are things that people vitally need... and yet providing it is no guarantee you'll find demand.

Please don't get confused by what the market needs. That's something you decided, not them.

If you want to help people lose weight, you need to sell them something they demand, like belonging or convenience, not lecture them about what they need.

Taking cues from our tech-savvy President's playbook, some candidates in next month's midterm elections are tapping a new social networking tool to connect with constituents: Gowalla, a service that lets its users check in via smartphone to share their locations with friends and earn colorful digital "stamps." The Texas-based company has come out with a campaign tool kit that's designed to draw potential voters to town halls and fund-raisers. Governors Charlie Crist of Florida and Rick Perry of Texas are among the earliest adopters of the technology, which enables their campaigns to schedule events on Gowalla and reward supporters with candidate-branded badges for attending and checking in--a big incentive for the social network's users, who make a game of collecting stamps in their "virtual passports."

A pallet palace? In Amsterdam, of course.

Pallets. Easily the most ubiquitous building material available to man. In most industrial neighborhoods, they're literally spilling into the streets. Most warehouses will gladly give you a stack for free just to get them off their hands. So it makes sense that we've seen plenty of architects attempt to re-use pallets in their work, but we've never seen it done well...until now.

Over in Amsterdam, MOST Architecture has taken pallets and packed them into a completely customized office space for the Dutch branding agency BrandBase.

 

 

Two rows of desks run the length of the main space, with the pallets themselves stacked into unique formations to make each workspace. (Don't worry: Glass tops keep employees from getting splinters.) But here's what's really smart: The designers arranged the pallets into almost riser formations that turn them into elevated walkways and large, flexible seating areas throughout the space.

In fact, the staircase leading through the split-level space is also made of pallets. These make perfect-sized steps, but it's great how they managed to retain the haphazardly-stacked qualities from pallets in the wild. For surfaces people will be walking on, it looks like the designers added additional planks to fill in the gaps usually seen in pallets.

Behind the staircase, the conference table is graced with an almost sculptural tower of pallets that also act as a nice buffer between meeting space and work space.

 

 

 

 

Upstairs, a more private row of desks fronts a row of seating that has a pallets lined with cushions (almost looking like a futon). Another table made of pallets is set on casters to allow it to roll around the room.

According to the agency the furniture is only temporary, which we hope means that the pallets can be decommissioned and placed back into service at a local warehouse. But we're thinking after all the fans these pallets have amassed -- there's even a Facebook page for the project -- another office might be snapping these up.

[Contemporist has more pallet photos.]

A concept hotel that doesn't look like German dungeon porn.

Normally, the thought of staying in a concept hotel makes us long for the simple splendors of Motel 6. We picture Santa-themed “love hotels” or places done up like a set from Interview with A Vampire -- and German dungeon porn. Sweet dreams!

But the new Wanderlust Hotel in Singapore -- which advertises its “concept” on its Web site -- isn't quite so self-serious. And it proves just how far the entire boutique hotel phenomenon has spread, while adapting to local tastes and whims.

Designed “to draw madcap voyagers and curious travelers,” it’s set up as a showcase for local designers. Each gets a floor and free agency to dress it any which way, whether in trompe l’oeil modern furniture (up top), glammy salon chairs or a wacked-out typewriter that would look right at home in Gulliver’s Travels (below). The whole thing’s so quirky and clashy and tacky, it seems like an anti-concept of sorts.

 

Which is a clever business tactic unto itself. Wanderlust Hotel is a property of the marketing company-turned-hotel group Design Hotels, which has turned the idea of boutique properties into a global enterprise. The company has more than 190 hotels around the world, each meticulously designed and entirely sui generis. Clearly, it recognizes that people like staying in playful theme hotels that aren’t mannered. More on Wanderlust below:

 

 

The lobby is fitted out like an industrial-chic barbershop. By Asylum]:

 

 

 

 

Here, the art and design collective :phunk studio used an acid Pantone palette to paint rooms the color of famous songs.

 

 

 

 

DP Architects's rooms are inspired by paper and Pop Art:

 

 

 

 

The building, a 1920s schoolhouse in Singapore's downtrodden Little India:

 

Looking for a painless way to make some extra cash? Consider renting out your car to strangers. Spride Share, a Bay Area-based startup, allows California vehicle owners to share their cars with pre-screened Spride Share members. Think of it as Zipcar, but with personal cars. And now that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed CA Assembly Bill 1871 into law this week, vehicle owners can participate in the service without violating their insurance policies.

Sponsor a well.
Please contact sponsorawell@charitywater.org for more detailed information and a member of our staff will get back to you promptly.

$5,000 can build a freshwater well in a village and provide 250+ people with clean drinking water.

$20,000 can sponsor a freshwater well and latrines at a school and serve 1,000+ students.