In early November, Theo Deutinger led The Berlage Design Master Class, entitled "Living in Safe Mode: A Quest for the Essential." The premise of the master class was to identify the basic needs of a single person—housing, food, clothing, transportation, health, and education—in order to define a self-induced "safe mode" for humans. An exhibition of the results, entitled “Safe New World,” is currently on display in the Department of Architecture. Prior to this intensive fortnight, we had the opportunity to speak with Theo Deutinger. Overlooking the Alps, covered with the first snow of the year, he reflected upon his most recent work including the acclaimed Handbook of Tyranny and more recent Ultimate Atlas: Logbook of Spaceship Earth.

Shown below are a variety of symbols from the digital world, from internet browsing  to smartphone apps. Which symbols do you recognise?

About four months ago, I stopped checking my phone directly after waking up. Not that my sleep was bad, but I’ve started to dislike the behaviour. It still feels like a small victory every time I resist the temptation. On average, people spend one-seventh of their time on their phone. Combined with laptop and television use, this results in eight and a half hours of screen time a day on average in the Netherlands. For architecture and urbanism students, this is likely even longer.