COOP HIMMELB(L)AU = DANIEL LIBESKIND 2.0

© ArminHess, ISOCHROM>

© Markus Pillhofer

© ArminHess, ISOCHROM>

Austrian architecture firm COOP HIMMELB(L)AU> have unveiled their design for a temporary pavilion for the Munich Opera Festival 2010. The architecture is in the style of LIBESKIND> . COOP however, produces something more playful and inviting. LIBESKIND architecture has a more gloomy, jarring and uninviting style.

Project info at Dezeen »

Hace menos de un mes que hablaba del [maxxi] de Zaha Hadid cuando aparece una de mis apreciadas críticas de Nicolai Ouroussoff en el New York Times [modern lines for the eternal city]. No sólo comenta el extraordinario significado que tiene el que una arquitectura como la de la iraní desembarque en Roma sino que explica de una forma excepcional las sensaciones que se tienen al moverse por el edificio desde que uno se acerca al lugar hasta que se adentra en sus salas. Es sobre estas últimas, sobre su alargado, suave y curvilíneo desarrollo, por cuyo aspecto y sensación le parece como si las rampas del guggenheim de frank lloyd wright se hubiesen desenredado.

Galería de fotos de  [roland halbe] y [helène binet]  via NYT [Inside maxxi] + [europaconcorsi]

***UPDATED*** completo reportaje fotográfico de [Luke Hayes] via [dezeen]

I stumbled across this blog and like it, so I thought I’d share.

…

I have finished my honours thesis.

And after an amuse bouche of post-thesis antithetical freedom, now all that stands between me and the end of 18 years of study (at this end, 5 years of University: 2 undergraduate degrees) is… 19 days, 3 assessments, 2 exams, and a whole lot of study.

Until then, I’ll satisfy my sweet tooth with this delectable caramel typeface.

{ Karamel Sans CE by Marta Maštálková, via dezeen }

OH how I adore caramel.

But I would still give all the toffee* in the world for the impending freedom flitting sweetly on the near horizon.

*Even coffee as well. Seriously.

Dyson is back after creating the vacuum cleaner and hand dryers

Now Dyson has come out with a new electric fan called the Dyson Air Multiplier that will generate wind movement without using blades !!

Image Credit: Engadget

The principle is simple: Create a vacuum below the base. Suck the air in. Accelerate its speed and channel this sped up jet of air through the annular ring. This is then further enhanced when the surrounding air also gets pulled through the ring due to the creation of a vacuum.

The 15x amplification basically comes from the Inducement and Entrainment factors. These are fundamental principles in Fluid mechanics (Bernoulli’s Law anyone?)

A much better illustration is as below:

Image Credit: www.dezeen.com

Engadget calls it the overpriced fan that no one ever asked for. They may be right. But let me know of any CA who has done the equivalent of such engineering and design goodness.

Better explanation in this video:

BTW, I love this one cartoon

Credit: Lunchbreath

En algún momento las fábricas revolucionaron el mundo de la arquitectura y fueron los templos de la nueva sociedad industrial [véase Peter Behrens y su fábrica para AEG]. Con el paso del tiempo, para variar, dimos un paso tras otro, hacia atrás, dejando que los templos se convirtiesen en cajas cerradas de un hormigón tan gris como su propio diseño.

Sin llegar a los extremos de hacer de las fábricas un icono, sólo al alcance de unos pocos como [Herzog & de Meuron y su fábrica Ricola] los hay que en un mundo de situaciones dadas, constructoras pre-contratadas y programas cerrados, son capaces de abrir un pequeño hueco por donde entre una luz teñida y una brizna de color a la anodina arquitectura industrial que se extiende por extensos polígonos no menos banales. Es el caso de ofis y sus [oficinas, almacén y tienda en contenedor de hormigón]. Está visto, querer es poder.

via dailytonic & dezeen

Maarten Baas is uitgeroepen tot Design Miami/Designer of the Year. And I could not agree more! 

Als er 1 ontwerper is die zich vanaf dag één  heeft durven te onderscheiden dan is het Maarten Baas wel. Het begon allemaal met zijn Smoke furniture, zijn afstudeerwerk van de Design Academy Eindhoven. Een serie die hem in een klap wereldberoemd maakte. En in tegenstelling tot veel andere ontwerpers die meteen in de  spotlights komen met met hun afstudeerproject van de Design Academy,heeft Maarten dit niveau vast weten te houden. Hij is er in geslaagd (bijna) ieder jaar met een nieuw project te komen dat de aandacht trok. Smoke Furniture

Persoonlijk vind ik zijn Clay Furniture zijn beste project, maar ook zijn meest recente project Real Time spreek tot de verbeelding. Hier zien je duidelijk dat Baas zich voortdurend ontwikkeld en meer en meer een performer begint te worden die weet hoe hij zijn publiek dient te bespelen.  Ik ben zeer nieuwsgierig naar wat er gaat volgen.Clay Furniture

Op Dezeen.com staat een mooi stukje over Maarten Baas. Ik neem dit even over :

At only 31 years of age, Maarten Baas is a strikingly young designer who has impacted the world of design in an unprecented short period of time. “The decision to give the award to someone as young as Baas might seem controversial, but he has already changed the course of design history,” Design Miami/ Associate Director Wava Carpenter comments. “His work has transformed the way collectors understand the landscape of contemporary design and has opened the market to a younger generation of designers. Baas pioneered the way with his first collection Smoke, his graduation project which became an international design sensation through his collaboration with New York gallerist Murray Moss.”

Design Miami/ Director Ambra Medda adds. “He has allowed more people to accept and respect young design. But he is also a truly phenomenal talent who has all the qualities of a great designer and whose work is consistently strong and varied. He has a great sense of imagination and trusts himself to explore his ideas to the maximum, constantly evolving while anchoring his work in a craft-oriented approach. He has kept the design community gripped, like a good movie where you can’t take your eyes off the screen, where each project is like one excellent scene after another.”

Amazing design for a residential complex in Singapore, Architects OMA (office for metropolitan architecture). The design looks really unstable :O

Via DEZEEN

En dat mag je letterlijk nemen. Robert Stadler, de designer uit Oostenrijk, heeft namelijk een nieuwe reeks meubels gelanceerd getiteld ‘Tephra Formations’. De meubels uit deze serie zijn gebaseerd op vulkaanuitbarstingen. Blijkbaar bracht dit  inspiratie genoeg om banken, een zetel, een pouf en een tafel te ontwerpen. Wederom een mooie en indrukwekkende serie van Stadler.

En toch. Persoonlijk vind ik zijn vorige werk Pools & Pouf! een stuk sterker. Toen ik dit, jaren geleden alweer, in Milaan zag staan was ik overdonderd door de kracht van dit werk. De foto’s van deze serie zitten nog altijd in mijn ‘most favorite ever’-folder.  Dat komt waarschijnlijk ook voor een deel door de inspiratiebron die tot de nieuwe serie heeft geleid -en de vertaling naar de designs- want zo heel veel vulkaanuitbarsting zie ik er niet in terug… Maar goed, oordeelt u zelf maar!

Bron: Dezeen

when i first became aware of the fixed gear craze, i was totally against it! i mean, why would you want to limit yourself to one gear and no brakes. admittedly, part of my disdain for them was due in part to all the messengers downtown who run lights and dodge in and out of traffic. something i felt as a downtown resident to be annoying, frustrating and ultimately very dangerous.

but seeing them everywhere made me start to really look at them with a different lens. i would see some greasy hipster flying thru an intersection and at first want to throw a bar of soap… but i found that as i looked at them more and more, i really started to appreciate how clean they looked – the bikes, not the hipsters. instead of shaking my fist like an old man, i began smiling ear to ear when i’d see a bike whose owner had obviously taken so much time and effort to craft what was so very much, a personal expression of themselves.

and sure enough, i started looking at photos online.. looking at my bike and wondering what i could do to make it cooler – simpler – better!

then one day i stumbled across a company in SF called Mission Bicycles – brand free customized bikes made to order! these things are so clean and beautiful all i could do was dream about having my very own. taking screen grabs and making them my desktop – showing pics of them on my iPhone to random people like a proud parent … i must have looked at the site 5 times a day for weeks on end – drooling over these wonderous beauties…

today while surfing thru my usual network of blogs and sites i saw a posting about this very company on DeZeen and how they had just opened a brick and mortar store and i gotta tell you, it’s gorgeous! it kinda reminds me of an apple store. all the pieces are showcased like in a gallery – forcing the customers to see them as little art pieces and ultimately upping the perceived value of them.

hooray for light-boxes!

this sort of retail when done right, has always excited me – when you (as a merchant) start to treat your product with respect, your customers will too! this is exactly the same with traditional art and gallery showings.

when artists go the extra mile in the presentation of their work, it really speaks volumes about the respect they have for it – and you can feel it as soon as you walk in to the space. this ultimately makes a potential buyer want it even more. did you ever have something you couldn’t help but show off and be excited about only to realize that the more you talked about it, the more people wanted it for themselves.. bingo!

it’s amazing how little people think about this concept when they present their work – either online, in a gallery, or even their home. when you don’t showcase the work as best you can, you are ultimately saying “i don’t care”. who wants to buy art from someone who just doesn’t care.. take the time and do it right – your customers will appreciate it and so will you.

–

as a side note, i never got my Mission bicycle due to budget constraints. however i did get a fixed gear. a Swobo Sanchez and customized it a little. while it’s not logo free, it’s close enough for me and i’ve been loving it ever since.

i call her "Minty Tips"

happy riding.

No hace demasiado que hablé de [fantastic norway] con motivo de sus nubes de cartón [fantástica] cuando se les ocurre vestirse de su último edificio y darse un paseo por Berlín. No deja de ser otra banalidad de esas que hacen pensar sobre el estado de la profesión pero es divertido verlos así… y dan alguna idea para anuncios de inmobiliarias o para el próximo carnaval. +fotos via [archdaily]

via dezeen

I remember taking drafting in high school and thought to myself how amazing some houses are design the way they are. If I remember correctly there are also a lot of rules too. Like the toilet in the bathroom is suppose to be how many feet away from the sink and the bath.

Anyways, I came across this page called Dezeen and notice some cool projects they want to do in Sweden to increase walk ways for pedestrian, linking two island together, and bring a new popular destination to the area.

Image provided by dezeen.com

William: I just love bikes. The way most other men are excited about cars, bikes do the trick for me. Especially single speed and racing bikes. If I had more money I’d probably own a lot of bicycles.
This bike was originally designed as collaboration between Norwegian designers Bleed, Norway Says and Frost Produkt in 2004 with only limited quantities. Since it became so popular they had to start serial production of of the Alta One.

via dezeen

Just few mins ago, found this interesting work on Dezeen.

WODDEN TEXTILES BY ELISA STROZYK

Photos are by Sebastian Neeb

Last Year, I found an interesting article sailed when I did research on materials of floor, that is called “Wooden Carpet”. Today, the German design student created a geometric pieces rug made of wood-veneer offcuts. Stroyzk is currently studying at Central Saint Martins college of art and design in London.

There is more information about Elisa Stroyzk can be found on Dezeen as shown as following:

I am currently graduating from Central St. Martins College in London and for my MA project I developed a “wooden textile”, an innovative material for interiors.

The project “wooden textiles” intends to look at the material wood in a new way. Geometric wooden pieces compose a flexible surface which can perform in different three-dimensional shapes. The material ranges between hard and soft, parquet and carpet, blurring relationships between furniture and textiles.

How can wood transform into a textile?

1. What materials and techniques have you used?

I was working with veneer wood leftovers from a wood workshop which is closing down. The wood is cut by hand or lasercut into pieces of different geometric shapes. All pieces are stuck by hand on a textile base and compose a flexible surface.

2. What inspires you?

Material itself and our presumptions about it. I like to switch properties and meanings and pose questions like: Can a hard material be liquid or soft? I look at everyday objects around us and try to rethink their function or imagine hybrids between them.

3. What does Textile Futures means to you?

In the future we will have to deal with more waste and less resources. Therefore it is fundamental to be aware about lifecycles of objects. For me that means to use material that is able to grow old beautifully. Another way to save resources is working with reused or recycled objects and material waste. Also it is crucial to aim for a closer relationship between subject and object. This can be achieved through more flexibility and changeability, the possibility of growth or surprising elements.

via: Dezeen

About ELISA STROYZK:

*born 1982 in Berlin
2007-2009: MA Future Textile Design at Central Saint Martins London
2007: Diploma in Textile and Surface Design at KHB Berlin
2006: Study at ENSAD in Paris
2008: winner of Samsonite-competition ” Future Travel”
Internships at Samsonite, PvanB wallpapers

via: ELISA STROYZK 

Elmo: Nice chillout/recpetion area for ROC Apeldoorn by Dutch designer Tjep.

Via Dezeen

Elmo: That’s how a library should look like. Take a second and a look at the winning plans for the Deichmann library in Oslo, Sweden.

Via Dezeen