Bean Bags for the 21st century
Ambient Lounge has redefined bean bags for an upscale urban market that wants style that is casual and sleek.
The new online retailer Ambient Lounge has revolutionised the bean
bag market in the UK and Europe by introducing new shapes that are not only
quantum improvements in comfort and function, but reflective of the modern
style, colours and tastes of home wares today. Rather than being an
embarrassing luxury shoved into the cupboard when guests come around,
Ambient Lounge bean bags are now a centerpiece of style & quality in many
people’s living rooms. With the outstanding new designer range developed by
their interior design team, this is set to accelerate exponentially into
2006 and beyond, both in the UK and ‘style driven’ European markets such as
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
Link Ambient Lounge
Engineering storage
The Sinimet Collection from Cortex Design is designed to provide attractive, functional and durable storage. The Sinimet storage cart is ideal for office and studio use. It has an automotive coating on the top and bottom that provides a unique finish and quality detailing. The ample storage and strength of drawers can handle everyday items, but it is also suitable for bulkier pieces like power tools. The Sinimet credenza and filing cabinet are a nice companion with beautifully engineered details and corners that are currently available in three retro colours. Cortex Design is a an industrial design company located in Toronto that provides functional prototypes and new products for the consumer, industrial and contract furniture markets.
Link: Cortex Design
Stainless steel bathtubs
Looking for a bathtub that is sustainable, easy to maintain and drop dead gorgeous? Stainless steel might be just what you are looking for. Stainless steel tubs come in a variety of shapes and styles that can be paired with other materials like enamel and wood. They are a good conductor of heat, and will keep the water warmer for an extended period of time. They are also corrosion resistant and should not rust. Stainless steel tubs are not mass produced, so they can be expensive and many people opt for having them custom made to suit their needs. Stainless tubs are generally in the $7,000 to $17,000+ (US) range, which is not exactly pocket change, but if you are looking for something sustainable, durable and different it might just be worth the investment.
Link: Agape
Link: Diamond Spas
Link: Neo-Metro
Ron Arad dreams up paradise
Situated in the historical Italian city of Rimini, designer Ron Arad plans to make history of his own.
Scheduled for an early 2006 opening, the revamped duoMo hotel is set to reintroduce itself as a modern icon within these historical surroundings.
looking back at the dream, to what, to how we would have wanted the duoMo hotel to become, we were sure that we wanted something that embraced the past but looked towards the future, something different, something international that reflected our need for dynamism, design, and creativity on one hand while on the other could also be a place to unwind, meet people and conduct business.
The standout for me thus far is the amazingly over the top (but rightfully so) reception desk......Ron you got me at hello.
Link: duoMo hotel
Firm: Ron Arad Associates
Link: City of Rimini
A centerless center rooted in the landscape
A free-thinking women's college, Wellesley features a campus that is the antithesis of traditional academic hierarchical form. Buildings are clustered and scattered across the wildly varied Massachusetts landscape, exemplifying the ethos of the school.
It has been argued that "no single building on the Wellesley campus can claim as much historical significance and general admiration as does the landscape itself, and the buildings best loved within the Wellesley community have aesthetic properties which blend with those of the landscape."
Link: Wellesley College Wang Center
Firm: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Firm: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Article: Boston Globe - Center of attention on a centerless campus (BugMeNot)
Via: The Dirt
Laminated plywood coffee table
Fellow SCI-Arcian Jon Racek recently got in touch with us, and while I was familiar with his company, Stew Design Workshop, I didn't know that we shared an alma mater. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: for such a small school, it's amazing how SCI-Arc people seem to be everywhere doing interesting work. Jon and his brother Kevin, who is also an architect, are based in Burlington, Vermont, and design everything from furniture to architecture to graphics etc.
Jon was kind enough to share with us their new design for coffee table that they showed at ICFF this year. The 5050 Table is made from 540 three-inch pieces of laminated plywood. I'm not sure if the Stew guys have ever considered OCD medication, but their compulsiveness sure produces some exceptional furniture. I really like the striated surface and the table's woven, almost malleable appearance.
Link: Stew Design Workshop
The Works of Eva Jiricna
Czech born / London based architect, Eva Jiricna , is represented quite nicely in a recent publication of her projects titled 'In/Ex Terior'. The book showcases a selection of 39 projects and designs which includes over 250 photographs and drawings to really get the point across as to how much of a talent she really is. It's a well layed out portfolio of retail, hotels, night clubs and much, much more.
Over the last decade Jiricna´s contribution to architecture and design has been recognised with personal awards, including being made a Royal Designer for Industry, a Commander of the British Empire for Services to Interior Design, election as a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts, and induction in the American Hall of Fame. She holds honorary doctorates and professorships at several universities (e.g., Southampton Institute, Technical University in Brno, University of Sheffield, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague). In 2003 she was elected a President of Architectural Association of London. She participates on international juries and lectures widely on her work.
Link: Eva Jiricna Architects
Design Rises in the East
The first annual Singapore Design Festival takes flight this month with a truely broad range of design avenues such as furniture, photography, graphics, toy design, textiles and many, many more. All of which is meant to celebrate the best of design that the city has to offer.
The inaugural Singapore Design Festival, scheduled for 9 to 23 November 2005, is a multifaceted experience focusing on the design process and the conceptualisation of ideas. In essence the Festival aims to build upon the design culture in Singapore and around the world, making it an interactive and “live” experience of the design process and its end products.
From designers to design policy makers, agencies, schools, media, related industries, businesses and the general public - all are welcome to participate, enjoy and learn.
This event has great potential in only it's first year. I really like the fact that they chose to display so many diciplines of design and help create a 'community' atmosphere. Definitely one to keep an eye on every year.
Link: SDF
About being on the slope
It would seem that former pro snowboarder Marc Morisset selected the site for his home the way he would pick a line. Sited on a steep wooded hillside in Whistler, B.C., the house nearly rides the site; carving and floating down the slope while grabbing exhilarating moments of big air.
The house is about being on the slope... composed of crevasses and plateaus.
Designed by San Francisco based Studio (n-1), the firm of Dutch transplants Christos Marcopoulos and Carol Moukheibe, the three bedroom house is set in an Intrawest planned subdivision. The architects pushed and pulled at the stringent Design Guidelines to create a modern mountain home in contrast with the more typical neighbors, but in harmony with its environment.
An article in the NY Times provides other interesting tidbits in talking with the owner and architects, though they can't seem to keep all their facts straight... Squaw Valley is in California (not Nevada), and I could split some other hairs as well... but I won't.
Firm: Studio (n-1)
Article: NY Times - The Boarding House
Photos: NY Times
A modern, organic parterre garden
An expansion of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the Leventritt Garden was designed by Reed | Hilderbrand Landscape Architects with Maryann Thompson Architects to display a diverse array of sun-loving ornamental shrubs and vines.
The garden site is approximately 4 acres and features an elevation change of nearly 30 feet. A system of non-reinforced three foot thick stone walls were implemented to create a series of garden terraces which provide level ground and an organizational system for horticultural display. The design is evocative of tradition of agricultural landscapes as well as French parterre gardens.
An open-air pavilion built of brushed stainless steel, tongue and groove cedar, and lead-coated copper sits atop the banks of terraces as a focal point and garden overlook. The pavilion and surrounding steel panels provide climbing surfaces for flowering vines.
Link: Leventritt Garden
Firm: Reed Hilderbrand
Firm: Maryann Thompson Architects
Link: Ordering and Terracing in the Leventritt Garden (pdf)
Link: Shrubs and Vines for the Leventritt Garden(pdf)
Helping companies innovate
IDEO is what the dot.com companies tried to be and failed. A place where imagination is rewarded, and failure is just part of the path to success. IDEO is fueled by team creativity, and they believe that your company should be too. That's why they have produced Method Cards, a set of 51 cards that are meant to get your team inspired and on the path to great design.
IDEO firmly believes that the best way to spark the type of creativity that leads to innovation is by having fun. Method Cards are a design tool that use images, affinity diagrams and processes like mapping to get you going, but may also encourage your team to bodystorm in order to understand how the user might feel in a particular environment.
Link: IDEO
Update 3/14/06:
Article: NY Times - Going Off the Beaten Path for New Design Ideas
Asobi thinks big !
There's wanting space for yourself, and then there's demanding space for yourself.
Slovenian company, Asobi, did just that at this years 100% Design festival in London with the gigantic Isle Lounge Sofa. Boasting dimensions of 17' x 9' x 5', it will no doubt demand a reaction from dinner guests as well as passengers from the red eye flight from London to Ljubljana.
The outer shell is made from carbon epoxy and upholstered in special 3d textile from Hybrids+Fusion. Isle's total weight is less than 200kg and stands on just four thin legs, but can easlily hold your next team function.....literally.
As a person of Slovenian decent, i've always wanted to do a write-up on the design scene there and have obviously made a rather big step in doing just that.
............OK, this is why i'm not writing for a sit-com.
Link: asobi
Today Japan, tomorrow......
Danish design company, Essey, was recently honoured with the Good Design Award 2005 in Japan for their intricate wastebasket, Bin Bin. The competition is through the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JIDPO), which is apparently the countries only comprehensive design promotion body.
With Bin Bin, designer John Brauer has definitely created a wastebasket that easily stands apart from it's contemporaries. Made of high density polyethylene, Bin Bin was designed to look exactly like the crushed paper it was meant to contain. It's a case of re-thinking an everyday object that normally gets taken for granted, and breathe some new life into it.
Link: essey
One Small Project, one big impact
If leftover people, leftover spaces and leftover materials are part of your life, then One Small Project would like to hear from you. The architects, students, designers and artists contributing to One Small Project are working towards helping and profiling the conditions of people known typically as squatters, self-builders, slum dwellers, informal settlers or displaced persons, and are highlighting the unique projects that help some of the 1 billion people who find refuge and community among the spaces that people forgot about, and the materials they threw out.
In an upcoming book called Building More Wanting Less, Wes Janz PhD, RA Associate Professor of Architecture, Ball State University will feature the stories and projects that aim to draw attention to an unfortunate reality. A call for submissions is currently out.
Link: One Small Project
The DJs of Design
Redstr/Collective is the design initiative of Alex Valich and Christine Warren, partners in business and life, who's approach to design is eclectic, inspired and just plain fun. They describe themselves a DJs of design who sample, mix and spin to get the desired result. Their Web site design is indicative of the "tongue-in-cheekiness" of their products like beautifully decorated sickness bags, and shelves that are highlighter colour. How about hip-hop Christmas tree ornaments?
But Redstr serves up more than just novelty items, they design furniture and use green and recycled materials. They will also give you a bonus gift with purchases of over $300. Gifts like a can of soda or a Design Sickness Bag. It's all about consistency. Besides, any company with a working Manifesto is worth checking out.
Link: Redstr/Collective
Project Import Export serves up something different
With so much furniture on the market today it's sometimes hard to find something different. The furniture from PIE Project Import Export is not only different, but features work from some very talented and experienced designers from around the globe. Their merchandise represents some of the best work that is coming out of small young independent firms today that use modern methods and natural, environmentally friendly materials. PIE is setting out to explore the idea of 'living space' in an attempt to heighten the Modern lifestyle experience.
Link: PIE
Omer Arbel Sheds Some New Light
Vancouver designer, Omer Arbel, was recently appointed as Creative Director for Bocci, a new Canadian Manufacturer of high design objects.
Instead of choosing a mid career, established designer for our creative director, we decided to choose someone up and coming who has not yet reached the peak of his career; that way our company can grow and develop along side our creative director’s career. We are getting in on the ground floor, so to speak. Omer Arbel was the perfect fit.
Bocci will inaugurate the new collection with his 14 series cast glass pendants.
The 14 series is a family of low voltage lighting fixtures. The pendants are articulated seamed cast glass spheres with frosted cylindrical voids in them, which house halogen light fixtures. The pendants are designed to be clustered in groups - the effect being of many tiny candles encased in floating spheres of water. The light interacts with the imperfections / bubbles in the glass to make a visually rich halo of light around the piece.
Link: bocci
L+L welcomes Adriean Koleric
If you've been reading L+L for a while, I'm pretty sure you're familiar with the work of Canadian designer, Adriean Koleric. Back in May 2005, Adriean contacted us to tell us about his Edith Mailbox and I've been a fan of his work ever since. I look forward to reading Adriean's contributions to L+L.
Adriean also maintains his own blog, designBot.
Link: Item
Related: Sugar Recliner (L+L)
Related: Item (L+L)
A Finnish design collective
This Finnish foursome of product designers originally met at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, and last year banded together to form a critical mass at design shows and the like.
Designers of the group are linked together by their desire to create honest and simple objects. Word Rehti is Finnish and means honest way of working and acting. Members of the group work as freelance designers both as individuals and as a group.
Based in Helsinki, the collective is formed by Mikko Laakkonen, Aleksi Penttilä, Mika Tolvanen and Jari-Petri Voutilainen.
Link: Rehti
Via: Wallpaper
Black and white pinhole photography
I have tried my hand at pinhole photography, and as simple as the technology is, it takes a mastery of technique to achieve good results. And Rob Gardiner is obviously an all around expert photographer and has made an art of pinhole photography. Rob's explanation of a pinhole camera:
A box with a tiny pinprick-sized hole and a piece of film, it has no lens, no shutter, no cable release, no meter, and no viewfinder.
Rob has a current series of photos following the route of London's Circle Line and features many other wonderful images on his site as well.
Link: Rob Gardiner's nyclondon.com
Via: Things
An Austrian supermarket spree
My September (2005) journey, through Tyrol - Austria, allowed me to explore about 15 MPreis supermarket stores; driving through towns along a 100 km route, west and east of Innsbruck.
The following images and text describe some of the MPreis locations I visited and my overall impression of the chain and it's unconventionally designed stores.
Link: MPreis
Reference: MPreis: Seriously sexy supermarkets (L+L)
New contributor at Land+Living
In L+L's teething months, an architecture student contacted us to inquire further about one of our posts. We stayed in touch sporadically, and just two months ago we posted one of her student projects on L+L.
And now, because of that email about that early post, we have invited her to join us as a contributor; please welcome Lorenza Casini! Her inaugural post is related, of course, to that first email contact.
Panel Discussion: Small Lot Subdivisions and New Housing Typologies
A panel discussion with City Planning officials, architects, and developers will be held on Saturday, November 5, 2005 from 11am-3pm.
cityworksLosAngeles is staging a panel discussion on the subject of the Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance and its potential to allow new models of affordable housing. Join a lively discussion moderated by Mark Surdam of Enterprise Home Ownership Partners and Frances Anderton of KCRW's DnA in advance of an upcoming design competition intended to probe opportunities afforded by the ordinance.
Link: cityworksLosAngeles
RSVP: workinprogres@earthlink.net (by 11/2)
A festival of Architecture and Music in Toronto
In June 2006, New Music Arts Projects presents soundaXis, a city-wide festival celebrating architecture, music and acoustics that will transform Toronto into a playground of sound and space exploration. For two weeks, the city will be alive with concerts, interdisciplinary installations, symposia, screenings and site-specific musical events. Events will be held across the city, presented and hosted by many of Toronto’s most innovative arts organizations.
June 1-11, 2006
Link: SoundaXis
Link: Iannis Xenakis
The Australians tap the Danes again - this time for a barbeque
Now this is by far the best barbeque design I have seen: clean, sleek, and simple. Designed by architect Jeppe Utzon (grandson of Jorn) as a simple table, the grill is constructed from Corian and stainless steel. The grill cover panels extend to create extra bench space when the grill is in use and feature a lock to prevent from being closed while in operation.
It is a beauty, but beauty comes at a price: $7,999 AUD, that's about $6,000 USD. I guess it costs a lot to look this good.
Link: Electrolux
Firm: Utzon Architects
Via: gravestmor
An alternative to Portland Cement
Lithistone is an environmentally friendly alternative to Portland Cement that Ryan Waxman and Brett Fitzgerald use to fabricate countertops, sinks and decorative products. Lithistone will not contribute to indoor air pollution through off-gassing because it uses natural organic high colorfast pigments from Bioshield earth pigments, and non-toxic sealers and glosses. Lithistone is made from a variety of aggregates including crushed slate, granite, quartz, sea shells, marble and limestone. Furthermore, it can be carved, cast or sculpted. Lithistone provides natural contrast to a contemporary interior.
Link: Lithistone
Creative conversions of underused buildings
LoftyHeights is a new project started by Oliver Bollmann that looks at adaptive reuse and green building practices in the San Francisco Bay area that aspires to become a clearinghouse where architects, city officials, investors, home owners and real estate agents come together to post and learn about local, and potentially sustainable, building opportunities. The focus of the project is the existing urban environment, often underused or abandoned, the message is the idea that urban density is more sustainable. The site has been in existence since July 2005.
What we're committed to at LoftyHeights is to bring forth the creative conversions of underused buildings, buildings that sit idle after the dot.com crash or others, including warehouses, industrial, R&D and offices, into living homes that create community while remaining kind to our dwindling resources. Creating a quality of space for the owners out of an everyday structure, using green practices, encouraging proximity and density.
Link: LoftyHeights
Designing for the 24-hour environment
Designing for the 24-hour environment requires that the designer have an understanding of the materials that can be used to illuminate spaces shadowed by darkness. Convention points us towards traditional forms of lighting like halogen, solar, LED etc... but what of the luminescent properties of the materials themselves? Properties that include: transparency, reflectivity, retro-reflectivity, photo-luminescence, thermo-luminescence, screening, fiber-optical luminescence and fluorescence? This was the focus of a project lead by Pierre Bélanger, Assistant Professor Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design, University of Toronto that used night as the point of departure for a rooftop landscape architecture plan.
Link: AL&D
Wallpaper and paint for the eco-stylish
Farrow and Ball wallpapers and paints are beautiful, tactile and unparalleled in quality and finish. Think of them as hand-crafted products that use time-tested palettes for their line of paints, and employ a 19th century method of dragging and stripping for their papers. Sound old-fashioned? Maybe, but Farrow and Ball wallpapers, Emulsions, Exterior Masonry and Eggshell paints are environmentally preferable with low VOC emissions; the same goes for their papers.
As a user (ok, F&B addict) I can testify to the fact that there is little to no smell after an application, and the matt finishes allow light to blend with the colour rather than reflect off of it. There are over 100 Farrow and Ball colours to choose from, most of them with unconventional names and descriptions like Dead Salmon and Pigeon, but they do not custom blend, which can be a downside for some. On the plus side, Farrow and Ball paints are to be stirred not shaken and they don't separate when left to stand. Furthermore, most distributors offer free (with purchase) in-home consultation. Sample pots are available, and recommended, before committing to a colour.
Link: Farrow and Ball
A green promontory overlooking the harbor for all New Yorkers to enjoy
Redesigned by Rogers Marvel Architects and Ken Smith Landscape Architecture, this one acre elevated plaza at 55 Water Street in Manhattan is to be reopened today. Elevated plazas are always something of a challenge, and the previous life of this space was less than stellar despite its riverfront location with generous open sky. Indeed the original plaza with its unwelcoming street access was only built to gain a density bonus when the double-tower complex was originally built in 1972.
The Municipal Art Society and the property landlord (New Water Street Corp.) held a design competition in 2002 to revitalize the space. The design by Rogers Marvel and Ken Smith starts by marking the site with a 50-foot-high LED illuminated translucent glass beacon at the northeast corner of the site, which also serves as an additional park entrance via elevator. The primary entrance is a multilevel assent of escalators, stairs and overlooks rising from street level. Above the park unfurls as a broad events lawn of artificial grass surrounded by a stepped amphitheater, and a gently sloping landscaped "Dune," inspired by regional topography, which rises up to a "Boardwalk" terrace overlooking New York Harbor.
Visit: 55 Water Street
Landscape Architect: Ken Smith Landscape Architecture
Architect: Rogers Marvel Architects
Article: NY Times - An Elevated Plaza Finally Worth Going Up to See
Images: 55 Water Street
Images: Municipal Art Society
More: Tropolism
