design exchange (de magazine)

de/design exchange Autumn 2011 Issue 024 ÂŁ5.00 www.demagazine.co.uk

â„– 24 Collaborate

Erect Architecture / FAT / Fundc / Fender Katsalidis Architects / AAS / Assemble / WikiHouse / Like Architects / Studio Weave / Peter Zumthor / Aberrant Architecture / DesignMarketo / Designersblock / Helmut Lang

FRESH INFLUENCE #4 ROUGH SAWN

D6602 / Santana Oak and D6615 / Fabric Ash

THE DESIRE TO SEE THE RUSTIC, UNFINISHED AND DECONSTRUCTED IS A STRONG CONTEMPORARY DESIGN DRIVER ON THESE MELAMINE FACED PANELS. CONTRASTING THE RAW AND BASIC WITH ULTRA MODERN ELEMENTS. STRONG GRAIN AND HEAVY TEXTURE ACCENTUATES THE SAW CHATTER MARKS. ROUGH SAWN STACKS THE IDEAS TOGETHER TO STUNNING EFFECT. FOR SAMPLES OR THE NEW FRESH 2 BROCHURE CONTACT MARKETING@KRONOSPAN.CO.UK OR VISIT WWW.KRONOSPAN.CO.UK

THE VERY BEST IN OUT/INDOOR FURNITURE. THE LEADING BRANDS OF DEDON, EGO PARIS AND FISCHER MOBEL ARE EXCLUSIVE TO LEISURE PLAN. TEL +44 (0)1279 816001 SALES@LEISUREPLAN.CO.UK WWW.LEISUREPLAN.CO.UK

KA M A COL L ECTION

TEUCO NEW LONDON SHOWROOMS: 160 CITY ROAD, LONDON. EC1V 2NP. (T) 020 7608 3090 INFO@TEUCO.CO.UK

PAPER

D U R A L I G H T® B A T H T U B S

PAPER DURALIGHT ® BATHTUBS ARE IDEAL FOR ANY STYLE OF INTERIOR DÉCOR AND ALL FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS: A BROAD RANGE OF SIZES AND INSTALLATION METHODS, CUSTOMISABLE COVERINGS, “INVISIBLE”

BLOWER

MASSAGE

AS

WELL

AS

CHROMOTHERAPY. AND THE APPEALING WARMTH OF DURALIGHT ® AFFORDS UNEXPECTED PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCES FOR BOTH SIGHT AND TOUCH. w w w . teu co . co m

THE VERY BEST IN OUT/INDOOR FURNITURE. THE LEADING BRANDS OF DEDON, EGO PARIS AND FISCHER MOBEL ARE EXCLUSIVE TO LEISURE PLAN. TEL +44 (0)1279 816001 SALES@LEISUREPLAN.CO.UK WWW.LEISUREPLAN.CO.UK

fischer mรถbel

T ku

BELL TABLE DECODE LONDON LIMITED 12A BROADWAY MARKET MEWS LONDON E8 4TS UNITED KINGDOM T +44 (0) 207 254 9026 E INFO@DECODELONDON.COM W DECODELONDON.COM

de/design exchange www.demagazine.co.uk

editorial For this issue we have decided to focus on collaboration. Through pages of projects and features, we invite you to discover different models of cooperation.

Be that intersection between disciplines, a peculiar combination of staff or successful partnerships with the industry. There are several emblematic examples of team work in the history of architecture and design, more or less hierarchical: from Diller and Scofidio to Haus Rucker Co or Charles and Ray Eames. The cooperative spirit of those individuals led to the creation of representative pieces of work that today define styles and movements. For this issue we want to celebrate teamwork at diverse scales and gradations: the one that concerns the composition of the practice (the extraordinary example of Assemble or the classic duo model of Like Architects or Gonzalez Haase), the interdisciplinary approaches (Aberrant), as well as the opportunities generated by collective initiative and curatorship (Design Marketo) or the cross-disciplinary approaches (Helmut Lang, Peter Zumthor), and the possibilities of open source design (Wikihouse). DE is also a collaborative effort of a mutable, organic team. We celebrate the exchange of ideas, projects and skills. Get involved!

Mariana Pestana

11 | www.demagazine.co.uk

/CONTENTS/

34

38

42

PROJECTs

Kilbur n Ad ventur e Play Park & Centr e Er ect Ar chitectur e, London

Hoogvliet Herlijkeid

Fashion, Ar chitectur e Taste (FAT) Hoogvliet, Rotterdam

Cultural Center FUNDC Madrid, Spain

Mona 46

Fender Katsalidis Ar chitects Hobar t Tasmania, Australia

102

106

110

114

102......................................Vamizi Comes Easy Goes 106.....................................................Concrete Proof 110..........................................An Architectural Gem 114................................................................Lone Star

12

| Design Exchange

Makers of fine contemporary furniture and interior joinery

Bedrooms | Dressing Rooms | Libraries | Kitchens | Offices | Cinemas | Media Rooms | Console Tables | Interior Doors |

tel 01743 464080 www.isis-furniture.co.uk

/CONTENTS/

FeAtures

66

70

Folly Flyover - Assemble

50

Architecture of Display

58

DesignMarketo

84

54....Stitching Architecture and Landscape Ecolog y 62................................................... WikiHouse 66........................................................Party Animal 70..................................................Floating Cinema 72........................................The Social Playground 74..............................................Serpentine Pavilion 76........................................................Candle Light

78

98

78.......................................... Desig nersblock 86..................................................... Helmut L ang 88.........................................................What Now ?

92....C ommerc e, C ommun i t y, Ski l ls and Cre d i t 98................................................. M 11 L in k R o a d

15 | www.demagazine.co.uk

/CONTENTS/

132

London Design Festival 2011 Wood Ware Dezeen Space The Living Room

134

Alpha-ville 2011 Hussein Chalayan, rĂŠcits de mode Junya Ishigami: Architecture as Air

diARy

The Space Between Garden and London Fashion Week 132 Julian Mayor New Work at Lik Taking the Chair

136 140 142

144

Tent 2011 Few and Far. 100% design The Material Lab Roadshow Clerkenwell Design District The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams Inspired by Japan Bar Alto Pavilion at The Dock Google Design Lecture Superbrands London

146

136

Decorex 2011 Lucy Wood: Lampedusat Tramshed Origin

144

149

152

153

129

131

Vienna Design Week The National Home Improvement Show LoveLight Dutch Design Week Liverpool Design Show

149 151

Frieze Art Fair Multiplied Art Fair SUNDAY Art Fair

152

World Architecture Festival Inside Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair

153

The Sleep Event Made in Clerkenwell Midcentury ModernMebel Design Miami

16

| Design Exchange

If it has to be scratch resistant...

...it has to be Caesarstone With a 15 year guarantee, great scratch and stain resistance, we’re confident that your Caesarstone surface will look great whatever you throw at it!

Non-Porous | Stain-Resistant | Scratch-Resistant | Heat-Resistant Excellent Flexural Strength | Low Maintenance | 30 Colours

www.caesarstone.uk.com

Editor-in-Chief Diana Biggs diana@demagazine.co.uk Editor Mariana Pestana editor@demagazine.co.uk Feature Editors

№ 24

Stuart Blakley Gem Barton Robert Pike Ilsa Parry Contributors Karina Joseph Emma Harrison Lucas Gray Stefania Vourazeri Melissa French

Art Direction - Design / layout Yvette Chiu yvette@demagazine.co.uk Web Developer Kingsley Man web@demagazine.co.uk Accounts Department Jenny Shore accounts@demagazine.co.uk design exchange Magazine 366 Bethnal Green Road London E2 0AH T: +44 (0) 20 7033 9410 F: +44 (0) 20 7739 1924 www.demagazine.co.uk

de/design exchange Autumn 2011 Issue 024 Cover Image | Lemonatus, by Julian Bond, edition of 2, hand made in London.| PHOTO © 2011 Amandine Alessandra / HyperMarketo All rights reserved

For subscriptions: UK: £15.00 per year (4 issues) visit www.demagazine.co.uk © 2011 Copyright design exchange magazine claims no responsibility for the opinions of its writers and contributors contained within this design magazine.

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without prior permission is strictly forbidden. Every care has been taken when compiling design exchange to ensure that all the content is correct at the time of printing. design exchange assumes no responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions. design exchange Magazine are media supporters of:

nous

18

| Design Exchange

Glass and Mosaic Arts in Architecture

*Architectural Chevrons Slumped and applied glass www.bradleybasso.com

Bespoke Hand Aged Oak Flooring 01509 812020 www.timbernatural.com





 

kvradiators www.kvradiators.com Tel. 0870 754 0712

Aquaduct

Aquaduct brings innovative ideas to your wet rooms and spas! We transform function into art with uniquely designed shower grills and floors. The complete bespoke design, supply and install service.

T: 020 8450 2244 www.aquaduct.co

605 �

1105528 �

1 027553 �

1116521 �

1045822 �

1106463 �

1052378 �

1040715 �

1059914 �

1108437 �

1003475 �

1 093214 �

1093186 �

1079413 �

1077410 �

1084797 �

1122917 �

1085792 �

1099532 �

1093736 �

1053924 �

1059956 �

062 �

1093164 �

1082688 �

009 �

1079807 �

1059884 �

111 �

1014846 �

1058602 �

5100247 �

333 �

1094270 �

1 031530 �

1105012 �

1106577 �

1028072 �

1081092 �

1083020 �

1084801 �

1115392 �

1 085867 �

1135942 �

1127274 �

1135925 �

1086930 �

1089013 �

1052475 �

1003553 �

1080577 �

1093183 �

1114819 �

1116547 �

1082112 �

1097923 �

1093406 �

1088043 �

144 �

5100233 �

337 �

1080084 �

1011216 �

1 070201 �

1002061 �

757 �

1052471 �

1086934 �

1 011315 �

1095615 �

5100165 �

511 �

1127574 �

1088591 �

1 041141 �

1027979 �

1065987 �

1089358 �

1093810 �

1075780 �

226 �

1040773 �

1027736 �

1081783 �

1085796 �

1072900 �

1082182 �

537 �

1097918 �

5100361 �

WWW.ARCHITONIC.COM www.architonic.com/PRODUCT CODE 1001076 �

5100009 �

1038177 �

1028985 �

1083904 �

every carpet tells a different story...

NOTTING HILL I *OLWZ[V^ 9VHK 3VUKVU c > )/ ;LS

TETBURY 3VUN :[YLL[ c ;L[I\Y` .SV\JLZ[LYZOPYL c .3 (( ;LS

KNUTSFORD *OLSMVYK 9K c 6SSLY[VU 2U\[ZMVYK *OLZOPYL c >( :) ;LS

FISHERS OF HENLEY .YL`Z 9VHK c /LUSL` VU ;OHTLZ 6_MVYKZOPYL c 9. 9@ ;LS

>VVS ‹ 3PULU ‹ :PSR ‹ 5H[\YHS -SVVYPUN ‹ *\Z[VT +LZPNUZ ‹ )Y\ZZLSZ >LH]LZ ‹ 9\UULYZ ‹ )VYKLYZ www.carpetsofchelsea.com

European Where Hotel Luxury is Design Born 23-24.11.11 The Sleep Event Europe provides inspiration, innovation and opportunities for all those involved in the global design, development and architecture of hotels.

To be part of this unique event and secure your place at the exhibition, conference or awards please visit: Headline sponsor

www.thesleepevent.com

Award sponsors

Conference sponsors

In association with

Organised by

( -SL[JOLY%XLOGLQJ JVTWHU` ;OL +PSSLY *VYWVYH[PVU -VYTPJH HUK [OL -VYTPJH (U]PS +L]PJL HYL YLNPZ[LYLK [YHKLTHYRZ VM ;OL +PSSLY *VYWVYH[PVU

[OPUR KYLHT PTHNPUL HUK JYLH[L ^P[O [OL

-6940*( *633,*;065

;OL 6YPNPUHS /PNO 7YLZZ\YL 3HTPUH[L

=PZP[ MVYTPJH JVT HUK ]PL^ [OL -VYTPJH *VSSLJ[PVU UV^

Contemporary British Furniture manufactured for high end and design led interiors

CEMENTO 14

from Strata Tiles

CEMENTO 14 is the new range of polished cement from Strata Tiles.

Available in 3 finishes & 15 iconic colours inspired by the palette of Andy Warhol, CEMENTO 14 is exclusive to Strata Tiles and will be on display at 100% Design at Earls Court, London 22nd - 25th September - STAND D118.

To download an e-brochure or request FREE samples of this range please visit www.stratatiles.co.uk/cemento14 or email marketing@stratatiles.co.uk for a hardcopy to be posted to you.

SHOWROOM studio62 62 Clerkenwell Rd London EC1M 5PX HEAD OFFICE Strata Tiles Ltd Polar House 6 Midleton Industrial Estate Guildford Surrey GU2 8XW 0800 012 1454 info@stratatiles.co.uk www.stratatiles.co.uk

Er ect A r ch it ectu re, Camden L ondon

Photo: Lewis Allen

â„– 1/

kilburn adventure P l a y P ar k & ce nt r e

34

| Design Exchange

//

Architectural Project â„– 1

Kilburn Grange Park Adventure Playcentre, designed by London based practice Erect, shows how architecture can make a difference by creating opportunities for kids in a deprived part of Camden through a comprehensive engagement project.

35 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Photo: David Grandorge

When, in May 2009, Erect Architecture won a competition to design the New Camden Adventure Playground, they had a greater ambition in mind: to create a playcentre where kids can ascertain skills, engage with the surrounding environment, learn about sustainability and above all, they aimed to make the project their own. “We tried to teach skills in a way so the children can engage with the project later, after we have left, and develop that project further by discovering it again and again,” says Susanne Tutsch director and founding member of Erect Architecture.

A series of organized workshops engaged the kids and helped the architects to understand their needs. “We began by asking them what is adventure - for some adventure was mountains, waterfuns, or jungles- and the kids had to put these ideas on signs and put this signs up in the park stating the play in that site,” she explains.

Besides, she adds, “from these ideas we drew quite a lot of things. We created hills which can erode as well as water play areas.”

After all, adventure playgrounds are about kids being able to change

36

| Design Exchange

//

Architectural Project № 1

Photo: erect architecture |Words: Stefania Vourazeri

“We tried to teach skills in a way- so the children can engage with the project later, after we have left, and develop that project further by discovering it again and again,” things themselves. “We went with a construction engineer into the primary school next to the park who explained the basic principles of structure. Then the kids with bamboo sticks tried to build different structures or houses. We wanted them to understand what we do,” she adds.

With play in and around trees being the overarching theme, the architects wanted to build a

structure that would represent the project’s principles. Thus, a timber frame construction was built with a biodiversity roof overhanging in the southwestern area to formulate the entrance and create a large canopy protecting outdoor play. The interior of the building incorporates a central column formed by a large tree trunk communicating the idea of the tree story, which was central to 37 | www.demagazine.co.uk

the architects’ approach whereas natural trees support the canopy making the building look like a tree house.

Both the Architects and Camden worked closely together engaging the children in a meaningful way with research always being a top priority. “Camden really invested in taking the children on this project and working with them, and that’s the project’s unique part,” she explains. “For Camden it was important that these children had opportunities in this area.

Opportunities that were about creativity and exploring nature.”

Erect’s Kilburn Grange Park Adventure Playcentre is one of the winners of the RIBA award 2011 for London.

â„– 2/

H oogv l i e t H e r l i j k e i d Fashion, Architecture Taste (Fat) Hoogvliet rotterdam

38

| Design Exchange

//

Architectural Project â„– 2

The Heerlijkheid Hoogvliet designed by Fashion Architecture Taste (FAT) is a park and community centre on the outskirts of Hoogvliet, a satellite of Rotterdam, which provides a sense of community cohesion to the town’s disparate population.

39 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Built on a site neighboring a highway and the biggest oil refinery in the world, Heerlijkheid profoundly reflects the surrounding landscape, which is both natural and industrial. The Villa, the centrepiece of the new park, is a strict blue industrial structure wrapped in a timber facade crowned by a strip of raw wooden planks and a yellow forestlike entrance made out of golden polyurethane. “There is a dialogue between the villa and the landscape that revolves around the strange condition of Hoogvliet - that is both a highly industrial place, with smokestacks and fire on its horizon from the refinery, with large scale infrastructure from the port, yet also has an abundance of nature,” says Sam Jacob, co-director of FAT. The forest-like entrance, be it a form of architectonic statement or not, “is a way of making something ‘natural’ in an artificial and industrial way,” Jacob explains.

The Villa’s plethoric character derived from “an idea of allowing the architecture to be explicitly narrative... and from an intention to tell the story of Hoogvliet through the building’s form,” he says. Designed to host a wide range of events - it has a party room, a cafe, a cinema and a projection room - the Villa became a design challenge in that sense. “But the solution is far from high-tech,” Jacob explains, continuing,“ the building’s interior simplicity allows it to function freely in many ways.

Practical issues of blackout versus

“The issue was to look for the areas of common experience. The idea of the ‘common’ was quite significant, what was shared and what could be shared,”

natural light, or sound insulation against openness had to be balanced in a way that could allow the wide variety of users required.”

FAT worked closely with WiMBY (Welcome into My Back Yard), an independent organisation whose task was the restructuring of postwar Hoogvliet, in order to understand the town’s unique 40

| Design Exchange

characteristics and its population.

A series of festivals and public activities were organised bringing the different groups together. “The issue was to look for the areas of common experience. The idea of the ‘common’ was quite significant, what was shared and what could be shared,” he says.

//

Architectural Project № 2

benches with pink intersecting seating as well as the pink cutout word “Heerlijkheid” creating the homonymous bridge further enhance the strong surreal and expressive nature of the project, which in a way tries to articulate a new statement and provide the town with a unique identity.

Hoogvliet’s contradictory styles and population have found a welcoming home.

Words: Stefania Vourazeri

The surrounding park’s features - also designed by FATand a new lake in the shape of Holland, which adds narrative to the formation of the landscape according to Jacob, follow the same supergraphic principles set by the architects. A new green corridor, a children’s nature playground, sports facilities, an arboretum and ‘Hobby Hunts’ also became part of the new park. Long log

41 | www.demagazine.co.uk

â„– 3/

C u ltu r al Cen t er FUNdC Madrid Spain

42

| Design Exchange

//

Architectural Project № 3

Fündc’s New Cultural Centre (NCC) is the biggest urban intervention conducted on Pozuelo de Alarcon, a suburb on the outskirts of Madrid, and promises to alter the old city centre’s degraded urban character injecting life into its streets.

43 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Built in one of the richest municipalities of Spain, where large companies and wealthy people have established their residences, the NCC and the urban intervention on and around Padre Valler square revitalises the old city centre which remained unchanged and deteriorated during the decades.

“The intervention refers both to the Cultural Centre Building on its core, but more importantly to the ‘new’ centre it creates at an urban level,” explains Cesar Garcia Guerra architect and partner of Fündc.

Combing multiple creative disciplines lies at the core of office’s philosophy whose acronym stands for; Fusion & Union Needed by Disciplines of Creation. “This project has been a great opportunity for us” says Cesar Garcia Guerra, continuing, “we dealt with almost every discipline involved in spatial creation; traffic flow, infrastructure modification, engineering challenges, landscape solutions, renewal of old construction, large new architectural structures and

44

| Design Exchange

interior design.”

At the centre of the renewed square lies the NCC, an imposing concrete extension, adjacent to the old municipal building. Its large cantilevers add a strong sculptural character to the building which “acts as a recognisable icon,” says Guerra.

//

Words: Stefania Vourazeri

Architectural Project № 3

“The old municipal building with narrow bays between bearing walls provide excellent exhibition areas, while the large spans without columns of the new extension are suitable for auditoriums,” he explains.

The largest auditorium, called Hall 1, incorporates an innovative flooring system that welcomes both exhibitions and auditoriums. “Its set of fixed and retractable platforms creates an auditorium profile and can be hidden under the fixed ones to provide a set of terraced exhibition spaces,” says Cesar Garcia Guerra.

Serving their design principles, Fündc designed a new pedestrian

area on and around the square in order to ameliorate the degraded commercial activity. The new stone pavements, fountains and mega tree pots around the NCC encourage pedestrians and visitors to socialize and spend time outdoors.

However, in a municipality like Pozuelo, dependent on cars, “an intervention purely for pedestrians would have further isolated this area,” Guerra explains. By building an underground double deck parking area, working together

45 | www.demagazine.co.uk

with underground roads and bus stop, Fündc managed to harmoniously provide space both for cars and pedestrians.

Elevators and skylights were designed in order to multiply the communication of the underground areas with the street level. The mega tree pots provide ventilation for the parking but are also act as part of the urban design. Fündc’s approach is a bright example that shows how transdisciplinary understanding of design parts can progressively improve an area’s urban tissue.

FENdEr katSaLidiS arCHitECtS Hobart tasmania, australia

Photo: Leigh Carmichael

â„– 4/

Mona

46

| Design Exchange

//

Architectural Project â„– 4

Museum of Old and New Art is located in an old historical site in Tasmania and is built around specific pieces of art, creating a tangible dialogue between art and architecture.

47 | www.demagazine.co.uk

CREDITS: MONA/Leigh Carmichael Images Courtesy of MONA Museum of Old and New Art

According to David Walsh and Nonda Katsalidis, the building’s character was built an honest expression of its function and structure. The exterior is made of concrete and Corten steel panels with roof gardens, a tennis court and walkways.

The building is “deliberately underwhelming,” says David. A spiral staircase takes the visitor beneath the Courtyard House entrance and through the rock face. Three subterranean levels have been cut into the Triassic sandstone of the river bank. The interior is dark and immersive, designed to encourage visitors to lose themselves in the slow reveal of the galleries. The galleries were designed around specific pieces - including a

The building is “deliberately underwhelming,”

48

| Design Exchange

//

Architectural Project № 4

peculiar waterfall installation – creating a continuous dialogue between the architecture of the Museum and the art that it hosts.

There’s a rich history to the Museum of Old and New Art: the land where the Museum sits today was originally the home of the Mouheneenner band of Aboriginal people.

After European settlement, in 1804, the site was cleared, fruit trees planted and the sandstone quarried. In 1948, Italian immigrant Claudio Alcorso purchased the site and a few years later planted the first vineyards in southern Tasmania.

49 | www.demagazine.co.uk

This was the start of Tasmania’s modern wine industry. Alcorso named the site ”Moorilla” meaning “rock by the water” in various Aboriginal dialects. In 1958, Roy Grounds was asked

by Claudio to design two houses that today are heritage protected and form part of the Museum: the Courtyard House - the entrance, gift shop and cafe and the Round House – where the Library is now located.

No.1

Feature

folly flyover - aSSEmbLE Interviewed by Mariana Pestana

When we first decided to make an issue on collaboration, we immediately thought of Assemble.

It is hard to imagine how such a large group of people actually manage to work together and make decisions…how many are you in total?

There are around 15 of us that meet regularly but the wider group of people involved in Assemble is much more than that - it’s quite an organic group and I couldn’t give you a figure! Because of the fact that most of us are working or still in education, the amount of time people are able to commit to Assemble is always changing. Having enough people in the first place I think allows this flexible model - there will always be enough people to meet to discuss the current project but we try our best to keep the wider 50

group abreast of what is happening through constant bombardment with mass email threads.

You’re an interdisciplinary group…how did it all start?

The main body of the group came together at the beginning of 2010 with the intention of working on a collaborative project and that turned into the Cineroleum. Most of those initial members of Assemble met studying architecture at Cambridge but through the Cineroleum project it picked up a number of new members - friends of friends, people who helped us out delivering the broader scope of the cinema (i.e. not just the constructional side of things). It is an essential feature of the two Assemble projects so far that the building is a part of the story,

| Design Exchange

//

Photos: David Vintiner & Assemble

Feature no.1

but by no means all of it. Having members coming from backgrounds in art, film, performance and promotion among others is both a cause and a result of this. Each time we do a project the group, its scope and ambition grows a little more.

So when was it that you decided to turn a project into a practice?

Another difficult question! I don’t know if we would describe Assemble as a practice, not yet at least, and certainly not in the traditional sense of course.

On the technical side of things we became ‘Assemble CIC’ earlier this year - that was necessary just because the scale and budget of the Folly was on another level to that of the Cineroleum. Once you start dealing with larger organisations, larger sums of money

and ultimately more risk, inevitably your working practice needs to become gradually more formal. That strictness has so far remained on paper fortunately; we still managed to operate in a fairly informal manner throughout the Folly.

Not having a fixed HQ (i.e. working out of bedrooms and the back rooms of pubs) again contributes to the amorphous nature of Assemble’s practice - most of us have to operate in our spare time to make Assemble happen. We are currently working on a more permanent home for the group at Sugar House Lane (near the Three Mills in Bow) with a workshop, a space to re-house a mini-Cineroleum and a public cafe. Obtaining an ‘office’ like this one could describe as another move towards formalising

51 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Assemble as a practice - albeit an office with an unusually public aspect. Just like the Cineroleum and the Folly, a large part of the development of this project will take place as we go along, on site.

I’m interested in the very practical side of your relationship as a group: do you all work on every project?

The Folly project started as a large group. When we had a good idea of what we were doing and had secured funding after a few months, we began to take on more specific responsibilities simply because the logistics of delivering the project required it. Although we had specialised roles, we all managed to keep an overview of the project and discuss the really important issues as a group, and for this reason we all maintained a sense of ownership and involvement - it would not have been an Assemble project if we hadn’t.

It’s definitely a very democratic approach, quite idealistic!

But how efficient is that model, can you sustain it for much longer?

ABOVE The entire construction is supported by an interior scaffolding structure that only reveals its deceitful presence on entering the folly. | FIRST PAGE The folly is built up of an amalgamation of brickwork from across the Wick, where details are replicated 1:1 from brick to brick-sized timber.Refraining from the paint-and-sawdust artifice of theatre scenery, the replica bricks are made from natural reclaimed and salvaged timbers.

52

| Design Exchange

//

Photos: David Vintiner & Assemble

Feature no.1

This is a particularly live issue for us at the moment. We now seem to be entering into a new kind of phase in the working model for Assemble because for the first time a lot of different people are beginning to approach us with new projects. Because these are not totally self-initiated and because some of these clients have their own ideas about what they want, we are starting to split into smaller groups, each person getting involved in the project that interests them. It is also a question of efficiency in that in some cases it is in fact easier to operate with less people. The important thing for us is to hold on to the group as a whole, for everyone to be have a decent idea of what is happening with each project, and for everyone to be able to comment and contribute where they want.

How do you see Assemble’s model of collaboration reflected in your projects? Would you say it opens opportunities that a more orthodox form of practicing would not?

The broadness of the ambition of the projects reflects the collaboration within the main body of Assemble between a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and interests. Equally as important as this is the way we have worked with other organizations, over the Cineroleum and especially the Folly. Working with specialists and other groups similar to ourselves has given the projects a richness which we could not have achieved by ourselves.

In particular I am thinking about Studio Dekka, who developed the lighting schemes for both the Cineroleum and the Folly. Dekka understand our dynamic very well and have really brought a lot to those two projects.

Apart from the main cinematic programme, there were a great number of different groups that ran workshops and hosted events at the Folly. The whole of the water-based side to the Folly project would not have been possible without Floating House Productions. Situated just across the canal, Marek (director) became an integral part of the operation - providing advice and expertise, running boat trips, and bringing about another collaboration with Voluntary Design and Build to build, The End of the Pier - the pontoon that allowed us to run a boat service to and from the Folly and became a sideproject in its own right.

ABOVE Folly for a Flyover is the winner of 2011 CREATE Participatory Art Award and delivered in conjunction with the Barbican Art Gallery’s summer exhibition, Watch Me Move, the CREATE festival, muf art/architecture and groups from across the five Olympic host boroughs. | FIRST PAGE The Folly draws its physical appearance from the strong built character of Hackney Wick. From the suburban low-rise of the trowbridge estate to the grand remnants of victorian industry: there is a pervasive language of intricate brickwork and fine detailing that stands in stark contrast to the austere panel construction of the Olympic developments across the canal.

53 | www.demagazine.co.uk

FIRST PAGE Hand built over the course of one month by a team of volunteers with locally sourced materials and leftovers from the Olympic Park, the Folly hosts screenings, waterside events and workshops in a playfully improbable structure perched between the canal and motorway overhead. | BELOW A cavernous motorway undercroft in Hackney Wick re-imagined as a fantastical waterside setting for cinema, performance and play.

No.2

Feature

Stitching architecture and Landscape Ecology an Ecological Mixed-Use development Words Lucas Gray

Reaching beyond the confines of the architecture profession and engaging experts in other fields from the outset of a project allows a design to successfully address a more complex system of issues in a unified, cohesive way. Collaborating with landscape architects and ecologists during the conceptual design of an ecological mixed use development in Portland, Oregon allowed us to delve into larger issues than merely architectural ones. It drove our design to uniquely address the programmatic requirements for human inhabitation as well as implement elements into our proposal that improved the landscape ecology of the site - restoring a riparian habitat, providing food and shelter for migratory birds and other species, all while increasing the sustainable features of the architecture and inherent beauty of the design.

This eco-development was designed to be a model

54

for future mixed-use projects in Portland, Oregon.

Our team was faced with the challenge of integrating 300 living units along with commercial space while also providing core habitat and migration corridors for the local wildlife and improving the ecology of a current light industrial site located alongside a concrete channelized stream. We sliced the ground plan and tucked the public functions under swooping berms, pulling the landscape up onto their rooftops.

This allowed the buildings to be in close proximity to habitat corridors with the berms playing a buffering role between humans and wildlife. The planted roofs also aided in the thermal performance of the buildings while slowing storm water runoff. By folding the landscape to engage the roofs, storm water runoff is minimized, open space is maximized, and habitat corridors are preserved. People accessed the buildings

| Design Exchange

//

Images copyrighted by Katie Boyd, Lucas Gray and Mark Steinhardt

Feature no.2

from the ground level while the roofs and sloping berms were reserved for wildlife. The influence of the landscape architect was integral to the site planning and informing the architectural forms.

The housing blocks developed into terraced structures providing each unit with a south-facing balcony - ideal for solar access - giving each unit an outdoor room looking into the tree canopies. The parking was slipped below ground, yet we pierced the roof with holes, from which trees emerge, to bring natural light and ventilation to the underground space.

This introduction of natural elements enlivens what normally is a dark dreary space. The parking tunnels below all three housing blocks, connecting them with a sheltered pathway for the rainy months. The roof above has been landscaped to provide recreational areas and urban farming plots. In each design move the final

ABOVE A hand drawing by Katie Boyd. Collaborating with a landscape architect on a project.

55 | www.demagazine.co.uk

ABOVE Lucas Gray hand drawings. Collaborating with a landscape architect on a project.

idea encapsulated a blending of professions, bringing natural living elements into the static architecture.

The natural systems animated the architecture by introducing dynamic light, shadows, breezes, sounds, and energy into the architectural spaces. This will bring the inhabitants into contact with the natural world throughout the day, giving them insight into the daily, seasonal and yearly cycles of nature.

Further, we used the expertise and ideas from this collaboration to introduce new programs to the project including an urban community garden, rainwater catchment systems, environmental education facilities, and recreational trails. These additional functions further enhance the project, providing a variety of mixed uses for the predominantly residential development. We also tapped into an extensive citywide bike network and commuter rail line to better integrate the development into the urban context.

56 | www.demagazine.co.uk

//

Images copyrighted by Katie Boyd, Lucas Gray and Mark Steinhardt

Feature no.2

These added elements offer elements of surprise and joy as one continually discovers new things throughout the site.

Other than the design itself, it was also noteworthy that the collaboration informed the design process as well as the graphic representation of our ideas.

Departing from the typical architectural representation our images often emphasized the natural elements of the design wile the architecture itself slipped into the background. This allowed the buildings to feel like they were truly a part of the natural elements of the site rather than something super rational imposed on a more organic environment as so many projects do. The geometry of the landscape and architectural elements became a unified composition supported by the graphical representation. Throughout the process we relied on sketches, models and collage as a way to work through and communicate our ideas. Computer

drafting and rendering took a back seat to a more organic presentation method.

Without the insight and expertise of each member of the design team this project would not be as successful. The architecture helped give form to the landscapes which in turn animated the built spaces.

Advice from an ecologist helped define the site plan to maximise the restorative ambition of the project and set the foundation from which we began developing the buildings themselves. Furthermore, our team approached the design not with a focus on only human end users, but rather how a variety of species could share the site, live in harmony and create a truly sustainable development. Our collaborative approach allowed each member to bring a unique and valuable skill set to the table which led to an end result that is far superior to a more singular focused approach.

57 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.3

Feature

architecture of display aaS Pierre Jorge Gonzalez and Judith Haase

It was in 1999 that Pierre Jorge Gonzalez –scenographer - and Judith Haase –architect - opened their architectural firm in Berlin and Paris. The experience of working with Richard Gluckman and Robert Wilson in New York opened up the first opportunities to consider ways of presenting art through architecture.

AAS stands for Atelier Architecture and Scenography. The combination of these two disciplines results in a rare theatrical blend: the spaces that Gonzalez and Haase design are narrative, performative and playful. Often hosting art or fashion, they work as a backdrop for objects to be revealed. Walls and floors are treated with equal care, connected by bespoke large bodies of furniture moulded by artificial light. The furniture spreads throughout the rooms, twisting around walls, emerging from the floors or

58

disappearing under the windows: guiding the visitor through space, they sometimes show, sometimes hide.

There’s an inherent sense of flexibility: the height of the vitrines and cabinets is perfect for seating, the furniture dissolves towards the windows to become a display set, the counter extends through the space to show books or to become a table for drinks in the private views. There’s a character to the spaces of AAS that is not very common in the aseptic world of art galleries and it contaminates the objects displayed.

Both Pierre Jorge and Judith have started their careers in theatre and performance set design, which might have provided them with a sense of how bodies behave in space. That would justify their particular enjoyment in controlling the way bodies move, offering them different experiences though materials, textures and temperatures.

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.3

FIRST Andreas Murkudis New Store Berlin By Gonzalez Haase AAS RIGHT Jarla Partilager Berlin berlin by gonzalez haase AAS | BOTTOM: ACNE Jeans Store Berlin by gonzalez haase AAS

This interdisciplinary small practice is hence situated somewhere where the fields of art, set design and architecture intersect. They read buildings as spaces with a pre and a post condition, continuously evolving: for them, a new project means an analysis of its diverse components (architecture, history, sociology) and a subsequent action of subtracting layers to add new ones. They see the architect as a figure close to that of a curator: the way that a space functions is entirely subject to the architect’s interpretation. The architect manipulates space to his interpretation in a similar way that a curator does with artwork. Aware of this potential, AAS often subvert function in order to force us to transcend the ways in which we tend to use space.

Working in Paris, Moscow and Berlin, AAS have designed a subsidiary of the Suhrkamp publishing house, The Corner store on Gendarmenmarkt, Thomas Schulte Gallery in Berlin, COMA Centre for Opinions in Music and Art and recently completed a gallery building for Claus Nordenhake.

One of the duos earliest projects was the design of the first Acne Jeans store outside Scandinavia.

There, crossing through the three rooms, a massive cabinet gathers all functions of storage and product display. The merchandise stock becomes a part of the store display to create a saturated area of display in contrast with the emptiness of the rest of the store.

Alike an old tailor table, different services can be provided at the corian skin-colour counter: it is a cash point, a seat for trying out shoes and a display for products that can be seen, touched and discussed.

59 | www.demagazine.co.uk

LEFT: Andreas Murkudis New Store, Berlin By Gonzalez Haase AAS| BOTTOM: Deutsche Guggenheim Shop, Berlin By Gonzalez Haase AAS PHOTOS: Thomas Meyer / Ostkreuz

60

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.3

On the ceiling there’s a rather intriguing lighting installation made of plastic bulbs, which recalls the universe of funfairs and carousels.

In 2009 AAS won a competition to design the Deutsche Guggenheim Shop. Here, the architects designed a play on light and shadow. When entering the shop, the visitor faces a bright compound of thin vertical and horizontal panels that filter the natural light recalling the visual art effect of “sfumato”.

Three large scale furniture elements formulate the journey through space: the monumental wall shelf

houses books and products, vertical partitions section the room and filter the light by reflection, and a serpentine island contains smaller items. The lighting continuously follows the axis of the space to pierce the suspended mezzanine, where the vanishing point is reversed by gradual dimming from light to darkness. A wall fades from white to grey to enhance the progression from the bright entrance to the dark atmosphere of the studio, where the education area and the multimedia gallery are located.

They’ve just launched their most recent project: Andreas Murkudis Concept Store, also in Berlin, where AAS made a topological proposal, organising the industrial building just like a city. They started by clearing out the former printing premises of the Tagesspiegel and left only the essential architectural features. Then the duo invaded the large bright empty space with new elements. This simple gesture borrows the store with a transitory character, the furniture seemingly fluctuating on the floor like a foreign element. The materials are thin and weightless, apparently provisional and fragile, suggesting that they’ve just arrived and are staying for a short visit.

61 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.4

Feature

WikiHouse Words Robert Pike

What if with a little bit of ingenuity without the need for formal training, you could simply design a house of your own? This is the question that WikiHouse sets out to answer. The installation features in the forthcoming Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea and will be the culmination of a long period of debate and development, both physically and virtually, in line with the Biennale’s desire to question what design means today. The event goes under the provocative theme ‘design is design is not design’.

WikiHouse, part of the community section curated

by Beatrice Galilee – the London based curator, writer, critic, lecturer, and partner of the Gopher Hole – takes a position on what constitutes a community of design and how communities enforce and re-enforce 62

notions and paradigms of design (and) examines the word ‘community’ from as many different perspectives as possible and abstracts community from place and replaces it with things like networks. WikiHouse emerged when Galilee invited architects 00:/ to respond to the brief of ‘Open Source Communities’.

“It was really an open brief ”, states Alastair Parvin of 00:/. “In a way, there’s a paradox in a single architecture office responding to such a brief, and we thought for a long time about how to respond to it.” They approached it with two ideas in mind. The first was to be open to collaboration from the outset.

The second was to address open source and the open design movement by doing something that would engage with people, not only visiting the exhibit at

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.4

the Biennale, but more crucially with a global online community of potential collaborators irrespective of design experience. 00:/ re-established long standing working relationships with Espians and Momentum Engineering, who they had worked with on a number of projects, and set about creating the broadest framework for the physical entity of the WikiHouse.

They also created the virtual open design environment in which a lot of activity will take place, when people can take part in downloading software and designing their own house.

So how do these potential global collaborators get started with designing their own home? Google SketchUp, a key tool, can be downloaded for free – as simply as downloading a song from iTunes – and allows components downloaded from the WikiHouse website to be adapted, and designs to be composed.

More experienced designers can even begin adapting the script to suit more bespoke design intentions.

The most positive move is that all this information is free to be tweaked and redesigned as the hardware and software is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Sharelike license. After much debate 00:/ decided that it should be available commercially.

For Parvin, it’s simple: “Businesses often forget that open source is not an anti-commercial thing, it just changes the game in terms of where in the process a business creates value; it becomes less about proprietary content. In fact, the potential advantages of mass-collaboration speak as much to the economic difficulties currently faced by the architectural profession as they might do to amateur builders”.

So the project is placed in the broadest possible framework to garner involvement, and to not only stimulate ideas, but also to generate income.

With one click of ‘make this house’ the program can generate a set of milling drawings. The advancements in the technology means that the construction drawings can be read by a CNC mill with components cut from standard sheets of 18mm plywood. Simple manufacture is paired with simple building techniques with components easy to assemble, like a piece of IKEA furniture, as parts can be bolted together to

provide a stable shell. The prototype developed by the team emphasises this, as from drawing issue to completion the process took a mere 24 hours. So what did the process teach the design team about the project? Engineers from Momentum took the prototype and began to iterate the junctions to provide greater ease of assembly. Parvin described the final ideas as “faintly reminiscent of traditional Japanese timber junctions”. It could be as simple as that for everyone.

Could the construction become an event of community participation? Could this be an activity for all the family to collaborate in? For the, team what emerged from that assembly process was that it was very sociable, “strangely traditional, like a barn-raising,” says Parvin. This is something that could be explored as the project progresses as groups become involved. It seems in the long run the key parameter is the ordinary citizen and how far this process can be manipulated to meet their needs. Does this project promote variation and good design in the final results? How can it be adapted to meet specific requirements of geography? For example, how could you design for somebody in Africa or somebody in need of quick emergency housing post-disaster?

Could this process offer potential to these user groups?

Surely quick timescale – and therefore the impact on cost – is an advantage from those respects. Could this become the affordable housing typology of this generation developed and led by a community of “barn raisers”? What about questioning the supply chain and infrastructure that is required for this idea to grow? Could CNC mills become widespread, built around local cooperatives to meet the needs of this growing band of master builders? Parvin is open minded. “This whole thing is an experiment in what might be possible, but so far the indications are good and our hope is to be able to set up a number of teams or ‘labs’ in various places, who will actively go about developing and building full prototypes.

We’ve had some serious expressions of interest…from universities…and people who are working on parallel projects and want to collaborate…It gives us a lot of

63 | www.demagazine.co.uk

hope that there’s a big, quick-thinking community of people looking at this stuff and who will have radical improvements to make on our initial starter.”

Dean Foskett, a graduate of London Metropolitan ASD, is one such designer researching similar ideas, and recently published a paper entitled ‘Digital Modelling To Direct Digital Manufacture’. In it he addressed how design exploration can be integrated with parametric tools and scripting, modern methods of timber engineering and CNC technology to produce best results. For Foskett the whole point of this technique is that customisation is key and buildings are tailored to suit the individual site. This is parametric design that remains grounded with the key parameter the site condition itself. The tools exist to do this and no doubt this theme could be explored further within the context of WikiHouse. Surely it is not a tool that simply limits buildings to modernist mantra of a standardised kit of parts that promote limited variation in our built environment. If the system of design is simplified for the benefit of the lowest common denominator, who really benefits from that in the long run. The user? The architects? The builder? Complexity is an essential part of the world we live in and it cannot be simply diluted, and the handling of such digital system in architecture should be interpreted in the right way to avoid a regressive impact to the built environment.

Though there are concerns about this process for designers and alike, there is much to be optimistic about working in self-organising networks like this and it means there is likely to be a growth in collaboration challenging the conventional nature of designers working in isolation in static offices. A broad range of disciplines can share knowledge via social networks, Twitter, Skype, email, etc, as well as by conventional means. This project has already led to new contacts and ideas being formed, even before the software has

64

gone live and the biennale opens in September. Practioners like 00:/ are working in new ways as projects take on double life.

One in the conventional physical environment and the other in the virtual environment passed on from one collaborator to the next.

The open movement gives voice to the natural problem solving abilities designers possess. One person on the other side of the world might provide a solution to a problem faced by another and that is an incredibly exciting prospect. For WikiHouse and the team, these are early days. For

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.4

LEFT The design team take part in the ‘barn raising’ of the prototype structure at the offices of 00:/ | SECOND LEFT Detail of the component parts and how they are fitted togther | TOP Wikihouse Raising | BOTTOM Components are cut by a CNC milling machine prior to assembly.

Parvin, there is much potential and he is optimistic.

“The immediate responses you get from people on Twitter and the connections you make with people are great but these kind of projects and the collaborative communities around them build slowly. So… let’s see what happens next.”

Do you want to test this out for yourself? You don’t have to be in South Korea to be able to take part as this is an open source installation and the team invites your collaboration. If you want to play around with the software, get involved now and start the building blocks of your WikiHouse. If you want to be involved or know anyone that might get in touch: hello@ wikihouse.cc.

No.5

Installation

Party animal LikE architects

‘Party Animal’ is the collaborative brainchild of Diogo Aguiar and Teresa Otto who formed LIKEarchitects in 2010 and have won awards for their creative installations, notably ‘Bus Stop Symbiosis’.

The ‘Party Animal’ intervention took up stage in an attractive, yet underused, passageway in Lisbon, Portugal, with the aim of maximizing the celebrations of the patron Saint António. The festival of Santo António is a citywide, month long, fiesta sporting bright colours, loud music and historical culture. The month of June saw ‘Party Animal’ as a key player in the traditional celebrations. The cultural association

66

Parafernália joined forces with Ordem dos Arquitectos (in order) to revitalize, and reactivate, the site thus placing it on the map as a destination worthy of a visit.

‘Party Animal’ takes up what would be, in any city, a tough brief; an architecturally sensitive and fractious location, a tight budget, a grand yet light weight volume of 480m3, the need to be the star of the show during city events whilst also being the understated backdrop to a variety of performers and performances.

‘Party Animal’ was designed to impose itself as an iconic urban catalyser while retaining and respecting the consolidated spatial hierarchy of the square.

| Design Exchange

//

Installation no.5

CREDITS: Architecture LIKEarchitects (likearchitects. com) (Diogo Aguiar (diogoaguiar.com) + Teresa Otto (teresaotto. com) Lightning Design LIKEarchitects (Diogo Aguiar + Teresa Otto)

Photos: Francisco Nogueira (francisconogueira.com), Diogo Aguiar (diogoaguiar.com) and Teresa Otto (teresaotto.com) (c) All rights reserved

Client Associação Parafernália (acparafernalia.org) Ordem dos Arquitectos (arquitectos.pt)

67 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Credits: Structure OutrosMercadus (outrosmercadus.pt) Constructive System Burkhardt Leitner constructive

68

| Design Exchange

//

Photos: Francisco Nogueira (francisconogueira.com), Diogo Aguiar (diogoaguiar.com) and Teresa Otto (teresaotto.com) (c) All rights reserved

Installation no.5

The form is inspired by the surface pattern of the nearby 16th Century ‘Casa dos Bicos’, or ‘House of Spikes’, which is faced with over one thousand diamond-shaped stones, and was one of the few buildings to survive the 1755 earthquake. The structure of ‘Party Animal’ however, is far from 16th century in origin. It is something altogether different; a modern, lightweight, pre fabricated, modular system forms the skeleton onto which translucent red plastic is molded.

During the day, the sunlight of Lisbon makes the fabric glow red and reveals the expressive projections

of the structure’s shadows. At night, when the events take place, the stage is illuminated into a sinuous frame of red light. The intervention becomes attractive through its passivity, as the deep red of the transparent plastic is highlighted by the subtle lighting design and composition. The translucency allows the glory of St. Pauls Church, directly behind the structure, to be part of the intervention and be fully visible from all over the square.

69 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.6

Installation

Floating Cinema Studio WeaVe

An energetic assemblage of creatives came together to bring about this new route in to the Olympic park, via a re-commissioned British Waterways workboat.

Given the brief, “ to connect and engage the people who live and work in the Olympic host boroughs in a cultural event” by the Olympic Delivery Authority. UP Projects developed the concept of a Floating Cinema as part of their on-going programme of commissions called Portavilion, which brings temporary pavilion structures to London’s parks and public spaces.

The existing 52 foot narrow boat owned by Annie and Hazel, was redesigned to include a cinema structure by London Architects Studio Weave so that it 70

could navigate the waterways of East London and also take people into the Olympic park. “We invited them to collaborate with us and their boat has temporarily become the Floating Cinema. Their expertise and knowledge of the boating community has been invaluable and Hazel is also our resident skipper.” Says Emma Underhill, Portavilion Curator and Director, UP Projects The collaborative team extends further to include artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie whom together form a multi-disciplinary, non-profit creative company known as ‘Somewhere’. Pope and Guthrie are responsible for developing the Floating Cinema

| Design Exchange

//

Installation no.6

Photo: Studio Weave

Portavilion 2011 The Floating Cinema an UP Projects production | www.floatingcinema.inf

programme of films. “There is something very engaging about a mobile cinema, it is an accessible concept and previous projects demonstrated that there is considerable public appetite for this kind of thing.” Says Underhill. The team have ensured that the Floating Cinema shows a broad range of films including work from local artists and filmmakers.

This community involvement was exercised further during the design and fit-out stages. Studio Weave, inspired by the opulence of the traditional picture house, approached local makers to create the interior seats, fixtures and fittings for the 12 seat, on-board cinema auditorium. The scheme features Deco inspired

intricate smocking details giving the cinema a sense of luxury and glamour. In contrast to the functionality of the boats exterior a soft, quilted, uniquely patterned canopy forms the entrance to the cinema room, consisting of a treacletart-like lattice made from steel tubes.

Collaboration of this kind, which involves such a great variety of talent is bound to have been hard work, but more importantly fun. Project Director Emma Underhill says, “We have gotten to know each other very well during the project development and have watched many films together!”

71 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.7

Installation

the Social Playground aberrant architecture

It was a previous person-centric installation project, ‘Welcome to your city”, a unique two week installation inside the Wonder Room shop windows at London’s Selfridge’s department store, which sparked the collaboration between FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and Aberrant Architecture.

As a result, when FACT Liverpool played host to an exciting exhibition in 2010 exploring the notion that galleries are as much about the people who visit them, as the objects housed within them, Aberrant Architecture’s ‘The Social Playground’ formed the centerpiece.

‘The Social Playground’ was inspired by the traditional British Easter game of egg rolling and invites visitors to race wooden eggs down seven unique 72

structures, each of which represent, and display, work by the various community groups that FACT engages with. These groups include; Freehand a Young People’s Programme, Tenantspin Arena Housing Programme, Knowsley Community College and the Network Enterprise Team.

FACT has a strong history of collaborating with local community groups, here Aberrant Architecture expands on this track record to create a unique, yet sensitive, interactive landscape. “This was very exciting for us as it meant we were able to create a collective experience for the users by linking the structures with an interactive process” says Kevin Haley, co-founder at Aberrant Architecture.

Aberrant Architecture used their university tutoring

| Design Exchange

//

Installation no.7

ABOVE Unique two week installation inside the Wonder Room shop windows at London’s Selfridge’s department store.

experience, and passion for participation, to devise and run workshops with each one of these groups.

During these workshops style, form and content were collectively explored and generated, with the one to one engagement creating an incredible sense of ownership. “We enjoyed engaging the various groups at FACT with the process of designing the exhibition through a conversation, which we believe created a far richer result and placed the people of FACT at the centre of the project.”

During one workshop an interest in climate change as well as ethical and environmental products lead the Network Enterprise Team (NET) to generate a tree like structure. Various models of trees were developed, which not only expressed the groups concerns, but also provided them with an opportunity to use the tree as a market place where seed bombs were sold to raise money for a school trip. Once the workshops had been

completed, the Aberrant Architecture team continued to refine the design and detail of each structure whilst exploring the relationship between the structures both visually and conceptually. The stations were then strategically ordered and subsequently linked to create the route, and story for the user’s experience.

The timber structure aesthetic could be said to resemble a glamorous cross between a large-scale crazy golf course and a modernist inspired activity playground. The former was the original inspiration for the design team due to its all-inclusive strategic nature. Nevertheless an inviting concept for child, architect and art enthusiast alike.

Collaboration’ according to Kevin Haley, “An integral part of our design process, which creates an open conversation that is accessible to everyone, placing people at the heart of everything we design”

73 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.8

Installation

Serpentine PaVilion Peter Zumthor

This year the eleventh annual Serpentine pavilion sees Peter Zumthor following a high class list of predecessors by classically showcasing his first completed building inside the UK. For the first time in the Serpentine series the building envelope appears to play backdrop to its ‘interior’. In this instance, its interior is another exterior, as the pavilion provides only walls and a minimal covered pathway. The black idenden clad walls gently incase a wildflower garden created by the influential Dutch designer Piet Oudolf. “I am very pleased to be collaborating with Peter Zumthor and the Serpentine Gallery on this year’s Pavilion and to be part of this exciting project. My work aims to bring nature back into human surroundings and this

Pavilion provides the perfect opportunity for people to reflect and relax in a contemplative garden away from the busy metropolis.” Says Oudolf.

Zumthor’s intention for this garden is that with which most gardens are created, it “aims to help its audience take the time to relax, to observe and then, perhaps, start to talk again - maybe not.” Identified by his concept for this year, Hortus Conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden. In Zumthor’s case a ‘secret’ garden perhaps. Upon arrival the presence of the courtyard garden is not evident from outside the dark clad pavilion walls; its form, make up and splendor surprising all who enter for the first time. The wildflower composition is the heart of the pavilion, both physically and conceptually,

74 | www.demagazine.co.uk

//

Installation no.8

TOP LEFT Serpentine pavilion | TOP RIGHT Peter Zumthor EG PORTRAIT © gerryebner.ch | LEFT Serpentine pavilion © Serpentine

falling comfortably and constantly within each and every line of sight. The humble material palette allows the wildflowers, and wildlife, to take center stage as intended by Zumthor and Oudolf.

Zumthor says “The hortus conclusus that I dream of is enclosed all around and open to the sky. Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens that I have seen, that I believe I have seen, that I long to see, surrounded by simple walls, columns, arcades or the façades of buildings – sheltered places of great intimacy where I want to stay for a long time.” It is this type of freeform daydreaming that Zumthor and Oudolf wish to inspire in all their visitors, from adults and children to butterflies and bees. On September

9th a different kind of collaboration will take place within the pavilion, in the form of a percussion piece, ‘The Call of the Drum’ will be performed by Peter Conradin Zumthor and Fritz Hauser. This piece was originally conceived for their first duo-performance in Peter Conradin Zumthor’s solo-programme Die Nagelschm but will be adapted in response to the Serpentine pavilion.

In this age of big ego architecture, where landscaping is too often an after thought, it is a pleasure to see a simple, thoughtful, sensitive design lay the way for structured, natural planting.

75 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.9

Installation

Candle Light Niu Miao and Nicholas Hanna

‘Candle Light’ is an interactive light installation, which allows the individual to walk within the essence of a flickering candle flame. The concept is enchanting and captivating, the technique is ambitious and effective.

‘Candle Light’ is the end product of many concepts, iterations and prototypes for collaborative design team Niu Miao and Nicholas Hanna. Miao and Hanna met whilst working at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where Canadian Hanna now lives and works.

The idea for ‘Candle Light’ was borne from an earlier

76

investigation into the inverse relationship between a light-bulb and a candle, called ‘Candle Stool’.

Miao and Hanna enclose a candle in a box that is covered with sensors. The sensors sample the intensity of light from the candle and are linked to corresponding cold-cathode light tubes in the space behind the box. At any given moment, a three dimensional cross section of the light from the candle is detected by the sensors, then amplified in scale filling the space in which curious visitors may explore.

| Design Exchange

//

Installation no.9

A beautiful combination of technical knowledge and poetic atmosphere, very rarely is such precision placed upon emanating the detail of something as transient as a flickering flame. It seems as though the bare, naked flame is being respectfully reproduced into its modern counterpart, artificial light, but without losing any of its distinctive natural prowess. The beauty is most definitely in the detail.

ABOVE Candle Light by Nicholas Hanna & Niu Miao an interactive light installation.

77 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.10 Design/Art

designersblock

The Designersblock have long been on the lookout for new, emerging designers. They have selected and brought them to life through their shows, conversations, parties and encounters. Once again Bud and Rory select two more designers for this issue.

This is their choice!

78

| Design Exchange

801 Designers Ackurat Amma Lux Ana Tevsic Benjamin and Mark Boyce Biophotovoltaics: Design in Science from Cambridge University Bodging Milano Bodil Soderlund Camilla Meijer Charlie Seckers Chloe Scadding Claire Anne O’Brien Cristiana Ionescu Daniel Schofield Dominique Brown Donna Walker Edward Taylor Eleanor Ross Fay McCaul Feix&Merlin Architects Freya and Giles Godwin Brown Goldsmiths Cross Cultural Design Project Graham Banks Graphic Relief with Timorous Beaties, Vault 49 and Yehrin Tong Greig Paterson Helga Matos Imogen Luddy

Inflate Jail Make John Galvin John Mcalpine Maker Maria Volokhova Masako Sato MoonJung Munire Kirmaci New Makers O’Hare and D’Jafer Patrick Stevenson-Keating POSTextiles Puff and Flock Rosemary Anrude Sangmyung University Say Architects Simon James Whatley The New English Yeuungnam University Ung 8 from Svensk Form Åsa Norman Daniel Svahn Studio David Ericsson Jonas Wåglund Karin Auran Frankenstein Karl-Johan Hjerling & Karin Widmark Lies-Marie Hoffmann Lukas Dahln

Designersblock

22– ––– 25 September Farmiloe Building 34 St John Street London EC1M 4AY 10.00 - 19.00 register for free entry

http://designersblocklondon2011.eventbrite.com/ www.verydesignersblock

Magdalena Perers Maria Johansson & Lina Huring Maria Johansson Maria Sandberg Maria Sikström Märta Mattsson Mars Nils-Erik Fransson No! Fara! Farvash Razavi Olle Gustafsson Sigrid Strömgren & Sanna Lindström Souzan Youssouf & Naim Josefi Susanne von Ajkay & Therese Broberg The Auction Room curated by Mariana Pestana with Designersblock with specially commissioned new work from Alex Hellum Felix How Graphic Relief Harry Trimble Hendzel and Hunt Hugo Passos Jorun Hognesen Katrin Baumgarten Max Cairn Monika Piatkowski Paul Bishop Postlerferguson Studio 801 Thomas Ives Yehrin Tong ARTS THREAD with Designersblock Chris Stoneman Emma Lundgren Hannah Coxeter Malene Hartmann Rasmussen Nadine Spencer Ornella Stocco Rosie Thompson Sarah Birnie Satoru Tim Pryde

/

rory's Choice -

puff&flock

‘’We’re all in this together” ‘In 2003, when we moved in to our Shoreditch HQ, on a dark scruffy backstreet that’s now the bright shiny thoroughfare of Hoxton Overground, that was the legend written above one of the upstairs doors. We see the words in black felt tip everyday, a legacy of the previous occupants, and they seem to be truer the more you notice them. Eight years later, we’re still there. We are still on a rent of one peppercorn per annum from our generous hosts, the Geffrye Museum. The place has changed gradually through occasions and the accumulation of objects and materials from countless design events whilst still retaining the faded traces of its former uses.

Designersblock has always been a collaboration, between ourselves from when we set it up in 1998 and between an ever-growing network of exhibitors and visitors to our events, who have a trust in dialogue and an understanding that they can bring something to the table, that they can make what we do work better for us as well as for them and that together we can do something extraordinary.

80

Right now two unusual and unexpected things are happening - things that we couldn’t have planned - and both come from collaboration and from where we work.

Firstly, we have become industry partners for the MA in Creative Economy at Kingston University. Back in the summer, we met Rachael Matthews and Louise Harries, who are Prick Your Finger, a yarn shop and gallery in Bethnal Green; they also undertake many knitting related projects and activities. They explained that they would like to visit to observe us at work in situ as they have been charged with the task of designing us an office in the new gallery space at Kingston’s lovely Knights Park Campus. How about that - a knitted office.

Then, to top it all, we heard this week that textile collective Puff & Flock have sourced a doll’s house which they intend to fashion into a miniature version of our HQ. Now, as dollhouses don’t generally have basements and said HQ being originally a pub with a generously appointed cellar, they are going to extend the dollhouse southwards in the interests of architectural and anthropological truth. Always good when people go

| Design Exchange

//

Design/Art no.10

beyond the first idea and do the extra mile.

Since graduating from the excellent MA Textile Futures course at Central St Martins and launching with us in September 2008, we’ve been able to involve Puff & Flock in pretty much everything that we have done. Every time they have shown with us, be it in London, Milan or Birmingham, they have done something new and something more ambitious. They are a gang of individuals with a collective mentality when they work together, who have become a resource and a reference for people who want to know what’s current, what’s next and how some things might be in the world of design and textiles.

They make things; they collaborate with companies like Ercol, Toray textiles in Japan and furniture designer Stuart Melrose. They are also very live - their presentations and workshops communicate and demonstrate taking textiles in totally new directions.

Last September, for our late night at the V&A which had a theme of pairs and relationships, they produced an amazing collection of Siamese costumes for two which, with delighted, hilarious public participation and the opulent museum corridors, made for a mad spectacle akin to scenes from a Fellini movie and a mad carnival.

I can’t wait until next week to see our world through their imaginations and I know that somewhere in that haunted doll’s house the writing’s on the wall.

TOP LEFT PuffandFlock balloon | TOP RIGHT Monstify Shop } ABOVE V & A | BELOW Balloon furniture

81 | www.demagazine.co.uk

/

bud's Choice -

Layers of collaboration

In these straitened times when the credit card is maxed out and we’re all in this together, talk has turned to collaboration. Perhaps cynically talking about the value of working together distracts us from looking at how selfish and insular we’ve become over the last decade.

The different ways in which people collaborate together can be really interesting and show unique patterns. The last three shows we’ve put together have all included collaborations between several brothers and sisters, often with the female sibling taking the leading role, often as the most active and provocative part of the partnership. Perhaps in the future multiple children taking up careers in design or making will be seen as a sign of bad parenting, or the reverse.

82

There are, of course, a bunch of collectives that are always around or near what we do, as well as the perception by many that Designersblock is in itself a collective. The way collectives work together can be indicative of the way people enjoy working together, whether it’s textile collective Puff and Flock and those in the orbit around, or Italian food collective Arabeschi di latte. Both have a core group of people that always work together but then bring in other collaborators as they need them or stumble across them. Arabeschi’s recent collaboration with Wallpaper is a great example of the way they bring both simplicity and refinement to everything they do, whether it’s designing an inflight meal with Wallpaper, giving away bananas in a

| Design Exchange

//

Design/Art no.10

swimming pool with us, or remixing Italian recipes with Asian ingredients in Tokyo.

Naturally, there are other practical ways in which people collaborate together. I’m thinking of lighting and environment designer Emerald Faerie’s collaboration with Liberty and shoe designer Terry de Havilland. The Chandelier ‘Cinderella’s Revenge’ was equally a beautiful lighting installation and a functional shoe display, and also covered a rather dull section of the shoe department of Liberty.

Which brings me on to the dark side of collaboration… It’s easy to see that everyone benefits from collaborations with Liberty, the V&A, Selfridges, and Wallpaper or from Formula One car manufacturers URT, mutually beneficial projects that show off the work people can do in environments which it would otherwise be impossible for the individuals or small self-funding collectives to get

access to without the generosity of the sponsors and the other collaborators involved. The other side of this is multi-million pound companies using major universities in lieu of having their own research and development departments and briefing degree projects which they should be paying for in the first place, as well as companies that aren’t particularly interested in the individuals they are working with, their ideas, or their values.

Collaboration is a lovely multi-layered thing, with lots of scope for grey areas.

LEFT Stuart Melrose with Puff & Flock - character furniture | RIGHT Cinderella’s Revenge Emerald Faerie With Terry De Haviland | BELOW Arabeschi di Latte Banana Party

83 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.11

Design/Art

designMarketo Lemonade For All

The common message behind the events produced by collaborative design duo Jerome Rigaud and Alexandre Bettler of Design Marketo, is one of food and fun.

The most recent of these events being ‘Lemonade For All’ presented at Sofia Design Week 2011, where Design Marketo commissioned Lemon orientated products from designer/maker friends for presentation to the public. “As the saying goes, when life gives you Lemons, make Lemonade. So we did!” says Bettler.

“Design Marketo bloomed out of the frustration of seeing nice objects collecting dust on friends’ shelves; those objects were in our eyes little gems that designer and maker friends had put lots of love and passion 84

into.” To redress this “we started commissioning projects based on briefs for events related with food and conviviality” This thread of localised collaboration is becoming more and more evident as strong, diverse networking circles expand.

When asked about the derivation of the ‘Lemonade For All’ pop up shop, Bettler remarked “we like the idea of a restaurant matching it’s season; our idea of an organic growth for our company is very similar to that.

Sometimes briefs can be very simple, just based on associating an idea: summer, sun, heat, fresh drink, lemonade, lemon.” In response to this ‘Lemon’ brief, friends Loris & Livia, Julian Bond and Studio

| Design Exchange

//

Design/Art no.11

TOP LEFT & BOTTOM RIGHT Lemon Toy, by Loris&Livia, edition of 20 similar but different, hand made in London & Lemonatus, by Julian Bond, edition of 2, hand made in London.

PHOTO © 2011 Amandine Alessandra / HyperMarketo | TOP RIGHT & BELOW Lunch at DesignMarketo & Visitors at Lemonade for All

Duho created The Lemon Toys, Lemonatus, and the Lemonator, respectively, which were available to buy at the pop up shop/workshop alongside the free lemonade for all.

The next Design Marketo event will take place at London’s Design Festival under the guise ‘BarAlto’ between 18—25 September 2011. This time designers have been commissioned to react to a brief based on the tumbler, customising 20 glasses each for sale during the event, no doubt accompanied by a cocktail.

85 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.12

Design/Art

helmut lang Make It Hard

It’s not uncommon for artists to draw inspiration from their lives, careers and experiences. Mark Quinn famously even used his own bodily fluids to create his refrigerated ‘Blood Head’ for example. It is less common however for the general public to feel such ownership over the component parts, as is the case with designer Helmut Lang’s most recent exhibition ‘Make It Hard’ presented at The Fireplace Project in East Hampton, US. Here, Lang reconstructs 20 years and 6000 of his garments into 16 floor to ceiling stalactite like columns.

Following the acquisition of his brand in 2005

by Prada, Lang retired from the fashion industry

86

and moved to Long Island to focus on his artistic endeavors. It was a fire in his studio last year in which a number of his garments were damaged, that inspired the self-destruction of the remaining pieces [only after Lang’s most coveted garments had been donated to select collections worldwide]. Following this cathartic experience Lang says he will continue to add to this body of sculptures and intends it to grow to over 100 pieces.

The exhibition is presented by the multi-talented Neville Wakefield famed for his creative direction.

‘The materials and fabrics he used to give temporary definition to the body are now just traces of natural

| Design Exchange

//

Design/Art no.12

TOP LEFT & RIGHT Helmut Lang MAKE IT HARD, 2011 Resin, pigment and mixed media Detail image | BOTTOM RIGHT Helmut Lang MAKE IT HARD, 2011 Resin, pigment and mixed media

Photo: HL-ART

and synthetic fibers, plastics, metals, leathers, fur, skins, feathers and hair - erasing the past and the difference they once stood for.’ It is this reflection of the transience of fashion, trend, art and indeed life that has sparked a great deal of interest in the exhibition.

The exhibition title ‘Make It Hard’ is said to reflect the metamorphosis from soft to solid, as well as harboring an implied sexual reference.

The same fabric that once gave exterior definition to models around the globe now dresses the interior of the former Talmage garage in New York, in which it stands equally proud and elegant.

87 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.13

Feature

what Now? Words Robert Pike

A provocative question posed by the ‘What Now?’ collaborative, the team behind ‘The Architect: What Now’ an exhibition and debate that checks the health of the Architect at a point of great upheavals from the university design studios to the boardrooms. The architect is the sick man in need of radical surgery and maybe just a few therapists. Does the collaborative – Alison Coutinho, a part 2 graduate from London Metropolitan, Dan Slavinsky, a part 3 student at Westminster, and Wai Shin Li, head of sales and marketing for Dezeen – offer a diagnosis? They may not be at the RIBA churning trend surveys, nor are they big journal penning soul searching articles, but these are the voices of the grassroots with a mind to 88

prompt conversation. Archi-cynics may argue about what these young upstarts know. Surely they lack the experience to comment on such issues. The team will say that they are simply providing a platform for a debate. “Just send us a postcard!”

Architects and Aspiring Architects have sent a postcard. In fact, the response has been overwhelming, global, and the opinions provided diverse. What do the postcards tell us about the Architect in 2011?

Developer control with architect as the powerless face of this; the artistic topping on corporation money making a lifestyle consultant…obsolete… satisfying demands.... Competing against itself...too many architects chasing too few jobs…our younger

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.13

Photos: Robert Pike

TOP LEFT Viewers were invited to share their views by completing a postcard of their own. | RIGHT Interior view of the Draughtmans Arms, an installation by Gundry and Ducker | BOTTOM LEFT The wall of postcards presenting the view of the profession of architetcure.

generation scrabbling for the scraps from the table.

Disconnected...isolated from society...ignored by the public. Adored by each other. No longer the master builder. In need of educational reform. Poor and broke. Should we take the lift to the top of the Shard and throw ourselves off? Seems little to be positive about. One might care to wonder what the Architects and aspiring Is 2051 any different? Will the Architect be permanently redundant, only found in Wikipedia as history? Will they be endangered and struggling onwards as the poor isolated artist? This is depressing!

Is there an alternative view? Will the role widen? Is the client no longer the corporate paymaster pulling the

strings or is it formed from community design centres with the public and the user having a greater role in the design of the building? How do socio-economic factors determine the architect’s role? How will the environmental factors, such as sea level rise, extreme weather, and mass migration determine how architects work? Will the architect act as the problem solver delving deeper into the issues within cities? Will the architect be part of a wider interconnected network of design professionals? Will they be global linked by the laptop and LinkedIn...etc.?

Where do we go from here? The sense is that architects cannot afford to continue this malaise stuck in the back pocket of paymasters. This is not

89 | www.demagazine.co.uk

TOP Caption: Image by Greg Skinner from the series Crafting the Localised Architect, which examined the role of the architect in localisation.

universal, as there are good practices, yet reform is needed in architectural education; the treatment of graduates and levels of pay; architects undercutting each other in tendering for projects in a perpetual race to the bottom of fee scales; the architect’s marginalised role in the project team, etc. Are we best placed to tackle the environmental and societal issues or is our expertise now too narrow, constantly picked at by an ever growing band of consultants for everything?

How to move with technological change? Surely it will influence ways of working with more practices collaborating in global networks on projects in new emerging markets without the expense of setting up large offices. What about something from leftfield?

Does the bottom up “little society” response to the riots suggest that people are seizing the initiative without invite by authority? Should we the architects just do the same?

You have to admire the endeavor of the ‘What Now?’ collaborative because at a time when graduates are struggling, it is refreshing to meet a group of aspirant, energetic people so prepared to engage with big issues, have the guts to try something and make a career path of their own. An ambitious inaugural event has exposed the team to a number of opportunities to learn new skills and form new networks. As students, they had already been engaged in the politics of architecture, having their say sitting on school councils and being affiliate student members

of the Association of Consultant Architects (ACA).

‘What Now?’ was born when Alison Coutinho and Dan Slavinsky were approached by Brian Waters of BWCP, past President of the ACA, and architect on the redevelopment of One Marylebone, with a view to curating a temporary exhibition in the former crypt.

The theme was obvious but the biggest challenge was generating funding. As Coutinho put it, “we needed to turn the business model on its head” and develop strategies for sponsorship. Wai Shin Li joined the team and used his experience in business development and marketing to develop the business strategy. They approached large practices for sponsorship and smaller practices contributed work, whilst a band of students volunteered to help with running proceedings.

The team’s hard work shines through in an excellent exhibition that makes good use of the crypt space. As well as the postcards, these old vaulted arch spaces play host to an evocative series of drawings. The first, The Architect at the End of Time, is by Dan Slavinsky and the second, Crafting the Localised Architect, is

by Bartlett graduate Greg Skinner. Barcelona-based architect Josep Muñoz i Pérez won the commission for a piece of sculpture to mark the event and this too takes pride of place in the crypt. Another corner is home to the informal bar space, The Draughtsman’s Arms, designed and donated by Gundry and Ducker, the interior design and architecture practice of Tyeth Gundry and Christian Ducker.

90 | www.demagazine.co.uk

//

Feature no.13

TOP A postcard submitted to The Architect: What Now? by artist Andrzej Krauze inspired by What I Saw. Skyscrapers (1922) by Joseph Roth | MIDDLE A postcard submitted by aspiring architect Balveer Mankia | BOTTOM Bottom: ‘Arcadia’ (Perspective) by Dan Slavinsky from the series The Architect at the End of Time.

What now for the ‘What Now?’ collaborative? The debate continues apace; meanwhile, they are fielding enquiries from Sweden and Holland seeking advice on holding their own debates. The clamour from the emerging wave of young creatives is building, seeking to address the issue of the profession. At present, the team is seeking a venue to hold a question time style debate, the original intended debate having been postponed due the London riots – so, if you have a suitable space, get in touch now and start collaborating. ‘What Now?’ are a group of people with much drive and determination to make their presence felt not only in voice but in their production. These are people to keep an eye on for in the future.

91 | www.demagazine.co.uk

No.14

Feature

Commerce, community, skills and credit, where does collaboration come into design?

Words Ilsa Parry

Coming together ‘Collaboration’, ‘in collaboration with’; terms that are loosely banded about in many design articles, journals and press features today often with no real contextualization or true meaning. It seems to be another buzzword that has come about recently in reference to exploring the creative process but what does it really mean for designers, consumers and the industry as a whole? Does a collaboration come about as a result of a clear need for skill exchange to boost innovation?

Is it indicative of the economic climate where a “credit or recognition” is given rather than financial reward in exchange for work done? Could it be that it is seen as a way to raise profile by publicising the endorsement of an individual or organisation with a global brand or

92

strong reputation? Perhaps it exists in places we may not have considered…? By the very nature of the design process, we are all collaborators. With our clients, when services are enlisted; with our suppliers, when materials and resources are required; etc. But in what context does an exchange become a collaboration instead of a partnership or initiative, and furthermore, what is the currency?

Initiatives, collaborations, and partnerships Italian lighting manufacturer Flos have recently been working with an attention-grabbing list of well known designers and this has been frequently cited by industry media as a great example of collaboration. Each

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.14

designer responded to a given brief on lighting for “soft architecture.” Two responses are featured here: that of conceptual thinker Ron Gilad, who describes his work as “unceasing questions in 3D form, and fabrication of answers that create an arena for fertile doubt” and Sebastian Wrong, who is more of an industrial designer, working primarily with Established and Sons, cultivating his work “from the balance between function, aesthetics and refinement.” Each has a very different approach to design as a working philosophy but the result of both is an extremely creative and unexpected solution, offering clear and direct visual connection to the brief. Is it as a result of the collaboration that the outcomes were so in tune and inventive? My guess is that there was never any interaction between the designers at all, each working on the brief individually from their respective studios, their own skills in their field and ability to sense the requirements of the client the true cause of the creativity.

If this is true, then the collaboration does not refer to the designers working together to collectively innovate but instead to the association between the “brands” of both the manufacturer and designer, each needing the skills of the other to supplement those they cannot access, but with the shared vision perhaps of profit and realisation of another attention grabbing and “reputation building” outcome. In this case, “collaboration” could potentially be viewed as purely a commercial tool for marketing…?

Another project this year which similarly involved more than one brand or individual but, by contrast, was as of yet non-commercial, was organized by the Design Council and involved communities of older adults, school children and a selection of designers.

Also in contrast, this project was not branded as a “collaboration” nor was it as well covered by the design press. It involved the Design Council setting a brief for all parties to regularly meet, consult and, together, develop solutions to revolutionise how older adults both connect with younger generations and also remain more involved with society as a whole through the

use of technology. Again, those involved were from a much more varied set of backgrounds and interests and, again, the goal and shared vision was the same, with an arguably higher potential impact for industry, consumers and society. However, what was encouraged here as opposed to the “soft architecture” brief from Flos was a much more open approach to contrast between each outcome.

The results were a wide range of very different and imaginative concepts from each group of collaborators, which came about as a direct result of brainstorming

between all parties who could be affected by the solutions offered. The chosen finalists offered service designs which were inclusive, innovative and full of meaning and impact. These included everything from a multi-purpose ‘radio’ that combines traditional style design and new technology to enable older adults to access local services and other functions, to the ‘Super Map’, which dealt with the problem of trying to find items in the supermarket. This project was described by the Design Council as “a new initiative”. This description

93 | www.demagazine.co.uk

seems rather more generic, refusing to heap credit towards any individual involved in the process - as a result, it has less impact and sounds less purposeful.

Perhaps this is why it was less well covered by the design press. It is also possible that projects which use the word “collaboration”(often associated with the achievements of well known individuals and brands) are deliberately trying to use media interest tactics to add value to a project...

In both the examples cited here, experience sharing and skill mixing brings about opportunity and allows new perspectives and innovative outcomes to occur.

It could be perceived that an initiative as opposed to a collaboration is more of an investigation – much less informal with greater focus on exploring possible social impact than on guaranteed fiscal reward.

So what then of the term “partnership”? This is generally perceived to be the main commercial term used in the coming together of minds, so why don’t we use this more in the design world? Maybe it is that the use of this term is not seen as “cool” or “designery” as it can conjure up connotations with form-filling and suits...

Contractual agreements between two collaborators in the design world can often be more of a handshake than a legal document. Individuals/companies mutually agree to work together for equal competitive advantage in some form – usually in my experience for marketing purposes. A partnership sounds binding and formal and seems more intimidating than a “collaboration”, yet a “collaboration” can often overshadow the implied significance of an “initiative” in terms of public interest.

In the music industry, several collaborations have occurred, with one fairly recent example being the long established working relationship between Amy

94

Winehouse and Mark Ronson, a modern day soul/ jazz singer and a hip-hop producer creating fresh interpretations of well known styles. This affiliation could be termed an initiative, as well as a partnership, but was most commonly deemed a “collaboration” by the press. The music industry appears to closely reflect the design world within its creative scope, production methods and route to market and, again in PR terms, it tends to favor this phrase for profile building. Here, the more well-known creative (Winehouse) reflects the role of designers such as Gilad in the collaboration, seen as an unexpected addition to a production range to showcase the versatility and imagination of a brand. The producer, (Ronson), much like Flos, brings to the mix technical skill, contacts and marketing know-how. The “initiative” with the Design Council did not involve a producer as the concepts had not reached a marketable stage. This would appear to indicate that the coining of the phrase “collaboration” could indeed be linked with market interpretation, as it sounds interesting and fun.

Who gets the credit?

Working “in collaboration with” the Culture Company, I have been developing a seating concept, ‘Storyteller’, that is to be placed outside the new Museum of Liverpool on the waterfront. The bench

| Design Exchange

//

Feature no.14

RIGHT Sebastian Wrong’s Spun Lights for Flos

has the visual appearance of the iconic “08” logo for Liverpool’s capital of culture year and is meant to serve as a reminder of this accolade and its lasting legacy, the museum itself, which celebrates “Liverpool life”. Users can take a seat and literally immerse themselves in the story of “Scouse” culture and experiences in and around the city over the last 100 years.

The bench will have hundreds of phonetic phrases and local-isms engraved into its surface which can be read and reflected upon whilst taking in the cities evolution and considering the contrast between the historic “Liver buildings” and the new waterfront developments. This project has meaning and social significance and, while not yet commercial, it does involve a producer. Aside from me and the producers “Hardscape”, its realisation also involved a range of other parties including public contributors, a wealthy individual, a sourcing agent, a media company, the City Council and the commissioning organization, the Culture Company.

While it remains conceptual, the project is currently referred to as a “collaboration” between Ilsa Parry and the Culture Company. However, when the bench is complete, nearly all those involved except for the public contributors will be credited with a plaque, gaining recognition as brands or individuals. Does that then mean that when the project reaches this stage, it will perhaps be referred to as an “initiative”?

Hundreds of suggestions were received for inclusion when requested and it is a prime example of how everyday people can contribute to one design-led goal. This project will give users ownership and assist in building a positive public reaction when launched through such consultation and may be deemed more valuable as a result. Will the satisfaction for those individuals of knowing that their memories will be shared with others in the city be sufficient reward for their contribution? Will the fact that they can see and point out to others which section of the text was coined by themselves be sufficient or should they be worthy of further recognition? In the media, it seems to be generally used to describe the coming together of established brands and well-known names involved in a project, which furthermore implies it holds greater significance. However, in this case, as with the example from the Design Council, the project impact could be far more valuable for a wider range of beneficiaries due to their involvement in developing the outcome, credited or not...>

95 | www.demagazine.co.uk

//

Feature no.14

TOP & BELOW The storyteller bench from Ilsa Parry and copyright permissions by Ilsa Parry who owns the IP and imagery have been granted ilsa@ilsaparry.com

......> In today’s world, architecture and design have become largely about creating environments, experiences and products that will prove to be sustainable. Things will only stand the test of time if we design to suit the needs and desires of the users today whilst forecasting the focus for tomorrow. With this in mind, consultation, public contribution and therefore “true collaboration� in the broader sense should always be on the to-do list of the designer.

Designers, architects and creatives of all types have a unique opportunity that comes with heavy responsibility. We get to create the things around us that others have to share in and live with. When granted such prospects, we can, to an extent, select whoever we like to collaborate with to assist us in realising the vision we have dreamed up. More often than not, we choose to collaborate with those who will raise our profile, add to our skillset or offer something previously unthought-of, both praising and giving credit to one

another when the goal is reached. With sustainability and practicality in mind, however, should we also be giving such opportunity and credit where due - to the everyday end user that is consulted with in the research stages? Collaborative acknowledgement need not be an exclusive exchange...

96 | www.demagazine.co.uk

sUBsCrIBE NOW www.demagazine.co.uk

Like us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/demagazine

Follow us on Twitter

www.twitter.com/demagazine

No.15

Art Feature

M11 Link road Words Karina Joseph

For a short period of time whilst at primary school on Cambridge Park in Wanstead, I remember chaos occurring on the street outside, the deafening sound of whistles, shouting and drum beats as people marched past. After school at my bus stop, I watched with intrigue as protesters took hold of the Chestnut tree on George Green, and then recall sadness at the sight of wood strewn everywhere after it was eventually chopped down. These events were in fact part of one of Britain’s largest and most significant anti-road building campaigns that took place in East London during the early 1990s.

The protest concerned the building of a motorway that linked the M11 to London’s road network with its primary aim to reduce traffic, and affected the areas of Leyton, Leytonstone and Wanstead. Around

98

400 Victorian terraced houses were to be demolished between Hackney Marshes and the Redbridge Roundabout, and acres of ancient woodland cleared.

The first anti M11 Link Road action group was set up in 1976, and local residents fought the governments’ plans with a solution to build a tunnel that would leave houses untouched. However, the peaceful direct action ‘No M11 Link Campaign’ began when construction of the road started on 13 September 1993, and streets became a daily battle between the bailiffs and the residents.

Most UK newspapers and TV programmes regularly covered the events with focal points on the protection of the Chestnut tree, the so called sovereign states of ‘Wanstonia’ and ‘Leytonstonia’, and final evictions on Claremont Road.

Planning blight led to an abundance of empty

| Design Exchange

//

Art feature no.15

property during the 80s, as the majority of houses along the route had been compulsory purchased by the Department of Transport, although demolition had not yet begun. The availability of free housing attracted squatters and experienced activists from around the UK and beyond, their useful skills put into the construction of defences. Acme Housing Association also let numerous properties to artists on short leases, which led to the campaign having strong visual identity.

Artists collaborated with activists to produce powerful propaganda material including posters, newsletters and postcards, some of which can now be seen in local archives. The active community was a “breeding ground for ideas under the threat of imminent eviction”, and notable artists who lived there included John Smith, Paul Noble, Grayson Perry and Cornelia Parker. Work made in direct response to the campaign include Paul Noble’s blue commemorative plaques that read ‘This House was Once a Home’ placed onto derelict facades, and two films by John Smith: Home Suite’ (1993-94) - a real time tour of his home on Colville Road before eviction which chronicles the history of everyday items and brings them back to life, and ‘Blight’ (1994-96) that recorded changes in the area over a two year period including the demolition of houses.

Local residents and activists fought fiercely to protect the 250 year old sweet Chestnut tree that had been an integral part of George Green for generations, and it aroused immense attention from the international media. Protesters strategically built a tree house within it, and encouraged hundreds of people to send letters. When the Postman delivered a letter to the tree, it became an official residence resulting in certain protection in law, and importantly later tree saving campaigns recognised that a tree

FIRST Anti-M11 protester on the roof of a condemned house, Claremont Road, East London © Alex MacNaughton | LEFT Anti-M11 protester on netting, strung between condemned houses Claremont Road, East London © Alex MacNaughton www.alexmacnaughton.com

99 | www.demagazine.co.uk

dwelling gave it protection. One writer from the USA commented ‘your battle is an inspiration to me here in Olympia, WA. Around here we still have vast stands of Native Forests but greed mongers are everyday at the ‘job’ of destroying it”. However legal protection ran out in December 1993, and when a vigil to the tree was prevented by erected barriers, hundreds of locals and campaigners pushed them down with force. Even the local uniformed lollipop lady encouraged school children to participate, though she was subsequently fired from her job.

To counter the campaign the government began to evict people from houses along the route and demolish them. In response in January 1994, protesters set up the so-called autonomous states of ‘Wanstonia’ – to protect a group of large Victorian houses in Wanstead, and ‘Leytonstonia’ - an area occupied for six months by tents, hammocks and tree houses in a hidden micro-forest in Leytonstone, noted for its quiet beauty. Both later declared independence as bailiffs took hold, although it took 700 police officers, 200 security guards and 40

100

| Design Exchange

//

Art feature no.15

bailiffs to evict people from just 3 houses. Later that year, the Criminal Justice Bill was born to criminalise most of the protesters activities.

0n Claremont Road, the street became a makeshift walled city as residents aimed to delay the road builders.

Protesters used sophisticated techniques to create alternative routes to escape the bailiffs, such as a system of netting that connected rooftops, and constructed a tunnel to link adjacent homes along the street. People also expressed themselves creatively; houses were covered with banners and slogans, and colourfully painted inside and out. Interiors became exteriors as front rooms were lovingly recreated in the road, two street cafes were erected and scrap material became sculpture. The street became an “ongoing work of performance art, an experiment in communal living and car free space”.

A newspaper called ‘Claremont Road E11: A Festival of Resistance’ was published by Sebastian Boyle to record some of the extraordinary events. Alongside experienced activists were also residents who had lived on the road their entire lives, including Dolly Watson a lady in her 90’s who refused to leave her home and who’s courage became a motivation. A media stunt was also carried out, and in April 1994, 9 people climbed onto

the transport minister’s house and drove a symbolic 20ft painting of a road through it, along with a message from Claremont Road.

The M11 Link Road officially opened in 1994, and the majority of the artist and activist community moved away, however the events still capture people’s imagination. Artist Graeme Miller recently produced a soundscape titled ‘Linked’, where the public can actually retrace the events by listening to stories from former residents via headphones transmitted from 20 points along the original route. As a current resident of Leytonstone, I share resentment towards the road as it physically divides the communities either side, and its noise and fumes spoil the leafy neighbourhood.

Although the ‘No M11 Link Campaign’ failed to stop the road being built, it had significantly increased the cost of construction, and together with other campaigns in the UK at the time, it is considered to have played a major part in large-scale cutbacks to the road-building programme that followed in subsequent years.

TOP LEFT Picture taken at the time | TOP M11 map | LEFT Handdrawn Posters by Kate Evans

101 | www.demagazine.co.uk

â„–I

Vamizi Comes Easy goes

Words Stuart Blakley

Vamizi. A rediscovered island, an architectural idiom. Conservation, innovation. Hot, cool.

102

| Design Exchange

//

Interior Project â„– I

103 | www.demagazine.co.uk

A distant fragment of the Quirimbas archipelago strung along the remote northern stretches of Mozambique’s coast, Vamizi Island is a crescent shaped dreamscape from which an environmentally responsible resort is emerging.

Up to six private villas will be built each year on a long term sustainable masterplan. Each area has a services hub tucked away in the verdant bush to provide power and water. Tennis courts, beach clubs and a marina are planned. It’s a creative collaboration between bluegreen planning + design and COA (Craft of Architecture). Derek Chittenden of bluegreen explains, “Discrete villa sites have been carefully laid out along the magnificent beaches. They’re arranged to ensure maximum privacy and are set back enough not to disturb the nesting turtles. The project is striving to exhibit eco trends in ‘green building’ through the use of sustainable and recyclable materials; the conservation of water; and the efficient and renewable use of energy. More importantly, the project is intended to deliver real benefits to conservation and to the people of this region.”

Peter Cook, former Director of the Bartlett School of Architecture, believes architecture can be gauged by economy of means, identity and performance. Firstly, economy of means. Architect Ian Gray, co-owner of COA, says one of the most challenging aspects is the dense indigenous forest which is to remain untouched wherever possible. Heavy machinery and cranes are not allowed on site which means every building part has to be thought about, designed and specified upfront. It is then transported by dhow to the island. Secondly, identity. Enter Vamizi Style. Over to Ian: “Vamizi Style sets out to reflect the multicultural history of Mozambique. East African, Arabic and Portuguese influences play an integral role in sculpting the architectural elements of the style. The East African influence can be seen in the hand carved features, decorative screens and woven fabrics.”

Voids and solids. Breeze and shade. Thirdly, performance. The courtyard arrangement takes its cue from Arabic culture. Employing a pavilion grouping allows trees and natural features to be circumvented while creating privacy and passive ventilation. It also reduces the apparent quantum of built form. The pavilions, linked by timber boardwalks, are

104

| Design Exchange

//

Interior Project № I

raised a metre above ground to allow for further ventilation. Derek states, “I insisted on setting the villas back 30 metres into the forest from the high water mark to retain the pristine character of the untouched beaches.

The Design Manual prepared by bluegreen introduced the concept of a tower with a lookout studio to reflect the Portuguese legacy on the island. The tower allows guests to rise above the line of the tree canopy to experience panoramic views and the breeze on a hot day. It’s central to Vamizi Style.”

The original brief was to design four villa types. Traditional relies on rectangular floor plans and vernacular construction methods. Dhow Sail has an experimental roof form and organic flow of interlinking elements.

Canopy Roof displays a more contemporary aesthetic with raised linear timber living pods connected by a grid-like shading canopy. It is supported by bleached Casuarina columns. Ocean Wave embraces most of the influences of the other three villas under a curved roof line.

Traditional and Dhow Sail are the first two villas to be built. Begun as generic but site specific models, Ian’s brief was tailored to meet the clients’ needs. It is likely that future villas will evolve in a similar way.

Vamizi Style is distinctive enough to embrace flexibility without losing its identity. It’s far removed from the prescriptive prevailing Oliver Messel Style of that other island getaway, Mustique. Vamizi Style’s economy of means and performance are commendably sustainable but most of all the style is about its identity. It’s a triumphant triumvirate: a mélange of national influences, regional materials and local needs.

Supplier list

Environmental Masterplanning: bluegreen planning + design Architects: COA (Craft of Architecture) Architectural Project Team: Ian Gray, Partner; Michal Korycki, Partner; John van Wyk, Partner; Victoria Wood; and J P van Jaarsveld Structural Engineers: deVS (de Villiers Sheard) Consulting Engineers Structural Engineering Team: Garry Sheard, Partner; and Case Bakker Developer: Cabo Delgado Investments Ltd Full listing on our website www.demagazine.co.uk

105 | www.demagazine.co.uk

â„–2 Concrete Proof

Words: Stuart Blakley

SHH have forged new relationships and have learnt and been inspired by other working processes and thoughts in project leading the Barbican Foodhall and Lounge. These are relationships SHH hope to have the opportunity of collaborating with again in the future.

106 | www.demagazine.co.uk

//

Interior Project â„– 2

107 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Conceived in the Sixties and constructed in the Seventies, the Barbican has become London’s supreme brutalist icon. Unlike smaller UK cities such as Belfast with its brutalist Ulster Museum extension, the capital’s monument to this monolithic movement is an urban village. The Barbican Centre is Europe’s largest arts and conference venue. Next door, the Barbican Estate is home to around 4,000 people.

It’s plain to see there’s a captive and to-be-captured market for food and drink at the Barbican. Architects and designers SHH have led a collaborative tour de force in transforming the former café and bar into the Barbican Foodhall on the ground floor and the Barbican Lounge upstairs. Both spaces spill out onto terraces overlooking fountains and beyond, the gloriously incongruous St Giles Cripplegate Church.

The collaboration proceeded apace with lighting gurus PSLAB, garden supremo Kate Gould and furniture designer Stefan Bench alongside caterers Compass Leisure Group. SHH’s approach was to embrace the listed architecture of the Barbican while creating a destination in its own right. Lead designer Helen Hughes from SHH explains, “Our overall approach was to link the spaces back to the wonderful architecture of the Barbican itself and to celebrate the building’s materiality. The original concrete ceilings have been exposed, the hammered aggregate walls de-clad and the Foodhall floor laid with Cradley brick pavers to link to existing external walkways.”

The second overriding direction was to produce visual connections between the two floors. For example, outsized 3m wide flat umbrellas or ‘urban trees’ with integrated planting and seating visually link both terraces. The other strand of this tripartite approach was to animate the spaces. Monochromatic architectural photography lines the walls of the Foodhall and a peacock green resin floor in the Lounge was colour matched to a photograph of the Barbican lake.

108 | www.demagazine.co.uk

//

Interior Project № 2

Supplier list

“We’re really excited,” says Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of the Barbican Centre. “The spaces have been stripped right back to the original wall textures and fittings. It really feels like a natural and organic development of our iconic centre. We’re confident regular visitors will enjoy the new experience and the transformation will also help to introduce new people to the area.”

SHH set out to use “pure and honest” materials. Brick, ceramic and steel create a robust urban environment against a building envelope glazed on three sides. Deli food is displayed on giant white tiled cubes.

A similarly clad curved block snakes through the middle of the Foodhall providing a bar for those customers who can’t wait to consume their purchases.

On both floors PSLAB have created functioning light installations. Full height lacquered skeletal shelves hold rows of glass jars housing light bulbs.

In between the shelves are rows of Scandinavian canteen style tables which, together with the low coffered ceilings, exaggerate the spaces’ rectilinear character.

Splashes of colour – a peacock green Hans Wagner sofa, red vinyl applied to the lower windows and stained iroko panelling to the kitchen frontage – lend the Lounge a moodier atmosphere than downstairs.

PSLAB continued to trip the light fantastic by dangling bulbs with brass reflectors into black steel hoops over the bar.

This collaboration led by SHH succeeds by working with rather than against its butch context. Such is the genius of the place – and SHH – that a 40 year old chunk of hollow concrete can be recycled to become fit for purposes in the post Noughties.

Architecture & Design: SHH Lighting: PSLAB Landscaping: Kate Gould Gardens Furniture Design: Stefan Bench Photography: Gareth Gardner & Caroline Collett Full Listing on our website www.demagazine.co.uk

â„–3

an architectural Gem, Neo bankside

Words: Stuart Blakley

Tall residential pavilions on small floorplates, lightweight decks supported by hangars, glazed promontories‌ the design of NEO Bankside development along the Thames is all about maximising its views and natural light.

110

| Design Exchange

//

Interior Project â„– 3

111 | www.demagazine.co.uk

www.inovafurniture.com see our extensive product library on our new website

//

Interior Project № 3

Richard Rogers calls the cultural quarter along London’s South Bank “a string of pearls”. Another jewel to sit alongside the Design Museum, Royal Festival Hall and Tate Modern has been inserted by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners – NEO Bankside. It joins CZWG’s seminal Bankside Studios in delivering apartments at South Bank. Lord Rogers’ colleague Senior Director Graham Stirk sums up the development, “The four pavilions make up a family of buildings, a series of towers of different heights. A key feature is the external bracing which provides exceptional flexibility of space. Each occupant will have the freedom to reflect their individual lifestyle in their apartment or penthouse. Everyone can move through generous lobby areas and enjoy the ride and river views in the glazed external lifts.”

The 12 to 24 storey diamond shaped towers are modularised with an external diagrid pattern. Steel supports zigzag up the elevations in homage to the area’s industrial heritage. Wearing its structural heart on its sleeve, this is Lloyds for living. Panoramic views form the backdrop to the buy to let apartments which Spring & Mercer have designed at Neo Bankside.

Spring & Mercer collaborated with Native Land and Grosvenor to create a range of bespoke furniture packages for 40 or so of the 200 apartments. They state: “The collection features a handpicked selection of high quality classic and contemporary pieces combined with a full inventory of the essential items for immediate occupancy.”

Inova supplied the furniture and fittings for the interiors, working to a budget and design scheme by Spring & Mercer. Managing Director Brent Weldon was inspired by the industrial ethos of the architecture. He chose Artemide lighting to lend a “raw feel” which is softened by adding upholstery to the Arper Catifa dining chairs. “The trick,” says Brent, “was to supply functional yet comfortable furniture in a very architectural setting.”

When NEO Bankside is completed next year, it will join Herzog + de Meuron’s Tate Modern ziggurat extension and Renzo Piano’s Shard. The South Bank will be awash with glittering architectural gems.

113 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Supplier list

Architects: Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners Design: Spring & Mercer Furniture Supplier: Inova Furniture Contracts Lighting: Artemide Dining Areas: Arper Bedrooms: Lema Structural Engineer: Waterman Structures Ltd Services Engineer: Hoare Lee Project Manager: EC Harris Landscape Architect: Gillespies Contractor: Carillion PLC Developer: Native Land & Grosvenor Full listing on our website www.demagazine.co.uk

№4

Lone Star, Croatia

Words: Stuart Blakley

Hotel Lone, the latest addition to Rovinj’s exclusive Monte Mulini zone and Croatia’s first design focused hotel, has entered the market.

114

| Design Exchange

//

Interior Project â„– 4

115 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Supplier list Architectural Project Team: 3LHD Lead Architect: Silvije Novak Interiors: 3LHD, Numen and Studio Kappo Artists: Ivana Franke, Silvio Vujčić et al Soft Materials: I-gle Developer: Maistra Inc Hotel: www.lonehotel.com Full listing on our website www.demagazine.co.uk

Croatia has found its place again on the tourist map, thanks to a tranquil tryst of decent weather and coastlines to enjoy it. A hotel suitable for the design aware traveller has just opened, adding to its allure as a destination.

Hotel Lone is in the romantic resort of Rovinj. It is Croatia’s first member of Design Hotels. The creative team is entirely Croatian: architects 3LHD, designers Numen and home grown conceptual artists.

Lead architect Silvije Novak says it is the “result of the joint activity of a series of artists who have signed this great canvas”.

Close to the sea, this 248 bedroom hotel looks like it could be in the sea. Its Adriatic location inspired the architects to design a building which resembles a white ocean liner. The overarching architectural expression is a contemporary reinvention of the classic 1970s Croatian coastal hotel. This retro look is quite appropriate considering the country is experiencing a rebirth of its tourism pulling power.

Large lobbies and sea facing ‘decks’ were designed by the 3LHD team from the Croatian Faculty of Architecture under the guidance of Silvije.

The effect is Oscar Niemeyer (“It is not the right angle that attracts me, not the straight line created by man but the curve in the body of the beloved woman…) meets Guggenheim New York. Hotel Lone undulates like a titanic wave frozen in time. Back to Silvije: “The rooms were conceived by 3LHD together with the design group Numen. All the fabrics and staff uniforms are by Croatian fashion designers I-gle. The ‘environment’ of the hotel was the brainchild of Rovinj’s Studio Kappo. Because of these interventions it has a unique visual whole and artistic value.”

A vertical lobby is at the heart of the six storey Y shaped building.

The staircase ascends in ever decreasing circles. Descending fragments of natural light from rooflights “absorb the surrounding nature into the interior”. So says Silvije. Large scale installations by Ivana Franke and Silvio Vujčić contrast with the blank canvas of the white stone walls.

Agencija Radeljković of Numen confirms they chose to use Slavonian oak extensively for its recognised quality. She adds, “Of course we used more lavish materials in the suites. Our preoccupation was a standard

116

| Design Exchange

//

Interior Project № 4

room though, so we might say that each accommodating unit has an extremely high level of design and quality of equipment.”

Numen selected furniture to attune to the homogeneous vision while adding an internationalist dimension. Satyr armchairs by German manufacturer ClassiCon complement Transform easy chairs by Moroso of Italy and contrast with American designer David Rowland’s conference stacking chairs. It is back to Croatia for the lamps designed

by Zabok based company Dekor. The lamps are made from oak veneer and when they are turned off merge into the oak panels of the walls.

If the soul is comforted by the architecture and art of Hotel Lone, the body is catered for by a 1,700 sqm spa (to lose weight) and a sushi bar, seafood restaurant and à la carte dining (to gain weight). Hotel Lone is five star.

117 | www.demagazine.co.uk

roducts

P

01

02

01

Studio801

02

Reeves Design

Lovely Waste from Samuel Sheard www.samuelsheard.com Chest Of Three Drawers from John Reeve’s Lacquer & Walnut Collection www.reevesd.com

03

Stuart Melrose

04 Soo Ji Shin

This Geometric sideboard by Stuart Designed and made by Soo Melrose is made from solid Corian Ji Shin, Sails is a hand-sewn with a milled angular pattern to the lighting shade. www.soojis.com front. One of Stuart’s brand new 05 Julian Mayor’s UltraBoard pieces recently shown at his solo Angle Chair show at the Willis Museum.

Created from a map of a person’s www.stuartmelrose.com seat, then digitalised and sectioned on a computer in graphic model in 118 | Design Exchange 3D form. www.julianmayor.com

05

05 04

06

03

07

08

06

Latorre Cruz

The Icarus Lightshade is a collection of hand shaped paper wings made from mulberry tree from furniture designer Daniel Latorre Cruz www.latorrecruz.com

07 StudioBartonBandy

The Magazine Table. Also avaiable is a Book Table that celebrates the romantic modularity of the book, it’s glass tabletop rests gently upon the closed leaves of unwanted books offering up it’s humble anonymity to the user. www.studiobartonbandy.co.uk 119 | www.demagazine.co.uk

08 Jim Rokos

The stainless steel bowl ‘22 36 48’ - refers to the three possible angles at which the bowl can sit. It was inspired by the incredible ductility of a stainless steel sheet. www.rokosdesign.co.uk

roducts

P

02

01

03

01

Studio801

The Lexham bedside tables are a pair of privately commissioned bespoke objects, developed over six months of close consultation and tailored to reflect the clients interest in Op Art. www.studio801.co.uk

02 Graphic Relief

Graphic Relief have recently 06 developed some amazing moulding technology which allows them to cast intricate details in the surface of concrete. Beasties. For further details contact www.graphicrelief.co.uk 120

| Design Exchange

03

Xobo Design

Xobo designs came out of space saving ideas; ingenuity of multi- functional, moveable pieces that are practical, colourful and fun www.xobodesign.com

04

06

05

04 Shell Thomas

Shell Thomas adopted UltraBoard for Reggie the Eco Rocker, UltraBoard, is manufactured by Dufaylite Group and featuring its trademark recycled paper. 100% recyclability. www.shellthomas.com

05 PAPERSELF

The papercut eyelashes concept is designed, developed and produced by the PAPERSELF team. Inspired by the art of Chinese paper-cutting, Eyelashes blend an element of traditional culture with contemporary design. www.paperself.com 121 | www.demagazine.co.uk

06

John Galvin

The ‘Manolo Lounger’from John Galvin was launched at the beginning of May in the Saatchi gallery London as part of the Collect exhibition. www.johngalvindesign.co.uk

//

Promotion

Latest from british Ceramic tile

The addition of the Brighton Neutrals tiles introduces a softer, more subtle look to the Brighton range of tiles.

The complementary tones of Truffle, Ivory, Beige & Grey allow you to add a warm glow to your bathroom, and can be used as standalone tiles, or mixed with one of the two coordinating strips to help create feature panels.

The linear design of the tiles matches that of the existing Brighton wall tiles, so allows the range to be mixed & matched.

The Paris decor pieces have a contemporary mosaic design and platinum highlights and are available in a 198x198mm size for the inserts and a 198x50mm size for the strips.

They can be teamed with either the new coloured wall tiles, or with a gloss white to enable the range to be used in either bathroom or kitchen environments.

As part of the Laura Ashley tile collection, the new Marchmont range features a feathered scroll design in a soft French Blue & White.

The Hinton range adds a modern shine to the Laura Ashley collection.

The complementary monochrome strip (398x98mm), features a square mosaic design with platinum highlights and can be used with the entire range.

122

| Design Exchange

www.britishceramictile.com

for the wildest of wood veneers...

...inspire yourself at veneerselector.com with over 200 wood veneers for your next project.

The essential design tool for architects, interior, furniture and product designers.

No registration, no advertising, no charge. Simply search, select and compare veneers on screen

Amina’s truly invisible loudspeaker design brings a totally new dimension to whole house entertainment systems. Simply mount into a wall or ceiling and skim over with standard finishing plaster.

The result – unparalleled sound quality, evenly distributed throughout your home, totally invisible to you and your guests.

Call or email to receive your free brochure: t:+44 1480 354 390 / e: inspired@amina.co.uk / w: www.amina.co.uk

124

| Design Exchange

Technology collaborating with Interior Design World renowned technology company JVC has recently become a member of The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID). Established in 1966, the BIID is the pre-eminent professional organisation for interior designers in the UK. The BIID’s growing national and international membership

represents both the commercial and residential sectors, from heritage to cutting edge. This membership recognizes the fact that technology products from companies like JVC are now part of the design consideration for many interior designers.

New JVC Home Theatre Projectors Display Images With 4K Precision JVC introduced the world’s first HD up-converting home theatre projectors that display 2D HD content with full 4K precision. They feature JVC’s new e-shift technology capable of projecting images with 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution, four times that of full HD. The new JVC projectors are the DLA-X90R, DLAX70R and DLA-X30. JVC’s 4K e-shift technology

is featured in the top two models, while all three new projectors offer other advancements that boost picture quality, improve 3D performance and enhance functionality.

For further information please contact hdworld@jvc.co.uk / www.jvc.co.uk

// // Q&A

№ 3/

NH: The defining characteristic of this collection is that of providing for a multitude of uses, all within a single unifying look and structure in a bid to offer harmony, order and serenity as well as new features and functions.

Q &a de Magazine caught up with Architect and Designer Naghi Habib to speak about his new collection, Level45, for Falper, available in the UK through Alchemy Design Award.

№ 1/

№ 4/

№ 5/

DE: How did this collection evolve?

№ 2/

NH: The collection evolved in accordance with the new ‘requirements’ of a bathroom environment ... a place of relaxation, a gym, a spa ... complete with all its new features and accessories: cushions, containers for cosmetic and beauty items, facilities for personal grooming, atmospheric music, etc.

126

DE: What are your views on how the kitchen and bathroom are changing?

NH: Both in the bathroom and kitchen environment, there have always been and will always be ever more objects, gadgets and appliances invented to improve our comfort and well-being. Given that these are usually placed in the bathroom or kitchen after those spaces have been planned, it is often difficult for them to visibly merge into the environment on a formal and aesthetic level. Level45 overcomes that issue by offering a space where everyone can create their own environment without compromising the essence of the design or the vision of the protagonist.

DE: How would you describe the collection and what was the inspiration it?

NH: The inspiration behind the collection was born of a wish to grace the bathroom environment with a unifying line and form, a concept which goes beyond the standard image of a ‘fragmented’ bathroom made up of a variety of diverse and differing elements.

DE: What special features does this collection have?

№ 6/

| Design Exchange

DE: What is your usual design ethos?

NH: Projects must challenge the passage of time, being capable of adapting to new functions and demands, yet always retaining their own identity and originality. Level45 represents a project which is clear and well defined in its conception at the same time as offering a certain flexibility and subsequent adaptability.

DE: Does the collection sit with your usual design ethos?

NH: Absolutely because in my designs - as in my thoughts - there is always present a geometrical-rational dimension which sits side-by-side with that more organic instinct.

Tel: 01253 831406 marketing@chelsom.co.uk www.chelsom.co.uk Bespoke lighting cascade created by | Chelsom for K West London. Interior scheme by PDi. 127 www.demagazine.co.uk

/

diar Y Making Believe 2011

recommends

Goldsmiths, University of London Post Graduate Design Exhibition 17 - 24 September 2011, Mile End Art Pavilion London E3 4QY Designers in the fields of digital media, interactive design, products and fashion, are addressing topics on social networks, open products, sustainability. This year’s postgraduate department at Goldsmiths is well initiated in bringing up topics dear to in the heart of local communities.

In creating new services for a society laden with tangible products, designers seek an outlet to combine existing web clients and platforms to enhance ultimately, the user experience. www.makingbelieve.co.uk

Dun Roamin’ by WALTERWORKS 20 September, Brompton Oratory Courtyard, Brompton Road, London SW7 5RP London One of the highlights of the festival promises to be the show by Walter Raes, the London-based Belgian surrealist.

Through his company WALTERWORKs. Raes will be showing a new immersive installation called DUN ROAMIN”. Fashioned like the all-too familiar suburban sitting room, on closer inspection each piece of furniture is ingeniously made from a wild selection of Objets Trouvé. In finest Belgian tradition, Raes is a surrealist with a child-like sense of humour.

Raes will be showing alongside two guest artists: Debra Franses Bean of ARTbags, and Trashilicious from Belgium.

Sophie Mollekens of Trashilicious makes jaunty fashion accessories from uncompromising automobile components.

Bean’s sleek ARTbags, sometimes displayed on plinths glamorously up-lit by LEDs, are sleek sculptural pieces exploring the hidden contents of that most secret of feminine spaces – the handbag.

www.walterworks.co.uk 128 | www.demagazine.co.uk

/

dia r Y Enlightened Waste

recommends

September 17 – 25 2011 Brompton Design District, 8a Egerton Garden Mews, London As part of the London Design Festival, Marion Friedmann Gallery - a new pop-up gallery project for design and material culture - presents “Enlightened Waste” an exhibition which shows sculptural lighting and objects created out of waste materials. It represents the first London show for artists Gisela Stiegler, a Viennabased artist known for her polystyrene carvings and French-Mexican designer Thierry Jeannot, who hasbeen manipulating unconventional materials since he first began object design in the 1980s.

The exhibition plays on the idea of waste, as using materials such as PET bottles and polystyrene packaging and playing with light, the artists create intriguingly beautiful and somewhat magical pieces. On display will also be a jewellery installation by Thierry Jeannot. www.marionfriedmann.com The Auction Room 21 – 25 September Farmiloe Building, 34 St John Street London, EC1M 4AY The exhibition is the auction room. The auction room is the exhibition. All its elements, from the chairs to the hammer, made by both established and emerging designers, are up for auction.

The narrative of the exhibition was based on the blueprint of an Auction Room: a few rows of chairs, lighting, a gavel, a rug, the ordinary light switches like in every space and a few decorative features to make the room feel more authentic. Fifteen designers were invited to design those components. Since they were staging a fake auction room, created entirely to serve the purpose of disintegrating itself across bids, they too were challenged to work around the theme of fake.

They were asked to interpret the theme freely in its variations: fallacy, subversion, copy… and the results were surprising. Different perspectives originated a rich variation of ideas and designs. *monetary offers not accepted. Be imaginative. www.theauctionroomexhibition.com 129 | www.demagazine.co.uk

See inside today's brightest creative minds at 100% Design 4 days, 400 world-class exhibitors. Source new products for projects and find the latest furniture, lighting, textiles and accessories. Connect with the best under one roof and enjoy workshops, seminars, trails and events. Whether you're looking for cutting-edge products, innovative materials, fresh talent or great inspiration, you'll find it at 100% Design.

Live and breathe the interior landscape at the UK's leading interior design show.

Register now for entry:

www.100percentdesign.co.uk

Imagined by: Peter and Paul — Inspired by: Amy Levinson Design — Andy Murray — Atelier Areti Carlo Borer — Dare Studio — Design Virus — G Squared Art — Jeongwon-ji — Normann Copenhagen Philip Watts Design — Sandin & Bülow — Stuart Akroyd — Suck UK — Westergaard Designs

/

dia r Y Designersblock With Helga Matos

recommends

22 – 25 September Farmiloe Building, 34 St John Street London, EC1M 4AY During London Design Festival, de has chosen to collaborate with a very talented designer Helga Matos. We have featured her in past editions and would recommend you to come and see her work during the Designersblock event Helga is a Brazilian born textile designer specialised in woven textiles. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2008, Helga has been collaborating with designers, teaching woven textiles at universities in Winchester, Brighton and London and working on various projects. www.helgamatos.com www.verydesignersblock.com

designjunction 22-25 Sept 2011 Victoria House, Basement, Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B 4DA Debuting this September at London Design Festival, Design Junction offers up an international collection of products and designs. The line up of talents showcasing here is excellent and includes a variety of products from lighting, furniture and accessories, which promise to inspire and impassion visitors and buyers alike.

Designjunction intends to ‘strike a balance between being creative and commercial’, while avoiding a

traditional trade show setting and, having debuted at Milan’s Salone del Mobile, the enterprise, under guidance of creative designer Michael Sodeau, will undoubtedly continue to break boundaries at LDF. Showing across an enormous space of 2,000 squaremetres at Holborn’s Victoria House, Designjunction will also grant designers and brands the chance of displaying work, alongside the opportunity to meet press, trade and domestic audiences. Moreover, during LDF, Designjunction will exhibit through and across the event, with talks, seminars, pop-up bars and an evening with Tokyo’s PechuaKucha. www.thedesignjunction.co.uk

131 | www.demagazine.co.uk

/

diar Y

Image Helga Matos www.helgamatos.com

Dezeen Space

London Design Festival 2011 17-25 September 2011 Various Locations Throughout London In its 9th year, LDF is expecting to be the largest and most significant yet with over 180 partners and over 250 events planned. Placing the spotlight on London as the world’s most creative city, the Festival has commissioned installations all over the city.

British architects and designers will help transform the capital, including the entrance to the V&A museum with the Timber Wave, and for the first time ever, an installation in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Artists such as John Pawson, Bouroullec Brothers, Murray Moss, Daniel Charny, Noma Bar, are just a few involved in this exciting design week - not to be missed! www.londondesignfestival.com

Wood Ware 17-25 September 2011 Gallery Fumi, London EC2 A Chair, a table, a console, a bed... A new collection of studio furniture designed by Max Lamb for Gallery FUMI www.galleryfumi.com

17 September -16th October 2011 Studio 54 Architecture 54 Rivington Street London, EC2A 3QN Dezeen relocates to Shoreditch for a month during London Design Festival, London Fashion Week and Frieze Art Fair.

From 17 September to 16 October, Dezeen Space at 54 Rivington Street – in the heart of Shoreditch Design Triangle – will be a multi-functional experimental space, hosting a pop-up gallery, store, video studio and event space.

Dezeen Space will host the launch and sale of our first book, Dezeen Book of Ideas, a celebration of over 100 amazing ideas by the world’s best creative brains.

In addition, 30 young and upcoming designers will each exhibit their work for one day on the oneby-one-meter Dezeen Platform. Designers can use Dezeen Platform as they wish, to showcase their work or create a bespoke installation. Each day, Dezeen will document and publish the work on show using a combination of photography, video and audio. www.dezeen.com/dezeenspace

The Living Room 17-25 September 2011 Luna & Curious 24-26 Calvert Avenue, London E2 7JP This quirky presentation of British design will transform a small gallery space in Shoreditch into a typical living room, featuring furniture and products that have been designed and manufactured in Britain.

Curators, Jonathan Krawczuk and Alyn Griffiths have chosen to furnish The Living Room with carefully selected pieces by renowned designers, including Matthew Hilton, Benjamin Hubert and Russell Pinch, as well as less established names such as Young & Norgate and FunMakesGood. The result is a quintessential British space with a stylish and contemporary look that showcases the best of British design in a contextual setting. www.livingroomexhibition.co.uk

132 | www.demagazine.co.uk

133 | www.demagazine.co.uk

For immediate release

/

Alpha-ville 2011

International Festival of Post-Digital Culture diarY

creativity, innovation & forward thinking

Theme: “Zeitgeist, from digital to post-digital” Dates: 22nd-25th September 2011 Venues: Netil House, Vortex Jazz Club, Whitechapel Gallery, the V&A, Rich Mix, Space Studios, Hussein XOYO, the streets of Hackney and online

Chalayan, récits de mode

Current -13 November 2011 Les Arts Décoratifs 107, rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris, France The Arts Décoratifs has given ‘carte blanche’ to one of the most innovative and creative fashion designers of our time: Hussein Chalayan.

Born in Nicosia in 1970, he moved to London as a child traveling back and forth between Cyprus and England until he went to university. He earned his degree from Central Saint Martins College in 1993.

Following his own unique approach to design for seventeen years, he stands on the frontier of fashion, Image: The Golden Age, by Paul Nicholls architecture and design. His work is characterized Alpha-ville 2011 by an intellectual rigor and a quest for technical Theme: “Zeitgeist, from digital to post-digital” perfection that often defies fashion stereotypes.

“The idea that digital is something new and transformative is now quite old. So the question for most creatives is not about going digital - it's about making making stood out from the start of his career Chalayan 22-25 September 2011 it feel less digital, about participation and interaction feel post-digital; making the tech less techy. We seethrough this reflected back inventive exploration of various his highly Venues: Netil House, Vortex Jazz Club, Whitechapel in the freshest creative and cultural work and Alpha-ville is probably where you see that most mediums, including sculpture, furniture, video and Gallery,Tom theUglow, V&A,Director Rich Mix, Space Labs Studios, XOYO, vividly in this country.” of Creative at Google. special effects, which he uses in his fashion shows, the streets of Hackney and online The 2011 edition provides an online and live platform to explore, test and disseminate newinspiration ideas, drawing directly from the political, social emerging trends, collaborations and groundbreaking works. Running from 22-25and September the realities of his era. economic The 2011 edition provides an online and live platform programme presents social media and interactive art, open labs, meet-ups, talks, workshops and to explore, disseminate new ideas, screenings alongside withtest live and music, visual performances andemerging parties. www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr trends, collaborations and groundbreaking works. The Taking place programme alongside thepresents London Design Festival, the 2011 edition enables a network of satellite Junya Ishigami: Architecture as Air social media and interactive art, events spreading across different London boroughs and links with other European cities such as open labs, meet-ups, talks, workshops and screenings Madrid (Twin Gallery) and Brussels & The Hague (Todays Art). Selected venues include the Current -16 October 2011 with music, and Whitechapel alongside Gallery, Rich Mix,live Netil House,visual Arcolaperformances Tent, XOYO and Space Studios. The festival The Curve, Level G programme also connects east and west London thorough a link with the V&A Digital Design parties.

Weekend.

Barbican Centre, Silk Street Taking place alongside the London Design Festival, London EC2Y the 2011 edition enables a network of satelliteevents spreading across different London boroughs and links For his first UK installation, internationally acclaimed with other European cities such as Madrid (Twin Alpha-ville Festival | 201 Netil House, 1 Westgate St. E8 3RL | http://www.alpha-ville.co.uk | @alphavillefest Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has conceived a Gallery) and Brussels & The Hague (Todays Art). new structure built in response to the distinctive Selected venues include the Whitechapel Gallery, Rich space of The Curve, which wraps around the back of Mix, Netil House, Arcola Tent, XOYO and Space the Barbican concert hall. A single line of delicate 4 Studios. The festival programme also connects east and metre columns runs the entire 80 metre length of the west London thorough a link with the V&A Digital space seemingly held in place by nothing but air and Design Weekend. atmosphere alone.

This work is a development of Ishigami’s www.alpha-ville.co.uk experimental installation Architecture as air: study for château la coste, which was first shown at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2010 and won the Golden Lion for best project. www.barbican.org.uk 134 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Call or visit our showroom to ďŹ nd out more about our new ranges:

diarY The Space Between Garden and Eve

Julian Mayor New Work at Lik + Neon 2011

Current - 22 October 2011 Xavier Hufkens, Brussel

17 - 25 September 2011, 11am-7pm Julian Mayor New Work at Lik + Neon 2011 Lik + Neon 106 Sclater Street, London E1 6HR

Xavier Hufkens presents a new exhibition by Adam Fuss. The Space Between Garden and Eve is the fifth solo exhibition by the artist at the gallery. The British artist Adam Fuss lives in New York. For almost three decades he has brought photography back to its essence: the projection of a light source on a medium.

He applies old techniques that were the origin of photography – such as photograms or daguerreotypes.

He makes photographs without using a camera, as it were. His choice of subjects demonstrates poetic sensitivity. In a series of works from 2007, for example, he sensorially depicts the concentric circles formed by water drops. He creates shadow images between disappearance and appearance which witness timeless beauty – like a modern alchemist.

As part of London Design Week 2011, Julian Mayor is showing three new works - the fernando chair, the folded chair and the articulate light.

Lik + Neon is one of Brick Lane’s original design shops, offering a unique selection of products including T-shirts, art magazines, interior objects, jewellery and art pieces. The store design by Gitta Gschwendtner features a pixelated effect continued by Gschwendtner’s striking one-off ceiling www.julianmayor.com

www.xavierhufkens.com

London Fashion Week/Weekend 17-22 September 2011 Somerset House, London London Fashion Week is a clothing trade show held at the stunning Somerset House, which is situated in central London. Two shows are held every year, one in February and the second in September. London Fashion Week runs along side the Milan, New York and Paris Fashion Weeks; all very well known events within the fashion calendar.

The show will be exhibiting upcoming fashion for the Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2012 collections. Garments from hats and gloves, necklaces and bracelets to killer heels and little black dresses, will be on display from designers such as DKNY, Lucy In Disguise, Juicy Couture and Burberry.

This exciting event is open to the press, buyers and celebrities only from Friday 16th – Wednesday 21st September.

However, the show then opens its doors to the public from Thursday 22nd until Sunday 25th September. www.londonfashionweek.co.uk 136

Taking the Chair Current - 29 October 2011 Marsden Woo Gallery 17 – 18 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V Marsden Woo Gallery would like to present ‘Taking the Chair’, Caroline and Maisie Broadhead’s first major collaboration.

Working intensively together, mother and daughter have chosen seven paintings by masters such as Vermeer, Velasquez and Magritte, in which a chair (usually empty) has a powerful presence. The chair is the point at which Caroline and Maisie’s work meets, and this exhibition will show seven of Maisie’s photographs, which feature seven of Caroline’s chairs, with image and object displayed alongside each other. www.marsdenwoo.com

| Design Exchange

“A new design show with an international mix, designjunction shows all the promise of delivering quality with energy and verve” Max Fraser LONDON DESIGN GUIDE

22-25 SEPTEMBER 2011 VICTORIA HOUSE BASEMENT SOUTHAMPTON ROW LONDON WC1B 4DA

www.thedesignjunction.co.uk

'HFRUH[ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO Love Design

&HOHEUDWLQJ WKH UROH RI GHVLJQ LQ FUHDWLQJ FKHULVKHG SODFHV 'HFRUH[ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO WKH LQWHULRU GHVLJQ VKRZ IRU SURIHVVLRQDOV

5HJLVWHU WRGD\ DW www.decorex.com Organised by

Traditional and contemporary Handtufted, Passmachine and Woven custom designed carpets and rugs from design to installation

www.customcarpetcompany.co.uk

Custom Carpet Company PO Box 167, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 6WH Tel.: + 44 (0)1737 830301 Fax.: + 44 (0)1737 833785 Email: info@customcarpetcompany.co.uk

Web: www.customcarpetcompany.co.uk

/

diarY 100% design

Tent 2011

22-25 September 2011 Earls Court, London

22-25 September 2011 Truman Brewery, London This is Tent’s fifth year, offering an exciting line up of furniture, lighting, textile, and product design from around the world. Visitors will be the first to view many interesting and innovative ideas from Asia, with a very strong Japanese contingency this year. Through this event, Tent 2011 plans to solidify its reputation in pioneering brands, undiscovered talent, and true originality.

The Design Island pavilion will be there this year to breathe a new interest in Irish Design with a group of 12 designer makers of lighting furniture glass Textiles and rugs in what will be the largest show of Irish Design in London ever.

The group is a network of leading designers who produce primarily interiors products and in one case Omos street furniture for contract markets.

A focal point of creative talent from the UK and around the world, 100% Design exhibits cutting-edge contemporary interior design. This all-round design event hosting furniture, lighting, product, and interior design is not to be missed.

It will be Hidden Art’s last year at 100% Design, Sadly! So be sure to visit them.

Vanessa Brady, SBID President, will be presenting a seminar on the 22 Sep at 11:15 discussing issues such as designer fee rates, intellectual property and qualification criteria. www.100percentdesign.co.uk *Visit our stand (M15)

www.tentlondon.co.uk www.designisland.ie

The Material Lab Roadshow

Few and Far. Presents an Autumn exhibition of Wood and Woad 17 September - 2 November 2011 242 Brompton Road London SW3 2BB Showing British companies that make beautiful hand made products that last – out of quality materials and only in Britain. It is Few and Far’s small statement, that unique suppliers still exist in Britain and are becoming better and better. Designers involved are PINCH - Furniture ELOISE GREY - Tweed clothes. WILLIAM KROLL - Denim clothing dyed with woad, BILLY LLOYD - Pottery, WENDY BRENDON - Preserves & GILLIAN OSBAND knitwear www.fewandfar.net

21st September 2011 Various / London The Material Lab and its partners are taking design and materials out of London to the design communities that are a little further afield. Its aim is to gather inspiration and ideas, then to bring them back to London during the heart of the London Design Week.There will be one-2-one discussions and informal workshops throughout the venues all day, project inspiration and experts from each company to give help and advice on materials and offering excellent service. Each day will consist of rolling 20 minute CPD seminars conducted by each company to help specifiers keep up their CPD requirement and find out more about different materials. www.material-lab.co.uk/events

140

| Design Exchange

diarY Clerkenwell Design District

LESS AND MORE The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

20-25 September 2011 Clerkenwell, London Following its successful debut last year, Clerkenwell Design District returns with an exciting collaboration of world-class showrooms, opening their doors to create a must-see destination at this year’s London Design Festival.

Located in the heart of East London, the event will celebrate creativity in design through exciting installations, exhibitions, talks, debates, and one off events.

Visit our stand at Designersblock in the Farmiloe Building. Other events happening include British furniture manufacturer Modus will present a striking installation at their showroom. A new look on Jean Prouvé by G-Star RAW for Vitra (Pictured). The Boss Design Group will be hosting a week-long exhibition, FLOS and Moroso – will represent the Italian company’s love of culture and passion for the finest coffee and The SCIN Gallery - a new and independent materials library and resource centre for architects, opens its doors during the festival.

There will be a late night opening across all showrooms on Tuesday 20 September 18.00 – 21.30. www.clerkenwelldesigndistrict.co.uk

Current - 20 February 2012 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Califonia, 94103 Widely regarded as one of the most influential industrial designers of our time, Dieter Rams produced iconic works and innovative ideas (in particular his advocacy for “less but better” design) that have proved seminal for our contemporary design culture www.sfmoma.org

Inspired by Japan Designers and design enthusiasts say “thank you, Japan” 18 - 30 September, 2011 Cafeand, 77 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DJ Six months after the earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan, UK creatives have the chance to say a collective “thank you”. Designers and design enthusiasts can donate online at justgiving.com/ inspiredbyjapan to continuing tsunami relief efforts.

A donation of £10 or more gives a chance to win a range of design prizes donated by UK designers big and small, from Jasper Morrison to ceramicist Ikuko Iwamoto, who loves Japan. www.creativeclerkenwell.com/inspiredbyjapan

Bar Alto 17-24 September 2011 Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DP For the 2011 London Design Festival, DesignMarketo presents Bar Alto, a new pop up bar, shop and workshop event to take place on Redchurch street during the festival. DesignMarketo will offer its London public a variety of specially selected brews and cocktails, including the famous Negroni www.designmarketo.com 142

| Design Exchange

www.sixinch.eu/catalogue

SIXINCH OFFERS A CUSTOMISABLE COLLECTION OF FOAM-COATED FURNITURE ALONG WITH A BESPOKE FURNITURE AND DESIGN SERVICE. SIXINCH UK Showoom | 16 Britton street, London EC1M 5SX | Tel +44 (0)79 35885345

/

diarY Pavilion at The Dock: how to make concrete beautiful

Timothy Hatton Architects (THA) are collaborating with Concrete Canvas to construct a striking freestanding pavilion for London Design Festival 2011.

The structure, which will be located next to the THA offices by the Ladbroke Grove canal, experiments with form and shape. Concrete Canvas is an award winning innovative new textile material which hardens, once saturated with water, to form solid structures within two hours.

Timothy Hatton Architects, whose portfolio includes art galleries and private houses, have challenged themselves to design a structure that pushes the boundaries of the technology of material and its use. The temporary nature of the structure enables the team to be radical in their experimentation whilst keeping in mind the ultimate aim; translating their ideas into viable solutions for permanent structures.

White Flax by Jeremy Cole

19th-25th September 2011 The courtyard of Portobello Dock, London, W10

Superbrands London.

www.thal.co.uk

22 -25 September 2011 The Boiler House, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL, Google Design Lecture

The digital design industry’s creative leaders catapult the audience into the world of the future through the power of words and numbers and the occasional chart and image. From the obsession behind today’s clicks, visits, likes, and hits to the truth behind data, stats, buzzwords and language hacks, this is the show that takes you behind the magic curtain and tells you how it is... how it was and how it will be

This year a significant selection of the most established international furniture, lighting and lifestyle brands will present their latest products, designs and concepts to the UK at Superbrands London. Taking place in the Boiler House at the Old Truman Brewery, as part of Tent London, the participants will include Moroso, Bang & Olufsen, Bulo, Quinze & Milan, Valcucine, Erba Italia, Acerbis International, Environment and Prooff.

Expect a playful, ergonomic office furniture system from award-winning Belgian furniture brand Bulo.

Renowned Italian furniture manufacturer Moroso will present the Moon chair and

www.vam.ac.uk

www.superbrandslondon.co.uk

25 September 2011 The Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road London, SW7 2RL

144

| Design Exchange

/

diarY

Pavia - in Tuscan Brass (Grand Tour Collection)

Tramshed

Decorex 2011 25-28 September 2011 Royal Hospital Chelsea, London Decorex hosts a renowned selection of handpicked exhibitors showcasing a unique display of design led products. The fair explores the very latest in inspirational design in new technologies, craftsmanship, and fresh young talent. This year, Decorex invites the design community to indulge in a theme of ‘Cherished Places’.

22 - 25 September 2011 32 Rivington Street London EC2A 3LX Tramshed 2011 marks the second year of The Tramshed, a unique design event that made its debut at London Design Festival 2010 where it was a key destination. Initiated by De La Espada’s founding director Luis de Oliveira, the striking post-industrial venue showcased the very best in high-end authentic design.

Supported by the Society of British Interior Design, Tramshed 2011 improves upon the successes of last year’s event, with a diverse group of exhibitors known for their vibrancy and capacity to innovate.

Exhibitors include Bocci, Aesop, Søren Rose Studio, RVW, Studioilse, Matthew Hilton, Fiell Publishers, De Vorm, Autoban, Benjamin Hubert, Ercol and more. Seeking to be a departure from conventional trade exhibitions, Tramshed 2011 will celebrate the diversity of the industry in the broadest sense.

An engaging seminar series, good food and music contribute to creating an exciting and influential destination. www.tramshed2011.com

Origin 22-28 September 2011 Old Spitalfields Market, London

www.decorex.co.uk *Visit de on the media stand

Lucy Wood: Lampedusa Current - 22 October 2011 PayneShurvell 16 Hewett Street, London Her work on Lampedusa Island (described by immigrants as the ‘gateway to Europe’) will include photography, painting, video work and a large-scale installation. www.payneshurvell.com

Origin, the Contemporary Craft fair, displays new collections in paper, interior, ceramics, furniture, jewellery and textile designs from over 200 makers.

The show offers visitors the chance to see highly skilled craftsmanship and products, all of which will be displayed in a purpose built pavilion. For this first time this year, Origin will collaborate with prestigious London retailer Liberty to curate several display windows with work from participating exhibitors.

Visitors can also see Lux Craft, a new platform and space at Origin specifically conceived and designed to showcase lighting installations by the world’s finest crafts makers. www.originuk.org

146

| Design Exchange

Original ART www.astburygreen.co.uk

FREE

£10 Gift Voucher* Ref: DE0911

Straight from the Studio . Buy Online . Free Delivery . Credit Cards Accepted

* Order any original artwork and receive a £10 Gift Voucher. Enter 147upon | www.demagazine.co.uk this unique advert reference DE0911 in the coupon box checkout.

www.astburygreen.co.uk enquiries@astburygreen.co.uk

sw tch Make the

Uncompromising quality, design, style and superior finish The Series 2 wiring accessories range offers a truly flush finish and whilst meeting the highest British standards, they are a real feature of a room design, in the same way as light fittings, door furniture, wall coverings and fabrics.

Tel: 01483 713400 Email: info@wandsworthgroup.com www.wandsworthgroup.com

/

diarY Vienna Design Week 30 September - 9 October 2011 Vienna, Austria After Four successful festivals yet another exquisite and colourful programme of events will be awaiting visitors. In cooperation with many partners – from museums to production and retail companies to designers from all over the world – the whole of Vienna becomes a platform and showplace of design. www.viennadesignweek.at

The National Home Improvement Show 2011 30 September - 2 October 2011 Earls Court London Taking place at Earl’s Court on the 30 September to 2 October, nowhere else in London will you find over 300 specialist home improvement companies dedicated to giving you the right products, at the right price! The show will be packed to the rafters with 1000s of new products and services, as well as impartial advice and ideas. www.improveyourhomeshow.co.uk

Liverpool Design Show 7 -9 October 2011 Liverpool, UK As the signature event of Liverpool Design Festival, the Design Show will showcase the very best in contemporary design. Designers from across North West and UK www.liverpooldesignfestival.com

LoveLight 6 October 2011 London

Dutch Design Week

LoveLight is back for its third year, in association with Lighting Magazine, The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal.

LoveLight provides you with one day of innovation, vibrant lighting designs, and the chance to have a go with the lighting kit in our interactive workshop.

The city of Eindhoven will be transformed into the capital of design during Dutch Design Week (DDW), the largest design event in the Netherlands.

www.we-love-light.com

www.ddw.nl

22 - 30 October 2011 Various Locations Throughout Eindhoven

149 | www.demagazine.co.uk

Waterproof (IP65) LCD TV 19" widescreen (16:9) RRP £845.00 inc. VAT 26" widescreen (16:9) RRP £1149.00 inc. VAT

Bll k Black

Mirror Mi i

TM

HIGH-DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA INTERFACE

Sili Silver S

Full-function waterproof remote control with holder DVB-T tuner receives all free-to-view TV and radio Choice of finishes – Black, Mirror or Silver Hotel TV system compatible Multi-room AV system and Sky™ remote compatible High quality sound from waterproof, single stereo, flush mount speaker

Full technical specification and instructions are available from www.tilevision.tv or call 0870 871 0111 for your nearest dealer

/

diar Y SUNDAY Art Fair

Frieze Art Fair 13–16 October 2011 Regent’s Park, London Held every October in Regent’s Park, Frieze Art Fair is one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs and brings an international focus to the dynamic contemporary art scene in London. The fair showcases new and established artists, with over 170 galleries from around the world, providing a unique opportunity to see and buy work. Frieze Talks 2011 includes John Bock, Alison Knowles and Taryn Simon, amongst its line-up of artists, filmmakers, curators and cultural commentators. Frieze Projects, the fair’s unique curatorial programme, has this year commissioned site-specific works from artists Bik Van der Pol, Pierre Huyghe, Christian Jankowski, Oliver Laric, LuckyPDF, Peles Empire, Laure Prouvost and Cara Tolmie. www.friezeartfair.com

Multiplied Art Fair 14 -17 October 2011 Christie’s South Kensington London SW7 3LD Following the success of the ground-breaking inaugural contemporary editions fair Multiplied in 2010 – the first of its type in the UK – Christie’s announced that the salerooms in South Kensington will once again be transformed during Frieze week this year. The fair will be open to the public with free admission Richard Lloyd, International Head of Prints, Christie’s said, “Since last year’s ground-breaking Multiplied fair we’ve been busy searching high and low, seeking out the hottest galleries and publishers working today, and we can’t wait to reveal the results. For anyone interested in contemporary art, Multiplied 2011 will be a must-see event. Devoted to contemporary art editions – sculpture, photography, printing, and artists’ books

13 –16 October Ambika P3 35 Marylebone Road London NW1 5LS For the first time this October SUNDAY art fair will be held in London at the P3 Ambika space on Marylebone Road. SUNDAY is an international, gallery-led art fair showing a selection of 20 young galleries, exhibiting work by over 60 international artists at the fore of emerging talent.

SUNDAY is organised by three of the participating galleries: Limoncello (London), Croy Neilsen (Berlin) and Tulips and Roses (Brussels) and sponsored by the Zabludowicz Collection.

Among the artists on show will be: Jesse Ash, Edwina Ashton, Francesco Barocco, Michael Bauer, Luca Bertolo, Armin Boehm, Wolfgang Breuer, Sophie Bueno-Boutellier, Liudvikas Buklys, Nicolas Ceccaldi, Kit Craig, Gintaras Didžiapetris, Chris Evans, John Finneran, Zipora Fried, Aurélien Froment, Simon Fujiwara, Ryan Gander, Andy Holden, Judith Hopf, Takaaki Izumi, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Thomas Kratz, Deborah Ligorio, Anissa Mack, David Mackintosh, Joseph Montgomery, Rosalind Nashashibi, Dominique Petitgand, Riccardo Previdi, Ruth Proctor, Matthew Smith, Jack Strange, Megan Francis Sullivan, The Hut Project, Richard Wilson, Richard Woods and Katarina Zdjelar.

SUNDAY’s first outing was in Berlin during the 2010 Gallery Weekend where it was so well received the organisers decided to bring it to London during this year’s October art week. Housed in the P3 Ambika, a 14,000 square foot, triple height subterranean space, the fair aims to provide an easy going and accessible temporary platform for young galleries to exhibit their artists’ work. www.sunday-fair.com

www.multipliedartfair.com 151

| Design Exchange

/

diar Y Inside World Architecture Festival

2 – 3 November 2011 Venues: Netil House, Vortex Jazz Club,

2-4 November 2011 Barcelona, Spain World Architecture Festival is the world’s largest, live, truly inclusive and interactive, global architectural awards programme. It is a unique meeting point for architects, suppliers and clients, attracting hundreds of entries and visitors from all over the world. 1500+ architects – including Hassell, AHMM, Isay Weinfeld, Populous, EAA – Emre Arolat Architects, Gustafson Porter, Hawkins/ Brown, WOHA, BIG www.worldarchitecturefestival.com

Inside is a brand-new festival celebrating the finest interiors and their creators. Through a series of curated events, talks, installations and a prestigious awards programme, Inside will be a vibrant platform for creative thought, mutual inspiration and idea exchange - capturing the design zeitgeist in style over two exciting days in Barcelona. Inside judges include Ilse Crawford, Andre Fu, David Collins and Ross Lovegrove.

Designers shortlisted for an inside award will be given the opportunity to present their work live to an these internationally respected judges and in front of an audience of peers, clients and press. Awards entries closed 1 July 2011. www.insidefestival.com

YOUR GARDEN IS LOOKING A MESS COULD YOU PLEASE TIDY IT UP 4 November - 17 December 2011 PayneShurvell 16 Hewett Street, London EC2A 3NN An exhibition exploring printed material in an increasingly digital visual landscape.

Photo | Aqua Tower, Chicago, Studio Gang Architects.

www.payneshurvell.com

152

Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair 14 - 20 November 2011 Olympia, London The Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair at Olympia, now in its 21st year, is considered one of the most important annual art and antiques events and is the only fair of its calibre between October and February attracting over 20,000 visitors. www.olympia-antiques.com/

| Design Exchange

/

diar Y The Sleep Event 23 - 24 November 2011 Business Design Centre, London

Midcentury Modern

The Sleep Event is Europe’s premier exhibition for the design, architecture and development of hotels.

Last year the best yet as an international gathering of suppliers from across the globe providing new and cutting edge products for hotel projects alongside unique show features including the Sleepotel, industry seminars, product innovation awards and over 100 suppliers. As in previous years, taking place alongside the event are the not-to-bemissed European Hotel Design Awards.

Sunday 20 November 2011 10am–4pm Dulwich College London SE21 7LD 90 dealers and designers show vintage collectables for the home spread across three buildings. Find design classics from the last century you would sell your granny for. www.modernshows.com

www.thesleepevent.com Mebel 22-25 November 2011 Moscow, Russia

Photo | nhow hotel Berlin

The Mebel International Exhibition ranks among the world’s major furniture salons by its size and commercial results and every year confirms its status of the largest trade show in Russia and Eastern Europe. With over 35 years of its existence, the Mebel Exhibition has established itself as exhibition no. 1 for the furniture industry. www.meb-expo.ru

Made in Clerkenwell

Design Miami

24- 25 November 2011 Craft Central, 33-35 St John’s Square London EC1M 4DS and 21 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DX

30 November - 4th December 2011 Meridian Avenue & 19th Street Adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center

Visitors are thoroughly spoilt this winter as Craft Central opens the doors to its two fascinating buildings with Made In Clerkenwell. This unique shopping event offers an intriguing ‘behind the scenes’ chance to explore the studios and mingle with the community of renowned designers.

This year they are to create a new exhibition venue adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center, a short walk from Art Basel Miami Beach. We visited the event last year and would highly recommend visiting. www.designmiami.com

www.craftcentral.org.uk 153

| Design Exchange

/

d e p ic k

Yvette Chiu

The photo here has been chosen from the great selection we had submitted for our online photography entry for the Summer edition (Places & People: reading de magazine) More images are online www.demagazine.co.uk To submit a image for the Autumn edition please email photo@demagazine.co.uk

154

| Design Exchange

submitted this image. Yvette is our inhouse designer who enjoys photography in her spare time. Yvette is originally from Hong Kong and currently lives in London.