On May 16, 2018, The UNESCO International Day of Light, the poetic Japanese architect Hiroshi Sambuichi was announced as laureate of The Daylight Award 2018.Apart from Hiroshi Sambuichi, American researcher Greg Ward also won the award. In addition to the honor, the laureates each receive €100,000 for their groundbreaking work and dedication to daylight.Hiroshi Sambuichi presented his architecture powered by nature which balances the relationship between nature and architecture. The movement of earth, wind, air, water, and sun are integral parts in his buildings including the Shizuki Castle House and Naoshima Hall in Japan. As such, his buildings exist in harmony with their surroundings. It is not objectifying light as a singular event, but rather opening our awareness and experience of light to be timeless, fluid and rich.“To me, architecture is ideal when you look at its form and the moving materials around the site, such as when the wind, water and the sun become visible. A close examination of changing wind directions and intensities in daylight influences the site and enables me to understand what kind of architecture is really needed on each location,” says Hiroshi Sambuichi.His works are rooted in the local environment and are manifestations of the skilful use of the moving powers of nature. The American architect James Carpenter, former laureate of The Daylight Award and member of The Daylight Award jury, describes Sambuichi’s approach: “What is really extraordinarily unique about Hiroshi Sambuichi’s work is the amount of emphasis he puts on research relative to the site of his buildings. All architects speak of the site being important for the work. However, for Sambuichi, there is a much deeper and finer grain to his understanding of the site. It is an understanding that resonates with the forces of the wind, rain, sun and earthen elements, speaking to a more metaphysical sublime.”The Daylight Award honors and supports daylight research and daylight in architecture, for the benefit of human health, well-being and the environment. The award puts specific emphasis on the interrelation between theory and practice. The Daylight Award is given every second year in two categories: Daylight Research and Daylight in Architecture. The award is given as two personal prizes and a sum of €100,000.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
Japanese architect Hiroshi Sambuichi bags The Daylight Award 2018
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Australian Pavilion Focuses on ‘Repairing the Natural Environment’ at 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale
The Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) will be presenting “Repair” at the Australian Pavilion during the 16th International Architecture Exhibition “Freespace” at La Biennale di Venezia. Creative Directors Mauro Baracco and Louise Wright of Baracco+Wright Architects have collaborated with artist Linda Tegg to curate a multi-sensory living installation designed “to disrupt the viewing conditions through which architecture is usually understood,” noted ArchDaily.The unique installation will feature 10,000 plants inside and outside of the pavilion, turning it into a field of vegetation and setting the platform for a physical dialogue between architecture and the endangered plant species. One part of the installation is titled “Grasslands Repair,” featuring 65 species of Western Plains Grasslands, out of which only one percent are left in their native ecosystem — serving as a reminder of what is at stake when land is occupied.The installation will be complemented by an experimental video series “Ground” that features 15 Australian projects that unpack diverse iterations of repair. Another installation “Skylight” will incorporate lighting to simulate the sun’s energy required to sustain the plants inside the Pavilion. Curators Mauro Baracco and Louise Wright of Baracco+Wright Architects aim to “provoke a rethinking of how we value and therefore create the built environment,” through each of the works.The concept of the pavilion is in response to the consequences of Australia’s buildings and cityscapes that have separated people from the natural environment, and the rising shift in thinking towards repairing the natural environment as a framework for urban form.Curators Mauro Baracco and Louise Wright said: “We have often struggled with our relationship as architects when considering the use of land – it’s no small act. We believe there is a role for architecture to actively engage with the repair of the places it is part of, which our exhibition will communicate. We hope the discussion we’re presenting will engage the profession and initiate a legacy of the Biennale Architettura 2018.” http://www.blouinartinfo.com Founder: Louise Blouin
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Benjamin Hubert’s New Modular Furniture Series ‘Tape’
Benjamin Hubert’s design studio Layer unveiled a new modular furniture collection “Tape” at recently held Salone del Mobile. “Tape,” featuring modular sofa and table, introduces a new way of bonding upholstery textiles together. The series marks the eighth collaboration between Benjamin Hubert and renowned Italian brand Moroso.The uniqueness of the “Tape” collection lies in fixing the pieces of furniture together using a heat-sealing tape made of polyurethane rubber. The tape bonds smaller pieces of textile together, which would otherwise be discarded in the upholstery process and treated as waste. The technique is inspired by the sporting industry, where the tape is used in the construction of snowboarding, ski, and wet-weather gear.Layer teamed up with a technical garment manufacturer to develop the tape technology for use in furniture, and advanced heat-bonding machinery was used in the construction. The fabrics used to upholster the modular sofa and to construct the hammock-like shelf beneath the table were taken from Danish textile brand Kvadrat. Both pieces were prototyped in the United Kingdom at the Layer studio.The “Tape Sofa” being the first modular sofa designed by Layer, comprises of building blocks that can be put together in various contrasting and complementary combinations to suit a diverse range of interior spaces and styles. Each modular block has a seat, backrest, and an arm which is subdivided into smaller textile panels which are bonded together using polyurethane tape.The graphic “Tape Table” is made from a steel tubular frame with a perforated steel table top. Magazines, newspapers, remotes, and other small items can be stored beneath the table top in a hammock-like textile shelf. This shelf is made using a piece of textile bonded with polyurethane tape, and the textile panel can be easily interchanged to vary the color and material combinations. The table is available in both coffee table and side table sizes.Benjamin Hubert, Layer founder said: “At Layer we are always looking at fashion and technology trends in parallel industries. The Tape collection for Moroso is inspired by the technical and aesthetic properties of snowboard jackets, a technique we find fascinating. This method of bonding allowed us to highlight how you can use smaller pieces of waste textile to create more sustainable upholstered furniture.”http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Tom Dixon Studio’s Latest Super Glossy Collection ‘The New, The Silver, The Black, and The Blue’
Tom Dixon Studio has launched a super flashy color palette with a rigorous application of a super glossy black, a sharp, precise stainless steel, and a pop art electric blue. These are new elements in a design toolkit and become the building blocks of a future interior design aesthetic.“The studio’s electric blue becomes the latest and most visible metallic yet. They have used latest techniques of metal finishing and the hard-wearing layer of blue on the Bell table light is created through the futuristic technique of Physical Vapour Deposition. The Copper shade has been stripped and dipped in vibrant blue glaze with extraordinary effect. These weightless helium balloons like orbs have a touch of Jeff Koons showmanship,” says the studio.The studio further writes: “Fetishistic glossy Black has been engineered in the studio’s German partner factories, giving them traditional Japanese lacquer furniture and Bauhaus interiors look with their lustrous black lacquer. The Copper pendants and Bell Table light are transformed by the application of the slick glossy black with a high-shine silver interior to produce a greater light quality than ever before.”The latest color of the Melt pendant is black smoke. This lamp is now coated with a layer of translucent pigment that transforms this unique lamp into an even more magical object as the studio experiment with the boundaries of luminosity, semi transparence, and reflectivity. The studio made space-age and luminous “Silver” with the reflective finish Bell table light and they also updated “Scoop” chair – high and low – with high-shine silver legs. They also bring back “Top,” a series of ethereal satellites that filter a warm light through pierced sheets of stainless steel. Hygienic, long lasting stainless steel is polished, pierced, and formed into an understated illumination.Fifteen years on, Tom Dixon is now widely celebrated global force in interior design across his studios in New York, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. The designer is most recognized for the sculptural qualities and engineered materiality of his works.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Explore the ‘Freespace’ at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennial
One of the premier showcases for the world’s architects, and one that has one of the most elegant settings, the Venice Architecture Biennial, opens to the public on May 26 at the Giardini and the Arsenale.The 16th edition of International Architecture Exhibition is titled “Freespace” — focusing on “the question of space, the quality of space, open and free space,” explains President Paolo Baratta.The event, with 71 participants from across the globe, aims to promote the “desire” of architecture, he says. “The desire to create ‘Freespace’ can become the specific individual characteristic of each individual project. But ‘space, free space, public space’ can also reveal the presence or absence of architecture, if we understand architecture to be "thinking applied to the space where we live, that we inhabit. And the International Architecture Exhibition will offer us examples, teachings, and topics of discussion,” adds Baratta.Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, the curators of the fair, together issued what they call a manifesto, also called “Freespace,” in June 2017, which has served as a reference point for the exhibition. They said that “in the effort to translate ‘Freespace’ into the many wonderful languages of the world, we hope that it prises open the ‘gift’ which architectural invention has the potential to contribute with each project. Translation allows us all to map and rename intellectual as well as actual territory. It is our hope that the word ‘Freespace’ allows us to burrow into the aspirations, ambitions and generosity of architecture.”Sixty-five nations will have presentations at the fair, including seven participating for the first time: Antigua & Barbuda, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mongolia, Pakistan, and the Holy See. The projects will be displayed in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and in the historic city center of Venice.The exhibition will feature two Special Sections — “Close Encounter, meetings with remarkable projects,” with works that take inspiration from the well-known buildings of the past, and “The Practice of Teaching,” focusing on projects developed as part of teaching experiences. This year’s Special Projects will be presented in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and curated by Christopher Turner and Olivia Horsfall Turner. The two projects include Farrell and McNamara’s “Forte Marghera Special Project in Mestre,” featuring an installation by architects Sami Rintala and Dagur Eggertsson; and “the Special Project at the Applied Arts Pavilion” in the Sale d’Armi in the Arsenale, which explores the future of social housing through the social housing estate, Robin Hood Gardens. Other highlights of the event include “Meetings on Architecture,” “the Biennale Sessions” for universities, and several educational activities and workshops.The architecture biennale began with an architecture exhibition organized in 1975 by the curator Vittorio Gregotti — “A proposito del Mulino Stucky.” Since then, famous architects including Richard Burdett, David Chipperfield, Francesco Dal Co, Alejandro Aravena, and Rem Koolhaas have taken part in what has become an important event in the world of architecture and design. The event runs from May 26 to November 25, 2018.For more information, visit: www.labiennale.org/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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And The Golden Lion Goes to...
The results are in as Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects, curators of the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, have announced the winners of the prestigious Golden Lion Awards. Among many prizes awarded, the Golden Lion for Best National Participation went to Switzerland and Best Participant went to Eduardo Souto de Moura.Swiss pavilion won the Golden Lion for its “compelling exhibition which was enjoyable while tackling the critical issues of scale in domestic space." Great Britain bagged an honorable mention for “Island,” which the jury described as a “courageous proposal which uses emptiness as a platform for events and as a proposal for Freespace.” Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura won the Golden Lion for the Best Participant in the International Exhibition. His work was praised for its "precision of the pairing of two aerial photographs, which reveals the essential relationship between architecture, time, and place." The Silver Lion in this category went to Dutch team Jan de Vylder, Inge Vinck and Jo Taillieu, "for a project that possesses a confidence thanks to which slowness and waiting allow architecture to be open to future activation," noted the jury. Rahul Mehrotra bagged a Special Mention "for three projects that address issues of intimacy and empathy, gently diffusing social boundaries and hierarchies." Andra Matin also received a Special Mention "for a sensitive installation that provides a framework to reflect on the material and form of traditional vernacular structures."The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Kenneth Frampton whose work won appreciation for "extraordinary insight and intelligence combined with a unique sense of integrity."The winning contributions were selected by the curators with the help of the jury members including Frank Barkow, Sofia Von Ellrichshausen, Kate Goodwin, Patricia Patkau, and Pier Paolo Tamburelli, noted ArchDaily. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Winning Projects for 2018 NYC Excellence in Design Awards
The winners of 2018 NYC Excellence in Design Awards were recently announced by the New York City Public Design Commission and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Eleven projects from New York City’s five boroughs have been chosen for the awards in recognition of their commitment to providing an “equitable, resilient, and diverse city for all New Yorkers.” Each borough has made it to the final list with projects encompassing culture, art, education and recreation.New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “These eleven winning schools, parks, libraries, museums, and artworks aren’t only beautiful — they enrich their communities by bringing revitalizing existing spaces and creating vibrant new ones.”The annual NYC Excellence in Design Award was initiated in 1983 to recognize projects from the city’s five boroughs that “exemplify how innovative and thoughtful design can provide New Yorkers with the best possible public spaces and services and engender a sense of civic pride,” stated ArchDaily.The awards, open to both built and unbuilt projects, have been previously given to BIG + Starr Whitehouse’s 40th Police Precinct (2016), Studio Gang’s Fire Rescue 2 (2015), the Louis Kahn-designed Four Freedoms Park (2014), and Steven Holl’s Hunters Point Library (2011).The winners for 2018 awards include “Aship, Aground, Anew” by Saul Becker / Saul Becker and Studio Joseph; Brownsville Recreation Center by 1100 Architect and MNLA; Concert Grove Pavilion by Prospect Park Alliance In-House Design; Convergence by Shawn Smith / Shawn Smith and Snohetta; Garrison Playground by Department of Parks & Recreation In-House Design; Hamilton Fish Park Branch Library by Rice+Lipka Architects and Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects & Planners; New York State Pavilion Observation Towers and Tent of Tomorrow by Silman, Jan Hird Pokorny Associates, and L’Observatoire International; Prototypical Kiosks for Citywide Plazas by Billings Jackson Design; Reflecting Pool by Quennell Rothschild & Partners; The Studio Museum in Harlem by Adjaye Associates and Cooper Robertson; and Verizon Executive Education Center and Graduate Hotel by Snohetta and James Corner Field Operations, noted ArchDaily.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Tom Dixon’s Store Opens in New York's SoHo Neighborhood
New York City’s 25 Greene Street is now home to British designer Tom Dixon’s new double-storey showroom, which opened during the NYCxDesign festival. The designer experimented with several temporary locations for his studio before making New York’s SoHo neighborhood his permanent home. Dixon's eclectic furniture, homeware, and lighting, sit in the neighborhood featuring popular design brands such as Artemide, Flos and Lee Broom.The 6,700-square-foot store occupies the ground and basement floors of a 19th century building featuring large windows with slender cast-iron columns, typical of the entire area that has been named the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The column detail is continued in the interiors with white columns and decorated tops that create a contrast background for Dixon’s contemporary collection. The language of the columns continues in the defining different areas in the open-plan ground floor, notes Dezeen.The ground floor houses the metallic pieces from the studio’s “The Blue, The Black, and The Silver” collection along with copper-layered kitchen and dining items for the “Tank” and “Brew” collections. Some of the highlights include Top Pendant Silver lights, Gold-toned objects, Mirror Ball light, and a shimmery copper-colored sculptural light. The basement features furniture pieces including the Wingback Chair, the S Chairs and Y Chairs, among others, adds Dezeen. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Street art Installed Near Daniel Buren’s Columns at Palais Royal Removed at his Request
The French artist Daniel Buren asked the French Ministry of Culture to remove a street art installation in front of his famous columns at the Palais Royal, French news media reported. The installation has since been removed.Citing his moral rights, Buren wanted Le Module de Zeer’s installation removed because he had not been made aware of its arrival beforehand, Le Figaro reported. The installation was intended to act in “dialogue” with his well-known white and black striped columns, originally titled “Les Deux Plateaux,” installed in the courtyard of Palais Royal. Subsequently, street artist Module de Zeer’s installation was removed on May 18, that is, after Buren’s request. [Le Figaro]According to Le Figaro, Buren sent a letter to the ministry, citing his moral rights, asking that the work be removed because he hadn’t be warned.Module de Zeer’s composition was installed at Palais Royal for an exhibition entitled “A l’echelle de la ville” organized by the Ministry of Culture in order to demonstrate and inspire urban art. The exhibition, which began on April 17, 2018, is scheduled to be on view until June 10, 2018. The artist’s work of horizontal stripes around adjacent columns to Buren's, was designed to be considered in dialogue with Buren’s white and black vertical columns. When proposed in 1985, Buren’s initial installation was itself particularly controversial. Critics accused Buren of defacing a cultural heritage site, causing work to stop in February 1986. Construction resumed and the work was completed in July of the same year. [Le Journal des Arts]Thirty-three years later, Module de Zeer embellished seven columns along the main courtyard of the palace near the "Buren columns.” However, this time Buren was on the other side of the table and consequently requested the removal of the new installation.According to Le Figaro, curator of “A l’echelle de la ville” Jean Faucheur said, "It’s such a shame, it's a scandal that could have been avoided from the off."However, explaining its decision to withdraw the installations, the ministry is quoted in Le Figaro as saying, "we are the ministry of intellectual and artistic property, so with the moral rights of authors and creators (...) there is a question of exemplarity." www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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Gleaming New Home: Fondazione Prada’s New Tower Designed By Rem Koolhaas
The former site of Milan’s Societa Italiana Spiriti — a distillery dating from the 1910s — was initially composed of warehouses, laboratories, and brewing silos. But since 2015 it has taken on a new legacy: the Fondazione Prada. The Dutch architecture firm Oma repurposed the industrial compound in the Largo Isarco district into new museum structures, first unveiled in may 2015. The architect Rem Koolhaas designed the spatial compositions — continuing his enduring collaboration with the Fondazione, whose boutiques he has designed in New York, San Francisco, London, and Shanghai, as well as many seasons of runway installations. Koolhaas decided to develop a “concept of coexistence” between the compound’s original and new architecture, according to Astrid Welter, the foundation’s head of programs. Now, those structures have been crowned by the latest addition, Torre, a nine-story tower with six exhibition spaces plus a restaurant and rooftop terrace, connected by a glass elevator with pink marbled floors.Koolhaas said in a statement that the project “represents a genuine collection of architectural spaces in addition to its holdings in art.” The 60-meter-high building boasts a total surface of some 2,000 square meters and pierces Milan’s relatively low-lying skyline. The facades incorporate exposed concrete and glass; within, the tower consists of alternating wedge-shaped and rectangular layouts. The floors vary in height (ascending from 2.7 meters on the first floor to 8 meters at the top level) and the orientation varies, with panoramic city views to the north and more localized views in eastern and western directions. “The staircase is the one element unifying all irregularities,” Koolhaas stated — which “beyond the typical pragmatic element… has become a highly charged architectural element.” Large windows throughout the structure frame crisp views of the city, showcasing the collection with bright natural light.It’s the first time the Prada Collection, which was spearheaded in 1993, will be on permanent view. It was partially displayed for the opening of the Fondazione’s Venetian hub, Ca’ Corner Della Regina, in 2011, and again when the Fondazione was inaugurated in Milan in 2015. The collection stems from Miuccia Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli’s personal passion for 20th and 21st-century artists — yet since its inception, the Italian power couple decided that the Fondazione should remain a separate entity from their successful luxury fashion business, and be overseen by art professionals.Torre’s exhibition spaces, which opened in late April, display several large-scale installations. Welter emphasized that “the architecture and the cultural program are intended to reciprocally challenge each other” and that the new building provides “a flexible platform.” the displayed works — encompassing artistic production between 1960 and 2016, and titled “Atlas”— emerged from extensive discussions between Prada and Germano Celant, the longstanding “artistic superintendent” of the Fondazione (who also curated a concurrent exhibition in the foundation’s Shanghai space, Rong Zhai, of Post-War Contemporary art from Italy). Echoing these behind-the-scenes exchanges, each floor is framed as a dialogue between artists, with the exception of one floor devoted solely to the gleaming, cherry-red Chevrolets in Walter de Maria’s “Bel Air Trilogy” (2000–2011). Welter described the pairings as “confrontations, created through assonances or contrasts.” Michael Heizer’s circular canvases in polyvinyl latex are shown with Pino Pascali’s 1967 “Confluenze,” water-splashed lengths of aluminum and methylene-blue, which reflect back the view seen through the window. William N. Copley’s bright, frisky canvases look out over Damien Hirst's clinical glass-and-steel installations, including “A Way of Seeing,” (2000), containing an animatronic man in lab garb. John Baldessari’s “Blue Line” (1988), named for the marine hue edging a black-and-white panel, neighbors with Carsten Holler’s hallucinatory “Upside Down Mushroom Room” (2000), which one reaches after pawing blindly through a pitch-black entrance. Jeff Koons’s gargantuan, gleaming “Tulips” (1995–2004) lies alongside the reduced graphic aesthetic of Carla Accardi—a tongue-in-cheek juxtaposition given the former’s excess relative to the latter’s association with the Arte Povera movement.Ultimately, “Atlas” only partially represents the collection; over time, there will be a turnover of featured works, with possible integrations from other collections and institutions. In the interim, Fondazione Prada seeks to emphasize that culture should be accessible to a large audience. There are workshops for children every weekend at Accademia dei Bambini and a wider interdisciplinary program that draws parallels between visual art and literature, cinema, music, philosophy, art or science. As Welter put it: “Culture should help us with our everyday lives, and understand how we, and the world, are changing.”http://www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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Charles Carmignac to Follow Father’s Footsteps in Porquerolles
Charles Carmignac, a musician in the Franco-American folk group Moriarty and also an entrepreneur, who has been overseeing his father Edouard Carmignac’s art foundation for over a year-and-a half, now plans for an inauguration on June 1, 2018, in Porquerolles, in the Var.Even though the 39-year-old is not the precise imitation of his father, who is a tough asset manager, confrontational and brittle, Charles Carmignac is idealistic. Edouard and Charles Carmignac are not always like-minded. However, as Le Monde quotes them, both father and son have a slogan: “Do not make the foundation a commodity that can be consumed.”Charles has done an impeccable job in running the parental foundation. The 2,000-square-meter building is the 51st largest French property, as stated in the magazine Challenges. [Le Monde]The foundation also has works of Jean-Michel Basquiat acquired in New York from the artist.Earlier attempting to make his presence felt in the field of journalism, Charles made a documentary for Arte on a serial killer and then went on to produce an online business newspaper that sold profitably to the Echos.Later, he and his childhood friends set up the folk-rock band Moriarty, a sextet with retro flavors, powered in 2007 with a first disc. A thousand concerts far along, the musicians took a break in 2016.Then while a family reunion on the island of Porquerolles, Edouard Carmignac decided to launch a redevelopment project and establish his art foundation on the property he had bought three years ago.Commenting on how the father-son duo started work, Le Monde quotes Charles Carmignac: “It’s like my band, Moriarty, the force of opposites. I’ve discovered a lot of qualities and his flaws have also confirmed. Sometimes we get bogged down as rotten fish, but none of us impose their ideas on the other. Even time seems political disagreements over. My favorite, Nicolas Hulot, and his, Bruno Le Maire, sit in the same government.”However, Charles also highlights the challenges involved in realizing someone else’s dream, which were not similar to his own more romantic perception. Le Monde quotes him: “There are things in the project in which I recognize myself and free spaces to put personal things in.” www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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Foster + Partners launches “OVO” furniture range
Foster + Partners launched the new “OVO” range of solid wood furniture at Clerkenwell Design Week as part of the festival’s British Collection. The range boasts of the age-old tradition of craftsmanship in conventional objects, combining durability and careful detailing with a strong materiality to create a range of furniture that is exceptionally tactile and generous.The studio partnered with Benchmark earlier to produce bespoke furniture for the Maggie’s cancer centre in Manchester and “OVO” has been designed to give the sense of home it brought to the project. The collection, suited for both domestic and commercial spaces comprises of two variants of dining table, accompanying benches, sideboard, shelving unit, high table, stool and occasional tables.The studio quotes Mike Holland, Head of Industrial Design, Foster + Partners, “The soft geometry of the “OVO” range not only imbues the pieces with a quiet solidity, but also serves as a compelling invitation to touch, while the boldness and simplicity of its form demands perfection of execution of the craft. Working closely with the craftspeople at Benchmark, we have created a unique range of solid wood furniture that embodies a sense of warmth and generosity, and has an inherent sense of longevity that will allow each piece to gather memories and meaning through successive generations.”“Using the wonderful tactility of solid wood, the pillowed top surface of the tables and benches invites the arms and thighs to rest softly on the gentle bevel along its edge, an ergonomic detail that eliminates uncomfortable pressure points. The underside has a sloped profile that accentuates its crafted aesthetic, and four turned-wood legs pierce through to the table-top with a traditional expressed circular wedged tenon joint. The entire ensemble has an oiled natural finish that brings the materiality of the solid wood to the fore,” says the studio.The studio is offering the collection in solid oak and walnut. Available in both standard height and high option, rectilinear dining tables have both benches and high stool to complement them. Also sharing the common aesthetic are a round dining table, two sizes of side table and coffee table.“The specially designed sideboards have a straight finger-jointed wooden carcass and circular recessed handle detail carved between each drawer or door. Available with six drawers or four doors they can be used as a credenza with provision for power and data management,” adds the studio.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Station Russia: Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2018
“Station Russia,” Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2018, delves into the notions of exploring the past, present and future of the Russian railways. In an environment which is in parts uninhabitable, to the extent that roads cannot be built, railways have become the lifeblood of the largest country in the world. “Station Russia” explores how they, and the people who use them, negotiate the vast and often empty expanse of the Russian landscape.In a new exhibition conceived and created for the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, the Russian pavilion has been transformed into a train station. Within its five ‘Halls’, contemporary Russian architects, designers and artists use sound and multimedia installations, as well as photographs, models and artefacts, to explore the past of the network and to present their vision of its future.The exhibition is supported by JSC Russian Railways, whose involvement reflects its pivotal role in maintaining the strategic importance of the Russian railway network. The focus of the exhibition forms a parallel with the history of the Russian Pavilion itself, which was inaugurated in 1914. The building’s designer, Alexey Shchusev, was also responsible for the Kazansky Railway Station – the Moscow terminus of the line which first connected the capital with Ryazan, in the south east of the country, and beyond, to Kazakhstan and central Asia.The first hall of the Pavilion demonstrates the complexity of the railway system that spreads throughout Russia’s vast empty spaces and multiple time zones. An infographic installation by Russian artist Arden Vald presents the country’s railways as both its circulatory system - its living, vital veins - and as its backbone, supplying crucial connectivity for the Russian populous, who depend on this form of transport as the only way to navigate an often formidable landscape. In the central hall of the Pavilion, The Architectural Depot showcases plans and models of train stations past and present, such as the renovated station at Sochi (Studio 44, Architect: Nikita Yavein) and the proposed High Speed Rail connecting Moscow to Kazan (Metrogiprotrans, Architect: Nikolai Shumakov).The Waiting Hall of the Future presents two projects dedicated to the future of habitable development surrounding train stations: a showcase of proposed developments around one of the busiest railway termini squares in central Moscow. In The Crypt of Memories, the walls of the Pavilion’s lower gallery are lined with steel cabinets, mimicking a traditional luggage room. The final hall of the Pavilion brings the significance of the railway in Russia full circle, with a short-film by director Daniil Zinchenko.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Station Russia: Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2018
“Station Russia,” Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2018, delves into the notions of exploring the past, present and future of the Russian railways. In an environment which is in parts uninhabitable, to the extent that roads cannot be built, railways have become the lifeblood of the largest country in the world. “Station Russia” explores how they, and the people who use them, negotiate the vast and often empty expanse of the Russian landscape.In a new exhibition conceived and created for the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, the Russian pavilion has been transformed into a train station. Within its five ‘Halls’, contemporary Russian architects, designers and artists use sound and multimedia installations, as well as photographs, models and artefacts, to explore the past of the network and to present their vision of its future.The exhibition is supported by JSC Russian Railways, whose involvement reflects its pivotal role in maintaining the strategic importance of the Russian railway network. The focus of the exhibition forms a parallel with the history of the Russian Pavilion itself, which was inaugurated in 1914. The building’s designer, Alexey Shchusev, was also responsible for the Kazansky Railway Station – the Moscow terminus of the line which first connected the capital with Ryazan, in the south east of the country, and beyond, to Kazakhstan and central Asia.The first hall of the Pavilion demonstrates the complexity of the railway system that spreads throughout Russia’s vast empty spaces and multiple time zones. An infographic installation by Russian artist Arden Vald presents the country’s railways as both its circulatory system - its living, vital veins - and as its backbone, supplying crucial connectivity for the Russian populous, who depend on this form of transport as the only way to navigate an often formidable landscape. In the central hall of the Pavilion, The Architectural Depot showcases plans and models of train stations past and present, such as the renovated station at Sochi (Studio 44, Architect: Nikita Yavein) and the proposed High Speed Rail connecting Moscow to Kazan (Metrogiprotrans, Architect: Nikolai Shumakov).The Waiting Hall of the Future presents two projects dedicated to the future of habitable development surrounding train stations: a showcase of proposed developments around one of the busiest railway termini squares in central Moscow. In The Crypt of Memories, the walls of the Pavilion’s lower gallery are lined with steel cabinets, mimicking a traditional luggage room. The final hall of the Pavilion brings the significance of the railway in Russia full circle, with a short-film by director Daniil Zinchenko.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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First Serpentine Pavilion outside UK Opens in Beijing with Design by JIAKUN Architects
The Serpentine Galleries and WF CENTRAL (Beijing) collaborated for a new architecture Pavilion, designed by JIAKUN Architects, at the WF CENTRAL development in Beijing, the first Serpentine Pavilion outside the UK on view through October 31.The inaugural Serpentine Pavilion Beijing at WF CENTRAL on Wangfujing in Beijing’s Dongcheng District is modelled on the Serpentine’s annual Pavilion commission in London’s Royal Park of Kensington Gardens. Beijing’s Dongcheng District is located just 600m away from the historic Forbidden City and this bustling area has been home to cultural and commercial activities since the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The Serpentine Pavilion Beijing will be a public space for cultural activities, events and social encounters at the very heart of WF CENTRAL, with a programme of cultural activities programmed across five Pavilion Weekends over the summer.The renowned Chinese JIAKUN Architects, led by architect Liu Jiakun, has designed this world-class temporary Pavilion taking into consideration both the historic and social context of Beijing and the 18-year history of the Serpentine Pavilion commission.“With a focus on society, community and vernacular craftsmanship, engaging a local context, Liu Jiakun aims to address contemporary architectural issues with a sense of realism, an approach inspired by folk wisdom. His vision remains open to China's many traditions and his projects shed light on the reciprocal relation between Chinese public life and urban cultural space,” says the Serpentine Galleries.Serpentine Pavilion Beijing by JIAKUN Architects is inspired from Confucianism with an architecture that is a physical representation of the traditional pursuit of Junzi. The design is characterised by the figure of the Archer, in the form of a curved cantilever beam that incorporates the forces of elasticity through cables stretched between steel plates. Although modern architecture in Beijing has developed a series of powerful techniques to fight the external forces of fierce winds and unpredictable earthquakes, the Pavilion’s integral structure aims – like the Tai Chi Master – to conquer the harshness of those forces with softness.“The Serpentine Pavilion Beijing will be in place at WF CENTRAL until October 31, 2018 and represents a unique cultural association between the Serpentine Galleries and WF CENTRAL, founded on a shared passion for architecture and design. It also provides the architectural backdrop to the Serpentine Pavilion Beijing programme. At the core of this programme will be a wide range of art, cultural and lifestyle activities programmed within and around the structure,” adds the gallery.There are a lot of activities which are included in five monthly Pavilion Weekends featuring two themed thought-leadership talks, ‘Inspiration Talks’ and ‘The Future of’ series, and a wide range of community activities, including well-being workshops, lawn parties, children’s disco classes, performances and curated outdoor art-cinema evenings.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Unique by Design: A Sneak Peek into What's In Store at the Upcoming Design Miami/Basel
With nearly 50 presentations by some of the world’s leading galleries of historic and Contemporary design, the 13th edition of Design Miami/Basel will be held from June 12-17 alongside Art Basel. An important highlight will be the Curio Program, returning for the fourth time to Basel, which will feature 10 presentations, distinct from the gallery program. Inspired by the Renaissance-era idea of a “cabinet of curiosities,” Curio installations will be small-scale, immersive presentations by brands and institutions.The presentations in the Curio Program include “Design from the Ancient World” by Galerie Chenel and Oscar Humphries; French lighting, 1950-1980, by Galerie Meubles et Lumieres; “Ettore Sottsass: Una Piccola Stanza” by Ivan Mietton; “Of Shadow and Light” by Nadia Morgenthaler Haute Joaillerie; “Precarious” and “Magma” by Mexican design collective EWE Studio, and a Mexico-LA collaboration featuring designers Emiliano Godoy, Hector Esrawe and Brian Thoreen; “Baby Shimmer” installation by Dominic Harris of Priveekollektie Contemporary Art | Design (Huesden, Netherlands); home decor and chandelier collection by Swarovski; “Magnifying,” a jewelry box by Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury, presented by Syz Art Jewels; an installation by Vincent Beaurin; and “A New Layer Taiwan,” featuring collaboration between Taiwanese and several international art directors and designers.Within the gallery program, the fare on offer would include debut and commissioned pieces, woven structures such as textiles, fine jewelry, chandeliers, ceramics, and other unique works.Because Design Miami/Basel is a top art fair, it draws the biggest names in the business. Many booths will showcase unique, rare and one-of-a-kind works. For instance, the Parisian Galerie Jacques Lacoste will present a low table that was created by Jean Prouve (1901-1984) and Jacques Andre (1901-1985) as part of a six-piece garden furniture set presented at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques in 1937. Another Parisian gallery, Galerie Patrick Seguin, will also present a rare Prouve work — a lift-up table designed by the legendary French designer in 1943, the only example of the design he ever created. In the same section, Galleria Rossella Colombari from Milan, specializing in Italian 20th-century design and furniture, will present a 1940 side table by the architect Franco Albini (1905-1977), designed for the entrance of the Neuffer family villa in Ispra, on the coast of Lake Maggiore. Also part of the custom furnishings made by Albini for the Neuffer family villa is a rare X-shaped coffee table designed for the Neuffers’ daughter’s room at Giustini/ Stagetti. That table set the tone for some of Albini’s later day, iconic work. Galerie Pascal Cuisinier, also from Paris, will present a rare — and the only known model — of a 1955–56 lacquered metal and ash table by A.R.P. (Pierre Guariche, Joseph-Andre Motte, Michel Mortier). Galerie Matthieu Richard from Paris, specializing in 20th-century French furniture, will present a one-off architectural cabinet from 1958 by Mathieu Mategot (Hungarian-French, 1910-2001), that came from his home and studio at Bourron-Marlotte, near Fontainebleau.The New York-based Magen H Gallery will present a more Contemporary work. It will showcase a large-scale sculptural wall piece, titled “The Gold Grotto.” It was created by Pierre Sabatier in 1999 for the famous nightclub Jimmy’z Monte-Carlo.Another 1999 work is showing up at Galerie Mitterrand from Paris — Claude Lalanne’s masterpiece bed, made on a special commission in that year, is on view for the first time.In the section featuring debut and commissioned works from Contemporary artists and designers, Friedman Benda will present a solo exhibition by Nendo, a Japanese design firm, founded in 2002 by Oki Sato. The exhibition, called “Watercolor Collection,” will feature an 18-piece metal furniture collection inspired by the effects of watercolor paint on paper.London-based Elisabetta Cipriani, a gallery that specializes in “wearable sculpture” or artists’ jewelry, will present a wall installation of a debut line of necklaces by Ania Guillaume. Rotterdam-based Galerie Vivid will showcase the works of Olivier Van Herpt, a young Dutch designer who has developed 3D printed porcelain vases inspired by traditional Delftware. At Gallery Maniera from Brussels, architect Anne Holtrop debuts Barbar tables made entirely of Italian silver travertine. Todd Merrill Studio from New York will show new work by John Procario made specifically for Design Miami/ Basel –– furniture and sculptural lighting composed of micro-laminated, cold-pressed bent wood.The textile showcase also promises to be rich and varied with innovative materials and a combination of ancient and contemporary techniques. Hostler Burrows from New York will present artist Louise Hederstrom’s oversize installation –– part wall hanging, part rug – that was designed in collaboration with Kasthall. R & Company, also from New York, will showcase two carpets from Dana Barnes’s “Woven Forms” series, in which she has manipulated the surfaces of 18th-century Persian carpets with a unique felting technique. Demisch Danant, with offices in New York and Paris, will present work by well-known textile artist Sheila Hicks. This section will feature presentations by other established galleries such as Cristina Grajales Gallery (New York), Lebreton (San Francisco), and Maria Wettergren (Paris). http://www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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“Matter Out Of Place” at Maria Wettergren Galerie, Paris
Maria Wettergren Galerie is hosting the debut solo exhibition of the artist duo Benandsebastian in France titled “Matter Out Of Place” on view through September 15.The title of the exhibition takes its reference from the British anthropologist Mary Douglas, who wrote “dirt is matter out of place” in her canonic work “Purity and Danger.” Douglas’ writing has a great influence on much of Benandsebastian’s work, perhaps most obviously in “Completely Dusty,” but also in “The Outsider/The Insider” (in relation to ideas of purity), and “The Gift” and also in relation to the bodily frailty and vulnerability implicit in “Seat and Made in Ruins.”According to the gallery, Benandsebastian (Ben Clement, 1981, Oxford & Sebastian de la Cour, 1980, Copenhagen) graduated as architects from the Barlett University College London in 2006. Benandsebastian use the language of architecture as a means of addressing the relationship between the psychological spaces of the mind and the physical spaces of the body. Whether taking the form of architectural fragments, mechanical theaters or living artefacts, they question supposedly seamless systems of order. Trained in architecture and theoretically versed, their sculptures take on elaborate mechanics and extreme detailing, while embracing vast philosophical and sociological systems. Their hybrid work consists not only of the installations and sculptures that they construct, but also in the drawing out of the relationships between things: between context and object, between artwork and institution, between body and limb.Benandsebastian’s works have been showcased in various museums in Europe, China and Japan, and are part of museum collections such as the Kanazawa Museum, Japan; Trapholt Museum, Denmark; and Shanghai Museum of Glass. Benandsebastian’s work can be seen at the solo show “Department of Voids” at Den Frie, Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark.For “Completely Dusty,” the structure was provided by Benandsebastian and dust provided by Thorvaldsen’s Museum in Copenhagen. The work takes inspiration from Thorvaldsen’s plaster sculptures, whose porous surfaces are stained by decades of dust.Fragments of ruined architecture and construction sites simultaneously, the delicately collapsing and elaborately erected “Made in Ruins & Seat [...]” stand as if caught in time. As both staircase and superstructure, chair and classical portico, ruin and construction site, the works exist in a state of spatial and temporal suspension.“The Outsider/The Insider” consists of two chairs in one. “The Insider” is a slender white chair cast in white concrete, with detailing that is reduced to the absolute minimum. While “The Insider” strives for a purified ideal, “The Outsider” represents the complexities of potential. Its fragmented form comprises the wooden shuttering in which “The Insider” is cast.“The Gift” is composed of a chair designed by Kaare Klint that is built into a vitrine designed by Kaare Klint. The chair, elevated, amputated and dysfunctional in its new position within the vitrine, is both pacified and enthroned. The exhibition is on view through September 15, 2018 at Galerie Maria Wettergren, 18 Rue Guenegaud 75006 Paris- France.For details, visit: http://www.mariawettergren.com/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Carl Hansen & Søn Launches “Preludia Series” by Brad Ascalon
Danish furniture company Carl Hansen & Son partnered with New York-based Brad Ascalon to create the versatile “Preludia Series” that includes chairs, bar stools, tables, and bar tables for both public and private spaces.The collection features a wide, unified range of chairs and tables with an organic expression. Emphasizing human-centric design and exceptional comfort, the series responds to varied user needs in such diverse environments as canteens and restaurants, meeting and conference areas, offices, airports, and living spaces. The design of the Preludia Series combines superior comfort with a minimalist expression and is crafted in solid wood and veneer partially upholstered, or fully upholstered with the finest textiles or leathers in an array of colors.The collection has stackable chairs that can be flat-packed and shipped in large volumes easily, as well as high-top tables and other designs for the office. The chairs are constructed from a 3D wood-veneer shell, which forms a continuous curved seat and back. The Preludia chair comes in oak, walnut, or beech. A light design and construction make the Preludia Chairs easy to move around in flexible, open environments where they are required to fulfill a variety of functions. The curved form of the unique 3D veneer shell offers exceptional comfort and responsiveness. The shell is available in bare veneer, partially upholstered, or fully upholstered with the finest textiles or leathers in an array of colors. The chairs are crafted with all-wood, four-leg, sled or barstool bases. All variants but the all-wood are stackable, further enhancing the series’ flexible nature. Another version of the chair has a similar veneer shell, but available with a base of chrome, black or white powder-coated steel.The collection also comprises of a rectangular table, a rounded dining table, and a high-top rectangular bar table. All are made of solid oak or walnut with various finishes. The tabletops come in black or white laminate with cast aluminum corner joints, which contrast with the wooden base.Carl Hansen & Son unveiled the Preludia series at their showroom in New York City during the NYCxDesign festival and will be available in the market from October 2018.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Netherlands Building World’s First 3D-Printed and Habitable Houses
Dutch developers have a new project at hand — Project Milestone, and it will cut costs and environmental damage offering the perfect solution to the shortage of bricklayers.The Dutch city of Eindhoven is on its way to become the first-of-its-kind city with habitable 3D-printed homes — an innovation that, according to its backers and developers, will revolutionize the construction industry worldwide. Among the five houses, which have been recently put into the rental market to be rented next year onwards, the smallest, two-bedrooms-flat has already attracted more than 20 applicant families, just a week after the images were published.The Guardian quotes Rudy van Gurp, a manager at Dutch construction company Van Wijnen: “We like the look of the houses at the moment as this is an innovation and it is a very futuristic design, but we are already looking to a take a step further and people will be able to design their own homes and then print them out. People will be able to make their homes suit them, personalize them, and make them more aesthetically pleasing.”Project Milestone attempts to offer a solution to the lingering problem in the construction sector — the lack of supply of bricklayers. The project is conducted by the contracting firm Van Wijnen in collaboration with the Eindhoven University of Technology. Using the 3D-printing technology, the innovation will print layers of cement forming a wall, through a nozzle of a robotic arm, a first of its kind attempt to create habitable homes. [City A.M]Apart from solving the bricklayers shortage problem, it will also attempt another pressing issue on the environmental front — the damage created by cement usage. The process will have a sizeable reduction in the amount of cement used in construction while it would also reduce the cost involved in construction, according to Rudy van Gurp. He believes that it’s about five years before the usage of 3D-printing in construction becomes a “mainstream” practice. [The Guardian]The Guardian quotes Rudy van Gurp: “I think by then about 5 percent of homes will be made using a 3D printer. In the Netherlands, we have a shortage of bricklayers and people who work outside and so it offers a solution to that. It will eventually be cheaper than the traditional methods. Bricklaying is becoming more and more expensive. Alongside, bricks and the use of timber, this will be a third way, which will look like stucco [plastered] houses, which people like.”http://www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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Zaha Hadid Architects Wins Russian Black Sea City Masterplan Competition
Zaha Hadid Architects won the competition for the Admiral Serebryakov Embankment masterplan in the city of Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Connecting Russia with the Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, and Suez Canal, the industrial city is home to the nation’s largest shipping port, and the third busiest in Europe by turnover.Designed in collaboration with Russian studio Pride TPO, ZHA masterplan seeks to integrate new public space and amenities into the rich maritime history and traditions of Novorossiysk, achieved through careful consideration of building orientation, views, and landscape.Located on the Black Sea coast, connecting Russian shipping with the Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean and Suez Canal, the city of Novorossiysk is the nation’s largest port and the third busiest in Europe by turnover. With direct links to Russia’s rail and road networks, Novorossiysk has also developed into an important centre of industry. With its buildings orientated perpendicular to the sea front to maintain existing sea views from the city, the masterplan is interwoven with Novorossiysk’s urban fabric in a porous configuration that reconnects the city with its coast, inviting residents and visitors to traverse the site via public plazas, gardens and parks.The 13.9-hectare masterplan is a phased development of nine principal buildings with a total floor area of approximately 300,000 square metres. Applying the concept of ‘instancing’ in which nine iterations of a single form evolve in a gradient across the site, the configuration of each building is established according its unique function, conditions and requirements.The digital computational model developed for this masterplan in Novorossiysk performs as an urban planning tool analysing many different programmatic, environmental and socio-economic conditions to define the new buildings within the masterplan. All nine buildings are informed by this digital model that simultaneously considers multiple iterations including programme, orientation, environment, height and volume. This parametric model enables designers and stakeholders to accommodate the functional, economic and other time-related fluctuations that influence each new phase of development while also maintaining the overriding architectural vision.The masterplan’s first phase will include facilities for civic, cultural and corporate events as well as the hotel; signalling the restoration of the city’s waterfront on Tsemes Bay as a vibrant public space for Novorossiysk’s residents and visitors.More than 40 teams from 13 countries took part in the competition. The jury included local and national architects, urban planners and economists together with representatives of the Novorossiysk administrative region.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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