Hasta La Ideas

Herman Miller’s currently running not one, but two promotional prize giveaways. The first is Twitter-based, and so low-effort you’ve got no reason not to try: “Simply tweet a TwitPic to @hermanmiller with the hashtag #liveunframed that shows how you ‘live unframed.’ The picture can be of anything, and entries close February 11.” The full rules are here, and one lucky tweeter will win a free Sayl chair.

The second contest is a little more anthropological: Called “Where’s Your Hub,” HM wants to see video (sub-three-minutes, for you would-be Fellinis) of you crazy college kids “[showing] us where you connect, recharge, study, and socialize on campus. Tell us why this spot is your hub.” This one runs through March 25th, and top prize is $2,500.

Not feeling competitive? Smart Furniture has the Sayl chair in a host of color combinations for fabrics and hardware that you can customize to suit your palette. Check out their selection here.

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Michael DiTullo, Core77 friend and contributor, has been hosting this week’s Glass House Conversations, an extension of the salons and public conversations that were hosted at the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. DiTullo posed the below provocation for consideration on Monday.

The rapid evolution of the digital world continues to change the very fabric of our culture, from massively inclusive social networking sites that have reshaped the way we interact, to tools, like CS5, HTML5, and Solidworks, that have reshaped the way we work. How will the physical world change in response to the digital? Will we continue to fill new construction “colonial style” homes with wifi and flat screens? Will our desire as a culture to embrace sentiment over content persist? Or will some of the fringe trends around modern craft increase our appreciation of the possibly fewer but more important physical objects in our lives?

How should the design of physical objects and spaces change in response to our increasingly digital world?

Previous hosts include David Netto (Wall Street Journal), Adam Harrison Levy (Design Observer) and Jamer Hunt (Parsons). Join in the conversation…all comments are archived and a “final word” will be chosen to close the topic. You have till 8PM EST tonight to share your opinions on the future of physical design in a digital world.

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Dezeenwire: construction on Shenzhen’s tallest tower – and eighth tallest in the world – the Kingkey Finance tower, designed by international architecture firm Farrells, is almost complete. Due to be finished in August, the 441.8m tower will comprise accommodation, offices and retail spaces and a cinema. See press release below.

Tallest tower ever built by a British architect nears completion

Building work has nearly finished on Farrells latest tall building project in China, the Kingkey Finance Tower. At a height of 441.8 metres and 100 storeys, Kingkey Finance Tower is the tallest building ever completed by a British architect and the eighth tallest building in the world.

Located in Shenzhen, southern China’s major financial centre, Kingkey Finance Tower is part of a 417,000 sq/m mixed-use development designed by Farrells Hong Kong Office. Farrells won the commission to design the Kingkey Finance Development in an international competition which included leading architects.

The Tower design is slim and non bi-symmetrical with a spectacular atrium hotel lobby at the uppermost-levels. Kingkey Tower contains 210,000 sq/m of accommodation and 72 floors, 173,000 sq/m of Grade-A office space that sits over six-levels of retail development at the base of the tower. The retail mall opened in November accommodating luxury brand stores and Shenzhen’s only IMAX cinema and will be directly connected to a new station linking Kingkey Tower and Development to Shenzhen’s Metro System. The Development includes five other 100m tall residential and two 100m commercial towers above the retail podium.

The upper 28 floors of Kingkey Finance Tower will be a luxury “five star” St Regis hotel offering state-of-the-art conference and business facilities. The building is topped off by a five-storey “Sky Garden” – a stunning viewing gallery occupied by a variety of fine-dining restaurants that will take full advantage of Kingkey Finance Tower’s position as the tallest building in one of the fastest growing and most dynamic cities in China.

The Completion of Kingkey Tower will cement Farrells reputation as designers of tall buildings. In addition to Kingkey the practice has completed numerous tall buildings in China and earlier this week announced it had won the competition to develop a district of Beijing’s CBD with a design for the 500+ metre Z-15 tower.

Project Info:

Location: Shenzhen, China
Client: Kingkey Group
Architect: TFP Farrells
Tower height: 441.8m
GFA: 210,000 sq-m
Expected completion date: August 2011

Cologne 2011: French brand Ligne Roset presented this folded mesh chair by French designer Francois Azambourg at imm cologne in Germany last week.

Called Grillage, the piece is made by stretching a metal sheet with tiny grooves cut into it, then folding into a seat and attaching to a bent steel frame.

A stretchy, quilted throw can be attached to the seat with magnets sewn into the fabric.

imm cologne took place 18-23 January. See all our coverage of the event here »

More furniture on Dezeen »
More about Ligne Roset on Dezeen »

The information that follows is from Ligne Roset:

Called Grillage, the design

The principle for creating the basic shape of Grillage is very simple: a sheet of metal with staggered grooves is folded, origami-style, and then drawn to create a mesh. Grillage tells the story of its manufacturing process…drawing, folding, creasing. It reveals everything about itself, from how it was designed to how it was produced.

Grillage – wire mesh – it’s the way to achieve both comfort and ergonomics with an all-metal piece of furniture. It may be covered with a special quilted material for added comfort and a warmer appearance. An outdoor version is available in light blue.

To manufacture Grillage, a sheet of metal, which is grooved in staggered rows, is stretched. Metal wire is then soldered to the exterior, piece by piece. The sheet thus obtained is folded at various points to create the seat: this is a manual operation which renders each armchair ‘unique’.The shape of the armchair will evolve over time.

See also:

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Jean Nouvel for Ligne Roset	Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Ligne Roset	Inga Sempé for Ligne Roset

(Photos: Paul Kasmin Gallery)

Record snowfalls have turned New York City into a pure white canvas for Will Ryman‘s bright pink and red rose sculptures, now in full bloom along Park Avenue between 57th and 67th Streets. The writer turned artist (who, as the son of Robert Ryman, knows a little something about all-white surfaces) created the monumental flowers as a kind of tribute to his hometown. “With these roses I wanted to do something that was larger than life and site-specific,” he said in a statement. “In my work I always try to combine fantasy with reality. In the case of ‘The Roses,’ I tried to convey New York City’s larger than life qualities through scale; creating blossoms which are imposing, humorous, and hopefully beautiful.”

For this, his first public art exhibition, Ryman used stainless steel, yacht-grade fiberglass resin, and automotive paint to create 38 giant pink and red roses that range in height from three to 25 feet. Each of the eight sturdy clusters harbors a similarly outsized brass ladybug, aphid, beetle, or bee. Meanwhile, melting snow will reveal 20 accompanying sculptures of individual rose petals, which have been “scattered” (as much as steel slabs can be) along the Park Avenue Mall between 63rd and 65th Streets. We suggest a Valentine’s Day stroll, “he-loves-me, he-loves-me-not”-style. On view until real buds can take over on June 1, “The Roses” is presented jointly by Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation, and the Fund for the Park Avenue Sculpture Committee.

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