Hasta La Ideas

Here are some photographs of the Moscow School of Management by architect David Adjaye, where four buildings precariously cantilever over a large circular base.

Adjaye, who was today announced as this year’s Design Miami Designer of the Year, completed the teaching and research institute in the city outskirts at the end of 2010.

Classrooms and lecture halls circle a restaurant at the centre of the 150 metre-wide school-on-legs and a car park can be found below.

The four blocks above individually house administration, a wellbeing centre, a hotel and student accommodation.

The walls of the wellbeing centre display a herringbone patchwork of glass and coloured panels, while the other three blocks show the same patterns in monochrome.

A private terrace is located on the roof of the school, surrounded by skylights into the rooms below.

Other projects on Dezeen by Adjaye Associates include headquarters for design brand Moroso and a visual arts space in London – see all the stories here.

Photography is by Ed Reeve.

Here is some text about the project from the architects:

Moscow School of Management Skolkovo

This teaching and research institution was founded in 2005 to educate a new type of executive capable of leading Russian business through the 21st century. The founders were of the view that a campus-type development would best represent their aspirations and, with this in mind, acquired an open site in an area that is scheduled to become an advanced technology park, just beyond Moscow’s outer motorway ring. Situated in a wooded valley, the site has the idyllic qualities associated with those of a traditional campus but the severe demands of a six-month winter were a barrier to pursuing an arrangement of this kind. Rather than being in separate buildings, the main elements of the brief are therefore housed in clearly identifiable volumes that nevertheless form part of a single development.

As a result of this strategy, the external appearance of the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo changes dramatically depending on the direction from which it is seen, but practical and visual continuity is provided by the 150metre-wide disc that floats above the site. Despite its size, the disc minimises the footprint of the development on the site, and softens the visual impact of the lower stories of the development, as only a small part of it can be seen at any one time. The disc itself is two stories high and the main teaching departments are distributed around its outer edge, with the larger spaces on the lower floor. Between departments, a series of wedge-shaped spaces connection the centre of the disc, where the restaurant area is located, and the perimeter. With directional rooflights above, these informal gathering spaces bring light and views deep into the interior. The disc also includes a conference centre with its own auditorium, and the roof of the disc is a landscaped open space. This replaces the area of the site occupied by the building, where a protected car park and service area are located at ground level.

The group of buildings that stand above the disc give the development its characteristic profile when seen from different directions. Of these, the Wellbeing Centre occupies a pivotal position in anchoring the disc to the sloping ground on this side of the Setun River. Standing close to the edge of the site, its stacked recreational spaces still enjoy views of the river due to the splayed positions of the two residential buildings: student accommodation in the longer one to the north, and a five-star hotel that is linked to the conference centre below. The Wellbeing Centre is supported by the same structural grid as that of the disc, whilst the residential buildings are designed as bridge structures. Each of them is supported on two towers that cause minimum disruption as they pass through the disc to the ground; the consequences of this arrangement are visible in the long cantilevers at the ends of both buildings. A similar principle is employed in the structure of the administration tower, although the design of its facade is similar to that of the Wellbeing Centre. The gold colouring of the Wellbeing Centre reflects its importance in this powerful composition, an effect that is given further emphasis by a blue tinge to the facades of the residential buildings.

See also:

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Edison House by Adjaye Associates	The Periscope by VW+BS	GMS Grande Palladium by Malik Architecture

In the latest episode of “Cubes,” we get an inside look at the science behind Consumer Reports. The magazine’s headquarters feature an echo-proof sound chamber, a state-of-the-art photography lab, and a special machine that crushes baby cribs, among other cool things.

For more videos, check out Mediabistro.tv, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Earlier this summer, electronics accessory company Incase announced that they were launching a line of headphones to complement both the gadgets that need them and their existing portfolio. Seeing as Incase has become all but synonymous with laptop bags and cases, the announcement marks a new direction for the Southern California-based company, and the initial teaser shots definitely whet our appetites for more details.

We had the opportunity to talk to Joe Tan, Chief Design Officer, and Markus Dieble, VP of Design, about the design process behind the new collection.

I know one of Incase’s primary goals was to strike a balance between aesthetics and comfort. Can you elaborate on this process?

For us, functionality takes priority. When we set out to design our line of headphones, we wanted to elevate the listening experience by focusing on the right acoustics and creating a high level of ergonomic wearing comfort.

To keep the focus on producing this listening experience, we set out to create the most minimal aesthetic that further emphasized and complemented our focus rather than detract from it with unnecessary details. In our product development cycle, we go through a repeated exercise and process of aesthetic reduction, which, in this case, has resulted in a timeless simplicity and a seemingly effortless aesthetic that we are very excited about.

To maximize the wearing comfort, we looked closely at the human anatomy, specifically the ear and ear canal shape and how our ear tips and pads would interface with them. With unique ear tip and ear cup shapes that match the human form and by incorporating memory foam into the build of the ear cups, we were able to increase the pressure dispersion at the various touch points, resulting in a better and more comfortable fit and an improved acoustic experience as a result of minimizing the sound leakage.

From L to R: The “Pivot,” “Reflex,” and “Sonic”

How did you arrive at the choice of materials?

Since we are introducing a completely new family of products, we wanted to create some sense of continuity and consistency with the rest of the Incase product line. This was achieved through our design language and approach, but also through careful editing of materials and finishes.

We’ve chosen some materials and finishes that were already part of the Incase design language, such as the soft-touch finish and coated canvas textile. We then combined these familiar materials with completely new ones like memory foam, microsuede and woven mesh (found on our ear cups), which creates a completely new tactile and sensory experience.

The “Capsule”

(more…)

The U.S. Open of art: Rauschenberg’s 1966 performance pairing tennis and technology

Think branded interdisciplinary content is a recent phenomenon? In 1966 a unique project was hatched when conceptual artists and Bell Labs engineers collaborated on a series of live installations inside a National Guard Armory in New York City. One of those, “Open Score” by Robert Rauschenberg, pitted artists—including minimalist painter Frank Stella—against each other in a live game of tennis with rackets wired to switch the stage lights on and off and produce an aural musical score. Their movements were projected on large screens by infrared camera, giving the performers and the assembled crowd of 300 a ghoulish glow inside the cavernous armory

By all accounts electrifying, now 45 years later an exhibit at Seventeen gallery in London will showcase Swedish documentary maker Barbro Schultz Lundestam’s reexamination of the seminal moment in conceptual art history. She takes the audience back to those evenings in NYC with the principles involved explaining how they pulled it off and the effect they had on the actors and spectators. Check out a trailer for the 34-minute film here.

The 1997 documentary is also available for sale on DVD, but for those near London, the installation runs through 8 October 2011.

Paris-based Issue #10 contributor, Magalerie, has curated a beautiful Etsy treasury inspired by UPPERCASE contributors.

Her photography and typographic arrangements deserve some attention too!