Hasta La Ideas

Après le focus Invisible Man, l’artiste chinois Liu Bolin présente actuellement une exposition de ses œuvres “Lost in Art” à la Eli Klein Gallery située à New York. Revenant sur ses peintures le camouflant au milieu de la photo, l’ensemble est dans la suite.

Previously on Fubiz

• Chinese Paintings Photography
• Liu Bolin – Graffiti Mural
• Artworks with Coffee Cups

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This is the third post in a series of short interviews with renowned writers about the field of Writing & Commentary, a new category in the Core77 Design Awards. Here we speak to Alexandra Lange , a critic, journalist, author and architectural historian. As well as teaching architecture criticism at SVA, Alexandra regularly contributes to Design Observer and has written for The Architect’s Newspaper, Icon, Metropolis, New York Magazine and The New York Times.

How important or valuable is it to honor design writing and criticism with an awards program?

Alexandra Lange: It’s very important. A) Everyone loves to win an award. B) anything that helps attract attention to our small field, and to the best writing in that small field, is valuable.

Which qualities do you most appreciate in writing about design and architecture and what kinds of writing do you hope will surface from this call for entries?

I’ve always appreciated clarity—why be coy?—and lately I find myself drawn to description. How you move through a space, how it looks, how it feels, the details that give it personality. You can pack a lot of criticism into what seems like a walking tour, including a walking tour of an app. I also hope the entries reflect the breadth of what design criticism can be about, and how intertwined design is with more obvious popular culture.

Name two writers, perhaps one historical and one contemporary, that you are influenced or challenged by.

Well, one of them is on the jury: Michael Sorkin. When I first read “Exquisite Corpse,” the collection of his Village Voice reviews, I was blown away by how funny and how strident they were. I appreciate their energy, their pragmatism, and all the good lessons about real buildings along the way. Historically I feel challenged by Reyner Banham, for many of the same reasons. I love the diversity of his topics, and again, the humor. I would like to be thought of as funny, but that’s a tough row for both critics and women.

Tell us about a publication that features writing about visual culture, design, or architecture, that you’re enjoying reading right now.

I have to admit, the only publication I read really regularly all the way through is The New Yorker. And its writing on design usually makes my blood boil. Judith Thurman’s piece in the recent Style issue, on Prada and Schiaparelli, was terrific, and I think the concept she discusses of “Ugly Chic” has applicability far beyond fashion. Two years ago I wrote a proposal for a book on bad taste in design called “Ugly,” but no one liked it.

Visit the Writing & Commentary on the C77DA site to learn more about the category and jury. Entries for the Core77 Design Awards close April 10. Core77 recognizes that many design writers work freelance and if you feel you qualify for special consideration pricing for your entry, contact us at awards@core77.com and let us know.

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Direttamente da Losanna, Demian Conrad è lo speaker di questo mese per la Creative Morning. Appuntamento è questo venerdì dalle 8,30 alle 10. Per partecipare, registratevi qui.

Cubo (Mediateca Santa Teresa)
Via Moscova 28
Milano

Hoses hang inside an illuminated glass tower at this timber-clad fire station in western Austria by architects Dietrich Untertrifaller.

The timber that cloaks that building’s exterior is silver fir, which is typical of architecture in the surrounding village of Sulzberg-Thal.

Behind the cladding, the fire station has a masonry-constructed ground floor and a timber-framed first floor.

A large room on the ground floor houses two fire engines beside a slightly elevated radio and control room, while a classroom, an archive and an office are located on the level above.

We’ve never had a fire station on Dezeen before, although we have featured a couple of unusual police stations – see them here.

Photography is by Bruno Klomfar.

Here’s some more information from Dietrich Untertrifaller:

Fire station, Sulzberg-Thal

The prominent location of the new fire station at the boundary of the village and engaged in a spatial dialogue with Gasthaus Krone (inn) required a sensitive and discreet integration of the new building into the villagescape.

The building is ideally sited in relation to the topography, with forecourts forming a separate square within the village fabric. This way fortified structures are reduced to a minimum and the road layout remains intact.

The square is located between the fire station and Gasthaus Krone, forming a scenario which is typical for Sulzberg Thal.

The building features a clear separation into vehicle depot with control room and all other uses that are grouped according to room height and temperature into compact units.

The radio and control room is slightly elevated, overlooking both the vehicle depot and the forecourt with the crew entrance. Parking for emergency operations is planned as gravel lawn lining the road.

The building has ground-level access from the main road, with the slightly projecting top floor marking and shielding the entrance area.

The control area and locker rooms adjoin the entrance. The top floor with a classroom, village archives, an office and auxiliary rooms opens to the village boundary, thus signaling the public function of the building.

The vehicle depot is built as a solid structure, while the top floor is planned as a timber construction. The facade features silver-fir-cladding, which gives the building a uniform appearance as is typical for the village.

The large continuous glazing structures the building, creating an air of lightness and transparency to all angles. External shading protects the interior from overheating.

The tube-shaped tower is built as timber construction with glass on two sides, revealing a glimpse of the activities taking place at the fire station.

Client: Municipality of Sulzberg

Architectural design: Dietrich | Untertrifaller

Project management: R. Grups
Competition: 2008

Construction: 2009 – 2010
Location: A-6934 Sulzberg-Thal

Floor space: 604 m²
Volume: 3,060 m³

Building costs: 1.26 m Euro
Partners: Structural engineering – concrete: Mader Flatz, Bregenz | Structural engineering – timber: Merz Kley, Dornbirn | Building services engineering: Pflügl Roth, Bregenz

Design Bridge redesigns the bottle, bringing back a touch of heritage

Next time you reach for Plymouth Gin, you’ll notice their newly redesigned bottle. A welcomed transformation from the tall, square-shaped vessel with a navy blue and silver color scheme to a rounded antique-style shape and distinctive oval label—the trademark Mayflower stamp remains—the new bottle still houses the same gin made in the same single Victorian copper still since 1793.

When Pernod Ricard asked Design Bridge to redesign the Plymouth Gin bottle, their team delved into the company’s archives for inspiration. The goal: to create a bottle that would not only stand out on the shelf behind a bar, but also tell the story of the spirit in an authentic way. This process led them to focus on Plymouth’s rich heritage and to codify a thematic idea for the project, “Looking Back to Look Forward”.

According to the historical record, the pilgrim fathers spent their last night in the Black Friars Distillery where Plymouth later began production in the 18th century. With this in mind, Design Bridge made the Mayflower more prominent on the new label.

Below the ship reads the caption, “In 1620 The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth on a journey of hope and discovery,” the additional focus taking the bottle design closer to earlier versions of the logo. Design Bridge spared no detail, creating a copper cap to depict Plymouth’s original 1793 gin still, while the uneven glass bottle shape is meant to look like it fell out of the back pocket of a 19th century sailor.

Plymouth Gin is available in its new bottle online as well as liquor stores throughout the world for prices starting around $33. Learn more about Plymouth Gin in our video tour of the 214-year-old facility with master distiller Sean Harrison.