Dezeen Super Store is now open at 38 Monmouth Street in the Seven Dials district of Covent Garden, London. The micro-department store brings together our designer watch boutique Dezeen Watch Store, our pop-up design concept The Temporium and our Designed in Hackney Shop so drop by if you’re in town!
Dezeen Super Store
38 Monmouth Street, London WC2
1 July – 30 September 2012
Monday to Saturday: 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 5pm
Dezeen archive: we’ve noticed a lot of parasitic architecture so here’s a selection of buildings on Dezeen that sit, lean or cling on to others. See all the stories »
Test tubes of olive oil line one wall of this high-tech workshop designed for Michelin-starred chef Paco Roncero by Spanish studio Carmen Baselga Taller de Proyectos.
Located in the nineteenth century Casino de Madrid building, which also houses his Terraza del Casino restaurant, the workshop provides a space for olive-oil expert Roncero to experiment with new ideas.
The room, which is higher than it is wide, had significant damage to its floors and mouldings. Carmen Baselga’s studio renovated the space in collaboration with designers S3-Tau and created a clean white interior with room to seat nine people.
Along one wall is the ‘oleotec’, which holds 216 types of olive oil in glass test tubes. The oils are identified by the numbers and the letters engraved alongside them, while a touch screen provides information about each one.
The ceramic table has heated areas to keep plates warm or cool as required, while vibrating areas help to prepare certain dishes. A cooking hob and tap are integrated into the table, and guests can even take notes directly onto the surface.
Diffusers are installed inside hanging tubes to vaporise water and maintain the correct humidity. Some diffusers also hold unusual custom-made scents, including mushroom and humid grass.
Appliances including a dishwasher and fridge are hidden inside ash-panelled units along the walls.
A translucent screen, printed with an image of Roncero’s hands, lets light enter the room without glare.
Photographs are by Gerald Kiernan.
See more stories about restaurants »
Here’s some more information from the designers:
Projecting Paco Roncero’s dream:
An innovative project of multisensory gastronomy
Project: Paco Roncero workshop in The Casino of Madrid
Designed by: Carmen Baselga Taller de Proyectos in collaboration with S3-Tau (departament of Innovación from Tau firm).
Paco Roncero: Chef with three “Repsol Sun”, two Michelín Stars and a Nacional award of Gastronomy 2006. Olive oil specialist.
The project takes place in a space where the most advanced technologies, the new materials and ecosustainable systems for the I+D+I will be put together with the risqué gastronomic proposals of a perfect technique from the chef.
The place
The space is Paco Roncero’s gastronomic research workshop of Paco Roncero, where the chef develops his new creations. It is a place to experiment in the double meaning of the word, that is, testing, trying; but also to experiment with the meaning of feeling and perceiving. And with this aim the surroundings and the different work spaces have been designed.
This place will allow an exploration of the relationships between gastronomy and the surrounding: human perception from the influence of, for example, certain colors, shapes and flavors; or from environmental comfort variables such as temperature, humidity, sound and light, manipulated in the search of well-being, or looking to generate different types of sensations that result in emotions, trying to build, with all this, a synesthetic experience where taste is the backbone.
The place is located on the same floor as the libraries in the old “Casino de Madrid”, in C/Alcalá number 15. It is not accessible to the general public, because it is a private work area. To the different sessions, lunches or experimental dinners that are going to be programmed with certain cadence, one can only go with direct invitation from the chef, due to the fact that they will be forming part of the research project.
The room has very peculiar proportions; it is very long and it is higher than it is wide, with a big entrance door at each end; one of them is linked to an office to support the running of the workshop, that has also been designed inside the project. There is a running theme of the materials and base colours throughout. The other door links to the noble areas of the Casino and this is where the guests will enter and leave.
At the beginning we found a space dating back to 1910, but very damaged with old, however not antique, floors that had replaced the original ones made of wood, some of which could be found with an old fitted carpet in some areas. Some of the decorative molding was broken and in general both ceilings and walls appeared to be covered with stippled-finish paint which ran over the surface of the room indiscriminately above the mouldings and decorative reliefs. Cables, gutters or switches of different models and periods were superimposed depending on the needs of the offices that had been there. The air conditioning installation, as it was on the surface was very invasive; it had a lot of presence and had ruined part of the ceiling and the walls.
The aim was to create a big white box that kept the character of its time, whereupon the first work was the rehabilitation. Inside this box, in a superimposed way allowing the difference between the past and present to be seen, the space was projected, designing the different elements that modernized it and defined it with a contemporary and changeable character thanks to technology (projections, different types of lighting, sound, scents, etc…).
The access
Like with every liturgical ritual, first of all you need to go through water. The first thing you find when you arrive, just behind the door, is a washbasin welcoming you. This washbasin is the model Kubo from Boing, made of flexible polyurethane, and the tap is the Ondus model from Grohe. Two clothes racks, made of stainless steel and designed by Carmen Baselga_Taller de proyectos, flank the sides of the main entrance.
El pavimento
The floor is particularly special as it incorporates the heating system for this room with the Waytec System with heated sheets and automatic temperature control. This is the Colortech 60×60 natural white model from Tau, which continues in line with the rest of the ceramic materials used in the project. This shows the different applications and uses of the product Keraon from Tau, chosen in this case in natural white colour.
The table
Conceived as a type of large worktop to test new dishes, there is also room to seat nine guests including the chef. The surface is made of keraon (Tau ceramic) and the structure of the table legs is made of ash. Under this naive appearance, multiple uses are hidden, thanks to the technology that lives inside it and thanks to the goodness of the ceramic surface that allows the most sophisticated effects to combine with something as basic as, for example, taking notes or sketching directly on the table.
The water and fire areas are integrated into the table to be able to cook, however there are also capacitative sensors to control the sound or the temperature of the table. It has nine individual heated areas whose function is keep the plate warm, another hotter area and a cooling area near the kitchen area, as well as zones of agitation and vibration between the guests that will help to prepare certain dishes during the meal. The tap is K7 Digital model from Grohe, that has a wireless control. It is an innovation that is shown in this space as a novelty.
The chairs
The chairs were designed based on special needs, taking into account that the height would not be the habitual for an eating chair, because they have to be used with the table/worktop that is 97cm high. On the one hand we were searching for comfort; they have to be comfortable for a meal and its after-lunch/after-dinner conversation. On the other hand, an essential requirement was that they had to be of adjustable height and swivel with wheels to allow full mobility. From all of this, a hybrid chair was invented, between what would be an office seat, a kitchen chair and an armchair. As a chair/armchair, the model Tauro from Andreu World offered us all the guarantees of comfort, and starting from here appropriate modifications were made to reach the planned aims.
The oleotec
This has a capacity for 216 types of olive oil that the chef will be selecting as an expert in olive oil. It was created using the mural system Dry System, in Keraon in natural white color, combining bright and matt surfaces, where the numbers and the letters are engraved to be able to identify each oil. The touch screen located in the center gives the information about every product in this oil panel. When the oleotec was designed, a convection cooling system was created, leaving a free space in the upper and the lower part, which is the same principle that “Trombe wall” used in passive solar projects. In this way, the oils do not heat up, inside it keeps them all at the same temperature. For this reason, we also chose a cold light to light them from behind. In addition to seeing the real color of each oil, it creates a very singular atmosphere as the light is emitted through the oil test tubes.
The electrical appliances and the furniture that integrate them
All the electrical appliances are new models from Miele. We have a cutting-edge induction hob in white, some ovens, a large capacity fridge, “vinoteca” and a dishwasher. These electrical appliances are integrated into the furniture units that surround the room on each side, and at the same time they are not in your direct view when you enter the space. These furniture units are paneled with ash, integrating different inspection hatches to gain access to both electrical and plumbing installations. That means it is very easy to make changes to these installations, if needs be.
The ceiling: the hanging tray, the mobiles
Another aim was to integrate the technology (which is a lot) and leave some bridges that allow the installations to be enlarged and modified very easily without damaging the space every time. That is why we designed the hanging tray from the ceiling, an accessible floor, while leaving a space in the inside part. The worktop’s legs are communicated directly with this free cavity, which is accessible from the lower part. The tubes that emerge from the central hanging tray had been conceived to house different types of lighting, projectors, cameras, scent spreadings, extraction systems in the kitchen area, etc.
It is a space that is best measured in cubic meters than in square. 235 m3 are completely used, due to the fact that it is possible to work both lengthwise and widthwise, as it is as wide as it is high. In the upper part, on both sides of the central tray, two mechanical arms move back projection moving screens that are used to create different atmospheres and/or to support the images that can be projected onto the table. They can adopt different positions, either close to or far from the guests.
Above the access area, there is also a digital blackboard, that, when it goes down, is placed in front of the furniture unit nearest to the chef’s chair, which allows for punctual theoretical talks.
The sound
Surround-sound speakers in the ceiling and under the table have been installed.
The scents
This has been done through diffusers installed inside the tubes located in the hanging tray. These diffusers are also going to provide the space with the necessary humidity degree, just vaporizing water, without scents. Several scents have been expressly created for this space, as for example the sea smell, or a mushroom and humid grass that will be useful for supporting certain moments.
The curtains and the hands
Three motorized rolls of 220 cm wide x 438 cm high cover the three large windows of the room. Two layers, one of them completely opaque to make the space darker, and another made of translucent screen, which has the printed image of the chef’s hands and it is the one that will be used during the working daytime hours as it it lets the light enter in a sifted way.
The huge pictures of Paco Roncero’s hands manipulating and molding are a clear allegory to the kitchen as transformation, and it was considered from the basic transformation, the most natural that exists, which is water passing through its three states: solid, liquid and gaseous.
Domótica
The installation of a domotic system shows the programmation of different scenes during lunches or dinners, combining lights, sound, projections from the ceiling projectors and the movement of them, projections on the table, different effects, the use of a camera, etc.
Turkish designer Yigit Ozer has created a range of three dimensional wall tiles for ceramic company Kutahya Seramik.
Called Nexus, the range of hexagonal tiles are cast with two relief designs: Penta comprises four pentagons and Hexa comprises two hexagons and two diamonds.
The two types can be laid horizontally, vertically or in combinations to produce a variety of honeycomb patterns.
They’re available in glazed and semi-matte finishes in six colours: carbon black, anthracite, mink taupe, polar white, grey and dark green.
See more stories about ceramics »
Here’s some more information from the designer:
Nexus is the expression of nature’s geometrical perfection. Nexus collection is created in two different styles. It’s based on two separate tile series: PENTA and HEXA.
Nexus collection was designed to inspire. It places and defines as a strong design element of architecture where it is used. Nexus collection was designed not to rival with architectural places and objects placed around them, but to support and define as part of the architectural element that was thought with it.
PENTA5 and Hexa6 series that creates Nexus collection was inspired from nature’s most basic structural element of carbon atoms geometrical form. It combines this design with one of nature’s most common structural element and main raw material of ceramic.
HEXA Series of Nexus collection is based on hexagonal geometry design as PENTA series, but the pattern it creates is a hexagonal pattern that is in the same axis as its outer form. The pattern that it creates visually is the same hexagonal pattern as the outer form, but slides and telescopes half the length of the outer dimension.
This unique pattern creates an illusion of two times the amount of ceramics were tiled. By this effect from the first glance the pattern and the outer form divert and the eye is forced to question whether it is the tile or the pattern.
PENTA5 series has three dimensional surface topography that illusions diverted hexagonal patterns. PENTA5 tile can be tiled as a vertical or horizontal axis. PENTA5 tile reforms a diverse hexagonal pattern that is rotated 90 degrees to the outer form. This way the tiles honeycomb formation and pattern interfere and telescope with each other.
Customising Nexus collection as a separate series or with each other allows users to create their own design solutions for architectural places. It can be used from offices, hotels, bars, restaurants, kitchens, bedrooms to bathrooms and so on, spaces where you want to customize or define as a part of your imagination. By these customisation options Nexus wall tiles makes you apart of the design process.
Starring RZA,who is also the director, Russell Crowe, Jamie Chung and Lucy Liu. The man with the iro..(Read…)
In my experience, Australians seem to travel in packs of two or more. Each time I’ve met an Australian, one, two or more of their countrymen are close by. At Dwell on Design this past weekend, I met six in one booth.
The six form Quench, a collective of designers from Queensland, Australia, who all smartly pool their resources, whether they’re sharing manufacturers, or studios, or a tradeshow booth at Dwell. Each represented himself individually, but all together (with their space) confirmed another Australian stereotype of mine: they are fun, engaging, and colorful.
Luxx Box’s Watch Out
David Shaw’s Flow
There was David Shaw’s “Flow” planter, a divider/bench/planter nicely done in white and grey powder-coated steel. Flow is representative of Shaw’s public works design, for his studio Street and Garden Furniture Co. He creates bus benches, bike racks, drinking fountains, etc., with a clean yet classic sensibility greatly needed in public works design (at least in the U.S.).
Luxx Box’s Milk and Tingle
Alexander Lotersztain, with his studio Derlot Editions, and Jason Bird’s Luxx Box brought the playful color to the Quench booth. Derlot had “Picket,” a lovely table with a solid Tasmanian oak top and brightly colored, powder-coated steel legs. The legs are an appealingly chunky, rounded-tube shape. Luxx Box brought the most color, showing a range of colors in the Milk stool, recyclable polyethylene Tingle seat, and Watch Out, a colorful take on the old industrial sconce.
Derlot’s Picket
We talk to the filmmaker about his foray into Champagne
Spending an afternoon with David Lynch in the penthouse of the Chateau Marmont isn’t necessarily an everyday occurrence—the filmmaker, known for his surrealistic visions, actually admits that he rarely leaves the house if he doesn’t have to. As the son of a forester, Lynch grew up spending time with his father in their woodshop, and now enjoys time at home creating his own art, photography and sound studios.
Lynch did venture out recently to the home of his friend, special effects designer Gary D’Amico, to collaborate on a bottle and package design project for Dom Pérignon. The two experimented with welding torches, shot beams of light into crystals, sprinkled sparkles and powered up smoke machines and other lighting effects to capture images for the resulting wraps. Shrouded in dreamy, glowing light streaks is Lynch’s scrawled label, “Dom Pérignon by David Lynch” sliced horizontally across the dark Champagne bottle.
We asked Lynch for insight into his growing interest in collaboration, and what inspires his work.
I always say commercial work is money and a chance to do something, a chance to experiment. A lot of times a chance to experiment with the latest technologies. So I always learn something and feel really good about the result and the experimentation and the process of getting that result. It is a collaboration in a way, but I really like the things where I have a freedom to experiment. Obviously the client has to like the result. This idea of experimenting to get something was embraced by Dom Pérignon. Luckily it turned out good.
It’s a special occasion, but like I say, I learned a lot about what goes into Dom Pérignon. So now when I take a drink, it is a very rich experience.
There are a lot of great DPs out in the world. There are a lot of great painters. A lot of times you will see something and it will be very inspiring. There might be a painter where 90% of the stuff doesn’t talk to you but 10% really talks to you. Inspirations can come from so many places. I always say my greatest inspiration came from the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So many reasons, the mood of the place, the architecture, what I saw and heard and felt. It was very magical, but laced with a deep tormenting fear and sickness. And I ate many steak sandwiches there.
Lynch’s designs for the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2003 and Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2000 will be available on 1 October 2012.
Focus sur David Closes qui propose ce mélange entre architecture ancienne et modernité avec le « Sant Francesc Auditorium ». L’architecte espagnole a repensé ce couvent appelé Sant Francesc, en auditorium. Situé à Santpedor, ce bâtiment est à découvrir en images dans la suite de l’article.
Dezeen Wire: Newham Borough Council are appealing to designers and brands to help them furnish a drop-in centre for victims of domestic and sexual violence during the Olympic Games next month.
Newham are one of the host boroughs for the games and their council are concerned that the number of abuse cases will significantly increase during the period, like it does when holidays or football matches are taking place (typically by 27-29%).
“To try to mitigate this risk we have rented an office in Stratford across the street from the Olympic Park that victims of domestic or sexual violence can go to for support,” says organiser Kelly Simmons. “Now our only problem is trying to find furniture to make the space comfortable for victims and staff during this seven week period. Interiors are important to people’s behaviour and it would be unfortunate if we were not able to make this space comfortable for those reporting abuse.”
There will be three interview rooms, two waiting rooms, a front desk, main office, small kitchen and a toilet to furnish at the One Stop Shop. They are looking to borrow seven sofas, seven chairs, five coffee tables, five lamps, a filing cabinet, a printer and a small dining table with chairs to furnish this space for two months.
Police, local solicitors firms and charities Rape Crisis, Aanchal Women’s Aid, Newham Action Against Domestic Violence and Refuge have all pledged to help staff the One Stop Shop when it opens between 23 July and 13 September.
Anyone able to help should contact Simmons via email at Kelly.Simmons@newham.gov.uk or over the phone on +44 20 3373 1781.
“Invade ALL OF THE humans!” is a humorous musical short about two retro robot toys with delusions of rap stardom and world domination. The video was created by UK animation duo Tom and Mark.
[via laughingsquid]
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