Man I can’t get over that new Mac Pro. And while we all know the “thermal core” part is made from extruded aluminum, how is the exterior (which is also aluminum) made? It’s obviously not extruded, as it’s got that inward-curving lip up top, and it wouldn’t make sense from an efficiency standpoint to CNC-mill the entire thing out of a billet; there would be too much waste. Any guesses?
According to Don Lehman, it’s made using the production method known as impact extrusion. Conceptually, the process is more similar to blowmolding than proper extrusion, except a metal punch takes the place of compressed air, and the material used is metal rather than plastic. Here’s a quick look at impact extrusion as performed by Illinois-based Best Metal Extrusions, on a product significantly smaller than the Mac Pro. (Looks like a cigar holder, but your guess is as good as mine.)
Here’s something a little closer in size to the Mac Pro:
Le travail du photographe roumain Ionut Caras est difficilement qualifiable dans une catégorie en particulier. À la croisée des chemins entre surréalisme et féérie, il sublime l’art du collage pour un rendu très poétique et mystérieux. À découvrir en images sur son portfolio et dans la suite de l’article.
4N is a French watch brand that creates timepieces, which are resolutely masculine and unapologetically cutting-edge. While they have an exclusive Limited Edition timepiece (last one of 16) up on TouchOf Modern, for a members-only price, we got the chance of catching up with designer François Quentin for a quick round of questions.
YD – What According To You is the authentic definition of Haute Horlogerie. Can you name a FEW timepieces as example?
“The’ Fine Watchmaking’ denomination embraces a centuries-old, living history, a rich and Specific Culture, professional ethic, the enduring expertise of the craftsman, and a burning passion.
In a word, Fine Watchmaking is a cultivation of knowledge and know-how. While Fine Watchmaking is heir to a long tradition, it nonetheless firmly looks to the future. Its values are research, innovation, development and training new generations.”
I would add to this definition, a point that seems to be missed: artistic dimension. Haute Horlogerie, beyond the simple functional dimension, addresses sense emotions and the intellect, and like art is pure gratuity and infinite freedom.
YD – What are your favorite complications in a watch?
FQ – The alarm, even if it is not very complicated in fact.
YD – What is the MOST difficult complications in a watch?
FQ – One that does not exist – I myself have worked for three years to work out my complication, and two more years to develop with Renaud & Papi.
YD – If You Were to invent a new complication or innovative aspects to a watch, What Will that be?
FQ – 24h digital display with a very large display.
FQ – Ressence for beautiful contemporary pieces and especially for its great founder Benoit Mintiens the greatest watchmaker in Belgium. (well, on the other hand it is the only ….)
The 4N-MVT01/D01 Model is the last one of 16 ever created, sold exclusively on TouchOfModern. Be the final person in the world to ever own one. The MSRP is $235,000 but mention they have a special members-only pricing.
It’s embodied in a mouvement of manufacture, defined by a mechanical complication with manual assembly and a 12-hour digital display. It is based on an intelligent configuration of intermittent rotating discs. Three subgroups of discs, , kept in cage structures, light up to reveal the time according to a jumping display as the minutes pass (4 discs for the hour, 5 for the minutes, and 1 for the ten minutes). The device uses a system of jump by constant force guaranteeing a minimum expenditure of energy whatever the degree of movement.
Sagmeister & Walsh’s film Now is Better won a Yellow Pencil for Typography for Design at this year’s D&AD Awards, but only after it had first been rejected by the organisers for being art rather than design
To many, Stefan Sagmeister’s work has often blurred the distinction between art and design. This ambiguity was the cause of concern at the D&AD Awards this week. Jurors in the Craft for Design category had given the film, which was originally commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia as part of Sagmeister & Walsh’s Happy Show, a Yellow Pencil.
However, D&AD management subsequently declared the film to be ineligible as, they argued, it fell foul of their terms and conditions by which entries must be “a work of advertising or design, produced in response to a genuine brief composed in the ordinary course of a legal entity’s activities for the purpose of seeking an advertising or design solution” and “have been made available to the public through any medium which is legally permitted in a way that has been approved by the entity or person receiving the benefit of the advertising or design (the client)”. D&AD, CR understands, further argued that the distinction between art and design partially rested on whether the work was seeking an ‘outcome’ of some sort, usually commercial in nature.
Sagmeister & Walsh, however, argued that the film was created in response to a design brief from the ICA and was part of the design of the exhibition (above, image: Aaron Igler/Greenhouse Media). Furthermore, Sagmeister said “Our piece Now is Better IS seeking (and) achieving ‘an outcome of some sort’. I received an SMS from an 16 year old boy who, after seeing Now is Better and the Happy Show, found the guts in himself to ask out and ultimately kiss the girl he had a crush on for a long time. It was his first kiss. I’d say that’s a behavioural change and an outcome worth bragging about. Preferable to a sale.”
“I myself only mildly care about a wooden pencil,” Sagmeister told CR, “but I do care when one of the foremost design organisations in the world thinks that what we do in our design studio is not design. Even though the exhibition in question took place in a Center for Contemporary Art, it was clearly designed and labelled as a design exhibit.”
After some back and forth, the work was reinstated, although not before CR’s D&AD Awards supplement, produced to coincide with the event, had gone to press.
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay acknowledged that the work highlighted some ambiguity in the Awards’ terms: “In order to be eligible, design or advertising work entered into D&AD must have been created in response to a client brief and have been made available to the public. Because Now is Better was a gallery commission, it falls into a grey area but is actually eligible according to the current criteria,” he told CR. “It was entered into a craft category and was felt by the highly esteemed jury to be an outstanding piece of typography, so an excellent piece of work has rightly received its just reward.”
Disputes of this nature are surely only going to get more commonplace. Gordon Young and Why Not Associates’ Comedy Carpet, for example, missed out at D&AD last year. We don’t know why that was, but we do know that it won at other ‘design’ shows, including CR’s Annual. Despite this, Gordon Young is adamant that the Comedy Carpet be referred to as a work of art.
The difficulty seems to be when work crosses over from being the design of an exhibition or installation into being part of the content of the exhibition itself. A tricky line to draw and one that evidently caused a good deal of debate at D&AD this year.
Pink Floyd fans may recognise the cover of our June issue. It’s the original marked-up artwork for Dark Side of the Moon: one of a number of treasures from the archive of design studio Hipgnosis featured in the issue, along with an interview with Aubrey Powell, co-founder of Hipgnosis with the late, great Storm Thorgerson. Elsewhere in the issue we take a first look at The Purple Book: Symbolism and Sensuality in Contemporary Illustration, hear from the curators of a fascinating new V&A show conceived as a ‘walk-in book’ plus we have all the regular debate and analysis on the world of visual communications.
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CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app updates with new content throughout each month. Get it here.
Focus sur le studio espagnol Hey qui a organisé une belle exposition de différents visuels et posters, inspirés essentiellement des Dieux et des animaux légendaires de la mythologie grecque. Des créations géométriques réussies à découvrir dans la suite de l’article grâce à des clichés pris par Roc Canals.
A quality wood cutting board will last a lifetime and only improve with age and use. With summer barbecue and picnic season in full force, we wanted a board that would stand the test of time and look good along the way. Continue Reading…
Last week, we learned (or relearned) Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design through a nicely-executed animation by Design Silesia. Today, we have a series of animated shorts from the Open University, a UK-based distance-learning institution. I can’t speak to the university’s academics, but it happens to be one of the world’s largest universities and is accredited in the States. In keeping with the nontraditional structure—students typically study remotely, whether they are in the UK or elsewhere—they’ve also taken to producing short educational videos on YouTube, and the latest series of shorts happens to be about “Design in a Nutshell.”
The Bauhaus segment is a gem—I learned that Gropius’s seminal school of thought marked the genesis of the “art school as an alternative way of life,” as well as a few fun facts about Marcel Breuer. Good stuff.
The finest work from Ravensbourne’s class of 2013 was on display this week at the college’s Greenwich Peninsula campus and included some impressive graphic design, motion graphics and digital photography projects.
Work from Ravensbourne’s 26 graphic design graduates included experimental typography, striking infographics and innovative apps.
The most unusual product on display was Soofiya Chaudry’s ‘A Book for Two’ (below) – a book in two halves that can’t be read alone. Each half contains only a selection of words from each page, and some sections (indicated in green) must be read together. “We share almost everything we do today online and on social media, but reading a book is still a solitary experience. A Book for Two makes it a social activity,” Chaudry explained.
Alazne Ceberio Scobie also experimented with editorial design and created a fashion newspaper that uses clever layering instead of glossy textures to create visual impact. With strong type and photography, the paper included some lovely touches such as a sheer insert for an accessories page and black and white shots layered over colour images (below).
Calum Hale and Felix Mooneeram’s portfolios included a response to a brief set by the International Society of Typographic Designers exploring regional dialects.
Hale’s book (above) includes typographical representations of Scottish accents – Glasgow is represented by jagged type while ‘Ah-berdeen’ has a softer, more rounded look – while Mooneeram’s (below) explores the Industrial Revolution and manufacturing industry’s influence on Manchester accents using greyboard, industrial type and metallic ink, and received an ISTD commendation.
Hale has also created a striking infographic highlighting US gun crime statistics in a design that references the stars and stripes of the American flag. “The star for each state is also designed to look like a bullet hole – I think it could work well as a billboard campaign,” he said.
Each of the graphic design students at Ravensbourne are encouraged to experiment with digital apps and creative coding as well as typography and print design. Liam D’Arcy’s zombie-themed fitness app (below) featured some great illustrations, and Trevor Morris (creative director of this year’s Degree Show) has been working on a reading app for children with learning difficulties and visual impairments which allows users to select colour combinations, fonts and type sizes to suit their needs.
James Greenaway’s BBC Mobius app (below), designed in response to a D&AD student brief to make BBC’s online service feel more alive, allows users to watch and interact with live content and his sleek UI has earned him a yellow pencil nomination.
In response to another D&AD brief – this time to design an advertising campaign for Marmite – Antony Victor targeted 21 to 30 year-old professionals who may have grown out of the savoury spread by emphasising its vitamin B1 content, which is known to reduce stress. In a series of posters (below) highlighting stressful situations (such as running out of fuel, trains being delayed or over sleeping), he uses the tagline, “It’s OK, It’s a Marmite Day”.
Ravensbourne’s BA Digital Photography graduates had also produced some lovely work, including Andrew Morgan’s landscape and portrait shots capturing ‘small town Texas’ (below) and Irene Tonnessen’s promotional shoot for musician Axel Kacoutie’s second EP, New Type (above). You can find a selectio of work from all 12 students on their collective website, The Dozen.
Stand out showreels from the motion graphics graduates included Jacques Parys and Mateusz Napieralski’s. Parys’s portfolio (below) includes some clever infographics visualising Facebook user data and demographics, an excellent series of promotional animations for BBC Radio 4 programme in our time and an animation calling for students to take over website It’s Nice That for a day, which you can watch the making of on his site.
Napieralski’s work (below) includes inofgraphics explaining how Twitter works, a title sequence for Royal Shakespeare Company production I Cinna the Poet, an animated book promo, Type in Motion, and one for Sky Arts using wooden shapes, acrylic paint and motors. He’s also produced some impressive posters for ciruses and theatre productions which you can view on his website.
Pink Floyd fans may recognise the cover of our June issue. It’s the original marked-up artwork for Dark Side of the Moon: one of a number of treasures from the archive of design studio Hipgnosis featured in the issue, along with an interview with Aubrey Powell, co-founder of Hipgnosis with the late, great Storm Thorgerson. Elsewhere in the issue we take a first look at The Purple Book: Symbolism and Sensuality in Contemporary Illustration, hear from the curators of a fascinating new V&A show conceived as a ‘walk-in book’ plus we have all the regular debate and analysis on the world of visual communications.
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month.
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app updates with new content throughout each month. Get it here.
Do you remember I often ended a week on Bloesem with a 'Some things I liked last week' post … sharing my favorite finds from the web … not sure why I stopped doing that … but we recieved some emails from readers that they would love to see this column back … and I am more than happy to do just that! From now on I will also add some links to my favorite blog posts…
News: Finnish studio ALA Architects has won the international competition to design a new public library in Helsinki with plans that involve a mass of twisted timber (+ slideshow).
Launched in January 2012, the competition asked applicants to come up with a timeless, flexible and energy-efficient building to sit opposite the Finnish Parliament building in the Töölönlahti area of the city.
ALA Architects‘ response is for a three-storey structure comprising a contorted timber volume. Public activities and group study areas will occupy an active ground floor beneath the curving wooden surfaces, while a traditionally quiet reading room will be located above and a contemporary media facility and public sauna will be housed in the middle.
Two main entrances will provide access to the building. A public plaza in front of the western facade is to lead into a main lobby, where a staircase will spiral up to the floors above, while a second entrance will face the railway station to the south and offer an escalator that penetrates the wooden volume overhead.
“The architecture of the proposal is of a very high quality, executed with relaxed, broad strokes, and memorable,” commented the competition organisers.
They added: “The proposal provides excellent premises for the development of a completely new functional concept for the library. The building has a unique appeal and the prerequisites to become the new symbolic building which Helsinki residents, library users, as well as the staff will readily adopt as their own.”
ALA Architects, who is also based in Helsinki, plans to use local materials such as Siberian larch to construct the Helsinki Central Library and it is scheduled to open in 2018.
Here’s some extra information from ALA Architects:
ALA Architects wins Helsinki Central Library competition
ALA Architects have won the design competition for the new Helsinki Central Library with their entry Käännös. The open international two-stage competition attracted 544 entries from all over the world. The 16,000 square metre library building in the heart of Helsinki will consist almost entirely of public spaces and will offer a wide selection of services. It will serve as the new central point for the city’s impressive public library network. The Central Library is slated to open in 2018.
The winning entry is based on the idea of dividing the functions of the library into three distinctive levels: an active ground floor, a calm upper floor, and an enclosed in-between volume containing the more specific functions. This concept has been developed into an arching form that invites people to utilise the spaces and services underneath, inside and on top of it. The resulting building will be an inspiring and highly functional addition to the urban life of Helsinki and the nationally significant Töölönlahti area.
ALA is one of the leading Nordic architecture firms. The office has previously completed the Kilden Performing Arts Centre in Kristiansand, Norway, and is currently working on a number of large public projects in Finland including two theaters, five subway stations, and a passenger ferry hub. Käännös has been designed by ALA partners Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki, Janne Teräsvirta and Samuli Woolston together with the ALA project team, assisted by the engineering experts at Arup.
Description of the winning entry Käännös
Käännös grows from the dynamic between the site and the goals of the library program. The interplay between the building’s three individual floors is the key concept of the entry.
The public plaza in front of the building will continue inside, merging with a catalogue of meeting and experience features. The ground floor will be a robust, busy and frequently updated space suitable for quick visits and walkthroughs. The active, zero-threshold public spaces will be visible, attractive, understandable and welcoming to all visitors.
The traditional, serene library atmosphere can be found on the top floor. This will be a calm area for contemplation, floating above the busy central Helsinki. It will offer unobstructed, majestic views to the surrounding park and cityscape.These two contrasting spaces that perfectly complement each other are created by an arching wooden volume. The spaces inside the volume will be enclosed and more intimate. The wooden volume is stretched vertically to create connections to the open main floors below and above. Soft, curved shapes will be present all around the building.
The curved ceiling covering the ground floor, the intensive flowing spaces on the middle level, as well as the curving floor surface of the top floor are all defined in the timber-clad mass, which is as functional as it is expressive.
There will be three public entrance points in the building: one in the south for the main pedestrian flow from the direction of the Central Railway Station, one next to the public plaza to the west of the building shielded by an overhanging canopy, as well as a secondary one in the northeastern corner. The top floor can be reached from the southern entrance by an escalator that penetrates the wooden volume, or from the main lobby via a spiraling double-helix stair.
Each floor will be a destination in its own right and a new exciting civic space in the heart of Helsinki. While being a traditional library space, the top floor will also act as a modern, open, flexible platform for a multitude of functions. The middle floor will offer opportunities for learning-by-doing in an environment optimised for contemporary media and latest tools. It will contain workshop spaces for music and multimedia, as well as a public sauna. A multipurpose hall, a restaurant and a cinema will be located on ground floor. The library’s facilities will offer services, as well as places to meet, to discuss, and to present ideas.
The library building will be extremely energy efficient. It will be constructed using local materials and with local climate conditions in mind. Some of the main load-bearing components will be made of timber. The wooden façade will be built from pre-assembled elements finished on-site. 30 millimetre thick Finnish first grade Siberian Larch wood, shaped with a parametric 3D design and manufacturing process in order to achieve a perfect execution of the desired geometry, will be used for the cladding. The appearance of the façade will develop over the years towards a deeper, richer version of its initial hue. The design of the façade is intrinsic to the passive design approach adopted by the project team. Detailed analysis of the façade performance informs the environmental solutions and has allowed the team to minimise any systems required, which in turn facilitates the highly flexible architectural solution.
About the competition and the Helsinki City Library
Helsinki Central Library will serve as the new center point for Helsinki’s impressive public library network. It will be located in the very heart of Helsinki, in the Töölönlahti area, opposite the Finnish Parliament building. As its neighbors it will have some of the city’s most important public buildings; the Helsinki Music Centre, the Sanoma House, the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art designed by Steven Holl, Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall, and the Central Railway Station by Eliel Saarinen, as well as several new office and residential buildings still partially under construction on the site of a former railway yard.
The open international two-stage architectural competition was launched in January 2012, and attracted 544 entries from all over the world. The six entries selected for further development for the second phase of the competition were announced in November 2012. The Central Library is slated to open in 2018.
The goal of the competition has been to find a timeless and energy-efficient design solution that responds to the challenges set by the location. The library building should complement and adjust to the urban fabric of the Töölönlahti area. The building is to express the operational concepts of a library in a way that offers a technically and spatially flexible framework for cutting-edge, adaptable library operations, now and in the future. It will reflect the technical and cultural changes taking place in the society, particularly evident in the media world.
Library operations are statutory in Finland. Basic library services are free of charge and freely available to everyone. The new 16,000 square metre (approx. 172,000 square foot) library building will consist almost entirely of public spaces. The administrative and storage functions of Helsinki Public Library will remain at the main library in Pasila. In terms of services offered, the new library will be the largest public library in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and will most certainly become the metropolitan area’s most popular spot for returns and reservations. It has been estimated that the library will attract 5,000 visitors per day and 1.5 million visitors per year.
The new library will be at the forefront of the renewal of the city’s library services. In addition to the basic operations, there will be a wide range of services available inside the building, as well as an abundance of lounge spaces and auxiliary services that support the operations. The library will enliven and diversify the new urban environment created in the Töölönlahti area. It will offer activities and experiences for all ages. There will be plenty of spaces that enable people to spend time together, free of charge. The role of the clients will evolve from passive media users to active agents, participants and content producers. As a non-commercial open public space, the new Helsinki Central Library will act as a common living room and work space.
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