While there are many designs out there that look to replicate the iconic style of the Eames Chair, I’d bet that there aren’t many doing it quite like Bora Hong. Her work always has some sort of cultural connection, and her recent design series, “Cosmetic Surgery Kingdom” is no exception. The cultural spin? Hong explores the aesthetic surgery trend in South Korea by recreating the classic Eames chair using parts of outdated chair designs. She showcases her design process in two videos, where she dons doctor’s scrubs and a hospital mask for added effect:
The project is meant to draw a correlation between the goal of creating a younger and more beautiful self by means of cosmetic surgery and the way in which designers are also always trying to create “good design.” Check out her second video, titled “Surgery for an Eames Chair”:
Polypropylene is one of your go-to plastics for injection molding, and being both flexible and tough, you can do sexy things like making living hinges out of the stuff. But you are of course limited to what you can produce in a mold.
Stratasys is hoping to remove this barrier with Endur, a simulated polypropylene material that can be 3D-printed in their PolyJet machines.
Just like the name implies, Endur is tough. The polypropylene-like material offers both high impact resistance and superior elongation at break. Endur has a heat-deflection temperature up to 129°F/ 54°C, excellent dimensional stability and comes in a bright white color. It also features an excellent surface finish to make it easier to achieve a smooth look and feel.
These properties make Endur attractive for 3D printing prototypes that need the flexibility, appearance and toughness of polypropylene for a wide range of form, fit and assembly applications. This includes moving parts, snap-fit components, and small cases and containers with lids. The white tone and smooth surface finish make it ideal for consumer goods, electronics and household appliances, lab equipment and automotive parts.
Take a look at the stuff in this amusingly stilted video:
Seven concrete fins provide a green roof that collects rainwater at this new engineering facility for a wastewater treatment plant in Portland, Oregon, by local firm Skylab Architecture (+ slideshow).
The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in 1950 to process the Portland’s combined wastewater and stormwater, and now serves 600,000 residents. Skylab Architecture was tasked with creating new office facilities for the plant’s engineers and public reception areas.
The single-storey structure has a curved plan designed to trace the path of the sun. The seven roof fins form a linear sequence over the top, turning the building into a series of angular grass-covered hills that appear to fold up from the landscape.
Each of these fins features an integrated collection system that channels rainwater down to the nearby Columbia Slough waterway.
“Inspired by the native landscape and its industrial past, the building is an elegant combination of landform, indigenous planting, formal geometry, and durable construction systems that support staff and the public interface,” explained the architect.
In contrast with the plant-covered southern facade, the building’s northern elevation comprises a glazed curtain wall with a serrated surface.
Workspaces for up to 36 engineers are located just behind, replacing the mobile units that had served as offices for the previous 16 years. South-facing clerestory windows bring light into these spaces from above, filtering through steel louvres.
A new reception welcomes guests to the plant, while meeting rooms accommodate talks and other public events. These spaces lead out to a grass lawn that functions as a common space for staff and visitors.
Here’s a project description from Skylab Architecture:
The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant Engineering Building
The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant was constructed in 1950 as an industrial site to treat the city’s combined wastewater and storm water now serving 600,000 residents in Portland, Oregon. In recent times, this municipal works project has become increasingly public through efforts to highlight the importance of sustainable infrastructure. Over the past 16 years, engineering staff on site worked out of portable trailers that became unsuitable for occupation.
The new 11,490 square-foot Engineering Building and site development project was proposed to create replacement office space while also establishing a new public interface for the Plant. The program included office space for 36 engineers and construction management staff, a visitor reception space and public meeting spaces all to be developed within a sustainable landscape.
The new single-storey building was oriented along the path of the sun featuring seven folded cast-in-place concrete roof forms that channel storm water sustainably through the eco-roof. The storm water then drains along the berms into a visible storm water collection system leading back to the Columbia Slough.
As an intentional demonstration, the building and its immediate landscape employ signage and educational elements to celebrate the Columbia Slough ecosystem where the project is located as well as share information about the regional watershed. Inspired by the native landscape and its industrial past, the building is an elegant combination of landform, indigenous planting, formal geometry, and durable construction systems that support staff and the public interface.
The site development transformed and redefined the transportation traffic flow to create a newly formed pedestrian central green space used for educational tours of the plant and as a commons for the overall plant staff. This commons space replaced the original axial road leading into the plant improving vehicular circulation, plant security, parking organisation to create a shared central gathering space.
Juxtaposing the soft, vegetated southern edge, the building’s northern facade is a dynamic, serrated curtain wall that tracks the circular path of the commons. Exterior stainless steel solar shades and a system of clerestory windows create modulated day lighting in concert with a fully glazed operable north facade connecting the interior spaces with the central green space.
Aerial view of the plant
The mechanical system is a heat pump system that taps into the plant’s process water source for heating and cooling. While the building has a photovoltaic system it also benefits from an on- site co-generation plant for power.
Owner: City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services Architect: Skylab Architecture Contractor: Skanska USA Building Engineer: Solarc Architecture and Engineering, Inc. Engineer: Catena Consulting Engineers Landscape: 2-ink Studio Landscape Architecture Lighting: Biella Lighting Civil Engineer: Vigil-Agrimis Inc. Environmental Graphics: The Felt Hat
In the garden of the Case Study House, Eames Demetrios—grandson of Charles and Ray Eames—settled in a shell chair to share stories of his family heritage and legacy, architectural preservation and the world travels he undertook…
Milan 2014: industrial designer Konstantin Grcic has created a birch chair with a circular seat and splayed legs, his first design for Finnish furniture company Artek.
Grcic‘s circular Rival chair for Artek incorporates a swivel function and has four splayed legs milled from solid birch.
“Grcic designed legs milled from one piece of solid birch,” said a statement from Artek. “This technique has recently been used in a number of chairs, resulting in the wood taking on a fluid quality more like moulded plastic than timber.”
Laminated birch is used for the arms and the backrest, formed from one curved element, as well as for the vertical supports holding this piece in place.
It comes in a high and low-back version, with a choice of upholstery in a three-dimensional textile or leather for the seat. Colour options include white, black, and red, as well as natural wood.
Konstantin Grcic’s Rival is designed with people working from home in mind.
In its use of materials, Rival reflects its roots in the legacy of Artek, with a mix of solid birch for the legs and laminated birch for the arms and back, and in the circular geometry of the seat. But it also has a technical finesse, which transforms it into an entirely modern piece of furniture. The swivel function offers a psychological clue as to the purpose of the chair – a multifunctional task chair for contemporary living.
Grcic designed legs milled from one piece of solid birch. This technique has recently been used in a number of chairs, resulting in the wood taking on a fluid quality more like moulded plastic than timber. But Grcic has maintained a more conventional form that reflects the materiality of birch. The birch of the back and the arms is displayed in a saw-cut lamella.
For Grcic, designing a chair works on a number of levels. There is the choice of materials, and it was clear that for the Rival, birch would play an important part. There is the home office typology, a reflection of a contemporary approach to life. And third is what might be called the grammar of construction, the way in which a piece is put together.
The first incarnation of Rival is an armchair with a low (KG001) and a high (KG002) back version, a seat in a choice of a three-dimensional textile or leather upholstery, available in a range of colours.
« Paperair » est un projet mené par Filippo Perin en collaboration avec des designers italiens tels que Mauro Gatti, Ale Giorgini, Francesco Poroli, Nicola Ferraresede (et bien d’autres). Le projet rassemble 25 sneakers en papier. Des créations confrontant paper art, DIY et sneakers : plus de photos et de détails sur les auteurs ci-dessous.
Un projet de : Ale Giorgini, Mauro Gatti, Francesco Poroli, Nicola Ferrarese, Gloria Pizzilli, Panfilia Iannarone, Jacopo Rosati, Stefano Colferai, Marco Goran Romano, Fabio Marangoni, Matteo Cuccato, Federico Giuliani, Rubens Cantuni, Alberto Corradi, Marika Zottino, Onibaka, Rita Petruccioli, No Curves, Stefano Marra, Oscar Diodoro, Andrea Bax, David Sossella, Fonzy Nils, Lucia Fioretti, Tram, Davide Barco.
Delicate, subtly hued earth tones pervaded seemingly every facet of design in almost every pocket of Milan last week. But the Salone Internazionale del Mobile and its numerous offshoots weren’t wholly packed with rich pastels and copper-congruent colors; like Americans’ favorite (and impossible to find in Italy) gelato topping, bright…
Rude Baguette—which began as a blog and a daily newspaper—is a French startup supporter that’s growing as fast as the needs of the creative community. The blog combines breaking news with analysis and opinion to cover startups,…
Spring is a time for sprucing up, inside and out! For the Hand-Eye Supply Spring Quarterly we spent a day on job with Joshua DeParrie of Eco-Plumber. Joshua is a professional pipe whisperer and Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Between troubleshooting plumbing problems he schooled us on conceptions of balance and flow, discussed his take on Tao, and reviewed the Spring Collection.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
