… but this clock is. Toronto based design collective the NDC found inspiration for this modern wall clock in a vintage hobby book found on a road trip! It’s called the Cairo Star Cut Concrete Clock (say that 10x fast), and it’s bold multifaceted design gives the illusion of heaviness, but at only 10mm thick, it’s actually quite light! For contrast, it features a translucent neon back plate that captures ambient light for an illuminated effect. Own it here!
– Yanko Design Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design! (Time isn’t concrete… was originally posted on Yanko Design)
Graph is the über-minimalistic lamp from German design team form|knast that’s made for multitasking. Thanks to a design language of reduced form, its simple yet effective shape makes it possible to position a number of ways everywhere from the floor to the bookshelf. In red, blue, green, grey, black and white, there’s a color to match every mood! Get it here!
– Yanko Design Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design! (Minimal Pop Lighting was originally posted on Yanko Design)
Basé en Corée du Sud, le studio de design IL HOON ROH a pensé la Luno Armchair en voulant reproduire une forme courbée et régulière. Faite à partir de fibres de carbone tissés ensemble à la main, ce fauteuil a été édité en seulement 10 modèles. A découvrir dans la galerie en images.
This auditorium building in Belgium, by Dehullu Architecten, features a curving brick wall that lifts off the ground at one corner (+ slideshow).
Belgian architect Bert Dehullu designed the building to provide a lecture hall for AZ Groeninge, a teaching hospital in Kortrijk, as part of a complex of teaching rooms and conference spaces.
Mottled grey bricks were chosen for the walls, creating a gentle contrast with the white-rendered walls and tiled roof of the adjoining building – a converted villa that houses the rest of the facilities.
“The building is distinct, and has a gracious and optimistic elegance,” said Dehullu. “It is a hide-out for the staff of the hospital, a place to be away from professional obligations, well integrated in the green surroundings.”
The architect chose to arrange bricks in a vertical pattern, rather than in a typical horizontal bond, to give a more natural curve to the facade.
“Because of the shape of the walls, it was the most logical way to place them,” he said.
The brickwork is also left exposed inside, complemented by golden doors, white ceilings and a sculptural chandelier created by Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans.
Arranged over two storeys, the internal space is connected by both the 230-seat auditorium and a grand spiral staircase. Part of the structure is sunken into the hillside, which allowed the architect to create entrances on both levels.
The hillside drops away suddenly in one corner, revealing part of the auditorium’s underside.
Glazed walls signal the positions of the two entrances. The upper level features a generous lobby and bar, while the level below accommodates catering facilities.
Here’s a project description from Dehullu Architecten:
Auditorium Kortrijk
The auditorium is part of a meeting centre that is situated on the site of the general hospital of AZ Groeninge in Kortrijk, Belgium. The hospital itself and all of the infrastructure is designed on a strict cartesian grid.
Compared to the hospital the auditorium is only a tiny building, it is located in a corner of the site. It was the intention of the architects to design a building with its own identity, a building on which the cartesian grid was not imposed. It is a hide-out for the staff of the hospital, a place to be away from professional obligations, well integrated in the green surroundings. The building is distinct, and has a gracious and optimistic elegance.
The new building is an extension to an old “villa” that was transformed into a meeting centre with six meeting rooms. The new extension holds catering facilities and is equipped with high-end projection technology in the main auditorium. Also, due its location, it creates a double new entrance to the complex on two different levels. The slope of the main auditorium bridges these two different levels.
In the use of materials it is striking that the bricks in the facade are placed vertically. Because of the shape of the walls, it was the most logical way to place them. The use of the golden doors in the interior is a reference to the old villa. The hall with the main staircase is lit by Light Blubs, an artwork by the Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans.
The meeting centre can be used by approximately 300 visitors. In the main auditorium 230 people can be seated.
French agency M/B has designed a revolving zoetrope installation for Molteni&C‘s flagship store in Paris, to showcase the Italian furnishing brand’s latest products (+ slideshow).
Based on the 19th century optical toy, M/B‘s zoetrope features a circular motor-driven plate with a specific arrangement of Molteni&C products including the Doda armchair, Domino small tables and 45°/Tavolino, alongside pyramids, cubes and spheres on top.
Strobe lights are used instead of the traditional surrounding cylinder with slits cut into it, to keep the moving objects from blurring into one another and instead creating the impression that the objects have come alive.
Doda by Italian designer Ferruccio Laviani is an armchair that can be combined with the Easy Pouf to create a chaise longue. Doda Low has more generous proportions and a lower back.
Italian designer Nicola Gallizia‘s Domino range is a system of padded poufs and small tables designed to be used in groups. They can be fitted together creating a variety of combinations, and are available in leather or fabric with tops in glass, marble, and various types of wood.
45°/Tavolino by New York designer Ron Gilad is a nest of small tables with light transparent crystal tops, available in various sizes and in monochrome, American walnut, black oak, or a two-colour finish.
M/B was created in 2011 by Penninghen graduates Marine de Bouchony and Camille de Laurens. The installation was set up for the D’Days design festival in Paris last week.
Our favorite arbiters of red, white and blue have just given their classic yearly wall calendar a competitive edge. Crispin Finn’s World Cup 2014 Planner is just as the title suggests—an all-encompassing set of brackets designed…
Living not far from some of California’s best wineries, I have a number of clients who have bottles of wine to store. Some have just a few bottles, while some have quite a collection. And they all need storage—and something not as elaborate as the Spiral Cellar.
The terra cotta wine racks from Weston Mills Pottery provide a modular system for storing a few bottles, or a larger collection. The terra cotta helps shield the wine from temperature variations, and it won’t deteriorate if placed in a humid cellar. It’s also incredibly simple to “assemble”—more so than many other modular options. However, this is a heavy product, and would be a pain to deal with if the end-user was moving.
The modular wine rack from MuNiMulA, made from interlocking pieces of anodized aluminum. Although these pieces can be stacked, I’d be somewhat concerned about having a tall stack in earthquake-prone territory, or anywhere small children could pull at it. That’s an issue with a lot of wine racks, unless they can be bolted to the wall.
The Echelon wine rack, made from extruded aluminum, addresses my concerns about stability. This is the retail, tabletop version—but there’s also an architectural version, which has a wall bracket.
Le studio de design Aust & Amelung basé en Allemagne imagine et développe des meubles et éléments de décoration du plus bel effet. Avec ce projet “bench”, le duo de créatifs propose un banc jouant avec talent sur les matières et les couleurs, donnant envie de s’asseoir et d’en profiter pour lire un livre.
Rusted steel frames project from the traditional stone and plaster walls of this renovated farm house in Spain‘s Gavarres mountains by Barcelona office Zest Architecture.
The homeowners were granted permission to renovate an existing ruined farmhouse on a site surrounded by a forest with views towards the Mediterranean Sea, and endeavoured to rebuild the stone structure.
Planning regulations dictated that the new building should assume the same dimensions and appearance as the original, but Zest Architecture was able to introduce contemporary details including Corten steel surfaces around the windows and doors.
“Our work aimed to create a modern, luxury estate in an old stone envelope,” the architects explained. “We opened the house up on all sides, letting the light flood in and bringing the view inside.”
Named Villa CP, the building is situated on a steeply sloping hillside and is connected to the garden on several levels by a series of external staircases.
In the original farmhouse the ground floor would have kept animals and the farmers would have lived upstairs. The architects reimagined this arrangement, creating bedrooms on the lower floor and living areas above.
This configuration allows the bedrooms to stay cool in summer and ensures the living, dining and kitchen areas feature the best views.
Windows slide into the wall to offer unobstructed views towards the horizon. A large opening in the wall of the living room also leads out to a deck, which steps down to meet a swimming pool featuring a natural plant and gravel filtration system.
Cork from the property’s estate was used as insulation to supplement clay and straw panels set behind the stone walls to ensure they retain their natural breathability and insulating qualities.
Glass balcony balustrades and walls with perforated patterns allow dappled light to shine through, enhancing the relationship between the interior and exterior spaces.
Aged steel also appears inside the house, where it is used for the staircase balustrade, while natural plaster covering the walls creates a textured surface that negates the need for paint.
Zest Architecture is presenting Villa CP at the Venice Architecture Biennale as part of the Time Space Existence exhibition, taking place at Palazzo Bembo and Palazzo Mora.
Here’s a project description from Zest Architecture:
Villa CP
Villa CP is a restoration project, whereby a 21st century house has been created inside an old stone structure. The existing stone walls have been largely rebuilt, with enormous openings towards the landscape linking the house to its spectacular surroundings: a National Park of cork oak with distant views towards the Mediterranean.
ZEST Architecture’s work is always marked by sustainability, so it may not come as a surprise that this project sports materials and elements such as a natural pool whose water is filtered by plants and gravel, insulation with locally harvested and produced cork, clay and stray panel finishes in the interior and heating / cooling through a geothermal installation.
The old and the new (that which will age) strengthen each other in this project through their opposition and juxtaposition. The old has been left visible with all its scars, while new materials such as Corten steel, wood and clay, were chosen for the beauty of their natural imperfections and the way in which the traces left by time make them even more beautiful. Rain, wind, human touch…. will make sure that this house will be even more beautiful over time.
Project’s name: Villa CP Site: Girona, Spain (It is a private property so we can’t provide the address) Area/ 240 m2 (ground floor ) 200 m2 (first floor)=440 m2. 1 ha garden ProjectJanuary 2010-September 2011 Construction: January 2011-March 2013 Architects: Zest Architecture Collaborators: Building Company: Construccions Edinou, sl Geothermical InstallationGeotics Innova, s.l Installations: Lampistería RF2000 sl Steel Work: Germans Turró, sl Project documents Credits: Zest Architecture
As in recent years, the line ‘designed and made in Brooklyn’ was perhaps one of the most common quips at NYCxDesign 2014, and long may it continue, especially when the work being produced is of the caliber of Moving Mountains’ work. Stationed at the Javits Center for ICFF last week, Moving Mountains is run by Hawaiian-born Syrette Lew who debuted an excellent collection of furniture and lighting pieces, which is, happily, all designed and made in and around Brooklyn. “It’s just more expensive doing it locally,” explains Lew. “You could go overseas where there’s higher minimums but it’s a totally different ball game. I like working with people. Part of the joy is finding a really amazing fabricator, talking through the design, figuring out what could work.”
Lew studied economics at UCLA before going on to complete a degree in Industrial Design at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. After graduation, she took a job with furniture giant West Elm, where she spent her days designing furniture for the mass market. After five years, Lew decided to set up her own studio designing bags and jewelry but waited another year before starting work on a furniture collection. “I had to take a break because after having designed for other people for five years I didn’t even know what my aesthetic was anymore. I was taught to think in a certain way but it’s slowly coming out,” she says. Last week, Lew scooped the ICFF editor’s award for Craftsmanship, and it’s not hard to see why. Moving Mountains’ debut collection balances traditional woodworking techniques with playful touches of surface pattern and flashes of brilliant color; the precise form of the credenza is enlivened with a confetti marquetry pattern while the back of the Douglas fir A-Frame mirror is finished in an unexpected vibrant orange that reflects on to the wall to create an intriguing warm glow.
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.
