Hasta La Ideas

Wooden box shelves and planters populate the gridded metal framework installed around the perimeter of this cafe in Beijing by design collective Penda (+ slideshow).

Penda – who recently spoke to Dezeen about the revival of bamboo architecture – came up with the modular furnishing system in response to a brief from Beijing property developer Hongkun for a design concept that could be applied to branches of its Home Cafe throughout China.

Based on the idea of creating “spaces to breathe in heavily polluted areas of China”, the designers incorporated air-purifying plants and herbs that create fragrances to complement the smell of brewing coffee.

“The cafe will welcome people to come in not only for quality coffee, but also to enjoy a green oasis in the midst of a polluted city,” said Penda.

The wooden planters are supported by a structure made from ribbed steel bars, typically used in the laying of reinforced concrete.

The designers repurposed the pre-used steel bars by welding them together into cubic frames, creating modules that can be reconfigured to divide the space in different ways.

The resulting structure separates the cafe’s open seating area from cosy sofa spaces, and incorporates the serving counter and tray collection points.

“The structural grid offers a space, where various cubic elements can be implemented,” said the architects. “By organising the cubes, the modular system allows a flexible assembly for different occasions.”

Low-maintenance plants – including spider plants, sword fern and Marble Queen – fill some of the boxes, while vine plants and ivy are encouraged to gradually cover the metal frame.

As well as planters of different lengths, the black-painted structure contains cubic lights and boxes filled with books that can be interspersed in various densities, depending on the amount of privacy required.

Further modules that can be integrated into the units include steel versions of the planters, flat shelves and bare bulbs that stand upright or hang from horizontal surfaces.

Raw plaster walls around the periphery of the space are painted black and complemented by tactile leather sofas and the wooden surfaces of the boxes and other freestanding furniture.

The only colour is provided by the plants and scattered red versions of Jean Prouve’s classic Standard chairs.

Another branch of the Home Cafe has also opened in Tianjin.

Penda was established 2012 by Chris Precht and Dayong Sun. Previous projects by the firm include an art gallery for Hongkun with undulating archways dividing the interior, and a doughnut-shaped house for an artist.

The post Penda’s indoor planting modules provide
a “green oasis” inside Home Cafe appeared first on Dezeen.

An indolent psychonaut walks onto a stage in a brightly colored outfit and loads his bong with the ritual gestures of a tea master. He puts on a helmet—complete with a weed leaf-shaped halo—and as the bowl burns, a cloud of thick smoke…

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This arching concrete bridge is the second of three structures designed by Austrian studio Marte.Marte Architects for a winding mountain road between two Alpine towns (+ slideshow).

The Schaufelschlucht Bridge sits high above the river that runs down through the Schanerloch gorge – one of several valleys that crosses the route between the Austrian city of Dornbirn and the hamlet of Ebnit to the south.

The cast-concrete structure was designed by Marte.Marte Architects as an arch that curves gently to one side to lead from an open road to a tunnel carved right through the mountain.

It spans a length of 16.5 metres and has an overall width of five metres.

“The twisting and tapering of the bridge on the valley side gives a clear idea of the structural capabilities of the arch shape, while its counterpart on the Ebnit side withstands the dynamic force of the water, which has carved a deep gorge in the rock face over the course of thousands of years,” explained the architects.

Completed in 2012, the Schaufelschlucht Bridge follows the Schanerloch Bridge – built in 2005 across another gorge in the mountain landscape.

“The Schaufelschlucht Bridge has been integrated into the tremendous natural surroundings just as naturally and impressively as the Schanerloch Bridge before it,” said Marte.Marte Architects.

“The bridge’s concrete parapets escort motorists and give them a sense of safety as they cross the roaring, rain-swollen waters, and the solidity and equilibrium of the homogeneous structure make it seem invincible and built for eternity,” added the team.

The third bridge is yet to complete, but will also be built from concrete and will be the straightest of the three structures.

Photography is by Marc Lins.

The post Schaufelschlucht Bridge by Marte.Marte Architects
is second in trio of Alpine structures appeared first on Dezeen.

Chiaki Arai, Kadare Cultural Center, 2012 // Photo: Taisuke Ogawa, courtesy of Chiaki Arai Office

By Marc Hohmann, Design Partner, Lippincott

It’s a striking quote by the prophetic British writer. The technological quest to make things easier and more convenient may be endless, but at what point do we become apathetic, numbed out, uninspired; in a word, bored? As the world gets smaller, so do our dreams—they’re becoming easier to reach everyday. Two decades ago, we would have been happy to have a stereo that could access every song recorded in the last 100 years. Are we happier? What kind of inventions are we dreaming of now? What still excites us?

Supposedly, Big Data is the latest thing. This means that airlines know what kind of movies I like when I book a flight. I should be excited about it.. but I’m not. I feel that research has gone from a treasure hunt to a commodity. As a result, any form of personal preference has lost its exclusivity. Still, statistics show that our level of happiness has not changed at all in the last 100 year—it’s stagnant, even as we busy ourselves with ever-evolving hype. We’re bored without knowing it. It seems that we’re in the suburbs of the soul already.

Now I dream of a future where there’s privacy, discretion and contemplation, and where we have accomplished ultra high efficiency and productivity in order to enable ourselves to work at a personal, healthy pace. A natural state of being, that aims for timelessness and long-term perspectives. In a word, I dream of quality.

To me, the essential goal in designing quality for tomorrow’s world is lightness, rather than its prevalent antithesis, which is not only heavy, dramatic, loud, insensitive; the un- or over-refined. A light solution always aims to leave room for interpretation. It should be graceful and natural and should solve a fundamental need, without imposing weight or an aggressive point of view. Even aggressive lightness still has an aura of positivity. Lightness cannot become boring because it remains an ongoing challenge: elusive, agile and unpredictable. Most importantly it stands for freedom of the soul, contra the complacent definition of disposable happiness (as in Ballard’s suburbia).

Jasper Morrison, The Crate Series, 2007 // Photo: Gavin Proud

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Le photographe Peter Van Agtmael s’intéresse depuis plusieurs années au quotidien des soldats et de la vie de ceux-ci sur le terrain, pendant le conflit, et ensuite le retour à la maison et les traumatismes qui peuvent être s’en suivre. Des images bouleversantes, dont une sélection est à découvrir dans la suite.