Il y a quelques mois, nous vous parlions des superbes coups de crayon de l’artiste brésilien Henrique de França et de la mélancolie qui en ressortait de manière frappante. Cet illustrateur installé à São Paulo réussit à faire transparaitre des émotions fortes à travers ses traits fins et précis, le tout dans une ambiance presque intemporelle. Appréciez son travail dans la suite de l’article.
Dezeen founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs will be the first digital journalist to be made an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
In an announcement this week, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) said that Fairs had been selected for the award “in recognition of the enormous contribution [he has] made to architecture”.
He was nominated by current RIBA president Jane Duncan, and endorsed by the Honours Committee, which consists of architects Peter Cook, Sheila O’Donnell and Neil Gillespie, and Open City founder Victoria Thornton.
Fairs founded Dezeen in 2006 and has since grown it into the world’s biggest architecture and design site with over 2.3 million visitors a month, a recruitment site Dezeen Jobs and e-commerce business Dezeen Watch Store.
Related story: Merel Bekking scans the brain of Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs to create his “perfect” design
He was also the founding editor of Icon magazine, which launched in 2003, and prior to that worked for trade magazines Building Design and Building.
Fairs is one of 18 people to be named as honorary fellows of the RIBA this year – a title that recognises the importance of non-architects in promoting and supporting the sector.
He will be presented with the honorary fellowship during the Royal Gold Medal awards ceremony in January. The Gold Medal will be awarded to Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, who was described as a living legend by Duncan.
This year’s list of honorary fellows also includes photographer Iwan Baan, publisher Lars Müller, architecture patron Theresa Sackler, historian Jeremy Melvin, and Frédéric Migayrou, chair professor of architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture.
Other journalists on the list are the BBC’s Razia Iqbal and Architectural Review and Architects’ Journal editor-in-chief Christine Murray.
Previous recipients include Dezeen columnist and head of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Aaron Betsky, designers Terence Conran and Thomas Heatherwick, outgoing Tate director Nicholas Serota, engineer Hanif Kara, artist Anish Kapoor and photographer Helene Binet.
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This wooden stables on the edge of a Finnish forest features an asymmetric gabled roof which covers stalls for the horses and a lowered barn containing manure (+ slideshow).
Stable Kekkapää is situated in the countryside north of the city of Espoo. The building was designed by local architecture studio Pook to complement the area’s agricultural vernacular.
The aim was for the building to blend in with its rural setting, positioned on a downslope that backs onto the forest.
“The aim was to locate the building nestled in a picturesque great landscape,” said the architects. “Its long edge follows the direction of the forest slope and brings the building’s gable into the woods.”
“In addition to landscape benefits, this created wind shelters in outdoor spaces to protect against the prevailing southwestern winds,” they added.
“Massing is based on the steep, asymmetric gabled roof, under which all central functions are located.”
Beneath its sloping roof, the stables accommodates an open room for feeding and walking the horses, alongside an equipment and storage space, and a barn for manure.
The internal plan is arranged so related functions are positioned adjacent to one another, ensuring repetitive tasks can be completed with minimal movement.
The stall where the horses are kept is situated next to the store for saddles and equipment, while an opening in the side of the building connects to the open barn and a space containing facilities for cleaning, shoeing and caring for the animals.
The horses can step out directly from the walking area into their forest pasture, or from the side opening into a courtyard leading to the riding arena and trails.
Both the open space and the stalls are linked to the manure store, which is positioned a half-level below the main floor, beneath the lowest part of the roof.
Untreated pine is used for the majority of surfaces, both internally and externally. The use of wood references the typical materiality of buildings in the region.
Tongue-and-groove boards used to clad the timber framework are applied vertically on the walls to accentuate the building’s height, and horizontally on the ceiling to create a sense of connection between the spaces.
The use of untreated timber cladding also helps to regulate humidity inside the stables, which is important for the horses’ health. Steel and concrete are applied in areas requiring more robust surfaces.
Natural ventilation supported by mechanical venting, and hot air pumps supplemented with heat generated from the horses also help to maintain a suitable temperature and humidity.
Other homes for horses featured on Dezeen include an equestrian centre in Portugal comprising four connected house-shaped timber structures, and a stable made from railway sleepers situated on the roof of a house in Mexico.
Photography is by Kuvio Oy.
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Thanks to a major boom back during the Industrial Revolution, Rhode Island has dozens of magnificent old mills—many of which have long been abandoned. While nine of those mills have been redeveloped as residential spaces, eight have been repurposed……
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Vienna Design Week 2016: Austrian designer Thomas Feichtner has collaborated with silverware manufacturer Jarosinski & Vaugoin to create a set of minimal tableware featuring uneven washes of gold (+ slideshow).
Feichtner is presenting Bols d’Or at Vienna Design Week 2016, which kicked off in the Austrian capital yesterday.
The handcrafted silver vessels come in three different sizes – a bowl, a cup and a drinking bowl.
The pieces are uniform in their appearance, except for the varying levels of gold plating. Their patterns are inspired by the wavering level of liquid in a tilted glass.
“In a way, much like how the level of liquid appears to divide a drinking glass, these vessels are divided by their partial gold plating,” said Feichtner.
“This aspect of their design produces an irritatingly diagonal and asymmetrical look that kicks these otherwise so similarly shaped objects a bit off balance.”
A previous collaboration between Feichtner and Jarosinski & Vaugoin – which has been producing tableware, flatware and other silver items since 1847 – was shown at Vienna Design Week 2014.
For that project, Feichtner produced the company’s 192nd cutlery range, applying its traditional hand-crafting techniques.
Vienna Design Week 2016 runs from 30 September to 9 October 2016.
Highlights from last year’s festival included a series of rings sized to show the fluctuating price of gold, and a futurist kitchen installation exploring alternatives for dining and food preparation.
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This 1960s house in suburban Melbourne has been overhauled by Branch Studio Architects to create a contemporary home for the original owners’ granddaughter (+ slideshow).
The local firm was tasked with revamping the dream home of a pair of Jewish refugees – one a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp – who had arrived in Australia with little more than the clothes on their backs.
The couple had built the house as soon as they could afford to, and lived in it for the rest of their lives.
After they both died, it was passed down to their granddaughter Danielle and her husband Adam, who works as a writer – hence the project name, Writer’s House.
The brief given to Branch Studio co-founder Brad Wray was to restore the house to its former glory without turning it into a “mid-century mausoleum”.
“It was our joint intention that whatever new works we did to the house would not impact on the original integrity of the original house and it memories,” explained Wray.
“There is often a very fine line between creating a nostalgic ‘museum’ of something that was and removing all notion of the existing all together,” he said.
Built in 1968, the two-storey house was designed by emerging designer Michael RE Feldhagen, a protégé of modernist architect Ernest Fooks.
It was one of a number of International Style properties built in the Caulfield area at that time, although many have since been demolished.
Respecting this, Wray’s team chose to leave the building’s facade largely unaltered. The only real change was the addition of steel-framed windows, to replace the original wooden ones, and a more minimal white colour scheme.
A much bigger change was made at the back of the house, where a new “party deck” has been created. Flanked by perforated aluminium privacy screens, the deck extends the building further into the garden.
“[It] not only solved a practical issue of overlooking, but more importantly was used to extend the internal areas to create a much more flexible internal/external cohesion of space,” said Wray.
Inside, the house is still filled with the bespoke joinery created by Jacob Rudowsky – a popular local craftsman – shortly after the house was completed.
One of the biggest challenges was designing a contemporary interior without making these restored traditional elements feel out of place. Wray took a risk by choosing to pair them with plywood surfaces and concrete floors.
“The hope was that the marriage of raw and refined would be seamless and elegant,” said Adam.
“To this end, every room in the double-storey building was totally reimagined, but each space retained hints of the original, Easter eggs pointing to what came before,” he added.
Behind the deck, an assortment of living and dining spaces are organised around a generous plywood-lined foyer, which functions as a gallery for the clients to display their art collection.
The kitchen features contemporary cabinets fronted by lime-washed plywood, while the living space is furnished with old sofas reupholstered in vibrant green fabric.
Three bedrooms are located at the opposite end of the house, along with two bathrooms, including one that features a concrete tub and decorative grey tiling.
The ground floor contains a wine and whiskey cellar, a garage and a writing studio for Adam.
The building is the latest in a series of 1960s renovations, as more new owners start to appreciate the modernist style of architecture. Other recent examples include a refurbished London terrace house and a renovated Ivory Coast villa.
Photography is by Peter Clarke/Latitude Group.
Project credits:
Architect: Branch Studio Architects
Project team:
Brad Wray, Rowena Henry, Simon Dinh
Landscape architect: Plume Studio
Structural engineer: Perrett Simpson Stantin
Original architect: Michael RE Feldhagen
Original furniture: Jakob Rudowski
New dining and coffee tables: Brad Wray Workshop
Rudowski sideboard restorations: Orchard Design
Concrete bath and vanities: Hungry Wolf Studio
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Our job of the week on Dezeen Jobs is for a designer maker at London studio Glithero, which recently installed a kinetic “abstract clock” inside a stairwell at London’s V&A museum (pictured). Visit the ad for full details or browse more architecture and design opportunities on Dezeen Jobs.
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The team behind the Gravity Sketch iPad app have launched new cross-platform software, which gives designers the option to draw and manipulate 3D objects in a virtual reality environment (+ movie).
The updated Gravity Sketch software is an update on the team’s previous products and similarly allows designers to develop forms in three dimensions.
But the new software also allows them to also edit and manipulate these objects in virtual reality, as opposed to on a desktop screen. It also allows for co-creation among multiple users.
“Unlike the previous Gravity Sketch product, which was an app for the iPad, this software is available for use in the Oculus and Vive,” the team told Dezeen.
Related story: VR goggles combined with hand-held controllers offers architects “a whole new way of designing”
Through the software, which is scheduled for release in January 2017, the designer can also export their drawing to CAD programs such as Rhino, or straight to a 3D printer.
The system works through the HTC Vive or Oculus virtual reality tools. Users start with a blank space, and customise it to build an environment of their own.
Within the environment, they can create any kind of design at any scale. They can also shrink it down and alter it with a simple gesture.
In a demonstration video released by the company, a Gravity Sketch user works with the software and a HTC Vive controller to design a car. He sweeps his hand across the design to shape the body of the car, and grabs sections – such as a wheel – to reposition them.
“As we move towards native 3D design environments, 3D literacy will be incredibly important,” said Daniela Paredes Fuentes, Gravity Sketch CEO. “With Gravity Sketch for desktop and VR, we will have limitless potential to make digital 3D design more intuitive and accessible for everyone.”
Related story: Virtual reality will be “more powerful than cocaine”
Gravity Sketch was developed by Royal College of Art graduates Guillaume Couche, Daniela Paredes Fuentes, Pierre Paslier and Oluwaseyi Sosanya, with the aim of making it easier to create 3D models for printing.
The team created the transparent Gravity tablet device during their studies, which paired with a stylus for creating 3D drawings in mid-air.
In 2014, they predicted that designers would soon be able to walk through 3D models of their designs and edit them on the go.
Now these predictions appear to be coming true. Earlier this year Google launched the Tilt Brush app for virtual reality sketching, allowing designers to walk through their sketches in 3D as they draw them.
Last year, visualisation artist Olivier Demangel of IVR Nation said that VR would become “more powerful than cocaine” and predicted that the technology would allow architects to “change the world around you like a God”.
The Gravity Sketch software is available for pre-order on Kickstarter. Backers can pre-order a software license for only £25 (approximately $32.00 USD).
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Haworth white papers: co-working spaces popular with small companies and individual workers could help large corporations be more innovative, according to a report by office furniture giant Haworth.
“Co-working is not just for freelancers and startups,” the white paper finds. “More and more corporations have already started to realise that co-working offers great potential for fostering innovation.”
Shared offices have the potential to “fundamentally change knowledge work and catalyse innovation in the future,” it adds.
They could also help the wellbeing of employees of big companies, the report suggests.
Related story: “You need to design office spaces for the next generation” says Haworth’s head of research
“Co-working spaces provide a productive, creative, and satisfying work atmosphere, not just for freelancers, but also for corporate organisations,” according to the document.
Called Harnessing the Potential of Co-working, the report is one of a series of white papers produced by Haworth exploring workplace culture and design.
It investigates the growing trend for co-working and suggests how the spaces could be used by large employers in future.
“Co-working spaces are growing like crazy,” said Gabor Nagy, research program manager at Haworth, who believes this reflects the changing aspirations of younger workers.
“A lot of the young generation no longer want to work for a huge company,” he said. “They often want to work for a cool start-up where their individual impact can be more visible.”
The report finds that large companies could benefit both from placing staff in off-site shared spaces where they can mix with workers from other companies, and by inviting companies to make use of co-working studios within their offices.
“Some companies will be renting more co-working spaces and also they will create their own co-working spaces internally,” Nagy said. “I think it’s going to be a mix of both.”
Co-working spaces tend to be more sociable and less hierarchical than corporate workspaces, which helps encourage workers to think for themselves.
“If you enter these co-working spaces, they’re just so vibrant and different,” added Stefan Rief, one of the authors of the report.
“We have been thinking about how corporates could use these models,” he added. “Are there co-working models for normal employees like me? How could employers profit from these spaces?”
Rief is a workspace innovation researcher German research organisation Fraunhofer IAO. He was invited to collaborate with Haworth on the report after co-writing a groundbreaking 2014 book on the co-working phenomenon.
The book, called The Fascination of Co-working – Potentials for Companies and their Employees, investigated the rise of shared workspaces and explored their benefits.
One of the chapters looked at how these less hierarchical, more community-based spaces could benefit large companies – leading Haworth to invite him to help produce a white paper on the topic.
The report starts off by exploring how the co-working phenomenon came about, and defines what makes a co-working space different from a conventional workplace.
Co-working offices typically have an emphasis on community; feature a collection of like-minded people with similar interests and values; and offer spaces for both work and events as well as shared facilities such as printers and kitchens.
They offer a more flexible and sociable way of working that suits younger workers who have a different attitude to work.
“A fundamentally new interpretation of work has developed among the highly educated and younger generations,” the report states. “These workers seek work that is pleasurable and that makes sense.”
This can lead to healthier, happier workers than those in more formal work environments, with their strong hierarchies and corporate monocultures.
“Since social cohesion and social interaction are naturally intrinsic rewards for people, the existence of a community can raise the general wellbeing of workers,” the report says.
Co-working is already catching on among large companies, the report finds.
“In 2012, six per cent of all coworkers were employees of large companies [of more than 100 workers],” it states.
“It is no longer rare that companies are engaged in co-working, taking advantage of co-working interfaces between the corporate world and the evolved forms of free work.”
The term “co-working” was coined in the 1990s by American author Bernard DeKoven.
“Co-working evolved when the home office proved to be an insufficient space for freelancers seeking collaboration with like-minded, independent people,” the report says.
Since then there has been an unstoppable rise in co-working. In 2012 there were with an estimated 200,000 people using co-working spaces set up by independent providers and chains such as WeWork and Industrious. Some sources claim that numbers of coworkers are doubling each year.
More recently, the co-working ethos has exploded, with laptop-wielding workers spilling out of dedicated spaces to colonise cafes, hotel lobbies and even remote Himalayan valleys.
The key business benefit to co-working is the fact that interacting with people from other companies generates new ideas, Nagy believes.
“Innovation happens at the boundaries,” he said. “So when you mingle people together, all of a sudden they start to talk to one another, they develop social relationships, friendships and innovation happens faster and better things come out.”
The report identifies four potential ways corporations could take advantage of co-working in future.
The first is the notion of “co-working as a sabbatical,” where work and leisure become entwined and employees view time spent in shared spaces away from their main place of work as akin to a holiday.
“Such a model can be well suited for project work that calls for a high level of creativity,” the report says. “If the space combines co-working with specific leisure activities, the co-working effect can be intensified.”
A second potential use of co-working spaces is as an alternative form of professional training.
“Co-working can offer high potential for training, and its positive effects still are largely underestimated,” the report says. “Employees can spend a period of time in a co-working space with professionals from similar fields.”
This approach could also prove cheaper than in-house training and provides employees with a “welcome change” from their daily routines.
Related story: Five innovative office designs from Clerkenwell Design Week
Thirdly, co-working spaces could allow like-minded companies to collaborate on projects.
“In this model, different companies operate a co-working space jointly and make it available to their employees in order to conduct joint developments or projects that require constant collaboration,” the report says, in what it describes as an “association of enterprises” approach.
“This type of arrangement could move beyond the initial goals due to the community of trust, yielding information exchange, future collaborative projects, and strengthened partnerships.”
Finally, co-working spaces could become “contact centres” where corporations engage with startups and smaller companies to generate new ideas and products.
“The more innovative the company wants to get, the more the qualities of co-working apply,” the report says. “By using co-working spaces as institutionalised contact centres, companies can cooperate with start-ups to bring specific levels of creativity to the innovation process via freelance experts.”
This is part of in a series of articles produced by Dezeen in collaboration with Haworth exploring the brand’s white paper reports into workplace design. Download the Harnessing the Potential of Co-working report here.
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When extended to its full five feet length, two things become evident about textile artist Savannah Hayes’ Zadar Throw Blanket. First, the bold graphic patterning is balanced (in this instance) by the subtle pewter and white coloration and the light……
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