We’ve all heard of bull riding and bullfighting. But bull-leaping? That’s a whole new level of courage (craziness?). For Spaniard José Manuel Medina, however, bull-leaping, or “recorte,” is an adrenaline-filled way of life. In recorte competitions, bull-leapers invite charging bulls toward them in order to evade the animals via side-steps, flips and acrobatic turns. A panel of judges scores their moves. Unlike bullfighting, no harm is done to the animals. Enter the ring … if you dare…(Read…)
The Tomar Chair (1/1) is inspired by the Celts, who are attibuted with the introduction of metallurgics to Europe. The chair is made of Blacken wroug..
Get your Tron on the next time you’re at Shanghai Disneyland! Designed by Daniel Simon with guidance from GM China, GM North America, and Disney, the Qing Yi concept is on display (in true scale) and wowing riders as soon as they exit the Tron roller coaster.
The design is a distillation of the perfect essence of Tron and Chevy in one machine! It features two capsules for riders in a Lightcycle-inspired position and a liquid, high-frequency rendered body shell which smoothly adjusts to steering movements of the front wheels. This high speed cruiser blends styling queues from a real-world Chevrolet Corvette with elements of the iconic Tron Lightcycles.
Richard Clarkson Studio et Crealev présentent Making Weather, un nuage qui flotte au sein de votre maison. Alliant les technologies innovantes développées par Crealev avec l’esthétique et l’aspect fonctionnel de la suspension Stormy Cloud Light, la lévitation s’opère par des composants magnétiques situés entre l’objet et sa base, permettant au nuage de flotter jusqu’à 5 centimètres. À découvrir en images et vidéo.
A grand window offers views of the woodland and sea in this house in Hanko, Finland, designed by Mer Architects as a contemporary update of the town’s historic villas (+ slideshow).
Helsinki-based Mer Architects was asked by the client to create a modern house that references the style of the surrounding villas, while also making the most of views of the nearby woodland and sea.
The house, named Gamla Villan, is located in Hanko, a seaside town in the south of Finland with a district of villas built between 1879 and 1939. During this time, the town was also a spa resort with a famous bathhouse visited by celebrities.
To reference the history of the site, the team clad the house in wood. Instead of leaving the facades to silver over time, Mer Architects treated the timber so that it greys faster and more evenly to catch up with its neighbours.
The pitched roof, which is covered in aluminium panels, is angled at the back of the house to orientate the space towards the meadow and the sea.
This area is occupied by the open-plan living, kitchen and dining area, and features a facade that is entirely glazed.
“As the aim was to create a modern house with a touch of historic Hanko, wood was an obvious choice,” said Mer partner Paula Leiwo. “It is the material also used in the old villas that create the unique atmosphere of the old spa city.”
“The roof is pitched, but over the main living space it is turned – origami-like – to face the garden and the sea,” continued the architect. “The high landscape window creates an illusion of a space bigger than its area.”
From the living room, a set of doors open to an outdoor patio that is partially covered by the roof – a modern take on the existing residences’ verandas and balconies.
Inside, finishes are kept simple and light. The double-height spaces are completely covered with panels of spruce wood that are painted white, while the floor is covered in pale wood boards. Delicate curtains feature instead of doors.
There are also two sets of staircases, which are secretly embedded in the walls. They lead up to a pair of loft spaces above the living room and the guest room.
American firm ZGF Architects has completed a cancer centre in downtown Phoenix with a faceted, copper-coloured screen that evokes the scaly skin of a desert reptile (+ slideshow).
The University of Arizona Cancer Center is located on a 28-acre (11 hectares) medical and bioscience campus in the city’s urban core. It is the first clinical facility on the campus to offer patient care.
The medical building’s organisation was driven by a desire to “emphasise the user experience, integrate the natural beauty of the landscape, and address the needs of the UACC staff and patients,” said ZGF Architects.
L-shaped in plan, the five-storey building is composed of rectilinear volumes that wrap a courtyard with native plantings.
Using a palette of glass, metal and stone, the team employed different facade treatments based on the path of the sun. Temperatures in Phoenix regularly climb well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in the summertime.
The east and west elevations, which get hit with intense sunlight, are sheathed in a brise-soleil that mitigates heat gain while enabling natural light to enter the building. It is this faceted, orange skin that evokes the scales of a desert reptile.
“Perforated copper-coloured panels envelop the building as if to symbolise a protective layer of warmth and healing to those within,” said the firm.
The south-facing elevation is clad in metal panels and horizontal glass fins with a dense frit, while the north side features exposed glazing.
Wrapping the base of the facility is travertine stone, which helps scale the building to the pedestrian environment. “This stone flows inside to the main waiting spaces, bringing the outside in,” the firm added.
Encompassing 220,000 square feet (20,438 square metres), the building contains a varied programme, including chemotherapy and radiation treatment rooms, and spaces for yoga and cooking classes.
Minimising travel times within the facility was a guiding concern for the design team. “Due to the level of mobility of some of the cancer patients, travel distance to access services was carefully considered,” said the architects.
Each floor is dedicated to specific types of cancer, with complementary functions, such as recovery rooms, shared by departments wherever possible.
Departments have their own reception areas, offices and meeting rooms. Waiting lounges feature contemporary decor and slatted walls made of white oak.
Natural materials and a subdued color scheme were used throughout the center in order to help evoke a hospitality ambiance.
“The look and feel of the UACC’s interior environment more closely resembles a hotel or spa, with an elegantly designed lobby, floor-to-ceiling windows, valet parking and a coffee bar,” said ZGF.
Sustainable elements include a chilled-beam mechanical system, one of the first in Phoenix.
The facility is operated by St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in affiliation with the Tucson-based University of Arizona. The facility is the only comprehensive care centre in Arizona certified by the National Cancer Institute.
ZGF was founded in Oregon in 1942, and now has multiple offices in the US and one in Canada. Previous projects include a power plant concealed by metal screens at Stanford University.
Owner: The University of Arizona Architect of record: ZGF Architects Executive architect: ZGF Architects Interior designer: ZGF Architects Landscape architect: Wheat Design Group Lighting designer: Francis Krahe & Associates Environmental designer: Atelier Ten General contractor: Hensel Phelps Construction Company Structural engineer: Martin, White & Griffis Structural Engineers/John A Martin & Associates Civil engineer: Dibble & Associates Consulting Engineers M/E/P engineer: Affiliated Engineers Acoustical consultant: Colin Gordon Associates Code consultant: Jensen Hughes
Unlike the previous collection, which included an elaborate lampshade and a Chesterfield sofa, JamesPlumb created the bench to showcase the “architectural qualities” of the textile when in its rawest form.
“We have been working with this fabric now for over two years,” the duo told Dezeen. “When we first came across it we were immediately mesmerised by its hypnotic depth of colour, and incredible texture.”
“In this new piece we wanted to celebrate the sculptural almost architectural qualities of the textile in a very raw form.”
The dying process, which the designers describe as a “ritual”, involves repeatedly submerging the fabric in the deep blue dye mixed with egg whites, ox or pig’s blood and fermented fruit juices to help the material take the colour.
The fabric is then beaten with wooden mallets or placed under large smooth rocking stones, to increase the level of sheen. Rather than dying fresh fabrics, JamesPlumb used existing material that had been treated using this technique.
“For the Indigo Bench our process was the same as the Chesterfield Table – repetitive soaking, drying, scrunching, attacking, beating,” they said.
“But the difference is that we then wanted to let the fabric just show its incredible qualities rather than be overworked, and then contrast that with the controlled deep buttoning.”
The Bench was created in a limited run of eight, and will be on show at Gallery Fumi‘s stand at the PAD London fair, taking place this year from 3 to 9 October.
To coincide with the launch of the piece, JamesPlumb wrote a poem detailing the process behind the medieval technique.
“Bruised by hand, soaked, parched, opened, closed, attacked and rested;
propriety disrupted, tightly buttoned, unravels to unruly abandon.
a beautiful new chapter for a very old, almost ancient, thread.”
In case you missed it, this Bieber-y Playmobil hair bike helmet has been riling people up on the internet for a few days. Yes, it’s real. No it’s not functional. Yes it’s awesome. No you can’t buy one. Yes it’s Playmobil, not LEGO, you insensitive monsters.
The concept was developed last year by Danish design group MOEF. It was created as a prototype for a kid-friendly helmet, idea being to harness a quirky style that could trick youthful riders into finding helmets a bit more “cool”, and help lower the surprising amount of head injuries sustained by biking kids annually.
The team began by digitally scanning real Playmobil character hair, adjusted it for 3D printing, and created a noggin-scale printed model complete with color matched hair color.
The project appears to still be pending on proof of kid-interest, but based on the howls of disappointed thirst from adults on the internet they should get this thing rolling ASAP.
Amber Coffman once again demonstrates her sublime musicality, this time in the solo outing “All to Myself.” Coffman, known first as a vocalist and guitarist in the Dirty Projectors, also captured the collective cultural consciousness with her vocals……
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