From a recently discovered essay, drafted in the 1939 by Sir Winston Churchill, it has been revealed that in addition to being kept up to date on all scientific research of the time, the revered politician also mused on the existence of extraterrestrial……
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100% design director William Knight is leaving his London post to head up Dubai Design Week.
Knight has been appointed managing director and head of design for the Art Dubai Group, which produces Dubai Design Week as well as the trade show Downtown Design and collectible design fair Design Days Dubai.
He takes over from outgoing director Cyril Zammit and will oversee all three of the events as part of his role. Knight is known for his time spearheading London design events through the London Design Festival (LDF), Clerkenwell Design Week and the UK’s Design Council.
His appointment signals an ongoing commitment from the Art Dubai Group to growing Dubai Design Week, which began in 2015, into a key global design event.
“[Dubai] is already the region’s design hub and is primed to become one of the world’s key design destinations,” said Knight. “I’m hugely excited by the opportunity to develop a unique, sustainable and globally relevant series of events and to contribute to the swiftly evolving design culture in Dubai.”
The new role means Knight will no longer serve as event director of London trade show 100% Design. He was appointed by the fair’s new owners Media 10 in 2012 and tasked with reinvigorating it.
The trade show is now a major component of the LDF, another event marked by Knight’s fingerprints. He served as its deputy director between 2004 and 2012, during which time it grew into one of the premier design events globally.
Before that, he was public affairs manager at the London-based Design Council. His most recent role at Media 10 also saw him directing Clerkenwell Design Week, the highest placed UK event in Dezeen Hot List.
“There are few candidates worldwide with such high-level commercial and non-commercial experience combined,” said Art Dubai Group CEO Ben Floyd. “I look forward to working with him to help grow the city as a global destination for design trade and talent.”
In 2015, event organisers told Dezeen that bringing the global design community together in Dubai for a week each year is an important way to showcase what the city can offer the design industry.
“The growth rate of the design industry in the region is double the growth rate of the design industry worldwide,” said Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, CEO for Dubai Design District. “That’s an opportunity for us.”
Knight begins his position with Art Dubai Group from 1 March 2017, but will continue in a consultative role with Media 10 Ltd for the forthcoming edition of Clerkenwell Design Week this May.
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Spanish firm Fran Silvestre Arquitectos designed the off-white angular form of this house so it would “hang from the topography” of the Hollywood Hills.
Located high up in the exclusive Los Angeles neighbourhood, the yet-to-be-built minimal home was based around the client’s wishes to make the most of the site’s sweeping views.
“A monolithic piece, hanging from topography and opened to the distant landscape, was what he imagined for this place,” said Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, known for its minimal houses with simple but dramatic geometric forms.
Other examples can be found near the studio’s base in Valencia, including a cylindrical house surrounded by a crescent-shaped pool and a white wedged-like home that protrudes from a rock face.
When viewed from the access street at the top of the site, the proposed House in Hollywood Hills appears as a simple low cuboid with an opening in one side.
This single-storey block would house a double garage, from which two staircases – one inside and one out – lead down to a larger level hidden from sight.
The terrace stretches across the hillside, and would features a swimming pool and a kitchen area partially enclosed by the overhanging volume above.
Most of the living accommodation would be located another storey down. Here, an open-plan lounge and dining area, and three bedrooms would all face out towards the city vista through a 95-foot-long (29-metre) expanse of glazing.
The orientation of the L-shaped means that one corner angles would out far from the terrain.
“The main floor turns to be able to observe the city of Los Angeles,” said the studio.
Dug into the hill, the basement level hugs the slope and is spilt into two separate sides.
The first, housing a technical room, is reached via stairs from the main house.
To reach the other section, where the client would have a studio, he would have to walk outside and around to the far side, then enter through a hidden door.
Throughout the building, interiors would be kept crisp and white, with very little furniture.
The steep terrain of the Hollywood Hills also resulted in an unusual form for another angular white residence, designed by Arshia Architects.
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Morphosis has refurbished guest rooms at a hotel in Vals, Switzerland, where the US firm has also proposed a controversial skyscraper beside Peter Zumthor’s famed spa building.
Morphosis, the studio founded by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, was one of four tapped to revamp rooms for The House of Architects at 7132 Hotel – a luxury retreat located in the secluded Swiss village.
The property includes a hotel, as well as the Therme Vals spa that is considered one of the most important works by Swiss architect Zumthor.
Zumthor and Japanese architects Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma have also created rooms for the resort.
The project involved the refurbishment of 20 guest suites, each measuring 20 square metres. Designs revolved around the themes of stone and wood.
Morphosis conceived two room designs, both of which entailed creating a sense of comfort and refinement within a relatively small, rectangular space.
“The renovation of a series of guest rooms with a given size and structure involved a re-examination of the definition of luxury,” said Morphosis, which was founded in 1972 by Mayne, who received the Pritzker Prize in 2005. The firm has offices in Los Angeles and New York.
“We turned to the reduction and refinement of elements – focusing on scale, colour, tactility, unexpected form and connections to the natural context.”
Every aspect of the room – from the lighting to the wash basin – were custom designed and fabricated.
The designs were heavily influenced by the surrounding terrain.
In the stone-themed rooms, the grey walls and floors are wrapped in local stone, which varies in colour, cut and texture. Oak panels in the wood-themed rooms were made of trees harvested from the nearby Graubünden forests.
“Wrapping visitors in locally sourced natural materials, the rooms draw inspiration from the incredible mass of alpine rock, earth and greenery of the surrounding Valser Valley,” the team said.
A simple white bed, an elongated black headboard and a black storage unit were placed in each unit. A large sliding glass door opens onto a terrace, providing a strong connection to the outdoors.
At the heart of each room is an illuminated shower made from cold-formed, cast glass, which was designed by Morphosis and fabricated by the Barcelona company Cricursa. White dots embedded in the glass provide a sense of privacy.
The shower is meant to serve “as an abstract sculptural object that stands in glowing contrast to the room’s natural surfaces”.
Morphosis is also designing a new hotel for the property that will contain 107 guest rooms.
The design, which sparked outrage with Dezeen readers when it was unveiled in 2015, calls for a 1,250-foot (381-metre) tower meant to blend with the mountain landscape and offer panoramic views. A podium will link the tower to neighbouring buildings and will house a restaurant, spa and other amenities.
Morphosis was commissioned to design the hotel following a controversial competition process, which saw the jury distance themselves from the appointment.
Photography is by Global Image Creation.
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Hey readers, here’s Part 2 of the New Deal tool chest find (Part 1 is here) by guest writer Dr. James E. Price. Dr. Price is an anthropologist, archaeologist and an accomplished joiner. You’ll find his bio down at the bottom. He’s managed to acquire a toolbox, still filled with tools, originally issued by the U.S. Government in 1933 for the Civilian Conservation Corps (read our story on the CCC here). It’s a very rare find with great American historical significance.
The rest of the entry is in Price’s words, edited for length and clarity. The photos and captions below are his.
Each of the tools in the chest was numbered by a stamp or engraving on the tool itself and there is a numbered brass tack beside the place it goes in the chest. I promised you that I would feature the tools on this page one at a time and you can assist with the research of its manufacturer, the years it was offered, a picture of it in a period catalog, or any other information pertinent to each tool.
We start this evening with the claw hammer which is Number 32 and is secured in the top till by a brass spring clip. The manufacturer’s imprint is on one cheek of the hammer and the other side is stamped “USVA”. The latter stands for The US Veterans Administration. They were used at The VA Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge about a tool if you have information on it.
The subject clawhammer is in the top till. 
The imprint has been damaged but it appears to read, “C. OGDEN, NEW YORK”. The “C” is somewhat questionable. 
You can see the original inventory number stamp, “32”, on the wooden handle right behind the head. 
The other side of the hammer head is stamped, “USVA”. Next I continued cleaning and stabilizing tools in the top till. Here I’ll show you the three little Stanley Hurwood screwdrivers and two awls. The three screwdrivers are on the upper left of the photo below, each one in a spring clip with their tips in slots in a piece of wood glued in the end of the till. They are each marked “26”. One of the awls, the one with a beech handle, marked “25” is above the screwdrivers and the other one with an ebonized handle, stamped, “48” is to the left of the hammer. All the tools in the top till are marked, “USVA”.
This is a closeup of the three Stanley Hurwood screwdrivers. 
The words “STANLEY HURWOOD, PAT. APPL’D FOR” are stamped on the handle of each screwdriver. The handles appear to be rosewood. 
This awl is stamped “25” and the handle is beech. In small letters the wood is stamped “BUCK MFG. CO.” 
The upper awl has an ebonized handle with no manufacturing marks but is stamped “48”. It is likely the tools were issued in 1933 or 1934 and probably never used after the beginning of WWII. The chest and its tools gives us an intimate view of what was needed by finish carpenters in those years. To my knowledge no other complete government-issued tool chest and its contents survived from The New Deal Era so this one is a unique cultural resource that demands careful preservation and study.
Hand-tool beginners who frequently ask what tools they need, take heed. If you assemble a set of tools of the functional types found in this chest, you will have enough tools to make lots of wonderful wooden things.
The photo below shows the back left corner of the bottom of the chest. Note the three gimlets resting in holes in an upright board and the block plane secured to that board with a leather strap.
The tools were rusty from being in the bottom of the chest. Tools in the three tills above this bottom tier are not nearly as rusty. 
The block plane is a Stanley 220 and the blade has been hollow ground so it saw use. The japanning is near 100%. This photo shows the disassembled plane after cleaning. No attempt was made to remove stains remaining after the powder rust was removed. 
The gimlets did not fare as well as the block plane. They had a rust encrustation on the steel bits. Once the rust was removed some pitting is evident. The handles are rosewood. 
I was born December 28, 1944 and the chest and its tools are a decade older than me but probably ceased to be used right before I was born. Of course I had to try out the gimlets knowing that my hand was the next one to use them since they were put away in the bottom of the chest by the carpenter who last used them. 
This is a photo of the gimlets and Stanley 220 block plane cleaned and stabilized before I returned them to their proper place in the bottom of the chest that has been their home for 80 years. 
This photo shows the three gimlets and block plane back in the chest. 
The New Deal Tool Chest and its tools are currently on public exhibition in the lobby of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways Headquarters in Van Buren, Missouri. The exhibit will go through October, 2017. 
This is a photo of the top three tills and their contents on display by The ONSR Interpretative Division of this National Park. Stay tuned as I go through the rest. As I continue to remove tools from the chest I’ll describe them after I have given them a light cleaning.
________________________________
Anthropologist and archaeologist Dr. James E. Price grew up watching his father make ax handles, gun ramrods, sassafras boat paddles, cedar turkey calls and furniture. His father taught him the art of joinery. “Woodworking was important on our Ozark farm. My family owned a small sawmill which produced lumber for use on the farm. We built buildings, repaired wagons, made furniture and boat paddles, and many other objects and structures of wood.”
Dr. Price, a sixth generation Ozark dweller, prizes the careful process of using hand tools to create objects that he sees as useful, functional art. “Without using any fossil fuel source, I can take a pile of boards and make them into an object of beauty. The tools are the instrument, and the piece becomes a kind of permanent music. If it doesn’t burn or blow away, it can last a thousand years—it will be impossible to pull apart.”
I hear from woodworkers all the time who struggle with their hand saws. Usually it has to do with just getting the cut started. Starting your cut is all about taking the weight off the toe of the saw so that the teeth can glide over the wood. Some people like to go backwards first, but a starting backstroke does nothing but mangle the wood and makes your cut more about guesswork than precision.
On a recent WoodTalk episode, I answered a question about this and launched into a complex explanation of an exercise designed to improve your feel for starting the saw accurately. But describing that exercise is where the audio medium fails and video is much better. Hence this video:
There are of course things you can do to the toothline of your saws to make them easier to start—like relaxing the rake angle of the first 10-20 teeth or using a finer pitch for the first 10-20 teeth. However I can’t help but feel that is extra work when all that is really needs is a little improvement in technique and a greater feel for the saw. Both of which will vastly improve your sawing accuracy across all your woodworking.
_____________
This “Hand Tool School” series is provided courtesy of Shannon Rogers, a/k/a The Renaissance Woodworker. Rogers is founder of The Hand Tool School, which provides members with an online apprenticeship that teaches them how to use hand tools and to build furniture with traditional methods.
The only plans that materialize are the ones that have deadlines. And deadlines only work when they’re constantly staring at you in the face. That’s why we present to you the SuperYR Calendar. It lasts forever (unlike your planners that are only good for 365 days) and it’s much better than those pesky reminder/planner apps on your phone that stay hidden and jump out to scare you only when the deadline is approaching. Think of the SuperYR calendar as an essential for any student, professional or team looking to plan, execute, and achieve the impossible!
The greatest thing about the SuperYR is its size. It fits the entire year into its large canvas, giving you a complete overview on your year, allowing you to really plan things efficiently on a larger scale. The SuperYR comes with a transparent outer layer that allows you to go directly at it with a whiteboard marker. Plan daily, weekly or even monthly events by scribbling across the calendar’s 30inch X 40inch banner-sized canvas. Feel free to stick a post-it or two too. The SuperYR can take as much ink and repositionable glue you give it and can wipe completely clean with a single stroke of a duster or cloth. The SuperYR even comes with a magnetic sub-surface, allowing you to indulge your creative side and stick notes, prints, and even photos using magnetic pins.
You actually get two SuperYRs for the price of one. The calendar comes with a double sided print, one in portrait and another in landscape. Depending on your work environment or your space constraints, the SuperYR adapts to fit comfortably into your professional life.
The SuperYR is perfect because it’s (as its designers say) obnoxiously big. Imagine being able to visualize your monthly, quarterly, or even yearly plans at one go… being able to make updates, changes, add notes, snippets, etc to really capture plans, deadlines and events all on one massive canvas. So whether you’re an individual professional with a tight schedule, a student who really wants to manage their time, a creative who wants to achieve everything they set their mind on, or a collective team with great visions and goals, the SuperYR is perfect for you, because BIG plans require a BIG planner!
Designer: SUPERGRAPH
BUY IT HERE: $29.00 $49.00
Consumers place a premium on authenticity these days, especially when it comes to food and drink. So back in 2015 when a few avid Red Stripe Beer drinkers found out that the “Jamaican Style Lager” had been produced in Pennsylvania for three years……
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Five projects are in the running for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2017, including a London housing scheme by Alison Brooks and a church building in Ribe by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects that shelters 12th-century ruins.
The three other shortlisted buildings are: an Amsterdam housing block by Dutch studios NL Architects and XVW Architectuur, a Warsaw museum by Polish firm BBGK Architekci and a memorial in Rivesaltes by French practice Rudy Ricciotti.
The Mies van der Rohe Award is given to the best building completed in the last two years by a European architect.
The biennial award named after German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and is the most prestigious accolade in European architecture.
The five finalists were selected from a shortlist of 40 projects by a jury led by UK architect Stephen Bates and including architects Gonçalo Byrne, Peter Cachola Schmal, Pelin Derviş and Dominique Jakob.
They beat stiff competition from a lineup that included OMA’s Fondazione Prada in Milan, the Suvela Chapel in Ribe by OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture and the Skjern River Pump Stations by Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter.
The jury will now visit the five buildings shortlisted for the 15th edition of the prize to make their final decision.
The winner of the €60,000 (£51, 000) award will be celebrated in a ceremony at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona in May 2017.
Past winners of the Mies van der Rohe Prize include Barozzi Veiga’s Szczecin Philharmonic Hall in Poland (2015), the Harpa Concert and Conference Centre in Iceland (2013), David Chipperfield’s Neus Museum in Berlin (2011) and Snøhetta’s Opera House in Oslo (2009).
See the five projects in the running for this year’s award:
deFlat Kleiburg, Amsterdam, by NL Architects and XVW Architectuur
Ely Court, London, by Alison Brooks Architects
Kannikegården, Ribe, by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects
Katyn Museum, Warsaw, by BBGK Architekci
Rivesaltes Memorial Museum, Rivesaltes/Ribesaltes, by Rudy Ricciotti
The post Five finalists revealed for Mies van der Rohe Award 2017 appeared first on Dezeen.
Construction is well underway on a 207-metre skyscraper by Zaha Hadid Architects in Beijing, which will feature a huge twisting atrium that is expected to be the world’s tallest.
Located in the Lize Financial Business District – a new business, residential and transport hub in southwest Beijing – the 46-storey Leeza Soho will feature a mix of offices and shops.
Designed by Zaha Hadid before her death last year, the skyscraper – which is already 20 storeys tall – is positioned above a pair of subway lines that diagonally divide the site.
The tower is split into two halves by the subway and connected by a huge central atrium. As it rises, the atrium twists at 45 degrees to orientate the higher floors with the east-west axis of Lize Road – one of west Beijing’s main streets.
Once completed, the 190-metre-high void is expected to be world’s highest – a title currently held by the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai.
The shape of the atrium creates convex openings that run up either side of the tower to allow for plenty of natural light and views of the city from the centre of each floor.
Walkways will bridge the cavity at different levels, while a glass facade will encase the two halves of the tower in a single cohesive envelope.
The glazing will be double insulated and as each glass each pane steps up it is angled to aid ventilation. The intention is to help maintain a comfortable indoor climate in Beijing’s weather conditions, which ranges from extremes of warmth and cold.
A public space connecting with the interchange below will occupy the atrium on the lowest level, leading on from the outdoor public plaza that surrounds the tower.
There will also be space to park 2,680 bicycles, with lockers and shower facilities also provided. Dedicated charging spaces for electric or hybrid cars are located below ground.
Construction of Leeza Soho is to reach its full height of 207 metres in September this year, with the tower’s completion slated for late 2018.
The tower is the latest of four projects that Zaha Hadid Architects has designed for the developer Soho China, including two others in Beijing.
The Galaxy Soho building is made up of four main domed structures, while the Wangjing Soho commercial complex features three pebble-shaped towers located midway between Beijing Capital Airport and the city.
“China attracts the best talent from around the world,” explained Soho China’s chief executive Zhang Xin. “It’s important to work with architects who understand what the next generation requires; connecting communities and traditions with new technologies and innovations to embrace the future.”
Zaha Hadid Architects aim to keep the building’s energy consumption and emissions low by implementing systems based on real-time environmental conditions.
Leeza Soho is one of over 30 projects under development by ZHA at the time of its founder Zaha Hadid’s death earlier this year.
Hadid’s former partner Patrik Schumacher is now leading the studio, which has recently completed a new headquarters for Antwerp’s Port Authority and is putting the finishing touches to a pair of skyscrapers in Nanjing.
Project Credits:
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher
Project director: Satoshi Ohashi
Project associates: Kaloyan Erevinov, Ed Gaskin, Armando Solano
Project architect: Philipp Ostermaier
Project team: Yang Jingwen, Di Ding, Xuexin Duan, Samson Lee, Shu Hashimoto, Christoph Klemmt,
Juan Liu, Dennis Brezina, Rita Lee, Seungho Yeo
Competition project directors: Satoshi Ohashi and Manuela Gatto
Competition team lead designers: Philipp Ostermaier, Dennis Brezina, Claudia Dorner
Competition team: Yang Jingwen, Igor Pantic, Mu Ren, Konstantinos Mouratidis, Nicolette Chan, Yung-Chieh Huang
Consultants:
Structure: Bollinger + Grohmann (Competition), CABR, BIAD
Facade: KWP (SD), Kighton Façade, Yuanda
MEP: Parsons Brinkerhoff , BIAD
Lighting: Light Design, Leuchte
Landscape: ZHA, Ecoland
Interiors: ZHA, Huateng
Executive Architect: BIAD
General Contractor: China State Construction Engineering Corporation #3
Facade Contractor: Lingyun, Yuanda
The post Zaha Hadid Architects’ Beijing tower to feature world’s largest atrium appeared first on Dezeen.
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