Hasta La Ideas

Marcel Wanders has partnered with San Francisco company O2Today to release a set of air pollution masks made from patterned wool.

According to the company, its mask is the world’s first made from all-natural materials, and is capable of filtering 95 per cent of airborne pollutants – while allowing the wearer better breathability.

The mask is made using a sustainable process as well as responsibly sourced materials, with the idea being that it doesn’t contribute to the pollution it protects from.

“When designing, we must look into the future and visualise the ecological impact that a design or object will have on an individual or indeed a wider social network,” said Wanders.

“Therefore, we created a mask out of a material that doesn’t add to the problem it is trying to solve, the pollution problem.”

The New Zealand series is the result of six months of research by O2TODAY, to discover where existing products were falling short.

“Our focus at O2Today has been creating a more effective urban air pollution mask that people will actually feel good about wearing,” said the company’s chief medical officer Amit Mehta.

“The current complement of medical masks does not provide effective filtration for the most harmful pollutants, while effective masks are simply too difficult to breath through.”

O2Today‘s masks are available in six different patterns – including floral and geometric designs – and retail for $34 (£26) in New Zealand, Australia and Korea. The company plans to expand to China and South East Asia later this year.

Each mask can be re-worn for anywhere from 15 to 45 days, depending on pollution levels. Two adult sizes are currently available, and O2Today will introduce children’s sizes.

The company is also researching further products that protect from the effects of pollution, including more wearables and skincare.

Danish studio Kilo Design recently tackled the challenge of making air pollution masks that are still visually appealing, with a brightly coloured design with interchangeable parts aimed at children.

Best known as the co-founder of Dutch furniture brand Moooi, Wanders came 107th on Dezeen Hot List, a data-driven power list of the top designers, architects and brands.

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Austin studio Design Hound has completed a local home with light-toned facades, designed to help to create a “soft transition” into the residence’s bright interior.

The Laurelwood House sits in a residential neighbourhood outside downtown Austin, Texas.

A low-slung garage abuts a gabled, rectangular house, creating a long facade that reduces sight lines into the rear garden.

At the junction between the two components, a double-height atrium occupies a hollowed-out volume in the two-storey home.

Masonry cladding on the garage joins with a stone lattice wall of a similar palette, partially concealing the atrium. Along with slats in the adjacent wood-panelled gate, gaps among the blocks sift light entering into the vestibule.

The entry courtyard features vegetation along the floor and walls, as well as a skylight set into the sloped roof above.

Through the introduction of greenery and light into the vestibule, the architects sought to develop a gradual progression between the outside and the interior.

“The entry courtyard is a design element that has long intrigued [us],” said Design Hound. “Utilised properly, it softens the physical transition from exterior to interior and imbues an inherent sense of privacy upon the occupants.”

The palette introduced in the atrium continues inside the home, where white walls and ceilings dominate. Stone surfaces across garden-facing walls provides the only contrast to the bright theme.

Apart from a study tucked away in the southwest corner of the floorpan, the layout proceeds northward from the threshold in a progression of spaces.

A broad room to the right of the entryway accommodates a combined kitchen and dining space, followed by a lounge, and a master suite at the north edge of the layout.

Much like the atrium, the architects recessed the east wall of the living room to create a covered volume for a patio. A swimming pool stretches out from the terrace over the remaining width of the property.

At the northwest corner of the plan, a floating staircase dog-steppes up to a pair of bedrooms, a study, and a lounge on the second storey.

Another Austin home by Design Hound has similar features, including a similar bright palette and an intentionally modest facade.

Other residences nearby include a hill-side house with charred-wood siding that creates a “camp-like aesthetic”, and a lake-side cottage situated among cypress trees.

Photography is by Merrick Ales.

Project credits:

Architects: Design Hound
Interiors: Christen Ales
Landscaping:  Michael Biechlin of GroundMasters LanDesign

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A+Awards: this concert venue in the Dutch city of Leiden is clad with panels of weathering steel and was awarded a 2016 Architizer A+Award.

Rotterdam firm Ector Hoogstad Architecten inserted the Gebr. De Nobel among buildings the city’s 19th-century ring.

Described by the architects as a “pop temple”, the venue includes a main hall that accommodates an audience of 700 and a smaller space that fits 200 people.

A historic factory building on Marktsteeg was renovated to serve as an entrance and foyer for both halls.

Vertical panels of Corten steel surrounded the majority of the new structure’s exterior, chosen to colour-match the factory’s brick walls.

Windows of different sizes puncture the rusted surfaces, which stagger in height along the length of the facades.

Contrasting grey metal clads portions of the building that protrude up from along the centre of the plan.

Inside the main hall, which has several tiers of balconies facing the stage, a dark monochromatic palette is broken with wood accents.

The renovated foyer features exposed brickwork and wooden rafters, above a large staircase that ascends up the centre.

“The theme of the design, for both the interior and the exterior, is the subtle combination of two opposites: old versus new on the one hand, and crude versus fine on the other,” said the architects.

Completed in 2014, the Gebr. de Nobel won a Popular Choice Award at the 2016 A+Awards.

Organised by Architizer, the awards promote and celebrate the year’s best projects and products.

Their stated mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion its potential for a positive impact on everyday life.

Find out more about the A+Awards ›

Photography is by Arend Jan Hermsen and Petra Appelhof.

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Built in 1970 to house his personal art collection, Philip Johnson’s Sculpture Gallery at the Glass House has been under renovation for the last two years. Today, as the entire property opened for the season, guests were once again able to enter and……

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Sooner or later every building contractor has to run pipe or conduit through existing concrete walls. The best way to do it is by boring holes with a coring bit, which looks like an oversize hole saw minus the teeth and pilot bit. In place of the teeth is a smooth or segmented edge studded with tiny industrial diamonds that cut concrete and rebar by means of abrasion.

Most are designed to cut wet so a steady stream of water must be supplied to prevent overheating and carry waste material away in the form of slurry. It takes a powerful machine to drive coring bits through thick concrete so until now coring rigs have always required electrical power.

From a demonstration at The World of Concrete: The core bit is advanced into the concrete by turning the nut on the end of the unit. 

But recent developments in battery and motor technology have led to the development of larger more powerful cordless machines than were available in the past. Among those machines is Metabo’s 9-inch cordless angle grinder which as cordless grinders go is exceptionally large and powerful. 

The machine exists in two versions, one powered by a single 36-volt battery and the other powered by two 18-volt packs. Used in conjunction with U.S. Saw’s Core EZ System, either is capable of drilling 3- to 10-inch holes in thick concrete—the only limit being the length of the coring bit.

The coring bit slides over a guide shaft that has been temporarily bolted to the concrete.

The gear box is attached to both the coring bit and the grinder used to drive it.

The EZ System consists of a gear box, shaft, and drill attachments that can be connected to a variety of coring bits and certain Metabo angle grinders (corded and cordless). 

The pump sprayer on the right will feed water to the coring bit via the blue hose, with flow controlled by a small valve at the gear box.

Water is supplied to the cut through a quick connect fitting that can be connected to a hose or a pump sprayer.

For remote applications, where neither water no electricity is easily available, it makes sense to use the device with a cordless grinder and pump sprayer. The number of holes one can drill with the setup is limited only by the number of batteries and amount of water one can bring to the work area. Where water and electricity are available it may still make sense to use this setup because it avoids the hassle and tripping hazard posed by electrical cords and hoses.