Hasta La Ideas

Neri&Hu has created a line of furniture for Chinese brand Stellar Works that pays homage to the art-deco architecture of Shanghai’s Bund area.

Launched at IMM Cologne last week, the Bund collection comprises an armchair, a stool and a chair with timber bases and a range of softly curving upholstered seats with pulled-back detailing on the backrest.

The Bund, meaning embankment, is the name given to the waterfront area in central Shanghai. Stellar Works says this part of the city is made up of elements that reflect both its industrial origins and its colonial history.

Inspired by the Bund’s varied architecture, Shanghai-based studio designers Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, who also serve as the creative directors of Stellar Works, wanted to create a collection of furniture that reflected this style.

“The Bund is a symbol of Shanghai’s past, present and future,” said the brand. “The soft curves and rich fabric finishes observed in the Bund pieces pay homage to the art-deco style, which is permanently ingrained in the DNA of Shanghai.”

In addition to the Bund collection, Neri&Hu also unveiled an update to the existing Utility Sofa at IMM Cologne.

Featuring a curved backrest and detachable shelf that hooks over the armrest, the Utility sofa has been reimagined by the designers – resulting in a more refined silhouette that “combines comfort with practicality”.

Commenting on the 2018 Collections, Yuichiro Hori, founder and CEO of Stellar Works said: “We are delighted to take part in IMM Cologne for the first time this year and present a series of new designs that reflect our commitment to good design and craftsmanship.”

Alongside new pieces by Neri & Hu, Stellar Works also presented highlights from its existing collection, the Blink collection by Yabu Pushelberg, the Slow Collection by Space Copenhagen, the Exchange collection by Crème/Jun A Aizaki and the Valet collection by David Rockwell.

IMM took place in Cologne, Germany from 15 to 21 January.

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This tent-like chapel, for a Scout campground in Portugal’s rural Idanha-a-Nova region, features a folded zinc-clad roof that opens up towards the surrounding landscape.

Plano Humano Arquitectos created the structure for the National Scout’s Activities Camp, on a plateau that has panoramic views of the nearby hills.

The chapel was commissioned for the occasion of the XXIII National Jamboree of Portuguese Catholic Scouts, which saw 22,000 participants converge on the campground in eastern Portugal.

Inspiration for the chapel came from several aspects of the scouting experience, including camping, outdoor living and the construction of simple buildings.

While the chapel’s pitched-roof form clearly evokes a typical scout tent, it is also informed by the triangular shape of the neckerchief worn by scouts.

“The chapel was thought out as a large tent, with open doors to everyone, at all times: a constant welcoming point for shelter, contemplation and introspection”, said the studio.

“Its very simple form, as a classical tent, is formed by a gable roof, adapted to receive all visitors.”

The building’s roof is lowered and angled downwards to form an entrance and give the chapel a welcoming impression and human scale.

At the opposite end the opening is higher and wider, creating an experience that the architects said aims to “elevate the user to something higher, facing a dazzling landscape in background that amplifies these sensations”.

The structure’s symmetry is emphasised by the alignment of a small stone fountain at the entrance with a simple stone altar at the opposite end of the chapel. Beyond this, a large cross accentuates the connection between the building and the landscape.

A channel laid into the chapel’s gravel floor is filled with water emanating from a spring on the site, which encourages visitors to follow its path into the building.

The folded structure comprises 12 glue-laminated wooden beams that allude to the 12 Apostles. The exposed beams support panels of oriented strand board (OSB) that lend the interior space a warm and welcoming feel.

Zinc sheets with standing seams cover the roof that rises to a height of nine metres above the altar.

According to the architect, both of the buildings primary materials were chosen for their natural properties to help integrate the building into its surroundings.

“Wood is a material widely used by scouts in their constructions,” the architect pointed out. “It is a natural and traditional material, which provides solidity and comfort.”

“Zinc, also a traditional material, is here chosen not only for its excellent qualities of tightness, but also for the feeling of protection it confers.”

The area in front of the altar can be used to seat many worshippers on simple log benches. In this configuration, the entire structure becomes an altar, with the celebrant facing towards the landscape.

“This is a spiritual place – a simple, sacred existence,” Plano Humano Arquitectos concluded. “It invites reflection, in encounter with faith, while looking forward to a higher horizon.”

Photography is by João Morgado.

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On the 25th of June, 2014, Google absolutely changed how accessible VR was, turning it from the rare, premium technology Oculus was projecting it to be, and turned it into something everybody could use and enjoy. The Aryzon does the same thing, but for AR…

Using a periscope arrangement of two-way mirrors, the Aryzon 3D AR Smartphone Headset (the name’s a mouthful!) can superimpose 3D objects over your reality, just the way the Hololens or the Magic Leap headset does, but by just letting you place your phone into a Cardboard-esque headset. It allows the smartphone to be placed slightly lower than your eye level, and relies on its camera to work out the placement of objects (much like any AR headset). It then uses the phone’s screen to project objects onto a two-way mirror that lets you see not just the world in front of you, but layered with the projections from your smartphone that align perfectly with your world, matching perspectives in a manner that creates believable holograms in stereoscopic 3D! Did I also mention that it costs 1% of what the Hololens costs?

Designer: Aryzon

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Buy It Here

This captioned movie features recent drone footage of the V&A Museum of Design Dundee, showing that the Kengo Kuma-designed building is nearly complete.

The facility is set to open in September 2018, and will be Scotland’s first major design museum.

Find out more about V&A Dundee ›

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Our latest Dezeen x MINI Living video features a proposal by creative agency Framlab to house the homeless population of New York in parasitic pods attached to the outside of existing buildings.

The hexagonal modules have been designed for easy and inexpensive assembly, and would be slotted into scaffolding structures affixed to windowless facades around the city.

Each features a prefabricated aluminium exterior shell to shield the residents from harsh weather. Framlab proposes filling the shell with a 3D-printed wall structure, made from recycled plastic and lined with plywood.

In contrast to the communal spaces offered by many homeless shelters, each unit is designed to house one occupant to maintain their privacy and safety. Meanwhile, a modular range of fittings would allow residents to customise each pod according to their needs.

The scheme aims to tackle the growing amount of homelessness in New York, and to address the scarcity and cost of space in the city by capitalising on the abundance of unused vertical spaces on the exteriors of buildings.

The movie is part of Dezeen x MINI Living Initiative, a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how architecture and design can contribute to a brighter urban future through a series of videos and talks.

Find out more about the project ›

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