Hasta La Ideas

The Democratic Unionist Party has backed a crossing between Northern Ireland and Scotland, proposed in response to Boris Johnson’s suggestion to build a bridge between Britain and France.

A bridge across the Irish Sea was proposed by Scottish architect Alan Dunlop as a direct response to the “Boris Bridge” suggested by the UK’s foreign secretary, which would see a 22-mile-long crossing built between Britain and France after Brexit.

But while Johnson’s suggestion was largely met with ridicule by industry figures, Dunlop’s proposal is gaining momentum.

According to a report in The Times leading figures in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has a confidence and supply agreement with the Conservative party, are backing the proposal.

Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP MP told the Belfast News Letter, “People used to think the Channel Tunnel was pie in the sky. This idea of a fixed crossing has been derided as nonsense for years, but it is entirely feasible from a technical point of view.”

A second DUP spokesperson stated that a bridge across the Irish Sea could “act as a catalyst for developing further links between the two islands”.

Dunlop, founder of Alan Dunlop Architects and visiting professor of architecture at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University, believes that a bridge between the two countries would cost between £15 – £20 billion and would help to create a “Celtic powerhouse”.

Scotland – Northern Ireland crossing would cost a fraction of Johnson’s bridge

According to Dunlop, the crossing between Scotland and Northern Ireland would cost much less than Johnson’s bridge between Britain and France and would also bring clear economic benefits to the two countries.

“I’m not against a bridge from England to France, it’s not an either/or response,” Dunlop told Dezeen. “A bridge crossing the English Channel, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, would be economically challenging. This is why I said it would cost less to move France closer, although I have no doubt it would be technically achievable.”

“A bridge between Scotland and Ireland is much more achievable”, he continued, “and it would redress the balance of money being spent by Westminster on London, East Coast transport and other projects.”

While Dunlop estimates that an English Channel bridge would cost £120 billion he believes that a bridge between the two Celtic countries could be built for considerably less.

He suggests a combined road and rail crossing, similar in design to the Øresund Bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden, could be built between Portpatrick, in Dumfries and Galloway, and Larne in Northern Ireland at a cost of £15 to £20 billion.

“The Oresund Straight bridge has brought huge economic and social benefits to Denmark and Sweden, creating a new economic region of almost 4 million people and generated £10 billion economic benefits to both countries,” said Dunlop. “Such a bridge could do the same for Scotland and Ireland, economically, culturally and socially and boost tourism.”

Although at 28 miles this crossing would actually be longer than the proposed bridge across the English Channel – technically, the bridge would present less of an engineering challenge according to Dunlop.

The main engineering challenge for the crossing would be Beaufort’s Dyke, a two-mile-wide, deep-sea trench off the Scottish coast. However, Dunlop believes that a design incorporating the emerging technology of floating bridges could carry the crossing over the dyke.

“It is the right time [to build a bridge across the Irish Sea] because we now have the technical capability to do it,” said Dunlop.

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I challenge you to look through the photos of the O/i lighting collection and then come back and read! Ready? GO… How many shape variations are there? If you guessed more than ONE, you’d be… wrong!

The “collection” is based on an optical illusion in which a cube is displayed as a simple zigzag frame. Two of its faces are removed which makes the human eye perceive a variety of different shapes from various angles. Depending on your perspective, you’ll see an entirely different structure and light form! The minimalistic collection does include wall-mounted, table, and suspension versions. Whichever you choose, you’ll never grow tired of it because it’s always changing!

Designer: Ariel Zuckerman

Le photographe et surfeur Jonathan Nimerfroh a photographié un phénomène rare, résultat de l’incroyable vague de froid qui touche en ce moment le Canada et les État-Unis : des vagues gelées. Capturées à Nantucket, une petite île du Massachusetts, ces vagues, qui restent en mouvement, ont une consistence de neige fondue, et forment une sorte de bouillie gelée, qui se brise doucement sur la plage. Retrouvez plus du travail de Jonathan sur Instagram.

Le photographe Kristoffer Marchi a créé une belle série de portraits utilisant l’art du papier. En décorant son sujet avec des tubes en papier et des éléments graphiques, Marchi combine la sculpture et le à la fois amusant et dramatique. Voir plus de son photographie de portrait et de paysage de sur Tumblr.

Architect Ole Scheeren has released the first official photographs of his Guardian Art Center, which he describes as a “big culture machine” on the edge of Beijing‘s Forbidden City.

Billed as the world’s first custom-built auction house, the huge structure accommodates a wide range of facilities, from art galleries and art-conservation facilities, to a hotel, event spaces and public transport infrastructure.

At its base, the building comprises a cluster of small blocks that are designed to match the scale of the surrounding hutongs – the densely packed neighbourhoods filled with traditional courtyard houses, largely unique to Beijing.

But above these, Scheeren designed a large “floating ring” that frames the entire outline of the structure.

“I was interested in how we could fuse this everlasting tension between history and modernity,” the architect told Dezeen.

“My idea was to conceive the base of the building as an extension of the scale of the historic city, as a series of sediments that relate in scale and materiality to the historic context. And then to take the scale of the modern city and float a volume atop this articulated cultural base.”

The smaller blocks at the base are clad with grey basalt stone and dotted with perforations. Together, these tiny circular openings form an abstraction of a historic Chinese landscape painting by artist Huang Gongwang.

By contrast, the ring that forms the upper section of the building is covered in a grid of translucent glass panels, described by Scheeren as being “like floating bricks”.

There are only a handful of transparent openings, which take the form of window walls, making it clear where visitors get in and out of the building.

“It’s not a building of glass,” explained Scheeren. “This slight sense of introverted-ness is very Beijing. It is a city that unfolds all of its grandness from the inside – in many ways it works with the place.”

Scheeren, who is based in Beijing, first unveiled his design for the Guardian Art Center in early 2015. Photos began to emerge in the summer of 2017, shortly before the art galleries opened, although the hotel is still yet to receive its first guests.

The architect sees the building as a model for how Chinese architecture can be both contemporary and respectful to history – a combination that might please Chinese president Xi Jinping, who called for an end to “weird architecture” back in 2014.

“This is an important statement vis-a-vis architecture in general in China at this point, to not only present the glaring and new, but to find ways to address a sense of historic continuity without falling into historicising,” said Scheeren.

“You could see it as a response to that [speech],” he added. “I had actually designed the building long before the issue came up, but there was a notion of it being an important issue, even before it became a political issue.”

Inside, the building’s layout is as much of a jigsaw as its exterior. At its centre is a 1,700-square-metre gallery space that is designed to be as flexible as possible. Integrating a system of moveable partitions and adaptable ceiling systems, it can be used for exhibitions, auctions and other events.

A series of smaller exhibition and auction rooms are scattered around the outside, along with two large auction halls that are more traditional in appearance. Areas for art conservation are located in the basement, with parking below and a metro station to one side.

The hotel is located in the floating ring, while a small tower accommodates educational facilities. There are also restaurants, offices and a bookshop slotted into the upper levels.

“The building is very intricate accumulation of pieces. What I tried to achieve was a sense of understated monumentality,” added Scheeren.

Scheeren, who ranked at number 255 on Dezeen Hot List 2017, founded his studio in 2010.

Initially he was predominantly working in Asia, on projects including the The Interlace in Singapore. But he has just announced a series of projects in a variety of global cities, including a skyscraper in Vancouver, a high-rise refurbishment in Frankfurt and a landscape-covered tower in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Photography is by Iwan Baan, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Project credits:

Design architect: Buro Ole Scheeren
Principal/design: Ole Scheeren
Partners: Eric Chang, Dan Cheong
Associate in charge: Virginia Chiappa Nuñez
Team: Marcel Holmberg, Sun Ke, Emily Liang, Cecilia Lei, Yingda Liu, Anna Pierotello, Nina Sattler, Olaf Turck, Lin Wang; with: Benjamin Ahrens, Mark Biemans, Kim Bjarke, Catarina Canas, Alicia Casals, Michael Cavander, Jeffrey Cheng, Patrick Conway, Dyno Du, Nicolaz Frez, Brian Fung, Daniel Hawkins, Xinran Ji, Philipp Kramer, Emeline Laurencon, Yuyang Lin, Mavis Liu, Wymen Lo, Max Ma, Rafael Merino, John Murphey, Marcin Olszowski, Kevin Ou, Kevin Park, Yanyadech Phornphong, Aaron Powers, Klementina Savickaite, Jim Shi ,Chiara Storino, Joseph Tang, Yang Tao, Elena Yang, Quentin Yiu, Francis Young, Lei Yu, Danny Zhang, Bruno Zhao, Weiwei Zhang, Yi Zhu
Concept team: Catarina Canas, Brian Fung, Paloma Hernaiz, Marcel Holmberg, Tait Kaplan, Jaime Oliver, Joseph Tang

Local design institute: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design
Structural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Building services engineer: WSP
Facade consultants: Front Inc, PFT Construction Consulting
Interior design: Buro Ole Scheeren, MQ-Studio
Lighting consultant: ZDP

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