“It’s more cyborg than it is hybrid,” Benoît Mintiens, founder and designer at Ressence, explains to us at this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève (SIHH). Here, Ressence has unveiled their latest concept watch and it falls in……
Continue Reading…
Pale brickwork, oak furnishings and terrazzo flooring combine in this light-filled extension to a Victorian house in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, designed by architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike.
Made up three interlocking brick volumes punctuated by different-sized windows, the extension forms part of a terrace property belonging to an art director, an investment banker, and their two children.
Their brief to Hackney-based Al-Jawad Pike was to create new rooms across four floors, to accommodate the growing needs of the young family.
The majority of the new spaces are combined in a new structure that extends out into the garden, composed of three connected rectilinear volumes.
Like the existing house, this structure is made from brick. But, in a nod to the buildings of Swedish architects Peter Celsing and Sigurd Lewerentrz, the architects chose to apply lime mortar slurry to exterior surfaces, to “emphasise its monolithic appearance” and add textural interest.
Simple aluminium-framed windows are offset from one another, to reinforce the building’s “sculptural quality”. And, to maintain the clean, contemporary appearance, all rainwater pipes and gutters are carefully concealed.
“The development of the external form became quite important in terms of balancing the additional space requirements of the brief with the constraints imposed by the site,” explained studio co-founder Dean Pike.
“The external brick and mortar treatment helped to unify the different volumes into a coherent proposal,” he told Dezeen.
At ground level, the formerly cramped and narrow kitchen is replaced by a large cooking and dining area with pale material finishes – not dissimilar to the pared-back interior of a house the studio recently completed in north London.
Whitewashed walls are paired with grey terrazzo flooring to create a “simple and functional aesthetic”.
Other details include an oak bench that runs along one side of the room, illuminated by a large skylight that is fitted into a slanted section of the extension’s roof.
On the floor above, the architects have created a study with a small outdoor terrace, while a family bathroom occupies a new space on the second floor.
The project also included a loft extension, which takes the form of a zinc-clad dormer window. This gives the family an extra guest bedroom and an en-suite bathroom.
Photography is by Ståle Eriksen.
The post Al-Jawad Pike uses pale, exposed materials to extend west London home appeared first on Dezeen.
An injunction that would have prevented Herzog & de Meuron from redeveloping Chelsea FC’s football stadium has been blocked by the local council, paving the way for construction to begin.
Planning permission was granted for the £500 million overhaul of the west London football club’s 41,837-seat Stamford Bridge stadium in January 2017.
But a group of residents has been protesting the design by Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron and London practice Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, claiming the building will block light to their neighbouring properties.
Two households in Stamford Cottages brought a High Court injunction against the development demanding tweaks to the design, which will increase spectator capacity by almost 18,400 seats up to 60,000.
The football club asked Hammersmith and Fulham Council to intervene, fearing the injunction could prevent the significant private investment needed to finance the development.
The council made the decision to compulsorily acquire air rights above Stamford Bridge, with the view to leasing the land back to the club. This means the claimants will no longer be able to prevent the project from proceeding through injunction, and instead receive compensation.
“Given the significant level of investment necessary, the club state that they will not be able to implement the development or secure any necessary development financing whilst there remains a risk that the existing injunctive proceedings might succeed,” reads the document prepared by head of planning regeneration, John Finlayson.
Finlayson’s document states a “compelling” public interest in the council acquiring the land, as the the redevelopment of the club would bring “significant benefits” to the local area and London.
Stamford Bridge was originally built in 1876 to designs by Scottish architect Archibald Leitch and used as an athletics club before becoming Chelsea’s home ground in 1905.
The redesign will see 264 brick piers encase the existing stadium to create space for extra spectators, matching the stadium capacity of rival London club Arsenal.
The post Council saves Herzog & de Meuron’s Chelsea football stadium from neighbours’ injunction appeared first on Dezeen.
Constructed with geometric precision, VAI by designer Minseong Kim is a stealthy-looking side table solution rooted in mathematics. Its puzzling form is calculated using a standard tetrahedron formula to achieve a minimalistic aesthetic while maximizing stability. This pyramidal form is at once robust and light. The ability to nest reduces its footprint when storing and accommodates different spatial requirements. The resulting form is as sculptural as it is functional!
Designer: Minseong Kim
David Stenbeck est l’homme derrière l’incroyable compte Instagram Dovneon. Stenbeck, qui est aussi un écrivain, raconte la poésie et surréalisme a travers de superbes images. Infusé de tons apaisants, son travail montre une maitrise de la lumière, de la couleur et de la forme. Certainement un compte Instagram à suivre.
This cane sugar body polish can be used all year ’round, but it’s invaluable during the winter. Gently exfoliating, REN’s Moroccan Rose Otto Sugar Body Polish doesn’t leave skin feeling stripped or dry, rather it will feel silky smooth and nourished……
Continue Reading…
There are various iterations of how urban dwellers will live in times to come, and of course, this is edged on by sci-fi films and various other architectural cityscape concepts. Above all, the vision of the future whether it be utopian or dystopian in your eyes is seemingly micro. One example of this is the OPod Tube Housing by Hong Kong studio James Law Cybertecture.
The OPod Tube Housing is low-cost, stackable micro-homes manufactured from concrete pipes. These pipes would be slotted in between building gaps rather similar to a game of Tetris. These concrete pipes are of course that of water pipes, transformed into a gorgeous 9.29 square meter home.
“OPod Tube Housing is an experimental, low-cost, micro-living housing unit to ease Hong Kong’s affordable housing problems,” James Law said, envisioning that these adorable homes be aimed at “young people who can’t afford private housing.” Albeit this ‘apartment’ is somewhat of an underground water pipe at heart, it’s hard to knock the fun-loving industrial interior. Compiling everything a young city-dweller needs, the OPod Tubes comes complete with a fold out bed, shower, toilet, fridge, microwave, cooker, microwave, and more neat add-ons.
Designer: James Law Cybertecture
André Terras Alexandre capte, sur pellicule, la beauté de la côte Nord-Atlantique de l’Islande. Un travail photographique aux accents vintages, avec un charme que seul le grain de la photographie argentique peut apporter, pleine de nostalgie. Découvrez le travail de André ici et sur son instagram
Two Jordanian architects have devised a modular, easy-to-assemble system of street furniture to bring ad-hoc playgrounds to cities, refugee camps and other environments lacking in public space.
Sarah Abdul Majid and Sandra Hiari designed the Playscapes system for use in their own hometown of Amman, where public parks are scarce.
The system is made up of a series of simple, low-cost wooden boxes that can be joined together to form play equipment, cubby houses, sandboxes, seating, planters or other functional elements.
There is no need for specialist tools when it comes to assembly, making construction a relatively simple, two-person job.
Each section is made from machine-cut pine wood modules, which have a similar shape to pallets, that are connected using wooden rods. Transport costs are kept down, as the system packs flat.
The architects imagined that community groups would use Playscapes to activate empty lots, turning them into gathering places and playgrounds. But while Majid and Hiari designed Playscapes with Ammani communities in mind, they have found there is broader interest in the project.
“This is an idea that can be implemented in refugee camps because it is something that is temporary and can be easily put together,” Abdul Majid told Dezeen.
“We’ve also had interest from schools and nurseries because the system can be reconfigured to suit different age groups,” Majid continued. “For older children, the system can accommodate rods for climbing. The possibilities are endless; it just depends on your imagination and space requirements.”
Majid, who studied landscape urbanism at London’s Architectural Association, started collaborating with Hiari on Playscapes after both architects worked on the Amman 2025 master plan for the Greater Amman Municipality.
The process inspired her to look at ways she could implement urban design ideas at the grassroots rather than government level.
“Unfortunately when we go through formal channels, sometimes it’s very challenging, and because of politics, a lot of the plans just stayed on the shelf,” she said. “So I decided to go informally, and now I’m into small urban interventions.”
Playscapes addresses one of Amman’s biggest needs — for more public space. The city, which grew from a population of approximately 2,000 to 4 million over the course of the 20th-century, is largely unplanned and has few parks.
“There aren’t many green spaces or dedicated playgrounds in Amman, or any other city in Jordan, and we have lots of voids within the city,” Majid said. “To be able to infill these even temporarily with play areas or urban furniture, that would bring these spaces to life and activate them.”
Despite only working on the project since April this year, Majid and Hiari have already received a number of customer orders.
They are currently developing several preset packages for sale through their website, and working on a second, more compact version of the product that will be suitable for smaller spaces.
Abdul Majid and Hiari presented Playscapes at Amman Design Week in October 2017, where public space and landscape architecture were recurring themes.
Now in its second year, Amman Design Week (ADW) brings together designers from across the region and aims to get the public involved in appreciating design in all its facets. The hub of the event is The Hangar, where emerging Jordanian designers made a strong showing, and Palestinian architect Dima Srouji presented a series of unusual glass vessels.
The post Stackable Playscapes system transforms empty lots into playgrounds appeared first on Dezeen.
L’artiste Camilo Monzon nous fait découvrir la ville de Bogota depuis les airs. Avec son drone, il arrive à capturer une toute autre facette de la ville, de ses rues, de son architecture et de sa géométrie, offrant un spectacle aérien captivant.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
