Hasta La Ideas

I recently had a conversation with a fellow camper who I crossed paths with on a trail. This macho man stopped me to inquire why I insisted on using a phone while I was hiking. I informed him that I was mapping my trail so I could try an unexplored way back and didn’t want to get lost, then proceeded to show him a myriad of other gadgets including solar chargers and a portable heater. The guy responded “a true survivalist doesn’t need all these silly things” and went on his way, leaving me with what he thought was a truly mind-blowing thought. Well, I did start to think about it and wondered if any of the Lewis and Clarks throughout history would have ever turned down the opportunity to have an endless and safe light source or any heat source whatsoever. As you can imagine, the answer is NO!

I’ve digressed, but the point is… there’s no shame in playing the tech game, especially when it comes to ensuring your survival. That’s why gear like the Flash backpack is so great! Its large detachable solar panel straps on the front harness the sun’s energy while you hike or go about your day. When you stop to rest, you’ll have enough backup power to give all your devices a boost. Also tapping into this power is an integrated chest lamp located on the backpack strap that can be used to illuminate your trail or camp area in the dark. So whether you’re a novice camper or a total adventure junkie, devices like Flash can help you do more exploring instead of merely surviving!

Designer: Arun Kumar Singh

HawkinsBrown has designed a new robotics campus for The Bartlett architecture school as part of the redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London.

The 6,200-square-metre campus provides specialist teaching, fabrication and robotics facilities for University College London’s (UCL) The Bartlett architecture school and its new Real Estate Institute.

The facilities occupy the former Broadcast Centre and Press Centre, originally designed by British practice Allies and Morrison for the 2012 London Olympics.

The new UCL facility forms part of Here East, a technology and creative zone at the north of the Olympic Park. It stands to the north of Make‘s Copper Box, which was used as the handball venue during the Olympic Games.

At ground level a corridor lined with plywood joinery connects an auditorium with studio spaces for architecture and engineering students. Here there is also a fabrication facility, alongside labs, a 330-seat auditorium and a prototyping area.

A flight of broad steps with integrated seating platforms forms a key socialising and events space for the campus.

“The space makes it possible for us to develop ways to intervene in the built environment at extreme scales; from full-scale construction components to tele-robotic engineering at a cellular level, through to the valuation of the intangible aspects of the built environment, that will help investors create public good,” said The Bartlett’s dean, Alan Penn.

“This research and teaching is vital to advancing the skills in design, creativity and collaboration that future graduates of the built environment sector will need to master in order to resolve the challenges we face.”

Windows overlook the auditorium from the Real Estate Institute facilities on the first floor, where workspaces are set around a pair of curving lecture theatres.

Offices, meeting and seminar spaces line three sides of this floor, with the fourth occupied by glazing and a balcony overlooking a yard.

“Finding ways to accommodate the broad array of uses, facilities and environments within the building has been an exciting challenge,” said HawkinsBrown associate Tom Noonan.

“We hope the end result will make for a stimulating series of spaces that will enable new directions of technological and academic conversations to inspire the next generation of architecture and engineering students.”

HawkinsBrown also redesigned the school’s Gordon Street campus in Bloomsbury and a temporary campus for students during the renovation of the central London building.

The completion of the UCL campus at Here East marks the end of a six-year collaboration between HawkinsBrown and the university.

The next stage of development at the park will see an outpost of the V&A museum, a Sadler’s Wells Theatre, and a new campus for the London College of Fashion built to the south of the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre.

Photography is by Tim Crocker.

Project credits:

Client: UCL Estates for UCL Bartlett and UCL Engineering
Architect: HawkinsBrown
Project manager: Mace
Fit-out contractor: Paragon Interiors Group PLC
MEP, structures and acoustics: Buro Happold

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A sliver of glazing separates a white house in Stuttgart from this black extension Holzer Architekten designed to create additional living spaces with plentiful garden views for its owners. 

The local practice was asked to renovate the the 1920s house to suit the needs of a family of five, adding the two storey annex to the southwestern side of the building with glass windows that provide views straight through to the surrounding garden.

Rather than blend the new building with the almost 100-year-old house, the architects painted the addition to House L125 black, in striking contrast with the white-painted house.

“A glass gap separates the new and the old building without taking away the special character of the old house,” said Thilo Holzer, founder of Holzer Architekten

“On the inside the communication between the new and the old space is harmonic and creates a new space for the family to live a modern lifestyle inside those old walls.”

The floor of the main building is elevated 8o centimetres from the ground, but the annex has been placed at ground level to create higher ceilings for the new living area.

Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors run the length of the ground floor, allowing it to seamlessly connect with a decked terrace.

The cast concrete frame has been left bare across the ceiling to create an industrial look that is distinct from the more traditional white-painted walls and wooden floorboards, and exposed beams of the rest of the house.

Wide wooden steps lead from the kitchen down to the new open-plan dining and living area, the light wood contrasting with the dark grey of the concrete floor.

A large rectangular cut-out in the wall of the kitchen frames an internal view of the fireplace from the kitchen, and the staircase from the living area, connecting the two communal spaces.

Two internal walls were removed from the original house to create a more open layout, but the original staircase was retained to “feature some of the former character” of the home.

The main entrance was moved to the front of the house, and the new entryway has been lined with bespoke cupboards.

Upstairs, the original layout remains but a new family bathroom has been added. The master bedroom and en suite bathroom now occupies the first floor of the extension.

A new doorway was set into the the roof of the second, attic level of the main house, which now opens on to a rooftop terrace set into the top of the extension.

Nick Deaver Architects also chose to make a clear distinction between old and new when adding a room wrapped in corrugated metal and fully glazed dining room to a white-gabled 1930s era bungalow in Texas.

Fougeron Architecture remodelled a Victorian home in San Francisco that had been untouched since the 1920s by adding a canted glass facade and a bright orange stairwell.

Photography by Zooey Braun.

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Graphic floor tiles, a pigmented cement desk and curved leather chairs feature in this New York pharmacy, which local firm Sergio Mannino Studio has designed to accompany an online prescription service.

Sergio Mannino Studio completed the pharmacy in Brooklyn for Medly – an app launched to offer a more efficient and enjoyable way for New Yorkers to order prescription medication.

Along with a delivery service, the Medly Pharmacy on Graham Avenue allows users to collect their prescriptions ordered online, and organise face-to-face consultations with professionals.

“Medly has designed a free complementary app that saves customers the hassle of having to leave the house when sick, let alone having to wait in line for hours just to get prescriptions,” said New York-based studio Sergio Mannino. “But a successful online business needs a physical counterpart and our design for Medly has been created with this in mind.”

Takings cues from Medly’s green and white branding, Sergio Mannino Studio employed an aqua colour palette across the pharmacy’s waiting room.

Mint-painted walls are paired with cement floor tiles created by Spanish designer Jaime Hayón for Bisazza, featuring rounded colourful shapes that match the brand’s logo. Subtle green pigments fade up the custom-made reception desk at the back of the space.

“The design is both playful and elegant; a buffed custom-made cement counter with clean geometric tiles as part of a light aqua colour scheme,” said the studio.

Dark green vinyl leather and chrome cover two benches, which the studio says are a “tribute” to 20th-century Japanese designer Shiro Kuramata. The seats each accommodate four people, two on either side, and are arranged to encourage conversations between customers.

“As community is a key value of Medly pharmacy, we ensured our design was tailored to include this,” said Sergio Mannino Studio. “The nature of the small space means that customers will instinctively connect with each other and with the staff, unlike larger pharmacies that inadvertently separate people through high aisles and sheer size.”

Other details include a delicate white shelf built along one wall to display prescriptions in Medly’s styled branding and a round white pendant lamp.

A corrugated, perforated screen runs along the rear wall to partition off the administration area, where the prescriptions are sorted. In total, the space measures 1,900 square fee (177 square metres).

The Medly Pharmacy follows a number of drugstores that have used interior design as a way to subvert clinical stereotypes. Examples include a pharmacy in Taiwan featuring greenery, glass shelves and copper details, and another in Tokyo decorated with pale oak walls and muted furnishings.

Photography is by Charlie Shuck and Sergio Mannino Studio

Project credits:

Design team: Sergio Mannino, Martina Guandalini
Architect of record: Stefano Morisi
Lighting: Lido Lighting
General contractor: Minas Construction

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Aptly named for the kind of activity it’s made for, the Hunter 1.0 is a keypad designed explicitly for FPS (first person shooter) games. Putting everything you need under the span and within the reach of your left hand’s fingers, the Hunter can be used along with your mouse to become your most effective gaming gear. Built with arrow keys, a space button, a joypad, and 8 more programmable mechanical keys, the Hunter puts everything you need right at your fingertips.

The Hunter 1.0’s bullet mechanical keys are designed to provide a tactile experience most gamers die for. Spaced apart to prevent accidental pressing, and designed to be entirely backlit, the keypad even comes with an anti-slip underside and even haptic feedback, vibrating when you fire or get hit, to provide an immersive, undistracted experience. What’s worth noting is that the design is great to look at, but the minute you begin using it, its aesthetics recede into the background and it becomes a hardcore performance device, providing only one true function… a high competitive edge!

Designer: Iaroslav Neriubov