Hasta La Ideas

Chinese studio WSP Architects has completed a university campus complex in Hangzhou, China, featuring a cluster of buildings with irregular stacked floors arranged around a central square.

The masterplan for the Hangzhou Normal University comprises more than a dozen independent colleges each with their own unique architecture.

WSP Architects was tasked with creating a central building to provide administrative functions for all the colleges.

The complex incorporates archives, the institute of Hangzhou urbanisation, an adult education centre, library, teacher and student activity centre, hotel, international conference centre and theatre arranged around a central plaza.

The architects chose to divide the building into a series of smaller-scale blocks that each contains a single dedicated function, but are also linked to each other and open to the surrounding colleges.

The resulting composition of building units references the local vernacular by arranging the structures around a series of courtyards. The largest courtyard provides a space for campus activities that is surrounded by the lower volumes.

Three small towers are incorporated around the perimeter of the central plaza. Spatial and structural modules allow the buildings to be adapted to create spaces appropriate to the specific functional requirements of each zone.

“The architectural design is based on a strict modular system, which is used to control the plane, elevation and details of construction of this complicated functional complex,” said WSP Architects in a project statement.

“This helps to ensure reasonable economic cost, to achieve a high degree of completion of construction quality, and to reduce the burden on future operations and maintenance.”

The modular construction creates a unified aesthetic across the complex, with gentle changes in the building heights helping to distinguish the various programmatic areas.

Each unit has its own entrance and circulation to facilitate a range of connections and routes through the site. Small courtyards and atriums interspersed among the buildings form a network of social spaces that also enable natural light to reach central areas.

The structures are clad externally in alternating bands of stone and glass that provide a contrast of lightness and weight.

The materials extend across the podium level to link these volumes together, while the staggered layers of the towers differentiate the various levels.

Like many Chinese cities Hangzhou has seen a lot of development in recent years. In 2017 UN Studio’s completed the  400,000 square metres Raffles City complex, while Julien De Smedt created an office block with pathways cut through it.

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Mid-Century-ish in form and traditional in pattern, Mauricio Ercoli’s wicker/rattan chair concept combines both styles for a seating solution that looks right at home just about anywhere. It’s woven back makes for an elegant and complex detail in contrast with its simplistic, bent wood body and frame. The material combination comes together by utilizing natural elements like bamboo, straw, wood and leather. In a selection of fine finishes and color combinations, there’s bound to be one stylish wicker option to suit your personal style!

Designer: Mauricio Ercoli

Atmos Studio has completed a flowing staircase made from laminated oak that is the centrepiece of a recently opened restaurant in Mayfair, London.

StairStalk is the centrepiece of the Oliver Dabbous’s recently opened HIDE restaurant, where it ascends from a basement bar to the dining areas on the ground floor and upper mezzanine.

The multidisciplinary practice is known for its organically inspired designs and was chosen to create a statement staircase that appears to grow out of the shadows of the basement level towards the daylight above.

The overall concept for the restaurant’s interior was already developed by interior designer Rose Murray before Atmos Studio was brought on board to create the showpiece staircase.

Murray’s scheme focused on a theme of “dwelling” and a re-imagining of familiar elements. This was the starting point for the design of the staircase, which was developed to grow from and interact with the existing spaces.

The base of the stair features tendril-like lines that appear to flow out from niches in the wall, junctions between the wall and floor, bar footrails and even the surface of the basement bar.

The various lines converge at the lowest point of the staircase, forming a handrail and a stringer that extends upwards gradually before flattening out into a half landing. The stair then continues smoothly to the upper mezzanine.

“The entire stair curls and cantilevers out from a sculptural helical inner stringer – a carefully carved and highly articulated bundle of nature-like fibres which continuously curve and wind upwards through the void, their strands individually unfurling into each upper branch and inner tread,” claimed Atmos Studio.

The staircase is built around a concealed steel and plywood core that was required to enable it to float freely away from the walls. Additional support for the cantilevered treads is provided by steel plates embedded in the wood.

Polish fabricator Trabczynski and GD Staircases were tasked with managing the complex construction. It was created using a specialised method of bentwood construction, which involves laminating hundreds of layers of veneer to make contoured forms that retain the illusion of solid wood.

The staircase’s timber treads feature scalloped profiles that flow out from the stringer and balustrade like leaves from a stalk.

“It twists upwards, spiralling energetically like a corkscrew, steps unfurling seamlessly from the structural stem like leaves, while further branches similarly delaminate to form a delicate wavy balustrade guiding the guests carefully upwards,” the studio added.

The lowest step has a slightly concave form that gradually inverts and forms an increasingly protruding curve. This lip is intended to denote a speedier central ridge that offers a quicker route than the narrower edges.

As the structure ascends from basement to the mezzanine, each tread lightens slightly to reflect the different tonal properties applied to the interiors of the three interior spaces.

Photography is by Alex Haw.

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I wouldn’t really call it minimalism, as much as I would cleanness and straightforwardness, but the Italian automotive design powerhouse is channeling an aesthetic that isn’t necessarily Italian, but feels more of a blend between German and Japanese. Its collaboration with Hybrid Kinetic resulted in the H500 sedan concept… a car that’s pristine both on the outside and inside.

The H500 is equipped with the cutting-edge technology developed by Hybrid Kinetic for the traction system, with battery and electric motors capable of going from 0 to 100kmph in 4.7 seconds but what I truly find alluring is its outer body. Made to look less ground-breaking and more sensible, the H500’s design is clean, crisp, and doesn’t shock or surprise you, but rather reasons with you. Even though it’s an electric car, it retains its grill on the front, giving it an aggressive Stalin-esque mustache look. The rest of the body, however, tries to retain a smooth sensible look, with little drama, and subtle curves carving the car’s exterior (something we saw in the H2 Speed concept too). All details on the exterior don’t add to it, but blend right in, whether it’s the skylight on top that looks more like a racing stripe than a window, or the handles on the doors that stand flush against the car’s body… giving the car a clean exterior, which rather well complements the fact that the car’s zero emission nature, making it clean in more than one way!

Designers: Pininfarina & Hybrid Kinetic.

Retailer Amazon has teamed up with car companies Volvo and General Motors to deliver packages directly to users’ vehicles.

With the Amazon Key app, car owners can now give delivery persons access to their cars to drop of parcels via a keyless entry and remote locking system.

The option is being offered in 37 US cities to owners of vehicles made by Volvo and General Motors (GM) brands Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, who have cars with internet-connected capability.

Users download the app, log in to their Amazon Prime account and pair it with their connected car service account.

After choosing their items, they then select “in-car delivery” on the checkout page, with availability to opt for same-day, two-day or standard shipping. Amazon says the service works with “tens of millions of items sold on Amazon.com”.

The cars have to be parked in a publicly accessible area, like at a home or workplace, for the service to work.

Via the app, users can check to see if they are parked within the delivery range, track their package through notifications, and see what time their car was unlocked and locked again.

“Amazon uses multiple layers of verification to ensure the security of in-car deliveries,” said a statement from the company.

“Each time a delivery driver requests access to a customer’s vehicle, Amazon verifies that an authorised driver is at the right location with the right package, through an encrypted authentication process. Once this process is successfully completed, the car is then unlocked.”

Volvo is already operating a similar service in Sweden, but with this expansion to the US, Amazon believes it will open up the opportunity to seven million drivers.

Launched in October 2017, Amazon Key also allows staff to access customers’ homes and leave purchases inside.

It is one of several technologies that the Seattle-based company is rolling out, with others including grocery stores with no checkouts and deliveries by drone.

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