Apartment-dwelling cyclists: How and where do you store your bike?
I’m a Citibike user so have never had to deal with storage. If I did, I think I’d go with an overhead bike hoist; as narrow as bicycles are, they seem to take up a disproportionate amount of floor space to me, and I’d rather get the thing completely overhead.
For those wishing to minimize their stored bicycle’s footprint, this Parkis system was invented:
What do the hardcore cyclists among you think of this system? I ask because while it looks nifty, it almost seems like it takes up more space to me. (I’m aware that that’s a perceptive issue to do with the intrusion of the handlebars at torso height.) I suspect that bike storage solutions are as specific to the user as the bikes themselves, and I’m curious to hear about the range of solutions you readers use.
Founded and run by women, Wildfang supports the LGBTQ community all year—in 2017 they donated some $75K to various women- and LGBTQ-focused organizations including the ACLU and the Tegan and Sara Foundation. Right now, they’re sending a portion of……
The first time Sir Terence Conran set foot into what was then The Great Eastern Hotel in London, decades ago, it wasn’t exactly a boutique experience. “I went to book a room, and the girl behind the reception desk asked me, ‘How many hours do you want……
Dutch firm UNStudio has revealed designs for a 1,500 metre-long cable car across the across the river IJ in Amsterdam.
The cable car would connect the growing residential areas of Amsterdam-West and Amsterdam-Noord in under five minutes.
Commissioned by the IJbaan Foundation – a grassroots citizen initiative led by Bas Dekker and Willem Wessels – the new connection is intended to be in operation in 2025.
“In Amsterdam you see a growing need for connections across the IJ, with the new metro and bridges,” said UNStudio founder Ben van Berkel.
“The city is growing enormously and such an ‘air bridge’ contributes to the development of the entire region.”
The cable car will be carried on three slender towers
Running at an average speed of 13.4 miles per hour (21.6 kilometres per hour) the cable car’s cabins could hold up to 37 passengers on the 4.6 minute journey across Amsterdam. Additional bicycle cabins could hold four to six bikes.
The foundation expect the fast connection between the west and the north will positively impact bicycle traffic by connecting existing networks on both sides of the IJ.
“It is a very fast and green way of traveling, which is attractive for cyclists, commuters, students, residents and visitors,” continued Ben van Berkel.
“Transport by air also relieves the increasing pressure on traffic and the existing transport network on the ground. It is not only efficient but also fun. People are going to see and experience their city in a whole new way.”
Phase one will link NDSM Marina and Minervahaven across the IJ
Two stations are planned in phase one – NDSM Marina on the north bank and Minervahaven on the south.
With restaurant and bar facilities as well as viewpoints, the stations are not only designed as transport hubs for pedestrians and cyclists, but also “destinations in themselves.”
The cable car would be carried on three slender pylons that according to the studio reference the ports and ship cranes of Amsterdam’s “robust” industrial past.
The towers vary in height to enable large ships to sail along the IJ, standing at heights of 46 metres and 105 metres tall on either side of the water, with a 136 metre-tall tower standing in the river.
The two stations are planned as destinations as well as transport hubs
While providing an “enriching” addition to Amsterdam’s skyline, the studio believe the new towers adhere to the city’s UNESCO World Heritage requirements, and are not visible from the famous canal rings in Amsterdam’s city centre.
“The cable car’s three slender towers will allow the dense urban area of Amsterdam to expand, while being respectful of the city’s past,” said the studio.
“The cable car provides an architecturally interesting addition to the city and the harbour view, contributing to the spread of tourism in the city,” he added.
UNStudio designed the cable car system flexibly, to allow for route expansion in the future to include a third station that would connect the Hemknoop, Sloterdijk Station or even Westergasfabriek and the Westerpark, depending on growth and need.
The Amsterdam cable car is due to be completed in 2025 to coincide with the city’s 750th anniversary. A second phase, which would continue to Hemknoop, is proposed to be completed by 2040.
With the AIA Conference on Architecture taking place in New York this week, we’ve selected five of the best positions available right now in the Big Apple via Dezeen Jobs, including roles with architecture firm Woods Bagot, furniture manufacturer Herman Miller and skincare brand Aesop.
Bjarke Ingels’ architecture studio is looking for a manager to take the lead at its model shop in New York, to train new employees and manage general budgets. The firm recently designed a limited-edition ceramic vase based on an inflatable art pavilion that it previously designed.
Mizzi Studio has designed a glazed pavilion with a swooping brass-coated roof for a cafe opposite the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Artisan coffee brand Collici commissioned the London-based architectural design studio to create the cafe, as well as nine other free-standing coffee kiosks that will be dotted around Hyde Park, Green Park and St James’s Park.
“The design challenge was to create a family of functional sculptures with a goal to continuously surprise and delight while further enhancing the visitor’s experience,” said architect and founder Jonathan Mizzi.
For the Serpentine cafe, Mizzi Studio collaborated with engineering firm Arup to design the pavilion, which will have a glazed facade underneath an overhanging roof made from powdered brass and glass-reinforced plastic (GRP).
“Sensitivity within this beautiful context is key, and extends to the engineering and construction,” said Arup.
“A lightweight box floats above nearby tree roots, while supporting the elegant, curving timber and GRP roof.”
The GRP, which is a type of fibreglass, will be coated with a gel formed of 75 per cent brass dust, giving the roof the metallic and cool-to-the-touch feel of cast brass without the restrictive cost and weight.
Slanting support columns underpin the roof, which forms an awning over the entrance and a sheltered terrace at the rear, where visitors can enjoy their beverages with a view of the park.
Japanese tea pavilions, a stingray in flight, and the shape of the lake itself were cited by the architects as references for the form.
The curving shape was also informed by Zaha Hadid Architects’ rippling white extension to the Sackler Gallery, which stands nearby, and Patrick Gwynne’s Serpentine Dell Restaurant, built in 1965, which is now the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen.
Mizzi Studio’s Serpentine cafe will sit on the site of Gwynne’s larger Serpentine Restaurant. Built in 1964 from interlocking concrete blocks with distinctive rooftop glass pyramids, it was unfortunately demolished in 1990.
Conceptual space wear and crystal accessories made from human sweat were presented by this year’s Royal College of Art graduates from the fashion masters courses.
Taking place at London’s 180 The Strand, this year’s Royal College of Art (RCA) Fashion Show was titled A Walk Without a Cat.
Over 50 graduating students across womenswear, menswear, footwear, accessories, millinery and knitwear showcase a “physical, visual and sensory feast” of presentations, food, dance performances and installations.
“A Walk Without a Cat reinforces the Royal College of Art as the vanguard of fashion research, by focusing on three key areas of examination: material development, fashion systems and digital transformation,” said Zowie Broach, head of fashion at the RCA.
“RCA Fashion holds a unique position at the junction between the creative arts, design and science, posing answers to question about fashion, identity and our future selves,” she explained.
Here are our favourite designers from the 2018 show:
Sinead O’Dwyer
Sinead O’Dwyer looked to the toxic representation of the female form in fashion for her collection of silicone and fibreglass torsos covered in silk.
“My work seeks to challenge the continual usage of one body type to design from, fit in and show in,” she told Dezeen. “It also addresses how this societal framework moulds the perception of one’s own body and shapes how we perceive our own physical forms.”
Alice Potts
For her collection, graduate Alice Potts created a series of garments encrusted in crystals made from human sweat, ranging from ballet shoes to a sports jersey.
“Every human is unique, and so is the sweat they produce, encapsulating our health, wellbeing and identity,” Potts said. “In the future, I’m keen to develop the idea and use it to explore sustainable processes within fashion.”
Alice Robinson
Graduate Alice Robinson centred her entire collection around a single sheep in Shropshire – number 11458. Documenting its life from birth to death in an abattoir, she used every inch of its body to create her line of leather accessories.
The leather was made into bags and shoes, while the wool was knitted into gloves and the bones were dipped in silver for jewellery. Finally, the meat was served to those attending the private view.
“The collection has been strongly influenced by a study into a consumer’s future perception of luxury and the experience we gain from the consumption of animal products,” she explained.
Anna Talvi
Using her previous education in mathematics and physics, Anna Talvi modelled her conceptual collection of clothing for life in space and microgravity environments.
“One of the biggest challenges is finding countermeasures to the substantial bone loss and muscle atrophy when living in space for longer periods of time,” she said.
“In collaboration with researchers and medical doctors, I am developing an antagonist exomuscle bodysuit which is the core piece of this set. It helps to keep astronauts and space travellers bodies fit: minimise the bone loss and muscle atrophy.”
Marie Lueder
Called Civilian, this collection portrays the “heteronormative wearer” with a series of leather, denim and rubber garments.
“My background is classic tailoring for menswear, which I was trained in at the state opera in Hamburg for three years. This taught me to shape the garments ideally onto the physiognomy of the wearer, which I use in every garment even its not classic suiting,” she said.
Matic Veler
For his project, Matic Veler wanted to create an ornamental costume evocative of Christmas festivities and baroque-style architecture. Approximately two and a half metres tall, the sculptural garment is made of neoprene and laser cut in varying patterns.
“I always loved the different holiday celebrations throughout the year,” he said. “For instance, Christmas: carrying unique and unmistakable scents and the beautiful ornaments surrounding the tree with the sparkles and magical atmosphere. Still, after all these years, my favourite holiday. It represents nostalgic, happy times.”
Renata Brenha Ribeiro
Inspired by the rites and rituals of Latin America, this collection consists of sculptural garments made from textiles and foods.
“I’ve developed all my textiles, and worked with materials like cacao, blood and chillies,” she said. “I am interested in how food can inform and form fabric.”
Yuan-Lung Kao
This collection by Yuan-Lung Kao aims to “observe the society behind the screen”. Featuring a combination of natural and synthetic yarns, the garments are loosely structured and centred around a circular shape.
“I am hoping that through my collection, the audience could gain a new perspective of how the society can be seen, yet in a different point of view,” he said.
The art duo are famous for their large scale pieces that involve wrapping landmark buildings and landscapes in huge amounts of fabric, or creating temporary structures from colourful oil barrels.
Despite the best efforts of critics to ascribe specific meaning to their work, the artists always insisted that their pieces are simply about experiencing the artwork in the moment, in the context of its environment.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same day in 1935, Christo in Gabrovo, Bulgaria and Jeanne-Claude in Casablanca in Morocco. At the age of 21, Christo fled the Stalinist regime in his home country to Paris, where he met Jeanne-Claude in 1958 when he was commissioned to paint her mother’s portrait.
By 1961 they were collaborating on art works, in a romantic and artistic union that lasted until Jeanne-Claude’s death in 2009. When she was still alive, the married couple were always careful to travel in separate planes so that if one were to perish in a crash the other would be able to continue their work.
Fiercely determined to retain complete artistic freedom, the pair self-funded their installations by selling original artworks and insisting on paying their assistants union or above minimum wages. After a work is complete, all the materials are recycled and the location returned to its original state.
Their work defies categorisation, blending art, architecture and sculpture. Read on for our round up of seven of their most important realised works and one yet-to-be-built project:
Wall of Oil Barrels – The Iron Curtain, Rue Visconti, Paris, 1961-62
For one of their first works together, Christo and Jeanne-Claude blockaded one of Paris’ narrowest streets with a wall of 89 found metal oil barrels in a protest against the Berlin Wall, which had just been built.
Europe was unstable and tensions were running high in the city, with the violence of the Algerian War of Independence and the Paris massacre of 1961, where the police had attacked and killed demonstrators.
Called The Iron Curtain, it temporarily transformed the street into a dead end. The illegal art barricade remained in place for eight hours, blocking traffic. The artists had been refused permission for the project and continued regardless, until the police demanded they remove it.
Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia, 1969
For ten weeks in the October of 1969, 1.5 miles of Australian coastline was wrapped in 92,900 square metres of erosion-control fabric, lashed to the cliffs with 35 miles of polypropylene rope.
A team of 15 professional mountain climbers and 110 workers were lead by a retired major from the Army Corps of Engineers worked for four weeks to wrap the coastline.
This time the pair had permission from Prince Henry Hospital to undertake the project, although the team were hampered by a storm that ripped off some of the fabric midway through the wrapping process.
For 28 months Christo and Jeanne-Claude worked with designers, builders, and students to create a partition of orange fabric hung between two mountains in Colorado, in a piece called Valley Curtain.
It was 381 metres long and suspended at a height of 111 metres. Keeping the curtain in place necessitated 417 metres of cable, weighing 61 tons and anchored to 864 tons of concrete foundations.
The last ropes were secured at 11 am on 10 August 1972, and the billowing screen of woven nylon remained in situ for 28 hours until high winds forced it to be taken down.
Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1983
Using 603,870 square meters of luminous pink fabric selected to compliment the shallow waters and Miami skies, the artists surrounded a series of islands in Biscayne Bay.
Having obtained permission from government agencies, they and created floating rafts of fabric attached to octagonal, pink-painted booms that were towed into place, unfurled and anchored in place.
For the two weeks that Surrounded Islands were on display 120 people in inflatable boats monitored the work. When it was removed the location was in better condition than when they started, thanks to the team removing some 40 tons of rubbish that had washed up on the islands or was floating around it.
In 2005 the art duo installed 7,503 fabric panels suspended from saffron-coloured steel gateways built along 23 miles of walkways through New York City’s Central Park. Teams of 600 workers in special uniforms were paid to install the gates, with a further 300 employed to monitor and later remove the work.
The rectangular gates were designed to mirror the city’s grid pattern, and the rippling saffron fabric designed to move in the breeze, reflecting the movement in the bare trees and casting golden shadows on visitors who walked through them.
Although Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009, Christo continued with their life’s work and realised a project the couple had first dreamed up in 1970. It was his first work since they had created The Gates and the death of his wife.
The artist and his late wife have been fascinated by trapezoid form of mastaba, found in the architecture of benches in Mesopotamian era and in the tombs of ancient Egyptian kings. They had originally planned to float one on Late Michigan back in 1967.
At the venerable age of 83, Christo is still stubbornly determined to realise one of his and Jeanne-Claude’s most ambitious projects: a 150-metre-high mastaba in the desert in Abu Dhabi.
The pair began scouting potential locations back in 1977 and if built, it would be the largest sculpture in the world. It would require 410,000 barrels, which Christo plans to have painted in eight different colours to form a shimmering mosaic reminiscent of those found in Islamic architecture. It would be Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s only permanent piece of work.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba 1958-2018 is at the Serpentine Gallery until 9 September 2018.
From the makers of this enveloping seating solution comes a supersize version of the original. This larger option is called the Planet for Two and provides a convenient, private getaway perfectly sized for two people. It’s wood cladding and soft cushions not only make it comfortable but prevent interference from distracting visuals and sounds. Whether you’re a couple of lovebirds looking for some alone time or a work duo getting down to business, it makes for a quick and cozy spot you can get away from it all without going too far.
Véritables poèmes visuels nocturnes, les photographies du français Louis Dazy ont toutes un arrière-goût onirique et mélancolique qui intrigue. Il faut dire que l’artiste sait comment capturer l’étrange beauté des néons hypnotisants, des faisceaux lumineux qui surgissent de l’obscurité et parvient à donner vie à des portraits vaporeux et des paysages cinématographiques uniques. Rencontre avec ce photographe noctambule constamment à la recherche des instants magiques.
Quel parcours t’a mené vers la photographie?
J’ai commencé la photographie par simple ennui, je venais de décrocher un travail de directeur artistique en agence et je ne m’attendais pas à être autant freiné, créativement parlant. Il fallait que je trouve une activité pendant mon temps libre dans laquelle je pourrais faire exactement ce que je veux. La photographie me permettait de sortir, de me faire des souvenirs et de ne pas passer de temps devant un écran d’ordinateur. C’est donc apparu un peu comme une évidence.
Tu photographies souvent de nuit des images sensibles et poétiques où plusieurs sources de lumière s’entremêlent…
Oui, la nuit m’inspire énormément. C’est assez complexe d’expliquer d’où me vient cette obsession pour la nuit puisque c’est quelque chose que je ne comprends pas totalement moi même! Quand la nuit tombe, je me sens vraiment à l’aise, libéré de la foule, du bruit, tout est à la fois pareil que le jour, mais différent. J’en arrive au point que ça m’est presque impossible de shooter de jour, même si j’adore les couchers de soleil. J’ai toujours eu du mal à définir mon propre style artistique, disons que selon ce que les personnes en disent, c’est éthéré, «dreamy» et nostalgique, je trouve que ça correspond plutôt bien.
Qu’est-ce qui t’inspire à prendre une photographie en général?
Un moment, une émotion ou une sensation que je ressens dans l’instant. J’ai très souvent mon appareil sur moi, même quand je n’ai pas prévu de photographier, car c’est justement l’occasion qui fait la photo. Je crée rarement des mises en scène et je n’ai pas une vision définie de ce que je veux capturer. C’est vraiment très aléatoire et je me laisse simplement aller, je ressens quand prendre la photo qui saura représenter ce que j’éprouvais à ce moment précis.
Quels sont tes projets à venir?
Je suis actuellement en préproduction de mon premier court métrage, mais je ne peux pas en dire plus pour l’instant!
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.
