Hasta La Ideas

Liz Diller, co-founder of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, has won the Jane Drew Prize 2019 – awarded for raising the profile of women in architecture.

The American architect is the eighth winner of the Women in Architecture award, founded by the Architectural Review and the Architects Journal (AJ).

AJ editor Emily Booth said Diller, who was recently named one of Time magazine’s most influential people, is an “international architectural powerhouse”.

“From her wide range of work – including the High Line in New York, to The Broad art museum in Los Angeles, to the much-anticipated London Centre for Music – Diller’s brave, refreshing, innovative and often cross-disciplinary approach is an inspiration to the architectural profession,” Booth added.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro unveiled designs for a landmark building in London last week, a pyramidal tower that will house a new concert hall for the Barbican.

In New York they have completed an 88-storey skyscraper and are currently building an eight-storey cultural centre called the Shed, which features an extendable roof that can move forward on rails to cover an adjoining plaza.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s The Shed has a moving roof that doubles the building’s size

Diller said she was “very touched” to be the recipient of the 2019 Jane Drew Prize, and honoured to join the ranks of the “amazing group of women that came before.”

Past recipients of the award include British architect and AL_A principal Amanda Levete, American architect Denise Scott Brown, and the French architect Odile Decq.

After her inclusion on Time’s power list, Diller said that the architecture industry was finally beginning to make strides towards gender equality, helped by initiatives including International Women’s Day and movements targeting harassment such as #MeToo.

“Architecture has been male-dominated forever and I am a grateful beneficiary of the women’s movement,” Diller told Dezeen.

“It’s a sign of a dramatic change in the profile of what an architect looks like.”

Women architects around the world have been fighting to change perceptions of what makes a successful architect in an industry where leaders are often overwhelmingly male.

In Mexico female architects are blazing the trail for women-led practices eschewing a male partner.

Meanwhile Italy’s national institute of architects caused a huge scandal by failing to recognise Italian architect Doriana Fuksas, only awarding the Premio alla Carriera Architettura prize to her male partner.

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Florence Knoll Bassett, the designer who pioneered the modern open-plan office, has passed away.

As the driving force behind the development of the Knoll furniture brand, and the founder of the company’s ground-breaking Planning Unit, Knoll Bassett is considered one of the most influential figures in 20th-century design.

She developed many of the company’s design classics, and also commissioned iconic pieces from figures like Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi.

She died on 25 January aged 101, it was announced by Knoll’s senior vice-president of communications David E Bright.

“A brilliant design force”

American architecture critic Paul Goldberger is among those who have paid tribute to Knoll Bassett on Twitter, describing her as “a brilliant design force”.

“We have lost one of the great design forces of the 20th century,” he said. “Florence Knoll Bassett may have done more than anyone else to create what we think of as the ‘Mad Men’ design of the midcentury modern workspace.”

Fellow critic Alexandra Lange called her “designer of the perfect sofa, talent picker, office queen”.

Taught by Mies van der Rohe, Aalto and Gropius

Born Florence Margaret Schust, she was an orphan from the age of 12.

Studying at the Kingswood School for Girls in Michigan, she came under the radar of Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, who designed the building. This was the start of a lifelong relationship with the Saarinen family, including Eliel’s son Eero, who she would later commission furniture from. It led her to study architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where Saarinen was headteacher and Alvar Aalto was an influential figure.

The young Knoll Bassett also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius were teachers, and the Architectural Association in London, before completing her training at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology, under the steer of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Knoll brought European design to USA

After graduating, Knoll Bassett moved to New York City with the intention of practicing architecture, but after marrying Hans Knoll – heir to a Stuttgart-based furniture company – the pair instead ended up working together to bring the European design aesthetic to the USA.

As Knoll Associates, they together brought some of the best-known designs of the century to market, from Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair to Eero Saarinen’s Tulip chairs and tables.

Knoll Bassett also designed several pieces of furniture herself, from her simple coffee table to her lounge sofa range. Although she described them as the “meat and potatoes” of the brand, compared with the more sculptural work of star designers, they are still revered today.

Knoll’s Planning Unit defined the modern office

Not content with furnishing offices, Knoll Bassett established the Knoll Planning Unit in 1946, giving the company an interior-design arm.

Here, she defined the template for the now ubiquitous modern, open-plan office.

With a vision for “total design”, she championed open workspaces, with meeting areas defined by groups of furniture rather than walls.

She also launched the company’s textile department.

AIA Gold Medal and National Medal of Arts

After the sudden death of her husband in 1955, Knoll Bassett became the sole director of the company. She served as president until 1959, when she sold the company, but stayed on as design director until 1965.

She remarried in 1957 and added the name of her second husband, Harry Hood Bassett, to her own.

She became the first women to receive the Gold Medal for Industrial Design from the American Institute of Architects in 1961, while in 2003 she was presented with the National Medal of Arts.

A seminal exhibition of her work, titled Florence Knoll Bassett: Defining Modern, was shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2004.

Today, Knoll remains one of the world’s biggest and most important furniture brands, working with architects and designers including David Adjaye and Barber and Osgerby.

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As a part of our careers-related columns, these are our top five picks of the best industrial design opportunities on Yanko Design’s recruitment platform YD Job Board. With some famous names across our board, this week’s pick includes openings at Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, CONAIR and more interesting opportunities.

Check out Yanko Design Job Board for more design openings.

Want your requirement to be featured along with these global design-driven companies? Post a Job with us right away!

Creative Director at Amazon

As a Creative Director, you will be responsible for the end to end user experience for Amazon Key. This involves the full Amazon Key App, and touchpoints in service and delivery design, Amazon.com landing pages, shopping experience, hardware integration, and packaging. Challenges will include designing patterns, new experiences, evolving the product and finding balance with other 3P apps. You will define and drive the design vision for a complex set of product portfolios, some of which will be the first of their kind. To be successful in this role you will have designed innovative products and multi-modal systems, and you will need to understand how to implement design strategies across multiple devices and device types.

Read more details about this job 

Design Manager, Industrial Design & Human Factors at Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. Caring for the world, one person at a time has inspired and united the people of Johnson & Johnson for 125 years. We embrace research and science — bringing innovative ideas, products, and services to advance the health and well-being of people.  The Product (Travel) Designer is responsible for delivering all aspects of the design from concept to pre-production via prototyping, testing, sourcing, color/fabric/trims processes, and specification packages (tech-packs). The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices (JJMDC) Industrial Design and Human Factors (IDHF) organization is seeking a Design Manager (Level 1) to support the growing Orthopedic Solutions Team. With worldwide sales of over $27 billion, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices is one of the world’s largest, most innovative surgical companies. We are a growing organization with over 8 global and domestic IDHF teams within the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices (JJMDC) sector.

Read more details about this job 

Senior R&D Designer / R&D Designer at CONAIR

CONAIR is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of nationally branded personal, health & beauty products, kitchen and electronic appliances, it’s founding since 1959, with it Far East Headquarter in Kwun Tong ( Near Ngau Tau Kok MTR Station ).  The Product (Travel) Designer is responsible for delivering all aspects of the design from concept to pre-production via prototyping, testing, sourcing, color/fabric/trims processes, and specification packages (tech-packs). This position must meet multiple deadlines and goals in regard to analyzing research and designing products for presentations to customers, new product development and research projects. The Industrial Designer must possess design skills, free hand, computer-aided design, and sample making. They must have complete understanding of the new product development process and basic engineering skills in order to work with engineering to ensure manufacturability of the designs created. This position requires great attention to detail and up-to-date knowledge of computer-aided design, model making and design technique to enhance the performance of the duties.

Read more details about this job 

Senior Product Designer at NEMO Equipment, Inc.

NEMO is a New Hampshire-based outdoor gear design company known for creating award-winning products that are built to last, comfortable and fun to use. In the company’s 17 years, it has been awarded many of the most prestigious design awards in the outdoor industry and has established brand recognition around the world. But despite the success of the brand, the team still has the spirit of a start-up, with a fully collaborative, highly creative, radically innovative approach that resembles a hungry, young company more than a well-established corporation. The company is looking for an experienced, talented, highly motivated senior industrial designer to join the Product team. The right person will have exceptional skills at the drawing table, the CAD station, the prototyping shop, and the sewing machine. A true love of making things. And a great intuitive understanding of mechanics coupled with a strong sensibility for aesthetics. Plus, a penchant for managing complex projects and keeping things organized.

Read more details about this job 

Industrial Designer at SimpliSafe

SimpliSafe Home Security is a disruptive tech company, with big ideas and a team full of people who are chomping at the bit to make them happen. Simplisafe is looking for an Industrial Designer as we scale our Product Design team. In this role, you will help design our next generation of Simplisafe branded home security products. This role is a great opportunity to influence and contribute to a new Product Design team. We are in the midst of an aggressive hiring plan to fill our needs as we prepare for our next steps as a company. The Product Design team is a primary focus and our Head of Product Design will be building his team from the ground up. As such, you will have an opportunity to make an immediate impact on Simplisafe’s product design and you will be in a great position to grow within the department as Simplisafe continues to expand.

Read more details about this job 

Check out all the latest design openings on Yanko Design Job Board

Or recruit your ideal candidate by posting a job here!

Our pick of the top job roles available via Dezeen Jobs this week includes positions with Dutch landscape firm West 8 and Danish interiors office Studio David Thulstrup.

Interior designer at Studio David Thulstrup

Studio David Thulstrup has a vacancy for an interior designer to work in Copenhagen, Denmark. The practice recently designed the interiors and bespoke furniture for Noma, one of the world’s best restaurants.

View more opportunities for interior designers ›

Junior designer at West 8

Dutch landscape firm West 8 created undulating wooden surfaces along the shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto, as part of a major redevelopment project. It is seeking a French-speaking junior designer in either landscape design, urban planning or architecture to join its team in Rotterdam.

View more jobs in the Netherlands ›

Technical designer at Broadway Malyan

Broadway Malyan is looking for a technical designer to join its studio in Birmingham, UK. The firm designed the RIBA’s first centre for architecture outside of London – the RIBA north complex in Liverpool.

View more vacancies at Broadway Malyan ›

Part 3 architect at Design Engine

Aluminium panels were anodised to give them a reflective gold finish in this chapel project built by Design Engine in Winchester, England. The practice has an opportunity for a Part 3 architect to join its team, located in the same town.

View more roles for Part 3 architects ›

Part 2 or Part 3 architect at Paul Archer Design

Board-marked concrete and transparent glazing contrast to create a light-filled kitchen in this London house extension designed by architecture studio Paul Archer Design. The firm is recruiting a Part 2 architectural assistant or Part 3 architect to join its London-based practice.

View more roles for architectural assitants ›

See all the latest architecture and design roles on Dezeen Jobs ›

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A skinny house by STPMJ dominates its surroundings by stacking five tall floors onto a 100-square-metre plot in Seoul to create a “provocative” take on a family home.

Each narrow floor of the home has a nine-metre-high ceiling. Rooms are divided vertically rather than horizontally, providing the family of five with areas such as a children’s playroom and a furniture-making studio.

It was a desire for these diverse room uses that STPMJ felt could not be achieved by the traditional one or two-floor residences in the area.

“Living in a flat with living room, kitchen, dining and bedrooms in a single floor, is typical residential environment in Seoul,” explained the architects. “A vertically stacked house with small floor area is a provocative residential type in this culture.”

To deal with the site’s boundaries and light regulations, the brick facade of the house has been scooped out at key points.

“The house seeks small tweaks by “arcing” the major elements that define the building,” explained the architecture studio.

The largest of these arcs sacrifices precious floor space to prevent the house from blocking sunlight to neighbouring properties. It sweeps down the house’s northern side from the top floor to the third floor where it extends seamlessly into a terrace.

At ground-floor level, a much smaller scoop creates a partially covered parking area alongside the building’s eastern edge. The south-west corner is curved to signal a small passageway leading to the entrance, helping to soften the street frontage.

“The cantilever-over-parking space is a typical building shape in residential areas of the city,” said STPMJ.

Complementing the stone cladding of the buildings opposite, the whole is clad with red bricks pointed with red mortar, with brick courses curving around the arcs to achieve a playful structural illusion and a uniform finish across the building.

To maintain privacy and prevent overlooking, slim windows have been covered with perforated brick screens on each side of the house, apart from its south-facing front.

Pale wood and white interiors help bring a lightness to smaller rooms, with features such as bookshelves in the stairs maximising the space.

The tall, skinny house has long been turned to as a solution for small sites in high-density urban areas, particularly in Southeast Asia.

In Kobe, Japan, Fujiwara Muro Architects used skylights to draw light into a house that’s just 2.5 metres wide, and in Vietnam Nguyen Khac Phuoc designed a five-metre-wide home with bamboo growing up its centre.

Photography is by Bae Jihun.

Project credits:

Architect: STPMJ
Structural engineering: Teo Structural Engineering

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