Hasta La Ideas

The Chapter remains perhaps one of my most favorite knives ever. This is in part because they’re designed by The James Brand, a company that gets that sharp knives don’t need to look aggressive or tactical, and that they can channel a much more dapper aesthetic. Their knives sport a much more classy, urbane design language, and look like something a secret spy like James Bond would carry in his tuxedo (that’s not why the company is called James Brand, but it would make a great story).

The Chapter gets the distinction of being a knife I love sheerly for its simplicity. It doesn’t overdo any element, and everything is measured, collected, and ‘just right’. Then comes the Chapter’s Damascus Steel Edition, which somewhat feels like ‘classic’ meets ‘exotic’.

Encased in the black-oxide coated stainless steel casing with a titanium frame lock construction lies the blade, a drop-point straight blade made from Damascus steel. The drop-point makes the blade work wonderfully for piercing, while the blade’s straight edge works well for cutting and slicing. Sitting atop the stunning blade like a crown jewel is a lime green button that lets you deploy the blade from its folded position. Measuring at just 3.75 inches when closed, the Chapter fits into pockets rather comfortably, and a pocket-clip secures it to your pocket fabric, keeping it easy to access whenever you need. Designed with the aesthetic that works wonderfully both indoors and outdoors, the Chapter Damascus Knife’s matte stainless steel casing tells one story, but flip the marbled, Damascus steel blade open and you’ve got a contrast that’s definitely worth admiring for years to come.

Designer: The James Brand

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The Nova mobile office pod supports the flexible working needs of the modern nomad with fast wifi, a minibar and a daily changing view.

Owned by Cape Town co-working space Work & Co, the Nova pod can be transported between picturesque locations around the city and is the latest innovation in “out-of-office” work spaces.

“Finding inspiration whilst still being productive was one of the strongest motivations for building Nova,” explained Work & Co co-founder Jolize Pienaar.

“Immersing yourself in different landscapes, whilst fully-equipped, enabling thought and productivity – the concept was just too attractive not to execute.”

Fully fitted out with fast wifi, a smart television, an Apple TV, a printer, white board, coffee machine, mini-fridge, charging station, power points, a bathroom and running water, the pod can support a handful of digital nomads at a time.

Work & Co founders Julien Verspieren and Pienaar designed the two by five-metre pod from scratch.

“It was quite a process getting all the technical aspects to work along with the look and feel I wanted,” said Pienaar to Dezeen. “It took a lot of research and thought.”

The outside was designed by independent graphic designer Chris Moore, who also created the brand assets, including the pattern on the exterior of the pod and the customer station, to go along with the interior aesthetic.

The pod runs solely on solar-generated electricity, which powers the kitchen and work appliances.

“I was really involved with creating the curved wall by the kitchenette – it took a lot of trial and error but I think we got it,” explained Pienaar. “It creates a subtle illusion of space, which is what we were after.”

“The stackable windows on both sides were also crucial to execute the concept. I was focused on creating a receptive space that would let the environment in.”

The wallpaper is part of the Savuti collection by Kwa’Zulu Natal-based design house Ardmore Ceramic Art.

At the moment the pod has five predetermined locations around Cape Town, offering users a range of iconic views outside the city centre.

Nova users can also arrange their own locations, and the pod can be deployed as a temporary office for events.

“Innovation is something that lies very dear to our heart – the concept for Nova sort of sprouted up from discussing how I love what I do but don’t necessarily want to be confined to a physical space,” explained Pienaar.

“Cape Town is the perfect city for the concept – we are so spoilt with having the most beautifully scenic locations around the city.”

Co-working space Work & Co opened in March 2016. The community comprises over 250 entrepreneurs, including local start-ups, global companies, financial technology collaborations, wine makers, architects, and advertising agencies.

Designers across the world are rethinking what the office space has to provide, and even what office furniture might look like soon.

Geoffrey Pascal has created a whimsical collection of office furniture that responds to the growing number of people working at home in their beds. The collection allows the user to work in positions that emulate being in bed.

The post The Nova pod is a solar-powered co-working office on wheels appeared first on Dezeen.

Herzog & de Meuron has updated its design for an arts building in Vancouver, which will be the Swiss firm’s first project in Canada if approved.

Herzog & de Meuron released new images for a concrete-and-steel building, proposed as an extension to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The structure will retain its stacked shape that was unveiled in 2015, but will swap wooden exterior cladding for rows of vertical glass cylinders.

This major alteration will be visible across the entire structure, which is planned to be eight-storeys and span 300,000 square feet (27,871 square metres).

“We developed a facade out of glass logs which is pure, soft, light, establishing a unique relation to covered wooden terraces all around the building,” said Christine Binswanger, partner at Herzog & de Meuron.

“The building now combines two materials, wood and glass, both inseparable from the history and making of the city.”

The structure will still be tiered, with larger volumes at the top and a minimal mass at the bottom. The bulk of the gallery will be located midway up the tower.

The structure includes outdoor spaces and a “sunken garden”, designed to be sunny yet protected from rain to suit Vancouver’s climate.

Despite the exterior modification, hardly any changes have been made to the interiors compared to the initial concept.

Elements that are now finalised include the building’s proportions, materiality, mechanical, electrical architectural and structural systems.

Vancouver Art Gallery’s new building is designed to accommodate an expanding art collection, as well as more art and educational programmes. It will include galleries, classrooms, an exhibition space, a 350-seat theatre, four studio workshops, a reading room, a store and a restaurant.

The new structure will be six blocks away from the original Vancouver Art Gallery on Horby Street, proposed for the corner of West Georgia and Cambie streets that currently serves as a parking lot.

The area, known as Larwill Park, sits between Downtown Vancouver, Yaletown, Gastown, east Vancouver and Chinatown.

“The project for the new Vancouver Art Gallery has a civic dimension that can contribute to the life and identity of the city, in which many artists of international reputation live and work,” said Binswanger.

The building is estimated to cost $350 million CAD and is expected to receive a $40 million CAD donation from the Chan family – marking the largest private donation to an arts and culture organisation in British Columbia to-date.

In recognition of this gift, the building will be named the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts.

Founded in 1931, the Vancouver Art Gallery is a visual arts institution and gives special attention to Indigenous artists, as well as to the arts of the Asia Pacific region.

“The Vancouver Art Gallery is situated on traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-waututh peoples, and is respectful of the Indigenous stewards of the land it occupies, whose rich cultures are fundamental to artistic life in Vancouver and to the work of the Gallery,” said a statement.

Founded in 1978, Herzog & de Meuron has completed numerous other cultural buildings, including Switch House at London’s Tate Modern and Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage & Arts in Hong Kong.

Images are courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

Project credits:

Design architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Executive architect: Perkins + Will
Structural engineer: Fast + Epp
Mechanical and electrical engineer: Integral Consulting Inc

The post Herzog & de Meuron swaps wood for glass in Vancouver Art Gallery proposal appeared first on Dezeen.

If you have any kind of workshop, you undoubtedly have a collection of random nuts and bolts. It’s incredibly satisfying when you can dip into the stash and locate the exact size you need to complete a project. The second most satisfying is when you bring a nut/bolt of unknown threading to the hardware store, screw them into that gauge they have hanging on the wall, and determine the precise threading so that you can acquire corresponding parts.

You can actually buy that yellow thread checker they’ve got bolted to the rack at home centers. Prime Tools sells them for about $60.

I’ve also seen this white variant at mom-and-pop hardware stores. It’s made by S&W Manufacturing and, like Prime Tools’ version, is sold in the $60 range.

Both of those are wall-mounted and meant to live in a fixed location. If you need something you can throw in a bag and bring to a jobsite, S&W and other manufacturers also offer this centipede-like variety. These are typically far cheaper, in the $15 to $40 range.

Typically far cheaper, but not always. Woodpeckers’ Thread Detective features easy-to-read markings and a higher price point of $55 for a three-piece set (either metric or Imperial) or $100 for a six-piece set (both metric and imperial).

Of course, with a little patience you can always make your own thread checker. The wall-mounted variety is easiest. While the one linked above uses a simply label maker for the text, I bet you could make a variant with bad-ass integrated labeling if you had access to a laser cutter or CNC mill. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of you has already made such a thing. If you do, please post a pic and I’ll integrate good ones into the entry itself.

The Nova mobile office pod supports the flexible working needs of the modern nomad with fast wifi, a minibar and a daily changing view.

Owned by Cape Town co-working space Work & Co, the Nova pod can be transported between picturesque locations around the city and is the latest innovation in “out-of-office” work spaces.

“Finding inspiration whilst still being productive was one of the strongest motivations for building Nova,” explained Work & Co co-founder Jolize Pienaar.

“Immersing yourself in different landscapes, whilst fully-equipped, enabling thought and productivity – the concept was just too attractive not to execute.”

Fully fitted out with fast wifi, a smart television, an Apple TV, a printer, white board, coffee machine, mini-fridge, charging station, power points, a bathroom and running water, the pod can support a handful of digital nomads at a time.

Work & Co founders Julien Verspieren and Pienaar designed the two by five-metre pod from scratch.

“It was quite a process getting all the technical aspects to work along with the look and feel I wanted,” said Pienaar to Dezeen. “It took a lot of research and thought.”

The outside was designed by independent graphic designer Chris Moore, who also created the brand assets, including the pattern on the exterior of the pod and the customer station, to go along with the interior aesthetic.

The pod runs solely on solar-generated electricity, which powers the kitchen and work appliances.

“I was really involved with creating the curved wall by the kitchenette – it took a lot of trial and error but I think we got it,” explained Pienaar. “It creates a subtle illusion of space, which is what we were after.”

“The stackable windows on both sides were also crucial to execute the concept. I was focused on creating a receptive space that would let the environment in.”

The wallpaper is part of the Savuti collection by Kwa’Zulu Natal-based design house Ardmore Ceramic Art.

At the moment the pod has five predetermined locations around Cape Town, offering users a range of iconic views outside the city centre.

Nova users can also arrange their own locations, and the pod can be deployed as a temporary office for events.

“Innovation is something that lies very dear to our heart – the concept for Nova sort of sprouted up from discussing how I love what I do but don’t necessarily want to be confined to a physical space,” explained Pienaar.

“Cape Town is the perfect city for the concept – we are so spoilt with having the most beautifully scenic locations around the city.”

Co-working space Work & Co opened in March 2016. The community comprises over 250 entrepreneurs, including local start-ups, global companies, financial technology collaborations, wine makers, architects, and advertising agencies.

Designers across the world are rethinking what the office space has to provide, and even what office furniture might look like soon.

Geoffrey Pascal has created a whimsical collection of office furniture that responds to the growing number of people working at home in their beds. The collection allows the user to work in positions that emulate being in bed.

The post The Nova pod is a solar-powered co-working office on wheels appeared first on Dezeen.