The ruins of Casa Sperimentale, an experimental concrete treehouse built by Giuseppe Perugini and Uga de Plaisant, have been digitally recorded for a new exhibition.
Patrick Weber and Sabine Storp, architects and researchers at The Bartlett, undertook the project in order to comprehensively document the architectural oddity, which is now in a precarious state.
Weber and Storp collaborated with photographer Andy Tye and 3D-scanning company ScanLAB to document the decaying building, visually preserving it in its current state to allow those curious about the mysterious ruins to explore it remotely.
Casa Sperimentale, also known as Casa Albero, was built by a family of Italian architects over the course of seven years in the seaside town of Fregene, near Rome.
Giuseppe Perugini, his wife Uga de Plaisant, and later their son Raynaldo Perugini, experimented with novel construction techniques in the brutalist style during the 1960s and 1970s.
They used the holiday home as an opportunity to experiment with architectural techniques and different forms of living space.
Elevated amongst the pine trees, Casa Sperimentale is a unique building formed of geometric shapes. Entirely modular, it was designed to be built and expanded upon at will.
Spherical rooms hang from the main frame or sit separately in the grounds under the main structure, where box-like rooms sit in a concrete frame.
Casa Sperimentale’s entrance is accessible by a single red staircase, which can be lifted up like a drawbridge to cut the treehouse off from the ground.
The house fell into disrepair after the architects’ deaths and has since been vandalised with graffiti. Weber and Storp hope that comprehensively documenting the structure could help preserve it, physically or at least digitally.
“[It is] an outstanding example of experimental architecture,” the researchers said.
“It deserves to be comprehensively researched and documented so that its story is not lost and so that professionals and students around the world can learn from it before it is lost forever to the ravages of neglect.”
The research is going on display at the Weissenhof Gallery in Stuttgart as the opening exhibition for its 100 Years of Bauhaus events programme.
Moncler has unveiled a collection of padded full-length evening dresses by Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli at Milan Fashion Week.
The collection of twelve colourful floor-length dresses with full skirts was created by Piccioli – one of nine designers invited to reinterpret the outdoor clothing company’s down jackets as part of this year’s Moncler Genius collections.
Some had padded hoods and bulbous sleeves, with one hood cocooning the model’s entire upper body.
Another hood was draped around the head and shoulders, whilst other dresses were entirely off-the-shoulder with large bows at the back and trains that dragged along the floor.
The skirt of one yellow dress with a trim detail around the bottom extended from the hood to the floor creating a full triangular tent-like cocoon.
The dresses were created by Piccioli in collaboration with model and designer Liya Kebede, whose label Lemlem inspired the patterned trim details based on African textiles.
Lemlem supports artisans in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, commissioning them to produce handmade pieces of clothing.
“I am after a balance of dreaminess, extravagance and soulfulness,” said Piccioli. “I involved Liya Kebede in the process, creating something true to her, to Moncler and to my own sensibility. Connecting diversities is my idea of inclusive creativity.”
The collection aims to show the craftsmanship of the artisans in a context in which they might otherwise not be seen.
“There is no better way to show how time-honoured traditions, like our artisans’ work, have a place in modern fashion than this partnership, working with Pierpaolo and Moncler,” said Kebede.
“I was honoured to be a part of this creative process, bringing together heritages that at first glimpse seemed so different but when unexpectedly combined, create something so rich and new, redefining beauty and reminding us that there are no borders in life.”
This collection, and the eight others were presented simultaneously at an event in Milan on Wednesday night in different parts of the tunnels beneath Milan Centrale train station.
The look book for Piccioli’s collection was shot against the backdrop of the grand interiors of a villa outside Milan.
The nine collections form the second iteration of Moncler’s Genius project, the first of which launched at Milan Fashion Week last year. This year Milan Fashion Week runs 19 to 25 February.
Moncler has again collaborated with “genius” designers, including Craig Green, Richard Quinn and Simone Rocha, and for the first time included a set of puffer jackets for dogs.
Humans will inevitably become extinct due to environmental breakdown, but we have the power to design ourselves a “beautiful ending”, says Paola Antonelli, who will next week open a major exhibition in Milan called Broken Nature.
Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, the XXII Triennale di Milano, will bring together 120 architecture and design projects from the last 30 years that explore humankind’s fractured relationship with the planet.
The curator hopes it will make people aware of the “crisis in our humanity” – that our connection to our environment has been completely compromised, amidst an increase in extreme weather, wildfires and other environmental disasters around the globe.
“We will become extinct; extinction is normal, it’s natural,” she explained. “We don’t have the power to stop our extinction but we have the power to make it count.”
“Leave a legacy that means something”
Antonelli, who is also senior curator of architecture and design at MoMA in New York, insists that she’s not trying to shock anyone. She instead wants to encourage designers, and everyone else, to make the most of the time they have left on the planet.
She claims that planning for the legacy of the human race is the same as planning for a person leaving their job, or when an elderly family member knows they are going to die. Only then will the next dominant species remember humankind with respect.
Research project Italian Limes, which examines national borders in the Alps, will be shown at the Broken Nature exhibition
“I believe that our best chance is to design our own really elegant extension, so that we will leave a legacy that means something, and remains, in the future,” she said.
“That means taking a very big leap in our perceptive abilities,” she explained. “It means thinking really long-term, it means thinking at scale, it means really trying to understand that we are only one species on earth and one species in the universe.”
Responsible design shouldn’t mean sacrifice
The exhibition will include important milestones in restorative design, such as research project Italian Limes, which looks at shifting national borders as ice melts in the Alps, and SUN+, which seeks design alternatives to sun exposure.
Antonelli has also commissioned new projects that explore ways design could put humans back on a better path. Neri Oxman‘s contribution will see melanin – the pigment that produces skin tone – applied to architecture, while Formafantasma looked at new ways of upcycling waste.
The curator said changing our thinking requires us to think more deeply about design, and treat it with the same rigour applied to science. She said that, for too long, environmentally-friendly design has been seen as inferior.
“We always feel that for design to be ethical or responsible it has to sacrifice something. Usually the something that is sacrificed is the sensuality or the formal elegance. But it’s not true,” Antonelli explained.
“It’s about design that has to do with the environment, with wasting less, with recycling more, with repairing things better and also with connecting to other human beings and to other species better,” she said.
“Citizens are the true powerful agents in this change”
With the Milanese well-versed in design, Antonelli hopes the exhibition will be seen by more than just the design community. She hopes to engage a wider audience through the public programme, online platform and a catalogue of related essays.
“I believe that citizens are the true powerful agents in this change that needs to happen,” explained Antonelli. “This is an exhibition for citizens. Of course it’s for the design community. I always want things to be for the design community of course, but I also want it to be for the citizens.”
Antonelli sees her role as giving people “stronger critical tools” that can be applied to “what they buy, what they use, how long they keep things for, when they throw them away”. She thinks design can be “a Trojan horse” that gets into the mindset of a younger generation and provokes change.
“Without convincing children and their parents, and making it something that is asked of politicians and of corporations from the ground up, we will never go anywhere,” she argued.
Politicians are ignoring environmental crisis
One thing Antonelli is keen to point out is that Broken Nature is not the only exhibition examining environmental issues.
Other examples include the Cooper Hewitt in New York’s Nature exhibition that runs simultaneously at Cube design museum in Kerkrade, Netherlands, and the Eco-Visionaries show at the Royal Academy in London later this year.
Antonelli is frustrated that political leaders have been slow to respond.
“We’re all working on this, artists, curators, writers, we’re all trying our best. The only ones that are completely deaf are the powers that be that are supposed to legislate and help us put things in motion,” she said.
Despite that, she believes that humankind is getting close to accepting its imminent extinction, as more exhibitions, television shows and news broadcasts start to focus on it.
“This is the beginning of people talking about the reality in a positive way,” she added. “My ambition is for that statement to become normal.”
The XXII Triennale di Milano runs from 1 March to 1 September 2019 at the Triennale Milano gallery. The Broken Nature exhibition will be shown alongside 27 installations from countries and institutions, including an entry from the European Union.
Read on for an edited transcript of the interview with Paola Antonelli:
Augusta Pownall: In the Broken Nature exhibition, there will 120 or so design and architecture projects from the last two or three decades. What argument are you making with these?
Paola Antonelli: The argument is that of restorative design, and reparations. Restorative design is very wide-ranging and I’m doing that on purpose as I’m hoping that people will come out of the exhibition with a feeling in their stomach rather than notions that they could write down in a notebook.
The idea goes back to the notion of restaurants. We always feel that for design to be ethical or responsible it has to sacrifice something. Usually the something that is sacrificed is the sensuality and the formal elegance, but it’s not true. Restaurants were born in France in the 18th century as somewhere that you could eat food that was good for your health, like bouillon or something, but also delightful and they became very rapidly places for conviviality and pleasure. So you don’t have to sacrifice pleasure, delight, humanity, sensuality in order to be ethical and responsible and have a sense of both our position in the universe and also what we’re doing to nature and other species. This is what the exhibition is about.
Augusta Pownall: Are there other themes that get pulled into the thesis of the exhibition?
Paola Antonelli: It’s about design that has to do with the environment, with wasting less, with recycling more, with repairing things better and also with connecting to other human beings and to other species better. You could call it holistic even though that’s quite a worn out term, but in truth it’s about connecting, and it ends with empathy.
I am convinced because it’s part of nature that things end and that species become extinct
Once again, when you have so much going wrong in the world, from injustice to poverty to disparity to struggle for human rights, and also everything that’s happening with the environment, there’s various ways to go. Some of our leaders are demonstrating a way to go that is about entrenchment, and self-centredness and selfishness. And instead the other way to go is the opposite, it’s empathy and trying to connect with others in order to do better together. It really is about generosity of spirit.
What I always say when I talk about the exhibition is I sound so hopeful and optimistic but I do believe that we will become extinct. And I believe that our best chance is to design our own really elegant extension, so that we will leave a legacy that means something, and remains, in the future. Because we will become extinct; extinction is normal, it’s natural.
Augusta Pownall: You’re sure that extinction is where we’re heading. How should the design world react to that reality?
Paola Antonelli: I am convinced because it’s part of nature that things end and that species become extinct. Its not design that will react in any certain way, it’s human beings, the designers more than design unto itself. So once again this exhibition is what designers can do, but there will be exhibitions and there have been several, that will be about what artists can do. Designers are human beings so their attitude is the same as it should be for others. Don’t panic, but let’s see how we can design a better legacy.
Augusta Pownall: It’s a bold statement. What has the reaction been?
Paola Antonelli: The fact that we will become extinct is being advanced by so many different people, scientists amongst others. If anything the bold statement is the hopeful one, that we can design a beautiful ending.
Some people are taken aback but I think the reaction is that very few people tell me that I’m being pessimistic. That might be their first reaction but then they think about it. So in a way I’m not saying anything new in that part of the phrase, maybe the second part of the phrase is the one that takes people aback, because we have the power to do that. We don’t have the power to stop our extinction but we have the power to make it count.
Augusta Pownall: What’s your vision of a beautiful ending?
Paola Antonelli: Well I can go completely into science fiction, but I just see it as the beautiful death of a human being, surrounded by family, in a serene way. Understanding that one’s life ending means that someone else’s life is beginning or continues. I would really put it at the scale of the life of a human being. Someone’s grandmother said something beautiful once to me. So many of us think that it’s not fair that you die and life continues. And she said to me, just think of it as you being at a great party and you go upstairs and take a nap. The whole universe is having a party and we’re taking a nap, and hopefully the people downstairs at the party will miss us. Once again, perspective.
My ambition is for this statement to become normal. My ambition is not to shock
So I would see our ending the way we see an individual’s ending. Serenity, a big family, good memories and having had a positive influence on humanity. People will have reactions of all kinds to what I’m saying and that’s ok, because this is the beginning of people talking about the reality in a positive way. I’m just going to be a jackhammer and hopefully people will make it become normal. My ambition is for this statement to become normal. My ambition is not to shock. And I think this will happen with this and other exhibitions. And also on television, during news broadcasts, scientists. There’s just a groundswell of people that think and want to share their thoughts.
Education and awareness – I think this exhibition is really about that.
Augusta Pownall: Are we getting to the tipping point, where people will start to see extinction as normal?
Paola Antonelli: I think so. I don’t know if I can speak in such general terms. What I see is a kind of denial on the part of many political powers and awareness by many others and by citizens. Sometimes right now, even science is doubted, if we were not in the situation in which even what scientists say is in grave denial, we are in danger. But I think we’re going to reach that groundswell, really soon, I really hope so. I’m trying my little bit.
Augusta Pownall: So what can we do to design for our extinction?
Paola Antonelli: The exhibition is one small part of a change of culture that should happen, so I am never presuming that we will have the answers for everything, but it would be already very successful if we were able to at least point out something which is very necessary, and that’s to think of our own legacy. So that’s what always happens when an editor-in-chief is leaving, or a person knows when he or she will die, we think of legacy. So we should think of legacy also for the human race.
That means taking a very big leap in our perceptive abilities. It means thinking really long-term, it means thinking at scale, it means really trying to understand that we are only one species on earth and one species in the universe. And very simply, as if we were putting together a beautiful play or a beautiful piece of art or design, we should really make it count and make it memorable and meaningful.
The reference we always use is Powers of Ten, the Charles and Ray Eames videos. So if we were to really go up so many powers of 10 and another species in the future were able to zoom down, what would we want them to find?
Augusta Pownall: Are there any particular parts of the exhibition that point towards what we can do to design for the end?
Paola Antonelli: Nothing in particular, because I didn’t want to have much speculation or science fiction. So everything is in that direction but nothing is grandly or spectacularly about the ending. For instance, Kelly Jazvac’s Plastiglomerate and the fossils of the future, that’s almost like a negative example of something we don’t want to leave behind. Or when instead you look at the Alma Observatory’s Music of a Dying Star, that’s the sense of long-term and perspective.
Clearly there’s a crisis in humanity, in the sense of what it means to be human
Everything is about prepping ourselves for it, and nothing is about what we should do. Because that wouldn’t be about design, that would be more literature and art, so maybe some people will do that, but I think it’s such a daunting idea, that of trying to portray our ending, so I want to see who’s going to do that. I don’t think it can be prevented but it definitely can be managed.
Augusta Pownall: What do you think are the pressing problems that designers should addressing?
Paola Antonelli: Designers are about life and about the world and therefore they’re very much in the present and also directed towards the future, if they’re doing their job. The present is, and we hear it every single day, about this crisis of understanding of our position in the world and in the universe, a crisis that has to do with the environment and also with social bonds. It really is amazing what’s going on politically in our countries, in all my countries Italy and the US and in the UK and in many other places. So clearly there’s a crisis in humanity, in the sense of what it means to be human in connection with other humans and in connection with the universe. And now of course I’m taking it at a very large scale, an almost cosmic perspective, but that translates in everything from cosmic perspectives to everyday lives. That’s the thesis, the underlying theme of the exhibition.
Augusta Pownall: Do you think that design should be accorded as much respect as science?
Paola Antonelli: It’s not about demeaning science but rather about elevating design. Science has been able to create this great mystique about itself. A very rightful mystique over the centuries about exactitude and worthiness. Of course now it’s been put in discussion by the political powers that be that try to undermine that kind of faith and trust. So science has been able to build faith and trust in itself.
Design is very worthy of trust in most cases. Of course design can go wrong, just like science can go wrong and we’ve seen it many times. But it’s never been able to project the gravitas and the kind of peer pressure that science has created for itself. People care about design a lot but they are not trained to seek design as a fundamental ingredient of their cultural makeup.
Augusta Pownall: So do you see this exhibition as a call to arms for designers, or is it more for the general public?
Paola Antonelli: This is an exhibition for citizens. Of course it’s for the design community. I always want things to be for the design community of course, but I also want it to be for the citizens. I want this exhibition to really be inspiring for citizens so that people can leave it having a sense of what they can do in their everyday life.
I’m hoping that people that are not necessarily in the design world will go there, appreciate design as always and leave with a seed in their mind of what they can do in their real life to have a different attitude towards the environment, towards other species, towards our subsistence on planet Earth, towards all the important matters that we read about in the press all the time but sometimes don’t get into our stomach. I really think that design can be a Trojan horse for people to really understand. I also believe that citizens are the true powerful agents in this change that needs to happen. Governments and corporations and institutions say and legislate, but citizens are the ones that can really put pressure on.
Augusta Pownall: Is there anything that people coming to the exhibition should be thinking about when it comes to alleviating the damage we have caused to the environment?
Paola Antonelli: Just thinking of it would be enough. I would love for people to leave the exhibition with even more of a sense of the aberration that single-use plastic is, but I’m not only talking about straws that have become the pet peeve, I’m talking about so much more.
In general, single-use plastics should be avoided at all costs. Not plastics, because plastics have some advantages, it’s just about being mindful of every single thing. That is really design. One thing that curators and people like me try to do is to show people what’s behind objects, because we’re used to taking objects at face value. I have in front of me a pencil. It’s wood and inside is graphite, and just understanding where it comes from can give you more pleasure in understanding reality and more knowledge and awareness of what you can do to avoid wasting.
I cannot say that I’m optimistic or positive, I’m just doing something
That’s my role, to give people stronger critical tools to act on the part of life that I have some say on, which is design, which means what they buy, what they use, how long they keep things for, when they throw them away. Another thing is the fast-fashion campaign, I mean it’s horrible. So there are many examples, but basically that’s where my field of action is.
Augusta Pownall: You mentioned that you want the the exhibition to have a positive outlook, even if it’s not always saying hugely positive things about humankind. Is that possible, given the horrifying things that we’re hearing about our climate?
Paola Antonelli: You know, I’m not optimistic per se, I’m just trying to energise. I believe that citizens are the only ones that can change things. I am hoping that efforts like mine… and mine is just one, luckily there are so many curators working on this.
Cooper Hewitt has just been doing an exhibition about nature, the Serpentine just hired a curator that is only about these matters. There are so many people working on this. We’re all working on this, artists, curators, writers, we’re all trying our best. The only ones that are completely deaf are the powers that be that are supposed to legislate and help us put things in motion.
I cannot say that I’m optimistic or positive, I’m just doing something. I believe that it’s a very “design” attitude of knowing your constraints and trying to make the best of those constraints. You can say that art all the time is spilling over, or should, and design does too, but really I believe we’re all trying to sensitise and create a reaction of which we will be a part. But without convincing children and their parents, and making it something that is asked of politicians and of corporations from the ground up, we will never go anywhere.
The warm, gentle and atmosphere creating glow of a candle is often found within the domestic environment, and when paired with a sweet or seasonal aroma, their desirability elevates further. However, candles do bring with them a range of downfalls; their flames are a fire risk and the wax melts so quickly that they must be replaced regularly. These problems, and more, are solved by a Candle Warmer.
The D’audrey Candle Warmers are beautiful examples of a candle warmer, while each design may differ aesthetically, they each feature a Halogen Lamp that gently melts the wax, releasing its untainted aroma.
It’s the alluring aesthetics of the D’audrey collection that demands attention; the repetitive lines and organic forms allow the warm light to escape and cast unique shadows onto the table top. The sculpture-like forms hold themselves strongly when the light is not on, allowing them to remain a powerful statement piece within the room!
All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
The Catch & Go steering wheel smartphone holder holds smartphones from 3.5″ to 5.5″ wide. It quickly and easily attaches to your steering wheel. You can use your GPS and talk on your phone hands free. See the video here.
It is important to have a hands-free device when you are driving your car. Keeping both hands on the steering wheel is the most effective way to control a car. It is also important to keep both eyes looking out the windscreen at the road, traffic, and surroundings. I briefly considered calling the device a multi-tasker because it would allow you to watch a movie on your phone while crashing your car at the same time.
The other issue I have with Catch & Go’s steering wheel smartphone holder is charging the smartphone while it is attached. Often GPS apps can drain the phone battery significantly so the ability to charge the phone while using it would be helpful. You would have to have a longer cable to compensate for turning the steering wheel but would the cable get tangled if there was too much slack? If the steering wheel turned and the cable was too tight would it yank the phone out of the holder and cause further distraction?
The steering wheel smartphone holder just does not seem like a safe option to me. In all fairness, Catch & Go makes a couple of different phone holders that do not attach to the steering wheel. They would be a lot safer as the phone would not be in your direct line of vision nor cause the cord to get tangled in your legs while driving.
Despite all this, I really like the design — but not for driving. It would be handy to have one of these easy to install gadgets for the kitchen. Hanging the phone from a cupboard door handle would keep it off the messy counter.
Would you use it for driving? If you didn’t use it for driving, where would you use it?
A single zinc roof covers the building, with polygonal cut outs positioned to open courtyard spaces to the sky. Curving glass exterior walls look out into the dense pine trees near the village of Laulasmaa, near the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Thin circular columns are arranged around the exterior, echoing the trunks of the pines and arranged in a pattern that represents the rhythm of Estonian composer Pärt‘s compositions.
The columns are spaced closer together or further apart to alternate the levels of light reaching the interior spaces.
Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos looked to Pärt’s music for inspiration for the design of the cultural centre, which is dedicated to promoting Estonia’s musical heritage.
In particular, they looked at the connections between music, which is structured by time, and space, which is created by architecture.
“This dichotomy that links music and architecture – time and place – is at the origin of our project for the Arvo Pärt Centre searching a balance between the intimacy of the Estonian artist’s compositions and the serene beauty of the landscape,” said Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos co-founders Enrique Sobejano and Fuensanta Nieto.
“The building does not have a beginning or an end, it does not have a main or secondary facade: it is perceived in continuity, admitting multiple routes.”
Inside one of the centre’s courtyard spaces is a concrete chapel. At one point in Pärt’s career he suffered an eight year creative crisis that he worked through by joining the Orthodox Church and studied Gregorian chants, influencing the development of his signature compositional style.
Alongside the Arvo Pärt Centre a helical tower formed of slim metal columns rises above the pine trees giving visitors views out towards the Baltic Sea.
These two architectural elements were designed by the architects to bring a sense of “strangeness” to the centre that “deeply links the project with the personality of Arvo Pärt”.
Los Angeles-based studio Ensso has designed an all-in-one fountain pen with scale ruler for architects and engineers.
Launched on Kickstarter, the Escala pen has a long, triangular cap that doubles as a scale ruler graded with imperial and metric scales.
Aimed at architects and engineers, who use pens and rulers to mock-up plans and sketches, the fountain pen slides out of the cap so both components can be used simultaneously, without having to carry two separate objects.
“Fountain pens and scale-rulers are two fundamental tools for architects, engineers, and designers. We wanted to create one product that could be used simultaneously,” Carlo Aiello, founder of Ensso, told Dezeen.
“There are many pens with ruler markings on one of their sides but you need to either use it as a pen or as a ruler,” explained Aiello.
“In our product, the cap serves as a scale ruler and the fountain pen resides inside until you pull it out to use it. You only need Escala for taking measurements and making annotations at the same time.”
Made of aluminium and anodised in matte black, the pen cap is engraved with 12 of the most common scales used by architects and engineers.
There are six metric scales (1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200, 1:400, and 1:500) and six following the imperial system (1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1).
“Escala is anodised in matte black to create a high-contrast with the laser-engraved markings that expose the raw aluminium behind,” explained Aiello.
The product has a minimalist design that combines elements of the traditional triangular scale ruler with a standard cylindrical pen. It is compatible with both bottled ink and ink cartridges.
“Escala is the fusion of two designs. We aimed to reduce these two objects to their minimum and recombined them into one. We followed the golden ratio to create the dimensions for each component in relation to the others,” he continued.
Another project aimed at fellow architects and designers came from designer Sean Riley, who created a curvy cutting knife to spare architects from the hand cramps, bruising and sore knuckles endured while making models.
The ornate wall panels of a previously hidden 19th-century atrium informed the transformation of this steak restaurant by design duo Humbert & Poyet.
Beefbar Paris has been decked out in sumptuous jewel tones to complement the art nouveau wall panelling that appears in the main dining atrium, creating what Humbert & Poyet describe as a “game between sobriety and eccentricity”.
This is the eighth Beefbar to open, joining worldwide branches in locations such as Monaco, Hong Kong and Budapest.
“Each Beefbar is different as they’re inspired by the city or country they’re in, but this one is special – all the inspiration for this project comes from the 19th-century room,” founders of the studio, Emil Humbert and Christophe Poyet, told Dezeen.
Despite the atrium being heritage listed in 1983, Humbert & Poyet found it to be in a severe state ruin and in need of a complete restoration: several of the surfaces were crumbling away or had been covered up with air conditioning services.
The room is now centred by an olive green and navy blue seating bench, echoing the hue of the foliage depicted on the wall panels. Contrast is offered by red velvet dining chairs that have been placed around brass-edged tables, matching the room’s carved gold pillars.
Monochromatic carpet with a sprig-like motif has also been installed in the atrium, intended as a visual nod to the sunflowers seen on the walls and leafy branches that have been drawn on the ceiling.
This runs through to Beefbar’s adjoining rooms, where the lower half of walls have been clad in dark green marble. Arched doorways lined in glossy emerald tiles lead through to a mirrored bar area, where guests can grab a drink at more casual high tables and blue leather stools.
Greenery-filled planters have also been installed between seating booths.
IKEA is set to launch an air-purifying curtain coated with a mineral-based surface that breaks down common pollutants.
The surface of the curtain is treated with a photocatalyst mineral that causes air pollution to break down when light shines through it, allowing users to purify the air in their own homes.
The technology works in a similar way to photosynthesis – the natural process that plants and some other organisms use to convert carbon dioxide and water into food, using light.
Developed over several years by IKEA in collaboration with university institutions in Europe and Asia, the purifying technology works with both natural and artificial light.
“For me, it’s important to work on products that solve actual problems and are relevant to people,” explained IKEA product developer Mauricio Affonso.
“Textiles are used across homes, and by enabling a curtain to purify the air, we are creating an affordable and space-saving air purifying solution that also makes the home more beautiful,” he continued.
The curtain will be launched in stores next year, and is designed to reduce the problem of air pollution, which is becoming increasingly acute as more of the global population flock to cities.
The effects of poor air kill an estimated seven million people worldwide each year, research by the WTO has found.
“Besides enabling people to breathe better air at home, we hope that Gunrid will increase people’s awareness of indoor air pollution, inspiring behavioural changes that contribute to a world of clean air,” said IKEA head of sustainability Lena Pripp-Kovac.
“Gunrid is the first product to use the technology, but the development will give us opportunities for future applications on other textiles.”
IKEA acknowledges that the problem of polluted air can’t be solved by the Gunrid curtain alone, but it could be one step in helping its customers reduce the risks associated with breathing poor quality air. The technology they have developed can be applied to any textile.
“We know that there is no single solution to solve air pollution. We work long term for positive change, to enable people to live healthier and more sustainable lives,” added Pripp-Kovac.
These electric rickshaws, painted in the Swedish furniture giant’s signature blue and yellow colours, are significantly less polluting than regular rickshaws which run on fossil fuels.
Karl Lagerfeld, the prolific fashion designer who turned around the fortunes of Chanel and Fendi, has died in Paris.Â
Lagerfeld worked up until his death as artistic director of fashion houses Chanel and Fendi, as well as producing his own label collections each season.
He was as renowned for his personal style and his cutting comments about those he considered fat or unfashionable, as for the clothes he created, always completing his look with a white ponytail, black sunglasses and a pair of white gloves.
He died today, 19 February, in Paris at the age of 85.
“Incredible talent and endless inspiration”
Fellow fashion designers have paid tribute to the designer, with Victoria Beckham declaring herself “incredibly sad” at the news.
Donatella Versace took to Instagram to state: “Karl your genius touched the lives of so many, especially Gianni and I. We will never forget your incredible talent and endless inspiration. We were always learning from you.”
Lagerfeld had worked with Fendi since 1965 designing furs and accessories, and as the artistic director of the label’s ready-to-wear clothing since 1977. He took on the role of head designer at Chanel in addition in 1983.
Renowned for his insatiable work ethic over a seven-decade career in fashion, Lagerfeld began as couturier Pierre Balmain’s assistant in 1955, before taking over the reins at Chloe a decade later.
Lagerfeld made biggest impact at Chanel
It was at Chanel that Lagerfeld made his biggest mark, by reinterpreting the fashion house’s famous tweed each season.
Lagerfeld often courted controversy, for example by designing Chanel suits in denim for the Spring Summer 1984 show, for his use of a line from the Quran in a Chanel couture show in 1994, as well as for the frequent use of fur in his collections.
He collaborated with the high-street fashion giant H&M in 2004, producing a collection that immediately sold out. As well as designing clothes, he also turned his hand to photography, and designed furniture, cosmetics and even a teddy bear.
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